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The Madison Mallards and The 2023 Season · Ask The Experts

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  WIBA Madison in the Morning joint in studio this morning by Samantha Reuben, general
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  manager with the Madison Mallards. Samantha, welcome to the program. Yeah,
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  thanks for having me. Great to see you when you and I were just
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  kind of getting caught up a second year with the Mallards. Yeah, you're
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  loving it. I love it. It's so much fun. It's never boring,
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  you're always busy. I love everything about it. And speaking of and
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  I know Madison, it's it's great to see the city in Dane County in
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  southern Wisconsin really embraced the Mallards and a couple of reasons. Exciting baseball and
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  we're going to talk about a couple of pivotal the final couple of home games
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  for the regular season here in Madison. But not only the baseball's great,
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  but the environment is phenomenal. War a park, isn't it. That's what
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  we're all about. Like it's so funny people will leave the ballpark and not
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  know who won. Not No, I've heard even heard people say like,
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  well I don't even know which team the Mallards were on the field. Like
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  we are there for entertainment. That is the goal. It's affordable, it's
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  family, it's entertaining. That's really what we're all about. That and you
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  mentioned the family aspect, and that is that is part that that. I'll
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  be honest, when the Mallards first came to town or we're founded here in
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  Madison, a single guy, I didn't have kids and anything like that.
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  I remember going to just having a rip roaring time. Yes, yeah,
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  and then and now now with my son nothing, he loves nothing and he's
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  he's not a big sports kid, but going to the Mallards games and like
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  all the different things. Yeah, it's that's it. That's that's a real
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  credit is being able to appeal to you know that you know, we're a
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  college town. So you've got the younger folks and you've got the kiddos,
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  and you've got the folks that want to do things on a budget. How
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  do you guys pull that off? My god, we I don't know.
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  We just I'm not really sure how we pull it off, but we do.
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  And it's great. And so for that demographic of people that just want
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  to party and drink, we have the duck blind. And for corporate clients
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  that want to entertain their people or do an outing as a staff. We
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  have our suites and for people that want to go on a budget, we
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  have tickets starting as low as six dollars and eight cents, so like our
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  section six zo eight, and then we have the kid zone. Right,
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  the kid zone is like epic. I will say, I wish that I
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  had something like this when I was a kid. But like the first thing
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  you see when you walk in are inflatables and slides and bouncy houses and our
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  mechanical musculard which is super cool. Like it's it really is an epic time,
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  Like you can do any of those things or all of them, and
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  that's the beauty of it. Do you bring me any into for folks who
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  don't know you're originally from floor four? Am I am? When you have
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  friends and family visiting, you take them to a game and make sure that
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  they bring it in. Oh my god, it's shocking to them. Like
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  people don't always understand what I do. Then sometimes my friends and family they
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  always say, like, what do you even do in the summer, and
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  what do you do in the winter and all of that, and they come
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  to a game they're like WHOA, Like I get it. That is it's
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  so cool. It's overwhelming. I mean our attent We draw over six thousand
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  fans a night, like it's epic. It really is a great time,
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  a great spot to being Madison in the summer. It is a great spot.
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  And speaking of getting out to the game. Two home games regular season
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  left and they mean so much. One game first game tonight what six so
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  five six five start and it is our on Wisconsin Night. It is so
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  cool. Bucky the Badger will be there, the Spirit Squad. It is
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  going to be super cool. We have a giveaway at the gates. We
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  have a reversible bucket hat. So one side is like Mallard's cream and the
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  other side is like Wisconsin Red and on it is Bucky and Maynard and the
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  crest of youw like it is really really cool. These are the things.
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  I'm gonna tell you what. People are going to get these and they're going
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  to wear them through the summer and they're gonna wear them through the winter and
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  people are gonna say where did you get that? Dred percent. People are
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  already asking us like I don't live here and I'm an alumni, like can
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  you ship? Like no, we gotta come to your game. So but
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  Yeah, it is amazing. It's so cool. So that's the first thousand
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  people through the gates tonight, So line up early because I think those will
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  go really cool, those will go They're very very cool. Again, you
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  can get tickets and more information online Mallards baseball dot com. That's Mallards baseball
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  dot com again. They've got a game tonight against the Wisconsin Rapids at Warner
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  Park, and then on Saturday it's the season finale at Warner Park. Isn't
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  yep against Wassau. So tonight's game means a whole lot. So we're trying
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  to pack the pond tonight. That's really the goal. We are battling for
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  first place right now, to make a spot in the playoffs or get a
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  spot in the playoffs, and so we're battling with Wisconsin Rapids, who we
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  play tonight, so it's a huge game. And then on Saturday it's just
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  our fan appreciation. We just want to pay tribute and ode to all of
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  our fans. We also do a special ceremony for our host families as well,
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  so it's just an ode to everyone. That's the beauty of it.
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  We want I ask you about that whole's family. Yeah, I don't know
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  that everybody's aware of how the we talk about the players and the team.
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  Part of it is their college players, right, and they need a place
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  to stay, well they're in Madison. Oh my gosh. We have so
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  many families that have opened their homes up and let not only our players but
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  also our interns live with them. And it's amazing to see the camaraderie.
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  I had someone come up to me one of our host families say, I
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  just was went to my old player's wedding and he just got married and we
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  were invited. And you build this bond with these players and interns as well
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  that can be carried for years years to come. By the way, so
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  obviously tonight's also important. You got the great got the great bucket had giveaway.
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  Of course, you got the important game against the Wisconsin Rapids to get
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  into playoffs. We'll talk about playoffs, how those are structured, assuming the
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  Mallards win tonight, and how that will work. We get then this moment
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  real quick though about that game on Saturday, which again versus Wawsaw. It's
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  going to be a lot of fun. I know, there's a lot of
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  a lot of pet specifically dog folks that listen to the show Pet Appreciation,
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  Bat Dog, everything like that going on on Saturday. Yeah, so we're
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  doing a meet the Meet the bat Dog. So we've worked really closely with
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  focused dog training and Maverick is our bat dog. And so everyone loves Maverick.
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  He's super cute. If you haven't seen him at the ballpark, he's
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  awesome. He does these cute little spins after he gets the bat. It's
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  really really fun. And so we'll have him Meet the Bat Dog. He'll
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  be at the front gate and everyone can meet him and pet him and Hi,
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  how long has he been a couple of his first year? Oh?
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  Why did I think he was there? Last year? We had a bat
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  dog last year, just a different one. So this is Maverick's first year.
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  And Maverick is a fan favorite. Like we do postgame surveys after every
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  game, and everyone says, I love the bat dog, I love the
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  bad dog. So Maverick will be back. So tickets are available for tonight's
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  game, of course taking the taking place at Warner Park six so five tickets
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  available online Mallards Baseball dot com. Don't forget about those reversible hats, So
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  you're gonna want to get your ticket, get in line early for those those
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  who go fast. Saturday's game against Wawsaw that's at six or five as well.
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  Mallards baseball dot com. That's mallards baseball dot com. I don't want
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  to be super too presumptuous, but it's important to mention Mallard's win tonight,
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  what then happens? How does? How does the season? Playoffs? So
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  we don't actually clinch tonight, but if we win tonight, then we'll be
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  two games up with two games left. Okay, so there is a potential
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  that we don't but we're going on. We're going on pretty good, and
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  the likelihood is much better if we win tonight. And so if we win
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  tonight, we have the potential to go to the playoffs and that game will
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  be on Sunday. We think Again, it's all based on averages and all
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  these random things that we can't control right now, but we think that if
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  we make the playoffs, the game will be on Sunday, and the playoff
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  atmosphere at Warner Park is uh, the energy is equal. Obviously, the
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  game is suddenly is real. He becomes vital. But but the energy is
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  there, the fun is there, it's it's it's gotta love the bonus extra
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  game, absolutely free baseball. Yeah, exactly. Let's let's talk to as
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  we're talking this morning with Samantha Rubin with the Mallards, general manager at the
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  Mallards, I was asking you a little bit and we touched on a little
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  bit about this is your second year with the Mallards. What's kind of so
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  for people listening, they're saying, Oh, that sounds like a fantastic dob.
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  How does how do you like how do you work your way up to
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  be the general manager for a for a baseball team. Yeah, that's a
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  great question. It's kind of bright place. Right time. I was hired
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  by another team in Maryland, and I was in marketing over there and loved
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  every minute of it. And then COVID kind of hit and I was fortunate
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  to stay employed and just got to learn all different pieces of the business.
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  So I was ready for my next step and was applying to jobs and got
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  in touch with Verne over here and the Mallards, and you know, kind
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  of just went went from there. Did they take you around? Show you
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  around Madison? I came up for an interview. It was actually like two
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  years ago this week, which is really crazy, but it was great.
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  It was the summertime and I went to Mallard's games and I think I went
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  to a forward game, like it was really really cool in the farmer's market.
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  And then I moved here in December and I was like, oh my
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  god, what did I just do. I did not believe this, and
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  so it was cold. I'm from Florida. I had to buy coats and
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  hats and boots and socks and sweater like it was crazy, but it worked
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  out. Okay, it is great to have you great exciting baseball as well.
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  Again tonight mallards are taking on Wisconsin Rapids. Check out the cap online
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  and again you want to get in line for your reversible bucket hats. Get
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  there as early as possibly can. Get tickets right now mallards baseball dot com.
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  That's Mallards baseball dot Com. Of course you can always pick come up
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  at the Warnerpark box office as well. And of course they've got the final
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  regular season home games, the twelve that's coming up this Saturday at six so
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  five. And if they if they win tonight and and are able to maintain
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  and keep that top plays they'll be in the playoffs. Details to follow on
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  that, but again follow along Mallards baseball dot com also social media. I
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  know you guys are on as a Twitter or x or whatever we're calling it.
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  We have a team for that. I don't know, I give up
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  with all of that. They keep you updated. Yeah, they let me
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  know what to do, Samantha, that's always great sing with you. Enjoy
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  this beautiful day and let's see those Mallards get into the playoffs. Yeah,
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  thanks for having me. Dan O'donnald comes your way next right here at thirteen
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  ten w IBI