May Is Mental Health Month with Bradie Ewing (Hour 1)

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.

Good afternoon, everybody.

I'm Todd Albaugh along with the outstanding Mr. Aaron Zommers on the board.

Our producer and engineer, it is six past the hour of two o'clock on this TGIF edition.

It is Friday, May 9th, 2025.

It is a great day to be a Wisconsinite.

Welcome in, everybody.

Beautiful world headquarters of civic media in downtown Madison.

Mr. Zommers, it could not be nicer out

there.

It is very nice.

Do you want to take a look at the street

cam?

Please, let's take a look at the Sam Davidson street cam.

Look at that.

I mean, that's a picture perfect postcard right there for those watching on the stream on Facebook, YouTube, the X-Files, Twitter, whatever it is.

Well, gee, who set up that camera?

YouTube, Sam Davidson.

While he created it, I...

I did the shot.

Look at that.

I aimed it today.

Look, I aimed it today.

Look at that.

You have to see one of the great graduates.

It's graduation weekend here at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

I have my Badger red polo shirt on, white motion W on the on the chest wearing my cardinal and white in honor of all our great Badgers graduating this weekend.

Look at that.

There's a taxi going by.

You don't see a taxi very often in Madison.

Not here, yeah.

Overshore Center there the the new shoots of green coming out of the tree all things are possible Zombers on graduation weekend here at UW Madison and around the state I know a lot of other universities are graduating as well and we're coming up on high school graduations and not the not the two distant futures so exciting times exciting lots of hope things spring the new

The world is back in order in terms of weather and wrapping the academic year up.

Speaking of that, we have Badger's galore on the show.

You're going to want to stick around.

Coming up here at the bottom of the hour, our old friend, our ongoing contributor, Mr. Brady Ewing, former Wisconsin Badger fullback, three-time Big Ten champion, spent three years in the NFL.

Brady's going to be here talking a little bit about...

a theme for this month, mental health awareness.

We've touched on it before, but specifically Brady and Monte Ball, running back at Wisconsin, are good friends.

And in fact, Monte was in Brady's wedding.

And Monte is gonna be on the show next week.

We'll talk a little bit about that later.

And he has gone through his own, as we all have our own unique journey.

And part of that involves mental health.

He has gone through addiction before recovered and now is using that experience to help others.

So I'm going to ask Brady a little bit about his friendship with, with Monte and talk about this event that you could go to next week.

I'll be there on Wednesday at Cooper's tavern in downtown Madison.

We'll give you more details on that at the bottom of the hour.

And also a turkey hunting, Brady, a big turkey hunter.

And I can mom, I'm not going to spill the beans, but I think he, I think he has been successful on his tricky hunt.

My tag was supposed to be this weekend, but I'm still too tired from being sick and I'm coughing enough that I'm just going to scare them all away.

So unfortunately, I will not be going this way.

I'm sorry.

Well, we can talk about Brady's turkey instead of yours, Thomas.

So that'd be great, Brady.

And then last night, we had our big night market down here, the Madison Night Market on State Street.

And a big shout out to all of our great team here at Civic Media's WMDX, the flagship station here in Madison.

All kinds of our colleagues were down there helping out.

And what's great about this is you talk to the public somers.

You get to meet the public.

And I love it.

It's a lot of fun.

It's a good time to have by all.

But it does nothing if not humbly.

And I'll tell you, the star of the show last night was, speaking of Sam Davidson, one of our great producers for John and Gordy, the morning show here in Madison.

And Gordy was there and he had some fans and listeners talking to him and they said, well, we really listen.

We love it when Sam talks.

We likes and they were in love with Sam.

They couldn't talk enough about Sam and well deserved.

I might add.

So I'm standing there like a shamo and the husband of the of the couple is talking to Gordy.

The wife looks at me and takes pity on me and says, well, we listen to you every day and we just love it.

The husband overhears this and he breaks his conversation from Gordy looks down there and goes no not that guy these guys True story so they're not listening and I tell that's fine.

I said John and Gordy is a better show anyway, so But she was just trying to be nice, but maybe it was a lot of fun But here's the deal at the end of the night and you know, let me reach over here

Grabbing some, uh, some items,

some items.

Um, so part of the giveaway last night were these balls, these stress balls and who couldn't use a stress ball right now.

And as we had these on the table and these, these three young guys come over and they want to sign up to have the newsletter and the t-shirt.

Great.

And one of the guys picks up the balls, the stress balls, the table and starts juggling them like a pro.

I said, holy cow, where'd you learn how to do that?

Well, we're part of the Badger Parkour team.

I said, excuse me.

They start telling me about this.

They're very excited about it.

It's a great newer club at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

And if you don't don't know what parkour is, think about superhero movies.

When you see like Batman and Robin, they do all these reverse kicks and fly over walls and well, these guys do it for real.

Yeah, it's basically it's.

Some people call it free running.

There's probably a difference between the two.

Don't come at me if you know.

But basically traversing your environment in a fast, creative, athletic manner.

Like instead of just running around something, you'll vault over it

in a

swift move.

And it's fantastic to watch.

And so they're coming on the show, I hope.

They said they'd be here.

I have faith they will be at three o'clock there to be here.

And we will see juggling in real action here in the studio.

And maybe we'll have them jump over some stuff.

I'm sure the lawyers will be fine with that.

This table.

I bet they could jump

on the table.

I bet they could.

We'll find out.

So they're going to be here.

And then we can have a little bit of what's worse.

And to round out the show, our old friend and ongoing contributor, Peter Rapine, managing editor of Epom's World, will be here with a wild and wacky look at human nature.

So right there, what more do you want for a Friday?

So as Tom Schneider, the great late Tom Schneider at CBS and the walking native one said, sit back, fire up the color teeny and watch the pictures and the sound fly through the air.

I miss him so much.

Thirteen now past the hour of two o'clock.

So that's the show.

Oh, as if the show couldn't get better summers.

It is free ticket Friday giveaway day.

What?

Yes.

We'll be giving away a little bit later in the show.

Make sure you have your civic media app downloaded on your Apple or Android device will give you the word of the day and then you text that in and you too could be on your Now there's a there's a date and an opponent and that's that's they have to go to that game,

right?

Yes Yeah, we're giving it basically every Friday except during our larger contest, but don't worry about that Essentially every Friday at the summer we are giving away tickets to a specific Milwaukee Brewers game,

right?

You can't you don't have a selection.

So for today's contest, these will be four tickets to the club level seats for the Friday game.

I believe that next week.

Today, May 16th versus Minnesota.

So want to go to a game next Friday versus Minnesota Twins.

You listening next hour, we will give you the text word to text in for our Friday.

brewer giveaway.

So that's fantastic.

So big, big show today.

I want to start with a little news at the top of the show here.

Broke yesterday just before we went on the air and we talked about it a little bit that an American now Pope Leo, originally from Chicago was selected by the Cardinals to be the new Pope of the Catholic church.

And I think, you know, regardless of whether you're a person of faith or what denomination you might be, if you are,

The pope is kind of regarded as not kind of is regarded as a world leader, right?

He's somebody that that has an influence over a lot of people and now this is the first American pope So there you go.

That's uh, that's pretty cool and it turns out the guys from Chicago from Chicago I was watching the CBS evening news last night.

John Dickerson had one of their great correspondents on and gave some background now on why

the Cardinal chose Leo and his papal name.

I thought it was pretty interesting.

We're going to play a little bit of this and we'll discuss it here.

So here we go from the CBS Evening News last night.

The name Leo, what does that mean that he chose that Pope Leo chose to be Pope Leo the 14th?

Well, there are a lot of Pope Leo's.

His immediate predecessor is the founder of what's known as social justice Catholicism.

So advocating for workers' rights, things like opposing the death penalty, advocating for immigrants, all things that Pope Leo has also tweeted about in the past.

We might also hear echoes of the first Pope Leo, Leo the Great, who was an intellectual

like our new Pope who was a doctorate in canon law and who stood up to and brokered peace with a very powerful aggressive secular leader Attila the Hun.

Oh wait a minute stop right there wait stop right there now I'm not trying to read too much between the lines but it seems interesting and I would rewind it just a bit to get John Dickerson's take on this because I don't know he was expecting this in the in the broadcast

But when the correspondent said that he was noted, the former Pope Leo was noted for standing up to a great aggressor, a till of a hun, you couldn't help but draw the analogy between the great orange one that currently sits in the White House.

So I mean, I don't know, was that intentional?

Is it just half a stance?

I'm not sure, but I found it interesting.

So here, let's hear Dickerson's reaction to that.

and brokered peace with a very powerful, aggressive secular leader, Attila the Hun.

Well, that's a background.

Let me ask you about all speaking backgrounds, the background that this Leo has.

He's had various different jobs in his career beforehand.

How does that help him?

What kind of pope does that suggest he might be?

As we know, he's been a pastor.

He was a bishop in Peru.

He has overseen an international order of Augustinians.

He has had this role at the Vatican for two years.

And of course, he's an intellectual.

He's been a professor.

So he's really encompassing all of the Catholic Church here in its wide variety from the margins to the very center.

John Allen earlier quoted an Italian journalist who said he is the least American, speaking of Leo, the least American of the Americans.

What does that mean in terms

of cardinals the least American of the Americans.

Well it means that he identifies more with people in the global south and we see that he spent two-thirds of his life there and we can see in this new Pope Leo someone who wants to reach out to everyone when he came out on the logia he spoke in Italian in Spanish and in Latin but he did not speak in English and he greeted the Peruvians not the Americans.

Everything

he does will

be a

little bit of the CBS evening news there last night talking about the new Pope Leo lots of things to to talk about there not the least of which is that of course he's American Villanova grad and You know as a mathematician So there's some thought that he might be really good at you know because there is a budget for the Catholic Church the Vatican that sort of thing as well

You know, he's also he's taught in a connoisseur

is that crazy?

Yeah, that's

that's our own danshee for political editor.

Uh, uh, gave us that information, uh, over, over the internal chats.

That was something there is a Wisconsin and quick trip had one of the best tweets of the day, quick trip, but tweeted out and said, it's not a zero chance that the new pope has been to quick trip.

I thought that was pretty good.

Uh, I sent you something Zombers on his baseball, uh, baseball acumen, who he, because he comes from Chicago.

So the Cubs, they tried to get a snarky and they put on their billboard outside of Wrigley that the new Pope is a Cubs fan, is a cubby.

But no, the Pope's brother who still lives in Chicago was interviewed on Channel 7 in Chicago.

That's what he said.

That's not true.

That's not true.

He's not a cubs fan.

What is he?

He's a socks fan.

What?

They also said on the air that he was from South Holland.

That's not true.

Okay.

It's Dalton.

He's from Dalton and he's a socks fan

which

makes more

sense really when you think about it.

That's correct.

There you

go.

He's a socks fan.

So you can like the Pope even if you're a Brewer's fan because the new Pope is a socks fan.

Come on back.

A little bit more news for you and Brady, you're in the bottom of the hours.

They all both show in the Civic Media, Brady Network.

you

wherever it may lead and having fun doing it.

Welcome back to the Town of All Show on the Civic Media Ready Network.

Glad to have you along on a Friday, May 9th, 2025, here across the state of Wisconsin.

I don't care whether you're in Hayward on one of the trails up there, maybe on Lake Superior.

Maybe you're over in, in, uh, Nanatoa, Zomers hometown, Sheboygan area, chilling out on Lake Michigan.

They got the boat off of Lake Michigan, by the way, the Milwaukee, I saw the, uh, the deep.

What a deep thought.

That's what a deep thought almost says something else.

A deep thought is they got that out of the water finally.

You could be there.

You could be in the old hometown of Richland Center.

You could be here in Madison, maybe Wisconsin Rapids, anywhere in Wisconsin.

I don't care where you're at this weekend.

It's going to be gorgeous.

So get out there, enjoy the nice weather.

My oldest godson, Alexander, is home from Indianapolis.

And we're right after after I get my haircut tonight.

I'm going down to Bailey's Run.

Great place.

Winery in Nuglaris.

So hanging out down there with them.

So we'll be a good time had by all.

Speaking of good times had by all, it's 23 now past the hour of two o'clock time for this week's edition, the premiere edition of Free Ticket Friday.

Let's go.

Free ticket

Friday.

Yes, for the rest of the season, every Friday afternoon, tune in right here between two and four, and we are going to give you a key word.

Here's how it works.

First of all, the attorneys are back on the 12th floor.

They're here.

They're listening.

And so the attorneys tell me first and foremost, I have to tell you, this is a statewide contest.

All right.

So every Friday, and not just in our show, Crite Low's show, Matt Nair's show, Maggie Dawn after us.

I think Tom Hartman.

Tom Hartman.

Did he do it today?

I didn't listen.

I was busy.

We were prepping for the show.

Apparently, we're told now he'll do it.

Anyway, we're going to be giving you a keyword.

You have to download the Civic Media app on your Apple or Android device.

You go to your app store, you type in Civic CIVIC, comes up, takes less than a minute.

It's free.

You download it.

Then open the app up.

The first 11 stations are the news talk sports stations that we're on.

Click on one of those and in the lower right hand corner.

It'll say text a little icon Click on that now you're all set to go I'm gonna give you a word and you have until four o'clock to text this word in and then just from The entries from today right today are our show just

our show.

I believe

just our show So I mean your odds are are better than Vegas better than old chunk wherever you're wherever you uh in vibe

You you a text in the word I'm gonna give you here and then You're going to the winner will be chosen at random by a computer and if you win you'll be on your way Friday May 16th for tickets to club level seats at am fan field against the Minnesota Twins important you have to be able to go on Friday May 16th You may not exchange it for a different date.

All right, so here we go today's Friday free ticket Friday giveaway

Text word is, get this, text, T-E-X-T, T-E-X-T.

The word is text, so text, text.

Right now in the Civic Media, don't do it twice, because the computer is very finicky.

Now, if you didn't, if Zomers and I were choosing, we wouldn't care, we'd just enter you in.

But in order to be eligible, you have to text it.

correctly and text in and spell it correctly.

So the word is text, T-E-X-T.

Text that word right now to the Civic Media app.

And if you are selected, you'll be on your way to the May 16th game, Brewers taking on

the Minnesota Twins.

And unlike our normal giveaways, this is for the both hours of the show, the whole show.

If you're driving, take it easy.

Don't worry, no rush.

Whenever you got time in the next two hours, just text

in.

You have plenty of time to text text.

I'm not sure who that's very nice.

I'm gonna give us the word text today.

I think that's fairly easy My phone's going nuts by the way, it's banging every time that's great.

We get a lot of entries.

That's that's fantastic Okay, so so text the word text right now and you too could be on your way to the Milwaukee Brewers game on the 16th next Friday Big game tonight.

By the way, I think I got some bad information.

You ever had like bad fish numbers got somewhere to get bad fish I don't know if I have and I'm grateful

I've had some bad fish.

Because yesterday I'm yapping my lips off about the Brewers pregame show at 11.35 to date.

And no, I think it's like at 5.30.

I think this piece of information is bad.

I got some bad information.

So I apologize to that if you were listening.

The Brewers play tonight.

They're on the road against the Tampa Bay Rays, who I don't think are playing in Tampa Bay right now because their stadium got.

blown away in a hurricane.

But anyway, the Brewers will play against Tampa Bay.

You can hear it in Richland Center, Oshkosh Racing, Kenosha Park Falls and beautiful Hayward, Wisconsin.

And around 5.30 tonight, the pregame show should be a good time having Alzheimer's.

Are you a have you ever hit a deer?

I have not hit a deer again.

Are you serious?

Yeah.

I mean, everybody else in my family has or has been hit by a deer.

I'm sorry

to mean to laugh, Amanda.

It just sounded funny.

So far, I'm the only

lucky one.

Um.

Well, we'll tease this, and when we get to it next hour or else, we'll do it next week.

There's a new study out, the county that has the most car-deer accidents in Wisconsin.

And it might surprise you, the number one, because in my life, I went through a summer one time, I hit three deer in

one summer.

Oh, that sucks.

I was talking, Brady Ewing, if he's listening, he'll know my friend Rob Remisch.

I was literally talking to Rob Renish on the phone as I hit the third one right outside Wisconsin High School District and let me tell you, I'm glad the Pope wasn't there.

Because I went on an expletive run that my friend Rob was in tears laughing.

He goes, are you OK?

I said, yes.

Blankety, blank, blank.

I'm OK.

And he goes, that was the funniest thing ever.

You don't.

So we'll tell you later on the accounting with the most dear accidents as well.

But stay tuned next, speaking of Brady Ewing, three time Big Ten champion and also three years of the NFL talking about mental health and NIL and more.

Don't go anywhere.

Brady is next right here at the All Ball Show across to Wisconsin on the Civic Media.

Radio Network.

To this day, when I hear that song, I see you standing there on that lawn.

Discount shades, store-bought tape, flip-flops and cut-off jeans.

Welcome back to Tell-A-Well

Show with the Civic Media radio network.

It is now 35 minutes past the hour of 2 o'clock on TGIF edition May 9th.

Glad to have you along.

That music means our friend and ongoing contributor is not far behind.

He has a three-time Big Ten champion with Wisconsin Badgers as a premier fullback and also spent three years in the NFL and is a quite the tricky hunter as well.

Mr. Brady Ewing joins us via StreamYard from the old RC in the drift list.

Brady, how the heck are you?

Doing awesome, Todd.

How are you today?

I'm in a great mood today.

It's sunny here in Madison.

I take it it is up at the Michelin Center as well.

Oh, yeah.

Sunshine and blue skies, just beautiful, cool in the mornings, sunny, warm during the day.

Right.

You know, turkey hunting weather.

No

doubt.

There you go.

As the great sports reporter, Michael Lucas, is fond of saying timely, timely indeed.

Because I asked Brady, I said, did we talk about turkey hunting last time?

Maybe we touched on it.

But then Brady, you sent me photos.

Take it away.

Yeah, so I had first season this year, which was a few weeks back and got out only busy schedule with kids, kids sports and I had a work event that was right around the cheese con event we had talked about last time on the radio.

So I only got out for like an hour before I left at like 731 morning to head to cheese con and actually called in a couple of birds and passed on them.

and had one of my boys with me, and then I had fourth season, which started on Wednesday, so got out a little bit early on Thursday morning with Banks, our third son, and able to call in another two toms off the roost and take one, and went through the whole gamut of cleaning it with the boys, and they're excited to eat the gizzard and the hearts and the liver, which I've never done, but it's cool.

Yeah, I haven't done that.

You've raised savages, Brady.

They're savages.

They are hunter-gatherers, for sure.

They're a scouting for grasshoppers and earthworms.

They'll do

about anything, Todd.

Yeah.

It's good.

So a lever and a gizzard is nothing for them.

But this was the first time I cleaned up the gizzard, and it's really cool.

Most people probably know there's the little stones inside there that help the bird or the turkey.

chickens have them as well, grind up some of the seeds and nuts and things that they'll eat on a regular basis.

So the boys actually captured those stones, cleaned them up, and we're going to start saving them from all the turkeys in future years and put them in like a little vase, it sounds like.

Wow.

And it's going to be just a cool way to, you know, remember that cool hunt together and honor the turkey, but have a little keepsake that we can sit around the house to.

That's amazing.

That's great.

I just think you and your lovely wife Rachel have four boys.

They're all fantastic and unique.

But I just think this is, again, one of the great Wisconsin traditions of hunting and fishing and being outside.

And I know you've said this before, but for me, it's about being out and enjoying and appreciating nature as much as actually harvesting something.

Absolutely.

I mean, to get this, to spend some time with banks and Booker earlier this season, still have plans later in some of these later seasons to get Bennett out there with me.

I mean, that's really what it's all about here.

And the birds start singing the sun rising and, you know, get them up out early and have them some treats and snacks in the blind.

Like that's more what it's about.

Honestly, you know, as I get older, I'd rather video, you know, at least turkeys, call them in video them and just, you know, let my boys try to call to them.

than necessarily harvest or get one, but it's been, it was a really cool experience and excited that they're excited about it and I can do that with them.

It's such a

blessing.

Yeah, I think it's great.

Families that hunt and or fish that's great or even hiking or whatever it is, I just find it, for me at least, as I get older, I'm older than you obviously, but

it clears my mind more, and I

want to

transition a little bit into that.

It is Mental Health Awareness Month, and you've been very transparent and inspiring on this show before, talking about as you went through not only college football, but your time in the NFL and faced some adversity in the form of injuries in

the

NFL, that you didn't really face a lot of, or at least not to that extent, in the college time, and always appreciated that.

And I wonder if we could talk to us a little bit about, I want to give a plug to your former teammate and friend, Montae Ball, who one of the great badger running backs of all time.

I would argue one of the great full backs opened some of those holes for Montae, but we can discuss that later.

Premier fullbacks, eh?

You included the premier in the intro

today.

That was nice.

Yeah, absolutely, absolutely.

But Montae is going to be here in Madison.

Next Wednesday, he's coming on our show.

Thanks to you.

We appreciate you hooking us up there with Monte.

Monte will be here on the show on Tuesday, but on Wednesday.

May 14th from six until 830 he's gonna be downtown here in Madison at the Cooper's Tavern right on the Capitol Square and our old friend and former colleague Kristen Brie who is at as they say another network now but more importantly she still has her as goes Wisconsin brand on her socials and she writes for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel she's going to be the moderator for this

And so I just think it's going to be extraordinary evening because Monte has been very transparent as well about his own struggles with mental health and addiction over the years and now recovery and now is using that to help others.

And I just think it's extraordinary.

It is.

It's amazing.

I mean, Monte's story as an athlete at Wisconsin and some of the things he did as a running back and as a teammate.

I mean, they'll speak for themselves, but to see the way that he has.

you know, gone through challenges and been open and willing to talk about it and how it's shaped him and changed his life and his career as a football player.

I think that's super inspiring because not only can he speak to the successes, like a lot of people come in different ten in different facets of the life, but he can speak to those low points, which everybody at some point has struggles, whether it's mental health, whether it's, you know, substance related issues.

Monta has been super open about that, and I think it's inspiring because we all can draw strength from that when we have our own challenges, and Monta wants to help people do the same there.

I think it's a great example of, you know, the old Robert Roberts quote, her mom told her a long time ago, she's the mother is now deceased, but Robert Roberts of ABC and ESPN, she said, you know, my mom used to tell me everybody's got something.

And I think that's so true.

We all go at varying degrees.

We go through something.

We have a history of a journey.

But someone who is a D1 athlete and then goes on for a professional sports career, the magnifier, you know, is a lot larger.

Some of us go through those things and our close friends and family might know it.

But when you're on the level that you and even to a larger degree, Monte was, that's all amplified.

What was it like going through those things with Monte, not just as a teammate, but a friend?

I mean, he was in your wedding, right?

Yeah, he was he was there.

He wasn't he wasn't

in the way

Aaron Aaron Henry was one of the teammates That was a part of you know the ushering staff and things like that, but Monte was there and and James White Obviously you feel for him you want to be there to support him as a friend, you know sometimes especially in the NFL distance becomes between you just because of You know where you're located where you're playing and you know where you're from whatever the situation might be and so to be able to

you know, have technology just to send an encouraging text or at least know that the door is open that if your friend, whether that's Monta or other people need somebody to chat with, need somebody to talk through, not that I can provide all the answers or advice necessarily, but just to be a listening ear so that he and other people know that they're not alone.

I think that's the important part.

I know I've had to do that through my career, through injuries, different struggles that I've had personally.

you know, you reach out to people and you look for them to support you.

And I guess that's what hopefully what people draw from Monte is that if you're struggling with something, reach out to somebody, you know, touch base with somebody.

There's a lot of people that care about you.

And so I think that's one blessing also occurs that can come from the NFL that magnifies some of those issues because you're under a spotlight and you have that platform.

At least people know what's going on so then they can reach out to you and want to help.

Oftentimes people go through those things in the dark and maybe they aren't a professional athlete and have that spotlight on them to where it really takes their self-confidence to just say, hey, I need help.

I need somebody to talk to.

I need to share what's going on in my life to then, you know, help work to get to a better spot on that journey.

And I've said this before, I'm going to keep saying it because one of the greatest things was ever told to me.

Susan Simon, one of the great anchors at Channel 3 here in Madison.

repeat the whole backstory.

But she once tweeted me something because she had been transparent about being scammed.

And, you know, she said, I got taken two years ago.

And I just said, you know, hey, thanks for being transparent.

And she tweeted back and she said, you could get through anything as long as you know, you're not alone.

And boy, that's just something I've carried with me.

I've passed it on to others.

You just said it, Brady.

I think it's so important that no matter how bleak things seem, no matter what we're facing, whether it's depression, whether it's poor mental health, whether it's addiction, it may seem at times like there's no out.

And there is.

As long as, you know, you're not alone, facing it alone.

Brady, I know that we're talking to Brady.

You informed her a full back for the Wisconsin Badger football team three-time Big Ten champion three years in the NFL.

Brady, I know you now in the private sector,

and travel around the state.

You do speaking, particularly to high school athletes or young people.

You do some coaching as well.

And people would like to get in contact with Brady.

He's on the socials.

It's Brady, B-R-A-D-I-E, E-W-I-N-G.

When you talk to kids, Brady, and in part of your program, do you feel connection when you kind of let down the guard and you let these kids know that for all the great highs,

There are challenges to hearing that from someone to know that life isn't always just 100% perfect.

Do you feel a connection there?

I do.

And I

honestly, that's probably one of what keeps me doing it.

And some of the most rewarding parts of it is getting a chance to interact with whether it's students or student athletes or business folks.

And you let that guard down.

I think.

that creates an immediate connection because oftentimes, and I did it, I'm even guilty of it, is looking at people in the NFL or as college athletes, depending on what stage you're in, and you feel like they'll have their whole life together because they're competing at the college level and they're getting a college education and you'll have a scholarship or whatever that may be, but I think you realize really quick is that people are just people, everybody has something, has something going on is.

you know, whether relationship stuff or, you know, whatever it may be.

So I think when you're able to share that and then shed light on the fact that that's the case all around, I think people have the ability to want to connect with you and share their story.

And that has just been such a blessing to be able to speak from some of my experiences and what I've learned to that and how it might be able to help them as they're going through whatever they're going through, whether that's a family member having cancer, whether that's struggles with injuries, you know, some of those things that I've gone through in my journey.

I think it's so important when you just said that connection and letting people know that it's okay not to be okay.

And for people who might have a life that few of us, I mean, you know, the small percentage that gets to go to the NFL, the small percentage that ends up as a D1 athlete, as a starter on any team, you know, a lot of times we as fans or whatever to look and say, oh, they must have the world by, well, whatever, by the, the John and Courtney Falls, you're gonna be juggled in the next section.

But, you

know, and a lot of it is cool.

But I think,

my time at Platteville and and being around those teams, particularly basketball and Bo Ryan.

And and then just seeing you having the honor to be at your reception for you and Rachel at your wedding and seeing Erin, Erin, Henry and Monte ball and James White.

They're just people.

We're all just people.

And and we all go we all bleed the same.

We all cry the same.

And it's fantastic that you let that the guard down and connect with these kids because they need to hear that.

Yeah, I love it.

And I think that is

What's super special about sport is you already, we've talked about it before, but you're on this journey together.

And so it creates a bond amidst all of these different backgrounds and experiences to chase one goal.

Yeah, absolutely.

More information on the Monte ball event on the other side will tell you how to get tickets.

You're not going to want to miss it.

And more with Brady Ewing.

Don't go anywhere.

It's the title ball show for a Friday on the Civic Media.

Brady, no.

You see a white Dodge Ram with the truck windows rolled down, winding around Highway 56, playing that song.

It might be me.

I'm just saying this weekend.

It might be me or it could be Brady and his Jeep.

Either way.

It's a perfect song for this time of year to roll the windows down and just jam through downtown Richland Center.

My song to drive on the country roads and I won't call it sane.

But is Dwight Yolkham a thousand miles from nowhere, but the acoustic version.

Oh my gosh.

Oh, look at the check out the acoustic

version of a regular version.

Dwight Yolkham played in Richland Center during one of the last Star Spangled celebrations.

It was a great

show.

I remember that.

Yeah.

Do I

remember that?

Dwight Yolkham, the acoustic album, a thousand miles from nowhere.

You're not going to go

wrong.

Star Spangled had some.

some bangers back in the day.

I mean, there was some big artists that came to, you know, good old small town Wisconsin to perform.

It was pretty, pretty impressive.

It was, it was

great.

All right.

Before we wrap up this chat again, Brady's former teammate, and I believe didn't Monte Ball just get elected to the College Football Hall of Fame.

If memory serves, I believe.

I'll double

check.

I believe you're right on

that.

Yeah.

And also the NFL, Monty.

Wisconsin Hall of Fame as well.

Yes, absolutely.

And we're lobbying for Brady to get there soon.

So we'll work on that.

I'm serious.

Appreciate that.

Yeah, absolutely.

Monty Ball, former Badger NFL player, is going to be here in Madison next Wednesday with our old friend Kristen Brie from the Walkie-Jerrel Sentinel.

And she is going to be the moderator.

It's called a fireside chat.

Monty Ball.

Kristen Brie, and it is a fundraiser for Monta's foundation, Helping Mental Health, and for Journey Mental Health Center for Mental Health Awareness Month.

If you would like to get tickets to it, I'm already got mine, I will be there.

So come on down and say hi to me.

And of course, the star of the evening, Monta Ball, you could go to journeymhc.org.

So it's journeymhc.org, and then find the Join Us tab.

Click on that, and you can find your tickets there.

But it's next Wednesday from 6 until 8.30 at Cooper's Tavern, and Monte will be here sitting right next to us in the studio on Tuesday, and talk more about this event.

And of course, if you or someone that you know needs help with mental health, the number you can text or call is 988.

Again, nine, eight, eight.

Very, very important.

Brady, big news.

We talked to your brother, Brandon, who filled in for you a couple of weeks ago here.

I thought of you first because I thought Brady has already got almost a complete basketball team, four boys.

And I think it is the NIL starting now for the union brothers.

Now that Wisconsin WIAA has passed NIL in Wisconsin.

Haven't started formally soliciting bids yet, but.

OK.

Man, it's hard to fathom that that is trickling down to the high school level now.

And we've talked a lot about it at the college level and just the challenges it brings for different schools and enforcing things.

And it's going to be interesting to see how it rolls out at the high school level and how that impacts different schools.

I think Brandon mentioned it on the show, or I heard it somewhere, but I do think it's going to start to create.

you know, if you have a great athlete in a smaller, less marketable community, you know, drawing parallels to professional athletics, much like the Brewers are, even compared to an LA Dodgers or New York Yankees, you know, a lot of those marketable players want to get to bigger, to bigger markets.

And so it'll be interesting to see how that impacts how kids are opening, rolling or transferring at the high school level to try to maximize their financial output at a young level.

Or maybe it won't really impact at all.

I mean, it's hard for me to think about how that's going to be, how realistic that is to implement

it.

I've heard that if you're a car dealership and you're already giving to the booster club of the high school, you're not allowed to participate in NIL.

But I don't know, maybe I'm just a pessimist, but it seems to me that, that the best players, both boys and girls of, of whatever sport it, I feel like there's going to be like a 5% cream of the crop that's going to do very well.

But I don't know, maybe that's just me.

Yeah, I don't think you're wrong on that.

It's, I mean, it's going to be, yeah, it's going to be fat.

There's so many changes happen at the high school level that much like they do trickle down from the college level and.

One that we mentioned during the break was this extended basically no limits to the contact period that high school athletes can have with coaches now.

So look at high school athletes, the ones that are taking it seriously and involved a lot of different things.

They're pulled in different directions by multiple sports and then their club teams.

So just a lot of different things trickling down to make these kids grow up quicker and make.

bigger decisions for the 5% of the cream of the crop, like you

said.

One minute left as a dad.

Does that give you a pause?

Do you think, wow, when my boys, if they choose to do this, get to where I was at that, it's just going to be a different world?

It doesn't, honestly.

Really?

It doesn't give me pause.

I try to look at it more as a learning opportunity.

It's like, OK, it's going to be a great opportunity for me to sit down and just have real-world conversations with them early.

And in all reality, they're probably not even going to be in a position where that's going to impact them.

And hopefully they are, if they're passionate about sport and that's something they want to pursue, they'll have those types of opportunities.

But in reality, the odds are against them.

So if we happen to get that chance, it'll be a great learning opportunity to teach them, to help them navigate that from what I've learned in some of the relationships that I have.

And otherwise, we can sit back and do whatever they're passionate about and pursue that.

All right.

Well, when they get to when they get to the point, maybe we can maybe I can

I can I

can put a word in a civic media.

We can do a little NIL deal.

We'll see.

I'm not sure.

There we go.

All right.

I have no

actual.

It's done.

I

have no authority here.

Believe me.

But if it were up to me, I would say yes.

Now, Brady, very quickly, you've been to the civic media brewer seats.

Nice, right?

Awesome.

Awesome.

Yeah, as long as it's not too hot, you know.

We went, it was a hot

day.

But we had the air conditioning to go to.

See, it's in the club level.

Text the word text right now to the Civic Media app to be eligible to win May 16th tickets to AM Fam against Minnesota.

T-E-X-T, text text right now on the Civic Media app.

Brady, thank you so much.

Have a great day, my friend.

Thanks for having me, Todd.

Thanks, Thomas.

Always a pleasure.

See you around our

stage.

Appreciate you guys.

Day two next.

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 on the Civic Media app,

Good afternoon, everybody.

Welcome into hour number two of the big program, six minutes past the hour of three o'clock.

It is Friday, T-G-I-F, May 9th, 2025.

And it's a great day to be Wisconsinite.

Welcome in.

Zommer's on the board, already got the tunes going.

Not off my Spotify.

But our guests, very excited Zommer's, very, very excited.

I said at the top of the show we had our Madison Night Market.

And this is the thing, this is the great thing about living in Madison and being out and about.

is you never know who you're gonna meet.

So we're down there just minding our own business, getting ready to close up and a couple of three young guys come by to spin the wheel.

And one of them picks up the John and Gordy's balls, well the juggling balls.

The stress balls.

The stress balls, thank you, and start juggling.

And I said, whoa, what's going on here?

And they said, well, we're part of Badger Parkour.

I said, explain.

Two minutes later, we got guests for today.

That's how you book a guest summer.

You never know who you're going to run into.

You just go out and talk to people.

So joining us here, and if you're not watching on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, X, whichever platform you want, Civic Media or the Tout All Ball show, get yourself there now, because you've got to see the visual of this thing.

We have members here in the studio sitting right next to me of the Badger Parkour team.

It is Jake Aminia.

All right, Jake, Jake Aminia and Honor Hicks here at both University of Wisconsin Badgers.

Guys, welcome.

Thank

you so much for having me.

It's a display of just a little bit more.

On the

Todd Show here.

Yeah.

We should just rename it the Todd Show.

So I can't thank you enough because this is a spur of the moment.

I was enormously impressed that you guys last night.

We appreciate you coming on.

Thank you.

Yeah, thank you.

And you're, you're both.

So, uh, Jake, you're graduating this like this weekend?

Yeah.

I mean, tomorrow, tomorrow I have my graduation ceremony in the morning and then I'm

off.

What's your

major?

What's your

major?

I'm graduating with a master's in data science.

So I'm a data science major.

Wow.

And I also did my undergrad here in computer science.

Are you from Wisconsin?

No, I'm not.

I'm originally from LA.

LA?

Yeah.

California across the country.

Wow.

But now I'm here in Madison.

We did the show last fall from USC.

No way.

Yeah, because Badger's played out there.

We got our butts kicked, but we did the show there.

So that's great.

And so your master's degree is what you're graduating

in?

Yeah.

Then what's next?

I'm going to work.

In what?

Do you know yet?

Do you have a job?

Or are you

just winging it?

I'd say a little bit of both.

So I'm going to be going into solutions engineering, which is kind of like a mix of technology and sales.

Let's just say solutions engineering.

It's not as cool as it sounds.

It sounds

very cool.

All right.

Well, very

good.

All right, honor.

Tell us where you're from.

I'm from Carthage, North Carolina.

So the the other coast, actually, North Carolina.

We have international

guest

summers.

No,

international.

Well, national North Carolina and what you just you wanted to come here.

And what are you?

Yeah, I'm an undergrad here for entomology, which is the study of insects for those that are unaware.

We've had an entomologist on the show really

from UW.

He's a really Now he's called it.

He's called the bug guy UW and he was on the show last year because we did a show down in a garden center It was really interesting.

I have to keep my eye out for that.

We what we talked about cicadas.

We talked about cicadas last year PJ Leach PJ Leach

director at the UW Madison insect diagnostic lab.

There you go

So you're

studying, and so what do you want to do when you graduate?

Do you know you?

I'm not too sure.

But you have

time.

Yeah, I knew some entomologists back home, and the stuff they said always really fascinating.

So I'm really excited to kind of get deeper into that field.

I'm still taking most of my gen eds now.

and really just touching upon the surface of entomology.

All right,

cool.

Well, both my consulants and graduates of UW-Madison, I never had the brains to get into Madison.

But I'm a huge Badger fan, as our viewers and listeners know.

So it's always great to have young Badgers on the show.

So I appreciate you stopping by.

Now, I looked you up on Insta last night.

That's what the kids call Instagram.

I went to Insta last night.

Because I'm like, are these guys just, you know, spoofing me or is this?

No, it's real.

Tell us how you started the Badger Parkour Club.

So Badger Parkour is about two years old now.

We actually started it almost precisely two years ago.

This would have been in May, late April, early May of 2023.

I, along with my former vice president, who was also from North Carolina, different part.

His name was Connor, amazing gentleman.

He and I were kind of just friends.

We were hanging around one day.

On library mall on the grass.

I was like, let's start a parkour club and he goes, okay, sure And so I go on win.wisc.edu the Wisconsin involvement network how you start student organizations I'm like, oh, how do you start a club?

And you just you just go on the website you fill out a form and two days later we had your club where a club so Connor wrote up like he drew a nice logo if you guys see right there

I'll be

there.

It's

very nicely

drawn.

We'll talk about the t-shirts later

I mean, I had never done parkour before per se.

Really?

And Connor was not big on parkour, but he was more of like our behind the scenes guy.

You know, he was a great vice president, social media manager.

He's really one of the reasons we kind of got popular, you know.

And we just that was it.

And so Connor graduated over winter break.

And so honor and Carter Carter, you saw him yesterday.

He actually has already moved out.

He took his last final and he's gone.

So shout out Carter.

Peace

out already.

Yeah, we really wanted him to come to this show.

It would have been amazing, but.

Basically I recruited them in from the gymnastics club honors extremely talented at flips and stuff extremely talented So the two of them are gonna be taking over the club next year But basically we've had a few members here and there next year they're gonna focus on expanding and really getting themselves more Entrenched as a as a as a long-standing organization.

So honor tell folks that might never like parkour what the world is this

explain to somebody on the street what parkour is.

So parkour is a pretty broad definition, and oftentimes people think of the office.

There's a pretty famous scene there.

Our colleague, well I told that parkour guy's on, that's what he talked about, yeah.

Yeah, it's kind of similar actually to what, well what we do is kind of similar to what you have seen on the office, but as a whole it's very different.

It's more about just different types of movement involving like acrobatics.

quick ways to access certain points or move through spaces, a little bit of climbing, you know, it's very freeform and very open, but it's basically a discipline of movement.

The way I described it at the top of the show was go to your favorite Marvel movie or whatever, and every time the superheroes are like doing back kicks and flip, like you guys actually do this stuff to a degree.

That's true, we are actually certified Marvel superheroes.

Right here, ladies and gentlemen, the first on the show, Marvel Superheroes, Jake and

Hunter.

We have Bugman and Jake, I don't know.

I don't

know

the name, Computer Man.

Now, one of your posts on Insta, you're doing parkour with Bucky himself, Bucky Badger.

That's true.

This guy right here.

Really?

Buckington Ham Badger.

You know, funny enough, we got, that was one of our least popular posts of all time.

I thought it was fantastic.

So like, this is not something that

happens in the wild, naturally.

Bucky doesn't just let you do flips over him doing a headstand.

But you know, we love Bucky.

Bucky loves us, actually, in more ways than we

can say right

now.

And so

you know he and I he and I were

where I mean we didn't talk he doesn't

talk

obviously But I can kind of understand his hand movements and he showed up to an event and he was like And he knew he knew me from Badger Parkour.

He actually Bucky Badger is a real huge fan of Badger Parkour So he wanted me to do a flip.

I did the flip we posted it got 15 likes which is

I mean, you

know

Listen 15

is more than maybe zero, but like we'll have posts of we had a post of us.

We went to Target

at

the

Hildale Shopping Center.

You know,

they have

like a little tiny pond out front.

They have koi fish.

Yeah, we were fishing.

So I got a little fishing rod.

We got some sharp cheddar cheese.

And I thought maybe, I don't know, the koi fish like cheddar cheese.

And so, you know, I just cast the fishing rod into the little pond.

I mean, this is like a puddle size thing.

And these, you know, they have orange koi fish.

We didn't catch anything, but that one got like 35 likes.

So

apparently- Is it legal to fish for koi?

Oh, no, not at all.

Probably not.

That's exactly what I love about it.

So yeah, I guess the people really enjoy us doing silly things, but when we do things

that are actually impressive,

they're not.

Yeah,

I don't know.

We

liked it, though.

I thought it was a great post, because I say I'm a big Bucky Badger fan, big Badger fan.

So parkour, I mean, you guys are in fantastic shape, but you're also, as I understand, part of the UW.

Madison doesn't have a D1 division gymnastics team, but they have a club team, right?

Yeah.

And you're both part of that?

Yeah, exactly.

And he's actually

the incoming secretary.

He's next year, he was elected by the gymnastics members.

He's going to be secretary of the gymnastics club.

I think he's qualified to talk about that a little more than

I am.

And you both did high school?

No, we're both completely new to gymnastics.

We're both self-taught

new, joined in college.

Yeah.

So you started parkour and gymnastics in college?

Yeah, completely.

So I

started my senior year.

Did you do sports in high school?

Yes, he ran track in high school.

I

uh,

I did a non-competitive.

I played Minecraft though Not as a sport though

We're both a little self-taught in regards to like some flips and Like tricks and stuff like that.

Yeah, but this like our year here has really or my year here in his right like hell Wait, when did you join the gymnastics club?

My senior year so last year.

So this

is his second year

where we've really been able to be a part of the gymnastics club and Badger Parkour and really

let our skills flourish.

That's

amazing.

That's just super cool.

I think it's a great experience.

To me, college, as I look back, it wasn't just the stuff in the classroom, but it's all the activities and things and the interaction with fans.

Apparently, we've got a camera go down, but Zomers is on it.

Thank you.

Look at that.

See?

Perfect.

Best in the business.

Look at that.

All right.

So as we go to break here, I've got about two minutes.

So we'll bring you back when talking and do a few more things.

One of the things that caught my eye yesterday was juggling.

Is that traditionally a part of parkour?

Is that something you added?

It's

traditionally a part of Badger Parkour.

That's precisely.

Nice.

That's a great answer.

All right.

Well, which is the better juggler?

I would say we each do

different things better.

But

Jake is the one that taught me how to juggle.

Really?

But it's one of those things where like...

I will be the guy who knows the thing.

I'm like, oh, hey, honor, you should try this.

And then in like five minutes, he's already better than me.

I don't know if he even headsets off or not, but you can stand up here.

Is there enough room?

Oh, yeah.

Easily.

I mean,

we have plenty of

room.

All right.

Well, you know, there's a lot of things we can do.

Zommer's, we have some, we have some juggling music standing by here.

So we brought our

own tennis balls as well.

See, we had they brought their own.

So bring your own balls.

So there you go.

All right.

Very good.

All right, here

we

go, Zomers.

For those watching or listening on the radio, without the video, these guys are fantastic.

Oh my god, Jake's throwing it up and down.

Look at that.

Look at that.

They're incredible.

They're both got three balls.

They're doing great.

They have tennis balls.

Under the leg, Jake's got under the leg.

I mean, this is this is oh here we go back and forth.

This is like back and forth chugging.

All right.

Well, now we've broken this.

We're good.

That's great.

That's well well done.

Thank you.

Absolutely.

Well done.

That is great.

Kisti, I've always wanted to juggle, but I'm a terrible juggler.

Oh, you can learn.

Maybe we'll teach you later.

Oh, look at that.

Fantastic.

Different time next time we come on.

We'll have juggling lessons once a month on this show.

How about that?

Badger parkour.

Yeah, right.

All right.

Well, we got to do a little business and take a break here.

But when I guess we got a minute or so left.

the shirt.

Let's talk about the shirt.

Oh, the shirt.

Yeah.

And

if you

folks want

to see

it coming up with designs for the shirts,

we have new designs coming for next year.

Nice.

But if you'll see it says, so we have the logo on top and then the shirt says, don't ask me about Badger Parkour.

I think that's great.

And so, you know, you'll you'll see people with like sort of different shirts.

Maybe if they're they like ascribe to a particular like group or ideology, they'll say, ask me about whatever, ask me about veganism, whatever, like people are passionate.