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Now, it's time for Make the Call, the Civic Media Sports production.
Indeed, it is another weekend here on the Civic Media Radio Network.
It is Make the Call, and we welcome you aboard for a huge sports weekend here in Wisconsin.
I'm Jimmy Koska, sports director here at Civic Media, and this week, well, our trio is down the two.
Parker Olson joins us from the capital city in Madison.
Parker, what's going on, man?
I am very excited because, I mean, hey, it's always a good week in Wisconsin sports, especially when the Bears are winning, Jimmy.
Yeah, the brewer is playing in the NLCS.
You got the Packers, you got D3 football happening, high school football conference championship races happening all over the place, playoffs starting in a lot of the high school sports.
I mean, this is the best time of year.
I love October, especially when things are going well for most of the teams that we follow here, a couple of teams.
Yeah, we've got to talk a little bit about that here in a minute.
We got to see if they can get things turned around in the right direction.
We're going to do that here in just a minute.
But before we get there, Parker, we have a lot of
of a lot to get you on the show today.
We're going to dive deep into the Brewer's Dodger series with Ken Kazuba of Kazza Sports Corner.
He'll be joining us at the bottom of the hour.
So about 25 minutes from now, we'll be talking brewers and Dodgers.
A little bit after that, towards the end of the show, Mike Clements will have his Wisconsin Sports Week in review.
That segment will be happening again near the end of the program.
That is a collection of all the biggest sports stories from the week.
And there's a lot of sports stories to talk about this week.
I don't know how he's going to cram it all into five minutes, but he'll find a way.
We'll also recap
week seven of high school football and get you set for what's our week eight.
I should say for high school football and get you set for what's coming there as the playoffs are right around the corner.
That'll happen later in the show as well.
But here in the first half of the show, we're going to talk a lot of football and why not talk football with Frank Gargano, who joins us, who has been covering the Wisconsin Badgers for us, but also gives us some insight into the big rivalry game coming up on Sunday with Packers v.
Bears, Frank, welcome aboard, man.
We could talk Bears Packers and what may be the most lackluster game in the history's rivalries.
So, rivalries history, I don't know.
I have a lot of thoughts on this.
And, you know, it's been an interesting morning already as we look ahead to this game.
So let's dig right in.
Well, let's dig into it.
And I want to get this out very quickly.
So my grandfather, who is a Chicago native, you know, big Bears fan, he had every Walter Peyton jersey, autograph, everything on his walls.
Well, one, and he passed away this summer.
Well, one of his favorite people in the entire world, somebody who would regularly quote and text messages to me when I'd be doing sports programs.
whatever games or shows I was doing is Mike Ditka who passed away earlier this week.
I have to imagine for you, for Bears fans, I mean this is big.
Ditka was like the persona of the 1980's Chicago Bears and he lived that in cameos and movies and TV shows.
all the way through his media career following coaching.
You know, I think a lot of times when we see some coaches and it's like, man, that guy's a character and Ditka was a character, but that's genuinely who he was 24 seven.
You know, my phone's been blowing up ever since the news broke this morning.
And I think.
One of my cousins put it perfectly.
He's like, Mike Ditko was just quintessential Chicago.
Like he was the real deal.
Hall of Fame tight end for the Bears comes back and coaches.
And you know, if you grew up in the Chicago land area and you have some uncles that get together at a party, you can bet every penny you have in your bank account.
that the 1985 Chicago Bears will come up in conversation, no matter what.
You could be talking about anything else, and it'll all come back to sweetness, Mike Ditka, the 85, the defense, buddy, right?
All of that stuff.
I think every household in the Chicagoland area...
If you have a finished basement, I think it comes with a Mike Ditka picture and there's a couple to choose from.
The one where he's flipping off the photographers is definitely a personal favorite of mine, as well as many others.
And, you know, I think, I think with Mike, it goes beyond just Chicago, right?
I've seen a lot of people saying like, dude, this was, if you close your eyes and you think of like an old school hard nose football coach, I think.
A lot of us are too young to think Vince Lombardi, but a lot of us think of Mike Ditka and really going to miss him.
Well, he was certainly, you know, pop culture, certainly as you said, a character, a big figure.
I think even in Wisconsin, I think people can appreciate it.
Chris Farley did some great skits with the super fans, you know, you know, Mike Ditka and they just get into it.
So let me
You know, I think a lot of stuff.
is exaggerated.
Those type of people really do exist on the south side of Chicago.
I really, I think that's one of those SNL skits that really wasn't exaggerated because.
And there I think that thick south side accents dying.
But when you finally meet, if you move to Chicago, you may go one year, two years without meeting that person.
And then you finally do when you hear them talk and you could just see the excitement on their face.
And they're like, oh, my God, the super fan skits real.
These people really do exist.
And they are as delusional.
as Chris Farley, Rob Smigel were in that skit.
Yeah.
My grandpa was one of those.
So I met one pretty much from birth.
Yeah.
Oh yeah.
Well, in Chris Farley, obviously an institution here in Wisconsin, you know, with all of his Madison and Marquette ties, but all right, let's let's talk about the Packers Bears with you just since we have you here.
Yeah.
You know, we've talked.
Packers quite a bit.
We do a green and gold review every week gray is normally our go-to for that We've talked a lot about the Packers struggles specifically and we've hammered on this since the preseason the offensive line Which they are still trying to figure out Going into this game with Chicago.
I know from a bear side of it It's it's one of those games where you know, it's early in the year, but it's a divisional game and right now both teams are still
The Bears are navigating without a quarterback.
Packers are navigating without an offensive line, I guess.
There's some things to figure out for both of these teams.
So this game is interesting on a few levels coming up here this weekend.
Yeah, I texted Parker, because working here and talking shop with Parker every day, I do keep more tabs on the Packers.
So when they played Atlanta, I was like, well, I got to throw this on.
Maybe usually I wouldn't.
Maybe I'm doing something else or watching a show.
I threw it on.
And I can't remember if I tweeted out or if I texted him and I said this is the worst offensive line play I may have seen.
in history and seeing the clips come across, you know, you've got to tackle in a guard, both leaving the tackle alone to chip up to the linebacker.
And I was like, this is like high school freshman mistakes.
Like this is such a, like I don't, I don't think people understand how big of a problem this actually is.
And it's just mind blowing.
And you look at the coaching staff and you wonder what the hell's going on in Green Bay.
And I don't know if I really have ever said that in my lifetime.
So from a bear's perspective, I've been pretty happy only to see what we have going on.
You've got Kyle Minungai having a great game last week and now he's going to be out this weekend with turf toe.
You have Caleb Williams.
He's still not a hundred percent.
He's not going to be back yet.
So when you're going into Lambo field and I even told Parker, I think, you know, if Green Bay wins, I'm not going to be really upset or surprised.
Because we're throwing out, we're trotting out Tyson Bajan.
I think the green and gold are going to show up the faithful in the stands.
And then the news of Ditka dying this morning came out and I looked at Parker and I was like, oh my God, you guys were so close.
I could have swore you guys had this one kind of locked up.
And now the entire city of Chicago is going to want to win this one for the old bald coach.
Yeah, it really was set.
And I don't know that it was that set, but like.
I wasn't excited.
This has got to be the least excited about a Packers Bears game I've ever been.
You know what
No.
Because no one's excited about anything right now.
Except all of a sudden the Bears are on a mission.
Well, and
If you're a true football fan, whenever you have these games, you really do want
the best version of both teams.
Like that's the product I want to watch.
When Aaron Rodgers was with the Packers, I wanted to beat Aaron Rodgers.
I didn't want to beat a backup, right?
And now we've, I think I just agree with your sentiment.
I don't care as much.
I want to see a W in the column, obviously, but I'm not like worked up over it.
No.
I think I've said this a lot, especially this year.
I have very seldom feel happy when the Packers have won a game, because it's so excruciating to watch them sometimes, as a rule of thumb.
But this one is gonna be like, eh, eh, you know.
going to be ugly.
I've been saying for the last couple of days about how the burrs and Padres was a meat grinder.
This is going to be a meat grinder of a football game.
No one's going to do anything very well unless the Packers actually took their coaching from Zypler, I
I guess, sorry to flip this on both of you, being Packers fans, when you look at this division, you see how bad
the Lions defenses in Detroit.
They have a lot of issues with Kelvin Shepard, their defensive coordinator.
You have the Bears who are without Caleb Williams and kind of they're not, they're not sputtering, but they don't look amazing out there.
You have the Vikings, which I think we will be using the term frauds for later on in the season.
I mean, as of right now, I don't think anybody's really counting the Packers out.
I certainly am not because of PTSD from former of my childhood.
I mean, do you think that they can figure out this offensive line situation and compete?
I think they will.
I mean, they did take a step forward last week.
I mean, how could you not?
I mean, yeah, it was against the box.
But
the
bar
is laying.
The
bar was.
Yes,
I'm aware.
But I do think that they are actually kind of getting something.
I think that the couple of guys that they've brought in are, while they may not be on the field quite yet, they are actually making an impact in that offensive line room.
And I think that's helping elevate the level of play so that they don't make high school football mistakes.
So, I mean, I think it's there.
I think the pieces are there, Jimmy, right?
They're moving a little bit forward.
I mean, I just shrugged shoulders.
Yeah.
I mean, they're at the point where they're just signing people off the street, fixed problems.
You know, like that's not a good place to be.
This is stuff you do in like, you know, June, not
season.
You're building the airplane in flight.
And that's, that's the problem for me.
I do want to talk a little bit though, when you, when you flip this around, so we know the Packers offense is a massive Packers defense without Micah Parsons still.
Um, they've, they're, they took another big hit.
They lost, they lost a big linebacker.
So they're, they're missing some big pieces on defense.
And I'm curious, you know, even with the bears with, without a quarterback, what do you see?
Just how did, how did the bears look just kind of to that matchup?
Because again, the Packers are down a couple of big defenders there in the middle.
This is where I'm really excited with the Bears this season.
I think their offensive line, they finally have it figured out.
Like they're pushing bodies up front, evident with Manangai.
I mean, he's a downhill runner.
They're going to miss him.
But I think DeAndre Swift is going to have a bounce back game.
They're going to keep it on the ground.
Beijing can get mobile.
And to be honest, if Beijing has a bad game, Case Kingdom looked pretty good a couple of weeks ago.
So I'm pretty okay with that too.
I think giving, having a great offensive line.
that can create a clean pocket just so these guys don't have fits and they can just step up and make a couple of easy passes.
This is where I give the edge to the Bears.
Well Packers Bears is the matchup this weekend and we've got more football to talk about Frank.
We have you on the talk Badger is normally so we're gonna do that.
We're gonna do it and we come back I want to talk about this this badger's link because it really surprised me that they go out and blow out a big 10 opponent So we're gonna do that coming up right after this.
This is make the call part of the civic media radio network
Welcome back to Make the Call on Civic Media.
Welcome back.
It is Make the Call.
Jimmy here with Parker and Frank Gargano sticking around for another segment while we talk about Packers pairs.
The Badgers don't play this weekend, but I want to go back to last weekend to the homecoming game, Michigan State.
Frank, I was really surprised to see the Badgers put it on the Spartans.
I wasn't really expecting 31 three and a big 10 matchup from Wisconsin.
Yeah, I don't know if anybody was expecting a shutout, but I think I've been pretty optimistic these past couple of weeks that we've spoken about this offense getting going.
I know Parker had questions of like, are we going to see a dual threat performance out of Colton Joseph?
And we're all sitting there waiting like,
Are we going to run this kid?
And then he takes off for 40 plus yards in the first possession.
And I went, oh, there it is.
There's
in
So what you're saying is that we need you to be at these Badger games.
Thank you.
Apparently
My former team.
I think it was great to see them finally in control of a game.
Yes.
I mean, they were more in control against Pat Fitzgerald Spartans than they were against Western Illinois.
And I think I'm going to be saying Western Illinois like that for the rest of the football season, but it was just atrocious.
So good for them.
It looks like they have the offense figured out.
They've got some tough games ahead.
They do.
This month is going to be really difficult for the Badgers.
It's just like last year they had a gauntlet.
is not quite as big, but it is still a pretty good run coming up for him.
So just while we have just looking ahead, I mean, they've got to play the California schools.
They've got Iowa.
They've got some big games coming up.
I'm curious in all of this, you know, if the Badgers can sustain some of this, I don't think at this point, ball eligibility is the question.
But I do wonder how competitive they'll be against some of these better teams.
get two out of three.
It is a spectacular season.
I mean, you have to go into trap City, Iowa against Kinnick.
Let's just chalk that one up as a loss.
That one could go either way.
It's a rivalry game.
You never know.
Iowa looks good.
UCLA's offense looks amazing, but they might be hung over coming out of Otson Stadium tomorrow against a big matchup.
So we'll see how that goes if they're a little bit hung over, especially if they get away with the win.
We don't know.
I think we're still so early in the season that
nobody's really sure what we have, but I think with the Badgers seeing some consistency these past couple of weeks, I think they're in a good position to succeed.
I mean, something I'll bode well for the Badgers though is that we've seen their defense actually is solid.
Like, I think that is kind of the one thing that I can
They bend a lot.
They don't break that dad.
They don't break.
No.
And I think that'll help them in that game, obviously.
But if you've got a team that's not really on the ball like they need to be, then your defense kind of could stick it to them.
But we
Wisconsin.
I'll have a bio week this weekend.
They will be taking the beginning up the California schools here coming up.
Uh, Frank, uh, you don't get to go to California, unfortunately, uh, with the, with the next year I'll
Yeah.
We're going to take a look at that, but we're going to go to that budget meeting.
Okay.
We're sort of Frank California.
I don't know.
I'm going to probably get some, uh, I'm going to get some
But Frank, I appreciate having your insight on all things football here with Badgers.
I do want to have one quick final thought on this.
And that is just, you know, obviously the bi-week, there's a chance to kind of, you know, think about this for a second.
But, um, for, we started the year with Luke Thickel on a hot seat, right?
And we talked about how, you know, any badger discussion, how they needed to win probably, you know, bowl eligibility is a must, but just.
where they needed to progress to as a program.
The Penn State victory doesn't look as good after the, the, the Nittany Lions got just thrashed last week.
So I'm curious, is there a threshold where you feel like the job is safer, fickle, or is the hot seat, is it still kind of warm?
Like, where are we at with that?
I think if they finish the season strong, no matter what happens in these next three games, he's still in the clear.
If they completely fall off.
Or if he really, here's my message to Luke Vickle and the entire coaching staff.
Don't touch anything this week.
Let your players rest and keep the game plan going.
Stick to what works for you and your Wisconsin football team and keep it rolling.
As long as they're competitive within these next three games, I think most fans and alumni will be happy.
All right, Frank Ogato, who here at Civic Media covers Badgers for us.
I appreciate all of your insight.
Looking forward to Packers Bears on Sunday, along with all the other things happening in sports.
on the weekend.
Thanks for your time, and we'll talk to you again here real soon.
That again, Frank Gargano and Parker.
I think that gets us primed for a big weekend in sports.
I'm pretty excited.
There is so much to look forward to, even without the Badgers playing.
And yeah, and Frank's right.
If they don't touch anything, I think they'll be best off.
Well, speaking of big things happening this weekend, the NLCS is happening and we bring in Kazuba of Kazusports Corner.
We're going to talk about the Brewers and Dodgers on the NLCS.
That happens next right here.
I'll make the call part of the Stibic Media radio network.
Welcome back to Make the Call on Civic Media.
Welcome back to Make the Call.
I'm Jimmy Kuska alongside Parker Olsen.
We are moving right along here today.
We're halfway through the program and it is time now to dive into the big topic of the weekend that is the Brewers versus the Dodgers in the NLCS at the series beginning on Sundays.
So we welcome aboard Ken Kazuba who has a sports corner in southeast Wisconsin.
He's been on the show a few times with us as the Brewers gear up for this big run here in the postseason.
season, getting through the Padres with not a whole lot of trouble, some really memorable finishes in this series of the Padres.
The full season makes it so much more fun.
But before we preview the Dodgers, I do want to talk just quickly, Ken, just about the Padres series.
You know, playoff baseball is so great.
And the Brewers provided certainly a number of really cool moments in this series with San Diego.
Yeah, that they did.
In fact, you know, starting with game one, you know, you had the ball off the wire, but
And of course, which ultimately ended up turning out to be nothing.
And then you go on to the win that hit in the ninth inning.
I mean, by Cheerio, Cheerio, who clearly was a series MVP there.
And then, of course, the catch that stopped the game from being tied back on the wall there in deep and center field when the Brewers are up 3-1 late in that game.
And you look at the way that this pitching staff has or had handled the Padres, and you have to be very optimistic coming into the next season or the next series against the Dodgers.
So the Dodgers are definitely formidable.
This is a completely different Brewer team, in my opinion.
Um, they are, they are poised and ready to go.
Ken, the Brewers of, I think really lived up to, for lack of a better term, being the Brewers, right?
Um, they had some really clutch moments in them, just playing Brewer baseball, getting on base, stealing a base, and then getting an RBI and get them, get them on home.
Um,
That can work against the Padres, it did work against the Padres.
Now you gear up for another big boy with the Los Angeles Dodgers here as we try not to relive the NLCS last year when they got swept.
Ken, what are you looking at for the Brewer Offense here?
Do you think that they've got to take a step up and maybe rely on Powermore like they kind of did in Game 1 against Padres?
Or do you think that they're going to be able to keep being the Brewer's like they have and that's going to be enough?
Yeah, you won 103 games by winning series, right?
You got two more series to go.
You don't really change too much from the standpoint of how you operate on offense, but what they're gonna need to do on offense is you can't strand 27 runners in scoring position like they did in the last series.
You're going to have to score early and often.
You have to keep them on their heels the whole game because they have a very good offense.
Pitching-wise, yes.
I mean, look at the game one matchup.
You got Miz against Scoobo.
So, you know, although people think that's going to be a low scoring game, I think it's going to surprise you.
I think you're going to see the Brewers at home.
They're going to be amped up.
They got a few days rest after closing out the Padres.
This offense is going to need to make sure that they're doing all the things that they've done early on and that is keeping pressure on the opposing pitcher and hitting those balls into the gap.
Do they need the power?
They have the power.
But you don't see them use it too often.
They're not hitting the long balls like the Dodgers and some of these other teams.
Will they in this series?
You never know.
We've got enough guys that can definitely do it.
But the way that their swings have been this year and the way that they've kind of conditioned themselves, they're more gap hitters.
They're taking the extra bases.
They're keeping the other team at bay from that standpoint.
So the key for this series for the Brewers on offense, get them on, get them in.
Don't leave them sitting there because you're starting pitching the brewers starting pitching in their bullpen as their strength
talking to Ken Kazuba of Kazasports corner.
I think the pitching is so fascinating because the brewers, you know, it feels like going into the postseason this year.
It just felt like they had, you know, they had.
Quality harms right at the top.
I mean, you've got Ms.
Rowski who led baseball in virtually every category.
You got Henderson, you got Gasser.
There's a number of guys in the pitching rotation, on the pitching staff that feel like they can make a difference in this series.
You know, I know the Dodgers, you know,
They can buy the best staff in the world, right?
They can, they can do all these things, but it feels like the Brewers actually have a, you know, I don't know if it's an edge, but it feels like that they're right up, right up there, uh, in terms of pitching with just about anybody in baseball.
Yeah.
When you look at their bullpen, you know, we'll start with their starters, you know, one of their big horses this year that got hurt early on was priestess.
Well, they were able to overcome that.
You know, they went out and made some trades, and they brought in some quality people.
Plus, we've had guys in our farm club system that they've been able to bring up that were sitting down there just waiting, guys in the miners that were biding their time.
I mean, you look at with Henderson and Harrison and Gasser, and then they traded for May and Romero as a bullpen guy.
And, you know, they knew in their heart, I think, that they weren't going to get much out of Woody.
So knowing that you have to be able to adapt and that's the one thing that Matt Arnold's been able to do along with Pat Murphy They've been able to go ahead and get the guys that Chris hook needed in order to develop and move forward
so that this pitching staff can be formidable.
Then you look into that bullpen, look at the job that Ashby did the other night.
Three solid innings after a great outing by Gasser.
So they're set up so well.
They didn't even use Patrick.
They didn't even use Shane Drone in that series.
So here you got two fresh arms just waiting to go.
The Brewers are set up really well for this series.
And they're not gonna get, in my opinion, they're not gonna get swept.
In fact,
I've already made a prediction on several other shows in terms of what the Brewers are going to do, and maybe we'll get to that in a second here.
But this Brewer team is a fabulous team from the top down.
They really are hard-nosed, gritty guys, but they're having fun.
And when you look at them out in that field, nothing seems to bother them.
They just continue to move forward.
Oh, down by a runner too?
No big deal.
We'll get it back.
So they're a brewer team like no brewer team I've ever seen.
This has really been one of the more special brewer teams I can really remember, Ken.
You're absolutely right on that.
And I want to go back to starting pitching here for the Brewers.
We knew that it was going to be Miz.
We knew it was going to be Henderson.
And then that third slot, we weren't 100% sure about, we ended up getting Dustin May starting game three.
I don't know about you.
Dustin May really frustrates me once he gets out.
out of the lineup once once he gets into that second time through it kind of feels like everyone's got him figured out and I
I'm imagining, in my mind, the reason that they played Dustin May was because he did so well against the Padres previously, right?
Do you think that we're going to see Dustin May again being the third starter as we face the Dodgers here because he was bumpy a little bit there?
No, I don't think you're going to see him.
He was set up for that role as the number three based upon his past history this season against the Padres.
So Gasser, as well as he's pitched coming back from injury, he pitched incredibly well late in the season.
And he pitched well again the other night.
So Gasser will definitely be your guy, in my opinion, for the number three role.
And then they're going to work May in.
They're going to work in their guys as need be, including Harrison.
I just like the way that Gasser, he's so calm and cool and collective, but he locates so well.
He's hitting his corners.
He doesn't have overpowering stuff, but he keeps you guessing because he's got several pitches he can throw.
And that makes him very dangerous as a pitcher because you never know what you're going to get.
And Contreras, the way he handles that starting pitching staff and the bullpen is really key.
I mean, you look at what happened the other night too, where on the long ball,
um that that didn't happen and how he came out to quickly talk to your rebate and calm him down and say hey hey it's okay you know what just be you stay within yourself that's that's really a key for a lot of these uh pictures on our staff and they'll tell you that firsthand they'll say the same thing about Gary Sanchez as well which is a tremendous backup catcher to have with his experience so the pitching staff uh
They're incredible.
They're starting pitching staff as well as the bullpen.
Ken Kazuba of Kaz The Sports Corner joining us to talk the Brewers.
They take on the Dodgers and the NLCS starting on Sunday.
So after you're the show, we can get ready for that Sunday night start of the NLCS.
We know a lot about the Brewers, obviously.
We follow the Brewers all year.
Curious about the Dodgers.
What are some things the Dodgers do that the Brewers need to work against that you can't
Completely shut down any team, but the Dodgers certainly has some strengths and what can the Brewers do to counter that?
Well, a big thing is to get ahead in the counts.
You know, the Brewers, you want to keep the Dodger pitchers throwing you pitches that you want to hit, right?
They like to throw a lot of fastballs.
Brewers like to hit a lot of fastballs.
So with that being the case, I think, you know, you're going to see them try to change things up, try to keep the Brewers on their heels.
But this Brewer offense,
These guys are very focused, they're very poised from the standpoint of defense.
You can't have the errors we had in the last series, an uncanny amount of errors in that last series by our infield.
If you're giving them four outs, you're going to be out of these games quickly because they're going to make it pay for it.
They are aggressive at the plate.
They do a lot of things well.
They have a lot of big hitters.
You know, Freddie Freeman, that guy is just a tough out.
So when you look at that Dodger team, you go, man, how are you going to beat them?
Well, you beat them by one, staying within yourself.
Two, making sure you're playing great defense.
And three, when you got them down, you finish them off.
You don't give them opportunities.
So that's really going to be the key for this series.
And even for moving forward,
into the World Series and yes I did say that for moving forward going into the World Series so the Brewers they have the goods they didn't get to 103 wins because they were lucky they got to 103 wins because they won a lot of series and they played it fundamentally smart baseball and that's what you're going to see in this series they are not going to do things that
people are, you know, they're going to come out of their skin and so on and so forth.
No, they're going to stay within themselves.
Murph keeps these guys within themselves and he has
all the confidence in the world with his offense and the guys that he puts into that starting lineup.
All right, Ken, we're coming up to the end of the segment here and we've got to ask you, what's your prediction here?
NLCS against the Dodgers starting up on Sunday.
What are you seeing in this series?
Do you think that the Brewers get over the hump that is the Dodgers?
Do they just avoid a sweep?
What do you got for us?
Brewers in five.
They're going to close it out in Los Angeles, and you're going to hear that crowd boo like you've never heard them before.
When the Brewers put them away in Los Angeles, it's going to be outstanding.
I cannot wait for Sunday because this first game is going to be key.
Brewers win that first game.
And they go ahead and they may lose a second at home.
And if they do, that means you've got to win three on the road.
But I see the Brewers winning both of these games at home.
The Dodgers getting one, because it's a 2-3-2 series and the Brewers closing them out in LA and getting ready for the World Series.
So get ready, folks.
It's going to be exciting.
I mean, this is the Brewer team that
In all my years of watching Brewer baseball, like I said, I was a sophomore in high school when I seen the 82 Brewer's in the World Series.
But this Brewer team, it is one of the best teams I've ever seen.
And from the top down management to right to the bad boy, I mean, these guys are all in lock steps.
This is really exciting to see.
It's going to be a packed house on Sunday, and I'll be there on Monday, so it's going to be pretty exciting to see.
I can't wait for the series to get started, and I can't wait to see the Brewers get the monkey off their back and beat the Dodgers and knock them out of the playoffs.
We're good.
I love the prediction of the gentleman's sweep for this reason, not only because I was a Brewers fan, I want to see it happen, but...
It also avoids the dilemma of having Packers on Sunday night football opposite the LCS game six So yeah, I'm thinking five games myself just from the just from the the the complexity of trying to figure out Well, how are we gonna figure out both of these games at the same time as a
radio
programmer?
So I'm all for it man.
I think
I think that uh, you know People are going to look at this series and they're going to look at all the past results and they're going to justify that and saying that the brewers are going to struggle somehow but um You look at you look at everything they did on the stretch you look at how well they played against teams over 500 and I think you're on to it because The team for most of the year the brewers had the best record against teams over 500 and I feel like when you have success against good teams It's a good predictor of what you'll see in the playoffs
without a doubt plus.
Here's the other key factor
The brewers are healthy.
They have no injuries.
These guys are healthy.
So you're not dealing with injuries.
You're at full strength.
And during the season, they weren't always at full strength and they were able to overcome those scenarios.
So when you're at full strength, oh yeah, it really gives you tremendous opportunity.
I mean, you look at what Murph has to work with coming off the bench.
I mean, you got Hamilton, you got Sanchez, you're sitting there, you got Laura.
You've got opportunities with these guys to come in and make big plays.
Vaughn can come off the bench.
He's always been a good guy coming off the bench to get you a big hit.
So the way that they're set up right now, yeah, when you have those kind of options, other teams, the managers are scratching their head because they're like, Jesus, how are we going to beat these guys, right?
So the Brewers can beat you in so many different ways and including.
the long ball.
They can beat you with a long ball.
They've done it many times this year.
I mean, I can't even tell you how many times Contreras has had to walk off a home run, Yelich.
I mean, it has happened a number of times, although you don't hear about them being the big power team because they're not necessarily a big power team.
Like I said earlier, they have the bats that can hit the ball out of the park.
So I think in this series, they might surprise you a little bit with some long balls that are a little uncharacteristic the way that they play the game, knowing that they like to slap the ball around the diamond.
and keep the opposing pitchers on their toes and force the defense to make plays.
So this is just one of the aspects of their offense that makes them so incredible and the team as a whole.
So this is going to be a fun series.
And sports bars around the state, they can overcome that scenario with the Packers and the Brewers because they can have multiple TVs going.
So get to your local sports bar if you don't have but one TV at home that doesn't have picture in picture.
You know, it's radio-wielded with one signal, so it's kind of hard, you know, logistically.
No, I appreciate it.
It's great.
It's great to have, uh, have someone so knowledgeable and insightful on the brewers and, uh, give us a little look ahead at what we're going to see here.
Ken, thank you for your time.
It's great to talk brewers with you.
And hopefully we're doing this again in a week and, uh, we know a week or two and we're talking about the world series, man.
Great to have you on here.
I appreciate it, gentlemen.
You guys have a great weekend.
It should be another fabulous Wisconsin sports weekend with the Packers that are going to knock off the bears.
And then you got to, you know, obviously our.
love it, Brewers.
as they're going to pursue or further pursue the World Series.
And I do see them winning this series, like I said, in five games and they're just phenomenal.
So go Brewers, go Packers.
Let's get it done.
Badgers are on a buy this week.
Ken Kazuma of Kaz's Sports Day.
The Badgers can't lose this weekend.
They're off this week.
Their head coach was actually here in my town this week to watch his kids play youth football.
So actually got to see
him this
week.
It was pretty cool.
But Ken,
thank you
for your time.
And we'll talk to you again here real soon.
We're out of time.
of the segment, we have to get ahead to Mike Clemens and his Wisconsin Sports Week in review.
Parker, that means we say goodbye.
Parker, thank you for being along for the ride today.
Hopefully, you know, the weekend goes well for you sports wise, man.
Hey, man, it's a big week.
Badgers can't lose.
That's what I hear.
That's what the people are telling me and I'm happy about.
Yeah.
You know, obviously we're, we're in D three land.
So we've got some big football games.
Look forward to this.
I mean, you're, you're amped up already.
I know
I'm always amped up for D three football.
Come on.
Yeah.
I've got the battle of unbeaten.
I got flat fill and old Claire.
That's my broadcast coming up later today.
If you're listening on Saturday, uh, one o'clock kickoff for homecoming.
So I'll be on a parade float before, uh, rolling into a Ralphie Davis pioneer stadium.
All right.
We got to get out of the way.
Mike Clemens has a sports week three.
you coming up next we'll also recap the weekend high school football scores here on make the call part of the civic media radio network
Welcome back to Make the Call on Civic Media.
Welcome back to Make the Call here on the Civic Media Radio Network.
Now it's time to look at high school football from week number eight in 11 player week number seven in eight player on WJMS in Ironwood.
It was hurly defeating Three Legs Phillips 26 to 22.
Green Bay NEW Lutheran Providence 58.
and Chewamagin 12 on WPFP.
On WCQM, it was Ribble Lake getting by Phillips 40-34.
WRCO had Richland's center edging out River Valley 21-20.
It was Eau Claire North, downing Wisconsin Rapids Lincoln 28-3 on WFHR.
Dekusa overripened 18-8 on WRPN.
And on WRPQ, it was Lacrosse Logan 41, Baraboo,
21.
Defending champions update, McDonald lost to Boyceville 30 to 22.
They're 3 and 5 on the year.
Kenosha St.
Joseph lost to Racine Lutheran 33 to 6.
Now 6 and 2 on the year.
Darlington stays undefeated, defeating Cuba City 41 to 7.
Mayville all over Laconia 42 to 6.
They're 6 and 2 on the year.
Still unbeaten as Wittekhani.
They beat Sheboygan Falls 52 to 6.
Grafton over Kettlemarine Lutheran 35 to 28.
West appears still unbeaten, defeating Green Bay Southwest 49 to nothing.
And it was Arrowhead bouncing back from their low
loss of the year last week McWanna go 55 to 14.
Some upset Lake over Clearlake 38 to 35, S field 30 to 22 lacros 28 seven over Holman over Oconama walk 21.
Top 10 matchups in th over Edgewood 50 to 30.
W in a defensive strugl of seven to three.
Potosi
34, and Amherst 35, Stratford 21.
And the high-scoring matchup of the night goes to Mondovi, beating Elkmount 62-257.
Now it's time for a sports week in review with Mike Clements.
This has been Make the Call on the Civic Media Radio Network.
Here comes the Dodgers.
Hi, I'm Mike Clemmons with the Wisconsin Sports Week in Review.
Baseball, the Milwaukee Brewers, with the best record during the regular season, began the postseason with a bye week, and then the best of five series against the hottest team in baseball, the San Diego Padres, for the divisional series playoffs.
The Brewers won game one in dramatic fashion, but game two last Sunday night looked like the crew was about to lose.
Bottom of the ninth, two outs, one man on, down three to two, and Jackson Churio at the plate.
43,000 fans inside American Family Field were so loud you could barely hear Fox Sports One announcer Adam Amin make the
call.
Sometimes I feel like I was born for these moments.
I like the pressure.
That's a quote from Jackson Churio.
And they heat back it up right there against Mason Miller to give Milwaukee a 2-0 series lead in this NLDA.
The
Brewers won four to three up two games to none as the series moved to San Diego.
The Padres won the next night, but the Brewers pitching came through game four and Milwaukee came home with a three to one victory.
The Brewers bullpen held the Padres to just one run in 19 innings pitched.
Believer Aaron Ashby got the win that night.
I think what this bullpen has done all year is pick each other up.
We trust each other.
with the ball and, you know, trust who they have behind us.
In the celebration, Brewers team captain, Christian Yelich.
Yeah, I mean, I'm just really proud of our guys, you know, just playing well all year, coming together as a group.
And, you know, the captain thing was super unexpected.
It was the last thing that was on my mind at that point in the season.
And, you know, at the time, I really didn't have words for it because
It just means a lot to me.
It's one of the biggest honors of my career because it's coming from the people that are around you every day, your peers, the people that you grind with.
I still don't really have words for it, but it's really special to me.
So now the Brewers at home this weekend, they'll host the Dodgers in Game 1 Sunday night in Milwaukee.
The Dodgers are the team that ended the Brewers season last year.
What's different this time?
Manager Pat Murphy.
I think this is different this year.
We have a little more time to prepare.
I didn't take anything away from the Dodgers.
They're a great team, but we're going in to beat them.
NBA, the Milwaukee Bucks with a new coach, a new team, a new season underway.
The Bucks began their training camp with a preseason loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves, new head coach Taylor Jenkins on what he saw that first night.
Felt like our defense was really lacking for 48 minutes.
We had spurts of it.
We had some good possessions, but too often with no pressure on the ball, no shift help.
They're getting downhill.
score 60 points in the pa the floor way better going
back to beat the thund to 128 to 126.
Now th in charlotte's sundayn two more preseason games and then the Pacers before in Washington D. C. A week fo football, a dandy of a win for last weekend for their home over the michigan state to improve the four win for the season had co
one that you enjoy to be honest with you and I think that they show me that there's a maturity level that we keep talking about that's growing but there's a recognition of saying who we are and then being who we are.
Now Wisconsin had a buy this week they'll head to UCLA next Saturday to take on the Bruins.
NFL it's the Packers and the Bears at Lambeau Field.
Now in Chicago the Bears head coach Ben Johnson on what he sees on tape of the two and two Packers so far this season.
In terms of this opponent it's a good team some changes from
A year ago, just special teams wise and defensively, more so schematics than personnel per se, but a lot of speed.
Their offense, you know, obviously Jordan loves one of the better quarterbacks in this league.
He is as accurate as anybody.
Now in the past, Ben Johnson has challenged Matt LaFleur publicly, saying how much he enjoys beating Green Bay.
Now the Packers head coach, Matt LaFleur, was asked, why doesn't he return the fire?
Because this game is about players, and so we'll keep it about the players.
You know, I'm not the one out there.
They're playing so.
I think that's that's always been my mentality and we're going to keep it about those guys and don't get me wrong.
I love the rivalry.
It's awesome.
This game was originally scheduled for 325 but flexed to noon Sunday.
I asked Packers safety Javon Bullard how the players felt about this
angle.
I don't really matter what time we play.
We try to kick the you know, so that's the idea of it.
You know what is at 715 815 1 o'clock.
like they don't really matter.
We playing the Bears.
They don't like us.
We don't like them.
It's going to be prime time for us regardless.
With the Wisconsin Sports Week in Review, I'm Mike Clemens.