It's time for Make the Call, a weekly discussion on the top Wisconsin sports stories of the week.
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Now, it's time for Make the Call, a Civic Media sports production.
Indeed, another Saturday morning here on the Civic Media Radio Network.
Welcome in.
This is Make the Call.
I'm Jimmy Koska, Sports Director here at Civic Media.
And every week, we get to talk some sports here on this radio network.
It's not all politics.
It's not all news.
We get this hour to take a side quest and talk a little sports.
So saying that and saying that.
We welcome aboard a couple other members of the Civic Media Radio Empire.
First, of course, we have to welcome in Parker Vertical Olsen in Madison.
Parker, what's going on, man?
Oh, you know, not too much.
Getting excited about a Badger Championship going on later today.
Playing in a
championship.
I don't know if they're
winning, but I'll hold on to my horses here.
You know what?
I am hoping for the hardware myself.
That game today will be heard on Civic Media on WFHR.
So if you're listening, find that Wisconsin Rapid Station today.
We'll talk a lot more about that coming up in a half hour as part of our sports coverage today.
And of course, we have to head up north and hear from upper management.
And that would be Greg Gunderson.
Greg, what's going on, man?
Howdy, Jimmy.
Upper management is getting older today.
I can tell you that because I missed two hours of sleep last weekend and I'm still paying for it as we speak here.
So if that reflects, I'm kind of sorry.
Well, speaking of getting older, Parker, I think you've just had a birthday.
I just celebrated a birthday.
Gray, are you an April birthday as well?
I'm in May, so not far
off, but I'm
late as always.
Boy, if we were all in the same office, the amount of birthday cake in a two-month span would be just absolutely incredible.
It is make the call.
We're going to talk sports, maybe some birthday cake.
Who knows?
Coming up in a half hour, going to go through in detail.
Badgers Hockey playing for the national championship.
They haven't won one in 20 years.
They haven't been to this game since 2010.
We'll talk a bit about that coming up in a half an hour.
Going to hear a little bit from Brian Posic, who's the voice of Badgers Hockey.
We had an interview with him last week, and we're going to bring part of that back, just talking about the journey to get here.
I think it's good insight, and we'll offer our takes on that as well.
from Mike Clemens who will give us a full rundown of sports and that'll be coming your way here in about 45 minutes or so but right now we start the show with a segment we call the top eight at eight it is the top eight sports stories or not sports stories in the sports world at 8 a.m.
so let's get started with number eight and our top eight at eight and I just have to ask this after seeing the brewers reveal new uniforms I gotta ask you guys is whiskyl
a thing.
Now, I've heard Scotting, I've heard Whiskey, I know there's a bar called Whiskos, but I gotta tell you, when I saw this uniform, I had to raise both eyebrows because I've never heard anybody from Wisconsin refer to themselves as from Whisco.
It is so bizarre.
the only time i've ever seen it is when people were limited for the length of a username for example like i've seen a couple people incorporate the word after a couple words like if i was going to do gray from wisconsin there's a couple services where you know like original twitter way back in the day might have clipped that off but other than that no not not used in daily life of it sounds like something people from other.
States might say about us, which doesn't bother me.
But Parker, what are your feelings here?
I think I might just adopt whatever you tell me to feel here.
Well, I'm very much
the same.
Yeah, yeah.
I think no, I'm with you.
Great.
It does feel like an out of state person thing.
I think I've seen Wisco only in text, never as an actual thing.
I've never heard somebody say, I'm from Wisco.
But anyway, about those uniforms, other than that, there's a lot of meat left on the bone, Jimmy, and we don't like to leave meat on the bone.
We like to squeeze all the juice out of the turnip, and they did not do so, I don't think here.
All the secondary stuff is better than the actually stuff, like, Wisco stuff that's featured.
you know, and that's the thing.
I love the barrel man thing.
That's really cool.
I like seeing forward.
It's kind of a nod to like, you know, forward Madison, the soccer club.
It's kind of cool to see forward on another sports uniform.
But yeah, I was really underwhelmed by it.
I mean, these, these look
Straight out of a marketing or PR campaign.
That's what they look like to me number seven in our top eight at eight Let's talk a little bit more about things kind of on the fringe of sports.
We've seen how ABS is affected baseball We've seen the helmet taps and and I know that it is completely gone You know in unintended directions in some cases, but I think overall people are enjoying it.
So now I'm curious
What other ways do we need to automate officiating in sports?
We've seen it in tennis with the calls on the line.
Now we're seeing it in baseball with the strike calls.
I'm just curious if there's anything else we need to automate in sports with robot officials.
That's an interesting way of phrasing it whether we need to i don't know so much i know people have been talking about tracking first downs with like a chip in the football for years and i'll hop on that that ever so often soapbox of mine it's not that it's not possible it's just not possible for the amounts that.
they're willing to pay right now.
An owner vote in the NFL just wouldn't pass for the number of millions you'd have to pay to develop the tech right now.
But it wouldn't take them long.
It's totally possible.
You can tell what's in my pockets before I even get into the airport these days.
You can't tell me you can't track a first down with that kind of tech.
You could do it with hockey.
You could do it with soccer.
Honestly, I think there's probably not a sport you couldn't do it with if you threw enough money at it at this point with tiny batteries and chips.
Maybe I'm overestimating it.
Am I out of pocket here?
No.
I think you're pretty much right on the dot.
Hockey was the first thing that I thought of as well to see whether or not the puck actually crossed the goal line.
I don't know if that would be helpful for offsides on blue lines or not as well.
Maybe it is.
I'm not quite sure of that.
But yeah, no, that is the first thing I thought of and as well first down.
Soccer does, I think, do chips in the ball to tell if players were offsides or if there was a goal.
I don't know why that's not more widely used, it seems like a very easy and smart idea.
The NFL did microchip footballs, I think in the preseason last year, and the NFL officials would have to go retrieve the football and they get chucked into the crowd because those footballs are worth a lot of money and they would swap it out for a football without a microchip.
I remember seeing a story on that last year.
Just think, you know, just how much a microchip football would be worth.
It's gonna be a while before we sit at the high school level.
So for now, we're just gonna have to use the good old trusty eyeballs to figure out our first downs.
the level I coach at.
Number six in the top eight at eight, we have seen a lot of players move on from the Wisconsin Badgers basketball program.
Parker Vertical Olsen, do you have any eligibility left to join the Badgers?
Oh, I sure wish I do, but.
Unfortunately, Jimmy, I do not.
There's a spot for you, probably.
There
probably is.
If we're asking what they're going to look like next year, I think the answer is very foreign.
We don't have a lot of familiarity with most of the guys.
We're going to be on that team now next year.
And a foreign also in the sense that I think that the Badgers might tap into some of that international power like we saw a little bit this year.
I think that they might try to lean into that more because a lot of those guys from overseas do bring an extra amount, I guess, of experience that can be really helpful in the NCAA.
Number five in our top eight at eight.
This is where we get to turn gray loose because the NFL draft is coming up and I have to imagine there are spreadsheets or stacks of notebooks hanging out in the Park Falls office with gray right now Getting ready for the NFL draft now the Packers don't pick till a little bit later But that's prime time for draft nerds and I'm curious gray if there are any prospects that you really hope you see end up in Green Bay one way or another
I'll admit, Jimmy, I've been a bit deficient keeping track of prospects this year because I look at what the Packers have in draft capital.
And the way they've been acting the last couple of years, we're kind of in anything goes territory here because we don't have a first round pick this year or next year, thanks to the Micah Parsons trade, but that could change theoretically.
I don't see them doing a Ricky Williams and trading the full draft in order to go up and grab a player in the first, but
I don't know.
I feel like if we see something we haven't seen before, I wouldn't even be that surprised after they took a wide receiver in the first round next year.
It's not like that was a total tonal shift in the organization, but there's a couple signs here and there that things are going to be a little bit different.
I think Matt LaFleur took that respect from players grade that didn't go so well.
I think he took that a little bit personally.
I've already seen three or four headlines on that this week.
And if people don't know, it's those player report cards.
Our station dog gets excited about the Packers too.
He's my dog after
all.
I'm wondering if your station dog has any thoughts on what positions the Packers might be targeting in the draft.
Well, actually, Jimmy, we're going to end up leaking into the next question in the segment here because I think we might see a quarterback going.
So we'll have to circle back to that because there's a few things that they've got that they could take, but they've already addressed most of their needs.
It's going to be offensive line or quarterback or some backup of some kind.
It's not going to be a spectacular draft unless it's absolutely ridiculous.
It's no gray area here.
Ah, you're using your name
in a sentence.
That's pretty cool.
I I look to just some of the posts coming this week from the Packers I saw, you know, the Colts are looking to trade one of their corners and a very very recent Indianapolis gold, you know, tweeted a picture as your Franklin tweeted a picture of himself with said defensive back.
So I'm curious if, you know, defensive back, you know, they could always use ed rushers linemen.
It's always it feels like a meat and potatoes draft to me is what it really feels like.
But where you might see like a flyer on a
on an outside guy light, but it just feels like meat and potatoes this year.
Agreed, agreed.
The needs have already been at least somewhat addressed, but you're exactly correct.
There's room to add at a couple positions where the room is already large, like wide receiver.
They just lost Romeo Dobbs, and replacing him is not going to be as easy as it seems, but corner, linebacker, defensive line, offensive line.
Really, they could add somebody just about anywhere, and it would be worth doing if it's a worthwhile prospect.
If it's somebody they think will hit like a late round, like a seventh rounder, watch for the sleepers in the late rounds this year from Green Bay.
Parker, what about you?
What are you hoping the Packers do?
I'm thinking kind of the same thing as Gray.
I would like to focus on offensive line, maybe get a little bit of reinforcements on that defensive side.
You mentioned Zaire Franklin, and I don't know why that is what made me think of this.
Did you guys see something from Jair Alexander about being back in Green Bay, or did I dream this?
I'm pretty sure that's a dream.
I
know, you know,
it's
fun.
I know it's not an official thing.
I know that he's not a packer again, but I swear I saw a post from him that was saying that he's back, like was in the neighborhood and was like posting pictures reminiscing on his time in Green Bay.
I mean, I've seen like H.A.
Dylan come back to Green Bay and like posts like, Hey, I'm in Dore County and he didn't split for the Packers in a couple of years.
I don't know, man.
I'm enjoying the fact that you're dreaming about.
Random Packers defensive backs though.
That's a it tells me that we're getting very close to football season in a way even though it's beginning of April You never know well, so let's keep on the football theme because number three in our top eight today It is a great hinted we want to talk about the Packers back a quarterback situation because well the market is starting to get pretty slim in terms of veteran options We've seen teams
go deep into the well for backup quarterbacks in the past year or two.
I mean, seeing Phillip Rivers come up for retirement, the play for the Colts for three games was absolutely incredible.
But I don't think the Packers are going to be quite chucking that hail, Mary.
I'm just curious on your thoughts on what the Packers might do at Pack of Quarterback now.
Straight up, I'm thinking they're going to look for that in the draft right now.
I'm thinking Jordan is aware that a quarterback might be entering the room, but I wouldn't expect that to happen any sooner than the fourth or fifth round.
Historically,
Sort of the approach.
That's where the Packers' backups usually come from.
Malik Willis being an exception here.
But I'd like to point to Malik Willis as the alternative option, not because we might go get him back from Miami.
He's going to be the starter down there this season, it sure looks like.
But because the Packers might pull something like that again, and maybe even from the same team.
There's one Will Levis hanging out down there in Tennessee right now.
He's not going to get starting privileges over Cam Ward anytime soon.
And he's got some physical traits that...
Well, he's capable.
There's also been rumors that the Packers were interested in Colt's former first-rounder back up in a weird spot, Anthony Richardson Sr.
So they're like an athletic...
player who hasn't done well after a rookie contract being Richardson or Levis or somebody in the draft.
Unless there's somebody I just don't see coming, everybody's signed up.
There were even Kirk Cousins rumors, but he's a raider now.
Parker, have you heard anything I haven't spotted?
No, I'm still thinking about J.R.
Alexander, actually.
I was going to ask you, in your dreams, who is the Packers back of quarterback?
Because, you know, it'd be great to figure this out before we get to the draft.
Alright, well, we'll check your dream journal here during the break when we come back.
We're gonna talk where we move away from football We're gonna talk a little bit about the sports in progress one about to wrap up one just underway And we'll do that coming up next here on make the call part of the civic media radio network
Welcome back to Make the Call on Civic Media.
Welcome back.
This is Make the Call part of the Civic Media Radio Network.
I'm just repeating what the big voiceover guy said there.
I'm Jimmy.
I'm back here with Gray and Parker.
We are continuing our Top 8 at 8.
And we have made it to number 3 in our Top 8 at 8.
And this is coming via
A number of interviews and stories that have come out late in the week this week.
Yesterday morning, the Bucks coach, Doc Rivers, was on several.
sports shows nationally.
Fandall Sports, he was on the Dan Patrick show, making his media rounds following a report from Shamshrania that said basically that the bucks are in disarray and the locker room is terrible and toxic and all this stuff.
And Dr. Rivers says it's simply not the case.
Seen this before, heard this before, Shams puts out a story saying the bucks are this.
Everybody in the Bucks organization says no way.
The GM of the Bucks is coming out and saying, hey, you know, making a whole lot of
word salad out of the Yanis situation, it's not good times right now for the Milwaukee Bucks.
And last night was kind of that final, I don't know, that the final nail in the coffin of this whole lost season, and that the Bucks refused to play Yanis due to health reasons in the final home game.
And what some people have gone out and said might be the final time that he would have been a buck, you know, as a home player for Milwaukee.
So all that being said,
The Bucks sure seem primed to be making a coaching move in the offseason.
I'm curious if you have any thoughts on who might be the coach or what you would want to see from the next head coach of the Bucks.
And yes, I get it.
It greatly, greatly depends on what happens with Giannis this offseason.
Let's assume that he's staying because he's under contract for one more year.
Parker, I'm going to start with you.
I don't know that I have any names really in particular that come to mind for a head coach necessarily, but there are definitely things that you're looking at that you would want them to have, right?
We're talking about a team right now whose culture is kind of in question, especially in these last couple of weeks with all investigation into whether or not Yanis is being treated correctly.
The team culture is really toxic, this and that, and just a bunch of horrible news, frankly, that you don't want to hear coming out of a locker room.
You need someone who can set a culture, who can set the tone.
In addition to being able to build what is, I think, is probably going to be a pretty young roster going forward.
whether they have Yanis or not.
So what surrounds him would be fairly younger guys.
So you need someone who can work with those guys and get guys acclimated with the league and be able to go, all right, it's game time, we gotta go.
I think that there's a pretty good handful of guys that just are not meshing well right now with the Bucks.
And they could definitely use somebody who can...
I don't want to say whip them into shape, but that's kind of what they need.
They need somebody to go, all right, you guys have got to find the culture, find the way to work together.
And that's kind of what I'm looking for.
Gray, what about you?
i'll admit i i'm with you parker i don't have anybody particular in mind but it's exactly that if it's an unfamiliar name i'm for it because i'm okay with experimenting at this point you know i actually was talking with mike clements yesterday on my morning show up here in park falls and we were chatting about just how much time yannis has missed and the sour attitude that is kind of created in the air up there and that's that's it's you need somebody who can help people relax and if you if you give me somebody chill i mean okay might not be time for the hippie head coach but.
Hey, if it works and it's silly, then it's not silly.
It works.
But Mike actually texted me after we chatted on the show.
He said, Yannis officially played in 36 games.
Therefore, after Sunday, he will have missed 46 for the year, including the shutdown here at the end of the season.
And it's just you got to completely get that in the taillights, whether Yannis is there or not.
Who can do that?
I can only answer with questions, I'm afraid.
Yeah, and that's the thing.
It's unfair to kind of really consider this without knowing what happens with Giannis, because that's the domino that falls, not just for the Bucks, but I would say the entire NBA this offseason.
What happens with Giannis?
If Giannis is available, everything else starts moving.
If he's not available,
Then they move on to the next available guy number two in our top eight at eight and this is a Brewers question because the Brewers obviously are in progress this season and That is just a simple question for you and over under we're two weeks into the season It is time to make overreactions to you know 12 games and change the Brewers baseball season Let's let's ask this over under Brewers making the playoffs do they do better than making the playoffs?
or do they do worse than making the playoffs?
That is the question here at number two in our top eight at eight.
I'm going to go with the at least win one series.
I have a really good feeling about the burrs.
I think I know that I said earlier, I think I said last week that I wasn't fully bought in and I'm not fully bought in entirely, but they've got the pieces that really do point towards being able to win a couple of series.
I did say a couple of series.
I think that they may make an appearance in the World Series.
My fingers are crossed.
I'm really helpful.
I don't know though.
That's right out of his dream journal, I think.
That was out of my dream journal, yes.
I was asked earlier this week what team I would rather see win a championship first boxer packer, excuse me, packers or brewers.
And I went with brewers.
I'm dreaming baby.
The Brewers are more due.
The Packers had a Super Bowl back in 2010.
I know that's 16 years ago now, but that's, I mean, the Brewers are due.
I would agree.
And I would agree that this is the year for the over bet, I think.
If only a brief appearance, it feels right.
It's a good start, but people don't feel arrogant about it and morphs in a good mood.
So I'm in a good mood even after this stutter at the beginning of the season.
Let's get right and let it carry through the season, I believe.
All right, I'm gonna go counter to you guys.
I'm gonna say under that they missed the playoffs and I'm saying it because of this I am worried that they don't have the pitching depth that they've enjoyed the last couple of years where they've found guys out of nowhere They've had injuries a bit to start the year although not serious injuries, but there's a lot of unknowns and unproven and I don't know that you have a Jacob Mizorowski coming out of your
farm system to bolster your rotation or even your bullpen late in the year.
And that's something that they've enjoyed the last few years, where whether it's a free agent signing that comes in, you know, like Jose Quintana coming in and giving you some, you know, eating some innings for your team, or having somebody just pop up out of nowhere, that can throw 80 innings for you and keep things stable as you make your run in the fall.
And that's the thing.
The Brewers are kind of a fall team.
They're not really a spring team.
Last year we saw it, they had a slow start in the spring, and then they caught
late in the year, they had those two big winning streaks last year.
You know, if things go like that again, if it's a carbon copy of last year, yeah, easy.
I look stupid and, you know, they're in the playoffs and what was I worried about?
But, you know, I just, I look around and I'm like, I don't know where the help is coming from when they need it, especially if there are any injuries coming this year.
So I'm going to counter to you guys this week.
I can do that.
You can do that.
All right.
Well,
We still have one more to go on top 8 today.
We saved this one because the Badgers hockey program men's hockey is in the national championship.
Women already won their national title.
The men go for the national championship later today and we're going to talk about that next year.
I'll make the call part of the civic media radio network.
Welcome back to Make the Call on Civic Media.
It is Make the Call half past the hour.
Jimmy Kuska, Greg Gunderson, Parker Olson with you.
And we are now on to number one in our top eight at eight.
And yeah, this week we stretched this out a little bit this week.
And a lot of that has to do with the fact that we've got
Bit of history happening today.
Badger Men's Hockey is in the national championship in the Frozen Four.
They'll be taking on Denver later today at four o'clock central time, and you can hear that game on WFHR, the Civic Media Radio Network.
You can also hear it on the free Civic Media app, civicmedia.us slash app.
Search for WFHR, and you'll get the Badgers radio network broadcast with one Brian Posig on the call today as Wisconsin.
Faces Denver first Frozen Four,
Final since 2010 and the first time the Badgers could win a championship I guess their last championship game in 2006 that was back when I was but
A lowly network engineer on the Badgers radio network as someone who at the time was all of I think let's see I'm doing the math Right around 21 years old.
So it has been a while for the Badgers It's been a while for me.
I remember producing this game guys and this is a fun story I love to talk about because on that broadcast the post-game interview and the excitement of the locker room, you know, this is again as 20 years ago They send up the interviews they record them, you know on a recorder and they send them back as a
you know, through an email or they bring the USB stick or the card up top.
And the person who did the interviews didn't tell them, like, hey, by the way, I had to reset this one because the guy swore.
So when they go on the air, guys, on the Badgers radio network, statewide national championship, just won by the Badgers.
And the first guy they talked to in the locker room, they asked him, well, hey, how does it feel to be a national championship?
And the guy goes, I know I'm not supposed to swear, but it feels blank.
Great!
And the blank, of course, is the big FCC word, the one that you don't want to say on a broadcast.
And we can't say on this broadcast.
But I'll let you fill in that blank.
It was a huge moment because I'm sitting there at the next commercial break, and I'm listening to one Brian Posick in the queue going, oh, no.
That's not good.
Oh, no.
We've all had that moment of broadcasting where something happens on the air and all we can do is shake our hands and just hope that upper management, great, wasn't paying attention, and we can get away with it, right?
Get away with it.
You expect to get away with it?
What do you think my role actually is here, talking about football, Jimmy?
How dare you?
Well, either way, I want to ask you guys your thoughts, though.
This is such a cool moment because
Hockey in Wisconsin this year as a has had quite the run in women's hockey You saw both Wisconsin and UW River Falls by national championships and in men's hockey stout made the pros and four in D3 There is no D2 and in D1, of course, it's Wisconsin and Denver later today for all for at all and It is it is such a cool moment to see that the Badgers could potentially sweep college hockey titles this year What a great thing that would be
that would be
I'm sure that there are instances of that before, and frankly, it could be even instances of the Badgers having done that before.
I don't know for sure.
But if Wisconsin can pull that off, that is one of the crazier feats that you can have.
The women's program, obviously, with Mark Johnson has been absolutely incredible.
But now the Badger men's hockey is obviously doing very well.
It is something that...
I think for most of my lifetime probably the men have kind of been like sitting in limbo of like they've got the potential and they've always got names that they're really excited about.
There's always guys on the roster that you're thinking, oh, this could be a really good team that really does something.
But they never were quite really able to get over the hump it seemed like for the last...
Well, what'd you say?
It's been 20 years since they've been to a frozen four, right?
Well, yes, it's 2010.
But yeah, this year was kind of out of nowhere because, you know, last year they, you know, they lost, I think they only won half as many games they won the year before.
And now in the third year under coach Mike Hastings, here they are.
They're back in the frozen four.
Gray, I know that this isn't quite football, but I mean, just the uniqueness of having a national title appearance by the same school in both men's and women's hockey, that's a pretty unique thing, right?
Oh, this is football on ice, Gates, Jimmy.
It's got my attention.
I love watching the kind of play you get when you can, when you, when guys are allowed to hit each other, there's certain decisions get made that are less tactical and a little bit more spectacular.
And it happens in hockey too.
And that's what I love it.
I hope we're going to see that from the final here, because aggressive play has kind of been the hallmark for the Badgers.
And that's, that's exactly what I'm easy to please.
I guess I'm, it's kind of like I'm sitting there in the Coliseum.
My thumb is up like, yes, do the thing.
But
My point is the penalty kill has been spectacular.
That's allowed the Badgers to play aggressively.
And as long as they don't let Denver punish them in that kind of play, I think, well, I'll keep quiet.
I'll keep quiet.
I think you can guess what I expect to happen today.
But I'm also a little stishes, so we're not going to go there.
That's all right.
Well, and you know, the Badgers also have the advantage of having a pretty good netminder too.
I know that the semi-final, the North Dakota game was a little low scoring.
I expected to be more goals in the championship later today.
And, you know, last week we actually got some insight on this.
We talked to somebody who actually knows a little bit about hockey.
And that is Brian Posick.
He is the voice of Wisconsin Badgers hockey.
He'll be calling the Frozen Four final today on the Badger Sports Network as well as on WFHR on Civic Media and the free Civic Media app.
Here's a part of that conversation we had Brian last week about the journey for this year's Badgers and getting to the Frozen Four.
Again, this was recorded ahead of last week and ahead of the semifinal.
We now know, of course, the Badgers beat North Dakota.
So that a little bit of this might be a little dated, but I think it's really cool to just hear kind of the journey for this year's Badgers and how we arrived to Wisconsin playing for a national title later today.
Here again is Brian Posick.
Badgers radio network.
The first thing I asked him about is just the excitement of making it back to the frozen four
Well, Jimmy, thanks for having me and it yeah, it's it's been a long time I mean you think last frozen four was was 2010 in Detroit lost to Boston College That was Wisconsin's First Toby Baker award winner was Blake Jeffrey on that season and four years prior to that was Wisconsin's last national championship season of 2006
winning the Bradley Center in Milwaukee against Boston College on Tom Gilbert's overtime or go ahead goal, you know, halfway through the third period of play.
Yeah, it's it's been a long time coming.
But I think my casings we've seen was the the appropriate hire by the University of Wisconsin to move this program back to where it once was and and hopefully you see another winner to in Las Vegas here next week.
The badgers when you look at statistics, I mean,
pretty even opponents in a lot of categories very much so i mean you you look at all four teams that are there wisconsin north dakota michigan denver they're among the top ten teams in the country in scoring offense uh... the work one position where and
Wisconsin and Michigan probably a little bit more alike than the other two.
Defensively, while their goaltending has been good, they still give up two and a half, three goals a game.
So you look at North Dakota Denver, their victory margin is much larger than Wisconsin's.
There's no question about that.
But, I mean, just the talent level, the history of these programs.
I mean, Denver's won 10 national championships, Michigan's won 9, North Dakota's won 8, Wisconsin's won 6.
No other teams come.
I mean, Minnesota's won five.
They're not there.
They didn't even make the tournament So can you ask for a better field for an NCAA frozen for anywhere?
Let alone Vegas, you know, we're nobody sleeps and I'm hoping I get some sleep at some point down there But you never know it's it turned out to be I mean, it's it's I don't know if you can write a script better than that You've got four teams there
Michigan's been ranked number one in the country this season.
North Dakota, Denver as well.
Wisconsin was as high as number two.
The Badgers are the dark horse in this field because of how things have transpired throughout the season, but I think it's up for grabs.
Anybody can win this one.
When you look at the Badgers, just the overall depth of the team.
Obviously, a net pretty good one in Hauser, but you look at the depth of just the roster and the lineup.
They've got pieces everywhere.
It's a lot like the successful teams in any other sport.
A lot of guys really bought into roles that they have on the team, and it's pretty clear to see that they got some standouts in some key areas.
Yeah, certainly.
I mean, Gavin Morris, he's their leading point getter.
He's a sophomore, centerman, assistant captain.
He averages about a point per game.
Christian Fitzgerald's on his left, and Fitz's, you know, reached a career high in goals in college, and he's one of the top power play performers in all the country.
And then Quinn Finley, who's been hot lately.
He, when Wisconsin went through its six game losing streak back in January, he didn't have a single point.
And, and so now all of a sudden he comes, comes on fire.
he's got six goals in the last 10 games and he scored more points in the regional level of the NCAA tournament than anybody else.
So you've got those three guys leading the way, but you can move on down the line.
Simon Tassi has seen your scores two goals in the regional semi against
Dartmouth.
Oliver Tolk, who's a second line centerman, produced a couple of points and was fantastic in the face off circle.
And then you go to the D Core too.
I mentioned Luke Osburn, who's just a freshman and just a star in the making in my belief in many people's eyes too.
But you've got the one of the top defensemen in all the country and Ben Dexheimer, who leads the way.
So they've got a lot of pieces in various different areas.
And just that that want to that determination
that grit that we saw when you can score two goals in the final five minutes and get to overtime and knock out the number one seed in your region.
Wisconsin
Badgers men's hockey is in the frozen four and there will be coverage on Civic Media Station's WFHR and Wisconsin Rapids will have coverage of that coming up April 11th.
For Badgers hockey to find its way competitively to be among the top teams in the nation this year it almost felt a little out of nowhere like all of a sudden the Badgers
The program has, you know, it's arrived to a moment where they're competitive nationally.
So what has that ascent been like just from your perspective and being with it day to day?
Because finding the Badgers and the Frozen Four is a little bit of an unaccepted, happy surprise for people who follow all things Badgers.
Well, you think about it, you know, when they won the national title in 1990, they went to the Frozen Four in 92, 06, 2010, and now.
so it's nineteen ninety jimmy right that's thirty five thirty six years this is only the fourth frozen for this is not what wisconsin hockey fans certainly long time wisconsin hockey fans are used to but you know so mike comes in two years ago when twenty six games.
They're battling for the Big Ten Conference regular season title down to the final weekend against Michigan State.
They don't win it, get knocked out of the first round of the Big Ten tournament, and then they go to Hampton, Connecticut and weren't on their A-game and eventually lost to Quinnipiac in overtime.
Then the following year, last year, they won half as many games as they won the first year under Mike.
So to believe that this was expected this year,
i don't know if that's accurate i think expectations every year is wisconsin should be there but i'm not sure if anybody realized that they could reach this level especially after you start fifteen three and two and then you lose six in a row you kind of write the ship after injured players like morris c and the silly zilin off come back.
But then first round of the Big Ten tournament, you get smoked at home 7-1, and you're thinking, well, this team can't do anything.
And then they have two weeks off.
They somehow get into the tournament thanks to results from other conference tournaments.
And lo and behold, the team that allowed them to get in, they play in the first round, and it's 1-1 with 10 minutes to go against Dartmouth until Jack Horbach scores the go-ahead goal, and the Badgers added three more.
Yeah, the expectation is there every year that Wisconsin is going to compete at this level.
You get to the frozen four for a national championship.
But until they do it consistently, I don't know how you can believe any other way that you'd like to see it.
You hope it happens.
But we need to see it on an annual basis that this is going to happen.
And maybe two out of three years with Mike is just the start of really great things to come.
That again, part
of the conversation with Brian Posick of the Badgers Sports Network last week.
You can hear the full interview on the Civic Media On Demand, the podcast page.
Last week's make the call a full.
you know, 14, 15 minutes with Brian just talking about the National Championship Badgers hockey, a little bit about women's hockey and just how things have gone here in the state of Wisconsin.
So pretty cool if you want to check that out.
Again, that's on our podcast page at civicmedia.us.
We have Mike Clemens joining us to wrap up the program next.
We're going to talk about all things sports in Wisconsin.
It is make the call part of the Civic Media radio network.
Welcome back to make the call on civic media Final segment on make the call and we wrap things up with some of our final thoughts in the wide world of sports Whether it is Parker Olson's dream journal or as we're watching in the video chat watching Greg Godderson pull
Sports cards from a pack and sort them all because you know our off-air conversations could be so very interesting That he is pulling cards out of out of the packs there great I'm curious Is there anything awesome that you have pulled so far out of that massive stack of sports cards at your desk?
I've got so there's a pretty pretty clear theme here of just well a little bit of everything But there's some trends here and there like the FLIR 1990 set is pretty well represented and man
I gotta say this Tony Manderich card makes him look like he'd be really good at football.
That's a guy who you could just take in the first round and there's no way you could regret that.
No way at all.
Definitely wouldn't regret taking that guy in the first round.
But no, it's just a little bit of everything.
I'm really cherishing the Leroy Butler cards and just the big names.
There's even one really mean.
And I would have thought this was awesome as a kid, this bright, shiny, silver, redgy white card.
I'd have thought this thing was worth a million dollars.
So I'm just going to pretend it is on a Saturday today.
Make my weekend that way.
Well, I enjoyed
the 20 cent piece of paper there.
We're going to check in too quick with Parker.
Parker, we talked a lot about your dream journal today in sports.
Just curious.
final thoughts or dreams here as we wrap up the
show.
Oh, Jimmy, I am dreaming about beer and hot dogs in the ballpark because I am going to a burger game tomorrow and I am incredibly happy to tell you that I will be wearing my brand new city Connect jersey.
No, not this one.
The other one, the brew crew one, the good one, not this
one.
Oh, I was going to say, if you're wearing the Wisco jersey.
No, no, no,
no, no.
Okay.
Now, now, now, obviously we got.
We got to talk about it.
But no, we're out of time.
We can't talk about it.
Yeah, no, it's
over.
No, because that's Mike Clemens time.
We got to talk to Mike about a fun show.
Make sure if you're listening to us today, set your appointment for four o'clock to check out WFHR Badger Sports Network, Wisconsin-Benz hockey plays for a national championship today against Denver.
Again, you can hear it for free on the Civic Media app, on the Civic Media app, civicmedia.us slash app.
Look for WFHR.
Or if you're in Wisconsin-Rafferty, you can just tune in right there.
Big thanks to you, Parker, Gray.
Got to wrap things up and get it over to Mike Clemens.
Now, this is make the call part of the Civic Media radio network.
Have a great weekend, everybody.
Badgers in the finals today.
Hi, I'm Mike Clemens with sports men's college hockey.
The Wisconsin Badgers have a chance to win the national championship this afternoon.
They take on the University of Denver.
who upset top-ranked Michigan four to three in a game that went into double overtime Thursday night.
The Badgers got past North Dakota, one of the best programs in the country by a score of two to one.
The Badgers scoring both their goals in the first period.
Head coach Mike Hastings says he thinks his team is better when they're more aggressive on offense rather than playing defense.
We were on top and I thought the guys did a really good job at least over the first 20 minutes.
at trying to make them make decisions before they wanted to.
And I can tell you from sitting on the bench just listening to our guys' message to each other, it was let's get after them, stay after it.
We're not a very good team when we back up.
And so I thought the guys were rewarded for their efforts in the first period at playing on their toes.
Wisconsin's on a three game winning streak to get to this point.
with a chance to win their seventh national title.
Now the last time the loss was last month in the Big Ten tournament, seven to one to Ohio State.
Coach Mike Hastings says the key to this afternoon's game is composure.
Winner of hockey game at this time.
Bending but not breaking.
Finding a way to get it done because at this time of the season that's all that matters.
It doesn't have to be Mona Lisa.
You've just got to find a way to make sure that you're living for another day.
And this group has talked about this moment for a long time.
And again, sometimes you've got to fail to succeed.
That happened when we played Ohio State.
But this group has done a phenomenal job at looking in the mirror and saying, OK, what do you got for us now?
It's exciting.
I wish all of you could have an opportunity to get to know the group.
You're seeing what they do when they play together and how much they love each other.
And so now they've got an opportunity to win their last game.
That's all you can ask.
So face off between the Badgers and Denver, 4.30 this afternoon central time at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, televised coverage on ESPN and on the Badgers radio network.
NFL, the Packers made a trade yesterday.
They've sent wide receiver Don Tavion-Wicks to the Philadelphia Eagles in exchange for two draft picks, a fifth round pick in this month's upcoming draft and a sixth rounder next year.
In addition, Wix receives a one-year contract extension from the Eagles worth $12.5 million.
Wix is 24 years old and was entering the final year of his rookie contract in Green Bay.
So the Packers have now parted ways with two of their veteran receivers.
Romeo Dobbs signed a deal last month in free agency with the New England Patriots.
That was a four-year contract, valued at $80 million, $39 million guaranteed.
Baseball.
That was a rough night for the Brewers at home against the Washington Nationals.
Top of the ninth, the game tied three to three, and Brewers' closer Trevor McGill hit the Nationals leadoff batter CJ Abrams with a pitch.
He was able to take a base.
The Nationals' batters then laid down three bunts, scoring on two of them a four-run inning.
The Brewers could not recover.
They lost seven to three at Amfam Field.
The Brewers have now lost three in a row.
Game two of the three-game series against Washington is tonight.
A pair of left-handers on the
It's going to be the Brewers Kyle Harrison against the Nationals Foster Griffin, the first pitch set for 6-10 tonight in Milwaukee.
Former Brewers manager Davey Lopes passed away this week at the age of 80.
Lopes was the Brewers manager for three seasons 25 years ago when they first opened Miller Park as a player he played second base in the major leagues for four different teams from 1972 to 1987, including a 10-year stint with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Later became an assistant coach before becoming an MLB manager.
NBA, the Bucks beat Brooklyn.
They had the Bucks with a 125 to 108 win at home.
over the Brooklyn Nets last night.
Milwaukee's AJ Green with 35 points, including 11 three-point shots.
The most in a game in franchise history.
Green was asked, did it feel like it was his night?
I don't think you ever really know.
You kind of just play the game and as shots start to fall, my teammates kept telling me to shoot it and let it fly.
So it's just kind of what I try to do.
And they kept going in.
So it's a fun night.
Fun night, good win.
This was the Bucks
final home game of the season and likely the same for Bucks head coach Doc Rivers, who had this message for the media.
You guys...
I've always respected all of you guys.
I've not like always handled you well at times because I'm always going to be fiery and and I was at times, but overall you guys have been phenomenal.
I think you covered me fairly.
You've covered the team fairly and that's all I can ever ask.
The Bucks finish up the season on the road Sunday night in Philly against the 76ers with sports on Mike Clemens.
