AFP Podcasts

I’d much rather be writing about UVA Baseball getting ready for another Super Regional weekend, but things didn’t work out as expected.

Instead, the news is, Brian O’Connor left town in the middle of the night for Mississippi State, supposedly because Mississippi State is a better situation baseball-wise.

I’ve been covering this from all possible angles – examining the money, the impact of the move on O’Connor’s legacy, and where UVA goes to for its next baseball coach.

Rod Mullins started off our podcast talking about this past weekend’s Indy 500 and Coca-Cola 600, and NASCAR star Kyle Larson’s second failed attempt at “The Double.”

A sidebar story about a fan who tried to steal Ross Chastain’s hat in Victory Lane at the 600 led to a lengthy discussion of ‘70s and ‘80s superfan Morganna the Kissing Bandit, and whether her on-field incursions were real or kayfabe.

As you can tell, this week’s show is a can’t-miss.

#TeamAFP editors Chris Graham and Crystal Graham get together for our weekly “Street Knowledge” podcast, which starts with a high school football coach arrested for DUI, and ends with the president pardoning a corrupt Virginia sheriff.

Topics in the podcast include:

• Waynesboro High School football coach arrested on misdemeanor DWI charge
• Augusta County: VCSB purchases property for crisis center, should break ground this year
• Regional animal shelter completion pushed back to end of June; additional delays possible
• Augusta Health, Valley Community Services Board brace for impact of Medicaid cuts
• Trump pardons former Culpeper County sheriff convicted in bribery scandal

How about a half-hour of baseball talk to start your week off? All apologies to the other ball sports, but baseball is my jam.

On today’s show:

• The Baltimore Orioles fired manager Brandon Hyde over the weekend, and the firing season may not be over just yet.
• The Washington Nationals, for their part, are in Year 5 of a perpetual rebuild. Are the pieces in place enough to build a winner around?
• UVA Baseball alum Chris Taylor was released by the Los Angeles Dodgers after 10 years in Chavez Ravine.
• UVA Baseball, to me, looks like an NCAA Tournament

AFP editors Crystal Graham and Chris Graham have been hard at work this week tracking down the details of three ongoing controversies involving the Augusta County Sheriff’s Office.

In our Friday podcast, #TeamAFP breaks down:

Augusta County: Family of man who died in police custody wants answers

The family of a Staunton man who died in the back of an Augusta County Sheriff’s Office patrol car on May 5 is trying to get answers.

“There is real injustice here, and I truly feel like Stefan was assaulted to the point of his death,” Wade Gerencser, the brother of Stefan Gerencser, 39, wrote on social media, in a post brought to our attention by a family friend, Gary Bone, who served in the Marine Corps with the Gerencser brothers.

Former deputy files $5.35M suit against Augusta County sheriff over forced resignation

The $5.35 million federal civil rights lawsuit filed against Augusta County Sheriff Donald Smith that is making news today might need to be taken with a grain of salt.

The reason I’m starting there: the allegations in the suit, Reynolds v. Smith, filed in the Harrisonburg Division of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia, filed on behalf of a former sheriff’s deputy, Dennis Reynolds, were first peddled to me in 2023 by people who I know to be sworn political enemies of Smith, whose original sin was running for sheriff in 2015 against the handpicked candidate of the local political machine, and then winning.

Augusta County sheriff reprimands Black deputy over lighthearted TikTok

Augusta County Sheriff Donald Smith still hasn’t commented on the lawsuit alleging that he sexually harassed a former male employee, but he found time on Thursday to publicly reprimand a Black deputy for comments she made on a TikTok video.

In case you’re wondering, yes, this was another instance of your sheriff letting himself get played on a public stage.

It’s weekly NASCAR podcast time, and we have to go into depth about Kyle Larson, who now has three Cup Series wins on the season, and is about to test the waters with another try at the Indy 500/Coca Cola 600 double on Memorial Day weekend.

But since our intrepid NASCAR journalist, Rod Mullins, is a lifelong Cincinnati Reds fan, we had to spend a good 15 minutes at the top talking about how Pete Rose deserves to be in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

The rain is here, and it’s going to get interesting in the Shenandoah Valley and Central Virginia this week, weather-wise.

#TeamAFP’s Chris Graham and Crystal Graham talk about the weather to open the Monday podcast.

Crystal Graham is our resident weather reporter. She has the scoop on what we can expect from the slow-moving storm making its way from the Southeast.

Also on the show:

• Crystal updates us on local issues in Waynesboro involving a proposed increase in the meals tax and another project at the old Virginia Metalcrafters
• Crystal does her best to get Chris in further trouble with the UVA Basketball fan base, getting him to talk about the new hire by Ryan Odom to his staff.
• UVA Baseball continues its late-season run toward an NCAA Tournament berth.
• The “what else are we working on” segment includes the latest nonsense from DC involving DOGE not saving us money and Donald Trump taking a bribe, and details on a story that we’re working on about how Albemarle County Police are trying a new approach to dealing with mental health.

Just last week, Joey Logano and Baseball Hall of Famer Chipper Jones engaged in an odd back-and-forth over a late-race mistake by Logano at Talladega.

So of course, it was Logano who would go on to take the checkered flag a week later in Texas.

The NASCAR gods are having fun with us.

Chipper Jones raised issue, seemingly innocently, with a decision by Joey Logano in last weekend’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Talladega.

Logano, he of obviously thin skin, fired back at the Baseball Hall of Famer.

This is a real thing, as our NASCAR writer, Rod Mullins, explains on our weekly podcast.

Also on today’s show:

• Austin Cedric takes the checkered flag at ‘Dega
• Logano, Ryan Preece penalized after the race
• Steve Phelps for PGA Tour commish?
• Prime Video sets May 22 date for series premiere of "Earnhardt"

The uncomfortable couple of weeks with no activity in the talent-acquisition part of the silly season ended Monday with the news that UVA Basketball coach Ryan Odom has landed a top Euro prospect, 6’11”, 235-pound German center Johann Grünloh.

Story link: https://augustafreepress.com/news/the-drought-is-over-uva-basketball-is-a-step-closer-to-filling-out-a-roster/