A Big Weekend Ahead Edition

Good afternoon, Wisconsin. Welcome to WFHR's Playmakerz.

Hope y'all are having a great Friday afternoon out there.

You have your host James and I am joined by our partner in sports,

Seth Habhacker. Good afternoon, everyone. It's been a while. It has been too long.

Yeah, it's good to have you here. Nice to be here.

Seth, like many of you out there maybe, are just brimming with takes.

He's had weeks to sit on these. I know. We don't want them to expire,

so we have to let him go ahead and say these.

We also want to hear from you, 715-424-2600,

just to touch it to a way on the Civic Media app.

You can, of course, text us through that app if you'd like as well.

Hit us up or wide open. Hit us in the numbers we'd love to hear from you, everybody.

And we're going to be talking about a bunch of stuff today.

At 530, we'll be joined by head coach, GM,

your Wisconsin Rapids, River Kings coach Paul,

going to join us, looking forward to that.

We'll be talking with him. I don't know if he's on the road or he's already there.

We'll find out as our Kings continue their reign in the playoffs,

taking on Minnesota up there, not up north.

We'll be talking to that. Talk a little rafters as well.

We want to talk some baseball with you, Seth.

I've got a couple of stories that I've been sitting on too with for you.

With the fake opening day coming up here.

I don't know how they can call that the right way.

So weird. So weird.

We'll certainly be talking our local teams as well.

I want to touch on the assumption lady Royals.

And certainly the Wisconsin Badgers both continuing on and giving us a very...

It's a ball weekend.

Yes.

It is a ball weekend, everybody.

Tomorrow, you're going to have to switch between the two games.

Yeah.

Because they're on the two stations here.

Yeah.

It's all exciting stuff.

But you had a couple things that you wanted to get to it.

I wanted to just clear the lane for you here a little bit.

All right. So this is something that just kind of...

I have a situation that MLB isn't right now.

And then I have a take coming up here in the next couple of years for Major League Baseball.

So there's been a big issue.

The raised stadium was damaged severely by Hurricane Milton last fall.

And so there's been a whole big thing.

They've been trying to build a new stadium down there in St. Petersburg.

But they haven't done anything with the stadium.

They're going to be playing in a menor league park this year.

Another team doing that.

I'm not sure what the heck that's all about.

Yeah.

Anyway.

So St. Sternberg is the owner of the raise.

And he just came out recently and he said,

actually, I don't want to state him in St. Petersburg.

Even though they've been working on this for months to try to...

I didn't hurt this.

Yes.

He's also... Sternberg has also been getting pressure from the other owners.

They want him to sell the team.

Oh.

Because they want it to stay in Tampa.

They don't want it to move.

The reason they don't want it to move is because they want to expand.

And if Tampa moves to Nashville,

or one of the other cities they want to expand to,

that's going to ruin everybody's plans.

So we're going to...

I mean, this is hilarious because St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch after hearing this said,

I have no interest in working with this ownership group.

Oh.

I mean, you don't hear, like, mayors of town say this?

Yeah.

Yeah.

But he's burned.

This bridge has been burned right now.

Wow.

And they have come out.

The race have come out and said, we are not selling.

So this is going to add a very interesting situation in the next couple of years.

So remember, the A's are kind of a nomad team right now.

They're going to be playing in Sacramento the next three seasons.

They want 2028 to be in Las Vegas.

Now, John Fisher, the owner, has started to break ground,

even though he doesn't have the money.

It's insane.

And it's the most exciting thing.

It's just one of the craziest things.

And looming over all of this, two years from now,

the collective bargaining agreement is going to expire.

That means that the player's union and the owners are going to have to negotiate.

I can almost guarantee that in two years in 2027,

after the 2026 season, there is going to be a lockout that we have not seen yet.

This is just a speculation on my point.

Part because we don't know what's going to happen.

It may kill one year, maybe two, if it drags on long enough.

And it could.

So this is what we're looking.

So I'm telling everyone, 2025, 2026, get your fill, everybody.

Enjoy your major league baseball right now,

because the whole organization and James, we were talking before the show,

you were talking, you know, cable money is way down.

That's like why the twins pull out families getting out now.

They're selling because they're like, we don't see the money anymore.

We're out of here, right?

So the next couple of years are going to be crazy in major league baseball.

Where it ends up, I have no idea, but it's really interesting to watch.

And with the unknown, it's going to hopefully make us appreciate,

but also really be paying attention to a lot more of this.

And I appreciate the heads up on a nice guy.

We're going to clip this.

Yeah, we'll see what happens.

So a couple of things with this that really stand out to me.

And it kind of it brings both stories together in some ways.

Because the, you know, Virginia McCaskey passed away.

And a lot of people that a lot of people that care about that team,

kind of think of this as well.

This might be that that was might been the last domino that they were waiting for.

The McCaskeys might sell that team.

They're not necessarily sports family.

They're not really the runies or some of these other ones.

I'm not saying they don't care about love sports or whatever,

but the love of that family was the hallus part of that family.

Right, exactly.

That's kind of gone now.

It is.

So with that being said, that's the question.

And then it becomes a question of, well, who do you want?

What kind of owner do you want in all these things?

And I started to think about it.

I'm like, well, wait a minute.

There's only one kind of owner anymore.

And it's the billionaires.

Yeah.

It's the, it's the hedge fund owners.

It's the, you know, tech moguls like what's his name?

Beamer.

Beamer.

Yeah, or beamer.

No, your beamer.

I can't remember.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Those are the only people for one that certainly can afford these, but it's not even just

being able to afford it because you get about 30, 40 millionaires together.

And they can come together and, you know, buy a team or at least own a portion of a team.

That's kind of where the Dodgers are at right now.

Yeah.

It's just going to say Magic Johnson is a perfect example of that.

Yeah.

But it's, it's the people that can afford it and afford the loss because somehow they are

running these sports franchises in the red somehow they can't figure out how to make

money.

Like, and I don't believe a lot of this by the way.

Yeah.

I don't believe that they keep saying this.

Yeah.

But they keep complaining about that in every market that we want to spend.

And it's not just the Milwaukee Brewers.

It's plenty of other markets.

Oh, yeah.

That I just, for years, I wanted Baltimore to do something, you know, just because I like

the Oreos.

I just grew up like in the Oreos a little bit.

Sure.

Nothing, nothing, nothing, even with Camp Demiards.

Yeah.

One of the most beautiful ball parks in baseball.

It took them getting lucky in the draft a couple of times for them to finally actually

do something like they're almost forced into it.

And which is a weird thing to say, but you're right.

You're not wrong.

So with that, the idea that baseball wants to add teams seems like one of the, like almost

as bad of an idea as a strike.

You know what the best way to make baseball better again?

You know the best way to get pitching, starting pitching better and batting averages up and

everything.

The one thing that they would never do and the one thing that would fix it, less teams,

two less teams.

Sorry.

It's two less teams.

The idea that you can fill 30 majorly baseball teams with 30 to 40 guys that can all

hit 300 or 250 to 300, I'll even say whatever.

Yeah.

Exactly.

The same.

And the only way you could ever fix it is by lowering the league by less standard.

Yeah.

The standard would have to go down, right?

Now, of course, that will never happen.

And they're looking at doing the opposite of that, which is just insanity to me.

I did want to pull this up real quick before we go to a caller.

The idea of a team expanding, the teams that they're looking at us, our cities, they're

looking at, excuse me, Austin San Antonio, not that Vegas.

I should say also not that Vegas is supposedly covered Charlotte, North Carolina, which I think

would be a great city for baseball, but I don't know what they have size wise and population

wise.

That's it.

Yeah.

Well, city population, 875,000, which you could support a team, TV market is a 21 rank,

not horrible.

That's pretty good.

Yeah.

But then they're looking at Mexico City and Montreal, and they're looking at out of this

country.

Out of the country into the North, other parts of North America.

That's the part, I think, that they're trying to do.

In part because of, again, people are just not going to these games and everything.

Real quick, these teams that are getting to play in minor league baseball parks might

be a real blessing in disguise.

That's good.

It's hard to fill a major league stadium for some of these teams.

Yeah.

We'll see what happens.

Yeah.

Good afternoon.

You're in the game.

Well, good evening, fellas.

How are you doing?

Doing all right.

How are you doing, man?

Hey, actually, I think you've forgotten Nashville in there.

Oh, Seth said that I said Nashville.

Oh, yeah.

I'm sorry.

Oh, dear.

I'm sorry.

I'm sorry.

Oh, dear.

No, no.

Yeah.

I drive correct.

There you go.

Nice, yes.

Did you hear about the baseball game that happened at US Bank Stadium?

No.

No.

No.

It was Kansas State versus like Minnesota.

Oh, yes.

Yes.

Five back-to-back home runs.

What?

Not only that, Seth, they were interviewing the other team manager at the time.

And he's being great about it and everything, and they're interviewing him and crack.

One goes off.

And he kind of smirks it off and everything.

But then, like, Homer, after Homer, you have to look that clip up, man.

Oh, I've got to see that.

Yes.

I really felt bad for the manager.

Yes.

Can you really imagine being the manager going, I don't know what I can throw at these guys.

Yeah.

Oh, God.

Is there a mercy role here?

Is there...

There's gotta be the worst timing ever, too.

Oh, yeah.

That was a great clip.

It was a great clip.

All right.

Well, hey, all as you guys go, but have a great weekend and Michael Jordan is still to go.

Still to go.

There we go.

Couldn't agree more.

Couldn't agree more.

And you have a good weekend, too, man.

Thanks for the call.

715-424-2600.

Feel free to call up and join the conversation, everybody.

I had two things that I wanted to get to, Seth.

All right.

I do want the audience.

I wanted your guys' opinion about what Seth was saying there.

And what you're thinking about that stuff, too.

Because again, we're clipping that.

The brewers need to really start getting people.

I think they got a chance.

2020-26 is the year.

I'm calling it right now.

Two quick things.

One, my take is not as good as yours.

Yours is so much more thought out and articulate.

Mine is no more white pants in sports.

Ooh.

No more white pants.

Oh.

No more.

Oh, man.

Baseball, football, hockey, basketball, all of you.

The only time the white pants have ever been noticed

is when something goes wrong.

Yeah.

There's nothing positive that can come from having white pants.

No more white pants in sports.

No more.

I don't get you can give me tradition this, tradition that.

It's what we've always done, blah, blah, blah.

One caveat.

One caveat.

If they go back to the original material for baseball.

Well, then that's for that.

But whatever they did last year, no.

No, no.

Please, I don't need to see Vladimir Guerrero that way.

I don't need to see that.

I don't need a catcher and a plumber to be very similar to me.

I don't need that.

So that was my real hot take.

I wanted to get out of the way.

But I did actually want to get your opinion about something.

I've been chewing on this one for a couple of weeks now.

I brought this up with the audience a little bit.

We got some feedback on it.

But for those that have not here,

there is a new women's professional baseball league set

to launch in 2026.

Perfect timing.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Perfect timing.

Very similar to what we're set tonight in our pregame,

we're going over our favorite baseball movies.

And we both have a League of Your Own is your favourite.

It's my favourite.

Yeah.

That may probably number two or three from me on my list.

So we were talking a bit about that,

and of course the that happened in the rise of that league happened

because of World War II and everything.

All right.

What was going on?

A lot of so many of the major league players were drafted

into the Army and the Armed Forces.

So I didn't know that you were going to be coming in with that take,

and you didn't know that I had this,

but they actually are perfectly matched.

Yeah.

Because you're right.

If the strike does happen, it could be a perfect time.

Perfect time for them.

I'm telling you.

I will say that I wish this was around when Jenny Finch was around.

Yeah.

And that's what got me thinking.

And I thought that jokingly,

but I was talking to a friend of mine, Marissa,

and she is an athlete.

She is a former sports trainer and worked in the South for a long time.

I mentioned those things because her opinion right away to this was,

I thought very interesting.

And I don't know if I'm going to word it the way she did or word it as well

as she did or anything.

But well, why couldn't they play softball?

Why couldn't it be softball?

Why couldn't it be women's professional softball?

Especially considering there isn't really a women's professional,

our women's college baseball.

It's women's college softball.

So then asking those athletes like Jenny Finch who I loved as a kid,

to ask her to go and then do it like overhand,

that seems a little weird.

And why do they got to do what the guys do?

Why can't they do what they want or what have you?

I would like to know what they want in this women baseball players,

women's softball players.

I would like that to be up to them.

I think that would be a better way of doing it.

But my overall question to the audience is,

you're going to watch.

Would you watch?

Because I love basketball.

I'm a diehard basketball fan.

I will watch two kids playing 101 over a Robinson Park right now.

I love basketball.

But it took me, when I watched WMBA or I watched women's college basketball,

I almost approached them in a different light.

Not different than basketball.

Just similar to watching if there were,

if I was around when the ABA and the NBA was around,

it might be like that where I don't, I don't,

I don't see them as the same because they play them differently.

The game is the same.

They're playing the same game and they're both equally talented

and both have the same incredible skill sets and everything.

But they approach the game a little differently,

as men and women approach things in life differently.

I get canceled for this, I'll take it.

Men and women are different.

I'm sorry.

I'm sorry, but that, you know,

that's a good thing, by the way, everybody.

It's a very good thing.

Yes, we don't need to get into the minutia of why.

I mean, there's a lot of reasons.

But to your point, yes, yes.

The idea of a women's baseball or softball league,

I'm all in.

I'm all in.

I want a jersey right now.

I'm all in.

I love the idea of this.

It sounded so exciting to me when I first heard it.

They're going to start out with six teams.

They're based in the Northeast and the United States and everything.

So they'll make their way out here if this does well.

But for one, this is just the way the direction things are going.

This is, this is, you know, sports 101.

This is marketing 101.

It's just smart to do this.

But I am very curious about if people would be interested in watching.

Because to me, it just seems like a no-brainer.

Yeah.

Well, a couple of things real quick.

For, first of all, a softball and baseball are two different sports.

Yeah.

We have to throw that out there because they're very similar.

Oh, God.

Yeah.

I'm so sorry.

I really should have landed that.

You're right.

You're right.

I should have nailed that more.

Because if you talk to like a female baseball player, they would say, no, I play baseball.

You know, softball is things cool.

You know, or whatever they think about softball.

But they're like, I'm a baseball player.

And it's just because they're two different things.

It's like a cricket player and a baseball.

You know, they're further apart, but you know, you hit a ball with a bat.

And there's, you know, innings and unbuttoned.

So there's similarities.

Softball and baseball are closer together than cricket and baseball or cricket and softball are.

They have tried some professional softball leagues and professional women's baseball leagues as well.

They haven't really worked out.

They've tried different things.

I'm not an expert, but I remember hearing some really wacky crazy things that they've tried.

You know, look it up on some of the other ones they've done.

But I like, I like the idea of doing it this way.

Like kind of like the WNBA, you know, especially if you give it a chance.

Yeah.

The WNBA took it took it took it took some time, you know, to really establish itself.

But hey, look at where it is now.

It's gotten some big stars.

It's gotten a lot of crossover appeal.

It's making people...

No, I don't know if it's the college to the WNBA or the WNBA to college,

which way that's going.

Maybe it's just a symbiotic relationship.

You know, they're just reinforcing each other.

But man, it's really gotten big, really bigger than I think I ever thought it would be.

Really.

And that's just my mistake on that one.

But this is something where if I think if they do it right,

they've got a great group of people so far.

They're bringing in, you know, they've won a 90-some-year-old lady

who played in the old professional baseball women's league back in the day.

They've got some...

Sido Gaston.

Sido Gaston.

Sido Gaston.

Real series winning manager.

Sido Gaston is helping out with this, which I think is really cool.

To piggyback on what you're saying there, Seth.

One of the things...

One of the smartest things I think I've ever seen done in sports

was Adam Silver deciding the WMBA is falling.

We're going to pick him up.

We're going to take the L.

We're not going to finish in the black with this.

We understand that.

We're going to finish in the red most years.

But we're investing in this.

And we're looking at the big picture.

And no way that they could have seen things going the direction they did.

But they had...

They believed that they were going to go return on that eventually.

Look at what happened.

And Adam Silver gets blessed with Caitlin Clark.

Yeah, right.

And Angel Reese.

Some of these other players and everything.

And now you've got people that are going to watch the WMBA for 10, 12, 15, 20 years,

whatever these kids...

I'm telling you.

...their careers are.

And outside of that, their kids are watching it.

So you're creating fans.

Because that's what sports is.

We hand it down, everybody.

We do.

I love Mike.

Like we need to explain it to Packer fans.

Right, right.

Exactly.

Yeah.

Yeah.

You're man-splade sports down everybody here.

So with that, that's an investment.

And it's an investment that's paying off.

We're seeing professional women's hockey league getting ready for their second season.

Yep.

In basketball, certain, the Golden State Valkyries are coming in.

So they're already expanding with that.

And the National Women's Soccer League has just started up.

Yeah.

I think there's going to be a lot of interest in that too.

So it just is...

To me, like, if there's one way to really...

I think just a way of stripping away all of the diversity, all the different things here as far as like,

Hey, I just want...

I love competition.

I love sports.

Get me my football.

Get me my basketball.

Get me my hockey.

Get me my basketball.

This is a way of doing that.

Of just having these more women leagues in this, where I don't believe that you can't convince me 10, 20 years from now.

Maybe even not that far, that you're going to have generations, that it's not anything.

That they just flip between the leagues.

The NBA's on tonight watching that.

WNB tonight watching that.

Yep.

And they're not looking at it as men, women's sports.

They're looking at it as...

I love basketball.

Yeah.

Just the sport itself.

Right.

I think that we're getting more and more closer to that.

A lot of work to be done.

Right.

And I'm saying this as a man and I wholeheartedly admit that.

Yeah.

I know that I only know so much about this topic.

Right.

But I do see things from this perspective getting better from the male side of things where there are guys that I know that would never have necessarily even looked at some of this stuff.

They could tell you exactly what Katelyn Clark is averaging right now in the WNBA.

They're all Angel Reese is selling food at McDonald's.

Yeah.

I mean, she's getting big endorsement deals.

Yeah.

It's impressive to see what's happening.

And yeah, I'm curious to see where that goes.

We'll be watching.

Yep.

We're watching the Wisconsin Badgers, of course, as they continue on 8670 over UCLA today.

It wasn't that close.

No.

John Todd, you came out there and made sure it was right away you knew that it wasn't close.

Yeah.

That young man is...

To me, I know that there could be some arguments made here.

I don't think it's any question.

He's the big 10 player of the year.

I think by far and away, he's the big 10 player of the year.

We'll see.

We'll see how that plays out.

He steps up over the next couple of games here and we'll see what happens.

Especially.

The Badgers will be taking on Michigan State.

Of course, we will have that game for you tomorrow.

I believe 11 o'clock and then noon to tip off.

Yes.

11 o'clock pregame, noon tip off.

You got it.

And of course, congratulations to our assumption lady Royals moving on.

Mm-hmm.

The State Championship.

And this is old hat for them.

They've been here before.

Yeah.

But it's been a while since they've been able to finish and bring the gold ball home.

I can tell you right now, I'm guessing they're quite hungry.

Hungry for that globe.

Yeah.

You cannot imagine.

I cannot imagine how good this feels and I'll at the same time how...

Like the coach Klein is telling them, hey, there's work to be done.

Yeah.

There's work to be done here.

It's a challenge coming up.

We will have that game for you tomorrow in our sister station.

105, 5WYR.

1050, our pregame will kick off.

And if you have not heard, assumption will be taken on Barnabyl.

Yes.

A lot of depth there.

A lot of history there between those two teams.

And I think the two deepest teams, I'd take Randy and Mike's word on this one first.

But I do believe the two deepest teams left, at least.

Yeah.

I think it'll be a good game tomorrow.

It really should be.

Yeah.

I do want to send Josh out to Owen with the...

They had a real fun playoff.

I don't think anybody expected them to be where they were.

And a good shout out to them.

And of course, to the lady Royals.

And just a great season.

Whatever happens tomorrow is not going to change the fact that this has been a wonderful fun season.

Yes.

Especially compared to how last year ended.

Yeah.

I think they were expecting a lot more last year.

And that made him just that much more ready with this year.

Catch the game tomorrow.

1050, our pregame will kick off.

Randy, Mike and Seth will have that game for you.

I do want to shout out Randy and Mike for the coverage today.

Yeah.

Wonderful, John.

We have a lot of people coming in early to cover the board for us and everything.

Great job by all of them.

And I want to thank them because we had the soundtrack of Laura's laughter throughout the hallways here in every day.

Good job, you guys as they were getting to get our word of the special catch of the day word over there.

Yes, they were.

That was great.

We're going to be joined by head coach GM of Heroes Cats Rapids, Rivercans, Coach Paul Peckman.

Going to be joining us about 530.

Before we go to break, I didn't want to wrap up here, Seth, I wanted to show this to Seth.

In an audio medium, of course, I have a visual aid.

Perfect.

It's wonderful.

Yeah, very good job, James.

My dad and Sheriff Sean Becker, trade baseball cards.

They do.

And they've been doing this for years.

And this one in particular stood out to me, though.

It is a FLIR 1990 Carlton Fisk baseball card.

Awesome.

And I forgot about FLIR.

I forgot about FLIR?

I don't know how, but I forgot all about these cards.

Yes.

I have a good run.

Yeah, they did.

Yeah, I don't think they're around anymore, but I do remember.

I do remember those.

I had to show that.

They started in the 80s.

And they went through, I think, most of the 90s, if I remember correctly.

But yeah.

And real quick, as we go to break, I did want to throw out there.

Is anybody like, I'm very glued to the Marquette St. John's game going on tonight.

530.

That one's coming up just a minute from now and everything in the, in the, in the, in the, in the, the spotlight, everyone.

Shock is smart as probably my favorite college coach.

Not just my favorite college basketball, but favorite college coach period.

I'm really in like him.

I like Marquette.

I like rooting for him.

Yep.

Not over the Badgers, but I'm not a Wisconsinite, so I can do that.

You can do whatever you want.

I can root for both.

Yeah.

But I have to admit, St. John's and the story that is going on there with Rick Patino and what he has done with that team is so entertaining to me.

It's very exciting.

Yes, it is.

So we're going to go to break.

We'll come back and, well, the fourth period coach Paul going to join us.

When we get back here on playmakers, probably brought to by family natural foods and quality post frittings.

Welcome back, Wisconsin.

It's time for the fourth period right here on WFHR's playmakers.

Thanks for joining us, everybody.

And we're joined right now, Seth and I by GM head coach of your Wisconsin Rapids River Kings.

Coach Paul Peck been joining us right now.

Coach, how you doing?

Doing great, man.

Well, you.

You doing good.

Thanks for asking.

Right away, I want to thank you for having Derek stop by the other day.

It was great getting the chance to talk to him a little bit and hanging out with him.

That was fun.

Good.

Good.

Right here.

So coach, how was the team doing?

Well, let me ask you right away.

Are you guys on the road of Jardy?

Are you already there?

Yeah, we're here.

We're actually at the rink.

We just pulled up probably about 20 minutes ago and always are getting settled in a locker room and getting ready to go out and pregame warm-ups and that kind of thing.

Okay.

The Wisconsin Rapids River Kings taking on the Minnesota Squatch to hopefully continue on and play into the NAD.

Get to the NADs because Seth and I were talking about it on our morning show.

Beginning of the season, I'm interviewing all the players, you and the coaches and everything and talking.

And the most consistent thing other than loving this community and the fan base and all of that was NADs.

A couple of kids said nationals, but it was too much NADs.

That was the big thing on.

With that being said coach and being this close, how do you and that coaching staff keep these guys focused on?

That's great.

Tonight's all that matters.

Well, I mean, all week long, right?

You talk about, you know, one step at a time is, you know, you got one, there's one team left, right?

They're the ones right in front of you and that's what we're preparing for all week long.

And, you know, just reminding them to make sure that they're doing their homework and watching film and eating right and getting sleep.

And, you know, doing the things that matter and staying focused on the prize.

It feels like one of the more, and this isn't, I don't want to say like this is an original take.

I've heard some of my favorite coaches and players talk about this, how difficult it is to beat a team three times in a season.

We hear this a lot in football.

You know, division opponents face off in the playoffs and that kind of thing.

Hockey, it happens all the time.

It's similar in sports, but this is a very unique situation where you guys are even on the season and finish two and two.

And both sides could be looking at this with the same type of approach.

How do you approach an opponent that you've faced four times already and that they know you and you know them and back and forth?

Well, it's just a battle of will.

Yeah, at the point.

You know, it's about, you know, your will has got to be greater than your skill.

And we know who they are.

We know who their top guys are.

And that's what we prepare for.

Working on special teams and all that kind of stuff all week long.

And they know we can beat them.

And we know that if we don't play our game the best way that we can, they can beat us.

So we have to bring our A game today.

And tomorrow, hopefully not someday.

You know, we'll take care of business.

If we play the game our way, the right way, you've got to play hard, you've got to play fast, you've got to be physical.

You know, you can't let them, you can't give them time and space, right?

And that's what we talked about a lot in practice is just jumping on them and not allowing them to create because they do have a couple guys.

One guy in particular, it's got over 100 points.

So you've got to know where that guy is on the ice at all times, right?

And if you don't, he's going to, he's going to sneak up on you and he's going to bury it.

So it's just being aware and talking about all the little fine details.

I'm just really honing the game and being prepared and we know who they are, right?

They know who we are and they know we can beat them.

You know, last game we played them, we beat them seven two.

The night before they beat us six nothing, right?

So if you're not careful, they'll smack you in the mouth.

Great points, coach.

Real quickly and I apologize if I don't have this right.

But I believe those four games, there's one big difference, at least on our side, and having Dominic in goal.

Yeah, that's nice.

I want that cut, I want that snippet right there, that one out.

That was perfect.

It is a game changer and it is definitely a difference maker.

Well, yeah, I mean, listen, that's why we win after, right?

I mean, and I lived and I think all our goal tend to set tremendous years.

The period, yeah.

But it's just the inexperience and when it comes to this is why we brought him here.

Right, so he's got the experience and he's been very successful on an unsuccessful team this year.

So when you put, when you put a team like ours in front of him, with him and his ability,

well, you got to see this guy practice.

I've never seen a kid practice with a smile so big on his face.

So he's so damn happy to be here any five and only since he's been here, right?

That's great.

We're going to ride the gravy train with him tonight and Poggerni will go tomorrow because he's had some success against these guys.

And obviously it goes to Sunday.

Dominic will get Sunday as well.

So at least Turcot got the first series against Steel County.

Shaw played against Northwest.

Poggerni will play against the Scots, right?

And then, you know, at least each guy got a playoff game in and gained a little bit of experience.

But when you're this close and you can taste nationals, you got to go with experience.

You got to go with talent and Dominic got both of that.

You know, this is why I think in every level of coaching has different, you know,

required different difficulties in that.

But I think you could make an argument where coaches is at the level that he is is.

It's the toughest coaching that there is.

If you're doing it right and doing it the way he is,

because what he just said there is certainly good for experience, good for these players,

next season going forward, that's how you have a Dominic that he started somewhere and ends that.

But it's also about giving these kids opportunities to be seen by Scouts

and take their talents to the next level and all of that and balancing that is such a difficult process.

And you just without even asking you coach, you laid it out perfectly

and you took my question of who is going to be a goal tonight.

You're too good at this man, you're too good at it.

But that balance that you're talking about here and everything,

that is even at play here, this deep in the playoffs,

that really says something not only about you and what this is all about

and I know how much you love to win.

But how important it is to you to do right by these players?

Well, you try, but you know, if you never make anybody happy,

there's this one guy on Facebook that apparently wants to talk out to play every game.

They don't understand, and it is. It's my job.

It's my job to make sure that these guys, they put in the hard work,

the sweat, you know, sweat equity into this season,

and everybody deserves a chance.

The good thing is that these guys still got two more years of juniors.

So everything, this is all going through the process.

It is something that is valuable for them,

and it's going to serve them well when it's their time,

and it's their last year, and they're the ones getting recruited for college.

Right now it's dominant, and we're going to write them a little bit.

Yeah, we do.

And at the same time, you know, I want the guys to get a gaming,

get a taste, do well, hopefully.

And, you know, and we get the nationals, we'll see.

I mean, if you remember last year, it was Borah, Yoldiram,

and Jude Ailing, every other game, all the way through national.

Yeah.

Borah plays Friday.

You played Saturday, every weekend.

Does it?

Yeah, yeah.

And it was in a credit to those guys too.

And it's certainly what you were saying.

And I agree with as well, and we're second as far as the goalies

that we've had this season, how good they've played.

For you coach, just two quick questions.

I don't want to keep it too long because you've got a job to do tonight.

And that comes first.

But when it comes to the rest of the team, and who is in goal,

I'm sure that they have confidence in every one of these guys.

But do you see a different style of play from them depending on who is in goal?

Or are these guys, your wings, your defensemen,

they're playing the same play with no matter who's in goal there?

Well, that's a good question, buddy.

They don't change the way that they play.

They may have feelings about certain guys more than others.

Sure.

Sure.

Yes.

They might have more confidence in one guy than the other.

And that's just me speaking from years and experiences going through this.

But at the same time, they have jobs to do too.

And if they're not doing their job, right, it's not the goalies fall.

Right.

Yeah.

I don't care if you lose seven to two.

They got to go through five guys to get to the goalies.

Yeah, right.

So somebody's not doing their job.

So that's my job is to make sure that this thing is focused on what they got to do.

Don't worry about what this guy does.

And if you do your job and they score from somewhere outside of your job,

then it's on the goalie.

Right.

Until then, let me worry about the rest, right?

Right.

Right.

And we should take care of business.

So yeah, it does.

You know, guys do, but my job is to make sure they focus on what they got to do.

Paul, just real quick before we let you go, I got to ask, man, I know how intense you can be with this and how much...

You're invested in this emotionally, physically, everything.

You put so much into this team and getting to this point and everything.

Are you having fun?

Are you having fun, man?

Are you enjoying yourself even some?

Man, it doesn't get any better than this.

All right.

Right up.

This is what you do before, right?

And to be able to help these kids get to where they want to go and achieve their goals and dreams,

that's why you coach.

And if you don't, then you shouldn't be coached.

Right on.

Right.

Yeah.

You know, it's all the stuff behind the scenes, in the locker room, on the bus, right?

It's the pre-game meals, the post-game meals, and everything in between is what makes it special.

Right?

The icing on the cake is going out there and winning some games.

Right.

Yeah.

That's the fun part.

The two coaches point before about his job and giving these guys experience, exposure, some of that,

to what he's saying right there, and really what we're all saying here in this conversation,

and all the conversations, all season long about the river kings, they tell you in their tagline,

building hockey up and down the river, not winning championships up and down the river,

or winning divisions up and down the river.

It's building this sport.

It's building these young men up.

It's doing all of that.

And you and that coaching staff have done an amazing job this season coach.

We appreciate to tell the boys high for us, have fun tonight in this weekend.

You can follow your kings at Flow Sports TV.

You can go ahead and catch all the action right there, everybody.

Make sure as you're cheering them on, that they can hear you in Elk River.

You've got to shout a little louder.

It's a little cheerier.

Have a good time, coach.

Thanks, buddy.

Appreciate it.

Thank you, man.

Thank you.

We'll get to break here real quick.

But that was fun.

That was great.

And great points by him, too.

I got to say.

I mean, it's like he's, he knows what he's doing, you know?

It really seems like it really seems like it.

When I encourage you to follow along the King's SF Flow Sports TV,

I can say that because their home games are not over at our other station.

No, they're not.

And I will say, too, good to be sure to bookmark RiverKing's hockey.com.

They got all the information you need.

And keep up on their social media.

They do a good job over there, keeping up to date on scores and what's going on.

Winner lose.

We love this team and we will back them and follow them.

Our boys and winters, they build hockey up and down the river.

Yes.

Seth and I will take a quick time out.

We'll be back with more show coming up.

Welcome back, everybody.

To play makers here at WFHR.

Probably brought you by quality plus printing and family natural foods.

Seth and James hanging out with you.

I'm going to go to the phone lines here.

And I do believe I think this is Michael.

We have Michael Comer joining us, Mike.

You here?

Yes, yeah.

Yeah, I thought it was your plan.

I thought so.

Thanks for joining us.

Appreciate it.

And it couldn't have been better timing, too.

Real quick, I do want to shout out Coach Paul for joining us.

That was fantastic.

Every interview with him is amazing, man.

I would send every one of them to the WBS.

I love it.

It's a great guy.

Great time talking with him.

Yes.

Some news broke while we were talking to Coach that does seem pretty noteworthy.

Cooper Cup has agreed to a three year, $45 million contract with the Seattle Seahawks.

No, no surprise.

I figured that's where he was going to go.

Just only surprising because I don't understand what the Seahawks are doing.

I don't believe that.

But it was a 10 win team last year.

But regardless, I don't know what they're doing here.

Certainly, the other team that was rumored in the Cup interest was the Green Bay Packers.

So that is noteworthy locally here with that.

But Michael, NFL free agency, any of that stuff.

I want to get to some of that before we wrap up talking a little about the Golden Ball and Assumption Lady Royals.

Let's start with NFL free agency.

Any takes from you on that?

Nothing really too surprising.

What's his name for Minnesota?

He's getting paid.

He's getting paid.

Big bucks.

Pittsburgh's loading up to be really good in theory on paper at this point.

The Bears have gotten a better offensive line.

So it'll be interesting to see if fields is armed.

If he is given time, if he can hone in that arm a little bit instead of scrambling for his life all the time.

But I like the moves the Bears did on the offensive line.

And that pains me to say that.

Paper champions.

That's something my team, my team is pretty good at.

The last two off-season.

If the NFL season could have just ended in free agency, we'd be doing good.

He asked the Detroit Lions, you know, 2008 preseason champions.

Yeah.

But real quick, I have to ask and mainly because this is a question that I'm not only asking,

but I'm hearing Packer fans asking you are the Packer fans.

How do you feel about what they've done so far in free agency and in this off-season?

And that's such a loaded question.

There are so many things that could be answered.

By the end of this sentence, let alone before we're even getting into preseason.

I think they're doing just fine.

Okay.

I think they're doing just fine.

I mean, you see the moves that they're going to make on offense.

And if nothing else, you've got a really good left guard.

You move your left tackle to center.

And where he's getting older, but he's still one of the best better centers,

better lineman, period, and a story with Elton Jenkins.

You're going to have Ryan at right guard.

And I just have to double-check my mind so I'm over the place.

About the rounding out the offensive line,

but it's loading up to be a more physical pounding offensive line

to where the Jordan Love doesn't have to throw, you know, to the receivers,

which are a question mark to this point.

There can still be things happening.

I don't know.

But if it's going to be ground in pound, Josh Jacobs or Bust,

I think, you know, that's the way it's going.

Secondary wise, I think you're seen to where Mr. Alexander's probably gone.

And they're just trying to, they're filling that void.

I don't think Hobbs was that bad.