Live from the Civic Media World Headquarters in Madison, Wisconsin, it's the Todd Alba show.
And now, pursuing truth wherever it may lead, here's your host, Todd Alba.
Across Wisconsin on the Civic Media radio network and streaming worldwide with the Civic Media app.
Good afternoon, everybody.
I'm Tom Alba, an outstanding producer, Mr. Aaron Zommers on the board.
It is six past the hour of 12 noon on this Friday, TGIF, April 11th, 2025.
We made it, folks.
Made it to the end of the week, Zommers.
Here we are.
And Sonny's got, well, partly Sonny right now, the world headquarters of Civic Media in downtown Madison.
Gonna start warming up the Dane County Farmers Market here in Madison.
Kicks off tomorrow on the Capitol Square.
You know winter is officially over when the carts and the booze and all the great producers come back to the square.
I didn't actually realize that was this weekend because I don't pay attention to what's happening outside of...
you know,
political news.
Remember what Ken Lewis says.
We're never so poor that we can't pay attention.
Yes, it is a bad choice.
But do you enjoy the farmers market?
Yeah, I think I should go tomorrow.
Yeah.
Yeah, I think it's going to be nice weather.
I'll get up.
But you know, this time of year, just stuff maybe in a hoop house that's been...
you know, growing early or they could have a winter, you know, things carried over potatoes and that kind of thing.
Honey is always a big one this time.
You know, they still have honey and and eggs.
I mean, eggs.
I mean, I mean, they may have put Capitol police around the egg.
Might have to.
Although at least, you know, you can get.
the baked goods that they always have.
If you want to just buy
food to eat right then.
The spicy cheesy bread.
Yes, exactly.
Goodness
gracious.
So anyway, check out the farmers market near you.
We have a lot of them all across the state of Wisconsin.
Very exciting indeed is those.
And I don't think every farmer's market is kicking off this weekend, but checking your local area.
Big show today, really looking forward to it in hour two at 1.30.
It's our bi-weekly visit from the managing editor of E-Bombs World, Mr. Peter Rapine.
We'll be in with a humorous look at the Week in Review.
Always a good time had by all speaking to Ken Lewis.
Also, what's worse today, and this
Timely indeed, the spring is here folks.
Open up the windows a little bit.
Talk about laundry or cleaning.
Do some
spring
cleaning.
Oh boy.
What's worse than that?
Well, we'll talk a little bit about that.
And our old friend Brady Ewing, an ongoing contributor, his bi-weekly visit is this week.
Of course, he is a three-time Big Ten champion with the Wisconsin Badger football team who spent three years in the NFL and just an all-around great guy and now works in the dairy industry here in Wisconsin.
So we'll talk a little bit about the upcoming draft.
Brady's gonna tell us about a new volleyball league.
I hadn't even heard about this We'll talk about that a little bit and also big do-ins when it comes to cheese and dairy coming up right here in Wisconsin in fact in Madison, Wisconsin So Brady's gonna fill us in on that as well.
It may be even a little tricky hunting news
Brady's a big turkey hunter, so we'll see if he's been out yet or if his stamp is still in the mix coming up so Brady even at the bottom of the hour and Scott Clew former Republican Congressman now he calls himself a political orphan and one of his segments called a take from a political orphan coming up this half hour Scott Clew will be in this is an interesting one because it deals with an immigrant
And it also deals with somebody just trying to be a small business person.
Actually very fitting for the first week into the farmers market.
Yeah, right.
And back in the day, and I was working for Kluge when this happened, the government tried to overreach a little bit.
And it's an interesting story.
So stick around for that as well.
But I want to lead things off with more on the Trump tariffs.
Talk to a little more.
We talked a lot about this yesterday.
And it just continues.
There are onions on our onions.
There are layers on the onion that we keep peeling away and peeling off.
And we find out more and more how these Trump tariffs are going to affect each and every one of us, regardless.
I mean, a couple of days ago, Trump said, well, you know, we're not going to do the 100%.
Now it's down to 10.
Oh, except for China, we're actually jacking that one up even further, 100 and 35, 140.
Sounds like an auctioneer.
Sounds like a great, lovely, great auctioneer, Danny Shea for you.
135, 145.
Hey!
You know, those are the Trump tariffs.
And of course the markets for a day kind of rebounded.
Now they lost again.
It's up and down all over.
So here now a story from CBS News.
And I love this.
Well, I don't love it, but I love the reporting headline.
Consumers now face tariff surcharges for some goods as companies pass along the cost.
So you understand that it's not just the tariff alone.
Now.
As was predicted, many companies are passing on a tariff surcharge to you and me.
From CBS News, the Trump administration's volley of tariffs has U.S.
companies scrambling for ways to absorb and, if possible, avoid the added business costs.
Now remember, I'm going to step away from the article.
Remember,
During the campaign, Trump advanced all these people.
No, you're not going to have to these.
We're sticking it to the Chinese.
We're sticking it to the foreign countries.
You're not going to have to pay for it.
No, as it turns out, that's not true.
Actually, companies are like, yeah, we're not paying for that.
We're not absorbing that.
We're passing that on to the consumer back to the story some Enterprises from small businesses to nationally recognized brands have already announced higher prices citing President Trump's tariffs while others From footwear companies to furniture brands are warning consumers to brace for increased costs to come Amazon CEO Andy Jazzy
That's a great name.
Told CMBC yesterday that he expects the tariffs to lead to higher prices on a host of consumer goods.
Noting that the site's third party sellers are likely to pass on tariff related costs.
Some consumers are also preparing for price hikes by stocking up on goods.
that they think are likely to become more expensive if the US reciprocal levies on dozens of countries, which are paused for 90 days, end up taking effect.
So basically, basically what they're saying there is, look, we have no trust that Trump's going to wait 90 days to put these big tariffs back on worldwide again.
And if he does, who knows for how long.
And as we talked yesterday, the markets and industry.
They hate uncertainty.
So some consumers like Todd went out and I mean, I don't want to say I'm hoarding.
Maybe the toilet paper enough.
I literally have enough toilet paper stashed away like a squirrel.
I could wipe my rear end from now till Christmas.
That's true.
I feel like that's not it.
Bad if you have the space
for it.
It's like I mean it was gonna use it.
It's basically like two of the 36 mega roll things, right?
You're not hoarding a warehouse, right?
You
it's 60 bucks worth of TP And that's gonna last me to the end of the year But some people are doing the same thing.
They're just like well look I'm gonna buy some of this stuff now Zomers won't went out and bought shoes.
I may do the same thing this weekend because sneakers tennis shoes may go up a hundred two hundred three hundred dollars
if this stuff continues or goes through.
Anyway, back to the story.
A 10% tariff on all US imports remain in place.
China, which accounts for nearly a third of all goods imported into the US, faces levies of up to 14, pardon me, 145% on some items.
In an escalation of the trade war between the world's two largest economies, Beijing fired back today by an outsee that will hike duties on American exports from 84% to 125%.
And deriding Mr. Trump's tariffs as quote unquote, a joke.
Although the tariffs have retaliatory moves by other countries have yet to hit the economic growth,
U.S.
businesses are not waiting around some are introducing get this Tariff surcharges announcing new prices on their website in letters to consumers It's not it's not just things that you might think are like tennis shoes or or whatever Here's a company called this is in this story from CBS.
I love it Dame D a m e dame
a sexual wellness brand that makes adult toys and personal care products has implemented a $5 Trump tariff surcharge that is automatically added to a customer's online shopping cart at checkout.
Well, now what am I gonna do this weekend?
I don't know.
I mean, if you were ordering that for this weekend, you
probably should have ordered it already anyway.
Exactly.
Dame CEO, Alexandria Fine, says the Fed doesn't cover all of its extra costs.
And that the company is analyzing its pricing, given that most of the products are made in China.
Quote, our whole industry is in China.
So we've already seen the impact.
She told CBS Money Watch
or have they
felt the impact?
I don't know.
I don't know.
They dial up little Beach Boys.
Good vibrations.
Anyway, Fine said, she also wants to be transparent with customers about what's happening.
rather than quietly inflating prices.
Quote, the intention of adding the Trump tariff surcharge is a line item at checkout was to remind people that the extra tax is on us.
I wanted people to understand why it's more expensive.
That is because the political decisions that are being made.
And it's not just niche markets like this.
Micron, maker of US chips, also doing the same thing.
Honeywell Building Automation, which designs safety and efficiency systems for buildings, is also adding a new Trump tariff surcharge of 6.4%.
Other companies are using the situation as a promotional tool.
While it's true that consumers could eventually pay more if they wait to purchase furniture, electronics, automobiles, and more, quote, unquote, get this pre-tariff sales, unquote, play into consumers' fears that prices could rise.
and can be an effective way to boost sales according to experts.
So there you go.
We're gonna get it stuck to us on these tariffs.
We'll wear another 855-752-4842.
Let's go quickly to the phone lines.
Whisco, Paul, about a minute left.
Whisco, what do you say?
I'm trying to make it work here.
Trump's smarter than he thinks he, or not as smart as he thinks he is, and you need to surround yourself with some good people.
He hasn't done that.
But the big thing to watch is the bond market, especially the 10-year bond market.
China and other foreign countries have a lot of money in our bond funds, and they're starting to pull it.
And if they continue to pull it, it could cause a total collapse of our economy.
If anybody wants to call in and dip from it on that opinion, they're...
They're welcome to but you you can have a total same job here John and I guess That wouldn't be cool.
I have a
great day
Hey,
look forward to your your new time flight.
Hey, thanks.
Let's go really appreciate it.
Have a great weekend up there.
Let's go Paul No, he's absolutely right.
This is just it's creating instability and now we're going to see corporations take even further advantage in some cases and add these Trump surcharges on you
can't even afford to go screw yourself
And with that, we'll be back after this on the Civic Media Radio Network.
For those of us who sometimes feel lost in the middle, time for our weekly commentary from political orphan former Congressman Scott Luke.
Each year the federal government publishes 200,000 pages of new federal regulations and it's hard to believe we paid someone to dream this one up.
The call came into my congressional office from a Colombian emigre who thought she had found her precious corner of the American dream in Madison.
Her family had started the quintessential small business.
They were hand-making empanadas and selling them in a food cart on the library mall on the University of Wisconsin campus.
If you've never had one, think of a hostess apple pie but actually filled with something healthy like meat and vegetables.
Sales from her food cart had been so brisk that Madison retailers had started stocking her empanadas in the frozen food section.
But her moment of great pride was to be her undoing.
Out of the blue, the FDA demanded she remove all those packages from the stores and destroy them.
Her sin?
The product was labeled South American Empanadas.
Your federal government was outraged that the product was labeled South American because it was made in Madison.
When my congressional staff reached out to the FDA, boom, we got the back of the hand.
The good news for my constituent was that I served on the committee which had jurisdiction over the FDA.
Rounding up a posse of Republican and Democratic buddies, we invited the FDA deputy commissioner for a sit-down.
The failings of suits walked into my office.
We got a recitation of the rags, read like an old time revival meeting.
Every single word was sacred.
So, we got the last laugh.
We began to pull from grocery bags, bottles of Russian and Italian dressing.
Greek olives, French bread.
We opened the office refrigerator and pulled out frozen chicken Kiev, a little Mongolian barbecue, and how about some Chinese dumplings?
To make the story even more hilarious, the salad dressing props in our show were manufactured by Kraft in Canada.
So get this straight, French dressing from a Toronto suburb was okay, but empanadas made right here in Madison were not.
Admitting they overreach,
The FDA officials quietly shuffled out of the room.
But ask yourself, why an agency with a $7 billion budget chose to spend your tax dollars on the eponata misadventure?
That's my take.
I'm political orphan Scott Kluge.
There you go.
Scott Kluge with another take for the political orphan side of things 24 past the hour of 12 noon.
Now, I was working for Kluge at the time.
I did not, I was not the staffer that handled that particular case, but I remember it.
I think it's just a good example of there are times, in fact, when the government overreaches.
And here's a person that was just, you know, she's an immigrant, just trying to make ends meet, doing what she could do.
And successfully.
Right, successfully.
The FDA says, I know you can't manufacture South American empanadas in Madison, Wisconsin, but you can have Italian dressing made in Toronto, Canada and sell that in Wisconsin.
or like, you know, Mongolian chicken, French bread.
I mean, there are some things like champagne, for instance.
There's big world copyrights on that, and you can only call it champagne if it's manufactured or comes from the Champagne or Champagne or, I don't speak French other than we.
But, you know, so that's one there.
And of course, there have been more recently in Wisconsin.
legal fights over, can you call oat milk milk?
Can you call soy milk?
Can you call soy milk milk?
Well, that's the debate is that, you know, I would say that milk only comes from cows.
Well, it comes
from
mammals.
But, but oat milk comes from a plant.
Right.
It does not come from a mammal.
So
it's not milk.
So it's a milk alternative.
But they, well, that's the, that's the big copyright, everything else, debate.
is whether they should be labeled as oat milk alternative or oat juice.
Or oat beverage.
I don't know.
I think beverage is what they were going for.
Right.
Or drink.
And I get that from a dairy farmer perspective.
I mean, hey, milk only comes from cows or goats or like Zommer says, mammals.
So anyway, if you have any thoughts quickly on that, about three or four minutes left in the half hour, eight, five, five, seven, five, two, four, eight, four, two, eight, five, five, seven, five, two, four, eight, four, two.
And there's so many stories like that out there.
And again, I'm not here to, you know, hate on government.
Good Lord, I worked for it for a long time.
And if you've talked on this show before, and now we got a guy in there and Trump is just, he's going too far, right?
I mean, he's just trying to throw the baby out with the bathwater instead of taking and reforming some things like Kluge's example there on the occasion when government overreaches and saying, hey, time out.
Let's just apply a little common sense here.
Instead of that, now we got Trump going in there, just taking a bulldozer to the whole thing and a flamethrower and burning it all down.
So.
Anyway, 8-5-5, 7-5-2, 4-8-4-2, 8-5-5, 7-5-2, 4-8-4-2.
Would be happy to hear from you.
What do you think on that, Zahmer?
Have you ever seen an example like that of overreach, so to speak?
I'm
having trouble thinking of the... I mean, it just... I'm having trouble thinking of an example right now, but it's very much...
Sometimes bureaucracy gets in the way of common sense.
Like you said, they're just following the rules and they're not stepping back to think, wait, do the rules make sense here?
And
are they applied fairly?
If you ask most Wisconsinites, again, it comes down to common sense, right?
Back when I was working in the state government, you had Scott Walker and his folks that wanted to go up and rape and pillage the environmental.
laws and regulations, particularly in northern Wisconsin, all under the guise, under the facade of, oh, we're going to create tens of thousands of jobs.
He had a state of the state address just up the street here in the capital.
He had, you know, people in hard hats with picks behind him and had like the state seal.
Oh, there's miners on here, you know.
Well, yeah, I mean, when the state was started in southwest Wisconsin.
Mineral point area had lead miners, right?
It's named mineral point.
All right.
There are other it's certainly mining as a part of Wisconsin here, but but these laws that Walker Push through ultimately Undo all the protections and leave particularly our native populations vulnerable in northern Wisconsin There the rice fields in northern Wisconsin and this is something I learned I didn't know this that the rice fields to many of our Native American tribes
are tantamount to our place, our sanctuaries, if you're a Christian, a church, if you're a Jewish person, a temple.
And so those are very sacred places.
And Walker put all those places at risk.
And so that's a case where government just goes too far.
And on the other side of that, I worked a case where the DNR one time wanted to stop someone from building a lake house because there was a cat tail plant on the lot.
It's just two extremes, right?
Never too extreme.
And that is Brady Ewing always hits the right total.
Come back, talk a little sports, life outdoors, whatever he wants.
It's the Todd Albaul Show on the Civic Media Ready Network.
If you hear
that song, it's Friday.
It must be time for number 34 at 34 minutes past the hour of 12 noon on Friday, TGIF, April 11th, 2025.
Mr Brady Ewing, three time Big Ten champion with Wisconsin Badger football team as a fullback and then spent three years in the league as they call it.
The NFL is more commonly referenced to those of us who do not play in the league and now is back with his lovely family in the Southwest Wisconsin working in the dairy industry.
Brady, how the heck are
you?
Doing awesome, Todd.
Thanks for having me join.
especially love the Springsteen Eric Church song right now.
My wife and I, Rachel, who you know, we have our wedding anniversary of 13 years this Monday, and that was our first dance song.
13 years!
So there you go.
I know.
Makes me feel a little elder.
13 years!
Judas
Priest.
Well, Brady and Rachel were kind enough to invite me to the reception.
It seems like it was a couple of years ago.
13
years.
Isn't that wild?
I know you're telling me.
So that that was a song that's near and dear to our heart.
And as it came on there with with our anniversary being Monday, that just had to say that.
So shout out to Rachel.
I love you.
I appreciate you.
Absolutely.
Happy anniversary to Rachel.
Happy anniversary to Brady.
And wow, 13 years.
Time goes fast.
Doesn't it?
It
does.
I mean, we say that with it.
But then but then when occasions like this happen and it's like, wow.
That really puts it in a great perspective.
So, well, good, good.
Glad, glad we will play the song for you.
Brady, lots going on, but yet not a lot going on.
It's kind of that lull in, in the sporting season.
We just wrapped up the final four in college basketball.
Of course, the Badgers fell, although a short get into the sweet 16 this year.
And it was the Florida Gators going all the way.
First time, all four number one seeds have been in the final four since like, what was it?
2006, 2007, something like that.
But a while, did you feel out of bracket?
I forget this year.
I did.
Yeah, I did a couple of them and had quite a few of the teams correct down the stretch that made it to the final four.
I had Duke actually winning the whole thing.
So a little bit of a bummer there, especially with the way that game transpired and the way that they let that slip out of their fingers.
You very, I mean, leave it to March Madness, but you very rarely see that a team, I think they were up six or seven.
down the stretch, missing free throws, some turnovers, timely free throw makes and shots from Houston and just super entertaining.
You love to see it, but very rarely do you see a team be able to follow and get back into a game the way that they did.
It was like six minutes left.
I'm watching in my chair and I'm kind of like dozing off a little bit.
And I think at that point, I think that Duke was still up by at least 10.
And then I woke up at three in the morning.
I'm like, oh, geez, my neck and I gotta go to bed.
I'm like, well, I'm sure Duke probably.
And I look at my phone and here Houston comes back and wins it.
I'm like, oh, I did go back and watch the last six minutes after that the next day.
But yeah, it was a lot of fun.
Wisconsin Badgers.
Some big news there.
I think for the last couple of weeks, first of all, John Blackwell saying he's going to test the NBA waters while still maintaining eligibility, pledging that he'll come back and play for Greg Guard if he doesn't go to the NBA.
Meanwhile, winter signs a deal to come back for another year at Wisconsin.
Jack Janicki
like yourself, a walk on and gets a scholarship and signs with the Badgers for next year.
That was a big get because a lot of people thought based on this year, Janicki might be gone with a bigger NIL deal.
And Greg Gard, once again, adds three other big stars here or at least seemingly big players already in the portal and seems to be on the way to another competitive year next year.
Yeah, it's awesome to see that.
But weird, just look at the way you're talking about
been putting that team together sounds like it's a professional team signs a deal and, you know, grab this guy out of the transfer portal or free agency.
And so just it's fascinating the way that's evolved.
And we we've talked about that a lot.
So I don't need to go on that route, but that those are huge gets to maintain winter, Janicki and potentially Blackwell as well, depending on where he goes or what what he ends up doing.
I don't blame him for doing that, trying to see test the waters in the NBA.
He's had a great year.
Do I think he could benefit from staying?
I do.
But why not?
Why not get the experience go out as long as he's going to come back to Wisconsin selfishly?
I think that that will be that will be awesome.
So Greg's finding a way to piece the team together and maintain guys that I think are.
You know, somewhat pledged to Wisconsin.
They have a they have a bond there for whatever reason.
He's been able to maintain them while still being in bringing in pieces like Tonya.
and others that can come in and be immediate contributors in today's college basketball.
Is the NFL a little bit different than the NBA basketball?
Obviously, different sports.
But I mean, in the NFL, once you declare, you're done, right, with college?
Or do you get to test the waters if you want to the same way as they do with college basketball, the NBA?
I think if you declare for the NFL,
I think that's a done deal like you're going.
What you can do, which I would say would be more of an equivalent is put your name out there to get a grade from a certain amount of teams or general managers or scouting feedback from the league.
And that's where guys will get a letter, say, hey, we project you a third to fifth round grade right now.
And some guys use that to help make their decision depending on their.
individual circumstances.
Speaking of your former key sport, football, Badger, spring ball, getting ready to finish up, I think, this week or next.
This was something that, like I was growing up, it was a huge deal which culminated with the crazy legs and the red and white or the cardinal and white scrimmage.
It was a big deal.
And now it
just
seems like the last three, four years, not just at Wisconsin, but a lot of other places.
It just kind of all goes under the radar.
It's not such a big deal.
It does.
I mean, even when I was back playing, you know, we did open practices throughout spring camp, you know, here and there.
And then you have the game and all of that.
But with the change of college landscape again, it just, I don't think these coaches sometimes even know who or what they'll have for spring practice.
And they're spending so much time and energy retaining what they have, which you historically kind of took for granted.
And then going out and trying to find different pieces of the puzzle.
And I have no idea what phase or the open periods are for some of that, but it just more and more coaches across different sports are becoming more transparent about their frustration and the time and the energy they're putting into the recruiting process.
Even during the NCAA tournament run, there's some basketball coaches that spoke out about it.
And it's just, I think you're going to see more and more of them get burnt out on that.
you know, need to transition more to those general manager roles to help manage a lot of that.
And you're seeing a lot of people add those to their staffs as well.
So fascinating stuff.
It is speaking to football in the NFL, of course, the NFL draft going to be coming up here in a couple of weeks and for the first time ever.
in Lambeau or just outside of Lambeau Field in Green Bay.
We've already seen in our Great Station, WGBW up in Green Bay has been doing a lot of great reporting.
The morning show up there, Mino and the mayor and our own Pete Schwab, a nightlight have been talking about this.
They're already seeing things being built.
Some roads are being closed off.
It's a big deal.
Yeah, that's, I can't imagine.
I mean, Green Bay is going to be a great city for this.
to think of the amount of visitors that are going to be influxed and the impact on the economy for the state of Wisconsin, the Green Bay area.
That's all great.
And I think it's cool to put a spotlight on Green Bay.
We've had that with Lambeau Field in the past, but this national stage is going to be really cool.
So excited to see it.
What are they seeing up there?
I haven't heard much of the report, so you said there's some structures going on.
Yeah, I think they put up the
quote-unquote the roof over the main stage because it's not going to be in Lambo feel proper.
It's going to be just out kind of towards the title town area is my understanding part of it.
And the other part of it kind of be on the other side of Lambo towards the rush center.
So I think the main stage is closer to the rest rush center.
And then there are others NFL experience and all that and ancillary stuff that they put up for people are going to go up there to experience quote-unquote the NFL.
So I mean, I don't know.
whether they're going to put you in the middle and these dummies run at you like, you know, like a Brady Ewing fullback or something.
Oh my God.
I
don't
know.
Put them out there in a bubble wrap suit and let them get hit by something really hard.
Yeah, so but it's gonna be it's gonna be a lot of fun and our great team up there Green Bay WGBW will be helping us cover it as we start to get closer and closer to the NFL draft Brady where we are chatting this morning a little bit about this segment and you said hey Do you want to talk about love beef volleyball?
I'm like is the guy day drinking?
I mean what what the hell is I didn't know this is and I
said
So explain to us, now explain to Todd, what is love B volleyball and in Wisconsin?
Yeah, I'm just learning about it too.
But I asked Rachel, my wife, who I mentioned earlier about how you're supposed to pronounce that.
So it's L O V B and but they make the B actually look like an E and it's kind of chopped off.
So it's, it's a professional volleyball lead from what I understand.
Madison is one of six teams throughout the country.
Lauren Carlini, Sarah Franklin are both on the Madison team and a bunch of others obviously, but there's different hubs and it seems like they've focused these hubs around some very successful states that have successful college programs.
So last night Omaha was actually playing Madison and they were, I believe playing in Louisville because this is their tournament kind of the end of their season here.
And so yeah, there was some Nebraska players on the Omaha team.
And it was good.
It was competitive.
They were having fun out there.
For me, it didn't quite have the energy that you would see and the connection you would have when at least Badger volleyball is playing for me personally.
But fun to watch them compete.
Like you said, kind of a lull period here.
So been watching some things like that, a little baseball.
For us, we don't watch a ton of that.
So doing more of that.
And then some of the ancillary football leagues, too.
You know, they got they got funny going on right now.
So what do you think cool to check out some of that
stuff?
Super.
And I'm glad you educated me on this.
It's pronounced love be or just love, but it looks like the E looks like a B. I just say love.
I know this must be like, hello, like love, volleyball, VB, but.
Oh, oh, I get it now.
Got it.
Got it.
Numbskull Todd.
That that's what it is.
It's love.
But the last VB is a love volleyball.
Got it.
Right.
Yeah.
So it's the cross between the E and the B at the end of end of love.
So yeah, a text message is not easy to convey that.
By the
way, I just found out the tooth fairy is made up about a month ago.
So it takes
me a
while.
I know.
Hopefully my
kids
aren't listening.
I'm just kidding.
We're good.
Sorry.
Sorry about that.
But the point is a bunch of people's dreams out
there.
Yeah, it takes me a while.
It takes me a while, you know, to get things.
See, that's cool marketing.
Love be or love volleyball.
That's fantastic.
And is it women only then?
Oh, or yes.
All right.
Yep.
And this is great because, you know, more opportunities, particularly for young women to continue to play after college, you get paid for it at some level.
I mean, that's pretty cool.
Yeah, I think it's awesome.
We just did a quick Google search and, you know, you can trust Google on everything.
So we did a quick Google search and it said some of these players are making, you know, think 50 to 80,000, if I remember right.
Really?
Yeah.
Really cool to see another avenue for.
women's volleyball.
I mean, that sport continues to take off.
I was talking to some local high schools, bigger high schools in the state of Wisconsin and just the amount of interest and involvement they have in volleyball as skyrocketed.
And some of them have seen kind of a little decrease, especially in women's basketball because of that and the year round nature of.
club volleyball and things like
that.
Well, I mean, we got a minute left here.
Let's talk about that for a second because I mean, Kelly Sheffield and the Wisconsin Badger volleyball team has just really increased that sport.
But what do you what do you make of this new volleyball coach or part of basketball coach for Wisconsin women's side?
You know, she she did not have a stellar career at Missouri was basically asked to leave has a sub 500.
It does not sound like somebody who's going to energize the program.
Honestly, I saw that.
She was she was hired.
I haven't done a ton of research on her.
But, um, yeah, I think having a successful record, especially coming to a place like Wisconsin, you want to see that because we have such a high standard for all of our sports and we have such high success from volleyball, football, historically men's basketball, hockey, I mean, rowing, I mean, you go track and field.
I mean, literally every sport across the board, which is.
Yeah, you want to have somebody that has a track record of success.
Now, I'm sure she's a great person.
She's a great coach and maybe just looking for the right place to build something special.
So I'll speak out of both sides of my mouth on that.
I'll play the 25th track part.
L.A.
Tom says, Todd, you ruined every child's dream that listens to civic media.
Good job.
I was kidding.
The chorus of Tooth Fairy is
real.
I just got $100.
Come
on back.
It's Brady Ewing talking about turkey, honey, and cheese on the other side of the civic media radio network.
It's payday We got to get back to the time of all show this video already network nine before the hour of one o'clock Got to get that cheese Thomas.
I mean you've been a while since you played that that was good.
It's been a bit You said you said something about cheese.
Oh, yeah, you know, yeah, well it was
quick
somers.
He's nice.
He's the fastest
border in the West.
Let me tell you, he's fantastic.
Talking with Brady Ewing, three-time Big Ten champion for Wisconsin football back in the day.
13 years ago, I guess fall back the fall back and also spent three years in the NFL and now lives back here in Wisconsin and working in the dairy industry Brady Let's talk about that for a second because you schooled me a little bit as well on this you said I'm gonna be in your neighborhood here next week at the Alliance Energy Center for cheese con
Now we have a Comic Con where people dress up as Mr. Spock or wherever.
So what is a cheese con and what do you have to wear to it?
Yeah, this is just business attire.
So I hate to bring
that
to you.
But yeah, we're in your poll on some people wear their button ups.
But yeah, Cheese Con is basically they alternate Cheese Con in Madison with the Cheese Expo over in Milwaukee.
And it's an annual.
annual dairy related industry event where people from all over the country come and either both from the manufacturing side but also from the supplier side have tabletop booths, have cheese con.
There's dinners surrounding it, there's hospitality suites and just basically an opportunity to get the whole industry together and talk shop, have a bunch of meetings, have everybody in one spot to accomplish a lot.
This, she's kind of awesome.
Madison's a great host, Sidney.
Going to Milwaukee and she's ex-boy that is quite the event.
I mean, they host that.
Downtown Milwaukee, I'm blanking on, on what location.
It's
probably, it's probably, it used to be called Midwest Express Center and then it's like, it's had five iterations.
It's the big convention center downtown, but yeah.
The Align Energy Center.
Knives here.
That's the Madison one,
but, but yeah, that one is, the Milwaukee one is crazy because they'll actually bring.
double-O vats, which are the vats, the stainless steel vats that they actually make cheese in.
They put milk in and make cheese in.
They'll bring those into the convention center.
There's robots all around doing work.
There's case packers.
You know, that one's more focused on automation and equipment.
So fun to be a part of these industry events and cool to see people that you work with virtually or over email and on phone a lot.
They make trips to Madison and get everybody together.
It's a good
time.
So we gotta leave room for turkey hunting, but just real quickly, so it's not so much, people can't go there and like go through and taste 100 cheeses.
It's more an industry trade show.
There might be some cheese there, but it's more for the dairy industry around the world that descends in Wisconsin.
Exactly right.
Yeah, a good clarification point.
And they do cycle these around the US cheese championships and then the world cheese championships or world cheese contest.
And so they celebrate, they do different dinners to celebrate the winners as they come into Madison and Milwaukee and to acknowledge them.
There's fundraisers for scholarships to support people pursuing different things in the dairy industry, different education to give back that way.
So it's a really fantastic week and excited to see some industry folks and talk to
you.
Well, okay, if you have a break, text me, you can have a beer in the patio or something like that.
I'm like six blocks away, so.
Yeah, not far at all.
Yeah, not far at all.
That's fantastic.
That's cheese con.
Coming up, put on your cheese head hats and your green cheese, your orange Cheeto suits and head over to the Align Energy Center.
They have trading cards.
That's right.
Trading cards, Monster versus Swiss.
We can take it.
Hey, we got that's maybe a business ideas.
All
right, let's talk after the show.
All right, it's spring Brady and spring always brings to mind.
I know there's also fall, but I think of turkey hunting as a springtime event.
I know you're a hunter as well.
Have you gotten your stamp?
Have you been out or do you have a later season?
Ready to go.
It hasn't kicked off yet.
So the youth season is the first opportunity would be this weekend and then.
first season or season a, I think they actually call it starts next Wednesday through the following Tuesday.
So have a little bit of a, I won't be able to do as much as I typically would because of cheese con and, and all of that.
But yeah, I'm super excited.
The boys and I have been popping out in the evenings and doing our owl hoots to try to locate where the, where the toms are roosting that up in the hills and
People would probably think I was a lunatic if they saw me from a distance like, what is this guy doing?
Who wouldn't like it at all?
Or Rachel will pull him up every once in a while on the ring camera.
I'm like, did you see yourself here?
But yeah, I absolutely love this time of year to see the woods waking up and hear turkeys gobbling and leaves starting to come on the trees.
It's just an amazing time to get outside.
Looks like we're going to have some nicer weather coming down the pike here.
So I love it.
And for my money turkey hunting is just the best because these birds are so darn smart that you know, it's it's for me It's it's the whole it's the whole calling and and it's you have to have a strategy a plan here and ain't gun deer season where you just sit there wait for something to run by or three hours
Exactly, right?
Yeah, the ability to interact with the bird even if you're owl hooting and making them quote unquote shot gobble Just interacting with the birds is really special and so I'd like to give like the boys
a slate call or something where they can make a sound and get them to interact.
And it's really a rush for them just
to
engage with a wild creature that way.
And then hopefully in nature, typically the males go to the female or excuse me, the females go to the males, but you're trying to reverse that.
So you're acting like a female making calls to the male turkeys and trying to call them in and just experience that.
And honestly, a lot of times I call them in and just let them walk off just because I enjoy the process and I don't necessarily want it to be over.
So yeah, it's a good time.
Plus, you get a little more interaction time with people.
Like, if the turkeys aren't around, you hear them in a distance.
You're in a blind.
You can get away with some talking and some interaction.
So it's a really fun time and a good community event,
too.
I totally agree.
Azamurz, you've said that you have done some tax and amateur taxidermy on turkeys in your time.
Yeah, mostly my dad, but I've helped out a little bit.
Anytime he and I go turkey hunting, he always takes the feet and puts them in weird shapes and makes them into things.
Like, sometimes he'll take the foot.
Shake it like a claw and it'll be a back scratcher.
That's the most common one makes a good gift, you know Brady
this is a whole industry for your kids to get into at the Richland County farmers market Turkey backs go scratchers Brady Ewing, thank you very much for spending time with us my friend.
Good luck in the woods and good luck at Foxconn or not Foxconn cheese
