Welcome, everyone. Good afternoon. It's time for WFHRs, PlayMakers.
Tailgate edition. We're going to ask that's right today. We're going to lead you right
in the Raptor baseball. Your host, James here. I am joined by the best utility player
in the league, our good man, Seth Havhacker. I'm not a starter, but I'm a utility guy.
I don't care with that. You end up starting at the same place. You're by Zobras, you're by
a super utility player. Oh, incredibly. My favorite players in baseball. I love the guy.
Do you remember Rob McCoyak? Yes. He was like the first super utility guy. He was awesome.
That's a great reference. Right out the gate, pulled it out. Not even the first minute
pulled that day. He was awesome. We are going to be talking baseball. We are going to be
talking not only Raptor baseball. We got some other conversation and the story is to get
into and it comes to baseball. Also, we're going to be talking with our good friend, Coach
Peckman. We are going to be having the fourth quarter for you, the fourth period, I should
say. I mean, baseball, basketball mode and all this. We're looking forward to that. That's
going to be fun. Got some other good things we want to get into. Do you want to start off
our show one? Tell me a little bit about your Raptors. They are going to be in action
and just a little bit from now. We will have Raptor baseball for you as they are playing
Green Bay 620. So we'll lead you kind of into that. We are kind of your tailgate into
that hopefully. Have a sign in the parking lot in there over there at whether it's Winter
Field or in Green Bay or wherever they're playing. I think we could be the soundtrack for
you while you're getting ready for Raptor baseball. You couldn't ask for a better day to
play baseball, man. Yes. It's a gorgeous day out there. It's not perfect. Nice to have
a day like this. And I do want to talk a little bit about the promotions of the Raptors
real quick as well. I get that taken care of because there's some cool stuff coming up
as you know today going on is the Boogie Bros. Back for another year. Tiki Time is ready
to provide the in-game entertainment for the evening promising to have you leave with
a smile on your face. It's going to be a lot of fun. Check that out, everybody. Enjoy.
Also winning Wednesday if the Raptors win or should I say win they win tonight. Fans
that stick around until the final out will receive a voucher for a free bleachers seat.
Hey, that's pretty cool. Stick around, man. And of course on Thursday we've got let's
play two. It's an Ernie Banks special. We are going to have two games for you on that
one. Now that also means that our program is going to be a little bit different. Right.
So what we've got going on is a limited 50 game. Awesome. I love afternoon early afternoon
baseball. I don't know what it is, but I love it. It's perfect. Especially you know with
our team with the team you really like and stuff like I'll watch any teams, but when
it's teams that you have an investment in. Oh yeah, definitely. So I'm looking forward
to that. That's going to be fun. And we're looking forward to playing it for you. With
that being said, of course, we have afternoon programming that might not play. We do have
a midday magazine coming up with that is time sensitive with our friends at Wisconsin
Rapids Community Theater. So we're going to find we'll probably end up playing that instead
of unlabeled or something. Seth is just finding out about this. No, it's easy. It's easy
fix. Yeah, but it's something that we'll just to let the audience know what the program
is going to be over the next couple of days here. And then we'll of course have the
second game of that double header. Right. I sure hope that first game doesn't go four
hours. Yeah, that's all I'm going to say is that man, that's a long game. It's funny.
As long as we've been doing this, you know, you just you prepare for everything. You do
like that 16 inning game or something like that. You just never know. Also going on
at on Thursday night at the ballpark, Wisconsin Rapids Convention and Visitors Bureau
present sports commission night. One of my favorite nights of the year that they do come
out to inner field, see all your area sports organizations from youth to adult clubs.
It's going to be a lot of fun. It's free tuition night at mid-state. That's another exciting
part of things. Enjoy that tonight, Thursday night, everybody. It's going to be a lot of fun.
And always cool to get all of our our athletic leaders, if you will, in the one place and
being able to conversate, communicate, share not only knowledge and information, but just
have a conversation and you never know what can come up in a sports calendar. It's great
that we have communication going on with those leaders. Yes, indeed. Friday, special night,
maybe the most special night at the ballpark. If I can be blunt, Mohill returns to Winterfield.
Join us as we welcome back Midwest League legend, the legend in the Midwest and Wisconsin Rapids
Twin Player Mohill, who's number 24, is being retired at Winterfield. Noted the only
number that has ever been retired at Winterfield, which is really cool. And that is our
stat of the show, everybody. I thought that was pretty good. We got some other stuff
about Yannis later, but I thought that was pretty cool. I didn't know that that the
rafters haven't done this yet. I have a feeling that they might still with some players
down the line, but Mohill should be the first. Friday show, Seth and I are going to take
some time talking about Mr. Hill. We did have him scheduled to join us. I don't know if
that's going to happen, but I do want to spend some time talking about him and a little
homework for the audience. If you or anybody you know out there that got to see Mr.
Hill play, please feel free to call in on today's show or Friday show. We like to celebrate
the man, like to celebrate his legacy, what he did in this community. This was, if not
our first one of our first sports, you know, big names heroes around here that everybody
seemed to know and everybody seemed to like, this was before our time here, Seth. So I
really, I'm reaching out to the audience. I want to hear from you guys because all I've
got is stuff that I've read online and the few people that I've talked to. I really
want, I look forward to hearing from all of y'all. And we, as we always do, and this is
a college show, everybody. So please shut me up any time. Friday, July 12th, Mohill returns
to Winterfield. That's going to be a fun night. And the rafters that night will be hosting
Lakeshore at 620. All right. Let's take a call. Good afternoon. You're in the game.
All right. We want to take your, you know, preserve your mouth so that you don't have
off no Mars. Thank you. Got you. You're seeing earlier because of your teeth are bothering
you. I'm tagging you guys in. I really don't have no, I can't really add anything
I for Mohill. That was a little pride. I mean, I wasn't really born and raised in rapids
here. So it's probably a little bit before my time. I mean, just guy have to go off of
what, you know, people say about how he was and how he was toward the community. You know,
I've heard he was a great man, but what I really want to talk about is this nubs from
the all-thar game. Yeah. Okay. All right. Yes. You know, and I know that, you know, we're
still what a week away. There could be some guys that are on a team that might not be
able to make it for some team. Some guys might make it, but why wasn't terrain selected?
I don't as a reserve. I feel so much better somebody else starting with this because I
felt like as I've been talking about the kid all season, I feel like it sounds a little
biased coming from me. But yeah, man, number one, and he better beyond that team when they
when somebody can't play. Right. And there will be people who will say either they say,
oh, no, my toe hurts. Sorry. Yes. Yes. I can't play the game or something like that. We'll see
how it goes from here. But yeah, but it shouldn't have come to that either. It shouldn't come to that.
I do. I do not meet in a ruptured brand. I want to get back to this conversation, but real
quickly, some breaking news. United States Soccer has fired coach Greg Berhulther after the
Copa America destroyed. Well, really, not just after that, after a million things. It's going to
save those the least shocking thing. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Just that it's finally been done.
Now, why they didn't do this sooner and who they're going to get. I hope they put a truckload
of maple syrup and money to Canada to get their coach that is one of ours and get him back in
the States, because that kid. I know he didn't have a great game. His last game he coached,
but he's good. And he's an innovator and he can do more. The last Argentinian. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. It's like awesome. So yeah. Yeah. But that's a congratulations to all soccer fans
and all specifically all US soccer fans, because as a Homer, I am a fan of them. And I don't
pretend to know a lot about soccer, but I know that Greg Berhulther is horrible at his job. Yeah.
He really kind of messed it up. Really, really needed to go back to the snubs in the All-Star
game. That terrain is my number one. Do you have a number two there, either of you guys?
You get, you know, it's kind of brought up too. I mean, I was kind of looking at some stuff
over the four letter network, and which was kind of surprising that, you know, that they were saying
that they feel McGill should have got there too as a brewer, you know, because of what he's
done as a closer. And also they didn't do a very good job last night against Pittsburgh. But
I don't, you know, he hate to be a Homer on some of these guys, but the way things have gone
this year, I mean, I mean, why can't you put McGill in there? I mean, he's, when he, I don't think
he's really blown a save this year if he has, it's only maybe been one. And he's done a pretty
doing good job since he's been in there. So I guess that's another snub, but there again, you know,
I bet you're right now, you know, might have threw like two days before the author again. They're
not going to throw them at all in the game. So why, you know, why I put them in there too. I mean,
I guess you could probably say that too for McGill if he's not going to, if he ends up, you know,
throwing two in the bullpen. But I just, you know, I guess my biggest thing is the whole
terrain thing. I just, I don't get, I mean, I know that I was at I think a reiss or whatever got
got the all in your eyes. Yeah. Yeah.
You know, but there's, there's no denying that he deserves to be an all-star or a reyes.
That guy's one of the best hitters in baseball. I'm not taking anything from him. And anytime
somebody wants to take somebody or add somebody, I always think, well, we got to think about who we
take off. And I don't know I'd be taking him out. But Terang, just for the audience, it isn't paying
attention. 284 batting average six homers, 29 stolen bases, 749 OPS. And one of the, the key
cogs of this mocky brewer team that right now has 26 comeback wins, which is first in baseball,
121 stolen bases second only to the reds, I believe. So, uh, twenty second only to Ellie
Della Cruz, really. But yeah. Yeah. Yeah. My god. Oh, my god. Bring it back. Yeah. He's going to
have an 80 stolen base season. I'll put that right now. I don't know why he stopped for a while.
All of a sudden, he stopped. Now he's doing it again. And out because I was, I was hoping for a
hundred man. Yes. I want a hundred steel season. I love to see that. Bring me back to the 80s.
Ricky, Ricky or Vince Coleman. It was one of those two. Actually, I think it was Vince Coleman.
I think that bothered Ricky. Uh, probably the 27 and 13 home record that's third best in
baseball into some of what you were saying before, Kevin, a 327 bullpen ERA fourth best in
baseball. Uh, and that team has one all star or two all stars. No, that's not how this usually
happens. Yeah, they've got two. If I'm giving you those stats and I'm saying the Dodgers or
the Yankees or something, we're talking four or five all stars. Let's put this in context.
The Padres have five. Yeah. Come on. All stars. And they're barely above 500. Yeah. Yeah.
So you have to understand too about the way the voting goes. Okay. So all the reserves are
voted on by two groups, the players and the commissioner's office. Okay. So basically,
the players vote who they want, then the commissioner's office has to fill in what, you know,
make sure all the teams have a representative, of course, and all that kind of stuff.
So that that actually goes and tells you a few things. Yeah. Bryce Tarrang, that's probably a reason
why he's not a veteran from what I have heard most of the most times the players vote more towards
veterans. You know, guys that they think, you know, are they've earned it this year or you know,
they've had a good body of work in their career. And they should, you know, they should still be
on even if they're not having a great year this year. Like Barca Simian is a good example of that,
right? But so that's part of it. It's, you know, and how they make their decisions. Who knows?
I mean, why the, why the commissioner's office does it? They do, that's, we have no idea how
they choose them. So I've got a perfect way solution for this Wisconsin. We just need to make more
people and we will and have every one of those people grow up a brewer fan and voting for these
old stars. And we can maybe compete with the New Yorks and some of these. I mean, it's simple.
It's really just math. It's, no, it's not. Brandon Nemo is another one that I would throw out there.
I think I mean, no, yes. He's had a great year. He's had a nice one. And I would say set that
Will Castro for the twins. Will Castro. Yeah, he had a better year last year. I'm actually the
snub for the twins for me. I mean, Korea got in, which he showed. He's having a great year. But
again, he shows by the commissioner's office. Players, I guess his fellow players still don't like
that much. But Jack's the reliever, Griffin, Griffin Jacks, who's had a fabulous season.
He's one guy. I think they should have, he should have gotten on too. But for as bad as, you know,
it's been with starting pitching, whether it's injuries or ERA, the, the closures in baseball
have been pretty fun to watch. Yeah. And it's been pretty cool to see a lot of that.
Well, that, you know, to be personally, I know that you'll get, you have starters.
But they should just put bullpen, guys, and the author of a game because even all the, you know,
they only pitch one any. Yes. You know, what's the sense I haven't all these starters? You know,
and you're talking about the injuries. Last thing I was actually, I was watching a little bit of
the Philly Delphi Dodgers game last night. And they brought up, they had to make the screen wider
so they can put all the injured pitchers they have for the Dodgers on the screen. Yes, you know,
so it's just not the brewers that are having issues with the pitch. I mean, it's a whole. Yeah,
it's a whole league. Yeah. I just, so it's, it's hard, you know, when it comes to this all-starred stuff.
But I do, I want to kind of step away here a second because I got to kind of throw a stuff
because it's a rafter. And I kind of follow around still that he's actually back in Wisconsin,
playing baseball to meet your sense. The shortstop with the rafters. He plays for a late country
doc, I want everybody needs to go on to the American Association of Professional Baseball
and vote to meet your us in for the all-star game. Cool. Doing it right now. That's great.
He's one of the, he's one of the ones that are kind of like that they used to do with baseball.
You know, he always had a few guys that you, you and they're in, and he's on the list to make
the all-star team. And he's actually having these, I think he's batting like 305 in that league.
And, and, but his, I just, he's an all-star in my name because for once he, I mean, we hosted him.
So I got to kind of, you know, but his, his defense, I mean, for a shortstop, it's just, he's,
he's good. I mean, he's, he's probably one of the best shortstop I've seen, especially
in the North with league when he was here, let alone in college. And, and I'm just so surprised,
he's not with a major league team. Me too. Yeah, I do remember him. You know, I hadn't thought of
the name, but as soon as you said it, yeah. And it's, this is how, this is what baseball does,
I think, almost better than any other sport. And, and part of it is not only the history of baseball,
but as simple as it might sound, we see these guys faces. We, we, we really get a good idea of
what they look like in football and hockey, some of these other sports, you just don't get it
as much. With baseball, it's a long game. So you're spending more time with these people physically
and mentally in many ways. And you see their faces. And I think there's more of a connection.
Let alone, when you let them sleep in your house with you. That's, that's an heck of a connection,
man. That's very cool. I'd be, I'd be feeling the same way. And we're definitely voting for him.
I do want to wrap on a, on a positive note. And, and not to say this is necessarily positive,
but it is, it is, it's one of the few times where I hear a lot of talking heads talking about
something. And I do think it's interesting, whether or not Paul skiing should start the all-star
game. And, and, and I think it's interesting in just this light that, uh, they, this game is not
necessarily taken any more seriously by the player than this player than that player. I don't think
anybody could say that all the players take it seriously. Some do some don't. Um, now, but one
thing we know as far as storylines in baseball as this first half is everybody was watching
O'Connie and Skane's face off. Mm-hmm. Each one of those at-pats. I just watched it again last night
that somebody clipped them together on YouTube. You could just watch them all boom, boom, boom.
And it's fantastic. Uh, just the opportunity to see that because neither of these guys may be,
well, at least O'Connie might not be available after second, third inning. Um, if you could tell me
that that's going to happen for sure. Right. Give me it as soon as you can. Right. Or,
give me it at the end of the game because that's the thing I think people are missing.
You could easily line that up. You, you, you have O'Connie set there and ready to go so you can
have him as the second or the last at-pat. And you can line this up as a manager. And you have
Skane's waiting in the bullpen. He's a rookie. Right. He shouldn't be out there anyway.
Right. Uh, as far as the way baseball goes and the way they look at these things, uh, I understand
that it's not going to happen. And it, well, I can't because they're in the same league though.
Oh, right. Right. Right. Yeah. But I mean, like, like, some of like Aaron Judge or someone like
that in the American league, that's what I'm talking about. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Is that that was such a big
story. Yeah. That we need that again. Yeah. So whether it's Aaron Judd or it's Juan Soto or one of
those big bats going up against that kid, I know I can get it in the first inning. I can't get
that in the ninth inning. It's the only argument I really have for it. Uh, I don't think he's not
Fernando Valenzuela. But I mean, he is not, he is not, um, doing something that we've never seen
before. Right. It's not a phenomenon. He's impressive. He's got a popular girlfriend. I get it.
But outside of that, I mean, if you're a Pittsburgh fan, you're freaking out, but I don't know that
he should start who should start is what I don't hear enough people's talking about. And I would
like to nominate Chris sale. If for any other reason than that guy's story, it's been crazy.
Uh, you just brought up schemes. And I'm looking at his stats right now. He hasn't lost the game yet
this year. His ERA is 2.12. He had 78 strikeouts. His whip is 1.01. And he's only walked 12
guys. Only 12 guys. That was the one that really took me. 70 sub-strikeouts at 12 walks.
59 innings. Yep. It's not a hard argument to make for him to start at all. That's sure.
Absolutely. I mean, I mean, I mean, you know, there's kind of funny story. If you follow Milwaukee
on on Facebook, they actually schemes. One of his things he wanted to do was at Miller Park
was or excuse me, a amp amp field is meet Bob Euker. And they had pictures with him out of the
field. We're talking with Bob Euker last night. Uh, field. So that's excellent. Mm-hmm.
This guy, that kid knows his history too. That's great. Yes. That's really. That is really
cool. Um, uh, I was just going to say, I'm actually, I'm going to, I'm going to be on the
skiing side on this one. If nothing else, because it's a great opportunity for baseball to highlight
one of the top, I mean, one of the real big talents has come around in a long time. I mean,
especially pitching talent. Yeah. I'm thinking of, and I don't know if you guys remember this,
Brad Penny, uh, starting the all-star game. I can't remember what year it was and throwing
nothing but heat. I mean, he didn't throw a breaking ball to save his soul. He threw
nothing but a hundred miles an hour to start the first. And it was awesome. I think he struck
out the side. And, and that's what I want to see. I want to see ball skins just go throw gas,
throw a hundred miles an hour and see if these guys can hit it. And it's all I want to see.
It's, I couldn't be more with it. Yeah. Right. Uh, I, I think that the, the other thing,
and I'll be honest about this. I just have this kind of spirit about me with things. Um,
the idea that the only reason he isn't going to start is, well, he hasn't earned it. Yeah.
Or it's not tradition. Um, that seems like one of the more ridiculous things to me to do things
just because we've always done it that way. Um, we haven't always had these guys. Again,
he, I don't think he's Fernando, but I, he doesn't have to be. He, especially this year,
named me the other big name rookie pitchers. We can wait. Yeah. There isn't any. There,
they're, they're exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. There's, there's not many. Yeah. Right. Exactly.
And not like some years, like, even last year where we had a handful of these kids,
or even the Strasper gear, uh, where we had him and a couple, uh, good young pitchers coming out
and stuff. That was 14 years ago, by the way. God, that's crazy. Uh, we got to think about him
if he's all a favor now. Uh, that's where we've gotten in Strasper's career. That's insane. Anyway,
um, I, I'm, I'm excited to see what they do. I don't know if I'd necessarily want to be the
manager, uh, to, to make that decision, um, cause I don't know if you can win. I, I don't know
if you know, I think, yeah, I think if you went with, you, you'd be okay if you went like
with sale, I think he'd probably be the best pet, other than schemes because of, yeah,
because of the comeback and then just the amazing season he's having. So, yeah.
Kevin, you're a bench for joining us. Thank you so much for hanging out with us for so long, man.
That's right. You guys have a great night. Hopefully we get a chance to talk to you guys on
Friday. All right. Right forward to it. Have a great night. Uh, we appreciate the call.
Appreciate all of y'all. Four, two, four, twenty six hundred. Just a touch or two away on the
civic media app. Feel free to call up and join us. Uh, some more breaking news real quick here.
NBA has reached an 11 year 76 billion media rights agreement that sets league records for length
and value. Uh, this sounds like they have done this with ESPN, I believe. Whoa. Um, I want to double
check, uh, make sure on this, um, yep. Uh, uh, that, that assures player salaries will continue
rising through the foreseeable future. Right, right. Um, and yeah. Yeah. So, uh, wow, wow, that is big.
That's a big deal. So this, uh, games will continue to be aired on ESPN and ABC and now some will
be going to NBC and Amazon Prime TNT sports, which has been part of the league's broadcasting
family since the eighties could be on its way out, which is what we've kind of been expecting.
Right. But they have five days to match this deal. Hmm. Uh,
they do it. Will we lose the best basketball show? Uh, here's what I hope and I think can happen
that, uh, I don't see TNT matching this. And I don't need that happening. Um, and, but I also
don't see the NBA let and go of that show without a fight. And especially Charles Barkley, he
know, he is the Tom Holland of the sports world in many ways where he just spoils stuff and he
can't help it because he's excited and he knows something. It's like me with, uh, like if, if I
bought Seth the gift, uh, I wouldn't be able to keep it from him. Right. I'd have to give it to you
within the couple of hours that I bought it. I, I, now you tell me a secret that matters to you
and I will take it to breath. But, uh, that kind of stuff I can't forget it. Charles Barkley knows
something because he didn't just say he's retiring. He said he's going to come back for one more
season. Where's that season going to be? Right. Uh, it's going to be on TNT. It's going to be on
this show. And I think they're going to work something out where they at least have the show on for
one more year, one more or two more years or something. Um, and, and, um, they get their, uh,
curtain wall or they move it, I suppose they could always do that to another thing in a different
format. But yeah, they're literally in the NBA Hall of Fame. They're in the Naysmith Hall of
Fame because that's how good this show is for anybody that's never seen the show or doesn't
get about basketball. It's, um, well, uh, Kenny's great. Charles is an original, uh,
shack. It's another original. You get those two together and you don't know what you can do.
For me, the star of that show has always been Ernie. Yeah. And, and I love Ernie and I love
his work. Uh, I genuinely care about that man and like that man. And, uh, he's such a, um,
a throwback to me while also been so adaptive to these guys better than anybody I've ever seen.
He is the Vinn Scully of what he does. He's, uh, he's, he's, he's somehow, uh, uh, a ringleader.
He's somehow rangles him in. I don't know how he does it. Get him back on topic. But man,
he is amazing. He is a ringmaster at this. Uh, he is not only able to keep the lion and the
tigers at bay, um, keep the audience happy and entertained and always with a good line,
always with a good wit and a good attitude about him. Maybe the most important part of Ernie
is his attitude. No matter how crazy stuff goes or how tension shack and chuck get about calling
each other names or something like that, he is there to settle things or to humble these guys
because that's the other thing that I don't think anybody notes about him. He humbles these guys.
He will put them in check and they will call back. Yep. They put, they try, they follow
the respect they have for him is really up. I mean, it's, it's obvious. It's very obvious.
That is a stage of four alphas, but two, three of them, there's only one lead dog and it's Ernie.
And that is pretty cool to see. Yeah. And that's, that's not done out of intimidation or anything.
No. It's out of respect. It's respect. And somebody who is great at what they do.
I am going to miss that show, not just as a basketball fan, but to see an Ernie doing that just
as entertainment. Yeah. In fact, you, I bet you there were people who didn't care a
wit about basketball that watch that show, just for the entertainment value of those four
guys together. Man, some of those games they had, I was one of those people.
Yes. Well, this game is terrible. You're caring about Detroit basketball and care about
that since the 90s, man. Get, you get it together, Detroit, by the way, get it together.
Used to be good, man. And while you're at it, tell us how to do it in Chicago.
Oh, it's been a while. It's been a while. I actually have the perfect solution for the white
socks and the bowls. It's very easy. Sell the teams, Jerry. Oh, there you go. You got your
championships. Yeah. You got your championships. You got what you wanted. It's never been about
the city of Chicago. It's never been about the players. It certainly hasn't been about the players.
And it didn't sure has been about the people in the city and the fans. So just sell the team,
make your money and go off with your rings and live your life and enjoy it. I hope you have a great
life. I appreciate getting to see championships in my life. But yeah, I cannot wait.
I is bad as I want the McCaskys to sell the bears to me and my family. Wow.
I want Ryan's Dorf because he owns two. Yeah. I want Ryan's Dorf out. He's gotta get out.
That's the only solution. Leave, leave, leave, Jerry. Tell that happens. That team,
neither of those teams, maybe, are going to be able to do anything. The only way the bowls
have accomplished what they have is because Jerry doesn't care about them. He cares about the
white socks. He's a baseball guy. We are going to be back in just minutes with our good friend
Coach Peckman and we'll have the fourth period coming up for you right here on Playmakers.
Brought to you probably by quality plus printing. Getting your words out here in Rapids.
Afternoon, Rapids. Welcome to WFHR's Playmakers featuring the fourth period.
We're talking hockey with our favorite person to talk hockey with GM and head coach.
If you're Wisconsin, Rapids, River King's coach Paul Peckman joining us right now. Coach, how are you?
Doing well, man. Doing well. How are you guys doing? Doing good.
All right. The other day coach, Seth and I were talking about something that you had said in
a, at least a, you know, a handful of interviews ago. You had said something about the players
we're getting it. They were starting to gel. It was, I want to say mid-season, maybe even a little
bit into the season, a little bit more into the season. You said something about the players
playing for the, not the name on the back, but the name on the front of the jersey or something like
that. Yeah, it was, it's just, I really appreciated that because that's honestly been one of those
things that stays in my head not just with this team, but throughout the Stanley Cup run and
watching the differences in some of these players and teams. I, I love being able to talk river
kings with you. I can't help though, but talk a little bit of NHL with you whenever I have the
chance. And did you enjoy the Stanley Cup run? Did you enjoy the playoffs?
I did. I did. Obviously not, not as much as my own just getting knocked out in the first round,
but that's all right. Yeah. Yeah. You know, when you go, when you're watching good hockey, I mean,
to me, I thought going game seven and it's a two on game, right? Last time we talked, we just
wanted to see a good game that goes down to the wire, right? That's the excitement. And when
you got two teams that are playing, you know, you got some high level guys. And, you know, to me,
I didn't have a dog in a fight, but I wanted to see, I wanted to see the coach of the Panthers win,
because after 26 years, you're, you're earned the right to win one. Yeah. Yeah. And, and then McDavid,
you know, doing everything that he's been doing, you know, you want to see that kid start winning
some cops. So it was a great, I thought it was a very good playoff. Yeah. I was in the same boat,
man. Actually, I was in the same boat. I was rooting for certain teams. And then when those
teams were gone, I kind of came down to well. I can't, I don't think as a fan, I can lose.
So I have friends in the Miami area that were rooting really hard for Florida. And if they won,
I was going to be happy for them. And to see, Michelle Gwynn, that, that coach has been given
everything to hockey. And, and he's a great coach and he's gotten so close so many times. He's a
great guy, great sound bite. What are those people that we'd love to be able to just talk to for
hours? Any of us, any three of us would. But there was also the storyline of the Connor McDavid
and dry side. And, and two, we know what we see on the ice. Those are two greats, especially McDavid.
And you're so right about this. Greats win. We've always seen that we've grown up with that.
Even if we didn't see Gretzky necessarily his whole career or anything, whether it was Gretzky
or Messier or Lemieux or Jagger or any of these big, big names, the biggest name in hockey,
always won a cup. It's, it's got, you think it's just got to happen for him sometime, was it,
and I thought this was it. Because there's one thing, if they had come back, I think it almost
been worth two cups. Because to come back down, you know, nothing's crazy. And that'd have been
something. And as it is, I do think that he gained some respect back that they didn't have when
they were down oh three, regardless of how it finished and everything. And I agree it was,
it was a great series. Part of the reason I do bring this up is to segue into River Kings.
And I'm curious, when you're preparing in the offseason here and you've got so much time to think
and there's, there's scouting. There's all these other things you're doing. When you're watching
the NHL and you're watching any hockey, are you, are you kind of picking the brains of these
playbooks? Are you kind of looking at things and thinking, Oh, I like that. We, we might try something
like that. Absolutely. Absolutely. You're always, you're always learning, right? I mean,
you can never learn enough and you're learning from the pros, right? From the best. So why not
take advantage of that and watch what they do and try to incorporate it? Hopefully, you know,
we have the personnel that can pull some of that stuff off, right? That's, that's what you're
hoping for is to, and that's IQ. I mean, if you got the right guys and hopefully that we're
recruiting the right kids that are not only talented, but have the IQ to be able to handle certain
things. And that's, that's what separates you from the pack, right? Yeah. And going back to
your original statement about playing for the name on the front instead of the one on the back,
uh, that's what wins championships. We all know defense wins championships, right? Nobody, nobody
teaches it. Nobody coaches it. Everybody says it. Right. Florida was the epitome of all in,
right? For the logo. Yeah. Right? Yeah. When you got to stop, when you got to stop,
make David and dry style, right? I mean, dry style is the score at all. No, it's insane. That's
crazy. And that route, I don't think. So how does that happen? Well, you've got to have everybody
buying in and you got to be playing for the logo, right? Forget about who you are and you've got to
be eating talks and you've got to be playing bodies and being in the right position all the time.
And that's how you shut those guys down and that's tough to do, but you got to do it. I think as we
got, we have more time away from this particular run and what Florida did, we're going to marvel at
even more even and especially if this is as far as McDavid gets because that's really going to stand
out then. And I think maybe I don't want to get over dramatic and say change hockey, but what Florida
did can't be said enough. They were the highest scoring team in the league. They were amazing.
They get knocked out in the first round and their management was like, this isn't going to win.
We got it. We got to change it. We have to have a different approach. They trade one of their
best players and their team's history for a guy in Kachuk that wasn't necessarily a promising
player, but not necessarily the leader that we saw that we see he is now. And some of the other
things they've done, it's incredible to see in a couple of years how much they changed the culture
and the face of that team and what happens from that. I hope more not to say everybody can do it,
but I hope to see more teams kind of take that approach and be willing to take chances.
Because doing things just the same way, because you've always done it that way, it doesn't,
it doesn't, I don't know, that never works out, I think, especially in life, but in sports in
particular. Coach, you mentioned some of the recruits you've had. Any recent signings you wanted to
tell us about? Yeah, I think Hunter Raffert is a kid that we just recently signed from Potomac
to Virginia. Manassas Virginia. He's a kid that played at the elite level, was one of the top
defensemen and is ready to make the next jump. So I'm excited to see what he can do,
and I expect him to be sitting in the rotation really well. So I think that's the most recent one.
We've been kind of just, it's been quiet the last couple of weeks. We're talking to a lot of
guys and there's a lot of main camps going on right now. So we're just kind of sitting back and
and seeing how they, that all transpires and I mean, we're close. We only need a couple more guys.
So I'm not worried yet. Well, when you join us in a couple of weeks or when you join us next,
we'll check it with you about that. But it is an interesting game, not only scouting.
To me, scouting is one of the most interesting parts of sports no matter what sport you're talking
about. And I actually had a topic for Seth a little bit later about number one picks in baseball
and how many have worked out and how many haven't. Because I think baseball is the most
unique one when it comes to the drafting. But with hockey, baseball, you kind of have this,
baseball and hockey, basketball's getting there a little bit, but they're the sports that,
yeah, football, that's impressive. You scout America. We scout the world. And that's a whole
different ball game. No pun intended. When it comes to that coach, I can't imagine how
this part of the scouting period is sitting back and waiting. You said you feel good with the team
you have. You've got to have a finger on the pulse of this in many different ways. I imagine
its connections as well as it is keeping communication with the players. Oh, yeah, you definitely,
I'm on the phone a lot. Let's just say that. So it's, they connected with your, you know,
connections that you have. And, you know, how is this guy? You know, what's his character like?
What's his work ethic like? Right? I mean, you watch video and you can see, all right,
you know, the kid can play, but you want to make sure you're bringing the right guys to the program.
Right? So it's that and, you know, how's he doing over there? What's he doing? And where we at?
And then also I'm trying to get responsible kids. And you gotta remember, these are teenage kids
and half of them always speak English. Right? So very difficult in the communication part.
But, you know, now what's happened and things like that? I do a lot of that with players and emails,
obviously, and then video calls when we get to that point. But, but yeah, I just, you know,
I'm constantly talking to my, my connections out there. And whether it be Sweden, Norway,
UK, wherever else, you know, it's just, you know, anybody, you know, we're looking for a certain guy.
I'm looking to fill a certain spot. Right? Anybody that fits the bill. And that's, that's
where we're at right now. I mean, it's down, it's down to specifics. So I will be up in,
in Wisconsin, in West Bend, at the end of the month, work in a main camp for the North American
Hockey League team in Wisconsin, when to go, as we're building a relationship with those guys,
because they're the next level up from us. And so they've invited me to work the benches
during their main camp. And so we've invited some of our players to go to that camp, as well as
some guys from all over the world to come there. And if they don't make it, hopefully they come
to us and make us that much stronger. That's right. Speaking with Coach Peckman and Coach,
before we let you go, I did want to note one thing. There were two things really. I want to
strongly encourage the audience to follow the River Kings on Instagram and Facebook. It's a great
follow. Also, great way to keep up to date on the signings and different things going on with
the team. And one thing that you guys noted recently in one of your posts is about how we get these
great players in these kids come here. They spend time in our city. One of the great things that we
can do to show how much we appreciate them coming here is being a host's family. And we're always
looking for more host families. One encouraged anybody out there that has ever been a host family
or would like to be one to reach out to the River Kings and see if you could be a good fit for them.
Because it's one of the, you heard Kevin earlier in the show talking about what it was to have one
of the Raptor players there. He's following that kid still. You build a different connection with
these kids. And there aren't many as somebody who was raised by one. I will tell you there aren't
many finer or funnier people in the world than hockey players. You are going to enjoy having one
of these River Kings because the other thing I'll say and I'll put my name on it. The River Kings
bring good kids to this community. And you can trust that. You can put anybody of my name on that
for sure. Coach one encouraged people to hope be a host family and follow their kings as you
guys build hockey up and down the river. Well, I appreciate it. Yeah, it's important, obviously,
right? So we're looking, we're close. You know, another one, maybe two families. And I think we
should be okay. Good. So if anybody's interested, yeah, please reach out. And I think we're all right.
We'll get there and we'll figure out a way. It's not.
My parents have talked about this. My dad is specifically. And I'm a little worried that if he
brings one of these kids in, he's going to talk their ears off literally. Like he's literally
going to talk their ears off. And I'm a little worried about that. But they're talking about maybe
next season when they're feeling a little bit better, maybe doing this. And I think that's going
to be real fun for them. It'll be fun for anybody out there. That'd be awesome. Thanks for joining us,
coach. We'll talk again real soon. Safe travels. You and we'll talk to you soon. You've got to.
Thanks, buddy. Thanks, but be listening for another fourth period coming up real soon. Everybody,
as we follow your river kings up and down the river and all season long, there is no offseason with
our river kings. No, no, find out more river kings hockey.com and find out how you can be a host
family by reaching out to them through the same website or on Facebook or Instagram. You can
message them on there. Yeah, river kings hockey.com river kings hockey.com. We'll be back with more
fun on playmakers brought to you by quality plus printing here at WFHR. What are you doing?
Yeah, computer. That's where you go. Now I did a nice job there. I segwayed you well. Why
aren't you playing? Why aren't you doing your job computer? I segwayed really good there. I was
proud of that transition and it's all ruined because you didn't go on time. You've got one job
playing quality plus commercial. Okay, so we're not going to commercial break. I guess we're not
for the moment here. That's fine. Yeah, it's not like my big complete paid for my mom.
Could have used a break. Could have used a break.
At riverkigs hockey.com everybody, as long as we've got some time to talk, Seth. Right.
We do want to open the phone line. 715-424-2600. Feel free to call up and join the conversation, everybody.
I'm looking forward to talking with Coach and talking more hockey. We get closer to it. I did
have another stat of the show I did want to get in and that's about Janice Antedicupo.
Okay. He is an Olympian for the first time. Oh, that's cool.
That's cool. With them winning in this kind of a winner-take-all kind of game against Croatia,
I think maybe more importantly to the NBA and to Bucks fans out there beat the Daylights out of
Luka. 80-69, they beat Croatia. Wow. They are going to be going to Paris. Janice is going to be
going as the first time Olympian and seeing his joy. If you want to see a guy, if you wonder if he's
still passionate about this game, if he still loves basketball, he was out there giving everything
he's got. You only could ask for from an Olympian. That's going to be cool to see. It also made me
think about something else, Seth. Okay. Because I've only had maybe literally a handful,
three to five times this has happened to me since I've been watching the Olympics, which is
literally my whole life. Again, having a hockey father with at least the winter Olympics we were
glued to and as I grew up and I grew up in the 80s with the greatness of the Olympic Games,
with the US teams and Carl Lewis and Flo Joe and all of this, I have just been a lover of the
Olympics is my whole life. Every once in a while, there's a guy or there's somebody that
another team that this guy's got a cool and I never rooted for anybody against Michael Phelps.
That was my guy. I liked Michael Phelps. I loved watching him. There's a lot of those,
but you same bolt. There was something about him and watching him run and just seeing greatness
that honestly, I didn't care what country he was repping. I don't want to say I was rooting for him,
but I was not disappointed when he won and broke record. No, because he was an amazing guy. I mean,
watching him was like, well, I guess I relate everything to baseball, I guess. It's like watching
Otoni hit a home run or something like that. It's something you've never seen before and
you get to watch this guy and it's just amazing. It just knocks your socks off. It has nothing to do
with worries from or anything like that. It's just remarkable. You've got it. You've got to give
your props to someone like that. I'm curious if other people do this or struggle with this or don't
even think about it. Call up and join the conversation. 715-424-2600 as we get ready for the biggest
games of the summer coming up. It's going to be pretty exciting and there is a lot of not only
great US talent, the great Wisconsin and Midwest talent on those teams. I am so excited
to see some of these greats. Not only some people I guarantee you some names are going to be a
household name by the end of August. Some names that we haven't thought of until now,
unless you're really, really paying attention. But even some names that you already know,
I will put my name again on one other thing. Simone Biles is going to go there and if you didn't
know who she was, you will when you leave because not only is she the goat already and doesn't have
to be doing this. No, but she's also coming back after her struggles in the last Olympics.
And if you've seen Simone since then and the work she's been doing,
I gather to say that she has showing that the time off actually didn't affect anything and it's
almost like she paused her talent and her work ethic. And then when she came back to it,
it's like no time passed. I don't want to go over exaggerate and say that she's better.
But because she is seasoned more and she's older and more mature, there's a control in what she's
doing that is powerful. Powerful when in that it's most athletes, most every single athlete is
confident. There's a difference when they're comfortable. That's a comfortable confidence that they
have. The Michael Jordan walking down the court and shrugging and just shrugging. Yeah, Michael.
Yeah, right. That's my answer. Like that kind of athlete. The Joe Montana walking into the
huddle when they haven't won anything yet and it's the fourth quarter and they got to go march 80
some yards to score a touchdown and he comes into the huddle talking about John Candy. That guy,
that kind of confidence. That's a whole different level. That's where Simone is, I think. That's
going to be fun to watch. It's really remarkable. I saw labels going on on NBC and just watching her,
it was like, oh my gosh, this is, I don't know if it's a new Simone Biles, but it's definitely a
reenergized one because that's a good way to put there was something there, man. And the fact
that she was just, she was there with her teammates and watching her interacting with how well they
were doing. I mean, come on, man. She was so happy. It was so fun to see. And I'm looking forward to
seeing a bigger smile when she whoops the world because that's what I believe her. I don't know.
Well, like I heard them say on the thing, their biggest competition would be the Russians and
they're not going to be there. So I think it's going to be a walk. It's crazy to think about how
we're not creating some of the athletes that we use to in certain sports. And there's a lot of dip
depth to that and conversation. There's a lot of reasons, I'm sure. Yeah. But when it comes right
down to, with the other countries approach the Olympics and the money and the effort they put into
it, and you think about, I don't know, you can make the argument other than China, Russia does,
and nobody does more than what Russia does. And to get all of that and have it messed up because
of your government and because of outside sources, when it has nothing to do with these athletes,
most of the time, I'm not going to speak for them or pretend to know any other, all their stories
or anything. But we know traditionally how that is, how that happens. I can't, there's losing out
and then there's stuff like that. I like to have good sports stories in our show. And that's
something that we're going to be doing as we are back with you Monday, Wednesday, Friday,
Monday through Wednesday, Friday, five to six. We do have some shows next week that will be,
will be, will be given our time to the rafters, understandably so. They're going to be on their
East Coast swing, which means Michigan. It would not make a lot of sense for us to, you know, put
the show out and enjoy the rafters in progress. That would not make a lot of sense. But I did,
I have a couple of things I wanted to note is we're getting ready for the games. And if you,
anybody gets a chance, I encourage you to go look for the watch the video of the Belgian shot
putter that ran hurdles to save her team from disqualification. Oh my gosh. Belgium obviously
doesn't have traditionally a big roster, no matter what small country. Yeah. Yeah. They were not
going to be able to qualify because one of their runners got injured. So the only way, the only
in the rules, the only thing they could do is have another Belgian be in the run. And nobody
was willing to do it except their shot putter. And it's her, her, obviously she is a shot putter
running hurdles. Yeah. But it is makes it all the more impressive that it's a shot putter running
hurdles. Yeah. And she, I think she does a heck of an amazing job. Man better than I did that.
What an athlete. I mean, just watching her though, she's so excited. Yeah. She's like, it's just
thrilled. Yeah, she didn't. I would, I would think that she approached this and there's some
nerves, all these things. She's out there and she's not only enjoying herself, but taking it
very seriously. She slowed down for these. And she was so big, she's almost walking over some
of these hurdles. She's tall. Yeah. She's very tall. So yeah, she didn't have to win the race,
just had to compete. Yes. And and Belgian gets to do what they do. Mm-hmm. Well, I, America's shot
putter is is going to be doing, you're going to hear her name. She's one of the names you might
remember at the end of August. This young lady is going to be one of them too. I think not only
because of this story, but she's very talented. Yeah. And but that is just she's very good. I mean,
just stepping over that that's impressive. I would have been knocking, I would have been knocking
him over trying to do what she's doing right now. Yeah. Yeah. I would've done the same. Yeah.
I got to say too, that it's pretty cool when this happens where one of the stories of the
Olympics, and we haven't even gotten to the Olympics. Exactly. It's pretty cool. It's great.
Congratulations to Janice. Congratulations to her and certainly team USA on all the qualifiers.
And it looking forward to some great Olympics. It's going to be a lot of fun. Absolutely. Seth,
I did want to touch on something else before we wrap up. And I didn't I swear I didn't
purposely wait for this one at the end of the show because I don't want it to be the last story we do.
Okay. But we are a civic media team. We're a civic media company. And we don't shy away from
anything that's something that our company is proud of and that does and that's something we do.
And Wander Franco from the Tampa Bay race was an up and coming one of the bigger up and coming
stars in baseball. Top pick. One of the yeah, he was he was in the All-Star game last year.
He was one of the Tampa's All-Star people. And then in let's see, last August, there was some
postings on social media about some issues. He was he was accused of some pretty good stuff.
Yes. And because of that, the race put him on leave of absence and he's been in the Dominican
ever since. He's not come back since then. Yeah. Well, we found out yesterday that the prosecutors
in the Dominican Republic have brought formal charges against him. Franco was officially facing
charges of sexual abuse and sexual exploitation against a minor according to the to the report.
Like I said, he's been on administrative leave. He has now been put on the restricted list.
Now the difference between those two in baseball means that an administrative leave is just your
away from the team. You are still drawing your pay and you're still accruing service time.
When you are on the restricted list, you get neither of those things. So usually what baseball does
is they wait for what happens at the courts, the legal system, and then they make their ruling
about what that's going to happen to that player. Today, there might be some sexual excuse me,
human trafficking charges added to this as well. He's looking at possibly 20 all together about 25
years in prison in the Dominican Republic, safe to say his baseball career is over. Yeah.
There's no chance he's ever coming back to majorly baseball. Part of the reason this is a story is
because it's a different day and age and these things are not washed over. They're in its great
to see our countries working together on these things and hopefully putting it into more and more
and into trafficking or any of this kind of abuse that goes on. There is no tolerance. This is a
in a gray world, this is a black and white issue. You're either on the right side of history or not
with this stuff and it's good to see with for all the things we could talk trash about with any of
these leagues. Baseball doing smart things like that only gives more positive in these stories
where there is none. It should also be noted real quick that the the mother of the minor that was
involved in this is also being charged. Thanks, sir. Thanks a great work on that. We were going to
get into and we'll we'll save this for next for Friday. We will be here Friday. We're looking
forward to not only talking whatever breaking news happens between now and then as we finally get
to. Yeah, right. Exactly. That's right. Most importantly looking forward to talk to you.
Get your sports thoughts and feelings ready and we're looking forward to talk with you Friday.
Also looking forward to talking a little Mel. It's going to be fun. Yeah. Talk about him and why
exactly do managers wear uniforms in the dugout and baseball? Testing, testing, testing, testing.
We got to get out of here now. We got to get out of here now, we got to get out of here now.