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And Granger is your trusted partner, offering the products you need all in one place, from HVAC and plumbing supplies to lighting and more, and all delivered with plenty of time left on the clock so your team always gets the win. Call 1-800-GRANGER, visit Granger.com, or just stop by Granger for the ones who get it done. Welcome into the Winkler Verse Wednesday. April 8th. We're still here.
That's good. Gary Compton. Is going to be my guest on today's podcast. Gary Compton. Some of you, that name right away, you might say, oh my God, Gary Compton.
I haven't thought about Gary Compton. In a long time.
Some of you may need a refresher or. Just some information. This is a guy who played for the Milwaukee Mustangs for seven years as a wide receiver. was the 2001 Arena Man of the Year. Has more than 10,000 yards.
In The Arena League. Has 176 touchdowns. He spent most of his career. In arena football. Um He got undrafted from the Niners.
Holmgren was the offensive coordinator there. Jerry Rice, John Taylor were there at the time. and spend time as a wide receiver. In camp, didn't make the team transition to CFL, transition to the World League, and was trying to stay in football. He ended up finding the Arena League at the time.
and became a very uh successful Player in the league, then came back to Milwaukee to coach a year with the Milwaukee Iron. That then turned into the Mustangs and now is the director of football ops with AF1.
So basically, what's happened to the Arena League, you may wonder. About the Arena League. Um if I say to you arena football, you you might think of the Mustangs, you might think of You know, you've seen it somewhere. You might think of, didn't they have a game in a mall a few years ago? Basically, it's like indoor soccer with the wave: the wave still exists, but the league they've been a part of.
constantly changes. Because they can't be sustainable financially. And they run into problems, and teams move and have to relocate and have to fold and get started up again.
So, with Gary's expertise. And we'll get the story from him and talk about the memories in Milwaukee and talk about this AF1 because. You know, there's been AF2, there's been AF whatever. They have to call it AF1, I think, because of some legality things. They can't call it Arena Football.
It is the main Arena Football League, but it's got to go by AF1.
So he's in charge, and the games start this weekend. There are some different ways to watch it on television or on the internet. And uh I'm gonna make you you know Embark on that adventure if you're looking forward to it. Or want to check it out. But no team in Milwaukee.
There's a team in Michigan, and there's a team in Minnesota. Yeah, we talk about the potential for one maybe in Milwaukee. In the future.
So that's coming up. That's the bulk of the show. Gary Compton, former wide receiver with the Milwaukee Mustangs, now the director of football ops with AF1. He will be, and he lives still in the Milwaukee area.
So you got the guy who was in charge of this arena league. I think he lives uh Southside or Greenfield or somewhere over there. But we'll talk to him, and that'll be the bulk of the podcast. And that will be the video today that's on the Dan Shaney YouTube stream. Remember, Dan Shaney, for all your insurance needs, I switched, and we're waiting for you.
With Dan Shaney.com. Um Before I get into that, just want to catch up on everything else that is going on. I think the big story. That's still the part of my brain I'm not trying to close. If I was doing a Milwaukee show for three hours a day.
What would my topics be? If I was doing a national show for four hours a day, what would my topics be? No, I don't probably prep. I have nothing to prep for well this. But I don't have a show to prep for, a four-hour show.
I can prep for a 35-minute show. Hey, it's Bart Winkle. I'm going to play a voicemail. Talk about the Bucks for eight seconds and then play an interview I did. But to prep for one of those other shows, it's longer.
Top story, you know, NBA and what's going on, and the 65-game rules got a lot of people upset. Wemby played last night, but only 17 minutes, so that didn't count as one of the games because you have to play 20 minutes. It's just another example of like And it's the same thing kind of with the Bucks. I talk about, I don't think I've ever. I'm not satisfied with how I've explained this concept.
Where I say like rules on top of rules. I've tried to change that to like a rule tree. I've also talked about this with the Bucks. Essentially When you start something. When you start something Um You find, like, a let me think about this.
I moved into my house.
However many years ago. And there's all these different things that you want to do. to your house. And one of the things that we wanted to do was our driveway was a disaster.
So eventually we wanted to repave it, and we did. And now that's cracking.
So we fixed the problem, but then there's new problems. The driveway we got in was like rising to the skies, to the heavens. It was weird. I didn't think it was a big deal, but looking back now at pictures. Yeah, we probably should have done that sooner.
Then the driveway now we got. Uh is nice. And Now We're at the point where This driveway's cracking.
So we made a decision. We're going down one path, and now we're going to have to do different things. We also redid our yard before we did the driveway, which meant to do the driveway, we had to take out part of the yard again. That was a mistake. But it's like the more, the further you go down the road of something.
You're going to find something else that you need to fix. There's that scene in Malcolm in the middle that does a really good job of where. She asked him to Hal, she had Lois and Hal, she asked him, it's coming back. She asked him to do something. And then he sees something's broken, and then he goes and tries to fix the other thing.
And it takes him down to a road where eventually he was asked to get like a paperclip or something. He's in the car working on the engine, and she's like, Give me the paperclip. And she's like, He's like, I'm doing it. That's kind of what I'm trying to explain here with Adam Silver and sports, the NFL specifically, is. They Try to add.
so many things that they get away from the thing that they were trying to actually solve. Adam Silver was trying to solve a problem of load management. He doesn't want these guys to sit out more games than they need to. It's an 82-game schedule. The easiest fix might be to take some games away.
That's the easiest fix. These guys are playing basketball different than they used to. They're playing faster. They're playing harder. Possessions are shorter.
They're not just standing around with their hands on their dicks. With all due respect to yesteryear. But yeah, you watch a basketball game from the 90s, however poetic that is in your brain, you watch a basketball game from today, they look like two different versions of the same thing. It's very different. And then, of course, if you go to the 50s.
You know, it's just a bunch of white dudes playing musical chairs before someone finally throws up a fucking two-handed shot from his waist.
So, yeah, things change. But Adam Silver. If there's a way to change. The load management thing would be less games, but instead, he's like, no, let's go the other way. Let's make a 65-man rule.
But then they can skirt that system.
So now we're going to add the 20 thing, the 20-minute thing. And then, oh, now a lot of people are going to miss, and we might have to give somebody the MVP by default, like it's going to be Rodney Hood or some shit. If he's still playing, so now what do we do?
So now. You've gone down a path. And because you're far down that path, you have to keep making decisions. Taking you further from the thing you're trying to solve, but now you're correcting things. You know, five miles down the stream instead of just taking the other part of the stream.
I feel like that's what the Bucs have done with Giannis. They. Are trying to make these decisions, but these decisions they're making have backed him into a corner.
So you can't make a. You can't make a smart decision. You can only make the smartest decision from where you're at based on your previous decision. We could not stretch Dame to trade for Miles Turner if we never traded for Dame. We never traded, we never would have traded for Dame.
If these guys didn't get hurt in the playoffs, these guys would have got hurt in the playoffs. If maybe they didn't fire Bud, there's all these different things you can go back to.
So the bucks are fucked. You can't put that toothpaste back in the tube. Eric Names got an article. I think Jim O did one too today. QA's with John Horst.
I read it. It's the same shit that John Horst always says. John Horst is probably what I should be. He's very cautious of what he says, and he's always trying to think of like. You know, I believe there's going to, I believe John Horst will be able to write a very good tell-all after when he has no one to answer to.
Like he's going to say very nice things about, oh, Jimmy Haslam wants to win. We're all on the same page together. I firmly believe Giannis wants to be here. When he's away from this, he'll be able to say, like, Yeah. Giannis was a pain in the ass to deal with.
I gave him everything and he asked for more. And Jimmy Haslam came here and I had a good thing going with Mark and Wes. And then this motherfucker comes and ruins everything. Those are, that's me. Insinuating what his words might be, but I do think there is a John Horst.
That um That we're not we don't know I think he presents a very Straightforward. Company line. kind of attitude.
So I don't know. I don't know what a Q ⁇ A with John Horse is worth. But it's worth it to read. To try to get a sense of what the fuck is going on here, will Giannis play on Friday? We talked about that on It's his last home game, maybe ever, as a Buck.
I would like him to say, I want to play just in case, and not I need to throw lobs to my third youngest brother, but that's fine. I have brothers. I get it. Big thanks to our sponsor, BetterHelp, for partnering with us for this important conversation about mental health. This is Steve Smith here, former NFL wide receiver and host of the 89 Show on YouTube.
So, having a counselor and working with BetterHelp gives you an opportunity to really start to unpack, but people don't understand when you unpack things, you also open up a box that you're not always sure what's inside.
So, I think that's why seeing a professional is extremely important. If you need someone to open up to, visit better help that's betterhelp.com/slash 89 to get started. And Doug. There's nowhere I wouldn't go to help someone customize and save on car insurance with Liberty Mutual, even if it means sitting front row at a comedy show. Hey, everyone, check out this guy and his bird.
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Me to a human, him to a bird. Yeah, the bird looks out of your league, anyways. Only pay for what you need at LibertyMutual.com. Liberty, Liberty, Liberty, Liberty. Doc Rivers.
I don't know. I still am not I'm not going to be confident that he's gone until I see that he's gone, but. You know, he's saying he wants to go spend time with his grandkids. I think this may be an amicable thing, or it's going to be perceived to be amicable. We'll see.
We'll see. I'm sure. You know what?
Next week, next week, I'll just plan. When's the season end? Monday? I talked to Carlos. Maybe we'll just talk about Doc.
I don't know. Maybe Sunday night. You know what?
If Doc Rivers gets fired on Sunday night, I'll do a show.
So that's where the Bucs are at. I think they played last night. I totally forgot. I think they played tonight. I do not care.
If Giannis plays on Friday. I guess I'll watch. I thought about buying tickets now just to sell them. In fact, I might do that. I think I'm going to buy some tickets for Friday's game.
And then if Giannis plays, I'm going to sell him. Look, I I don't I don't I d I need He asked how you can support the pod. When I put those tickets up in stump, I'll buy 'em for way more than I'm asking. I don't know if I'll actually do that. It burns a hole in my pocket, it gives me anxiety.
My brother and I were gonna buy we were gonna buy uh Season tickets to the Vikings before Favre did go there. We regretted that one. I also told my dad, um in like 1998 that Dad, I think we should buy a storage unit. Those seem to be money makers. I don't know why we didn't do that.
Now they're everywhere. What's the thing I could get in now? Bitcoin? Yeah, I got in there and then it tanked the next fucking day. I need a get rich quick scheme, guys.
DraftKings is not working. Fandu is not working. I'm giving more money to them. Basically. I'm an employee for them.
But I pay them. Tim, I don't want that part in the pod. Edit it out. All right. Brewers, they lost to the Red Sox.
They got a day game. Uh on Wednesday. And we'll talk about that. Coming up probably later in the week. I do Have Tyler Dunn scheduled to talk this week.
I'll put that out at some point. Probably tomorrow afternoon. And then we'll catch up on Friday. You know what I could talk to? It's Toby.
Brewers of the Nationals. I'll try to get in touch with Toby. Toby L. Teiser. All right, let's play a voicemail.
The Carls plays voicemail line. I forgot the number off the top of my head.
So I will find it. 402-915-2278. Borrow 2915. 2278. I do have a voicemail.
I played a voicemail recently. A guy had just seen an article shitting on Mark Atanasio. That article was from like last year. And so I was like, what the fuck, man? And he called with a response: 402-915-2278, Carl's Place voicemail line.
Here's Aaron. Yeah, anyone's hearing that. Tim? Jesus. Yeah, hey Bart, Aaron Cunningham here.
Hey, last time I spoke I called in and talked about the brewers and the kind of the hit piece on Mark Atanasio. I thought it was funny. Granted it was six months old. I do apologize for the late news, but any time I see a hit piece on any MLB owner, I take freedom to point at that. Anyways, back to the real point today.
Okay, at lunch, I live in Minnesota. And they posed to me, what if Tyrese Halliburton had gotten traded to? Wonky Bucks, how would he respond? I said absolutely no way they would not do it just on his face because of me, dislike for him. Anyway, what's a zoo?
Thanks. Bye. Um yeah, that would suck. And I don't think there's any... plausible way that happens.
But it does, I have been shitting on and ripping about Dan Hurley, ripping on him a lot at UConn. And I did get a lot of people saying, well, you'd love it if he coached the Bucs. Look, Doc River sucks, man. I don't know that I could I don't I don't know I really dislike Dan Hurley. And I don't think there's any.
We're gonna hi uh if we fire Doc, we're hiring Taylor Jenkins. Or some other guy, Dave Yeager. We'll hire one of these guys. Uh Darvin Hamm, isn't he interviewing somewhere? I don't know.
By the way, I have no public comment on Diana Rossini and Mike Vrabel. I don't think that's our business. I mean, I get it from a sports angle. Like, what can you believe if something's going on? I just don't trust Diana Rossini.
I just, I just, I look at her and I don't trust her. And that is Is that sexist? What is that? But like that girl from uh The Bachelorette. That got canceled.
Like you can look at her and you know right away that she's crazy. Right. Yeah. I mean, you could look at guys right away and be like, oh, he sucks. Right?
Now Stereotypes. Jesus. Damn! I don't think I could do Dan Hurley. I don't think I could root for the Bucs if they hired Dan Hurley.
Odds, by the way, I got this fresh email this morning.
Next team for Giannis. Three to one odds for the Miami Heats. Who seem to be interested? In the box. Superstar.
Raptors are 7-2. Knicks 4-1. Rockets 6-1. Hawks 7-1. Warriors 9-1.
A reunion with Dame Andrew in Portland at 10-1. Jesus. But we don't have to root for that. Um Athianis gets traded, and I'm still probably 50-50 myself. But if Giannis gets traded.
Yeah. really care where he goes. As long as he doesn't go to a few different teams.
So I do care. Where he doesn't go. I he cannot be a member of the Miami Heat. They've thought about him for a long time. He cannot be a New York Nick.
You know, Bulls, Pistons, Pacers, Cavs, I don't think any of those are. Legitimate options. Him being on the thunder would be annoying. Spurs We'd get a good haul there. The Rockets probably have a good package they could come up with.
I just don't, I don't want him, first and foremost, I don't want him on the heat. I don't know. The Warriors, I mean, I root for them, but. They're kinda focused on LeBron anyway. I don't want him on the Knicks.
New York fans don't He can't go small market. I want him in another small market. I don't want to trade them. I don't think they're gonna trade him. I still think this all gets worked out.
You know, they're in couples counseling, but they didn't cheat on each other. They didn't. They're not separated. I don't know. But it seems like it's really heading down that path, doesn't it?
Man. As of today, okay, I'm 5149. I always say if you could have a million dollars. Just had to answer this question right. I would say Giannis is still a buck.
Fuck. I feel so wrong, though. Shit. I was watching the show I like for all mankind. Finished two seasons.
The Soviets go to the moon first and then there becomes a real space race. But they show you the alternate history. Like John Lennon doesn't get shot, the Beatles. had a reunion concert in like the late eighties. That would have been cool.
But then they also showed Michael Jordan drafted by the Trailblazers. If Michael Jordan was drafted by the Trailblazers. I mean, that was 86, so I would have been. born, but I think, I don't know that I would be here talking to you right now. If Michael, I don't, it's really trippy to think of like butterfly effect stuff, but if Michael Jordan wasn't drafted by the Bulls.
Your life would be different. Our lives would be different. The Bulls wouldn't have won those titles. Would the Bucks have won? A different year.
And how does that affect your life? You know, these these couples that like met at a Bucs game or meet at like Would you have? If they just, there's a lot of. Man, there's God. I'm doing too much with my brain.
I need to soak it in like moonshine for a week. Moonshine. Think another moon. Maybe that's why. I love the moon.
All right, we'll take a quick break and then have Gary Compton. Gary Compton. Arena Football League. AF one And former Member of the Milwaukee Mustangs, coach of the Milwaukee Iron. will be today's show.
Enjoy the Brewers game. Enjoy your Wednesday night. And from that, yeah. Happy Place Hem, promo code BARK 25% off each and every order. Get your gummies, get your seltzers, get all the things you need to help you relax.
That's what I'll do. I'll put my brain. in the Well, if I'm doing my whole brain, I'll just throw it in the I would like to just pour a big vase, like think of a, you know, like a. Those mixers in college with the fruit and the Gatorade, or whatever the fuck was in there. And then I'd like to put the five milligram and fill up the whole thing and then put my brain in there just for an hour.
I wish you could, I wish you could take your brain out of your head and let it soak and then put it back. Like you could charge it like a phone. Tim. Big thanks to our sponsor, BetterHelp. Partnering with us for this important conversation about mental health.
This is Steve Smith here, former NFL wide receiver and host of the 89 Show on YouTube.
So, having a counselor and working with BetterHelp that gives you an opportunity to really start to unpack, but people don't understand when you unpack things, you also open up a box, but you're not always sure what's inside.
So, I think that's why seeing a professional is extremely important. If you need someone to open up to, visit better help that's better h dot com/slash 89 to get started. And Doug. There's nowhere I wouldn't go to help someone customize and save on car insurance with Liberty Mutual, even if it means sitting front row at a comedy show. Hey, everyone, check out this guy and his bird.
What is this? Your first date? Oh, no. We help people customize and save on car insurance with Liberty Mutual together. We're married.
Me to a human, him to a bird. Yeah, the bird looks out of your league anyways. Only pay for what you need at LibertyMutual.com. Liberty, Liberty, Liberty, Liberty. And welcome into the Winklerverse.
Today we are welcoming Gary Compton. Gary Compton, a name. I hope people. Have not forgotten in Milwaukee, longtime Mustang, undrafted 91, went to the Niners for a little bit, and then your career. You kind of dip your toes into the arena of madness, and you've been with it a long time.
AF1 is the league he's a part of now. That season starts up again this weekend. Gary, thanks for coming on. Thanks for coming in. Tell me a little bit about this league and what you guys are.
Are you hoping for what you're hoping? Because the arena history. I think right now for people that I talk to, it's like, oh yeah, I remember when there was a team here. I remember we had that. I don't think it's been as good as Prevalent in the daily Sports person's life as it maybe was back.
Late 90s, but what do you guys got? Uh, and what are the hopes for you right now with AF1? Yeah, you know, I appreciate you bringing me on. First of all, it's always great to talk, reminisce, as you can kind of see what kind of some of the stuff. Behind me, and all that, the old Mustang stuff, and all of that.
But yeah, this is my. Second year with AF1, I'm director of football operations. I run the whole football side. We have, so I was brought in in 2024 when the AFL was reestablished again. AFL, I say 4.0.
Okay. Had the original Arena League where we were all in it, and then it went out in 09, kicked back up in 11, went through 15, kicked back up in 19, ran, you know, so it's kind of had a 40-year history, but it's kind of had some road closures in between.
So in 2024, there was a group out in Canada that was going to resurrect the AFL. And we're going to bring all these teams in and all these new names of places and everything else. Took it and it was exciting to hear about it. At first, I wasn't a part of it, right? To hear about it.
Oh, cool, the AFL's coming back, this and the other. And then it just went downhill. And I was working For a transfer for a logistics company. And I got a phone call from Jerry Kurz. If people remember that name, Jerry Kurz is, you know, obviously one of the guys.
Way back in the day with Jim Foster, he's actually one of the guys that wrote the first check for arena football. And he called me, and I know anytime he calls me, it's like the bad phone when the bad phone goes off. You know, it's business, right?
So he calls me, he goes, I got a proposition. What are you doing? And I went through and he said, I need your help. And I never tell him no.
So we came in and helped the AFL. Get through the season. That was when we had the championship and the mall, the mall and the brawl. Yeah, I remember that. They're in New Jersey, which is cool setup.
but it was obviously different. We ran through a lot of roadblocks and some things. And it just wasn't done right, but we had to get through and finish it.
So, what we did was, we then took those teams. And we rebranded as Arena Football One because we had to get out of the legality and all of that, the lawsuits, and all kinds of things that were going to happen from the former people and everything else.
So we rebranded and restructured.
Well, in the meantime, as you do all of that, you know, you have to have a commissioner, you have to have everything, you know, all of this. And so. The owners went to Jeff Fisher, who people probably know that name, former Houston Royalers Tennessee Titans coach, and asked if he would be the commissioner of AF1. And he said, I'll be the commissioner of AF1. Jerry, if you're going to stay on board, and Gary and Christy, and we said yes, we would.
So we came on board, had eight teams last year, had nine teams this year. We lost a couple of teams, but we back filtered in. We have out west. Oregon, Washington, Oceanside, which is a suburb of San Diego. Right.
Then, as you venture to the middle part, and we got some places we got to plug in, which we're doing here in the future. We have Beaumont, Texas.
Okay, Nashville, Tennessee. Uh Duluth, Minnesota. Saginaw, Michigan, Nashville, said Nashville, and then Albany.
So we go coast to coast, nine teams, looking to get to 13 next year. It's the same thing, the same game, nothing's changed. You know, there's been a little bit of, as anything else, football evolves, right? You know, a lot of what you did in the 90s in football, you do in the 2020s now, and everything people look like you're a dinosaur out there. You know, there's been some changes and stuff, but it's still the game with the nets, the rebound nets, the walls, and all of that.
And we're excited, getting ready for year two. Start this weekend with Minnesota going to Albany Saturday night to kick off her 2026 season. That when you talk about that, that's interesting because I'm thinking of, you know, obviously, I remember the Mustangs. I remember going to the Bradley Center. I remember when the Iron that you were part of too for a little bit.
I remember when they came back and then they rebranded as the Mustangs too. But we also. Um So in Milwaukee now, obviously there's the Bucs, Brewers. And there's the Admirals that play at the Panther Arena and the Milwaukee Wave. And so the Wave was another one of these teams.
I interned there for a year. I think maybe the year you were with the iron, I was block at the doing the wave. As an intern. And that was a year where. The previous league had gone away.
They rebranded as like a four-team league. That lasted one year. They rebranded again. The team's been consistent, but the structure and the setup.
So, if you're in Milwaukee and you're like an indoor soccer fan, You've had the wave to go to. Maybe you don't even realize, like, it's been seven different leagues or whatever it's been, but they've been around.
So we went, I have a six-year-old, and we went to a game this year. We had a blast. Mm-hmm. But then we haven't been back since. Are you gonna my question is are you finding Like Because this is the arena of football has been around a long time.
and there's different iterations and you you just went through that very well When you're getting into these markets, Is it harder to like get a family in there? For the first time, is it harder to get him to come back? How how what do what do we need to do to make The arena league be like what I'm thinking what it was in the 90s, right?
Well, you know, we, yeah, you know, we obviously got a crawl forward walk, right? You know, so us, you know, you have okay, as you look what I'm asking is, how do you get your championship bigger than the Super Bowl? That's hard to do, right? Absolutely. But if you look at.
Back in the day, okay, there's been. What do we say? There's been roadmaps to success, right? And so you can always recreate those roadmaps. Yeah.
because we were all a part of it and know. All right, however. You know We're not going to be in 15,000, 20,000 seat arenas right now because. It's, you know, I'm not going to say startup, but you know, it's not the John Elways, it's not the Dan DeVoses, right? It's not the Mike Ditkas, you know, it's not those type of guys.
The guys that own these, Are different types of owners now. And so, what we've done. is we put it in a smaller market right And if you kind of go back and look at that, and we say the blueprint of AF2, remember when AF2 was around, right? We had 32 teams at AF2, smaller markets and everything to be able to brand it, be able to build it. Today with social media.
Okay, and we we were having this discussion with uh Jeff Jarrett, okay. I think everybody knows that name. WWE Hall of Famer Jeff Jarrett, who's on board with us now. And everything part of the Nashville organization and helping do social media and stuff with the league. It's not so much anymore.
butts in the seats the way it used to be, right? It's more of social media and brand awareness.
Okay. I can get an influencer who's got a million followers. and go to a game I could have 400 people at that game. Those people don't know it. They know that that guy that's got 1.5 million followers, he's at that game.
So something's important, right? And now all of a sudden You know, your sponsorships start coming through and this and the other.
So, make a long story short, that is, it's brand awareness, obviously, through all the social media aspects that we have, right? And to grow this to where people know when you say arena football, they start saying, oh, yeah, I know that. I remember this. They start connecting all the dots instead of, Oh, well, what is it? You know, because I still get it.
Oh, well, what's AF1? You know, and it drives me nuts because it's been my life forever. But it's that people don't know it and try to recreate that brand awareness.
Well, if it does expand back to Milwaukee, I have 15,000 followers on Twitter. I could right, right. You know what?
It's funny. And I always say, I said this about six months ago. JJ Watt had a post on Twitter with a Milwaukee Mustang's old gray purple shirt on. and somebody went to me and said hey why don't you get jj And his family. To see if they would put an arena team in Milwaukee.
Well, the reason why, and people don't know this a lot of times too, the reason why the Mustangs left, the Mustangs would have never left if the Bradley Center didn't do renovations. But because they had to do renovations. And it was us, the Admirals, the Bucs. You know, we were the low on the totem pole. We could not go over to Panther Arena at that point in time because it was not configured.
for the game because the Nets would have been too far in the stands.
Okay, well, now that they've configured Panther Arena for hockey and built it all out. You could bring a team back to Milwaukee.
So, but I think we need to do is we need to start fundraising. You know, I'm sure you and I got you know 25-30 guys that probably have half a million dollars in their pocket, no problem. You know, we can get it, we can get it done, right? Sure, I might have one-fifth of that. But it would be, but it would be cool to uh to have that back.
You know, we've explored the Chicago market. You know, some of the Midwest here we've explored and putting back into, like I said, we were fortunate with Minnesota and Michigan this year. But I think it'd be good to get back to this area if we ever can. And Milwaukee was great, there was not a better place to watch. Arena football.
The fans were outstanding, and all of that. You know, that's just when the Packers had just left. County Stadium, right in this way, the county stadium, they didn't do it anymore, so nobody had football. And I tell the stories to this day that Milwaukee, there wasn't a better place for arena football than here.
Well, yeah, this this the so the town is like I think looked at as a small market, but people do. you know show up um right Now there's nights of like the Bucs and the Brewers play on the same day, and then the Admirals, too. It's like.
Okay, I don't know if we have a big enough metro to support everything going on at once. But again, to go back to the 90s, when you play with the Mustangs. you know, wide receiver, some what, 10,000 yards sketching in the league. Um When you're in Milwaukee, because I that Bradley Center, man. Which is right behind me on my video.
Somebody jumped. Right. And not even in existence anymore. No, they just put a concert hall there. Yeah, I know, right?
The other day, sad, it sucks. I know, exactly. But because like the wave games, it was packed. The Mustang games, it wasn't like, it wasn't like you go to a place and it's like, a couple of other people, good seating, this is fun. It was, it was.
The thing. Um, what are you you say it's a great place to play. What were the fondest things? Is it just the crowds, the engagement? Is it.
You know, things around town. What what about Milwaukee? Are you going to like think of, you know, when you say Milwaukee, you think of what? Yeah, you know what? I think of home.
I still live here. Right. Well, I'm not out of your house. You know what?
We could have done this side by side, right? You know, I've been here. You know, we moved in 2001, moved to Indianapolis when I was still playing and lived in Indy until 2010, then came back and been here ever since. But it is home. Right.
It's, you know, as we always tell our teams and our players is. You want to recruit guys to where. They could bring their families and make it home for them, right? And that's what happened to me. You know, I became engraved in the community here, and I was a big.
Community involvement person. I wanted to go to the schools. I wanted to go everywhere I could and get the name out and get my name out, you know, and all of that. And But as far as, you know, Milwaukee with it. I think it's the passion, right?
Fans are passionate about their sports here, especially football. You know, uh We were 15, 17,000. Right, 16, 5. I remember when Kurt Warner came and played in 97, we had 17,458 people at that game. It's just crazy, yeah, you know, uh, and everything, but it's just it's a great place, love it.
I mean, don't really love it November through March, February, maybe, you know, hate it. Look at my wife all the time, be like, you know, it'd really be nice. We were in Florida right now. But you know what? There's nothing better than Summer Fest, you know, all the festivals in the summertime.
You know, you definitely get the four seasons here. But yeah, I went home and loved it. I just, I, I, I want it like, I remember it a little bit, you know, growing up, born in the. Early 80s, but I remember it a little bit. And I just want to like.
for people that don't remember or are younger. This what whatever they're thinking of. You go to an Admirals game now. I mean, they do a good job. These teams do a good job, and the markets.
Tough and there's a lot there's a lot of things You know, begging for our attention. I just like. The Bradley Center was packed. For more than just For more than just the bucks, and maybe even more on these other. Games because there was a passion there, and there are a lot of fond memories still.
with with the Mustangs. And I'm, you know, I just I just want people that don't know about that to try to Whatever you're thinking, it was more than that. Right, you know, when you think about when you talk about the Bucks, you think about the big three here, right? With Ben Baker, Big Dog, and them when they were in that, you know, we were here during that, and we were out drawing them, we were putting more people in. And I know people are, you know, like they'll look at that and think that we're talking just completely out of our head.
No, but it is, but it is true, you know, it absolutely is, and it was uh. You know, it was a great time, great time here, you know, that I had and loved it. And it's been a part of my blood forever. You know, with that, and just fortunate now to be in the front office and be able to give back and help out any way possible. A question we've suddenly gotten.
A thousand times. The difference, the main difference between you know, playing outdoor when you get Undrafted to the Niners in 91. You know, you're with some Jerry Rice and John Taylor type of guys playing NFL football outside. You tried to play the indoor game as a wide receiver. I gotta think that you're thinking a lot.
Like, do you get over the point where it's like, I mean, if I run over there, I'm going to smash my knee into this wall. Does that ever go? Oh yeah, you know, you become crafty, right? You know, because if I've always said those walls in arena football, if people don't understand what we're talking about, it's the hockey wall with a pad over it. and you're in full uniform hitting that sometimes at full speed.
Um You know, but it was, you had to kind of understand the game a little bit more, right? You couldn't run full speed. You know, if you did, your career would be very, very short.
So you kind of had to start learning the game a little bit more. But I've seen a ton of things. You know, I've had it happen. You know, I've seen guys dislocate elbows going over the walls when it gets hit. I've seen guys that we've had, I saw one place in Connecticut.
The end zone was open, right? It wasn't rounded, so it was a squared end zone, but it didn't have a back wall to it. And there was a door. There, I've seen a guy go through, catch a pass, full speed, can't stop, hit this wooden door, and run through the door. You know, just all kinds of things.
But Yeah, it's such a great game, you know, and when Jim Foster, you know, went there in Madison Square Garden. You know, and then that time frame, and started looking at it and then drawing that diagram up, right? And saying, oh, you know what, we can play football here. I always say it's like football on a postage stamp. Right?
That's what it's like. It's that small. Uh, but it's a great game, there's nothing like it, and when you went from the outdoor game to the indoor game. You know, the game slowed down to you. because things didn't take as long right they were transpiring a lot faster And I think a lot of that's what made Kurt Warner successful when he went to the outdoor game, he played this game first.
And then he went out there and everything just kind of went to him. And okay, we're kind of going through, you know, here, you don't have a time that's. Take a snap, drop back, look, pat, pat, look, turn. It's over at that point, right? You know, you're dropping back, sitting, and the ball's gone.
All right. And everything.
So I think it's a big adjustment for people coming for the outdoor game, but I think it's a huge advantage going from the indoor game to the outdoor game. You know, and then maybe Like Kurt, like I don't, I don't, I don't think however long. You're going to tell, like, tell me the story of arena football in 30 minutes, in 10 minutes, in five minutes, in one minute. I think even if you keep getting shorter. Kurt Warner's name is probably going to come up if you're telling the story.
Football. Is that like... Is that what you think AF1 would need? Obviously, it would help, but is that, do you need like a guy that can? Go there and then into the NFL.
Is that what you're hoping to do? You're playing now in the spring. There's. Guys trying to get to the league that are in the UFL right now. Uh So what are those What are those challenges?
Are those challenges that's presented in trying to find the player pool? And then, do you like? Is that going to be an effort we need our Kurt Warner or is it not like that? Yeah, you know, absolutely. You talk about Kurt Warner enough here in Right here in this painting, this Kurt Warner in this painting here getting tackled by Ralph Jarvis.
And, you know, this was a painting that somebody did for a fifth-year anniversary.
So it's kind of cool that you said that, right?
So Kurt Warner was always a story of arena football. Everybody's seen the movie: The Legend coming out, making it to the NFL, being the great, going to the Hall of Fame, right? Do you want someone like that or need someone like that? Sure, it's always nice. We put.
Nine guys in the UFL last year, five guys in Canada. Right, so we put 14 guys and moved up. We just had a guy in Albany as a starting quarterback, just got picked up today by the Houston Gamblers. Right, he's getting ready to play Saturday night against Minnesota, just got a quarterback. I watched that game, like all their quarterbacks got hurt.
Yeah, right, they all got hurt, right? I was watching it, I was watching it Sunday night when. It did pop in my head. And you know, hey, I wonder, then lo and behold, right?
So now Sam Castranova is gone from Albany, and now he's in Houston. That's a great step. And so people see that because it allows. Players and agents to see, hey, I can play this league and have an opportunity to go, right? And we want, you know, we want those big stepping stones to the NFL if they can.
You know, we have teams that have NFL guys now that are playing that are trying to get back. They're out of the league for whatever reasons, a multitude of reasons. You know, and they want to get back to it.
So it's an opportunity as it always was, right? Nobody ever said, Hey, I'm going to make a living playing Arena football.
Okay, it just it wasn't that. You know, it wasn't that until The late 90s, early 2000s, right? When he got really, really big, we were on NBC.
Now we started making a living, we started making good money and all that. But, you know, it was no different than the NFL way back in the day before the antitrust lawsuits, right? Before everybody started, and look at it now, we got guys making $50 million a year. Right?
Playing 16 games. It's crazy.
So to answer your question, would it be nice to have That really person to do that and really earmarket? Sure, it would. But us showing that we can develop players and put them in other leagues. And all of that is what we try to do, right? It's another opportunity for someone to grow.
And at the end of the day, that's what we want.
So you're getting back into the business, I guess. Would they have won? When you were presented that opportunity, I mean, you. He said you couldn't say no to him, but Could you just not say no at all? Like, this, could this, could, could this be happening in you with?
your experience and your knowledge and your ideas. Could you just not be involved? Could you be watching it and be like, I need to be involved. Uh You know, it's funny. It's funny that you said that, right?
Because, and to tell you the funny story, too, when Jerry had called me and all of that. We were sitting at home in the recliner and the phone rang. and my wife saw it it said jerry kerz on it right And she looked at me and she goes, do not answer that phone. Right. And I said, hang on.
So I answer it, and you hear, she goes, Jerry. We told you we were finished. You know, and he's like, well, just hang on, you know, let me talk and everything. And it was one of those at that point. to where You give so much.
Right for so many years and all of that. And now you have an opportunity. You know, when I gave it as a player, a coach, a GM, and all that on the team side, right?
Now you have an opportunity to have it at the league level.
Okay, where you can really. Utilize your experience and your knowledge and all that, and help develop where you want to go to. Right. You're trying to build this platform and people are leaning on you. to have your expertise.
That's when I couldn't say no. Um Could could I have walked away from it? Probably, you know, I turned down a great, great job that I had, but as I told my wife, I've lived two-thirds of my life already, right? It's not about money anymore. I got plenty of that and have money.
I don't, you know, that's not what life is. Life is about changing. People and making things happen, and enjoy your life. You know, we get up every single day. You know, I have the greatness of getting up, walking across the hallway from my bedroom into my office, or go downstairs or.
go to the, you know, do whatever, working from home, but being able to enjoy what I do. And it's just a great opportunity for me to be able to give back, like I said, and be able to help Commissioner Fisher and Jerry and Chrissy and us develop this thing where we want it to go. There's a business model. that they have up through 2030, that this thing is gonna take off. This will be the premier and probably only indoor football, arena football once it's all said and done.
We look forward to watching that happen. We look forward to the success. We look forward to the future Milwaukee team you're going to get back here. We look forward to that. You did, I had to, you know.
We got to talk longest yard. I gotta. Oh, I got some. I got something for you. Hang on.
Gary was in the longest yard. The Sandler remake.
So This is, and you probably see it. This is from the movie, right? The kickoff with the drop kick. Yeah, so that's me there, right, in the movie. And it's funny that you said that.
That was just on the other day. Uh and I continuously watch it. You know, it was a great opportunity because. We were obviously as players looking for things to do in offseason, right?
So, Pat O'Hara, who played with me in Tampa Bay, was a longtime arena football quarterback. He was in. the water boy in any given Sunday.
Okay, so they started making all these movies, right? They started making the invincible, they started making the longest shards, they started making the movie. And They could not utilize NFL players because it was during football season.
So, arena football players were basically arena football players during the season. actors during the off season for about four and a half years. Um, and that's kind of how that all transpired, and kind of how I got into the longest yard and got to do the remake. Yes, probably, I will be honest, that's probably the best four and a half months of my life that I've ever had. It was uh.
You know, really great. I mean, just getting to see all of those people, but more importantly, being in a movie and still getting a chance to watch it on TV after 20 years later, right? It's still being shown. and things like that.
So really, really cool, absolutely. Yeah, I was just, this is real dumb, but I was just an extra for the Sunday night baseball. Opening on NBC. Zach Brown was at Miller Park, and we were in the crowd. I already saw like my arm.
I was like, oh, that's my arm. That was eight hours. I didn't know that you were there for four and a half months shooting. Four and a half months to shoot the football, just the football scene.
Okay, the football part of the movie. Yeah. So they are, so it originally started when they shot all the other stuff. They shot it in New Mexico, the prison and all that, right? That was all in New Mexico.
That was about four months' worth. But the football scene we would do basically I'll play to a play and a half a day. Over and over and over and over. She would run it over and over, you know, the kickoff. I know the kickoff we did for two days before they actually filled it.
Just going through everything and all that.
Now, you think about this, okay, with that. That's full speed, and to people that have not seen the movie, this is a guy that used to be in the basketball trampoline game that they used to have. Yeah, exactly.
So, this dude had like a 40-something-inch vertical, and he's going to jump up and parallel kick you with another dude in the chest full speed, right?
So, you know, you run through it and you take off and you run by, and you're like, man, I really wonder what this is going to feel like. And when it was go time. You basically just, you know, I remember, remember, so Villa, you just went and just like bit your mouthpiece. And I'll never forget when I got hit in it. And I have other pictures that show me completely flipping and all that.
When I got hit, it felt like somebody had taken a sledgehammer. And just Taking my chest completely apart.
Now we wore body apparatuses underneath. You know, and all that, but I became a stunt man. That's what it was. I was a stunt man during that movie. And anybody knows when you become a stunt man in a movie, the the salary that you did during that time just escalate.
Right. Alright. But yeah, it was really, really cool. You know, Adam said, I mean, just all the people that were in that movie, right? I mean, It was a neat opportunity that we had.
You know, just another, just another feather in the cap that I was able to do and thankful.
So arena football allowed me to be able to do that.
So how many times did you get kicked in the chest?
So we, well, we had it. I think three times. The first two, the guy kicked and his cleat slipped off the chest, right? And then, you know, then it was like, all right, we're going, you know, we're going to go again. But when it did happen, you're like, hell yeah, because it's over finally, right?
And you hope it's over because then they got a film and picture everything they look perfect, right? Oh, wow. You know what?
That was great. He really kicked the shit out of them. But I did like the way he landed.
So let's redo it again, you know. Um but yeah, it was it was really, really neat. Absolutely. A lot of different tastes, different experiences. It seems like.
You're where you belong with AF1 starting this weekend. Gary, a pleasure to talk to you. Very cool. And, you know, best of luck. Tay, I appreciate it.
You know, I always enjoy being able to come on platforms like these and not only relive the moments of the history of the past, but also talk about our league and what it is and the opportunity that we have.
So, anytime you need anything whatsoever, you or your brother, you guys please reach out. I appreciate the time. Oh. We'll be back. Gary.
We'll be back. Gary Compton, thanks for stopping into the Winklerverse. Thank you. Please! Then Doug.
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