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I'm Bart Winkler. Today's episode, we've got Tommy Wertz with us. from the Wisconsin Sports Radio Network. In the beautiful Hales Corner studios. Which I long for.
Um And Also, and a separate video, but part of the audio, depending on what you're experiencing. I do 15 minutes about the Olympics. And how athletes are speaking out. And how I don't think sports radio is equipped to cover that or the Olympics in general.
So I have already posted that video and I'm eager to see. How people get worked out of shape, despite me really towing the line on saying anything. Controversial. Uh, but we stick to sports until then. Tommy Wertz again is joining us.
Tommy, I think we had you into the Winklerverse after Freddy Peralta got traded.
So let's have you into the Winklerverse after Caleb Durbin. Gets traded. Um I think it's interesting. That The Brewers have done trades like this. before And when they traded Freddie, even Isaac Collins.
People are like. Outside of Wisconsin, people are like. Did they win 97 games? What are they doing? Um, I think Brewers fans better know the vision since we've seen it.
But I feel like my buddy Grant said, I thought very well, this feels like a heat check move. more than anything else. Uh your reaction to my new best friend Caleb Durbin. Getting traded and the Brewers offseason as a whole. Tommy Wertz.
Yeah, Bart, thank you for not having me talk Olympics because I'm just not watching at all. And The Caleb Durbin trade. I think more people were pissed about Caleb Durbin getting traded than Freddy Peralta getting traded in Milwaukee right now. I thought the trade was fine. I was.
I finally had an inn with a fucking brewer.
Okay. I think that, and the reason why it really got people going was because. You could pro you could tell that That had to shock Caleb Durbin, right? Because it was a guy who knew Caleb Durbin existed. He was our short, scrappy, fast third baseman.
No one else knew who Caleb Durbin was. That was who the Brewers were last year, a bunch of dudes you never even heard of. And now Caleb Durbin, who epitomized Brewers baseball last year, where it was put the ball in play, play good defense, scrappy on the bases, is now gone and heading over to Boston. But They needed a lefty starter, Bart. I mean, they don't have one.
And Quintana just got signed by the Rockies yesterday. They. They're still deciding, I guess, on what they want to do. Maybe they don't feel great about Gasser and Hall, or maybe Ashby comes back to start at some point in that rotation. But I think the move was just shocking because you could feel.
Caleb Durbin was shocked, right? He had a great relationship with Pat Murphy. He was going around the state. I mean, he was best friends with Bart freaking Winkler. This was obviously he thought.
He's hilarious. Yeah, yeah. See? Obviously, you mean we were hilarious. Yeah.
I'm he's he's only human, Bart. He's only human. Uh so it was shocking, but I don't think the trade is all that bad for the brewers. I do hate some of the people where it's like, Well, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Like, they're not spending money in free agency.
Just run it back with the same team. I mean, they've traded a lot of guys that were on a 97-win team already.
So it's really not the same team. Freddie's gone. Nick Meir's gone. Isaac Collins gone. Yeah, they lose Danny Jansen, who was in the back half of the year.
The team is going to look a little bit different. Eric Fetty's gone. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you for your service, Fetty.
Fetty, I had this thought, and I don't know. If it's right or not. Um because I don't know if teams are thinking about it. But they have to be a little bit like the lockout is happening. There's going to be some sort of work stoppage.
In baseball in 2027. I think It's just a matter of how long does it go. And it really feels like it's not going to be, like, was it a couple of years ago? They just. They missed like a week and then they moved it.
Back, it wasn't that big of a deal. But this could be like a 60-game season again. If we get one, there's a lot they have to figure out.
So I wonder if teams have approached the offseason different. I thought they might. It doesn't feel like a lot of them did. The Brewers, though, might be a little different. I don't think that they're.
I don't think they think they can win a World Series in 2026. I don't know what they think they can do. You're trading guys that were. Finalist for rookie of the year. Or even younger guys.
So, if you're doing that, I don't think you're thinking. This year or even next year, depending on what next year looks like. Is it possible that they are making these moves? For 2028, or is that a dumb idea? They have, I believe, Six to eight of their starting pitchers under team control until through 2029 now.
And The only one that's not is Brandon Woodruff virtually on that list. They're going to hope that they get some development out of the top end, whether it is from Priester or Miz or anyone else that's Chad Patrick at that time. I think that you have some legs to it, Bart, where maybe that the brewers realize. The non-salary cap era of baseball is going to be very hard for them to compete.
Now. If Major League Baseball does get Team control of all the broadcasting rights like they want to by 2028. The Brewers might be set up better than anyone else in Major League Baseball, and they could be on a dynasty run if that comes with a salary cap after there because they're going to need to have some sort of transition period, right? You promise all this money to Shohei Otani, to Kyle Tucker, to wow, it's all Dodgers. Funny enough, that's crazy.
Um, but It is not. necessarily the the levelist playing field. We know that already. The brewers are just trying to... Stay relevant right now, and maybe they haven't made a move yet to get them over the hump to try to be competitive and win a World Series in 2026.
But there's still time for it, Bart, too. Jose Quintana was a week before spring training type signing. You've seen guys, there's still good baseball players out there waiting to get contract.
Now you see Isak Paretes. He's going to be on the market right now. And the Pirates are being talked about as a team. The Brewers can outbid the Pirates. If they want him, they can absolutely outbid the Pirates for Isak Paredes.
And Bart, maybe it's a little bit of the future is now. Their farm is loaded. They love the guys in the top end of the farm. If They do somehow get a Cooper Pratt up here this year, or maybe it's Jesus Made if he's having a good enough first half in double-A. They want to see what they have with a lot of those guys.
And it proves by just trading away anyone and everyone who played third base for them last year. Yeah, I heard Matt Arnold talking about what they're going to do at third base, and he listed a lot of guys that are not even close. To the major league level.
Well, I will say I think that this solidifies Jet Williams is going to be on the opening day roster. Great. Yeah. The guy we got from the Mets, yes. Yeah.
Another another short guy. They got to did you hear Murphy say they got to move the soap dispensers down at Amphem? The projected starting lineup, according to this was garbage. This was oh, God. MLB.com.
Yeah, right. The same people that ranked Bryce Terang the 10th best second baseman in baseball, by the way. You don't like the lineup they put out? The lineup itself. Churio, Terrain, Contreras, Yelich, Vaughn, Freelich, Mitchell, and Center.
Joey Ortiz at short and David Hamilton at third. Yeah, it's a rough 8-9. It's a rough 8-9. Joey Ortiz, remember, was the worst qualified baseball player in Major League Baseball and OPS last year, and they have him batting eighth.
So that's a real gut shot to David Hamilton right there. I think they're Miz, Patrick, and Kyle Harrison, the projected rotation. I love the rotation. The rotation's awesome. And I think that there's no way Hamilton's going to play third base.
I don't see that. I think he's going to be a part of the team. I think Hamilton replaces Andrew Monasterio in that trade. That's the other two. We're not talking about Siegler and Monasterio.
Everyone's cool to set those guys on fire. He's starting at third base on opening day. I would guess Today Joey Ortiz, and then Jet Williams is at shortstop.
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Get exclusive deals up to 50% off at meundies.com/slash SXM code SXM. That's meundies.com/slash SXM code SXM. I was I I'm trying to talk about the Brewers in a way that I can't quite get my words around what I'm trying to say without like showing you my hands. Because I feel like.
So I'm the length of the screen here. Is projected outcomes.
Okay. And there's a projected outcome you could have of World Series champion. Brewers aren't Gonna be that. And then there's like 60, 70, even 80 wins over here. Brewers don't want to be that.
They are trying to ride this wave. of being an 85 to 95 win team. year in and year out. Which there's pros and cons. To it.
Every move I feel like they make is to stay in this. This area, 85 to 95, not only for this year. Or the upcoming year, which is going to require some of these younger guys to perform as they have been, which is why you were able to trade an Isaac Collins or a Caleb Durbin. But they don't want to go too far into the you know losing bracket, but they're also not making moves. that are going to make them a World Series Champion.
I think when we talk about going all in. In baseball, it's like. You can't. I mean, there's a million prospects. You're never going to trade all your prospects for, you know, Juan Soda or something.
So you're still, you still have resources. You're still going to be whatever. But it feels like the brewers. Have had opportunities. To be in the class of, hey, trade these guys now, we'll go a little more all in.
We might be in that World Series category. But if it ever endangers them to put them in the shitty category for even one season, they don't want to do it. I think they're looking at what the Bucs are doing this year. They don't want that. They don't ever want a year where it's bad.
They don't ever want to hear what's bad. You're seeing the attendance at the FISERV. Not great. You can buy a ticket, night of very cheap. I don't think the Brewers ever want that.
I would caution them, though. If you just ride 85 to 95 forever. At some point, that gets stagnant. At some point, that gets stale. You're looking at North Dakota.
I had to jump. From FBF to FCS. Because they're like one game a year that mattered to them because they're 11 and one all the time. Maybe they make the final, they play South Dakota, and then fans care. But no one should, this is a winning program.
No one's showing up for because. It's just that's what you expect. It's the same movie over and over. It's very weird because the Brewers are a team that is playing well. But I'm telling you, what we've seen with the Packers, at least this is where I come from, is that does sort of get stale.
At some point, you either need to be bad to re-excite people or. Be good to have a payoff for these 10 years of being right on the fence. I'm just. I think the Brewers are operating out of a fear of like. They're certainly not They're not gonna, they're not trying to win a World Series.
They are trying. To never lose less than 81 games, I would argue against that. I think that. They spend resources in Tommy. I think they want to win a World Series.
Yeah, but you don't think they're trying. I think they get in the car. They sort of know the directions. Uh they'll probably get to where they want to go. But there's like a secret like I don't know.
It's analogy. If the Dodgers were. The equivalent to the Phillies right now, somewhere a little bit lower, but. Still spending a little bit of money. Like, would you Be more upset if the Brewers weren't trying to go all in on moves?
Because if your argument is like they're not going to win a World Series in 2026, the Dodgers just. Are paying stupid money. And I was a guy who. Basically, it was like, suck it up and figure it out, brewers, until the Kyle Tucker deal happened. Then I was, that really was a shift in my brain of, Like, this is just stupid.
Like, Kyle Tucker is not the third best player in Major League Baseball. He's a fine ball player. Maybe he's a $35, $40 million a year guy with the market now. He is not a $60 million a year baseball player. He's just not even close to that number.
Now, The brewers Bart, do you know who started at third base for Milwaukee last year opening day? You get a homer. Oliver Dunn. Close. Vinny Capra.
Okay. Do you know who started the Brewers' home opener last year? Oh fuck, I was there. At third? No, the starting pitcher.
Oh, the starting pitcher? Yes, I was there. It was um. Elvin Rodriguez. Taylor Youngman.
The team's going to look completely different in a month already. And then another month after that. They didn't get Andrew Vaughan until July 7th last season. And now he's going to be a foundation in this team. Look at the leap they saw out of Bryce Terang.
They're expecting that from Jackson Churio, from Sal Freelich, from a lot of guys on this team. And they're just trying to retool. They are not trying to rebuild in any way. They're going to have a great year with, you know, I would assume with trading Freddie Peralta, they have a lot of confidence in Brandon Woodruff. And I think that that's something people are a little weary of too and concerned with his injury history.
But Brandon Woodruff is going to start opening day. Otherwise, why do you trade Freddie Peralta? Jacob Mizarowski, he needs the moment. That guy, he's actually worse when nothing matters in a game. When things are at the highest stakes.
He is performing. And I think that's the, you'd rather have that than the latter, the other way. I am excited to watch Brewers baseball this year. Are the Cubs a better team than they were last year? Maybe, because they went out and got an Edward Cabrera and Alex Bregman.
Sure. But. You know that this Brewers team cannot. Go in all in on moves like that, especially when they did it with Christian Yelich. And maybe it hasn't really panned itself out in that way.
But it's the same thing they did with Ryan Braun. They chose him over Prince Fielder, and maybe it didn't really pan out the way after he got busted for PEDs. And Christian Yelich, you had to sign him at the time. It was the best two-year run of a Brewers player, maybe in the history of the franchise. You had to give him whatever number he wanted.
And That right there. Has maybe plagued the brewers and made them operate a different way. But Matt Arnold's track record right now of trades. Guys, last year he got Quinn Priester for the number seven prospect in the system, and everyone freaked out. And then the Brewers proceeded to win 19 consecutive games.
Quinn Priester pitched in last year. They do know what they are doing, they do operate differently, but that also drew a lot of attention to them last year. You know how they're going to MLB TV, right? Yeah, do I get that or what?
So, you have do you have spectrum or direct TV or something like that? Direct TV. Yeah, don't worry. You got it. All right.
It's going to be like a new channel. It's going to be a different channel. Like, I'm someone who streams the game, so I have to go sign up for an MLB account. Do you have to get an ESPN account too? No, no, no.
You do not need to get an ESPN account. It's like $100 the whole year you watch every game. But they also said that there might be a couple of less games than usual because the Brewers are going to be in national demand.
So get ready to subscribe to Apple TV, whatever, all throughout the entire season. If you want to watch. We're on Peacock one. Sunday night baseball is going to be a thing now, too. Like, this team played completely different last year.
And everyone who was mad, they didn't go out and get Suarez, right? No, he hits Homers. The Brews didn't win games hitting Homers last year. They did everything opposite of what analytics tell you to do. And they were the best team in baseball.
This is a modern-day moneyball situation going on with the Brewers. And much like the 2002 Athletics. They don't win the World Series. Like, they just figure it out. They have to try.
They have to give them the best shot. And. Ultimately, are they maybe a bat or two away? Possibly. But Right now.
They have to build for sustainability because if they do go all in and then they flounder after, you end up with Anthony Rendon, you end up with Chris Bryant contracts, and they cannot operate under that. I understand that part of it. Did Mark Antonasio make comments saying how he's You know, is his job to win a World Series or is it to provide a summer of fun and entertainment and passion? He's right. He did.
We all had a great time last summer. Last summer was. Fucking awesome. We were all excited to go watch Bruce Baseball. And then, guess what?
Fall hit. Don't summer don't matter no more. No, then we got. Four runs against the Dodgers, who. We brought up I don't know.
That there's been a brewers conversation. about any of these trades. Where The Dodgers don't come up. But I think the brew I think you can have this conversation. without them.
Because I think this trade is Ben Brewer's, you know. For the last five years, certainly longer than that. I don't think they're making moves. I think they're more. Thinking of like, okay, we don't know what's happening in 27.
I don't know if they're even thinking of that at all. I'm just wondering if that's in play. Is anybody else thinking that? I don't know. But I think.
They'd be more prone to like look at their long-term approach. And if there's another thing that's like, You know, you try to focus on you and control what you can control. They know that's an uncontrollable. I feel like they have that on the radar more than they have the Dodgers. I don't think the Brewers, obviously they're in a different.
economic you know Level, but I don't think they're making moves thinking about the Dodgers. I think that we. Think it? I don't think the Brewers are acting that way. I think they're really.
I think what scares the Brewers. Having a summer that is not entertaining or passionate. where people stop showing up. And so not only. Are they trying to have because they're you got to give them credit for the guys they're targeting?
They're targeting guys that Are supposed to be good at building blocks in the future, but also they were able to make an impact at the major league level with Priester last year and Durbin and Collins and some of these guys. They're able to then perform. The Brewers are a lot of like.
Well, if five things work out, but they all, you know, these things seem to keep working out. What's interesting, though, about this offseason, I feel like, because yes, Josh Hayter's at the end of his whatever. We got to trade him. Devin Williams got to trade him. Freddy Peralta got to trade him.
They're trading guys that are already young. That could be building blocks. To go younger, somebody on my stream the other night called him the Caprio of baseball. Yeah. It's decent enough.
Okay, all right, all right. Yeah, it's not the funniest thing you've ever fucking heard, but. It's a good analogy. I think that, um Building blocks for Isaac Collins and Caleb Durbin. Is a stretch.
I think that We know how there were guys who They played Brewers baseball the way they wanted to play it, right? Isaac Collins and Caleb Durbin absolutely fit that mold, but they weren't the poster children for the Brewers last year. I mean, that was Sal Freelick and that was Bryce Terang. Those weren't even the two guys that were on the infield and outfield that would. You know, best personify that.
Bryce Terang and Sal Freelick are the guys who put the ball in play, play awesome defense, and get on the bases and start stealing bases. Caleb Durbin was great at it. He played way better than anyone could have imagined, I think, for a five-foot-eight third baseman. And Isaac Collins was very good at the beginning of the season, and in that stretch run of when they started to figure it out. And then he went and had a kid, and he lost his fastball.
I mean, it just didn't work anymore. Uh I I will say that This Brewers team. They're not going to win 97 games. And it's just not going to happen. They shouldn't have won 97 games last year.
Can they win the NL Central still? Absolutely. Can they win a playoff series? Absolutely. And who knows what happens if they go up against the Dodgers?
They have the best problem in baseball right now, where they have 10 starting pitchers on their team. I mean, all of them could be in a rotation. The depth of their starting pitching is as good as it's been.
Now, I don't know if it's. the same level of Where you had Burns, Woody Peralta, at the top three. I don't think that's necessarily the case, but they're going to have 10 different guys make a start for them at this point this year. They're just looking to find a way to win games. The person I'm actually maybe the most upset about losing this offseason is Nick Mears.
I mean, that guy. He pitched like every day. You got to find a guy who can now just come pitch every day. And the moment was too big for him at the end of the year. He couldn't pitch in Wrigley.
He didn't make the roster against the Dodgers, even at the time for the NLCS roster. And quite frankly, Bart, the same could be said for Isaac Collins. Caleb Durbin's a little different. He was the only guy who could put the ball in play against the Dodgers. He, I think, had four hits in that series, but still.
You're selling high on guys that No, I don't think they viewed them as building blocks. And I don't think I necessarily do either for Brewers Baseball.
Now, if they went out and lost guys like a Freelick or like a Terrang. Then I would feel super in shambles, but those are pretty replaceable players, I think. Garrett Mitchell's coming back. Uh The third base situation, we'll get to it when we get to it, I guess. But I have a lot of faith in they'll figure that out.
When last year, you go and look back, and it was Vinny freaking Capra starting the first day of the year, and then he homered, and everyone was like, We got him, we got the guy. That wasn't the case. I think one of my brothers DoorDash some food to Vinny Capra at one point. And then he got cut like three days later. And I interviewed Caleb Durban.
He gets traded. The Winkler versus the Winkler curse. That's absolutely true.
Well, to be fair, Vinnie Capra is just DoorDashing right now instead of playing Major League Baseball. Oh yeah, they got the same, they're competing for the same Arby's orders. 87 and a half, I thought I saw. Is that what we're about around? Like where are you wind total wise?
'Cause Last few years, I keep saying, I know you can't pick under, but I'm gonna, and then I'm wrong. I don't know though. 90 is a stretch to me. I think ESPN's got him at 84 and a half. I could get down with 85.
I think they can win 88 games. I do. I really do. I think Miz is going to have a great year. I'm excited to see what he can do in year two now.
I think Woodruff is a better ace than Freddie Peralta is if he's healthy, just specifically ace-wise. I like the team. I I don't think they're winning ninety-seven games, but If my number is 88, I like the number of 88. Yeah, I can't go at least under 500. They care too much to be under 500.
This will be a winning baseball team. It's just a matter of how many wins over 500. Can I kind of change the subject, but keep it on the brewers of. Did you see yesterday that Indiana announced Bobby Knight is getting a statue? And my first thought was.
How the hell does Bobby Knight not have a statue in Indiana already? And then we did a topic yesterday I filled in for Sparky on what do you got to do to get a statue? If the brewers. Won the World Series this year, Bart. And we're in this land.
Pat Murphy got a statue locked up. Myr? Yeah. No, statues are mainly players. Murph's been with the organization since 2014.
He's won Manager of the Year twice. No one else has done that. He'd win the first ever World Series. No one else has ever done that. Most wins in franchise history, longest winning streak in franchise history.
What do you mean?
So you would put you'd give him a statue over Jelich? Oh yeah. Yeah. Big time. I think Braun should have one right the fuck now.
Well, they got to retire his number. I mean, I don't know why they haven't done that yet either. They're not going to do it if he doesn't make the Hall of Fame.
Well, never give it out. It's so stupid. Go look at Scott Rowland's numbers and then go look at Ryan Braun's numbers. Like, if Braun, Braun should have just. Yeah, but the writers, the Braun's tainted.
Well, for sure, he didn't even make the second ballot, right? That was... That was pretty sad. But yeah, I hate Bobby Knight. Really?
Yeah, I think that he um I think that he set. College and high school basketball coaching back a million years. I can't tell you how many high school I've been to. I have been to so many high school basketball games. I don't think I've just Yeah.
I've been to a shitload, whether it was play-by-play or PA or video or cheer. I've just been to a lot of fucking high school basketball games, and there's a lot of coaches that all they care about is emulating Bobby Knight still to this day in 2026. I uh I try to do the same in this building as much as possible. I throw chairs all the time and I make one of those chairs is broken because I threw it. You and chairs in this building have a long history.
All right. I've seen some photos. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I don't know what chair to sit on or not sit on. My fat ass will break the broken one, and then on top of it.
I don't know which one the naked one's been lost in rotation now.
So. We just make. I think the naked one has a stain on it, but that's not for me. We make Sparky put his face on all of them before we sit on them now. Is Spark is Sparky in a statue in front of WSSP?
It's just a head come from the ground. It like rises up when they're on air, it rises out of the ground. It's like the Shea, the old Shea Stadium Apple, like this with. With a n with a vein popping out the forehead. Ah, ah, ah, the vain when there's fire in the valley.
Ah, ah, at two o'clock every day, and then the head rises.
Well, yeah, he should get a statue for sure. Tommy, thank you for. Stepping back into the Winkler verse. Absolutely. Yeah, I'd love to do it, Bart.
Always down to talk Brewers baseball, anything else sports related. Look. I know I know you bark. You play to win the game, Bart. That's the attitude you have.
I have that attitude as well. And I feel that way. With everything and the Bucks, God, I can't even watch the Bucks thing. I feel like when I watch Bucks basketball, Like halfway through the second quarter, I'm like, what the hell just happened? I don't even know what happened.
I have to go back and reread the page of the book because I just missed it. The Brewers are playing to win the game. The important games we have to see still. But they are playing every day to win the game, and I am confident in Brutus baseball this year. I think this is a Doc Rivers clone.
I think he died a long time ago, and this is just some fucking guy wearing a mask.
Well, when he said two days ago, he's like. Uh yeah, you just never know. Like, Doc. Yeah, this team, we just fucking suck. Like, like, is he untouchable in his brain?
Is he like, there you go. Not gonna fire him, eh? Or is he like Well, I'm going to get fired. It's one of the two, right? No, have you ever seen a guy?
Who is so Checked out of a job. Doesn't care about the team. And more untouchable than Doc Rivers. I mean, He's like last odds to get fired. They didn't fire him.
He could take the Larry O'Brien trophy and drive it around the. Parking lot Costanza style, they don't give a shit. Yeah, don't forget he won one title with the most stacked team ever, and no one's rode that harder than Doc Rivers. The title, by the way, is almost Legal Age. That's Celtic's title.
It's almost a consenting title.
Okay, I got it. It almost almost is. Tommy, thank you, buddy, for stopping into the Winklerverse. With VerboCare, help is always ready before, during, and after your stay. We've planned for the plot twists, so support is always available.
because a great trip starts with peace of mind. Gentlemen, whether you're two dates in or going 20 years strong, a Valentine's Day gift is always a good idea, even if you let the kiddos pick it out. Just hit the Walmart app and get it delivered in an hour with express delivery.
Sound good? Great. Subject to availability, restrictions and fees apply. Little bit of a warning. This might be political.
Politics and sports should never. intersect even though they always intersect have been intersecting forever. And we'll continue. To intersect. When you say you don't want politics and sports, you don't want someone else's politics.
In your sports. It's kind of hard to separate. politics and sports when it comes to the Olympics. When you are competing. On behalf of your country.
And when you're wearing your flag. You are representing the entirety. Of the country. The good The bad The indifferent. The people you like.
The people you don't, the people you understand. The people you don't. The flag represents 350 million people. Plus all of those. who have come before us.
When you wear the flag. It is hard. To just simply think. Everything. that that flag encompasses It's good.
Hunter Hess. A skier at these Olympic Games. These are very, I think, benign comments. to get the level of reaction that he is getting. Especially from politicians.
Uh and the president. Here's one Comment. That Hunter has made. Like the first Day of the Olympics. That has had people In a tizzy.
This is Hunter Hess. It brings up mixed emotions to represent the US right now, I think. It's a little hard. There's obviously a lot going on that I'm not the biggest fan of and I think a lot of people aren't. If it aligns with my moral values, I feel like I'm representing it.
Just 'cause I'm wearing the flag doesn't mean I represent everything that's going on in the US.
So yeah, I just kinda want to do it for my friends and my family and the people that support me getting here.
So that's basically what I just said. But He's at the Olympics and he is. Participating on behalf of America.
So he should shut up and ski. Essentially, there was a take from, I guess, old colleague. Uh boomer Asiasin. that I wanted to share. Awful announcing clip this From Boomer and Geo ends up winning.
Yeah. So I thought they had that too. But I mean, like, I was sitting there watching, you know, the freestyle skating by, you know, our ice skating team, car skating team that won the gold medal. Are they happy to represent America? Yeah, they seem to be happy to represent America.
Not everybody is, but you know, everybody's just pipe down and just do their sport. play for our country and respect the flag and respect everything that's going on. All right, so again, that's shut up and ski.
Now, I am going to approach whatever I'm going to say here the same way that I would approach it. On the former national show.
Okay. thought on the national show that I had. for two years. Um I thought I did a good job of... Expressing opinions.
without getting right wing, left wing. Democrats, Republicans. Um And you know, I don't I don't know how much I really had to. talk about it and i don't have to talk about Anything here, but I want to for a couple of different reasons. One, Regarding Hunter Hess's comments.
And two, Regarding how sports radio is covering this. First of all, I have no issue. With what Hunter has said. I don't know why you would. He I don't, I don't think.
You can say you disagree. Was something In any lower stakes terms.
So there's a lot of things happening. In this country. that you may not like. And you say, I hate that this is happening. Or I may not like, and I say, this is disgusting.
This is un-American. Hunter has said. There's some things going on I'm not the biggest fan of. That is like very Innocent. That's like 5149 having an opinion.
No, I'm not I'm not the biggest fan of Pineapple on pizza. I'm not the biggest fan of Diet soda. I'm not the biggest fan. That's a very minor thing to say. He does not, for that comment.
to get the level of reaction it's been getting. I think it shows you how divided. things are in America right now, and also how frail The opinions of that division are Not only do we disagree with each other on a lot of things. But we are incredulous. That the other side.
Could even have a differing opinion. And they're un-American. For doing anything other than loving this country for all its flaws. 100%. Up and down.
The line. I mean, think of some of your best friends. You can name off the top of your head three, four, five things you don't like about that person. Doesn't mean you don't love them. That doesn't mean you're not going to.
Ride or die for them. We don't have to just blindly agree with everything that is going on. In our country, and we shouldn't. That's sort of. The founding principles on how this thing came to be.
Anyway. I don't think there's anything more American. Than criticizing America. I I I truly The freedom of religion. These are the things that I grew up Thinking that we had.
I grew up w y yeah it's kind of like I'll I'll I grew up in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. And I'll say this about Fondalike, Wisconsin. When I grew up there, I thought it was the center of the world. I thought the world revolved. Around Fond du Lac, Wisconsin.
45,000 people live in the town. It's an hour away from any of the major cities in Wisconsin, an hour away from Green Bay, Madison, Milwaukee, right in the middle of all of them. That's kind of the selling point. Bottom of a lake. You know?
You don't, you, if you're in fondlike, you got everything you need. Sure, there's other things you could want. Yeah, but you got everything you need. You can live a nice life and have a nice childhood growing up in Fond du Lac. And that's what I had.
And I thought it was just the greatest place ever. And then When you leave it or you look at it with adult lenses. You're like, oh, okay, I see. You know, maybe that could be better, or that could be better. But there's people trying every day to make it as good as it can be.
Well, it's the same thing with our country. You are sort of like taught when you go to school, America number one, America the best. Um Everyone cowers to us. We're like the. Top cop.
of the nation, of the world. And as you grow older, you find out like How things happened here. Like you can't, you can't, you can't, you just, America's history is. Scattered With things that it would forget, but you can't forget because it's part of What made us Yeah. This is a diverse land.
That We have done a lot of things that I don't love. And agree with? in the present and when you look back in the past. They invited us to Thanksgiving dinner and then we did what? It's just it's hard to it's hard to what I'm saying is the History of America.
And the present and the future is a very complicated one. And I don't think you need to love everything that's happening to love America. I love America. I'm glad to have been born here. I don't want to leave.
I want it to be better. But I don't want to leave. I do think that it can be better. I'm wearing a USA soccer hat right now. I'm uh excited for that.
For the World Cup this year, and I'm excited for the Olympics. I've been watching Gold Zone a little bit every day. I'm not totally invested in the storylines. And I don't know a ton of the athletes. And I Had to look up Hunter Hess's name and what he did.
Even though that happened three days ago and I'm talking about it. I don't know. But I like that it's on, I watch it. And it is conflicting. You know, a lot of the world does not like this country right now.
And come the World Cup that we're hosting. I mean, the USA soccer team, I once said, there's one guy that still grinds me for it. I once said, I'd rather have a U.S. World Cup soccer win. like win the whole thing than any of these other teams winning.
And then when the Bucks won the title, and I don't remember I said that, I said that in like 14. And then the Bucks won the title in 21, and some guy out of the woodwork, and he still grinds me. Hey, you can't talk about the Blocks. You don't even like 'em. You like soccer more.
All right. But it is, it's a, you know, it's conflicting. We are not everybody's best friend. Doesn't matter what's going on at home. what's going on around the world.
You know, there's, you know, people, we're not everybody's best friend. And I think that if you're going to really love America. You have to be able to look at what's great about it. But you also have to be able to identify the flaws.
Now, the problem is We might perceive the difference and what the flaws are. And then we get bogged down in agreeing what's a problem, but not how to fix a solution. And then we're arguing. From there. Look, this is a, it's a, it's a long, it's a big country.
There's a lot of different things that happen. There's 355 million of us, or whatever. We're never all going to agree on everything. But I think one thing that I would like for us to agree on Is Part of what makes America America Is that you can criticize what you do not like. That happens.
regarding our country. You don't have to love everything blindly. There's a lot I love about America. I'm happy to support America, but you can't just. Pretend like everything is good.
And I think that leads us to the sports radio aspect of this, why I feel like. I have any sort of say on the topic at all, other than I was. born and raised American. Is sports radio does not know how to cover the Olympics. Sports radio is going to be a place that says.
We Must stick to sports. But then, anytime there's an Olympic topic on sports radio, who has talked about anything? Up to this point. That's actually had something to do with the athletes. The hockey men haven't started.
We even watch that. That'll pop a little bit. I went through some of my rundowns from the 20. 2022 winter games. And The first day after the opening weekend, my topic was.
Olympics or MLB negotiations. I don't even know what I meant by that. But that's the only Olympic topic I had on two weeks of rundowns during the 2022 Olympics, other than when I had Rami in to play a game called Is this Person an Olympian or Did He Go to My High School? We just don't. It's not the Olympics is something that.
25, 30 million people a night are watching. But we don't have like that topic we can grasp on. That hits on sports radio. It's very interesting. It's like the biggest sporting event in the world.
May the World Cup. And sports radio doesn't know how to cover it. We don't know how to cover it. We can't break down the long jump. We can't break down the luge.
So, all that sports radio ever does is talk about. Which Olympic sport do you think you'd be best at? Which is the scariest? Which is your favorite to watch? How much are you watching?
Do you like the Olympics? We don't cover on sports radio, we don't cover the Olympics. Except for the peripheral. Sports radio is talking about what it means to be an American. And what you're supposed to do when you represent the flag because of Hunter Hess's comments, and there's been more.
Other athletes are getting asked.
Some guy. Talked about Minnesota. For a couple of minutes about How he, you know, loves the people there and thinking about what's going on. You should be able to say that. You should be able.
to say that. We can't just This is the thing I'm fighting about with our other sports teams: the Packers. Too many of you, always happy all the time. The Brewers, the Bucs.
Well we don't always need To pretend things are better than they are, and we don't need to lie about it. That's the problem.
So I have no problem with these athletes speaking out, just like I would have no problem if any of these athletes were like. Look, I know that there's some of these guys that are, you know. I love America. I'm fighting for America. I agree with everything that's happening.
They have their right to do that. We all have our right. To yell at each other. You have a right to. Call me a lib.
Although I don't think anything I'm saying is Libby. Right now. I can talk about politics, I think. as a political science minor. I can talk about politics.
in a way without being my team versus your team. I'm just talking about what I think it means to be American. And that means You root for your fellow man. You root for the country. You're honored to wear the flag, the flag that people have worn in the past, whether on their athletic jerseys or their military.
Uniforms that they have died. wearing for us to have the freedom to criticize some of the freedom. That's the whole point of the American experience. As far as what I understand. And if I'm wrong, you can yell at me for it, but you can't jail me and you can't imprison me.
And you can't silence me. Because of where we live. We have the right. To speak. on what we feel.
So, I don't like that sports radio is covering the story the way they're covering it. I understand that everyone is entitled to an opinion, and they're sharing theirs the same way. That I'm sharing mine. But You can't not care about these athletes. Watch them.
With your hand down your pants, drinking a cold one. barely even watching the T V. Not recognizing any of these people, not caring about them after the moment. And then make Hunter has a household name. Because he said.
I'm not the biggest fan of some of these things. Very innocuous stuff. That does not deserve. The criticism. that I feel.
He is getting. I'm sure some of you will have complaints with this. I'm not trying to play the victim card. I just like to get ahead of what you guys are going to say. I'm rooting for the USA.
I don't agree with everything I see outside my window. But I'm rooting for the USA. Even if my girlfriend was on Norway or wherever the, I'd still root for the USA, USA, USA, USA. Gentlemen, whether you're two dates in or going 20 years strong, a Valentine's Day gift is always a good idea, even if you let the kiddos pick it out. Just hit the Walmart app and get it delivered in an hour with express delivery.
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