Latest / The Mark Belling Podcast / Mark Belling Podcast #169: The real affordability crisis: fewer Americans own anything including their own homes. Staggering property taxes are a big reason why even as super-taxer David Crowley seeks the Governorship and numerous school tax referendums are also on the ballot. And, Mark takes a look at a proposal to swamp Waukesha with nearly 300 more apartments; does anybody own anything anymore???

Transcript

Mark Belling Podcast #169: The real affordability crisis: fewer Americans own anything including their own homes. Staggering property taxes are a big reason why even as super-taxer David Crowley seeks the Governorship and numerous school tax referendums are also on the ballot. And, Mark takes a look at a proposal to swamp Waukesha with nearly 300 more apartments; does anybody own anything anymore??? · The Mark Belling Podcast

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  Speaker 2: You know, the Democrats are the ones that are bringing
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  Speaker 2: up this whole issue of affordability. It is an issue.
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  Speaker 2: The worst thing that Republicans can do is deny that
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  Speaker 2: this is a problem. Way back, I guess it was
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  Speaker 2: mostly during the W. Bush era, the Democrats would make
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  Speaker 2: the argument that the rich are getting richer and the
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  Speaker 2: poor are getting poorer. And there were so many Republicans
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  Speaker 2: that tried to argue with them about that. I remember
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  Speaker 2: talking about this when I filled in for Rush a
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  Speaker 2: few times. The statement is true. Obviously, the rich, because
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  Speaker 2: there is no limit on the amount of wealth that
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  Speaker 2: someone can have, will always be getting richer. But the
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  Speaker 2: gap between the well-off and people with lower incomes, and
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  Speaker 2: more importantly, the gap between the well-off and the middle class,
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  Speaker 2: was clearly expanding. The question is, what do you do
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  Speaker 2: about it? The left's prescriptions for this made matters worse.
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  Speaker 2: Likewise now. Affordability is an enormous issue in this country.
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  Speaker 2: I want to focus today to open the program mostly
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  Speaker 2: on affordability when it comes to housing. And we have
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  Speaker 2: to take a look at the kind of society that
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  Speaker 2: we want to be. But also, the decisions that people
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  Speaker 2: make that permanently keep them behind the eight ball. In
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  Speaker 2: order to get ahead, you do have to do things
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  Speaker 2: to get ahead. But there are things that make it really,
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  Speaker 2: really hard, especially with regard to probably the most important
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  Speaker 2: thing that you spend money on, which is housing, where
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  Speaker 2: you live, how you live. I want to dive into
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  Speaker 2: all of that, including the context that this discussion is in,
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  Speaker 2: which is we're in the middle of a governor's election
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  Speaker 2: in Wisconsin. And if one of the candidates wins, the
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  Speaker 2: whole affordability problem in Wisconsin with regard to housing is
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  Speaker 2: going to get way, way, way worse because you have
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  Speaker 2: one of the biggest super taxers ever to run for
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  Speaker 2: governor in Crowley. So let's get into all of that
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  Speaker 2: in a moment. Uline moves fast so your business doesn't
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  Speaker 2: miss a beat. From shipping and industrial supplies to office furniture,
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  Speaker 2: customer service team is available 24-7 to answer your questions,
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  Speaker 2: help you quickly and easily place an order, or assist
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: with any other business needs. Visit Uline.com. Every month, the
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  Speaker 2: Wisconsin Realtors Association puts out the housing numbers. And on
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  Speaker 2: most levels, the August numbers aren't good. They showed a
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  Speaker 2: significant decline, and when they do this, they compare year
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  Speaker 2: over year. Existing home sales in Wisconsin fell 8.3% in
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  Speaker 2: August compared to August of 2025. Now, the overall year
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  Speaker 2: has not been bad. We're actually still up 26 to
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  Speaker 2: 25 when you take all eight months together, but the
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  Speaker 2: August comparison was especially bad. One of the things that's weird,
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  Speaker 2: and it's been going on for some time, about the
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  Speaker 2: housing market in Wisconsin is right now sales are rather slow.
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  Speaker 2: But when sales in housing are slow, it's usually because
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  Speaker 2: they're just an overall terrible economy, and that means that
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  Speaker 2: prices are plummeting. When nobody's buying anything, prices go down,
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  Speaker 2: the old supply and demand. But that's not what's happening
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  Speaker 2: with housing. The valuations for these houses keeps going up.
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  Speaker 2: In August, the median home price of homes sold was 7.1%
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  Speaker 2: higher than one year ago. Now, that's a pretty healthy increase.
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  Speaker 2: And it's occurring at a time that there aren't a
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  Speaker 2: lot of sales going on. There's a zillion reasons for
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  Speaker 2: all of this. Limited supply, a lot of stuff. Lack
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  Speaker 2: of demand on the really low end of the market.
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  Speaker 2: There's just a lot of reasons to feed into this,
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  Speaker 2: but those are the numbers. So let's take a look
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  Speaker 2: at the bigger picture of this. We have obviously right
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  Speaker 2: now an increase in mortgage rates. And other than people
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  Speaker 2: who are really wealthy and are able to buy their
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  Speaker 2: homes for cash, in other words, they don't finance. It
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  Speaker 2: is obviously really stupid to buy a home when interest
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  Speaker 2: rates are really high, particularly if you think they're going
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  Speaker 2: to go down sometime soon. And they're certainly higher than
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  Speaker 2: they were only a year or two ago when more
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  Speaker 2: people were buying. And also remember with comparisons, if you
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  Speaker 2: compare to a really good month, say 12 months ago,
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  Speaker 2: it makes the month that you're in now look worse
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  Speaker 2: than it actually is. Still, there's a problem here. Median, that,
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  Speaker 2: you know, the middle, 362,000. Obviously, somebody who is a
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  Speaker 2: first-time homebuyer isn't looking for something in the middle. Still,
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  Speaker 2: the median number of 362,000 is quite the healthy number.
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  Speaker 2: Healthy in terms of being big. But there are, I think,
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  Speaker 2: more important issues to look at in Wisconsin, Wisconsin in particular,
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  Speaker 2: much of the rest of the country also, than the price.
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  Speaker 2: And that is all the other things that are making
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  Speaker 2: homeownership unattractive for a lot of people. The elephant in
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  Speaker 2: the room is property taxes. When I talk to Wisconsinites
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  Speaker 2: who have paid off their homes and decide to downsize
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  Speaker 2: and rent, the issue you hear all the time is
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  Speaker 2: property taxes. Well, if the property taxes are a burden
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  Speaker 2: for somebody who doesn't have a mortgage anymore and has
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  Speaker 2: paid the whole thing off, imagine what that burden is
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  Speaker 2: for somebody who's buying a house with 20% down, is
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  Speaker 2: short on cash, is going to carry a mortgage and
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  Speaker 2: now has to pay these property taxes besides, in addition
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  Speaker 2: to all the other costs that you have, the upkeep
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  Speaker 2: of the home, if you live in a condominium association,
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  Speaker 2: the maintenance fee, all of that. There is no indication
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  Speaker 2: at all that the property tax part of this is
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  Speaker 2: going to be getting better at any point soon. In fact,
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  Speaker 2: every indication I see is that it's going to get
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  Speaker 2: far worse. The Democrats can talk about affordability, but they're
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  Speaker 2: the ones that keep demanding that we raise property taxes
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  Speaker 2: even more. Here's what I think is happening. As property
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  Speaker 2: taxes get higher and higher, the percentage of people who
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  Speaker 2: are homeowners gets lower and lower. Therefore, when there are
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  Speaker 2: proposals to raise property taxes or referendums on the ballot
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  Speaker 2: to raise property taxes, they are likelier to pass because,
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  Speaker 2: as I say, fewer and fewer people own the homes
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  Speaker 2: and pay property taxes. Now, I know the argument, renters
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  Speaker 2: pay property taxes too, except they don't see that. The
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  Speaker 2: renters pay the property taxes in the same way that
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  Speaker 2: they're paying for the flooring and they're paying for the
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  Speaker 2: plumbing and every other cost that the landlord has. But
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  Speaker 2: none of that is broken down. And the rents in
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  Speaker 2: the end are set by the market. The person who
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  Speaker 2: owns the rental property has to make a profit. There's
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  Speaker 2: no point in being in that business of having rental property.
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  Speaker 2: But it's very, very indirect. If you're a renter and
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  Speaker 2: they pass a property tax referendum... You don't actually see
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  Speaker 2: that increase in your rent, and if you do, if
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  Speaker 2: the landlord has to raise the rent the next year,
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  Speaker 2: it's very, very hidden. So you end up with fewer
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  Speaker 2: and fewer people loaning, and say, you know what the heck,
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  Speaker 2: I'll vote for this property tax increase. Well, yeah, raise
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  Speaker 2: the property taxes, just don't raise these other taxes that
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  Speaker 2: I have to pay. So as property taxes go up
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  Speaker 2: even more and more and more, and more and more
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  Speaker 2: people are willing to support higher and higher property taxes,
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  Speaker 2: Homeownership becomes even more unaffordable and the percentage of people
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  Speaker 2: who own homes goes even farther down. It's a double
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  Speaker 2: snowball effect. There's a proposal on the ballot in Florida
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  Speaker 2: in November. to get rid of residential property taxes for
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  Speaker 2: people who've been in the same home for, I think,
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  Speaker 2: three years or more. It's expected to fail. Ron DeSantis
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  Speaker 2: proposed it, but it requires voter approval and a referendum.
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  Speaker 2: And the reason it's expected to fail, and it needs
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  Speaker 2: a supermajority, is huge numbers of people who live in
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  Speaker 2: Florida are renters. I think that huge number is even
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  Speaker 2: greater in places like New York, where staggering percentages of
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  Speaker 2: the population rent. So if you're a politician and you
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  Speaker 2: have to raise a tax, you're going to raise the
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  Speaker 2: tax that affects the smaller percentage of people. The one
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  Speaker 2: tax that affects everybody is the sales tax, and the
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  Speaker 2: sales tax hits people on the lower end much harder.
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  Speaker 2: Because while it's true, A sales tax is much higher
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  Speaker 2: when you buy a $ 400, 000 Bentley than a $ 32, 000 Chevy.
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  Speaker 2: For most of the staples that we all have in life,
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  Speaker 2: rich people are buying the same kind of stuff that
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  Speaker 2: lower income people are. So the sales tax is the
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  Speaker 2: one that might have more political blowback to it. Gasoline
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  Speaker 2: tax is another one. But as fewer and fewer people
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  Speaker 2: pay property taxes, and here's the next component. A lot
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  Speaker 2: of the property owners don't live in the communities where
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  Speaker 2: the properties are being raised. Business owners, big real estate
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  Speaker 2: companies that own apartment complexes, As property taxes keep going up,
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  Speaker 2: it has to be factored into the valuation of homes
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  Speaker 2: going up. Now, let's get back to the valuation. This
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  Speaker 2: is a double-edged sword. If the valuations of the homes
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  Speaker 2: are going up, that's a great thing for the people
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  Speaker 2: who already own their own homes. It turns out to
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  Speaker 2: be an outstanding investment. If that median home of $ 362, 000
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  Speaker 2: was selling seven years ago for $ 280, 000, It means that
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  Speaker 2: the homeowner has been making money while living. Sure beats
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  Speaker 2: the heck out of renting, where you lose 100% of
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  Speaker 2: the amount of money you put in, whereas opposed to
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  Speaker 2: the housing, where it's actually an investment that grows. So
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  Speaker 2: the affordability thing, as I say, isn't that much of
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  Speaker 2: an issue for people that are already in their own home.
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  Speaker 2: They love it when the valuations go up. But the
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  Speaker 2: problem exists for the people who are trying to get
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  Speaker 2: into a home for the first time in their lives.
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  Speaker 2: Do we want to be a society of renters? I
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  Speaker 2: think that's very dangerous. Nobody has any skin in the game.
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  Speaker 2: And they lack the ability to get ahead. Now, some
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  Speaker 2: people who rent and are very disciplined about it It
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  Speaker 2: works out well for them financially. They rent, they pay
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  Speaker 2: less than if they buy a house, and they take
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  Speaker 2: the amount of money that they're saving, and they're not
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  Speaker 2: paying property taxes, they're not paying for the mortgage, they're
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  Speaker 2: not paying interest rates, all of that stuff, and they're
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  Speaker 2: saving that money and setting it aside and investing it.
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  Speaker 2: For them, that makes sense. But how many people do that?
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  Speaker 2: I don't want to keep picking on the millennials and
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  Speaker 2: the Gen Zs, but I see some of them that
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  Speaker 2: are living in really expensive apartment buildings in Milwaukee. And
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  Speaker 2: they're still cash poor. You can go on and on
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  Speaker 2: about the Starbucks lattes and the whole thing. But you're
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  Speaker 2: seeing people that have a pretty good income. You must
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  Speaker 2: have a pretty good income to afford $ 3, 500 a month
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  Speaker 2: in rent. but they don't have any assets. They're spending
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  Speaker 2: it all. The thing with regard to a home ownership,
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  Speaker 2: as long as you don't do one of the dumber
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  Speaker 2: things you could do, borrow against the house. And some
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  Speaker 2: people have done that. Every time the valuation of the
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  Speaker 2: house goes up, they simply increase the home equity loan
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  Speaker 2: that they have against it and they don't have any
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  Speaker 2: equity in the home. Is if you go along over
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  Speaker 2: time and you pay off the mortgage or for the
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: people that are even better at it, my old producer
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  Speaker 2: Paul pulled this off several times. Buy a house, sell
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  Speaker 2: it for a profit. Buy another house, sell it for
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: a profit. Buy another house, sell it for a profit.
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  Speaker 2: It becomes your own personal savings plan. And even if
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  Speaker 2: you didn't put a lot of money into savings in
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  Speaker 2: the stock market or other stuff, the valuation of the
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  Speaker 2: home becomes quite the nest egg. But what if you
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  Speaker 2: never got involved? How are you going to get ahead?
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: And if you don't have any assets, it makes you
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  Speaker 2: even more dependent on government. I think this is one
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: of the things that is driving this whole thing towards socialism. Well, yeah,
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: I want the government to give me this and this
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: and this and this and this and this and this.
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  Speaker 2: Because I'm not going to have the money to pay
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  Speaker 2: for any of it because I don't have any assets.
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  Speaker 2: There isn't a lot that government can do directly with
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  Speaker 2: regard to the price of owning a home. Indirectly, however,
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  Speaker 2: if we simply in Wisconsin stopped raising property taxes. Now,
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  Speaker 2: I understand. How can you stop raising them? Costs keep
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: going up for things. One of the big issues in
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  Speaker 2: the suburbs is paying for police and fire. There are
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: so many ambulance runs right now that they all run
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: their paramedic and fire services at a huge loss. They're
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: looking for ways to be able to pay. Well, you
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: got to keep raising our property taxes. But if you
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: could freeze them for 10 years, there isn't a better
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  Speaker 2: step that we could take to actually make housing more affordable. Now,
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  Speaker 2: not included in any of this is the discussion of
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: people who simply don't want any responsibility in their life whatsoever.
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  Speaker 2: And I think that that's also a huge problem. I mean,
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  Speaker 2: if you're somebody who lived at home until you were 30,
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: even when you get out of the house at 30,
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  Speaker 2: are you ready to take on all of the adult
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: responsibilities of owning a home, being responsible for paying a
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: mortgage off every month and being responsible for all the
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: other stuff that you have to do when I'll just
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: rent somewhere even if I'm paying a fortune and have
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: the landlord take care of the whole thing? I just
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: think unless you have independent wealth from another source or
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: you're one of the people who has just figured out
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: the discipline of saving the money, by renting a place inexpensively.
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: We're just looking at several generations of people that are
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: not going to get ahead. Every now and then I'll
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: hear about this story of somebody who's 26 or 27.
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: They're already married and they just bought a house and
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: they're saving money besides. Unless they screw things up like
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: a divorce or make start getting involved in blowing their
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: money on gambling or something or another, they.
• 18:05
  Speaker 3: Got a maid.
• 18:08
  Speaker 2: You're going to be worth a fortune in 40 years
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: and you're going to be so much farther ahead. And
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  Speaker 2: I don't even mean you have to have a $ 750, 000
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: a year job. You're just going to build this asset,
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: these assets. And over time, the savings that you have
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: will grow and grow and grow. But if you don't
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: have anything and there's no skin in the game anywhere,
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: how do you get ahead? So the thing with regard
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: to the affordability is, particularly with regard to the taxation,
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: as long as we keep raising the taxes, the affordability
• 18:42
  Speaker 2: problem gets worse. One of the groups that's opposing David
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: Crowley for governor has compiled some stats. $ 10. 4 million, that's
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: the increase in the property tax levy just in the
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: 2026 Milwaukee County budget. That's the budget year that we're
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: in now. He's about to propose his 27 budget. 3.48%,
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: the adopted levy increase, the largest since at least 2010.
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: The property tax levy in Milwaukee County went up 3.48%,
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: and that's in addition to the fact that they were
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: able to double their sales tax because of the bill
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: passed by the legislature. The current Milwaukee County sales tax, 0.9%
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: highest in the state. $ 50. 8 million, the projected 2027 gap,
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: forecast to reach $ 168 million by 2031. The gap is
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: the difference between the amount of money that's coming in
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: and the expenditures that you have budgeted for. That's Crowley's governance.
• 19:51
  Speaker 2: And for people to say that you're picking on Crowley
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: like this, other than Scott Walker, all of them raise
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: property taxes enormously. It's the way it's done in Milwaukee County.
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: It's the way it's done at the city of Milwaukee.
• 20:04
  Speaker 2: And it isn't just, of course, the county, the school districts,
• 20:08
  Speaker 2: which are also run by liberals, raise property taxes as
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: much as they can. And it's all a cumulative thing.
• 20:26
  Speaker 2: Then the referendums on the ballot. This is from, I
• 20:29
  Speaker 2: don't have a comprehensive list in front of me, but
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: this I'm taking from JS Online. They ran a list,
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: and this is just the communities right around Milwaukee County
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: and Milwaukee and Waukesha County. It's not the entire region
• 20:41
  Speaker 2: of southeastern Wisconsin. And for those of you outside the
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: state of Wisconsin, bear with me on this. You'll get
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: the point. These are just some of the school referendums
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: on the ballot just here in November. Brown Deer. Two referendums,
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: one for operational expenses, one for facilities. They want to
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: overspend the state spending limits by $ 2. 8 million a year.
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: In addition to that, They're asking for $ 35 million for
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: facilities improvements. Brown Deer is not a big district. Brown Deer,
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: for those of you who don't know, is northern Milwaukee County. Elmbrook.
• 21:14
  Speaker 2: That's Brookfield and Elm Grove. Referendum on the ballot. $ 100 million.
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: $ 100 million. An increase of 11 cents per $ 1, 000 of
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: equalized valuation over the district's preliminary 2026-2027 school property tax
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: rate of $ 6. 24. And it goes on to describe it.
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: It's for general improvement of facilities district-wide. The Elmbrook district
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: is not seeing increases in enrollment. $ 100 million. By the way,
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: when they mention that number, that doesn't include the borrowing clause.
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: That's the amount they're going to borrow. But the payback
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: of it, which comes from property taxes, of course, is
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: far higher because you've got the interest in there. And
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: if you haven't noticed, interest rates are growing up right now.
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: Fox Point Bayside on the North Shore. Operational referendum. 3.95
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: million recurring. This would be to overspend the state spending
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: limits by nearly $ 4 million every year. Greenfield. It's the
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: community our studios are in. Southwest and Milwaukee County. Two referendums.
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: One for operational. The operational, that's $ 20 million. That's on
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: an annual basis to simply run things. Requires an overview.
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: You need approval of the voters to overspend the state
• 22:37
  Speaker 2: spending limits. In addition to that, $ 35 million for facilities referendum. Oconomowoc.
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: operational referendum, total of $ 12 million distributed over five years.
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: And again, whenever you overspend the state spending limits, there's
• 22:58
  Speaker 2: spending caps that we currently have in place in Wisconsin.
• 23:02
  Speaker 2: If the Democrats can take control of the governorship, I
• 23:04
  Speaker 2: suspect that they're going to get rid of that. They
• 23:06
  Speaker 2: do require that if you want to overspend the limits,
• 23:08
  Speaker 2: you need to get voter approval to do it. Palmyra Eagle,
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: it's a school district where there's been Dissension for some time.
• 23:16
  Speaker 2: There are some people who wanted to break up the
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: school district, attach to another community, and so on. They're
• 23:21
  Speaker 2: constantly tapped out there. Operational referendum, $ 3. 188 million. Spread out
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: over four years. Swallow. This is just one elementary district
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: in northern Waukesha County. For those of you not from
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: the area, Arrowhead High School, which is a giant, massive
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: high school, that's a high school district. Arrowhead does not
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: operate elementary schools. There are a number of smaller communities
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: in that area of northern Waukesha County that have their
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: own elementary district. Swallow only runs an elementary school. And
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: it's just one of many communities that feed into the
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: high school for Arrowhead. Operational referendum, $ 2. 5 million spent over
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: five years. Whitefish Bay. $ 90 million facility referendum. As you
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: move away from the Milwaukee area, there are more, but
• 24:19
  Speaker 2: now again, that's just a listing of some of them.
• 24:24
  Speaker 2: So in addition to the fact that they keep raising
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: property taxes in the regular budget, there are these referendums
• 24:30
  Speaker 2: on the ballot for these staggering increases on top of that.
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: So I just think that what we're exiling ourselves to
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: is a society where the, what is the rate of
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: homeownership for adults? It used to be well over 60%.
• 24:50
  Speaker 2: I think it's under 60 right now. It's not going
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: to be long before it's under 50. And then under 40,
• 24:57
  Speaker 2: where we're looking at a society where almost everyone rents
• 25:02
  Speaker 2: and the properties are all owned either by Really smart,
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: hardworking individuals who buy up 5, 10, 15, 20 duplexes.
• 25:10
  Speaker 2: There are people like that, some of you listening to me.
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: It's a really hard racket, but it's lucrative. It's lucrative
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: if you own the properties in the inner city of
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: Milwaukee and it's lucrative if you own them in the suburbs.
• 25:22
  Speaker 2: You simply charge more for the rent than your costs are.
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: And the valuation of the properties tend to go up
• 25:29
  Speaker 2: if you keep them up because even more and more
• 25:32
  Speaker 2: people are renting. And then beyond that, There are the
• 25:34
  Speaker 2: large corporations that own rental properties, some of whom are
• 25:39
  Speaker 2: the ones that put up high-rise buildings themselves. And there
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: are others that just own zillions of units all over
• 25:45
  Speaker 2: the city or all over the region or all over
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: the country. There are several of those entrepreneurs in Milwaukee.
• 25:54
  Speaker 2: Famous and controversial property owner came into the United States
• 25:57
  Speaker 2: 20 years ago, didn't have a penny to his name.
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: Just started buying up buildings. Then he put a big
• 26:03
  Speaker 2: rock in front of them. I think they made him
• 26:04
  Speaker 2: take the rocks out. He now owns thousands of rental units.
• 26:11
  Speaker 2: For people like him, this is great. This trend that
• 26:17
  Speaker 2: we're in of everybody renting, because if everybody rents, it's
• 26:19
  Speaker 2: all the more demand for the people that own the
• 26:21
  Speaker 2: rental properties. So those people can go ahead as long
• 26:27
  Speaker 2: as they're buying prudently and manage their expenses and they're
• 26:30
  Speaker 2: good business people. And they don't have vacancies. They take
• 26:34
  Speaker 2: care of the properties well enough. The increasing affordability problem
• 26:40
  Speaker 2: is because the money's going into their pockets. They're invested
• 26:43
  Speaker 2: in this. But as we have fewer individual people who
• 26:53
  Speaker 2: own their own homes, I think we're facing an existential
• 26:59
  Speaker 2: American crisis in terms of people not controlling their own
• 27:05
  Speaker 2: destiny and not having a nest egg. This brings me
• 27:07
  Speaker 2: now to, I think, a really interesting story in the news.
• 27:11
  Speaker 2: It's from Waukesha County. I'll try to make it interesting
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: for those of you listening anywhere. The two-year university campuses
• 27:24
  Speaker 2: in Wisconsin have been closing. They're closed. One of them was,
• 27:28
  Speaker 2: it used to be called UW-Waukesha County. The name was
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: changed a few years ago to UW-Milwaukee at Waukesha. It's closed.
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: We used to have these two-year campuses dotted all over
• 27:40
  Speaker 2: the state in addition to the four-year campuses. The two-year
• 27:43
  Speaker 2: campuses are, they're just a vestige of the past. They
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: were unnecessary. Since we have four-year universities all over the state,
• 27:51
  Speaker 2: what we're running these two-year campuses for, you had to
• 27:53
  Speaker 2: transfer out a two-year, if you wanted to get a
• 27:55
  Speaker 2: four-year degree, You'd have to chance her after two years anyway,
• 27:58
  Speaker 2: so they're being closed. So you have this property in
• 28:04
  Speaker 2: the city of Waukesha where UW-Milwaukee at Waukesha was located
• 28:08
  Speaker 2: or UW-Waukesha, whatever you want to call it. The city
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: of Waukesha and Waukesha County have been taking proposals on
• 28:16
  Speaker 2: what to do with this land. Waukesha County has approved
• 28:22
  Speaker 2: a proposal from a big local developer called F Street.
• 28:28
  Speaker 2: I want you to listen to this plan. The plan
• 28:30
  Speaker 2: would be to take this campus, get rid of all
• 28:33
  Speaker 2: the buildings, and do nothing but put up housing. A
• 28:37
  Speaker 2: little bit of mixed use, so there might be some
• 28:39
  Speaker 2: retail component in there, but primarily it's going to be
• 28:42
  Speaker 2: all housing. Now, I want to warn you that what's
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: approved now almost always changes. I'm not going to accuse
• 28:51
  Speaker 2: this developer of lying, but developers, as long as these
• 28:55
  Speaker 2: kinds of proposals have come up, play bait and switch.
• 28:58
  Speaker 2: Remember Pabst Farms? That was going to have like Nordstrom's
• 29:03
  Speaker 2: and Macy's and a bunch of Walmarts out there now. Anyway.
• 29:13
  Speaker 2: The housing numbers are staggering, but to me also alarming.
• 29:23
  Speaker 2: The plan is to put up about 280 market rate apartments.
• 29:33
  Speaker 2: Market rate means non-subsidized. In other words, they'll pay about
• 29:37
  Speaker 2: what the market would bear for apartments sold. the quality
• 29:41
  Speaker 2: that they're going to build. There would be 70 single-family homes.
• 29:49
  Speaker 2: I asked whether or not these would be rental single-family
• 29:52
  Speaker 2: homes or owner-occupied. The response that I got from Waukesha
• 29:58
  Speaker 2: County is the plan is that they would be owner-occupied. Well,
• 30:04
  Speaker 2: let's hope that they stick to that plan. Now, this
• 30:06
  Speaker 2: plan from F Street, it still requires the approval of
• 30:08
  Speaker 2: the city of Waukesha. It would be built out over
• 30:11
  Speaker 2: a number of years. For the city of Waukesha and
• 30:18
  Speaker 2: Waukesha County, it's already a net positive because the land
• 30:22
  Speaker 2: was a university, meaning there were no taxes paid off
• 30:25
  Speaker 2: of it. It was owned by the University of Wisconsin system,
• 30:28
  Speaker 2: no property taxes at all. So by turning this into
• 30:31
  Speaker 2: a great big, giant, massive rental complex, the property owner,
• 30:36
  Speaker 2: the rental company, the developer, they will be paying property
• 30:39
  Speaker 2: taxes to the city of Waukesha, Waukesha County, Waukesha schools,
• 30:43
  Speaker 2: et cetera. So you're getting this onto the tax rules.
• 30:46
  Speaker 2: That part is true. But almost all of it is rental.
• 30:55
  Speaker 2: Does the city of Waukesha want to be one giant
• 30:58
  Speaker 2: apartment complex? It's a decision these communities are going to
• 31:05
  Speaker 2: have to make. Now, it's undeniable that cities that are
• 31:13
  Speaker 2: mostly multifamily residential deteriorate faster than cities that owners occupy
• 31:19
  Speaker 2: almost all of their own homes. Reasons are obvious. If
• 31:23
  Speaker 2: you own the home, you're likely to be there for
• 31:25
  Speaker 2: a longer time, you have skin in the game, you're
• 31:26
  Speaker 2: likely to keep the property up, and you have a
• 31:28
  Speaker 2: vested interest in the neighborhood not going to hell, etc.,
• 31:33
  Speaker 2: If you're somebody who moves every six months and bops
• 31:35
  Speaker 2: around all over the place, what do you care if
• 31:36
  Speaker 2: the place falls apart? Obviously, the developer that's proposing this,
• 31:49
  Speaker 2: if he thought that he'd be able to build 500
• 31:53
  Speaker 2: new homes and sell 500 new homes and turn them around,
• 31:58
  Speaker 2: they'd do that, but they think all of the demand
• 32:00
  Speaker 2: is for renting. 20 of the homes would be Habitat
• 32:03
  Speaker 2: for Humanity, meaning, you know, charity helps build the homes
• 32:06
  Speaker 2: and they're sold to lower income people. 70 single family
• 32:10
  Speaker 2: homes altogether, but 280 multifamily. Some would be in low rises.
• 32:15
  Speaker 2: Others would be two and three story kinds of complexes.
• 32:20
  Speaker 2: The pictures all look nice. And again, we don't know
• 32:23
  Speaker 2: if the whole thing will come to fruition. The market's
• 32:25
  Speaker 2: going to determine whether or not there's going to be
• 32:26
  Speaker 2: this demand for this, but The city of Waukesha is
• 32:31
  Speaker 2: probably one of the more middle-class cities in Waukesha County. Politically,
• 32:38
  Speaker 2: one of the things that tends to happen when you
• 32:39
  Speaker 2: have a city filled with renters is it tends to
• 32:41
  Speaker 2: become more liberal, and Waukesha does have a history of
• 32:45
  Speaker 2: electing liberal mayors of the city that think that trend
• 32:50
  Speaker 2: could accelerate. People have argued that there's a housing shortage
• 33:01
  Speaker 2: in Waukesha County. That's true. But are all of our
• 33:06
  Speaker 2: housing shortages simply going to be filled now by people renting?
• 33:11
  Speaker 2: For big-time developers to own thousands and thousands and thousands
• 33:16
  Speaker 2: of housing units and collect rent? Where the developers are
• 33:19
  Speaker 2: the only ones that see asset growth? This doesn't mean
• 33:28
  Speaker 2: that this project is necessarily bad for Waukesha or Waukesha County.
• 33:33
  Speaker 2: If I lived there, I know I wouldn't like it.
• 33:36
  Speaker 2: If I lived in the city of Waukesha, I don't
• 33:39
  Speaker 2: want to see the whole city turn into a bunch
• 33:41
  Speaker 2: of apartment units because, as I say, I think overdeveloping
• 33:45
  Speaker 2: in terms of apartment unions erodes the general quality of
• 33:48
  Speaker 2: life of the entire community. It's one of the big
• 33:52
  Speaker 2: problems in the city of New York with so many
• 33:54
  Speaker 2: people renting. Mamdani can slap taxes and taxes and taxes
• 33:59
  Speaker 2: on the handful of people that do own or the
• 34:01
  Speaker 2: corporations that own properties because the voters figure they don't care.
• 34:09
  Speaker 2: The other problem with the rental is you just people
• 34:12
  Speaker 2: become so transient. People who rent tend not to stay
• 34:18
  Speaker 2: 25 years in the same neighborhood. People who own their
• 34:20
  Speaker 2: own homes are in there for the long haul. It
• 34:26
  Speaker 2: can change the nature of communities. The overall project would
• 34:35
  Speaker 2: done 650 total residents. I said 280. It's actually 580
• 34:39
  Speaker 2: market rate rental units, garden style or three to four
• 34:44
  Speaker 2: story buildings. So some of the buildings would be like
• 34:46
  Speaker 2: low rises, three and four stories. Others would be garden style,
• 34:51
  Speaker 2: you know, where there's like long courtyards, townhouse type things.
• 34:55
  Speaker 2: Not all of these types of complexes are ugly. What
• 34:59
  Speaker 2: would you say, Jason? What percentage of these types of
• 35:01
  Speaker 2: complexes are ugly?
• 35:04
  Speaker 4: Half.
• 35:06
  Speaker 2: Half, at least. Not all are ugly. I would say most,
• 35:09
  Speaker 2: in my opinion, are ugly. Especially 60 years later. I mean,
• 35:14
  Speaker 2: think like West Hampton Avenue and West Silver Spring Drive
• 35:18
  Speaker 2: in Milwaukee. You know, like townhouse kind of things and
• 35:21
  Speaker 2: so on. And over time, there's just a general sameness.
• 35:24
  Speaker 2: They all age at the same rate. Whereas when the
• 35:28
  Speaker 2: owner owns an individual single-family home, they have a vested
• 35:31
  Speaker 2: interest in keeping up the home, modernizing it, landscaping. And again,
• 35:35
  Speaker 2: this particular developer may do a great job of keeping
• 35:38
  Speaker 2: the thing beautified forever and ever and ever. So... They're
• 35:45
  Speaker 2: going to take this thing, and of course, it'll generate
• 35:47
  Speaker 2: property taxes, whether it's owner-occupied or not, because if it's rental,
• 35:51
  Speaker 2: the landlord, the rental, the giant corporation, F Street, or
• 35:54
  Speaker 2: whoever they sell it off to, the developer will pay
• 35:57
  Speaker 2: the property taxes for the huge parcel of property. But
• 36:03
  Speaker 2: it will mean that we're going to be putting up
• 36:04
  Speaker 2: 650 residents, and maybe 70 will be owner-occupied, and that's
• 36:08
  Speaker 2: if they do that with the 70 individuals. Is this
• 36:16
  Speaker 2: what people perceive as a positive future for Waukesha County?
• 36:21
  Speaker 2: Maybe it is. Maybe that's what people want. But if
• 36:25
  Speaker 2: it is, this whole problem of affordability gets worse because
• 36:30
  Speaker 2: when you don't own anything, the drain on your budgets
• 36:35
  Speaker 2: gets greater and greater and greater. And you just fall
• 36:40
  Speaker 2: farther and farther behind. Let's imagine you rent somewhere for
• 36:44
  Speaker 2: 20 years. It means that every penny that you spent
• 36:47
  Speaker 2: on rent is gone. I mean, you'd have to buy
• 36:52
  Speaker 2: a pretty crappy house for the value of it to
• 36:54
  Speaker 2: go down 100%. And again, renting is a positive lifestyle
• 36:59
  Speaker 2: decision for many people. If you don't know where you're
• 37:01
  Speaker 2: going to live yet, you're not yet married, you're moving around,
• 37:04
  Speaker 2: maybe you're going to move up, or you simply don't
• 37:06
  Speaker 2: have the money for the down payment, you can't afford anything.
• 37:12
  Speaker 2: But as we move from a society, one of the
• 37:15
  Speaker 2: few issues that W. Bush got correct was he talked
• 37:18
  Speaker 2: about the ownership society. He wanted more people to own
• 37:22
  Speaker 2: things because it was a way for them to build
• 37:24
  Speaker 2: assets and lay down roots and get a foundation going
• 37:27
  Speaker 2: on in life. Own your own business, own your own home, etc.
• 37:34
  Speaker 2: I think the Democrat socialist view is to have nobody
• 37:37
  Speaker 2: own anything so everybody is dependent upon the government. And
• 37:41
  Speaker 2: in the process, we end up with these giant, you know,
• 37:44
  Speaker 2: one of the things that was happening, it's kind of
• 37:47
  Speaker 2: died off a little bit lately, but you had major
• 37:50
  Speaker 2: corporations that were just going out and buying single family
• 37:53
  Speaker 2: homes in suburbs all over the United States because they
• 37:57
  Speaker 2: felt that housing was drastically underpriced. Well, many people were
• 38:00
  Speaker 2: claiming that, oh my God, I can't afford housing. These
• 38:03
  Speaker 2: companies just ran the numbers. We can rent and get
• 38:10
  Speaker 2: back over a rather short period of time more money
• 38:12
  Speaker 2: than we're paying for the house. And a lot of
• 38:14
  Speaker 2: people would love to rent in a house rather than
• 38:16
  Speaker 2: an apartment complex. Well, the housing market started to tap
• 38:22
  Speaker 2: out a little bit, and some of those companies had
• 38:24
  Speaker 2: to back off on that. But again, it's all just
• 38:28
  Speaker 2: part of this trend that I find troubling of an
• 38:33
  Speaker 2: entire nation where nobody owns anything, and I just fear...
• 38:37
  Speaker 2: That we're looking at a society in 20 or 30 years,
• 38:39
  Speaker 2: you got a bunch of people 60 years old and
• 38:41
  Speaker 2: none of them have a penny to their names. So
• 38:48
  Speaker 2: what do I think of this plan in Waukesha? I
• 38:50
  Speaker 2: don't like it, but I don't mean I don't like
• 38:52
  Speaker 2: this plan. I don't like the general overall trend of
• 38:57
  Speaker 2: now saying that even suburban communities, in addition to, say,
• 39:00
  Speaker 2: cities like Milwaukee and West Allis, that it's all just
• 39:03
  Speaker 2: going to be rental housing all over the place. With
• 39:07
  Speaker 2: nobody taking care of their properties and everybody moving around in.
• 39:12
  Speaker 2: Nobody doing anything to build up a savings plan and
• 39:17
  Speaker 2: to build up some assets for themselves. One other economic
• 39:20
  Speaker 2: story here. I just think people are not noticing terrible
• 39:29
  Speaker 2: warning signs that I see. in the stock market. The
• 39:30
  Speaker 2: biggest warning sign I have is the stock market's done
• 39:33
  Speaker 2: nothing but go, well, I won't say nothing. It's mostly
• 39:36
  Speaker 2: gone up. particularly in tech stocks and some financial stocks,
• 39:41
  Speaker 2: for the last eight to 10 years, I fear it
• 39:43
  Speaker 2: is terribly overvalued. I have a fear that the stock
• 39:46
  Speaker 2: market is really going to take a hit. I mean
• 39:49
  Speaker 2: like 07 or the dot-com crash in 99 and zero.
• 39:53
  Speaker 2: I hope I'm wrong about this. Commentator on X called
• 39:59
  Speaker 2: Market Atlas. The S & P 500 is hiding a
• 40:02
  Speaker 2: market-wide collapse. Only 14% of the stocks in the S &
• 40:06
  Speaker 2: P 500 are above their 50-day moving average. What's a
• 40:13
  Speaker 2: 50-day moving average? Just that. In other words, 86% of
• 40:17
  Speaker 2: the stocks in the S & P 500 are trending down.
• 40:20
  Speaker 2: But the overall average hasn't been going down as much
• 40:23
  Speaker 2: because some of the companies in there, the big tech companies,
• 40:26
  Speaker 2: and those with AI exposure, they keep going up. When
• 40:30
  Speaker 2: you go beyond the S & P 500 and look
• 40:32
  Speaker 2: at just the general broad market, I see real lack
• 40:35
  Speaker 2: of breadth in there. So if the AI thing ever
• 40:39
  Speaker 2: does collapse in terms of people just buying up the stocks,
• 40:47
  Speaker 2: my own thought on the stock market, and for the
• 40:50
  Speaker 2: advice you're getting here, it's worth what you're paying for it,
• 40:52
  Speaker 2: which is nothing. What do I know? I'm just telling
• 40:54
  Speaker 2: you what I think about things. I am very fearful
• 40:57
  Speaker 2: about the condition of the stock market. I'm very fearful
• 41:04
  Speaker 2: about what's going on with the bond market. And I'm
• 41:07
  Speaker 2: especially fearful of what happens to the tech company investment
• 41:12
  Speaker 2: in the United States if we turn our noses up
• 41:14
  Speaker 2: at all of the data centers and they all get
• 41:16
  Speaker 2: built in China because it's the AI and the data
• 41:19
  Speaker 2: centers that I think are driving what there is right
• 41:22
  Speaker 2: now in the market. And if we screw that up,
• 41:25
  Speaker 2: where are we? You're listening to the Mark Belling Podcast.
• 41:31
  Speaker 2: This is the Mark Belling Podcast. I'm doing this podcast
• 41:35
  Speaker 2: on Thursday. They held today the grand opening for AugPrep.
• 41:42
  Speaker 2: It's short for Augustine Prep. It's the north side version
• 41:46
  Speaker 2: of St. Augustine's. This is a remarkable story. And I
• 41:50
  Speaker 2: want to dive into it for a moment here. The
• 41:56
  Speaker 2: Ramirez family that owns Husco of Waukesha built a huge
• 42:05
  Speaker 2: private school on the south side of Milwaukee, predominantly serves
• 42:08
  Speaker 2: the Latino community. It's called St. Augustine. Cardinal Stritch University
• 42:15
  Speaker 2: on the northern portion of Milwaukee County, it's the campus
• 42:17
  Speaker 2: that's right along I-43. As you head north toward, I
• 42:23
  Speaker 2: don't know if it's in Fox Point or Glendale. It's
• 42:25
  Speaker 2: right on the edge, I think. It's in Glendale, but
• 42:27
  Speaker 2: it's right before you get to Fox Point. In fact,
• 42:28
  Speaker 2: I've got the address. It's 6800 North Port Road. And
• 42:31
  Speaker 2: you can see it right along the freeway to the
• 42:33
  Speaker 2: east of the freeway. They bought Cardinals Rich's campus and
• 42:39
  Speaker 2: are converting it into a K through 12 school. They're
• 42:43
  Speaker 2: going to add classes and add grades as they go along.
• 42:50
  Speaker 2: The school on the south side is packed. So they're
• 42:56
  Speaker 2: replicating the experience on the north side. The neighborhood on
• 43:01
  Speaker 2: the south side is economically depressed. The neighborhood at the
• 43:04
  Speaker 2: north side campus is not They're buying, as I said,
• 43:08
  Speaker 2: the old Cardinal Switch campus, relatively nice neighborhood, but accessible
• 43:12
  Speaker 2: to lower-income kids and, for that matter, more affluent kids.
• 43:17
  Speaker 2: The North Campus, I'll read from the press release, held
• 43:20
  Speaker 2: its first day of school August 17th. The whole thing,
• 43:22
  Speaker 2: the grand opening today is when the media comes in
• 43:24
  Speaker 2: and everything, but they wanted to wait until they were
• 43:26
  Speaker 2: up and running to bring in the cameras and so on,
• 43:28
  Speaker 2: welcoming approximately 330 founding students in grades K-4 through 6
• 43:34
  Speaker 2: and 9th grades. Now, why that gap? Next year, they'll
• 43:37
  Speaker 2: add another ninth grade. So next year, the high school
• 43:39
  Speaker 2: will have ninth and tenth grades. And then three years
• 43:42
  Speaker 2: from now, another ninth grade, ninth, tenth, eleventh, and so on.
• 43:45
  Speaker 2: So that their expansion is going to be so they don't,
• 43:48
  Speaker 2: they're not, for example, putting eight kids in a seventh
• 43:50
  Speaker 2: grade now. They have certain grades that they start with,
• 43:53
  Speaker 2: and then they build in and add to that. So
• 43:55
  Speaker 2: there's 330 students so far founding in those grades. Located
• 43:59
  Speaker 2: on the former Cardinal Stritch University campus, AugPrep North represents
• 44:04
  Speaker 2: a $ 103 million investment in Milwaukee students and families. The
• 44:07
  Speaker 2: new campus features advanced academic, arts, and athletic facilities designed
• 44:11
  Speaker 2: to support the development of the whole child. The campus
• 44:14
  Speaker 2: will add grades and classes over time until it reaches
• 44:16
  Speaker 2: a full K-4 through 12 enrollment. K-4 means four-year-old kindergarten,
• 44:20
  Speaker 2: so it'll be the whole thing from four-year-olds through graduating
• 44:23
  Speaker 2: high school. Enrollment of approximately $ 1, 500. Og Prep South is
• 44:28
  Speaker 2: at 2,400. So the two schools combined would be nearly
• 44:31
  Speaker 2: 4,000 students. The Southside schools in the city limits of
• 44:35
  Speaker 2: the city of Milwaukee, the Northside school is in Glendale.
• 44:38
  Speaker 2: The majority of students at both schools would come from
• 44:41
  Speaker 2: the city of Milwaukee. Everything about this story is positive.
• 44:50
  Speaker 2: Everyone knows that we have a crisis in public education.
• 44:56
  Speaker 2: We spend more and more and more on public schools
• 44:58
  Speaker 2: like Milwaukee Public Schools and other bad public school systems.
• 45:04
  Speaker 2: Test scores keep going down. Discipline is worse. They keep
• 45:08
  Speaker 2: passing tax referendums. And as I say, the educational quality
• 45:14
  Speaker 2: is just terrible. In the meantime, parents who have the
• 45:20
  Speaker 2: ability to get out of these public schools are seeing
• 45:23
  Speaker 2: opportunities with schools like Now, in this case, there was
• 45:28
  Speaker 2: some fundraising involved, but also seed money that came from
• 45:32
  Speaker 2: the Gus Ramirez family that got this thing rolling. They
• 45:40
  Speaker 2: believe strongly in investing in education in the community, and
• 45:43
  Speaker 2: it's nice to have a family that's going to put
• 45:46
  Speaker 2: in the tens of millions to do this. The school
• 45:48
  Speaker 2: on the north side, as I said, there was a
• 45:50
  Speaker 2: fundraising component in addition to that. For the parents who
• 45:55
  Speaker 2: are able to get out of MPS and get into
• 45:57
  Speaker 2: this school, their kids have a chance at a life.
• 46:05
  Speaker 2: This is a significant and existential threat to the public
• 46:11
  Speaker 2: school infrastructure. I'm going to get to the $ 1, 700 scholarships
• 46:17
  Speaker 2: that Tony Evers rejected in a moment. The public schools
• 46:21
  Speaker 2: are terrified every time. They just hope that Gus Ramirez
• 46:26
  Speaker 2: and his family don't buy another school in northwestern Milwaukee
• 46:30
  Speaker 2: County because that one will be filled too. I'm telling you,
• 46:33
  Speaker 2: if they build six schools at $ 1, 500 each, they'd all
• 46:36
  Speaker 2: fill up. If we had the ability to keep building
• 46:40
  Speaker 2: new private schools, MPS would eventually be zeroed out and
• 46:44
  Speaker 2: nobody would go to their dumps. This is a freakout
• 46:49
  Speaker 2: for the public school establishment and their ability to control ideology, indoctrination,
• 46:54
  Speaker 2: jobs for all of education. The only thing holding people
• 47:05
  Speaker 2: back from being able to go to more schools like
• 47:07
  Speaker 2: this is the schools don't exist. The biggest single cost
• 47:13
  Speaker 2: associated with starting a new school is getting the buildings. Now,
• 47:16
  Speaker 2: on the south side, Augie Prep School, they built that
• 47:20
  Speaker 2: one ground up. The advantage was, on the south side,
• 47:23
  Speaker 2: the land acquisition was cheap. On the north side, the
• 47:28
  Speaker 2: misfortune of Cardinal Stretch going under was the good fortune
• 47:33
  Speaker 2: in the establishment of the school because there were buildings,
• 47:36
  Speaker 2: some were renovated, still there, and the footprint for the property,
• 47:39
  Speaker 2: the land, was all there. For other private schools, they're
• 47:45
  Speaker 2: often buying up old public school buildings or just buildings
• 47:50
  Speaker 2: and making a go of it, proving that these public
• 47:52
  Speaker 2: schools that keep doing the facilities referendum is such a crock.
• 47:56
  Speaker 2: While the Augie prep schools are both essentially brand new,
• 48:00
  Speaker 2: many of the other strong private schools that we have
• 48:02
  Speaker 2: in the region are ancient, retrofitted school buildings. The facilities
• 48:05
  Speaker 2: generally don't mean much of anything. It's the quality of teachers,
• 48:09
  Speaker 2: the discipline that's in place, the kind of curriculum that
• 48:11
  Speaker 2: they have, all of that. far more important. One of
• 48:19
  Speaker 2: the pieces of legislation that President Trump passed creates the
• 48:24
  Speaker 2: ability for a $ 1, 700 scholarship for parents to use for
• 48:30
  Speaker 2: their kids without regard to the school that they go to.
• 48:34
  Speaker 2: You can use it if you want for a public school.
• 48:38
  Speaker 2: The money comes from donors. Donors are able to make
• 48:41
  Speaker 2: a donation and take a tax deduction on the donation.
• 48:45
  Speaker 2: And the donation goes in to fund scholarships for kids
• 48:49
  Speaker 2: attending elementary and high schools. There's no downside to it. However,
• 48:59
  Speaker 2: the states have to opt in. Illinois did not opt in,
• 49:06
  Speaker 2: and Wisconsin did not opt in. Some states with Democrat
• 49:11
  Speaker 2: governors did opt in, but the majority of those that
• 49:13
  Speaker 2: did not opt in have Democrat governors. It's the decision
• 49:17
  Speaker 2: of the governor of the individual state, and Tony Evers
• 49:19
  Speaker 2: did opt in. So every parent would have an opportunity
• 49:23
  Speaker 2: for these $ 1, 700 scholarships, but Evers said, I don't want
• 49:26
  Speaker 2: to give them that chance. Why? Well, if you got
• 49:30
  Speaker 2: right off the top $ 1, 700 to help pay for your
• 49:33
  Speaker 2: kid's education. Most public schools don't cost $ 1, 700. but it
• 49:41
  Speaker 2: would cut into the ability to go to a private school.
• 49:44
  Speaker 2: Evers and his people and the teachers union believe that
• 49:47
  Speaker 2: if Wisconsin made these available, more parents would take kids
• 49:51
  Speaker 2: out of public schools and go into private schools. Like, say,
• 49:57
  Speaker 2: Augie Prep. Now, we have school choice in Milwaukee, so
• 50:00
  Speaker 2: low-income kids are able to get in at no cost.
• 50:03
  Speaker 2: But for those families in the middle where the income
• 50:05
  Speaker 2: levels are too high to be eligible for school choice...
• 50:09
  Speaker 2: The biggest obstacle to attending a private school is the cost.
• 50:17
  Speaker 2: I don't even know if the high school level is
• 50:18
  Speaker 2: higher than elementary school, but let's take a really good
• 50:21
  Speaker 2: private high school, market high school. I'm not just giving
• 50:25
  Speaker 2: them an endorsement. I could say DSHA or I could
• 50:27
  Speaker 2: say Wisco-Lucerne, any number of them. If you're not lower
• 50:32
  Speaker 2: income and you're not eligible for school choice and so on,
• 50:36
  Speaker 2: the cost is an obstacle to getting your kid in there.
• 50:41
  Speaker 2: So the $ 1, 700 scholarships that would be available to anybody
• 50:45
  Speaker 2: obviously would be of greater value for the family that's
• 50:48
  Speaker 2: looking for the extra oomph in their spending power to
• 50:50
  Speaker 2: get their kids into a private school. And Evers knows this,
• 50:54
  Speaker 2: so he said, we're just not going to take the money.
• 50:58
  Speaker 2: There's been some attempt by Republicans to pressure David Crowley
• 51:01
  Speaker 2: to ask Evers to take the money because it has
• 51:04
  Speaker 2: to be taken by January 1st. This is not something
• 51:07
  Speaker 2: that the next governor can reverse. Under the legislation signed
• 51:10
  Speaker 2: by President Trump, you had to opt in by January
• 51:13
  Speaker 2: 1st of 2027 if your state's going to take part.
• 51:18
  Speaker 2: Once again, I'll go back to affordability. We could be
• 51:21
  Speaker 2: putting $ 1, 700 per kid in the pockets of parents all
• 51:24
  Speaker 2: over the state of Wisconsin to pay for elementary and
• 51:28
  Speaker 2: secondary education, but we did not. because of the fear
• 51:33
  Speaker 2: that just some of the parents would take the money
• 51:35
  Speaker 2: and send their kids to a private school. One of
• 51:44
  Speaker 2: the advantages that private schools have is they can kick
• 51:47
  Speaker 2: you out. You know, public school, in order to expel somebody,
• 51:51
  Speaker 2: the reason it's problematic is you got an 11-year-old, you
• 51:54
  Speaker 2: expel him. We have compulsory education. You still have to
• 51:57
  Speaker 2: go to school somewhere. Private school, however, you got an
• 52:01
  Speaker 2: 11-year-old who's nothing but trouble. You can kick him out
• 52:03
  Speaker 2: and tell the parents. Parents are going to have to
• 52:04
  Speaker 2: find somebody else. Some other unfortunate school, they have to
• 52:07
  Speaker 2: take the brat. Which brings us to Muskego. Now, I'll admit,
• 52:14
  Speaker 2: student misbehavior in Muskego is not student misbehavior, say, in
• 52:17
  Speaker 2: MPS where people are bringing guns to school and so on. Still,
• 52:21
  Speaker 2: this story is bothering some in Muskego. School pranks just
• 52:29
  Speaker 2: seem to be getting worse. Did you do any school
• 52:31
  Speaker 2: pranks when you were a kid? I remember some. I
• 52:34
  Speaker 2: know I didn't do any, or at least I've managed
• 52:37
  Speaker 2: to put out of my mind doing any of them.
• 52:38
  Speaker 2: Do you remember any of those? Like, I mean, like
• 52:42
  Speaker 2: at homecoming, people would soap up somebody's window or something, right?
• 52:47
  Speaker 2: Among other things. The Muskego Police Department made a post
• 52:54
  Speaker 2: at its Facebook page, this according to JS Online. saying
• 52:58
  Speaker 2: that they are aggressively investigating a series of pranks that
• 53:02
  Speaker 2: have become increasingly damaging. And they're going to catch the
• 53:08
  Speaker 2: students that were involved and they will find them. The
• 53:12
  Speaker 2: advantage here is Muskego is a pretty conservative community and
• 53:16
  Speaker 2: I think they'll be serious about this. And when they
• 53:19
  Speaker 2: catch these kids, they will slap the big fines on
• 53:21
  Speaker 2: them and mom and dad of the bratty kids are
• 53:23
  Speaker 2: going to have to pay. Quote, When you're identified, you
• 53:27
  Speaker 2: will be issued a citation, $ 500 plus, and you will
• 53:31
  Speaker 2: be forced to pay restitution. If you don't know what
• 53:34
  Speaker 2: that means, look it up, the department's post said. You
• 53:37
  Speaker 2: can tell that this is not coming from the Milwaukee
• 53:39
  Speaker 2: Police Department. By the way, it's not hard to geolocate
• 53:43
  Speaker 2: phone numbers or obtain surveillance footage from area businesses that
• 53:47
  Speaker 2: sell eggs. Obviously, one of the problems is that just
• 53:51
  Speaker 2: people throw in eggs at individual homes and businesses and
• 53:54
  Speaker 2: so on, which... is a total pain to have to
• 53:56
  Speaker 2: clean up, but according to the Muskego police, it's going
• 54:00
  Speaker 2: beyond that. The department also cautioned parents that they would
• 54:05
  Speaker 2: be responsible for the fines if their children couldn't pay
• 54:08
  Speaker 2: them and told parents to talk to their kids. Toilet
• 54:10
  Speaker 2: paper and flour are one thing. Eggs, paintballs, and diesel
• 54:16
  Speaker 2: fuel are another. Diesel fuel! Paintballs, we know what that is.
• 54:24
  Speaker 2: Try removing paint from the side of a house or
• 54:26
  Speaker 2: a window. So it strikes me that this level of, like,
• 54:31
  Speaker 2: prankdom is coming to a rather serious level. And you're
• 54:34
  Speaker 2: talking here a community that has really, really nice homes.
• 54:38
  Speaker 2: I don't know how widespread this is, but it's enough
• 54:40
  Speaker 2: that the Muskego police are getting involved here and they say, look,
• 54:42
  Speaker 2: we're going to track these people down. The fines are
• 54:45
  Speaker 2: going to be substantial, $ 500 or more. And if there's
• 54:49
  Speaker 2: a cost, say, of $ 3, 000 because a building had diesel
• 54:53
  Speaker 2: fuel scraped all over it, which means the paint rips off,
• 54:55
  Speaker 2: you're going to pay all of that. Now, it's a
• 55:03
  Speaker 2: high school. And I can imagine the parents would freak
• 55:06
  Speaker 2: out if somebody dared say, we're going to expel your
• 55:08
  Speaker 2: kid from Muskego High School because they were involved in
• 55:11
  Speaker 2: this kind of thing. But if it was a private school,
• 55:13
  Speaker 2: they could kick you out. The ability to discipline goes
• 55:17
  Speaker 2: a long way toward building better young people because there
• 55:22
  Speaker 2: is a sense of consequence. It'll be interesting to see
• 55:26
  Speaker 2: how this thing plays out and if they do catch
• 55:28
  Speaker 2: some of these kids and the parents are going to
• 55:30
  Speaker 2: have to pay four or five thousand dollar fines, see
• 55:32
  Speaker 2: if some of the parents bitch about those fines or
• 55:36
  Speaker 2: if they'll use this as a moment to actually crack
• 55:38
  Speaker 2: down on kids who are taking what used to be
• 55:41
  Speaker 2: semi-harmless little pranks and now turning it into rather serious vandalism.
• 55:51
  Speaker 2: Two stories here about the summit in Washington between the
• 55:56
  Speaker 2: United States and China. Xi is in Washington to talk
• 55:59
  Speaker 2: to President Trump. They're going to discuss trade. I think
• 56:04
  Speaker 2: they're going to discuss China trying to provide an outlet
• 56:08
  Speaker 2: for Iran to get around the sanctions, all of that stuff.
• 56:11
  Speaker 2: And China under Xi plays hardball. But for the first time,
• 56:16
  Speaker 2: the United States under Trump plays hardball too. I believe
• 56:23
  Speaker 2: Trump is the first American president ever to take China seriously.
• 56:32
  Speaker 2: Before Nixon, China was ignored. China chose to wall itself
• 56:37
  Speaker 2: off as a nation. China went communist. and then just
• 56:43
  Speaker 2: stopped interacting with the rest of the world. It was
• 56:46
  Speaker 2: messing around a little bit in Southeast Asia, but China
• 56:48
  Speaker 2: was not close to the Soviet Union. They were their
• 56:52
  Speaker 2: own kind of island. They weren't trading with anybody. Then
• 56:55
  Speaker 2: China realized that in order to become a true power
• 56:58
  Speaker 2: within the world, it had to join the rest of
• 56:59
  Speaker 2: the world, economically at least. And Nixon, one of the
• 57:05
  Speaker 2: almost infinite number of stupid things that he did, opened
• 57:10
  Speaker 2: the door to the United States having a relationship with China.
• 57:14
  Speaker 2: That decision has been disastrous. It didn't have to be.
• 57:19
  Speaker 2: But after that door was opened, China has walked all
• 57:22
  Speaker 2: over us, in part because American businesses were looking for
• 57:26
  Speaker 2: ways to make all of their stuff less expensively and
• 57:32
  Speaker 2: were allowed to bring it back into the United States
• 57:35
  Speaker 2: and dump these less expensive products while killing off the
• 57:38
  Speaker 2: American middle class. In the meantime, American businesses that have
• 57:42
  Speaker 2: wanted to sell to China and its massive population have
• 57:47
  Speaker 2: faced massive obstacles because of counterfeiting, copyright violations, sanctions, and
• 57:54
  Speaker 2: numerous other things. And in the meantime, as the Chinese
• 57:56
  Speaker 2: economy has gotten much stronger as they entered into the
• 58:01
  Speaker 2: rest of the world and their unique version of communism,
• 58:03
  Speaker 2: they have a capitalist version of communism. Chinese communism means
• 58:07
  Speaker 2: state control and no individual freedoms, but it does allow
• 58:11
  Speaker 2: businesses and individuals to make a fortune. China has become
• 58:21
  Speaker 2: much wealthier than it was prior to this and has
• 58:25
  Speaker 2: had a relationship with the United States that has been
• 58:27
  Speaker 2: overwhelmingly one-sided. And not one president since did anything about it.
• 58:32
  Speaker 2: Ford wasn't there long enough. Carter was a disaster. Reagan
• 58:40
  Speaker 2: was far more focused on the Soviet Union, which was
• 58:43
  Speaker 2: breaking up, than China. Reagan paid almost no attention to China,
• 58:47
  Speaker 2: and in fairness to Reagan. Communism was falling in Eastern Europe.
• 58:52
  Speaker 2: The Soviet Union was falling apart. Reagan crushed the immoral,
• 58:58
  Speaker 2: evil empire and busted the whole thing up, bringing total
• 59:01
  Speaker 2: freedom to Eastern Europe and some freedom to the old
• 59:05
  Speaker 2: Soviet Union. Some parts of it, like Russia, stayed just
• 59:08
  Speaker 2: as crappy as it's always been. H.W. Bush, nothing. Clinton
• 59:15
  Speaker 2: was terrible. Clinton sold our technology and our nuclear secrets
• 59:20
  Speaker 2: to the Chinese. Clinton was laundering campaign data. Clinton had
• 59:24
  Speaker 2: these Chinese-American operatives, Charlie Tree and John Wong. They were
• 59:29
  Speaker 2: bringing in millions of dollars of illicit campaign funds into
• 59:32
  Speaker 2: the United States that went into Democratic coffers. That was
• 59:34
  Speaker 2: under Clinton. W. Bush, he talked a little bit about China,
• 59:40
  Speaker 2: but the fact of the matter is American businesses did
• 59:42
  Speaker 2: more exporting of jobs to China during him than perhaps
• 59:46
  Speaker 2: any other president. Obama was a nightmare. Obama hoard the
• 59:53
  Speaker 2: United States out to China. The only president to ever
• 59:57
  Speaker 2: come in and stand up to China was Trump. Whether
• 1:00:01
  Speaker 2: or not that was the motivation for COVID or not,
• 1:00:03
  Speaker 2: I don't know. But China has been freaking about Trump
• 1:00:07
  Speaker 2: because Trump was the first person to try to do
• 1:00:10
  Speaker 2: a reset. He's wanted to have a different trading relationship.
• 1:00:14
  Speaker 2: where they can't dump all of their stuff and we
• 1:00:17
  Speaker 2: actually try to induce companies to make stuff here again
• 1:00:21
  Speaker 2: rather than in China. One of the reasons I think
• 1:00:28
  Speaker 2: that Trump is so defensive about AI is he is
• 1:00:31
  Speaker 2: aware that if all the AI in the world is
• 1:00:33
  Speaker 2: controlled in China and all of the data centers are
• 1:00:36
  Speaker 2: in China, the United States as an economic superpower is
• 1:00:39
  Speaker 2: finished because this is the new industrial revolution. It just is.
• 1:00:44
  Speaker 2: In any event, as we have these discussions here, without
• 1:00:48
  Speaker 2: regard to what comes of them, you at least have
• 1:00:50
  Speaker 2: an American president who's looking out for America and realizes
• 1:00:54
  Speaker 2: that you have to play as hard a game version
• 1:00:57
  Speaker 2: of hardball as the other side the Chinese are playing.
• 1:01:01
  Speaker 2: And then this. Because they've set it out, I have
• 1:01:06
  Speaker 2: the menu for the state dinner tonight. Melania Trump says
• 1:01:10
  Speaker 2: she's overseeing this. I was wondering what they served at
• 1:01:13
  Speaker 2: these things, right? I mean, I don't think it's like
• 1:01:19
  Speaker 2: the stuff, like what I do speaking, public speaking and
• 1:01:21
  Speaker 2: all that. It's always like chicken or something. It's never
• 1:01:25
  Speaker 2: really terrible, but I mean. I'm just thinking, you know,
• 1:01:30
  Speaker 2: the White House and China State Dinner, this is what
• 1:01:33
  Speaker 2: Trump wants to have, the ballroom and all of that.
• 1:01:34
  Speaker 2: There's room for like 150 people at this thing that
• 1:01:37
  Speaker 2: they have. Anyway, first course. Yellow squash velouté. I'll admit,
• 1:01:44
  Speaker 2: I don't know what that is, but I'm guessing it's
• 1:01:46
  Speaker 2: like a broth that they take the squash and it's
• 1:01:48
  Speaker 2: like a soup, right? That's just a guess, right? Wild
• 1:01:53
  Speaker 2: mushroom fricassee. You don't like mushrooms? You don't, I do.
• 1:02:00
  Speaker 2: I've heard fricassee a million times, but I'm not sure
• 1:02:02
  Speaker 2: exactly what that is. You think it's like sauteed? Because
• 1:02:08
  Speaker 2: fricassee sounds like fried, so I'm thinking maybe that that's
• 1:02:10
  Speaker 2: like but I don't know. Crispy pancetta. I don't know
• 1:02:16
  Speaker 2: what that is either. Scallion oil. Well, I know what
• 1:02:18
  Speaker 2: that is. That's like the dressing or the oil that
• 1:02:20
  Speaker 2: they put all over it. The first course offers a
• 1:02:23
  Speaker 2: refined and silky smooth velouté, or velouté, I don't know,
• 1:02:27
  Speaker 2: made of sweet yellow squash. This course is gently blended
• 1:02:31
  Speaker 2: to highlight its delicate seasonal flavors of earthly wild mushrooms
• 1:02:35
  Speaker 2: sauteed with fresh herbs. Together, these ingredients create a rich
• 1:02:40
  Speaker 2: fricassee Complimented by crispy pancetta for a savory and smoky contrast.
• 1:02:46
  Speaker 2: A finishing drizzle of scallion oil adds vibrance to a subtle,
• 1:02:52
  Speaker 2: subtle allium brightness to the dish. Second course. Okay. This
• 1:02:56
  Speaker 2: is where I like all the guys get excited. Sesame
• 1:03:01
  Speaker 2: crusted sea bass. Everybody likes sea bass. Are you going
• 1:03:04
  Speaker 2: to say you don't like sea bass? You don't like
• 1:03:06
  Speaker 2: sea bass? Now Mediterranean sea bass and Chilean sea bass
• 1:03:09
  Speaker 2: are really good. See the The term bass is applied
• 1:03:12
  Speaker 2: to like half the fish that I wrote. They're like
• 1:03:14
  Speaker 2: the bass in the northern part of the United States
• 1:03:16
  Speaker 2: and all of that. Sea bass is really good. Braised
• 1:03:20
  Speaker 2: baby bok choy. It's like cabbage, kind of. It's like
• 1:03:26
  Speaker 2: a lettuce. It's a green. It doesn't have a lot
• 1:03:27
  Speaker 2: of flavor. Roasted garden eggplant. See, I think, you know,
• 1:03:32
  Speaker 2: you put a little tomato sauce in the eggplant. That
• 1:03:34
  Speaker 2: makes it better. Sauce verte. I don't know what that is.
• 1:03:39
  Speaker 2: The second course is prepared delicately with fresh sea bass
• 1:03:42
  Speaker 2: and coated in toasted sesame seeds. I admit I would
• 1:03:46
  Speaker 2: like that. This combination creates a fragrant nutty crust while
• 1:03:52
  Speaker 2: keeping the fish tender. The fish is served with crisp
• 1:03:56
  Speaker 2: baby bok choy and roasted garden eggplant, creating lightly caramelized flavors.
• 1:04:02
  Speaker 2: The dish is finished with a vibrant sauce vert or
• 1:04:05
  Speaker 2: verte of fresh herbs, which adds brightness, acidity, and a
• 1:04:09
  Speaker 2: garden character. Now the dessert. Here's the dessert. So far,
• 1:04:13
  Speaker 2: if Jason's at this thing, he's starving. Vanilla, cremeux, and
• 1:04:19
  Speaker 2: White House honey ice cream. I don't know what cremeux means,
• 1:04:23
  Speaker 2: but it's vanilla and honey ice cream. I mean, that
• 1:04:26
  Speaker 2: has to be good, right? It doesn't sound good to you?
• 1:04:30
  Speaker 2: You don't like vanilla and honey? I'm not a big
• 1:04:33
  Speaker 2: honey eater because it's just, it's so calories and so fattening.
• 1:04:36
  Speaker 2: They say it's healthy for you, but I mean, I
• 1:04:38
  Speaker 2: like the taste. Walnut frangipane. Well, walnuts are good. I
• 1:04:44
  Speaker 2: don't know what frangipane means. Sour cherry confit. But confit's like,
• 1:04:51
  Speaker 2: it's like when they liquefy something, I think, isn't it?
• 1:04:56
  Speaker 2: All right. So this is the menu for the state dinner.
• 1:04:59
  Speaker 2: I guarantee you this. The president had nothing to do
• 1:05:03
  Speaker 2: with it. I know what Trump wants. He wants to
• 1:05:07
  Speaker 2: bring in his bag of McDonald's and sit down and say,
• 1:05:10
  Speaker 2: this is Melania and all of this, and then probably
• 1:05:12
  Speaker 2: in consultation with the kind of foods that the Chinese
• 1:05:15
  Speaker 2: want to eat and so forth and so on. Entertainment.
• 1:05:21
  Speaker 2: There will be several performances during the formal dinner, which
• 1:05:23
  Speaker 2: will be headlined by Mr. Christopher Macchio, a classically trained
• 1:05:27
  Speaker 2: tenor who performed at the 2025 presidential inauguration. I remember
• 1:05:31
  Speaker 2: that guy. I remember that guy. The events entertainment will
• 1:05:34
  Speaker 2: feature on. Now, see, this is the part that Trump's
• 1:05:36
  Speaker 2: got his finger on. Will feature performances by military musicians
• 1:05:39
  Speaker 2: from the United States Marine Corps and United States Army,
• 1:05:42
  Speaker 2: including the president's own United States Marine Band, the commandant's
• 1:05:47
  Speaker 2: own United States Marine Drum and Bugle Corps, United States
• 1:05:50
  Speaker 2: Army Chorus, and United States Army Strings. You know damn
• 1:05:53
  Speaker 2: well she'll walk out on that. Well, so the only
• 1:05:58
  Speaker 2: thing Asian that I see, Chinese that I see, I
• 1:06:00
  Speaker 2: think bok choy and eggplant maybe. I mean, that's a
• 1:06:03
  Speaker 2: little Chinese. Otherwise, this seems kind of American, doesn't it? Yeah.
• 1:06:09
  Speaker 2: Mark Belling Football Preview and our Point Spread Picks coming
• 1:06:11
  Speaker 2: up next on the Mark Belling Podcast. This is the
• 1:06:17
  Speaker 2: Mark Belling Podcast, and it's time for our Mark Belling
• 1:06:19
  Speaker 2: Weekly Football Preview and some Point Spread Picks. I'm joined
• 1:06:23
  Speaker 2: by Mike Merlet of American Sports Analysts in Madison. Their
• 1:06:27
  Speaker 2: website is asawins.com. Mike, we're taping this podcast for people
• 1:06:35
  Speaker 2: who are interested on Thursday afternoon. So prior to the evening,
• 1:06:39
  Speaker 2: Thursday night, Green Bay Packer game. So if you listen
• 1:06:42
  Speaker 2: on Friday and we're talking about that in advance, that's
• 1:06:44
  Speaker 2: our taping time. It's also the time period at which
• 1:06:46
  Speaker 2: Mike tells us about this weekend at ASA. Usually right
• 1:06:49
  Speaker 2: around Thursday, you guys are starting to get some idea
• 1:06:52
  Speaker 2: of what you're planning to do for the weekend and
• 1:06:53
  Speaker 2: so on. Anything you'd like to share with us?
• 1:06:56
  Speaker 4: Yeah, we're going to offer this weekend, first of all,
• 1:06:58
  Speaker 4: how we've been doing. We've lost our first two top
• 1:07:00
  Speaker 4: games in college, which is a disappointment. But overall, we're
• 1:07:03
  Speaker 4: 11-8 in college, and we're 9-3 in the NFL.
• 1:07:06
  Speaker 2: 9-3? Wow.
• 1:07:08
  Speaker 4: Yeah, so 20-11 overall this year.
• 1:07:11
  Speaker 2: That's extremely good.
• 1:07:13
  Speaker 4: Yeah, we've started really well. So what we're going to
• 1:07:15
  Speaker 4: do this weekend is offer, normally our weekend package, Friday
• 1:07:20
  Speaker 4: through Monday, is $ 75. It's going to be $ 49 this weekend.
• 1:07:23
  Speaker 4: You get all of our NFL and college packages. for
• 1:07:26
  Speaker 4: $ 49 through Monday. You can just check it out on
• 1:07:28
  Speaker 4: the front. It should be right on the front of
• 1:07:29
  Speaker 4: our website.
• 1:07:30
  Speaker 2: Now, when you issue these, do you put a rating
• 1:07:32
  Speaker 2: on the games? Yeah. So, in other words, if people
• 1:07:37
  Speaker 2: are going to bet, and we can now stop the
• 1:07:39
  Speaker 2: charade of the people don't bet, you can bet legally
• 1:07:42
  Speaker 2: in Wisconsin at the Native American casinos and so on,
• 1:07:44
  Speaker 2: and if you're living outside of Wisconsin in any number
• 1:07:46
  Speaker 2: of ways. So, in other words, they'll put a unit
• 1:07:48
  Speaker 2: on it, and you feel more strongly about the games
• 1:07:50
  Speaker 2: of the higher unit and so on.
• 1:07:51
  Speaker 4: Higher, correct. Yeah, that's correct.
• 1:07:53
  Speaker 2: All right, let's talk about some football. Let's start with
• 1:07:55
  Speaker 2: college football. We've got to talk about the Wisconsin-Penn State game.
• 1:07:59
  Speaker 2: For the first time in three games this year, Wisconsin,
• 1:08:02
  Speaker 2: I thought, played a complete football game. Eastern Michigan isn't
• 1:08:06
  Speaker 2: very good, but they're not terrible. And they're certainly better
• 1:08:09
  Speaker 2: than some of the other teams that Big Ten teams
• 1:08:11
  Speaker 2: have been playing. And they're better than the team that
• 1:08:13
  Speaker 2: Wisconsin had played the week before in Western Illinois. And
• 1:08:17
  Speaker 2: you just got the sense that, you know, the better
• 1:08:20
  Speaker 2: quality of talent that the Badgers have this year, it's
• 1:08:22
  Speaker 2: just started to come together. They started producing some turnovers
• 1:08:25
  Speaker 2: and so on. Wisconsin's schedule this year is much easier
• 1:08:30
  Speaker 2: than last year, and I think this game with Penn
• 1:08:33
  Speaker 2: State on the road may be the toughest game, maybe
• 1:08:37
  Speaker 2: Iowa later on, but I think it might be their
• 1:08:39
  Speaker 2: toughest game on the entire schedule. So just as they
• 1:08:42
  Speaker 2: opened the non-conference schedule with by far the toughest game,
• 1:08:46
  Speaker 2: Notre Dame, they opened the Big Ten season with their
• 1:08:48
  Speaker 2: toughest game. This may be a measure, at least for now,
• 1:08:52
  Speaker 2: as to where Wisconsin stacks up, but Penn State's not
• 1:08:55
  Speaker 2: the best team in the Big Ten. They're under the
• 1:08:58
  Speaker 2: first year of the new coach Franklin is gone, and
• 1:09:02
  Speaker 2: they brought in the guy from Iowa State, Campbell. He's
• 1:09:06
  Speaker 2: in charge of Penn State. I'm not sure how good
• 1:09:09
  Speaker 2: they are. Give me your overall take on both Wisconsin
• 1:09:13
  Speaker 2: and Penn State and how you think this game shakes out, Mike.
• 1:09:16
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I think you hit it right on the head
• 1:09:18
  Speaker 4: as far as Penn State goes. First of all, I
• 1:09:21
  Speaker 4: don't know how good they are. I mean, they played
• 1:09:23
  Speaker 4: three bad teams. Marshall, who we thought was going to
• 1:09:25
  Speaker 4: be good, has turned out not to be good, and
• 1:09:28
  Speaker 4: Temple and Buffalo. We have those three teams rated outside
• 1:09:30
  Speaker 4: of our top 95 teams this year, and they've been
• 1:09:33
  Speaker 4: favored by 24 or more in all of those games.
• 1:09:36
  Speaker 4: So it's hard to know how good they are.
• 1:09:39
  Speaker 2: As an example, I think Eastern Michigan, who Wisconsin played
• 1:09:42
  Speaker 2: last week, they're better than two of those teams and maybe–
• 1:09:46
  Speaker 2: and would be competitive against Campbell. So Penn state played
• 1:09:50
  Speaker 2: three really weak teams so far. However, none of them
• 1:09:54
  Speaker 2: were FCS teams, but they're all very, very poor teams
• 1:09:57
  Speaker 2: from FBS.
• 1:10:00
  Speaker 4: Yeah. And Penn state's favored by 10 in this game,
• 1:10:03
  Speaker 4: which is right around this is a game. I'll be honest, Mark,
• 1:10:06
  Speaker 4: if it was under 10, I'd probably look at Penn
• 1:10:08
  Speaker 4: state maybe. And it was over 13 ish. I'd probably
• 1:10:11
  Speaker 4: look at Wisconsin. It's kind of in the middle right now.
• 1:10:13
  Speaker 4: Penn state right now is Iowa, Iowa state East. I mean,
• 1:10:17
  Speaker 4: 24 players from Iowa state came with Campbell and half
• 1:10:20
  Speaker 4: of them start and Iowa state was okay. They were
• 1:10:23
  Speaker 4: eight and four last year, but they had a bunch
• 1:10:24
  Speaker 4: of close games. They weren't great by any means. So
• 1:10:26
  Speaker 4: I'm not sure how good they are. This is the
• 1:10:29
  Speaker 4: first time Penn state's been favored by 10 or more
• 1:10:31
  Speaker 4: against Wisconsin over 20 years. The one thing I liked
• 1:10:34
  Speaker 4: about Wisconsin last week, they haven't run the ball. Great.
• 1:10:37
  Speaker 4: They average only 3.9 yards per carry, but they threw
• 1:10:40
  Speaker 4: the ball. I'm sure you saw Joseph threw for over
• 1:10:42
  Speaker 4: 300 yards in the first half, and to put that
• 1:10:44
  Speaker 4: in perspective, Wisconsin in six of their last seven games
• 1:10:48
  Speaker 4: last year didn't even throw for 100 yards total in
• 1:10:50
  Speaker 4: the game. So if they can get their running attack going,
• 1:10:53
  Speaker 4: their offense can be okay, and I think their defense
• 1:10:55
  Speaker 4: is decent. We'll find a lot about both teams, I think,
• 1:10:58
  Speaker 4: after this game.
• 1:10:58
  Speaker 2: Wisconsin's best running back, Abu Osama, who interestingly, he came
• 1:11:02
  Speaker 2: from Iowa State. He's one of the few Iowa State
• 1:11:04
  Speaker 2: players that didn't follow the coach to Penn State. He
• 1:11:07
  Speaker 2: didn't play last week. They said he could have, but
• 1:11:10
  Speaker 2: why risk him against Eastern Michigan? He's expected to play.
• 1:11:13
  Speaker 2: The problem with Wisconsin's running game, and I watched every
• 1:11:17
  Speaker 2: play of the Eastern Michigan game, is, in my opinion,
• 1:11:20
  Speaker 2: the weak spot of the Wisconsin team remains the offensive line.
• 1:11:22
  Speaker 2: They don't run block well, and they don't pass block
• 1:11:25
  Speaker 2: too well either. Fortunately, Eastern Michigan was not that good,
• 1:11:29
  Speaker 2: and they were able to succeed against them. But to me,
• 1:11:31
  Speaker 2: that's the problem with the running game. The offensive line,
• 1:11:34
  Speaker 2: while much better than last year, is still not very good.
• 1:11:39
  Speaker 4: Yeah, and that's crazy. I mean, that's Wisconsin is what
• 1:11:42
  Speaker 4: they've leaned on for years. Guys drafted every year off
• 1:11:45
  Speaker 4: their offensive line and backups drafted, I mean, in the past.
• 1:11:48
  Speaker 4: And this year, I agree 100% in offense. That's their
• 1:11:52
  Speaker 4: weak point. It can't be their weak point. Somehow they've
• 1:11:54
  Speaker 4: got to improve there and get better running, and if
• 1:11:55
  Speaker 4: they do, I think they could be a pretty decent
• 1:11:58
  Speaker 4: offense this year.
• 1:11:59
  Speaker 2: I'm going to ask you, before I get to one
• 1:12:01
  Speaker 2: other game to preview, I want to get to the
• 1:12:03
  Speaker 2: other thing I wanted to ask you about. The Big
• 1:12:05
  Speaker 2: Ten season is starting for just about everybody in the
• 1:12:07
  Speaker 2: league this weekend. I don't even remember how many teams
• 1:12:10
  Speaker 2: are in the Big Ten anymore. Who do you assess
• 1:12:14
  Speaker 2: as the likeliest one or two teams to be the
• 1:12:17
  Speaker 2: best team in an, as usual, loaded league?
• 1:12:23
  Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, I don't want to overreact to the
• 1:12:26
  Speaker 4: first two or three weeks, but the Big Ten looks
• 1:12:28
  Speaker 4: down this year compared to what they have been at
• 1:12:30
  Speaker 4: the top and at the bottom, and they just don't
• 1:12:33
  Speaker 4: They look down. I mean, Indiana coming off their national
• 1:12:36
  Speaker 4: championship last year. If you remember the first couple years
• 1:12:40
  Speaker 4: under Cignetti, they were just destroying non-conference teams. They haven't
• 1:12:44
  Speaker 4: covered against any of the non-conference teams they've played, and
• 1:12:47
  Speaker 4: they've all been bad teams. Now, he might just be
• 1:12:50
  Speaker 4: laying in the weeds for this week. We'll find out
• 1:12:51
  Speaker 4: more about them this weekend against Northwestern on Friday night. Oregon,
• 1:12:55
  Speaker 4: another team up there, they could have two losses. They
• 1:12:58
  Speaker 4: almost lost to Boise, and they lost to Oklahoma State.
• 1:13:00
  Speaker 4: Ohio State lost to Texas. I think the team I
• 1:13:03
  Speaker 4: trust the most, and it's pretty obvious, is Ohio State.
• 1:13:06
  Speaker 4: They have the best odds to win the Big Ten,
• 1:13:09
  Speaker 4: and then Indiana's the second best. I think a sneaky
• 1:13:12
  Speaker 4: team we just talked about is Penn State, and I
• 1:13:15
  Speaker 4: don't know how good they are, but if they get
• 1:13:17
  Speaker 4: by this weekend, they've got a really easy league schedule.
• 1:13:23
  Speaker 4: They don't play Ohio State, Indiana, or Oregon, and they
• 1:13:27
  Speaker 4: could be worse than last year and sneak into the
• 1:13:29
  Speaker 4: Big Ten game. championship game, but Ohio State's the best
• 1:13:32
  Speaker 4: team in the Big Ten right now with Indiana close,
• 1:13:34
  Speaker 4: and that's pretty obvious, I think.
• 1:13:36
  Speaker 2: What you said, I look at, I could list seven teams,
• 1:13:41
  Speaker 2: not just on how they've played so far, but also
• 1:13:43
  Speaker 2: on talent loss, and think that maybe they're not as
• 1:13:46
  Speaker 2: good as last year. I mean, I don't know how
• 1:13:49
  Speaker 2: Indiana can be as good as they were last year.
• 1:13:51
  Speaker 2: They might have been the best team of all time
• 1:13:53
  Speaker 2: last year, so they can't be as good as that.
• 1:13:56
  Speaker 2: I'm not sure Ohio State is as good. I think
• 1:13:59
  Speaker 2: as the season goes on, their quarterback saying is going
• 1:14:01
  Speaker 2: to get better. Michigan with all the turmoil and turnover
• 1:14:05
  Speaker 2: they've had there. I don't think that there is good.
• 1:14:08
  Speaker 2: I think Oregon seems not to be anywhere near as
• 1:14:13
  Speaker 2: good as they were last year. USC, which I thought
• 1:14:16
  Speaker 2: would be better, doesn't seem to be that much better.
• 1:14:19
  Speaker 2: They certainly have talent there. Penn State started slowly last year.
• 1:14:23
  Speaker 2: I don't know how good They are. I think Illinois
• 1:14:26
  Speaker 2: might be a little bit worse than they were. Maryland
• 1:14:29
  Speaker 2: seems to be about the same as they were. Iowa
• 1:14:33
  Speaker 2: might be better. Northwestern might be better. And I know
• 1:14:36
  Speaker 2: Wisconsin is better because Wisconsin, other than maybe the tail end,
• 1:14:39
  Speaker 2: the other team is down a little bit this year
• 1:14:41
  Speaker 2: is I don't think Washington's that good. So I look
• 1:14:45
  Speaker 2: all over the country. I'm not sure who really, you know,
• 1:14:48
  Speaker 2: part of it is it's early in the season. So
• 1:14:50
  Speaker 2: nobody looks great yet by the time we get to Halloween, but,
• 1:14:54
  Speaker 2: And some teams have had dominant, important wins. Some teams
• 1:14:56
  Speaker 2: will look better than others right now. But picking out
• 1:15:00
  Speaker 2: who's going to finish and the end of the championship
• 1:15:02
  Speaker 2: game is simply the top two teams going through the
• 1:15:05
  Speaker 2: standings and they have tiebreakers and all that. There's no
• 1:15:07
  Speaker 2: divisions anymore. It's really hard to say who they are.
• 1:15:11
  Speaker 2: And then since so many teams miss out a bunch
• 1:15:14
  Speaker 2: of other teams because the league is so big, scheduling
• 1:15:17
  Speaker 2: is so important. Wisconsin's toughest two games, as I say,
• 1:15:21
  Speaker 2: are probably Penn State and Iowa. They miss all of
• 1:15:24
  Speaker 2: the other powerhouses that are out there in the league.
• 1:15:27
  Speaker 2: One other game to turn our attention to. This game
• 1:15:30
  Speaker 2: is in the SEC. I think it's really interesting. Mississippi
• 1:15:33
  Speaker 2: plays Florida. Mississippi had their huge, emotional rivalry game last
• 1:15:39
  Speaker 2: week with LSU. Lane Kiffin, the Mississippi coach, goes to LSU.
• 1:15:43
  Speaker 2: They played a really, really tough game, and Mississippi beat them.
• 1:15:48
  Speaker 4: Florida.
• 1:15:49
  Speaker 2: changed coaches. They brought in the guy from Tulane, and
• 1:15:52
  Speaker 2: Florida appears to be significantly better. Mississippi's ranked in the
• 1:15:57
  Speaker 2: top 10. Florida's not, but Florida's favored. I mean, I
• 1:16:01
  Speaker 2: think it's obviously a letdown spot for Mississippi, but these
• 1:16:05
  Speaker 2: are two teams that seem to be at very close
• 1:16:10
  Speaker 2: to the top of the SEC. It's just an interesting game.
• 1:16:13
  Speaker 2: The other thing I noticed about Florida is Last year,
• 1:16:15
  Speaker 2: they didn't have any offense at all. In the game
• 1:16:17
  Speaker 2: that they played last week, they beat Oregon, I think, 44-39,
• 1:16:21
  Speaker 2: whereas the LSU-Mississippi game was defense-oriented. Give me your take
• 1:16:25
  Speaker 2: on this game.
• 1:16:27
  Speaker 4: Yeah, first of all, you talked about Florida being favored.
• 1:16:31
  Speaker 4: Not only that they're favored, they're favored by three and
• 1:16:33
  Speaker 4: a half, so they're favored by over a key number.
• 1:16:37
  Speaker 4: We obviously were going to look at Florida in this game.
• 1:16:40
  Speaker 4: Just situationally, it's horrible for them. Ole Miss, right? I mean,
• 1:16:45
  Speaker 4: they were waiting for LSU for nine straight months, and
• 1:16:47
  Speaker 4: that's their whole season. And they looked good, and they won.
• 1:16:50
  Speaker 2: And they beat them, yeah.
• 1:16:52
  Speaker 4: And they beat them, and they beat them handily, yards
• 1:16:54
  Speaker 4: per play, everything. And now they've got to go on
• 1:16:56
  Speaker 4: the road, so it's a terrible spot. But the situation,
• 1:17:00
  Speaker 4: in our opinion, is baked into the line already. I mean,
• 1:17:03
  Speaker 4: Florida's three and a half. They shouldn't be three and
• 1:17:04
  Speaker 4: a half. They should be closer to a pick-em type game.
• 1:17:07
  Speaker 4: So already that line has moved toward Florida, so it's
• 1:17:09
  Speaker 4: probably a game we won't use because of that. But historically,
• 1:17:13
  Speaker 4: this is just the fifth time since 1978 that a
• 1:17:17
  Speaker 4: top-five team was an underdog against a not-ranked or a
• 1:17:22
  Speaker 4: top-20 team. Florida's 20-25 range, but they're not a top-20 team.
• 1:17:29
  Speaker 4: The top-five team is 0-4 straight up and 0-4 against
• 1:17:32
  Speaker 4: the spread when they're an underdog in that situation. And
• 1:17:35
  Speaker 4: that's more of just if a... much lower rated team
• 1:17:38
  Speaker 4: is favored against the top five team at the game
• 1:17:41
  Speaker 4: to take, you know, take notice in that situation.
• 1:17:43
  Speaker 2: You know, the rankings at this stage of the year, it's,
• 1:17:46
  Speaker 2: it's based on who was expected to be good. And
• 1:17:49
  Speaker 2: then if those teams start two or three, you know,
• 1:17:51
  Speaker 2: they're at the top of the list. I'd be hard
• 1:17:54
  Speaker 2: pressed to say Mississippi is one of the five best
• 1:17:56
  Speaker 2: teams in America. And I don't know who, who is,
• 1:17:58
  Speaker 2: I just don't think that they are. So I think
• 1:18:00
  Speaker 2: that these teams might be closer in ability than the
• 1:18:04
  Speaker 2: rankings would indicate. Um, that left down factor is obviously real.
• 1:18:09
  Speaker 2: It's a huge chance for a breakthrough game for Florida
• 1:18:12
  Speaker 2: and a chance for them to reemerge as a program.
• 1:18:14
  Speaker 2: And they catch a Mississippi team coming off of a
• 1:18:17
  Speaker 2: flat game and so on, but Mississippi's got some stability.
• 1:18:21
  Speaker 2: The quarterback is back, even though the head coach left,
• 1:18:24
  Speaker 2: the current coach was on the staff. The Golding was
• 1:18:27
  Speaker 2: the defensive coordinator there. Florida has a new staff and
• 1:18:32
  Speaker 2: all of that. Um, It's an interesting game, and it's
• 1:18:35
  Speaker 2: going to figure in terms of the SEC standings. Let's
• 1:18:38
  Speaker 2: turn our attention now to the NFL. We're doing this
• 1:18:40
  Speaker 2: podcast on Thursday afternoon. Tonight, Thursday night, the Packers play
• 1:18:46
  Speaker 2: the Falcons. Atlanta's bad team. Green Bay's one and one,
• 1:18:52
  Speaker 2: but the game they won, I thought that they played
• 1:18:54
  Speaker 2: poorer than the game they lost, which was the game
• 1:18:57
  Speaker 2: against the Vikings. I believe Green Bay's favored by five
• 1:18:59
  Speaker 2: and a half. These Thursday night games have been around
• 1:19:03
  Speaker 2: long enough that maybe you have a feel for them. Um,
• 1:19:08
  Speaker 2: They've struck me as there just tend not to be
• 1:19:10
  Speaker 2: a lot of upsets in the Thursday night games that
• 1:19:13
  Speaker 2: they kind of play to form. Do you have any
• 1:19:16
  Speaker 2: thoughts on a Thursday night game, a Thursday early in
• 1:19:19
  Speaker 2: the season, and then Green Bay versus Atlanta?
• 1:19:22
  Speaker 4: Well, first of all, the most interesting part about this
• 1:19:25
  Speaker 4: game is Green Bay opens seven. They're four and a
• 1:19:30
  Speaker 4: half right now. So it's dropped two and a half
• 1:19:33
  Speaker 4: points with 72% of the tickets on Green Bay. That's
• 1:19:39
  Speaker 4: not a good sign for Green Bay. That's never a
• 1:19:42
  Speaker 4: good sign for Green Bay. And Atlanta hasn't looked good,
• 1:19:45
  Speaker 4: but I don't think they're as bad as people think.
• 1:19:47
  Speaker 4: You've got to remember, they've been playing their third-string quarterback
• 1:19:50
  Speaker 4: this whole time, and he's led them to one touchdown,
• 1:19:53
  Speaker 4: Cooper Rush, in two games. So now Penix is going
• 1:19:55
  Speaker 4: to start. He'll give them a better chance, but the downside,
• 1:20:00
  Speaker 4: not the downside, but the questionable situation here is he
• 1:20:03
  Speaker 4: hasn't played in a game. He hasn't taken a snap,
• 1:20:06
  Speaker 4: a live snap, since November 16th of last year. So
• 1:20:09
  Speaker 4: that's almost 10 months, right? He hasn't taken a snap.
• 1:20:12
  Speaker 4: So I don't know how good Atlanta's going to be.
• 1:20:15
  Speaker 4: I have a hard time laying points with Green Bay,
• 1:20:17
  Speaker 4: a team that can't run, dead last in rushing the football,
• 1:20:21
  Speaker 4: and a team that's offensive line stinks. Let's face it.
• 1:20:24
  Speaker 4: And they lost two of their best offensive linemen aren't
• 1:20:26
  Speaker 4: going to play in this game, and one's done for
• 1:20:28
  Speaker 4: the season.
• 1:20:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Zach, formerly Zach Tom, now Zach Bagu, I think
• 1:20:32
  Speaker 2: Big O' Wheelie, is out for the year. Aaron Banks
• 1:20:35
  Speaker 2: isn't going to play, and that was an offensive line
• 1:20:38
  Speaker 2: It was terrible anyway. Jaden Reed is probably their best
• 1:20:41
  Speaker 2: wide receiver. He's out for the season. I think the
• 1:20:44
  Speaker 2: situation for Green Bay in general is dire. I don't
• 1:20:47
  Speaker 2: know that Packer fans agree with me on that this much,
• 1:20:50
  Speaker 2: but I think the offensive line is the worst in
• 1:20:53
  Speaker 2: the NFL and is now racked by injury. The only
• 1:20:59
  Speaker 2: salvation for the Packers is based on what we're seeing
• 1:21:02
  Speaker 2: with injuries, guys are going to drop right and left
• 1:21:04
  Speaker 2: for every team in the NFL. It's just The injury
• 1:21:07
  Speaker 2: situation is getting worse and worse, but Green Bay lost
• 1:21:11
  Speaker 2: two players on the unit that could least afford losing players,
• 1:21:15
  Speaker 2: which would be the offensive line. I also just fear
• 1:21:18
  Speaker 2: that Jordan Love is going to get hurt because the
• 1:21:21
  Speaker 2: offensive line is so terrible they can't protect the passer,
• 1:21:24
  Speaker 2: and Green Bay's got to throw all the time because
• 1:21:26
  Speaker 2: the line is so bad that the Packers can't run
• 1:21:28
  Speaker 2: the ball. Add in the fact that the Packers' running
• 1:21:31
  Speaker 2: backs are just terrible.
• 1:21:34
  Speaker 4: Yeah, no, I agree in love. And you can't win
• 1:21:37
  Speaker 4: in the NFL. We said this last week with a
• 1:21:39
  Speaker 4: bad offensive line, how, how they put that offensive line
• 1:21:42
  Speaker 4: in front of one. I think Jordan loves one of
• 1:21:44
  Speaker 4: the best quarterbacks in the NFL. And even before these
• 1:21:47
  Speaker 4: guys were injured, it was a bad offensive line. I
• 1:21:49
  Speaker 4: think you got a stack with a, you got a
• 1:21:51
  Speaker 4: stack in front of him with a great offensive line
• 1:21:53
  Speaker 4: and you've got a chance to be really good. I
• 1:21:55
  Speaker 4: think they're somewhat in trouble as well this year, unless
• 1:21:58
  Speaker 4: that offensive line drastically improves. I think they, they have
• 1:22:01
  Speaker 4: problems for sure.
• 1:22:02
  Speaker 2: And you know, there's been a suggestion that the Packers
• 1:22:04
  Speaker 2: had lost. against the Jets that LeFleur could be on
• 1:22:08
  Speaker 2: the hot seat after week three. There has to be
• 1:22:11
  Speaker 2: at least some look given to Brian Gutekunst, the general manager.
• 1:22:15
  Speaker 2: I mean, he spent a number one draft choice on
• 1:22:17
  Speaker 2: Jordan Morgan, who's now playing left tackle and not playing
• 1:22:20
  Speaker 2: it well. He just allowed the position in free agency
• 1:22:24
  Speaker 2: to be unaddressed. One of his signings turned out not
• 1:22:27
  Speaker 2: to work. The center situation's been a debacle. These are
• 1:22:32
  Speaker 2: personnel choices with regard to the Packers coaching. LeFleur has
• 1:22:36
  Speaker 2: been very reluctant to change coaches, but I think the
• 1:22:39
  Speaker 2: offensive line coach, Luke Buckus, has done nothing there. I
• 1:22:43
  Speaker 2: think the offensive coordinator, Stinovich, who came from the offensive line,
• 1:22:47
  Speaker 2: he hasn't coached well. This problem here is you've got,
• 1:22:52
  Speaker 2: I think, an elite quarterback in Jordan Love, and you've
• 1:22:56
  Speaker 2: surrounded him by decent enough receivers, but otherwise no running
• 1:22:59
  Speaker 2: backs and no offensive line. Let's real quickly talk about Atlanta, though. Now,
• 1:23:03
  Speaker 2: you said, well, they were playing a third-string quarterback. Now
• 1:23:05
  Speaker 2: they have Pennix. They got slotted last week, and they
• 1:23:08
  Speaker 2: have to travel in a short week. Do you have
• 1:23:11
  Speaker 2: any sense for how quickly a team can turn it
• 1:23:14
  Speaker 2: around to three or four days playing these Thursday night games?
• 1:23:18
  Speaker 4: Yeah, it's tough. I mean, it's easier, Mark. I don't
• 1:23:21
  Speaker 4: have all the stats in front of me, but it's
• 1:23:22
  Speaker 4: easier earlier in the year when you're just starting, when
• 1:23:26
  Speaker 4: you start getting injuries.
• 1:23:27
  Speaker 2: Yeah, when you're all banged up and everybody's sore. Yeah, right.
• 1:23:30
  Speaker 4: Yeah, then it's time to start looking against those type
• 1:23:33
  Speaker 4: of teams. But Atlanta's problem, last week they got smoked,
• 1:23:36
  Speaker 4: but they had five turnovers. Five turnovers to zero. They've
• 1:23:39
  Speaker 4: got seven turnovers this year, which is the most in
• 1:23:41
  Speaker 4: the NFL, and their turnover differential is the worst in
• 1:23:43
  Speaker 4: the NFL at minus six. And we've talked in the past,
• 1:23:46
  Speaker 4: you can't win in the NFL if you have a
• 1:23:47
  Speaker 4: bad turnover differential. You just can't. I think their offense
• 1:23:50
  Speaker 4: will be better. I don't think they're a good team
• 1:23:52
  Speaker 4: by any means, but I don't think they're a horrible team.
• 1:23:55
  Speaker 4: I think the really dangerous thing for Green Bay.
• 1:23:58
  Speaker 2: I will say, I think the Green Bay defense is
• 1:23:59
  Speaker 2: pretty good. And while I was critical of the general manager,
• 1:24:03
  Speaker 2: they didn't have a number one pick last year, but
• 1:24:06
  Speaker 2: their number two pick, Sissy, is probably the best of
• 1:24:09
  Speaker 2: the cornerbacks that they have on the team. And the
• 1:24:11
  Speaker 2: defense has looked pretty good. Also in the NFL, let
• 1:24:14
  Speaker 2: me cherry pick out one other game. There are a
• 1:24:16
  Speaker 2: few interesting ones, but let's go to Tampa Bay and Minnesota.
• 1:24:20
  Speaker 2: The Vikings are 2-0, but two.
• 1:24:24
  Speaker 2: I mean, you want to just try to figure out
• 1:24:27
  Speaker 2: how inexplicable the NFL is. The Vikings scored 39 on
• 1:24:31
  Speaker 2: Green Bay. They scored only nine against the Bears, but
• 1:24:34
  Speaker 2: somehow won. I believe the Viking quarterback situation is muddled.
• 1:24:40
  Speaker 2: I think Kyler Murray's going to be back. But then
• 1:24:43
  Speaker 2: they play Tampa Bay, a team that's in just... I
• 1:24:47
  Speaker 2: was commenting earlier, the American League West in baseball is
• 1:24:50
  Speaker 2: very likely going to have a divisional champion that doesn't
• 1:24:53
  Speaker 2: have a winning record I'm looking at the NFC South
• 1:24:56
  Speaker 2: and I don't see any team couldn't have to have
• 1:24:59
  Speaker 2: a winning record down there. They all seem pretty terrible.
• 1:25:02
  Speaker 2: Your thoughts on Tampa Bay and Minnesota.
• 1:25:06
  Speaker 4: Yeah. Tampa Bay has now their own two. First of all,
• 1:25:09
  Speaker 4: here's a stat for you. So Tampa Bay's own two
• 1:25:11
  Speaker 4: straight up and against the spread. This also applies to Atlanta.
• 1:25:16
  Speaker 4: Historically teams that start own two straight up and against
• 1:25:20
  Speaker 4: the spread in week three are are 30-12 against the spread.
• 1:25:24
  Speaker 4: They cover almost 72% of the time, and it makes sense. Teams,
• 1:25:28
  Speaker 4: you know, 0-3, you're done. So 0-2, you need that win,
• 1:25:34
  Speaker 4: and teams bring their best, and, you know, that just
• 1:25:37
  Speaker 4: makes sense. Tampa Bay, going back to last season, has
• 1:25:40
  Speaker 4: failed to cover 11 straight games. That's tied for the
• 1:25:44
  Speaker 4: NFL record. I think you're getting some value at Tampa Bay.
• 1:25:50
  Speaker 4: If this game was played at the beginning of the year,
• 1:25:52
  Speaker 4: they'd be, they would have been favored against Minnesota. And
• 1:25:54
  Speaker 4: I don't think Minnesota is that great. And it's a
• 1:25:56
  Speaker 4: horrible spot for them. They're coming off two straight division
• 1:25:59
  Speaker 4: wins and going on the road for the second straight week.
• 1:26:02
  Speaker 4: Minnesota is 32nd in total offense, dead last and 25th
• 1:26:07
  Speaker 4: in total defense. And they're two and oh, they're going
• 1:26:10
  Speaker 4: to Tampa Bay who has to win this game. And
• 1:26:12
  Speaker 4: they're an underdog. This just smells like a game that
• 1:26:15
  Speaker 4: Tampa Bay will win. I don't think the Vikings are
• 1:26:18
  Speaker 4: that great, to be honest with you, for their 2-0 record.
• 1:26:21
  Speaker 2: Green Bay plays Tampa Bay next week, and I think
• 1:26:23
  Speaker 2: Packer fans, they'd love to see Tampa win. Not only
• 1:26:26
  Speaker 2: is it a loss for the Vikings, I'd hate to
• 1:26:28
  Speaker 2: go down to play Tampa when they're 0-3 next week.
• 1:26:33
  Speaker 2: And my final question to Mike is, and I alluded
• 1:26:35
  Speaker 2: to it in my last comment, in week number one,
• 1:26:39
  Speaker 2: the Bears and Panthers combined for 94 points. In week
• 1:26:44
  Speaker 2: number two, the same team, Bears and Vikings, combined for 12. Now,
• 1:26:51
  Speaker 2: I don't like to pick totals over-unders. This is why.
• 1:26:56
  Speaker 2: Explain this to me. I mean, explain how the same team,
• 1:27:00
  Speaker 2: the Bears, and admittedly the quarterback got hurt in the
• 1:27:02
  Speaker 2: first quarter, how they could go from just an awful defense,
• 1:27:07
  Speaker 2: allowing Carolina to score at will against them, but unstoppable
• 1:27:11
  Speaker 2: themselves on offense, to go into this just black and
• 1:27:14
  Speaker 2: classic 1970s black and blue division game, 9-3 against the Vike.
• 1:27:19
  Speaker 2: Just explain it to me, Mike. Do you have an explanation?
• 1:27:22
  Speaker 4: I don't know if there is. I'm happy because we
• 1:27:25
  Speaker 4: were on the under in that game, and I never
• 1:27:26
  Speaker 4: even had to worry about it. You know, wind and
• 1:27:29
  Speaker 4: rain came into play. That total opened 49.5 and dropped 46.5,
• 1:27:34
  Speaker 4: so it dropped three full points.
• 1:27:37
  Speaker 2: It still went under by 34 points, and you had
• 1:27:39
  Speaker 2: the under. I know.
• 1:27:41
  Speaker 4: I got it. here's another situation. I'll give you a
• 1:27:45
  Speaker 4: couple of situations here. And this might help a little
• 1:27:48
  Speaker 4: bit like high scoring. You never overreact to the first
• 1:27:51
  Speaker 4: few weeks in the NFL scoring, whoever wins, just don't
• 1:27:54
  Speaker 4: overreact to it. And here's, here's part of the reason
• 1:27:57
  Speaker 4: we went under last week. So high scoring games in
• 1:27:59
  Speaker 4: week one that go over 50 points, teams that are
• 1:28:02
  Speaker 4: involved in those games in week two go under like 67%
• 1:28:06
  Speaker 4: of the time. It's just week to week. NFL is
• 1:28:08
  Speaker 4: a week to week, And here's another situation. This isn't
• 1:28:12
  Speaker 4: a total, but these are teams that lost in the
• 1:28:15
  Speaker 4: first week of the NFL by 20 points or more.
• 1:28:17
  Speaker 4: There were four of them, all one and covered the
• 1:28:20
  Speaker 4: second week, all one outright and covered after losing by 20,
• 1:28:23
  Speaker 4: more than 20 points.
• 1:28:24
  Speaker 2: Like Cleveland as an example. I mean, I've always said
• 1:28:27
  Speaker 2: week one, you can't read a damn thing into it.
• 1:28:30
  Speaker 2: Now I don't know that that's true through the first
• 1:28:33
  Speaker 2: two weeks because I don't have at least some opinions
• 1:28:36
  Speaker 2: that are in there but i get that you get
• 1:28:39
  Speaker 2: form reversals for a team like cleveland some people thought
• 1:28:41
  Speaker 2: was the worst team in the league they come back
• 1:28:43
  Speaker 2: and win in the second week i just thought that
• 1:28:45
  Speaker 2: the bears were so schizoid and minnesota scored 39 but
• 1:28:48
  Speaker 2: it was misleading there were turnovers and it was just
• 1:28:52
  Speaker 2: and so on they beat the the bear's 59 points
• 1:28:57
  Speaker 2: one week and three the next. I mean, that's gotta
• 1:28:59
  Speaker 2: be a record. Has any team ever scored 56 points
• 1:29:02
  Speaker 2: from one week to the next in, in national football
• 1:29:06
  Speaker 2: league history?
• 1:29:07
  Speaker 4: I'll have to, I'll have to check that. I don't know,
• 1:29:10
  Speaker 4: but that's my.
• 1:29:10
  Speaker 2: Guess is somebody must've, or we would have heard about that.
• 1:29:14
  Speaker 4: I don't know. That's, that's a pretty big drastic drop
• 1:29:16
  Speaker 4: off for sure. I mean, part of it was the,
• 1:29:19
  Speaker 4: we mentioned the weather and then they lost their quarterback
• 1:29:21
  Speaker 4: and the Vikings have a much better defense, at least
• 1:29:23
  Speaker 4: than the, than the Panthers. And, But, yeah, from going
• 1:29:26
  Speaker 4: to 59-3 is crazy, and I don't have a specific
• 1:29:29
  Speaker 4: answer for it, I'll be honest. All right.
• 1:29:32
  Speaker 2: Let's get to some point spread picks, and we can
• 1:29:34
  Speaker 2: probably point out that all three of us were correct
• 1:29:37
  Speaker 2: last week. Jason is now 3-0. He took the Bengals.
• 1:29:41
  Speaker 2: They were three-point underdogs at the Texans in Cincinnati, beat
• 1:29:46
  Speaker 2: Houston 20-6. A lot of people thought Houston might be
• 1:29:48
  Speaker 2: a Super Bowl contender this year. Admittedly, they played two
• 1:29:51
  Speaker 2: tough opponents, but they're 0-2. So Cincinnati won that game,
• 1:29:54
  Speaker 2: and Jason's 3-0 in the season. Mike got a win.
• 1:29:57
  Speaker 2: He took the Broncos, who were 2.5-point favorites, to beat
• 1:30:00
  Speaker 2: the Jaguars. They beat them by 7, 20-13. And I
• 1:30:04
  Speaker 2: got off the schneid. I got my first win of
• 1:30:06
  Speaker 2: the year. I thought the 49ers would cover the big
• 1:30:08
  Speaker 2: spread against the Dolphins. They were favored by 13.5, and
• 1:30:12
  Speaker 2: they won easily 35-13. The 49ers are clearly a very
• 1:30:17
  Speaker 2: good team, and I'm of the opinion that Miami is
• 1:30:20
  Speaker 2: the worst team in the NFL. So we all won
• 1:30:22
  Speaker 2: our picks last week. Time to get to this week
• 1:30:24
  Speaker 2: and picks for games starting tonight. We did not use
• 1:30:28
  Speaker 2: any Division I FCS games in college football. Okay, which
• 1:30:31
  Speaker 2: game do you want to hear the line on first, Jason?
• 1:30:33
  Speaker 2: You get to go first. Quick question.
• 1:30:35
  Speaker 3: Are you allowed to repeat teams in this? Yes, you
• 1:30:37
  Speaker 3: can repeat teams. If you had a winner last week
• 1:30:39
  Speaker 3: or whatever, you can do whatever you want. Okay, you
• 1:30:41
  Speaker 3: can't repeat teams. All right, just so I know. But
• 1:30:43
  Speaker 3: I'm going to actually ask you, Mark, a game you
• 1:30:45
  Speaker 3: guys have been talking about. I think I know the line,
• 1:30:47
  Speaker 3: but let's repeat it anyway. Buccaneers and Vikings.
• 1:30:51
  Speaker 2: I was yapping about it. You'd think I'd have the
• 1:30:53
  Speaker 2: line in front of me, and I don't. Here it is.
• 1:30:55
  Speaker 2: One and a half. Tampa Bay at home is favored
• 1:30:58
  Speaker 2: by one and a half over Minnesota.
• 1:30:59
  Speaker 3: I think it's a good spot for Tampa Bay. I'm
• 1:31:01
  Speaker 3: taking the Bucs.
• 1:31:02
  Speaker 2: Yeah. What I was not aware of was Mike said
• 1:31:05
  Speaker 2: that Tampa Bay has lost against the spread 11 weeks
• 1:31:08
  Speaker 2: in a row. I hate bucking against streaks like that.
• 1:31:10
  Speaker 2: I want to see it broken before I get on,
• 1:31:12
  Speaker 2: but I do agree with you. That was my second
• 1:31:15
  Speaker 2: favorite pick in the pros this week. Minnesota's prime for
• 1:31:18
  Speaker 2: a loss. I don't think Tampa's quite as bad as
• 1:31:21
  Speaker 2: they played. And just the situational spot. Give me your
• 1:31:25
  Speaker 2: other reasons, Jason.
• 1:31:27
  Speaker 3: Carson Wentz, not very good in my opinion. Is he
• 1:31:29
  Speaker 3: going to start, though, or is Murray going to play?
• 1:31:31
  Speaker 3: I don't know. I'm expecting Carson Wentz. Either or, this
• 1:31:35
  Speaker 3: is a must-win game for the Bucs. Vikings on the road.
• 1:31:39
  Speaker 3: I mean, the Packer game you guys talked about, how
• 1:31:41
  Speaker 3: that was one of the situations where they kind of
• 1:31:42
  Speaker 3: got lucky to come back in that game. The Bears
• 1:31:44
  Speaker 3: game was a disaster in the rain last week. And
• 1:31:47
  Speaker 3: the Bucs had that terrible game against Cleveland, but I
• 1:31:49
  Speaker 3: don't think they're that bad. So I think this is
• 1:31:51
  Speaker 3: a bounce back. I love home underdogs in the NFL,
• 1:31:54
  Speaker 3: so I'm going with the Bucs.
• 1:31:55
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't think we need to get Mike's reaction
• 1:31:57
  Speaker 2: to that game because we just talked about it. So
• 1:31:59
  Speaker 2: let's go to a game from Mike. Give me the
• 1:32:01
  Speaker 2: game that you'd like to hear the spread on, Mike.
• 1:32:03
  Speaker 4: So just quick, you have the Buccaneers as an underdog
• 1:32:06
  Speaker 4: in that game, correct?
• 1:32:07
  Speaker 2: No, no, no. I said that. Wait, I think that's correct.
• 1:32:11
  Speaker 2: Let me go back to my line. Yes, plus one
• 1:32:15
  Speaker 2: and a half. Now, I downloaded these lines at about
• 1:32:17
  Speaker 2: seven this morning, Mike, so maybe they've moved. But we
• 1:32:19
  Speaker 2: do have Tampa Bay as a one and a half
• 1:32:21
  Speaker 2: point underdog in the lines that I downloaded.
• 1:32:25
  Speaker 4: Okay, yeah, and I just want to make sure. That's correct.
• 1:32:27
  Speaker 4: I'm using the same game.
• 1:32:29
  Speaker 2: Oh, you're going to take Tampa also?
• 1:32:31
  Speaker 4: Yeah, for the same reasons we talked about. Minnesota's overvalued,
• 1:32:34
  Speaker 4: terrible spot. It looks like Kyler Murray is going to
• 1:32:37
  Speaker 4: start this game, but let's face it, how many snaps
• 1:32:40
  Speaker 4: has he played against Green Bay? He was out in
• 1:32:42
  Speaker 4: the first or second series, so he's going to be rusty,
• 1:32:45
  Speaker 4: I'm guessing, and an absolute must-win for Tampa Bay. I
• 1:32:48
  Speaker 4: think Minnesota's overvalued. I like Tampa Bay to win that game,
• 1:32:51
  Speaker 4: and they're an underdog, so I'm taking them.
• 1:32:53
  Speaker 2: Well, I could take Tampa Bay too, but that would
• 1:32:55
  Speaker 2: guarantee that all three of us would be skunked.
• 1:32:58
  Speaker 4: Then we're in trouble.
• 1:32:59
  Speaker 2: I mean, there's just so many games to choose from.
• 1:33:01
  Speaker 2: It is very rare that we have two people choosing
• 1:33:04
  Speaker 2: the exact same pick, but we have it both. Jason
• 1:33:06
  Speaker 2: and Mike take Tampa Bay. And for those of you
• 1:33:09
  Speaker 2: who don't know, point spread's the one and a half.
• 1:33:10
  Speaker 2: That means even if the Vikings win by one point,
• 1:33:13
  Speaker 2: Tampa Bay would be the victor. And speaking of repeating themes,
• 1:33:19
  Speaker 2: I last week went against Miami. laying 13.5 points with
• 1:33:23
  Speaker 2: the 49ers. I'm also looking at the Dolphins this week.
• 1:33:27
  Speaker 2: They're playing at home, which if you want to find
• 1:33:30
  Speaker 2: a team that doesn't have a home field advantage, there's
• 1:33:32
  Speaker 2: actually a lot of them. The Chargers have no home
• 1:33:34
  Speaker 2: field advantage, the Raiders have no home field advantage, and
• 1:33:36
  Speaker 2: Miami doesn't have much of a home field advantage right now.
• 1:33:39
  Speaker 2: They're playing the Chiefs. The line we have on that
• 1:33:41
  Speaker 2: game is Kansas City is favored by 10.5 on the road.
• 1:33:44
  Speaker 2: It's gone down a little bit. I'm going to take
• 1:33:47
  Speaker 2: the Chiefs, the road favorite, to cover against the Dolphins.
• 1:33:52
  Speaker 2: First of all, Kansas City may be one of the
• 1:33:56
  Speaker 2: most improved teams in the league. There's a very smart
• 1:33:59
  Speaker 2: front office down there. You know, they suffered after having
• 1:34:02
  Speaker 2: so many good teams and picking late in the draft.
• 1:34:05
  Speaker 2: They've done some rebuilding. Mahomes seems to be healthy again.
• 1:34:08
  Speaker 2: The defense is very good. They're putting up a lot
• 1:34:11
  Speaker 2: of numbers. But I just want to stress, I was
• 1:34:15
  Speaker 2: just in Miami again last weekend. I kind of know
• 1:34:18
  Speaker 2: the personnel of that team. There are some positions on
• 1:34:22
  Speaker 2: that team in which, undeniably, they have the worst unit
• 1:34:25
  Speaker 2: in the entire NFL. The quarterback is in over his head,
• 1:34:29
  Speaker 2: the former Packer backup Malik Willis, but it isn't even
• 1:34:32
  Speaker 2: his fault. They have no running game. They have no
• 1:34:34
  Speaker 2: offensive line. They have no receivers. The defense is bad.
• 1:34:38
  Speaker 2: Halfley doesn't know what he's doing. And you have a
• 1:34:40
  Speaker 2: franchise that's committed to losing this year. Their payroll is
• 1:34:44
  Speaker 2: well underneath the salary cap. That game last week, while
• 1:34:47
  Speaker 2: the final was 35-13, it was actually 35-6 in the
• 1:34:51
  Speaker 2: third quarter. And as for the home field and playing
• 1:34:53
  Speaker 2: in Miami, Kansas City has a huge fan base that travels.
• 1:34:58
  Speaker 2: It's like next week, the Packers at Tampa, there'll be
• 1:35:00
  Speaker 2: Green Bay fans there. I think there's going to be
• 1:35:02
  Speaker 2: at least 10,000 to 15,000 Chiefs fans at that game
• 1:35:04
  Speaker 2: in Miami. There's no interest in seeing the Dolphins right now. Miami,
• 1:35:09
  Speaker 2: I think, will be an underdog in every game they
• 1:35:12
  Speaker 2: play this year. And while it's a letdown spot for
• 1:35:14
  Speaker 2: the Chiefs, I think the Chiefs are a play on
• 1:35:17
  Speaker 2: team right now. Very few people pick them to win
• 1:35:21
  Speaker 2: the AFC West, but the Chargers are a train wreck.
• 1:35:24
  Speaker 2: Denver hasn't looked good. Who else is it going to be?
• 1:35:27
  Speaker 2: I think Kansas City is going to win this game
• 1:35:30
  Speaker 2: by 21 points plus. I mean, I know a lot
• 1:35:33
  Speaker 2: of people don't like to lay points on big road
• 1:35:36
  Speaker 2: favorites in the NFL, but I don't think the home
• 1:35:39
  Speaker 2: field matters here. And I think Kansas City is way
• 1:35:41
  Speaker 2: more than 11 points better. than Miami. I know Mike's
• 1:35:45
  Speaker 2: not going to like this pick because you don't like
• 1:35:47
  Speaker 2: playing huge favorites on the road of the NFL, but
• 1:35:49
  Speaker 2: I think it's the right pick. What do you think?
• 1:35:52
  Speaker 4: Yeah, just not in this situation. You know, we talked
• 1:35:55
  Speaker 4: about 0-2 against the spread, 0-2 straight up, your last
• 1:35:58
  Speaker 4: hurrah basically for Miami.
• 1:36:00
  Speaker 2: Miami's last hurrah was before the season started. They gave
• 1:36:03
  Speaker 2: up before the season.
• 1:36:05
  Speaker 4: Yeah, we won't use Miami in this game. I'm not
• 1:36:08
  Speaker 4: saying take Miami by any means. I don't think we'll
• 1:36:10
  Speaker 4: use Kansas City either coming off Monday nights We were
• 1:36:13
  Speaker 4: on Indianapolis Monday night and got a win there. Kansas
• 1:36:16
  Speaker 4: City going on the road. The only home field I
• 1:36:20
  Speaker 4: can think of is if it's like 90 degrees. I
• 1:36:23
  Speaker 4: don't know if that helps Miami, I would guess.
• 1:36:26
  Speaker 2: Kansas City's been practicing in Missouri. Other than last week,
• 1:36:30
  Speaker 2: it's been 85 there. The heat's going to bother anybody.
• 1:36:34
  Speaker 2: It'll be hot and muggy. It's not supposed to rain,
• 1:36:36
  Speaker 2: although it's been raining every day. Miami's not any good.
• 1:36:41
  Speaker 4: No, they're not. We have them rated as the worst
• 1:36:42
  Speaker 4: team in the NFL as well.
• 1:36:44
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and I don't think that there's– now that Cleveland's
• 1:36:47
  Speaker 2: won a game, who else– I mean, Tennessee's not very good.
• 1:36:50
  Speaker 4: Tennessee, no.
• 1:36:52
  Speaker 2: Anybody else in contention for the worst team? Some people
• 1:36:55
  Speaker 2: are saying the Chargers. I mean, I don't know what
• 1:36:58
  Speaker 2: happened there, but they're not very good at least early on.
• 1:37:01
  Speaker 2: All right, let's real quickly recap the picks. Both Jason
• 1:37:05
  Speaker 2: and Mike are taking Tampa Bay, one-and-a-half-point underdogs. against the Vikings,
• 1:37:10
  Speaker 2: and I'm admittedly short week, travel, all of that. I
• 1:37:14
  Speaker 2: just think Miami's so bad. I'm going to say that
• 1:37:17
  Speaker 2: Kansas City, I just don't think the Dolphins are going
• 1:37:21
  Speaker 2: to score anywhere near 20 points, and I think that
• 1:37:24
  Speaker 2: Kansas City can easily score 35 on Miami's bad defense.
• 1:37:27
  Speaker 2: So I'm going to take the Chiefs over the Dolphins
• 1:37:29
  Speaker 2: by more than 10.5 points. All right, those are our picks.
• 1:37:32
  Speaker 2: The podcast will be back next week, and remember that
• 1:37:34
  Speaker 2: we do our football preview and point spread picks. Each Thursday,
• 1:37:37
  Speaker 2: if you want to check out and see the special
• 1:37:39
  Speaker 2: deal that Mike Merlet and American Sports Analysts have, their
• 1:37:42
  Speaker 2: website is asawins.com.
• 1:37:50
  Speaker 1: The Mark Belling Podcast is a production of iHeartRadio Podcasts.
• 1:37:54
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• 1:37:58
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