Good afternoon, Wisconsin.
Welcome to WFHRs, laymaikers.
Oh, this feels good.
Feels good to be back.
It's been too long, everybody.
Welcome back to the show.
We are here.
Thanks to our friends at Claudy Puzz printing, getting your words out right here in Wisconsin
Rabbits.
Have your host, James and I am joined by our friend Michael Comer.
Hey, this is a show that we talk sports, right?
Yes, it is.
Okay.
I haven't been here in a month.
I kind of forgot.
It's easy to forget, especially with how the things have been.
Now we are very happy to move on to the side for our local programming, whether it's high
school sports or it's our badgers or any of the above, really.
But we have missed hanging out with you guys and it would suit that the one time my team
does something interesting and I can't talk on the radio about it the very next day.
We got plenty to talk about today, though.
We got NFL and college playoffs to get into.
I also want to talk a little bit about the coaching carousel, of course.
We got some other fun stuff to get into as well.
And NF530, we are going to be joined by GM head coach of your Wisconsin Rabbits and River
Kings.
Coach Paul is going to be joining us for the fourth period, plenty of stuff to grill him
about on this season.
Boy, he's got some account.
No, no, we are going to win.
God, man.
I love to see you say that to his face.
Right, man.
What can I, I'm sure he can find things to pick at, which we are going to bring up with
him.
I love this fans.
Man, this has just been a great ride and I'm not just talking about this year, Michael.
I mean, the last couple of years, you've just been fun.
GM and coach quarters, but we don't have a team without that man and I love working with
him.
I love to talk with him and everything.
The energy that Coach Paul has brought to this team to this city is noticeable and it's
been a lot of fun.
Yeah.
And it's nothing against coach Marty Corbin.
No.
No.
Because Marty is one who got it started.
And he's set the foundation here and coach Paul talks about setting the foundation and
the foundation was set here.
You see people going to those games since the first year in the Minnesota Junior Hockey
League.
I'm one of them.
And now it's different now because I'm going more as a speaker on it.
Yeah.
Excuse me, but well, tell you what, you see more, more different faces there as well.
And there is watching every single one of their games this season so far.
There is something special, Bruin.
Wasn't fair of your voice to pull that time to say to cough, right?
Would you were talking about being a speaker?
There was your voice let you down on that.
That was not fair.
That usually happens to me, at least it's my voice this time.
A couple of other things I want to get into, but we will be talking to our first place
River Kings at 530 and talking more hockey than looking forward to it.
Let's kick right off and get right into the playoffs and then the schedule ahead of us
when it comes to that.
We got a great lineup of just great games.
I push back on the whole of the first couple of rounds of the college playoffs were interesting
or blowouts.
If you were just looking at scoreboards maybe and maybe there was maybe one or two of those
games that were blowouts or maybe not that interesting.
But it's pretty hard to say that when for one, we don't know going into these things.
But also this is a brand new thing and they're trying to work this as it's going along.
Can we just be happy that we have some interesting playoff here that we don't have just your
typical teams in this and then we have options.
I think that that part has been fun.
It can be better and they're going to work that.
There's no way a big, you know, a Boise state next season that has this year and they're
going to get a buy again.
That didn't happen to me.
No.
They're going to rework those things.
But as it is, I don't know.
I think it's been interesting and you got four teams that are still kind of interesting
to me and any one of them could win it outside of maybe Penn State.
I say that and watch Penn State hoist up the trophy.
You never know.
I do like that there's two big ten teams in there.
Well, essentially three.
Yes.
If you want to argue Notre Dame being in the big ten.
But I think while you talk about Boise state this, Boise state that, I'd still lean on Notre
Dame this.
Notre Dame that.
I charge it.
I mean, when that quarterback said he wasn't coming out for the game, I said that's
the end of Georgia.
There's no way around it.
No, not surprise you Notre Dame when that game.
Not surprise you Notre Dame beat Indiana.
I think that game was closer than all the pundits and prognosticators were saying to
no, get Indiana put Alabama when Alabama just got their butts beat by Michigan.
I don't want to hear another word out of them.
The only one that can maybe say still something is Ole Miss.
But otherwise, I mean, Arizona State, I mean, that was, I like to watch, back 12 after
or big 12 after hard.
I love doing that.
I love staying up.
I mean, I'm at night all anyways.
I'm up till 1.32 in the morning, most nights anyways.
And I'll tell you what, watching Arizona State, I knew they had a good running back.
I didn't know how good he was.
And I'll tell you what, that watching him single handily should have beat Texas.
Yeah.
Should have beat Texas.
And of course, you know, that fourth and goal, whatever pass for Texas to score, that's
the most Texas thing that Texas has done I've ever seen.
And I'm fully being honest with it.
I hate Texas.
I've got nothing to say about it.
But that's what Texas does.
Boomers sooner.
But, you know, Ohio State, Texas, home game for Texas, that's going to be interesting.
Yeah.
And Penn State, buddy, come on, Penn State, you know, that's what I want to see.
The Orange Bowl last time there, there was when I was senior in high school 2006, and
they beat when they beat Florida State, they beat the fight in Bobby Bowdoin's and it
was just a field goal fest.
I remember for whatever reason, the memories came back and I just remember all that.
And then of course, I remember the year that Texas and Ohio State, they went pound for
pound, the fiesta bowl in Texas went up with 14, what another Texas thing went in with
like 14 second, or not even 14 seconds off.
So I mean, these are going to be some pretty good games.
They should be.
You've got Notre Dame and Penn State as part of the Orange Bowl tomorrow at 630 and then
the Cotton Bowl will be Ohio State at Texas 630 on Friday and then of course, the National
Championship coming up on Monday, January 20th.
Talk more about this in a moment.
First, let's talk to you.
Good afternoon.
You're in the game.
Well, we're not going to quit talking about that.
I mean, I'm going to predict it is going to be a big 10 national championship.
Ooh, I like that.
Oh, I like that.
Take that SEC.
Yeah, yeah.
I like that.
Well, there is no SEC in the playoffs anymore.
So technically, technically with the Texas, but they're brand new in it, but I know what
you're saying.
Especially if you look at this in a college way where the recruiting buys, you know, a coach
isn't going to have his team in there in the first season.
He's got a couple of recruits, maybe a little more in more nowadays, but I don't think Texas
is necessarily a completely branded SEC team just yet.
No.
I actually think you've got to play all the teams in the SEC to be able to say that for
one.
And you probably got to be there a little while, but I think your point is still valid.
We don't really have, we got a corner quote, independent team in Notre Dame.
We have two big 10 teams and we've got a team in Texas that really hasn't had home necessarily
in the big 12 because they've been playing, they've been flirting with the SEC for so long.
So it's going to be very wild.
And I can't wait to see how people lose their minds over this in SEC land and how they're
feeling about this because they can talk all they want about having some representation
with Texas.
But they don't, we all know they don't feel that way about Texas just yet.
They'll be the same way with it was Oklahoma, they don't own Oklahoma yet.
Yeah.
I imagine that the blood is boiling down there, heads are going to roll and you know, there's
going to be a lot of a lot of oil money being put into a lot of these teams in the South
coming forward here.
They're not going to sit on this.
No, this is not going to keep on happening.
Well, you know, and that's one thing you know, you sit there and think about how much
now, okay, Georgia, you know, Georgia got to be Alabama to even make the playoffs.
How are they going to change just now so they can make sure that some of these teams are
conference are better represented?
It pretty much showed, to me, I think it showed that the big 10 is going to be a conference
you don't want to mess with and to have through it, they had what, three teams from the big
10 in the playoffs and then what, and the SEC had, well, it was just Texas and Georgia,
right?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I tried to think back now, but let me let me scratch my brain here
a little bit.
If I remember correctly, you had in the first round, Tennessee, Ohio State, Penn State,
SMU, then you had Notre Dame, Indiana and I'm forgetting, those were the first, then there
was one more, Indiana was in there, yep, and I think there was one more that I am totally
spacing on, I want to say that was, that was not Boise State, I want to say that was
Clemson, Texas, then in the second round, you had Arizona State, Texas, then Ohio State,
Oregon, and then you had Penn State, Boise State and then Notre Dame, Georgia, so that was
incredible, that was incredible, off the top of his head everybody, I love that, I didn't
even pull up my phone dude, nice work, nice work brother, so there was three FCC teams
into what Tennessee, I totally forgot about Dennis VBN in there, but I still think, you
know, they always do that, that ACC Big 10 challenge in basketball all the time, oh yeah,
yep, I think they need to take a week and do the SEC Big 10 challenge in football.
There's been talk about that actually, it's funny you mentioned that, I remember just a
few weeks months ago in the heart of football season that the commissioners are saying, hey,
we got to be on an equal playing ground, that maybe we do have one week of crossovers,
and trying to be equal, hey, if you're playing what, 10 conference games, and we're only
playing nine, well, no, no, we should make it equal, and then maybe how about we each play
nine and then one week of crossover, and the big 12 even then spoke up and said, no,
no, not so fast, my friend, we're just as important as you, and the ACC spoke up and
said, yeah, why not us two, we have the same amount of teams, we have major players, which
are they all respectfully do, of course, yeah, that's, it's coming to be where you're
going to have your four super duper conferences, and then it's, and of course, they're not
going to leave it at 12, they're going to make it 16, of course, because two wasn't fair,
four wasn't fair, 12's not fair, nothing's fair anymore, so it's just like college basketball
when they went from 32 to 64, or 68 to whatever it is, yeah, and then they have another
twist to it again this year, so, yeah, for the basketball, but yeah, I mean, they're
going to, I mean, like I said, I take the NCAA because you didn't have, you know, like
I said, you didn't have the Alabama's in there, that, I mean, that's the key, I mean,
I think if Sabin was still the coach there, would they, I mean, the playoffs, yeah, things
for you, I mean, I don't know, but, yeah, I think they would have, yeah, Sabin was there,
and didn't make the playoffs, and you still, Alabama, no thing, well, the NCAA is going
to try to do something. I think Sabin was there, his willpower may have gotten them into
the playoffs alone. I don't know, let alone the politics to go on behind the scenes at all
of those things, and I do think that they're going to tweak things, maybe to help the SEC,
maybe just to make this thing better, but I also don't, I think a lot of it is a mute point,
because the SEC is going to, is going to do everything they can to, to make it, so this never
happens again. There's not going to, I don't think that going forward, you're going to see
the SEC as crabs in a barrel. I think you're going to see cream rise to the top, and you're going
to have Vanderbilt go back to being Vanderbilt, you're going to have some of these teams going back
to what they used to be, and you're going to have the teams that, of course, we all know with
the pedigrees and the blue bloods and everything, that's where the money's going to go, and they're
going to go all in on that. We may get back to a time where it's like this again, but I truly
believe, and I'm not just saying this off a cuff, I've seen enough reporting and seen enough
people talking about this to where, even before the playoffs started, when they saw the teams
that were in there, and they didn't see some of the ones that you guys have mentioned,
the heads were rolling, and people were immediately signing checks, and immediately saying,
go ahead and just open up an oil vein and just put it right into your university and get these
players back to Alabama, back to Georgia, and even keeping up appearances for some of these teams,
like a Tennessee, that is just starting to come back. I'm afraid of what will happen,
one of my favorite stories this year has been Arizona State. It has been a fun team to watch,
fun coach, a cool story with their coach, and all of this. I hope that we don't lose those stories.
That's the one thing that, I'm not the one thing, but one of the bigger fears I have,
and one of the things I was so looking forward to about these playoffs is having those random teams.
I don't care if they get beat 45 to 10. I've seen national championships like that.
Get out of here with blowouts, and oh, it's not worth it because of a blowout. Have you watched
any national championship game ever? Any super bowl ever? For every good one, there's 40 of them
that were blowouts, and that's the way it's always been. We don't talk about those ones,
but they happen all the time. Yeah, Seattle Denver, about 10 years ago, I think there was one of
the Kansas City ones. Did anybody watch the Giants Baltimore Super Bowl? My god, man,
how about the Patriots and Rams a couple of years ago? I mean, what are we talking about?
I watched that one. I did watch that one. Yeah, I did, but I did watch it too. Yeah, I'll admit,
I watched it, but it was horrible. It was horrible game. It was supposed to be the best game.
It happens all the time. I don't want to see these teams not get opportunities,
just because they didn't work out. We didn't have the app state beaten Michigan. Oh,
shocker. Okay, that we got that we're supposed to have the best of the best. Of course,
the best should beat the not as best. They're not as good. I do want to have some time with you,
Kevin, to talk a little NFL, and especially with the news that broke a little bit ago,
Jordan Love, feeling pretty good, feeling pretty confident about playing, says his elbow is getting
back to normal. A little more concern maybe with Malik Willis, where he's still feeling a numbness,
and he says it's not normal. He doesn't feel the ball normally like he's used to.
I think that both of them are concerning. I only bring up the Malik Willis being a concern,
just because if your number one is in 100%, you need your number two to be 100%.
This is the NFL on the other side of the aisle.
Jalen Hertz is in concussion protocol and had his first walkthrough I think today.
Now, I don't think that there's a chance in the daylights that Jalen Hertz isn't starting
in that game on Sunday, but just the fact that he hasn't had the practice with his players this week
is going to affect the game. There's no getting around that. I don't mean that they're going to lose
and he's going to play horrible, but it ain't going to be the game that it could have been
with him 100%. They still got St. Juan Barclay, but the Packer's still got Josh Jacobs,
and Josh Jacobs is still doing just fine. I think that when you look at this game,
you have the best matchup in the playoffs right now. You have the two teams that line up so
well together that had a week one matchup the window way it did, and both of them got reasons
and things to prove. I think you've got a really exciting game possibly here. And a game,
if I'm a Packer fan, I'm feeling good about it. I think I'll go ahead, Kevin.
I'm going to go the opposite way with you on this, James. Last year when the Packers,
they were hot coming into the playoffs, and they took that right into Dallas,
and they were just a field goal, a miss field goal, and probably a couple of bad calls
on the coaching end of it away from beaten San Francisco last year.
Now the Packers are coming in on two-game losing streak, not looking good,
that my confidence level is not probably as high as some people's. I just, there's, you know,
I want to be optimistic and think the Packers could come in there and beat the Eagles.
But they're playing too tight right now, and they're just playing way too tight.
I think Jordan Love has not taken a chance, like he did at the beginning of the season.
Yeah, he threw some interceptions, and now I think he's overprotecting the ball.
That's why you're starting to see more throws in that are ground.
I think if they're going to win this game, they just got to go open the playbook and play loose
and just go. I mean, that's the only thing I think they can do with it.
I think some of this too, and I don't take anything off of Jordan Love, especially with the
contract, that man is collecting right now. But I do think that he was, he, a lot of where his
learning came from was from Aaron Rodgers. And one of the biggest, the biggest shift in Aaron
Rodgers whole career was him having one season where he had no problem whipping it down the field.
And then the very next season, he noticed, went down to like three interceptions.
Like, and from that point on, he was not doing that anymore. If he was going to take a chance,
it was the most calculated risk you ever saw. It was the opposite of a gunslinger.
I'm only pulling my gun when I know I only have to shoot one bullet, and I'm going to nail it.
And he's proven that obviously with the Hail Mary's and some of those things and a Hall of Fame
career. I can see Jordan Love trying to make some of those same adjustments. And I don't know if he's
the same quarterback. I feel, well, I feel very confident. He's not the same quarterback. I don't
know if he's the same kind of guy that can make that adjustment, make that shift. Because some,
some players have to just play at one speed. And I really feel like Jordan Love is one of those
players. And there's nothing wrong with that. There's plenty of Hall of Famers have played that
way. But I think you got to let him cook. I think you got to let him go out there. And if he's
going to throw a pick, he's going to throw a pick. And he'll learn from it because he's a smart
kid and he's a coachable kid. There's nothing about him that seems like, oh, we can't talk to him.
Or we're going to say the wrong thing and everything. No, Jordan, nobody has a problem talking to him.
If anything, they need to build him up. They need to build this kid's confidence up. I didn't think
you'd say that about a certain NFL quarterback, but his body language needs to be adjusted badly.
Some of the, when Watson goes down and they can't, they'll put the camera to him. And he's shaking
his head like, oh, no, here we go again and all that. I understand he's a human being. I understand
he's a young man. You can't be in that moment. You can't be. It's not what that's not the leadership
role. You've got to take command of the team. You've got to do that. Not by being the raw, raw guy,
not by doing it, but going and checking on your guy, keeping your head up, making sure that everybody,
you're making eye contact with all your players. I've seen this. I've seen players do this my whole
life. I'm looking for that in him. And it's not to say it can't happen. It's just right now we're
not seeing it. And I think a big part of that is coaching. I don't think Matt LaFlor is a bad coach
by any means. And I would give anything to have a coach like him right now. And I'm not going to
get one by the way, spoiler alert. But oh, there's more on that coming up. But when it comes to
Matt LaFlor, I think he skates on too many things. And one of them is for one, not wanting to be
friendly with the media and trying to be a tough guy with the media when he's not. And two,
I don't think he's either hard enough on these players or hard enough at the right time on these
players because the discipline shows whether it is it is on him and his coaching staff making bone
headed mistakes when you shouldn't be at this point. Or it's players acting the way that they do
where you have a defense. It just there's no leadership on that defense. They're all almost all
of them are knuckleheads. Almost all of them are just going to kind of do their thing and look
for their stats and have their little moves that they make when they get a turnover or something
like that. That's not going to win you a Super Bowl, man. You can't win that way. You got a bunch
of first-run picks that are playing like it, not in a good way. Like with divaism and everything,
you need some coaching there where you need the thing that I'm looking for and that all the young
players that I see that are great, they want to be coached. Nobody talks about this with some of
these young quarterbacks that just have come into the league in the last couple of years. Whether we're
talking about Justin Herbert or Jaylen Hertz or Caleb Williams or any of these guys, they want to
be coached and they want to be coached hard. Get a guy in there that is going to do that. If Matt
LaFlor ain't the guy, you need somebody that is because there's too much invested in this young
man and there's too much potential with Jordan Love. I'm going to throw a name out. I'm going to throw a
name out. They're Kevin Green. Yeah. Look at the year that the Packers won the Super Bowl. Look what
Kevin Green did in that defense. You know, he would got in JJ or, uh, uh, yeah, or AJ Hawke's
face. I want that ball. I have had two happy moments as a football fan in the last maybe five to
10 years. Both of them happened this season with NIU beating Notre Dame and the Chicago Bears
actually beating the Green Bay Packers in that game in a game that it looked like nobody wanted
to win, but we all know everybody wanted to win, uh, for various reasons and everything. And
the major thing that stood out to me about that game, the Packers defense is good. They got,
I think they got a good coach. I saw no leadership on that defense. I saw no fire, so no fire,
so nobody being out. I saw individuals being fired up, but I didn't see anybody working together.
I didn't see anybody because that's what you have to do. You have to do your job and worry about
your job and that's it. The other guy, 11 guy, they're going to do theirs. All I saw were
bunch of individuals out there. Uh, I could not, I could not get over the attitude that Packers came
into that game with. I truly felt like you're going to go in there and they're the bears,
they're the dominant animal. They're the ones that are to come in there and devour everything.
That's what they do. They did it last year. It's, it's almost the same team that's coming in
this year that was last year. Uh, I thought for sure they would. I, I, I did not see anything
even close to that. And I was shocked by that. I still am thinking about it. I'm still shocked.
The bears won. Like I genuinely am. That kick was through the upright and I still thought they
were going to lose. Like there's no way I thought they're winning that game in part. Not just because
Green Bay, we needed to win it, but because I thought that they had a team finally that got it,
that understood the assignment. We have a job to do. Let's go out there. Let's win this game.
Let's dominate. Let's step on their throat. All of that. I didn't see that in the team. And I,
I, I, I, I'm a little shocked by it. Uh, because I thought that they were that team. I thought
that they started to show that the two game slide. I think is really showing a lot of true colors
possibly with, with some of these players. I think that when you look at this, you, if you get
nailed knocked out by Philly, there's got to be some changes on that defense. I'm not even,
and for once we're not to maybe talking about coaching, but I think player wise, I think that's
coming. Yeah, we've got an overhaul going on there with that defense. You, you have to, and you
got to bring in some bets. None of this, uh, well, we got a second year guy that we're,
we're going to rise up and everything and move up in it. That's great. Good for him. I'm happy
for him. Get a vet linebacker. Get a, like you did with the, the backfield in an Xavier McKinney
and everything. Uh, you bring somebody like that in. Otherwise, you're going to have the same
problem over and over and over again. Well, it's, it's, it's, you know, you bring up a good
point. I mean, there, and there's nobody on that defense that has a game changer. Kind of like,
what you, you don't have, uh, TJ wide from the, you know, Pittsburgh, he's a game changer.
You don't have Bolsa. He's a game changer. You don't have, uh, um, uh, what this, uh, what's
the case from, uh, Dallas, like game. Think of it right now. Think of Michael Parsons.
Michael Parsons. Yeah. You, you, you the game changer. He may be available. Yeah. Look what happened.
With the packer in the back in the 90s, one they signed Reggie White. Yeah. Look what happened
to that defense. Everybody wanted to come there. Santana Dots and, uh, Sean Jones, uh, man,
the linebackers defensive back. Who are the knuckleheads on that defense? Nobody.
No, but now there may have been actually some knuckleheads on it. Yeah. But, but Reggie put that
to put that to rest real quick. You didn't see that with the Reggie White defense. You didn't
see it in Philly either, but you definitely didn't see it once he was, uh, so matured and the
deacon and all those things when he went to Green Bay. That's, you can make an argument, man,
that's more important than having a good quarterback or having a leader at quarterback is having a
good leader on defense and having some accountability on defense. It, we talk about it all the time
in every sport. What wins championships? Well, we look at some of those teams you've already
mentioned Baltimore when they beat the giants. Look at that. Look what that defense stood there.
Look at the, the 1985 bears. That's what the defense, uh, even some of those Philadelphia teams
that didn't win super rules like great, you like Reggie, for example, um, Tampa Bay when they beat
Oakland. That's the defense. We haven't even talked about the giants with Lawrence Taylor,
like my god. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Right. It's just, it's, uh, it's littered throughout that of,
in sports history with championships and D how important defense is. We can talk about, we're
going to talk about coach Paul on a couple of minutes here. Um, uh, about the any shell champion,
Stanley couple last year. A lot of cool offense. I believe the last game was one nothing or
something like that. It was something like it was really the last minutes of that game. I was on
the edge of my seat all because of the defense. Um, you, you need that on that team and you need
that on that team. If you're going to go forward, you put the investment in Jordan love, you put
the investment in him, not just with the contract, but signing Josh Jacobs to a multi year deal. Uh,
you got a good young receiver core. I do want to say, um, I enjoyed Christian Watson here. I
don't, I think he's another, another valdez can'tling. I think he's gone unfortunate. That
bad injury. I feel horrible for him. I feel bad for him. I don't, I don't, I know he's a,
he's a grown man getting paid millions of dollars. All that. He's still a young guy. And I,
I feel for anybody having their dream ripped out of their, uh, from like that. That's rough. Uh,
Kevin, it's been great talking with you, man. Uh, we appreciate you. And I hope you guys
appreciate. I did not start to show with bear down Chicago bears. I didn't do it. I didn't do it.
And in part because I, I mean, it's already gone. Even if all the hope I, all the goodness I had
is gone already. Thanks to Mike McCarthy. I'll, I'll tell you what though James walking out of that
stadium, I think that was the single biggest game that they've won since 1985. At least that's
where they acted. It's way the bucket. Yes. And they had to because it's all they have. Yeah.
All we have. We need to bring that up. And I was going to bring that up. I mean, look at
the late years that we have with Green Bay and in the 80s. What was the one thing that our season
because that, we can lose what 14 games as long as we did not lose for the mayor's choice. Right.
Right. That's an end, uh, to, to have nothing else to go on, especially for your, your,
your fan base and everything, that's all they had at times in Green Bay. And now we have that.
And now we have that in Chicago. Well, I will, I, real quickly before I go to break, I do
want to do something I may never do again in, in my life and thank Jerry Jones. I would like to
thank Jerry Jones. And it gets me emotional. I'm sorry, guys. Um, I, I, I, I never had my fandom
tested by the Chicago Bears. I never really have. I woke up one morning and I saw on the paper that
the bears were threatening to move to Gary, Indiana. And I guess there was a little fear there,
but I never really thought it was going to happen. Um, if the bears had even interviewed Mike McCarthy,
let alone hired him. I legitimately, I'm not putting on a bit here, not like that. I don't know
how I could root for that team. Like I'm not, I'm not, I'm not going to be able to give up my fandom.
It's in literally in my DNA, uh, to love that team. But I ain't watching any games. I'm not,
I can't get into that team. I can't root for that team. Uh, I couldn't imagine doing that. So
I want to thank Jerry Jones for just, I don't know for what reason why he's doing this. But for
keeping for denying the bears permission to interview Mike McCarthy, thank you, Jerry, for just
being Jerry Jones, I guess. I don't know. We're going to take a break. Uh, thanks for joining us.
Oh, you guys have a great night. Michael and I will be back with Coach Paul Peckman from
your Wisconsin Rapids River Canes coming up on Playmakers.
Welcome back everybody to WNFHRs Playmakers.
Let's kick off the fourth period. Got your host here, James. I am joined by Michael Comer. Thank
you again for being here, Michael. Appreciate you to be here, buddy. And we are joined by GM head coach
of your Wisconsin Rapids River Kings. Coach Paul Peckman is with us right now. Coach Paul,
good to have you with us. Thanks for being here. Thanks for having me. Appreciate the time. You
brought a new friend of ours here. We, uh, you guys are in hockey helmets all the time. So I know
who I got with us here today. Lucas Whitehead. It is, Lucas. I thought so, Lucas. Thank you so
much, man. It's good to have you here with us. Appreciate seeing you again. Uh, long time,
king. Uh, appreciate you. And I want to kick off right away, uh, congratulating you guys,
sitting in first right now. I know there is no, uh, you know, uh, champagne being spilled or
anything like that. I'm not getting ahead of things or nothing. But we don't get to say this
all the time. And it's, uh, I think in life, it's important to take in those little wins.
And this is an accomplishment, uh, from where, uh, you guys were at times, uh, you know,
in years past to where we are right now and developed and development wise. It's got to feel
pretty good. Lucas, uh, you are one of the more, uh, long standing Kings, uh, for, for that,
for you, how does this feel? And if you guys don't mind getting up to the mic here a little bit.
Sure. I want to make sure the audience can hear you good. No, it's, it's awesome. It's awesome.
I mean, we've had pretty successful years, the all three years I've been here. Obviously,
the first year was the first year for coach Paul and pretty much a new program, right? After
the switch, um, and last year obviously was very successful and that was great. And, you know,
we expected that I know coach Paul and I did talking all summer. That's what we wanted to do.
Um, I'm not sure if everyone around us did, but we came ready to do it and we did it last year.
And this year's just what we expected. Completely shocked me. I had no idea. No, no, no.
I felt really good about the team too. Uh, and I didn't word the question where I really was
thinking of them. I had because I'm not just thinking about right now, but since you've been here
and the time that we've been here and this, this growing of this and we've had good seasons.
We've had winning seasons, but the, the attitude being that, that is the norm that that is,
that is what it is going forward. How that must feel and to be a part such an integral part of
that you help build that. Right. It's got to feel pretty good, especially as a guy building his
career in the early days of building that resume. Definitely. I mean, that's the culture we've
built in our locker room is, you know, you come to work and you're going to come to win or,
you know, stay home, right? We want guys that want to win. I want to compete and we work each day to,
we beat each other up each day and battle each day and, you know, we have a really good room of
guys and culture that just we're so dialed in right now. And it's a good feeling like coach Paul and
I have talked about it. It's just, you know, it feels really good right now and what we got and
everything is just clicking, right? And that's over three years. How important to you is when
it comes to practices and those grinds in the weekdays, not only you and the players getting
that practice time, but getting that time together, like getting to be able to just conversate, hang out,
build that chemistry on and off the ice. Yeah, that's probably my favorite part of the game.
I'm a drink from eight in the morning till five at night. Guys come in, you know, anywhere between
that and, you know, latest 1130. So we don't hit the ice to one, 115. So that's the best part is
we're just hanging out in the gym, you know, joking around and it's just great to have that time
with your teammates to really bond and you create that family type where when we do get on the ice,
it's okay if we, you know, work each other and beat each other up because then off the ice,
you're just your best friends, your brothers, right? So it's, that's the best part to me.
There's something different about growing up around hockey in part of hockey. I have to
have a check with my parents over the holiday weekend. I was a little over one my first hockey game.
The first time I got to go to see my dad play or anything like that, but watching this sport a
long time and, and I love this sport very much. I'm not used to seeing shots, 70 shots on goal.
47 years, man, I've been watching this for 47 years. I, I'm not used to seeing that where I look
at that, I'm like, oh yeah, that again, like that, that is insane to me. We didn't even reach our goal.
What was the goal? What was the goal? 75. I mean, James, I will say this much. I have seen a bunch,
but it's usually watching these guys play whether whether it's coach Paul or Marty. That was a normal
that disparage that discrepancy there in numbers. That's happens quite a bit and that's no
disrespect to the blades because they're about 500 teams. They're not a bad team and they're goal,
they're goalie. I mean, he's a goalie of the month last month. He's good and 75 shots are going
to let nine in, you know, and still look good. Yeah, it was impressive. You know, I mean, it really
comes down to putting people, you know, having the guys in front of you, right? I mean, at Colton,
it was hung out to dry a lot. And listen, like Lucas said, the way we practice and the expectations
and the standards and things that we talk about a lot, right? That's what we preach in a game,
like this, where you're feeling it, everything is going and everything's clicking and you see this
happen. That golden, you know, he was he was hung out to dry and that's what we expect. When it
comes to when a game is going on like that, I want to talk a little bit with you about in-game
adjustments and whether if that is even a thing because it's something I've heard a lot to talk
about in coaching over the years and stuff and I'm a little curious about that. But when it comes
to a game like that, games like that, what you guys have had a couple this year, do you, is it a
matter of it getting involved as a coach and kind of do different things. I want to see different
guys out there give different, got some guys some minutes or isn't so much especially in that first
second period. I'm just going to let them do their thing. I'm let them cook and kind of keep out
of the way. Do my job, but I'm kind of letting the players play. How much do you balance that?
Well, you definitely do, right? Because there's because how the game is dictated in other games,
there in the course this season, whatever, some guys may get more ice time than others.
Well, now you got a chance to get some of those guys more ice time that didn't get a lot.
Try them in different scenarios that maybe they don't get a lot in practice. Those are, now it's
about let's work on some things, right? Now, you got an opportunity here. You're up 7, 8,
nothing, right? There's no need to, again, like Mike's point, not disrespect anybody,
but you still want to work on things, right? And at the end of the day,
our guys need to produce. You want to see who can produce. And ultimately, as sad as it is,
this league is gauged on points, right? These guys are getting nominated for accolades on points.
So am I going to hold guys back and it's our fault that we're putting up eight, nine goals
again. That's not, you know, I got to let these guys do your point. I got to let them run a little
bit, right? But you get everybody involved here. And I'm not just, I'm not just putting out
the same six guys, right? We're going to roll everybody. We're going to put guys at different
scenarios. And that's something to say too, is how are you supposed to tell one of your younger players
for not picking on the kid? But you want your younger guys, I gave him Welsh. When he's playing,
how are you supposed to tell him when he finally gets to get some regular line rotation in there?
Don't try to score. Don't make that pass for a goal. How are you supposed to tell your bench players
who heart? Don't get the, not the plane time like, like, uh, all stranded ops filter. How do you
tell them to, oh, don't play hard? Don't want to embarrass them. You can't do that. It's, it's
no disrespect. It's still counting again. It's up to them to stop you guys. And, and unfortunately,
as a fan myself of you guys, teams can't stop you. As somebody who grew up at a household where there
was Northwestern football on the TV a lot, uh, I'm in used to blowouts and used to see
in my team get slaughtered. I will be the first to say if you, if you don't like it, stop them.
Exactly. It's real simple. Um, and this is what the, one of the most dangerous things to ask
an athlete to do is go, you know, go half speed. You know, just, just pull back a little bit.
That's when guys get hurt. That's when guys get injured. Uh, if you don't like it, stop them.
And I know still County did. I know that other teams would have tried. Um, and it's like that in
all of sports. I, when it comes to how you're approaching the game, you can't, you can't coach
the other team. You got, you got to focus on your team. We got to focus on your guys. And for,
for this team, I'm, I'm curious. We hear this in coaching a lot about in game adjustments.
And what's going on? Uh, I'm sure it's different on this level to other levels, but on this level,
the, the, uh, the period ends and you're, you got that time off. How much are you able to talk
to your players and work with them and how much is it just kind of, well, we already did this in
practice. We've, we've got a game plan. We're going out there with that game plan,
regardless of what the score is in the first period. Well, not much, right? I mean, we,
we talked for a couple of minutes and that's it. Really. It's just, you know, you come in and
if it's for nothing after the first period, okay? Everything that we worked hard all week long
in our, in our game plan. Well, obviously it's working. Not much to change, right? Just keep going,
right? And then we, we try to set goals for ourselves. We want 25 shots of period, right? You want
this. You want that, right? I want to make sure we don't give up a certain amount of shots.
We definitely don't want to give up a goal. We don't, right? So you maintain everybody
making sure that they stay true to their game and they're playing it the right way.
How much of it is when, well, we did see it a little bit, uh, for those of us who saw the
second game, uh, yeah, you guys scored quick again, but then you saw them pick up the pressure.
You saw Steele County pick up the four check. Get a little more physical and was that maybe
something you guys were anticipating or was it something that's not necessarily caught you by
surprise, but maybe weren't anticipating so much that, oh, okay, now we've got to be ready for this.
We've got to be ready to deal with it. Well, I think, you know, Steele County is always a good
team. They always battle hard, right? And now it's just about us going so high, so quick,
and then you start to get a little complacent, okay? And now also in the second period was kind of flat.
And now it's a wake up call. Hey, it's still three, four-goal game. It's not, you know, one or two,
you know, you get caught sleeping and now all of a sudden you got a game, right? So now you got a
wake up here. Let's make sure you finish this the right way. And it's set the tone for the week
and then getting ready for what's coming up. It's kind of the expression going, put your foot
on the throat when you have the chance. Exactly. Exactly. And we've got two teams that are going to
try to do that this weekend in town at the Steele County Rec Center, where we've got one in two
facing off. As we've got the squash coming to town, two at seven o'clock, puck drop, a Friday,
a Saturday, meet us over at the Steele County Rec Center. We'll tell you how to get tickets and all
that in a moment may even win some tickets if you're listening. But when it comes to this matchup
in particular coach, what is what is the attitude going into this one and does it change any
different with from this particular team? Yeah, I think obviously I mean they have some heavy hit
goalscoring wise. So I mean, you really have to pay attention. I mean, they are where they are
because for a reason, right? I mean, they're really good team. They're skilled. Now we have to make
sure that we play on the right side of the puck. On the D side, we have to be disciplined and
structured. And we know we know where to be. We know what to do. And now it's just about being
committed and staying true to our systems and being aware of who's on the ice at certain times.
And taking care of business, right? So they're good. There's no question. They'll make you pay
if you're not paying attention. When I believe, is this pretty sure I just want to double check,
it's the last games against them this season too. So I imagine that that's on the table too,
something that's in your guys' heads and everything. Well, this is for the division. There's no
question about it. We have to win both games. Otherwise, we don't have a shot. The way that they're playing,
let's just say we both win out. And we don't take care of this. Well, that's going to come now,
because they got two games in hand on us. And having that for winning the division,
speak to why that's so important. Obviously pride wise or what it means and everything, but
play off wise what that means. Well, that gives us all my disadvantaged throughout all three rounds
now, right? So no matter how deep we go, we're playing at home, which obviously we know is a huge
factor. And also, it's more for the players and in the recruiting process, right? So these guys
will come back in five, 10, 15 years from now and look up there and say, I did that and I did that
and I did that, right? And that means something. And in the recruiting process, look what we did,
look what we did, look what we did, right? So that helps. For me, personally, I've said it all
on balance. Don't mean it as much to me as it does for the program. And for these guys, because
they put in a lot of blood, sweat and tears, right? So I want you to win, go on to win this whole
thing. Because of guys like you, Lucas, because of the what this team means to this community of
all these things. And especially for you and your family coach and what you've done around here.
But just as much I wanted because I cannot wait to see you the next day after you win. And how
quick, how long do you let yourself even enjoy it and everything? I got the over under on 24
hours. I got 24 hours. He's going to let himself go on Friday night. Yeah. Sun Saturday. Maybe it's
two days, but right back, right? But we got to get there first and we're going to enjoy the ride.
Because we got a great ride ahead of us. We got a bunch of games coming up, got a bunch of home
games coming up, including this weekend. We're going to Michael Hardett work as he's covering those
games for you and appreciate the work you've been doing on that. No problem. No, Luke, so I got a
question. Now you're talking about the the team, just a brotherhood there. And unfortunately,
you're not you're not playing right now because you got a bum wheel there. But I talk about it on
air with with I talked about it with a Guillaume and I was able to talk about with Shaw. And you kind
of got a mini United Nations down there. You got the year-old line. You got the you got the Canadian
connection out there. You know, the Russian, the Russian, the Russian Rousers or whatever you want to
call them. I mean, there's so many nationalities there that yeah, you got you got Alpsfelder
and Anderson and all strand. There's Norwegian and Swedish. Norwegian and Swedish. All talking
the same way. And of course, you got Lufelun and Ilyan talking, you know, the Russian and everything
that obviously there is some language barrier there. But you all still get along. How how how do
you guys do it? Yeah, I think that's something that's special with us too is like we're from all
over, but we have so much in common and our goals in common. So we're all willing to work together
to achieve that goal. And you know, one of my best friends is from Italy, French,
classical, color, denim. I played with him before I came here. So we live together like some of
my best friends are from other countries. That's awesome. I've said before that's part of my favorite
part of playing this game is it's, you know, global. You meet people from all over and you can
connect with people from, I don't even speak your language. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So all these guys
that come from all over the globe are common goal. My dad, I remember him having a good friend that
come to over the house and have dinner and everything and had just the thickest Russian accent I've
ever heard. And I didn't understand a word the guy was saying clearly or anything. I just figured
my dad did. My dad did not, but they were great friends. And, and I, I don't know if it was my
mom or who asked him, but how do you, how do you guys talk? How do you guys talking? I don't know
that. He's like, well, we all speak hockey. We all speak hockey. So if you know that language,
you can, you can have a great relationship. You can have a good conversation. It's a great question
Michael. And it's something that I think that gets kind of normalized in hockey on every level.
But these guys on every level, they do this. And you hear very seldom do you hear of a rough
locker room in hockey. You know, these guys, they, they keep it in house if it is happening. And for
the most part, they get along, they're able to work things out. And I think that's one of the most
beautiful parts of the game is how the world comes together on that rank. Can I thank you guys
enough for the time, especially in a busy week here with such a busy case that a game's coming up?
We're going to have those games for you on our sister station 10555, right? Be sure to join us
as the puck drops at seven on Friday and Saturday is your Wisconsin Rapids River Kings.
Take on the Minnesota Squatch first place on the line hanging on the first place, I should say.
Find out more and get your tickets as the boys to winter build hockey up and down the river at
riverkingshockey.com riverkingshockey.com. Be sure to follow them on social media.
Mike and I'll be back guys have a great night. Okay, and we'll talk to you soon.
Thank you.
Welcome back everybody to WFHR's playmakers.
Michael and James here to take it to the top of the hour. A couple minutes left. We don't mind
filling it with your phone calls. 715-424-2600. Call up and join the conversation.
I want to thank Coach Paul and Lucas for joining us. Great conversation with those guys. Man,
I can talk to Coach all day. We appreciate them joining us. Be listening tomorrow on our
morning show. We're going to give a chance to free to win riverkings tickets Thursday, Friday.
We're going to make sure that we get a great home ice advantage in a whole entire South
of kind of rec centers filled with riverkings fans. I do want to talk a little bit more football.
I want to get a stat of the show in Michael real quick because as a sports show we have to do that.
But getting I got two of them for you and I think one of our listeners might have one too if
you guys want to call up and join us. But most playoff wins for a quarterback. I feel like most
people know that Tom Brady has this record. I did not realize by how much he has. That's quite a
bit. Yeah. Yeah. He's got holds the NFL record for most playoff wins by a quarterback 35.
For most playoff games started at 48. Joe Flacco and Tom Brady are tied for the most road post
season wins with seven. But I saw a stat. The Patrick Mahomes is right there at number two.
And certainly has a chance to come up on that. But he would have to win three playoff games over
the next five seasons to even get close to that. That is asking a lot. Not only not. It's almost
asking him not to win the division every year. So that's the wild card game. Well, that's going
to be getting tougher and tougher and tougher for him with the way that Denver and the Chargers
are playing. But I where I wanted to go first was actually go back a little bit. And I was
curious. Most people know what the first college football game was or the first NFL game and what
the first televised game was. What was the first college football game on radio? I thought I
was like, man, I didn't I don't know if I've ever heard that. So I looked it up the other day.
In October 8th, 1921 marked a significant day in the field of football. On this day, the first
live sports radio broadcast of football game aired on up K D K A in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
The game was at Ford's field. And it was between West Virginia and the University of Pittsburgh.
The old backyard brawl. The game that is such a brutal game. They don't even bother having
a trophy for it. Like just winning the game is the trophy. That is one of my favorite games on
this schedule. When it got back and everything. Same thing for some of our childhood and everything
it was gone. Later later. I'm thinking too early there. Yeah, yeah. I think it's been more
recent with conference realignment. It's like a man for the longest time. Texas and A&M didn't
play. And now Bedlam, that's that's been put on the back burner with Oklahoma, Oklahoma state.
When it comes to the NFL schedule this weekend, Packers, Eagles, of course, we've touched on that a
little bit. Broncos, Bills could be good. You've got Commanders, Buccaneers, Vikings, Rams,
all I think just a good slate. I think Tampa and the commies are going to be the one that I really
want to watch. You have one of the two of the better quarterbacks in the league. But yeah, Baker Mayfield
who is probably one of the senior statesmen with it that I want to see him win. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. I'm with you. Yeah. I like that team. I should also mention Chargers Texans while
early wild car games and Steelers Ravens. Ooh, that's going to be brought. That's going to be a good one
too. That should be a good one too. But I'm with you. I think that the Broncos have had a good
season. Bills are just dominant right now. I do think that Vikings Rams, while it could be
interesting, I actually think as good as the Rams have been, they probably should win that game
even though the Vikings have a better record. I think I've said it for a while. I just don't
know how much I can trust Minnesota that I think the Rams with those two receivers and granted
the Addison and Jefferson. I got it. But I think there is a better quarterback in LA overall
than there is in Minnesota. But you know, that Bills Denver game. I hate seeing it because I want to see
Buffalo win. That's the kind of game Buffalo blows. True. True. That's the one that they'd blow it
and then we're sitting here on another fall of Buffalo. Yeah. Yeah. That's what that's I'm waiting to
see that. And we could see it with, I mean, you know, well, I think Lamar Jackson proved a lot
in last years playoffs for a lot of people. He's still going a lot to prove. And in an early round
exit to Pittsburgh, he's not going to do anybody good. No, and I mean, we're spending some really,
really, really, really, really good multiple MVP winning quarterbacks to not win a Super Bowl.
But there's to make to that next level, he needs to win once one of these years to be on that
level of a five erna Rogers, Peyton Manning, so forth. We'll be back next week with more
playmakers. We'll have one an episode for you on Monday. We'll get into a bit of the WIA proposal
about this playoff proposal that they have. We'll certainly talk about the results from the playoff
weekend. Get into some of that as well. And that includes, of course, Talking River Kings.
Next week in the upcoming weeks, we're going to talk a little more rafters with everybody as well.
They've got some news that have been coming up and signing some players. I got a new coach.
Want to talk to Ziggy? Yeah, it's going to be fun. And tomorrow night is going to be fun.
On Thursday, we have a WXCO. Be sure to check out Lincoln High School Boys Hockey as they host
Warsaw West. That should be a good game as well. Michael, great show. Thanks for hanging out with us.
Hey, glad to be back. Thank you, everybody. Have a good night.