Welcome everyone to WFHRs Play Maggers for this December 4th, 2023, 304 on the clock at
your host James behind the mic. I am joined by my favorite pitch hitter ever set to have
Haggary with us for Randy Paul today. Wait, thank you. I'm no, I'm no Lenny Harris, but, you know,
put you out the spot. Yeah, put you out of the cup immediately. What a pitch hitter.
Pitch hitter. Pitch hitter. I thought a Fred McGriff, who like pitch hit like five times
in his career. I don't know why. I don't know why the Cribe doll popped in my head. John Vander
Wall, he's good. Nice, great deep cut right there. That's the kind of show it's going to be
ever. Yeah, nothing but 90s references. All players, yeah, obscure 90s baseball players.
We are here to take your phone calls 424, 2600, 715, 424, 2600. Call up and join the conversation.
Nobody made a highlight from the sidelines. You just got done watching a weekend of sports. Let's
talk about it. Whatever you want to talk about it. Unfortunately for us, nothing happened over
the weekend. So there is nothing for us to talk about. Not a thing. Not a boy. We will get into
the college football playoffs. I want to get into the winter meetings with you, Seth. I certainly
want to talk about most importantly, the college football popped our bowl. I have to get into that.
There's a lot on the bone today for us to give you. There is actually.
But you guys come first. 424, 2600. Let's go ahead and take a call. What's on your mind?
Well, you really knocked it out of the park. No pun intended with your 90s baseball reverend.
Oh, yeah. I got I got I got two more. All right. How about J Beauty and Paul O'Neal.
J Beauty, great hitter. Part of a great Mariner team. A lot of us paid attention to because of
Griffey and some other reasons. Also, I believe that J Beauty was always had that hair that almost
balled paint. Yeah. Yeah. He's like at seven. J Beauty looked like that. Probably positive
above it. I'm positive. Like a like grade school pictures of J Beauty looks the same. Yeah.
He would look exactly the same. Paul O'Neal was a, he played for the Reds too, didn't he?
He started out with the Reds. In fact, he won a little series with them. Yeah, 1990. He won a
one series with them with Luke Pennellan, his and that team. And then of course, he went to the
Yankees and won a whole bunch more with that one. And you know, he was like one of the mainstays of
those late 90 teams. Him and, I was thinking of like him and Bernie Williams, you know, and those
guys. I know Jeter, yeah, whatever. Oh, yeah. Who cared about him? But Paul O'Neal, at least Bernie
Williams was the, was the fun one, the next one. Paul O'Neal was like the grouch. Yeah. He was always
cranky and crabby. So that's what I remember about him. You mentioned Luke Pennellan. Did you hear
that he got snubbed for the Hall of Fame? Yeah. Yeah. In my notes of things to get to today,
I didn't want to give a shout out to Jim Lee Lind who is getting into the Hall of Fame very
deservingly. But, but, but, but unfortunate note to Luke Pennellan. Yeah. I think sweet
Luke belongs in there. I think, you know, I couldn't, I don't know. I don't have his stats off
the top of my head. I know that he was a great manager. And, and if you told me, yeah,
you know, one of the telltales to me, if somebody says, Hey, Luke Pennellan is not in the Hall of Fame,
really? Luke Pennellan is not in the Hall of Fame. Would have thought he'd be in the Hall of Fame.
Like, it just seems like he should be in the Hall of Fame. Not that that's a reason. Like,
well, then let's make him in the Hall of Fame. That's a reason. No, I hear you. It's one of those
ones. I'm not going to get bent out of shape over. You know, he had just enough of a, he was just
just missed. He was a very good player. When he was a player, he's a very good hitter. And then
he was a very good manager, but just not enough on both counts. He wasn't quite there. Yeah.
Anything else, bud? Yeah, I actually have a quote thinking of baseball. I've got a Bob
Euker quote and it's directed right for you guys because you're the sports guys on radio.
And the quote is on TV, people can see it, but on radio, you've got to create it.
Yeah, that's a good quote. That's a really good one. Like that.
Really, really good one, bud. Yeah, I figured you and Randy would probably appreciate that. I
don't know. That gets out in the local ones, but I had a question for you guys. In case you
didn't have enough to talk about, I was wondering. You always talk about all these sports. I was
wondering if you had any favorite ones. What are your favorite ones to play or watch when you were a
kid? Nice, but I'll leave you with that. Thank you, bro. Thank you, bro. Have a great day.
Have a good one. We'll talk soon. 424, 2600 best callers in radio. Yeah. I appreciate you all.
So, uh, what did anyone answer that? Uh, I, the sports that I played, uh, growing up, I did
play baseball. Uh, that was probably number one. Um, uh, I organized and unorganized, played with,
you know, cousins and stuff. We would get, you know, pick up games together and that kind of thing.
Uh, I played a fair amount of basketball. I'm not, I mean, I, for someone to grow up in the woods,
you know, I, I couldn't go to the neighborhood and say, yeah, let's play a game and ask about.
But when I had a chance, I would do a little bit of that. Um, but then when I got older,
I think I gave up both of those because, you know, it's harder to do that when you get older,
kind of thing. Um, I played a lot more tennis, actually. Nice. Uh, when I was in my, uh, 20s,
I actually played tennis. So, which I, I, I would still like to do. I, tennis is fun.
It's a very fun sport and it's a great exercise. I mean, considering, think about how much you do
when you're playing tennis back and forth and, you know, you're running constantly. So it's, uh,
that one, I, that one of, it's probably of my favorite to play is probably tennis.
I like those. Um, you know, it's a sneaky thing. All the people I know from Minnesota,
including one of my uncles, uh, love basketball. And, and, and part of my uncle, you should tell me,
you only got to play it two weeks a year. So you really ended up being good at it and loving it.
You know, right, right. Famously prints, uh, had a basketball court in his, or a hoop in his,
uh, you know, uh, uh, basically park and everything with challenged people to play and stuff and
turns out was really, really good at basketball. Yeah. Even though he's like, what, five for three
or whatever. Yeah. Something like that. Um, for me, growing up on the South Side of Chicago,
water polo was huge. Man, a lot of people don't realize this, but we played a ton of water polo
in this, no, we, uh, I think you have a pool. Um, I, uh, I, uh, growing up, loving watching my
dad box and, uh, hockey, I loved watching those sports. Um, I started to get, uh, tuned into
college basketball by my aunt when I was young, uh, and really got into that. And then as I moved
out here, I started to get into a lot more college athletics in general and everything. And I
started to, I inserted myself in every sport I could, uh, and, and as soon as a coach saw I was
fast, hey, you thought about trying out for this sport. Sure. Yeah.
So I played just about everything. Mm hmm. I love, love, love, track and field. I enjoyed everything,
a lot, everything about track and field. And I really, really enjoy watching basketball, probably
the most of all the sports football is right there with it too. Um, but I enjoyed playing football
the most. Mm hmm. I think, um, part of what I loved about football was the camaraderie. The,
yeah, it's the one sport. All the sports talk about us against the world mentality and a lot of
those kind of things. For me, it was the one sport that you actually believed it. Like you,
your coach, if you got a good coach, if you got somebody who was really talking you up and
everything, it didn't matter if you were sitting the bench the whole game, you were still cheering
your, your fellow, you know, players on and stuff. Yeah, that makes sense. There was something about
being an even at a low level like I was in, in, in football that was so addictive and so entertaining
and so like got him. So I, I'm so happy to be a part of this, you know, I had my favorite number,
as my jersey number, where there was such a, I got to return something that I always wanted to do
in sports was being a kick-and-pump returner. Um, there was something about that. So I, I think
football was my favorite sport to play as much as, as much as when he said that, I thought a
basketball right away while you were talking, I was thinking, no, I'm joking. Wait a minute, no.
Your answer made me think about it. And I thought, oh, yeah, that's, that's probably a...
No, I, I never mentioned, you know, playing football on the playground, which we did a lot. Now,
I think a lot of you out there would know, okay, so you get a group of kids together, okay? And then
you count and you say, oh, we don't have the same number of players. So what do you do? You have the
all-time quarterback, right? That was usually me because I had a decent arm and, well, accurate enough
that I could get it with it a few feet, you know, of the, of the receivers. So that was usually what I
ended up, and I couldn't run very fast. So that was the other reason why, you know, that I would be
the one to throw it. So by Buddy Chris, that was always Chris. Chris had a heck of an arm. Just
insanely accurate arm. And yeah, he didn't, he didn't want to run too much. I want to get into
the phone calls, of course, 424-2600. We got a lot to talk about today. I did want to let
everybody know that the fourth period, our interview time with our head coach and GM viewer, Wisconsin
Rapids River King's coach Paul Peckman, it's going to be at 330 and that'll be where the spot
will be from now on going forward. So coach will join us at about 330. Looking forward to that.
Just got a text from him. He's on the way. He's on the way, right? Which is really good because
his shift is up. His shift is up at 330. He's part of the top line. We need him out there. Gotta get
out there, coach. We're looking forward to talking River King's with him. And after that, maybe we'll
have more time to get into the Otani thing. But so for right now, I want to start with the,
where every sports show, almost every show is starting the college football playoff.
Yeah. Okay. The hot takes going on. Yeah. I want to start off first with a tweet from Jordan
Travis, the injured Florida State Quarterback, Florida State Quarterback, who is a part of the undefeated
team and know with the news breaking. Now, I can't imagine if you're listening to this show,
you don't know what we're talking about. Right. For those that don't know. Yesterday,
it was, they broke the news pretty early, are pretty late in the day. Okay. That what the,
who we're going to be the, the, the, the USA, like the college playoff, right?
Kind of thing. Yeah. So what you're talking about? Okay. It's not, it's a college playoff,
but they had something else. Oh, I see. Okay. I wanted to get it right. The Associated Press. I'm
sorry. Got you. I apologize. The Associated Press came out with their top 25, their final top
25. Gotcha. Before the college football playoff was announced. Right. And they had in their
Michigan with 51% of the 51 votes, Washington with 11 votes, then Texas, then Florida State,
Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State. Okay. So that news broke. And I wanted to make the reason I'm
looking this up. That was broke at about 10.32 a.m. Okay. All right. In the morning. All right.
And it was about like, uh, so we had a good half an hour or maybe an hour or so. I don't know
around there to really kind of be like, Oh my God. They did it. There's not going to be an SEC
team in the college football playoff. Right. I was ready to get on the air today and eat every
word I've ever said about college football because I was going around telling everybody in their
mother, there's no way. There's, there is no way there will not be an SEC team in the college
football playoff. No way. They wouldn't they would rather not even have it than not have the South
represented college football college football. You're telling me they're not going to have an SEC team.
There'd be a two loss team in there before there would not be any team in there. It really seems
that way. So I didn't think for a second that that was going to happen. But I thought I,
I mean, up until that moment that the AP released their all this, they got me. I, I, I, I, I, I,
bit the bait as oh my God. They may actually do this. They may do the right thing that that
everything they talk about when they first came up with this. Well, we're not going to let injuries
come into our vote. We're not going to let we're, we're, it's going to be about the best teams
in the teams that are ranked the best. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I, I, I thought that all
that was true for about a half an hour, 45 minutes. And then the news bro reality. Yeah.
And it was announced that it was Michigan number one, Washington number two, Texas number three,
in Alabama number four. For me, and I don't think that the issue with anybody is, well,
amma, but Alabama is not a good team. Well, no, they're fine. They're 11 are good team. Yeah,
they're great team. Uh, it's not about that George is not a bad, not a good team. In fact,
I think George has got a bigger argument than Alabama. Uh, or are Florida state even in some
ways? Yeah. Yeah. You could, if not a better argument, at least a similar one. Yeah.
Of, hey, we, we would just went 29 and oh, we did, or 24 and oh, or something like that.
Didn't lose a game when two titles back to back and everything. At the very least, you'd think
we should have a chance to at least compete for the third. And let's be honest, between you and I,
we know we're kind of the one of the best teams in the whole world, which is true. Yeah. Which is
what this thing is all about. So, you know, if you can nudge it, no, let us in there. But they
couldn't. There was no way that if Alabama beat Georgia, they could get Georgia into the playoffs
while keeping, while saving some face. Mm hmm. And not turning this into it. We all understand
it's a money grab, but they don't want it to seem that way. They're going to do, they're going
to go as close to the line as they can. And boy, did they boy, and they got exactly what they were
hoping for. They got their sweet Alabama in there. They got them in the number four spot. So,
they look good with doing it. And then all that news breaks. And Jordan Travis, the again,
injured quarterback for Florida State, tweets out this devastated heartbroken and so much disbelief
right now. I wish my leg broke earlier in the season. So y'all could see this team is much more
than the quarterback. I thought results matter 13. And though this roster matches up across any
team in those top four rankings, I am so sorry. Go. Noles. Oh, oh my gosh. I'm, I'm heartbroken
read, Matt. I know. I wish I'd have broken my leg earlier. Think of a young man thinking about
that feeling. Think about that being your kid, that feeling that way. I know. It's just, um,
and, and he's, he's right to feel this way. He's, he's right to, to, because there's no arguing
that you can go ahead and do it. I'm not saying you can't. But to me, there is no arguing that a
team with a loss is better than a team with no losses. This is math. I thought we all agreed
at least on that. Um, it's, it's mind boggling and it's not at the same time. Yeah. It's one of
those things where it's frustrating, it's confusing. It gives ESPN and Fox planning to talk about
for the next week or two. But it actually, it doesn't, it's not, it doesn't, it doesn't, it doesn't
solve anything. It doesn't make this right. Adding 12 teams next year doesn't make this right.
The 13th team next year is going to be, yeah, you're right. Exactly. We're going to have the same,
the same issue. I don't know if a lot of people heard this, um, but was it laid on Friday or
sometime during Friday, Nick Saban, um, made this the, the statement. If a team from the SCC
doesn't get in, that's a sign of disrespect. Apparently, that's all he had to say. Yeah.
And that did it. And that freaked them out. Yep. They're, they, they're, we, we, we, we've talked
about it before, you know, on this and, and other things. It's like that. It's, it's, it's,
it's run by a bunch of scared. Yes. Yeah. They're chasing, you know, they're jumping at shadows.
Yeah. They're, they're scared, so scared of, of something. I'm not even sure what it is.
Yeah. To be honest with you, they still got tons of money coming in. They still got all of this
stuff. What are they afraid of? Um, they, but they're just, they're freaked out. You know, I just
throwing a, just throwing this out there. I think they're afraid of what they do every year,
doing the wrong thing. That, you know, I think they still do it. I think there's plenty of
things that they're probably afraid of as far as people in their pocket and all that. Yeah.
But I think genuinely what they're afraid of is this happening, which they know is going to
happen. In fact, there's a, an ESPN right now. There's a quote from one of the committee members.
Holy blank. This is really going to suck to do this as far as regarding the, that's an actual
quote. They know, they know. They know. Yeah. I, I, I think personally of all the things that are
insulting to say from one man to another, all the words in the English language to me. I
genuinely believe the most insulting thing one man can say to another is you're coward.
I really believe that the B word, all these other things that made it throughout
around since we were kids. That's the one. That's the word. I personally believe that every member
of this committee is a coward. Yes. They proved it. They proved it. They just showed it. They just
showed it. Yep. If they had a let floor to stay in, we'd be barking today. We'd be talking about
a lot of things. But what we wouldn't be talking about is justice or fairness or hey, you know,
at the, at the end of every conversation, well, they did say that injuries weren't going to play
into it and they stuck to their word. And what else are we doing here? Like I understand, like,
if you want money to be the all king here, which we all understand that it probably is behind
the scenes at, if not up front now, okay, then own that. Make, make the college football trophy
just a big dollar sign. Yeah. Make it, just be honest about it and own it. If you're actually
going to talk about integrity and what is right and, and, and, and all these other things,
I mean, just give us a little at least then give us something like you're actually trying.
You're actually pretending to believe the words you're saying. Otherwise, just be honest and
own it and make the, make it a dollar symbol and make, you know, let's own all this and get
everything up front. We're already doing that with NIL and stuff anyway. Right, right, right.
Well, it's, it's, we see this with every quote unquote committee in amateur, quote unquote sports.
Because we have, it, look at what, well, it's not just amateurs either. Look at FIFA.
Yeah. One of the most corrupt bodies on the planet, the Olympic committee. Yeah. Again,
one of the most corrupt bodies on the planet. I mean, you look, you just made me feel better
about American sports. Yeah. Nicely done. Nicely done. I've been thinking about it, man. I mean,
I feel probably since this time, yes, or around noon yesterday, not just made me feel better
comparing FIFA and the Olympic committees. Like, yeah, those are the most corrupt organizations of
all time. I think, I think we, it has proven to us really who, who has the power in all this and
it's, it's individual programs that, that throw a lot of weight around that can, that can say
things like this. And yeah, yeah. In the end, I, I guess there, there was no, there was no surprise.
Yeah. Once Alabama won that game, they were in. Doesn't matter. They lost by double digits at home
to Texas. Apparently, right. Doesn't matter. It's funny, too. Two things happened with this. One,
Alabama immediately went from one of those teams where everybody was kind of like, oh, that's kind
of cool. Alabama turned her season around. Good for them. And wow, how great. And all that to,
we hate you again. You're evil. You're in the Patriots. Blah, blah, blah, blah. And all that
immediately went with one tweet that all changed. Maybe they were uncomfortable with being people
liking them. They're like, wait a minute. This doesn't feel right. This is, this is wrong.
But here's the thing that, here's not, I have not heard one talking head talk about this.
Alabama beat Georgia. Yes. Alabama just beat a team that went 24 and oh, like they would 24. That's
a pretty cool thing. That's awesome. The SEC championship game was awesome. We haven't even gotten
to get, we don't even get a chance to be in the, like talk about that. We didn't get to go into
this idea that these two, you know, Goliaths faced off and the way it went down and everything.
It was kind of cool. Well, from now on now, though, now that everything is set and ready, I am,
I am, I have one team that I am rooting for. Yeah. And that is Washington. You and me, but I want
Washington to win the whole thing as their conference dissolves. I think that would be fabulous.
I love the idea of that. I also think it's all incredible that a team got judged for having
their quarterback injured, but another team didn't get judged for basically being under the FBI's
watch all season. Like Michigan, nobody, no, Michigan just like one thing. This title might not
even, if they win, it might not even count. But that's okay. That Michigan number one team in the
country. Let's go ahead and take a phone call. Good morning. You're a good afternoon young show.
Yeah, good afternoon again, guys. I just wanted to, while you're laughing, I just, I don't know if
you heard Graham Merth is applying for a six-year of eligibility. Oh, you just want to leave.
30-year-old Graham Merth's quarterbacking for the University of Virginia. That's
wait for that everyone. He's Van Wilder right there. Yeah. College is fun. Yeah. That's all I
did not hear that. Thank you, brother. Thank you for the call. Thank you. As long as we're breaking
some news there for you, those that did not hear, Wade, Miley is staying in Wisconsin. Nice.
Wade, Miley is just signed a deal. It was one year deal, 8.5. I want to say. Yeah, 8.5 million
mutual option for 2025. Wade likes it in Wisconsin. He does. And he is a asset, man. He's the epitome
of the crafty lefty, you know? I think he's great. And he's a great, especially a contrast to some
of their harder throwers. Depending on what happens with Corbin Burns, who knows? But you still got
Freddie Peralta. You've got some pretty hard throwers on that. And then you all send throw a
junk lefty at him. I love that. That's a great contrast. He's, I love this term. He's an in-exeter.
Yes. He's an in-exeter. I love that term. It's one of my all-time, it's my favorite things.
It's a good one. Not many of those guys left anywhere. He's old. No. Now in a couple of years
in in-exeter, it's going to be guy who goes like four innings. Four in five innings, right? Yeah.
That guy went a whole five. It's a very different, very different than the other he used to be.
I want to, I wanted to certainly get to, we're going to get to break in a second here.
Did have a couple of other quick notes that I wanted to get to. I'm starting to write this stuff
down more. So I'm making sure that Wisconsin running back, Braille and Alan, a three-year starter
and all big 10 performer is declaring for the 2024 NFL draft. Alan, who made his announcement
last Tuesday in social media, will not suit up for the Badgers and their upcoming bowl game.
That bowl game, of course, where Wisconsin is going to be taking on LSU on New Year's Day.
Very cool. Great game. Yeah. It should be a good one. A little bit of a surprise.
If you're, yeah, it is. Yeah. Almost everybody had them against Auburn. So I don't, but nobody
had Alabama, but BD Georgia either. So that cut us to you too. Who knows. It's going to be,
first off, don't worry, Badger fans, LSU is going to have like half their team gone too.
Because they have for them are going for the NFL draft and everything as well. But the,
you know, Wisconsin and running backs are hand in hand. They are running back you in many ways.
And they've had a great history of running backs. You don't have a ton of them that are from
fond to lack. You don't have a ton of them that are Wisconsinites and have the natives of the
state. And while he's got a year of eligibility and I think a lot of some people were actually
wondering if he was going to even go into this transfer portal and all that stuff. He's going into
the NFL because he couldn't imagine playing college football for any other team than his UW team,
than his Wisconsin team. And for him, I know it was a disappointing year. Personally,
they ended up, the Badger's had a pretty good season in the end. But I think for him, he just felt
that he probably wasn't used as well as he could have been that kind of thing. I give him a lot of
credit for not, you know, you know, you know, going off or anything like that, you know, saying,
you know, making statements like, wow, give me the ball, you know, that kind of thing. I know
that's different in college than in the NFL, but it's very understandable that he decided to do
this. Yeah. If we have time, I'd like to get into the pro football hall of fame. They got
the semi-finals of that announced. We'll see if we have some time with that. We'll get into it
a little bit later. I do want to talk Otani with you and some baseball as we lead into break
some interesting notes here real quick. Do you see this? Andre Dawson says he sent a letter to
baseball hall of fame. Chair Jane Forbes Clark asking to change the cap on his plaque from the
Montreal expose to the Chicago Cubs. What? A decision by the hall he disagreed with at the time
and his objective to for 13 years. He didn't get to pick what his cap was going to be. That was,
they do get to do that now. Yeah, but when he was inducted, they did not. I didn't, I didn't,
I thought they always got to do that. That's a smack in the face, man. That ain't right. Like,
you should be able to at least decide that part. Well, to be fair, I think it should be the
Montreal expose personally because I think he had a better, most of his career was there and he
had some really great. I know he had his MVP season wasn't Chicago. I get that. But for me, I love
the idea for that. But again, like, it is kind of his should be his choice. So if you want to go
in and as a cub, that's fine because you know, the Cubs don't have nearly that many. How many do they
have? Let's say six, seven, eight as much as I may get to sewn by my family for this. I actually
agree with you. And I like the representation of the Montreal expose, especially for 50, 60 years
from now when people are really unsure what that was. Yeah, exactly. I thought it was interesting.
The change, this may be the interesting part of it to me though, not the part about Dawson in the
13 years, although I did find that I did not know that part. The change followed reports in 1999
that Tampa Bay offered to compensate the newly retired Wade Boggs if his plaque bore a devil ray logo.
Boggs was inducted in 05 and his plaque, of course, has a Boston Red Sock. How many people for one
forgot that Wade Boggs played for Tampa Bay? And two, I want you to imagine just for a second,
a parallel universe where Boston Red Sock fans have to watch Wade Boggs go into the whole famous
Tampa Bay ray. That would be hilarious. Think about how they would handle that. Oh,
they were at Boston fans. The original well-adjusted Boston fans. I think that's pretty interesting.
Oh my gosh. One last baseball note before a little bit later, after we're done talking with
coach in the fourth period, Seth and I are going to get into the Otani, not just where he could go,
but if he goes there, how it's going to look. That's going to look, yeah. Reliver Liam Hendrix and
outfielder Cody Belinger were selected major league baseballs comeback players of the year. Very good.
Very, very, both of that. Very deserving. I mean, Cody Belinger, I think a lot of people
wrote him off, including like 29 teams in Major League Baseball. You know, they pretty much gave
up on him and everything. And you can make the argument, even the Cubs didn't believe in him that
much. Only gave him a one year deal. Yep. What a season. I've always been a fan of his. I was so
happy to see that I didn't care what jersey he was wearing last year. And Liam Hendrix beat
cancer and ended up back on the diamond. That's always. That's the discussion. Exactly. It's
happened a few times. A couple players have done it like Mike Lowell is probably one of the biggest
ones. He did the same thing. Right. But this one was it was a little different this time. The kind
of cancer he had was a little different. And so I think that had a bigger part. And the treatment
was was more intense than some of the other guys have had. So you're right. That's totally
deserved for him to come back after that. And and play was awesome. A big congratulations to
them and their families and a big thank you to them for entertaining us this past season. Both
of them gave us a lot to cheer for. Coming up. We've got the coaches shift coming up. Coach,
your shift is on the coming up. I'll get the fourth period coming up right here on playmakers,
which is probably brought to you by our friends here in Wisconsin Rapids at Quality Plus
printing. Getting your words out WF HR locally grown radio. Welcome back everyone. Do playmakers
proudly brought to you by Quality Plus printing here at WF HR locally grown radio. Got your host James
Jay. I am joined with Seth Havagger today. Good afternoon, everyone. And we are kicking off the fourth
period. We have head coach and GM Eger. Wisconsin Rapids River Kings coach Paul Peckman with us right
now. Coach, how you doing? Doing great, man. How'd it feel to sleep in your own bed this week?
Got no release in in town here at the very least. It was wonderful. It's a nice change of pace,
I imagine. I want to get to a new signing by the team. I want to get to this to plenty of,
you know, what's to what's to come coming up here. But how let's rewind a little bit. How did you
feel the weekend went? What were your takeaways from this weekend? Well, the first off I the
two is nice to come away with points, right? I mean, but we came away with three out of four.
To be honest with you, I was not very thrilled with the way we played on Friday night. I thought it
was a lackluster. And believe me when I tell you, I let them know about it, especially after the
first period. So the fact that we bounced back and we actually got a point out of that, we still
had plenty of chances to win it, which we should have. And the way we played on Saturday night,
I thought was a tremendous difference. And that's the way we play. You know, nobody wants these
games. We all want to go and defeat it and put up 10, you know, goals of game and these things.
You get adversity. You have these moments. It always seems to be good to have them now than in
the playoffs. So you have that happen Friday night. And we all know you well enough to know that
yes, there was a fire. I'm surprised that our fire department didn't show up over there just in case.
To have the game to turn around Saturday. What was it like Sunday or today when you meet with the
team and having that collection of data? You have the Friday, the Saturday. How is it going today
when you're kind of taking this all in? Well, it's, you know, obviously we talk to the boys.
It's, you know, I'm proud about the way they bounce back. And we got to clean up some of the things
that we need to clean up. So the meetings that we had today are going over the video and some of
the things that we're obvious that we talk about a lot. Listen, these are teenage kids, right? So
it's, it's, you got to, it's repetitive. Yeah. And then when you go over the video and you just
hit pause and you watch them do the same stupid mistake 10 times in a row, this is what happens,
right? So we got to clean it up. We know it because when we do, when we play the way we want to play,
which is Saturday night, that kind of style, we're tough to beat, right? So we can't afford to give
away points with the tight race that we're in right now. Teams that are ahead of us are winning
and a team below us are winning. And then make it on any given night, you know, somebody's going to
bite you and we got to be ready for that. We're sitting here in the standings just a handful of
points behind Hudson. And you're right, looking at the top to bottom teams outside of maybe a team
or two. It's, it's neck and neck. And it looks like it's going to be all season. We talk about the
things that aren't necessarily where we're where we want them right now. What has been the most
consistent things to you this season? To me, it seems like goalie play has been pretty consistent
from game one to now. Are you seeing anything else? Or is that the most consistent you've seen?
Well, I think our defensive play for the most part. I mean, if you look at our goals against,
we're the best team in the division. We have the lowest goals against. And that's something that I
preach from day one in every year. I have been in the top three in our division wherever I've been.
Because it's just a style that we play in the systems that I run. It's so it's very conducive
to our defense and our goalies. As long as everybody buys in, right? And when you do that,
you give yourself a chance to win every night. Regardless, because right now, we can't score goals.
I mean, we've lost three out of four shootouts. That's literally with nobody else on the ice,
but you and the goalie and your kids go. Right? So that's a problem. It's just something we
addressed today and we worked on it. All the breakaways and all the, you know, the over times and
things like that. These are opportunities that you can't let slip away. And so what does that mean?
That means if I got to go find somebody and I said, put the puck in and that, I'll do that.
Right? And they all know it. This is no secret. They all look at each other and, you know,
they're just as frustrated. But you know, and then you put in six on Saturday night.
Right. That sounds a lot of problems. But when you get to, right? The margin of error is slim.
And you can't afford mental breakdowns and doing the stupid things that we do consistently
that we get a cleanup. So that's the final line. I don't think we've got to get into this before.
So I don't mean to go on a side path here, but you mentioned the system that you run.
Where did that system come from? Where did you learn like this particular style?
Because it's, I understand there's other styles like this similar to it. I think it's pretty unique,
though. I've talked with my dad about this and everything. The way that you run this team,
this organization, really. It's not an overly complicated system, but it's very committed,
very defense oriented where you always have backup, right? You can never leave anybody out
to dry. You can't be above the puck. It's not a man on man, right? It's not, it's some of those
are really aggressive. And then you're, you're exposing to me. It's, it's, the game is very simple,
right? We just over complicated it with all these different systems. You got to be fine around
all over the place. Keep it simple. Take care of what you need to take care of, which is in your
own zone. It's the net, right? You got it in your net front presence. You have to be there.
Any battle in the corners or up or high on the points, you've got to have a guy supporting that.
In case he gets beat, somebody say to back you up, right? So if you always have that, it's called
the box plus one, right? Yeah. And that's all we do. So everybody understands their rotation
and their shift and what happens where the puck goes. And I do a specific drill that just,
every now and then, just a reminder, where we need to be. And just seven pucks on the ice. And
here, there, and we just have guys shift. So they understand where they're supposed to be. The
puck's behind the net. You can't have guys all the way out there. Everybody's got it. We got to
crowd the house and keep everything to the outside. And then you win your battles and then you go,
right? That kind of stuff. So that's the defensive side of things. My dad says to me the other day,
Jimmy, I'd love to play for him. We were laughing at stuff. And I'm like, well, why exactly?
Because I saw him play. I know the kind of guy he was and everything. But the first thing you
thought of as he always, I did not know this about him as much as I thought I knew about the guy.
He loved def, he loved playing defense. I knew any guy that plays hockey without a helmet. You
got a feeling that the guy likes to like likes to, you know, smash it up against the boards a
little bit and everything. But he liked the speed of like the defense comes first, but speed is
right there. And so many teams, I think when they do go into defense mentality, it's a little bit
more of like holding the puck kind of thing and a little bit more of like just keeping it on your
side or keeping it away from your side or this kind of thing. With you, there is defense,
but there is the right amount of aggression where it's speed related and it's having guys back
and stuff. There guys, it's a very interesting way to me. Well, there's two ways to play this.
Passive and aggressive. You've got to know when to do what, right? So if they have the puck
and they're already looking at you and then you're passive and it's more about positioning and
making sure you're between the puck and your net, right? You got to be in the shooting line.
You got to eat pucks and we've got about that a lot, right? So we have some guys that have no
problem throwing their body in front of blocking shots and this and that and some guys got to do
a better job. But it's, we all know defense wins championships. Nobody teaches it, right?
Nobody's committed to it. So if you do that and defense creates good offense, right?
You're blocking shots, you're getting fast breaks, you're going, right? So and then we play with speed
and so now when you, when you, you know, you create a turnover, you win those 50-50 bottles
and you got to know where to go because we're going to stretch and we're going to blow this
on and we're just throwing bombs and then all of a sudden in one pass you're in there is on
and get it away from you and get it in front of that. So because if you're down there,
they can't score, right? So it's just a, it's just a mentality you're going to have.
Well, I know at least one player that has been listening because on Friday night, I think it was Luke
joined the press box. He was doing a little color commentary and he said two things that the
coach just mentioned. He mentioned on the broadcast about defense number one and eating pucks.
So he's, he's paying attention. He's a great kid. I love that kid. Speaking of great kids,
we got one, a new one come in the town coach. Joel Texmo, am I saying the right Texmo?
Forward from mincing Ontario, previously with Bradford Bulls going to be coming over to us.
What can he tell us about this young man? Great kid. Great kid, very quiet.
Big guy lost a bang. I specifically saw him out because it was a good fit for where I wanted
him to be and who I wanted him to play with. And I think he, you know, the first game,
we only had two practices, right? So Friday night was kind of just feeling the things out. And
I thought Saturday played very well. That line is a whole did a lot of good things for us.
He's very reliable. And again, because he's very good at defense side of the puck, right? So
responsible that you can trust in certain situations. And that's critical for us.
Boy, you know, being feeling that confident about puck handling with a kid, you know, at this age
or especially that's got that's a big selling point right there. Let alone him being a big kid.
That's always nice. That's always nice to bring it. We're looking forward to seeing him more and
more of him this season. The season is of course continuing. It's going to be on WIRI as it is
live and direct from the South of County Rec Center. Get your tickets for it this weekend. Got a
team nippin at our heels coming to town. I mean, this sort of moose right behind us in the
standings. They are, I'm sure in their facility right now talking about this is our chance to
move up in the standings by taking out the kings. You want the king. You best not miss.
You bet you better come for it. Right. So when it comes to this weekend, what are you looking at
as a preview to you? What do you look at in the moose? What are you seeing?
Well, they're a big team. They're fast and they're physical, very similar. So
we better be prepared and we better come with it, right? This is a team we know it can be. We've
done it before and they beat us. So, you know, if you don't bring your A game, you're going to get
spanked. So, and just like any other team, you know, I mean, we have to be mentally and physically
prepared to battle because they like to bang. They're like a good goal tending. They're very big
on the decoy. They're very similar to us. And actually, that's one of the teams that this year,
I wanted to build my team similar to their style size wise. Yeah. Yeah. Right? Because you can't
compete, you know, if you don't have somebody the same and in that team, one of going to the
nationals and we didn't. Yeah. So that was something that was on my mind the whole recruiting process
is, okay, we need to beat them. We need to get into the top two to get home my disadvantage for
the two rounds. And then hopefully, I have a shot to go to the nationals game inside a game for
this weekend. Certainly, I mean, something with the standings and this point in the season,
but there's also a little bit of a last season playing into this and a little of what you're saying
there. So that just adds more and more storylines and more and more reasons to care and enjoy
this great weekend of hockey and looking forward to a coach. You can catch River King's hockey
this weekend right on our sister station, WIRI, 659, a pregame kicks off, King's hosting a
Minnesota moose right here. Rapids game two on Saturday, same pregame time 659. Join our
our great announcing team. Seth's going to run the board. Make sure it sounds good for you.
We're very excited about that and get your tickets. Most importantly, get your tickets and let's
show them what home ice advantages. Help the Kings build hockey up and down the river at riverkingshockey.com.
We'll talk again real soon. Thank you coach. Have a great weekend. Thank you. You too.
We'll be back with more playmakers here at WFHR locally growing radio.
Welcome back everyone to WFHR's playmakers.
proudly brought to you by our friends at quality plus printing, getting your words out here in
Wisconsin Rapids. Big thank you to them. Huge thank you to our friends, our friend coach Paul
Peckman for joining us. Coach Paul always good to talk with him and hang out with him.
We'll have another episode of the fourth period for you next week at 330.
I would have liked to have seen him play. Yes, as intense as he is as a coach. I can
just imagine what it was like when he was a player. I know just from a little bit of experience
and stuff behind the scenes of hockey teams and stuff. I guarantee you he was a bulldog out there.
He's definitely just a bulldog out there. He's not the tallest guy so I'm guessing he had to really
use a lot of gumption. I guess you can say. Valley had some strong legs.
Yeah. Oh yeah. The guys in hockey always got the huge big legs. The big legs and legs.
L2B legs. Yes. Yes. Yes. Big guy. Thank you to coach Paul. And again, go to riverkingshockey.com.
Help the kings build hockey up and down the river. Get your tickets. We'll meet you at the south
of County Rec Center. Not only this weekend, but we've got next weekend also.
Especially this weekend. I mean, these two coming up weekends are like big. This is a big
series. Yeah. A very important one. So this is the time to come. The Minnesota Moose are literally
a point behind us in fourth place in the standings. That's our team this weekend. And then the Minnesota
Squatch are the following weekend who are right ahead of us in the standings currently. And the
Moose played the Squatch really tough this weekend. This last weekend. So yeah, there's a bunch up at
the beginning at the top of the standings right now. It's going to be an interesting end of the year.
Really as if it keeps going like this. Get your tickets and support the kings as they build
hockey up and down the river. So Seth, the biggest name in baseball show Hey O'Tani is a free agent.
And we're going to be talking about this while we can. While we can. I want to get to that,
but I want to talk about the winter meetings and all. Before we get to all these things,
I do have to rewind just for a second to coach football. I did want to give our stat a stat of
the show, not stat of the day because we're in the stat of the show. Yeah. That who was the last
team to win three back-to-back to back-to-back championships? You gave me the answer earlier.
So I'm not going to spoil it. I'll let you do it. Georgia had this taken from them. They're not
going to be able to do that. They are not even in the chance to do this. So they went to and
went one of the back-to-back titles. Similar to I think Ohio State and some other teams in Alabama,
some other teams that have done it in recent history. I saw this stat and it literally like I
had to find my mind because it was blown. Dating back to 1900, Minnesota is the only team to win three
national championships in a row from 1934 to 1936. Minnesota. Minnesota, yeah. Of all the teams,
I would have never had Minnesota of 161 teams in college football. Probably my 140s, maybe I'd
have gotten to Minnesota. If you go back to the 1920s, that's kind of when college football was
first really organized, that kind of thing. The big teams, if you go back and listen to what
people talked about, the big games were like the Southern California games. USC was always big in
there. The Ivy League, surprisingly, the Ivy League games were big, Yale and Harvard and all
those. But the other ones were the Midwest teams. That's where the big football. Because that was
you just had the guys that were in your state that came to play for you and we're talking big
strapping farm kids that were coming into Wisconsin and Minnesota and Iowa and all these teams,
so yeah. Interesting point. Yeah, so that makes sense actually, because if you go back and look
and see who the big teams were back then, yeah, a lot of them were like what became the big 10. So
I thought that was an interesting stat. That was a lot of the show, stat of the show. At one point,
they were okay. Yeah. I always hang a hat on that if you're a bit of soda fat out there.
Looking at the winter meetings, as we are in our last 10 minutes, we are in the fourth period here,
getting right up to the top of the hour. A lot of things coming out of the winter meetings,
I thought we're interesting. As Brian Cashman continues to lose his mind and it is hilarious
to me to watch. I would never laugh at him on another person's mental health. But Brian Cashman
is the, yeah, I'm sorry, I'm not enjoying it. A couple of interesting notes before we touch on
the Otani talk. There is a prediction that Josh Hader is going to break the record for reliever
contracts. I think that wouldn't shock me if this was five years ago. But the way relievers are
at his age, I find that very interesting. I wonder how much the Craig Kimberls, the guys that are
hitting 65 right now. Craig Kimberls is going to retire and go right to collecting ARP. He's been in
the league so long. Some of these guys, I thought when we were kids, we were seeing the last of this,
the least myths that the relievers in their late 30s, 40s and stuff. Josh has got a way
to go to get there. He does, yeah. But his consistency and the fact that other MLB teams and scouts
are still looking at him like, yeah, he's fine. If you can get him, throw money at him,
but park the trunk at him. That's pretty cool. That's pretty interesting. It's also pretty damning
if you're a Milwaukee Borough fan. Well, it seems to be where it started. We've been hearing about
this. Craig Council said, when did it start for you? Well, when they traded Josh Hader.
The fact that being a closer, one of the hardest jobs to do in sports and be consistent at it,
give me a handful of the guys who've done it over a long career. When I played for the Brewer,
Draffer Hoffman, he was one. Of course, Maryanna Rivera, probably the greatest of all time.
You got some other guys out there. But look, David Sackersley. That's a great point.
But look at an Araldis Chapman. He's basically useless now. Look at what happened because he was
very obvious. They could not use him. In the postseason last year, he just couldn't, he wasn't good.
Nothing. You couldn't throw anything. It is so hard to be consistent at this. I think if
anyone can do it, it's Josh Hader because his mechanics are so good and because he's just got
that mentality. I think he can do it. The fact that he's probably going to get a record contract
doesn't surprise me. The years is going to be the interesting part for me. Yes. How many years
are they going to sign him for? Because that fascinating. I'm curious about that part.
Buster only, I think, is one of the best voices in sports. Certainly one of the best
reporters over the years in sports is record proofs that. He had a great article at ESPN Plus
where he broke down the Otoni possible contenders. The majors, the favorites, and breaking it down.
But one of the things that I thought was fascinating about it is breaking down the lineup and
where Otoni would play in that lineup. This is all in theory and stuff. But I thought it was
kind of fun. I genuinely believe that Joey Otoni is going to sign somewhere any day now. Seth and
I have actually been talking about this over and like here and there throughout this
period around obviously work discussions and stuff like that. There is no tell with this guy.
You don't want to play poker with Joey Otoni. He's not going to give you anything.
But we're looking for signs. Now for one, for those that don't know,
Joey Otoni's agent came out and said, if you're a team, hey, we got a meeting with Otoni coming
up. If you release that information, that meeting's not going to happen because he does not want
any information out there. Which is fascinating. Yeah. I've never heard of a friend.
I've never heard of that before. Maybe it's happened before behind the scenes. I've never heard of
this. Not only that, but the agent coming out and making sure everybody knows it. Public. Yep.
What a move. What a move right there. Like you've covered, you've literally covered your
basis. Like it's very smart. So no one can say that they weren't worn. I mean, if you put it out
there publicly, everybody knows. So yeah, you better, you best honor that. Yeah. So looking at that,
we have some certain favorites here and everything. I want to get to this in a second. Let's take a
quick phone call. Good afternoon, young show. John Clayton, this is the ESPN.
Yes. Yes. Yeah. Thank you for the call. John Clayton, Miss John Clayton.
Oh, yeah, he's gone. But anyway, all right. So Buster breaks this down and looking at the Dodgers
as one of the favorites, of course, and just a place to start all this. And it's a kind of a
fun place to start. Well, I'm not, I don't really necessarily want to, I don't hate the Dodgers.
I don't see the co-facts. I don't mind him a little bit. But I have all the teams that he could go
to be one of the more boring teams to me, actually. It would be very, yeah. Although Mookie Betts
at the one spot, Otani at the two, and Freddie Freeman at the three. Oh, my God. That would be one
of the biggest three headed monsters to ever play the, I mean, I mean, we're talking
in, man, that historic, that's historic. That's an all-star game. That's not, that's not real.
That's an all-star game. Real quick. I just caught something right before the show started.
It looks like Mookie Betts is moving permanently to second base. Yeah. That is fat. That is wild.
Isn't that like a gold glove right, Fielder? But he's, he can do it. He's an amazing athlete.
He is getting up there too, but got that hurt my soul when I saw that because I love, love,
the crazy outfielder. I love the guy who is willing to throw his body and just, that's how I
played, that's how I watched all my favorite players. I'm going to miss him in the outfit.
I did too until Byron Bucston. Yeah, I hear you. Yeah, there you go. And all he did was hurt
himself. Yeah. But anyway, great reference. That's a good one. The team that is kind of,
sort of was a dark horse, but not anymore, the Toronto Blue Jays. Yeah, they're in steam
by the, from the sound of it. Now, this could mean nothing. I just want to put that out there.
I mean, this is just rumors because of course, we don't know. It could be a complete red herring.
Yeah, exactly. But if red herring with the Blue Jays, which is bad. Guerrero Jr. in the one
spot, Otani in the two, Bishet in the three. Oh, no, I would switch Bishet in Guerrero,
but I would keep Otani at two, definitely. Yeah. These next two are just kind of funny to me.
The Los Angeles Angels in the one spot, somebody really lucky in the two,
Trout and three Otani. I will eat a hat if he signs with that. That will show you a cowboy hat
if he signs with the Angels Chicago Cubs in the one spot, the Calvary in the two spot, Otani in
the three spot, the Calvary, hilarious. But this is where it gets very fascinating.
The Texas Rangers, current World Series champions,
Simeon in the one, Otani in the two, Siger in the three, Garcia in the four, Carter in the five.
I don't even know if you need anybody else. You could actually just take the rest.
The next three hitters can just take the automatic outs and then just come in and you're fine.
You're fine. If you started out with that two outs, every inning with the Rangers starting
with two outs with that lineup, I still believe they'd win 80, 90 games. But look at what's
further down there. You got young, the young third baseman who was also a very good hitter.
That could be the, if he ended up in Texas, that'd be like the most dangerous lineup in baseball,
bar done. Forget the Atlanta Braves man, they would be it. It is going to be exciting to see where
he goes. It is. And I do think that there are, you know, tells in between reading between the lines.
He is a guy who likes to plan, has everything worked out. He, I would be shocked if he signed
with a team that doesn't have it together, doesn't have their front office together, isn't,
isn't all a manager position. Yes. So you're angels, you're Yankees. I don't see that happening.
Brian Cashman is he continues to lose his mind and the angels he knows what the, what the headache
that is. I know Aaron Boone still has a job. I really don't know. Find yourself somebody that loves
you like the only, the angels loves Aaron Boone. Yes. Oh, yes. Anyway, want to look at our schedule
here real quick and a big thank you to Pam Hilke to getting us to us. Of course, a little bit
later today at 605, got the great guard show. Be sure to check that out. Badgers had a great weekend,
knocking off Marquette. I goodness today. Big upset there. Shout out to your badgers and to all
the Marquette fans out there. We know there are some still. Heck of a year not to have Marquette
basketball like we have every year I've ever been here. Not one year ago. Great guard show at 605
tonight. Two state tomorrow. Wisconsin men's basketball taking on Michigan State five o'clock.
Conference play on WIRI. You've got a high school basketball port Edwards taking on wild rose.
Michael and Seth are going to run that one for you again on our sister station. 640. Our
pregame will start on WIRI Wednesday right here at WFHART 705 Wisconsin hockey show. Friday,
you've heard us talk about this already. We've got great action for you all weekend long and WFHART
730 Wisconsin hockey hosting Penn State. Then over on their sister station at about 7659 River
Kings hockey hosted Minnesota Moose. Both teams are doing really well so far this year. So that's
going to be a hard choice. You have to flip between the stations. It's a puck night Friday on Saturday
and one o'clock men's basketball Wisconsin Badgers to at Arizona should be a really good one right
there. 630 here at WFHART Wisconsin hockey hosting Penn State and then at 659 on 1055 WIRI River Kings
hosted Minnesota Moose pregame at 659. Wookie weekend baby. No kidding. Thank you all for all your
calls and to coach for joining us. Great show. Good stuff. We'll talk to you next Monday right here at
WFHART Wisconsin Rapids 1320 AM and W248 D E Broadcasting at 97.5 FM
