Good afternoon, Wisconsin!
Welcome to WFHR's Play Macars!
Welcome to the show!
Hope y'all are having a great afternoon out there, thank you so much for joining us, catch
our host James J behind the mic, I am joined by Michael Comer.
How you doing buddy?
Doing good man, how are you?
I'm alive.
Yeah, that's a great answer, it's a perfect answer on a Wednesday afternoon, that is the
only answer really out of Wednesday afternoon.
We're here to talk with you all of you, our phone lines are wide open, hit us in the
numbers, 715-424-2600, I'd love to hear from you, Michael and I are going to talk about
a handful of things today, there is a, you know, Ohio governor who wants to put a ban
on flag planting, I want to get into that a little bit, the bucks are surging, they're
getting into, getting, going to be fighting for the NBA's midseason cup, talk about that
a little bit, got, I almost said free agency and I might as well have, because we're going
to talk about the transfer portal, which is basically free agency, that's all that it
is.
We'll get into that, we of course, it's our last show of the week, so Michael and I are
going to get into our Burn the Boats game, what is the must-have-it-game of the week in
the NFL, all that, but everywhere I wanted to start Michael, then the news dump happens,
and we get a news update real quick here, just, I want to say it was about 15-20 minutes
ago, that it does look like Bill Bell check is going to be signing a finalizing a deal
to be the new head coach of North Carolina Tar Heels, that is wild, that is not what I
had on my bingo card for the next step for Bill Bell check.
You know, I think there's an opportunity for him to really build something there, but
at the same time, it's the same problem that I'd say Barry Switzer had going to the pros
from college, and it's kind of the reverse of that, is what he could get away with the
kids in Oklahoma with, he couldn't get away with the pros, and I don't think he's going
to be able to get away with college kids what he did with the pros, because the pros,
and that group of pros that he was with, they have the mentality, they maturity, you're
dealing with people who do not know that they're going to be putting up Bill Bolton board
material.
Whereas that Patriot Squad really didn't, and I mean, we've seen it this day and age
with college kids, whether it's, or even high school kids, and even some pros still
that just haven't grown up, that sometimes missing news, keep your mouth shut.
Question for you, the audience, I'm curious, do you think that because of NIL, transfer
portal, all these things, that maybe there's, and I know what I'm talking about, 18, 19,
20 year old men and everything, which I used to be, and I was a knucklehead when I was.
Maybe there is a different approach to this, a maturity to this, that maybe they will
be able to handle a Bill Bella check somebody like that a little bit better.
This is where I thought Sabin and some of these guys kind of, you know, and so a lot of
basketball coaches that have got out because of it, I thought they, they seemed to miss
an angle on this, that you could be playing where you're not just training these guys
to get ready for the next level as far as learning the game, but understanding the management
of the game, the business of the game.
This is an opportunity and maybe extended and actually make school about learning, where
you learn the business of football, you learn the business of basketball, how many times
do a guy come out of the NBA, gets that first contract and then blows it, and we never
in the ickywood situation.
I hate to bring in L.U. as the example, but he's such a good example of this.
I don't know if that'll happen.
I'm asking very rhetorically with also some hope involved in it that maybe that's a positive
about this that we're not seeing.
I think there's a part of it that I'm going to be very, very careful and scurrying around
it.
It is one that my sister always talked about and one you will understand.
Why did Dennis Rodman listen to Phil Jackson so much?
Why?
I'm asking why?
I'm a winning, I would say, because Phil is the closest thing to a strong father figure
in his life.
Yeah.
I'm getting over a little bit of a head cold, so I apologize there.
You say it's a played hurt, bro.
But I've been sleeping a bunch last few days, but what I can tell you is he didn't have
a very strong father figure.
Very true.
And I'm not going to make the mistake of generalizing a lot of these calls, no, that's not true at all.
Some of them have more father figures and mother figures.
I mean, everybody has a problem.
Some could say I didn't have a strong father figure because my dad was on the road working
being a truck driver.
He was a great father figure, don't get me wrong, but he wasn't always there.
So I had to lean on my grandfather and my neighbor across the property line there and everything
there.
It was in a similar situation.
I hear you.
So what I'm saying is some of these kids and Deon Sanders is starting a little bit.
He's been that father figure and he's taught them how to not be good football players, not
be good students.
How to be men?
Yeah.
And I'm going to be honest with you.
I think Belicechek is going to be good at that.
Maybe I'm sticking my neck out too far on that.
I don't disagree with that.
But I think he will first teach accountability, because what did Sabin do?
He taught that.
Yeah.
And he's maybe going back on that a little bit now complaining about that Alabama not getting
into the playoff, which I don't think they deserve to be in, but that's neither here
nor there.
But always being accountable for your actions.
And when you start acting a fool, you're going to have what's going to happen to fall
out.
And he said that that one football player from Alabama acting like a total tool when they
got beat by Vanderbilt this year.
He called him out.
If I remember correctly.
Yes, he did.
Yes.
So you don't ever stop that in a fear of Alabama.
Sabin says something.
You'll listen.
Maybe that somebody had come down from the heavens saying, OK, this way it's going to be.
And that's where I think maybe I'm risking it too much, but Bella check might be that
father figure that a, you turn them into respectful young men and women because you got a lot
of women in that too, that you teach them how to be good people, young people, then you
teach them the business of football.
And then the football comes last, because I mean, how many times you see people come out
of nowhere at the end of their college career and all of a sudden they light it up, they've
never been consistently good the whole way.
You get what I'm saying on that.
So that's where I'm interested to see where it goes, because I do think I think he's going
to get a lot of eyes there, just like Sanders did.
The difference is bell check is proven he could win as coach Sanders.
He's starting to yeah, yeah.
With Bella check, it does sound like one of the things it's in place for this is not only
some connections for his kids.
It does look like his daughter, his son, his daughter is very connected to lacrosse.
Bella check loves lacrosse like is like it is one of his kids.
So there's going to be that connection.
North Carolina has a strong lacrosse on men's and women's team.
Yes.
Not as strong as Northwestern.
But you know, I'm a van.
That's all we got.
It's all we got.
So I'm going to take any moment I can't imagine that.
But another thing in this too that's lined up and we're seeing this and more and more
and everything with Stanford and some other places where okay, bell check, you're in charge
of X's and O's, everybody else is in charge of talking to players, recruiting these players,
all of that.
It looks like he's going to be just basically focused on X's and O's and they're going
to have somebody else doing a lot of these other things.
And then if you got this recruit and they're on the fence or you're just trying to bring
up the big fish home, Bill comes swall, you know, comes rolling in, have dinner with
the family and everything.
Come to Penn State.
Come to Penn State.
Come to Penn State.
Which you would have gotten me.
Easily Joe Paterno could have gotten me to go play there.
I think that it on paper, it looks all right.
I got to be honest, I will be a little surprised if it works out and that depends on what you
mean works out.
Now, if he makes North Carolina a little more relevant, they had bring some nice players
in.
They're talked about in the national media bit.
That could be a win for North Carolina football and we're not talking about the basketball
team or anything for North Carolina football, that could be a win.
If they're thinking of winning national championships, that I find very difficult to wrap my mind
around no matter what scenario we're talking about.
If they can win the diluted ACC every year, they're going to have a chance.
Yeah.
You're just like dumb and dumb.
So you're telling me there's a chance.
You're a strong boy.
So right there, they're playing with house money that your term, house money that, I mean,
I don't expect them to do it right away.
Look at Dion, they were preached up his first year and they won two games.
Now this year, if they maybe play better in one game, they're playing for the big 12 title.
They might even win it and they're in the stinking playoff.
Yeah.
So that's where I'm saying is Belchuk going to do it first year?
No, no, no.
Second year?
Maybe.
Third year?
I would at least a five year plan by three years?
Yes.
And part of your point, though, about he's just wearing both coaching and getting his coordinators
to where they're just worried about that.
You basically have your own recruiting wing.
Don't screw up.
Yeah.
Don't screw up.
Oh my gosh.
Or else I will, you will get me fired and I will get you fired before I get fired.
Yeah.
And that's another one.
What's Andrew Luck doing now in Stanford?
He's basically the GM of Stanford football now, which, I mean, which, if, I don't know
if you follow it on Twitter, X, whatever the heck it's called, the Civil War, Andrew
Luck.
Oh my God.
That is so funny.
It's hilarious.
Even though my side arm is forever holstered, I can now break in, you know, break in the
new recruits, mother, police and more squirrel oil.
There's a handful of things on social media that are worth hamster biceps and it's like,
come on.
That is wonderful.
That is one of the accounts it is.
One last thing on this one, we can move on.
But I do, I do have to say, and I obviously don't have any insider information or anything
like that.
But I have to say that to the NFL teams that are going to be looking for a coach last
season this season, I personally, I feel like you messed up here.
I feel like you, this guy was letting this out here for almost two weeks to let any NFL
team know, hey, if you're interested in me, now's the time to come knock it because I'm
taking this gig and they did not come knocking and that is ridiculous to me.
And it's not about, it all comes down to so much of this like it does with most things
in life.
People that have power and are afraid to losing any little bit of that power and, you know,
the GM of any of these teams, they don't get there just by being Mr. Nice.
Being in that job, in the idea of even being able to check in as a coach, let alone as
a coach or GM, all the sudden ownership, everybody else starts getting afraid and starts
clutching their pearls and starts worrying about power and egos and all these things.
There is nothing on paper that tells you that this man should not have an NFL job.
The people that want to point out how he did before Brady, how he did after Brady, blah,
blah, blah.
Who cares?
So how does he do without stars, how does any coach do without stars?
I mean, get out of here with that.
I'm so tired of that argument.
What did it do after the idea?
Yeah, shut up.
I don't want to hear.
He did that Walter Payton jacket.
He didn't win Super Bowl without Walter Payton.
But shocking, I'm sure these guys win before Walter Payton was a fridge.
Yeah, they're nice.
That to me is a silly argument.
If you question Bill Belle checks coaching, I don't know if I question your idea of sports,
I question what you know about sports.
The idea that he can't win anywhere he goes in the NFL is ridiculous to me.
I'm more curious.
I'm more on the fence if he can win in college, honestly.
It's a totally different bowl game, very different, very different.
When you're talking about a couple of guys who are making a paycheck as opposed to guys
who walk into this knowing, this is my job.
We're not here to make friends.
We're here to win games.
That's a whole different bowl game when you're starting out with the players.
So it's wild though, man.
If you're just interested in storylines, got a great one right here to go in the next
season right away.
One of my one of my favorite quotes all through high school growing up, talking with my
mom and dad and just my friends, okay, here's the deal.
This is one where I'm going to throw a question at you.
Scuggle.
What are they thinking?
Because you would think.
Oh my god, yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
No, now that's one where either Fluss, he's gone.
He gone.
Then you got the time is brown.
Time is brown.
I'm sorry.
I think he's our best option is right now, but I think he gone.
And then Ryan pulls the GM, uh, yeah, it doesn't like polls is going to keep his gik.
I don't know if he should either, yeah, I don't know if he should, but it looks like
one, uh, the GM there is really a tied hand in hand with him.
Um, I give, I give them one and a half more years if they cannot get a good splash here
and improve next year because if they're still stuck with her at next year, you, I feel
bad.
And I feel bad in the regard of Caleb Williams, I, of course, just said, well, that's the
end of his career when the bears draft, you know, I said that as a joke, you know, because
how many quarterbacks are they killed recently and, and, and you know what, maybe it'll turn
into a Baker Mayfield situation where he had four years, three different coordinators
and coaches.
How is anyone supposed to succeed in that?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Honest question.
How can you?
I mean, I think he's a good ball player.
I think he's got a little more going on upstairs and we'll be maybe thanks going on.
But at the same time, man, you keep, you keep changing the, the coaches, you keep changing
the game in the middle of how it's being played for the young man.
How do you expect him to succeed?
And that's one where Bell check, he's smart enough to know, okay, I can't run this
my system the way that I did in New England.
Let's run it something that matches what we have here.
And I think he wouldn't.
I think that's where he might make Ryan Poles correct in this, in the idea of, well, we're
taking back the North and we're going back, well, I don't know about that, but you're
going to be a little more relevant.
I, I find it borderline insulting to coaching that this man had had to, you know, do this.
Did he have to take a college kick?
And especially when I'm saying that between you and you and I, man, I'm mainly talking
right to the Chicago Bears.
Like there's a lot of teams in the world, and there's a lot of them.
But yeah, just between us, I, I'm trying to be, you know, generic about this and everything,
but I can't be in my head in my heart.
I love that team so much and that team doesn't love me back.
It never has.
And it never will, but it's, it's one of those situations where I, if, if things were
on paper, there's no way that this man wouldn't have almost whatever job he wanted.
It's ridiculous to him and very weird to me.
And that is a perfect segue into the next story that I wanted to get to about this Ohio
state senator who is trying to get a flag planting a band.
And he wants to do this to making it a felony, a felony man.
We got to get, we'll get to do that in a second.
Let's go ahead and take a phone call.
Good afternoon.
You're on the show.
Hey, here you guys wanted to hear from a Viking fan.
It's been a while.
How are you, man?
Oh, not bad, but listen to you talk about e-reviews and whatnot.
It got me thinking how fortunate are we to have three potential playoff teams in the
NFC North and actually three out of four coaches are pretty dang good.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It reminds me of being a kid again.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You know, I think the old days that everything went well.
The Grand Rhodes fontes.
And even you could throw one stud in there.
You had four pretty good and even in the mid-90s, you could say Tony Dungee when he started
in Tampa Bay.
Yeah.
There could have been five really good in the NFC Central.
It was a good, those are the days, man.
Wow.
Yeah.
What do you, what's your take on the Vikings Bears game coming out for your change?
Oh, I'm, I'm just going to try to sleep through it and hibernate.
You know, that's what most bears are doing right now anyway.
That's what I'm interested in it for a number of reasons because every game is interesting
to me because of Caleb Williams and I want to see his development.
I'm curious because of Thomas Brown and I want to see how he does as a coach and handling
all these things.
But what I'm more interested in and what matters more to NFL, to the NFL is how Minnesota
does week in a week on how Sam Darnold is.
Sam Darnold is still while I don't think he's doing this necessarily with his team or anybody
else.
And I don't think they necessarily care about what the NFL might think or anything.
He's still got to prove this to that voice in the back of his head, every game, every
rep.
He's got to go out there.
And especially.
Don't talk about the goals.
Don't talk about the goal.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Michael brought up Baker Mayfield at one of my favorite stories and in recent years of
a player and somebody who, who learned, who grew, who matured and also got the chance
to have an opportunity to succeed.
Sam Darnold was seeing a bit of this right now with him and that's pretty cool.
I'm always going to be a fan of that.
I unlike what we just don't have the games yet with him.
With Baker Mayfield, I feel pretty safe to say we understand now this was a young man
who probably needed this, this and this and could have been this the whole time.
He needed to be humbled a little bit out of college.
That's true.
He had nothing but success all through high school and college and he got his butt kicked
the first three times he showed up at Lambo Field.
I know against Cleveland, the Rams and I think there's one other.
Then he showed up and let Green Bay up back what last year when he was in Tampa.
So I mean, I'm looking at it in that analogy of the sense of he needed to take some lumps
and be humbled a little bit.
Now he can go out and ball out.
I mean, hey, Baker, I mean, Grant is a totally different receiver core.
Baker Mayfield beat Detroit lit in their own house.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I think that.
Oh, go ahead, man.
There's been a resurgence of all these quarterbacks that were supposed to be the guy
and they're finally getting it on what they call it their second chance when they were
just really give first chance in the first place.
Right.
Right.
One breakout guy that I think might be like the next Geno Smith type breakthrough is Drew
Locke.
If that guy ever gets a get the fair deal, I think he might be the Tim Linsecom of the
NFL.
Oh, God, I love the Linsecombe reference.
Those are good references.
Yeah, those are both great.
Yeah.
Well, I like the idea that I hope I hope that for what I actually what I hope for and I
have since I was a kid is unrealistic as it is.
It's 32 great quarterbacks.
I'd love to see 32 really good quarterbacks in the NFL.
They don't have to be all the favors.
They don't have to all be all pros, but how about 32 solid quarterbacks?
I don't think that I think that the least thing we could ask for out of football fans.
Well, that and playing fields that are actually worth playing on that, you know, two of
the least things we could ask for.
That would just drive GM's crazy.
When you imagine what all the, all the, all the lawyers, all, you know, everybody's
just like, yeah, that would never work.
Oh, James, but I like your idea.
It's a perfect world, but what are you looking for?
What are you looking forward to in this game, Minnesota, Chicago this weekend?
Yeah, you were mentioning that, but as a Viking fan, you know, I pay attention to every
game.
And you really only have to pay attention to like the last four and a half minutes, and
it's just as intense as like your favorite movie because it always comes down to a cake
or somebody fumbling something.
Yeah, yeah.
It should be interesting.
No matter who they play, there's no better football in my opinion than the NFC North.
Always will be.
I love it.
I love it.
Good to talk to you, man.
It's really good to hear from you.
Take care.
All right.
Yeah, you do the same.
We'll be in touch.
Sounds good.
Five, four, two, four, twenty, six hundred, call up, enjoy the conversation, everybody.
So this bill that Ohio State Representative John Williams is introducing is built, introduced
on Tuesday would make, I would classify flag planting at Ohio Stadium around Buck Eys
football games as a felony, as a felony on the old quote unquote, oh, oh, sportsmanship
act, authored by Williams comes a response, of course, to Michigan beating them so badly.
Now, this is such, if I may know Ohio State grad, this is making me cringe so bad, it's
not, this is Kendrick beating up on Drake when he's already beaten this Michigan.
If you needed like more, oh, wow, look at, like if you're a Michigan fan, you're looking
at this and you're saying, we beat them so bad that they want to pass a bill about
it.
Like that's, band, that is some, that is some future, future generational trash talk.
I, Ohio State has, I've never been necessarily a fan, they've had some players that I've
enjoyed over the years, but I've never been of Ohio State guy, but they, I've never really
minded them.
This is one of the most cringy things I've ever, ever, ever, and I know we're talking politics,
so that's a big, big thing there when it comes to cringing, but I don't, I feel like
you really don't have a feel of your, your, your fan base doing something like this.
And at the same time, man, this isn't far fetched, the felony part is far fetched.
Yes.
That's way out there.
Yeah, that's messed up.
That is messed up.
But the idea of a bill or something like that, well, that, I'm not that against necessarily,
as far as, it will bill law, law makers should have better things to do.
We got a lot more problems than people flanting flags, do your job, get some bills passed.
But as far as us as people or the universities or just the NCAA actually doing something,
just doing something, then doing something like this.
You know what?
I don't have a problem with it.
Or I still like maybe going the other way around and everybody, every game ends with
a flag planting, every game, Troy beats Tulsa, flag planting, like I, you know, either go
one way or the other way with it, I feel like you, one of the dumbest things I've ever
heard in terms of stopping something, which this ranks up there now.
It's when the big 12 commissioner said, no more horns down when you beat Texas because
you're hurting their feelings.
You know how about Texas?
How about you don't suck?
Yeah.
Beat some.
And this was during that stretch where they weren't very good.
Not that long ago.
And that was one where, oh, come on, Oklahoma's always going to do it to Texas.
Oklahoma State was starting to really get it on it.
But then once everybody started doing the Texas, that's when I think feelings, feelings
got hurt.
When it comes to telling young people not to do something, it's not a matter of them
not doing it.
It's a matter of how quickly do you want them to do it?
Because if you tell them not to, it's going to happen pretty dang quick.
I don't know.
I understand that they want to do something about this.
I really feel like like a lot of times in life, we don't need a bill.
We don't need to get the law involved.
Let's talk this out.
Let's figure this out together.
Let's figure this out as, you know, as universities or as people.
It's a great learning experience for young people.
Or if not all of that, once again, I asked the NCAA to, I don't know, do a job.
Wake up.
Somebody call them.
Somebody make sure that they're awake.
I know that they don't usually wake up unless they want to take away a championship from
somebody from 20 years ago or something, but or fire, you know, charge somebody with
something.
If they could possibly do their job, that would be cool.
Right here.
You're asking too much.
You're asking too much.
It's signify.
You're asking too much.
Just like asking the politicians to sign a bill that we need.
And that's both sides of the aisle on that.
So yeah, what is it?
What Bosworth wore?
His NCAA shirt when he couldn't play in the orange bowl when Oklahoma went out and still
killed Arkansas.
That was the national, I'd have to look it up for, because I just watched the Bosworth
story.
Oh, right on.
Yeah.
A couple weeks ago.
I loved it.
You know, when I was a little kid, I had a Bosworth haircut.
Right.
I honestly got.
I didn't see that.
I did.
I mean, I didn't have the colors shaved in there because my dad wouldn't allow that.
Understandably so.
But, but yeah, I had the Bos haircut.
For once in a while, when I look over there to talk to you, I'll get to see that.
I'm going to see that from now on.
The rest of the time.
And I'll lay out like your cans is running back, too.
We will take a quick time out.
We'll be back with more show.
Want to send a big shout out to our friends at Quality Press Printing, getting your
words out.
I want to remind everybody, our great friends over at the Wastats Rapids L-Clash, number
693.
Got bingo tonight.
Their doors opened about a half an hour ago.
Head on over there.
Enjoy some bingo action at 630 and keep in mind that we always encourage you to support
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We'll visit them today for 30 West Jackson Street.
Get in some bingo.
We'll be back with more show right here on WFHR.
Welcome back everybody to WFHR's Playmakers.
One of these days, I'm going to say the wrong show.
I'm going to do it.
I'm going to do it.
We hope you're having a great afternoon out there.
Everybody.
Thanks for joining us.
Michael and James, hanging out with you.
Hit us in the numbers.
We're wide open.
715-424-2600.
I'm going to get in some local update on our local high school sports with Michael in
a second.
Talk some river kings.
I did want to mention as far as local.
I know that we're still in football mode here mostly and everything, but the NBA of course
is going strong and they have their cup going on right now and your bucks are about to
play for the championship in Vegas.
That game will be on the 17th, I believe.
I've got the semi-finals coming up first.
I've got the semi-finals.
Yeah, I'm sorry.
You've got to win before you worry about that.
They're on the way there, but I thought that was interesting and I want to talk a little
bit about that.
But first let's talk to you.
Good afternoon.
You're on the show.
Okay.
I want pictures of Michael with a Brian Bosworth haircut.
I think we got to have that.
We got to have it.
I'll text my mom right now.
I'm so with you, man.
Yeah.
I'll stop by the studio.
I want to see a picture of you with that haircut.
Appreciate it.
Appreciate the call.
Yeah, he's a hundred percent right about that.
Yeah.
So the bucks are in the running for this cup and that's I think pretty exciting.
The thing about this that could be interesting with this cup and as far as winning it or what
it means or anything like that, that's all for history and stuff.
I'm more interested in what gets guys during an 82 game season motivated and they are
motivated.
They are motivated for this.
They are motivated to you know what so much of it is too and we saw what the Lakers
when they won this last year.
It's not almost even about the darn cup.
It's about beating the other teams and being able to say you beat the other teams.
Yes.
That's what matters to these guys.
More than the cup, more than half of these things is being able to say I beat Philly
or I beat Dallas.
It's psychological.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That counts for a lot in all sports.
And considering where they started this season and even during the season here in the
early season of the NBA where some of the rumor mill and some of the things that have
been said and been floating around out there to see this locked in the nature of these
guys is amazing.
And I don't, I'm an adult.
I understand that this is a business and Yannis could end up wrapping up his career
somewhere else.
As long as you're in that uniform, I'm going to take in every minute and enjoy every
minute of it.
Even if I'm the only person in the state that's doing it because that is a deer playing
for the books.
How perfect is that?
You couldn't have and you could not find a more unique athlete in basketball like in
all the basketballs.
I know.
I've seen Wembee play.
I've seen the Joker.
I understand that.
These guys are not like this one.
This guy when he is playing focus and healthy in two steps can be to the basket and doing
something that you cannot block.
You cannot do anything about.
He is somebody that is a willing willing and especially in those last minutes of the game
to be running up and down the court playing defense and offense, defense and offense and
taking a breath wherever he can in between.
The heart on this guy is unparalleled in the NBA.
If he is locked in, if he is focused, that could be a very fun season.
It is way too early to be talking about who can win this and who can win that or what
up.
Oh yeah.
I just want to get through the season and have it be enjoyable.
And if we're looking at, okay, what's your having an enjoyable regular season so far
so good.
It's starting to look that way in Milwaukee.
It's starting to look like it.
Oh, Michael's got the picture and yes, it rocks, man.
That's a great picture.
Yep.
The pink polka out of tie grant and I was like two or three years old, two years old.
But still, it's a buzz here.
That's perfect.
Did your mom said that to you?
Yeah.
She says one of my new favorite people.
And you can see the back of it there too.
It's perfect brother.
I don't know who cut that but they did a perfect job on it.
That is a great cut.
That's a good question.
I'm sure she can tell me more.
That is a great cut.
Tell me more.
I'm going to get a gig and shout out to your mom.
She is awesome.
Thanks James.
That is, thank you.
Thank you for that.
That is a good one.
When it comes to the cup, it'll be interesting to see where that goes.
Don't want to talk high school with you and Michael.
Yeah, what an obstacle.
What an obstacle sports.
For us, of course, we're locked in on the high school basketball.
I'm going to be honest.
There's other high school sports going on to talk about any of them that you want.
I am very locked in on the Lady Royals, coming off a nice victory last night, 59-22 over
Auburndale.
Auburndale came into the game five and oh, and a strong team.
The score doesn't show it, but a strong team pretty much against almost anybody else.
Yes.
I talked about this with Randy on Monday, on air off air quite a bit, and the thing to
keep standing out to me about this team so much is the depth that they have and the reps
that they just keep on getting with these young players.
The chemistry that they were able to build from last year to this year with some of those
second year athletes bringing in these freshmen, I see this team as a deeper team than anybody
else, especially in the conference.
There's not a lot you can count on, but when you have health, when you have, I mean, depth,
that is something that you can really bank on, and again, looks like a fun winter this
year with basketball.
Yeah, I mean, looking at that game right there, 42-13 at halftime, and it was 17-9 and
second half.
When I know Coach Klein was getting the bench in there, leading scores for the Royals.
Anna Schooley, 19, Sarah Shaw, 17, then after that, it was Jaglinski with eight, Valert
with six, Saturday of Rojas, Rojas, excuse me, six.
Awe, two, and Nelson, one, so I mean, your starters are Claire Nelson, Anna Schooley,
Sarah Shaw, Jordan Jaglinski, Adi Valert, Lady, Sunstay Rojas, she comes off the bench and
usually number one.
Awe's a little bit further down there, Riley Stobleski's in there, and Ari Kavanaugh, she's
in that mix too.
So I mean, when assumption is run, six, seven in the past, and now they're running 8, 9,
10 deep.
I'm not going to judge out division five, but I think everybody knew that already coming
into it.
But they've got a tough section because ranked right now, assumption, Lena, Pachelli,
Pitzville, and they've already crushed Pitzville.
I saw that game, and I'm sorry, that wasn't even close.
And whenever Pachelli's faced assumption, assumptions usually been without Sarah Shaw.
So you tell me what's going to happen, push comes shove.
It's going to be an exciting season though, and it only keeps the winter months going
a lot.
It's a lot more fun when we've got a great basketball to be able to watch, whether it
is the box or our local high school teams, it's going to be a fun to watch.
It was a great game last night, and I shut out to Randy and Don for covering that one
for us.
Nice to have that tandem together, that tandem, I cannot imagine how many games those two
have done together.
It's, you know, that last yesterday was two year anniversary from me and my girlfriend
and I.
Right.
And so I was my best interest in survival, you know, so I couldn't partake in my back.
Still recovering a little bit from the head cold I developed this weekend, and I'll
tell you what, I missed out on that one with with Randy and Don, those guys are awesome.
I love doing games with them, but I'll tell you what, there's going to be some really
good ones coming up, down, coming up pipeline here, had some very good events coming
up just this past weekend or this past week.
I mean, Rapid's Wrestling got going, they got, they just crushed Wassie East.
I mean, that wasn't even close.
They won 11, 14 weight classes, Nakusa wrestling.
They got one champion and Black River Falls, and that was a good one.
Rapid's Wrestling, they sent a partial squad down to Jefferson, and that was more of a
young, they're younger guys to get some experience because they don't wrestle a lot of matches
early before Christmas.
And they did well.
I think they had four champions, one girls division, and I mean, they, they're, they're
going to be okay, Rapid's Wrestling's going to be fine, that's just where they got
seeded in the, in the regionals and sectionals that, that I, someday you'll just have to let
me go off on it, and that'll be, that'll be fun, and I hope we have people that call
in for it, that are wrestling fans, and I'd like to hear other people from around the
state calling on that one, because that's one that doesn't sit well with me one, but
if you want your best teams in the state to get down there, you don't pit the best two
in the same sectional, just hoping, just hoping to get a different one.
The, the NCAA gets this with March Madness, I mean, there's, yeah, that, that just seems
to make sense.
And anytime you want to talk wrestling, you just, you give me a hand, I'll let you, I'll
let you go, man, because yeah, exactly, exactly, speaking of that, speaking of that big
one this weekend, it's the biggest single day tournament in the state of Wisconsin.
Is that this week?
Yep, that's the Old Claire North Husky invite, the Friday girls tournament, and then Saturday
and boys, and you've got Rapids, you've got Connie, you've got St. Michael's Albertville
Minnesota, the best team in Minnesota, similarly Minnesota, Arrowhead, I believe, is going
to be there.
I think Muskego, I thought I saw'll be there.
There's like three different state, there's three champions, so that would be Phenomor,
and I believe that would mean Lux Castle be there, Luxembourg Casco.
So there's some really good teams going to be there, man, gymnastics will be out of
town doing some, some meets this year, and they had, they actually started this season
on Saturday, which James, let me tell you about my Saturday, that was a heck of a day,
I woke up early, I woke up early, went to the gymnastics for about two hours, said in
the words of the late great Donnie Baker, man, I got to go, and I went, I went up to point,
in the pointer pep band, when they took on Trine, number one undefeated defending state
or national champion, I don't know, I'm trying to figure that out, but they are the
defending D3 national champion, undefeated rank number one, pointer's beat them.
And then it swung through town, had to take care of cats, and then I had to do the River
Kings game, and halfway through the River Kings game, I felt that post nasal drip going,
I'm like, uh, Michael's getting sick, so, so I've been, I slept most of Saturday, all
night Saturday night, Sunday, Monday, and most of yesterday and a little bit today, so I
mean, I'm feeling better, that's why I came in and didn't text you that day, sorry, busy,
understand, very understandable, and appreciate the hustle, man, appreciate the work, and
and the kind of behind the curtain look of it, which I always enjoy, but I know for a lot
of our people out there that may not understand that the grind that this kind of work is, it
physically does grind on it, so I'll tell you what, what, whether standing or sitting
as long as I was, my blue or back was killing me, granted I carry a little more weight
in the front than I should, but that's, you know, name someone who doesn't this time
of year, but, but, uh, tell you what, what was really cool at that gymnastics meet, though,
Rapids doesn't have a lot of girls out there, but they're one of the freshmen, uh, uh,
be, uh, Elsa, Urban's, I couldn't remember, and I looked outside and it's cold, so Elsa,
they have a nice, uh, she scored a, I believe it was a nine even on the uneven bars to win
that, so I'm expecting some big things out of her this year, and as we go forward through
her career, because I mean, as a freshman to do that, holy, you know what, that's, that's
pretty solid, and then put that right on the resume, right there, and then another big, uh,
big, uh, shout out to Rapids Hockey, they got the first win last night over East Merrill United
63. Yeah, congrats to them. Thank you, Michael, for the coverage on law and the local sports.
We'll get more of that tomorrow in our newsletter, when you can catch Michael's writings in there.
It's already done. It encourage you to check that out, everybody. If you haven't already signed
up for the newsletter, go to wfhr.com, sign up for that newsletter, get up to date on central
Wisconsin news like nobody else is covering, whether it is, uh, the great stories that our team
is putting together here are Michael sports. You are not going to get better coverage in of the
central Wisconsin area than in that newsletter. Go ahead and sign up for it at wfhr.com.
Uh, one of the things that we, uh, cover here, of course, uh, as being the home of river
kings, uh, hockey over in WIRI or sister station, we got two games coming up this weekend,
seven o'clock, uh, pregame will kick off as the, the kings host the battle creek kernels, um,
and sat Friday and Saturday, seven o'clock puck drop for those. Michael, um, it's been an exciting
season already with the river kings. We are coming out of a nice weekend. Uh, I, I'm enjoying
seeing this team grow and get stronger. Yeah. But what I, I, I think that I'm, I'm seeing even more
and I, I don't know, especially in the box score, what you're seeing with these games.
You are seeing this team of fine tuning certain things. I don't want to say that they're in playoff
mode already. No, no, no, no. They're not there, but you can see that this is a team that is
thinking already, uh, ahead, not, not taking care of the game in front of them. Sure. But this
is a team with bigger expectations and just doing well in the regular season. It is. And that's
one thing it talking with coach, with coach Paul a couple of weeks ago. I know I referenced it.
It's, you know, look at the schedule. And they said, we have to win these games.
We have to sweep these series against teams we should. And then, and these toss ups,
who we've got to win one game and hopefully we go over time and we get three points. And even
we won all four, we'll take three with a overtime loss or win or however that goes. Because once you
go play to, to a tie in the end of regulation, then every both teams gets a point and then we go
from there. Um, but the one thing, man, I've said it before, Deacon Shutout Shaw got his third one.
And then you're still got, uh, Jill and Tercot. I can finally have the pronouncing on the
because everyone's at Tercot, Tercot, Tercot and I, whatever, but it's, it's Tercot. Uh,
he's the gold tender of the month out of November. So I mean, he had, I mean, they both
had good games, uh, three oh shut out for Shaw and a six three victory. They kind of come from
behind again in that first game. And these are games that rapids should win both against the blue
ox and of course against the battle. I mean, the kernels. I still want to call them battle
creep bombers too. But these are, these are ones you got to win and you got to figure looking at
that schedule. Next week in the last games of the 2024 year, uh, you got two against Hudson,
who's just, they're struggling bad. And I'm thinking, you know, my simple mind, you could be coming up
to eight to 10 game win streak before they play the squash or the mullets coming up here in
early January. And those will go long, long ways, deciding the north and whoever gets top two
seeds. And I know rapids wants to play their first two rounds here. Yeah. Uh, and, and with, uh,
with all to get to there, you got to have that momentum and going back to what you're saying,
what coach was talking about about sweeping teams, you should sweep winning games that you're
supposed to win. That mindset, if you have that going forward, it, it locks in for these guys,
especially hockey players. Oh, yeah. Another, I'm glad you brought up the goalie play right now
because that was, I don't want to say there were question marks about it going into the season,
but because it was unknown, it was, I will say, um, I'm not surprised. And this has nothing to do
necessarily with them on the ice. I looked these guys up a little bit before I went and talked to
them before the season and everything. Coach invites me down there. I get to talk to all these guys
and, uh, interview them all for the, the games. And in talking to the, these guys, seeing them right
away, these guys get along. Yeah. They're friends. They're rooting for each other. They're sharing
information and everything. When, when you've got that going into a season, talent will only take
you so far. Talent will only, there are a lot of guys. I can remember, um, Tim Hardaway's court in
Chicago. I can remember being a kid and seeing guys with handles better than anybody, anybody I saw
on the NBA by far and away. They also had addiction problems. They also had this or something else.
They had talent. They didn't have it between the ears. They didn't have it in the heart.
These goalies, they got it all. Check, check, check. They got every one of those things. And
they've got this camaraderie, this chemistry that they're building with their defenders,
with the rest of these guys. And they're getting comfortable with each other. Oh, man,
is that exciting. Oh, man, that makes for good hockey. Well, you're talking a little bit about it.
It was during, I think the first game is between, there's one they're doing a shift change.
When a lot of play that puck was iced out and two rafters players or rafters,
riverkins players, and rafters do it too, is between at bats. Okay, they'll, you know,
meant, you know, do the high, low kind of thing inside outside kind of thing. So I saw there,
I've seen it there countless times over the years. And then the riverkins players
saw to, okay, it do kind of drawn up a play kind of in kind of showing, hey, he likes doing this.
Yeah. And I saw that I'm thinking, oh boy, there's something, there's something here that,
oh boy, this is, this could be special. And I love the, the fight, the hunger, everything
about this team. It's, it's a lot of fun. We're looking forward to him playing this weekend
right here in Rapids. Join the boys of winter as they build hockey up and down the river,
riverkins hockey.com. And let's fill the Southville County Rec Center show him what home ice
advantage is this weekend. If you can't make it to the game, we got you covered Friday, Saturday,
seven o'clock puck drop for us over on WRI 105, join Michael and Seth for that one. And
appreciate you guys covering that. We'll take a quick time out. We'll come back and wrap up the
show. It is Playmakers here at WFHR. Welcome back, everybody.
Couldn't help myself, my home just not sleigh right. It's my favorite Christmas song I couldn't
help. And they've set in put it on the bumpers that you guys wouldn't have to hear it so much.
We are in the season around here. And we're in the season not only talking sports, but talking,
of course, plenty of other things. And we want to remind everybody we're going to have some fun
here next week, Tuesday and Thursday next week. We are going to be talking with Santa. We're going
to be running with Rudolph, Michael, Melissa K is going to have community stories live where we're
going to be having an Elf in studio. You kids can call in with your things that you're looking for
from Santa, all kinds of that stuff. Oh boy. It's going to be fun. It's going to be fun.
We're looking forward to it. We'll talk more about it on the morning show tomorrow.
For right now, I know Michael and I wanted to get a little bit into the transfer portal and talking
a little bit of that. For those that have not heard, both of the Wisconsin starting quarterbacks of
this season are in the portal. They are gone. I don't know if there's going to be a lot of tears
about that, but regardless of if there is or there isn't. I think Michael has a strong point
that he was getting to off air with me a little bit. But you know, back off, let you have the
court for a second. Basically, cultural polls been ruined in some aspects of my opinion.
And I'll leave the bull games out of it. We've talked about that in other previous time about how
with the playoff and now we're going to be claiming, well, 12's not enough. We need more. Yeah,
just like I said, four wouldn't be enough than eight than 12 now. Yeah, yeah, just just stop.
But what what the thing is, there is no loyalty in the sport anymore. They're never, I mean,
arguably maybe there never has been. But what I think needs to happen and we had it before,
four year scholarships, sign it. You're coming here for four years, unless you go to the draft
and then you got the two years, then you're gone. Okay, cool. Or then you look at it as,
okay, you want to leave after two years, you got to sit out of here. Okay, you get your grades
and then go. Okay, now it's, oh, one gone by. See you. And that makes it extremely hard for
fans like myself, like you, like hopefully all of our listeners out there of a team,
whether it's Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Texas, Michigan, I don't care. But you're renting players for one
year and then they're going away. And I've got an issue with that. There's no loyalty. There's no,
I mean, I wouldn't say accountability, but oh, well, I just wanted to challenge. Okay, everyone
wants a new challenge sometimes, but sometimes you got to stick around. Yeah. And man, they need to
start doing a contract with some of these kids, not some of them, all of them. Okay. Not even a four
year contract. I'll back off of that. It's no two year contract. You're here for two years.
And then after that, okay, whatever your choice, it's really in their best interest. It really is.
We were talking earlier and we've talked before about young quarterbacks and having five
different coordinators and two seasons and things like that. And how can anybody grow or be good
in that circumstance? Right. It's a very similar thing. It's also important, I think, again,
when we come back to what is college football about? It's not just about these guys learning
X's and O's, but learning what it is to be a human being. Yes. Accountability is important. That
part of it, you made an agreement. You should have to fulfill it no matter what happens. Well,
being a businessman too, you sign a contract, you fulfill it. Yeah. Yeah. Because again,
teaching them the business of the game, if Deandre Hopkins doesn't like it in Tennessee,
he can't just quit. Like, sure, there is plenty of things that guys can do to kind of, you know,
if you're James Hardin or somebody like that to try to get yourself out of the scenario.
But people don't talk a lot about, too, where they hard and tried that at times. And he wouldn't,
it didn't work. Or how many times an athlete tries it and it doesn't work, right? There is
a little bit there to that. I think you can do both things here. Players can be paid what they're
worth. Players can be have some more control than they would have back in the 40s and 50s or
something like that. That's, you can do that while also not saying, hey, here's the keys to the
university. Right. Here's everything. All right. You want to call plays, too? What do I
got to do to keep you here? Like, the loyalty, especially growing up into the Italian family,
I will tell you, it is born in you. But I believe every human German too, man, right on. I believe
everybody has it in them. It's just whether you use it or not, whether you develop it or not.
And here's an opportunity again to develop it in these athletes. Hey, you got to, the quarterback
that you, the two stars out playing you and you're missing out on playing time, play better.
Yep. Get better. Stick out your contract. Don't take your toys and run away and go home. Oh,
I didn't like how that, no, no, knock it off. Yeah, everybody's turning in a carman.
Man, it's getting on going home. You can't do that. No, you can't do that. We want to treat
these guys in the problem of accountability. And to your point, yeah, ski guys, I'm going home.
But now you're giving them a fart, huh? You don't want, you don't want these kids to have a
fart, huh? I wish to show it. We're gonna end right there. It's as far as the transfer portal
goes. I will, I will say also though, if you're a team like Wisconsin and you are looking, okay,
well, we need a quarterback. There's a lot of them out there. There's some nice weather out there.
There's some nice players out there. Jackson Arnold, usually leaving Oklahoma. Yeah.
There's also something I think kind of interesting about some of this while I 100% agree with
what you were saying and add to that myself to see some of these things like Vanderbilt is bringing
in all these players right now. That's kind of cool. It's kind of cool. It's kind of cool to see
that for them, but never think of that fan base. But again, how excited can they get for these
players when they know they're going to be gone in the year? Oh, Indiana. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah.
There you go. I'm like this. I as much as I love college football. I really, my first love
as far as college athletics was college basketball. My aunt Karen and I used to watch it all the time
together. And I remember at the end of a bad depol season or something like that thinking,
well, at least these guys got to play together. You know, last year assumption girls didn't go
the way we wanted it to completely. But you knew that you had a team here that maybe they'd be
fun to play if they could stick through and they have some health next year. Boy, this could be
exciting. Now look what's happening. Yeah. But we miss out on that in the college game because
it doesn't matter because they're gone and they're in the NBA the next year. I like it. I like your
idea. I would love to see something be developed there, something that they can make everybody happy.
And you're never going to do that completely. But you can find a happy medium. You can, especially
if people put their egos away in the NCAA actually does a job. Right. I agree with you. We had a great
time this week. Thanks so much for joining us. Everybody reminded that we will not have
a playmakers on Friday. We got Wisconsin Badger hockey for you. So there you go. And be sure to
join Michael this weekend for more hockey on WIRI seven o'clock our pregame will kick off
River Kings on Friday and Saturday. Michael, enjoy the games. And thank you so much for joining us,
man. And thanks for being here. Thanks. Oh, let me be here. And you thanks and thank you for
being here for letting the show go on. Appreciate all you out there. You guys have a great night.
This is locally grown radio WFHR 1320 AM W24 ADE Wisconsin Rapids and always streaming on
the Civic Media app.
