This January, bare-knuckle fighting championship takes over the ocean. The inaugural Bruce Cruise sails from Miami to the Bahamas aboard the Norwegian Jewel. Three straight days with pool deck bare knuckle fights in the Caribbean, massive parties, beach events, DJs, cigars, tequila tastings, and nonstop action. The lineup reveals coming soon. Cabins are disappearing fast, and the prices won't stay this low.
Reserve your spot with just two hundred dollars down at bkfsea dot com. Get. Good morning, everybody. Welcome into the Winklerverse. I'm Bart Winkler.
We have got two episodes today, I guess.
So on Tuesday, the 29th of September, I recorded with Grant Pills and Paul Emig. I recorded it, and then it disappeared. It is gone. I contacted Streamyard. They have no record of it.
None.
So I said, "Okay, fine." So Tuesday night we did a live. It was it was enjoyable. People stopped in. I was able to talk about all my points that I needed to talk about. Everything was fun.
Today, this episode. We are going to talk to Craig Kishon, Craig Kishon, of course, of Brewers TV, and whatever they're going to call their Fox, or not Fox, but their My Twenty Four network coverage, maybe Bucks TV, Bucks TV network. I don't know. That probably makes sense.
So we're talking to Craig today. This episode number seven hundred and fifty-five. I'm also going to post the lost, which will be 756. It's important to keep track of these because we're spinning up to 777. Lucky sevens!
Thanks to our friends of Pottawattamie. We're thanking our friends of Pottawattamie for helping us get there, and then we're going to celebrate the Winkler verse at Pato with a chance for you to win a bar tab with us to watch Bucks Heat in November.
So there's two episodes today. We're gonna do picks with Horvat tomorrow. Friday, I've been going live in the mornings. Post game for Brewers Saturday. We're gonna do post game for Brewers Sunday.
Sunday, Packers play at noon. Brewers will play at three. I'm gonna jump on after the Brewers. I'm not gonna do two. I'll just jump on after the Brewers.
Plus, I didn't want to get to seven seven seven so quickly because. I'm trying to reach it at the end of October.
Well, I'm cranking out too much, baby.
So I'll have posted. I'm just posting them together. I don't know. I don't know if that's going to kill the algo. I don't know what's going to happen.
But you'll be able to see and the Craig O'Shawn interview. I'm posting Craig first, so who's not up? It'll be up in an hour. I don't know. What a disaster!
But we got the content, and that is key. We are brought to you by the Wisconsin Bike Fed with our partnership here. As the light is fading quicker, we love fall. We love fall, but it does get darker sooner. And that means you gotta put your lights on.
Hey, now you gotta put your lights on. There's a monster driving behind a wheel, and it's every driver in the city of Milwaukee because they ain't looking out for you on that bike. And that's what we're telling people. But if you're on the bike, be visible. Wear protective gear.
Have a light on your bike as well. Wear the helmet, of course. Slow down. Look around in the car on the bike. WisconsinBikeFed dot org.
We thank them for their partnership here in the month of September. Before I get to Craig. I do want to make one point, and I'm making this point. I stumbled into it on the live, and I want to make this point. The point is because I I want to make this because I want to make this point at the beginning of an episode.
I also want to cut this reel, so you're going to see me in real time making a reel. Recording a reel.
So here is the reel. I will be posting on my social media websites. It's about the Packers in the 70s and 80s. And three, two, and one. I'm going to do this off the dome.
I don't know what exactly I'm going to say. Hopefully, I don't have to do it twice. But here we go again. Two and one. The Green Bay Packers have an ownership problem.
The owners being boomer fans. Listen, during the Packers' success from the nineties until now. All I ever heard wasn't about those teams. It was about I'll be lucky you didn't live through the '70s and '80s. If we were alive back then, we would have had to live through them because we would have got off our ass and demanded some change.
You guys, you boomers, sat through 20 years of bad Packer football and did nothing about it, and that's why now that Lafleur is crashed and burned this season already before October, you're so willing to move the goalpost to next year. Because you're the softest generation of fans we've ever had, I'm not out there ruining the Brewers fun now. Talking about the '90s and zero zeros Brewers, Boomers, get away from this team. Sell your seats. Leave it to the young generation.
I say as my eyes are drooping down my face. But whatever, you tell me. I got a face for radio. That's the path I chose. All right, yeah.
Take a short TV timeout, and this episode will be Craig Kashan. I thought about attaching at the end of it. I'm just going to do a Craig episode and episode. That's what we're going to do.
So, content galore today. What a world! Craig Kashan joining us here on the Winklerverse next. This January, bare-knuckle fighting championship takes over the ocean. The inaugural Bruce Cruise sails from Miami to the Bahamas aboard the Norwegian Jewel.
Three straight days with pool deck bare knuckle fights in the Caribbean, massive parties, beach events, DJs, cigars, tequila tastings, and nonstop action. The lineup reveals coming soon. Cabins are disappearing fast, and the prices won't stay this low. Reserve your spot with just two hundred dollars down at bkfsea. dot com.
Stopping into the Winklerverse today, you know him from well. Right now, you know him from Brewers TV, and he'll be on my twenty-four with the Bucks. It is long-time Wisconsin sports personality Craig Kishan, and as he joins us here with Streamyard, I get to see what's behind him, and I just love that there's actually like. Posters and pennants and bobbleheads of the teams we root for. I was I had a conversation with my good buddy, our good buddy Chuck Freeman, the other day.
Yeah, and we were talking about how to like. I think at least the radio side, TV, you can maybe get away with it, but at least on the radio side, if you are not like a diehard fan of these teams, you just can't do the job the same way.
So I am happy to. I am happy that. You know, as a journalist, you root for the story, not whatever. But Craig's got the stuff behind him. Craig's a fan.
I like that about you. How you doing, buddy? I'm doing well. I've got this is my little bar corner down here on my little lower level, and I got a lot. There's a lot of stuff on the walls here.
Do you want a quick tour? I do.
So on this side, I've got the the Bucks and the and the Packers covered. I've got my my TV up there. I've got my Uh, city jersey that people seem to like or not like, but I not me. I've got uh my Bob my um Mike flags from all the stations. Oh my God, look at that!
How about that? You got Madison, Eau Claire, the FanDuel, the Valley, Midwest Sports Channel, uh, ESPN, Fox, Big Ten. That's a pretty good little collection.
So, and I've got the tidbit. My score, my scorebook, and everything, and then we have Christmas lights on the the bar mirror because that's a must in the state of Wisconsin. I've got my four quarterback poster. Wow, pack. Um, my signs that are that I found somewhere.
Yeah, okay. And my Fox Sports Wisconsin, and then the drink Wisconsinably deer that I shot and put together.
So wow, yeah, yeah, wow. I I didn't know we'd be getting a tour.
Well, I didn't either. You want one more here? I forgot about this. This one I can't stage any better. This is my Brewer wall, although it's it's kind of dark.
But I've got my uh I've got my no hitter framed up that I called a combined no hitter. Yep. And then the boys who threw it. I know this is dark, but they my guys got this for me all autographed and stuff, so that was cool.
So yeah.
Well, I suppose it's a good yeah. It's a good it's a good place to start, Craig. That's a great wall, first of all, yeah, and a great room. I suppose we could start with the Brewers because they're the team that that you know everybody's kind of focused on right now with the playoffs happening and coming up. And the Brewers will have a game, a couple games this weekend at home.
One thing with the Brewers that's interesting is. Obviously, they were not good for a long time. They, I was born in '84, so I needed 24 years before I saw make the playoffs, which is insane. And then we kind of got this golden age of Brewers baseball, but now we have like a new age. Like this is the Murphy era, I think, is distinguishable now from the Council era.
But within these Murphy years, like. There's a lot that you're still wondering about coming into this playoff. Are they going to hit a home run in the clutch times? Is the pitching staff going to be fully healthy, or there's been problems with the pitching staff in the past? Once we get to the postseason, but they've won more games than ever.
They have elite talent both in the lineup and on the mound. Murphy's hitting all the right buttons. As somebody who has said multiple times, I just don't fathom the Milwaukee Brewers ever winning a World Series. This year does feel even different than last year, even if the playoff path ends up being the same or whatever. What is the biggest difference as you're around this team from last year to this year that you've been able to notice?
Well, I I think, you know, for me first and foremost, and I've been saying it all season, this team just seems a lot deeper than and has more depth, I think, than especially last year's team. Because I mean, let's face it, last year didn't end well, but they still had the best record in all of baseball and still put together a hell of an entertaining season. And they had different highs and lows last year than than they had this year, and I feel like this year they've eliminated a lot of the lows. Um and put a cap on some of the highs. And when I say that, you know they they've only had five game winning streaks.
And I know you probably talked about it on on your shows that that doesn't happen in baseball where you end up winning a hundred and three games and have the best record. It just doesn't work like that normally.
So. But that that just means that they can they can shut it down after a loss and bring it right back. It also means they have a Cy Young Award pitcher in Jacob Mizerowski who took the ball thirty times this year.
So you're not going to have a long losing streak with him. That's for sure. And then the the whole depth with it as well. I I don't mean so much like covering for injury as much as you know we've seen a platoon on the left side of the infield off and on all season long we've seen it at first base as well I mean that's that's three or four major infield we've seen it in the outfield I mean just about anybody's capable of doing something for this team in a dramatically good way. And I've been saying this too.
I mean, one through nine in the batting order, and this has changed pretty recently, especially since Council left. Their their offense has gotten better. One through nine, we don't have guys in the six, seven, and eight, nine hole who are maybe the best guy in there's batting two twenty, and and you got a couple guys batting under two hundred. We've seen that over over the recent years, but but not during the Murphy years because they're playing small ball. They're figuring.
A way to get on base, and any one of those nine Bart to me can start a rally with two outs and nobody on, and the next thing you know, the Brewers score three or four runs.
So everybody's capable of of sparking something and doing something, and then we know what the pitching depth is. You know, it starts with the Miz. You know, we had Harrison earlier. You know, this summer that we're all going, he's the number two, and now Logan Henderson. Is who's the number three?
Maybe at this point it doesn't matter. You have a handful of number threes. You got a hell of a bullpen. You got a hell of an eighth and ninth inning pitcher. I don't know, man.
To me, just the just the depth has stood out all season long. It really has, and and they've overcome. You know, Brandon Woodruff just not being a huge participant on the club this year. They've they've completely overcome that, and so I I just think that speaks volumes of. Just how this this whole organization has kept itself together, and these guys are good guys, man.
They they get it.
So, and I I do hope they win. I I think they can. I really do. Yeah, it does feel different. I think it feels a little different just because they're going into the playoffs with like just better vibes.
It just seems like there's not like a crazy injury, and everyone just feels pretty good. Everyone's relatively healthy. Also. They might be like the favorite, which is weird. I was reading an article at ESPN where, you know, fifty people made their predictions, and I think like half of them ended up taking the Brewers, not just to go to the World Series, but win.
And as you've had a lot of experience covering these teams in our state, I think like I just got asked this again: like, who do you like the best? Who's your favorite team of the three? And I hate answering that question because I do feel like it's dependent on the year or the time or whatever. Like this Sunday when the Brewers are on, it'll be right after the Packers. But I'm not going to care.
The Packers go one and three. I don't care. The Brewers are on. They got a game. It's it's the NLDS.
I need to. I'm focused on that right now. I think like when the Packers won the Super Bowl as many times as they did. That's obviously great. The Bucks winning a championship was huge.
It was huge for the city of Milwaukee. It was also huge for like we had like ten years of all of our teams blowing it in the playoffs, and then the Bucks kind of did that for us.
So that was great. I'm getting to the point that the Brewers winning a World Series, if it happened, I just I think it would like. I think just the tangible city of Milwaukee would forever feel different. Like, if the city of Milwaukee is like a smile right now, we'd be like the biggest smile ever. It's just there's something.
I think I think for Milwaukee to be the greatest city on earth, the World Series is that missing piece. I just think it would be so different. They're all great. You can't compare your favorite kids, right? But a Brewers World Series might be your favorite kid.
I think for people.
Well, you know, it's I I get asked that all the time and stuff, and and for me, it's uh, it's who's ever playing that day. Yeah, I know that that sounds you know pretty general, but you know, at at noon on Sunday, um, I'll be somehow tuned into the Packer game somehow, and and hope they they win. But come Brewer time, it's going to be uh, you know, the party's just getting started right on on Saturday and Sunday this weekend for Brewer games. You know, I I think to me it's it's so obvious too. The the greatest difference with baseball is you know this entire city and this entire state has been has been schedules watching a Brewer game for six months almost every single day during that span, and and that that's what makes it special.
I mean the the Packers Super Bowls, you know they've they've won you know a couple during my era, and they've been great, but. It's such a it's such a once a week thing, and then you know the playoffs start, and and you know the year they won it in twenty ten, you had no clue they were going to win it that year. They were the like the last wild card, didn't ever play a home game, and look what they accomplished. and And so it's like in a blink of an eye that was over. But this this brewer build up and being the very best of the best all season long would mean so much.
And you know the thing about it too is. The entire state of Wisconsin is so locked in to baseball. The last several years, so locked in. There's a million people. It seems like are are part of this 2.7 million in attendance from up north, and that's the great thing about the dome, though.
I mean, they they buy their tickets. They're guaranteed to come down and and see the game at game time, and and you know then head back or stay over. What They're doing. They're they're having a great time, and and they're behind the team, and and all that.
So that's been. To me, that's been so cool to see, and so many people come up to, you know, our set or see us, you know, walking in the concourses, and you know, a lot of them are just from up north, western part of the state, Green Bay area. They're coming from out of state, you know, to watch the Brewers for a weekend and stuff.
So, and their their road travel has been outstanding too. Oh yeah, this year especially. I never, you know, when the Cubs fans started. Invading our ballpark, you know, many years ago. I really never, and then going down to Wrigley, it still was all Chicago, but it was a different Chicago crowd.
I never thought I'd hear. Brewer fans like we have, especially this year at Wrigley Field. I think that's the coolest thing ever. Myself, they they they did it, man. The club's great.
The fans have been great, and they've wrenched their way into that ballpark and are taking over sometimes and and making it American Family Field South. With that, that's the coolest thing. Not only are the Brewers, if you looked at the last few years, like getting better each year, but what you guys have built now with Brewers TV is a pretty nice roster of play-by-play and analyst and host. I talked to Vinny a couple weeks ago. Vinny was like, "He's so like, oh, I was so bad in the beginning." I think Vinny's like.
I don't think he understands how good he is at that job, and I think like Dillard's great. Obviously, you know Ba and The Rock and Levering, and I do miss The Rock testimonials on the field. Those are fun. I still love when you guys are out for the pregame. I love you guys were just in front of the stadium with um for the watch parties and stuff.
The Wisconsin Dells weeks you you and Davy would do were always my favorite. Where there was somewhere you were at at the beginning of the year, I can't even remember it now. But I just love when the crowd is behind you. Just it really adds a lot to it. I I.
Do that like every day. I love it.
Well, believe me, when we're out there, we feel like we should do it every day out there. And and who knows what what'll evolve, you know, into next year. But we've we've had a blast. We haven't not been outside the ballpark very often, you know. We've we've set up a stage in different locations of the plaza.
The plaza was a hugely great addition that the Brewers put in because. It it allows us to go out there and have a great you know backdrop. It allows for fans to come right up to us. They've got two giant big screen built in TVs out there, video boards, so they've got the game on. It's just you know it's a little mini title town, if you will, up in Green Bay, and I I think it was an incredibly smart thing and necessary to do too because you got brew fans that that.
Now can't get in the ballpark because the tickets have been, you know, sold out or tough to get.
So, but they can still feel like they're part of the action. But there's nothing better for us than, you know, to to mix it up with the fans and and to enjoy it and to and to be homers, man. It's it's a it's a home broadcast, so we get to be homers, and when we're fans, to top it off, like you mentioned, you know, when we first started this, it it's great to be a part of that all and. You know, the last thing you think you're doing, Bart, is working. You know, so so they're they're great, and the fans just are incredible to be around.
To me, they're just they're second to none. They're sincere, they're passionate, and we have we've had good setups to be out there, and I and I hope there's more to come. This January, bare knuckle fighting championship takes over the ocean. The inaugural Bruce Cruise sails from Miami to the Bahamas aboard the Norwegian Jewel. Three straight days with pool deck bare knuckle fights in the Caribbean, massive parties, beach events, DJs, cigars, tequila tastings, and nonstop action.
The lineup reveals coming soon. Cabins are disappearing fast, and the prices won't stay this low. Reserve your spot with just. Two hundred dollars down at bkfsea. dot com.
I like talking to broadcasters. I like getting the like behind the scenes and the info. I think I asked Levering once what his favorite inning to call was, and I think he was like, "What kind of question is that?" I don't know. I thought it was interesting. He, I think he said ninth, probably, whatever.
But I, when's the last? Because I spent a couple years. At a TV station and in the sports department, a little bit. When was the last sportscast you did? Like, because you've been with this for a long time.
Yeah, like the last 10 p.m. sportscast you did. I think 2000, maybe 1999. One one of those two. It was probably 2000.
Actually, I'm pretty sure it was 2000. Because then in in 01. I started with the Bucks and Brewers in April of '01, so this is my 26th season of doing both these teams here.
So that was that was a while. That was at Channel 15 in Madison, WMTV, the NBC affiliate, and I was sports director there for I think 10 years. Worked there since 1990, and. Man, we did a lot. We were when I was there.
We were like the Badger station. We had you know some of their football games on that I got to do.
Some of their basketball games. We had a coaches show for a while and stuff, and. I mean, it's it was a great city. It was the beginning of the Alvarez era, Stu Jackson, Dick Bennett, Bo, and and bringing those two sports to the to the highest level. That was really cool to cover and be a part of, and and yeah.
So I did that through through two thousand, and then and then headed over here. Fortunate enough to get this gig because they never had pre and post game shows for either team before that. It was the first time the the cable regional network started coming in, and and so it's been going on with all these different. I showed you all the mic flags. There's been a few people I've worked for, just covering these two teams.
So so yeah, that was the last time. Do what? Like if you if they called you up and said we need you to do the ten o'clock tonight, like what do you think could be the biggest difference? I'm thinking of when I was in college.
So then, I worked at Channel Eight in Lacrosse for a little bit. Um, with Brian Eckert and Greg Wabernick were there, and we were like the tapes were DVC pros, and you had the different small TVs. There's just so many channels, so much social media. Um, people had like you can use video from the. You don't have to send out 15 reporters for football anymore.
Do you think it would be easier to do it now? There's more plates to juggle now. Like, would you want to do it now? That's a. I don't think that's a tough job.
You like work all day for three minutes of sports, and then if there's even one remotely big story in the city. You're getting cut that night. Oh, you're doing thirty seconds of sports. Yeah. Did you like?
What do you think the biggest challenge would be if you had to do that again? Uh.
Well, I mean, look when when you get old, it is tough to go back because everything has changed. And when you're not a part of it for how long has that been? You know, almost thirty years. Um. I mean, I I could go up and down the list of how things were when I when I worked in the business, and they are a complete one eighty what they are now, you know.
I I could not edit anything right now. I'm not up to speed on that at all. As as you mentioned, everything's digital now.
So there, there's you edit with the VCRs and the little things. I mean, I mean, we had we had tape cassettes that were you know this wide that we put into you know machines that had you know open you know. There were there were three quarter tapes, and they were they were big ones, and there were medium sized ones. But I mean, they were all you could measure these things, you know, with a measuring stick. They were so big, and the editing was just, you know, find your spot and you know, punch punch the the machine button, and then you know you you go from there.
And now, obviously, things have changed a lot. We had. You know, when I first started, we had the giant, big cameras you carry on your shoulder, and they were like eighty pounds. Yeah, I didn't have to do it because we had we had camera operators and we had people that helped us. You know, edit and all that kind of stuff.
Now it's now it's a one man show. You know, with the you take your your own phone out or or whatever, and it it becomes a one man show. I remember once we were on a one of my early shoots when I was younger up in Eau Claire. We were covering some golf tournament up there. It was a local one, and we went out and we're on a.
We got up to a tee box and got video them teeing off, and then it was probably a par five. Then we we drove down, you know, two hundred, two fifty to catch up with the guys in the fairway, and they got their next shot to the to the to the green, and I'm driving the cart because again I don't have to be the videographer, and I'm driving the cart for my guy. And back then you had the camera, and then. You had the video cord, the long video cord that connected to the the tape machine, and. He sits.
He sits down in the car. He's got his Camrys, you know, getting it off his shoulder and getting it in his lap so he can, you know, take off on this thing. And as he's reaching down for his video recorder that was on the ground on the grass, I just stepped on the gas and and we took off.
So that that cord was frayed. The the video machine was still sitting in the same spot back on the fairway, and we were done shooting video for the rest of the day. Suddenly, so. I went back and did did my did my report with. This is what we have up to this point, and let me tell you how it finished because I can only tell you I can't show you.
So, that that's just a a fun example of you know how how it's changed. I mean I can't imagine you know these these kids that are running around and they're all great here in town. You know I've I've had a chance to get to know them and stuff at all the different stations, but these these young dudes and. And young women that are coming through now are just a blast to be around. It's a different type of enthusiasm.
They're doing, they're they're just doing different things in different ways, and and it's it's pretty cool. I'm pretty sure, Bart, there is no way that I could go back and help anybody's ten o'clock news out. I'd say, believe me, whoever is in your building can do a much much better job. The worst. Accident!
I had. I was driving a live truck, and I was leaving the garage, and I hit close on the garage before I, and the garage door came right down on the satellite. Oh, jeez! And I thought I was getting fired. I somehow didn't.
I also one time I had to lug the camera and the tripod up. There's a ski jump in Westby. Oh yeah. I had to go all the way. I had to walk all the way up.
Like I vividly remember the pain. Oh yeah, we we had one in Eau Claire too, and it was like I ain't going up there, no way.
Well, I did, not great. Hey, we'll be watching the coverage. We're very excited. Hopefully, you guys are doing this a long time, and I'm excited for the Bucks too. I think the over under is way too low, and I do think that there's going to be.
I mean, I'm going to enjoy the difference this year. It's just not going to be, even though they've been good since they won the title. The regular seasons have kind of been a slog, so that's I'm more excited for this year than maybe like the last few. Yeah, there's been there's there. Look, we're we're not used to drama in in covering our teams and and and all that.
But there's been there's just been a lot of drama, and I think there's been especially last year there was just so much negativism from the outside world. The the narrative of you know the league or the media, national media, want Giannis out of Milwaukee and into a bigger market and you know more. Flashy and all that.
Sometimes that's hard to ignore because you know the Bucks wouldn't wouldn't garner and still don't garner much outside interest. You know from the from the national side, and I think that's all going to be good. You know, Taylor's going to be I think a good coach. He's he's kind of like and and if if. Coach Budenholder is gets a hold of this at all.
You know what I mean when I say this. He's a nice version of you, and and he he just deals with the with the media and players very very well. But I'm telling you right now, if if Coach Bud hadn't been here and and laid the hammer down, there's no. Frickin' way they would have won a championship. As talented as Giannis and and Middleton was, and Drew Holiday and stuff, and you need that that you know that threesome.
They needed they needed a coach. They needed discipline. You know they they needed to be responsible and. It it hasn't been that way the last year or two. It just hasn't.
So you got some good young guys in here. There's there's a lot of talent. I'm sure this roster is going to change as we go through through the year a little bit. But that's to be expected. But you know they have to recreate a foundation and and they need some young guys to do it.
Any sport, right now, is a young man's game, and especially when you're kind of starting over, which is kind of what they are right now. Craig Kishon, appreciate your time. Appreciate the tour. Yeah, and appreciate the job well done. We'll be watching.
Thank you for stopping into the Winkler verse. It was great. Appreciate it. We'll do it again. All right.
This January, bare knuckle fighting championship takes over the ocean. The inaugural Bruce Cruise sails from Miami to the Bahamas aboard the Norwegian Jewel. Three straight days with pool deck bare knuckle fights in the Caribbean, massive parties, beach events, DJs, cigars, tequila tastings, and nonstop action. The lineup reveals coming soon. Cabins are disappearing fast, and the prices won't stay this low.
Reserve your Spot with just two hundred dollars down at bkfsea. dot com.
