Steve Fifer | 1250AM The Fan Wisconsin

Fall is just around the corner and home is the center of it all. At Ashley, seasonal decorating's a breeze with their range of designs and materials. Snuggle up on a family-friendly sectional or an ultra-modern sofa. Or gather outside and enjoy the crisp, cool air with a new fire pit or conversation set. From minor refreshes to total overhauls, Ashley has the essentials to make your home fall functional and fabulous.

Shop in store or visit Ashley.com today. 24 monthly bill credits plus tax for well-qualified customers. Contact us before canceling account to continue bill credits or credit stop and balance on a required finance agreement due.

One-year upgrade requires financing, qualifying, device and upgrading in good condition after six months with half paid off. We are excited to welcome our friend Steve Pfeiffer from Milwaukee, 1250 AM. The fans who are affiliates there in Milwaukee but also has got a couple of different podcasts and I kind of feel like it's a great time to be a fan of Wisconsin sports.

Steve, let's start with the big news though. What's your reaction to Damian Lillard as a Buc? Stunned.

Absolutely stunned. I do a podcast called Green and Growing and we had just done a podcast last night and talking about, okay, how do the Bucs get Damian Lillard after the report by Mark Spears on ESPN if the Bucs may be interested. And we were scooting around like, oh, come on, seriously, at 10% chance, maybe, probably less than that, that they actually get this deal done. We post a podcast this morning, no big deal. And all of a sudden this afternoon, I'm listening to Jim Rome, my Android phone decided it needed to update.

My phone was updating, right? I'm at my desk in my office at the radio station and I'm listening to Rome and Rome interrupts his story about the Dallas Cowboys and starts talking about this big road bomb and how it's going to eviscerate everybody in its path, yadda yadda yadda. I'm like, all right, come on, cut to it. What's the tweet? And then he says, you know, that he was traded, I was like, that's probably Boston or the Raptors or somebody. He said the Milwaukee Bucs.

I yelled so loudly that people on the sales floor could hear me way down the hall from my office. I was going so crazy. I was completely shocked and then, you know, once you see the details of the trade, the Bucs stole them. The Bucs didn't give up anything, really. I mean, Drew Holliday obviously couldn't stay. Grayson Allen, yeah, okay. I mean, he's a nice role player, but that's not end of the world stuff for this team to get Damian Lillard. And then picks six, seven years from now, so be it. If Giannis isn't here, it is what it is. It's going to be a long rebuild regardless. And if Giannis is here, those picks probably won't matter anyhow.

All right, well, let's break this down a little bit. I know you mentioned Drew Holliday there. To me, he was so good for Milwaukee. He was exactly what the Bucs and what Giannis needed when he joined them. What did he mean to the franchise?

I think he was a huge piece. Remember, they had Eric Bledsoe prior to that, and they were looking for, you know, a more stable force at that point. And coincidentally, when they made that Holliday deal, that's the last time Giannis was looking to sign an extension. And once they made that Drew Holliday trade, giving up all those picks, that convinced Giannis that they were serious, and he signed an extension. Giannis looking for an extension, and now they go one up from what they got with Drew Holliday. You know, they go from a really good player to a great player.

Now, there's two sides to this. Offensively, you're much better with Lillard. Averaged 32 points last year in 58 games. He's an absolute stud. Closing games out, he's going to be their closer, more so than Middleton or Giannis.

No more debate of who should take the shot at the end of the game. It's Damian Lillard. But, defensively, not so great. And Drew Holliday is probably the best defensive point guard in the NBA, I would say, at this point. And during that podcast that we were talking about last night about, okay, if Lillard goes to Boston or Miami, what does that mean? And we both agreed, Nathan Marziano and myself, that Drew Holliday is the perfect guy to defend Damian Lillard.

Like, you couldn't build a better point guard to defend Lillard. So now, as a Bucs fan, you're sitting here going, okay, well, Holliday's not staying in Portland. They're going to move him. And now it's just to see what Eastern Converse team ends up with him. Probably have to see Drew Holliday in whatever team that is in the playoffs, going up against the newest Bucs, Damian Lillard.

That's kind of what we think is going to happen. Maybe he ends up with a Clippers or somewhere in the West, but I would imagine he ends up in the East. There have been a lot of rumblings about Giannis.

He's looking for more long-term security, has even put it out there, very clandestinely, that it's okay if he doesn't stay in Milwaukee. What does this tell you about the team when it comes to Giannis? I think this Lillard trade screams loudly of, you're not going to use the excuse of that we weren't trying to win a championship and we weren't giving it our all, because that was Giannis' biggest thing. As long as they're showing me that they're still trying to win championships, I'm good.

I'll stay. And getting Damian Lillard, I think, proves to everybody that, yes, this team is still trying to win championships and do the best they can by Giannis. Having said that, the reality of the situation is Damian Lillard has two years left on his deal, as does Middleton, as does Brook Lopez, as does Giannis.

So this is a two-year window. At that point, you have a bunch of old people. At that point, Brook Lopez, Middleton, and Damian Lillard, with Giannis, looking for a five-year deal.

Now, what then? That's going to be a big turning point, because what do you surround him with? Is he okay going forward with a bunch of guys in the mid to late 30s for another five years into their 40s? I doubt it.

Maybe. And then how do you get young star players to come play with Giannis if those guys aren't part of the picture? That's going to be the big next conundrum. Hopefully, Giannis finds an extension before you get to that point. He's clearly still one of the best players in the NBA, and still in that window. You would think he'd be a draw as opposed to the opposite, and now you add Damian Lillard.

Wow, what a one-two punch. That indicates, to me anyway, that the Bucs are serious about pursuing another title. Yeah, and you're talking about a lethal pick-and-roll combination, right, with Giannis and Damian Lillard, kind of like Murray and Jokic, I guess you could say, for watching Denver last year.

It's going to kind of be that similar offensive attack, and then let's point this out, too. When Lillard was successful in Portland, and they were making the playoffs and doing their stuff, who was his head coach? Terry Stotz. Who is the lead assistant on the Bucs bench right now?

Terry Stotz. Lillard gets to come to Milwaukee, where his old head coach is the offensive coordinator, I guess you could say, for Adrian Griffin, who's in his first year as head coach for the Milwaukee Bucs, and they get reunited. Stotz knows exactly how to run Lillard, knows exactly what to do with him in the offense. And now he has all these extra toys to play with in Giannis and Chris Middleton and stuff like that, and he didn't necessarily have that in Portland. This offense is going to be stupid good, and defensively, they should be really good.

You keep Brook Lopez still one of the best defensive centers in the league. They just have to stay healthy. If the Bucs stay healthy, there's no reason that they shouldn't be in the NBA Finals. Steve Pfeiffer is with us from Milwaukee, and 1250 the fan also has the green and growing podcast. Lots of stuff about the Bucs and the reaction to the Damian Lillard bombshell.

It's after hours with Amy Lawrence, CBS Sports Radio. I kind of feel like it's a pretty good time to be a Wisconsin sports fan, Milwaukee specifically, as the Brewers clinched their third division title in six years. How dangerous will they be come October? It's all going to depend on the offense. At the end of the day, that's kind of what it's been all year long is how good can this offense be, and Matt Arnold, the general manager of the Brewers, who's kind of taking over for David Stern to deal as a consultant or whatever. They deemed him after he stepped aside before the season ends at the end of September. Everybody expects him to take over the Mets job, but since Matt Arnold has been fully in charge, if you look at the moves he's made during the season, it all kind of worked. Mark Hanna coming over, he's been a big asset. He's got a couple of big hits for the Brewers at this point. Carlos Santana feels rejuvenated.

I'm playing at a pretty good level. I'm playing first base pretty much every day for the Brewers, too. And then Josh Donaldson hasn't done anything pretty much all year, either a few home runs. He's come over and he's been a fountain of youth guy, I guess you could say, as well, and a big bolt of energy for this clubhouse.

So everything he's kind of touched has worked so far. The question now is going to be, can this offense, I don't know, throw up four or five runs a game in the postseason? If they can, this Brewers team could make a significant run in the NL because they're starting pitching of Brandon Woodruff and Corbin Burns and Freddy Peralta.

Those three guys by themselves will match up with anybody in baseball. I'm not concerned there. Devin Williams won the best closers in baseball.

I'm not concerned there. They have a young, talented kid that they brought up during the year called Abner Uribe throwing over 100 miles an hour. He's a problem to be reckoned with before you get to Devin Williams. So they've got the pitching.

The question is, will they get enough offense to be able to win round to round in the playoffs? Well, if Christian Yelich can continue on the hot streak he's been on for the last week-ish, that's helpful. It's interesting to think about his journey and his path in his early 30s and was one of the, oh gosh, most talked about, highest profile players in baseball say five, six years ago. Maybe it's time for him to get back on that October stage and make a big splash. Yep, coming off of having some back spasms and some back issues for a couple weeks prior to him coming back. And he comes back and right off the bat hits a couple homers his first game back from those back issues.

So he needs to stay healthy. And when they gave Yelich a humongous deal years ago, they did not envision a leadoff hitter in Christian Yelich. They envisioned a number three guy driving it, hitting 35, 40 homers and being that guy.

He hasn't necessarily been that since, hasn't really been close to that. But now we're getting back to at least being one of the better leadoff hitters, I would say, in the National League this year as Christian Yelich has been. And that sets up the rest of the lineup, but you need a couple other guys to come through.

Willie Adonis hasn't had the best of years. And he was a huge part of this Brewers team last year offensively at shortstop. You know, if he gets hot for a three, four, five game stretch here in the playoffs, that could be a gigantic leap for this Brewers team too. Plus they got some young guys, Sal Freelich in the outfielder rookie, Bryce Terang, a rookie, a second baseman, Garret Mitchell, you know, a young outfielder that they called up for a cup of coffee last year and is technically still a rookie this year who's been hurt now for several weeks. It sounds like he's going to be back for the postseason. How much he'll be able to play, not sure. Whether it's just a pinch runner or whatever, but he's been another critical part of this, especially defensively.

So you've got a good mix here kind of going forward. But remember Craig Council, the Brewers manager, his contract's up after this year and nobody knows what he's going to do. He's not really talking about it. The owner of the Brewers, Marquette Sinocchio, talked about the fact that him and Council have talked, but Craig still wants to wait until the end of the year. Speculation of Council going to the Mets to be with David Stearns possibly. Speculation of Council taking a year off to watch his kids play college baseball at Michigan. So nobody really knows what Craig Council is going to do.

They were in a World Series. He can't possibly walk away after that, can he? No, he definitely can.

This is a stab in the dark, Steve. Who would be your NL MVP? That's Acuna.

That's done. I mean, 70 stolen bases, 40 home runs. I think that's the first time it's ever been done in the history of baseball. Now, I don't know about the whole highlight package during the game against the Cubs tonight.

I think that was kind of a little over the top probably, but he's got to be the MVP. And you're on the best team in baseball in the Atlanta Braves in my opinion. I think they're the team to beat right now. Interesting because Matt Olson on that same roster leads the majors in home runs and RBI. So I sometimes wonder if two guys on the same team kind of cannibalize each other when it comes to votes.

So that'll be interesting. Steve Pfeiffer is with us from Milwaukee where you've got Brewers and you've got Bucks in the spotlight. Packers, oh my goodness. I think those roars at Lambeau Field have gone very quickly from Aaron Rodgers to Jordan Love. This offense and how about an 18-point fourth quarter and a huge comeback last weekend in their home opener. Wow.

It is quite interesting. They take care of the Bears. It really wasn't too difficult of a game. Then they come back against the Falcons. They dominate that game really for three quarters. And then in the fourth quarter, Dijon Robinson and Algier took over and kind of ran all over the Packers defense. And Jordan Love and the Packers offense couldn't get out of their own way and went three and out three times. And they lose the game in the fourth quarter after owning that game for three quarters. Then you start off the Saints game. The next game, first game at Lambeau for Jordan Love as a starter. And you can't score, seemingly, for a majority of three quarters of that game. You're like, oh my goodness, what happened to this Packers offense?

And the next thing you know, Jordan Love just says, okay, I've had about enough and here we go. A big sideline run, you know, gets the first down plus an additional 10 yards. That gets everybody kind of going, makes a couple of big throws.

And they win that game. Now again, yes, the rookie fans kicker misses a field goal at the end, I realize. And that helped the Packers hold on after they drove down with a chance to win it there for New Orleans. But this Packers seem to be two and one with the youngest team in the National Football League. Their wide receivers are all young. Christian Watson, their number one receiver, has not played yet. Now they think he's going to play coming up Thursday night against the Lions.

We'll see if that happens. He's been out the entire time with a hamstring injury. Aaron Jones has been out. They haven't had Bach, Chiari, or Elton Jenkins.

Their two best linemen on the left side of the offensive line. It doesn't appear they're going to have them Thursday night either in that game against the Lions. Devondra Campbell is starting to be the linebacker. He got hurt early in that game.

Don't think he's coming back. Jari Alexander had a back injury going into that last game. He didn't play against the Saints. Not sure if he'll play. I mean, they've got so many injuries, like a lot of teams do, and I get it. And then Aaron Jones, he didn't play last week either. He's been out the hamstring. They think he'll be back and able to go tonight on Thursday night. So to be in this position with everything that's happened, if they figure out a way to beat the Lions, and then it's the Raiders after that, and the Raiders are very beatable, all of a sudden this Packer can be 4-1 going into their bye week?

That is crazy to imagine. And then if you look at their schedule past the bye week, I think they have two legitimate playoff teams left on their schedule, and everybody else currently left on their schedule I believe is under.500. They're going to be significantly better than I think anybody thought coming into the season, but again, they've got to stay healthy. The one nice thing is being as young as they are on offense with all these young receivers, rookie tight ends, and so forth, they're just going to get better as the season goes on as they learn how to play together, and they're going to be a formidable team to deal with here in the upcoming years.

You have the Packers podcast, which might have my favorite title of all podcasts, Curd and Long. How excited are people even as you kind of get a few games in? Are fans over the moon?

Yeah, for sure. I mean, you wouldn't know this, but Bears fans have been awfully quiet for a long time, you know, dealing with Rogers and Brett, won a lot of trash talking, didn't really hear a lot from Bears fans, but this offseason, man, they took it to new heights. It was Justin Fields was going to be the MVP, and here come the Bears, and Jordan Love sucks, and the Packers are going to be horrible, and they just came out of the woodwork on social media.

I was like, what is going on? Fields threw over 200 yards twice all of last year. What are we talking about here? And I know they got D.J. more, but still. So there was a lot of that, and then I was on a podcast that I believe is coming out tomorrow, The Daily Ticket, with Jeff Reger from The Ticket in Detroit.

We recorded that earlier today, and he was telling me there was a host on that station. Some of the hosts were thinking that it was over for the Packers. Jordan Love wasn't going to be any good.

So I kind of feel like everybody around the division, to a certain degree, kind of put, you know, the rest in peace sign to the Packers and figured it's over, thank God. Now somebody else can take control of the division. And I'm here to tell you, they're not going anywhere, and Jordan Love does not suck, everybody. He does not suck. He is good. And he's only going to get better. I love the fact that the Packers have, meaning the locker room, the Packers have, to a man, been so confident in him and how much that must mean to him as he takes over in this position. But yeah, so far, so good with a little spicy fourth quarter comeback for those Packers and their home opener. All right, Steve's got so much to talk about, kind of an embarrassment of riches right now in Wisconsin sports. So find him on Twitter, at Sparky Radio, Steve Pfeiffer, and he's got the Packers podcast curtain long.

He's got the green and growing for the Bucks. We're going to have to check in with you again as we unfold here over the course of the fall and the winter, but it's great to catch up with you. Thank you so much. Always a good time. Have a good night.

Walk the dogs, school drop-off, meetings from 10 to 3, take kids to soccer, then no time left for a jog. When everyone else is relying on you, it's easy to put your needs last. BetterHelp connects you with a licensed therapist online so you can show up for yourself the way you do for others. Visit betterhelp.com slash positive to get 10% off your first month.

That's betterhelp.com slash positive. Facts are facts, like how contributing to employees' financial security makes them want to work harder for their company. In fact, according to a 2023 study by principle, 87% of employers say that better employee financial security means employees are more engaged and productive at work. The fact of the matter is that employees want to feel financially secure in their future, so consider this. Principle helps you invest in your employees by providing customized benefits and retirement plans to help keep your employees more engaged and productive. When you take care of your team, they take care of business.

That's a fact. Learn how Principle can help you find the right benefits and retirement plan for your team at principle.com slash benefits. Products and services offered by member companies of the Principle Financial Group, Des Moines, Iowa.

For important information, visit principle.com slash disclosures. I'm here to tell you about Pom Pom At Home, where comfort meets elegance. Pom Pom At Home is offering 20% off sitewide for a limited time. See why so many of the top designers use Pom Pom's luxury easy care bedding. They have created a timeless, beautiful, coastal living look that incorporates subtle tones and natural fibers, offering a unique touch. Create your dream bed now. Get 20% off sheets, duvets, throws, and more right now at pompomethome.com. Easy to use, easy to love luxury bedding. Just enter code pompom at checkout.