The Wisconsin Sportscast

In this week's episode of The Wisconsin Sportscast, Joe Flacco didn’t seem to get enough of the Green Bay Packers. Earlier this week he was traded from the Browns over to the Bengals, who happen to face the Packers this Sunday. The Browns gain a 5th round draft pick in 2026, and the Bengals get a replacement for the injured Joe Burrow, which seems like a pretty good trade. He seems likely to play against the Packers again this weekend, can he beat the Packers a second time? Maybe, but that all depends on if you thought it was him who beat the Packers the first time a few weeks ago. Flacco was awful when the Browns beat the Packers, and has only a 58% completion rate this season with six interceptions. If the Packers can put pressure on him, he should be dead in the water. At 40 years old, he can’t run even if he still does have a good arm. The Packers should be able to beat the Bengals this weekend, and after that have a good stretch ahead of them: Arizona, then Pittsburg, then Carolina, then the Eagles. It’s not unreasonable to expect them to go four-for-four in that stretch! At the very least, they better rack up at least three wins in that stretch. 

In college football, the Badgers stunk it up once again in their loss against Michigan. They had two good drives all game: their first drive where they got a touchdown and their last drive where they got a field goal. But the sloppy play wasn’t the biggest concern on Saturday, it was Luke Fickell’s “strategy.” Not even the TV experts could understand why he wouldn’t take a timeout at the end of the game. Oates has two theories. One is the answer given by Fickell, that it was a strategy that failed big time. The other theory is what many fans, including Oates, think actually happened: Fickell waved the white flag to prevent Michigan from running up the score. Fans are upset, as they should be, with Joe Klatt loudly calling the “strategy” a bad look to the entire nation. This weekend they play Iowa, in what both should be and needs to be a win.

Finally, as of recording on Tuesday the Brewers have taken the first two games in their NLDS series against the Cubs. The Miz left his sloppy slump to give an electric performance on the mound during a bullpen game that saw him pitching for three innings. In those three innings, he threw 31 pitches at 100 mph or higher, capping out at 104.3! The Brewers used him exactly how they needed to use him, Oates says. He isn’t ready as a playoff starter, but letting him do his thing for a few innings here and there worked to throw the Cubs off their game. But the real dagger on Monday wasn’t the Miz, it was Andrew Vaughn’s three-run homer in the bottom of the first. The Cubs still have a chance to turn things around, so the Brewers can’t slow down, but Monday’s game seemed to put a real stamp on the entire Cubs organization.

In this week's episode of The Wisconsin Sportscast, the Packers reached a tie against the Cowboys late Sunday evening, which makes us ask the question: why even have ties in the NFL? The league says it’s to promote “the health of the athletes,” but Oates isn’t buying it. After all, if that were true, they wouldn’t be trying to add more games onto each season. The changes to how overtime works are nothing but grandstanding by the NFL, Oates says, and ultimately doesn’t make much sense. Sure, college overtime rules aren’t too much better and nobody wants to see a field goal competition to end a game. What they should do, Lucas thinks, is have a 10 minute quarter and if there is no winner at 10 minutes keep going until it is no longer a tie. Or, better yet, just play one 15 minute quarter!

Tie notwithstanding, Sunday was a horrible night for the Packers across the board. Starting with clock management, there were issues across the entire game. It really makes you wonder if the Packers weren’t so aggressive at the end of the first half and gave up a touchdown what the rest of the game would have looked like. It’s an outstanding problem with Matt LaFleur, says Oates: he’s aggressive when he needs to be passive and passive when he needs to be aggressive. Just look at the field goal that brought the game to a tie. Turning to the defense, the Packers should not have allowed the Cowboys to run up the score the way they did. There was no pass rush outside of Micah Parsons, and the secondary was terrible throughout the entire game outside of Keisean Nixon. Where was the blitzing? Dak Prescott might not be a grade-A quarterback, but he is a veteran who if left alone all day will find somewhere to throw the ball. Finally, the special teams once again proved to be a major problem. The Packers have a bye week this week followed by a game against the Bengals in Green Bay, which better be a glorified bye week again.

Turning quickly to college football, the Badgers will come off their own bye week to take on Michigan this Saturday. They enter the game the underdogs by a good margin, if you believe the point spread, but Oates thinks it might be more complicated than that. Michigan has a young quarterback who might be able to be exploited if Madison’s defence does their job correctly. Either way, you should be able to expect a good effort out of the Badgers this weekend, and hopefully Michigan decides to take them lightly.

Finally, postseason baseball is here with the Brewers sitting with more wins than anyone in baseball. They’ll play  someone this weekend, the question becomes who? Both the Padres and the Cubs are good and basically equal in both hitting and pitching. Either way, it’ll be a tough series against a team that currently has the season on the Brewers. One thing is for sure though. Whoever we face won’t have the top payroll in all of the MLB. That team couldn’t even make the playoffs…

In this week's episode of The Wisconsin Sportscast, the Badgers lost a must-win game against Maryland on Saturday, causing the fans to act in a way that has some people a bit perturbed. Boos were loud in Camp Randall, and with half the stadium gone in the fourth quarter the “Fire Fickell” chants were also loud. Lucas and Oates agree that the Fire Fickell chants were uncalled for, but they also don’t love how former Athletic Director and Badger Football Coach Barry Alvarez reacted to the calls. On his radio show earlier this week, he said that the fans are spoiled rotten, and it's disrespectful to flip on the team this early in the season. He did walk back his tone a little bit, and Oates doesn’t disagree with the sentiment behind the statements, but he also doesn’t think it’s doing anything to help the program when people are already tuning out.

There was a lot of blame going around, along with votes of confidence for those being blamed, but Lucas returns to an old question: can you boo college athletes? In the past, he says no. Once upon a time college athletes were still student athletes doing their best. But in today’s game, these players are getting paid not insignificant amounts of money. That makes them pros, and open to boos. Who can blame the fans for booing a professional player who they don’t even know? It’s not like the old days where you could watch a player grow over the course of four years; today’s college athletes are staying for a year or maybe two then moving to where the money is. Would Lucas boo? No, but it’s all fair game when there is no loyalty except to the money. 

Speaking of horrible football losses, the Packers fell to the Browns on Sunday in an all around awful game. Specifically, it was Jordan Love’s interception that cost Green Bay the game in the fourth quarter. At least here the blame can only lay with two people. Jordan Love should have seen the defender coming and adjusted as needed. The play looked a lot more like Brett Favre than Aaron Rodgers. But the playcall was also bad, a fact that Matt LaFleur owned up to. At the end of the day, they are both at fault and that play cost them the game. It doesn’t help when the offensive line completely falls apart, with Zach Thom and Aaron Banks leaving the game once again due to injury. The Browns defense did their job against the Packers, making sure that Love was never comfortable, and Myles Garrett showed why he’s a great player. But don’t get too caught up on the loss, Oates says, the Packers have a history of overlooking an opponent. Maybe now certain players will stop running their mouths about how the Green and Gold are unstoppable… 

In this week's episode of The Wisconsin Sportscast, there’s one big question on the minds of Madison sports fans these days: can the Badgers Football team stay relevant? After their loss to Alabama this weekend, Oates thinks they look no better off than they were last year. Sure, they’ve made some changes and added some veteran players, but that didn’t pay off on the field. We weren’t expecting them to beat Alabama, but their blowout loss was tough. Sure, they are down their starting quarterback, but that doesn’t excuse everything. Oates says it all comes down to recruiting. Wisconsin high schools are great at making really good offensive linemen, and the Badgers pursued none of them this year. Instead, the state’s top prospects went to Notre Dame and Minnesota. If they want to run the ball, which we assume they do, they need a good offensive line. To not recruit Wisconsin linemen means their entire offense is going to suffer.

This weekend the Badgers will take on Maryland in their first Big 10 matchup of the year. Maryland might hold a 3-0 record, but the Badgers are still favored. It might be the last time in a long while they enter a game favored, maybe even the last time this season depending on how Minnesota and Washington shape up. If they beat Maryland on Saturday, then we can breathe a sigh of relief and start to really look at the rest of the conference matchups. If they lose, then everyone has to be on notice. Because after Saturday, the Badgers will be facing a murderers row of tough teams for weeks. They need to start developing a winning attitude, and to do that you need to win some conference games.  

One thing on the Badgers side is that nobody seems to have turf toe, which can’t be said about the NFL. Quarterbacks have been going down across the league, including Joe Burrow who will be out for months at least with turf toe. Jayden Daniels, Justin Fields, and JJ McCarthy are also out with injury. The Packers understand just how hard it is to play competitively when you lose your starting quarterback. At least the Bengals have moves to make, signing former Packer Sean Clifford onto their squad. Speaking of, the Packers will take on the Browns on Sunday after another dominant victory last week. Still, Green Bay shouldn’t take them too lightly. They have some good players in Cleveland, they just make a lot of bad quarterback decisions. Add on the mounting injuries the Packers are already facing, and they can’t assume an easy victory on Sunday. 

In this week's episode of The Wisconsin Sportscast, Lucas and Oates return to the Greenbush Bar on Regent Street in Madison as part of the Capitol Times Idea Fest. This time, they’re joined by a special guest: former Badger Men’s Hockey player and coach Tony Granato. In addition to four years as a player for the Badgers and eight years as their head coach, Granato also coached Team USA in the Olympics in hockey in 2018, and helped the Badgers win the Big 10 championship in 2021. Since leaving Wisconsin, Granato has entered the realm of docuseries with Fight for Life with Tony Granato, which you can watch the first installment of on NHL Network.

Granato, Lucas and Oates touch on a slew of topics in this one-hour special episode of The Wisconsin Sportscast: from having to play as a rat in the NHL, to the Fight for Life docuseries, living in Wisconsin as a Chicago sports fan, NIL in modern college sports, Mike Leckrone and more. Of course, they also take a look at last week’s Badger Football win and what they need to do to go home happy against Alabama this weekend, and whether or not it’s too early to think about the Packers going to the Super Bowl. 

In this week's episode of The Wisconsin Sportscast, college football season is finally here as the Badgers return to Camp Randall on Thursday night to take on the Miami RedHawks. It’s been a while since the Badgers last played on a Thursday night, but their last Thursday game was memorable. That was the game dubbed by Lucas as “The Shoebox Game,” when just a few hours before kickoff the team announced that over two dozen players had been suspended. They still beat Western Michigan that night, or at least survived. This Thursday, though, should feel a little better for the Badgers. Oates will be especially watching their defense, which while mostly new to the team is full of veterans and going up against a mostly new offensive line from Miami. The Badgers won’t have, however, Nyzier Forqurean, as he’s still tied up in the courts. Maybe if he had played at a junior college for a year, he’d be on the field Thursday night…

Speaking of college football, Fox’s College Game Day will look a little different this year without Lee Corso. Corso is retiring, and Lucas anticipates the tributes to him will be a little emotional. Corso’s been with the program for decades; for many people he IS the program. He’s something college football really needs: a character. He was a very good coach at various programs over the years, even with a career losing record. But he was equal parts goofy while wearing mascot heads and super sharp about the game of football. His presence will be missed.

Speaking of tributes, the Brewers held their celebration of life for Bob Uecker on Sunday. Even though Trevor McGill blew the game at the end, the entire broadcast was a great tribute to one of the only universally beloved figures in Wisconsin. Even Vince Lombardi was respected, but not loved. Uecker loved to make people laugh, and while everyone loved the bad games when he’d tell his stories he was still one of the best people you want in the booth calling a baseball game. Uecker was originally hired as a scout for the team after his on the field career ended, but he wasn’t suited for that. Everyone in Wisconsin can agree that his role was in the broadcast booth. 

In this week's episode of The Wisconsin Sportscast, Lucas and Oates are taking in a change of scenery at the Greenbush Bar! During this live show at our wonderful sponsor, it’s all about success for the Brewers, the Packers, and the Badgers. 

Recording on Tuesday evening before the second Brewers/Cubs game of the day, Milwaukee is no longer in their historic winning streak but that doesn’t mean they aren’t playing well. Maybe too well, says some pundits, who fear that they’re peaking too early and will fall apart in the offseason. Now, it’s a little too early to be talking about magic numbers, but Oates isn’t concerned. Teams have stretches of good and bad play, and if you can get on a hot streak you take it when you can. Nobody was expecting them to continue their lossless streak forever. But now with Jackson Chourio and Rhys Hoskins about to come back from injury, Lucas and Oates think they’re only going to get hotter. They play baseball the way it used to be played: very fast and with a lot of manufactured runs. Their offense is turning on in a major way, and they excel at putting the ball in play. Even when they don’t hit, they’re also excelling at taking a lot of pitches and wearing down a pitcher. 

What would be success for the Brewers? Oates says an appearance at the World Series is what should be expected. Like a lot of Wisconsin sports teams, they’ve been able to get to the playoffs, but then fall apart. They need to make it all the way to the end this year, whether they win or not.

Turning to the Packers now, Jordan Love is back on the field and throwing passes after his thumb surgery. What would a successful season for Green Bay look like? Some sort of playoff success, Oates says. They too have been able to reliably get into the playoffs, but they always seem to fall apart. They’ve had good teams with great quarterbacks, but they just haven’t been able to go that extra step. It’ll be a big year for both Love and Matt LaFleur as they both try to prove that they deserve to be there.

Finally, what would success look like for the Badgers football team? Well, we can’t really expect them to have playoff success like the Packers or Brewers. But they need to make it to a bowl game this year. If they can do that and end up with a 6-6 record, that should be looked at positively. It should be a rebuild year for Madison this year, hopefully one without an air raide offense…

In this week's episode of The Wisconsin Sportscast, the Packers had their first preseason game over the weekend, it was a disappointment. Not only did they lose and look unready to play, but Jordan Love was hurt and will be missing the rest of the preseason. He had surgery earlier this week on his thumb, though he should be ready to go by the opener. While that’s about the best possible news you could get when you hear “starting quarterback” and “surgery” in the same sentence, it’s still some cause for concern. He had a few injuries last year, but none of them were recurring. When you have several separate injuries, it just means he’s getting hurt, Oates says. It’s when someone has recurring injuries when people should be concerned. 

Love isn’t the only injured player on the Packers roster. Jayden Reed, Dontayvion Wicks, and Romeo Doubs all also went down with various injuries. If Matthew Golden had any worries about playtime this year, those worries should be put to rest. Reed is the biggest worry of the bunch, Oates says. He might be the Packers best receiver, and not having him at the season opener will hurt a lot. 

Of course, the Brewers remain the talk of the town. They still hold the best league in all of baseball, and it’s starting to feel like they just can’t lose (though this podcast was recorded Tuesday evening before they took on Paul Skenes and the Pirates). Pat Murphy had a good way of describing the team: woodpeckers. They just keep going and going and driving you nuts. One of their biggest concerns at the beginning of the year was hitting, especially at the bottom of the lineup, and now they are scoring 4-5 runs a game reliably without a ton of power. They’re a team that’s really learned how to just put the ball in play, something that comes in handy when you can’t afford any of the league's big name sluggers. Al LaBouef is the team's head hitting coach, and has contributed greatly to turning the team into a persistent powerhouse. He coached most of the guys in the minors, so most of the team is already highly familiar with him. What he’s done is make a team that creates a ton of fun-to-watch at bats. Are Brewers fans getting maybe a little too excited? Maybe, but what you can’t say is that the team getting to where they are now is nothing but a fluke. 

In this week's episode of The Wisconsin Sportscast, the 2025 College Football Coaches Poll is out, and it isn’t looking good for the Badgers. Not only did they not get any votes (which shouldn’t be much of a surprise after last season), but the list is full of their opponents this season. Ohio State and Penn State came in at number 2 and 3, and in total over half the teams they play this year are in the top 25. We knew it was going to be a tough schedule, and we can really only expect the Badgers to be favored in just a few games to begin the season. After that, every game will be a fight. But maybe don’t look at them as tough games, but opportunities!

Meanwhile in the NFL, Packers Cornerback Nate Hobbs will be out for a little bit after undergoing knee surgery. Some pundits are saying he might be back in time for the opener against Detroit in about a month, but Lucas is doubtful. Hobbs is a very physical guy, something the Packers will really be needing in those first few games. That leaves them with Keisean Nixon, who is not exactly a veteran player. Between him, Carrington Valentine, and a returning Corey Ballentine, they’ll certainly be missing Jaire this year… They’ll play their first preseason game this weekend, and LaFleur is still unsure if the starters will actually play. Oates hopes they do. As long as you use them lightly so they don’t get hurt, it’ll be a chance for them to get their feet wet and get back into the rhythm of play.

Finally, the Brewers remain the best team in Major League Baseball as of recording on Tuesday evening. Now, the Brewers have not had the best record in baseball at the end of the season since 1982 when they went to the World Series. It’s still a little ways away and it’s impossible to say what’ll happen, but they’ve been playing some great ball. They’re a quiet team that everyone had written off after losing Adames and Williams, Oates says, but they’re playing some great ball. Add in a guy like Andrew Vaughn, and Milwaukee has a real shot. If they can stay healthy. Both Jackson Churio and their ace The Miz are hurt, though Oates isn’t too concerned. At least with The Miz, he speculates that this is more of a “save the arm for October” type of break. No one will complain about that, especially with the depth the Brewers have in both their starting pitchers and their bullpen. Maybe the secret lies in the snacks that manager Pat Murphy has been hiding in his pants pockets…  

In this week's episode of The Wisconsin Sportscast, Lucas and Oates start by remembering Ryne Sandberg, who passed this week at the age of 65. A Hall of Famer with 10 All Star Team invites, 9 Golden Gloves, and hundreds of stolen bases, Oates calls him a quiet professional. He wasn’t particularly showy and not a loud mouth, he was a linchpin in a group of players who helped revive the Cubs. He even had a game named after him, the Sandberg Game back in 1984, when he famously helped the Cubs beat the Cardinals in extra innings. He was a player that everyone could respect, even Brewers and Cardinals fans. That’ll be on display Tuesday night, when the Brewers hold a moment of silence in his honor ahead of their game against the Cubs. 

Speaking of the Brewers, they made their first big move ahead of the trade deadline on Monday by acquiring catcher Danny Jansen. A Wisconsin native, Jansen attended Appleton West High School before being drafted to the Blue Jays in 2013. His addition means that means that Eric Haase is going to have to go. He caught lightning in a bottle last year, but this season just hasn’t been working out for him. Add in the fact that William Contreras is the type of guy who doesn’t like to sit out, he just doesn’t fit in with the team. 

The trade deadline is just days away now, and the one big question on everyone's mind is: will the Brewers get their power hitter. The big name being thrown around is Eugenio Suárez, but can they actually make that kind of move? Lucas says no way, but Oates thinks that they’ll be at least trying. They better try at the very least, if the team is truly serious about getting more than a few games into the postseason.

Finally, moving away from baseball, a former Badger Football player is getting a big payday: Jake Ferguson has signed a $52 million four-year extension with the Dallas Cowboys. He is now the highest paid tight end in Cowboys franchise history, and hey, he deserves it. He’s being rewarded for a great career. He has a big catch radius, he runs well, he’s smart and he’s competitive. Sure, tight ends might not be the most recognizable names on the roster, but they are beginning to be paid like they should be better recognized. 

In this week's episode of The Wisconsin Sportscast, Oates is away on assignment, so former Wisconsin State Journal Sports Editor Bill Brophy joins Lucas to talk about what everyone is talking about these days: the Brewers. As of recording on Tuesday evening, the Brewers are on an 11 game winning streak and currently hold the best record in all of baseball. At 60-40, they have also overtaken the Cubs NL Central leaders after months of chasing. Brophy gives the credit to Pat Murphy, who he calls a true old school manager. He isn’t afraid to sit guys out when they aren’t doing too hot or have a conversation with them about changes that need to be made. Just look at Joey Ortiz, who before the All Star Break was struggling to hit the ball and is now starting to find contact after changing up his stance. 

The Brewers have a lot of great athletes top to bottom, even if they are still lacking a real power hitter. Even without that power hitter though, their starting rotation is strong enough that as long as they can get a few on the board they have a real chance at winning. Brophy was sent to Arizona during spring training this year, so he got a chance to see some of the relatively unknown names that now make up the lineup, including Jacob Misiorowski. Did Brophy think he would turn into The Miz, a star so big he gets recognized buying toilet paper? No way, he says. Even he was taken by surprise by his performance in the majors so far. Then you add in Brandon Woodruff, who seems to have gotten even better after his surgery, and the Brewers might have one of the best pitching rotations in baseball. 

Still, they need that big bat, and with the trade deadline just around the corner some names have been thrown around. But then who do you replace? Lucas thinks Caleb Durbin will have to be the one to go. He’s been a good asset at 3rd base, but if someone needs to go it’ll likely be him. Is there a lot of baseball yet to be played? Of course there is. As Pat Murphy put it, it’s still July. But for now, Brewers fans can celebrate a little bit at the very least. 

In this week's episode of The Wisconsin Sportscast, the MLB Home Run Derby was Monday night to mixed reviews. Cal Raleigh won the event and remains one of the top hitters in all of baseball. It was a family affair for the Big Dumper, with both his father pitching to him and his brother catching behind him. Over 20 years ago, the event was held at Miller Park in Milwaukee, and none other than Tom Oates was there (he has the newspaper column the next day with his byline to prove it). In addition to almost getting nailed with a fly ball during batting practice, Oates made some prophetic statements after the 2002 on the state of steroid usage at the time. Thankfully, that part of the sport has mostly cleared up. 

Tuesday night was the All Star Game (taking place after the recording of this podcast), and Brewers pitcher Jacob Mizerowski is continuing to make headlines with his addition to the team. The problem is that this time, most of the headlines are negative, with people agree that a pitcher with only five starts under his belt made it to the All Star Game. Oates understands the anger a little bit, after all some players try their entire career to be asked to join the game. But at the end of the day, the All Star Game is a TV show, not a game that will decide who’s going to the playoffs. If the fans want to see the Miz (guess what, they do), then why not have him in the game! 

Meanwhile, the rest of the team in Milwaukee is staying red hot, putting the most wins on the board before the All Star Break in their entire franchise history. Both Lucas and Oates admit, they’re a little surprised. Go back a handful of episodes on this very podcast, and you’ll find them wondering whether or not the team did enough in the offseason. They didn’t make any big, splashy moves, but that doesn’t seem to matter. They have one of the best pitching teams in all of baseball right now, and even if their hitting isn’t on fire it’s still clearly doing enough. Oates gives the kudos to the front office, for everything from team culture to player acquisition and development. They’ll be just one game behind the Cubs coming out of the All Star Break, and hopefully they make some splashy moves then. 

In this week's episode of The Wisconsin Sportscast, the Brewers stay hot as Jacob Misiorowski returns to the mound Tuesday evening to go head-to-head against the Dodgers and Clayton Kershaw. The Miz had a small hiccup against the Mets, but it’ll still be exciting to see him take on an elite pitcher like Kershaw. Kershaw’s been around for a long time, recently passing 3,000 strikeouts, maybe one of the last to do it considering how starting pitchers are used today. But while the hype still hasn’t died down for The Miz, the next few games he pitches will be really telling. Now that he has a few starts under his belt in the majors, teams are starting to watch him and make a plan on how to deal with him. Whatever happens, his hype and the return of the great Brandon Woodruff makes for exciting baseball. 

The Brewers are playing great all around, and Woodruff’s big win over the weekend really gave the team the shot in the arm that they need. Everyone is starting to hit the ball really well, and putting some real power behind those hits. Add in Woodruff throwing 96 mph fastballs in his first return to the mound in nearly two years, and it’s hard not to get excited. Woodruff has had eight years in the majors, all of them with the Brewers, and he’s someone who’s well liked and respected in the locker room. The Brewers are a young team these days, and having veteran leaders like Woodruff and Christian Yelich around are important to building up the team. When you mix veteran leaders with competitive and winning young guys, like Turang and Frelick, you have a real recipe for success. 

Freddy Peralta, meanwhile, will be heading to Georgia after he was selected to play in the All-Star Game. In theory, at least. He also might be pitching for the Brewers this weekend, which would make it difficult for him to also throw in the All-Star Game, but that just means another pitcher would go in his stead. The Home Run Derby will also take place next week, and the lineup is not looking too impressive. Of course, the Home Run Derby is not the main focus of the year, and all the real top hitters are likely resting up so that they can focus on winning games. But speaking of Home Run Derbys, the Brewers will be hosting an alumni Home Run Derby later this month with Ryan Braun and Carlos Gomez playing team captains. There are some… interesting names on the list of players that they can pick from, but it’ll still be fun to watch some of the older guys get out there and hit some home runs. But what will the fans think of Ryan Braun when he returns to Milwaukee? Have they forgiven him for his mistakes, and for covering up those mistakes? Or will he get the Brett Favre treatment? 

In this week's episode of The Wisconsin Sportscast, the Bucks made a series of moves in recent days, maybe most disappointingly releasing Dame Lillard. He was a 2024 All Star MVP and played 113 games with Milwaukee, an undeniable great player! But not a great fit for Milwaukee, Oates thinks. You can’t have two ball-dominant superstars on one team. Add in the fact that he will be out most of next season, is approaching 35, and would cost too much for the Bucks, and it’s no real surprise that he’s out. In his place is Myles Turner off the heels of an NBA Finals appearance. He has to be happy, as without Haliburton the Pacer will not be nearly as competitive next year. Turner was signed on a four year contract, and at 29 he’s exactly what the Bucks need: young and athletic. Unfortunately, the Bucks also had to lose a few more players, namely Brook Lopez and Pat Connaughton. Lopez was great in his prime, but has slowed down in recent years. And Connaughton is a bit of a fan favorite, but doesn’t have the ability to keep up with the Doc Rivers Bucks. Will the team be good enough for Giannis to be happy? No, Oates says, they aren’t a winning team quite yet. Lucas says they need one more good player to really round things out and be competitive. 

In a whirlwind of other basketball news, Nigel Hayes-Davis is back playing in America after he signed a deal with the Phoenix Suns. Hayes improved in his time in Wisconsin, and seems to have improved more in Europe, so it’ll be great to see him play in the NBA. He’ll certainly have some play time, it’s not like the Suns are a particularly competitive team these days anyways. Over in Oklahoma City, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has signed a massive $71 million contract with the team. Is it excessive? Yes, but will it actually help the Thunder next year (if they do in fact need help after winning a title)? Big money contracts can hamper a team, making it more difficult to find guys who can lift up those big money players. Just look at the Bucks! Finally, a handful of Badgers are NBA bound. John Tonje is going to Utah after he was picked in the second round, and Steven Crowl will play in their summer league this year. Do either have a chance to actually see some playtime? Maybe, but not right away. 

Finally, the Brewers offensive is heating up again, and so is their shiny new pitcher Jacob Misiorowski. Not only can The Miz throw good heat, but his throws have some movement to them too. It’s one thing to throw a 100 mph pitch right down the middle, it’s a lot harder to hit one that’s moving around on you. There were concerns about his pitch control when he first came up, and those concerns aren’t completely gone, but as long as he isn’t walking five guys every inning, we won’t complain. 

In this week's episode of The Wisconsin Sportscast, the Wisconsin Badgers football team announced that they are suing the University of Miami. They’re accusing the school of tampering with the Badgers’ signing of Xavier Lucas, who supposedly already signed a contract with Wisconsin before being called away to Miami. What do those contracts look like? Who knows, the schools are all pretty secretive about the whole deal. But the NCAA and the Big 10 are certainly backing Wisconsin in this fight. A legal win for Wisconsin would give some validity to signed contracts and might even give the NCAA some teeth in fighting school hopping and poaching of student athletes from any college sport. But, it could also lead to issues down the road for the NCAA too, as pretty soon it would be hard to argue that the players aren’t employees, and employees can unionize, and we know the NCAA doesn’t want that. But while we don’t know how strong these contracts are exactly, they have to be strong enough for Wisconsin to think they have a chance here. The bottom line is this though: we’ll have to wait for the courts to do their thing and Lucas isn’t playing in Wisconsin no matter what. 

Meanwhile in the NBA, Oklahoma City beat the Pacers to take home the national championship after Tyrese Haliburton went out with a torn achilles. He’ll likely be out at least most of next season, which means another top NBA player is out with injuries. The best players in the league are out here suffering, Oates says, and the owners need to really think about toning down their schedule a bit. Just look at how many Bucks playoff runs have been derailed due to bad injuries, including just this year! Meanwhile, the “experts” sitting behind a broadcast booth on national TV were accusing Haliburton of faking it to get out of playing in the finals, because what competitor would want to sit out of a national championship game? 

But that’s the past, and in the near future of the NBA is the draft, taking place this week. The first two spots are likely already taken by Cooper Flag and Dylan Harper, but the rest of the spots are anyone’s guess. Where does that leave John Tonje? Oates thinks he’s a second round pick, and while that doesn’t guarantee any sort of future in the NBA he thinks he has a good chance. He’s a versatile player who can hit three’s, so hopefully someone can find a long-term home for him. 

Finally, there’s set to be a great matchup at American Family Field Wednesday night as two of the top young pitchers go head-to-head: Jacob Misiorowski and Paul Skenes. If you can catch the game, it will be a great one to watch. Misiorowski only has two games under his belt so far, but they’ve been more than impressive. Skenes, meanwhile, is more proven even with a not so great team. The matchup is great for the entire sport, Lucas says, but even more so for the Brewers as their hitting begins to wake up only a few games behind the Cubs. 

In this week's episode of The Wisconsin Sportscast, Oates is on assignment, so Lucas brings in a new co-host for the week: Mike Mahnke! If you don’t know his name, you certainly know his voice if you’ve been to a Badger Football or Basketball game in recent decades. Mike has been the PA announcer for Camp Randall and the Kohl Center since the early 90s, and he has no intention of stopping. After taking over the role after the passing of Jack Rein, his first called football game was a nationally televised game against Colorado. Sure, the Badgers got their butts beat and the game took place on the due date for his second child (his wife was in the audience, at least it’s close to Meriter hospital), but since then Mike has been the voice of Camp Randall and the Kohl Center.

Mike grew up in Racine, and after graduating high school in 1977 started a career with the Army. After a few years overseas in Germany, he came home and started his college career at UW Madison, graduating with degrees in Theater and German Literature. While he came from a family of educators, his heart was initially set on either TV or radio, though he realized that that was not meant to be. He got a job in marketing in Madison after one semester of grad school, and works with clients both locally and nationally. While working at a firm he also began calling women’s basketball games, and eventually became the voice we know today.

Maybe his most infamous calls came just a few years into his career when he gave a personalized spin to calling the runs of Ron Dayne (or as he would say, Roooooooonnnnn Daaayyyynnneee). Mike says he didn’t even know that the fans would repeat it back to him, but later they would ask him to emulate his calls for answering machines and even wedding ceremonies. Mike was a fan of football, so he says it’s only natural that he would put a little excitement into the plays of such a great player. Years later, Mike says Dayne thanked him for giving him a little extra love on the field.

Mike gives his thoughts on the differences between calling games at the Kohl Center versus Camp Randall. For one, he gets to sit right on the floor at the Kohl Center, instead of his little booth at Camp Randall. Sitting on the floor not only gives him a close-up view of the game, but it allows him to better feel out the fans, and lets him act as cheerleader to help rally the team. The energy is completely different, he says, with the intimate environment of the Kohl Center helping to fuel his calls. But whether he’s calling basketball games, football games, or even the occasional volleyball matches, he says he isn’t going anywhere. Even if Greg Gard continues to scout in Europe and brings in more players with difficult-to-pronounce names. 

In this week's episode of The Wisconsin Sportscast, Lucas and Oates remember Jerry Petitgoue, who passed away at the age of 84. Jerry is the winningest coach in Wisconsin high school basketball history, achieving a staggering 1027 wins in his career. Most of those wins were made in Cuba City, where he coached for over 50 years. He was a giant, Oates says, and his record will likely never be beat. Petitgoue was a flexible coach, which you have to be when you coach for over 50 years, and took home a handful of state championships. His championships spanned decades, winning in 81, 91, and 98, and each team was a little different. He developed a lot of great talent and knew how to adapt to the talent that he had. But aside from just coaching, he also taught history in Cuba City for over 30 years. Petitgoue dedicated his life to the development of young people both on and off the court, and his name will be remembered statewide and, maybe more importantly, in Cuba City, where he is remembered fondly and helped foster a love of basketball across town. 

On other topics, the finances of college sports are changing. A judge has ruled that colleges can only share around $20 million with their athletes every year, effectively putting a salary cap on all college sports. Now, NIL still needs to be discussed, and the lawyers are still going to be very happy padding their pocketbooks with future litigation, but it’s finally a step in the right direction. Maybe. How will that $20 million be distributed between teams? $9 million for football, $9 million for basketball, and scraps for everything else? Just look at how many medals UW Madison’s Track and Field team is bringing in, how much are they entitled to? While there will be more lawsuits in the future, at least it’s the beginning of some guardrails and hopefully they do it right. 

Moving to the NFL, Jaire Alexander is gone from the Green Bay Packers. There is a lot of good and a lot of bad with that. When he’s healthy, he’s one of the best cornerbacks in the league. But he needs to be healthy, and since 2021 he’s only played in about half of the games. The Packers are going to be a bit shaky in the cornerback position this season, Lucas thinks. Even if their starters are alright, what happens when one of them gets hurt? Do you bring out Bo Melton? Finally, Aaron Rodgers finally has a team to play for this upcoming season: the Pittsburgh Steelers. They got him for a steal too at around $13 million base salary. They’ve had a rough few years with at their quarterback position, so they better not squander the fantastic deal they just got. Rodgers can still throw, and his football brain is still there. While he might not be as mobile as he once was, he’s still a threat. We will see how much of a threat he really is when the Packers play them in Pittsburgh though… 

In this week's episode of The Wisconsin Sportscast, there is some breaking news as we begin recording as the Knicks announce that they have fired head coach Tom Thibodeau after their playoffs loss. Is he a scapegoat for that loss? Kind of. He’s not a bad coach, and he has a good track record of getting teams a long way. Sure, he got them into the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time in a very long time. But can he get his teams over the top? He won 56% of his games with the Knicks, and didn’t get along great with all of his players. One thing is known for sure is that whoever their next coach is will have a tough job. Not only do the Knicks have a bad owner, but they’re in New York. When you play in New York, everything you do is going to be magnified. So who will take the job? Well, Coach Bud could use a job…

Moving to the Bucks, Oates says he’s confident that Doc Rivers will be sticking around again next season. If he were to be fired, he would have been fired by now. But the question of Giannis is still being debated, at least by some pundits. He still says he doesn’t want to leave, and it’s not like the Bucks are a destitute team. Giannis seems like he wants to play his whole career in Milwaukee, Oates thinks, they just need to find the right guys to put around him.

Finally, the Brewers are red hot in Milwaukee. As of recording on Tuesday they were on an 8-game winning streak, sweeping the Phillies over the weekend. They played them at just the right time as they came off a double header and Bryce Harper was still out of commission. Winning and losing streaks never last long in baseball, but the Brewers are starting to do what they’ve needed to do all season: hit the ball. They’re pitching is still holding up, even if it’s held together by duct tape, and they can hit up and down their entire lineup. Pat Murphey’s move to make Yelich a designated hitter and keep him out of the field has been a great call too. He’s staying healthy, at least when he isn’t being hit by pitches. Their defense is looking great too, which was a big part of their success last year. They’ll need to keep this up if they want to catch the Cubs, though, and if they want to stay competitive in a great division. 

In this week's episode of The Wisconsin Sportscast, Wisconsin basketball superstar Nigel Hayes may not be in the NBA but he’s still making waves. 10 years after helping the Badgers get to the Final Four, he’s now playing Euroleague basketball in Turkey where he was awarded the MVP for their Final Four. There are new rumors that he might be getting some NBA tryouts in his near future, and good for him! In Wisconsin, he got better every year. While it’s difficult to watch his more recent games, clips show that he’s been continuing his upward trajectory. He’s become a really dynamic player, Oates says, which is a real asset considering he was also a real team player when he was with the Badgers. 

Hayes played only a handful of games in the NBA, which is surprising considering his performance in the 2015 NCAA Championship Tournament. But when you look at that 2015 Badger Men’s Basketball team, no one has really met expectations in the NBA. Frank the Tank played for a while in the NBA, as did Sam Dekker. But none of them really made it in the NBA, which is unfortunate for such a fantastic group of players. Maybe Hayes can get another shot, but his age might be a deciding factor against him. If he doesn’t get another shot at it, hey, at least he’s likely not too upset about spending his time in Istanbul. 

Turning to football, as of recording we are exactly 100 days away from the beginning of the NFL season. While the season will officially open with the Eagles taking on the Cowboys, the Packers will have a difficult week 1 as they take on the Lions. Their mandatory minicamp is just a few weeks away on June 10-12, and Lucas has to ask: what are we to focus on in this year’s camp? Do we go for the obvious and watch how Jordan Love performs? Or maybe how the team can perform with, or maybe without Jaire Alexander? He is still a big question mark for the team, but they seem to be trying to come to some sort of agreement. He takes home a pretty big paycheck, and Oates thinks that when he’s healthy he can live up to it. But the emphasis there is the word “healthy.”

With 100 days left until NFL Football, ESPN has a list out of players to watch this season that includes two Packers. The first is Edgerrin Cooper, who Oates thinks will play a major role this season. When he’s healthy, he’s one of the best players on the defense, and when teaming up with Quay Walker they have a chance to really dominate. The second is Elgton Jenkins, who is anticipated to be moving to Center. He’ll be a great asset, though he’s still in a contract dispute because of his move to Center. He’s a versatile player who can move around, and he thinks he deserves a bit more money because of it. Oates says that he’s likely correct in that assessment, and the Packers should do what they can to lock him down for what will likely be the best years of his career.

In this week's episode of The Wisconsin Sportscast, the MLB announced that Pete Rose and Shoeless Joe Jackson will now be eligible for the Baseball Hall of Fame. That’s great and all, but would they actually get in? Probably not, Oates thinks, if the Hall of Fame voters’ view on steroid users is any indication. At least in Pete Rose’s case, his sports betting scandal really cut to the integrity of baseball itself, and will the voters forgive him? They shouldn’t. But the views on sports betting has changed dramatically in just the past few years. It’s hard to watch any sport these days without seeing an ad for some sports betting site pop up. But it wasn’t just his sports betting that made people mad, it was his attitude toward it. Ironically, that attitude is also what made him hall of fame eligible in the first place. But just look at how people view Ryan Braun today. He still gets booed for how he handled his steroid scandal. 

Speaking of baseball, the Brewers are not looking too hot these days. Recently, they were even shut out of four out of five games, which speaks to just how cold their hitting is these days. Manager Pat Murphy even has a decent excuse, they haven’t spent any money to fill the hole that was created when Willy Adames left during the offseason. Sure, Rys Hoskins is doing alright, but he’s not doing enough. Really, though, we shouldn’t be surprised. During the offseason, owner Mark Attanasio made his priorities clear when he said his job is not to win a world series, but to create a “summer of fun” for the fans. You know what would be really fun for the fans? Winning some games. 

Finally, a new sport is looking like it’s coming to the Olympics: flag football. The NFL has given the OK for players to play flag football in the 2028 Olympics. Flag football as an Olympic sport is interesting, mostly because it’ll likely be a battle for second place. But who would that second place even be? At least in baseball, there are plenty of other countries that are sending great players to the MLB. Do other countries even have enough football players to make up a team? And if they did, would they really want to go up against the likes of Lamar Jackson, Tyreek Hill, and Travis Hunter, who all seem perfectly suited for flag football? That is, at least, who they would be going up against if their coaches let them play in the Olympics. We have to wonder if they will allow the tush push in Olympic flag football… 

In this week's episode of The Wisconsin Sportscast, the NBA may still be holding their playoffs, but it’s already time to start thinking about the NBA draft. Back in ‘85, there were conspiracies abound when the Knicks were given the first pick. Who wouldn’t want the biggest player playing in the biggest market? Well, the conspiracies are back as the Dallas draw number one in the draft and are likely to be taking home Cooper Flagg. Because of course they would! After all the bad press in trading Luka this season, Flagg is a similar player who will likely fill that hole. It’s all rigged, says the internet pundits! But Oates says no it’s not. There are too many people involved today and too many moving parts for something like that to happen. Sure, they had minuscule odds to draw the number one pick, but that’s called luck. At least something a little bit memorable is happening in this draft, unlike last year’s completely forgetting one. Can you even remember who the number one pick was last year?

The Bucks don’t get a first round pick this year, and they won’t until the 2030s. So with that in mind, how are they going to build around Giannis? There’s been reporting this week that he is “open to discussion about his future,” and while these stories happen every year now these reports might have a bit more meat on them. Who could blame Giannis for wanting out of the Bucks? They haven’t built any great team around him, which is what is needed for them to be truly competitive, and Doc Rivers has failed to create any sort of identity within the team. Add in the fact that Dame might be out for next season already and it’s no wonder Giannis is looking at tax laws in other states. Now, he hasn’t given any indication yet that he actually wants to leave, so for now it’s all speculation. Oates thinks he’ll be back next year, but they’ll have to make some moves to put some fresh talent around him.

Finally, it’s the NFL schedule announcement extravaganza! They’ve turned it into a whole moment, a three day event where everyone is clamoring to know who’s playing who when next year. Is Oates clamoring with them? No, because he isn’t looking for hotel rooms in Lambeau too much any more. But what is important is the international games. There will be seven international NFL games next year, and the Packers don’t play in any of them. After last year’s loss in Brazil we can only be happy about that. The Vikings, however, aren’t so lucky, and are playing two games in Europe in back-to-back weeks. Which, all things considered, at least gives them time to recover there, so they shouldn’t be complaining too much. 

In this week's episode of The Wisconsin Sportscast, the Bucks have lost to the Indiana Pacers and are out of the NBA playoffs. But that part was expected, at least it was after their first few games. What was expected was what happened after the game when John Haliburton, father of Tyrese Haliburton, got on the court and into Giannis’ face as soon as the game came to an end. Giannis handled it about as well as you would hope, both in the moment and after the game, and John Haliburton has been asked not to attend any more games this season. Let’s see if he actually sticks to that. Tyrese himself is a Wisconsin native, and possibly one of the best players to come from the state in recent years. He was a late bloomer but brough Oshkosh North to win the championship. Oates calls him a winning NBA player, one of the biggest compliments he can give. Sure, he can be a little mouthy, but for him the team comes first.

With the Buck’s latest first round ejection from the playoffs, it’s once again time to speculate about Giannis’ future with the Bucks. Will he go to Houston? Or maybe San Antonio? Oates doesn’t think so. The Bucks won’t want to trade him, there aren’t enough draft picks out there and they don’t want another Kareem Abdul-Jabbar situation on their hands. And Giannis has said that he wants to stay and has a real life set for both him and his family in Milwaukee. There will be a lot of talk in the next few months, but Oates says he thinks he’ll stay put. 

Finally, a big headline in college sports this week is that Texas is expected to spend $20-40 million on their football team this year. After seeing how well Duke did in basketball with that strategy, who can blame them. The Big 10 announced that they had over $900 million in revenue last year and each school will be getting around $62 million each. And Nebraska Quarterback Dylan Raiola signed a big NIL deal with Adidas. The money is certainly flowing in college sports these days. Let’s just hope the players' transcripts and GPA grows with their pocketbooks… 

In this week's episode of The Wisconsin Sportscast, the NFL Draft has left Green Bay, bringing praise to the smallest city in the National Football League. At least, Oates’ nephew had a good time. Attendance was better than expected at around 600,000. At least that’s how many free tickets were given out, who knows how many more were hanging out in bars across town. It’s certainly better for the old timers like Lucas to hang out in a bar than standing around on concrete all day. The Packers did a great job at showcasing Wisconsin, and did a pretty good job drafting too.

The highlight was obvious to everyone: Mark Murphy coming on stage on Thursday to announce that the Packers had drafted wide receiver Matthew Golden. The Packers, and Murphy, played to the crowd and it worked. Not only that, but the Packers took home two wide receivers, with Savion Williams coming into the third round. Was this a surprise? Sure, says Oates, but not entirely unexpected. The Packers current wide receivers have grown a little too comfortable in their roles while failing to take the big jump that was expected of them. Add in Christian Watson’s injury that will take him out for the majority of next season and maybe the receiving core could use a little fire. The Packers didn’t focus on everything that Oates expected, but you can’t scratch every itch. They still made some good moves, and while Oates isn’t one to issue draft grades, he still thinks they did pretty well for themselves. Golden is about as fast of a guy as you can get, and in the modern NFL that can do you some real good. Just look at what Xavier Worthy did for Kansas City after all… 

Finally, Lucas turns to the Bucks and Damian Lillard’s season-ending injury. Dame tore his Achilles on Sunday, and an injury like that could take him out for next season as well. Is this the end of Dame? Probably not, Oates thinks. He’s a great player and a proud player, and while he is up there age-wise he certainly isn’t out of the picture yet. This show was recorded as the Bucks were taking on the Pacers in what could be the last game of the season for Milwaukee and Lucas has one suggestion: it’s time to fire Doc Rivers. The Bucks roster is an embarrassment right now, and the team is at real risk of losing Giannis. When that happens, the Bucks stock is going to go down and down. The Bucks have been a real mess of an organization as of late, one that reminds Lucas a little bit of Browns. Who knows why! 

In this week's episode of The Wisconsin Sportscast, the NFL Draft is almost here and after months of preparations Green Bay is just about ready for action. Is the town of 105,000 ready for the draft? They have to be, Oates thinks. The NFL wouldn’t allow the Draft to come to town if they weren’t. The crowds shouldn’t overwhelm anything, and Appleton and the Fox Valley are just down the road. If you can’t find something to do in Green Bay, you can certainly find a bar in Appleton. Still, this is the first time in a very long time that the Draft has come to Wisconsin, and Oates thinks it might have taken some bargaining to happen. After all, the Packers didn’t want to play any international games until last year. But it’s Lambeau Field, so why wouldn’t it be in Green Bay? How many other stadiums are out there that people make pilgrimages to? It’s a great thing for the entire state, Oates says, just as long as people aren’t upset that the frozen tundra isn’t frozen in April…

The Packers have pick number 23 this year, and plenty of names have been thrown around for the next potential name to wear the green and gold. But it likely won’t be any Badger players. Lucas and Oates agree that no one from Madison is being drafted in the first round. Maybe by Saturday, but not likely before then. The last time the Badgers had any first round draft picks was 2017 when T.J. Watt was picked up by the Steelers. It’s not that the Badger’s haven’t had solid players who are NFL ready. But ever since they had six offensive linemen drafted in one year, they’ve had a hit.

But the Packers are the real star this week, and Lucas wants to know: how is Gutekunst as a drafter? He’s fine, Oates thinks, but he relies too much on pure athletics and RAS scores. The Packers have drafted a few great RAS players in recent years, and have they had a particularly dynamic time in the NFL? Did they even when they were in college? You can’t ignore the RAS, obviously, but playability needs to be a factor. Still, everyone has to pick a few busts every once in a while.