There you
go This is segment two coming up in three two one Indeed make the call here on a Saturday on the civic media radio network And it is time now to dive into the big topic of the week and that of course is the Milwaukee Brewers are off to the postseason day gets play the San Diego Padres who
Defeated the Chicago Cubs two games to none in the wild card round So it'll be Milwaukee versus San Diego for the weekend a couple of games at relatively normal times before Some late-night baseball coming up in the middle of the week next week with first pitch times are going to keep me up
way past my kids bedtime.
In fact, I think my kids go to sleep before first bitch next week, guys.
So, um, next week is going to be, uh, be a little fun, uh, trying to figure out how to watch baseball at nine o'clock to midnight at night.
Regardless, we're here to talk about it.
And we bring up board Ken Kazuba from Kazasports corner to talk of the all things brewers.
And Ken, I want to start with this, uh,
You know, we talked a month ago and we were talking about kind of the possibilities where the Brewers know what ended up.
They end up winning 103 games, which is pretty incredible.
You know, best season by wins ever.
You know, a lot of expectations not going into the postseason, but it sure seems like they found a way to set themselves up well going into the postseason by getting some rest for some of their most used starters and things like that.
Yeah, I want to first start up by saying thank you again for having me on.
It's a pleasure to be on with you gentlemen, especially now talking brewers like we're going to do.
I mean, these are exciting times down here in southeast from Wisconsin and for the whole state.
But in terms of their win record, it was funny because way back in March, I was on a very popular show that just does nothing but talk brewers after every brewer game.
my prediction was that they would win 99 plus and everybody kind of laughed and I said I don't know what's so funny they won 97 last year and I predicted that they would win 97 plus and they have the audio tapes on it so it's funny because they do play those clips from time to time but this brewer team uh in terms of what they're doing uh all season long is you know they're just winning series and and when you win series you know you're going to win 100 plus games and and that's exactly what this team has done and
They have positioned themselves quite well as the number one seed to go ahead and roll through these playoffs.
Although they have a formidable opponent in San Diego, which I was actually quite pleased that they did get San Diego.
I know a lot of people are not.
And there's a few reasons for that.
But even though that San Diego won the season series, the Brewers now had full strength.
are going to be incredibly difficult to beat.
And I don't believe anybody's going to beat them.
I think that they're going to show the baseball world a small market team, which they've won in the past.
But this particular small market team, the way that Merv has them suited and keeps these guys on their toes, they are poised and ready to go and well rested.
You know, Ken, I'm wondering, you mentioned, I agree that the Brewers are going to be tough to beat, but what would you say to those fans who point out that momentum seems to be on the Padres side with them heating up at the right time as opposed to the steady burn of the Brewers?
Not that I don't believe, but I've had too many good teams of Wisconsin sports, football, baseball that get taken out by that hot riser.
It seems like momentum isn't real until the other team has it.
What do you think about momentum going into this one?
A momentum is a big deal.
But from that standpoint, the Brewers haven't, they have not had an opportunity to play, just like the other three teams that were waiting on their opponents.
So their momentum is, as I believe, is going to carry over from that sweep of their last season series against St.
Louis, coupled with the rest.
I think that they can quickly, and I do believe that the way that they operate, it's the old get-ahead, stay-ahead in the game.
And with Miz taking the mound for game one,
It's going to be crucial to get those first three batters.
They're top three hitters right away on Saturday night to get that crowd, which is going to be a sellout.
They're going to be jacked up a 730 game.
Are you kidding me?
Tailgating all day in 60 degree weather and bright sunshine.
Holy Moses hang on folks.
It's going to be a wild one down in
Milwaukee.
I was thinking the other day about how the Brewers ended out that season there, getting the most wins that they've ever had.
And I was reflecting back on last year.
Last year was special, obviously, because it was the first year without Bob Uker.
And you could really feel that that was what was carrying the team in a lot of ways.
But this year, you haven't heard hardly anything about that kind of Uker magic like they were talking about the year before.
But there's still something in the air that makes me feel
Honestly, even better about this team.
What's the kind of vibe that you get?
Do you think that this team really believes that they're just going to win it this year because they're that darn good?
Yeah, I actually do.
The Eucer Magic thing was very, from that standpoint, unique.
Because he's been the broadcast staple for this organization since way back when, almost its entire
time as the Milwaukee Brewers.
So he definitely has a big part in what's going on.
I don't know if you've seen where Murph comes in and he goes, I got a letter from Bob Euker to read.
You know, he's done that again this year, which is really quite funny because people actually think that he left these letters when he really didn't.
So this is just Murph ad-living and keeping Bob Euker's memory alive.
But the Confidences team has, they have a quiet, not cocky, very quiet confidence about them.
and you see it on the field in their play.
The difference from last year to this year, runners in scoring position, they've been able to move those runners at key times of the game, and they're never out no matter how much they're down.
When they have been down, in fact, their success rate of coming from behind is one of the best in baseball.
So they know that no matter what the starting lineup is, and Murph knows that he's sitting on several players on the bench that can come in
and get that hit that they need late in the game when the chips are down for the team and that they need to get the lead in order to win the game.
So they have a confidence about them that is just incredible.
And you can just see it in the way they walk around in all the games I've been to and been around the team.
It's pretty incredible.
You have to actually get down here and see it.
And you can see it in the players just the way they talk to each other and how they interact even with the media.
Talking to Ken Kazuba of Ken's, uh, I guess a sports corner, um, the Brewers pace the Padres and watching the series with the Cubs.
This is a team that has been an absolute tear at the end of the year.
I know that they're attributing it to Manny Machado dying its hair blonde, but I don't know.
They have a big payroll and a lot of star talent on this
team
and they're something like 15 and three in our last 18.
They are absolutely red hot going into the post season.
What are some challenges for the Brewers in this series?
Well, you know, the Brewers have the exact same record coming into the playoffs.
They were 15 and 3 as well.
So when you look at that, challenges for the Brewers are going to be very simple.
You stay within yourself, okay?
You do what got you 103 wins.
And I truly believe that, and I always refer back to Murph, because he controls that clubhouse, and that team respects him like there's no tomorrow, as well as that coaching staff.
You stay within yourself.
You don't let the moment get too big, and you continue to move through your daily paces on the field, and they're going to be just fine.
Defense-wise, this team is outstanding.
Pitching-wise, bullpen-wise, they're outstanding.
So in terms of the team and the challenges that they're going to face, it's not letting the Padres get a big lead.
And I think with the pitching staff as a whole,
We're going to minimize that and we're going to keep their chances to a minimum in terms of them scoring and scoring often.
In fact, I looked for the Brewers to be quite honest.
I was on a show not too long ago, earlier this week, I should say, and they were asking, what do you think for this series?
And I said, well, most people wouldn't agree with this, but I truly believe when you said about late night games, you're only going to see one because the Brewers are going to sweep them.
I don't think they're going to mess around.
They're going for the jugular on these guys and they're going for it very rapidly in these games.
You're going to see this team put runs up quickly and then they're going to let the pitching staff handle it and if they need to put a runner two up for insurance late in the game, they're going to get it done.
There is a certain relentlessness to this team that has really been driving the Brewers and that runs through the offense and also runs through that pitching staff like we kind of talked about.
I think the first two starters are probably.
pretty set in stone of Miz and then probably Henderson.
That third spot, though, has been a little bit up in the air with guys like May and Harrison really going through some struggles.
Ken, who are you expecting to take the mound to start off game three?
Well, there's a lot of controversy about even the number two starter, right?
Because of Hall and Murph, and it is about how he ended his presser, right?
Where he said, Miz is locked in as the number one Henderson.
is the number two probably.
This is more the mind game that Murph plays with other teams too.
So will he be or will he not be?
Well, there's a lot of speculation going on down here with Brewer broadcasting and the powers to be, so to speak.
If I had to guess, is he going to stay with Henderson?
I do believe that.
However, it could be something where he goes with Dustin May in game two.
You want to know why?
Because Dustin May has an outstanding record this year against the Padres.
He had two one hitters, and he's only given up a few runs.
He's got a 3.14 ERA.
So San Diego does not want to see him.
They could not handle him when he pitched against him the three times, once when he was with St.
Louis and twice with Milwaukee.
He is going to be a formidable pitcher for this pitching staff.
And I don't believe that it is going to be, um, you know, to answer your question, I do believe it's going to be Dustin May.
It'll be Henderson and, uh, and Dustin May.
But, you know, Murph, he's a wildcard guy.
He could, he could throw out Harrison, knowing that he's got May and Gasser and, and look at the guys behind them.
You got DL Hall, you know, you got Ashby.
There's so many guys that are going to get.
opportunity to shine in these three series.
And right now, I think Murph says it's one series at a time.
We got to win three of the B2World champs, boys.
And all we got to do is stay within ourselves.
We stay within ourselves.
We're going to beat any team that's out there, and we're going to continue to win series.
Ken, with the management style that Murph has on display these last few years as he's looking at a potential repeat performance again on National League Manager of the Year, is there any scenario where he makes a choice that loses the locker room or is it just no matter what he does, we're behind him, follow him to wherever it goes?
No, I don't think he'll lose the locker room.
In fact, if that was going to happen, that could have been the couple of times when he pulled starters.
you know in games especially you know our young shortstop Cooper Pratt what he did when he was mad at Pratt when Pratt didn't want to play out and he took him right out of the game immediately.
So he sent messages and he did it with Brandon Sprott as well when he pitched early on.
He did the same thing he didn't like something that Sprott was doing and in fact it became an issue in terms of pitches that he wanted to throw and he didn't want to stick to the game plan so.
There were a number of those scenarios this season from a disciplined standpoint that Murph put forth on the team.
And with that being said, this team, if you've seen those post-game interviews, especially the Pratt one, that kid was the most impressive.
He said, hey, I would have pulled me.
He said, it was a mistake.
It'll never happen again.
He said, I let the team down.
He said, and it's just not going to happen.
He said, I wasn't given 100% effort.
And under no uncertain terms that I deserve to be pulled.
If you remember, he did it with Sal Freelick as well.
So he didn't care what you're, what you're, you know, if you're a veteran or a rookie, if there's something that he's seeing that he doesn't like, you're coming out of the game and you're coming out immediately.
So Murph has control of that clubhouse and those boys respect him.
Well, it's not just rookies.
It's, I mean, he did it to contraris too, just like, like a week ago.
So,
um, it's happened to a lot of different people.
Uh, last quick thought before we'll let you go here.
I, we, we don't.
We will reconvene, you know, hopefully after the Brewers have advanced to the next round of the bow season, but
I guess
it's probably a good chance to just kind of get thoughts in the series.
You've already expressed, you think this is going to be a quick one for the Brewers.
So just, you know, looking ahead at this, as far as the Brewers, you're formal, you're official on record predictions that the Brewers are doing this in three.
Yep.
Brewers in three.
If I had any type of apprehension in terms of the team, it's going to be from the captain, Yelich.
And people will say, whoa, what are you talking about?
Well, Yelich needs to really step up his game.
in this playoffs and it's in this whole in this whole run here on their way to the Super Bowl or Super Bowl.
I'm not thinking Packers in terms of winning the World Series only because he's batting 0-91 in the last several years in the playoffs.
So we're going to need if Yellowchines and I don't think that you know by Yellowchines not necessarily shiny because the bench is so deep.
that it's going to harm the team.
But I think that was one of the reasons why you saw Murph give him the captain, the big C. He's going to be a key component here in this series.
And just forgetting his confidence in the playoffs with his bat, because he has one job.
He doesn't play defense anymore.
He just has to hit.
So he had a whole season here to hone his skills.
And you could see he was coming out.
He was hitting better and better as the season went along.
He got better and better in August and September.
So his his role as a DH is going to be really huge.
But yeah, I do believe that the Brewers are going to sweep them.
I really like the way this team this team plays on the field, how they carry themselves off the field.
They don't have issues off the field.
They are united.
This is this is the phenomenal team from the from the ivory tower all the way down.
They are all in lockstep.
Ken Kazuba of Kansas Sports Corner.
We appreciate your insights on the Brewers and look forward to looking forward to this LLDS series of Brewers Padres, which gets underway for listening to this when the show originally airs.
It begins today on Saturday.
They have two games this weekend, then the best of five goes into next week.
Thanks for your time and we look forward to talking to you again here later in the playoffs.
All right.
Thank you very much.
Go Brewers.
Have a great weekend, everybody.
That again Ken Kazuba of Kaz the sports corner will be back right after this with more make the call on the civic media radio network All right, if I if I pronounce your name right I think we're good on that segment so
Thank you.
Yeah, so then if
Well, after this series and then, uh, you know, you can have the NLCS.
So if you want me back again for next week, that'd be awesome.
Yeah.
That's kind of the idea is that, um, we'll go see right series by series.
Cause the next one, uh, the next series, uh, NLCS game one is on a Sunday.
So yeah, it would make sense to preview it.
So.
Okay.
Perfect.
Well, yeah, and
if not, if we have you on a
very depressed, but if they're playing on a game five, it makes it complicated.
That's the only thing that really complicates the plan.
But if they're not in a game five, it makes it a really easy.
Yes, we'd like to have you back next week.
So
I'll double confirm
either way with you.
I'll be in touch no matter what.
Terrific.
All right, guys.
Thanks again.
You have a great weekend.
And let's see if the Packers' new offensive line can get the job done.
Because the Patrick's shirt surprised everybody, didn't it?
Oh man.
So the Badgers, the Badgers, but we're just outstanding to see that kind of a win.
So it should be a great weekend for sports here in Wisconsin.
So looking forward to it.
All right, man.
Appreciate
you.
Thank you.
Thanks.
Thanks, Ken.
Have a good one.
Take care.
Bye bye.
Jake, I told Jake to join us at 1230.
So we got like two minutes here at a quick game plan.
That's second one, 1530.
So after editing a bit, it'll probably end up around 1515.
That one should be pretty easy.
Jake will probably be 10 to 15.
He's got to keep it under 15 this week.
So we'll probably ask him three questions and he'll talk the whole time.
And then that should leave us about six minutes for Packers preview.
So six to eight minutes for Packers preview, which should be the show.
It should be pretty easy.
So we do have a minute here.
If you need water or whatever you need to run, Jake should join us at any minute.
So like I haven't been drinking water this
whole time.
I'm just going to check my message
and make sure that he's
Still able to Yep, his request is keep it to 15 or less, so apparently this is not being done on his lunch break Probably appropriate to ask a volleyball question of him at the end again.
Um, they just beat in the NL last night and a five set thriller so
Don't know when they play next didn't look that far ahead Yeah, Michigan State this weekend, which means we get the added UP station with the Michigan State broadcast, which is pretty cool.
Oh Yeah, I forgot about that
Sorry, what was that?
I forgot about that.
Yeah, we have Michigan State pays us to be on W UPY.
So It's pretty great The Badgers honestly should be paying us to Packers
are we're still negotiating the Packers, but we're probably dropping the Packers on one station.
All right.
Yeah, they're, they're asking for way too much.
So they jacked our rates from 10 grand to 30 grand in Racine.
And now they're like, yeah, we want more.
And we're like, absolutely not
fair.
Yeah.
It's a lot of money.
That's yeah.
No, that's all.
Yeah.
That's like having three Parker Olsons, you know, so.
Believe it or not, it's pretty close.
All right, just giving Jake a chance to join in here.
Oh, we should be up by one, too.
I have to I have an appointment at one, so I can't stick around myself very long.
How do you guys have needs?
Come on.
Well, my
kid, my kid got another fight at school yesterday.
So,
ah, sorry, dude.
Yeah.
Everyone has started the same way, same group of friends, people, whatever, same sport.
They're all playing soccer and he gets mad because they don't play it.
What he thinks is the right way.
So last night they got, or yesterday they got in a shoving, whatever, and he took a kid by the hood of his collar of his hoodie and yanked into the ground.
So
that sucks.
Sadly the apple fell right next to the tree because that's how I treat backyard sports We used to at um recess play what we called beast ball where it's basketball, but you can Basically do anything you want to prevent the basket Just nothing to the face and nothing to the Lower region if you know what I mean, um, but anything else went so you could just they could run up and you could just punch them right in the stomach It was pretty brutal, but you know what?
Toughen us up Jake just sent me a message.
It'll take him a second.
He's coming so Sorry
for the
delay here
Joel was telling me about caveman basketball as much a coaching style as a way of playing basketball.
I Used to do games in Eau Claire and the radio when I started early 2000s, you know when it was quarter system and All four of the schools we covered ran stall balls.
So the final scores would be
18 to 12 15 to 21 like Just abysmal to try to broadcast every basket you had to treat like it was a game-winning touchdown because they never scored it was all free throws there You'd be lucky to make one or two threes a game, you know It was like peach basket basketball forever and then the private school decided we're just gonna open it up and they went they're going five wide and just
toss and threes and five seconds or less possessions and stuff.
And so I signed myself up for all those games.
Not as bored, but I remember doing like an Eau Claire North Memorial game.
And I had, I had, I took a picture of the box score and said that like, Oh, that was the first quarter scored.
Like, no, the final score was fall to eight.
What is it just passing around the perimeter and not even attacking the
key?
There's no shot clock or anything.
They walk throughout the floor.
They get to like three minutes to go in the quarter and they decide they're going to hold for the last shot.
And these are eight minute quarters.
So like you would have basketball for about on average about four minutes a quarter.
And they would just, yeah, they would just pass around.
They dribble, slow dribble drives, just whatever.
And they wouldn't take a shot unless it was so impossibly wide open in the lane, which, you know, basketball is hard to do.
So.
But yeah
Those were
brutal games to broadcast
I have to say it sounds not
entertaining You
get like
hockey where you have to skip actions you have to skip passes that you call or volleyball you skip certain actions just to get the whole call in
In that style of basketball, you can literally describe everything, like as they're passing the ball, and you can tell when they're not going to throw it down.
They're just out near the half court line, and they're totally stalling.
You're just describing stuff in the crowd.
You know, like, hey, you know, hot dogs are, you know, buy one, get one today.
So for two bucks, I got two hot dogs, concession stand, as they toss it past another corner and back to the top and reset.
They look to work it off the weak side.
All right.
Yeah, you can see it.
You can see somebody just walked in.
They've got six hot dogs in their hand.
Boy, they're really taking advantage of the buy one going open.
Here they go.
They dump it low and then they toss it back out to reset the out.
That was the whole broadcast.
But yeah, I had a game that was 12 to 8.
So it was great.
That's how the whole play by play went.
It was awful.
You missed the discussion on in the big rivers conference back when I started broadcasting.
or everybody's brand stall and the final scores would be in the teams.
So winning first team to 20 would win.
Sounds awful.
We're doing football and one or two volleyball at the end.
We were thinking
probably a volleyball at the end just because they're pretty relevant.
So
all
right, just in the interest of time and knowing that Jake's got places to be and far more important stuff to deal with than us.
I
wish I could stay a little bit longer, boys.
Unfortunately work got his work.
Yeah, and we
also are on a pinch too.
So we'll keep it to 15 minutes or less and we will start in three, two, one.
Halfway through, I'll make the call here on the Civic Media Radio Network.
We are going to jump back into football talk now and it is...
The Badger's taking on Michigan State, a game that will be heard not only on our Badger-affiliated stations, but on our Michigan State-affiliated station in the U.P.
on WUPU.
So you have many ways to listen to this game, and you also have many ways to hear both sides of the broadcast via Civic Media and our free Civic Media app at civicmedia.us slash app.
Right now, though, we're going to talk on the Badger side of things and Jake Kokorowski of Badger Observer, badgerobserver.com joining us.
So Wisconsin got.
An incredible victory last week, and I think it really changes how we talk about this team, Jake.
This was a huge, absolutely huge win for the Badgers, you know, after losing at Notre Dame to start the year, picking up a couple of wins over directional schools.
Now they get this big signature win this year.
I think the expectations might have gone up a bit for Wisconsin.
It absolutely has.
I mean, it goes back to the Notre Dame, the first half of that Notre Dame game where they're down what 13-10 at the half, and you think, oh, this team
they're competing and we saw even last year against Indiana where they had it close up until half time and then you know you see it and then the second half was a completely different story against the fight in Irish which who by the way I mean you're looking at you know we'll see what they do against North Carolina coming up but
This is this is a complete it's a complete team and they have something to prove so I think for Wisconsin To take those lessons from a game like Notre Dame and then you go to Penn State and you're down 17 nothing come you know different circumstances where you have terrible You know terrible throws from Colton Joseph that lead to You know 14 points a 17 nothing deficit and you see them claw back more and more and they get over I mean, you know, they
overcame their own adversity, the adversities where the penalties and whatnot, and it comes out with a win like that.
Yeah, it is a program changer.
It is a, in my eyes, yeah, it resets the expectations of what Wisconsin football could do this season.
And I think that's going to be, they have to take care of business against a very injured Michigan State program.
I think that's, you know, and you have to take care of them.
I would say take care of them early.
You don't want a team like Michigan State to linger around.
coached by Pat Fitzgerald, who had a remarkable career at Northwestern, coaching there, and was a pain in Wisconsin's side.
I will say, yeah, I mean, this is a team that I felt would compete more, obviously, compared to last year's team or even the year before, they'd be able to compete against some of the, you know, like any team that they faced.
And, you know, Penn State felt that way.
I didn't, Penn State looked really good at the beginning of the year.
You know with their first three wins, but that also shows Maybe they played a little bit too many cupcakes.
And so now, you know, yeah, they have a chance to win every game the rest of this year It's gonna be tough against Iowa at Kinneck on Halloween, especially if it's that night It's gonna be tough going to UCLA a ranked UCLA team You know, it's gonna be tough, you know playing against Minnesota, but and against USC But Wisconsin should be in every game.
They should be competitive
Jake, I really appreciate how you put that.
When it comes to last week's game, how they had to basically stop beating themselves in order to beat the opponent.
Would you say that going into this game, it's going to be somewhat the same with the slightly defensive edge?
You basically need the offense to execute to a reasonable degree and lean on the defense a little bit?
Or are they going to be playing their opponent a little bit more this week?
I think, you know, when you never want to beat yourself.
And so, and like I said, time for them overcoming their stuff, they're still beating themselves up up until that
Game winning or that game winning catch right where you had the you had Wisconsin You know Josh or Jacob Harris right go Jacob Harris goes in two full start penalties on that game-winning touchdown drive and then he catches it and then You can call it.
I think he said post game if I might remember remembering correctly from the clips I've seen where he said it is a little bit more than a nudge but
gets open and makes a play.
And that was a drive too.
I mean, those touchdown drives in the fourth quarter, they beat themselves up.
They were holding calls.
They were, you know, procedural penalties.
And so, yeah, I mean, I think for Wisconsin, hey, you want to clean up those, especially against a team like Michigan State.
And like I said, I know they're injured.
The offense for Michigan State ain't great.
at the moment, and they're down there best running back, who I believe is out for the year, Pat Fitzgerald announced.
So yeah, you should take care of business against this type of opponent.
It's going to be tough.
It's going to grind it out.
That's what the big 10 is.
But yeah, play clean, play, you know, turnover wise, hold them to the minimum.
I think Sebastian Cheeks and the Wisconsin defense can get home on, you know, to Michigan State.
and whatnot in terms of the pass rush.
But yeah, it also just goes back to, I mean, you always have to focus on yourself first and then take care of it there.
But they are awarded, I mean, to me, it was remarkable how much they shot themselves in the foot and then still came out with a win last week.
Jake, something that I've kind of found to be a theme in my opinion for the Badgers this year and last year, honestly, as well, because we've seen the Badgers, I think they're three and one against their last top four, top 25 opponents.
They're getting the job done, which is really weird because they've not got the job done against some other teams that they really should have beaten.
Does it seem to you that they play to the level of their opponent?
the defense is just so good sometimes that that's enough to get him over the edge with a little bit of luck on the offensive side of
the ball.
I think against Eastern Michigan that changed because yeah, the first quarter was one thing and you know, bad turnover.
The defense allows that game opening, you know, touchdown for the Eastern Michigan offense.
And then they turn it on.
They still haven't compli-
played, I would argue, obviously, and I think everyone would agree, they haven't played a fully complete game where they've won, you know, they've complimented each other, like that Eastern Michigan game, you saw the three turnovers, it turned into major points for Wisconsin, and both sides of the ball and special teams all complimented each other.
Towards the end of the game, that fourth quarter against Penn State, you saw the defense holding up for the vast majority of the game, they only gave up six, was it like 13 points?
We're on there or something like that.
Yeah, we have about 13 points for defense and against, you know, Matt Campbell offense.
I don't care who, you know, I don't care, you know, where he's at.
I mean, that Campbell's had good offenses and the Wisconsin defense really clamped down and it's not for, you know, a pick of, you know, instant pick six, you know, honestly, and those three turnovers Wisconsin, they should have won by double digits.
If not, you know, it may be 20 points.
And so for me, you know, I think
Yeah, I think just with Wisconsin, this team, it has a chance to be, you see in the improvement, this defense is going to be, I think, I said it at the beginning of the year, they're going to mesh the elite, as Mike Trestle said, in terms of doing what they did against Jim Leonard with Jim Leonard as defensive coordinator and what they did at Cincinnati.
And so I think you're starting to see that really come to fruition.
And yeah, I think, like I said, you're getting to the point now where
Now they have to start stringing it together and they have to not play down, like I said, they play down to their opponents.
Hey, you know, you have to now kind of step on the throats per se to really show yourself.
I mean, I mean, right now we could be talking on, you know, later this week or next week during the bi-week, a ranked Wisconsin, which I don't know if I saw this early in the year.
Dr. Jake Kokorowski of BadgerObserver, BadgerObserver.com.
You can get all of his thoughts on the Badgers and volleyball and other sports.
Just sign up with BadgerObserver.com.
A lot of great insight and as I like to do, seeing all the stories come in, you know, well after dark, the time that I'm usually away.
I think Jake and I have the same sleeping hours here.
I do want to talk real quickly.
Badger's had a big recruitment signing this week and it made it to the point that even new stations were reporting on it.
So I got to ask you about it.
They have an upcoming signing of a guy who's ranked five stars by some services, a top 25 kind of guy, an entrusher.
I know we've talked a lot about how the recruiting under Luke Fickle has been a lot different than what we're used to in Wisconsin, where you're used to seeing a bunch of dudes come in from the in-state and that's what they build.
That's the bread and butter, get the big guys, get a running back and just go to town, right?
Now, though, they're finding in the last few years, they're finding some of these prospects, some of these guys that are getting a lot of love in the recruiting services.
What does this mean for Wisconsin?
They pull in a guy who's ranked by some services, again, top 25 in the country.
Right.
And that's Jalani George.
He's from Goodyear Desert Edge High School.
It's a pretty predominant high school down in Arizona.
It is also, I mean, two of his high school teammates are currently Wisconsin commits and George is currently a junior.
So 2028, so you can't sign until next, you know, December during the early signing period.
But it's, I mean, a kid that's a top 20, top 25 prospect in the nation for the 2028 class, you have to give
Luke Fittical and his staff the credit, you gotta give the athletic department, the football staff, the general manager, Morocco Brown, obviously, I'm guessing, I don't know if it's safely to assume where you have that high of a player, relationships are big, but Chris McIntosh, the former AD, essentially, talked about adding investments.
You wonder about just what that plays a role with too.
Recruiting for all the transfer portal is, especially with Wisconsin this year, they brought in 35 transfers this off season.
Recruiting and developing through high school still, my eyes, it's easier to retain than try to...
go into the transfer portal and pluck guys and try to figure out those evaluations and how they would fit in with, you know, with the program, not just on the field, but off the field.
And so that's why you recruit the high school guys so that you can mold them within the culture.
And so you see what Wisconsin's done with this recruiting class for 2027, for that matter, you know, top 30 type of class, according to which outlet you prefer.
But, you know, this is, you know, Jelani George is a talk to his coach earlier this week, you know,
a kid that looked like a power four, not just power four kid, but one of the best, you know, could be one of the best in the country first class, you know, early on as a freshman.
And so you've seen him grow, you know, six, four and a half, 250 pounds ish, has long arms.
He's ideal for what Wisconsin wants on the edge in terms of outside linebackers.
And yeah, you have to credit Luke Fickle, Matt Mitchell, the outside linebackers coach is key to in terms of building relationships.
Pat Lambert, the director of recruiting.
There's a lot of good things.
And that's the thing, it's one thing that really
with Wisconsin underneath Luke Vickle, they've been able to recruit higher rated talent.
Now the next part is developing them and you've seen that too with Cooper Catalano, Mason Posa, others as well.
Luke Thickel was playing host to the Indiana volleyball team the other day.
I noticed on Twitter he put out a tweet about that.
Obviously because his daughter is on that Indiana volleyball team and Badger volleyball took them down just the other night.
And the Badgers have got, I think they've got three wins against ranked Big Ten opponents to open up the play here.
Jake, what have we learned about this team so far is they've taken care of business against really good Big Ten opponents already.
Right and you refer to it.
I mean they beat now a top 20 ranked Oregon started they will go into Purdue and they sweep number 10 Purdue and They go and defeat, you know, it took five sets Thursday But a five-set win and you mean it's the top 15 Indiana program and so it to me it shows one of this the Wisconsin staff obviously knows how to recruit talent especially young talent and develop them because
You have, yeah, you know, you brought, here's the thing.
You have your All-American center, Charlie Ferbringer Jr.
Could be an Olympian down the road.
I don't want to put too much pressure, obviously, but she has the skill sets and, you know, she trained with the U.S.
Women's National Team back, and I wrote about that at Badger Observer.
Quick plug, you know, earlier than, you know, back in September.
But you also have the, you know, yeah, you have Jail August who had a great match against Indiana, you know,
Season high 11 kills, you know as a badger against the Hoosiers and you bring in a Travis from UC Santa Barbara But it's these freshmen's Audrey Flanagan who had you know a team I 17 kills and she's well I think the most impressive thing with this freshman, you know, she's an outside hitter She's long she can she has a great swing And gets a lot of speed on her kills attempts, but she's cut down her attacking errors She's only had two per game for the last
And for the to start off big template, which is huge for because she was having a lot of errors to begin the year and So you're seeing her come along.
You're seeing you know, Linnie Tarnell as a middle blocker Emerge alongside Auguste, you know to help with blocks.
You're starting to see also You know the one big one obviously is desolese champion who you know 17 years old now
comes in two, you know, two time reigning big 10 freshman of the week for volleyball.
She, you know, and she went with there and she continued to, you know, she'd have the best match to start off against per against Indiana.
Kelly Sheffield takes her out, brings her back in fourth fifth set.
She brings in energy and she might be one of, you know, there's, I don't know how you can't cap the potential that decilies champion has for Wisconsin volleyball in the coming year.
So there's depth.
there's talent and there's talent and I mean they should contend right now to you know for the incidentally tournament not just you know and go far in that not just in the big ten standings.
Jake Kukrowski Badger Observer BadgerObserver.com where you can find all of his work, recap stories, previews, highlights, videos, everything else you could possibly want as a Badger's fan.
You got to just sign up with Jake at BadgerObserver.com.
Appreciate all your insights, Jake.
We look forward to talking to you again here real soon.
Yeah, happy homecoming for all those that celebrate Wisconsin fans.
We'll talk to you soon.
Happy hope coming indeed.
We'll be back
right after
this.
You're listening to Make the Call on the Civic Media radio
network.
Please
don't I'm so sorry, Jake.
Fifteen oh four.
I'm so sorry.
Do you
enjoy the rest of your day, bud?
No, I appreciate you.
By the way, are you guys using any video or not?
We might.
It's unlikely, but it's possible.
OK, did you guys see any like my screen off to the you guys didn't see anything off there?
OK, it wasn't legible at all.
But even before you shut it off, there was nothing that we could see on it at all.
Okay, just make okay.
Yeah, and you guys weren't recording that there anyways, right?
So
We'll know better to show anything on a computer screen.
It's for Parker's in charge of it.
So
yeah, I appreciate it just yeah with work they get very oh, I get my wife's
family she works in mortgaging and It's all very private.
I
like
which I go into her office She has a button she touches so I can't see the screen.
So
yeah, I get like yeah, it's fire bullet
stuff gets out.
So that's why I was like, that's why I want it over.
And so I appreciate you
guys fully get it.
My wife has the same thing with that.
I worked at health insurance briefly for a time.
I get it.
So
it's safe.
So take, take care guys.
We'll see you later.
Bye.
All right,
Jimmy.
How much time I got left?
Five and a half.
Let's go.
Cool.
Ready?
You can start whenever.
Three, two,
One.
Indeed, another weekend is upon us, and it is time for Make the Call on the Civic Media Radio Network.
I'm Jimmy Cusco, Sports Director here at Civic Media, representing the Driftless here in Wisconsin.
We also have, of course, the co-conspirators of the program.
First, we go to the Northwoods in Great Gunderson, a.k.a.
upper management.
What's up, Gray?
Feeling like lower management today, but hey, you have those days, right?
We are getting prepped for a Packers football weekend, so I completely understand the feels there.
Let's go now to the capital city, and that is Parker Vertical Olson.
Parker, what's up, man?
Jimmy, I just hear that some Wayak football games are going to be getting a little bit of local TV coverage, and I think I might hear your voice on my TV soon.
Yes, indeed.
That is what I'm doing later today.
If you're listening to this this Saturday, I am the broadcaster for three of the seven broadcasts because the rest of them I'm
UW-Platteville's broadcaster, so I can't go out and play TV.
But that's the big news that was announced on Friday by Channel 3 and Madison Channel 8 and La Crosse.
So yeah, a little TV for me on the side.
We have a few minutes here before we welcome, and we have two guests today.
So we have to get right into things.
Ken Kazuba of Casa Sports Corner in southeastern Wisconsin.
We'll talk rumors.
We'll preview the NLDS with the Padres.
And we'll talk to Jake Kokorowski of Badger Observer and get us set for Homecoming Week with Michigan State.
As the Badgers football team taking on the Spartans that game if you're listening to this on one of the replays It's already happened, but it's original airtime it is still before kickoff in the pregame show on many of these civic media Stations, but while we have a few minutes to start guys We're gonna talk a lot more about this on on Monday in our green and gold recap, but the Packers this weekend
Going in I think the expectations are pretty low for this this week.
They called literally everybody I think that has any kind of offensive line experience You know and that of course includes your guy here because the Packers also indeed Gave me a phone call if you can see it.
It's a little fuzzy, but he did get a call from the Packers this week So they're looking for anybody with a big body to go and block for them They signed three offensive linemen going into the week here
I really feel like for the Packers, there's a lot of things that have gone wrong in the first three weeks, but you know, there's a couple of spots in the schedule, maybe they find a way to get it right.
agreed Jimmy and I'll tell you straight up I've moved from terror into more of a questioning territory you know you can see my my upside down Packers flag is now oriented in one of the slightly more correct ways but we're not totally totally upright the way that I hope to be next week when we were visit whatever happens this Sunday again at the time of recording we don't even know for sure what the starting lineup is going to be and you can see various reporting right now according to the official team depth chart on the Packers website Kevin Zeitler's not even
on that list right now.
But it does look like Lakin Tomlinson and maybe Mackay Bekton have a decent chance to start the question being who's going to be both guards and who's going to be right tackle, which is where all the shuffling has been.
It does look like Sean Ryan will stay consistent at center and that Jordan Morgan will hold down that spotted left tackle, at least for the time being.
But the guards were the underperforming group by far and away the worst of the of the position groups available to talk about there.
And so I wouldn't be surprised if we do even see Kevin Seitler.
That said, if I'm not mistaken, that's three.
guards, at least for most of their careers.
So putting one to tackle would be a little bit of an interesting move.
That said, if we see Zeitler start at all, I'm not going to be too surprised.
They talked about how he needs a ramp up period.
But if they say that he's ramped up quickly enough, as he pointed out himself earlier this week, this is the seventh team he's played for.
And this kind of turnaround on a start would be really fast.
But according to Zeitler himself, he's seen a lot of offenses.
And so there's going to be some familiarity there.
I personally hope we get to see all three of these guys so that I
can move from a question mark into a little bit of hope.
But at this point, what happens happens based on that.
Running back is going to be determined off that, whether Marshawn Lloyd can get more than three yards of carry is going to hinge largely not only on how much they use him, but that too, how well that lineup is doing.
Parker.
What is your feeling?
Just just give me a general temperature.
Is this I mean, I'm glad to see that they're willing to go this far.
I wish they did it sooner.
But what's your take on this?
I wish they did it sooner and I wish that these were guys that we could have been using already.
But I you know what?
I'm going to say this.
I'm thankful that they've got them for this game against the Tampa Bay Book in years coming on this Sunday.
Believe it or not, stop me if you've heard this before.
The Packers are favorites in this game.
Easy guys.
I know it's concerning territory to be in.
We might lose yet again with a predicted win.
But I think this is a good opponent for them to kind of get their feet under them if they do get into this game.
There are some keys to the Packers and we'll talk a lot more of this on Monday.
You can see if this comes home to lose.
The Packers are the worst team.
The NFL third down conversion rate.
They have made some absolutely baffling decisions on fourth downs this year I am curious to see how the decision-making changes because right now that seat is awfully warm for the head coach And I am just curious to see how they can turn around correct all the things that have happened so far I imagine a stronger offensive line helps a little bit of that but boy it is it is rough right now But we have some more positive things to talk about on the show today coming up next.
We're gonna dive into the Brewers
post season, best record in baseball.
They're going to be hosting the Padres for the weekend before going on the road later in the week for the best of five series.
We're going to talk with Ken Kazuba of Kazza Sports Corner next right here.
I'll make the call on the Civic Media Radio Network.
All right.
And that's everything we need to record.
That's it.
All right.
Let me end this.