Lane Grindle of the Brewers Radio Network joins Wayne and Matt to discuss the Bob Uecker memorial

Wayne and Matt break down the Brewers’ season so far and reflect on Sunday’s heartfelt Celebration of Life honoring Bob Uecker.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The minute I walked into the ballpark. I was just
struggling on Sunday and seeing all the tributes, and I
think what it was for me was it was the
first time the fans had their chance to say goodbye.
And you realize if you knew Yuke well that for him,
that's what it was all about. I mean, it was
about the game of baseball and respecting it, but it
was also about his connection with the fan base, his

(00:21):
connection with the city and the state, and it was
just I never thought I could be surprised by you,
but even Sunday surprised me on like how unbelievable that
connection between him and these fans was. Like it just
was incredible and it was inspiring and there will never

(00:41):
be anything like that again.

Speaker 2 (00:47):
This is the Leravie and la Pey Podcast, a production
of iHeartRadio Podcasts with host Swayne Larvie, the voice of
the Green Bay Packers, and Matt Lapey, the voice of
Wisconsin Badgers football and men's basketball. Being The pay podcast
is presented by Pottawatam Casino Hotel.

Speaker 3 (01:04):
Your win is waiting, Hi, everybody. I'm Wayne Laravie, Bet
I'm Matt lape Welcome to the Laraviela Pay Podcast presented
by Potawatabe Casino Hotel. Coming up on this episode. You know,
the Milwaukee Brewers, right in our own backyard here in Wisconsin,
are the absolute talk of baseball, best record in baseball.
But I don't know by four or five games. It's

(01:24):
not really that close. Of course, football is on the
near horizon and closer than maybe Matt or I would like.
But it's here, ready or not, and we're ready to
go there. But that's the Lara Vila Pay Podcast. Stay
with us. Good stuff coming up. We welcome in Milwaukee
Brewers radio broadcaster since twenty sixteen, Lane Grindel joins us

(01:44):
here on the laravie La Pay Podcast. Lane first and foremost,
we've met briefly. I know you and Matt know each
other really well, and you've been with the Brewers now
since twenty sixteen. But what a magical ride they're on
right now.

Speaker 1 (01:57):
Yeah, it's been. It's been incredible, Wayne, and thank you
for having me on to both of you. I'm such
a big fan of both of you and your work.
And there's nothing better than in the fall on a
Saturday or a Sunday to get in the car and
go run Samarans and have you two take me wherever
I'm going. So appreciate the chance to be on with
both of you, but it is it's been an amazing ride,

(02:19):
and I've been lucky enough that you know, as you said, Wayne,
I came in twenty sixteen and that was a seventy
three win team. But from that point forward, the Brewers
have been in the playoff mix every single year. In
twenty seventeen they missed it by a year, made it
in eighteen nineteen, twenty twenty one, missed it by a
game in twenty two, and of course have won the
division in back to back years, and now here in

(02:41):
twenty twenty five. It sure looks like this has a
chance to maybe be the best one.

Speaker 3 (02:45):
Yet we'll see.

Speaker 1 (02:47):
Those things are determined by what happens in October. But
it's been an incredible ride and really fun team to
follow and to cover. I mean, great guys in the clubhouse,
but the way they play everywhere you go, every city
you go to, the other broadcasters come in and they're
they're envious because you get to watch this style of
baseball every day. It's it's the way game the game

(03:07):
of baseball I think should should be played and the
athleticism really shows out. And uh, it's been it's been
a lot of fun.

Speaker 4 (03:14):
Well, this has been, interestingly and as we record this,
there's still a long way to go here in the season,
a month plus change. But if the Brewers do in
fact win the division, that's three in a row and
four out of five. But this one feels different, is it? Because?
I mean I think you and I we were messaging
each other really in the season, and I know I

(03:35):
was bracing for kind of a tough year. You know,
they weren't doing much offensively the first month plus. On
the outside, it feels different. You're with them every day.
Does it feel different for you?

Speaker 1 (03:48):
Yes?

Speaker 3 (03:48):
And no.

Speaker 1 (03:49):
I mean that's a really good question, actually, Matt It
it feels different to me a little bit because I
think the division is better. I think the Cubs are
better than they've been. They're definitely better than they've been.
The Cardinals are kind of mired in mediocrity right now, frankly,
and they have been for the last couple of years.
But the Reds are better too. I think the Reds

(04:11):
are scary. They have some great arms, they have some
great young athletes, they have some real talent, and they've
got a great manager, one of the best managers of
our era in Terry Francona. So there's just no doubt
that the division is so much better. And you also have,
by the way, the Pirates, who aren't great, but they
play pretty well at home. And they got a guy
named Paul Skeens that's going to win a cy young

(04:31):
So when he lines up against you in a series,
that isn't like playing the Rockies or or somebody else.
So it's just a tougher division. So the fact that
they've gotten out to this kind of a lead and
it's going to go up and down through the month
of September. I don't think you're going to see them
race out to a fifteen game lead and put this
thing to bed by September fifteenth. That's just not how

(04:54):
this is probably going to work. But they do have
a sizeable lead, as we talk about right now, five
and a half games, and to be able to do
that with the division the way it is, I think
is just really impressive. It's different in that way. It's
not different when you're inside the walls of the clubhouse
because you have a group of guys that's a core

(05:14):
now that has been a part of a couple of
different runs. They believe, they believe in each other, and
I think probably for some people it sounds a little
bit corny, but like they're a true team. They get it.
They are there for each other, They push each other.
They have this great culture and you've been around it, Matt.
I mean, it's very similar to the cultures that you

(05:35):
were around when you were covering the Brewers on a
regular basis too. And Christian Yelich is one of the
guys that sets that tone. And they have a manager that,
in my opinion, was just the absolute perfect fit for
this particular group of guys. He would dismiss this if
somebody talked to him about it publicly, but I will
tell you my own observation is what makes him so

(05:57):
great for this group is you've got a nucleus of
young players like Bright to Rang, sal Freelick, you can
go on down that list, and he is still a
coach at heart. You know, so many managers, I think
they arrive at this perch and they want to push
the buttons and make the moves, and they want to
make sure things are good in the clubhouse, but I

(06:17):
don't know that the development part of it is their
number one priority anymore. Right, That stuff happens as guys
come up through the organization, and it still happens at
the big league level. But Murph loves to coach. He
loves to coach a ten year old. I mean, he
works with my own kid like.

Speaker 3 (06:34):
He loves it.

Speaker 1 (06:35):
He's passionate about it. He loves to teach the game
of baseball. So he can coach these young players because
they're still at the very beginning stages of their big
league careers. But he also understands that with a Christian
Yelich or a Reice Hoskins, there is a manager component
to it, and he does both of those things so well,
and he blends those two things together that I think

(06:56):
that's one of the reasons why he's been such a
great bit at the time of the Brewers on a
daily basis as their manager.

Speaker 3 (07:04):
You know, Lane, when you look at this Brewer's team
and you were talking about the chemistry stuff, and Matt
and I have talked about that on this podcast in
at Nauseum. What I think we as people on the outside,
the casual fans, the everyday guy thinks you could just
throw a bunch of all stars together, you're gonna have
a winning ball club. And you know, I do remember

(07:25):
something that I think it was Brian Cashman said after
the Yankees finally won one in ninety two thousand and nine.
He said, you know, it's not talent, it's the right talent.
Putting the right talent together. That's not easy to do.
And you know, when I look at what you guys
with the Brewers have done in eleven game winning streak,
fourteen game winning streak, could you count the number of

(07:47):
games they've lost in August on like one hand. I mean,
you're sitting here and saying, okay, but they swept the
Dodgers home and away in a two week period. And
I know the Dodgers aren't totally whole right now, but
there's still the Dodgers four hundred million dollars payroll, whatever
it is. And I'm just thinking, you know, and all
the fans are kind of thinking, what about September? What's

(08:08):
gonna happen in October? And can this team really make
a run? And my point is, you know, if you're
this good, why not why wouldn't the Brewers have a
chance to run the table in October? Why not? I
don't get it. I don't understand the trepidation here. I
agree with you, and I think.

Speaker 1 (08:29):
You know, I always hesitate to say it's anybody's turn,
because it's never anybody's turn. Everything has to be earned,
and you have to go out and you have to
win it on the field, and that is how And
Matt and I were just talking about this before we started.
You know, you look at the Arizona Diamondbacks in twenty
twenty three. That team won eighty four games. The bruis
of eighty two wins right now, and it's August. That

(08:51):
team won eighty four games, got the final wild card spot,
and made it all the way to the World Series
before losing to the Astros in the World Series. The
Braves who Brewers fans don't want to hear about them
either in twenty one because they took down the Brewers
in the Divisional Series, But that was a team that
won less than ninety and was hovering around five hundred

(09:11):
at the trade deadline, and nobody could believe that they
doubled down and made the moves they made at the
deadline because they didn't have Ronald Acunya and they end
up getting hot and they won the World Series. So
you have to get there first, and the Brewers have
put themselves in a great position to do that. But
to go back on what you were initially talking about,
Wayne with you just can't throw a collection of guys

(09:32):
together and throw it out there and hope that it works.
I mean, the San Diego Padres had a team in
twenty three that looked like the Monstars in the movie
Space Jam, and they didn't make the postseason because for
whatever reason it didn't click. They had a great manager
and Bob Melvin, like, there were so many things about
that team that would have made you believe, hey, the
Padres are going to be right there in the end.

(09:53):
And I don't think they had a collection of bad
guys either. It just wasn't the right collection of guys
to gel and make it work. Pat Murphy says all
the time, and again, I know it's not maybe sexy
because we live in an era where we like to
measure everything by exit below and by velocity and spin

(10:13):
ray and all the analytics. Because we can measure and
put a value on everything in the game. So sometimes
when you have these intangible things that you want to
talk about, people can't quantify it, and they don't love
that because they can't. It's not comfortable to them. But
Pat Murphy all the time talks about it's about the who.
It's not just about what we have. It's about the

(10:34):
who and who we have and how they all work together.
And that is the thing I think the Brewers. Yeah,
everybody keeps asking what's the secret sauce? What's the secret sauce?
If you go back to twenty seventeen, that is, to me,
the secret sauce is that the Brewers have had the
right guys for the most part in the clubhouse every
year working together. The communication is great between front office

(10:57):
to staff to players, and everybody gets on the same
page and they're all pulling in the same direction. That
matters in sports. It is so hard to get everybody
on that same page. But when you do it, it matters.
And I think Murph does such a good job of
making sure that he is checking in with these guys.
They know that he cares about them beyond just if

(11:18):
they win zero for three. How are they feeling at
the plate? You know, how's everything at home and how's
everything else going on. I think that has a big
impact on why this team shows up every night and
plays so hard.

Speaker 4 (11:29):
You've touched on it lane and I watched this team,
watch Elicta, this team from an arms leak, now, But
I mean you you did college baseball at Nebraska, and
I've always thought, even like going back to seventeen, the
Brewers seem to be maybe very closely resembling a college
type of atmosphere, college type of culture, maybe more than

(11:52):
ever now. And I just get the feeling that Pat
Murphy still kind of manages that way, like he's going
back to Notre Dame or Arizona State. Within reason that
that's how I do you see that same way up clups.

Speaker 1 (12:06):
I think within reason is the key because obviously there's
nights where he has to say, hey, we got to
stay away from Trevor McGill tonight he threw thirty plus
pitches yesterday, or adenry Rebas throwing three games in a row,
we got to stay away from him for a couple
of days. There's still these managerial components to what he does,
and he gets that and he does a really nice.

Speaker 3 (12:24):
Job with it.

Speaker 1 (12:25):
But if you go back to some of the basic
core things of the Pat Murphy ero over these last
two years. I mean, one of the big phrases the
mantras is win tonight. You know, that's a pretty kind
of bold thing to put out there in Major League
Baseball because there's one sixty two and you always hear,
but it's a marathon, not a sprint, and sometimes you

(12:47):
got to be able to punt tonight because you got
to be set up to have your guys in there
in the right place for the rest of the series.
I mean, those are conversations that you will hear behind
the scenes sometimes and Pat Murphy just kind of leaned
and don the focus is winning tonight's game. And it's
such a simple thing, but because you put the emphasis on, like,

(13:08):
our job right now is the job in front of us,
and that's to win tonight's game or today's game. And
how do you do that.

Speaker 3 (13:14):
You do it by.

Speaker 1 (13:16):
Simplifying the game and playing pitch to pitch, and that
is I think one of the things that if you
watch this specific team and you watch their abs, even
when they're not producing maybe at the plate at the
same rate that they were during the fourteen game, winning streak.
They're still getting into a ton of three ball counts,
they're still fouling a lot of pitches off, they're still

(13:38):
finding ways to annoy the heck out of the starting
pitcher on that night and run up their pitch count.
That is a group of guys that are bought into
that win tonight mentality. Win this pitch, win this hit bat.
Maybe there's two outs of nobody on, but if I
get to first, that's going to take another bite out
of this starting pitcher, and maybe it pays off for
us two innings later. I think these guys are really

(13:59):
grasped that, and I do think there's some college aspects
to that, Matt, because it's a shorter season in college,
it's a sixty game season maybe at most in the
regular season, and so you really do live and die
much more by wins and losses at that level, where
it is easier in June to turn the page on

(14:19):
a loss. You know, Okay, well we play again tomorrow,
it'll be fine. But that's harder to do at the
college level. And so I just think I don't even
know if it was intentionally, but he's just cranked up
the intensity a little bit in terms of, you know,
there's a sense of urgency for every single game.

Speaker 3 (14:37):
You know lane when you look at moving forward in lane. Grindle,
by the way, is our guest on the lerra Vie
La pay podcast play by play broadcast through the Milwaukee
Brewers for well going on. What is this tenth year
for you? Yeah? Started in twenty sixteen. Amazing? How fait
hard to la? It's amazing and you're still the new
guy on the block. No, so, Josh is the new

(14:59):
guy in the block, Josh. No, It's amazing to see
what happens with these teams and how they come together.
And there's another component in Matt and I have talked
about this as well in football, where you know, I
don't care how good a team you have, you've got
to be playing your best when the chips are on
the table, when you're going into in college football maybe November, December, January,

(15:23):
what NFL. If you're not playing your best, I don't
care how good a team you are, You're going to
struggle in the playoffs if you're not playing well in
December and January. You know that kind of thing. And
there have been a lot of good Packers teams that
weren't quite playing their best and they got ousted pretty
early in the playoffs. How do you do that in baseball?
I mean, is there a momentum? People have always said

(15:46):
to me, and I've always thought this, You're you know,
momentum is their starting pitcher the next night? You want
the game? Oh yeah, we got momentum. No, not if
your starter gets blown out in the first inning. You
know what I mean? Right, So how do you do
this in baseball? I think that that's that is a
very cliche.

Speaker 1 (16:06):
Thing, but it's very true, right, Like, the momentum is
only as good as the next guy that takes the
ball to start the next day. And it's a team game,
and you hate to put it on one guy, but
if he has a bad day, everything can kind of
can start to spin the other direction really fast in
this game. It's funny, you know, Matt brings up college baseball.

(16:28):
The head coach at Nebraska for the last three or
four years that I was there was Darren Erstad who
was a great player for the Angels, former number one
overall draft pick. You want a batting title, and Erstie
would always say, there is no such thing as momentum
At baseball, and I always I love ersty, but I
always totally disagreed with that because there's a reason you

(16:48):
win fourteen in row. There's a reason Andrew Monasterio hits
a home run against Cincinnati in that moment, because everybody's
feeding off of each other, and it's real, you feel it.
There's an invincibility to it at some point when things
are going the right way, and I think, there's how
are we ever going to get out of this component
to it when things aren't going well, just like there
can be in every other sport. But that that is

(17:10):
the one little wrench that can get thrown into the
plans is if one guy has a bad day on
the mound, and it doesn't even always have to be
the starting pitcher. If if one guy comes in out
of the bullpen and has a bad day, that can
change things quickly.

Speaker 4 (17:25):
You know.

Speaker 3 (17:25):
I always.

Speaker 1 (17:28):
Have talked to guys in baseball for for years and years,
and one of the things that I always heard other
other you know, former managers or just baseball people say
about bullpen games is yeah, I mean that's wonderful, but
if you're going to run eight guys out there, what
are the odds that one of them is going to
have a bad day. Like you know, you're you're messing
with the odds a little bit there that one of
those guys might struggle. So that's always one of the

(17:49):
challenges of having a bullpen day. But I don't know
if there's a great answer to how are you playing
your best baseball going into the end of September and
turning that corner in October. I think if somebody really
knew that, there'd probably be some more books written on
it and everybody would be trying to copy it. But
I do think like for the Brewers a week ago,

(18:12):
they had a nine game lead in the division, and
if they run away and hide and they're playing meaningless
baseball for the last two weeks, I'm not sure that's great.
I think there is a sense of urgency that the
teams that play with that in the last week to
get in Sometimes that just carries over look at the
Matts last year. Again, I hate bringing up all these
bad memories for the Brewers, but look at the adversity

(18:33):
they faced at the end of the regular season. Had
to go back to Atlanta, had to play a doubleheader,
then they have to come back to Milwaukee, and sometimes
it galvanizes you as a group. It's like this challenge
that you all want to face together. And I do
think there's an element of that, probably the same thing
with the Diamondbacks the year before they just sneak in
and now it's like, let's go prove everybody wrong. But

(18:53):
I don't know if there's a great formula for a wayne,
but it is certainly what everybody is striving to do
going into the postseason. You're playing your best and things
are going well. I think that momentum is real.

Speaker 3 (19:05):
I don't want to be Casino hotel.

Speaker 4 (19:07):
Your win is waiting Plaine. As we talk here this morning,
where a couple of days removed from, you know, the
celebration of life for Bob Buker at the ballpark. Forty
two thousand plucks were there. It was really well done
watching and listening to that Bob Costas kind of the
anchor of it all. But the interesting mix of people

(19:29):
who were there, including George Brett.

Speaker 3 (19:31):
Yeah, what was what was that like for you?

Speaker 4 (19:34):
Because they did the Acostas recognize you know, the radio crew,
you and Jeff Josh and Ken Summerfeld. There's known Bob
as long as anybody I think who through this organization.
What was that like for you, you guys, just to
be there and witnessing that ceremony.

Speaker 1 (19:56):
I was really surprised, Matt, at how emotional I was,
because this was the third time we'd been through this
as a radio team. We were all at the funeral,
and then we all had the private ceremony in April,
which was I thought, just phenomenal and really well done

(20:17):
as well.

Speaker 3 (20:19):
And you'd had.

Speaker 1 (20:21):
A few months to settle into a routine in the booth,
and you think about Yuke every day that you're in
the booth. I mean, we've surrounded ourselves with him in there.
We have pictures of him everywhere. We have his signature
call on the back wall now behind us as we broadcast,
I have his Ford Frick Award framed right above my
right shoulder, and then a picture of him, and I

(20:42):
will turn to him and talk at him at some
point during the game, usually almost every night, Like what
do you think of that? Because it's just so weird
to not have him in that booth. It's his booth.
I mean, he would and you know this, Matt, he
would sit around that roundtable and back the booth and
storytime with Uke was like, I mean, everybody wished they
could just hit record and have all those archived for

(21:05):
our own purposes because there was nothing like it in
the world. So I thought I was going to be fine.
I was like, look, I've been through this twice. We
found our rhythm whatever that is now at the ballpark,
And the minute I walked into the ballpark, I was
just struggling on Sunday and seeing all the tributes, and

(21:25):
I think what it was for me was it was
the first time the fans had their chance to say goodbye.
And you realize if you knew Yuke, well that for him,
that's what it was all about. I mean, it was
about the game of baseball and respecting it, but it
was also about his connection with the fan base, his
connection with the city and the state, and it was

(21:46):
just I never thought I could be surprised by Yuke,
but even Sunday surprised me on like how unbelievable that
connection between him and these fans was, Like it just
was incredible and it was inspiring and there will never
be anything like that again. I was even talking to
Matt Arnold after the event was over on Sunday night,

(22:08):
and we were trying to find a player that has
connected with the city in Major League Baseball on the
same level that Yuke has connected with the city. And
obviously Uke was a player, but so much of this
is about his time in the broadcast booth. And I
was like, maybe Jeter, but there's so many other options
for the Yankees too, Like, you know, name a baseball

(22:29):
player that is connected with the city the same way
that Yuke has connected with the city of Milwaukee in
the state of Wisconsin. It was incredible to watch it.
I thought it was really well done and everybody that
came in contact with Bob, he made them feel so important.
So everybody in there, forty two thousand plus, they all
felt like they were Bob's best friend. And that's a

(22:49):
testament to him and the way he made people feel
when they walked into the room.

Speaker 4 (22:53):
I think when you say that Yunce is probably the
closest brewer, I think with a connection job and yeah,
with the city kind of epitomize, but no, yeah, And
I thought having costas there was was just was perfect.
And I know he was there for you know, at
a prior private celebration of life a few months ago.

(23:14):
But it's a reminder to everybody, is you know, even
though he's quote hours forever, everybody knows who Bob Yuker is, right, Yeah,
the Tonight Show is Yeahni Carson, mister Belvedere. And having
George Brett there, you get a different perspective. And you know,
my admiration for Costas is you know, his greatness as
a broadcaster, but the friendship, I mean, you got you

(23:36):
were there right when Costas would stop in the booth
and do a couple of innings, which is always good
for which was always good for laughs.

Speaker 1 (23:43):
So it was just so he Costas came last year
in September because he wanted to he wanted to spend
a couple of innings on the air of UKE, and
he jumped on the air and they just launched into
their old routine. And at one point Costas is calling
play by play. At another point, my dog was sparking,
somebody filled the door, all right, it's a podcast, yeah, absolutely,

(24:04):
And so at one point Pastas is doing play by play,
At another point yuk is doing play by play, and
they're like seamlessly, like there's no format to it, like
it's just whoever's talking at this moment, calls the ground
ball to short and eventually yuk Is it turns to me.
He's like, you got to come down here because I'm
running out of gas. So he waves me down and

(24:26):
I put the headset on and I'm standing between the
two of them, and now I'm doing all the play
by play and just laying out. I mean, it's the
most basic play by play ever because I'm getting in
and out of the play as quickly as I can
so they can go back into storytime, and I am
getting there, like I cannot believe this is happening to
me now. At no point in my life did I

(24:48):
think in my career I would be doing play by
play wife while Bob Yuker and Bob Costas are telling
stories in.

Speaker 3 (24:54):
The middle of the game.

Speaker 1 (24:55):
And I still haven't gone back and gotten the tape
of that. I have to do it and save it
for my archives because I'll never I'll never have anything
that I'll experience in my career probably anywhere close to that.

Speaker 3 (25:05):
Again, you know, it's incredible. And I kept saying this
last year listening to the Brewers' games, how good Yucher
still sounds at ninety years old, and I didn't know
that he was battling cancer for two years. I just
know he was missing more games. That was about it
as a listener, But as a broadcaster. I think Costas

(25:27):
said this this weekend somewhere that if you were to
take away all the humor and personality and all that
other stuff that just calling the game, he was elite.
He was in that elite category. Now everything else around
him overshadows the fact that this was an incredibly good
baseball broadcaster, had an amazing voice for the game. The

(25:50):
highs and the lows of the game. He could, you know,
he really delivered it, and it right I thought, God
Lane right up till the end. I mean, I'm sure, yeah,
he's harder for embassy home run or whatever, you know
what I mean, the little stuff, but boy, just the
delivery and the sound he was. He's ninety and I'm saying,
my god, it's amazing.

Speaker 1 (26:12):
He still hit the big moments, man, and was so
good at him in his own distinct way. Like that's
I think been one of the hardest parts of this
year is that when we've had, and we've had a
lot of them, these big walk offs or late game
moments that you call it, and then you kind of
sit there for a second and you think to yourself,
how would you could call that one, because you know,

(26:33):
he would have put his own stamp on it in
some sort of way. But you're right, Whene, and we
knew what he was going through, and so there are
days he would come up to the booth and Randy Olewinsky,
our chief of security, would would would drop him off
and we would look at each other and it would
kind of be like, I don't know how he's going
to get through this one today, and then the music

(26:54):
would play and it was like this something out of
this world take over him and he would sit up
and from American Family Field on a beautiful Wednesday afternoon,
you know, and it was just incredible how he would
just go in as like a muscle memory would take over.
So he was outstanding, and he hit some big moments

(27:16):
last year. The Jackson Curio Grand Slam for me last
year stands out because and I've tweeted about this, I've
talked about it. I mean, here was a guy that
was ninety years old calling a twenty year old hitting
a grand Slam in the show, And think about the
things those two lives have and will intersect over the

(27:38):
course of Jackson's career. You know, here's Bob who caught
Warren spawn, and here's Jackson, who knows who he's gonna
play with. He might play till twenty forty. I mean,
it's one hundred plus years of baseball and one kind
of turning point or on one fork in the road
with those two guys where they meet. And it was

(28:00):
just like, wow, this is a pretty cool piece of
baseball history to me.

Speaker 4 (28:05):
I did get a chuckle and a lighter note here
after the toast led by Jeff Levering and Sophia mennerd
up back up with the booth and and you know,
Jeff's doing the kind of the foster Brooks for those
of a certain age who remember who Foster Brooke did.
And you were suggesting maybe a fireball was in order.
I trust maybe you held off until or maybe maybe
not just been honored. Just go ahead, Letter Ripped.

Speaker 1 (28:26):
We took a fireball before the game even started, actually
on slight day. That was that was that was a
you tradition, man like we we would take a fireball,
not every game, but we would do it on occasion
before a game, before a big game, you know, just
for fun, somebody's birthday, whatever it might be. Like, we
found a lot of excuses to do it. But yeah,

(28:48):
that was you know, we to to share a kind
of a very private moment when when Yuke was was buried,
and one of the things they did on Sunday is
they showed where where he was laid to rest. It
would just I mean, it's just an incredible thing that
that worked out where he's able to be buried. And
in the summer, the leaves kind of cover up the

(29:11):
stadium a little bit, so from his grave, he can't
you can see the very top of the roof. But
in the fall and winter, it's a straight shot you
can see the American Family feeld signed right from where
he's laid to rest. But to have him there is
just kind of incredible, right that he's just right there

(29:34):
next to us every day. I go up and visit
it every once in a while. But to get back
to the point I was making when we laid him
to rest, a group of us that kind of occupies
the booth on a fairly regular basis. Whether it was
the guys that helped get him from the clubhouse up
to the booth. Roger Kaplinger, who was of course such

(29:59):
a big part of of the medical team for Bob,
kind of organizing everything, Jeff, myself, our wives, Kent Summerfeld, Josh,
we all went up to the booth right afterward and
took one shot of fireball, kind of just in honor
of Yuke, and it was a really neat moment for

(30:19):
all of us. It was kind of the people that
on a daily basis were in Yuke's orbit at the ballpark,
and it was a great idea. I don't remember who
came I think Jeff came up with it while we
were standing there, and it was it was cool, But
that was Yuke Man. I mean everything that he did,
he wanted to bring people together, he wanted to make
it fun, he wanted to make it light. I cannot

(30:41):
tell you how many times Kent Summerfeld would say, Yuke,
thirty seconds till we're on, and he is still telling
the story in the back of the booth, and he
would turn to Kent and say, you're tight, calm down,
We're gonna be fine. You know, the broadcast doesn't start
until I turned my mic on. That's just the way
it works, and he was right. So, I mean, and
we learned so much from him, and in the in

(31:02):
the nuts and bolts are calling the game because Wayne,
You're right, he's such a phenomenal play by play caller.
But we also, I think, learned how to make this
job really fun and how to get serious when it's
time to get serious, but also how to make the
time pass and enjoy each other and be a great team.
And that's all from him. I mean, we all learned

(31:23):
that from him.

Speaker 3 (31:24):
You know, I was reading a story about you and
you Ke had I don't know tradition is the right word,
but a habit of after the game, you would he
would take you down on the golf cart to his car,
that type of thing, and then you'd say good night
and you'd head to your car. He he'd head out.
And in the last game that he did was that

(31:46):
Mets playoff game where the Mets, you know, and he said,
this one is going to sting a little bit, you
know that kind of thing. Did you did? Did you
guys really realize at the time that this was probably
the end for Bob, that he would not make it
to the next season.

Speaker 1 (32:04):
I never put anything past that man. So I thought
there was a really good chance this was it, and
I felt like it probably was. But I also I mean,
I will tell you that I had multiple conversations with
him in the offseason, and there were times when we
talked about spring training and the next season. So I

(32:26):
never ever allowed myself to totally believe that you would
ever be done. I really tricked myself into thinking he
was immortal and that he would do this forever, because
I just couldn't imagine being at the ballpark without him.
So I just never let my mind totally go there.
But I think in reality, wing, yes, I knew that
there was a pretty good chance this was it. And

(32:47):
at the end of that night, I thought, Okay, well,
he's going to need to go to the clubhouse and
have his time with the players, and I don't want
to be in the way of that. So I was
going to meet him at the back of the boot
and just say I'm going to go out a different way.
You go have your time. And when he came up
the steps, he was emotional, and everybody was in that

(33:09):
booth at that point, and he looked at me and
he said, I'm not done with you. Yet you're coming
with me, and uh, yeah, I'll always remember those words
because it was like validation that I was one of
his guys. And so we went and we went down
to the clubhouse and we sat in Tony Miliacho's office

(33:30):
and Robin was there and Christian came in, and I
eventually decided I was going to get out of there.
I didn't stay the whole night, like a lot of
people did. I mean a lot of people stayed in
that clubhouse till I think, you know, one thirty two
am because the loss hurts so much. But yeah, that

(33:52):
was a powerful moment for me with you at the
end there. But we I mean we talked frequently even
after the season, and I got to talk to him
right up until the very end, and so I'm always
really grateful for that too. I mean, you're kind of
humbled by the fact that here's this man that had
accomplished everything in his career, had a million great friends,

(34:13):
had celebrities, and everybody that wanted to come meet him
in the booth. I mean, that was the thing about
being in Bob's booth. You turn around, Fred Couples is
standing there. You turn around, and at one point Chris
Christy was in our booth, like just just random people
because they just wanted to have a chance to meet Bob.
I mean, there's a picture out there Bob and Adam
Sandler that they took a selfie together in California a

(34:33):
couple of years ago. It's just hilarious to look at that.
You know, Adam Sandler starstruck because he got a chance
to meet Bob Buker. But that part is the humbling
thing for me. And I don't speak for Josh and Jeff,
but I'm pretty sure it's probably the same thing for
them that with all of those people that all wanted
a piece of Bob or to be a part of

(34:55):
his life, that he would consider us, you know, good friends,
and let us be apart part of his life. It's
it's pretty humbling and it's pretty special, and I'll always
be grateful for it.

Speaker 4 (35:05):
I'm glad you told that story, Mane, because people have
asked me just what I remember of Bob, and you know, look,
I was in, I was out, I was you know,
the fill in guy part time. But one of the
things that always struck me was that how loyal he
always was to his radio partners, you know, present tense obviously,
and then Corey provis Jim Pound, Joe Block. But on

(35:26):
the road you would have your team dinner, you know,
the pre game, you know, Bob, You, Jeff Kenttz, maybe
Dan Larey I would would be joined him. But that
was that was the routine. And he never as big
as he will always be.

Speaker 2 (35:42):
Uh.

Speaker 4 (35:42):
He was never too big for you guys. And he
just very loyal to the craft and those who do
it with him. And I always thought that was that
was pretty cool. And it's the thing that you know,
a fan won't know. You just know him as the
hilarious guy who was a great play by play broadcaster,
But there was a lot more to him than that.

Speaker 1 (36:02):
Oh absolutely yeah. I mean he he was unbelievably great
and gracious with my family, you know, And I don't
know if people realize that either, you know, whether it's
Jeff's family or my family or Kent's, Like, that's the
first thing you always asked me about, how are the kids,
how's Ali? You know, Luke playing baseball? I mean, those

(36:23):
were the things that he always wanted to know first
when you got together with him, or if he checked
in in the off season, whatever it might have been,
like you were a part of his family by extension,
and he was so loyal to his guys as a
result of that. You know, we always called it the
Uker umbrella. I mean like you could walk around the

(36:43):
ballpark and be like, ah, well, you know that's gone now,
but yeah, it was. It was phenomenal because you was
going to have your back no matter what.

Speaker 3 (36:54):
You know, Lane, For many years, I always wondered what
the Brewer is gonna we're going to do when Yuker
was no longer broadcasting their games, And a lot of
us felt like this, And I remember discussions at WTMJ,
and this is going back probably twenty years ago, but
nobody could. Uker was the thing that made sales go,

(37:15):
that made everything go around the Brewers for a long
time before they became successful as they are today. But nonetheless,
you know, and I always kind of wondered as a
broadcast person myself, but I can't I said this probably
two or three years ago. I can't think of a
better period in time where the Brewers' broadcasting situation is
so strong that yeah, it would be okay if Bob

(37:40):
can't do the games or whatever. That they will survive,
that they'll be fine, that they have really good people
in the broadcast foods, and I feel so strong about
that with you and Jeff Levering, Josh Mauer, Brian Anderson.
You know, I got to tell you something. I've been
around twenty six twenty seven years. Matt's been around thirty plus.

(38:02):
I don't think the broadcasts have been better than they
are today, you know. And that's a tribute to you
guys and the people who put you guys together, because
it's not easy following UCAUS, you know. But I think
this team is better prepared today to do that than
it would have been twenty years ago, fifteen years ago.

Speaker 1 (38:21):
Yeah, I think a lot of that too, Wan is
that when I was hired in twenty sixteen, nobody knew
how long Bob was going to continue to do it.
He was eighty two at that point in time, I
think when I first met him, and so there was like,
you know, how long does does Bob want to keep
doing this? But he did and he stuck around. I
got nine years with him, and Josh got three years

(38:43):
with him, and Jeff got ten years with him, and
so on the radio side, we just had so much
time to spend with you to kind of understand how
we do it on the Brewers Radio Network, because how
we do it on the Brewers Radio Network is probably
different than how they do it at.

Speaker 3 (39:02):
The Reds or with the Braves or wherever else.

Speaker 1 (39:05):
Right, Like, we have our own unique way that we
do things. And one of the things that we never
did with Yuke, and I try not to do it
still to this day, is just pound people over the
head with numbers every second. I mean, it's easy to
do in baseball, but the anecdotal stuff sometimes is a
lot more interesting, and so you try to pick your
spots and find the places to tell stories and let

(39:26):
the crowd breathe. I mean, if I learned anything from Uke,
it is like, hey man, let the ballpark talk because
it has a lot to say. And so I try
to remember that each and every day. But again, and
I know it's kind of sounding like a little bit
of a theme, but I think it just goes back
to the fact that we're all very close. You know,
Jeff and my family, We've raised our kids together. Essentially,

(39:48):
our wives are friends. We spend time together in the
off season. It's not just to show up and sit
down next to each other and call a game. It
is a friendship, It is a family. Josh is like
an uncle to my kids. Ken Summerfeld is invited to
all my I mean he comes to my daughter's musicals
and stuff in the winter. Like I think that matters.

(40:09):
I think it's just like what we were talking about
with the team, and so we all support each other.
We're all excited for each other when the other one
gets the big call and the big moment and they
nail it. You know, that's the thing I miss the
most is that, you know, if you had a big
call and the extra innings and and Yuke was sitting
next to you, you know, you'd look over and he
would give you a thumbs up and say way to go, Grinny.

(40:32):
Or if you were on the road and you had
a big moment, he would text you immediately and it
would say way to go grin. You know, those types
of things. We miss that, But I think we've all
tried to provide that for each other a little bit
more now because we don't have Yuke as the patriarch,
if you will, of our booth. But we're we're very lucky,
very talented people, great people to work around. I mean,

(40:53):
I will say this Wayne and he'll be I know
him too well, he's gonna be super humble about this.
I've learned a lot from Matt my time around Matt,
and I think Matt and I have a very similar
view on a lot of things about this business and
about calling games. And he's he's somebody I try to emulate.
I try to be more like Matt Lapey because I
just think he's phenomenal. And of course I love listening

(41:16):
to you. And I did a little bit of football
last year kind of in an emergency basis. And so
what did I do. I went and listened to Wayne
Levy and listened to Matt Lapey and took notes and
tried to get myself, you know, to to to knock
the rust off so I could be presentable when I
when I cracked open the mic. So we have in

(41:36):
this state a really rich talent pool. And whether it's
the Packers, the Brewers, the Badgers were extremely lucky. And
I know the fans appreciate that because you see that
a lot out there, and you hear that from people
a lot that they're they get it, that it's it
didn't have to be this way in the state. We're
very fortunate.

Speaker 4 (41:57):
Well, I listened to Wayne a lot too. Lane. You
got to set the bar hire though, but it's thank
god I appreciate. Let's let it before we close off here.
This is an awkward transition, but we'll do it anyway.
We talked at the beginning. When you get into the postseason,
anything can happen. As cliche as that is, it's a
cliche because it's true. But as you look at your
potential October matchups, who's this, Who's the one that kind

(42:23):
of scares you the most? If your Phillies, Dodgers, Cubs, Padres, Mets,
or if Cincinnati sneaks in, here's the one where you're going, ah, oh,
this is going to be a competent, you know, competent
the Bruis could get through. But the one that you
think could be the toughest.

Speaker 3 (42:39):
Yeah, that's that's a really good question.

Speaker 1 (42:41):
I think I have multiple answers because there's multiple things
that I would have to process to get to that point.
And meaning like I mean, in some ways, the Cubs
scare me the most, only because if you lost to them,
that would hurt the most, right and let's just let's
just be honest, that would hurt. But in terms of
the actual matchup, and we're just talking about who scares

(43:03):
you in a series, I probably would have said the
Phillies until Zach Wheeler was out for the year. I
think that that changes that a lot. I think the
Phillies are great. I just their lineup is so dangerous.
They can go deep at any moment in the game.
They just they're better defensively than they've been I think too,
And they just they scare me. They've got a great

(43:24):
bullpen now. But without Zach Wheeler, that's a I mean,
that's a big deal to not have Zach Wheeler. So
I think I'd probably still stick with the Dodgers, right
Like I know the Brewers went sticks and oh against
the Dodgers. I think they match up pretty well with
the Dodgers, but it's still, you know, not that complicated.
They have the most talented roster in baseball, and so

(43:45):
I think I would still go with the Dodgers and
probably just make it simple.

Speaker 3 (43:51):
Wow, Lane, we can't thank you enough for taking time out.
It's been great to reminisce with you about you especially
and about this incredible Brewers Tea. I mean, it's a
wonderful ride the state of You guys are the voices
of summer now in Wisconsin, and summer is going to
bleed into all the way into October, and we couldn't
be more delighted for you and the team.

Speaker 1 (44:13):
Well, we're having a lot of fun. As I tell
people all the time, it's really easy to do the
news when the news is happy, and that's what it's
been for the most part this year in terms of
the play on the field. So we're grateful for it
and hope we can keep it going.

Speaker 4 (44:27):
Ottawata be Casino Hotel. Your win is waiting, waite. It's
it's always fun to visit with Blaye Grendel, good friend,
just a terrific broadcaster. And it's another season where another
year where baseball here in the state of Wiscontin is
not on the back burner. We know what football means
to Packers fans obviously and Badger fans as Wisconsin opens

(44:49):
up at season this week, but baseball's got is getting
a ton of attention, and rightly so. But you and
I were putting the golf clubs away, which for me,
thank goodness, for you, probably a disappointment because you can
actually play the game with the Packers getting their you know,
their roster in order and week one of the college

(45:11):
football season. Wayne, they talking in the college game every
coach every year, and maybe now more than ever with
the portal and all of the landscape of college football.
Is there such an unknown with the first game? What
do you really have? I know, you get the preseason games,
but it's a lot of reserves who play. Is it
a similar story with the Green Bay Packers through the

(45:34):
years or in the NFL in general, where you it's
still you have a decent idea, but you have a
lot of unanswered questions as the first game approaches.

Speaker 3 (45:43):
Man, I got to tell you, with the way things
are done over the last five years or more in
the NFL with preseason football, you go into preseason, you
go into training camp with questions, and you come out
with more questions. And you know, so, I think everybody's
like this around the league, because you pointed out some
teams like Andy Reid will play his Chiefs veterans quite

(46:05):
a bit compared to anybody else, but most people don't.
Maybe Matt Laflor has played his starters briefly in two games,
briefly maybe two series or thereabouts, so you really don't
know what you have. You know, you've got a lot
of young people you've been watching all summer. I'm getting
way too old to do preseason football. Ninety players on
each roster, and all of them will play, or maybe

(46:27):
the players you know won't play, and everybody you don't
know or never heard of her whose name you can't pronounce,
start going to play, and it's really a mess. And
you end up coming out of that and saying, well,
I don't know what we have. I don't know where
we're going, and I know injuries and they hold people out.
They want to get everybody the starting line. It's not
a great way of doing it, but nonetheless it's the

(46:50):
way they do it. And I find we have more
questions now, those of us on the beat with the
Packers than we had going into trading camps. So we'll
see how it plays out.

Speaker 4 (46:59):
Yeah, I raise a glass for you with the conclusion
of the final preseason again, So okay, all you guys
in the NFL, you're done with this and now it
now now it counts. And you know, with college you watch,
you watch training camp. You try to you get familiar
with all the new faces, you know, particularly those who
joined the team after after spring football. But it's a

(47:21):
very in loot. Ficle doesn't deny it. I mean, he
thinks they've made improvements in certain areas, but until you're
up against somebody else. Wis continent has more size on
the defensive front. He really likes the running backs, two
of whom played some last year. Well actually to the
top three, they all played some. But the roles are increasing.

(47:44):
But there there's still there's an excitement, right, I mean,
particularly the case the Packers. I mean, you know, opening up,
you kind of starting at the deep end. I know
the Lions have questions as good as they were last year,
new coordinators, this, that and the other, but you know,
it's still there's an excitement. I would imagine that you
field fans come up to you all the time. Packers
Lions Week one.

Speaker 3 (48:03):
That's pretty good. Yeah. And five days later the Washington Commanders,
who were in the NFC Championship Game a year ago
with Jade and Daniels and are probably the talk of
the league still at this point. They come in five
nights later, on a Thursday night, in Green Bay, so
two home games, and I think we'll get some of
their questions answered, hopefully in a positive fashion, after those

(48:25):
two games. But that's really, as you mentioned, jumping into
the deep end. You know, they're not waiting into the
three three foot part of the pool. They're going into
the ten foot level and it'll be interesting to see
how it goes. But you know, with the Badgers, Matt,
I think this is probably a pretty big year, is
it not for this coaching staff and this entire team. Yeah,

(48:46):
it is.

Speaker 4 (48:48):
I guess you would probably say that a lot of years,
but given the you know, the result. There were a
lot of bells and whistles with the new staff and
they just have not been very good. There's no other
spin to it. And Luke Fickle freely admits that he
hates it, but he doesn't run from it. I've thought too, Wayne.
And there's always the build up before first game, you know,

(49:10):
in college football, the off season is forever. This will
be nine months later that Wisconton is playing game from
when last year, last season came to an end against Minnesota,
and there's those final judgments that are made in college
football twelve times, you know, once a week will be made,
but how you play now could be much different than

(49:31):
how you play in a few weeks. But having said that,
I still think this is a this team this season.
You know, the better first impression it can make the
better for all concern because there is a there's a
healthy skepticism I think with the fans right now because
it's been years since the Badgers have been the team

(49:53):
that fans want and expect to see. So, you know,
are their final answers coming up in week one? No,
But if they can come out and play well and
start to resemble those better teams, even though it's a
small sample size, I think this is the kind of
environment where the first impressions are pretty important.

Speaker 3 (50:15):
Yeah, and you never know how football season is going
to go, folks, because we talk in season about all
these teams and players and everything else. It's the same
in the college level, but we don't talk about injuries
and nobody does because you don't know where they're going
to hit. And it's not how many people you get injured,
it's who you get injured that can change your seat

(50:35):
from good to bad or vice versa. You know that
kind of thing. The other thing about football but that
I think the average guy struggles with. It's not who
you play, it's not where you play, but it's very
much when you play and how these two teams are
going at that time, and everybody's going up and down
all season long, and so it's really hard to tell,

(50:56):
you know, how these games are going to come out
one way or another.

Speaker 4 (51:00):
No, I agree wholeheartedly, and I think in the case
of Wisconsin specifically, it's one of those Okay, how do
you handle it when things go sideways? Because this was
this has been a program the last few years where
one bad thing can lead to another, and it's like,
here we go again. You know, somebody drops a punt,
somebody fumbles, you know whatever, you have a key penalty,

(51:22):
and you know, the shoulders slump, and so how will
this group be able to handle it when those things happen?
I think the fact, you know, and hopefully this will
work in their favor because they have so many new
faces who are counted on, including you know, some freshmen
who are good at true freshmen who will we'll see
playing time. They weren't here on this team last year,

(51:45):
so you won't for a lot of these guys who
will be expected to be key contributors. They weren't in
that environment last year when the train was going off
the track, So so we'll see. It's uh, you know,
these first couple of ball games are Camp Randall and
they go to to Alabama in week three. But it's

(52:05):
you just hope for their sake that they you know,
for their own reasons, that they could play well, build
some confidence. But I think in a bigger picture, give
the fan base Whereason like, hey, I think you know,
I I know this, this is what good looks like.
And you give people back on board because it's you know,

(52:25):
it's been tough. It's been a few years since they've
had that oh wow win. And hope they've got a
lot of chances for one of those this year. But this,
this is important for these guys to start well and
hopefully for their sake, go off of them.

Speaker 3 (52:40):
Yeah, and and look, Fikel it seems like a great guy.
I have never met him, but he seems like a
great guy. I'd love to see him have success here
with this program because I think he does things the
right way. I really do.

Speaker 4 (52:50):
Yeah. No, he's a good dude. He's and he's did
this stuff. I mean with any coach, not winning is
going to get get under your skin and a big way.
And this he's been bothered greatly by this. But he
did say earlier in the week that he sleeps better
because he just feels like this is the kind of
team with the you know, culture is an overused word,

(53:12):
but just how they go about things every day. He
feels better about where they are, maybe in a general sense,
than he than he has since he's been here. So
we'll see what that translates to. He also says, you know,
we're not gonna not gonna make false promises. He has
admitted that hopefully they learn not to do that. Just

(53:32):
see what Week one is and then and then go
from there. But it's fun. You get a lot of
You've got a lot of interesting games already from the
week zero as they call it, in Week one Texas,
Ohio State and a lot of other games. So so
here we go, the fan bases. You're either going to
be the greatest thing ever or they should fire everybody.
Get ready because we're going to get this week after
week after week.

Speaker 3 (53:53):
Yeah. I hear you, I hear It's an up and
down thing. Thanks very much to our guest laying Grindel.
The brewers are into near as. Dave McCann, the executive
producer of the Lerravilla Pay podcast on iHeart, is Monica
woodcop for Math. This is Wayne and We'll see you
next time on the Leravila Pay podcast.

Speaker 2 (54:13):
The Leravian La Pey podcast is a production of iHeartRadio
Podcasts with hosts Way Larvy and Matt Lapey, with production
engineering by Dave McCann. The Lreavian La Pey podcast is
presented by Potawatamy Casino Hotel. Your win is waiting. Listen
to other episodes available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.