Transcript

02/27/26 - Hour 1 · The Huddle

0:00
Speaker 1: Good morning, Wisconsin, and welcome to the huddle.
0:04
Speaker 2: I'm all for someone huddling if you have something.
0:07
Speaker 3: To say right into.
0:11
Speaker 1: Its time to wake up and talk about the teams.
0:13
Speaker 4: You love.
0:16
Speaker 1: With the guys you love.
0:17
Speaker 4: It's just about hitting the group together. I need you,
0:20
Speaker 4: you need me today, Let's keep touching each other. Let's
0:23
Speaker 4: make sure we feel each other. Let's make sure we
0:26
Speaker 4: smell each other for a half.
0:27
Speaker 1: Watch us on YouTube, Facebook and act.
0:29
Speaker 2: You need fifteen or twenty highs to core away with
0:32
Speaker 2: a number of cameras.
0:33
Speaker 4: Take the cameras off the field and the opinoble.
0:35
Speaker 1: Now gather around because it's time to huddle up. West
0:38
Speaker 1: leftlott weink. We watch stick on one ready to learn.
0:41
Speaker 4: Well, if it looks like man cover, I'll check.
0:44
Speaker 3: I'll go Juder, get you got a cutting crack now,
0:46
Speaker 3: cutting crack run ride eighteen Bob.
0:48
Speaker 1: On one ready cutting me quick. You'll look at this play.
0:50
Speaker 1: What we're trying to get is a seal here and
0:52
Speaker 1: a seal here, and try to run this play in
0:55
Speaker 1: the hour's over.
0:59
Speaker 4: Let's do what you do. Yeah, and they can play
1:07
Speaker 4: be right all the way outside Why left banks three ninety.
1:11
Speaker 1: Sick bag be in see park.
1:13
Speaker 4: Is that long enough for you watching to be party
1:15
Speaker 4: of professional? It's a great professional out there and playing
1:17
Speaker 4: this ball game like I know you can play it.
1:19
Speaker 1: Drew Olson mythical legendary figure Schmid.
1:22
Speaker 4: Oh my god, this man's been out all night.
1:25
Speaker 1: Armand sorry, ship don't get scam six says we ready.
1:29
Speaker 1: Fox Sports Radio Wisconsin is on the air.
1:36
Speaker 2: Does it feel like a Friday and everybody out there,
1:38
Speaker 2: well it should welcome into the Friday edition of the Huddle,
1:43
Speaker 2: Drew Billion, Armon, bring it to you from headquarters.
1:46
Speaker 4: Rock in the airwaves, Rivers and Lakes. We are on
1:49
Speaker 4: from five to eight.
1:51
Speaker 2: Our journey begins today and then we slide down the
1:53
Speaker 2: back of the Dinosaur and start a glorious weekend in
1:55
Speaker 2: the good land.
1:57
Speaker 4: Old Baby, Welcome in.
1:58
Speaker 2: We're on nine twenty A walk the ten seventy Madison
2:01
Speaker 2: everywhere on the iHeart app and of course YouTube, Facebook
2:04
Speaker 2: and ex streamers.
2:05
Speaker 4: Hello, good morning, Are we ready to rock? Boys? Are
2:08
Speaker 4: feeling good? Woken up? Ready to roll? Fellas.
2:10
Speaker 5: I don't know if you've you've had the same situation.
2:12
Speaker 5: It does appear that when I sleep the longest, the
2:15
Speaker 5: most tired, I am in the morning.
2:17
Speaker 4: I know, I don't understand how that is.
2:20
Speaker 5: But once we are caffeinated the way that we are
2:23
Speaker 5: here earlier today and not a bat not feeling bashful
2:28
Speaker 5: doing it because we don't feel bad about show shoving
2:30
Speaker 5: it in the face of our brother like we did
2:31
Speaker 5: a couple of days ago while you were fasting. It's
2:34
Speaker 5: definitely necessary here today. But you're right, it does feel
2:36
Speaker 5: like Friday. We've earned it are These can be somewhat
2:39
Speaker 5: of the duldrums of sports. However, daily there's just like
2:43
Speaker 5: little bits of breadcrumbs that we get to play with
2:45
Speaker 5: and have some fun with in this little toy box
2:48
Speaker 5: that is the sports world.
2:49
Speaker 4: I still enjoy I'm these beautiful down weeks. Yeah, I agree.
2:52
Speaker 3: People, you know, people in this business fear this month.
2:55
Speaker 3: They fear it like you know, they fear it like
2:57
Speaker 3: spiders are like a shark in the water.
3:00
Speaker 4: Not me, not me, not us. We have run to
3:02
Speaker 4: this night. Yeah that's right. I don't run for my nightmares.
3:05
Speaker 4: I embrace it.
3:05
Speaker 3: And you know what if you if you love, like
3:08
Speaker 3: you said, Billy, the weird and wild stuff for the
3:11
Speaker 3: little tidbits and of course, uh, the anticipation of March
3:14
Speaker 3: madness Hey, you love this time of year.
3:16
Speaker 4: We'll get through it together, and we're gonna do it today.
3:17
Speaker 4: It's no doubt, no doubt.
3:19
Speaker 2: I was thinking about that because as you continue to
3:21
Speaker 2: watch highlights from spring training, you just you know, the
3:25
Speaker 2: green grass, it's just so. I was just in Mexico
3:27
Speaker 2: walking on beaches. It's antilizing. I was living in the
3:30
Speaker 2: summer life for a week last week, and it's like,
3:33
Speaker 2: it's gonna be here and it's gonna be glorious. But
3:35
Speaker 2: you think about it, and summer is an extension of
3:38
Speaker 2: right now. It's a quiet time. We actually have a
3:40
Speaker 2: lot of stuff going on right now. We got teams
3:41
Speaker 2: getting ready for the NBA playoffs, NCAA positioning, We're about
3:44
Speaker 2: ready to get in a conference tournament time, which is,
3:47
Speaker 2: you know, the the appetizer for the end, for the
3:50
Speaker 2: March madness. And then we've got the combine, which is
3:53
Speaker 2: not that exciting, particularly this year when the Packers don't
3:56
Speaker 2: have a first round pick. But I was wondering as
3:58
Speaker 2: I watched the green Grass and the guys can I
4:00
Speaker 2: was flashing back to all the years that I did
4:01
Speaker 2: get to spend this chunk of time, like six weeks
4:05
Speaker 2: in Arizona on someone else's die.
4:08
Speaker 4: It was like a preview of you know, retirement of
4:10
Speaker 4: living at the villages. Yes, right, a little taste. It
4:15
Speaker 4: was a good taste.
4:16
Speaker 2: Spend two months, you know, six weeks to eight weeks
4:20
Speaker 2: covering spring training. So I had a little fomo yesterday,
4:23
Speaker 2: which I try not to allow myself to do, but
4:24
Speaker 2: I was like, oh, I do kind of miss that now.
4:27
Speaker 2: Then I start to remember, and the more you think
4:29
Speaker 2: about it, like oh, there were some brutal days, and
4:32
Speaker 2: you miss your family, and you miss my dog and
4:34
Speaker 2: miss your own rack, and and it becets like groundhog Day.
4:38
Speaker 4: That's very regimented. During spring training.
4:40
Speaker 2: It's very routine that Brewers don't play a lot of
4:43
Speaker 2: night games, and when they do, it's almost like a vacation.
4:46
Speaker 2: They show up at camp at three o'clock instead of
4:49
Speaker 2: like seven thirty or whatever. But it's like you're so
4:51
Speaker 2: regimented and you're so in the zone, and you get
4:54
Speaker 2: in a bubble where the only thing that matters is
4:57
Speaker 2: the team in front of you that you're covering, and
4:59
Speaker 2: maybe the the other teams in the periphery and baseball
5:02
Speaker 2: news and then the other stuff like the.
5:04
Speaker 4: Taco that you stop at everyone time. Yeah, absolutely, and
5:07
Speaker 4: you have two.
5:08
Speaker 5: Or three spots that you're at, and the sirens that
5:11
Speaker 5: are around that beckon you and Phoenix, there's plenty of them.
5:14
Speaker 4: It's a great city to hang out in for spring training,
5:17
Speaker 4: the best time of the year.
5:18
Speaker 2: But does it su bars But and then I remember
5:21
Speaker 2: the drudgery though of how like, oh man, it's just draining,
5:24
Speaker 2: and it was like by the end of spring training
5:26
Speaker 2: every year, you just can't wait to get out, you know,
5:28
Speaker 2: you can't. I remember, like the happiest day of spring
5:31
Speaker 2: training is like the day that you you walk into
5:34
Speaker 2: the clubhouse and you see all the wheeled bags, the
5:38
Speaker 2: new wheeled luggage bags with every the players numbers on
5:42
Speaker 2: them and stuff, and they're lined up in the hallway
5:44
Speaker 2: and that means that, oh.
5:45
Speaker 4: We're down to the last couple of days.
5:47
Speaker 2: They're getting their luggage ready, they're getting issued the team
5:50
Speaker 2: issued luggage, and they're deciding who's going to what minor
5:53
Speaker 2: league affiliate, and they start sending guys over to the
5:57
Speaker 2: minor league camp and big leaguers longer.
5:59
Speaker 4: So it's it's picks up momentum.
6:00
Speaker 2: You get this like dull phase and then at the end,
6:03
Speaker 2: it starts to pick up momentum and your ramp up
6:05
Speaker 2: towards opening day, and it goes through. It's a life
6:07
Speaker 2: cycle of spring training, and so I miss many parts
6:11
Speaker 2: of it. But the drudgery and the long days and
6:15
Speaker 2: being tired a lot.
6:16
Speaker 5: They turn into some long days because there is a
6:19
Speaker 5: that is spring training is truly where the hurry up
6:22
Speaker 5: so we can stand and wait. That is where that
6:25
Speaker 5: really gets invented because there is a ton of staying
6:28
Speaker 5: around in waiting. But I don't also know, Drew if
6:30
Speaker 5: spring training has ever emulated NFL training camp more, because
6:35
Speaker 5: there is like at a certain time there are like
6:37
Speaker 5: two three day practices in the NFL.
6:40
Speaker 4: There's some really really long days.
6:41
Speaker 5: Now those are different than now they practice in the
6:44
Speaker 5: morning and everybody's gone by six.
6:46
Speaker 4: But it's to the point where like, yeah, I think
6:49
Speaker 4: we can only.
6:49
Speaker 5: Write about the fact that they have a competition for
6:52
Speaker 5: the fourth wide receiver so many different times after the
6:55
Speaker 5: third start by the fourth and fifth starters and the
6:58
Speaker 5: guys that are running for the three position spots that
7:00
Speaker 5: they actually have, You're like, man, can we get to
7:03
Speaker 5: the stuff that actually matters here? Like this is It's
7:05
Speaker 5: why it's the greatest strip teas in all the sports
7:07
Speaker 5: because you, for us, all you look at is fantasize
7:12
Speaker 5: the summer.
7:12
Speaker 4: What you get to We're getting close, yeah, but in
7:15
Speaker 4: football it's in the midst of it.
7:18
Speaker 5: People get excited, get excited, but then there's the oh,
7:21
Speaker 5: I almost don't want it to get here because then
7:23
Speaker 5: the winter comes. So this one we have way too
7:26
Speaker 5: much anticipation, and it leans into the heartwarming stuff and
7:30
Speaker 5: the sports stuff that just makes us sit there and
7:32
Speaker 5: wait and wait and wait, and we're still what a
7:34
Speaker 5: month until they actually play game the matter, it's still
7:36
Speaker 5: a month.
7:37
Speaker 3: Yeah, on March twenty sixth, I think the four weeks
7:41
Speaker 3: from yesterday. Yeah, it's ay, and it's a fairly early
7:45
Speaker 3: opening day this year, but it's something there's just something
7:47
Speaker 3: symbolic about it, you know, the stages of getting through it, right,
7:50
Speaker 3: you start spring training, you get there, then you turn
7:54
Speaker 3: the page from February to March. You know, is their
7:57
Speaker 3: leap day this year? No, Okay, that's like what extra
8:00
Speaker 3: day to wait? But not this year, so you can
8:02
Speaker 3: turn it over to March. And I would imagine and
8:05
Speaker 3: I remember listening to a broadcast once where Bob was
8:07
Speaker 3: talking about this where he would always with Bob we
8:09
Speaker 3: Co would always talk about how there's an excitement to
8:11
Speaker 3: get to Arizona, and then there's you know, after a
8:14
Speaker 3: few weeks, it's like, let's go, let's get north, let's
8:16
Speaker 3: start this thing.
8:17
Speaker 4: And then I wout always wonder.
8:19
Speaker 3: It's like because you're sitting in Milwaukee when it's usually
8:22
Speaker 3: still pretty cold in March, and you're thinking, like, man,
8:25
Speaker 3: they want to leave the weather. But then again it's like, well,
8:27
Speaker 3: then we want to we want to start the season,
8:29
Speaker 3: we want to come north. That's when we know baseball
8:31
Speaker 3: starting because we get that chill up the early spring.
8:34
Speaker 3: So yeah, there's an excitement there.
8:36
Speaker 2: The excitement of arriving at spring training waynes like the
8:38
Speaker 2: first time you're standing there and watching PfP.
8:40
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's great. And it's like they do that for.
8:46
Speaker 2: Burr's pictures covering first base for like forty five minutes, like, oh,
8:50
Speaker 2: this is what I signed up for this.
8:52
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's like it's it's it's the rhythm of sports though.
8:55
Speaker 2: It really is, like he gets geeked for college basketball
8:59
Speaker 2: way before the rest of.
9:00
Speaker 4: US civilians because he's in it. He lives and he
9:02
Speaker 4: breathes it and he's he's.
9:04
Speaker 2: Geeked for those you know, like you know, running up
9:06
Speaker 2: the hill and stuff, He's he's geaked from that time.
9:09
Speaker 2: Now people are starting to pay attention to it. But
9:11
Speaker 2: one of the things about baseball this year and yesterday
9:15
Speaker 2: Doug Russell and I appeared on Dennis Crowsey round Table.
9:21
Speaker 4: I wasn't nobody needs to see pictures of me at all.
9:25
Speaker 5: I was gonna say, they need to see I'm glad
9:28
Speaker 5: that you I'm not. You guys were the hair joke.
9:32
Speaker 4: I'm glad he brought some as we're looking crispy crispy.
9:35
Speaker 2: But one of the things Dennis ass was like, what's
9:37
Speaker 2: the biggest You do the two minute teaser that they
9:39
Speaker 2: put in the newscast and then you do the actual
9:42
Speaker 2: roundtable show. And on the teaser he said, what's the
9:44
Speaker 2: biggest story of Bruce spring training camp? I said, the
9:47
Speaker 2: Bruce social media team in the videos. I was only
9:52
Speaker 2: half kidding. But then when we got into the real show, uh,
9:56
Speaker 2: Dennis said, you know what is and dovetailing off the
9:59
Speaker 2: Olympics with everybody you know, USA, USA, It's a perfect
10:02
Speaker 2: time for baseball to have the World Baseball classic totally.
10:04
Speaker 2: But having those guys, it's gonna make camp interesting in
10:07
Speaker 2: some ways because you'll be able to follow Bryce Drank
10:10
Speaker 2: playing for Team USA, Joey Ortiz and Controller's some guys
10:13
Speaker 2: will be playing and you'll be following them and you
10:16
Speaker 2: hope they stay healthy and that they're productive and having
10:18
Speaker 2: a good time, and those games are gonna be great theater.
10:20
Speaker 2: And then the young guys who you know, you don't
10:23
Speaker 2: really get excited about seeing guys with their numbers in
10:25
Speaker 2: the seventies, eighties and nineties cavorting on the spring training field,
10:28
Speaker 2: but this year.
10:29
Speaker 4: Will be different. Plus, those guys for the Brewers are interesting, yes,
10:33
Speaker 4: and they might have the biggest stories and they're good.
10:35
Speaker 2: And if they're if they're not, and you could say,
10:37
Speaker 2: well today, not gonna make the team and you're not
10:40
Speaker 2: gonna play this year, well do you know that? Because
10:42
Speaker 2: you know, remember when they remember when they brought up
10:45
Speaker 2: miss how exciting that was. Remember how when Churio arrived
10:48
Speaker 2: and it's like, well, Churio's starting opening day, He's taking
10:51
Speaker 2: the first and bat of the season, he's walking and
10:52
Speaker 2: stealing second his rookie year like that, there's juice there
10:57
Speaker 2: and those young players for the Brewers, they got a
10:59
Speaker 2: lot to watch now, So getting those guys more time
11:02
Speaker 2: in these games isn't going to hurt the cause while
11:05
Speaker 2: the other guys are otherwise occupying.
11:07
Speaker 4: Not at all.
11:08
Speaker 5: And also for the flexibility that you might want to
11:10
Speaker 5: be able to see with some of those guys, how
11:12
Speaker 5: many different positions can Jet Williams play, How many different
11:15
Speaker 5: positions can today play unless you just want to keep
11:17
Speaker 5: him at short and set it and forget it and
11:19
Speaker 5: let him roll, Because you're right, they're exciting to the
11:21
Speaker 5: point where like you had the group that already was
11:25
Speaker 5: in the big leagues, the fielders and the hearts and
11:28
Speaker 5: the hardys, but then.
11:29
Speaker 4: There was this dude, Ryan Brown. I think he had
11:31
Speaker 4: thirteen bombs in the spring training. Guys, he's not gonna be.
11:34
Speaker 5: Here, but this is the exciting one that it gives
11:36
Speaker 5: you more of those feelings than we've had ever before.
11:39
Speaker 5: And I like the fact that the World Baseball Classic drew,
11:42
Speaker 5: as you mentioned, gives you the appointment viewing, the good
11:45
Speaker 5: viewing while all the other stuff gets to be done
11:48
Speaker 5: back here. And you've been in those big league clubhouses
11:51
Speaker 5: to be able to grow from an eighteen nineteen year
11:53
Speaker 5: old kid like Jesus Miday being in that clubhouse, albeit
11:57
Speaker 5: with a couple of their most significant guys, on being
12:00
Speaker 5: around Christianell, It's Brandon Woodriff, all those dudes. Man, that
12:03
Speaker 5: is a hell of a learning experience for him to
12:05
Speaker 5: be able to have with more runway to actually play
12:08
Speaker 5: and probably a longer time in big league camp than
12:10
Speaker 5: he would have the w And you know.
12:13
Speaker 3: For baseball fans, there's a romanticism and excitement about prospects.
12:17
Speaker 3: I mean, they're unopened gifts. The excitement of like you know,
12:20
Speaker 3: a new pair of shoes in the box, or you know,
12:23
Speaker 3: a green banana. Well, what's it gonna be like? You
12:25
Speaker 3: know what, what's it? What's it gonna become like? You
12:28
Speaker 3: know what I mean, there's just an excitement about the
12:30
Speaker 3: possibilities of all these things. You know, and the and
12:33
Speaker 3: the Packers, the Brewers not only have a couple, they
12:36
Speaker 3: have a bunch of these guys. You know, it represents
12:38
Speaker 3: hope and there's something special about that. You know, a
12:40
Speaker 3: new decad cards. I gotta go buy some brand new
12:43
Speaker 3: hand in poker, really right, Billy, brand new set of
12:46
Speaker 3: tickets to Pottawa Iman Sportsbook these could all be. That's
12:48
Speaker 3: you know, the next the next moment, the glory like
12:51
Speaker 3: there's an excitement of possibility.
12:52
Speaker 4: And there's no better I even think better than the
12:55
Speaker 4: NFL Draft and prospects.
12:56
Speaker 3: In the NFL draft, it's baseball prospects because you can
13:00
Speaker 3: yourself to dream, to believe, especially when your team isn't there. Now,
13:03
Speaker 3: the Brewers are lucky, you know, Bruce fans are lucky.
13:05
Speaker 3: They already have a good team. But the Brewers have
13:07
Speaker 3: a bunch of those guys, and the excitement about what
13:08
Speaker 3: these guys can become, there's there's absolutely no question about it.
13:12
Speaker 3: That makes this time of year more exciting. They're not
13:15
Speaker 3: just seat fillers or roster fillers. Well, they're not just campbodies.
13:18
Speaker 3: They're not the Chris Barnwells of the world or whatever.
13:20
Speaker 3: You know.
13:21
Speaker 5: Now I would push back on I think for the
13:23
Speaker 5: fantasy football world that might this is what That's why
13:26
Speaker 5: baseball process is even more because then you can see
13:28
Speaker 5: it as commodity moving around the NFL. One is, well,
13:31
Speaker 5: this guy walks in, He's probably gonna be the best
13:33
Speaker 5: player on our team. Right like that, there is the
13:35
Speaker 5: convincing yourself of those five to six players in the
13:37
Speaker 5: NFL draft are going to be can't miss, surefire all
13:42
Speaker 5: pros in the first two years, and if they're not,
13:43
Speaker 5: we're going to be in a huge issue. But for
13:46
Speaker 5: the crew and for baseball, you do get to have
13:49
Speaker 5: them develop and you get a little bit more personal
13:51
Speaker 5: with it. That's where I think the relationship parts, and
13:54
Speaker 5: a little bit sometimes the clutching of pearls.
13:56
Speaker 4: Of prospects Drew. I think sometimes that leads into the conversation.
14:00
Speaker 3: And I think as you see them less than like
14:01
Speaker 3: college basketball or football players, like you've seen them play
14:04
Speaker 3: a lot, so there's all it kind of wears off
14:06
Speaker 3: in a sense, right, But you don't see these prospects
14:09
Speaker 3: a lot unless you're like Dave Gasper watching a bunch
14:11
Speaker 3: of minor league tape that like, you don't have time
14:13
Speaker 3: to get annoyed with them yet or find their flaws.
14:15
Speaker 4: You just look.
14:16
Speaker 3: It's like a new girlfriend all the time, you know.
14:18
Speaker 3: So it's one of the more interesting guys.
14:20
Speaker 4: Okay, it's like remember the old days of face. I
14:23
Speaker 4: don't remember the new girlfriend every day face.
14:25
Speaker 3: I apologize high school new crush wowsion, Well, they don't
14:32
Speaker 3: like you back.
14:33
Speaker 2: Crush is one of the one of the guys that
14:35
Speaker 2: I'm most interested in this year at first camp gotta
14:38
Speaker 2: be Garrett Mitchell. Yes, man, people just forget that he's
14:41
Speaker 2: on the team and he has shown flashes of being
14:44
Speaker 2: a very exciting player and he gets hurt right and so,
14:47
Speaker 2: and a lot of people have already shoved him into
14:50
Speaker 2: the bin like he's Christian Watson. Christian Watson after this year. Yeah,
14:56
Speaker 2: that little option you're laying at. He was the first
14:59
Speaker 2: round pick, and he's got skills, and he's got he
15:01
Speaker 2: goes and gets it, and he's shown the ability to
15:04
Speaker 2: the major he has done it. Yeah, he just hasn't
15:07
Speaker 2: been able to sustain. So if he gets an outbreak
15:09
Speaker 2: of sustained health and you know that he's going to
15:12
Speaker 2: be exciting, no one's really You don't really have an
15:14
Speaker 2: expectation for him because he hasn't shown you know, you
15:17
Speaker 2: don't have a baseline for him yet.
15:19
Speaker 5: Know, the easy expectation is that you can think that
15:22
Speaker 5: he'll be gone in on the IL within the first
15:24
Speaker 5: six weeks, So.
15:25
Speaker 4: Avoid the IL his first goal.
15:26
Speaker 5: But I think the other part of it, Drew, is
15:29
Speaker 5: there there's something to the personal connection that I think
15:32
Speaker 5: he's got with a lot of these guys.
15:34
Speaker 4: Right, you mentioned he's the first round pick.
15:35
Speaker 5: There's a good collection, Terrang, Freelick, Mitchell, all of those dudes,
15:39
Speaker 5: all first round picks. I'm Ron Garrett was right there
15:43
Speaker 5: in the timing, if not before all those guys.
15:45
Speaker 3: So he was.
15:46
Speaker 5: He's been with these dudes at all the phases throughout
15:49
Speaker 5: the development. That the stories and the special seasons are
15:53
Speaker 5: made of the special stories and the guys that are
15:55
Speaker 5: able to bounce back and have comeback player of the
15:57
Speaker 5: year kind of situations. And listen, I also think Blake
16:00
Speaker 5: Perkins is a hard, hard dude to take out of
16:02
Speaker 5: the lineup, and I know they don't want.
16:03
Speaker 4: To, especially the way Murph loves them, the.
16:05
Speaker 5: Way Murph loves them, But you're you're gonna have to
16:07
Speaker 5: earn that spot if you're that's it. You want that
16:09
Speaker 5: healthy competition. So that's the stuff we can watch.
16:11
Speaker 2: And there are yeah, there are stories, and it is
16:15
Speaker 2: I say Groundhog Day and everybody people who ask me
16:17
Speaker 2: back in the day, how do you cover every one
16:19
Speaker 2: of those games? Don't they start to run together? And
16:20
Speaker 2: I say, well, it's a book with one hundred and
16:22
Speaker 2: sixty two chapters. Every day is different. Every day you
16:24
Speaker 2: see something comes up. Every day there's you know, even
16:27
Speaker 2: when you're losing a hundred games, you just there's something
16:30
Speaker 2: to focus on if you look for it. And something
16:33
Speaker 2: with the Packers guys, like you said, like the Packers
16:35
Speaker 2: when when you have a good team, like the Packer's like, okay,
16:38
Speaker 2: what's the big story in camp and the off season
16:41
Speaker 2: for Seattle?
16:42
Speaker 4: They just they're on top of the mountain. Their coach
16:45
Speaker 4: is a genius.
16:46
Speaker 2: They have the defense that everybody wants to try to copy,
16:48
Speaker 2: though I don't know that they can in terms of
16:50
Speaker 2: scheme and personnel, right, But it's like, what what are
16:52
Speaker 2: they looking?
16:53
Speaker 4: What are they tweaking? What do they need to improve?
16:55
Speaker 2: Like we've forgotten what that view is, like yep, because
16:59
Speaker 2: it's been a long time since the Packers were on
17:00
Speaker 2: top of the mountain. But the Packers are, you know,
17:03
Speaker 2: two thirds of the way up the mountain hoping to
17:05
Speaker 2: get close exactly. So like it's it's wish casting, but
17:09
Speaker 2: that that circumstance there. And then the other thing that
17:13
Speaker 2: is striking about this back to baseball is the national
17:17
Speaker 2: pundits again underestimating the Brewers time who have won four
17:21
Speaker 2: of the last five division championship and it's like they're
17:23
Speaker 2: gonna be threatened by Cincinnati and maybe even Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh
17:26
Speaker 2: could be above five.
17:27
Speaker 4: Hundred this year.
17:27
Speaker 2: Pittsburgh and Cincinnati haven't won a playoff game in like
17:30
Speaker 2: twelve or thirteen years. Kidding, why are they even a
17:33
Speaker 2: concern yet? They got to show me something before I
17:35
Speaker 2: start worrying about them. And they're worried about the Brewers regressing.
17:38
Speaker 2: I think it's mostly because it's the accumulation of Oh,
17:42
Speaker 2: they trade all their guys and they traded Peralta. Well,
17:44
Speaker 2: if you're trading Peralta for a healthy Brandon Woodruff, that's
17:47
Speaker 2: almost a one for one.
17:48
Speaker 5: It turns into a decent one fit if wood if
17:50
Speaker 5: makes twenty five to thirty starts and he's pitching sharp
17:52
Speaker 5: like he did like we saw at the end of
17:54
Speaker 5: last year, I think the Brewers are pretty confident he's
17:56
Speaker 5: going to do that.
17:57
Speaker 2: So then okay, that's not that big a step back. Plus,
18:00
Speaker 2: you've got a bunch of guys, and with the depth
18:02
Speaker 2: and with the young talent they have. I go back
18:05
Speaker 2: to last year when Vinnie Kaepra and Oliver Dunn were
18:08
Speaker 2: the third base plat in that law firm. They're gone,
18:11
Speaker 2: and then but you ended up with Durban, who's in
18:13
Speaker 2: the mix for a Rookie of the Year. That's what
18:14
Speaker 2: happens when you have that pipeline of talent. The guy
18:17
Speaker 2: doesn't work out, send him back down. We're talking about
18:20
Speaker 2: Garrett Mitchell.
18:20
Speaker 4: I don't know. Maybe he does start in triple A
18:23
Speaker 4: and get a.
18:23
Speaker 2: Month to play it every day and then like he
18:25
Speaker 2: just dove into a base the other day and everybody's like, oh,
18:27
Speaker 2: that was great.
18:28
Speaker 4: You know, he didn't get hurt and let him get
18:30
Speaker 4: his feet under him a little bit. Maybe able to
18:32
Speaker 4: do that. Maybe they won't. Maybe he's beyond that. Maybe
18:35
Speaker 4: he's ready to roll. And that's that. Those are the decisions.
18:38
Speaker 5: Those are good decisions, those are good problems to have,
18:40
Speaker 5: and those are the ones that all work themselves out, right,
18:42
Speaker 5: Like the we joke about it each and every year,
18:45
Speaker 5: once we get to you know, three and a half
18:47
Speaker 5: weeks from right now, once they announced the opening day roster,
18:51
Speaker 5: or the morning of opening day when they announced.
18:52
Speaker 4: It, right, I don't believe he didn't make it. How
18:56
Speaker 4: did that?
18:56
Speaker 5: Could they possibly go without this guy? And then the
18:59
Speaker 5: next day, there's a floor you three different rosbow like.
19:02
Speaker 5: It's gonna be such a it's gonna be such a
19:04
Speaker 5: weave of how they manipulate through it. And I loved
19:07
Speaker 5: listening to Matt Arnold on with the File Territory guys
19:10
Speaker 5: because it was similar and you're going to because it
19:13
Speaker 5: is a collection and it always is gonna feel like
19:17
Speaker 5: the one move led to another one led to another
19:19
Speaker 5: one led to another one. But they're asking him, with
19:21
Speaker 5: the collection of big time players that they've had to
19:23
Speaker 5: move off, what was the hardest one for you? And
19:26
Speaker 5: they're clumping in Josh Hater. Albeit while Matt Arnold wasn't
19:29
Speaker 5: the lead decision maker when Josh Hater was traded. But
19:32
Speaker 5: like you, you get into a flow of having to
19:34
Speaker 5: do it so many times that if you don't believe
19:37
Speaker 5: you're set up for it, you don't make some of
19:39
Speaker 5: those moves. The Woody one is fascinating from the standpoint
19:43
Speaker 5: of it is by far the most money they've ever
19:46
Speaker 5: committed to a pitcher on a one year basis, right.
19:50
Speaker 4: And they're they're proud to say it right and rightfully
19:53
Speaker 4: so they should be.
19:54
Speaker 5: That's where the medical I really really hope Drew were right,
19:57
Speaker 5: because if they are, then it is a decent one
20:00
Speaker 5: for one swap because he's been he's been so filthy.
20:02
Speaker 5: And then also again internal improvement and a Kyle Harrison
20:06
Speaker 5: is the one that I'm excited to be able to see.
20:07
Speaker 5: I like that after after four more weeks with Chris
20:10
Speaker 5: Hook and Company and the Brewers pitching department, I'm very
20:13
Speaker 5: excited to see what he ends up putting out there.
20:15
Speaker 5: And they won't alone.
20:17
Speaker 2: Lefty right now ticketed for the rotation, but you don't know.
20:19
Speaker 2: They're gonna start seven to eight nine guys, that's your thing,
20:22
Speaker 2: and they're gonna use They're gonna use openers like yeah,
20:25
Speaker 2: at all could be opener, like they have so many options.
20:28
Speaker 4: The starters a landline term. I mean, yeah, it's to
20:31
Speaker 4: play the modern game. They have so many options.
20:33
Speaker 5: So we would joke about this with Mike Keller when
20:35
Speaker 5: he was down there, and he would say it, and
20:38
Speaker 5: when we I would go down there in the twenty seventeen,
20:40
Speaker 5: twenty eighteens and we'd always say, when you get closer
20:43
Speaker 5: to it, you can see that they could be better.
20:45
Speaker 5: I mean, it's hard for me to see the Packers
20:48
Speaker 5: losing any games when we're up there on the perch
20:50
Speaker 5: at training camp, right, did you ever get that feeling
20:53
Speaker 5: with you two Brewers?
20:54
Speaker 3: True?
20:55
Speaker 2: I just I don't know were you able to get
20:57
Speaker 2: that my favorite? Sorry, I tell people this all the time.
21:00
Speaker 2: Time is the last day of camp. I'm writing my
21:02
Speaker 2: last story from the press box in uh down there
21:05
Speaker 2: in Maryvale, and there's an NL Advanced scout guy worked
21:09
Speaker 2: for for the league.
21:11
Speaker 4: He was like a scout for the entire league.
21:12
Speaker 2: And he's packing up in his buddy of mine and
21:15
Speaker 2: I just he's packing up his stuff and I'm starting
21:17
Speaker 2: to pack up, and I said, you think this team
21:18
Speaker 2: could lose one hundred games this year? Because they've never
21:20
Speaker 2: done that in their history. He said, one hundred. They're
21:23
Speaker 2: gonna lose a hundred with an option on one ten.
21:26
Speaker 2: And I said, all right, that's what I'm signing up for.
21:29
Speaker 2: And they lost one hundred and six, so right down
21:33
Speaker 2: the middle, and you could see it. It's funny because
21:34
Speaker 2: they had two All Stars that year.
21:36
Speaker 4: Right, yeah.
21:36
Speaker 2: And the web side of that is that you know
21:38
Speaker 2: the person that people are picking him now around five hundred, yeah, right,
21:41
Speaker 2: the ceiling being eighty five.
21:43
Speaker 4: Well, let's see what happens when they play the games.
21:45
Speaker 1: Yeah.
21:46
Speaker 2: I love how everybody's like, well, the Cub's got Bregman,
21:48
Speaker 2: Like the Cub's at Tucker and they didn't win the
21:51
Speaker 2: division and didn't win the division and he was a
21:53
Speaker 2: rollover of four to three rollover in the playoffs the
21:56
Speaker 2: entire time. Yeah, so okay, but I'm excited for the
21:58
Speaker 2: love that they're having with peace again. There's gonna be
22:01
Speaker 2: there's gonna be a fun back and forth. That dude
22:03
Speaker 2: seems to be here to stay.
22:05
Speaker 4: Uh, we'll see.
22:06
Speaker 5: But he's also gonna be the American center fielder Bryce
22:08
Speaker 5: terrang Pete crow Armstrong. That's gonna be a fun little watch.
22:11
Speaker 4: WBC.
22:12
Speaker 2: Absolutely so, Burr's getting us going on this Friday. It's
22:15
Speaker 2: gonna be a free from Friday. Matt Lapey will not
22:17
Speaker 2: be joining us today sadly because schedule. It's yeah, it's
22:21
Speaker 2: early out there. He's in Washington getting ready for the
22:23
Speaker 2: Padgers game against Washington.
22:25
Speaker 4: They've got I think they might have some important people
22:27
Speaker 4: on this trip, yep.
22:28
Speaker 5: I mean it's it seems like there might be there
22:30
Speaker 5: might be an important breakfast, maybe an important tea time.
22:33
Speaker 2: So we're gonna catch up with Matty return here. Oh interesting,
22:36
Speaker 2: We'll have him on on Mondays so you can find
22:38
Speaker 2: butch out for a week. You got to bring the
22:39
Speaker 2: heavy hinners.
22:40
Speaker 4: We need a plane. Yesterday that was that was exciting
22:43
Speaker 4: with no la pay. We need some audience participation.
22:46
Speaker 2: Today eight seven seven seven nine four ninety seven three
22:48
Speaker 2: gets you through nicolay loa dot com talk and text,
22:51
Speaker 2: and we're the opening act for the epic happy hour
22:54
Speaker 2: that is to come on.
22:54
Speaker 4: Friday and a glorious weekend ahead. It's the Huddle. Fox
22:58
Speaker 4: Sports Radio, Wisconsin.
23:15
Speaker 2: Streets, Runaway Rock and Rivers, Shaking Lakes Friday Edition to
23:19
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23:19
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23:21
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Speaker 2: on the YouTube commerce.
23:29
Speaker 4: A lot of conversation already, a lot of talk, a
23:31
Speaker 4: lot of baseball talk. Today's program.
23:36
Speaker 2: Oh, in addition to our fine sponsors, we're doing a
23:38
Speaker 2: dedication today Today's program dedicated to Bruce Freming, Yes, yeah,
23:43
Speaker 2: who passed yesterday. Bruce Framing Brown Deer's Finest, Milwaukee's finest
23:49
Speaker 2: one of the longest tenured umpires in Major League hiss
23:52
Speaker 2: I thin. He's number three all time games worked.
23:54
Speaker 5: And one of the one of the the longest running
23:57
Speaker 5: ads on Bruce Radio, him talking about the village man
24:00
Speaker 5: Or Park, which I always appreciated.
24:02
Speaker 4: Was always a winner.
24:05
Speaker 2: So good, a great Bruce was eighty six he passed,
24:09
Speaker 2: and the details like his sons Kevin and Steve and Kevin.
24:14
Speaker 2: When you think Kevin at one point was Marquette's basketball
24:17
Speaker 2: manager when he was in college.
24:18
Speaker 4: Oh okay, yeah, I recall, but he had a fall
24:23
Speaker 4: and he was on blood thinners and had a brain
24:25
Speaker 4: bleed and they couldn't stop.
24:26
Speaker 2: It's a uh But so Bruce passed yesterday, and he
24:30
Speaker 2: was just a delightful guy. I had so much fun
24:33
Speaker 2: over the years chirping at him about umpires and he
24:35
Speaker 2: coming back at me, and he'd hear something I said
24:37
Speaker 2: on the radio and.
24:38
Speaker 4: Chirp at me.
24:38
Speaker 2: And I said to Dennis yesterday on the round table
24:42
Speaker 2: that this thing that I've had a career, you know
24:45
Speaker 2: you can make fun of it.
24:45
Speaker 4: And I'm getting up with you, Jabroni's at five in
24:47
Speaker 4: the morning.
24:48
Speaker 3: Now.
24:50
Speaker 2: You can't take away from me that I got to
24:51
Speaker 2: sit in the press room for many nights at a
24:54
Speaker 2: table with Johnny Logan, Bruce Framing and Bob Buker and
24:58
Speaker 2: just watch them tell stories and chop it up. Just
25:01
Speaker 2: it was like an ad workout because I laughed so hard.
25:03
Speaker 2: Oh man, it was incredible. And so those days, you know,
25:07
Speaker 2: Framing's up there, Joe.
25:08
Speaker 5: West, I was gonna say, he's up there with the
25:10
Speaker 5: longest tenured guys in them the when you when you
25:13
Speaker 5: put him in that that hierarchy right there in that triumvirant.
25:17
Speaker 5: Those are those guys in baseball you hope are still
25:21
Speaker 5: continual and continuing to be something that gets developed.
25:24
Speaker 4: But it feels like a generation that might just not be.
25:27
Speaker 4: I know, the umpire is a.
25:28
Speaker 2: Character in this era of replay and abs and no,
25:32
Speaker 2: you know, none of the argumentation.
25:35
Speaker 4: None of the turned my cap around and go nose
25:37
Speaker 4: to sure, that's the one.
25:39
Speaker 3: That's one of the things that and people have rolled
25:41
Speaker 3: the rise when I say it sometimes that's one of
25:42
Speaker 3: the things I've worried about with the you know, the
25:45
Speaker 3: once upon a time it was ques tech.
25:47
Speaker 4: Now it's the abs. It's like, are we gonna lose
25:49
Speaker 4: that soul? The game?
25:50
Speaker 3: A little bit that DNA, that memory, the romanticism of
25:53
Speaker 3: the umpire making the call and people arguing with them.
25:56
Speaker 3: I don't know, but that's one thing I have wondered
25:58
Speaker 3: about that. And it is a new era in baseball
26:01
Speaker 3: the other changes of work, so we had to be
26:02
Speaker 3: hopeful about this one. But you're right, Bruce Freming is
26:05
Speaker 3: one of those main stays.
26:06
Speaker 4: He always was.
26:08
Speaker 3: I had a really good friend I've worked in the radio.
26:10
Speaker 3: He always he was into umpiring. He was like youth umpire,
26:12
Speaker 3: so he loved following umpires and talking about him. And
26:15
Speaker 3: he said, Bruce Freming was always like an umpire's umpire,
26:17
Speaker 3: like that everything you loved about being an umpire, Bruce
26:19
Speaker 3: Freming was able to do and like he just the
26:22
Speaker 3: way he the way he was, the way the way
26:25
Speaker 3: he kind of conducted himself, and the great moments he
26:27
Speaker 3: had made him kind of a fun character if you're
26:30
Speaker 3: a baseball fan. Even though he's not playing in the game,
26:33
Speaker 3: he's he's part of the whole myriad, the whole painting
26:36
Speaker 3: of it, and it's and it's a lot of a
26:38
Speaker 3: lot of great memories with him, and and of course
26:41
Speaker 3: a local guy.
26:41
Speaker 4: We love Milwaukee. He was our guy. Yes, a legend,
26:45
Speaker 4: and you know some of the stories he's most famous.
26:47
Speaker 2: And Cubs fans might be having some champagne today because
26:49
Speaker 2: the Milt PAPIs game is what he's famous for. Milt
26:52
Speaker 2: Papas had a perfect game going three two, two outs
26:55
Speaker 2: in the ninth inning and a guy checks his swing
26:57
Speaker 2: and it's on the outside corner and Bruce ball four
27:00
Speaker 2: walk it over there.
27:02
Speaker 4: And the fans is lot and it was at Wrigley.
27:04
Speaker 2: He's so Cubs fans people who were there can't just
27:07
Speaker 2: can't believe he didn't ring up and give Mill Pappus
27:10
Speaker 2: his moment of glory.
27:11
Speaker 4: And Bruce's response to that forever was like, I was
27:14
Speaker 4: the only one perfect that day. That pitch was outside.
27:16
Speaker 4: I love that. I love it. I was perfect. I
27:18
Speaker 4: absolutely love it. I mean, that's just an umpires, that's
27:21
Speaker 4: a giving you anything. Eleven no hitters. But now the
27:26
Speaker 4: thing is, I'm not giving you anything. The problem is
27:28
Speaker 4: I'm not gonna I'm not gonna.
27:30
Speaker 5: Miss in the ABS system learning what the strike zone
27:33
Speaker 5: is over three innings, that's true, right, I'm not gonna
27:35
Speaker 5: miss this. I have a high strike or I give
27:38
Speaker 5: the low strike. I'm excited for it to be a
27:40
Speaker 5: strike zone. I just love that conviction, though.
27:43
Speaker 4: I mean, like, you want to talk about somebody that
27:45
Speaker 4: knew what he saw and saw what he knew.
27:48
Speaker 5: You see thirty seven consecutive years of Major League baseball.
27:52
Speaker 5: I mean, Drew, you thought that the old quote of man,
27:56
Speaker 5: well this season never ends.
27:57
Speaker 4: I wonder.
27:58
Speaker 5: I wonder how many different times as a rotating umpire
28:01
Speaker 5: sitting over at third base after your night where it's
28:03
Speaker 5: a four hour game, maybe an eleven inninger, and you're
28:05
Speaker 5: behind the dish and you're sitting over at the rocking
28:07
Speaker 5: chair at third saying, hey, well this game never end?
28:10
Speaker 2: I went and yeah, and to that point, like back
28:12
Speaker 2: in those days, I would go and you go see
28:15
Speaker 2: Bruce in the home the umpire's room sometimes, you know,
28:18
Speaker 2: just go hang out. And I learned that from my
28:20
Speaker 2: buddy John Low covered the Detroit Tigers. He would go
28:23
Speaker 2: into a series and like if he was on the road,
28:25
Speaker 2: he made it a point to spend like a half
28:26
Speaker 2: hour with the manager of the other team, which is
28:29
Speaker 2: a great way to approach a beat because you get
28:31
Speaker 2: so locked into your own team sometimes you don't even
28:33
Speaker 2: care about the other side. He would do that, and
28:34
Speaker 2: then the first day of every series he would go
28:36
Speaker 2: to the Empire's room and chat those guys up, and
28:37
Speaker 2: he got to know those guys, and hell, you'd end
28:40
Speaker 2: up seeing them because they all stayed at Marriott's. I'd
28:42
Speaker 2: see him in the workout room or in the concierge
28:44
Speaker 2: lounge getting their Continental breakfast and stuff. So it's good
28:47
Speaker 2: to have the Umpires as a source and just to
28:49
Speaker 2: develop a relationship with them. And Bruce, obviously we're built
28:52
Speaker 2: in because he's from Milwaukee and we were, you know,
28:55
Speaker 2: living the same life and same winters and stuff. But
28:59
Speaker 2: one of the Bruce he would told me like when
29:01
Speaker 2: they had a long game or if a guy had
29:03
Speaker 2: a long night at the dish and stuff, they had
29:05
Speaker 2: like a kiddy where it was almost like they had
29:08
Speaker 2: their own kangaroo courts or their fine system. And it's like, oh,
29:11
Speaker 2: and they called it the pig, like the piggy bank,
29:13
Speaker 2: and like, oh, you gotta put that in the pig
29:14
Speaker 2: like and so if you worked a four hour game
29:16
Speaker 2: or if you kicked a call or something, you had
29:18
Speaker 2: to put money in the pig. And then at the
29:19
Speaker 2: end of the year they'd have like a huge dinner
29:20
Speaker 2: or something like that. So the umpires had their own vibe,
29:23
Speaker 2: in their own rhythm, and you get to learn that
29:25
Speaker 2: being in the in the culture. But there was one
29:28
Speaker 2: time when he's ump in a game at Miller Park
29:31
Speaker 2: and I think Yost is managing, and it was Brady
29:33
Speaker 2: Clark was called out at second either he was trying
29:36
Speaker 2: to go to a second on a double or maybe
29:37
Speaker 2: he was trying to steal seconds out. Bruce is out
29:40
Speaker 2: there and Ned runs out to argue, and then they
29:44
Speaker 2: all start laughing, and then they all disbursing. Brady Clarks out.
29:49
Speaker 2: This was you know, pre replay and a stuff. And
29:51
Speaker 2: I'm like, I asked, Ned after the game, what are
29:53
Speaker 2: you laughing about? What was funny? I mean, did somebody
29:55
Speaker 2: fart out there? Like what happened? Because it wasn't a
29:58
Speaker 2: very long discussion, and Ned said he went out there
30:02
Speaker 2: and he asked Bruce about the tag play and he's like,
30:04
Speaker 2: did you see it?
30:06
Speaker 4: And he looks at me, Rady, Ned. Every morning, I
30:09
Speaker 4: get up and grab the paper off the porch.
30:10
Speaker 2: I look up. I can see the sun. It's ninety
30:12
Speaker 2: three million miles away. I can see second base. He's out,
30:15
Speaker 2: and it's like end of discussion and then the kid
30:18
Speaker 2: walked out.
30:19
Speaker 4: That's amazing. That's those are the the you know.
30:22
Speaker 2: The comebacks, and those are the stories that you know,
30:25
Speaker 2: people remember that, oh well he's out.
30:26
Speaker 3: You know, we always joke on in the joke about
30:29
Speaker 3: but we always talk about the the opening day gave away.
30:32
Speaker 3: The Brewers had the true value baseball where they almost
30:34
Speaker 3: had to forfeit. Yeah, it was like ninety seven ninety eight.
30:36
Speaker 3: So because of that, I remember reading about the last
30:39
Speaker 3: time there was a forfeit, which I think it was
30:40
Speaker 3: ninety five, where there was a baseball giveaway.
30:43
Speaker 4: I think in the Dodgers game.
30:44
Speaker 3: What I remember about it is they were asking a
30:46
Speaker 3: bunch of people about the baseball giveaway and the forfeit,
30:49
Speaker 3: and Bruce Friming was umpiring in that game, and his
30:51
Speaker 3: quote was something like, what a great idea give him baseball.
30:55
Speaker 4: He might as well just give him hand grenades. It
30:58
Speaker 4: was just made me laugh, you know. Yeah. So that's
31:01
Speaker 4: just either's the memories that roll through.
31:03
Speaker 2: He ran Billy Martin one time, because there he was
31:07
Speaker 2: Billy Martin was like rolling balls towards home plate, trying
31:09
Speaker 2: to get the home plate umpire's attention and like framing
31:13
Speaker 2: told him one more and you're out of here, and
31:15
Speaker 2: he rolled one more. He threw him out from first base,
31:17
Speaker 2: like he ejected a lot of dudes, and we had
31:19
Speaker 2: so much fun. Like and again, Harder Court was all
31:21
Speaker 2: part of the Shenanigans because Harder Court and Bruce will
31:24
Speaker 2: go way back.
31:24
Speaker 4: And I was I went to uh.
31:27
Speaker 2: I think it was like a it might have been
31:28
Speaker 2: Bruce's retirement party, or it was just a celebration of
31:31
Speaker 2: an anniversary or something. But it was a big party
31:33
Speaker 2: they had at the Milwaukee Athletic Club years ago, and
31:35
Speaker 2: Joe Buck m seed it oh awesome, and Jim Leland
31:38
Speaker 2: was there on the dais and they had a whole
31:39
Speaker 2: bunch of people like baseball luminaries there to celebrate Bruce.
31:43
Speaker 4: It was such a great night. And Leland's chuffing cigarettes
31:45
Speaker 4: at the table. You know, he's got him cuffed.
31:50
Speaker 2: And that's what that was the first time I saw
31:52
Speaker 2: Joe Buck, like not on camera, and the dude like
31:55
Speaker 2: I had a man crush. He's like, he was incredibly
31:57
Speaker 2: telling me stories, just such a laid back and then
31:59
Speaker 2: you talk to him, you know at cocktail hour. Stuff
32:01
Speaker 2: is great, Dude, I became a Joe Buck guy forever
32:04
Speaker 2: after that because he was and he had obviously he
32:06
Speaker 2: grew up going to.
32:06
Speaker 4: Games with his dad and Bruce was working games, and
32:08
Speaker 4: Bruce was such a fixture.
32:10
Speaker 5: So when today when Joe lets the hair plugs down,
32:13
Speaker 5: he is a cool, cool cat to be able to
32:15
Speaker 5: listen to.
32:15
Speaker 4: He's got great stories, he's amazing, very personal.
32:18
Speaker 2: He's also like very aware of his place and like
32:21
Speaker 2: baby and all this, but he's listen to the Hall
32:24
Speaker 2: of Famer in his own right.
32:25
Speaker 4: It turned out to be a pretty good one.
32:26
Speaker 5: I went through the images just on the Bruce Freming look,
32:29
Speaker 5: and you want to talk about somebody that lived through
32:31
Speaker 5: a lot of a baseball life. The pictures that he's
32:34
Speaker 5: a part of, the Loop Panella kicking the dirt when
32:36
Speaker 5: he's the Cubs manager is maybe one of my favorite ones.
32:40
Speaker 5: It's just phenomenal, phenomenal. And the old school NL logo
32:44
Speaker 5: on the umpire hat they used to switch up the league.
32:47
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's when you were either n L or ALE.
32:49
Speaker 4: That's right, Yeah, you had was there.
32:50
Speaker 5: Do you think there was a rivalry between the ALE
32:52
Speaker 5: and NL umpires knowing that our hit percentage was way
32:54
Speaker 5: better than their probably I don't think so, but well
32:57
Speaker 5: they came.
32:58
Speaker 3: Together to do world series together, right, yeah, these all
33:00
Speaker 3: star kind of crews, and it was always interesting.
33:02
Speaker 4: I mean they chant.
33:03
Speaker 3: You know, I was still young when they still had that,
33:05
Speaker 3: so I don't remember much, but it was the different
33:07
Speaker 3: hats and that they would they'd be in different outfits.
33:10
Speaker 4: You don't meet this man, can't go back. I mean
33:11
Speaker 4: you can't go back.
33:12
Speaker 3: And look, I'm actually kind of disappointing to use that
33:14
Speaker 3: as an excuse. Well you speaking that I will find
33:16
Speaker 3: the milk pap is highlighted for us next month.
33:19
Speaker 5: The h I love though, the camaraderie that you can
33:22
Speaker 5: actually have with the crew, right, like no doubt, and
33:25
Speaker 5: that's where band of brothers. Those are your guys and
33:28
Speaker 5: to have the backing and know that they have your
33:31
Speaker 5: back in those pots, damn they You want to talk
33:34
Speaker 5: about the team spending a lot of time together, that
33:36
Speaker 5: crew is going sometime than anybody else.
33:38
Speaker 2: You're in close quarters, like a lot of times they'll
33:40
Speaker 2: get one rental car, yeah, and they'll and they'll zip
33:42
Speaker 2: around and they travel. And those guys had it wired.
33:45
Speaker 2: They had in every city golf hoo cups restaurant hook ups,
33:49
Speaker 2: you know, when you're going to the same because think
33:51
Speaker 2: about it, for an umpire, there's never a home game,
33:53
Speaker 2: never one. You're always on the road. So those guys
33:56
Speaker 2: had and again I made the joke about Marriotts. They
33:58
Speaker 2: all stayed at Marriotts because at the Great Rewards program
34:01
Speaker 2: back in the day, and they were they all had
34:03
Speaker 2: golf hookups. They all had and Bruce had and uh,
34:08
Speaker 2: I remember somebody did a story about that. I mean,
34:10
Speaker 2: he had basically a museum of memorabilia because he would
34:14
Speaker 2: get all stuff and like and he I remember at
34:17
Speaker 2: one point they did a new story because there was
34:19
Speaker 2: flooding in Mechwan or whoever his house was, and he
34:23
Speaker 2: lost like a big chunk of his collection, but still
34:25
Speaker 2: had like a whole museum, just priceless, uh, just stuff.
34:31
Speaker 2: And those guys were It's what a life man, uh
34:34
Speaker 2: he And he was the guy that trained a lot
34:36
Speaker 2: on pires And we've tried to sanitize it and make
34:39
Speaker 2: those guys they're not There aren't as many characters now
34:41
Speaker 2: as there used to be, and they're not as I
34:44
Speaker 2: get you.
34:45
Speaker 4: Know in some ways the one yeah, visibles another one yeah,
34:48
Speaker 4: But it's like it's again that's I hope we don't
34:50
Speaker 4: lose that part of the game because those guys are
34:52
Speaker 4: one in all sports.
34:54
Speaker 5: Like Jean Sterotor was one of the most personal football
34:57
Speaker 5: officials right and knowing that it's going to be a
35:00
Speaker 5: we're gonna have to have some having flows. Venovich is
35:02
Speaker 5: one of still like the old school guys in the NFL.
35:04
Speaker 5: But there there it's a year and a day past
35:08
Speaker 5: the NBA officials. I mean we would be uh tasked
35:11
Speaker 5: with that officials. Remember once in a while you want
35:13
Speaker 5: to talk about transient. I mean like they'd be in
35:15
Speaker 5: and out, they'd be working with different crews every single night.
35:18
Speaker 5: I don't know how you would get a flow in baseball.
35:20
Speaker 5: I don't know how you don't have the coolest flow.
35:22
Speaker 5: And uh I imagine the golf games and the plays
35:25
Speaker 5: and the wagers that would be on that.
35:28
Speaker 4: Course would be quite fun. Oh huge, absolutely, also a much.
35:30
Speaker 5: Better time, so you can actually be in a city
35:33
Speaker 5: and do some stuff. In the NBA, you're on the
35:35
Speaker 5: first thing smoking out of a cold spot. Anyway, Yeah,
35:38
Speaker 5: one night, so I was.
35:39
Speaker 3: Looking at all the different things he was umpiring for
35:41
Speaker 3: the one you mentioned the ejection Billy Martin was in
35:44
Speaker 3: the seventy six World Series. Yeah, how about that ten
35:46
Speaker 3: League Championship series? The most five series? Yeah, five World Series.
35:50
Speaker 3: The two thousand and four Yankees Red Sox brawl was
35:52
Speaker 3: the played umpire executed Baritec at a rod after their
35:55
Speaker 3: brawl there and if you remember, was it Java Chamberlain
35:59
Speaker 3: or Jaba remember the Remember the bugs that were all
36:02
Speaker 3: on his face? Yeah, he was the umpire for that game.
36:04
Speaker 3: The midges, midges, the little buzz remember that that were
36:08
Speaker 3: just the gnats that were all flying around everyone's face.
36:10
Speaker 3: They couldn't play. He was the umpire for that one too.
36:12
Speaker 3: So he's had the kind of umpire through a lot
36:15
Speaker 3: of unusual situations out when.
36:17
Speaker 4: You do it that long.
36:18
Speaker 2: So Bruce Framing, great character, huge loss, eighty six years
36:21
Speaker 2: old with you know, and Bruce Bill Corolla was an
36:25
Speaker 2: NFL official director of officially Big ten from the area
36:28
Speaker 2: like Shorewood.
36:29
Speaker 4: Great dude as well.
36:30
Speaker 2: So we're thinking of Bruce today and his family and
36:33
Speaker 2: the whole baseball community because that was he was a
36:35
Speaker 2: local treasure. And like I said, man, sitting there with
36:37
Speaker 2: him and Logan and Uker, I just I'll never forget
36:41
Speaker 2: those Yeah, I can nights of just like laughing my
36:44
Speaker 2: ass off at the stories.
36:45
Speaker 4: It's impressive you didn't just have a six pack from
36:48
Speaker 4: those that's pretty every night. Just having a just chopping
36:53
Speaker 4: it up.
36:53
Speaker 5: That's better than the gut buster that you were going
36:55
Speaker 5: to get on one of those that thirty minute ad
36:58
Speaker 5: workout video.
36:59
Speaker 4: Yeah, for sure.
37:00
Speaker 2: What was the payback for the you know, four hours
37:02
Speaker 2: and watching Rafael Roque start Opening Day.
37:04
Speaker 4: That payback was getting to live that in part of
37:06
Speaker 4: the what are you talking about?
37:07
Speaker 3: We had that big acquisition of Lenny Harris Man Lenny
37:10
Speaker 3: Lenny Harris, big utility guy.
37:12
Speaker 4: It is the Friday edition.
37:14
Speaker 2: We're getting ready for Happy Hour, but we're gonna break
37:16
Speaker 2: the tape we always do on Friday.
37:17
Speaker 4: We're gonna run through the tape today. No Matt Lapey,
37:20
Speaker 4: but Dolph will be here at six point thirty. We'll
37:22
Speaker 4: chop it up.
37:22
Speaker 2: We're gonna do our usual little fixed bits and if
37:25
Speaker 2: you got anything you want to throw at us on
37:26
Speaker 2: this Friday, we'll take it free form, free flow and
37:29
Speaker 2: Friday eight seven seven, seven ninety four, one ninety seven three,
37:33
Speaker 2: we're up early.
37:33
Speaker 4: We're glad you're hanging out with us. It's the huddle.
37:35
Speaker 4: Fox Sports Radio, Wisconsin.
37:39
Speaker 5: Ball three, strike two two out, perfect game on the line,
37:43
Speaker 5: no hitter on the line.
37:45
Speaker 4: Watch it.
37:48
Speaker 1: It's a ball and pap Us isn't ray ball four.
37:52
Speaker 4: There goes the perfect.
37:54
Speaker 1: Game, no no hitter. Are still intact proming the umpire
37:57
Speaker 1: walks out. He knows what's on the line here, he
38:00
Speaker 1: knows how important this is. He has his job to do.
38:04
Speaker 4: He I've been finding the last pitch of the middle,
38:08
Speaker 4: papist no hitter. Now Papas lost the perfect game on that.
38:10
Speaker 2: He still got the no hitter, and for years he complained,
38:13
Speaker 2: but then he kind of flipped and he said, yeah,
38:16
Speaker 2: it was probably outside.
38:17
Speaker 4: It probably not of grades from seventy two. Is not
38:19
Speaker 4: a great look at him.
38:20
Speaker 3: But they did add the one camera shot wasn't over
38:22
Speaker 3: at John. I was clearly outside and didn't look like
38:24
Speaker 3: the guy even got closed the swings. Well, no, it
38:25
Speaker 3: was probably a good call. And then yeah, Bruce got
38:28
Speaker 3: kind of mad. He's like that pitch got better over
38:29
Speaker 3: the years. It was right down the middle.
38:31
Speaker 4: People said at the end of it, he kicked it.
38:33
Speaker 2: Now those umpires and again we're talking about Bruce Freming
38:36
Speaker 2: who passed yesterday local legend. And after he was done umpiring,
38:39
Speaker 2: he worked in the commissioner's office like kind of overseeing
38:41
Speaker 2: and just being a mentor to Umpires and stuff and
38:44
Speaker 2: just one of the great great sports figures of in
38:47
Speaker 2: Wisconsin and anywhere. Is Umpire school a real thing? Oh yeah,
38:51
Speaker 2: because this guy's grind man.
38:53
Speaker 5: Well, like, because I know what you go obviously through,
38:55
Speaker 5: like minor, But my introduction was how ibout your mother?
38:58
Speaker 3: When?
38:58
Speaker 4: Uh?
38:59
Speaker 5: When when she Lily is dating the college boyfriend and
39:03
Speaker 5: all of a sudden he was going off to Umpire school,
39:06
Speaker 5: going Umpire school. I was in college at that point.
39:09
Speaker 5: I wasn't doing great my sophomore year. I'm like, damn,
39:11
Speaker 5: Umpire school kind of sounds like a good idea. If
39:13
Speaker 5: that's actually a real thing, I might I might have
39:16
Speaker 5: to try that deal. It's also very competitive, right right,
39:18
Speaker 5: That's what I'm saying. Like it looked into it was
39:21
Speaker 5: not was not an easy thing to be able to
39:23
Speaker 5: get into. I understand why Scooter was so excited when
39:26
Speaker 5: he finally got in in How I met your mother?
39:28
Speaker 2: It's a it's a legit, and those guys got a
39:30
Speaker 2: grind and to get to the big leagues and then okay,
39:33
Speaker 2: yeah whatever, first class travel and they get pretty good.
39:36
Speaker 4: Once you get out there. It's like anything else, you grind, grind.
39:39
Speaker 2: Bruce Framing was you know, started in the seventies and
39:42
Speaker 2: he was the third and games you know worked in
39:46
Speaker 2: major league history behind Joe West and Bill Clem. But
39:49
Speaker 2: he also did like twelve years in the minor leagues
39:51
Speaker 2: to get to the big leagues. Yeah, right, and that
39:53
Speaker 2: was that Milk Papas game was his second year as
39:56
Speaker 2: an umpire.
39:57
Speaker 4: And so there's a pecking order.
39:58
Speaker 2: And again, I hope we don't lose the characters of
40:01
Speaker 2: that part of the game because it's just such a
40:03
Speaker 2: cool dynamic because.
40:05
Speaker 4: It's a part of the sport.
40:06
Speaker 2: And in baseball they always say, like the best umpires,
40:09
Speaker 2: the best games are the games you don't notice them,
40:12
Speaker 2: which is true. But then like the NFL's got a
40:15
Speaker 2: couple of guys hockey ly everybody knew because of his guns,
40:17
Speaker 2: you know, the gun Show, and uh, the NBA had
40:20
Speaker 2: Earl Strom, Mendy.
40:21
Speaker 4: Rudolph, a bunch of guys and the o'donald.
40:26
Speaker 2: Use. But you know now they're more gender. Yeah, yeah,
40:29
Speaker 2: there's there's a few guys that you see that are
40:31
Speaker 2: through it. But I hope we don't lose that part
40:32
Speaker 2: of it because it's a cool undercurrent of the game.
40:35
Speaker 5: I just I am excited though that we like we
40:38
Speaker 5: can get the play right and then we can also
40:40
Speaker 5: have the fun right, like we can we can make
40:41
Speaker 5: sure we can always know.
40:44
Speaker 4: Yeah, the one thing about.
40:45
Speaker 2: It is you think that teams will say, oh, that
40:47
Speaker 2: guy hates us or he's got a grudge against us,
40:49
Speaker 2: and the umpires.
40:50
Speaker 4: Every day was a reset. Every day is a new day.
40:53
Speaker 2: It's like you can you can you know, bleep a
40:56
Speaker 2: guy up and down MFM and his heritage and his
40:58
Speaker 2: family and like the how you doing.
41:03
Speaker 4: Scott Foster, Angel Hernandez. I mean there were a couple guys.
41:07
Speaker 1: Yeah.
41:08
Speaker 4: Really that's what abs A designed.
41:10
Speaker 3: To take the really egregious ones out, you know what
41:12
Speaker 3: I mean, the really egregious calls, the ones that are
41:14
Speaker 3: right down the middle that you're like, what's going on here?
41:17
Speaker 4: That's what it's really designed for. So I'm with you, Drew.
41:20
Speaker 3: I hope that there's still that that part of the
41:22
Speaker 3: DNA of the game, because when you think back of
41:24
Speaker 3: your favorite times watching sports, that does become part of
41:26
Speaker 3: the fabric. It's not the main part of the picture,
41:29
Speaker 3: but it's part of the picture. But you're right, Billy,
41:31
Speaker 3: I mean we can get the best of both worlds
41:33
Speaker 3: here and get the calls, the really bad ones right too, right, yeah,
41:37
Speaker 3: well yeah, And I mean and the borderline ones like
41:40
Speaker 3: I mean, I I get I get your say.
41:41
Speaker 5: The ones right down the middle, I think those are
41:43
Speaker 5: few and far between. I think it's the ones that
41:45
Speaker 5: that decide games that.
41:46
Speaker 4: Are right on the corner. And certain guys are good
41:48
Speaker 4: at it, certain guys aren't. There some that are phenomenal
41:51
Speaker 4: at it.
41:51
Speaker 5: It is a ridiculously difficult job, right, don't don't get
41:54
Speaker 5: it wrong like that that's not ever really questioned. And
41:58
Speaker 5: as the players in all these sports, let's get better.
42:01
Speaker 5: It's harder to officiate. Speaking of our in our week
42:04
Speaker 5: of hockey. I think hockey officials are the one you
42:07
Speaker 5: want to talk about. Guys that end up having such
42:09
Speaker 5: an impact on the game, but they have to have
42:12
Speaker 5: it free flowing. I mean there's a lot of times
42:13
Speaker 5: where all of a sudden they'll be like, hey, man,
42:15
Speaker 5: I got that one wrong. I apologize a beer on
42:17
Speaker 5: this puck drop, All right, here we go.
42:18
Speaker 4: Sorry, But fellas. Here we go three two one go.
42:20
Speaker 5: There's some understanding that you're going to mess some things
42:24
Speaker 5: up and that there will be a human element to it.
42:27
Speaker 5: But I just I like that we're going to have
42:29
Speaker 5: the consistency of it on the A B. I am
42:31
Speaker 5: very very excited for that part of it.
42:33
Speaker 4: Yeah exactly.
42:35
Speaker 2: I mean, if you can get it right, get it
42:37
Speaker 2: right rightly, get it right, get it right, might as
42:39
Speaker 2: well in that case, don't get bogged down.
42:41
Speaker 5: But no wants to make a bad call, right, I
42:43
Speaker 5: think like that was I hear that playing. All I
42:45
Speaker 5: think is Jim Joyce, Yeah and his post game.
42:48
Speaker 4: No one feels worse about this to me. I kicked
42:53
Speaker 4: that one. I kicked that one. Yeah.
42:54
Speaker 5: The dudes that love ball appreciate it, and they understand
42:58
Speaker 5: how important that job is.
43:00
Speaker 2: Absolutely eight seven seven seven nine four seven three. Down
43:05
Speaker 2: here in our portion of the state, I'm gonna be
43:07
Speaker 2: knocking on the door of.
43:08
Speaker 4: Sixty degrees to day amaze. It's pretty impressive. And then
43:11
Speaker 4: the three inches of snow tomorrow. Who needs Who needs
43:13
Speaker 4: Mexico and Florida and a boarding Come on, we got
43:15
Speaker 4: it right, he needs it? Who's got better than us?
43:17
Speaker 4: Right here? Right now. Nobody, let's go.
43:20
Speaker 2: Nobody, yes, except for the people out there listening to
43:23
Speaker 2: us who are still waking up.
43:24
Speaker 4: Yeah, I was gonna say, I like, uh, I don't know.
43:26
Speaker 4: I still did.
43:27
Speaker 5: See Tristan's pictures that he posted a listening to the
43:30
Speaker 5: show out on the beach.
43:30
Speaker 4: That one looks pretty good, pretty sweet.
43:32
Speaker 2: Keep them coming, keep the cards and letters coming, and
43:34
Speaker 2: we're gonna work our way.
43:35
Speaker 4: We're gonna power our way through this Friday