Street Knowledge is hosted by Chris Graham, the award-winning editor of The Augusta Free Press (Waynesboro, Va.), with episodes highlighting local news, Virginia and national politics, arts and culture, mental health, sports and professional wrestling.
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UVA Basketball: Bully ball doesn’t work if you let the other guys be the bullies (00:15:14)
Solid email this morning from Alan, regular reader, on the Tech-UVA game, the kind of good that got me to think through what we know, to this point, in Year 1 of Ryan Odom, about our new-look UVA Basketball program.
The key points from Alan:
We were bullied, even taking into account the whistle swallowing.
If we’re not gonna run a scheme like the Pack Line, better brainstorm fast how we’re going to get stops in league play.
Readers think J’Mari Taylor should have risked injury to entertain them (00:12:00)
Shocker, right, that I got emails from a trove of White guys who think a young Black man named J’Mari Taylor should consider it a privilege to entertain them.
How dare the kid prioritize his future earning potential when our favorite college football team needed him out there to win an exhibition game.
That, you know, they won anyway, without him.
Reggie Harris: Two-sport legend at Waynesboro High School (00:28:56)
Two years after graduating from Waynesboro High School, Reggie Harris was taken by the Oakland A’s in the 1989 Rule 5 draft, and he made the team – the defending World Series champs – out of spring training in 1990.
“I’m just watching the previous World Series that year, in ’89, the earthquake series with San Francisco, and two weeks later, I’m on that team,” said Harris, who joined me to talk about his baseball career on the “Street Knowledge” podcast this week.
Everybody in UVA Athletics is on break; what do we talk about? (00:31:50)
We’ve been going practically non-stop since August, but now, we’ve hit a lull – UVA Football and UVA Basketball are both on an exam break, with no games for a week.
What do we talk about?
We’ll think of something.
UVA Football: Decisions still need to be made on the three coordinators
UVA Basketball: How are last year’s guys doing at their new schools?
UVA Football: ‘Hoos losing Ja’Son Prevard, Tyshawn Wyatt to transfer portal
DJ Andrew Hypes, fresh off tour with Justin Timberlake, hasn’t forgotten his hometown (00:19:38)
Andrew Hypes has spent the last two years travelling all over the world: Paris, London Romania, Vegas, Poland and California, to name a few.
After growing up in Waynesboro, Virginia, population 23K, it’s a little surreal: working in Dr. Dre’s studio, flying on private planes, standing in front of the Eiffel Tower – the real one, not the one at Kings Dominion – all stemming from his role as the official DJ for Justin Timberlake’s recently wrapped “The Forget Tomorrow World Tour.”
Breaking down the settlement in the NASCAR antitrust case (00:12:38)
NASCAR settled the suit brought by two racing teams alleging violations of federal antitrust laws on Thursday.
The details of the settlement are only trickling out, but we have enough to begin to get a sense of how things are going to play out going forward.
AFP contributor Rod Mullins joins the show to break down what we know.
UVA-Virginia Tech preview; we get around to the game, eventually (01:00:31)
It’s UVA-Virginia Tech football week, so I got the gang together to preview the game, and we do, eventually.
But first: why are tickets so ridiculously expensive?
Scott German joins me to rain down furious anger on the folks at UVA Athletics, who seem intent on money-grabbing us out of a big crowd for the Saturday primetime game.
Then we direct some upset at the medical staff, for allowing Kam Robinson to return to the Duke game and tear his ACL.
Dumb, just dumb stuff.
I promise that we break down the game at the end.
Explosive texts, emails put NASCAR in perilous legal straits (00:35:21)
Leaks of internal communications between top NASCAR executives both hurt the racing series’ legal challenge from two NASCAR teams, and are also causing massive damage to the circuit in the court of public opinion.
With the trial in the antitrust lawsuit set to begin next week, Rod Mullins, the editor of Dickenson Media, joins the show to report on and break down the latest developments in the case.
Rod also updates us with the latest on the story of a Southwest Virginia football coach who has been missing for four days as his team makes its way through the Virginia high-school playoffs.
James Franklin at Virginia Tech, UVA Football in Brazil, UVA hoops (01:16:45)
Virginia Tech has officially welcomed James Franklin to Hokie Nation. Will Franklin be the guy to get Tech Football back to where it was … 15 years ago now?
Yeah, it’s been awhile.
I had Scott German join me to discuss.
We also both give UVA Athletics administrators hell for moving the 2026 NC State home football game to Brazil.
We wrap with a lengthy love letter to Ryan Odom Basketball.
It’s actually just puppy love right now, since we’re only in the cupcake part of the schedule.
The gang is back together on the bye week to talk UVA Football (00:54:45)
Chris Graham and Scott German get back together via podcast to review their preseason UVA Football prognostications, which, it turns out, were way off.
The guys thought 7-5 or 8-4 was possible, which at the time got them banished to the edge of the Fringe Media.
Now at 9-2, they’re on the other side – yeah, they foresaw a good season, but not this good.
Lots to chew on here, obviously.
UVA Football News
UVA Football: Morris, Taylor, D key ‘Hoos to convincing 34-17 win at Duke
UVA Football: ‘Hoos dominate in all phases in pivotal 34-17 win at Duke
UVA Football: The Virginia defense made Darian Mensah look average
Breakdown: The role Chandler Morris played in the 78-yard J’Mari Taylor TD
‘Hoo do we root for next week? The Road to Charlotte for UVA Football
Playoffs? You kidding me? Playoffs? Looking at CFP chances for UVA, JMU
West Virginia trying to mooch off of us (00:05:46)
The West Virginia governor, Patrick Morrisey, and a Mountain State legislator, Chris Rose, think they see an opportunity to mooch off our prosperity.
Morrisey, last week, in the hours after our Blue Wave state elections, sent a message to the red counties in Virginia via Facebook, assuming that he feels their frustration.
“It’s about to get awful blue in the Commonwealth of Virginia,” wrote Morrisey, a Brooklyn-born, New Jersey-bred Rutgers alum who only moved to West Virginia, and Harpers Ferry – barely inside the border – at that, when he was 39 years old.
Guy is as West Virginia as Tony Soprano, with the added touch that, before he got into elected politics, he made his living as a pharmaceutical lobbyist, and now runs a state set backwards a generation by the opioid crisis that he made gobs of money advocating for.
Back to Jersey Boy’s post-election message to Virginia:
“Don’t wait for the high taxes to heavy regulations to come, now is your chance to escape to wild and wonderful West Virginia,” Morrisey wrote.
Putting a wrap on the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season (00:50:51)
Kyle Larson snuck his way into his second NASCAR Cup Series title, winning in OT after a late wreck changed the calculus for Denny Hamlin.
And now, we have lots of questions.
Will NASCAR put the kibosh on the playoff system?
What happens in the antitrust lawsuit challenging the charter system?
There’s that, there’s the beginning, in earnest, of the silly season.
So much to break down.
Virginia needs to step up to protect victims of child rape (00:30:40)
The CDC tells us that one in four girls and one in 13 boys are, right know, as you read this, victims of sexual abuse – basically, let’s just call it what it is, child rape.
Do the math, and it’s not good – we’re talking about 14 million girls, 3 million boys.
Let that sink in: 17 million kids, in this country, our kids, raped.
We only know about a fraction of these cases, because 90 percent of child-rape cases involve a perpetrator who is known to the victim – a parent, close family member, family friend – who either manipulates the victim into silence, or worse, threatens or uses violence to keep the secret.
I can sense that you’re uncomfortable.
Nobody likes talking about child rape, which is a big reason why we have the problem we have.
NASCAR suit playing out against the backdrop of the Championship 4 (00:29:43)
It’s looking more and more like NASCAR is going to have to settle the suit challenging its charter system, not so much to save face, but to at least have a hand in setting the future direction of its business model.
Rod Mullins joins me to discuss the latest in the charter suit, which is playing out against a backdrop of the final race of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season, the Championship 4 finale in Phoenix.
We break down how the final two drivers earned their way into the C4, and break down the chances of the Final Four – Denny Hamlin, Chase Briscoe, William Byron and Kyle Larson.
Intrigue in NASCAR on the track, in the courtroom, as 2025 season winds down (00:22:34)
A settlement conference in the NASCAR antitrust suit will head into a second day, after lawyers for the privately owned racing circuit and two of the sport’s top teams met in court on Tuesday to see if they could resolve their many disputes.
Rod Mullins joins the podcast to report on the latest.
We also spend some time on news from the track, with the 2025 NASCAR Playoffs down to the final two races – this weekend in our neck of the woods, down in Martinsville.
Pete Barlow to Virginia Democrats: Let’s be the big tent party (00:23:33)
Healthcare isn’t a red or blue issue, says Pete Barlow, an Augusta County Democrat running for Congress in the 2026 midterms cycle.
Farmers having markets closed to them because of the Trump tariffs – not a red or blue issue.
FEMA not being there to respond to natural disasters – not red or blue.
But for Democrats in Western Virginia to be able to be a part of the solutions, we need to open up the tent.
“We always talk about being a big tent party. Well, let’s really be a big tent party and talk to people who we disagree with,” said Barlow, who stepped down from his job as a manager with FEMA earlier this year to throw himself full-time into his run for the Democratic Party nomination for the Sixth District seat in Congress.
Link: https://augustafreepress.com/news/pete-barlow-to-virginia-democrats-lets-be-the-big-tent-party/
Lisa Vedernikova Khanna | Soon-to-be new mom running for Congress (00:20:19)
When Lisa Vedernikova Khanna called her Russian immigrant mother a few months ago to tell her that she was running for Congress, mom was, let’s just say, a tad bit disappointed.
“She was hoping that I was pregnant,” said Khanna, who went public last week with that news – that she is expecting, and due in February, meaning, she’s now running for Congress and about to become a first-time mother.
Who is this ‘Humble Denny Hamlin’ of whom you speak? (00:34:32)
Denny Hamlin, who won Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series playoff race in Las Vegas, was described by our Rod Mullins as downright “humble” post-race, which leads to the question: did somebody do something to our Denny Hamlin?
Rod joins the show to discuss.
We also go in depth on the latest development in the NASCAR charter lawsuit, which appears to be headed to trial in December – though I wonder if NASCAR might be better advised to settle ahead of time, instead of allowing a judge to decide how the series does its business going forward.
That, and we preview Talladega, coming up this weekend.
Happy Anniversary, OBX news, UVA-Trump, UVA Football in the Top 25 (00:27:58)
It’s the anniversary edition of the #TeamAFP podcast. My co-host and breaking news editor, Crystal Graham, said I do 25 years ago today, on Oct. 7, 2000.
To mark 25 years of her having to put up with my nonsense, I made her acknowledge that she married me, which is no small admission.
Then we get to business: talking through the recent spate of homes collapsing in OBX and the Trump administration’s effort to get UVA to bend the knee on ideology for a few extra bucks.
Also: the very important story involving UVA Football being 5-1 and ranked 19th in the AP Top 25.
That, and we have to get packing for our anniversary week trip to NYC.
Van Gisbergen wins at the Roval (00:39:03)
Shane van Gisbergen, shocker, took the win at the Charlotte Roval, notching his fifth road-race win of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season.
Rod Mullins was down in Charlotte for us this past weekend, and reports back on van Gisbergen’s road-course dominance, and the scramble among the 12 drivers still in the playoff hunt to get to the cutline for the Round of 8.
Also on this week’s show: we go into detail on the latest in the antitrust case in which two teams are challenging the NASCAR charter system.
Neighbors disagree with couple’s efforts to push homeless out (00:10:01)
Augusta Free Press reporter Crystal Graham breaks down two sides to an issue involving homeless people at a Waynesboro church.
While a couple who lives next door has raised concerns about safety and property values, residents nearby overwhelmingly have spoken out in support of the church's plans to become a re-education center for the unhoused population.
An upcoming meeting Tuesday night will bring both sides to the table.
Deep inside the dust-up between Denny Hamlin, Bubba Wallace (00:30:15)
Denny Hamlin drives for Joe Gibbs Racing. He’s also the co-owner of 23XI Racing, which has Bubba Wallace efforting to stay alive in the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.
So, when Hamlin bumped Wallace into the wall toward the end of Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400, that was going to get folks’ attention, including Wallace’s.
The word “dumbass” may have entered the chat, for instance.
Wallace is, right now, on the outside looking in, with one race left in the Round of 12, which becomes the Round of 8 after this weekend’s Charlotte ROVAL.
Rod Mullins will be down in Charlotte covering the race for AFP.
I chatted with Rod on today’s podcast to get into this Denny Hamlin-Bubba Wallace story, among other things, including the rumors that NASCAR is going to shutter its current playoff format to go back to the way things were down pre-2004.
Matt Kenseth comes up as we talk through that one.
Also, discussion of declining NASCAR ratings, and how politics is playing a role in that.
Two strokes don’t stop Erik Simonsen from finishing the Killington Ultra (00:25:18)
Erik Simonsen isn’t one to let obstacles get in his way, so when, toward the end of a recent 31-mile hike through the Vermont wilderness, for something called the Killington Spartan Ultra 50K, it was just a 60-pound sandbag between him and the finish line, OK, that one almost got him.
“Just cruel, yeah, I think that they put it at the end was the cruel part. You know, in the middle, I could have done it fine and gotten through it. But the very last thing is just this huge sandbag carry, and it’s, oh, why is it here?” said Simonsen, a 33-year-old Waynesboro High School alum, who got past the sandbag carry to finish the Sept. 13 Killington Ultra in 12:26:12.
Biggest losers in the Jimmy Kimmel drama | Disney, ABC, ESPN, Hulu, Marvel, Trump? (00:13:13)
Jimmy Kimmel has doubts about the official story from the MAGA prosecutor handling the Charlie Kirk murder. So does Steve Bannon, among many others, but Bannon is also a MAGA, and a bit of a crank, so he’s safe.
The Trump administration used a leverage point over a company seeking FCC approval for a $6.2 billion merger to force Kimmel off the air “indefinitely” – not so much about what Kimmel said about the Kirk murder investigation in the opening monologue of his late-night ABC talk show on Monday, but rather, that Kimmel is a frequent and high-profile critic of Donald Trump.
UVA Football | What do we know about this team three weeks into the 2025 season? (00:11:23)
If the 2025 UVA Football season was one long game, we’re in the break between the first and second quarters.
What we’ve seen so far:
‘Hoos 55, W&M 16 | UVA Football takes care of business in Cupcake Bowl
UVA Football | Red zone issues, what else is new, doom ‘Hoos in 35-31 loss at NC State
UVA 48, Coastal 7 | What do we know about this UVA Football team? Not a lot, not yet
Good a time as any to ask: what do we know about this team, three games in?
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