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Good morning, welcome, welcome back to Map and Air on Air.
My name is Greg Bogg.
I'm your host and your bud and your friend.
You're listening to us on the Civic Media radio network.
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Lots of great show still ahead of us after the 10 30 break.
We're going to be talking sports with Paul Noonan from the Acme packing company will be.
We might get into the bucks.
I'm not sure.
I don't know if anyone wants to at this point.
It feels kind of like, uh, it feels like people are really sad about the bucks, but we talk in sports and we're going to be talking a lot about the Wisconsin women's volleyball team.
They are crushing it as usual.
And that is something we should always be talking about.
And then of course, this shouldn't be a thing at the end of the show.
We were wrapped things up.
This time it is the snake in my boot edition.
So don't go anywhere.
We get a great hour of programming ahead of you and we appreciate you being here.
As you said, drop a comment, make a call.
Let us know what's going on.
And I want to hear from people about this, actually, too, because we're going to switch gears a little bit because we are talking to our next guest and they are the secretary of tourism here in Wisconsin.
And, oops, I didn't think of that.
There we go.
Sorry, live stream problems.
And Sayers is our guest.
And thank you so much for being here.
We really appreciate your time.
How are you this morning?
I'm doing great.
Great.
I'm so excited to be with you and talking about winter activities.
Indeed.
And it's going to be, I mean, I mean, I know it's getting a little bit warmer, but we have some winter to celebrate right now, which is very unusual in Wisconsin.
I never thought in my childhood I'd say that, but it's true.
Now you've been in the post since 2020.
Tell me what your job is and the department and what is your goal in tourism for the state?
Yeah, well, you know, tourism is an incredibly important part of Wisconsin's economic overall picture.
We're 25.7 billion dollar industries.
So that means visitors come to our state, they spend their time and their money with us.
They generate tax based and then decision makers can determine how to provide goods and services back to the residents of our state.
So we're here to help raise that revenue.
But the way we do that is by celebrating all the amazing parts of our state.
the natural resources, the culinary heritage, the arts and culture.
And of course, just putting our hospitality front and center.
We're so good at that.
So it's a fun job to get to invite people come to our state and enjoy it.
I imagine that's got to be very cool because, you know, when we talk about government and there's always politics and I'm not, I'm not getting into politics.
I promise you that.
But we hear secretary of state, we hear secretary of defense and those all seem like very, but secretary of tourism is like, I get to come.
to my job and talk about how great is Wisconsin.
And I want you to come here and experience it.
And one thing that for me, I work with a lot of people out of state and out of the country.
And I feel like
I always hear from them and the tone varies where they think it's a compliment to their sheer unbridled excitement is I had no idea Wisconsin dot dot dot and that is where they insert their experience and sometimes it comes off saying like I had no idea you had this I'm like we have running water too but Wisconsin is just absolutely
has an abundance of things to do.
And it's not just, it's not just outdoors.
It's not just hunting or fishing or whatever.
There are so many things to do.
And before we get in this wonderful list, I just want to ask you really quick, because you talked to way more people than I do.
What are some of the biggest realizations from folks who come here when they visit Wisconsin, any place in the state?
What do you hear from people saying?
This is amazing.
What is their, what are their tales?
It's so funny you say that because I hear it all the time too.
I had no idea what's in this or
that
and we always say well-kept secrets are what we're out to fight
against here in tourism.
We want to make sure people know that we do have all these things, but I mean I hear it all from you.
We have the third most skills in the country.
What?
People might, right?
People know that we have cheese, sure, but they don't know that we have the only master cheese program.
in the country and that we have more award-winning than any other state or country when it comes to our cheese, the quality.
The arts and culture, the depth of that, just the sheer natural resources, we're more than 50% forested.
We have two great lakes.
We have more than 15,000 inland lakes.
There's 11 national trails in the country.
We have two of them.
in wisconsin all of these things people are just like why am i not spending more time there and we agree they really should i
want i want to back up right there really quick uh and and just you said we have over 15 000 inland lakes
that's correct
that means we have more than 10 000 lakes
That's correct.
Take that Minnesota.
Okay.
Sorry.
That's just, you know, I don't know why I've developed this combative nature with Minnesota, but I have.
I'm bored with Illinois.
I've moved on to Minnesota.
But yeah, I mean, that's the, that, I think that there is always this, there's a mis, I mean, and this is prevalent throughout the Midwest.
There's a misconception about all of our states.
who we are as people, how we're portrayed in the media, in movies and television.
I personally don't know anyone who talks like this, Dairy.
I mean, they might be up North, but nobody in Kenosha speaks like that.
But I think that's the, I think that is, while your job is going to be incredibly fun, there is a task and that is educating the people that Wisconsin is not just milk, cheese, sausage and the Packers.
It is, but it's so much more than that.
Exactly.
And
Yeah, we're up against some perceptions.
We're really proud of our cold weather when we have it, but we're not cold all of the time.
So we have
to talk about how stunning.
I mean, if you know, you know,
it was
constant summer, nothing like it in the whole world.
But we need to make sure people know about that.
But also, that winter is fun and we are good at winter.
We want to make sure people understand all of that.
Same with the sports, like you're saying.
It's a big part of who we are, we're an enthusiastic people.
Um, but the legacy that is attached to a brand or an enterprise like the Packers is so special.
No matter who you're rooting for on game day, you're still going to want to experience Lambo at some point.
I want to make sure people know that they're invited to do that and you're going to have a great experience.
We're very, very nice.
We are very, oh my gosh, we are incredibly nice and very, very nice people.
And I say this all the time too.
I understand football tickets are expensive.
I'm not saying to blow your paycheck on one, but if you have the opportunity to go, whether you are a Packers fan or not, or even a football fan or not, going to a game at Lambeau is an experience.
It's not just going to see football.
It is viewing people in a state of pure joy and excitement, as you said, rooted in a history that goes back over 100 years and
I mean, you will, someone will put a bowl of chili in your hand.
You don't know who it is.
And I, trust me, you can eat it.
It's fine.
But that's how it is.
Like a trip to Lambo.
I think that a trip to Lambo, a trip to Fenway Park is the same way.
It's a community and it just soaks up the atmosphere and you are just welcomed whether you like football or not.
And even non-packer fans say,
Lambo is one of the greatest places ever.
So I mean, I think that you're absolutely right.
But you said to yourself, winter is amazing, Wisconsin.
Let's talk about winter activities here in Wisconsin, what people can do, whether you're from here or you're visiting.
And let's start with a cherry pie Christmas.
Yes.
So we are so proud of this.
Anyone, no matter where you are in the country or the world right now, you can be checking in on this new cozy little Christmas movie we had made in Door County.
It's called A Cherry Pie Christmas.
It follows the story of a professional pastry chef as she's attempting to save her family's orchard and rekindle her love along the way.
So in the spirit of so many of these holiday movies, we now have one set right in Door County.
But what's so fun about it is that you can see all of these iconic landmarks that you know and love from Door County.
And if you haven't yet experienced them, what a great introduction.
But it has a really authentic feel.
Sometimes in these movies, you're like, that's fake snow, not the case here.
We have real snow and real places featured.
So the coffee shop, the orchard itself, the bookstore where they meet, all of those are real places in Wisconsin.
It's so cute because Destination Door County actually created a trail.
So now you can go and visit all of these places.
You can get your passport stamped along the way, earn prizes if you make it through all of them at the end.
I was just doing it this weekend.
I have to tell you there are so many people participating.
Over 2,600 people have downloaded this passport.
It's just so fun to go where the stars were.
There's a special cheese at Renard's Cheese that was featured prominently
in the
film.
You can buy that same
cheese.
You can buy your curry pie.
ornament to remember this special year.
So anyway, what a fun way to get out and experience Door County, which is always so
lovely.
Oh, yes.
Yes.
That is a place when you, people say Door County, I always see people going, Oh, where'd you go?
Cause it's so ubiquitous here.
And out of the state, my sister and her husband come up here every year and go to Door County.
They have their, they have their little, their, their, their hotel, a small hotel.
They have their places they go and then explore.
And yeah, I mean, and you bring up an interesting point and as far as movies that are quote, taking place in Wisconsin,
and you say, oh, that's a really good
drone shot of that place and then nothing looks like it whatsoever.
And no one's talking like us and no one's saying anything about Wisconsin.
It's just this movie takes place in Milwaukee.
I'm like, Oh, you have a shot of downtown.
Okay.
The rest is in Vancouver, but fine.
I love that.
And as a side note too, and we've talked about this, the fact that we are establishing the ability for artists to get tax breaks to make films here, hopefully we'll be even, we'll see even more in the future because that's very important as well.
Let's move it on to holiday markets.
I think that's something that's very, very popular throughout the country, but Wisconsin, we got holiday markets.
Tell me more about where and what.
Yeah, we have a really strong tradition of these European style markets that you would find in Europe this time of year, but they're right here in Wisconsin.
One of them, I love it's in Sparta.
It's the Sparta, Chris Kindle Market.
So this is Southwest Wisconsin.
It has one of the best outdoor Christmas markets.
in the state.
It replicates one of those traditional German style markets.
Dozens of vendors, all kinds of local artisans, crafters, producers, one-of-a-kind goods.
And then you're also going to get to try things like glue vine, you know, which is that traditional mulled wine.
Yeah, I mean, you probably still have some items on your shopping list.
What a fun way to do it.
You can have some fun.
It's happening Friday, December 19th and Saturday, December 20th.
And that's it.
So get out there to Sparta.
Another one that we have to mention is in Pepin County.
If you haven't seen it, just Google it quick.
It is so beautiful.
It looks like it's straight out of Europe.
They actually have a piazza and you can get out and shop the vendors there.
And it puts you on the Great River Road, which is another gem of Wisconsin, the rolling hills and bluffs of the Mississippi River.
Just a stunning way to spend some time.
I always find, and I don't know about you, but whenever someone hands me wine at a shopping area, I always walk out with way more than I expected because everything looks way more attractive in my wallet becomes heavier by some matter.
I have no idea.
It just happens when wine is involved, but, you know, it's, uh, we are talking to Ann Sayers, who
is
Yeah.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Someone understands my pain and my bank is upset with me, but that's not the point.
The point is we're talking to Ann Sayers, who is the secretary of tourism here in Wisconsin.
She's been our secretary of tourism since 2020.
And we're going to keep talking about things that people can do.
But I want to impress upon those listening and watching, what are you going to be doing this holiday season?
Will there be places you're traveling to?
Are there places that we should know about?
You know, you want to share.
I know sometimes there's secrets like this is where my family goes.
We want to tell you and I don't want to show up at your family's doorstep, but
There's always great to know about wonderful things here in Wisconsin.
Feel free to call it in, to text it in, leave a comment on the live stream.
What is your holiday tradition?
Are you traveling up north?
Are you doing something that's really fun?
And what I want to come back with when we come back from the break is talk about things to do for folks who may be not a fan of the snow and or cold, because even though it's snowy and cold here in Wisconsin right now, there are still things to do.
But we're going to keep that conversation going with our guest and Sarah's from the Wisconsin Department of Tourism.
them.
She is our secretary.
You bow and say, Madam secretary, but get up, get on, get online, get on board.
She doesn't like when I say she's very, very humble, like a Wisconsinite, but we're going to keep the conversation going on the other side of the break.
Get a snack, get some water.
You are amazing.
Come on back.
We are, we are on matinee on air here on the civic media radio network.
Stay tuned.
Stay close.
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eight, five, five, seven, eight, five, five, seven, five, seven.
Sometimes Calvin, I can't remember everything.
That's Calvin on the boards, by the way.
He's sweet Calbee, the board lord, Calvinator, all the other nicknames.
We're going to be getting new nicknames for him in 2026.
Might retire a few, but we want some new, some new fresh ideas from you friends, friends.
And another friend here on the show, our guest, the secretary of tourism and Sayers is here talking about all the things to do in Wisconsin in a wonderful winter wonderland.
But we got to be honest.
There are folks out there.
I, to a certain extent, am included.
If you give me a cabin with a beautiful winter view, I'm gonna be like on board, buddy.
If you say let's go snowshoeing, I'm like, who are you and when did you replace my friend with a robot?
Because there are people out there who want to get away, but they don't want to exactly put themselves in a cold wintery situation.
And that's where things like our water parks, there are people, there are things that can be taken advantage of that have nothing to do with the cold.
Tell us about
that.
The Celtic is right up your alley because it can be up to 80 degrees in there, so warm and cozy, and you can experience some water parks.
You know, the Dells are actually where the indoor water park was pioneered.
Of course, now the Dells are known as the butter park capital of the world.
So you have lots of options if you're headed in that direction.
You got the Kalahari, you got the wilderness, you got Mount Olympus.
Another one to check out.
This is outdoors, but I think it's going to be worth it for you, Greg.
It's the Aqua Via Lumina.
That sounds too fancy for me, ma'am.
Too fancy.
Oh, it's so pretty and enchanted.
It's a illuminated multimedia walk through the woods.
Just magical winter wonderland.
Kids love it.
That's my DF for you.
I'll take a trail park.
I'll take a walk through a winter wonderland.
There's a great place in Kenosha called Hawthorne Hollow that has great events as well.
And it's wonderful in the winter.
So yeah, absolutely.
I'll take a walk, but I'm not going to, let's just put it this way.
I'm not going to exert myself in winter sports.
I won't exert myself in any sports.
But yeah, where I have to bundle up.
But yeah, I love a nice winter wonderland walk.
And we support your choices.
Thank you.
Secretary, that's so nice of you.
We
got you.
We got
ideas for you.
How about Blue Harbor Resort up in Sheboygan?
This
is, you know, Sheboygan is known, another one where people are like, I can't believe we have surfing in Wisconsin.
So a lot of folks enjoy that on Lake Michigan in the summer and winter, but you can actually do it indoors.
at Blue Harpers Resort, they have an indoor surf simulator.
So that's something to try out.
We also have Chaos Indoor Water Park that's up in Eau Claire, and they have a water slide, lazy river, activity pool, hot tub, aquatic playground, and they even in that same resort have an arcade and trampoline park.
So if kids are home for the winter break and they're
getting a little antsy.
This would be a place to think about where they can get their wiggles out.
And that's a great thing you just brought up here, especially for the folks who have kids.
What are some of the kid-friendly options in Wisconsin during the winter time that they can do that?
Might not be a water park or that, but it's something they can visit or take part in.
Another one people said had no idea Wisconsin has the most children's museums per capita in the country.
So you could check out one of those.
Maybe Appleton has a really neat, it's called Building for Kids Children's Museum.
It's a wonderland of exploration.
They make the Pierce fire truck there in the area, so kids can actually climb through the cab of one of those.
There's an art studio.
There's even an area where they can learn more about the Menominee tribe's language and culture through an interactive exhibit.
Blassa has a beautiful children's imaginarium.
They opened up in 2023.
It's rooted in STEM, so educational play for kids.
Another one, Manitowoc.
This one's really popular.
State of the art, agricultural education.
If you're lucky, you can even see a calf being born on site in what they call the birthing barn.
Really, really special experience.
So on and on, EAA, if you're interested in aviation, right?
That's an Oshkosh discovery world in Milwaukee, science and technology opportunities for kid led exploration.
And then another one is the food and farm exploration center.
This is in Clover.
And they're really putting an emphasis on food production in a way that's really interesting to kids.
That's wonderful.
And I'm just going to put it out here as a kid at heart.
Discovery World ain't just for kids.
You want hands-on science experience, you can be an adult and have fun there as well.
Travel Wisconsin has a great resource for planning trips.
Tell me more about if people want to actually just put together a plan, what are they going to do to get some ideas?
Where can they go to get help on that for making their winter trip a little easier as far as the scheduling?
Well, I'm so glad you asked.
You could always visit travelwisconsin.com to get some travel inspiration.
But right now, I really would recommend an extremely popular resource that we host is the snow report.
So travelwisconsin.com slash snow report.
And what it's going to tell you is where the snow is.
If you're interested in tubing, downhill, cross country.
Um, snowmobile is going to tell you the conditions and then also give you some ideas, some nearby lodging, some nearby food, some nearby attractions.
You can start your itinerary planning by visiting that report.
Oh, I got some vacation time coming up in the next few weeks.
I think it might be time to get in the car with my wife and our dog and just go somewhere or maybe go for one of those nice walks through the winter Wisconsin parks because I think that's.
I think that brings, I mean, that's, some of that is also free fun too.
Like going for a walk in a nice big park and just having a chance to get away from, you know, the big city of Kenosha, I think that's, those are all great ideas.
And I really appreciate you stopping by and informing us because I think even as Wisconsinites, we don't know everything.
And I think we are always shocked to find out those hidden gems and those statistics about like children's museums, about how great Wisconsin is.
I learned something every day and I've been doing this job for a minute now and it's an incredibly special state and we're so lucky that it's ours.
Absolutely.
And we thank you for being here.
Please come back to the show.
We'd love to talk to you again about me, what's going on in spring.
If you're ever in the neighborhood, if you're in Racine, stop by radio park.
We'd love to have you and talk to you about that.
But we have been speaking with the secretary of tourism and stairs.
Uh, if you want to find out more, we will put links in the show notes.
You want to make a plan for a vacation, get away for a couple of days.
Please do that support local economies, support Wisconsin.
We are fantastic.
And tell your friends a best kept secret is still a secret, no matter what.
Secretary, Sarah, we appreciate you.
Have a wonderful holiday.
Take care.
Thank you, you
too.
All right.
Don't go anywhere.
We are going to be talking sports coming up next on Matt and Air on Air on the Civic Media Radio Network.
Stay tuned.
Stay close.
Good, good morning.
Welcome.
Welcome back to Matt and Air on Air.
My name is Greg Bach.
I am your host.
I, Calvin, seriously keep wanting to say,
sitting in for Jane McNair, who is currently away from her desk.
She's, I don't want to say permanently away from the desk, but she's just not here right now.
Will she be coming back in some capacity?
I don't know.
You'll just have to tune in, but I'm not going to break that news right now.
Point is you're listening to us on the civic media radio network.
We're happy to have you here this morning.
Still a lot of great show ahead of us.
closing out at all with this shouldn't be a thing to date is the snake in my boot edition.
Don't go anywhere because this is definitely a holiday gift list story.
We're very, very excited to have him on the show.
He's back.
He's better than ever.
He's always great.
Our friend, Paul Newton, who is a writer for the Acme packing company is going to talk to us.
Of course, if you know our show about sports, you can always chime in your thoughts on Wisconsin sports.
I know people have opinions on it.
It's eight, five, five, seven, five, two, four, eight, four, two, eight, five, five, seven, five, seven.
Leave a comment on the live stream.
Leave a kind comment because if you leave something weird and creepy, I'm going to ban you because you're weird and creepy.
But the point is get in touch.
We'd love to hear from you.
Paul, good morning.
How are you, my friend?
What's going on?
I'm doing great.
I'm feeling good.
Cal, how are you doing?
I'm not going to speak for Calvin.
Oh, I'm living the dream, Greg.
Boy, that's amazing.
I don't speak for the youth.
I don't talk for the kids.
They don't want that of this young Gen Z or I, there's a lot going on in sports as always.
Let's, let's kick it off.
Pun with the Packers.
What's, what's, we're, we're rounding the end of the season.
We're almost done with regular season play and tell me it's, this is a two part question.
One.
Tell me about the upcoming game against Chicago.
I feel like we can say, all right, cool.
It's a Chicago game.
We have nothing to worry about.
But also in terms of the fact that this has been at best a very inconsistent season, not a disappointing one, but inconsistent.
Yes.
Second of all, there's a lot to worry about with this game because the Packers are in very rough shape.
The, the fully healthy.
Fully loaded Green Bay Packers are a much better team than the Chicago Bears are but that is not what we're getting at all here So first of all last weekend Micah Parsons suffered a an ACL tear.
He is out for the year He is probably not back until at the earliest September of next year But ACLs are hard to project because they do take so long to recover from The only good news there is that he is young a 30 year old past rusher
can have his career end via this.
He is not that old.
He's a young, very athletic guy.
He'll probably recover fine and 2026 will be fine.
But they're without their best defensive player by a lot for the rest of the year.
And without Micah Parsons, they frankly don't have a very good pass rush.
They have to go back to last year's blueprint of
Lots and lots of blitzing which is it can be effective But it's risky because it exposes your secondary to a lot of big plays and the Packers secondary is already not good at preventing big plays So they're going to have to probably win shootouts the rest of the year and the Bears well flawed are Better than they have been recently and not stupid their head coach Ben Johnson is a very good head coach He will instantly realize what's going to happen in this game, which is the Packers will come after Caleb Williams with
Blitz packages they haven't had to use all year.
And if he can actually hit some plays down the field, the Packers will be in some trouble in this game.
Now, last week was bad on not just the Parsons front, but Christian Watson hurt his shoulder.
It looked like he was going to be out for the year when it happened.
He's actually been practicing this week and he'll be, I think, a game time decision.
But they also kind of need him in this game because the Bears defense
It's kind of like what the Packers defense is going to be.
It blitzes a lot as well.
Dennis Allen, their defensive coordinator, is a big blitzer.
The Packers just toasted them last time they played on big plays against the Blitz, but they need Watson to do that.
The rest of the Packers receiving core isn't great at beating people deep at all.
And so those two guys are huge.
If Watson can go, the Packers have a great chance in this game.
It'll probably be high scoring, but they should be able to move the ball score points.
If he cannot go,
They're going to have to pull some magic out of their hat to actually win this game against Chicago So there's that Chicago is probably their favorite in this game and they should be favored in this game They're a little beat up to Roma dunes a their best receiver Hurt his foot playing warming up against Cleveland last week when it was like negative eight degrees here Don't have your hurt guys play a negative eight degree weather and there's second there
They're a good rookie receiver, Luther Burton showed up on the injury report too.
As did their best running back, Deandre Swift, or at least their best scat back.
So they're beat up a little bit too, but they're doing better depth wise.
And so this is like a 50-50 game for the Packers.
You should not expect them to walk in and beat this Bears team.
This is going to be a tough game, and there's a very good chance they do not win it.
I know that.
Okay.
So you're, you are the expert.
That's why we talked to you.
I am, I am sports expert adjacent.
I feel like, and this isn't just the Packers.
This is the bucks.
This is the Brewers.
I feel like Wisconsin sports teams are always in this flux of not just injury, but like damaging to the team injury.
I mean, Dame Lillard, the bucks, we get, we had injuries in the Brewers this, this past season that were, that were pretty significant.
It's just the name of the game, isn't it?
I mean, is it, let me, let me put it this way.
Is it more so with Wisconsin than any other place?
Or is it just par for the course for everybody?
It's, it's just a tough sport.
You know, one thing we do at the end of every year is we actually have some advanced injury analytics that look at not just how many people were hurt, but how
good and important to the people that were hurt were on a year-to-year basis.
And for the most part, it's pretty randomly distributed.
There's a couple trends.
Older guys get hurt more than younger guys, you know, things like that.
But two things that are very important, like the eventual champions of the NFL look on injuries is a huge factor.
And nobody's in control of that to a large extent.
You know, we assign narratives to toughness and next guy up and things like that, but
Sometimes injuries just get you and they might get the Packers this year.
They're already down Tucker craft who tore his ACL earlier this year Craft and Parsons are debatably.
They're two most important non-love players and it's hard to withstand that Watson's been in and out Jane Reed's been missed most of the season Zach Tom went down last week and he may not play this game either which severely hurts their offensive line and
It just does happen.
The bucks, I think, are a little bit different because Damien Lillard was kind of an old guy.
Old guys get hurt more.
I get that, Paul.
I get hurt all the time.
Sometimes I'm just in bed and stretching.
I'm like, ah, my back.
I get that.
I'm like Dame Lillard, I'm saying.
But the second thing is the Packers actually have been pretty consistent this year, not inconsistent.
They're almost exactly what we would expect them to be.
They have
We have some metrics that show how good you should be or how bad you should be.
We played Denver last week.
Denver got really lucky in that game by virtue of the Packers getting hurt during it.
The Packers were in control of that game.
They were up by nine points.
Just injury after injury after injury Denver comes back and win Denver is like four wins better than they should be and if you go and look at the games they played They've gotten insanely lucky in a bunch of games.
The team is missing field goals against them something you don't control just randomly guys miss field goals weird penalties they They had a couple of just crazy wins against the chiefs
That is a team that I would expect to come back to earth a little bit as you play Ostril around.
That's not the Packers.
The Packers, they are like two even with that stupid tie in there.
And so they maybe have had a couple of weirdish seeming losses like they lost to the Browns earlier this year and the Bears just beat the Browns.
But when the Packers played the Browns, they were completely healthy.
They had a great offensive line.
Their defense is one of the best defenses in the league.
And they had Joe Flacco a quarterback.
Bears next week.
They were starting their sixth best offensive lineman as their number one offensive lineman.
They were playing Shadoor Sanders and their best run stopper was out on defense.
And so these things matter a lot.
The Bears got really lucky in that game.
We did not against the Browns.
And so the one thing you can say about the Packers is when they get like the correct matchup, they're probably going to win.
It's just they've lost so much talent.
It's hard to tell what they actually are underneath.
They have to actually adjust and we don't have a lot of information on what the non Parsons Packers will look like this year So we'll see against the Bears.
This is an every every game is an intelligence test for the Packers and There's a recipe to beating Chicago Caleb Williams can't throw in the pocket or rolling to his left So don't let him roll to his right if Jeff Hathley just kind of blitzes from that side of the field That might work and they're gonna be missing some if they're missing swift that hurts their offense a lot too
There's ways to win this game.
It'll be a good chess match, but they're in rough shape physically for this game.
Well, I think
I was just going to say, I think that, you know, the comment you made here is that their record is a perfect.
description of the Packers this season.
And as we get closer to the actual end of the season, we'll touch on that as far as like, you know, what does the record, what does the performance say and what's the takeaways?
But we'll talk about that another time.
Cause it's a, that's, I don't want to, I don't like it when people do their year-end lists in November.
So let's wait until it's actually time to do a year-end list on that.
We are talking to Paul Noonan, who is a writer for the Acme packing company.
We're talking about all things Wisconsin sports.
And I want to switch it over to the Badgers, women's volleyball.
They are dominating, but not just now, they're
always dominating, correct?
They are one of the best programs in the country.
They have won several national titles, including fairly recently.
Um, they are just super well put together.
And this is a fun season.
Uh, by the way, um, I, um, I've played many sports over my time, but the sport I'm actually best at is volleyball.
Um, and,
uh, I'm sorry.
What?
How am I just finding this now?
After how many years have I been talking to you?
Yeah, yeah, well, I'm I'm old now and can't play volleyball anymore But and I'm short and but I used to be able to jump high and I played for a really long time.
I played on the beach I've played indoor a whole bunch.
I played before the position of libero existed, which is what I would have been but this is a really fun Badger season so far they have gone into the tournament before as like the number one seed or close to it usually it's them in Nebraska kind of at the top and
They're they've been underdog so far and they are against Knights against Kentucky But the way that they've gone about making this run this year is by making a fun little trade-off So usually in volleyball if your setter hits an imperfect set to you Your general read on that is to keep the point alive like do a high percentage dink over the blockers Do something that isn't necessarily gonna get you the point but gives you a chance to win the point later
They have flipped on that and their outside hitters are trying to put down everything Even if it's a very imperfect set.
They're hitting crazy angles They're going up against blockers and just pounding it into them, which is not always a great idea, but they're
They're taking chances that other volleyball teams don't take.
Mimi Collier is their best outside hitter.
She set a career high on kills last game in the tournament.
Usually, a career high on kills will come against some jobber team that you are supposed to beat up on.
They have made this trade-off of accepting more errors, and they did make quite a few of them last game, for more kills.
They're a fun team to watch right now because they're basically hitting everything as hard as they can all the time.
Not every team is doing that.
It is in a very, very aggressive style and it's really paid off so far as sort of the rare underdog Wisconsin team.
I am very upset that we have not talked about this topic more in the past because I feel like the way you are speaking is with the same passion with which you speak on football.
So we're going to keep that conversation going in the future.
I want to hear more about, because I actually love volleyball.
used to play it a little bit, you know, here and there, but I turn into an unbridled monster because I just get very competitive for some reason involved.
But we'll talk about that down the road.
Paul Noonan is a writer for the Acme packing company.
He comes here every other Thursday to talk about sports.
We appreciate your time.
Thank you so much, my friend.
Thank you.
When we come back, this shouldn't be a thing.
Snake in my boot edition.
Yours.
You're right here at Matt and Aaron air on the civic media radio network.
Stay close.
Stay tuned.
You're listening to Civic Media.
Find the latest news, information, and archives of all your favorite shows on the Civic Media website, civicmedia.us.
Good morning.
Welcome back to Matt and Air on Air.
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Sitting in, not sitting in.
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I said it again, Calvin.
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We have a great show ahead for you tomorrow.
We're going to have Jim Santel on, as well as just discuss all the things going on with the Hannah Dugan case, because there are new developments in the case against a Milwaukee County circuit.
And we want you to be a part of that as well as let me just, I want to check my schedule here because I want to be on top of things because that's what a good host does.
We'll be also talking to the regional director of world relief, Gale Cornelius as well.
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Yeah, we appreciate you.
It's been almost a week of shows.
with just me and Calvin and so far, I think we're having a really good time and doing some good stuff here.
And we, and I just value and I'm grateful for your time.
Cause who has a lot of that nowadays, but let's keep it going for the segment.
You've all been waiting for Calvin.
It is officially 10 54, which means it's time for another installment of this shouldn't be a thing.
If you ever have a thing that should not be, you should in to me.
I'm going to my guitar for that, Calvin.
I'm going to start singing an impromptu song, but you can always send it still to Jane says at civic media.us Jane says at civic media.us that email is still up and running.
We still see it.
Let us know your thoughts on guests, topics, tisbat suggestions, but just get in touch with us.
If that email changes, we will let you know.
But Jane says at civic media.us and this one comes by way of CNN world.
And the title reads, Gary, oh, this is the snake in my boot edition.
Gary from Zootopia 2 is a hit in China.
Now young people are buying pit vipers.
In Beijing, we meet a young person named Kui Wihou.
Recently welcomed a new member of the family, a beautiful blue snake.
The 21 year old from central Jiangxi province bought the Indonesian pit viper for about
$260 are money, 1850 Yuan.
Two days after the release of Disney's animated hit, Zootopia 2.
Calvin, did you ever see the first Zootopia?
Are you a fan of that movie?
I don't know if that came out if you were too old or maybe it's, I have no idea.
I only know the movie.
I never saw it.
I'd never seen it either.
I was definitely too old.
I think it came out.
The
first one was like 20.
Apparently 2016, but I could have sworn it while I was in college.
Okay.
So here's the thing, a couple of things about this.
That movie is an absolute smash hit just in China.
It is a movie with a $150 million budget, which for those who don't know, for movies of this size, you take that 150 million and you times it by two, that's its full budget because you want to include marketing.
So about $300 million has been spent on this movie, give or take.
It is made nearly half a billion dollars in China alone, period.
So it's more than made its budget back and then some just by the Chinese market and they love this movie and they are inspiring people to buy blue pit vipers.
What I didn't tell you from the title of it and a little piece, they are highly venomous.
These are highly venomous reptiles that people are saying, yes, I need this in my life.
I don't want to judge anyone.
I don't want to say you can and can't do this, but that is something that would give me absolute and utter pause.
I don't mind snakes.
There was a time that I wanted to be a snake guy.
I'm glad I didn't.
I feel like that's a huge commitment.
And you're almost always going to say, Hey, where did Gary go?
And then everyone freaks out.
But as a reptile lover,
Kui has had as long wanted a blue snake and finally went ahead and bought one after seeing the positive and adorable portrayal of the snake character voiced by Kihui Kwan, Academy Award-winning Kihui Kwan.
But I guess the thing is, is it's your life.
It's you do what you want.
But what precautions are you going to take for everybody?
Because everyone needs to know like if
Calvin what would you do if I invited you to do my house for a just a dinner party and I said hey by the way I have a venomous blue pit viper does that inform your decision on whether or not you're coming?
Yes, or are you trusting me to be a responsible snake owner?
I would trust you to be a responsible snake owner and still probably pass I mean I there's two even if it wasn't venomous there's two
Pets that kind of freak me out a little bit and those are one is snakes of any type and two are ferrets.
I think if you have a snake or a ferret, you're the same type of person.
I have a lot of thoughts on ferrets because I had a roommate who had a ferret and I was, it was, it's a, it's a very disappointing quote unquote pet in my opinion.
Nothing against Remo, RIP Remo, but it was, I believe that ferrets are not pets.
That's me.
Live your life.
Do your thing.
Do your thing jellybean.
I'm fine.
Just as, yeah, if you tell me you have a fair at your house and you're having to cook out, I'm like, nah, I'm good.
I'm fine.
As a side note to really quick, Zootopia was released Thanksgiving weekend.
It has made over a billion dollars worldwide.
They're making Zootopia three through five.
You can guarantee that.
But I guess that's the thing is people love this movie so much.
They were putting all precaution aside and saying,
I want a blue pit viper in my home, and please come over and look at my blue pit viper.
Why doesn't anyone come over to my house to look at my blue pit viper?
I think the answer, my friends, is in the question itself.
So tell me, let us know, would you do this?
But that has been another edition of...
This shouldn't be a thing.
I want to thank Calvin.
I want to thank Tucker.
I want to thank engineering.
I want to thank traffic for all of you because without any of you, this show does not happen.
We fall apart because it's not on me.
I want to thank the listeners.
I want to thank the viewers and everyone who called, texted, gotten touch, wanted to have a discussion.
Without you, there is no us.
We are going to be back tomorrow.
Same time, 9am to 11.
We're going to have a great conversation for you, but don't go anywhere because after the top of the hour news, we got some Tom Hartman going on, then John and Gordy, then Pete Schwabba with Nightlife might send him this snake article.
He might even talk about it.
Who knows?
But stick around.
You're listening to the Civic Media Radio Network.
Stay tuned.
Stay close.
You are awesome.
Let no one tell you differently.
Have a great day.
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