⚾Wrap-up with the Rafters🧢

Good afternoon, Wisconsin. Welcome to WFHRs. Playmakers.

Welcome to the show. Good afternoon, everybody. Have your host, James, here. I am

joined by Michael this week. Thanks a lot for being with us, Michael. Not a problem.

I'm happy to be here. We are going to have some fun. We'll talk some high school

sports. We'll talk some Packers. We are going to talk plenty of sports and baseball

today, but we are going to kick off with our Wisconsin Rapids Rafters. And not only that,

but we got a special guest joining us right now. Andy Jock, I'm going to be joining us,

announcer for your 2024 Rafters. Andy, thanks a lot for being here.

Thank you so much for having me, guys. I appreciate it. Appreciate you. Let me kick in and

join your guys' show here on this beautiful Friday. We got you in at the last minute,

man. We've been waiting all season to talk with you. How is the season gone for you, Andy?

It's been a blur to be completely honest. Since the middle of June, I had my family come

up to visit here in Wisconsin Rapids right around Father's Day. And I've been telling

people ever since they came up to visit this season has gone by so, so fast.

It's crazy, believe we only have two games left, but it's been an absolute blast.

And I've enjoyed every minute of it. It's really good to hear, man. And we've

enjoyed you all season long. I've been talking since game one. How it's the Rafters

Day every year, knock it out the park when they bring in these kids and bring in

these announcers. They do a great job every single time. Sometimes certain guys

stand out more than others, whether it's the voice or the way that they call a game

or anything. You sound so polished and you have an old school kind of approach

while you are also incredibly up to date and modern with things. Is that an

intentional thing that just happens organically? Is that something you worked at?

I think it's just been something that I've done for as long as I've been calling

games. I mean, I'm only 22. I've been calling games since my sophomore year

high school. And I like to think, you know, the guys that I grew up watching

and listening to the TV side. I'm from the Northwest suburbs of Chicago.

So that's one Casper, the voice of the Cubs on TV side. And I think that old

school part of me comes from Pat Hughes, the Hall of Fame legendary broadcaster on

the radio side. So I like to think those two guys at least shaped how I like

to call the game of baseball. And I've just been kind of run it with it ever since I started

last year. Got a couple of Illinois kids here on the radio dial here at WFHR

with myself as well, man. And I was going to ask about your origin story because

you actually went to school right where my parents did over in Naperville.

Yeah, that's awesome. No, Naperville. Yeah, North Central College.

There's a great place for me to finish up my undergrad. They got an awesome

student radio station there. And I think that's also, you know, a big part of

who I am on the air today. They let me get in there and call over a hundred

games just in two years alone. So having that experience, I was really second

to none. I know a lot of these big journalism schools offer, you know,

the opportunity to call, you know, these high level college athletic events,

but they're a really good athlete at the D3 level too. And for me, it's just

about getting reps and being able to hone my craft and being able to do that at

NCC and staying close to home. That was a big part of me going there. I'm from a

town called Bartlett out in the Northwest suburbs. So I was about 30 minutes

from where I grew up and it was really a no-brainer to stay around home and do

that and get the opportunities that I hadn't. It led me here. So I'm

super grateful to have had done that. And I always feel like I get to have a

piece of me when I have that degree because I graduate it back in May. So being able

to have the degree from a school, you know, right in my neck of the wood, it's

a lot more personal to me. You are making me all in the stagic

care. One of my dad's best friends growing up was from Bartlett, man. You're

just a really. That's so great. I'm curious because you mentioned how

your age and getting into this, you've covered baseball. There are other

sports that you have announced for and other sports you've covered.

Yeah, so I started with basketball when I was in high school because I played

baseball up until my sophomore year of college. So my first time ever calling a

baseball game was spring of 2023 just last year. So I'd say baseball is one of

the newer sports that I'm into calling. But yeah, basketball, football,

I've done some volleyball to just trying to expand the umbrella a little bit

and get a little piece of everything and get as much of it as I can. But yeah,

if I had to say outside of baseball, I love calling hoops. Nothing beats

basketball. Right on. Yeah. I love watching love here in good game called

and we could always use good announcers in that sport. So that's good to hear.

That's a nice thing. For this season, I'm curious, especially you get to this

night. You've got a couple of games left, but we all know that this wraps up the

season for this. How do you approach the games? Do you approach them any differently?

Is there a part of you that wants to kind of like the players leave it all on the

field? Yeah, most definitely. Unfortunately, we got eliminated from the playoff

a couple of days ago. So these last two games aren't for anything in terms of

getting into the big dance. But I think you treat it like any other game.

It's one of those just because you're out of it. You know, the players are still

going to go out there and play. I'm still going to go and call my best game.

You know, one of my mentors back at college, I always said whenever you're on the

air, you never know who's listening or there's always somebody listening that,

you know, you want to make an impression on. So for me, it's just put my best

foot forward, no matter what the circumstances, whether we're here at Wooder

Field, we're out in Green Bay, we're in Michigan, no matter where we've traveled.

It's every place. I'm going to treat it like it's the exact same game every time.

Andy Jockum, joining us announcer for Year Wisconsin Rapids,

after this 2024 season, it's been a blast. We've really enjoyed every call you've

made, man. I've had some, well, it's the season hasn't gone the way we wanted to.

Maybe there's been some really nice highlights, some really fun plays.

We've had some key grand slam, key timed grand slams.

And I've been fortunate enough to catch a lot of those calls of yours.

You have a very good solid home run call. I'm curious. Do you have any you tried

out first that you didn't go with or do you have one you've been wanting to use

that you haven't been able to that you could give us right now or anything?

I don't want to say that voice. You got a game to call here and everything.

But I am curious. I had to ask.

It's funny to ask about the home run call because as I was leading up to calling my

first baseball games last spring, one of my good friends at school was asked me,

what's your call going to be? And I don't really know if I have a call.

It's just whatever comes organically in the moment.

I know I've done some kit fit good buys. That one's out of here.

It's just kind of whatever rolls off the tip of the tongue in the heat of the moment.

Nothing that I have pre planned out before. I just kind of roll with what I'm feeling at that time.

That's worked for quite a few announcers. There's quite a few guys that seems to work for you.

You've been doing an amazing job this season. We're looking forward to not just listening

to these last couple of games of the rafters, but following your career wherever you go.

Once you work here in Rapids, Central Wisconsin, once you work with the rafters, you're always a rafter.

We'll be following you to the rest of your career, man. You stay in touch.

Thanks a lot for joining us. Thanks for coming to town here.

We'll do it. Appreciate it. Thank you guys so much for having me

and letting me call all 70 games on your airwaves this summer.

It's been an absolute blast. I've had the ability to grow so, so much.

And I owe it all to the WFHR. Thank you so much.

Appreciate, Andy. You have fun out there today. Okay. We'll talk soon.

We'll do it. Thank you so much.

Andy Jocken joining us right there. Rafters announcer. That was fantastic.

Yeah, it was. It's always kind of neat to talk to some of these radio guys.

Because you get them from all all around the country. I mean, I remember the first one.

JW Cox. He was, he was Arizona boy. He came up.

And then the next one I believe was Aaron Berlin. He was out of Kansas.

I'm still friends with those two. And then Nathan Barnett still talking to him.

Texas boy. He's actually gotten more into hockey.

Yeah. I remember that. And JW, he's, I think he's Northern Iowa.

I want to say and he does football basketball.

You name it some high school stuff. And it wasn't for JW.

Man, he, my mom, she could not listen. She put baseball on falsely.

Okay. And the way he announced, he made her interested in it.

So I mean, I give a big tip of my cap to those three guys.

And then several others have had the pleasure of meeting over the years too.

It's just neat to see them do what they do.

I love when they bring in a, a Southern voice.

And you have, you have something that you don't get a lot of around here.

I really love hearing a Southern or calling hockey.

There's, there's a few things that I love more than that on the announcer side.

But it's a blast. It's always a blast taking your calls.

Let's go ahead and do so. Good afternoon. You're in the game.

Good afternoon, James. How's it going?

Good over here. How you doing, man?

Oh, not too bad. It's kind of nice that you got Michael on tonight,

because we can pick on him a little bit. That's fine with me.

All right. All right. Let's go.

You got to let me in. I remember correctly.

I ran into you a couple of times, especially when John Falker was the GM

with the Raptors. Aren't you a Cardinals fan?

Big Cardinals fan.

Oh, I didn't. I'm just finding this out.

Big Cardinals fan. And I always, you know, I always catch a lot of guff up here.

But I mean, I'm originally from Oklahoma.

I was born in Muscogee, Oklahoma.

That was the, the, the Oki from Muscogee was written about me 19 years before I was born.

By the way, but my dad was from St. Louis.

And his dad, my grandpa, he was in back in that day.

It was before the minors, the minor leagues.

It was whoever played baseball in the area.

And my grandpa was one of those guys.

No, grandpa, he never made a big, unfortunately.

But a lot of the guys he did play with did.

Grasjola. He knew what Grasjola.

Yogi bear off of what back in the day.

He called, well, we call it now the hill.

But back in the day, there's a little more colorful name.

I don't know if I can say on the air.

Then grandpa knew, you know, slaughter.

Red Shane East.

He knew someone just infamously known as the man.

Nice.

He knew him.

My dad, who's passed.

He remembers going to one of the World Series.

There's one they won.

I think it was 64.

I want to say it was 64.

I mean, winning a World Series is kind of a form of concept in the state of Wisconsin.

Oh, sorry.

He had to do it.

He had to do it.

That was a little too close to the best man.

But he remembers walking around the bush stadium, the first bush.

That's pretty close.

And hey, Al, that was my grandfather's name.

How the H are you?

Who's this guy with you?

And it was Stan.

Usually.

That's incredible.

It's a side note.

I'll see Dale Earnhardt's The Intimidator's got to be up there.

But I don't know if you can top as far as nicknames go when your nickname is the man.

Like that's it.

That's it.

I don't know if you can come up with a better nickname in history of nicknames.

I don't think it gets better than that.

And do a talk intimidation.

You go a few years later when the Cardinals had Al Raboski, the mad Hungarian.

Yeah.

Now that was intimidation.

Where is back in that day?

You're talking mutual and you're talking Bob Gibson, just two gentlemen of the game.

I didn't Bob Gibson, maybe the most intimidating pitcher of all time.

You brought up something interesting though, man.

Because we are getting to know each other a little bit more, which is kind of fun to be able to do.

And we appreciate that, Kevin.

You really set us up here.

I think it's always interesting for guys like for myself.

I come from an area that has nothing but sports teams.

We've got a baseball team that nobody even pays attention to.

We got so many teams over there.

Yeah.

Not any of them are that good.

But we got teams.

I grew up with a friend that was from Iowa.

And his family is from Iowa.

And they didn't have any professional sports teams.

So they tended like all go all over the place.

His older brother was a big chargers fan for some reason.

And I always find that interesting for people like yourself from Oklahoma or something like that.

Where your allegiance is go.

And they oftentimes I find are even deeper than some like me or Kav or some people that are from a certain state and everything.

Absolutely.

And like I said, with me being born in Oklahoma, I love college football, huge college football fan.

And I cheer for the red and white.

But the song goes, I'm sooner born, sooner bred and when I die, I'll be sooner dead.

So I'm a big Oklahoma fan.

I still pull for the badgers.

Don't give me wrong.

But a big Oklahoma fan, the Cardinals and baseball.

But my mother, she's from Wisconsin or Apple.

She's a native.

So she green and gold.

Right.

And I have mentioned it many times in the broadcast.

And whenever I talk with people that comes up, I am one of the lucky ones.

I am a season tick holder for the Packers.

The green package.

And that I'm third generation to have those tickets.

My uncle, my great uncle, he actually, the seats that I sit in, he sat in for the ice bowl.

Wow.

So those seats have been in my family for a long time and hopefully will be as things go.

Right.

But it's just that history.

Kev, what else is on your mind today?

Well, I was, you know, I kind of, you know, listen to some of the talking heads throughout the day.

And and some of kind of pretty much written in the brewers into winning the vision.

I was kind of curious if Michael thinks that they that the Cardinals still have a chance

or they're just going to try to work for that wild cards position.

As far as the brewers, I think they won that early on just because the division is so poor.

Cardinals play started as one of the worst teams in the division.

Cubs have been up and down.

The reds have been up and down.

The pirates have been up and down.

The brewers just have to pay a play.

So 500 ball.

The rest of the way out and everybody else has to go on that incline.

St. Louis, they finished that first half of the seat of the first half of the season.

Just about the hottest team in the majors, but now they're stumbling a little bit coming out of the break.

There are a couple of games.

It's been a while since I've looked at the standings, but they've got some work to do.

And anytime you get into the playoffs, I don't care who you are.

You've earned it.

You're good.

And you've got to be someone to watch out for.

And I put two things on that if you're asking specifically about St. Louis.

2006 and 2011.

They got in like last day of the season, both times.

And they won in one world series those years.

So you just got to get hot at the right time.

Ultimately, I mean, look at the Packers in 2010.

They got in on the last game.

Had to beat those no good brother-lawmen from Illinois, James's buddies there.

But they got in on the last game of the season.

And then they did their basically ABCs there.

Atlanta, Chicago, Philly, and then Pittsburgh.

They won it all.

So I mean, just get out of the right time.

That's all you got to do.

Milwaukee seven up over St. Louis as of today.

Brewers in action, of course, this afternoon.

So when it comes to momentum, that's another interesting one.

Would you want to be a team that is ahead the whole season in the top of the division,

one of the better teams, or you get hot late?

Because I think that what you're talking about there is exactly the right formula to win.

I would much rather, let me get hot late.

Whatever happens, the first 60, 70 games of the season, I'll deal with that later in the off season.

If we get hot in those final two weeks, that seems good to me.

There's something to be said about consistency, too.

Yeah, yeah, Kev.

Well, yeah, yeah, I kind of agree with you.

And I'm hoping, you know, after this Atlanta series, I'm hoping that this is, you know,

they're not going to start peeking now because he's still got about five to six weeks left of the season.

And they're going to, they're starting to start getting help the other talking.

DL hall might be back here soon.

And names just kind of slip.

But I know you look at the standings, they're like a half a game behind the Dodgers.

And there's a four game series coming up with them for that two spot.

Yep.

You know, and they're only four games out or three and a half games out from the Phillies for that number one spot.

For a team that wasn't even supposed to be close to this this year.

Well, and they're playing with house money in some ways.

So I mean, they're going to be no matter if they show up in the world series, they're going to be playing with house money.

And that is something that Pat Murphy, man, especially as a team that just lost our manager that we didn't even really have all season.

And did the white socks really have a manager all season?

Can anybody actually prove that the white socks had a manager in the dugout this season?

I don't think you could statistically prove that.

And I don't think you can on camera.

I'm not sure even showed up.

So as a team like that, I look at a Pat Murphy.

And I live vicariously through that stuff.

I mean, that's a guy that makes me want to go ahead and run through a brick wall.

And that's not even something you do in baseball.

As your host, I can say.

Oh, I guess.

Jim Edmunds.

Jim Edmunds.

Yes. Nice reference.

Nice one.

Oh, God.

What a great center fielder.

He's one of the best.

He asked me so much fun to watch.

I really enjoy what Pat Murphy does.

And when you have a guy like that, I don't know if you get into the game, which they're going to.

It gets into the dance.

It gets invited.

You just don't know what can happen.

I don't think that that's spin.

I don't.

I don't.

I look at the Rangers last year.

I look at teams in the last couple of years that have showed up in the World Series or made

at least they'd quite the run to the world for a World Series run.

No reason walk.

You can't do it.

Well, I don't disagree.

I don't disagree with that.

But you know, we had this discussion that worked this morning before before we all kind of took off.

Would this team be in the same situation if council was in the driver's seat right now?

If he was still in the dugout, would they be in the same situation?

I just think Murphy's just knows how to play these guys.

Get them motivated to play.

But now, Michael, with you being a sports writer, I mean, I know you do locally, but you feel that the council never really got to play.

The council never really got to respect from the writers or he just did not not, you know, have the same repertoire.

Because I think, you know, my personal opinion, regardless of what happens the rest of the year out, I really think that Murphy's got the culture of the year for the national league.

I really think that's, you know, because obviously someone's stuff that he says is funny.

You know, and he gets along with the reporters compared to what council did.

So I mean, I don't know, I mean, if you have an insight on that a little bit or not, so.

I don't, I really don't on the national level.

And I mean, you're talking about many of the same writers that decide who goes in the major league baseball Hall of Fame.

I sit there and I scratch my head and say, you won't let him in.

And you're just not going to allow him in on a, just because he shouldn't be a first ball of Hall of Famer.

You don't think, I mean, he should be in the Hall of Fame.

You know, getting, getting, trying to answer the question.

Councils, everybody's their own person.

So I mean, that's really the, the statement of the year right there.

But, but council, maybe he just didn't have the time.

I mean, there's plenty of athletes at Marshawn Lynch.

I'm just here so I don't get fined.

You know, he maybe just didn't like talking to media.

And I mean, I've run into coaches even at the high school level.

And even in the rough level of the rafters that just talking about it a few years ago,

you could just tell they didn't care to talk to me.

They just don't like talking to the media.

They just say we lost or we won.

Now let's just focus on the next one.

And I get what you're saying, Pat Murphy.

I've listened to some of the stuff and you can tell he enjoys it.

You can tell he enjoys being around the guys.

And that's one thing is council.

I think he was so looking at the big picture.

Whereas Murphy, he was there how many years before taking over the, the manager ship.

He probably got to know these guys personally a little bit better.

And there's something to be said for that is he, he has that connection now.

Is that going to maybe make something a mistake somewhere?

Could be over over manage.

Could be.

You know, I real quick, I will say I do think he's at least of today.

I think he is manager of the year for the annual side.

I agree with that.

And I do think that there is something to be said about which got how they would do here one of the other.

I mentioned this before.

Coach Quinnville is one of the best coaches I've ever seen in hockey.

When three Stanley cups for the Chicago Black Cocks, that very next season after that last cup,

that team just wasn't listening to him the same.

And his mantras were the same.

Everything was the same.

So after seven, eight years, it just kind of wore off.

You could be one of the greatest, this happened to Mike Holmgren.

This happens all the time in coaching.

Bill Parcells had happened to.

Sometimes that voice, no matter how great or how intelligent it is, it just gets old after a while.

Especially if you don't win.

I'm talking about guys that won.

Council wasn't able to win with that team.

But there's one other thing.

And I've got my mother's voice in the back of my head now, as we're getting ready to go to break.

I had an epiphany the other day at 47.

I go over to my parents house.

I don't even remember what it was.

But my dad and I get into a little bit of an argument.

And I just went over there to mow it along.

I didn't even go.

I didn't plan on talking to the guy.

And we ended up getting into an argument.

And I fight.

And I go outside and I mow the lawn.

I got it done in like five seconds.

I just went out there and book.

Get it done.

And I'm as I'm coming in.

I hear my mom and dad chuckling and talking.

I'm like, what?

What are you guys going on?

And she's just like, my mom shakes her head.

You've always been this way.

Like, what are you talking about?

It's like, Jimmy, when you get angry, you get things done.

Yeah.

Like, what do you mean?

I'm 47.

You just telling me this now, you're just like,

I should go and do the dishes in record time.

Exactly.

I'm like, what do you mean to this?

It's a garbageous out in every thought that the law's board.

And I've done some laundry.

For some times, whether we like to admit it or not,

anger gets things done.

And if this team is still angry and still feels spited,

because any, any athlete worth their salt,

all you need is the tiniest brink of daylight

to give it some motivation.

Yeah.

The whole world's against us.

Everybody's against us.

Every team feels that way, which makes it very hard

to figure out who's on the side.

If the whole world's against everybody.

That can be, that can be the momentum that all you need.

You can ride that all season long.

And with that, you mentioned who,

if the team would be here with counsel in there,

they wouldn't have that anger with counsel in there.

So I don't know.

I think it's an really good question, Kevin,

because with Murphy, not only is Pat the announcer

or the interview of the year when it comes to managers

and possibly the manager of the year,

but he has had that.

And he has played that instrument perfectly this season.

He hasn't mentioned anything.

He hasn't said anything negative to Craig Council

or any of the previous regime or anything like that.

But he has made sure to make these guys aware,

hey, you know, everybody's against us.

Hey, you know, everybody counted us out when that guy left.

And he just, he's kept that going at game 20, game 30, game 60.

Anger gets things done sometimes.

Yeah.

You know, I kind of think Milwaukee

would still be winning the division,

because I just don't think the division's that good.

Well, there is that.

You know, so I think they'd still be winning the division.

I mean, St. Louis II III depends on how that goes,

which is a fire cry from what they were last year.

I mean, I'll be honest about that.

But there's something to be said about that anger,

but at the same time, don't let it burn you up.

Oh, yeah.

And you could, but you could see that anger in that edge

with early in the season,

with Grease Hoskins with that dirty slide against the Metz.

Now, you could say it wasn't dirty slide.

You can watch it.

Yeah, it was.

You got to be honest to yourself.

But how many times have they had benches clearing

not no brawls, which is good,

but how many times have the dugouts cleared?

And they have, they, I mean, brews are playing with an edge,

and they're not allowing themselves to be pushed around

like they have been since their inception.

You just set me up perfectly,

because I really wanted to get into.

And maybe this is something that we'll need more time

for talking about.

But if anybody, I know what the Olympics

and all the other stuff going on,

has anybody been seeing that every single NFL training camp

ends in a fight now?

Oh, shit.

Like, everyone.

Like, I know that this stuff used to always happen,

and we used to hear stories about this,

and maybe it's because of social media and overreporting,

I don't know.

But it seems like there's a lot more fights going on,

and you can't have that, man.

I mean, first off, you guys got helmets on,

quit throwing punches for the love of God.

You're insulting boxing.

You are insulting the beautiful sport of boxing for one thing,

and it's just stupid.

But on another, there's too much money involved in this, man.

There's too much going on.

You see guys get injured, just walking back to hand off,

hand the ball off, and stepping on somebody's foot

or something like that and twisting their ankle.

You get, can you imagine losing some,

well, you ain't on the field anyway,

but a Dak Prescott, because he got into a fight

with a opposing team in a training camp scuffle,

or something like that.

Like, that's all it's going to take,

and we're just days away from something like that happening

if they keep this up.

Yeah, and I think Aaron Rogers said something

the other year about that when he was still in Green Bay,

he thinks that these split scrimmages

before a preseason game are just dumb.

You were asking for trouble.

And it's not like these coaches are showing anything.

They're doing button hooks and everything,

but they're not doing anything.

Belly play on two.

Belly on two.

Yeah.

Oklahoma.

Oklahoma.

Everybody goes out there and does the Oklahoma.

I don't know.

Kevin, we appreciate the time, man.

All right, guys, you guys have a great weekend.

You too.

You too.

Be safe out there.

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Welcome back to Playmakers, everybody.

Here at WFHR,

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Join the conversation.

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Looking forward to talking with you.

I want to continue just a little more baseball talk.

I would like to get into football packers.

Some of that with you, Michael, and our audience here.

Now, we'll talk about whatever you guys want to.

You want to talk about water polo?

We'll talk about it.

We'll figure it out.

See what we can do.

Just a quick reminder,

Raptors baseball coming up in less than an hour.

At 620, the Raptors got two more games this season.

Let's make sure to fill that home field.

Show them and home field advantages.

Get down to the ballpark if you can.

And if you can't, we got you covered right here at WFHR.

We will not only this year, but next year as well.

Just a reminder to everybody out there.

Michael, we do a kind of a stat of the show thing around here.

We've been doing this for fun.

It's a sports show trait.

We have to do.

Legally, if you have a sports show,

you have to have a stat of the show kind of thing.

Dan Patrick said.

I mean, right.

Right.

The king.

Dan Patrick, maybe the king at this and everything.

So, I got a couple of them here that I wanted to get to.

Now, there's certainly, I think a stat

that in Wisconsin here, everybody knows pretty darn well.

And that is Hank Aaron's 6,856 career total bases.

Just insane.

I don't believe that anybody's ever touching that one.

Now, you may, you'll like this.

Stan Musual still stands closest to Aaron with 6,134 total bases.

He is still in at number two after all this time.

The only guy coming in close is Miguel Cabrera,

who of course just retired and Pujos who just retired as well.

But they're more than almost 2,000 back.

Well, Stan Musual, interesting fact about that.

Same amount of hits on the road as he did at home.

Yeah, that's right.

I've heard that.

Yeah, that is why.

I've researched that and I said no way.

Yeah.

I wonder why I did it that way.

I wanted to talk to him.

Big money in Vegas.

It'd be hilarious.

It'd be hilarious.

It would actually be hilarious.

It's good of a hitter as he was.

It'd be hilarious if he actually did play the do with that.

Like there's no way he could.

But as good as Stan was, if he had said that in the review,

I wouldn't, I wouldn't, I wouldn't, I believe him.

I got two for you though.

First, Heck Wilson's 191 RBI's in 1930.

I came across a MLB records that they think

will never be broken.

You know, Cal Ripkins consecutive games drink some of those.

And I was kind of looking to see how people felt

if they ever felt Ricky Henderson stolen base record

whatever we broken.

I thought that was an interesting one,

but it led me down this rabbit hole.

And I run into Heck Wilson with 191 RBI's in 1930,

which is amazing.

Nobody's come close to that.

Many Ramirez had 165 and 99,

but that was probably the closest anybody has come.

But what I've thought was even more interesting

was Chief Wilson, which great name.

Chief Wilson, great name.

36 triples in 1912.

36.

Wilson never again hit half as many triples in a season.

No one has hit more than nine triples in a season

since 2022.

Just incredible.

What was he doing?

What was he?

What was the defense doing?

That's a better question.

That's not true.

Now, I was going to ask the stolen bases.

Didn't Willie Bay's haze come close?

Oh, after you know?

Definitely.

Definitely.

I want to make sure.

Absolutely.

Great.

Well, that's a great reference.

So I want to get that in there.

Get some rafters talking there.

Let's talk a little football.

And I want to piggyback off of what we were talking about before.

And these ideas of the fights happening in practices.

You know, you certainly.

These guys play an angry sport.

And going back to the anger conversation,

it's part of what you don't hear many.

You don't see a lot of passives playing football.

You don't see that or anything.

You got to be a little.

You got to be a little bit different,

built a little differently play in that game.

I think South Park did something with that sarcastic ball.

Classic, that's a good one.

That's a classic episode.

That's a classic episode.

That's a good one.

I'm like, where you watch that one tonight.

With all that going on, there's just a part of it too is

there's not a lot to talk about.

People want football news.

They want football.

They want to talk football.

They've been dying to six months.

Whatever it's been.

They've been dying to talk football.

So if there's even a little squirmish,

they're going to talk about it.

But there's also the other conversation

that happens this time of year in contracts.

And you have a couple of receivers out there that are not happy.

Devote Adams has been playing good about this,

but behind the scenes, everything we're hearing,

not only him, but Oakland or Las Vegas or California

or Los Angeles, whatever they are now.

They're not happy with him in that contract.

Of course, Brandon Ayuk has been well covered.

And now look at door behind door number three,

CD Lamb shows up.

And boy, leave it to Jerry Jones,

and just continue to mess this stuff up.

I laughed so hard when I heard that.

It is just, I don't know.

I don't know many owners that can't get out of their own way,

like he has never been able to, it seems.

Regardless, though, you have a CD Lamb that might possibly be out there.

And with all the what-ifs and everything that we do in sports,

especially this time of year,

as we are looking for things to talk about,

I do find it interesting to see where these guys might end up.

Only in part, like I normally honestly wouldn't care.

And it's not the first time Diva receivers

have wanted to get out of where they are.

Kisha Johnson, plenty of them.

But they don't always produce where they go.

Lately, when we see these guys,

the guy from Tennessee that went to Philly,

he's been fallen over there.

These guys have been producing.

DJ Moore going from Carolina to Chicago

has even been able to do something.

And that was without a quarterback.

Still is.

Still a yes.

So I'm curious to see, not only if these guys go somewhere,

but the idea, do you need that top receiver anymore?

I know that they're counting on not necessarily doing that in Green Bay.

They don't really have a number one.

They've got a bunch of twos that their hoping will equal a one

or somebody is going to mature and stand out.

Certainly wouldn't be surprising to see that happen.

But I'm curious.

I'm curious if it's a necessity anymore.

Because I used to think, and I still believe this,

I would rather have a durable four down back

than have a top, like the number one receiver in football.

Give me the fifth to seventh best running back over the top receiver.

Even though everything is going passing,

even though all the money is going to receivers,

and nobody wants to, running backs are, you know,

well, we can just, our dime, it doesn't in all this.

No, they're not.

No, they're not.

If you're paying attention, I agree with you, man.

Not if you're paying attention because the four down back,

there ain't a whole lot of them out there.

There ain't a whole lot of guys that are willing to block for you

as well as run their tail off for you.

And can catch a ball on third and short.

Right.

I always kind of look back at it and say,

look at your teams right now that are really doing well,

controlling things.

You've got your Kansas City with Pacheco.

You've got Detroit.

That's the way that kid runs.

I mean, he's got a kind of a funky upright stance,

but whatever it works for him.

It's almost like similar to Marcus Allen, like a little bit.

But Caffrey and San Fran, Detroit, so to speak,

they're with, well, it's going to be a little different now.

Green Bay, what's the similarity with all of them?

Time of possession.

If you force that other team to have to go down that field

and score in a hurry, now Aaron Rogers can do it.

Well, he could.

I don't know how he's going to do with his ankle.

Hopefully he's all right.

Because I think the leagues better with him.

Healthy.

But you control the time of possession.

You're efficient.

You score.

You put anyone behind the eight ball.

It's like watching Wisconsin Rapids Lincoln play football

or assumption.

They play triple option offense.

They run the ball 18 out of 17 plays in a row.

Okay.

That's how much they run the ball.

That puts a lot of time that the opponent,

if you can't score in a hurry, because time's running out.

You are in trouble because once they get the ball back,

whether it's turned over a punt or a field goal,

because they hold it to you.

Well, okay.

Well, they're going to move the ball again.

And they're going to eat up clock again.

And they're going to score again.

And now you're going to have to try to score and try to play catch up.

But it's very tough to do.

I mean, it wears a team out.

I don't care whether it's high school, college, or professional.

If you can eat up that clock, eat up yards, and score.

I mean, look, like I said, San Francisco.

Green Bay has done it.

Kansas City.

Baltimore.

Baltimore is another one.

Tennessee, but now the King Henry is in Baltimore.

So Baltimore is going to be one to really watch with that.

So I mean, if you're a bit of fantasy football, I guess.

Right.

Right.

I play in three different leagues.

Yeah.

I don't know what I'm doing.

And even though I won one of them last year, but somehow,

I'm fine.

Same thing.

I've won like three in our league, and I don't know how.

I don't know how I did.

I don't know.

A little bit of luck.

And a little more luck.

And just a dash of luck.

Yes.

But not Andrew Luck.

No, no, not him.

The Packers are, of course, in action tomorrow.

Their first preseason game taken on Cleveland at 325.

We're going to be covering that game at a number of our civic media stations

right here at civic media.

So be sure to download the app, check out those stations,

and be sure to enjoy your Packers.

Catching the game is going to be a little harder on TV,

with the Olympics going on and everything.

But that will wrap up this weekend.

So you've got nothing but green light ahead as far as figuring out.

Oh, wait a minute.

That's right.

The NFL sold all the rights.

So every week, the game's on something different.

And you have to have like night.

We did this earlier on Playmakers a couple of months ago when they announced that.

In order to be able to watch every single game,

the amount of apps you have to own,

along with basic cable and all of this,

like we're talking like almost as much as it's cost to go to a game.

But as far as like if you wanted to have all of that.

Well, a single ticket where I sit is 135 bucks this year,

which is still below the average.

And Green Bay has always said we're going to be trying to be low the average.

Yeah.

So I don't know what streaming is because I usually go to a local establishment

and watch a game anyways or a math the game for that matter.

Right.

So, but I think that week,

assumptions playing pitcheli at seven o'clock.

So I've been, I've been in Joe Berkhozer's ear a little bit,

saying hey, can you try, can you change it?

You know, Randy and I would really like to watch a game.

Could you, could you move it to a Saturday or a Thursday?

And love Joe.

He's an awesome guy.

I don't know if you've had a chance to talk to Joe,

but he's just one of a kind and he's just one of the best you can deal with.

He really is.

But he's not a Packers fan.

He's just nope.

We're playing at seven o'clock Friday, whether you like it or not.

So it's like, ah, come on.

You got to try though.

You got to try.

I, I did try for our listeners who in our assumption friends who want to watch a game,

but they also want to watch Packers.

When it comes to the, the preseason, of course, you know,

start is going to play a couple of, you know, maybe a series, maybe two.

You're not going to see a whole lot there.

Certainly, Matt LaFlor is not going to be showing you anything any of his hand or any of that.

I am curious of what people are looking for in this game.

First and foremost, we're all just happy to see the game.

Yes.

I think that as far as like taking a step back, a third person perspective,

and not just looking at teams individually, but the sport,

we're all fascinated by this opening kickoff and how that's going to be played,

how that's going to go.

I'm a little interested in seeing what I'm more fascinated in is week seven,

week eight, when these special teams coordinators, these mad scientists,

have a chance to figure this out.

Yeah.

And seeing who's the next good returner going to be,

because I miss the return game like crazy.

I love it.

When I did in school, it was one of the only things I was good at.

I miss seeing a good returner.

I'm curious about that part of it.

Well, what are the storylines for you or any other Packer fan out there going into this game?

Certainly, that stuff.

You don't want to see injuries.

Obviously, those things.

That's what I was going with.

But the competition battles are always really interesting to me too.

And there's a handful of them going on in Green Bay,

especially in that wide receiver room,

that is going to be quite interesting to watch every preseason game.

Yeah.

I receiver was one of the ones a little further down on my list,

depth at running back, because AJ Dillon,

with how he played to start last year, granted Aaron Jones was hurt,

and that's one negative thing I have to say about that individual,

is just durability.

And then AJ Dillon, being able to get more than two yards per carry

when someone breathes on his kneecap, he goes down.

It seems like, and I'm not trying to call him out,

but maybe I am, so he runs better.

But AJ Dillon could run his way off of the roster if he doesn't do well,

because they drafted that young man out of USC,

who I guess he's almost better than Dillon has,

even though Dillon showed up in great shape.

Yeah.

Better shape than he did last year, for sure.

Yes.

And when you look at Josh Jacobs and AJ Dillon,

for one, the quads in that locker room,

like good luck to any linebacker in the NFL trying to tackle those guys.

And going back to back, you got Jacob sitting on the bench

to get a breather, and Dillon comes in.

Good luck with that.

And this kid from USC is really good too.

He's a thoroughbred, he's got some nice moves,

and a really nice step to him, a first step to him when he's coming out.

He needs a little more seasoning, but you get that.

A rookie.

You get a little bit of that.

What I'm excited about with that combination there of those three running backs

is possibly seeing like, I keep waiting for this to happen when Mike trout.

I like to see good players, whether I'm a big fan of them or not,

go to a good team and have a chance to win and see how they change

when they're winning.

We're seeing a little bit of this, which adds chism right now in New York.

And what that did, what a little bit of scenery change does for him and everything.

And nobody's talking about him being a knucklehead or any of that stuff now.

He's with a team that's winning.

He's enjoying himself.

He's having fun out there.

He's hitting the ball, great.

I'm curious to see in year two, getting out of the umbrella of Aaron Rodgers

for one, getting away from that drama.

That's going to be interesting to see.

And also seeing Josh Jacobs in a situation where now you're on a team that's expecting to win.

Now you're on a team that's expected to make a long run in the playoffs,

if not the Super Bowl.

Yes.

I'm very excited to see what he, I've always been a fan of his.

I'm excited to see what he does with that opportunity.

Because I feel like you're going to, especially what we're seeing right now,

I think you're going to see a guy who is coming into this season hot,

like just hot and ready to go, like hit the ground running kind of thing.

Yeah, and to do my best Chris concert, you know, he's a guy.

Now here's a guy who has had success in Vegas.

They'd not a lot of wins, but statistically he's been one of the best running backs

in that division.

If not the up there with Pacheco, I would say, I mean, just throwing one out there.

I don't have the time to go through it all, but you put him in the division

that's just going to be physical in Chicago.

They've got a new back in there too from the Eagles.

And I believe Detroit's got a good back.

Minnesota's got a good back too, we know.

Yeah, yeah.

So it's going to be interesting to see that in these late games

that are going to be important in foul weather.

How much that run game is going to be there?

Let's be honest here, you have to run the ball in bad weather.

You have to.

And I personally, I've been saying this his whole career.

And this could change with father time and being a new season.

But I really genuinely believe David Montgomery is the best fourth quarter running back there is.

He just gets stronger and tougher as the game goes on.

And if you're Detroit, that's what you brought him in for.

That's a blessing to have.

If Aaron Jones can stay healthy, that's going to make Minnesota a little more dangerous.

That's kind of interesting.

But the Andre Swift thing with Chicago becomes even more interesting when you include a rookie quarterback

in an offensive line that nobody knows what we're getting.

Nobody, they're just rolling the dice here and we're going to hope and see what happens.

If that's a dangerous combination.

If Chicago's offensive line is like it has been the last handful of years,

they're going to be hoping that Caleb Williams is running around like Justin Fields.

If you kept Justin Fields in a pocket, he didn't know what to do.

He didn't know what to do.

But if you let him run around school ball a little bit and then improvise, you had a problem.

I'm wishing him well wherever he ends up because I don't think it's going to be Pittsburgh.

I think that he's probably going to go somewhere else after that in Pittsburgh.

He's probably going to go look for a rookie quarterback or something.

We'll see how that plays out.

But I genuinely think if the Bears had even a seed level offensive line last year,

I don't know if they keep Justin Fields.

I think management has they were on their way.

He's already on his way.

I think the kid could have done almost anything outside of one of the Super Bowl and he was out.

With these contracts the way they are now, it's so much about that.

It almost doesn't, it does of course matter, but it's almost secondary what you do on the field.

It's okay, hey Justin, great job.

Thousand-yard rushing quarterback.

You gave Chicago bear fans actual hope at the quarterback position, something that hasn't been happening.

I don't know in the last 40 years.

Jimmy McMahon would be the last relevant one.

Yeah.

I mean, we certainly wasn't Eric Kramer or Kaden McMahon.

No.

Great job.

Jim Harball was actually.

Yeah, we did kind of like Harball a little bit.

That's because he was a knucklehead.

We like that.

We like the would Jim McMahon.

Jim McMahon I mean.

But with knucklehead.

With Justin Fields, there's nothing I think he could have done to change that.

What's going forward here for Caleb Williams is going to be awesome.