James is sad (cuz’ of Da Bears)

Welcome everyone to WFHR's Playmakers.

Proudly brought to you by our good friends from Quality Plus printing, getting your words

out here in Wisconsin Rapids.

303 in the clock, got your host James J. Mailoff here.

I am joined by my partner in sports, Mr. Randy Paul.

Good afternoon, James.

Hey, good to have you here, sir.

Good to be here.

Can I have a quick show now?

Absolutely.

Hey, I've got like a bunch of cousins that gather together down in Houston, Texas for

their brother's birthday.

It was a surprise party that they had for him on Saturday and they all gathered together

today and they're hoping to go out on the lake, do a little fishing because it's not 40

degrees in Texas.

Yeah, yeah.

And so, yeah, they have the surprise gathering for him and just wanted to wish my cousin

Michael happy 60th birthday and his birthday is actually in two days.

Okay.

And so I'm just wondering if he could be on the birthday anniversary club?

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

You got an in there.

You know, it pays to have connections.

We can get them out of the club.

So Michael, if you don't win, don't blame me.

That's right.

Right at me.

Go right at me with that.

A happy birthday to him.

A very happy birthday to him.

So happy.

Congratulations.

That sounds awesome.

That sounds like a really good time over there.

Sounds like they're fun.

Very cool.

Enjoy yourselves, guys.

Thanks so much for listening.

We appreciate that.

Appreciate all of you listening.

We're going to get to your phone calls because that's our job.

We take your calls.

We want to go wherever direction you want to go in.

We have a lot to talk about today.

NFL free agency hot and going.

We will get into some of that.

I will vent about the bears at some point or another who knows when.

And we have to most importantly of all of this other than the coverage

Randy has for us.

We want to talk with our fourth.

We got the fourth period coming up.

Head coach, GM, Gerwiscott,

Sir Rapids River Kings.

Coach Paul can join us as they are getting ready to head to New York

to play for this championship of the Midwest West Division.

Looking forward to all of this today.

But let's go ahead and start the show with the way we'd like to.

We've taken one of your phone calls.

Good morning.

What's on your mind?

Well, good afternoon.

Good afternoon.

Hey, how are you fellas doing?

We're all right.

Let's go.

Well, what's going on, man?

What you want?

What's on your mind?

The cousins is in Atlanta, Falcon.

What is going on?

And the latest I've heard is that maybe Justin Fields ago.

There and just kind of be his backup and learn from him.

I.

I up.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So I first off right away.

Are you are, I know you're a Viking fan, brother.

Are you, are you relieved that he's out of there?

Or do you feel, uh, do, did you want him to come back?

I, I, I was really hoping he would come back, given a hometown discount.

But at the same time, they have draft opposition.

And I'm really, uh, positions.

And I'm really actually hoping that Justin Fields somehow, they will never

trade him within the division.

Hmm.

But you know what?

I think that, you open that door for Aaron Rodgers to, well, he has to play for Minnesota,

right?

I mean, if he's going to, if he's going to keep up the, that's a good, you know, somebody

got a whole tradition.

Right.

Right.

Well, when it comes to, you know, who, who's next, I think that's the, the other question

if you're a Minnesota fan is who they're going to, who's the next man up, who are they

going to get the, the, the, you know, they're starting the chair, the musical chairs for

quarterback are starting to fill up.

Uh, I love what you said there about Justin Fields.

I will, the only thing I will, uh, add to that is it's the Chicago Bears.

And they have not shown us that they are smart or intelligent at what they do.

So trading within the division does not seem far-fetched.

I would not be surprised if they, if they were taking calls from the Chicago Cubs.

Uh, and we had to explain to them that Justin doesn't throw, yes, yeah, I wouldn't, I wouldn't

be surprised.

It's the Bears.

They're, this is, um, this is a situation for, if, to me, if I'm a Minnesota fan, uh, I'd

be relieved because I don't think the Kirk cousins was ever going to win you a championship.

I, I, I don't believe he's going to win one in Atlanta or wherever else he ends up.

Right.

Uh, I, I don't, I never thought he would.

I do think there's one thing very clear and I am not saying this as a judgment of Kirk

cousins.

I don't know him.

Seems like a perfectly fine human being for the most part.

I don't know.

But don't ever tell me that you're in this game to win.

Don't it.

If you are Kirk cousins, I don't want to hear that.

He, he could have gotten, he, there is no way you can convince me the Minnesota isn't closer

to a championship than Atlanta is.

And if you're going to Atlanta with, for that paycheck, just like he went to Minnesota

for that paycheck, don't tell, I'm fine with this by the way.

I have no issue with it.

Just, I don't want to hear Kirk cousins saying in interviews, well, all that matters to

me is a championship and the money is this or that or whatever.

Like, no, it's about the money, man.

You could have taken a home time discount to play in Minnesota.

He gets paid anywhere he goes.

Yeah.

Actually, and I looked at the top free agents listed because today is the first day of free

agency.

Um, yeah, uh, he was the number one listed free agent.

You know, who knows?

Number four was Daniel Hunter, another Viking.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Um, yeah.

Interesting.

Who they get in there next.

Hey, uh, before I let you go, I do want to, uh, I know that we play around with our

stat of the show and everything.

And so I've got one for you in the audience here, uh, especially, I got one for you.

Okay.

Excellent.

Excellent.

All right.

Go ahead.

I'll go first.

Uh, and since we're getting ready for baseball and everything, Ricky Henderson, one of my

all-time favorites, uh, Ricky spent, Ricky spent more of his career as the all-time

steals leader than not as the steals leader, than not as the steals leader.

Ricky once went, oh, for, uh, for walks, five, and had five steals and four runs in that

game.

But he went, oh, for four, got walked every time, ended up having four, uh, five steals

in that game and four runs scored.

Yeah.

He's doing more bases than he actually got a hit.

Yeah.

It's just a great.

I mean, there's, there's, I mean, a few, a few people in, in sports that I love looking

up the stats of more than Ricky Henderson, just because they are so weird and wild.

And I don't think we'll ever see anything like it again.

Yeah.

Ricky Henderson and Tony Gwyn, man, those never, those, you know, you know where I'm going.

I love that you led in with, uh, baseball because I'm all about baseball.

Mm-hmm.

I've got, uh, I've got a stat before you, because I'm a stat of the day.

Yes.

It was, uh, it was, uh, Dan Levittard, uh, Cameron Maibin.

Yes.

Do you remember him?

Yes, yes.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

He actually, uh, he scored his first, uh, home run, uh, four of the Tigers in 2007.

And he was a journeyman and he actually, uh, hit his last home run as part of the Detroit

Tiger.

Yeah.

It's insane.

That's crazy.

Uh, 17, 17 years later, 17 years later, but his, his, that's incredible.

That's what I have a stat of the day, uh, the, I like the ceremonial opening pitches,

right?

Yeah.

Yeah.

You know who threw the fastest ceremonial opening day pitch ever?

Huh.

Eat your own.

Oh, yeah.

Of course.

Yeah.

That's a good one.

That's a good one.

That's a good one.

That's a good one.

90, 93 miles an hour.

Woo.

And, uh, the second fastest ceremonial pitch ever thrown was Colin Kaepernick.

You threw it 89 miles an hour.

Oh, I could see that.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I could see that.

Oh, those are some great stats, man.

No one Ryan.

Everybody likes a good Nolan Ryan fact.

Yeah.

He actually threw it 77 miles an hour and he was 70 when you threw it.

That's insane.

Probably did it left handed to you.

Right.

Right.

Yeah.

No doubt.

He probably put our Robin Venturer in the headlock too.

Absolutely.

Appreciate you, man.

Have a great week.

That's a little white stock reference for you.

Yeah.

Appreciate it.

Appreciate it.

Yeah.

Appreciate you, man.

Thank you so much.

Best listeners and radio.

Appreciate it for what?

A few minutes.

Oh, yeah.

Real quick before I forget Matt.

Please call our front desk.

I've talked to Pam.

Give Pam a call.

If you couldn't still come here this.

I almost forgot.

Not another cute one that happened this weekend.

I watched so much basketball.

But I think it was like South Carolina and Tennessee.

Oh, yeah.

Oh, my God.

For that girl.

Banks in this jump shot at the buzzer of three.

And it was like only her second attempt all year.

All year.

They weren't even so concerned about her.

But nearest defender was like 16 feet away.

Yeah.

And the hurt coach said, we wouldn't guard her either.

I didn't hear that part.

Oh, that's funny.

Let's just cover a little bit more NFL free agency as just

coming over the wire from Adam Schefter.

Former Giants Safety Xavier McKinley signed a four year 68 million dollar deal

with the Green Bay Packers.

Green Bay has also signed Josh Jacobs to a deal and also informed that the same time Aaron Jones

he will be released.

Other big signings.

The Chicago Bears signed DeAndre Swift.

Sequan Barkley has signed in Philadelphia for a big contract.

Russell Wilson.

Oh, Russell Wilson to Pittsburgh.

Thank you, Randy.

What I love on that one is he signed for the league minimum of 1.2 million.

You know why?

Because the Broncos still owe him 38 million.

Yeah.

Yeah.

He's betting on himself.

He went to a win.

Now, Russell Wilson can tell me that he's playing for to win.

He can tell me that.

He can, like, he can convince me of it.

Whether he means it or not, I don't know.

But he can definitely convince me of it as he's going to a team.

Maybe the best fit for him with the best coach in football, I would say.

Because he's going to get paid no matter where he goes because the Broncos won.

Yep.

And if he does a great season this year, all he's got to do is be better than Mason Rudolph for one thing.

And Kenny Pickett, which I think he still has in him.

I still bet on Russell Wilson.

Yeah, you put him with the right staff and the right receivers.

I think he'll do fine.

And as we kind of started the show with, the big signing Kirk Cousins caches in 180 mil from Atlanta,

100 million guaranteed, getting paid.

So with this, I have to touch on this really quick.

And I think the audience is going to enjoy my misery.

Because if you guys enjoy Chicago Bear misery here was constantly.

And I don't blame you.

That's fine.

We give you plenty of it.

The bears had everything lined up for them.

All they had to do was make a move.

If they were going to trade Justin Fields, make that move before free agency started.

That's all they had to do.

And instead, they are the guy at the poker at the 21 table when they get 20 hit me hit me.

Hit me.

You know, there's no one car hit me.

Like, what are you doing?

Like, they enlist there is some trade partner.

We don't know about, which I have a hard time leaving Adam Schefter has not been able to find.

The bears, whether they want to or not, now have had the decision made for them.

You're either cutting Justin Fields, cutting him.

You're not getting nothing for him.

Or you're trading him for a fifth or a sixth rounder or something like that.

And if you are keeping him, what are you going to do with that first round, that number one pick?

You're going to spend it on an offensive lineman, on a wide receiver or something like that instead of training down.

Like, the draft capital that they have left on the table is insane.

And look, I am not obviously the smartest human being on the planet.

I am not the smartest football mind on the planet.

There is plenty of things that could be going on that I don't know about.

And a week from now I can beat my own hat and I hope to God I am.

But what are you doing?

If they're going to stick with Fields, which I have said many times, I like Justin.

He seems like a fine young man and he does a very good job out there.

But I will say the same thing about Justin Fields and I said about Kirk Huntsons.

I don't know you win a championship with him.

And if you're not playing for a championship, what the hell are you doing?

Why are you in this game?

Like, it doesn't make any darn sense.

And year after year, fans continue to put down tick, soldier field does fine in ticket sales.

That's an under kept secret in the NFL.

Nobody talks about or anything.

The bear fan base shows up.

But they continue to do this to us and just smack us in the face over and over again.

And only thing that stays consistent is the McCaskys up atop.

And it's so dang frustrating to look, I don't mind my team losing.

I don't mind my team not doing that well.

But when you shoot yourself in the foot before the games have even been played.

Like, that's the part that can get so frustrating.

They're not cheap.

The bears will spend money.

They just are smart with it.

And here we go again with another situation where the possible next patch of my homes,

or patch of my homes ask, or whatever, or two point, or whatever you want to say,

he's going to end up in Washington probably.

And you're going to be with a guy who is going to do fine,

but is probably not going to make any pro bowls and dang sure,

ain't going to win you a Super Bowl more than likely.

Now, it's hard to say that about Justin Fields.

It's not fair to say that I wholeheartedly admit that.

But tell me I'm wrong.

You know, it's interesting where I was just talking to somebody about this

and it said, how many quarterbacks can you think of a handful,

maybe two at the most over the last how many years,

that haven't benefited from sitting behind somebody?

Yeah.

Right?

And Justin Fields didn't get that opportunity.

Somebody was saying, you know, maybe we mentioned it already,

that, you know, what if he would have went and followed Kurt Cousins to Atlanta?

You know, give him a chance to action.

Now, even though he's played a little bit just to sit and watch Kurt Cousins for a year at least.

Right?

So now, what do they do with that top pick?

You said, do they pick Caleb Williams?

What can the lab do?

Yeah.

You got two guys that need to learn from each other.

Right.

And you got no leadership on that offense.

No leadership in that coaching staff.

Nothing but rooks all over the place.

You got your veteran is pretty much an offensive lineman or DJ Moore,

who I like DJ Moore.

But nobody is considering DJ Moore, like your team leader or anything.

Not a boundary.

I don't know.

If I'm in the NFC North, I'm ecstatic today.

If I'm a fan of any other team than the midnight blue and orange.

Let's take a call.

Good afternoon.

You're on the air.

It's only just a two hour short day.

Yep.

It's got a minimum.

I don't care.

I don't, whatever's coming after us.

We're going to keep talking.

The normal civic media lineup will play.

But Randy and I are going to keep talking.

Yes.

Yes.

Just keep the doors open, right?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So how are you feeling right now?

Because I got to think as a packer fan.

Yeah.

I mean, the only person who's got to be more shocked is Aaron Jones.

Aaron Jones was going to take the hometown discount.

Aaron Jones.

It looked like this was all lined up for him to sign an extension or something like that.

And instead, he's kind of out there now trying to find a dance partner.

And you're bringing in a, I looked this up.

I just had to make sure.

So Aaron Jones, 29.

And it just shakeups 26 getting a guy a little bit younger.

Some would say a better back.

I don't know.

I don't know if he's a better back or not, especially since he's coming into a new system.

But I like Josh Jacobs.

I think that's a really nice fit for the team.

Well, I don't disagree with you on that.

But I doubt I've been thinking of that for maybe a year or two.

Hmm.

To have those two guys as you're writing back.

Yeah.

And there's no guarantee that there's no guarantee he won't resign.

The leader is true.

True.

I'm kind of wondering if the Packers are, you know, be a nice enough to put Aaron to see if maybe he hit a little bit more money.

You know, and if he doesn't get signed, I mean, you never know.

Well, I think.

But what the, you know, they got what the Packers picked up three more compensatory draft picks.

Yeah.

But on top of the 10 they already have.

Yeah.

The ceiling for the Packers.

I heard Mike Clements time to talk about this a little bit today on a different program.

That you're looking at five to six years of a ceiling for the Packers that we could be.

You know, back to that.

I don't hate to say it for you, James.

The Packers could be back to that dominant force again within NFC North.

And it all depends on how healthy people stay.

Yeah.

And I want to be real clear about this.

I don't hate the Packers.

I don't hate the Alliance.

I don't hate the Vikings.

I've got nothing to hate.

Like my team's not competitive.

Like my team isn't even trying it seems like.

Why would I get bent out of shape or anything?

When I'm going into these games, understanding that it's not even like necessarily a fair fight in some ways.

When you look at the intelligence of, look at Minnesota's GM.

I know, I know nobody wants to talk nice about the Vikings or anything.

They got a smart GM over there.

They got a guy who's doing some really smart things over there.

And yeah, they're letting go with some big names.

They're saving it.

Would you want to pay $100 million guaranteed to Kirk Cousins?

Off coming off an ACL.

Come on.

Like that's a smart move not to give that man that money.

That alone makes him more intelligent than anybody in Chicago right now.

Ryan Pace, the moves that he has made for every good move he has made,

he has made another move to shoot himself in the foot.

And it's hard to give a guy credit for things when you're spending,

and sending a second round pick on a wide receiver that Mike Tomlin gave up on.

Mike Tomlin gave up on.

What do you think your coach is going to do with him?

Well, Mike Tomlin couldn't get through to him.

Like, come on, man.

The decision making on that team.

Some great scouting.

Great scouting by the Bears.

I have no issue with the scouting that they're doing.

I picked up some nice players in the last couple of years.

But my God, the decisions you're making with management and with some of the calls.

It's not even the calls that they're making.

It's calls they're not making.

It's the moves they're not doing that are just frustrating.

I'm turning my mic off.

You guys talk.

This is a show that takes place in Wisconsin.

This is a show that I'm going to shut up.

I'm going to shut up.

Well, you know, but this is a sports talk to radio.

Yes, I want you to just take a deep breath and just kind of take a breath.

I'll give you a time moment here.

But, you know, the one thing that I noticed with the Bears though,

I mean, they've had the talent on that team.

Their coaching decisions are just, I mean, that's just where it's been.

I think the Bears could be a lot better places if they would have better coaching.

Just plain example.

Mike Dicke wasn't a great coach.

This is something that no Chicago Barefoot will ever say.

But they'll say it behind.

I've heard plenty of say it behind the scenes.

Mike Dicke was not a great coach.

Mike Dicke was a good player's coach.

Mike Dicke coached men to coach people.

Buddy Ryan was the coach.

Buddy Ryan was the guy who was really running that defense and really making things.

There's a reason that the only Super Bowl and the only, I believe the only time

it's Super Bowl history, two coaches were carried off the field.

Was that time?

Because the players' danger knew it.

Yeah, I mean, yeah, they did.

But yeah, I just, with everything going on today, it's kind of funny.

I mean, it really doesn't really supposed to start till Wednesday,

but you had this week with every nap going on right now.

But I can really see within the next couple of years,

just between the Lions and Vikings and the Packers.

And, you know, we'll see where the Bears come in.

But I think the NFC North, I think to me, this will be a lot of championships one

between those possibly four teams.

What do you see with the Vikings now that they've lost their cousins?

You know, we're just having a discussion with someone about that.

I think that's really going to hurt them as we saw when he was injured.

I think it's going to hurt the next couple of years.

Unless they just get that diamond and are off.

But, you know, just like the fact, I mean, they got a ton of picks too coming up.

I mean, yeah.

They could have a good draft.

This draft is at least five to six deep in quarterback, too.

And nobody's talking about JJ McCarthy.

The kid's arm is just waiting to be used.

He didn't use it at all in Michigan.

And that's a guy you can get late in the first, early second.

But quarterbacks always fall.

There's at least a player or two that always falls.

If you're Minnesota, when you got Justin Jefferson on one side and the Addison kid on the other,

I feel good bringing in just about any quarterback except one that I got to pay 100 million guaranteed.

Yeah, and that's then that's that's sitting there too.

But I don't, you know, with the draft coming up and I know we kind of talked about this a little bit last week.

I really tell you truth.

I really hope the Bears don't pick up Caleb Williams.

I just, I'm not really sold on this kid.

I, you know, he could be the, you know, he could have all the greatest talent.

You know, the greatest arm in the world.

But he's just, to me, he's got a 10 cent ad.

Right now, the way things are going.

And, you know, and I can almost see you if it's dad to the agent or doing all the talking.

We're having another ball situation like you did in Los Angeles with the Lakers and stuff like that.

There's some concern there with that.

I will say I'll take him, I'll take him right now.

And not only that will let not only will I take him what I'm taking is that contract.

What I'm taking is a player on a rookie contract.

What Mike said about the Packers and I talked about this too, it's absolutely right.

The championship window is open and it's open for five to six years.

And you have to make good on that now.

There is no guarantee I know how it's been going.

I know we said this about Jordan love too.

There's no guarantee the next quarterbacks going to be great.

And all that.

The one thing you can guarantee is his salary is going to go up.

And that's going to make it harder to sign the next savior McKinley or somebody like that or a Josh Jacobs.

So when now, this is smart management.

This is what you do.

You look at this last year and you're like, hey, maybe we got a team that can compete.

Maybe we got a rebuild.

Let's go ahead and see how this plays out.

Halfway through the season.

Oh my god, we got a winning team.

Oh, did you see this?

And you get excited and you're jacked and like, well, all right, change your plans.

Change your plans.

We're all in.

We're all in.

And so what do they do?

As a whole entire cohesive unit, the whole entire franchise decides we're all in.

And here we go where Josh Jacobs, Xavier McKinley, we're not even to free agency yet.

And these guys are already signing in Green Bay, which is something I can't believe we haven't even touched on, man.

Like we got this far into this conversation.

And I guarantee you nobody on the mouse network has brought this up either.

Players are signing in Green Bay.

That's because they've been watching.

They've been watching the weather and they see it's beautiful up here.

Yeah.

Yeah, they're going to go.

We're going to have more, we're going to have more winters like we did in five years.

The three of us were alive.

And remember the shock of Reggie White signing in Green Bay.

And how much that changed the game.

How much that changed the free agency world.

And here we are now where it means nothing to see one of the biggest free agents in the running back class signed with in Green Bay.

Maybe the top safety, if not the second ranked safety, signing Green Bay.

Now it's this old hat.

We're almost shocked if they don't.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

That's impressive to me.

I think that that just is a side story, side note.

I think that's pretty cool.

Speaking of a side note, can you see Aaron Jones with a star on his helmet?

Oh, yeah.

Yeah, they're looking for a running back.

I think Derek Henry's signing there.

I saw that Tony Pollard sign in Tennessee.

I think they're changing helmets.

I think that Henry's going to end up in trouble.

Here's a question for both of you.

Now Aaron Jones has been a little injury prone, right?

Sat out last year a little bit.

He's going to be 30, right?

So is that one of those things you say he was great at the end of the year.

But can we trust us?

I mean, he's not a huge running back.

He runs hard.

We love the way he runs and the effort he gave us those last several weeks.

But can he stay healthy?

Especially once you hit that 30.

What do we say?

Right.

Most NFL running backs last while four years, five years in the lead.

I think the one theme we see in free agency, especially in an Aaron Jones situation,

is guys wanting to sign in the division.

Say Juan Barkley going to taking less money to play in Philly, kind of thing.

I wouldn't be surprised if Aaron Jones signs with an NFC North team.

That wouldn't shock me.

But who needs a running back on the North?

Yeah, yeah.

We'll see.

Nowadays, though, it almost doesn't matter.

Jacksonville didn't need a quarterback and they trade for Mac Jones.

I mean, having backups to backups is really huge right now.

Who knows?

They may be adding another week to the NFL by the time we're done with this show with today.

I don't know.

Yeah.

Having those bodies, I wouldn't be surprised if he takes, especially because now it looks like he's going to have to take less money.

And so if you're already taking less money and it does seem like Aaron Jones is playing for, you know, money, sure, but to play to win,

I wouldn't be surprised to see him sign with a Detroit or something like that if they're, if they're calling.

Plus the other thing, you know, he took the cut last year already.

Was he going to do it two years in a row?

Yeah.

Yeah, it's rough.

Appreciate the call as always, man.

All right.

Well, one quick thing I was going to say was the deal with Aaron Rogers.

You know, the Packers as well is just like just like far with the only team he hasn't beat with the Packers.

Yeah.

And they just don't have him on the schedule in the next couple of years.

So we'll see what.

Oh, that's interesting.

But Minnesota can, could pull out here.

You never know.

You know what?

Can he, can he do it just for us just to make us laugh?

Can he do it just so we can all, as all of us sports fan around the world, even if it's just like a one day deal.

Just, just sign one Minnesota just for one day just for the pure humor of it.

Show us you have a sense of humor, Aaron.

Show us that you can make fun of yourself.

And just so he goes 16 and one and then plays at the New Orleans Saints.

Oh, boy.

Always good talking to you, man.

You have a great week.

All right, guys.

Yep.

You too.

We'll talk later.

We are going to take a timeout and take care of our sponsors here.

When we come back, we're going to have the fourth period.

GM and head coach of your Wisconsin Rapids River, Kane's coach, Paul Peck.

I'm going to join us.

We're going to talk about the team making it to the championship here and fighting for that crown.

And we had high school championships this past weekend.

And we had sectionals leading into the championships.

We're going to get to Randy's coverage there when we come after the fourth period.

Looking forward to covering all of that for you.

Coming up right here on Playmakers, probably brought to you by quality posts.

Printing, getting your words out right here in Wisconsin Rapids.

Welcome back, everyone.

It's time to start the fourth period.

The celebration tie here in the room.

Welcome back to Playmakers, everybody.

It's time for one of our favorite parts of the show to kick off the fourth period

with GM and head coach of your Wisconsin Rapids River, Kane's Paul Peckman.

And last week, I thought I'd seen the biggest smile on you.

This is definitely the biggest smile I've ever seen on you, sir.

Appreciate you being here today.

Thanks so much for the time.

Well, thank you.

Appreciate it.

Coach, for those that were catching up here, and I know I have a hard time believe in that.

If you're a River King's fan, you know what's going on.

You know what happened.

The River King's won both games Friday, Saturday, able to take Sunday off

and getting ready to head to New York.

They're packing.

They're packing up right now and everything.

Saturday's game four, oh, shut out nonetheless.

So, I mean, just coach, first off, I do want to say one thing.

A shout out to the Minnesota Moose to all the other teams in the USPHL.

These teams have got great players, got fan bases, just like ours.

They love these teams and support them, and we appreciate them giving such a great effort

and all that they put out there.

I generally mean all of that.

But you shut out a team in a playoff game.

I don't care what the sport is, what the level is.

That is, we want this done.

We want to make that, we're punching our ticket.

It seems like that it was an attitude game.

That was a game that we are no doubt whatsoever.

We're moving on.

Well, it all goes back to the beginning, what we talk about, right?

Defense wins championships.

And it's something that we preach and we talk about all week long, all season long.

And you had one thing in your way of getting to where you want to go.

And just on Randy, from day one, what were we talking about?

What was the ultimate goal?

Let's get to the nationals.

Let's win the nationals, right?

Well, it got to that, all right, well, here we are.

60 minutes away.

And there's only a group of guys in front of you.

That's in your way.

What are you going to do?

And it was just, I mean, they played tremendous.

I mean, I'm so proud of them.

And they stuck to the game plan.

And we played hard on both sides of the pocket.

Took advantage.

And it's nice when what comm score is 42nd to the game right?

And all of a sudden, you got that.

And you could just feel it.

And then in the second period, I mean, the voice capitalized.

We got a nice shorthand goal by Owen Atkins.

And it was played tremendous.

And we got all four lines.

We were just humming.

It was beautiful to see.

So it was nice to get everybody involved, right?

It's much as possible.

So I tell you the one part that got scary.

And that came is when we went down, five on three,

for almost two, four minutes.

And we had Whitehead and Tuditch and Wilhelm.

The guys were just blocking shots.

Like bored in, not bored.

Jude didn't even get half of them.

Yeah.

Because these guys were diving in front of things.

And it was incredible to see.

And that's the kind of effort that's going to get you to go.

Where we're going.

So they were earned every right of it.

So I'm proud of them.

Yeah.

I was kind of curious.

You know, it fell behind nothing.

Oh, Tuditch, nothing on Friday.

And then you had that big second period where he took the lead.

And then you won that.

Did that feel like a kind of a turning point for the weekend?

Yeah.

Well, they didn't like what I had to say.

We can't talk about that right now.

Yeah.

Where is that big part?

I'll give you the PG version.

Right.

But let's just say it was, yeah, I mean,

once we got to that part, listen,

we had some success against them, right?

They're tough.

I mean, they're big.

They're physical.

They're fast.

They got some guys that put up some numbers.

So it was, we knew it was going to be a grinded out long weekend, right?

If we weren't paying attention.

So I know we get behind like that.

And it was just even in the other series, we went down a little bit, right?

And we come right back.

So it's not something of where it was new to us.

Just at the state column, a state of the game plan.

And it was plenty of time left.

And just go to work and just get that next one.

Get the next one.

And then you can see the momentum.

And we just go three goals in six minutes, right?

So it was like that.

And the place was elastic and the boys were feeling it.

Want to remind everybody to follow the River Kings on social media.

It's a great follow, great way to keep up on the action with the Kings.

As we'll talk about before we let coach go, there is no off season.

So, you know, there's never a bad time to be paying attention to their social media.

And if you were, you were able to find out real quick and right away that not only did the Kings win,

but see some of the photos of you guys on the ice and stuff.

It was really cool to see.

Again, I feel like I don't get to see you smile enough, sir.

So it was great to see.

It was really good.

But I'm curious.

I'm looking at that picture and thinking of you guys on the ice.

And all these kids that I got to talk to before the season started and everything.

What was the energy like that night?

How was everybody?

Bouncing off the walls.

I mean, it was incredible.

At the end of the game, we just brought all the fans on the ice.

As many as wanted to come on the ice.

And just celebrate, you know, took pictures.

We have the banner that we had made.

And now we have another one made to go to the nationals and that kind of thing.

So it was just, you know, you just, you could take a deep breath for a little bit, you know.

All right.

We did what we said we were going to do.

And for me personally, this is the best record that I've ever had as a coach.

Most wins in the season.

So, you know, and I don't like to talk about that stuff because it's not important.

But, you know, I'm still competitive, right?

I mean, you still got goals and you still got things like that.

Absolutely.

What's that?

Absolute.

Yeah.

You got to take that.

So it was nice.

And the voice presented me with the puck after the game in the locker room.

Right on.

Yes.

It was nice.

That's so perfect.

I'm not one.

I'll sit in the back and I'll just watch.

Got you.

And the parents are so excited.

And they're coming.

You know, you just get, you get everybody out there.

And you just say, that's what it's all about.

So I do this, right?

Yeah.

And I will say this, especially growing up around hockey players in a hockey family and everything.

You are not alone in that.

I know a lot of people like you're with your character.

You're sitting in the back.

You let other talk for you.

If you go to something, let other people brag for you kind of thing.

So that's what we're going to do, coach.

We're going to brag for you.

Because this is something that it needs to be noted.

This was the goal eventually.

This was the goal.

This was supposed to happen.

You were hoping for this.

And I don't know the timeline in your head or anything like that.

The franchise is sad.

But I know it was a fan base.

When we have a new coaching staff come in.

When we have some things to look forward to.

In sports in general, it doesn't even matter the sport.

Okay.

Three to four years.

We're hoping to be fighting for a championship and everything.

Here we are.

Year two.

We're going to New York.

That's got to feel good.

Take that win.

There's nothing that can change that.

I know that there's plenty still to play for.

We're still, we have two wins away from our goal.

I get that.

But at the same time, you've got to take the wins where you can, man.

And for you, especially, this is a huge win.

It's not, we understand this as fans, I think.

Especially being a fan of a local team.

It's not just the wins and losses.

It's all the wins that you had getting these kids coming here.

Being able to bring coaching, good coaching prospects in and stuff.

Like all of that, it takes so much to be able to win

in no matter what the division.

It's a huge win.

So yeah, we'll brag for you, man.

Don't worry about it.

Don't worry about it.

We'll have to be able to do that.

I want to talk about the other series, Hudson, Minnesota.

They had a pretty darn good series.

A lot of school scored.

That wraps up in a two OTs, I believe, on Sunday.

Sunday's game.

Minnesota seven, Hudson six.

Shout out to Hudson, great season.

Well done by them.

Nothing to hang their heads about.

Take it on Minnesota Squatch in New York.

This is it.

Right?

No.

We won't play them.

No, you won't be.

This is something totally new that they're doing.

And I'll talk about it in a couple of minutes here.

I want to make an announcement.

But they're going to do, like, the draft.

They've got golf balls with your logos on.

Okay.

So all the number one seeds go in the left bowl.

And everybody else goes in the right bowl.

And then when they call your name, they're going to match it.

Okay.

And you just do that.

When are they doing this?

Wednesday night.

Okay.

We're going to do, and okay, I'll let everybody know now.

So that we're going to do a watch party at La Takeria.

Nice.

Starting at 6.30 and at 7 o'clock, they'll make its election.

Okay.

So we'll know who we're playing then.

All right, all right.

And so you guarantee three games.

The first two games, we don't know, right?

So once they figure it out out, there's a point system.

You could lose both games and still be in it.

Okay.

So it goes for goes against that kind of stuff.

Sure.

Whatever.

And then they recede everybody.

And then a single game elimination.

Oh, okay.

So we'll guarantee, right?

We'll play three and then.

And this is why it runs the 21st through the 26th.

Yeah.

You've got all those games in.

You don't pay one game a day.

Sure.

Right.

Well, and that's interesting.

That's really, thank you so much for breaking the news for us, sir.

And that's a really good idea.

That shot up to La Takeria and all that.

That's going to be fantastic.

Great people over there.

When it, okay.

So with this now, because I was going into this thinking, man,

don't you want to play tomorrow?

Like the momentum and everything.

I imagine, no, actually, now I would think you do this break here,

if you can call it that, a bit of a break.

Players get a little healthier, get a little chance to breathe.

Like, yeah.

Okay.

So it's a very different scenario now.

Yeah.

Our whole week and a half now is going to be a little bit different

than the norm.

Yeah.

Today was optional.

We got a couple guys up in Ashland for Northland College,

doing a college tour and talking to coaches.

They wanted to talk to those guys.

So I sent them up there this morning.

We'll go hard for a couple of days.

And then it's Friday, Saturday.

We have to practice in Marshfield because of the figure skating show

that's going on.

Oh, yeah.

Right.

And then we'll come back.

We'll take Sunday off.

And then we'll skate Monday and Tuesday.

We'll leave in Tuesday night.

We'll travel through the night.

Get there Wednesday morning.

Breakfast check in the hotel.

I got owner meetings from 11 to four.

And then we're going to have a practice at five.

Okay.

All right.

So everybody gets familiar with the ice.

Yeah.

It's a big facility.

It's got three sheets.

You know, so take it all in.

Yeah.

Enjoy it.

And then we'll play Thursday.

We cannot wait.

I'm already excited for Wednesday.

Let alone.

We'll get to the games and everything.

We'll be spreading the word about that watch party.

We're going to give you guys a nice crowd.

Make sure that some people show up down there.

Yeah.

We'll not be difficult.

We love Lottar Korea.

So it would be hard to get people to go there.

Let alone the Kings are attached to it.

That's a great fit.

We're excited about this.

I know how busy you're going to be over the next couple of weeks.

I don't want to commit you to being on the air with us.

But if you're able to call in anything like that,

we'll catch up soon.

Just know that this whole entire city is behind you guys.

And we're thinking of you rooting for you, wishing you safe travels.

Before I let you go, coach, this championship takes place in New York.

What's that feel?

I mean, you go home.

Yeah.

Yeah.

That's got to feel kind of cool.

That's got to be a pretty full circle.

The circle is exactly right.

It's, you know, I tell you what, I really didn't think about it too much until you just said it.

But it's been, you know, coaching is just a lot of trials and tribulations over the years, right?

It's been a long time.

I've been in the nationals once as an assistant coach, right?

But as I had coached, it's my first time.

So 15 years later, right?

That's how hard it is.

And, you know, I've had teams, like I said, this is the most wins.

The other team I had had had 33 wins.

We lost both games in a shootout to go to the nation.

So you're like, how's that happen?

Right?

I had 620 goalscores and they Queens go on to break goal.

What?

So it's, I mean, I just, you don't take anything for granted.

And I'll say it again, I coached a couple divisions.

This division is tough, right?

From top to bottom, I don't care who it is.

If you're not paying attention, you're going to get punched in the mouth.

And that's what I like about it.

And I've had many college coaches tell me that this division is one of the toughest.

And that's where they like to recruit from.

Because they know that our guys are most compatible to play college hockey.

Some other divisions are wide open and there's no defense system, whatever may be.

But here they know that our guys are the more prepared.

And that's why you probably have a list of 50 names already looking for next year, right?

We have four guys already signed ready to come next year.

Well, that's all talking to quite a few more.

Obviously with the goal-tending, you know, it's going to be tough shoes to fill.

Yeah.

I was actually just talking to a kid from Calgary.

Nice.

Coming in.

And I got a kid signed from Utah.

And so we're looking for...

We've got to look for those kind of numbers.

Yeah.

Those big shoes to fill.

Never ends.

No.

No.

Congratulations again to you, coach, to the whole team.

Couldn't happen to better people.

We're very excited to be cheering you guys on.

And we're looking forward to talking again more soon.

No, I appreciate it.

Thank you.

This is they build a hockey up and down the river at RiverKingsHockey.com.

And again, be sure to follow them on social media.

Great way to keep up to date and everything going on with the Kings.

And coach, again, this Wednesday Watch Party 630, do you say it?

Yes, 630.

630 over at Latakaria.

I mean our team over there, everybody.

We will take a quick time out.

Come back and have some more fun on Playmakers here at WFHR.

Welcome back to WFHR's Playmakers.

Brought to you probably by Quality Plus Printing.

Getting your words out here in Wisconsin Rapids.

Be sure to follow Quality Plus Printing on social media.

Find them on Facebook.

And be sure to check them out.

Stop by there and say hi to Phil in the gang for us.

Big shout out to head coach GM Coach Paul for joining us.

Love talking to that guy.

Man, I can talk to him forever.

You can see the exuberance in all of the excitement.

And he's so excited for these kids as well.

RiverKingsHockey.com.

Be sure to follow them on social media as well.

Randy does such an amazing job covering local sports for us.

Want to get out of the way.

Let him cover that for right now.

Well, it was Championship Saturday where the rush to the rush

drew to a close and divisions 1 through 4 saw the top seeds.

Bring home the gold.

First in Division 1, Arrowhead, Knocked off Nina.

69 to 59.

Senior Ali Zabel poured in 35 points for the rockets in a losing cause.

Division 2, Piwaki, never trailed on their way to their first ever state title.

60 to 52 over Green Bay Notre Dame.

From Division 3, Madison Edgewood wins its second state title.

55, 52 over Ableton Xavier.

In D4, Laconia High School wins the crown for the second consecutive year as they clipped

Cuba City 47 to 43.

And in Division 5, the comments of Albany Monticello who upset the assumption

Royals win a thriller 57 to 54 over Lena as Abby Hollis nails a three pointer

with two seconds left in regulation and another three bomb with just under a

minute to play in OT to give them and secure the championship.

The sectional semi-finals were held on Thursday with the finals taking place

around the state on Saturday and Boys High School basketball.

Let's start by looking at how some of our area teams fared.

First in Division 1, we're on Thursday, 5th ranked Marchfield,

Clip Cacana 71 to 68.

Well, Unranked Nina stopped 6th ranked Spash 68 to 50.

And then on Saturday, Nina pulled off the upset again as they knocked out Marchfield

52 to 48.

Also in Division 1, just kind of on the little side note here.

The number one team in state to peer falls in overtime or excuse me,

falls to 2nd ranked Arrowhead 85 to 80.

Division 2 was saw East loses in the semis to River Falls 75 to 65.

Division 3 sees the Delts also lose on Thursday, 84 to 67 to Plattville.

And now here's where it gets interesting for first for some of our area teams.

Division 4, while Auburndale, they miss a three bomb at the buzzer.

They tried this little drew shot, you know, where they throw it down.

Courty catches it throws it to the side and he missed it at the buzzer.

And they fall to Marathon 57 to 54.

So great season for Auburndale, Kudos go to them.

And then on Saturday, the Red Raiders beat Bondowell 68 to 61.

So they're off to state.

Well, they'll take on Kenosha St. Joe's at 630 on Thursday evening.

And in Division 5, Almond Bancroft wins its semifinal matchup over three lakes,

64 to 52.

And then they pull away from Redsville late and they win that contest 70 to 57.

So the Eagles will now go against abundant life Christian at approximately 11 a.m. on Friday.

And I think I remember correctly, it's the first trip ever to state for Almond Bancroft.

Also in Division 5, Columbus Catholic survives Royal 57 to 54 and cashed in 80 to 77.

So in the semis and the final, they win by a total of six points.

Oh, that's crazy, isn't it?

Oh, and with a whipped winter 85 to 48 before succumbing to Solon Springs 59 to 41.

So Solon Springs will now clash with Columbus Catholic on Friday at 905 a.m. in a state semifinal at the Cole Center.

And you know, we've been so busy at we should probably at least talk about the scores of the River Kings.

They fell behind, you know, two to nothing.

And after the first period against the Minnesota Musa on Friday and then got those three in the second period.

I'm going to win it three to two. They're actually outshot 38 to 37.

That's crazy.

And then Saturday they win the series for nothing shut out.

And this time they outshot the Musa 43 to 28 and above and more hockey news, right?

The badgers get knocked out of the big 10 playoffs as they lose two out of three to Ohio State.

The badger women on the other hand, they won on Friday and overtime four to three.

They tied that game with these eight seconds left in regulation.

Oh, my goodness.

They score to right.

And then they beat number one Ohio State 63 and they win the WCHA championship.

And the badgers men, they're going to be what a fifth seed now.

Yeah. So they will be taking on either Maryland or Rutgers on Thursday at approximately 130.

Yeah. Yeah. That's what I got here. We will have that game for you live and direct right here at WFHR.

So, yeah, Maryland at 12 Rutgers at 13 seed.

Badgers got the number five seed. They got to buy on Wednesday, but they didn't get the double buy.