Latest / The Huddle / 09/11/26 - Hour 1

Transcript

09/11/26 - Hour 1 · The Huddle

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Welcome aboard five o'clock clubbers. You are officially in the huddle.
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Last show of the week. Last show before the Packers
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: begin the 2026 season. Last show before the Brewers and Reds.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Last show before the Brewers clinch, we hope, a playoff
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: berth and perhaps the division. Welcome in. I'm Drew Olson
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: joined by Bill Schmidt, Armin Sarn. Just seems like a
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: few hours ago that we were at Pottawatomie enjoying the
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: Thursday night huddle kickoff of that fine series.
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: Hard not to enjoy that, and hard not to enjoy a, well,
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: at least maybe the first 25 minutes of the game
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: that we got last night, and just the smorgasbord of
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: food over there at.
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: The Annex was a great time last night. The best
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: patty melt I've had in a while. Patty melt's underrated
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: sandwich on the marble rye. It really is underrated, because
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: people think of a burger. Yeah, you think of a burger,
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: but patty melt is a different twist.
• 0:49
  Speaker 3: It's a twist.
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: It's a blend on it, yeah. It's a different experience.
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: That's what I went with, and Billy had the chicken dinner.
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: Loaded that bad boy up phenomenal.
• 0:56
  Speaker 4: I went with that delicious quesadilla. Quesadilla was fantastic. When
• 0:59
  Speaker 4: you get all the flavors in there and you boil
• 1:01
  Speaker 4: the salsa. Let me tell you about the salsa.
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: It was delicious. So it was just a great time.
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: Our pal Haley took care of us throughout the year.
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: So good. We had so much fun. So much fun.
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: And everybody that missed out, you got 12 more opportunities
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: to get out there.
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: We'll see you next week.
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: That was the one thing on the talking text line
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: as 5 o'clock clubbers were joining us for double time
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: and overtime. But they were missing out and realizing that
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: the FOMO was real.
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: But.
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: Luckily, there's plenty of opportunities for you to go and
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: still enjoy.
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: Oh, yeah. I think we got like 15 or 16
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: or some more of those. So it's going to be fantastic.
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: A lot of good times. A lot of good times
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: to be had. A lot of good times to be had.
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: So every once in a while, I wake up and
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: I realize I might not be as dumb as I
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: think I am. Because I think I'm pretty dumb. There
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: we go. But one of those points was last night
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: when the Rams, like whatever you call it, travel gate,
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: the jet lag bowl, whatever you want to call it.
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: Now I feel validated again. in pointing out the idiocy
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: of wasting time and graphics. Will the Rams go unbeaten
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: this season? And I said, they have a better chance
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: of going 1-2 to start the season than they do
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: 17-0 at the end. And I thought, you know, Billy,
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: you're right. It's the soup that we're in. It's the
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: modern media. It's that we got to go from A
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: to F. But I thought that was dumb discourse. Kind
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: of like, well, the Dodgers, you know, they did this
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: in the off season. Will they be the first team
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: to win 125 games in the season? Like, come on.
• 2:23
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: We can't just enjoy what's happening here. That's how far
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: fetched it was to me.
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: It's like 17 and oh, come on. And anybody who
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: put that into the ether and entertain that as a
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: serious topic, don't they have to take it and wear
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: it today? Don't they? But no, they'll just go on
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: to the next thing. Now, Chris Canty did what, You know,
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: he was the contrarian in all this, and they have
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: their hot take wild predictions or whatever for that. And
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: he went on the air and got castigated by his
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: colleagues because he said, my bold prediction is the Rams
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: are going to miss the playoffs.
• 2:55
  Speaker 4: Mm-hmm.
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: Which everybody's like, come on, what are you, an idiot?
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: They treated him the way everybody should have treated them
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: for saying that they were going to go 17-0.
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: Oh, yeah.
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: But the group think machine does not roll that way.
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: It doesn't roll that way. But that was dumb discourse.
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: It was a waste of time. And it's not that, Billy, 80%
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: of the graphics in the quiz, we have the sound off.
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: But when you watch first take in those shows, if
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: you just watch the chyron and read the question, that
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: is the launching point for their discussions. They're always dumb.
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: Who's under more pressure this year, LeBron or the Sixers? Like, what?
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: They're intertwined. It's stupid. Like, come on. Those are the
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: kind of dumb things. But this, to me, was especially
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: dumb because the people that were in the discussion, they
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: know that it's very unlikely anybody's going 17. To even
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: project that and talk about it in August is folly.
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: Yeah, but Drew, how many times will they talk about
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: Justin Herbert winning a playoff game? And winning the MVP.
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: My man plays his worst game of the year in
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: all the biggest games. So again, I understand that this act,
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: the discourse is always just so crazy. Until he does
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: win one, sure. But that's been the last five years.
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: But every single year they queue it up and tell
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: you that he's going to win the MVP. It's different
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: than when... I struggle to think that this is so
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: much different than all the other sports discourses because when
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: we were 15 games into the NBA season... And the
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: question was not of, you know, the Oklahoma City Thunder
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: stay healthy enough to win the NBA finals. It was,
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: will they best the Bulls all-time wins or the Warriors
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: all-time wins record? We always go to the furthest. We
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: always go to the nth degree. So, like, I don't
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: see this being a crazy deal just because of this year.
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: I think we've asked the question a number of different times.
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: I definitely remember them asking if the Chiefs were going
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: to go 16 and 0. or 17-0, just two years
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: ago when they were trying to win three consecutive titles.
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: But this one, you saw it. So we never learned
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: the lesson? Well, it's definitely not. No, but we got
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: to do something for six months. No one has to
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: wear that tag. No one has to say, boy, that
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: was dumb of us.
• 5:00
  Speaker 4: Well, hold on.
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: Maybe some people will today. No, they won't. I don't know.
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: It's on to the next. Well, maybe.
• 5:05
  Speaker 4: But maybe in some of these discussions, somebody on the
• 5:08
  Speaker 4: panel will say, I told you it wasn't going to happen.
• 5:11
  Speaker 4: I think it's possible. I won't be listening to every
• 5:13
  Speaker 4: show to know if somebody will, but, but this, you know, yes, we,
• 5:18
  Speaker 4: but we have to talk about something.
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: It is football.
• 5:21
  Speaker 4: We do like to talk about it and it's not new.
• 5:24
  Speaker 4: They were saying this about the Packers. I remember in 97,
• 5:26
  Speaker 4: after they won the Superbowl, it's not like, I think
• 5:29
  Speaker 4: the idea of an undefeated season is a sexy kind
• 5:34
  Speaker 4: of fantasy.
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: It's a beautiful pipe dream. It's a sexy fantasy. Is
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: this the year someone has a perfect NCAA bracket? Tune in.
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: Let's discuss.
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: Well, we've seen teams now do this. We've seen two
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: teams do the regular season unbeaten. I mean, like, the
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: one in a million chance of somebody making a perfect bracket.
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: But I get it. I totally do. I also think
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: we're in the world of... Now, social media tells folks
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: on television screens and everything about how wrong they are
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: because people will tell us about how terrible it is,
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: but people tell.
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: Them that they're wrong on social media.
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: So it's now this rush to make sure that you
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: tell everybody that you're right about different things. And so
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: they will instead go to somebody said that. George Kittle
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: was only going to have two grabs last night or
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: Debo Samuel was going to be a six catch and
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: a touchdown kind of guy when he returned to San Francisco.
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: So to be this Debo Samuel back to his all
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: pro form, move on to all the different stuff. But
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: the Rams end up dropping one last night. And for
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: everybody that was on that side and luckily enough to
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: see it, You should have been smart enough to roll
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: with us to the Pottawatomie Sports. We'll enjoy that plus
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: three and a half. All of us on the 49ers.
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: Back up the truck and crush your man. It's also
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: the team that, I mean, they closed out their year
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: more frustrated than anybody a year ago. And you kind
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: of forget. Holy cow. Fred Warner, Trent Williams, Nick Bosa
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: went healthy. Christian McCaffrey, son of a gun. They still
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: got the Avengers.
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: They do have great players. And yeah, when healthy, you
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: do remember that. Oh, wait.
• 7:07
  Speaker 4: And Debo Samuel kind of reached back. He's got the
• 7:11
  Speaker 4: red and white jersey on again. He's got the gold helmet.
• 7:13
  Speaker 4: It looks like the Debo Samuel you're used to seeing.
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: He made plays last night. You mentioned Mike Evans yesterday, Billy, on.
• 7:18
  Speaker 4: The show last night, I should say. I say yesterday.
• 7:21
  Speaker 4: We had two shows, though. Last night, and he showed
• 7:23
  Speaker 4: up as well. Brock Purdy seemed in command of the offense,
• 7:26
  Speaker 4: a guy everyone likes to castigate all the time. He
• 7:30
  Speaker 4: seemed in control of the offense. He looked a lot
• 7:32
  Speaker 4: better than Stafford did last night. He definitely did. Well,
• 7:34
  Speaker 4: it's funny because you talk about conversations, Drew, and you
• 7:39
  Speaker 4: guys talk about storylines and discourse. I just assume it's
• 7:43
  Speaker 4: going to be the travel schedule thing all day. I
• 7:45
  Speaker 4: just assume all day it's going to be, see, I
• 7:47
  Speaker 4: told you so. You should have drank coffee for a
• 7:50
  Speaker 4: week in Melbourne like George Kittle did. That would have
• 7:52
  Speaker 4: changed everything. I thought it was funny both coaches kind
• 7:55
  Speaker 4: of downplayed that because they knew.
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: It was going to be a big one. Because they
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: got another game coming up already. Nine days away. That'll
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: be a big discussion.
• 8:04
  Speaker 4: To your point, it does seem like maybe most of
• 8:07
  Speaker 4: the time it doesn't matter, but to get off a
• 8:09
  Speaker 4: flight 15 hours and then Like you said, Billy, the
• 8:11
  Speaker 4: way they got off the flight and then having to
• 8:13
  Speaker 4: go play, it does seem hard to do to be
• 8:14
  Speaker 4: at your best. Miles Garrett said this was like the
• 8:17
  Speaker 4: worst performance I put out or the worst of myself.
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: Yeah, now his knee is bad. Trying to say he's
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: not healthy. Yeah. Three pressures for the guy who's the
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: defensive player of the year in a sack machine. Trent
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: Williams is like, well, he's still really hard to block. Yeah,
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: Trent Williams and him was a great matchup to watch
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: last night. He's like, he's still really hard to block,
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: even though he says he's the worst version he's ever
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: put on the field and that he's They're like, what's
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: your goal going into week two? To get healthy. Like,
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: he's not healthy, so maybe Aaron Donald will pick up
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: the white courtesy telephone and play. Who knows?
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: Garrett was kind of held out of camp throughout, and
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: similarly so. People thought last year it was just them
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: resting Stafford.
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: Maybe it was.
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: Once you're over the age of 30, you do get
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: more nagging injuries, and they are tougher to put to
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: bed and put to the side. They gave up a
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: ton to be able to get them and also broke
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: up a part of their defense. Jared verse was one
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: of the biggest leaders on that defense. And rightfully so
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: you trade them for miles. Garrett, no one is questioning
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: that part of it.
• 9:14
  Speaker 5: Right.
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: But you'll start seeing maybe some of the, the fruits
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: and they might not always be sweet coming off of
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: that tree. Jared verse was a young ascending player and
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: older players generally get less healthy. And that's, that's going
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: to be a question mark for this, this Rams team
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: that The 49ers were the geriatric team in the NFL,
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: and the Niners just said, hold on, we're going to
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: try to race that way instead of get younger like.
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: Seattle ended up doing. Exactly. And you know what?
• 9:38
  Speaker 4: History always tells us don't overreact to week one because
• 9:41
  Speaker 4: things will change different. So all these seemingly concerning issues
• 9:44
  Speaker 4: we saw for the Rams last night, it might turn
• 9:46
  Speaker 4: out to not be as bad.
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: As it seems.
• 9:48
  Speaker 4: But you can easily, you know, the excitement of Miles
• 9:51
  Speaker 4: Garrett can turn into nervousness. Is he going to be healthy?
• 9:53
  Speaker 4: To your point, Billy, Jared Verst, did we let it go?
• 9:56
  Speaker 4: It's like you get nervous about all those moves not working.
• 9:59
  Speaker 5: I mean.
• 10:00
  Speaker 4: but it, but it is going to be a long
• 10:02
  Speaker 4: season and things do change quickly. And overreacting a week
• 10:06
  Speaker 4: one is sometimes dangerous, but boy, there does seem to
• 10:08
  Speaker 4: be some concerns. Like it went from like, Yeah, the
• 10:10
  Speaker 4: excitement of the Rams, betting favorite, all that stuff to like, whoa, whoa, whoa,
• 10:14
  Speaker 4: what's going on here?
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: One thing I didn't see a whole lot of complaining about,
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: which is kind of rare for international games, was playing surface.
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: Was pretty dang good. The feel was great. The feel
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: was gorgeous. Gorgeous on television. 100,000 plus there. That was
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: kind of cool. Friend of show and longtime listener Schwartz
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: Center did hit us on X and said, I hate
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: this camera angle. He didn't like the zoom zoomed in
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: and you can't see the entire field and players on
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: the outside. You can't see plays developer, how the defense
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: is playing.
• 10:41
  Speaker 4: Okay.
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: I might've been a Netflix thing. You rarely do on television.
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: I was going to say that, that we were in
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: the press box for home games at Lambeau and it
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: is a different experience. And then you have to have
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: the NFL plus to see the all 22 and the
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: coaches tape and you get to see a quite a
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: different view. of things, but yeah, they follow the ball
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: and it's mostly interior.
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: It's like, I was going to say mostly it's a
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: tighter angle. I thought Luke, Luke Keegly was pretty dang
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: good for his first game.
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: I thought, by the way, I thought by now they,
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: the prediction was, well, you're going to have 15 different
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: screens and like, well, 14 of them will be McAfee,
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: but you'll have 15 different screens and you can pick,
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: you want cheerleader cam, you want the end zone cam,
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: you want, you could be your own director. I'm still
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: waiting for that technology. Into that TV truck. That was
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: promised to us years ago. Well, and I would like
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: to apologize.
• 11:28
  Speaker 4: Maybe I should have been more adept on what the
• 11:30
  Speaker 4: lineup was going to be for the Netflix panel. I
• 11:32
  Speaker 4: didn't know clay was going to be on the pregame,
• 11:33
  Speaker 4: all that stuff. I mean, We were focused on what
• 11:35
  Speaker 4: we were doing.
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: Yeah, Clay without plastic surgery. That was the AI work
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: of him having the botched. Oh, the massive jaw. Yeah,
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: the botched. My buddy did ask me if that was real.
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: That's the thing. Now it's to the point where anything
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: you look at, you have to think it'll work. I
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: thought Aaron's podcast was... Until proven otherwise. I thought Aaron's
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: podcast was... Exactly. Well, I saw that stuff floating out.
• 11:51
  Speaker 5: There, but.
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: Everything that comes down the pike, you got to say, well,
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: is this a work? Yeah, but no, Clay was, I thought,
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: pretty good. And, you know, it was.
• 11:58
  Speaker 4: The funny thing was how many people had Netflix, how
• 12:00
  Speaker 4: many people watched, didn't. I mean, obviously, if you're with
• 12:02
  Speaker 4: us in the bottom of the sportsbook, you didn't have
• 12:04
  Speaker 4: that problem, but it was interesting to hear if anyone
• 12:07
  Speaker 4: complained about that.
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: The one declaration we can make is that the bar
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: is set pretty low for the Sunday games. And Bill's
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: Texans and Packers Vikings have a runway to be the
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: best game of the week because these first two games
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: weren't great. I thought last night was a little more
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: fun than Wednesday.
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: Well, definitely more entertaining when you had Stafford and company
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: getting shut down at the goal line. But for the
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: first half, I mean, he was 4 of 11 for
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: like 50 yards.
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: He's struggling.
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: Definitely not ball being played at its highest level. Did enjoy, though,
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: the 49ers just coming out with a lot of piss
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: and vinegar.
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: I mean, they are.
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: And for one that was disrespected, they were more angry
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: than I think anybody about the international game and having
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: to get this draw because it was pretty well known
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: that the Rams had suggested to the NFL, why don't
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: we get the 49ers?
• 12:54
  Speaker 3: Hey.
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: Hey.
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: That's a really good idea. Let's give that. Let's do
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: that for you. By the way, San Francisco is going
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: to host an international game, too.
• 13:03
  Speaker 5: What?
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: What?
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: We got to play two of these things and we
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: got to go further than anybody else. So never underestimate
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: a scorned heart. And the 49ers had this one in
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: the back of their mind all off season long, circled
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: up knowing that the Rams had requested they be their
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: traveling partner and be their opponent halfway across the world.
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: And you could kind of see that last night, whether
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: it was not just them being healthy or But that
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: was an attitude.
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: Bowl for the 49ers, and they rose the occasion. I
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: don't know that they can do that 17 times. Yeah,
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: that's a good point.
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: With their age, I don't know they can do that
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: 17 times, but Fred Warner playing 17 games, they're going
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: to have a chance because that son of a gun is–
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: Different is an absolute difference maker inside.
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: You know, maybe they want to scale.
• 13:51
  Speaker 4: I mean, they, they've been talking for a while about
• 13:54
  Speaker 4: kind of ramping down McCaffrey's. For instance, you talk about
• 13:57
  Speaker 4: the veterans, McCaffrey's kind of workload. He only had like
• 14:00
  Speaker 4: 10 carries. I mean, he only had, so maybe that's
• 14:02
  Speaker 4: what their plan is. And maybe. Maybe because of the age, Billy,
• 14:05
  Speaker 4: if they can. I don't want to say load manage
• 14:06
  Speaker 4: because you can't do that in the NFL, really. But
• 14:08
  Speaker 4: maybe if there's a way they can work different guys
• 14:10
  Speaker 4: in rotation-wise to save some of those guys.
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: Oh, Kalen Black was running like a guy that's going
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: to earn a lot of carries running back from Indiana
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: from a year ago. He was really, really good there,
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: and he was really good last night.
• 14:20
  Speaker 4: Concern for McCaffrey as the owners. That's a whole different story. But, yeah,
• 14:24
  Speaker 4: I mean, that will be interesting to see now as
• 14:26
  Speaker 4: the season goes on.
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: Did you take McCaffrey?
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: Yeah, but I thought... I was wondering where that one
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: came from. I was wondering where that one came from.
• 14:33
  Speaker 4: He still averaged like seven yards a carry, 6.8, but
• 14:35
  Speaker 4: I mean, it just wasn't a lot. But yes, I mean,
• 14:38
  Speaker 4: you know, a lot of storylines as we now head
• 14:40
  Speaker 4: into the bulk of the weekend in week one, but,
• 14:42
  Speaker 4: you know, we got the two opening games.
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: Under our belt now.
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: One of the guys, I wonder if he'll revise his take,
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: but Bill Barnwell, who is kind of the numbers crunching
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: guy from ESPN.
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: Oh, big time, yeah. He did his postseason projections. He
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: does it every year on the dawn of the season.
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: And Interesting takes. And he's a guy that I respect
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: and I like reading. He picks the 14 teams that
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: he thinks are going to make the playoffs. And then
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: he's laying it out. And just for context, last year
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: he had the Packers winning the Super Bowl. I was
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: going to say, yeah. This year he's got them out
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: of the playoffs. Along with the Bears. And along with
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: the San Francisco 49ers. Now that's interesting. Out of the playoffs.
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: So one of the things he said, if you've read
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: this column over the past couple of years, there's a twist.
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: One of the most common mistakes we make as football fans,
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: myself included, is overconfidence in the teams we saw excel
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: last year. Yes. We're collectively too inclined to pick teams
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: that made the playoffs a year ago to make it
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: back in the current season. Ask me to pick the
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: 2026 playoff teams without any constraints, and I'd pick at
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: least nine of the 14 teams that made it in 2025.
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: History tells us that's underestimating the chaos and variance that
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: comes with a 17-game NFL season. So... there's always teams
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: that go from out of the playoffs to playoffs or deep, right? Usually, yeah.
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: Because we talk about this. Every year there's a worst
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: to first. Matchup last year was that no one knew.
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: And so this year, isn't it, it's almost cheating to say, well,
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: the Chiefs will be back. You would think. He's got
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: them winning the West, right? He's got the Giants making
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: the playoffs as an NFC Wild.
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: That is a sexy double your win total team. Our
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: boy Cowherd that you hear on here has been saying
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: that since May. He's got the Bucs making the playoffs.
• 16:36
  Speaker 4: The Ravens.
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: They don't slide down the back of the dinosaur. They
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: should have won the division last year. He's got Detroit
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: winning the NFC North. I was going to say, someone
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: has to. If the Packers and the Bears are out,
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: somebody has to. And you were really hoping it wasn't Minnesota.
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: I was praying. I was like, it can't be them.
• 16:49
  Speaker 4: We can't have that type of situation.
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: But they could. Does that mean they're a wild card, though?
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: And Barnwell is going. His Super Bowl teams are, you know.
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: brace yourself, Chiefs and Eagles. So not much change to
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: the top, maybe? No, but he is predicting more chaos,
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: and that would be chaos. The Niners, Bears, and Packers
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: all missing the playoffs. Not out of the realm of possibility,
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: but seems unlikely. Somewhat unlikely.
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: I gotta see it with Sean Mannion for the Eagles
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: before I fully believe it.
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: Them losing A.J.
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: Brown might not be as difficult as you would think,
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: but DP had them going to the Super Bowl, too.
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: I heard him give his big Super Bowl pick just
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: a couple of days ago.
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: Maybe I'm wrong.
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: Maybe I'll sit here with egg on my face. I
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: famously thought a couple of years ago that they were
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: going to be a one and done. They won the
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: Super Bowl. So I've been wrong on Philadelphia a number
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: of times before.
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: Barnwell's got both the 49ers and the Chargers missing the playoffs. Well,
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: the Chargers one is not surprising. That's more of a, yeah.
• 17:51
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: Listen, the Chargers is surprising because it's everybody's favorite quarterback
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: of all time.
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: Goodness gracious. Do you know his date in Madison Pierce?
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: He's famous. Oh, yeah. We got to love him. We
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: got to love him. I don't know if this will
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: sting you also, Billy, but he's got the Jacksonville Jaguars
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: missing the playoffs. Oh, that's just a bad take, then.
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: And the Panthers missing.
• 18:11
  Speaker 4: It'll be hard to hit that parlay of all those teams,
• 18:14
  Speaker 4: but he might get a couple right, and he probably will.
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: He might, and he is right that there is chaos.
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: That's the way it works.
• 18:19
  Speaker 4: You are predicting, trying to predict chaos, which you can't predict,
• 18:22
  Speaker 4: so it's kind of interesting.
• 18:23
  Speaker 2: People try to predict one, the worst, the first team
• 18:26
  Speaker 2: in the NFL. History would tell us somebody's going to
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: do it. It's kind of hard to be able to
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: identify this year. Right, and we're going to try and predict,
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: because we love fan fiction in sports. We love to
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: talk about what might happen. That's why we like to
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: talk about undefeated seasons.
• 18:38
  Speaker 4: True.
• 18:39
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: Absolutely. 877-794-1973, your ticket to interact with us here on
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: the NicoletLaw.com talk and text line. Hunter Baumgart has an
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: interview for us. We're going to listen to that. He
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: talked to Trisha Whitaker, who's on the sidelines again tonight.
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: A masterpiece of an interview. The Pancake Princess. We'll talk
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: to Trisha Whitaker. We'll hear our conversation Hunter had with
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: Trisha Whitaker, who is on the call tonight. It's an
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: Apple TV production for Brewers Reds, opener this evening at
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: American Family Field. Did you hear that?
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: It's just people... Smacking the dashboard on their cars driving
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: into work.
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: Don't worry about one final Apple TV one. One more
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: Apple TV. I had to watch Netflix last night and
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: now I'm back to this.
• 19:19
  Speaker 4: Damn.
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: Gouging. Come on.
• 19:22
  Speaker 4: I used to like the days when games were on
• 19:24
  Speaker 4: Fox or CBS.
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: Yeah. And all of them weren't on TV.
• 19:28
  Speaker 4: Super 8 death. The Brewers weren't on. Super 18 maybe.
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: And on WVTV. The Bucks are back. That lies ahead. And, oh, baby,
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: Packers-Vikings talk with Wayne Larvey, voice of the Packers, joins
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: us at 725. Dolph's in for halftime. We're glad you're here,
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: 5 o'clock clubbers. Get yourself a comfortable chair, a cold
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: or hot beverage of your choice, and saddle up because
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: we're here until 8 a.m. It's the huddle. Fox Sports Radio, Wisconsin. Drew, Billy,
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: and Armand bringing it to you, the Huddle, Fox Sports Radio, Wisconsin,
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: 920 Milwaukee, 1070 Madison, everywhere in the iHeart app, streaming live,
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: Facebook X, and YouTube. Happy to say that this portion
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: of the program brought to us by Game Day Men's Health.
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: Check them out online, gamedaymenshealth.com. Avail yourself of their services.
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: Go in for that free consult. See if they can
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: change your life at Game Day Men's Health. So many are.
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: If you have any curiosity about the peptides. stacks that
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: people are talking about at the gym, Billy.
• 20:22
  Speaker 5: Yeah, and I want.
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: Game Day Men's Health is the place. And the thing is,
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: they'll talk to you about it and not make you
• 20:26
  Speaker 2: feel like an idiot. Because that guy in the gym
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: is going to be like, listen, bro.
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: I got you. Bro, I got you. That's what you need, bro. Listen, just...
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: You're not doing it right if you're not doing this, bro.
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: All right? That's right. Gains. Go to the experts, right?
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: All the different services they have available at gamedaymenshealth.com. We
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: mentioned Brewers Reds tonight. It's an Apple TV production. It'll
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: be a fun night at the old ballpark as Brewers
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: are down to their last two homestands left this weekend
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: and next week. Final two ones. I'm going to the
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: ballpark tonight. I'll be there as well. Let's go. Let's
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: take it in. Let's go watch some big league ball.
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: As it happens, our baseball go-to guy, Hunter Baumgart, he
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: had occasion to chat with Tricia Whitaker, friend of the program,
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: former Green Bay TV personality who was who started there,
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: an Indiana University adjunct professor of journalism and sideline reporter
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: for Apple TV, famously of the Pocket Pancake episode. Well,
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: Hunter caught up with her, and we are going to
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: share that conversation with you now. Hunter's contributions brought to
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: us by Import Minded, your trusted source for vehicle care
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: on 27th Street just north of 894. Take it away, Hunter.
• 21:38
  Speaker 6: Trisha Whitaker, who will be on the broadcast for Apple TV,
• 21:41
  Speaker 6: joining us here. And Trisha, great to have you back
• 21:44
  Speaker 6: on the show.
• 21:45
  Speaker 3: It's so good to be back on the show.
• 21:46
  Speaker 5: I love you guys so much that I pulled over
• 21:49
  Speaker 5: on my five-hour drive from where I live in Indiana
• 21:52
  Speaker 5: to Milwaukee just to come on the show with you.
• 21:54
  Speaker 5: So I'm sitting at a weird gas station type of
• 21:57
  Speaker 5: spot right now. So if anybody interrupts me, it's because
• 22:00
  Speaker 5: they're mad I'm parked here. This is just a spur
• 22:03
  Speaker 5: of the moment, no makeup, like road tripping little segment here.
• 22:09
  Speaker 6: That's fantastic. Hey, road trips are the best. So hopefully
• 22:12
  Speaker 6: everything goes smooth for you. And we're looking forward to
• 22:15
  Speaker 6: having you back in Milwaukee coming up this weekend, Friday night,
• 22:18
  Speaker 6: 645 Brewers and Reds on Apple TV. I know it's
• 22:22
  Speaker 6: been a couple of months since you were last here
• 22:25
  Speaker 6: in Milwaukee, I think late June, if memory serves.
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: But how... How kind.
• 22:31
  Speaker 6: Of has your perspective maybe changed or not changed at
• 22:34
  Speaker 6: all about this team that still has the best record
• 22:36
  Speaker 6: in baseball as we sit here in the middle of September?
• 22:39
  Speaker 5: The only way that it's changed is that in my mind,
• 22:42
  Speaker 5: the Brewers have become more legitimate. They were already legitimate
• 22:46
  Speaker 5: back when we had the Brewers Cub Series.
• 22:48
  Speaker 3: I think it was in June or something.
• 22:50
  Speaker 5: But the fact that they have kept winning at the
• 22:53
  Speaker 5: pace that they have and they haven't fallen off is
• 22:56
  Speaker 5: unbelievable to me. Um, and, and also this week watching
• 23:00
  Speaker 5: the Brewers Cubs series was unreal, right? Watching Jackson Cheerio
• 23:04
  Speaker 5: do what he did. Um, watching Laura, if I'm, am
• 23:07
  Speaker 5: I pronouncing his last name?
• 23:08
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: Please say I am.
• 23:10
  Speaker 3: I got to say.
• 23:11
  Speaker 5: It 300 times on the broadcast tomorrow. And I've been like,
• 23:14
  Speaker 5: get it right. Trish, make sure you don't say it wrong.
• 23:17
  Speaker 5: I'm watching what transpired with him and Pat Murphy before
• 23:21
  Speaker 5: the walk off Christian, uh, getting on base before that.
• 23:24
  Speaker 5: And then Jackson's week that he had, it's just been
• 23:26
  Speaker 5: unbelievable to see them with the continued success, right? They've
• 23:31
  Speaker 5: got that young core, but then they've got some of
• 23:33
  Speaker 5: their veterans. They, um, You know, their pitching lab magic
• 23:37
  Speaker 5: has not faded throughout the season. I'm not saying it's
• 23:40
  Speaker 5: always been perfect, but you don't need to be perfect.
• 23:42
  Speaker 5: You just need to be durable. And this team has
• 23:45
  Speaker 5: proved that they are durable.
• 23:46
  Speaker 3: And guess what? That's one of the biggest components to.
• 23:50
  Speaker 5: An October team is durability and depth and clutch and
• 23:54
  Speaker 5: able to win in those late inning situations. So it's
• 23:59
  Speaker 5: been unbelievable to watch.
• 24:02
  Speaker 6: They've been able to find ways to win. I was
• 24:04
  Speaker 6: thinking about this the other day. It hasn't been the
• 24:06
  Speaker 6: cleanest game every night. It hasn't been maybe as heroic
• 24:10
  Speaker 6: as maybe some of the times where last year they
• 24:12
  Speaker 6: were winning 14 in a row, last year winning 12
• 24:14
  Speaker 6: in a row, getting to the best record in ball
• 24:16
  Speaker 6: through that. But this year it's been finding ways to win,
• 24:19
  Speaker 6: and that Cubs series is a great example of it,
• 24:21
  Speaker 6: coming from behind, down in the eighth inning. Both of
• 24:23
  Speaker 6: the games come back in the eighth inning on Monday.
• 24:26
  Speaker 6: Tuesday they come back in the ninth. How much of
• 24:29
  Speaker 6: that do you think is kind of taking on what
• 24:32
  Speaker 6: their manager always says and winning tonight and just focusing
• 24:35
  Speaker 6: on trying to win that day's game?
• 24:38
  Speaker 5: It's 100% about... I mean, it's about deep.
• 24:41
  Speaker 3: Talent on the roster, right? A manager can only do
• 24:43
  Speaker 3: so much. However.
• 24:45
  Speaker 5: the belief that Pat Murphy instills in his players, like
• 24:48
  Speaker 5: you saw before Laura stepped up to the plate when
• 24:51
  Speaker 5: he stepped up.
• 24:51
  Speaker 3: I mean, you don't see a manager. I don't recall
• 24:54
  Speaker 3: ever seeing that happen.
• 24:55
  Speaker 5: And I've been covering major league baseball for almost nine years,
• 24:59
  Speaker 5: 10 years now.
• 24:59
  Speaker 3: I don't even know.
• 25:00
  Speaker 5: And I'm watching Murph come out of the dugout and
• 25:04
  Speaker 5: like intercept him. as he's stepping up to the plate,
• 25:06
  Speaker 5: I'm like, is he hurt? I'm like, is everything okay?
• 25:09
  Speaker 5: And then you realize if you know, Pat, he was
• 25:11
  Speaker 5: just giving him a pep talk.
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 25:13
  Speaker 3: So that, that, that belief that he instills in his
• 25:16
  Speaker 3: team and his players.
• 25:17
  Speaker 5: And, and that's actually what we're focusing on tomorrow in
• 25:20
  Speaker 5: the open pregame part of our show is Pat Murphy
• 25:23
  Speaker 5: and the way that he coaches and manages his team.
• 25:27
  Speaker 5: I think that we're seeing the college coach in him
• 25:30
  Speaker 5: and all of those characteristics that, Translate to the majors so.
• 25:34
  Speaker 3: So well. And that isn't always the case.
• 25:36
  Speaker 5: I'm not going to say names, but we've seen it
• 25:39
  Speaker 5: happen in the majors where the college coach doesn't always
• 25:41
  Speaker 5: make the transition to the majors the right way.
• 25:45
  Speaker 3: Pat has done that seamlessly. And, you know.
• 25:49
  Speaker 5: I love his combination of like tough love, accountability, belief
• 25:54
  Speaker 5: and support. he's going to be the first one to
• 25:56
  Speaker 5: tell the media after the game, Hey, yeah, he shouldn't
• 25:59
  Speaker 5: have done that, but he'll learn. And he's the first
• 26:02
  Speaker 5: one to tell you probably that was the wrong decision
• 26:04
  Speaker 5: to make.
• 26:04
  Speaker 3: And he's got to be better. Right.
• 26:06
  Speaker 5: And, and I loved what he said. I think it
• 26:08
  Speaker 5: was after the, the, the comeback win this week at
• 26:11
  Speaker 5: some point, he said, trusting your team and believing that's,
• 26:15
  Speaker 5: what's going to make them keep coming back to the
• 26:16
  Speaker 5: field every day. And sometimes we think about these major
• 26:19
  Speaker 5: league players and we're like, they're grown men.
• 26:21
  Speaker 3: Yes, they are.
• 26:22
  Speaker 5: Yes, they are, but they're still human beings at the
• 26:24
  Speaker 5: end of the day. So, I've always been a fan
• 26:26
  Speaker 5: of the way that Pat Murphy operates. And I think
• 26:28
  Speaker 5: that's a huge piece of it. Like you were saying.
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 26:31
  Speaker 6: And one of the things that's interesting that you bring
• 26:33
  Speaker 6: up the transition from college to, to the pros and
• 26:36
  Speaker 6: something that Pat Murphy has said to us in the
• 26:38
  Speaker 6: past is, I don't know if I would have been
• 26:40
  Speaker 6: ready for this. In fact, he basically said like, I
• 26:43
  Speaker 6: don't know if I would have been ready for this
• 26:44
  Speaker 6: years ago.
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: But this is just such a.
• 26:47
  Speaker 6: Great combination of him being ready and the team being
• 26:51
  Speaker 6: as young as they have been. Now, they're not as
• 26:52
  Speaker 6: young this year as they were a couple years ago.
• 26:54
  Speaker 6: Terang and Freelick and Mitchell, these guys have matured. But
• 26:58
  Speaker 6: part of the Brewers' success is bringing up the young
• 27:00
  Speaker 6: guys like Cooper Pratt, like Luis Lara. And both of
• 27:03
  Speaker 6: them have been key contributors since they both came up.
• 27:07
  Speaker 3: Exactly. That's exactly right. And you know what?
• 27:09
  Speaker 5: The other thing is, even though these guys have matured
• 27:11
  Speaker 5: the last few years, Pat Murphy has been with them.
• 27:14
  Speaker 3: That's the thing.
• 27:15
  Speaker 5: You know, it's like not every single one of them.
• 27:17
  Speaker 5: I know they all haven't been here for three years
• 27:19
  Speaker 5: since 2024, but he has helped them mature, right?
• 27:24
  Speaker 3: And they don't expect their rookies to be perfect. That's
• 27:27
  Speaker 3: the other thing.
• 27:29
  Speaker 5: Pat heavily emphasizes, you know, most players don't really get
• 27:33
  Speaker 5: that clean entry into the majors, right? And accepting their
• 27:36
  Speaker 5: flaws and, you know, being able to work through some
• 27:39
  Speaker 5: of those rough edges that these players have. You know, Churio,
• 27:42
  Speaker 5: he was brought up really early. And they kind of
• 27:46
  Speaker 5: withstood that learning curve with him, which now... they're reaping
• 27:50
  Speaker 5: the benefits of that.
• 27:51
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 27:52
  Speaker 5: And, and I think that, you know, the, the kind
• 27:55
  Speaker 5: of radical accountability and authenticity that Pat brings to the
• 27:58
  Speaker 5: game and to his managing style, you know, I'm not,
• 28:02
  Speaker 5: I don't like it when reporters speak for an entire
• 28:04
  Speaker 5: clubhouse or anything like that. So I'm not trying to
• 28:06
  Speaker 5: do that, but from the outside looking in and just
• 28:09
  Speaker 5: speaking to a few guys in the clubhouse, that is
• 28:11
  Speaker 5: what it seems like works best for this group of guys.
• 28:15
  Speaker 6: It is, and you have to know your team, and
• 28:17
  Speaker 6: Pat Murphy said that after he benched Cooper Pratt a
• 28:20
  Speaker 6: couple weeks ago. You have to know your team. In
• 28:22
  Speaker 6: order to do that, you have to know how this
• 28:24
  Speaker 6: is going to play in the clubhouse.
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: Pratt's been great.
• 28:27
  Speaker 6: The whole team, honestly, has been a little bit better
• 28:30
  Speaker 6: since then, and really since they got swept in San Diego.
• 28:33
  Speaker 6: They've been absolutely on a roll. Trisha Whitaker joining us.
• 28:36
  Speaker 6: She'll be on the broadcast on Apple TV Friday night.
• 28:38
  Speaker 6: Make sure to catch not only the game at 645,
• 28:40
  Speaker 6: but the pregame beforehand, digging into Pat Murphy there.
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: You mentioned Jackson Churio.
• 28:46
  Speaker 6: Is he becoming a superstar in front of our eyes?
• 28:48
  Speaker 6: The confidence with which he walked to the plate before
• 28:52
  Speaker 6: he hit that game-tying home run on Tuesday just absolutely
• 28:55
  Speaker 6: struck me like one of those players that just had
• 28:58
  Speaker 6: the utmost confidence in himself that he can come through.
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: In that situation.
• 29:00
  Speaker 3: No, you're exactly right.
• 29:02
  Speaker 5: He's a bona fide superstar at this point, and it's
• 29:04
  Speaker 5: just at 22 years old, which is highly impressive. I mean,
• 29:07
  Speaker 5: the numbers, the milestones, it backs it up, and it
• 29:11
  Speaker 5: backs up his ascension this season. Um, and I think,
• 29:17
  Speaker 5: I think, you know, we're watching one of the young studs, um,
• 29:24
  Speaker 5: not become a young stud at a young age, if
• 29:26
  Speaker 5: that makes sense.
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 29:27
  Speaker 5: He, he almost plays like a veteran. Like you said,
• 29:29
  Speaker 5: I don't know that I, that I phrased that the best,
• 29:31
  Speaker 5: but you know what I mean? Like, especially during this
• 29:34
  Speaker 5: recent tear, like you said, when he stepped up to
• 29:37
  Speaker 5: the plate in that situation and hit the game tying home.
• 29:40
  Speaker 3: Run, it's just almost as if those bright lights.
• 29:43
  Speaker 5: And that big moment didn't rattle him at all. And,
• 29:46
  Speaker 5: and here's the thing that I'm going to be interested
• 29:48
  Speaker 5: in seeing in October is how he specifically performs, you know,
• 29:52
  Speaker 5: because now that he's got a few years under his
• 29:54
  Speaker 5: belt or whatever, seeing how he performs in October to
• 29:58
  Speaker 5: me is going to be like, oh, this guy's like,
• 30:02
  Speaker 5: you know, way ahead of perhaps what we expected him.
• 30:06
  Speaker 3: To be at at this point at 22 years old.
• 30:08
  Speaker 5: Um, and I don't think it's, I think sometimes when
• 30:11
  Speaker 5: a guy peaks super early or whatever, then we have
• 30:14
  Speaker 5: unrealistic expectations of them.
• 30:15
  Speaker 3: Like, um, um, sorry, did you hear that? My phone ringing?
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: Sorry.
• 30:21
  Speaker 5: Um, I'm on a road trip, so I told everybody
• 30:24
  Speaker 5: this is a great time to call and talk because otherwise.
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: I don't have time.
• 30:29
  Speaker 5: But anyways, you know, we're seeing him come into his
• 30:31
  Speaker 5: own and it's been really, really fun to watch. And
• 30:34
  Speaker 5: the statistical jump that he's made, especially after he missed.
• 30:39
  Speaker 5: How much time did he miss at the beginning of
• 30:40
  Speaker 5: the season?
• 30:41
  Speaker 6: About a month and 10 days. I think he came
• 30:43
  Speaker 6: back May 4th was, I believe, his first game of
• 30:45
  Speaker 6: the season.
• 30:48
  Speaker 3: Yeah. And that's not easy to do, especially for a
• 30:50
  Speaker 3: young player.
• 30:51
  Speaker 5: And I think it's been really cool to see how
• 30:54
  Speaker 5: he's rebounded from that and come back from that because
• 30:57
  Speaker 5: that also shows his maturity and his ability to just
• 31:00
  Speaker 5: kind of jump right back into it. So I've been
• 31:02
  Speaker 5: highly impressed. And also when I was there in June,
• 31:05
  Speaker 5: was it June or July? I don't know, but that
• 31:07
  Speaker 5: was right after all of the earthquakes happened in Venezuela.
• 31:11
  Speaker 5: And obviously he's Venezuelan and And William Contreras is Venezuelan.
• 31:14
  Speaker 5: You have quite a few Venezuelans, not just on the team,
• 31:18
  Speaker 5: but on the staff with the brewers. And I walked
• 31:20
  Speaker 5: up to Jackson in the clubhouse and I said, hey, listen,
• 31:23
  Speaker 5: you in no way should feel obligated to do an
• 31:26
  Speaker 5: interview with me about what's going on in Venezuela.
• 31:29
  Speaker 3: But I said, if you want.
• 31:31
  Speaker 5: A platform to speak about that, if you want a
• 31:33
  Speaker 5: platform to talk about what's going on in Venezuela, how
• 31:36
  Speaker 5: we can help to make your people back home feel heard,
• 31:40
  Speaker 5: we'd love to do an interview with you. If not,
• 31:43
  Speaker 5: totally your choice. We'll respect whatever your decision is. And
• 31:46
  Speaker 5: immediately he said, yes, yes, I want to. Yes, I
• 31:49
  Speaker 5: want to do it. I want to talk about this.
• 31:51
  Speaker 5: It's important to me. And at 22 years old, I
• 31:53
  Speaker 5: just respect that so much that he was able to
• 31:55
  Speaker 5: find the words in those moments to speak. And, you know,
• 32:00
  Speaker 5: I think what we're seeing from him goes beyond just
• 32:02
  Speaker 5: on the field.
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: For sure.
• 32:05
  Speaker 6: And that was one of the more powerful interviews, I think,
• 32:07
  Speaker 6: of the season. So well done to you on that.
• 32:09
  Speaker 6: I think everybody was quite moved by their comments and
• 32:13
  Speaker 6: the way you handled that was fantastic. So well done.
• 32:17
  Speaker 6: I want to move a little bit to kind of
• 32:20
  Speaker 6: the broader view. The National League as a whole, really
• 32:22
  Speaker 6: good teams in the National League right now. Obviously Brewers, Dodgers, Braves,
• 32:27
  Speaker 6: the division leaders, but the Phillies trying to make a
• 32:28
  Speaker 6: run in the NL East and then the Padres and Diamondbacks,
• 32:32
  Speaker 6: not too bad themselves.
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: How tough is it?
• 32:35
  Speaker 6: You know, even though the brewers have the best record
• 32:36
  Speaker 6: right now, how tough and the Cubs, obviously you just
• 32:39
  Speaker 6: saw them in Milwaukee, but how tough is it going
• 32:42
  Speaker 6: to be to get through that NL this year, especially
• 32:44
  Speaker 6: when you compare it to what the AL looks like
• 32:45
  Speaker 6: this year, which is a little bit different.
• 32:48
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's tough and it's, it's, it's highly top heavy,
• 32:51
  Speaker 3: you know?
• 32:52
  Speaker 5: Um, and I think they're, it's, they're considered far more
• 32:56
  Speaker 5: dominant right now than the AL for good reason, right?
• 32:58
  Speaker 5: They boast two of the best records in baseball. Um,
• 33:01
  Speaker 5: and the wildcard race is absolutely brutal right now for them.
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 33:05
  Speaker 3: Um, but I think it's really good.
• 33:07
  Speaker 5: For baseball, especially considering when you look at some of
• 33:10
  Speaker 5: the AL teams, you're like, this isn't competitive in some
• 33:12
  Speaker 5: areas at all.
• 33:13
  Speaker 3: So it's been really, really cool to see, um, what, what,
• 33:16
  Speaker 3: what's going on in the NL right now.
• 33:19
  Speaker 5: Um, the NL East is probably, like you said, the
• 33:21
  Speaker 5: toughest fight right now. Um, it's probably the most competitive
• 33:24
  Speaker 5: division in baseball. Um, you know, the Dodgers and the Brewers,
• 33:28
  Speaker 5: they've locked up their, well, I don't want to speak
• 33:31
  Speaker 5: too soon, but it seems they've locked up their respective divisions.
• 33:34
  Speaker 5: And then you got the Braves and the Phillies. And
• 33:37
  Speaker 5: that's honestly one of the most exciting divisions that I
• 33:41
  Speaker 5: feel like I've watched in a while in baseball.
• 33:43
  Speaker 3: When you look at the NL Central, you know, they're deep.
• 33:47
  Speaker 5: And the NL West, you know, they've got that high-end
• 33:51
  Speaker 5: star power. It's been really, really fun to watch. Sorry,
• 33:55
  Speaker 5: I'm slightly distracted. Somebody keeps walking up to my car.
• 33:58
  Speaker 3: And I have no idea why this is what happens guys.
• 34:00
  Speaker 3: When you try to do a road.
• 34:01
  Speaker 5: Trip, I'm not even sure what I just said there
• 34:05
  Speaker 5: to you. Anyways, the NL and each division is incredibly
• 34:09
  Speaker 5: tough right now. And it's incredibly entertaining to watch. But
• 34:14
  Speaker 5: you know, I think, gosh, I think it's so good
• 34:17
  Speaker 5: for baseball. Like I said, especially when you look at
• 34:19
  Speaker 5: what's going on in the AL. So that's going to
• 34:21
  Speaker 5: be the division that I think is the most exciting
• 34:23
  Speaker 5: to watch near the end of September and into October. Yeah.
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: Yes, absolutely.
• 34:30
  Speaker 6: Well, and the thing about the NL East, too, and
• 34:33
  Speaker 6: I think, you know, people around here obviously see the Cubs.
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: That's who the Brewers played last year. Dodgers.
• 34:37
  Speaker 6: That's who the Brewers played last year. But how sneaky
• 34:40
  Speaker 6: could the Phillies be in all this? Because obviously, if
• 34:42
  Speaker 6: they wouldn't have had the tough start, the really uncharacteristic
• 34:46
  Speaker 6: start that they had in the beginning of the year.
• 34:48
  Speaker 6: they could be up for the top record in baseball.
• 34:50
  Speaker 6: If they wouldn't have been so woefully bad in the
• 34:52
  Speaker 6: first couple of weeks, that seems like a very sneaky
• 34:55
  Speaker 6: team with some great pitching and obviously the star power
• 34:57
  Speaker 6: on offense.
• 34:58
  Speaker 5: I would be terrified of the Phillies right now. I mean,
• 35:01
  Speaker 5: I would be terrified of the Phillies right now because
• 35:05
  Speaker 5: they got off to a.
• 35:06
  Speaker 3: Whole, I mean, it was horrific. I remember covering the
• 35:08
  Speaker 3: Phillies at the beginning of the season. And I was like,
• 35:11
  Speaker 3: what is happening? Like, this is not the DNA of
• 35:15
  Speaker 3: this team. I mean, it was bad.
• 35:17
  Speaker 5: And, and I think what they've done since then, and
• 35:19
  Speaker 5: obviously I'm so biased towards Kyle Schwarber because he's an
• 35:22
  Speaker 5: Indiana university grad and everybody knows how obnoxious I am
• 35:25
  Speaker 5: about IU. And I mean, he has carried that team
• 35:28
  Speaker 5: in parts of this season and it's been so impressive. And, and, and,
• 35:33
  Speaker 5: and you just, you've got rotation depth there. You've got
• 35:36
  Speaker 5: that veteran playoff resiliency. And I think that's, what's really
• 35:41
  Speaker 5: going to make them exciting and a threat down the stretch.
• 35:44
  Speaker 3: They're not scared of anybody.
• 35:46
  Speaker 5: And I think when you look at the veterans they
• 35:49
  Speaker 5: have on that team, if I'm stepping up against them
• 35:52
  Speaker 5: in October, I'm like, oh, boy, these guys could do
• 35:56
  Speaker 5: some damage. You know, they're not scared and they've got
• 35:58
  Speaker 5: a bounce back offense. They've got high leverage relievers. And
• 36:02
  Speaker 5: that's really, really tough in October and late September. So
• 36:06
  Speaker 5: and also when you're playing in Philly, good luck.
• 36:09
  Speaker 3: Good luck. That's all I'm going to say. Good luck.
• 36:11
  Speaker 3: You know, advantage Phillies. Always in Philly. I mean, not always.
• 36:15
  Speaker 3: I know they're whatever. But, I mean, they're going to
• 36:17
  Speaker 3: be a postseason powerhouse in my mind.
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: Yeah, for sure.
• 36:20
  Speaker 6: So two quick questions before we let you get out
• 36:22
  Speaker 6: of the gas station parking lot here and.
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: Move on with your road trip.
• 36:25
  Speaker 5: Please excuse the NL question when I was highly distracted.
• 36:29
  Speaker 3: No one listened to anything I said during that.
• 36:32
  Speaker 6: The question there, the answer was still, was still great.
• 36:35
  Speaker 6: Two questions. One is I know you spent some time
• 36:37
  Speaker 6: in green Bay. So how cool is it to see
• 36:39
  Speaker 6: Notre Dame and Wisconsin play college football game at Lambeau field?
• 36:42
  Speaker 6: I'm not sure how much you were able to catch
• 36:44
  Speaker 6: of it, but kind of a cool atmosphere for a
• 36:46
  Speaker 6: college football game, obviously.
• 36:48
  Speaker 3: Oh my gosh.
• 36:48
  Speaker 5: I was, I was, I wasn't like, I had the
• 36:50
  Speaker 5: whole split screen going on between the Wisconsin Notre Dame game.
• 36:54
  Speaker 3: And then what was the other game? Oh my word.
• 36:55
  Speaker 3: I'm losing my mind.
• 36:56
  Speaker 6: It was another game. Louisville Ole Miss. Was that the same?
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: Louisville Ole Miss.
• 37:00
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 37:00
  Speaker 5: I had the split screen on. So I was kind
• 37:02
  Speaker 5: of bouncing back and forth between the two of them,
• 37:04
  Speaker 5: but playing under the lights at Lambeau, I always tell people,
• 37:08
  Speaker 5: you know, I've covered.
• 37:08
  Speaker 3: Games in so many stadiums.
• 37:11
  Speaker 5: Across the country in the NFL, the NBA, college basketball,
• 37:16
  Speaker 5: college football, baseball, everything.
• 37:19
  Speaker 3: There's nothing.
• 37:19
  Speaker 5: And I'm not just saying that because I'm talking to
• 37:21
  Speaker 5: Wisconsin people right now. I know people will be like,
• 37:23
  Speaker 5: you're pandering. I swear to God, I'm not. Lambeau is
• 37:26
  Speaker 5: one of the coolest places on game day. I mean, it's,
• 37:28
  Speaker 5: it's gotta be in my top five. You know, I
• 37:29
  Speaker 5: think games in Philly are amazing.
• 37:31
  Speaker 3: Games in Fenway are amazing. Games at Wrigley. Sorry, Brewers fans.
• 37:35
  Speaker 3: They're amazing. But Lambeau, oh my word. It's unlike anything
• 37:39
  Speaker 3: I've ever seen.
• 37:40
  Speaker 5: So to be a college football player and play there, that's,
• 37:44
  Speaker 5: I loved it. I love the neutral site matchup when
• 37:47
  Speaker 5: it's a place like that, when it's a neutral site
• 37:49
  Speaker 5: matchup where I'm just like, why are you here? Then
• 37:51
  Speaker 5: I'm like, okay, this is dumb. But there, I think
• 37:53
  Speaker 5: that was just, that was awesome to see. Um, and yeah,
• 37:58
  Speaker 5: I loved it. I would go to a Lambeau field
• 38:01
  Speaker 5: neutral site type of matchup any day of the week.
• 38:03
  Speaker 3: Although I don't know.
• 38:04
  Speaker 5: How neutral technically it is since it was wisconsin playing
• 38:07
  Speaker 5: there but you know.
• 38:07
  Speaker 6: What i mean right right but but it was a
• 38:10
  Speaker 6: home game it was kind of yeah kind of strange.
• 38:11
  Speaker 3: In that respect i mean notre dame came out on
• 38:13
  Speaker 3: top so whatever but like.
• 38:14
  Speaker 6: Yeah right yeah no totally uh last question when is
• 38:18
  Speaker 6: indiana gonna have their uh first test of the season
• 38:20
  Speaker 6: we're looking ahead to like ohio state in october here
• 38:23
  Speaker 6: i saw their schedule i'm like they got howard they
• 38:25
  Speaker 6: got western kentucky and then they've got some maybe not
• 38:28
  Speaker 6: so good big 10 uh big 10 foes here. So
• 38:31
  Speaker 6: is that kind of, or are we just taking it
• 38:33
  Speaker 6: a week at a time here at, at over at Indiana?
• 38:36
  Speaker 5: The amount of questions I've had to answer about their
• 38:39
  Speaker 5: schedule to start the season. I know that their schedule
• 38:43
  Speaker 5: to start the season heavily favors them.
• 38:45
  Speaker 3: Trust me, I'm aware, but it's not my job to
• 38:47
  Speaker 3: create the schedule.
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 38:48
  Speaker 5: So I know I was at the, at the, at the,
• 38:51
  Speaker 5: at the North Texas game. I'll be at the Howard game,
• 38:53
  Speaker 5: Western Kentucky, North Western.
• 38:55
  Speaker 3: Let me pull up. I can't remember what's after that.
• 38:58
  Speaker 5: Um, So I think one of their first tests, I mean, really,
• 39:04
  Speaker 5: when you look at the schedule, I mean, I'm not
• 39:06
  Speaker 5: saying that like, that like you, they couldn't be tested
• 39:11
  Speaker 5: at Rutgers, but I don't know that that will be
• 39:13
  Speaker 5: the case.
• 39:14
  Speaker 3: So perhaps their first test will be at Nebraska.
• 39:17
  Speaker 5: I don't know anything about the Cornhuskers this season, but
• 39:20
  Speaker 5: that'll be their first, like kind of big road test.
• 39:23
  Speaker 3: But really, really let's think about it here. The big
• 39:25
  Speaker 3: test of the season is Ohio state. It's Ohio state.
• 39:29
  Speaker 5: Um because we know what happened in the big 10
• 39:31
  Speaker 5: championship game the buckeyes are coming for blood um and
• 39:34
  Speaker 5: in usc will be a good test for them at
• 39:36
  Speaker 5: michigan's going to be a good test for them but
• 39:39
  Speaker 5: everybody has ohio state circled on their calendars i mean
• 39:42
  Speaker 5: that is the game that you're like this is really
• 39:45
  Speaker 5: the measuring stick here um.
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: It's in Indiana, though, right?
• 39:49
  Speaker 5: I'm nervous, and it's like over a month away.
• 39:52
  Speaker 3: I'm nervous. Yes, it's out of Indiana. It's here. It's home.
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: Got it. Okay, that's what I thought. Trisha Whitaker joining us.
• 39:59
  Speaker 6: She will be on the broadcast Friday night, Apple TV,
• 40:02
  Speaker 6: 645 First Pitch. They'll be on a little bit before
• 40:04
  Speaker 6: that to get you set for the game Brewers and
• 40:06
  Speaker 6: Red Start of a three-game series. Trisha, we always enjoy
• 40:09
  Speaker 6: talking to you, and thanks so much for making time
• 40:11
  Speaker 6: for us on the road trip.
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: We really appreciate it.
• 40:14
  Speaker 5: Even in a gas station parking lot when some random
• 40:16
  Speaker 5: person's walking up to my car.
• 40:18
  Speaker 4: Wow.
• 40:18
  Speaker 3: I'm glad we did that. Pulled it off. Good to
• 40:21
  Speaker 3: see you. Excited for Friday.
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: Thanks to Hunter Baumgart and thanks to Tricia Whitaker for
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: being delightful. You know, take the girl out of Green Bay.
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: Can't take the Green Bay out of the girl. She's
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: so good. She's very Midwest. She's one of us. Yeah.
• 40:33
  Speaker 2: I got a couple of, I got a couple of, uh,
• 40:35
  Speaker 2: you know, qualms with the breakdown of Kurt Cignetti's Indiana schedule,
• 40:38
  Speaker 2: but I'll save that for the pod.
• 40:39
  Speaker 1: But you are fired up. Save it for the pod.
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: All right, moving forward, we're going to talk to the
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: voice of the Packers, Wayne Larrabee, coming up at 725. Packers,
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: Vikings this week. It starts, and obviously we'll talk to
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: Dolph at halftime of the program. We're glad you're hanging
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: out with us. Where else would you rather be at
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: 5 a.m.? You're in the huddle, Fox Sports Radio, Wisconsin.