Good. Good afternoon, everybody. I'm Bart Winkler. Welcome to the Winkler Verse, Wednesday, the 18th of June, 2025. Taking a brief.
Moratorium. From my Doom scrolling. I was on with Rami yesterday on 12:50, and I told him I'm watching the news like Red Zone channel. I got the six screens there. You got the You got the CNN.
You got the MSNBC, you got the Fox News. Then on the bottom you got the BBC World News, two other channels. and I just bounce back and forth depending on what's going on.
So I was trying to see, you know, if we're at war or not. And then this Karen Reed person got it. I don't know who that is. I have no idea.
So I thought, I got to talk some Packers with the Winklerverse. And specifically, Jair Alexander is somebody that I need to address because he has signed with the Baltimore Ravens for $6 million. It's actually a $4 million deal with $2 million in incentives. Packers couldn't have done this. That's the initial thought.
The initial thought is. Jair Alexander, four million bucks, six million bucks. Packers could have done this. It could have got to the point where. Maybe they could have.
But Jair didn't want to do it with the Packers. You have to remember that sometimes. Maybe Raphael Devers wants to or will play first base. But he won't do it with the Red Sox. He'll go do it somewhere else.
Seemingly with the Giants.
Sometimes in negotiations, that happens. You are going to give me this. You want to give me less? No, I will not take that from you because you. told me to take less, but if they want to sign me for that Well, then I will take it because.
I gotta play. And I need money. And it's not you.
So that may be what's happening here. I think that, you know, the initial thought is: what the hell, Packers? But also Maybe he just Didn't want to take the cut with the Packers, and this was the course of action. Nobody wanted to trade for that contract. Of course, he was going to sign somewhere.
The Ravens were early on an initial odds on favorite as they bolster now their cornerback room. And it is a bolster. I mean, he Jair Alexander is still good, reuniting with his Louisville teammate, Lamar Jackson. He is still good. It's just the issue is he has not played.
So the incentives are, so he's getting 4 million bucks. And the incentives are $500,000. If he reaches different thresholds. That's it. It's playing time incentives.
If he plays 35%. He gets 500K. If he plays 40%, It's another 500K, 45% and 50%.
Now, I don't know. If those are like snaps or games or how that breaks down. But if it's games, There's no guarantee he's making that much money. Jair Alexander, the whole issue with him is he has not played much. The last two years He's only played seven games in each season.
The year before that, he got 16, but the year before that, it was four. He's played 34 games. In four years. After they gave him that big extension. Um They gave him the extension in 2022.
So he played four years or four games. He was hurt. They gave him the extension.
So he's played really two full seasons out of three possible seasons. With the seven games in each of the last two, and that's been the issue, they can't count on him. And it is a distraction.
Now Is Bull Melton going to come save the day? Absolutely, he is. I think he's already CB1. based on, you know, the one video that I saw.
So, Jair is with the Ravens, no longer a Packer. And that is that. The other Packer news. has got people very upset. About some comments from Ed Policy.
So Mark Murphy. Cannot be the president anymore because he's 70 years old. What a concept. Blink, blink, blink. What a concept.
An age limit. On the presidency. I'd love Mark Murphy to continue to be the president, but the age limit is the age limit.
So 70, you got to go away.
So it's Ed policy. Carmen Policy's son, we remember him with the Browns and the 49ers, and he gave a comment. that people really Uh god. upset about He said he's got three priorities during his administration. Win football games number one, keep the Packers in Green Bay, number two, and to strengthen our community, number three.
I do understand if you see those comments and you say. Keep the Packers in Green Bay. Where are they going to go? I mean, isn't the whole point of these Shares that many of us own to keep the team in Green Bay. Packers have 538,967 stockholders.
With a combined 5.2 million shares. And again, nobody can have more than 200,000 shares.
So there's not some sort of coup. or takeover. But because they are a publicly traded company, And not even. They're not publicly traded. There's stocks that.
I don't have dividends. Oh, you're a packet shareholder? How much did you get in dividends? Oh, how much do I get in dividends?
Well, first of all, I can say I'm an owner, so. You know you're jealous about that. Every team that makes fun of the Packers is jealous. Every every fan. You don't think Bears fans would rush to buy stock?
in their team. Vikings fans. Could you imagine? If the Vikings had a stock sale. Or the Lions?
Of course. Of course people would buy shares. It's a nice like memento. And for Green Bay. It matters.
Some people did not like that. Steve Homer true. Longtime Milwaukee Radio voice said, win football games, number one, keep the Packers in Green Bay, number two. The person who said this must immediately be fired in his position of importance for the Packers, and I am being nice. I'll get to that in a second.
But regarding the Ed policy comment about keeping the Packers in Green Bay. I have no problem really with him saying that. I understand at first blush. You're like, hey, that's kind of weird. Because there's no threat immediately.
of the Packers leaving. that we know of. Just like I'm scared about AI. There's no threat immediately of AI taking your job. That you know of.
But we don't know what's going on. Behind the scenes, we don't know what your company's up to. We don't know how they're trying to eliminate jobs and. cheapen that workforce. There's a lot going on with the NFL.
Okay. There's a lot of money that still wants to be involved in the NFL. And something that I'm not as dabbled into that I should be. Because I look at it and I say, ah, that's too confusing. But that's kind of the point, is private equity in sports.
These private equity firms that are beginning to buy parts of franchises that want to buy into college athletics. There's a lot of money tied up in that. And yeah, right now the model is one family, one person owns a team, you know, they get to do what they want. But what if more money comes in? And what if the NFL?
looks at the Packers one day and says, We have 32 franchises, we could be doing better. Than that. We could be doing better. We could put it we. could make more money.
If it's somewhere else, it seems like a 100 years down the road problem. But I do think that one of the things that Mark Murphy Needs to get a lot of credit for is thinking 100 years down the road. He's thinking the Packers need to be in Green Bay. Look, Ed Polisey said it. But Mark Murphy did it every single day.
Every single thing Mark Murphy did was to keep the Packers in Green Bay. If that wasn't a threat. In the back of his head, they wouldn't have Title Town. You wouldn't have rushed to get the NFL draft here. You would not have the atrium.
you would not have the rainy day fund. You would not find ways to make money outside of the nine days a year that there's a Packer game in Green Bay. That is that that's the the you're in green like There is a football stadium in a town of 100,000. Do you understand what Green Bay is without that stadium? It's Wausau.
When's the last time you've been to Wausau? There's there's no I mean, unless your parents live there. When would you ever go to Green Bay, honestly? When would you ever go to Green Bay, Wisconsin? If the Packers did not exist there, if you do not live there.
When would you go? Even if you lived in Appleton, you wouldn't go to Green Bay. If you're going to go north, it's going to be up north or Door County. What are you going to do in Green Bay? Go to the Railroad Museum?
Go watch a booyah game or whatever the hell they're called now. They change their name every three years. You wouldn't go.
So keeping the Green Bay Packers in Green Bay is the. Number one. Most important thing. I think some people don't like that he said it. And I again, I don't have a problem if you don't like that he said it.
But he's going to do it. I mean, he's going to, that's the mantra. The mantra is: the Packers can never leave Green Bay. And while there are not threats. that you know of now.
There may be threats down the road. You know, at one point. The Avengers. only thought they were fighting. Threats on Earth.
And then the Chituri came from outer space. And then they had to deal with that. And now there's, you know. Thanos popped up. Like imagine if in 2011 the Avengers say We need to keep ourselves protected from otherworldly threats.
People would be like, What the hell are you talking about? There's no aliens around here. Fifteen years later, half of the world snapped away.
Okay, so I don't mind it. I don't mind it.
Now, Homer's comments. I don't know that he believes what he says. I think, first of all, Speaking of age limits. On precedence. I think there needs to be a Twitter age limit.
Some of these people that are tweeting. Did you guys know Ted Davis used to call Bucks games?
Some of these people that are tweeting, it's like. Just don't do it anymore. Just just be happy. You've lived a good life. Be happy.
And I'm really anxious because I've been sitting on the sidelines. For a while. The other day I congratulated the DC defenders and took like a Real weak ass shot at Zabe. But I've been sitting on the sidelines for a while. There's just so much in Milwaukee radio that I d I just think is terrible.
I just think it's it's terrible. Um You know, I do miss the lineup at 1250. I miss the Chuck and Winkler. Even being with Wicked. I missed Bill after that, and then the big show, and then Tim at night.
I mean, that was a great. Lineup and you can have your flaws with different people, and Lord knows I have. But that was a lineup that was talking sports. And they were grounded in Sports Talk Radio.
Now you have stuff and sports. I mean, the sports is not even in the conversation. On one station, and the other one is just let's have the hottest take that we can so 'cause we don't subscribe to ratings, which is fine, but then we subscribe to social media numbers, which we got to be insane on. to get clicks.
So what do I do? With all this The stain. I want to be the ombudsman. But As KB once told me, I'm on a different battlefield. I'm on a national battlefield, or I'm not even in their battle.
I'm not even like I I'm not I'm not even I'm not even anything Ooh, I got I got The next piece of content that I'm going to deliver for you is going to be more therapeutic than anything if you'd like to stay with me for that. A reminder: I'm brought to you, we are brought to you, it's all brought to you by happyplacehemp.com. Promo code is BART. Happyplacehemp.com. The promo code is BART.
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So, I got a LinkedIn message, and I told this guy I was going to read it on the air tonight and make a big production about it. But I probably shouldn't do that. Um but I do need to address it at some point and it's This is something that I want to bring here. As this is a Wisconsin-based podcast, and it has been and it will continue to be. But I do Do a national show.
A national talk show. And one of the things that I have to do on the national show. Is talk about it all. And it does take me away. A little bit.
From the other stuff going on. Tuesday night, I did not watch the Brewer game. I did not watch the Brewer game, the Isaac Collins game, the Pete Crow Armstrong game. I didn't watch it. I had the hockey game on, and you know, I don't care or know anything about hockey.
Someone called me last night asking if the Edmonton coach is on the hot seat. I had no idea how to answer that question.
So, I do have this other stuff on.
Now that that's wrapping up, and then the NBA Finals is wrapping up. I'll throw the brewer game on it. I'll be able to watch it a little more, but it does kind of take me away. From some of it. It did last year.
I've talked about that with Grant and Paul and with you guys. It did last year. Um know watching Packer games is still good, but sometimes they're on while I'm on, and that's hard. The Bucs games, I'm not able to watch every night, especially if they're on Mondays or Thursdays. I have the football game on.
And I can, you know, it's 2025, I can throw up other screens, but I I'd like to be locked into the thing that I'm going to be talking about. And, you know, I'm going to be watching or talking about Thursday night football and not Bucks pistons in December. But I do still Have all this information and knowledge and passion. about the Wisconsin teams. And I still do want to talk about them, especially when they come up.
Right away. When I took over on the national show is my own show. There were people that didn't like that, my open said live from Milwaukee. They thought that that was too Milwaukee. Like, okay, we get it.
We don't want to listen to a Milwaukee. Sports guy. A lot of people are used to the East Coast bias, and I guess they just kind of deal with it. Or you accept it. Or there's people in LA.
that do radio. There's not a lot of national people that live in Milwaukee or even this part of the country. If you're national, you move. to New York or to LA. I'm grateful that I'm able to be in Milwaukee and live in Milwaukee.
And then still, you know, be able to go to these games and to. feel what it's like to be a fan here and not just have to watch everything. On some sort of T V or maybe get back once a year. You know, I'm here. I'm here.
So While I'm not as plugged in night to night as I would be. I'm still very aware of Aaron Savalli wanting to be Traded and then be traded right away. I'm very aware of Ed Policy's comments or Jair Alexander's signing. I'm very aware of what the Bucs are up to. Um, with Bobby Portis or Giannis or Dame.
I'm very aware of all of this stuff, and that's why I still continue to do this to have those. Conversations and to share my opinions on that and talk with you guys. about it. Um So I I I I try not to. I'm very.
You know when you try not when you try to be cognizant of something? And you think, I don't want to just sit here and talk.
So I almost like stray from it even more. I stray from it even more. I thought the Aaron Savali thing was interesting, so I brought it up. That the guy asked to be traded, and 24 hours later he was traded to the White Sox. But I ended up not making that about the Brewers, I made it about the White Sox draft classes over the last 10 years because I thought I can't.
I can't focus on the Brewers. I got to focus on the Andrew Vaughan portion of this and how Chicago has not been good with their draft picks. But I'm bringing up Milwaukee, even when they're in the news. I bring up the Packers. People get mad about that, even if they're in the news.
Aaron Rodgers. Who knows more about Aaron Rodgers than us? The guy says he's married. He ain't married. Who's able to tell you that?
Me. Giannis, he's in the news every day. People are saying, oh, he wants to be traded. I'm saying, no, he doesn't. What am I supposed to do?
What am I supposed to do? I can't even. Address some of this stuff. Because if I address it, even if they do it nationally, I can't address it because it's just me being Milwaukee boy. Here's a message I got.
Last night at 1.30. Um I'll keep the name. Private, but this is the real message. I will read it. Hello, Bart.
Again, this was on LinkedIn. Hello, Bart. I think I mentioned that I work nights during the week and I enjoy listening to sports radio while I drive. I love yours and Carlos's sense of humor and sports knowledge. Unfortunately, I find myself switching from your channel more and more because, to be blunt, I'm just not into Milwaukee sports.
And I don't think a segment goes by where you don't mention something to do with the Bucks, Brewers, or Packers. And I just don't think those teams are as relevant as you portray them. Giannis is great, but deep down you know he's gotta go. And the Packers meh. I get it.
It's your hometown. Listening to some of the other people on your station is painful. Their massive East Coast bias is horrible, but understandable. I just don't understand their total hatred of West Coast sports. You guys are still a national airwave and we on the West Coast are proud of our sports too.
Look back at the three major sports and California teams are Consistently raising banners in all three sports, and it's not just the championships. You do realize that last year, all four teams. In the NFC North had quarterbacks from California. and the rest of the league is loaded with Cal EQBs. Anyway, I think you're a cool host, but I just wish to hear more positive stuff about Cali teams.
and not Milwaukee and New York. I'm not into your competitor sports talk, so it looks like I'm going to go back to. Audibles during the late night. Ha ha. Take care, Bart.
You're a great guy.
So that's. Nice. Um But do you see like What am I supposed to do with something like that? Their massive East Coast bias is horrible but understandable. Yet, I can't mention my teams.
With being in a market that's not on the East Coast. And ever bringing up the teams ever. I know there's a big New York bias. I don't like that some of the other people. Like In the overnight, if it's If it's I don't like When it's 12.
05 on the east coast. When someone calls me and says, good morning. First of all, it's 11 where I am. I don't think of myself as working in the morning. I work till one at night.
And If it's 12:05 a.m. and you're saying good morning on the radio, it's 9 o'clock on the West Coast.
So I'm very conscious about that. That I'm not doing a show. In a certain time zone, that I'm doing a show. All over the country. I do bring up my teams, but normally when I bring up my teams, It's to relate it on a greater scale.
When I brought up Ed Policy on the show the other night. I brought that up in the Frame of sports used to be this communal thing. And now it's becoming all private equity and it's behind a paywall. And I talked about how, you know, look at the Packers, they were Acme Packers. And for some people, that is just too much.
So I I have to struggle. With some people's interpretations of what I'm saying. Even though I'm going out of my way. To not say what they don't want me to say. And this is a very champagne problem problem.
I understand that. But it is a problem that I face. With my work. I'm trying to talk about sports, and sometimes I'll say. And I relate it too.
It's like, oh, God. My team, you know. All the time, they get to these championship games and they lose. It's got to be tough if that's your team. It's got to be is that is that bad?
Is that not enough? Can I not identify my experiences? I'm not Reggie Miller. Calling the Eastern Conference finals here. I'm a sports talk radio host that likes sports.
All these people love their favorite teams growing up. Like, I think it's okay, Mike Greenberg shows up wearing a Jets jersey on GetUp. I think it's okay Stephen A. Smith is obnoxious about the Knicks. I think it's okay Pat McAfee's wearing Tyrese Halliburton jerseys.
Why can't we like our teams?
Now if you're calling a game I do think it's different. Reggie Miller should not. Be fist bumping Tyrese Halliburn. That's hard. But even that's not like, who cares?
Oh, no, Reggie. Who cares? You know, you want the... Announcers to be biased, but what are you going to tell Reggie Miller not to give a shit about the Pacers? You don't want it to like Be the whole broadcast.
You don't want to feel like you're listening to a Pacers broadcast, but. Yeah. People like sports and they like their teams, and to take that away. Is uh is weird. To take to take that away is is weird.
So, I am very conscious about it. This message made me very mad. I responded. And I try to make him feel like a jerk. I said, I'm going to respond to this message on air.
I am both stunned and heartbroken to receive this. And I'm responding here. I'm not going to waste people's time because.
Well, I'm not wasting your time, Design. Loo. But if I get on the national show and say, oh, they don't like what I talk about Milwaukee, well, then I just sound like more of a bitch. I could do it here because we all identify as the same. At least that's my justification.
I hope you do agree.
So it's just a constant struggle. And like I'm not going to mention Jair Alexander probably tonight. Why why why why I mean, people are gonna always talking Packers again. Oh, f he's talking to Giannis again. Oh, he's talking to Rogers again.
They're in the fucking news! What am I supposed to do? So, I wanted to get some Packers' thoughts out there. Still trying to struggle with. How much I I'm comfortable talking about some of those things, and also how much I just want to be a complete dick again on Twitter.
Um,. I I I d I do have that itch that I do want to scratch. But we'll see. This is the Winkler verse. There are many of you that are a part of it, so I'm going to leave you.
Hashtag tack it on. uh with a big ron call that i got ron i hope you're all right with that that I got on the uh show the other day. Um He just started asking me a bunch of questions and he wouldn't let up. And it was good to talk to Ron. And it's always good when you guys call in.
So I'll leave you with that, and we'll talk again soon. Thanks, as always, for stopping into. The Winkler Verse. Big Ron's in New Jersey, Big Ron. Yeah.
Okay. What's up, Bar? How you doing tonight? Good. How are you?
Yeah, I'm good, man. I'm in the Hamptons, dude. Little we can get away. Yeah, Ron, you sound like you've been having a good night. Oh yeah, I really have, man.
You know, I watched that hockey game too, and that was a great recap your last caller gave, like, of the play by play. The Florida score with 19 seconds left. And um Ron, what made you pick up the phone tonight? What do you gotta say on the radio? You've been to a lot of NFL stadiums.
How many would you say you've been to? Did do you count 'em? Uh, I think I'm up to fifteen or sixteen.
Okay, see about half of 'em. Um, what would you what you what would you say is the best overall experience that you've had at a at one of these c games? I like the outdoor ones better, honestly. Yeah. Like Jerry World's nice and there's the big screen and You know, uh Lucas Oil's nice and Uh, I think the w I I really liked Buffalo because And I know they're getting a new one, but there's a more like.
College-y, intimate feel to it. You almost feel like. You almost feel like you're in a high school game in a way. I like that. Pittsburgh was good.
And I really like Seattle's feel. I like being out in Seattle. Did you go to the Anchor Bar when you were in Buffalo? I don't think so. That's where buffalo wings were invented.
Yeah, no, I went to I went to the other place that they like.
Okay. I think it was Duffs. I went to Duffs.
Okay. And wha what what which stadium you think has the the the or city that you've been to out of these sixteen stadiums. I'm not going to be sexist and say the best looking women. I'm just going to say the best looking people. Um I don't know.
You're going to pass on that one? Um I mean, I made up with a girl in Tennessee. Nice. I've actually heard that about the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. Um But I know in the NFL stadium, it's in Nashville.
Yeah. What about the b best um tailgate other than obviously Lambo? Is Buffalo Buffalo? Buffalo's good. Kansas City's good, but we got kind of screwed.
We had like a. A bar Situation And so he got bussed in and they were laid and then There was nowhere for us to it was kind of a mess. And what was the noisiest stadium? I would imagine it would be one of the how many questions we got here. Bart, I'm just gonna tell you this right now, man.
Yeah, man. You give me and all your audience Just like so much happiness and contentment and entertainment. And that we are just so grateful for that, man. I'm just really grateful right now. You know what I'm saying?
Fire, you're gonna get burned. Right. Can we get it together, people? Can we figure it out?
Some of you guys are calling me like I'm your ex b Lover.
