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.
It's the weekend which means it's time for Make the Call on the Civic Media radio network.
Welcome back from us.
Hopefully a fun and safe 4th of July, celebrating America's 250th.
I'm Jimmy Koska, sports director here at Civic Media.
And we are right back to talking all things sports in Wisconsin here on Make the Call.
And I am joined each week by my co-host, Greg Gunderson in the Northwoods.
Greg, what's going on, man?
Northwoods things, Jimmy.
Thanks for asking.
Watch out for them hot eggs.
And then in the capital city is Parker Bernickel Olsen.
Parker, what's up, man?
Going very capitol-y today,
which means that there are politicians running amok.
Yes.
I am Chpey Kuska and I am in the western part of the state in the driftless where it is very hot, but there are Thankfully plenty of rivers to go throw down a canoe a kayak or an intertube and go float down So we stay cool that way here in western wisconsin.
We're not here to talk about lifestyles though We're here to talk about sports and in this show
We talk all things Wisconsin sports and sometimes not sports and sometimes honestly, not Wisconsin, but we will recap everything that happened in the week of sports in Wisconsin with Mike Clemens later in the program as he'll join us as he does every week here.
I'll make the call.
But what we do in the show is we do our top eight at eight and we haven't done this now in about a month since we spent most of our previous shows talking about the Yanasateta Kunpo trade and we'll talk about it again today just to
put a bow on it, but we are going to get things started here in our top eight at eight with number eight.
And this is the question for you guys.
And I like to lead things off with something a little lighter, a little more philosophical, if you will.
And I want to ask, what's the most that you'd be willing to pay to attend a sporting event?
Now, this could be any sporting event.
It could be anything from the Super Bowl to like youth baseball, whatever it is.
I'm curious about how far you're willing to go into your wallet to attend a sporting event.
Man, I don't know.
I would reach pretty deep if it was a Super Bowl or a champ, like, and it would need to be something I care about.
It would have to be the Packers or Badgers or something like that for a championship game for me to want to reach that deep.
Baseline, though, maybe a hundred max, and I don't even love saying that much, but if there's a good game, if I want to go see Miz vs. Skeens, I might pay a hundred bucks for that.
That's that's exactly the number that came to mind a hundred bucks like sprang up as my heart's answer It's like hey, I might be able to scratch together a hundred bucks any old time beyond that and we got a plan for it a little bit You know, it's not just doesn't just happen
And that's, of course, got to be a factor.
So, yeah, unless it's a championship at that point, and if I know ahead of time, it can happen.
But the way I attend sports, it's usually on a pretty sudden basis.
You know, hey, we got tickets next weekend.
You want to try and go for it?
Cool.
$100 it is.
You know, that's my way of attending sports.
Maybe someday I'll upgrade.
I have two tiers to this.
The first tier is if my kid participating, in which case my maximum is $5.
If it's anything more than $5, the $5, by the way, I consider a donation to whatever event is running it.
That's paying for officials, paying for, you know, clockkeepers, whatever it is.
I don't mind paying the five bucks to go watch my kid play in whatever youth event that they're in.
Anything more than that though,
Considering that concessions are going to charge me about $8 for a bottle of water.
I ain't doing it, man.
I will sneak in the back door.
I will honestly 100%.
If you see me at the game, I will just wave a press badge and say, I'm there covering it for a newspaper or a radio station.
I will do that.
And that brings me to tier number two, which is if there's a big enough sporting event that I want to go to, you better believe that I'm going to find a way to be there as a media member and not have to pay to get in.
I hate to admit this because I have a pretty good streak going.
But the last time I actually paid,
actual money to go to a game that wasn't standing room only at a brewers game when I was in college Which doesn't really count because that was more of a here's a couple bucks.
It's like four dollars like not a big deal Last time I paid money to go to a sporting event was probably what I was in high school to be honest with you and I'm in my 40s now So I'm gonna wave a press badge and get into anything now that being said if I were Hypothetically going to go to something that I couldn't get a press pass for I I would say that it would
Greatly depend on the level event what the parking situation is That kind of stuff because if I'm paying a hundred bucks just to walk in like you guys said And in the concessions or a nightmare Parking's another 40 bucks, whatever it is and it all adds up to being like $300 just to go see something I'm gonna watch it on TV to be honest with you.
I mean, that's that's where I'm at That's a lot of money for for someone like me No, no, yes, I just I thought I was a hypothetical because I'm trying to think of what my pain threshold would be on something like that and
Maybe a few hundred bucks if depending on the level of game if I hypothetically had to go that's not getting me into the Super Bowl guys
It's not but if it's like a once a year thing I wouldn't mind dropping a bit of dough.
I Just see the ticket prices for the World Cup and they're four to five figures And I'm like there's absolutely no way I'm making a mortgage.
I'm taking a mortgage payment I'm instead gonna put it on tickets for a three-hour game or match what I could just watch it on TV for
That's where I'm at with that guys.
All right.
Well, let's figure the world cup.
Let's bring it to number seven in our top eight and eight I'm curious now today as we are working our way through the quarter finals for any one any team you're rooting for with the USA eliminated and the finals coming up here in the next week or so
No, not particularly.
I'm sorry, I'm not enough of a soccer guy to have a dog in the race here.
It would be cool to see Mbappe win something, it would be cool to see Messi win something, but yeah, that's about all I've got.
A couple of stars here and there that I will see and go, eh, it'd be cool if they won, but I really don't, I'm not rooting, I don't care.
From my outside looking in perspective, it's all about the stadium chant, and therefore, it's about Norway.
Give me a big ol' roux.
Like when the when the team and the stadium are on the same exact level like that There's it's really hard to hate it.
It's it's kind of an infectious mood.
So Norway for me plus Yeah, if I've got one single dominant genetic history, it's there.
So that's my guys
I wouldn't say for me.
I mean my kid is obsessed with soccer So he's all in Argentina.
They play later today since we're recording this Saturday But for me it is also Norway and it's because of a guy who
Honestly, he's built like Randy Moss.
He runs, well, like Randy Moss, but he scores goals at a crazy pace.
And that's Erling Holland, who has become just this incredible viral media superstar during this World Cup because he's in America and he's like on every show, every YouTube channel, you can't go anywhere without finding him.
So I think for me, it's Norway as well.
And mostly because you have this
This big goofy dude who like other teams try to box out and stuff like that They're trying to push him around and he laughs at them because he's six foot five and like 230 and he runs faster than anybody on the field So for me it is also Norway.
All right number six in our top eight and eight This is kind of a two-parter here number five and number six and these are Badgers related guys because while we were away for the fourth of July The Badgers were very busy including the hiring of a new athletic director, which we will dive into next week
a bit more with a guest.
But for this week, I'm going to keep it pretty simple.
And I'm going to start with this bit of news that came out because it is more aesthetic.
And that is this thumbs up or thumbs down part one, the Badgers unveiled new uniforms for their game against Notre Dame.
They are all red with silver, reflective silver instead of white.
What are your thoughts on these uniforms, guys?
They feel unnecessary to me for two.
Notre Dame also unveiled uniforms specifically for this game.
Both feel very unnecessary for two teams who have pretty iconic uniforms and could have worn their normal uniforms against each other.
They're saying that the silver is supposed to be like an ode to the Lombardi trophy and whatever, and the gold that Notre Dame is wearing is about their history of Paul Hornig and the Packers and whatever the connections are there.
Eh, thumbs to the side, mostly down.
The helmet's okay for the Badgers though.
Agreed on the helmet, but generally thumbs down and it's simple, simple, simple.
It's those silver numbers.
I get that there's a history element there, but it just doesn't work aesthetically.
And even if the real reason it's there is to separate them from an Alabama look up a couple shades, there needs to be more.
And I understand there's the Ohio State uniform to like you're bouncing off a couple different, but red is everywhere.
Lean into that.
Take the red.
Put the white on it, call it Wisconsin, find a way to cheese it up somehow that isn't the silver numbers.
They just trash it for me.
One, it looks like Louisville on a Tuesday match at night.
That's what it looks like to me.
It doesn't.
I can't see anything about Louisville when I see these.
Number two, though, as a broadcaster, these are nightmares.
How are you supposed to read the numbers?
Like I.
I'm just looking at like if I'm calling this game if I'm Matt LePay like I'm gonna have not only am I gonna have my color spotting I'm gonna have like everybody in that truck spotting for me because I can't read these numbers from afar Either way, I know they look good up close.
I'm used to dealing with bad uniforms as a sports play-by-play guy But that's that's my first thought my initial reaction because in media it's all about me and I you know because that's in media So
that's true.
I will also add here.
I think this is gonna look god-awful combined the all red versus all blue
in Lambo field is going to look wrong.
I didn't even like even seeing the Badgers play in Lambo against LSU.
I think that was in 2016.
That looks wrong to me even.
And those were regular uniforms.
It just looks wrong to see someone other than the Packers in Lambo to me.
All right.
We've been very negative on the show so far.
So let's go to number five, which is another thumbs up, thumbs down with the Badgers.
So for select men's uniforms, the Badgers have secured Culver's as a
sponsorship.
Thumbs up, thumbs down.
Generally for it.
I mean you got to get that NIL money somewhere But I don't know like how do you add culvers?
Are we is and I have to actually honestly ask this question because I wasn't aware of this before we dove in here today Is it going to be the name culvers on a uniform somewhere?
How are we?
Oh, we're going the NAS It
is a blue culvers logo right there.
Yep, and it stands way out in that run.
It is
like
Yeah,
I feel some kind of way about that.
And I think, yeah, I'm on the same page, guys.
That's the NASCAR thing.
I mean, if you keep it obscure or just don't make it so it's so eye-catching and I get that it's an advertisement, that's the point, but.
That's going to feel like it affects the viewing experience, especially with so many cameras.
I'm a home watcher.
I'm not going to be there seeing it live where I can miss it.
It's going to be a camera on it and it's going to hit it and I'm going to see it.
And it's going to I love Culver's.
I do.
It's the best burger in any kind of restaurant like that that you can get anywhere in the country.
Don't want to burger me.
Don't shake shack me.
I won't hear it.
But that's a little much.
Yeah, it is a big thumbs down for me.
Unfortunately, as a.
Out of principle, I hate it.
I don't like ads on uniforms to begin with.
Um, and then the fact that it pops out so hard makes me very sad.
I knew that the Badgers would do it.
I was hoping, I was hoping that they would go the subtle route and just put a white quick trip on there and you wouldn't hardly notice, but no big and bold culvers.
I like culvers, but not this time.
For me, I think I think we'll we'll whine about it at first But I think like every other Jersey patch will quickly forget it's even there Although I will say the blue on red contrast is going to be a little striking That's the part that jumped out for me and I think that's honestly quite intentional Because they could have gone just with white culvers lettering on red and nobody would have noticed but the blue oval that's gonna make people see it a lot
Last note for me.
I looked up an image I wanted to see what we were in for here and like you said it I think we're gonna forget it's there It's in that spot where you know, they've already got existing logos if only in the team colors But still yeah, it's where a captain's patch might go.
There's things we see there all the time without actually seeing it So hopefully it blends in soon
get ready
for
season when that patch becomes up on the shoulder
Number four, because we have only a minute here.
Number four at our top eight today, just very quickly.
And this is a Greg Anderson special.
I can't do a show without mentioning football.
So it has been a while since we've heard any news about the Packers Gray.
Is that good news?
That's fantastic news, Jimmy.
It is part of the year where no news is good news because we're in offseason kind of mode still for the last couple weeks.
Players could definitely get antsy, want to get some celebrating on.
There have absolutely been some bumps and bruises.
But that we're not hearing about injuries or about any misbehavior, let's put it that way, is a good sign.
So by the end of the month, people will be reporting to training camp and the real opportunity for bad news kind of opens up.
But still, anytime no news is good news.
Right, we've already had a bit of bad news off the field this offseason I feel like with the Packers with Josh Jacobs and that's gonna kind of loom I think as we go in the training camp a bit but the injury news is often I would say strikingly positive just the rehabbing for like Tucker Kraft and Micah Parsons and knowing the Parsons won't be back right away I think people kind of understood that it could be a 10 to 12 month kind of deal But I really do feel like we have gone now
essentially a month without really anything coming out.
Packers related, that's news.
And I think that's great.
The only Packers related news I've got is that Jordan Loves Foundation donated a bunch of cleats to high schools across Wisconsin.
That includes the one I coach at.
So that was pretty cool.
That's the only bit of news I could share on the show.
And with that shameless plug, I get to move on into the next segment here because we're out of time in this one.
We got baseball talk coming up.
Mike Clemens joins us in about a half an hour here.
I make the call part of the Civic Media radio network.
Welcome back to Make the Call on Civic Media.
We are moving through our top 8-8 here on Make the Call and we are at number 3.
And these next couple are baseball related guys because it is MLB all-star week after the matchups this weekend between the Brewers and the Pirates.
So let's get into it.
I want to ask at number three at our top 8-8 what your favorite part of MLB all-star week is.
And I want to leave this off.
I'll take one and start one for a change.
To mention, first of all,
you know, on Sunday, we get the teaser of Mizorowski versus Skeens.
So we already kind of get an all-star matchup in a way.
The pitching part of it, I think the best pitching matchup we've seen this year between Mizorowski and anybody else that they've played, that is a fantastic matchup on a Sunday in Pittsburgh.
But you look into the all-star game in this week.
My favorite part of this week, honestly, is just that the fan-friendliness of it in that the star players actually get to be out and show
And they're actually out mingling with people because a lot of times when you go to games Star players ain't doing a whole lot there That's that's a it's a whole a whole different thing but seeing them out and about in whatever city that they're playing the game in That to me is pretty fun.
I don't know about you guys MLB All Star week Just seeing all the stars of the game come together.
There's something in that I don't think the game itself
necessarily, but I think to just affect all of them in one spot is pretty awesome.
Yeah, that's honestly, Jimmy, to me, that's the biggest thing is being able to see all these people in one place because when you go to a game, you're going to, you're going to get circumstances like this Sunday.
You're going to get to see Ms.
You're going to get to see schemes play against each other.
And there's another guy, or two, three, however many it is, between those two teams, they go, oh yeah, I get to see that guy.
Or when you get to go see the Dodgers, you get to see nine guys that are like, oh my god, oh, I get to see that guy because they're the Dodgers and they have too many guys.
But yeah, this is one of the unique times that literally everyone on that field is a history maker.
If you're an all-star, you are among the best to ever play in Major League Baseball, and that is so noteworthy.
To me, that is by far the most fun thing about it, even though you do get a lot of fun with the home run derby, getting to see some jacks, but I don't know.
I've always thought that the home run derby is a little overblown.
I think the format of it is kind of funky.
I don't know about you, Gray, but it just seems like they're taking way too many swings to me, and it kind of takes away the fun.
Agreed agreed you've got to do something to provide some limitations because limitations are what may
What makes a person's performance interesting?
How do you do better than someone with the same exact restrictions?
So when it doesn't feel like those restrictions matter much I agree it takes some of the fun out of it But that's something that I think is unique to baseball guys that I actually do appreciate from the outside looking in is that with baseball There's a there's a higher elevation to who's on the field for the all-star game then compared to I've got to you know I've got to go there the Pro Bowl I'm the I'm gonna interface with that more and the Pro Bowl is gonna have some guys that it's like man
Why they vote you in you know, there's fan favorites There's players that aren't necessarily the best at their position and baseball Sheds that a little bit and there's kind of a there's a there's a rarefied air about it It feels like and and I hate to be dramatic But it feels like America's pastime when you've got that kind of thing going on
I remember that y'all start games as a kid and you're seeing you know and you have in the 90s You know you have Ken Griffey Jr.
Wearing the backwards hat you just think wow this is this is fun These are these are adults playing the game that I play but they're having fun
with it.
And they're also the best in the world at this.
And to me, there was something special about that as a kid as an adult.
Yeah, I'm a lot more cynical.
And it's like, okay, it's an all star game.
Great.
You know, as long as there's nothing truly at stake, there's no home field in the world series anymore at stake in this.
That to me was a big, big positive change.
That obviously was a big stake.
But also the MLB all star game remains though, the most legitimate actual game.
Like, the NBA, I don't... God, I don't have a clue what is going on there.
I don't like...
the NBA's festivities of their game or tournament, whatever it is now.
NHL kind of same thing.
That one's kind of neat because just because I think hockey is more of a fun game in general.
But yeah, football, that all-star game is not anything to be compared to the MLB
all-star game.
It's like football game now.
So it's like, oh, that's right.
Oh, God.
It's not even a football game anymore.
So like an actual like tackle each other kind of football game.
You know, and there's a lot to be said about all-star games, but I want to dive in while we have a few minutes.
that's in the number two at our top edit eight.
Cause you mentioned Parker that, you know, the NL all-star roster is, you know, Dodgers and Phillies and the Yale all-star roster is Blue Jays.
So the Brewers got two into this all-star game.
And they got, of course, chicken, Mr. Rowski for the second time.
They got William Contreras in as a catcher, but I have to ask that all of the deserving Brewers make this all-star game.
That is my question to you guys.
Hard no.
Very, very, very hard.
No.
Bryce Terang, we're going to start there just because I think that he probably deserves the most attention.
Because wherever reason, he has never in the last maybe year, he has not gotten the recognition that he deserves as one of the best second baseman, probably the best second baseman in baseball.
I don't understand why he's not getting his flowers nationally.
pretty consistently seems to get snubbed until all of a sudden he's on ESPN broadcast like, oh yeah, by the way, Bryce Terang, he's pretty good.
But outside of that day, they're not going to talk about him.
And then I'm also going to go over to Jake Bowers.
Jake Bowers has kind of had the most consistent and his consistent has been very good season for the Brewers.
He leads the team in on base percentage.
He got most RBIs.
He's got the most home runs.
I don't know how you can miss on Jake Bowers as well, because he's a bat.
And yeah, bats are what get the most attention.
Let's be honest.
He should be there.
And Bryce Terrang for the leather should definitely be there.
He's got a platinum glove a couple of years ago, and we don't seem to talk about him nearly as much.
Gray, are there any other ones in there?
I have no notes, Parker.
I don't know how I could possibly add to that.
That is, yeah, 10 out of 10.
Bryce Tarrang is an all-star.
I don't care what the fans voted.
I don't care what the commissioner picked.
None of that matters.
Bryce Tarrang, my head-to-head against anybody else in the infield in the all-star game, head and shoulders should be there.
Just watching Masha Tater against the Cardinals a couple nights ago to help extend the league.
You see the plays he makes.
Everybody assumes he's the future Dodger or Yankee because he's that good.
Yeah, he should be an all-star.
This should be an all-star season for him.
The one that I think should be there as well is Kyle Harrison, the left-handed pitcher in the starting rotation.
He gives the Brewers a nice one-two punch.
Harrison has had...
an incredible year.
And again, another one of those brewers ought to know our guys.
He's a guy that should be in the All-Star game as well.
So I think between those three, we've got three more brewers we think all stars.
And I think you can make good arguments for any three of them.
But I think the number one snub and maybe of all the guys who didn't make the All-Star game in any league is Bryce Durant.
We are going to move on and we are going to talk basketball in our next segment.
We have had a couple of weeks to sleep on it and we are going to give our final thoughts.
On the Yanis saga and the trade that sent him to Miami and what the bucks have done since then this is make the call part of the civic media radio network
Welcome back to Make the Call on Civic Media.
Halfway through Make the Call here on the Civic Media Radio Network.
If you're listening along, make sure you join us in about 20 minutes.
Mike Clemens will give us a week in review in Wisconsin Sports.
A lot's happened this week, and he'll get it all broken down for you as part of our Sports Weekend Review with Mike Clemens coming up in about 20 minutes or so.
But for now, for the next 15 minutes or so, it is going to be us three knuckleheads talking
About the big news of the last couple of weeks and we we had of course basically an entire show dedicated to this already and I know we've spent
Pretty much the entire time the show has been on the year the past year talking about whether Giannis is leaving or not This is what happens in Wisconsin sports Megastar on the team and then all of a sudden like is he leaving is he not leaving?
How do you deal with it in the aftermath?
And that's where we are we are the trade has happened the long speculated long-awaited trade has happened the bucks are in full rebuild mode and Giannis is no longer on the Milwaukee bucks so
I'm going to enter this conversation this way.
In the last couple of weeks, what's happened is that the Bucks have made some roster moves to accumulate some draft capital, some second round picks, and also kind of reshaped the roster.
They've ditched some of the veterans that were built around Yanis to space the floor, and they've completely retooled this team around.
At the moment, I don't know what we're seeing.
We're seeing a team that has some scoring punch, but
Very young and very untested at this point.
There are some some albatrosses in the way of progress but being in that it's the NBA and you can't
like in NBA 2k, cut the entire team and start over, they've made a lot of moves to that point.
The other interesting note, and I'll bring this up later, is Yana specifically, in his common sense, leaving, saying that the grass might not be greener on the other side, which I found to be fascinating.
Like he's having this moment of reflection and regret that, oh, I made this happen, and maybe this wasn't the right thing in a bit, but honestly, going from Milwaukee to Miami, I feel like is, for him, you know,
what he wanted and now he gets to live in that.
But all right, let's start.
Let's go back to the original point.
We've had a couple of weeks now to kind of digest this and sit on it, guys.
So where are you guys out with this?
How are you feeling now in the week since Yannis got tread into Miami?
I'm feeling comfortable.
You know, I can only I can only take what I hear.
You know, I have to I have to rely on the experts because I'm not I'm not capable of evaluating an NBA team in any kind of way.
I'll be honest there.
But when I don't sense panic,
You know, I gotta go about it like the deer eating from the feeder in your backyard.
If there's not a bad vibe in the air, then I'm not bolting until I see somebody else bolt, you know.
And the people who I do know are monitoring the situation, the people I trust.
And, you know, I talk to Mike Clemens every week for a show that I do on the side here.
We have some dealings and, you know, he's mentioned that there's just kind of a general calm and a sense of optimism.
And so I'm thinking, man, if people are optimistic with this kind of.
this level of retooling, even I can tell they're stripping this one down to the bolts and cleaning it all.
That's pretty awesome.
That's what you hope for when that kind of rebuild begins, regardless of sport or situation.
That level of, I don't want to say violent, but it's almost invasive when you've got to tear it up from the floorboards on upwards and they're doing that and people are calm about it.
They're not finding things that scared them.
What reason have I to be afraid?
Now, that said, a couple games in when something makes itself obvious, we might be having a different conversation, but I'll wait until I see it myself.
Parker, what's your feeling?
I honestly, I think you're kind of got the nail on the head there.
It feels to me, I don't know necessarily that people are being optimistic about anything at all.
I think that they just know that they can't panic right now.
Not right now.
Right now, what they need to do is they need to accept the fact that Janus is gone and.
Obviously, we've done that.
Yannis is gone.
And I think that all three of us were A, sad, but B, duh, yeah, that was gonna happen.
That's pretty much how we were approaching the situation.
So yeah, I think all of the Milwaukee Bucks fans right now, I think we're just in that phase of we're accepting that this is where we're at.
We're accepting the fact that A, we're losing Yannis, and B,
It's a long road ahead of rebuilding.
I think people know that.
I think that people are very well aware that it's going to take a long time to be able to get to back to where the Bucks want to be.
Now, it is summer right now, and we are not playing basketball right now.
So it is very easy to say, yeah, you know, Yannis is gone.
We got some new draft picks.
We got a couple other players from the heat.
We'll see what happens.
It'll be, you know, we're in for the long haul to be good.
Come basketball season, I think that you might get a little bit more hair on fire.
Oh my god.
Why are we so bad?
Ah That is kind of what more of what I'm expecting, but right now we're fine.
It's okay, Jimmy.
It's
okay The house is on fire around us, but we're fine.
It's fine.
It's fine.
I think it's fine Okay, let's I'm gonna be pessimists for a minute.
They've mortgaged a lot of their future to build
a championship window with Yanis, right?
So they're missing a lot of their draft picks coming up.
They got a lot of pick swaps.
They've sent all their second round draft picks where they got a couple of them back, right?
But they have more, they mortgage their future for a championship window now with Yanis.
It was win now with Yanis and to the Bucks vast credit.
They swung for the fences in every deal they made in the offseason.
Every offseason, they did everything they possibly could within the very rigid structure of the NBA.
With a small roster, the limited amount of moves you can make with mid-level exceptions and avoiding the second apron and all these other things that are happening in the NBA managing a roster.
They took advantage of every single rule, including the stretch provision, which by the way, they're paying Damian Lillard yet on their salary cap for another few years yet.
So the impacts of the Yanis era in Milwaukee are still going to be felt by teams Yanis does not play for.
And we all knew this going in because at the time we knew the Bucks had to do something to placate Yanis for a while, but also
be in contention, right?
Be in contention as a team.
And you saw the cumulative effect of decisions and bad luck and injuries and everything not going their way, with Middleton, with Lillard, with everything that happened, even the most recent round with getting Kuzma, Miles Turner, all this, they went for it.
We yell a lot of times, you know, if you listen to sports talk radio long enough, you people yell at their radios like, hey, they got to go all in on this.
You only get a championship.
That's the only thing that matters.
You go all in on this every single time.
And the box did that.
I there's nothing else they could have done in this window to contend.
And the aftermath of that is what we're staring at now.
A lot of first round draft picks that aren't our own and a whole a whole lot of a whole lot of, you know,
of that capital you need to build a roster, just not being there.
And oh, by the way, some contracts you have to deal with.
And you know, on that front, on the contract front, I really feel like the Bucks are extremely fortunate because they actually have a lot of expired contracts now.
And they actually do have some flexibility where they could reasonably get back to being a playoff team in the next couple of years.
So between what I've heard from the two of you, Parker, you mentioned we've got the benefit of the offseason to keep us optimistic right now.
Jimmy, you mentioned that there are pieces missing coming up in future drafts because of what they did to keep you honest.
But you also mentioned that there's a realistic turnaround in the near future.
Let's say it goes that other way, it does go wrong.
What would that look like and what would the timing be on that, do you think?
Is it an immediate and visible thing right when the season begins or would it take some time to show that there are some flaws in our new approach?
I'll just start with this.
I will say that if things go miserably this year, I think people will accept that because without Yanis, you're taking away the most important player for any NBA team and you've moved on from him.
He's no longer there.
The team, the franchise you've literally built around for nearly a decade, that piece isn't there anymore.
So you accept that.
There's going to be some pain afterwards.
This year will be the pain.
So whether this year is just to inflate trade value for guys at the deadline or whatever it is this year to just build assets and give yourself a more flexible future, I think this year you call as a wash and you say, you know what?
It doesn't matter what happens this year.
This year is post-Yanis.
You're one.
This is the apocalypse.
This is the aftermath.
This is every single setting and every young adult novel that's come out in the last 20 years.
It is a post-apocalyptic wasteland right now for the Bucks.
So how do we get the flying cars?
Well, you get through this year.
You use the assets you have, whatever it is, whether it's the big expiring contracts, whether it's, you know,
Tyler Hero going as a person who can create some outside shooting for an actual NBA finals contending team.
Whatever you can get out of that, that is kind of the immediate goal.
What can you do with the current roster to give yourself a better future?
This year, the record doesn't matter.
I think everything is about what you can do in the future, and this is what the series is.
Build the assets you have, make them more appealing to other teams, and try to swing back and get a few of those draft picks you've.
You've gotten rid of to build that championship window and try to get a few more of those back before say 2030 I
think that there's something to Jimmy you talked earlier about How the Bucks were swinging for the fences and they absolutely were and they were writing pretty much everything that they did to try to get another championship with the honest I think that the one mistake that a lot of people are gonna in retrospect look at is the coaching the coaching was something that The Bucks struggled to find they struggled to find a head coach that could get the job done
Did they pull the trigger too early?
In some cases, maybe.
Did they pull the trigger too late in some cases?
Maybe.
Now, when you're looking at a rebuild, Jimmy, you just talked about players that you can work around, build around.
What can we do with these guys?
I'm looking at the coaching right now for the Bucks.
Are they going to be able to rebuild with this new head coach that you've just got brought in from the Grizzlies?
Is he going to be able to actually build this team into a team that, yeah, maybe.
Maybe this year is a wash.
Maybe you don't think about it at all, but maybe they surprise you.
Maybe it happens.
Maybe they can put something together.
If they don't this year, next year, or this year, you might get enough flashes in the pan that make you go, huh, you know, there might really be something there.
Maybe this coach is onto something.
And maybe next year, you get, or the year after, a couple of years down the road, you're actually in the playoffs a little bit earlier than you think.
I think the coaching is something that really needs to be talked about predominantly, because
you are trying to just cobble something together, I think right now.
And I think this is a good opportunity for it with the new head coach in that a lot of people were excited about.
We were excited about
him.
I think that the coaching absolutely does matter in this.
Um, I, I, you know, the Mike Boudin has a situation.
Honestly, that, that triggered a whole lot of really, really interesting decisions in that.
And ending up at dock rivers while you're paying for head coaches is, I think the other part of this, when you talk about Ross building,
you need to have someone to at least manage the game and be aware of where things are going.
Have a system at least that defensively you're not just an absolute, you know, just getting blown off the floor every time.
I don't know how much coaching is going to make a big impact on the current roster.
Who are you trying to develop at this point?
Who are the guys in your roster you want to build around?
That's what the Bucks got to answer.
I mean, who are the actual guys you're building around?
Because right now the roster
the contract situation the way that it is.
It's a lot of intrigue and I'm not really sure what they all have there.
There are some guys that are going to provide
Probably some trade value.
That's kind of what I look at it right now which guys are going to bring the most back into trade That's that's where I'm approaching it as a Bucks fan that and I just hope that you know this year however it happens You know if they do put some together with the youth and there's some unexpected jumps I could see a scenario in which the Bucks actually win more games than they did last year with the honest missing 50 games They actually win a few extra games this year and end up around the same spot on the standings.
I think that's that's actually
viable.
I don't see this as a 12 and 70 kind of team.
This is a team of the 20s or 30s probably, just under 500, maybe the ceiling.
And however they get there with the coaching, with the players they got, that's going to be the part where maybe it stresses us out a bit.
But to be honest with you, I'm taking a very relaxed approach to this season because Yanis is in Miami, man.
I mean, he spent 13 years in Milwaukee.
He's in Miami now.
It is no longer Yanis in the box.
It is now
The bucks are are going to kind of move back to being, you know, behind the Packers and Brewers in terms of Wisconsin sportsman attention, maybe behind the Badgers and Marquette, depending on how you feel about college basketball.
Oh, Marquette.
Geez.
I'm saying in Milwaukee because Marquette is huge in Milwaukee.
I know for us out of state, upstate guys, it's not as big of a deal, but in in Milwaukee, Marquette is a big deal.
So I never thought about it that way.
Yeah, I suppose.
Yeah.
All right.
So that is where we all landed on the post Yanis situation.
Yanis was traded to Miami in late June.
We had an entire show about this.
We brought in Jordan Tresky, who wrote a book about the first Milwaukee Bucks championship in the 70s.
And also we brought in our friend Don Schaefer, Dan Schaefer, Don Schaefer.
We brought in our friend Dan Schaefer of the Reconvobulation area, who is obviously a big Bucks fan to talk about it.
And we have that show available for you on demand.
at civicmedia.us.
Just look for Make the Call and you can listen to that show.
Some really, really good insight in the immediate aftermath of the goddess being traded.
That was our show that we also had for you last week, but if you want to take a replay of that, you can do that.
And speaking of replays, Mike Clemens offers a sports week in review and that happens next year as part of Make the Call.
It's right here on the Civic Media Radio Network.
Welcome back to Make the Call on Civic Media.
We talked about a lot of things today, guys, and it's a chance now for us to have our final sports thoughts of the week before we get out of the way for Mike Clemmons.
at his sports week in review.
Parker, we're gonna start
with you, man.
I am thinking about the Brewers.
I am thinking about a matchup that I would love to be at, but unfortunately it's in Pittsburgh, and I'm not going to Pittsburgh.
The Brewers taken on the Pirates, obviously.
Miz vs. Skeens is gonna get a lot of attention.
I was lucky enough to accidentally go to that game when they played Milwaukee last summer, I believe, when face-to-face.
It was a lot of fun.
I'm expecting a lot of fireworks.
From the mound, I think it'll be really cool.
I'm really sad, though, that it is only on Peacock.
You cannot actually watch it on Burst TV.
MLB, what are we doing?
R. R. Yeah.
Got to sail the
seven seas.
R. Say no more.
Yep, we're going to say no more on that.
I don't need an FCC fine.
All right, Gray, save us from being fined out of our minds.
Well, I mean for me it's a it's packer month miz and skeens is an incredible matchup that even I can recognize is awesome but we've got training camp happening and therefore I'm starting to look into things and into names and into the extra bodies and who's on the active roster right now before we've got to cut anything down and what is the situation look like in Green Bay because hey if you're a training camp attendee you know that it gets exciting around there for those of us.
with this level of interest.
So I'm hoping I can get down there sometime this month, or perhaps more likely next month, maybe see a preseason game or something like that.
And it's never too early to get hyped.
We'd be less than a month away from that kind of thing.
So.
Are you going to bring your bicycle
for a player to ride on?
Are you going to do that?
I got nothing for that, man.
That was good.
I can't even I can't even I can't even swing back dishonor on my cow on that one.
Like I dishonor my whole family.
I can't even swing back at that one.
Jimmy, I respect it too much.
I honestly, I would.
I would if I could.
I've got a bike.
It's not even that far away.
I'm like, you immediately brought the possibility to mine.
And I asked myself, is, could it?
No, it cannot happen.
I am a grown adult.
They will not accept
me.
I think a live, not an adult bike would be a lot better than seeing like, seeing like a three hundred pound guy and like a little pink thing with the tassels.
Like that, that's always a hilarious size.
We're out of time though, guys.
I don't even have to share my final thought, which is this, I went to the hottest guru game of the century last week, survived it.
This has been make the call part of the civic media radio network.
Mike Clements now with a Sports Week in Review.
Saying goodbye to Yanis.
I'm Mike Clements with our Week in Wisconsin Sports Review.
Although the Milwaukee Bucks made their blockbuster trade with the Miami Heat last month, it wasn't until this week the deal was officially approved by the NBA.
After that, Yanis and Ted Acupo said now that the reality of leaving Milwaukee after 13 years was starting to set in.
I'm scared.
I'm scared of.
I'm scared of change.
Scared of change.
I'm scared that the grass is not always greener.
I'm scared of, like, I have things.
People love me here.
People respect me here.
I might never find that ever again.
But it's something that I wake up every single day and I only take my showers at night.
maybe I wait too long.
I see guys playing deep into the playoffs and I think I'm like, okay, maybe if I switch teams and I go somewhere else and have a better opportunity.
And people don't understand, it's a risk.
And the reality of life after Yanis and Bobby Portis was also sinking in at the Bucs front office.
In a press conference, GM John Horst asked, at the end of the day,
Did the Bucks have to trade Yanis?
There's not a have to.
You know what I mean?
Like he's still under contract to play basketball.
We still had other opportunities.
We explored those opportunities, looked at other ways to continue to build and just continue to weigh those things against what the right path forward was for all parties.
But this was not a have to.
This was a we truly believe we found an opportunity, which is unique.
We might be right.
We might be wrong, but an opportunity where
This is what's best for him and what he wants to pursue going forward.
And this is what's best for us and what we want to pursue and go forward.
And that's why we made the decision, but it wasn't a have to
in Las Vegas.
The NBA Summer League is underway and the Bucks Tyler hero got into a fight with one of his former Miami Heat teammates, ESPN's Sham Chirania,
former Miami Heat teammates, Bama Tobayo and Tyler hero got into a physical altercation on Friday morning here in Las Vegas.
Sources tell me that Bama Tobayo struck Tyler.
hero in the face area as they were walking off the practice court.
at a Las Vegas hotel.
This happened when Bam Adebayo, I'm told, approached Tyler Hero about comments that Hero made on social media critiquing Bam after Hero was traded from Miami to Milwaukee.
But after some social media comments, Bam Adebayo, I'm told, approached Tyler Hero on it.
That's when they got into a confrontation, a back and forth that culminated in Bam Adebayo striking Tyler Hero.
Later that day, the Bucks played the heat in Vegas, Miami.
The Bucks first run pick, Braden Buries led with 18 points and center Pete Nance just signed last week at 16.
In Madison, the Wisconsin Badgers officially welcome their new athletic director, Sean Eichhorst, who says as the AD, the most important thing he'll do is hire good head coaches.
Our student athletes will be at the heart of everything we do and every decision we make, but that will be through our head coaches.
Our head coaches will be at the tip of the spear for us.
They're the ones that are out there finding the best and the brightest to come to Wisconsin and help transform their lives.
So we're going to pour everything into our head coaches.
They're going to pour everything into our student athletes.
My commitment to you is that you're going to be the first thing we think about when we wake up in the morning.
The Wisconsin idea is alive and well.
Baseball, although the Brewers are in first place, they've had some setbacks in the past week.
Last Sunday, Brandon Woodruff explaining the difficulty he was having in his most recent start, the fastball only at 87, 88 miles per hour.
Yeah, I mean, initially warming up, everything was good.
First thing was fine and then kind of just a slow progression of just, I guess,
the best word.
Woodruff being told now by doctors he's got a new problem in his right shoulder and lefty Kyle Harrison had another short appearance in his start against the Cardinals in St.
Louis manager Pat Murphy.
You know, he's fatigued.
You know, it's obvious he's fatigued and we gotta we gotta help him on that.
You know, man, that's all there's to it.
We got to help him.
Could have left him in there, but we're thinking about his future and felt a little soreness and.
We're not going to mess with it.
Is that resulting from his last start?
I mean, he's not injured.
He's we don't think we're just.
again, we want to protect him when we notice his stuff isn't quite as good and he's not moving the same way, you know, we're going to protect these young starters.
When you say Soreness, he's just talking general or is it a elbow?
Usually you don't
get sore in your earlobe.
Usually it's your arm.
Harrison confirmed the Soreness was his elbow.
The Brewers wrapping up their series in Pittsburgh this weekend against the Pirates before the All-Star game Tuesday night in Philadelphia with sports on Mike Clements.
