James White, former Wisconsin Badgers running back & three-time Super Bowl Champion, joins Wayne and Matt

James White rushed for over 100 yards a game on 17 different occasions during his college career, despite splitting carries with John Clay, Montee Ball, and Melvin Gordon for most of his career with the Badgers.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
That was my first opportunity to play in the Super Bowl.
So I always said, if I got the opportunity, I
was gonna just to watch the worst that they put
in that year to win a Super Bowl. And that
was a tough game to beat Seattle. So I understood
the challenge that what it was going to take to
win a Super Bowl against the Atlanta Falcons, who was
a very good football team. Wasn't pretty in the first half,
but we just kept fighting. I just wanted to win

(00:20):
my matchups and the ball came my way. I wanted
to make as many plays as possible to help get
my team back in it. The ball kept coming and
I just kept trying to make plays, and I said
it was a ton of fun. Probably one of the
most tired experiences I ran in my life.

Speaker 2 (00:37):
This is the Laravian La Pay Podcasts, a production of
iHeartRadio Podcasts with hosts Wayne Larvie, the voice of the
Green Bay Packers, and Matt Lapey, the voice of Wisconsin
Badgers football and men's basketball. The Larrevian La Pay podcast
is presented by UW Credit Union.

Speaker 1 (00:53):
Here for every year.

Speaker 3 (00:55):
Hi everybody, I'm Wayne Laravie and I'm mad Lapet. On
this episode of the Larvie La Paype, we check in
with three times Super Bowl champion and former was Consin
Badger running back James White. Much to talk about with James,
plus an update of the Jordan Love situation in Green Bay,
and the Badgers as they get set to host the
Crimson Hide of Alabama at Camp Red. Oh wow, what

(01:18):
a matchup that'll be. What an atmosphere that'll be in
Madison this weekend. Ready to give fees the stiff arm.
UW Credit Union can help because since nineteen thirty one
they've been committed to eliminating fees for members. Joined today
at UWCU dot Oregon ensured by NCUA terms and conditions apply.

(01:41):
We welcome into the Lera Villa Pay podcast. Former was
consin Badger Super Bowl champion James White played eight years
of the NFL the New England Patriots, winning three Super Bowls.
Outstanding running back for the Badgers and James go way
back to high school. I mean, you've done a lot
of winning in your life. Saint Thomas quite a national

(02:02):
championship team in two tho thousand and eight. Wow, I
imagine it was like yesterday.

Speaker 1 (02:07):
Huh, Yeah, it flies by now now the football days
are completely over with. But very fortunate throughout my football
career to win a ton of football games, be part
of some great teams, learned for some great coaches. Definitely
didn't try to take any of those moments for granted
because it made some guys through high school, college, NFL
e they may not win anything, and I was. I

(02:29):
was fortunate enough to win a lot, and like I said,
learned a lot, made some great friends, you know, especially
in college, some of my best friends to this day,
you know, some of my best friends. We do a
podcast currently, so having a ton of fun the game
of football. You learn a lot, not just about the
game of football, but the game of life. So definitely,
you know, very fortunate for my experiences.

Speaker 4 (02:50):
Yeah, that podcast, by the way, it's called The Money Down.
And those buddies, his forward teammates, Warren Herring and so
German Shelton, they do, they do a great job. And
the actually do as Gang pod too after every Badger game.

Speaker 1 (03:02):
But did they do on during the course of the week.

Speaker 4 (03:04):
We'll circle back give you a second pop for them.

Speaker 1 (03:08):
I mean, with you.

Speaker 4 (03:09):
I always like to go down memory lane with you
and fellow of lums. But got to get a little
current events here.

Speaker 1 (03:14):
I know you're you're.

Speaker 4 (03:15):
Helping out coach Thomas Hammock at Northern Illinois. What a
fairly big game last week? Tell you whin it in
South Bend against Notre Dame. Just, uh, you know, give
us a sense of the vibe around the program. And
and you know coach Hammick was unbelievable in his postgame
interview in the locker room scene. Uh, just give us
a sense of, of, uh what that week was like.

(03:38):
And then you know, watching those guys do what they
did against.

Speaker 1 (03:41):
The Irish, it's been awesome. I started here probably the
last week of training camp, so get to know these
guys getting the prepared, getting the I interact with each
other on and off the football field, seeing the work
that they put in on their practice field. It's been
It's been truly impressive. I've known coach Thomas Ammon for
a long time. I know, since he recruited me when

(04:01):
he was at Minnesota. He's a running back, the coach
trying to lure me over there, and he was a
great guy at that point. Just to see the maturation
from a young appreciate you he had a running back
coaching job at like twenty eight years old. So for
see the maturation from him at twenty eight to where
he is now head coach is alum alumnis. It's awesome
and I'm happy to be a part of it. I'm

(04:22):
happy he allowed me to be here, build a relationship
with these players. And I said, they went out Week one,
you know, beat a Western Illinois team that they were
supposed to beat. They go on the road week two,
a challenge going number five team, knowing the country have
a ton of talent on both sides of the football.
But they didn't let that, you know, scare them. They
felt like they were gonna win going into the game,
and you have to have that mindset going into those

(04:43):
type of matchups. They faced the University Notre Dame pend
them back early on, had a like ninety nine ninety
eight yard drive go down to score. So it wasn't
just pretty the entire time. And they believe and it
took all the way down to the final whistle for
him to win that football game. And that's a program
shift through victory. You know, maybe a lot of people
outside the building didn't expect them to win that football game.

(05:06):
But they they expect to win. They got it done.
Hope we keep winning. Goal forward.

Speaker 3 (05:12):
You know, I gotta ask you, you know, when you
prepare for a game like that, how important it is
coaching setting the tone that week for you know, you're
going to Notre Dame. You're finding the fighting iris at
Notre Dame in South Bend. I mean, you don't just
come out, come out on Mondays say oh, fellas, we're
gonna win.

Speaker 1 (05:32):
Look at it.

Speaker 3 (05:33):
I just get I mean, there's gotta be something that
happens during the week. They gotta have a sense of urgency.

Speaker 1 (05:38):
You gotta pay attention to the details. You're going on
the road. They're gonna challenge your communication. It's gonna be loud,
it's gonna be a hostile environment. There's so many factors.
But you have to play your best football game because
let's be honest, they don't get to play in or
we don't get to play in that many type of environments.
You know, on a day in and day out basis
playing you know, seventy thousand and eight thousand mans, So

(06:00):
it's different. You have to be prepared for that moment
and at the end of the day, it's football. So
when you line up between those lines, you go out there,
you tune out the noise and execute your job, trusting
your teammates, make a mistake and move forward and get
past it. And I think there's a certain type of
way that we had to play that game, and we
did it. We've played played physical, you know, disrupted them

(06:21):
on office, got them out of rhythm and the you know, offensively,
I thought I was the president. Reminded me of my
old no Wisconsin Badger days is lean into a run game,
our physical team, See see how much they can handle it.
I mean they'll they'll slow you down at some point,
but you just keep sticking with it. So it definitely
reminds me of my days being back at Wisconsin.

Speaker 4 (06:40):
Well, I think of those days, James and the running
back position, with the talent that rolled through you know,
John Clay, Monte Ball and Melvin Gordon, that you were
a Big Ten freshman of the year going back to
to then you know nothing of a Championships of Wisconsin
back to back to back Big Ten titles. But take
us back to that that freshman year. Obviously you turned
in a great year, but do you remember, like you're

(07:02):
welcome to the Big ten moment. It's like I'm out
at Saint Thomas the quiet as any wore. That program
is a little a little bit different world here for me.

Speaker 1 (07:10):
It's probably during during training camp I woke up. I
woke up late one day for tra or actually we
had I think it was a two a day, and
I went home, went to my apartment. Either during the
break I usually slept in the locker room where something
I was like too scared to lead. So to this
early day, we went back to my apartment, took a nap.
Remember my wire going off, turn it off, fell asleep

(07:33):
for like another fifteen to twenty mates. Woke up. I
was like, oh, man, like practice is about to start,
like five minutes. I lived really close by, but with
scrambling scrambling to the stadium, I'm walking into the locker ight,
everybody's walking out to the practice fields. So by the
time I got there, like the warm ups like already done.
I had to roll the field. I had to roll
the field. I had to pay my dues. But that's

(07:53):
kind why I'm welcome to college moment, just to realize
it's it's serious. The coaches aren't gonna you know, they're
not gonna just be sitting there ab sitting you all
the time. You got to get there ready to go.
And like you said that that was eye opening for
me and taking some taking some hits you during practice
from some of those veteran guys Java Led you know,
Chris Portland and all these ethnic time play makers JJ

(08:15):
Watt during practice. That that definitely had got me ready
and prepared for whenever I did step out on the field.
You know in LLV in week one.

Speaker 3 (08:24):
You know we've all been to Camp Randall. We've all
observed a tremendous atmosphere there. But take us down on
the field. What's it like on a Saturday afternoon to
be in that environment? And I imagine the energy reaches
the field from the stands, doesn't it.

Speaker 1 (08:42):
You gotta love it. Eighty thousand plus fans in there
cheering you one, students sections, your family, and now your friends,
whoever it may be. It's the perfect college atmosphere. And
I said it takes it takes a while for the
students to pile in sometimes for those those eleven and
eleven am. Once they get in there, they make sure
they're allowed their rowdy. But you put in all that work,

(09:05):
you know, Monday through Friday, whatever days you practice, just
to have that one opportunity on Saturday to play your
best football with your best of friends, your best of teammates.
I said, there's nothing like a college locker room. There's
nothing like those college saturdays. I mean, the NFL is
one thing, but college just I always say it's a
little bit different. Those relationships are a little bit more

(09:25):
I guess i'll say natural, or last a little bit longer.
It's not. I mean, now it's a transactional thing with nility,
but those relationships are pretty pure. So I enjoyed my
time was causing and enjoy all the relationships that I built,
you guys.

Speaker 4 (09:41):
The twenty ten and eleven teams especially those were forty
plus point of game teams, and we're obviously trying to
get back to that right now. I always remember one
of my favorite people in or out of football's Paul
Christ and you would talk about he and Joe Rudolph
Bopmostat just kind of that coaching triangle, kind of lay
out the lay and put the lay of the law

(10:02):
on you guys, what's going on in the offense. But
did the talent, The NFL talent was crazy. But beyond
that change, what beyond the obvious of football ability, what
made that offense and those two years clicked the way
it did.

Speaker 1 (10:17):
I think it was the team where the camaraderie, the details. Obviously,
coach Chris did an excellent job of preparing us on
a weekend, a week out basis as far as you know,
putting the game plan in, you know, us learning the
game of football inside and out, not just our own responsibilities,
but the responsibilities of the entire offense. Just really getting
that whole picture. I'm still we we just really messed

(10:37):
well together. Yes we had we had a ton of talent,
but I think everybody understood their role, no matter how
big or how small it was, and everybody tried to
be a star in their role. And I think that
was cool. Whether you stepped in for one play, whether
somebody got hurt and you stepped in, I think guys
were always just chumbling at the bit for the opportunity
to actually be out there. Because it was hard. We
had we had walk on guys. Eventually it became players

(11:00):
a big time to attributors for us. We had obviously,
you know, bigger time for Cruise who were contributed, so
there was all different angles and I think that was
the beautiful part of our entire team. And it didn't
matter whether you were zero star walk on four star,
and we all treat each other the same, and we
accept the one another and went out and tried to
win a bunch of football games. James White is our

(11:21):
guest on the lare Vi La Pay podcast to James
and outstanding back at Wisconsin and with the New England Patriots.
We'll get to Bill Belicheck and company. I want you
to pull the curtain down on that a little bit
as we go forward, But I wanted to ask you,
did you Russell Wilson came through during your time there
right one year. You know what everybody around the program

(11:42):
back then said, boy, if they just had a quarterback,
if they had a big time quarterback. You had a
big time quarterback for a bit. How did that change
the complexion of what you guys were all about? I mean,
it was awesome because we hadn't had a quarterback like
Dad and Kwaie at the Scott told me he was
a great quarterback. But Russell Wilson brought a little bit
more to the table as far as his athletic ability scramble,

(12:05):
you know, creating plays on his own and just to
see that, you know, live and in person in practice,
it was it was crazy. It took us to another level,
for sure. It was the league quarterback play along with
you know MANI, both those guys being up for the
Heisman in that same season. It was it was fun
to watch me. Russell's one of the greatest teammates I
had to know. People try and give him a lot
of flat you know these days he's based on you know,

(12:27):
social media and everything, but if you really know Russell Wilson,
he truly cares about his teammates. He cares about you know, practicing,
preparation and all that. And that definitely didn't get lost
on us when he joined our team in twenty eleven.

Speaker 4 (12:39):
You guys felt like you could score from anywhere at
any time. I mean, it doesn't happen very often in
college football, period, But if I felt that way watching
the game, I can only try to imagine how yeah,
look back, if you're at your old one, you feel
like you could hear in good night what.

Speaker 1 (12:57):
Yeah we had we had a ton of confidence. We
had receivers. We had packs. You had tight ends, its Avadars, Nick,
two of those guys they can stretch the field, make plays.
You had, Madi had, you know, plenty of talent at
every super was in the officeive line obviously was dominant.
We had, you know, guys that all had opportunity to
play in the NFL, all across the board. So yeah,
it was a fun team to be a part of,

(13:18):
I said, man, I which we were able to, you know,
cap off that weight against Oregon in that bull game,
but they had a ton of talent on their side
to one more play.

Speaker 4 (13:27):
Well, you know what, I'm pretty sure Brett was gonna
go for.

Speaker 1 (13:30):
Two had you guys here might as well.

Speaker 4 (13:34):
I have to ask you about the twenty twelve game
against Nebraska as well, because I mean, you've been waiting
to show off your throwing arm, and then we had
a three yard touchdown past the Sam Artist And technically
it's called the wildcat, but if I remember right, you
want to just call it the wild white play right?

Speaker 1 (13:54):
Yeah? Wild white urge? Yes, what I like to call
it the wild White. I actually got to do it
in high school a little bit, so I was excited
when I got the opportunity to run the wildcat in college.
It was a little bit different because we had what
like nine linemen in front of me. I was that
quarterback and Moni and many out of the wake send
him in motion. So it's a lot of fun It
worked effectively for us, you know, pretty much the entire year.

(14:17):
Didn't throw the ball out of that formation. The know
the entire year, and used it in the Big Ten
championship and it worked. But it's funny. I actually threw
a past earlier in the year against Nebraska on the
on the road, and it was it was a pretty
bad pass, honestly, right right before halftime. It was like
a reverse pass. I think I was throwing it to
Jack Peterson and I threw her way behind. It could

(14:37):
have been an interception. So glad it did. Glad it
didn't end up getting picked.

Speaker 4 (14:40):
Only you remember that only, I mean the rest of
us man have no recollection.

Speaker 1 (14:45):
Only I remember that. But it was bad. I didn't
have to bring that up.

Speaker 4 (14:53):
Seventy points in one game though, I remember was a
bad Canada that was a coordinator.

Speaker 1 (14:58):
It was like, okay, you're gonna.

Speaker 4 (14:59):
Empty the every every little gadget which you had, but
you didn't need it. I mean, what's that light? Knowing
that everything that you call as a great chance of
popping like it did that night.

Speaker 1 (15:13):
It was fun. I mean, not to take any shot
at Nebraska, but it felt like practice. You know, when
you're practice and you know everything's working. It's just blocked
up perfectly, getting those creases and you felt like nobody
could tackle you, nobody could stop you because there were
points in time where they were in position to make plays.
The Maani, myself, Melvin and we broke the tackles, extended
plays and try to take in the distance. But it

(15:35):
was fun. We got our redemption on them may beat
us earlier in the year, come back and get them
in the Big Ten championship. It was It was a
ton of fun. That's always one of my favorite games
to talk about because obviously with myself, Many and Melvin,
all three of us be able to go over one
hundred yards and and play like that. It was. It
was impactable. But I thought defense played gray and though

(15:55):
you know, Taylor Martinez had his place like early on
in the football game, but then eventually they and everything
up in the offensive line, tight ends, they blocked literally
perfectly the entire game. They blocked their tails off and
gave us plenty of run of lanes.

Speaker 3 (16:09):
You know, James, I gotta ask you your experience at
Wisconsin in total, what do you take from it? I mean,
how did it shape you to who you are today?

Speaker 1 (16:20):
Man? I meant everything. I always say it was the
greatest decision I ever made. I know, coming out of
high school, my favorite school was Clemson. You couldn't tell
me anything. You couldn't tell me. I wasn't going to place,
you know, at Clinson. So but once I took my business,
I did visit Clemson as one of my official business.
Didn't really necessarily jee will love there, So it would
have been a smart decision for me to go there.

(16:41):
When I visited Wisconsin. You know, two of my high
school teammates as miss Outward Kinder O'Neil, they ended up
going to Wisconsint the year before me, So I already
knew I had a family like atmosphere there. But to
get there and visit and all the players kind of
welcomed me with open arms. You can kind of get
that syst that of a family like atmosphere, youre gonna
get green action, a great college town, great academics. I

(17:03):
was going to run the football too, so that was
that was a key point for me. I wanted to
be a part of a pro style offense at what
we were doing, and you gonna lean into the running game.
And I was a little bit different than try of
the backs that were on the roster previously. I was
a little bit smaller. I guess I didn't really realized
that until I got to college and saw myself on
film for the first time and behind all the linement
and everything, but it it fit me perfectly. I learned

(17:26):
so much about the game of life, I mean the
game of life and the game of football. I said,
it was a blast those four years. Like I said,
I always say, I wish I could turn back the
clock and go back to Madison, Wisconsin on one of
those Saturdays eleven eleven am games. You know, playing what
your team is getting to win, and then you know,
going going to lunch or dinner with your family and
then going out having a good time with your friends.

(17:47):
I said this, those are the moments you definitely cherish
or member forever.

Speaker 4 (17:52):
And you mentioned it. You know about the relationships in
college and it's in the NFL. It's a little different
animal that you go in too. You know, the best
franchise that the NFL's seen here over these last couple
of decades in New England Patriots. So you're drafted by
them in the fourth round of twenty fourteen.

Speaker 1 (18:10):
You go in there.

Speaker 4 (18:11):
What was it like for you at first with few
weeks months being a part.

Speaker 1 (18:17):
Of that organization. I mean, it was a whirlwind for me.
I know, I was extremely excited to be a part
of such a great organization. And our team was extremely talented,
you know, walking into that locker room, got guys like
Tom Brady, Julie lamin Roth, you know, Steven Rialley, Shane Breen,
Darrell Reeves, Chandler Jones, Deavin mccordy, like we have a

(18:38):
stacked football teams. He kind of starstruck, you know, walking
in the building. But for me, I just wanted to
go out there and be the best version of myself
inside and outside of the locker room. I didn't talk
too much. I just I just tried to put my
best foot forward and that it didn't result me playing
in my rookie year. Oh he played three games, So
that was a different no approach and feeling for me.

(18:59):
You know, goa from little league, high school, college, you're playing,
you know, the entire game, to where now you're not
even a dressing for the game. You're sitting back watching.
Wonder if you're gonna give the opportunity. I wonder if
you're gonna be a part of the team next year,
Wonder if you're gonna be a part of the team
the next week, because I feel like an afterthought. So
it was definitely a challenge for me mentally and physically,
you know, as a competitor. But I learned a lot

(19:19):
that year about myself and about the NFL, and you know,
from that point going forward, I had to change my approach,
no know, whether it's preparation, performance and everything to go
and show that I belonged out there, belonged and deserved
a spot on that football team or somewhere else.

Speaker 3 (19:37):
Well, you certainly proved you belonged a Super Bowl fifty one.
That's the game if I'm not mistaken, Seattle, New England
after the twenty fourteen season, was it?

Speaker 1 (19:49):
I believe? Yep that I was twenty fourteen. Yep.

Speaker 3 (19:51):
Yeah, And here's James White with one hundred thirty nine
yards from Scrippage twenty nine rushing one hundred and ten
received you score with three touchdowns. Tom Brady gets the
MVP award in that game, and even Tom Brady says,
what are they talking about? I mean, James White was
the stuff and he gave you the truck they gave
him for being the MVP.

Speaker 1 (20:12):
Right, Yeah, that was a fun experience for me. At
twenty fourteen, we played the Seattle Seahawks and that Super
Bowl I didn't play in that game was inactive. Two
years later we end up backing the Super Bowl, were
playing the Atlanta Falcons, and that that was my first opportunity. Yeah,
that was my first opportunity to play in the Super Bowl.
So I always said if I got the opportunity, I
was gonna just to watch, you know, the worst that

(20:34):
they put in that year to win the Super Bowl.
And that was a tough game to beat Seattle. So
I understood the challenge that what it was going to
take you to win a Super Bowl against the Atlanta Falcons,
who was a very good football team. Wasn't pretty in
the first half, but we just kept fighting. I just
wanted to win my matchups, and the ball came my way.
I wanted to make as many plays as possible to
help get my team back in it. The ball kept

(20:54):
coming and I just kept trying to make plays, and
I said, it was a ton of fun. Probably one
of those tired experience as I had in my life
as far as being out there on the football field.
Probably the most plays I had played all year long.
Because we were trailing the entire game, that was kind
of my role to, you know, passing back. We had
to throw the ball a ton, So it was it
was fun, definitely. You know, memories you remember for the

(21:15):
rest of your life.

Speaker 4 (21:16):
Yeah, it's super Bowl record, super Bowl record bad. Therefore
you catch is so James, it's twenty eight three at
Land in that game.

Speaker 1 (21:24):
What are you thinking?

Speaker 4 (21:25):
It's in well into the third court, it's twenty eight three.

Speaker 1 (21:29):
I'm like, this is my first Super Bowl experience and
we're about to get blown out. That's what That's exactly.
You know what I was thinking, were going going to halftime.
You know, it wasn't really much of a huge speech.
Just simply play better. We were essentially playing bad football,
playing it to their ads. They were capitalized at all.
It's just played better. They'll try and make a game,
come out the third quarter. Then we got the ball first,

(21:51):
we went like three and out or something like. Man,
we can't really get anything going. Then that's something just shifted.
They started clicking defense, Mason Stars made some turnovers. Obviously,
the Falcons made some bad decisions and we capitalize on it.
And then once we got a striking distance, you know,
high tier kind of the strip sack, and then we
kind of just smelled the blood the water and we

(22:12):
knew had a great opportunity to win at that point.

Speaker 3 (22:14):
You know, I got to ask you the New England Patriots,
and then on the plane is South Apollo going down
and watched one episode and coming back and watch another
episode of a thing called Dynasty, and it's this documentary
about the New England Patriots over the bettle check Brady years.
And I got to ask you, James, when you pull

(22:36):
back the curtain a little bit for us, what made
those teams, that coaching staff, whatever it was, what made
the difference. I mean, I understand he had Tom Brady,
but you know what, the Packers had Aaron Rodgers for
a long time, it won won Super Bowl. The Miami
Dolphins had Dan Marino for over a decade and won
no Super Bowls. They only went to one. Great quarterbacks

(23:01):
and we all give the quarterback all the credit here,
but great quarterbacks are important for a super Bowl run,
but they're not the whole thing. And you know, tell
us what made the difference in New England with Belichick
and go what was that like playing under him?

Speaker 1 (23:17):
I mean, it was great to get an opportunity to
play for what I think is the greatest coach of
all time and obviously the greatest player all the time.
I think it was the preparation details. I think accountability.
I think that that was the huge thing. You know,
Bell Belichick held himself accountable. You own up to his mistakes,
his coaching mistakes if he made them. Make sure he
held all of his players accountable, from Tom Brady to

(23:39):
myself to you know, the undrafted guys on the roster.
There's no egos allowing that building. Like those team meetings
that we had, they could be forty to fifty minutes
long though, him breaking down the ar mistakes or things
that we did well, and he's gonna tell you the
truth right in front of you know, your entire team.
So whether it's Tom or or what does anybody like
I learned that quickly. Or OTA's where you know Tom

(24:01):
like missed a pass like in seven o seven, like
he overdrew a receiver or something, and you know, no
bills like no kind of you know, like pussing them out,
but it's kind of like letting them look like we
got two of our best guys, right, we can't even
complete a pass on air. Essentially, I'm like, oh, like
he's talking. He's talking to Tom Brady like that. That's
that's pretty crazy. So I bet I better be on
my stuff cause he's hold him accountable, whether it's a
game or a practice. And I think that's the thing

(24:23):
that really made us go. And it wasn't easy this.
You gotta have some thick skin. You're gonna it's hard
to send those meetings when you know you messed up
and you know that play that that happened. You know,
whether in practice early game is gonna pop up in
that film in front of all your teammates. But at
the end of the day, you want to, you know,
limit those opportunities that you were gonna be on that screen.
You want to be be on that screen in a

(24:45):
positive way and be a reliable teammate. I think that's
what it's all about. And it's hard to keep you know,
fifty three or whatever, sixty plus lads of your roster
accountable year and a year out for twenty years, and
the detail and the preparation is second to nothing. Like
I call him the football teams who I don't guarantee
the stuff that he talks about during the week, that

(25:05):
stuff comes up. And another that pisses him off more
when he talked about something, you know, during the week,
and it comes up then a game and we don't
execute it. So I always felt that we were the
most repaired team.

Speaker 3 (25:16):
You know, I got to ask you about you know, Belichick, Brady, everybody.
The big question outside of New England is who was
responsible for all those Super Bowls? What would you say
based on what? Yeah, because you had the great field
leader and Tom Brady, and you had Belichick, the great strategist,

(25:39):
uh and the guy who directed the program. But you know,
when Brady left New England, Belichick stopped winning, Brady woned Tampa,
and so the evidence suggested the outside untrained eye, well
there was Tom Brady. What would you say? You were
in the building for a number of years you're a
big part of it. You were a Patriots captain of
one time Super Bowl MVP or.

Speaker 1 (26:01):
Should have been. What would you how would you.

Speaker 3 (26:04):
Explain that to someone like from the outside say, oh,
I think it was Tom Brady. If they don't win
without Tom Brady, what do you think? I always say
it takes both. You can't can't have.

Speaker 1 (26:14):
One without the other. I know Tom, you know, won
a championship in Tampa, but they probably had a better
team what we had, Yeah, in New England at the time.
And obviously Tom is responsible for a good, good majority
of what we did in the little bit. Bill's responsible
for the same. Like the coach is the guy who's
in charge and making sure everybody on the tired team.
Like I said, that accountability, that preparation. Without him, you

(26:36):
know a lot of that stuff, you know, it's not possible.
So I kind of hate when they people try and
like put one against the other. It's almost like a
Patrick Mahods and Andy Reid, those two are a match
made of heavy You separate the two, maybe you don't
get his many super Bowl championship, maybe you just get one.
So it's obviously Mahomes is talented. You don't give any
coach a chance to win football games. But the coach

(26:57):
is responsible for everybody else on the football team as well,
not just a quarterback. So that's kind of kind of
how I see it. I'll think Build gets enough credit.
I think anybody who's been in that building and who's
you know, played there a coach there understands. You know
what it's like to play under Bill Belichick and coach
under Bill Belichick, and you understand why we want to
tell the football games.

Speaker 4 (27:18):
I think Toddy Brady said that it is the retirement
celebration too. It wasn't you, it wasn't me, it was us. Yeah,
that's all. So now Bill Belichick is immediate star and
it's on I or as he calls it, insta faces.
Is there a side of Bill Belichick that we are
seeing now that's surprising the daylights out of us that
maybe you guys knew all the law, we knew it

(27:42):
all a while.

Speaker 1 (27:43):
He's he's truly hilarious. He's not, you know, the person
he makes himself out of the beat to the media
is because he doesn't like to share too many details
about himself or his team, and he does it for
a reason. I mean, it protects Sam, it protects your team,
and you gotta love it as a as a player
when you played for him, He's not going to share,
you know, any extra details about you, are going to
any too much, you know, detail about the game of

(28:04):
what you messed up all. Maybe he'll get you in
a meeting or something like that, but he won't go
out there and say it to the media. But everybody
gets an inside scoop of him right now, see his personality,
to see some of his humor, but also to see,
you know, the football knowledge that he hass. You know,
he's done all different things, a Manning, the Manning cast
during games, the Pat mcaviee Show, so you get to

(28:24):
see him at a completely different light. But I know for
a fact next year he's going to be trying to
get back at the coach. And I can guarantee that.

Speaker 3 (28:33):
James White is our guest. Former Patriots running back, former
Badgers running back, and we're talking about Bill betlechecking company.
Tom Brady this past week made his debut on national
TV as an analyst. That is not easy to do.
I thought Tom was fine in his first outing, but

(28:53):
I think Tom Brady is going to get better and better.

Speaker 1 (28:57):
He will.

Speaker 3 (28:58):
He will pay off that thirty seven million dollars a
year track he had thirty seven million dollars a year
for calling games.

Speaker 1 (29:05):
Wow.

Speaker 3 (29:06):
Anyway, Nan and I aren't in on any of that stuff,
by the way. Yeah, well, you know the thing about
and I think Brady's gonna be fine. He's going to
find his way in that media. And that's very different
from what Belichick is doing, which is more studio stuff
and analyzing, you know, doing things he probably did on

(29:27):
the chalkboard. Boy, he did something on inside the NFL
Week one was just brilliant, the way he broke down
to play and that kind of thing. And you know
what people have told me in New England. I'm from
New England, and you know, people have told me that
you wouldn't believe Belichick is actually pretty good at a
social situation. He's really really pretty good. And I'm just
learning a lot. He's one of the guys I watched

(29:48):
that I learned something from every time I listened to him.
And you know, I guess we shouldn't be surprised, but boy,
he was not easy to handle it. I got to
tell you this story, James, just the two thousand fourteen game.
Was that your rookie year in New England? Fourteenth?

Speaker 1 (30:03):
Yeah, so you're not playing a whole lot.

Speaker 3 (30:04):
So it's a late Remember it's a late funding. I
remember stand eating Lambeau to you. So here I am standy.
And now I went to college in Boston and my
former roommate who has now run Sony Studios out in
Los Angeles, John Spector, was there with his son, and
his son went to be you, and they're all they're

(30:26):
Patriots fans. I got the Patriots jersey out and all that.
So I had them down on the field. This is
before the NFL got way too tight with all of
their sideline craft. We're down on the field about two
hours before the gate, and we're standing in the south
end Zona. We look up and all of a sudden,
coming down the middle of the field is Bill Belichick
with this scraggly haired guy who looked like somebody he

(30:47):
picked up off the street.

Speaker 1 (30:49):
And it was his son who later signed off, you know.

Speaker 3 (30:53):
And here they are coming down and Belichick is just
enamored with Green Bay and the Packers in lambeau Field
and all that. So I said to him, hey, coach,
how you doing. He goes a lot of good Walkspike goes, yeah,
and that's all. And so I turn and fighting payment
my former made like Turner was said, Hey, John, you've

(31:15):
just been dissed by Bill Devil check. You'll never forget
that as long as you live.

Speaker 1 (31:20):
Yeah, well, game, that actn guarantee not talking to anybody,
but yeah, people from the team. So I could definitely
believe that interaction. But yeah, he's it's just cool to see,
like all the stuff that he's doing. Now, I say
he's a he's literally a football genius. Knows the game
inside and out. They said, Hell, spread out a lot
of knowledge to him, you know myself, other people, you know,
fans that don't know as much detail about the game

(31:43):
of football. Him and Tom. Like, I didn't get listen
too much of Tom's broadcast, you know, a week one,
I saw some people trying to get get all of
a little bit like it's it's one week. It's like
your first day on the job. Anybody else is not
going to be perfect. You know. It takes practice, preparation.
Every week he gets out back in gear, you become
you know, one of the best to do it. And
I said, I know he works extremely hard at whatever

(32:05):
he does. He doesn't like to, you know, be a
loser or anything. So I can guarantee he's going to
get better and better every single week.

Speaker 4 (32:11):
I know, James, you've done some of that as well,
so some media work and before we let you go,
because I'm sure coach Hammock has a lot a lot
of put a lot of your play here today. But
you know that the pod that you do with Warren
Herring and Sojer and Shelton again, it's called the Money Down,
get it where you get your podcasts. But give us
a kind of a wide angle lens perspective of what

(32:33):
you're seeing out of this Wisconsintine because it's a different
look now with what it's trying to do offensively compared
to when you guys were playing. What what do you
see there? And do you tell us what you like?
And you know what obviously needs to get fixed here
moving forward?

Speaker 1 (32:50):
Yeah, I mean I still have an optimism for this
football team. There's a lot of change, a lot of turnover.
Obviously they're doing a complete one ad of what we did.
You know we were there and what they were doing
just a few years ago. Go for them. You know, right,
a lot of twenty two to twenty three twelve personnel
to rather the spread offense and instead of going to
three to four or four or three defense, run out
of a three three, five four two five defense. So

(33:12):
I see a lot of change, a lot of a
lot of motion going on, and they're trying to look
like they're still trying to find guys that really fit,
you know, that scheme and that brand of football that
they're trying to play. I do like the way the
guys are competing, you know there, whether it's Western Michigan
or whether it's South Dakoma. I know it wasn't perfect.
You know, some close football games closer than what you know,
probably US alumni, US fans, you don't really expect those

(33:34):
games to be like, and hey, the win is a
win at the end of the day. I know, you know,
a lot of us, even myself could be hard on
them one hundred percent. I know they can be better.
I definitely would love to see more energy, more enthusiasm,
enthusiasm out of those guys, that togetherness. Somebody makes a play,
celebrated with your teammates and get back do it again,
especially offensively. But like sometimes we don't have We don't

(33:57):
have any juice out there, whether somebody needs to be
a certain player or offensive line in the quarterback, receiver,
somebody to kind of be that bell cow you on
the team to kind of get everybody going. I do
think we have the players to go out there and execute,
know the air raid offense, what they're trying to do.
But I think somebody just really has to emerge. Is
that guy to really kind of take that lead, whether

(34:20):
it's Chess and Lucy, whether it's Will Pauling. I feel
like right now there's a huge lack of explosive plays
on offense. Not to say there has to be, you
know that every single week, but at some point we
got to create some I know we have guys that
can do it. Will can do it. I think Chess
can do it. C J. Willis could do it, Bryson Green,
we have those those type of guys that are capable

(34:40):
of making players. I think those guys have to go
out there and do it. And and defensively, I think
they're solid. I think he said to sure up the
run game. Secondary, I think it's really good. They they
can match up with anybody. Love you know, Ricardo Hollman, Waller,
Oazy Xader, Lucas, the young pressure, He's going to be
extremely special. I think they can match it with anybody
on that side of things. We'll love to see the

(35:02):
run defense, you know, be a little bit more physical,
a little less than that's really you know, attacked a
lot of scrimmage. I know last week, like South Dakota
running back he was average like nine yards to carry
like at one point. And like, I'm not trying to
take any shots at them, but in those matches we
can't have that. We have to be really sure certain
good guys on the ground ship block. So I would

(35:23):
love to see the front seven play a little bit
better on that SIDEA But I'm so I'm still optimistic.
Only two games and I know those guys can improve.
Got a great challenge ahead of them. I think this
is this is a great season for these guys because
I can't really high this year. You gonna have a
lot of a lot of great challenges. You got Alabama
this week, you got usc and two Penn State, you

(35:43):
played Oregon. So those are the games where you kind of,
you know, kind of get a feel of where you're
at as a program. And I think Luke Fickle will
have those guys ready prepared to play. They just have
to be ready for the moment. You know.

Speaker 3 (35:55):
I gotta ask you guys, both of you guys in
looking at college football last week, and I know that
here wiscons we're lamenting the fact that the Badgers aren't
blowing out South Dakota State or whoever they played the
first week, you know, but I look to the scores
this past week at Penn State at home wins by
seven over Toledo. You guys, the NIU Huskies go to

(36:17):
Notre Dame and beat the fifth ranked Irish. Is some
of what we're seeing here a product of all the
transfers and all the different things that are going on
with people in college football, and that you know, you're
probably losing a third of your team just through natural
attrition of people moving around, and it takes time for

(36:38):
these teams to come together. What do you think, James,
I do think.

Speaker 1 (36:42):
Best part of it. I think there's more parody in
college football more than ever. I think there's talent all
across At Moore. I don't think you could just watch
an turn any football game and just know who's gonna
win anymore. I think that's what college football was in
the past, where you could turn on the game you
knew Alabama's going to be undefeated. You knew us he
was going to be undefeated. He knew this is until
they met in the playoffs or the national Championship. I

(37:03):
don't think that's the case anymore, based on you know what.
The conference is a door with the transfer portal and
in the NIL, which I think is good, and I'm
when it comes to wiscons I'm not really you know,
say that they're not you know, dominating these teams by
forty points. I understand it's it's hard to win. It
just seemed, especially on the offensive side, it just seems
like the execution just isn't there. It's just not not

(37:24):
much rhythm. Like last week, early early on the football
game looked like they were starting to catch a rhythm
and then it went to like a complete stop. And
you would think at some point that that would kind
of they would kind of flip the switch and kind
of turn it back on and get back in the rhythm.
So I think that's really what we're you know, lacking
at this current moment. Whether I said, I don't know
whether there's play call where there's execution from the players.

(37:44):
I'm not in the building, so I don't know what's
being told to them, but I said, I don't care
what play you called. Essentially, those players, you got to
figure out a way to get it done and get
it executed. So, like I decided to watch these guys
step to the challenge this week. It's going to be
a great he said, you should have to get up
for this one. He used to be and be excited
to play this Matchupah.

Speaker 4 (38:05):
If there's a time when the stadium is close to
full for an eleven am game, I'm not saying it
will be not gonna make that prediction, but it should
be clums you would open way to your question. I
think that is an interesting one because we all know
it's it's much more of a transactional world now in
college football. I mean, you could transfer for a you
know a few different reasons, but you know one of
them is going to be you can make more money

(38:27):
going from school, ad be. And maybe it does take
a little bit of time. Like Nick Saban said on
game day a couple a couple of weeks ago, you
can put your money, but if you put your money
on the raw players, you leap out of luck and
uh he didn't use bleep and he broke the internet,
as Kirk Krbstreet said, right, yeah, just think how much
See how much money your guys, I mean, think think

(38:48):
of that money that would have been coming your way,
all these opportunities, those teams, uh, those big ten championship teams.
I mean, I know your career worked out fine, but
you gotta wonder, don't you.

Speaker 1 (39:00):
I mean, and it could have ended up differently, like
like many myself at Melvin when all of us three
have stayed there. I mean, I'm sure there a been
other teams that would have offered you know, Melvin myself,
you know, somebody else some money. It's been hard to
kind of turn that down at that point. Somebody offered
me seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars co play somewhere else.
I'm going to consider it. I can guarantee that. So

(39:22):
I know, these kids are getting put in the tough spot,
and I say that I'm glad they're able to make
the money. Says if you go get the money, but
go perform as well, they'll get your education. Remember the
task at hand too.

Speaker 4 (39:34):
You're well see yeah, James, really appreciate it, and uh yeah,
I know you've got work to do there at Northern Illinois,
but really appreciate the fact that you follow the Badgers
to this day and have such great passion for them.
And I'm glad, glad you're not a stranger. You'll see
Macarreld at any time and the best of Warren Sojourn
and coach Hambard thought Frasier there the av everybody. So

(39:58):
continue success, man, We hope this see you.

Speaker 1 (40:00):
So thank you. I appreciate you. Thanks for having me.
Thank you.

Speaker 4 (40:03):
James on Wisconsin off fees, get fee free checking options
and more at UW Credit Union joined at UWCU dot org.
Terms and conditions apply, ensured by NCUA. That was fun
catch it up with James White. There were the great

(40:23):
Badgers and certainly a terrific New England patriot. By the way,
I didn't want to embarrass James. I probably should have
wigne outside the locker room. It was cause of football
locker room. There's a quote from Tom Brady about James
and he says, James White, he's everything you want in
a teammate and a football player, Dependable, consistent, durable, and
the best ated teams. He brings it every day and

(40:45):
you hear that from a teammate, especially, you know, arguably
the goat in New England. They don't argue it. They
just say he's the goat. That's about it. That's as
high a praise as you can get, you know.

Speaker 3 (40:54):
And I've got to tell you again, and I mentioned
it Tom Brady, and when James had that big Super
Bowl game, believe super Bowl fifty one, if I'm not mistaken,
at the big game against Atlanta and Tom Brady was
named MVP and Tom Brady said, no, James White was
the MVP, and he's getting the truck that you were
awarding me, and he did.

Speaker 1 (41:13):
He took it.

Speaker 3 (41:13):
I wonder if he still hasn't. Probably not, but at
any rate, no, I mean that that's and you could
just talking to him at a high character guy. I'm
not sure if coachings in his future, but it could be.
Why not, I mean he could. I bet you he's
be outstanding with young players and he's doing that now
down IU and that are coming off to that big win.

(41:35):
You know, we would try to keep this kind of timeless,
but there are a couple of big issues that are
that are caught our attention. Obviously this week the Jordan
Love situation Springings is mcl in the game at Brazil.
Probably not gonna play this week, a though Matt Laflor
has left the door open that he could be if
he's cleared, he could play. Probably not gonna happen. So

(41:57):
the Packers are gonna go with Malik Willis at quarterback.
And he's been in the building since the twenty seventh
of August when they acquired him for a seventh round
draft choice, so he didn't even spend the preseason with
the team. But it'll be very interesting to see how
they go about this game plan as they get set
to play the Indianapolis Colts. And I think it's going
to be interesting to see why, because he's so much

(42:19):
of a different quarterback than that they've had in greenback.
He's really a guy who projects to be a dual
threat quarterback, bigger guy. He was a running quarterback at
Liberty in college. Dave McGinnis, who was a former coach
with the Bears and a good friend of mine, I
read some of his comments that this kid really impressed

(42:40):
him the way he changed his game to become more
of a pocket passer this spring or August when he
played in the preseason games. That's what caught the Packers eye.
They felt they liked his athletic ability all along coming
out of college, but he really wasn't an NFL kind
of style quarterback, and he developed that at Tennessee and

(43:01):
they felt he made great strides in that regard. And
that's why Brian Udukotz went out after he cut his
two backup quarterbacks went out grabbed Malik Willis. And what
was interesting to me was in the Brazil game, the
Packers brought Seawan Clifford out of the practice squad and
we all thought that was okay. If something happens, you know,
if they decide Malik Willis didn't pick up enough of

(43:23):
the offense, they'll just activate Sean Clifford for the game
at sal Polo. Well that wasn't the case. Malik Willis apparently,
who scored thirty two on the wonderlif coming out of college,
which is a heck of a great score, but he's
very sharp, and then he picked up the offense and
did it well enough to be the backup quarterback in
sal Apolow. Now he's going to be the starting quarterback

(43:43):
for the time being, for a little bit of time
as they get Jordan Love back to health.

Speaker 1 (43:47):
But it'll be.

Speaker 3 (43:48):
Very interesting to see how their offense changes under this quarterback.
And then, knowing Matt Lafleur, he will tailor some of
his offense to fit within his quarterback number one can
do when the offense but number to take advantage of
this quarterback can break and that is you know RPOs.
You know, I think you'll see some read option in

(44:08):
this package and court designed quarterback run. So it'll be
very interesting to see the home opener of Green Bay
this weekend. And Matt, I wish I could be you
and James White going to the game against Alabama camp Randall.
I just think the atmosphere, I mean, soak it all
up from Friday night to Saturday night is just going

(44:29):
to be epic in Madison this weekend. Alabama coming it's out.
What was the last time you said in.

Speaker 1 (44:34):
The yeah, I was.

Speaker 4 (44:36):
It was a year before I started, nineteen twenty eight.
The last time Tied came into.

Speaker 1 (44:41):
Oucher said you called that game. I don't know.

Speaker 4 (44:44):
That was the following year I started, the same year
the market crashed by the way, I just put it
on a historical perspective. Yeah, it was a Badger shutout.

Speaker 1 (44:52):
How about that.

Speaker 4 (44:53):
I'm thinking Alabama might score points, hopefully not a ton
on Saturday. But yeah, this is you know, for a
season ticket holder, this is one of the reasons you
buy season tickets, you know, for games like this and
later in the season when Penn State comes in here
and then Oregon comes in here.

Speaker 1 (45:12):
It is now.

Speaker 4 (45:13):
I would tell you that the fan base there is
great excitement and there's nervousness too because of how good
Alabama is and Wisconsin, yes has avoided the eye popping
loss that has not looked overwhelmingly good in the first
two games. But this is I mean, the weather's supposed
to be good, supposed to become warm here on Saturday.
But yeah, the whole atmosphere, the college environment, even in

(45:36):
the era of nil and the portal and you know,
let's get another dollar out of wherever we can get
another dollar from, game day is still game day. And
I think, as I've been telling the folks in Alabama,
just you know, go walk State Street, go up and down,
go to the terrace, go to the go to Capitol Square.
Ticket all in on Friday, and then we'll see what happens.
You know, it's one of those games weigh in. As
cliche as it is when you play at defense in particular,

(45:59):
as good as I think Albabama's is, you got to
somehow get a short field. I don't think ad R
drives are going to be a regular recurrence to to touchdowns,
you know, the regular path to touchdowns in a game
like this. So if they can get a couple of turnovers,
if they can pop something in special teams play, that
would that would go a long way and giving them

(46:20):
the best chance circle it back to your world. I think,
if ever, there was a time where a ten hour
flight was a good thing unless you were still using
your phone or and all of this for you all
to avoid the Twitter doctors looking at the video of
Jordan Love getting hurt and projecting anything from nothing to uh,

(46:41):
you know, well he's done forever. I hope for your
sake you were able to avoid that, keep the fue off,
or it just was not an option because I did
not know how many Twitter doctors there are until something
like this happens to the Green Bay Packers quarterback.

Speaker 3 (46:56):
Yeah, you know it exactly, And when you saw it.
Matt didn't look good. You're saying to yourself, oh my gosh,
this is about the worst thing that could possibly happen
here tonight if he's gone for the season, and knowing
their backup quarterback situation, you know, pretty much in flux.
And but it's it's not as bad an injury as

(47:18):
was feared, and they're hoping they can get him back
in three to three weeks maybe. I think you know,
Jordan will push it. He'll push doctor mackenzie and that'll
be the tug of war that goes on behind the scenes,
and Doc mackenzie will not let him back out on
the field until he can take care of himself. And
you know that's he'll there on the side of caution,
no doubt.

Speaker 4 (47:38):
Yeah, And which is smart because you don't want to
trade trade tomorrow for today. I mean, I know there's
that win now mentality, and we all have seen how
gifted he is, you know, especially the second half of
the last season and how good he was. But man,
it's it's a long year, you know, and you get
you don't have to be seventeen and oh or sixteen

(47:59):
and one. So yeah, that's they're saying like the smart
play and I don't blame the floor playing word games
a little bit, just being very careful with everything he say.
If you can just have somebody doubting a little bit,
then he's like every other coach, college or pro.

Speaker 1 (48:14):
You can go weeks a week with this thing. You know.

Speaker 3 (48:16):
He's week to week, you know. But it's funny, man.
And again, a real doctor has said that with these MCLs,
it's offensive linemen can come back a lot quicker than
a quarterback or a wide receiver or a defensive back.
Why well, they don't have to do the sharp cutting

(48:36):
in the lateral movement that the MCL allows you to do.
They don't have to do that to the extent of
skilled position player would have to do that. So in
that regard, you know, yeah, well the big offensive line,
he was back the next week. Yeah, well it's a
different position, and so it'll be interesting to see.

Speaker 1 (48:52):
But I think I.

Speaker 3 (48:55):
Look at it and hope that the Packers didn't place
Jordan Love on IRS, so they must feel like he
could be back in three weeks.

Speaker 1 (49:01):
So it is.

Speaker 3 (49:02):
If they had a place in an IR, he'd be
gone for four games. So I think they're holding out
hope that he'll be able to play sooner rather than later,
and that would certainly be a good thing. But like
I said, it'll be intriguing to see what kind of
game plan Matt Laflor and his staff come up with
for Malik Willis. And I just think it's there. I

(49:22):
know that they're going to have something special in that
game plan for him. So the Colts better be ready
for some unscouted looks because it's going to look a
lot of different.

Speaker 1 (49:33):
Isn't it. I mean the injury.

Speaker 4 (49:34):
I mean, obviously we don't want to talk about injury,
and we don't like to talk about injuries with guys,
but obviously it's necessary in the case of Jordan Love.
But isn't it nice to be just talking about the
next game rather than the off season, especially at college
that'll last forever, you know, and there's you know, they've
got Alabama, that they have USC and so on and
so forth. The Packers got to have their game coming up,
and just it's just nice to be talking about football

(49:55):
and for you and you got your longest flight behind you.
Now you can settle his settle in to the normal.

Speaker 1 (50:01):
Sea of an NFL season.

Speaker 3 (50:02):
Yeah, absolutely, And you know, it's nice to be able
to talk about teams and what they've done on the
field rather than what teams on paper. You know, before
the season begins, all that stuff we talked about is
all on paper. Well, well, as soon as it kicks off,
burn up the paper because it doesn't matter anymore. And
as you know very well, Matt, football is a different
story week to week. And it's not who you play

(50:25):
or where you play, it's when you play that is
the most important thing. So it's intriguing. It's why we
watch football because we don't know what it's going to
happen week to week in any of these games. I'm
fascinated by what's going on in college football. I listen
to a bunch of games driving back from Green Bay
on Sunday after or Saturday afternoon, and it was just intriguing.

(50:47):
I think this nil thing has kind of spread the
talent a little bit, and at the very least, teams
are going to have to evolve now because they have
so many new players and they're not going to be
national championship caliber on week one.

Speaker 1 (51:00):
Nobody is. And it's kind of.

Speaker 3 (51:02):
What's more like what happens in the NFL nobody is
playing super Bowl caliber football in you know, in September
and October, and if you are, you better be better
be wary of the fact that you're not going to
maintain that to February when you really need.

Speaker 1 (51:16):
To be super Bowl caliber.

Speaker 4 (51:17):
So yeah, and I think it's a topic we can
get into at later pods too, because I think it
spreads the talent. As you said, in any number of cases,
well those select few can stack the deck at least
with the wherewithal financially that these guys that these players
can earn through nil like the Ohio States and Texas

(51:38):
and Oregon and you know, Georgia and probably Alabama to
a degree in others, But it comes down to the
chemistry off of that you just like the Yankees or
the Dodgers, you can have all of that money. But
the Yankees, as you well know, or fifteen years removed
from a World Series title. The Dodgers wanted it the
COVID short year and twenty, but that was their first sense.

(51:59):
Say so, yes, I guarantee it. But it's an interesting
topic and with our guests, I think we'll have throughout
the course of our season of podcast. It's probably one
worth getting into. But in the meantime we talk about
the games that they play and we look forward to it.

Speaker 1 (52:14):
Saturdays. Well, i'd say it's gonna be something Saturday, Matt.
I envy you.

Speaker 3 (52:18):
I'll be listening. I know you and tells you'll be
juiced for this one as you are for all of them,
but especially this one. And what an atmosphere is going
to be. You know, I would love to go out
there and find a tailgate. Just to go to a tailgate.

Speaker 4 (52:31):
They will, they will find you and I and I
guarantee you it doesn't matter at eleven o'clock game. If
the tailgating begins at eight o'clock, yeah, the bear will
be cold. And that's really all that matters.

Speaker 3 (52:43):
There's nothing like a cold beer at eight thirty in
the morning with a brought and one again a beard
on the other hand, and you're talking football at a
tail standing up at a tailgate, camp Randle, it's the
absolute best. That'll do it for us this time before
we have a beer here in the afternoon. Yeah, it's uh,

(53:04):
we're gonna wait for cocktail or, folks. I promise you
special Thanks to our guest, former Badger and NFL running
back James White, our producer engineer Dave McCann, our executive
producer Jeff Tyler. For Matt, missus, Wayne, thank you very
much for listening to the lay of the Lapey Podcast.

Speaker 2 (53:22):
The Larovian la Pey Podcast is a production of iHeartRadio
podcasts with hosts Wayne Larvy and Matt Lapey, with production
engineering by Dave McCann. The Lrevian la Pey Podcast is
presented by UW Credit Union. Here for every you listen to.
Other episodes available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.