There we go. There we go. Is that better? Is that where we are? Is that what we wanted to do right there?
I'm not sure. But we're talking about the WIA is decision to implement a new policy where fans,
ejective from high school sporting events will be required to take a free online
sportsmanship course to be allowed back in the stance. Again, civic media. US,
you can go for this full report if you'd like. Now, I'm curious what you guys think of this one.
What's your mindset on this? How do you feel about this? Do you think that this is the proper way to handle this?
This is the best way to handle this. You got other options because I like it. I'm going to tell you right now. I like it.
We did a story back on this early days of playmakers a couple of years ago.
I believe this article is from 2023 and it is about this town in New Jersey.
It has already had an interesting kind of take on this.
They were having a serious problem. Their little league was of getting people not only to ref the games,
but getting parents to settle down. What their idea was they came up with was an interesting
punishment, quote, unquote punishment. If you're caught berating an umpire during a game,
you'll be banned from the complex unless you agree to suit up as an umpire yourself and call three games.
That's the idea. You want to act like a knucklehead in the stands.
They're going to put you to work and let you know what it feels like a little bit to be a referee.
I love this idea. I think this is the only idea I like more than what the WIA proposed as far as taking the online course.
Let's be honest, a free online sportsmanship course.
I don't know the course and I don't know that how they'll be able to prove that people took the course other than them,
of course, just signing it. But if it's online, you don't necessarily have to be present, if you will.
I'm not saying anything that we don't all know or haven't done before.
So I'm curious to know what you guys think of this one as well as what they did out in Jersey with this umpiring thing.
715-424-2600. Just a touch or two away on the Civic Media app.
What do you guys think of this one? The referee idea I like on a number of levels.
I like both of these, but the idea of having somebody actually have to put on the pinstripes and be the zebra and be the referee.
Well, we could use more refs. And I mean, as you know, crazy and maybe it sounds like a reach, I admit that.
But what if we got people that, you know, put on that and decided, hey, I kind of like this. Maybe I had to do this more.
I don't have a lot of nice things to say about George McCasky and that's coming from me.
But I will say one of the things that I've always thought was really cool is he it is one of his biggest hobbies.
It's one of the ways he spends his data is time away from football, away from management and all that.
He refs a lot of little league games. I believe in multiple sports, but I know in little league in baseball least.
We need more people doing this. That's why he does it.
What I think is just as interesting about this is the idea of we're at this stage that that people could be acting this outrageous or this crazy that we even have to come up with rules for it.
For one, I understand that James gone out the window. There is no shame anymore. I kind of get that. We've all had to adapt to that.
But I thought on a personal level, on a local level, that this still was something.
I don't know. 715-424-2600 call up. Let me know what you think of this one. Both ideas, especially considering what the WIA proposed today.
Want to dive into the Green Bay draft. See where that all ended. But before we do, I wanted to get to one of our stories of the show.
If you guys didn't happen to see this happen in the fourth round, I understand because most people are not insane like me and follow the every single pick of the NFL draft.
I was not able to catch a lot of it live. So what's more insane watching every pick of the NFL draft live or the fact that you didn't have to.
But you had other things going on. So you went back and caught every single pick. I didn't watch it, but I read every single pick. So yes, because I need help.
But it also really helps when you run a sports show. That part of it is really good.
Texas Edge, Russia, Baron Sorrel decided to stick around the proceedings the final day. He doesn't need to go anywhere else after what happened Saturday.
Sorrel had to do. All he had to do was cross the parking lot from where the stage was to find his new home in Lambo field after getting drafted by the Green Bay Packers, 124th overall.
The Packers had no idea that Sorrel was even in Green Bay for the draft. When NFL Commissioner Roger Gidell went to the podium and said this young man is here today, those in the draft room thought Gidell was just introducing the person who was going to announce the pick.
They quickly found out Gidell was talking about their newest packer.
Quote, what a cool moment that was Packers director of football operations, Milton Hendrixson said we did not know that he was there. That wasn't the reason we picked him.
Just some things are just meant to be pretty cool moment for him and the organization.
I agree that the only, what I know of athletics, what I know of being an athlete started and ended pretty much in junior high.
And I'm not one of these people doing talking sports that believes I could do all these things or anything like that.
But one of the things I think that you can relate to is the idea of what it would just even putting yourself in the shoes of somebody being drafted.
And I don't care what round because if I knew that I was going to be drafted, if I was confident that I'd be drafted, I don't care what the round is.
I'm going.
I heard Lewis Reddick say this when he was referring to a shooter or Sanders, but I think it's I believe it's app for anybody.
It's all draft where you're drafted as pole position.
That's just a number.
You look at this and you look at okay, a hundred three hundred some players are drafted.
Yes, that may seem like a, you know, when you're number 239 or something like that, that may be a lot.
But say you're a wide receiver, say you're an offensive guard.
Well, once you get into camp, it's you and it's down to three other guys or four other guys.
All right, you can work with those numbers a little bit more.
And then all of a sudden, all it is is getting noticed by a coach or putting in the effort or just being there when somebody else isn't for injury or whatever other reasons.
It's pole position.
So whether you're a shooter or Sanders or you are a trail here, it really so well.
It's all just a matter of get me in the room.
Just give somebody an opportunity and see what they can do.
We're going to see what the Green Bay newest packers can do.
Let's take a look at that draft those draft picks of theirs and I'd love to know from you guys.
Oh, if you had a favor pick.
And what you thought of their draft as a whole.
I feel like it's pretty consensus.
Everybody was good with their number one pick.
Matthew Gold in first time and 20 years they draft a receiver.
There are people wondering if he can be a true number one.
But I don't know that he has to be considering Green Bay has proven many many years that they can win games and put up points without having a quote true number one receiver.
And when you look at Matt LaFlaur's offense, I don't know that it's important to have a number one receiver.
I think it's important to have very smart receivers and you definitely need three down receivers receivers that can not only play the slot play outside, but also block.
Now this kid looks like he can do all the above.
Check, check, check.
Along with having speed for days.
And, you know, while I think some people might have liked to see them grab.
Oh, maybe, you know, some other positions I could see that they could use, especially just randomly thinking of the talent that was there on defense at the time.
Not only was this a smart pick and a good pick for this team for Jordan love for this offense, not only was it a smart pick because you don't know what your number one.
And Watson is going to look like with that Tor ACL, even when he does come back.
But is there anything wrong with, you know what, the fans are going to love this.
Oh, they're going to lose their minds for this.
We've got literally more people in the city of Green Bay than has ever been before.
Think about that.
You can statistically say that over the weekend there were more people in Green Bay than there's ever been.
Let's give them something.
Oh, and they went to the moment.
And I don't know.
I mean, that only was that kind of cool, but I thought that they, that they seized the moment and they realized the moment.
That's, that's what I was trying to say is that they not only seized it, but they realized it.
And again, I'm not saying they made this pick for the fans, but they knew darn well.
This was going to go over really good.
It's interesting.
I have seen some people talking about asking if he's going to start as a rookie.
Yeah.
Yeah, he is.
Again, CC everything I just said about Christian Watson.
And look, these receivers nowadays, you find out pretty quick if they can make it.
These guys, they come out of college.
It's not like it used to be where you needed to give a guy a couple of years outside of a Kishan Johnson or even him a little bit.
You know, we didn't get to see what a wide receiver was really capable of until year two, year three, at least when I was a kid.
Nowadays, these receivers are coming out the gate.
And as long as it pecs, sometimes they don't even need a good quarterback.
Look at what DJ Moore was doing in Carolina or in Chicago.
So, yeah, I feel like, yeah, get them out there.
Give them a number.
Get them out there.
And see what he can do.
Because obviously, when you're talking about the Green Bay Packers, to me, at least from an outside looking in, it's championship or nothing.
You're called title town.
So, you're on the clock.
You got Jordan Love's contract is only getting older every second.
And you've got a lot of, you know, pieces that you've got to figure out.
It's wind time.
Get them out there.
See what he's got.
And even when he has bad plays, those are reps.
He's learning in real time.
It's one of those jobs.
You can only learn in real time.
You can go to radio school.
And you can learn a lot of things.
And it, you know, be very educated.
And come into this job, the head of your class.
You could turn on this microphone and then spit nothing but gibberish.
There are certain jobs.
Anybody you have ever seen on local TV news or weather.
Very similar thing.
Trained, prepared by great teachers, great educators.
And they get out there.
And, you know, there's nothing like live.
There's nothing like real time.
I mean, that's why I record this whole show.
What?
We're live.
Oh, dear God.
We're live.
Of course, we're live.
That's why we have to be live because we want to take your phone calls.
Shut me up, everybody.
715-424-2600.
Call up.
Join the conversation.
Love to hang out with you.
Love to hear your sports takes in feelings.
And what you think about the Packers draft.
Number two.
Number 50 in the second round.
Their second pick.
54th overall.
Anthony Belton, offensive tackle out of North Carolina.
It's a big boy.
Six foot six, three, 36.
He's a good tackle.
And some people had him even as a projected late round first pick.
First round, you know.
All that being said, I mean, lineman.
To me, that's what the second and third round are almost four.
Give me my skill position guys in the first round.
Your QBs, your tight ends, your wide receivers, your running backs.
Give me defense and offensive tackle or offensive line, I should say.
In rounds two and three.
If you have to reverse that.
If you're the giants and you grab Abdul Carter at number three overall,
which of course you should do,
they flip that around a little bit.
But I'm taking best available at any of those positions.
And especially if there is a first round talent at tackle available.
There is nothing more important than all of football.
Then the offense and defensive lines.
Quarterbacks get the money.
Quarterbacks get the headlines and they should.
That's a most important job in sports.
But the quarterback is worthless if you can't block for him.
The quarterback becomes nothing if your defense can't stop the other quarterback.
So grab and lineman, yeah, snatch them up.
Especially if they fall to you like this kid.
Round three, number 87 might have been a little surprising to some.
But you know, once you get in the habit of some, you want to do it again and again.
So why the Packers drafted another wide receiver,
Savion Williams out of TCU.
Think Cornell Patterson, a real versatile back, real twitchy.
I heard that word a lot this week in twitchy.
I feel like I, in fact, I know that the, with the rise of the draft,
which is kind of cool to me and seeing so many different outlets covering the draft and everything.
That's great.
But with that, so back in the day when you first started watching the draft,
you had nothing but experts because they had nowhere else to go, but ESPN.
And sit next to Boomer and Mel Kiper.
Now with so many people out there, there are some really smart talented people.
And then there are some people who are just basically pandering or just throwing in there.
I mean, I don't know.
They could give you the kids 40 time. They could tell you what he benched or they could tell you he's twitchy
because they got none else.
And there's this rule of three that most people lean into and go by.
Okay, I said that he's got a great 40 time.
I said that he was a three year starter in college.
Okay, what else?
I need a third thing.
I need a third thing.
He's got a lot of heart.
And they always got to come up with a third thing.
It's usually something week like that.
Savion Williams, it doesn't need your, it doesn't need anything week.
Complete player.
Another one of these guys, they're talking about Cordell Patterson as a comparison.
You got a little Debo Samuel in him too, because he could take a hit.
He can keep going.
He did not fumble in 199 career touches from Scrimmage.
Only drop five passes, which seems to be a pretty darn good thing going into Green Bay,
where the Packers led the NFL with 25 drops last year.
Another nice piece for Jordan Love in that offense.
Round 424th overall pick.
I mentioned Edge out of Texas, Baron Soral.
And then at number five in the fifth round, 159th overall.
Colin Oliver, another edge out of Oklahoma.
Like to hear what Michael has to say, oh, Oklahoma state.
So I don't know how it feels about that.
Six foot two, 240.
A little bit smaller than the Packers might prefer with their new 4-3 defense,
with a halfly in there.
But halfly also is the one that made the pick.
And the kid had a 4-5-6 speed at the combine.
I think you'll find room for him.
I think you'll make room for this kid.
Now, this was interesting to me.
They go from fourth, fifth, and sixth round.
They go edge, edge, and defensive tackle.
Where do you win Super Bulls?
Defensive line.
Offensive line.
That's where you win Super Bulls.
This is putting more and more bodies over there,
and getting them to work.
Warren Briston, defense attacker out of Georgia.
Got to like that.
You got to like that.
I mean, the pedigree of these kids coming out of Georgia is incredible.
Yeah, there are some remarkable things going on with the defensive line,
I think, in Greenback.
And then they had two picks in the seventh round.
One of them from Pittsburgh, give it a trade.
Micah Robinson, a cornerback out of Tulane.
A kid I actually seen a little bit in college,
and I really liked his work.
It's a great player.
Then wrapping things up in the seventh round with the number 250th overall pick.
John Williams, offensive lineman out of Cincinnati.
So, what do you think of the draft, everybody?
715-424-2600.
Want to hear from all of you, and what you thought of this one?
I apologize if I seem a little distracted,
but I wanted to make sure to take this text
because we've got the fourth period coming up for new listeners out there.
That is our chance to talk hockey with GM and head coach.
If your Wisconsin Rapids River Kings coach Paul,
I'm going to be joining us in a little bit here, looking forward to that.
Catch up with the River Kings.
Find out what they've been up to.
Want to get into some of the undrafted free agents out there as well.
So, we'll be talking about that.
And again, want to hear from all of you what you thought of the Packers draft.
Or are you still sleeping?
Were you at the draft and you were beat?
You were so tired.
You weren't able to make it a call again.
What do you think of these WIA rules that we were talking about earlier?
We'll be discussing those.
I'm sure Michael Comer, our new sports director around here at the studios.
Michael, I'm sure we'll be having some takes on that, some thoughts on that one.
I'm looking forward to hearing from him.
He'll be joining us on Wednesday, I believe.
We'll go ahead and we'll talk with Coach and GM Peckman when he gets here.
And I feel like this is a pretty good lead into that.
Because our friends at Up North News, we're encouraging you to sign up for their newsletter.
They've got some great stuff over there.
One of the articles that they had recently was about building a statue in Madison at University of Wisconsin.
Barry Elvarez has a statue.
Pat Rickner does.
A Richter does.
So, what about Coach Mark Johnson?
Miracle, Mark Johnson.
Born and raised in Madison, Wisconsin, stayed local to play hockey for the Badgers under his dad,
legendary coach Bob Johnson.
His freshman year in 77 helped the team win the national championship, became the first Badger to win WCHA Rookie of the Year.
Finished as the all-time leader in goal score.
Then, of course, the rest of the world got to know Mr. Johnson by name as a key member of the Miracle on Ice Team.
And I've scratched the surface of this man's career.
Because obviously, as you all know out there, eight trophies and an NCAA record sitting 600 wins later,
Mark is not just the winningest coach in Wisconsin, but D1 Women's Hockey History.
And all of this being said, yes, he should have a statue.
Yes, he should have a day named after him.
But, I don't want to pick on anybody on this one if you're looking at your resume from Mark Johnson in your head.
But I feel like you're missing one key thing during all of this.
At the end of his career, one of the last things he has done in his career is going to keep going.
He's not going anywhere.
But one of the most recent things I should say, one of the most recent things he has done in his career,
is in just sitting there and over time and asking his athletes who wants it.
A coach doing that is unheard of.
It's unheard of in practice.
It's unheard of in a regular season game.
It's darn near mind boggling insane to do it with a national championship on the line.
But if you're a good coach, no, sorry.
If you're a legend, that's what you do.
That's the kind of person you are.
That's how you got to where you are.
That's how you became Mark Johnson.
So, yes, to our friends over at Up North News,
and to all of you out there, and specifically hoping they can hear us in Madison,
build this man a statue.
And I want it to be him in the, him in him sitting down
and to look on his face when he says who wants it.
I think that'd be great.
Again, sign up for Up North News.
Everybody sign up for their newsletter.
Throw it into your search engine.
Find Up North News.
Subscribe to the great work they are doing over there.
Shout out to the reporting and the team out there.
We will take our first time out, but that's all right.
We got a second one in the pocket.
We'll come back with GM and head coach of your Wisconsin Rapids River Kings,
which you can hear home games right here, 105, 55, WIRI, all season long.
More playmakers coming up that brought you by quality plus printing and family natural foods.
Good afternoon, Wisconsin.
Welcome to WIRI's Playmakers Time for the Fourth Period.
Oh, that music this time of year just hits the soul so good as a black hawk trade.
I have to admit.
Welcome, everybody, to the fourth period.
This is our chance to sit back and talk with GM and head coach of your Wisconsin Rapids River Kings coach, Paul.
How you doing, man?
I'm doing great. How are you?
Doing good. Thanks for making it. Thanks for being here.
Appreciate it.
I'll let you guys look behind the curtain a little bit.
With the change of the show and the timing and everything, I was a little worried we wouldn't be able to make this work.
I appreciate you being here, coach.
Thank you.
I got caught off guard a little bit too.
Yeah, yeah.
Glad we made it happen.
We're really excited already to get back two things around here and have the Kings back when they get back in town and everything come this fall.
You know, October around there where we start talking a little more Kings hockey.
But I'm always interested in the off season and what's going on.
And not that there really isn't off season or any time to really stop scouting or those things.
You know, the during the regular season, that's something you're doing too.
But you're able to put a lot more focus on it right now.
Is that where your main attention is?
We will talk about junior Kings and stuff too as well.
But for right now, as far as the river Kings go, is that kind of your main focus is scouting and seeing who we can bring in the town here?
Yeah, that's all we're doing right now.
Really, it's just reaching out, looking at guys watching video, talking to coaches.
You know, getting guys on our board and seeing who we want to talk to and who we want to go after.
And right now, we're getting ready to go to Montreal on Wednesday.
We built two prospect teams that are going to play in Quebec, Jr. hockey showcase.
So we're going to go up there.
And last year we were runner up, right? We lost in the finals.
So hopefully, you know, we get back there and do some damage and have some fun.
And we got a lot of guys and these are all prospects, right?
I think maybe we have one or two guys per team that are a river king already.
And we do that specifically to help us in the locker room, right?
You want guys to, they're always wondering what the organization's like.
And this and that, it's always good to have inside guys in there talking.
So we'll have guys like Noah Diamond and Olivier Boudouc and Pat Gurney and Shafri Alexander.
And Lucas Whitehead will be playing in the alumni game there today.
So it'll be nice.
Some familiar names.
That's nice to have.
Always good to hear those.
And a shout out to Lucas and everything he gave to this city and this team and everything.
I appreciate him a lot.
A fun kid to talk to, too.
Yeah.
It's great to have on the mic.
It's great of a scout as you and your coaching staff are.
And you guys are great scouts and recruiters.
It's been proven over the last couple of years, especially.
There's nothing like having these kids being recruits as well.
And these river king players being able to say what it's like coming here.
What it's like to play for this team.
Well, you hope, right?
I mean, you guys have great experience.
And not only do they do well, they see their success and they reap the rewards of their hard work.
And then pass it along to their buddies.
So we have quite a few of those conversations going on right now.
You know, my dad was bringing this up.
We were watching some of the NHL playoffs this weekend.
And one of the coaches kind of went out of his way to go down the line and tap one of the guys
that had a bad set.
And my dad was referencing it and everything.
It's like what that is as a coach and seeing that.
And how he was surprised the camera even went on him.
Because it feels like usually when they put the camera on a hockey coach,
it's only so that when they're screaming or something like that.
I think two people who don't grow up with the sport or maybe watch the sport as intense as you and I do
or some others out there doing everything.
When you think about hockey coaches or something,
I think you have a certain mindset in your mind of what they are.
Maybe even just coaches in general.
But I feel like sports got this long before the business world did.
There certainly accountability is everything in life and just as well as in sports.
And you have to hold people that way.
But you do know good just belittling or badgering an athlete.
It's actually the opposite of that.
You were building these athletes up.
And this is at every level.
I would imagine especially at this level at the USPHL.
I mean, you know, you go through so much or we do anyway, right?
You're in player meetings.
We're on the board, right?
We're writing stuff.
We're talking about all kinds of game situational stuff.
You're watching video, right?
You practice that.
So when it happens in the game and that's what I try to do.
I know Derek does as well.
We talk a lot as as the play is happening.
Here it is.
Right?
This is what we talk about.
This is this.
This is that.
And then when you do it, right?
And you get so excited because these kids get it, right?
And when you're getting it, they got to be rewarded, right?
I mean, that's how you get more.
You can't just keep brow beating, right?
You got to make sure you pump them up and make them recognize the good things that they're doing.
Nine out of 10 times, they know the bad things they're doing, right?
So everybody gets it, right?
That's a conversation you have in a hallways and in a locker room, that kind of stuff.
Right?
But for the most part, recognizing, and you can actually, as the player is transpiring,
talk about it on the bench.
So you got 20 guys sitting in front of you and they're all hearing what you're saying.
Right?
Here we go.
Chip here.
This, that.
Do this off the glass.
You see it?
They do it.
And then all of a sudden, good thing happens.
Right?
That's why we do that.
Right?
That's why we practice that.
Right?
And, uh, and hopefully it ends up in a nut, right?
I think you touched on something really key to this conversation.
Anybody out there listening, I would almost guarantee everybody out there listening.
You know what it is to who the, who your worst enemy is.
It's that voice in your head.
It's the, most of us beat ourselves up more than life could ever could.
Right.
And then imagine being an athlete.
And what it takes to get to where they did.
Um, they, they, they got here in part because of that voice in their head.
Um, so the idea of somebody else doing it, it's not only white noise oftentimes,
but it doesn't really build anybody up.
It doesn't, it doesn't accomplish anything.
If you want them to stop doing that, that, that's not going to do it.
That, you know, that kind of approach or anything.
And I, I admire that a lot and not just in coaching, but just in life and general management,
all of these things.
Uh, I am leaning into talking about management a little bit because I don't get to talk to the GGM coach.
Uh, very, uh, or GM Paul, uh, very often or anything.
But I'm curious with this time in the off season here.
Um, you, you have to put a certainly some time into that work.
And I'm wondering, you know, are you guys talking about some new promotional ideas with the River Kings?
Uh, any kind of interesting things like that.
We certainly don't have anything in writing right now.
But is, uh, that, uh, another conversation you and the, the team are having?
Well, it's just more about, uh, we've come up with a couple of different designs, right?
That we're going to, we're going to put on some apparel and, uh, do that kind of thing and try to keep it fresh.
Um, you know, no, it's, it's really just depends on as we're building up the schedule right now.
So we got a couple of guys, uh, from other teams that have committed to dates and stuff like that.
So it just really depends because I think we're going to start off with a couple of home games in October.
Uh, and I only have, maybe half the teams set for the roster, right?
So you really don't know.
And then whatever it is going on during the course of that time frame, right?
Uh, that we try to connect with.
So I don't, uh, it's really.
Oh, yeah, it's a fluid thing.
I imagine it's tough to nail down.
Yeah.
Um, but no, uh, you know, we like to do the outdoor, uh, game in Chicago, right?
The blue white games.
Yeah.
But I think that may be something we, we expand upon.
I don't know.
Um, that's still in the talks, but, uh, with Marshfield and other places like that.
But, uh, nothing locally where we've actually really gotten together.
I've been working or trying to work with a Wheeler's card dealership, uh, and doing something.
Cool.
Just more advertising, more marketing and just getting a word out there.
That kind of thing.
Well, we'll see.
One of the ways we as fans can help doing that is making sure we show up.
We fill up the South of County Rec Center, make sure that they know what home ice advantages and everything.
And certainly, um, promoting your kings and spreading them on social media.
We're in the apparel, making sure that, uh, anybody who comes in the rapids, whether it's for five minutes or five months or five years,
you know what city this is.
You know, uh, what, what colors, what team we represent and everything around here.
Uh, I want to talk a little bit about the junior kings, junior river kings a little.
And an exciting weekend, uh, can you tell us about it?
Yeah, it was, uh, it was a lot of fun.
I mean, God knows it's been a long time since I coached little guys.
But, and I say little, I mean, there may be 12, 13 years old, I think, but, uh, it was interesting because we had kids coming from Texas.
We had three kids from Texas, two from New York, three from Green Bay, and the rest from Central Wisconsin, right?
So we've been practicing the guys locally here and, and we had a guy as far as a word, right, up there and then, uh,
Mosin East, Stevens Point, Marshfield, a couple from rapids.
Uh, we practiced the last four weeks, twice a week and, uh, it's tough to get anything accomplished as a team.
Uh, but we had fun and we worked on some things and we, we took it.
And then when it's like a crapshoot, right, you rolled the dice and, all right, let's see what we got.
Uh, and we had some pretty good players. So the guys did really well, uh, very proud of them.
We tied Green Bay, uh, which won the thing last year.
Yeah.
And then we beat, uh, Team Kentucky.
And then we want to play in this high skills, uh, high elite skills or something like that.
Um, team that was very good. You can tell that they've been all together for a while.
Um, and it really came down to, you know, the tiebreaker goals, four goals against,
and they've been merging everybody up to us.
So we came up with a little of the game plan to keep distinct close and, uh,
and, and then we pulled it out.
We can, we, we could not give up more than three goals.
Oh, right.
We wouldn't have made the championship game.
Right.
And we, we, it was three nothing late in the third period and we scored made it three one.
Uh, and the boys were so excited.
It was, uh, it was good to see that part of it.
Uh, and then we want to play in the same team in the finals and, and they just had a lot more firepower.
So yeah, we lost by a couple goals, but it was, uh, it was a lot of fun.
It was a lot of fun.
You certainly, uh, you always love to win.
You love to, uh, to be the last team standing and those things, no matter what we're talking about,
but especially at this level, you already won.
These kids already won.
Um, we're building hockey.
We're, we're making, uh, future, uh, lovers of hockey, whether they play the sport professionally or in the USPHL or any level,
or they just become a lifetime fan and get themselves a jersey of their favorite team.
Um, this is what this is all about.
This is what, you know, building teams like this in the USPHL up and down, uh, the, the whole entire, uh, the whole entire conference,
a whole entire thing is building up this sport and, uh, making sure that we have generation after generation after generation,
uh, love and hockey the way you and I do.
Yeah.
You know, it's amazing to me.
Is that, uh, again, it's, it's the parents who don't get it, right?
And it's, and it, and it happened once and, or maybe twice.
And I just looked at them.
I might just relax.
Yeah.
Enjoy it.
You know, playing everybody, right?
It's, we had eight forwards and four defense.
I mean, that's what I started.
Yeah, I mean, yeah, but you go like this all, all game long.
Yeah, how could you become planning?
Just like to get play.
Yeah.
I mean, you're coming from all nobody practice.
Just people drive from Texas to come here.
Let's just go play.
Yeah.
And then you're complaining about hey, what's my kicker gonna get in the game?
I'm like, no, if you want to leave, you leave.
Yeah, I, I don't care.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And because I want to be here, it's, how can you, I don't,
my father never said boo to anybody.
You just sat there, whatever coach tells you to do you do.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Right?
And you know, well, I have to talk when we get home.
What you did.
Right.
Yeah, kind of thing, right?
But it's just like, I can't believe some people that are just so ignorant to what's going on.
Speaking for myself here, nobody else.
Whenever I've seen this, whenever I've come across this and I've grown up in sports, I've been around in my whole life.
Whether it was my father playing a minor professional hockey or boxing or any of these other things or just when I played or my brother played or something like that.
I've seen a lot of this.
I've seen just like many of you out there have seen a lot of this.
And I've never seen a real man doing this.
I've never seen a real human being barking like this like a baby, like a child, especially one that is supposed to be helping raise one.
We need to get back to the idea of letting people do the job they were hired for because sir, if you knew better than coach here, you'd probably be in his shoes.
You'd probably be there doing it.
And he probably knows what he's doing over there.
That's why he's there in that position.
I also don't think even if you had the most intel it, I don't care if it was Wayne Gretzky in the stance and he had feedback.
All he's doing is making it about him.
And it ain't about you.
It's about the kid.
That's why you came here.
If you wanted to be about you, I guarantee that somewhere out there in the cosmos, there is one of those leagues you can join or one of those kind of like band camps they think.
You want to feel like a hockey player.
Go ahead and take this camp or something like that because it ain't about you man.
And we actually started this show talking a little bit about this with the WIA and they just put out a rule that if you, basically if you act up, if you want to get back to a game,
you've got to take an online course.
And I was talking about something that happened back in New Jersey back a couple years ago where they were having a real big problem with their little league and people yelling at umpires and everything.
So they made a rule that if you get kicked out of a game, the only way you can come back is you got to be an umpire.
You got to ref three games.
And I love that idea.
I think that's great.
For one, we need more referees for games and everything.
And you know, maybe give these people a little empathy, give them a little taste of their own medicine and what it's like to do this and everything.
Because if you're not starting and it being about the kids, then you don't, you're not, you don't get it.
You just don't get it.
And when you're barking like that, you may think, well, I'm standing up for my kid.
Your kid don't need you to stand up for them.
That's not what this is about.
There's going to be plenty of times in life where you might need to stand up for your kid.
This is not one of them.
This is not it.
This is where you're letting your kid learn what it's like to be an adult.
The little lessons they learn at whether it's at 10 or 15 or at 18, the lessons they learn of how to handle adversity, how to handle life.
And sometimes how to handle a fastball or an aggressive left wing or something like that.
That's the point of sports.
That's the point of all this.
Look, nobody's giving me a father of the year mug or anything, man.
But I think there's some things that are just basic that are pretty understandable.
And if you're sitting there barking at a coach or barking at a player or an umpire or something like that, you're making it about you.
And that you want to have a discussion with coach or an email or something like that.
That's different.
That's one on one.
I have no problem with that.
I don't agree with it, but I get it to a degree.
This is just a dog wanting to bark.
I'm just making a spectacle of yourself.
It's just absolutely.
It's comical.
And anybody, any of us that have ever seen this, including somebody that might have done it, has anybody ever seen that been like, wow, that guy's cool.
No, nobody thinks that's cool.
Nobody thinks what you're doing is interesting or great.
And nobody is sitting there in the stands.
You know, the guy over here yelling, spitting all over the place.
He's got a good point.
He's got to go, no, no, you look like a fool.
Control your anger.
Control yourself.
And by doing that, you might even learn, your kid might learn something.
Well, it's absolutely true.
100%.
And in the whole weekend, we'll get off my soapbox here.
Let me just get down for a second.
It was great.
And we played it in order to dame, right?
So I mean, now you're in that kind of environment where it's just, it's all about this whole thing was put together just to go have fun.
Right.
Whatever happens happens.
Somebody cares, right?
But at the same point,
you know, people lose perspective on that kind of stuff.
And it amazes me.
And then I looked at Derek, right?
Because me and Derek did it out.
And we looked at each other.
Now you know why we coach juniors, right?
I'm like, I don't know.
I'm dealing with this.
Right.
It was, it was a lot of fun.
In the locker room with the boys, they're funny, right?
I mean, at that age, they're funny, man.
Yeah.
So I enjoyed that.
Good to hear.
And a big congratulations to them, to the parents that got them to these games.
And certainly to you and the coaching staff, everybody involved in this whole thing.
Again, this is what it's all about, building hockey.
And follow your River Kings today, build hockey up and down the river.
You can find out more at riverkingshockey.com.
I encourage you to reach out over there if you want to find out more about some of the things coach and I have talked about today.
And stay tuned to Playmakers, everybody, because we are not only the home of all River Kings news,
but we are going to be keeping up with coach throughout the whole off season and get you ready for a new season coming up.
Cannot wait.
Coach, thanks a lot for the time.
Thanks for having me.
We'll take a quick time out.
We'll come back and we'll wrap up a Monday edition of Playmakers here on WIRI.
Welcome back, everybody.
Two Playmakers, proudly brought to you by Quality Plus Printing and Family Natural Foods.
Thanks for joining us.
Big thank you to GM and head coach Coach Paul for joining us.
From here, Wisconsin Rapids River Kings.
Remember, you can catch home games of the River Kings right here at WIRI when they kick off their new season.
Be on the lookout for that and more chances for us to hang out with Coach in the fourth period.
That was a lot of fun.
Appreciate Coach being able to make the time and everything for that.
Follow the Kings on social media and be sure to bookmark their web page RiverKingsHockey.com.
Looking forward to talking more Kings later.
Looking forward to talking rafters as well, everybody.
Rafter season is right around the corner.
May 26th, opening day.
Looking forward to it.
We'll be talking rafters actually tomorrow during the Rapids report.
Assistant GM of your rafters.
Jake Adams is going to be joining me.
Jake and I will be talking about some of the fun promotion stuff that they have lined up.
Some of the last minute things that they're getting ready for the season.
And they're doing some hiring over there.
Yeah.
Rafters are doing some hiring.
So I encourage you to find out more by going to northwoodsleague.com.
Finding out more about your Wisconsin Rapids rafters.
Support your local teams, everybody.
That's a lot of fun having these teams in town.
We're spoiled.
Deservingly so, I think this area proves that they deserve these teams.
And you support them.
Appreciate everything that everybody is doing out there with that.
424-2600-715-424-2600.
That's the number.
Call up and join the conversation.
We'd love to hear from you.
Hit us in the numbers.
I was talking about undrafted free agents that were signed.
So for those that did not see, let's go ahead and lock in on the end of scene north
and starting a course with your Green Bay Packers.
They picked up a running back Amar Johnson.
One of the signies that they made.
Amar is a 59205 running back out of South Dakota state.
And a very solid season, a complete runner.
With a fairly average number of home run carries during his career.
But a bit of a patient runner too, I would say.
Also picked up a running back jail in White.
He is out of Georgia Southern.
He's 5-11207 and a bruiser.
A bit more of a bruising running back.
Why receiver Julian Fleming?
Also picked up is an undrafted free agent.
He's a former Nittling Lion.
Might have remembered seeing him there.
So a number right away.
Just taking a look at these.
And offensive lineman brand banks.
So and offensive lineman JJ Lippey.
So a bunch of offensive players being brought in right away.
This is good for competition. This is good to see what they got.
And how they fit your scheme.
The NFL is filled with plenty of great undrafted free agents.
That made a name for themselves in a practice.
Just by getting on a practice squad.
Also picked up defensive lineman Nazir Stackhouse.
Nazir is out of Georgia.
He's 6-4-3-27.
And he's not only got one of the best names already in football.
Nazir Stackhouse.
But he's from Stone Mountain, Georgia.
I don't believe that there are a lot of true stereotypes out there in the world.
But I do believe that when you feel them, you should own them.
I will be honest with you all.
I maintain that if you are a man, an individual, a man, woman doesn't matter.
Born in Stone Mountain, Georgia.
If you want to, you're going to be a good athlete.
There's a lot of good athletes coming out of Stone Mountain, man.
That's a nice pickup.
Coming from the pedigree of Georgia as well doesn't hurt.
But the football team or the state for that matter.
And Jamon Dumas Johnson.
The final undrafted free agent was so far picked up by Green Bay.
6-1-2-38.
Linebacker out of Kentucky.
He's got some great vision.
Real freaky athletic.
Very, very athletic.
Stilled out a lot in high school.
Don't know that he got the chance necessarily in football.
They were looking at him anywhere between the fifth and seventh round.
He was a Georgia transfer.
And looked a little listless in Kentucky.
But produced at a high level for Georgia's title team in 2022.
But then kind of went under the radar.
A lot of full steps they're saying.
But if you don't realize this by now.
Every coach.
And this isn't all sports.
And I would say this to coach Paul as well.
But I would say specifically in football.
Is that significant other that believes, oh, I can change him.
Oh, he just hasn't met me.
He just hasn't met my coaching staff yet.
I mean, I could fix his drops.
Those false steps he's taken.
Oh, my coaching staff will fix him.
And to be fair and to that point.
I don't think it's that difficult to understand that maybe for some athletes.
This is, you know, when you start getting paid.
That's when you start really late locking in.
It shouldn't be that way necessarily.
And especially if you're trying to get drafted.
You know, it's not a really good.
It's not a great format to go into college athletics with or anything with really.
But I also think it's human nature.
To, for us, you know, to understand or the person to understand it's going through it.
You know, this is different.
You know, especially with an athlete like this.
You know, if he stayed at Georgia.
You know, may have been a higher pick.
May have seen a different senior year from him.
In Kentucky.
Didn't go that way.
So you get him, you know, in, you know, in Lambo.
Working out with a bunch of professionals.
Get him around Edgerton Cooper and, and see what he's like, see what he can do.
How does he look lined up?
How do those false steps look then?
Because not only because of that paycheck.
But you're talking about almost every single one of these athletes from a very young age.
Got to spark in them.
Got to passion in them.
A relentlessness in them.
That only this can satisfy.
Nothing else will come close, making it to the highest level in your particular field.
And they've got there.
Whether it was drafted or undrafted, doesn't matter now.
Again, pole position.
It's you against four other guys for this position.
It's go time.
Again, human nature, something different can come up as somebody in that.
It can bring out something different in you.
Some that college wasn't able to do.
Again, I feel like it should, but if it didn't, this is why you bring in undrafted free agents.
This is why you take a look at this kind of talent.
See what you got.
Because really at the end of the day, it don't hurt none.
You're going to have to cut the roster eventually and see where you go from there.
And give these guys an opportunity.
They've been fighting for this since they were a little kid.
And they finally got here.
And that's where you really find out.
Wait, am I, is this it for me?
Was this the dream since I was seven, eight years old to do this just to get here and that's it?
Or do you want to stay?
Do you want to stay?
You want to win some football games?
You want to build a team here.
You want to work with these guys for years and years and win a championship.
Along with get that second contract.
Because on the field, it's all about winning.
Off the field.
So much of it is, well, none of these athletes got a 401k.
It's getting that second contract.
That's your 401k.
Getting to that second third contract.
And the only way you do that is by showing up right now.
It would be, I'd be cool to see if any of these undrafted free agents.
There's a couple of bigger names, you know, obviously Shiloh Sanders.
He signed in Tampa Bay if you were curious.
And I saw a couple of other ones like in Baltimore that signed and a couple of other interesting names.
You might have remembered if you watched college football as insanely as I do.
The Bears picked up power Eccles and Major Burns.
I thought both of those were interesting signings from them.
I wanted to take a look at Detroit and Minnesota Detroit.
Jackson Meeks wide receiver was pretty good.
Didn't really see much else from them as far as undrafted free agents.
And to be fair, I don't know that now Minnesota signed like about 20 undrafted free agents.
That is also understandable considering they didn't have a lot of draft picks.
So that's, you know, kind of where you go.
And, you know, it hasn't really, you know, it hasn't really hurt them that much doing it this way.
So let's see.
It's been a lot of fun.
I want to thank Coach and GM Paul for joining us from your River Kings.
That was a lot of fun talk with him.
Spread the word about the show.
Everybody wearing a new place got a new jersey here over at 105.
We know it might take a little time for you guys to get used to this and call in and everything.
But we're here Wednesday.
So get those sports takes and feelings ready for a Wednesday edition of Playmakers coming up.
Otherwise, have a great night everybody.
We'll talk to you soon in the later.
