Sept 24, 2025: Hour 1 Badgers and Brewers

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The September 24th edition of Wisconsin Sports on the Go dives deep into a weekend full of contrasting emotions for state sports fans. The Milwaukee Brewers clinched the NL Central division title, but their path wasn't without turbulence. From a 25-28 record on May 24th to going 70-34 since, Pat Murphy's approach of focusing on "possibilities and positives" has transformed this team into a legitimate contender. What makes this Brewers squad special isn't star power but their refusal to beat themselves and their ability to execute the little things consistently better than their opponents.

Meanwhile, Wisconsin Badgers football is experiencing a crisis of identity and performance. After suffering a humiliating 27-10 home loss to Maryland as 10-point favorites, the program faces serious questions about its direction under Luke Fickle. Barry Alvarez's controversial comments calling fans "spoiled rotten" for booing the team only heightened tensions around a once-proud program that's become increasingly irrelevant in college football. The episode examines whether Fickle's attempt to transform Wisconsin's traditional run-heavy, physical identity into something entirely different represents his greatest failure as head coach.

The conversation also touches on Major League Baseball's upcoming implementation of an automated ball-strike challenge system for 2026, a response to ongoing concerns about umpiring consistency. After watching umpire Roberto Ortiz miss 25 calls in a single Brewers game, the need for technological assistance in officiating becomes difficult to dispute.

What emerges throughout this episode is a fascinating exploration of expectation versus reality across Wisconsin sports. When does fan frustration become justifiable? How quickly should new coaches be expected to turn programs around? And what happens when beloved sports traditions get abandoned in pursuit of modernization? Join us for this thought-provoking discussion and share your own perspective by calling or texting 715-990-4914.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
this is wisconsin sports on the go with, trade
your place for all things.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
Wisconsin sports, now your host trade, how we doing
everybody and welcome in towisconsin sports on the go with
trade.
I'm your host trade.
As we come back here for thesept September 24th edition of
the show here.
I hope you guys are enjoyingyour Wednesday so far.

(00:31):
I hope you guys are enjoyingyour weekend, your weekend.
I hope you guys enjoyed yourweekend there this weekend.
I mean it was sports-wise, youcould almost say it was a I
don't want to say a terribleweekend.
It wasn't great.
It wasn't great right, thebrewers clinched the central,
which was good, but took somehelp.
It took a lot of help from thereds taking care of the cubs

(00:52):
there.
So the brewers clinched thecentral.
That was the good.
The badgers there isn't a lot ofgood to talk about.
The packers there's not a lotto talk about.
Well, I guess there's some good.
I'm not going to say thereisn't any good about the pack.
There's not a lot to talk about.
Well, I guess there's some good.
I'm not going to say thereisn't any good about the Packers
.
There's some good to talk about.
It's just the same.
Things reared their ugly headone more time and hopefully,

(01:13):
hopefully, it's not going to bea continued story.
So we're going to talk.
We got a lot to get into today.
A lot to get into.
We're going to talk Brewers.
Are they limping into theplayoffs here?
What's going on with thisBrewers team?
A lot of fans freaking out overthe past couple games.
Here we're going to talk aboutthe Brewers here.
We're going to get into whatMatt LaFleur had to say, because
he had a pretty interestingquote that he came out with in

(01:35):
the press conference there afterthe loss to the Browns and I
want to talk about it.
I want to read it off.
I talk about it here today onthe show.
So we got that coming up.
Umber's gonna stop by.
We're gonna talk packers withhim later on here and then, like
I said, brewers we're gonnatalk.
We're gonna talk to brewerstoday.
I want to get into the brewerspostseason.
What's going on there?
They have some injury newsthat's not good.
They have some good injury newsand they have some bad.

(01:56):
So I want to get into the bothhere, because one of them kind
of troubling heading into thispostseason.
So we're gonna get to that.
Mlb voted on a uh new rulethat's gonna be implemented in
2026.
We're gonna get to that.
Badgers.
Well, like I said, there wasnot a whole lot good.
So we're gonna talk about that.
Christian's gonna stop by.
We're gonna talk badgers todayhere and try to dissect.

(02:16):
Barry alvarez had aninteresting quote.
We're gonna get into a lottoday here on the show, so let's
get into.
Like I said, I hope you guys areenjoying your week and weekend.
I've been spending majoritywell.
It's been like the last month,month and a half now.
We've been working up in riblake, wisconsin.
There's a great, great town upthere, beautiful town.
I mean.
You got the lake right there,some pretty good food up in that

(02:37):
area, so we've been working upin rib lake, so that that's been
great there.
So my week's been good.
My week's been good so far here, but we're gonna see if we can
make it better by trying todissect what we saw over the
weekend there and make it soundbetter, make it look better
there for you.
So right away I want to lookjust top, just the top.
Here we had mlb.

(02:57):
Major league baseball willimplement a challenge system for
balls and strikes.
This was a something that wasvoted on over the weekend there
and it's reported by JeffBassett and why this is, I guess
, big and you know what we sawwas in that Brewer game, this
game that basically the dayafter we watched I think it was.

(03:18):
What was his name?
Roberto Ortiz was his namethere uh, in that game for the
Brewers and Padres and he missed20.
Roberto Ortiz was his namethere in that game for the
Brewers and Padres and he missed20, roberto Ortiz that's his
name missed 25 calls.
25 calls in that game andaccording to Jeff Passon, he
said there are typically around1,000 missed calls a week.

(03:40):
So this ABS challenge system isgoing to get a lot of use from
what the sounds of it are,because I mean we saw, we
watched it last night there withthe brewer game, or two nights
ago, monday night, with thebrewer game.
There there were a lot of missedcalls and I understand the
brewers well.
That game was there's playoffimplications on the line in that
game padres playing for aplayoff spot because they needed

(04:03):
one more to clinch and theBrewers are still playing for
the one seed and the overall topseed in all of baseball.
So you have a lot on the linethere and you're calling strikes
at Bryce.
I mean by his eyes there SalFrelick had a couple of bad ones
called.
And then I mean, on the flipside of that, for the Padres

(04:28):
there's a lot of bad calls.
So both teams were kind ofgetting hosed.
So we hear that news coming outthat you know the league, they
had a competition meeting, theyvoted to usher in the era of
robot umpiring.
Teams will receive twochallenges to dispute calls by
the home plate umpire.
So we kind of talked about thisbecause we talked about the
introduction.
This umpiring has not gottenbetter.
It has not.
It has not gotten any better.
It's actually probably gottenworse in this season here and

(04:48):
Angel Hernandez retired, he'sgone, and it's still getting
worse.
So there was not really a lotof options on how you're going
to fix it.
And we talked about this.
We talked about the you know,challenging balls and strikes
We've seen in the minors.
Now it's slowly working its wayup and now it's in the bigs.
We're gonna see it next yearalready.
So an interesting developmentthere from Jeff Basson and I was
just it caught my eye becausewatching that uh Brewer game,

(05:11):
game one against the Padres, alot of missed calls, a lot of
bad calls, and it was a gamethat meant something.
I would have hated for that tobe NLDS game one.
Roberto Ortiz is behind homeplate and those are the calls
that we're getting.
That would be, we would beupset, we'd be ticked.

(05:31):
So yeah, that's that was I meangood to see.
I want to hear what do you guysthink?
What do you guys think of therobot umpiring system?
You know the ABS challengesystem being implemented
715-990-4914.
That 715-990-4914.
That is 715-990-4914.
Let me know what you'rethinking.
Anything Wisconsin sports-wisetonight here.
But what are your thoughts onthat ABS challenge system being

(05:54):
implemented into Major LeagueBaseball next year?
There?
So Brewers clinched the Central, there was your good and it's
just a crazy, crazy weekend allthe way around that.
Because you think about this,you go all the way back to May
24th with this team.
I know we've talked about thisbefore, but this team was 25 and
28 when they were in Pittsburghon May 24th and they ended up

(06:18):
coming back winning that gameand it's lit this fire since
then.
Since that day, this team hasgone, gone, 70 and 34.
You talk about a flip thescript of the season there.
This team has just gone on thisburner.
And pat murphy said in a quote,and I'm just going to summarize
it basically, somebody said,because he was looking.

(06:39):
You know this, this was goingdownhill.
What do you do?
You know how do you fix this?
Nothing's working.
I mean, at the start of thisyear they had the worst run
differential that's ever had tostart a season.
They were 0-4.
They gave up how many home runsto the Yankees?
It was an abysmal start.
You were heading for what isthis team going to do to
actually get to 50 wins?
And someone told and this iswhat Pat Murphy said, he didn't

(07:01):
give a name, but he said someonetold him to focus on the
possibilities and the positivesinstead of the struggles the
possibilities and positivesinstead of the struggles.
And somebody told him that andhe said it really helped him.
It really helped him figure outhow he was going to approach
this team.
Because I mean, you listen to alot of these guys, the Sal

(07:22):
Frelicks and the Bryce Durangsand all them guys, and you saw
it in that padres game in gameone there, when I was watching
in the dugout.
Well, that person you know tv,you get what I mean the camera
uh went over there and he's he'stalking to durbin.
Durbin had just been thrown outat third base there in that
last inning trying to advance onwhat he thought was going to be
a throw to home, ended up goingto third.
And then he got out and he wastalking to Durbin and he was,

(07:44):
you know, working with him inthe dugout.
And that's the difference,that's the Pat Murphy difference
that he makes, and you heard itfrom a lot of these players.
This team would not have turnedit around or been the way that
they had been without Pat Murphyat manager, craig Council would
not have done this, and I'msorry for all the fans that
believe that Craig Council wouldhave done the same thing as Pat

(08:05):
Murphy.
He would have been no different.
He would have won this manygames.
I don't think so, because I'mwatching what Craig's doing with
a roster full of money guys.
I mean you think Dansby,swanson, kyle Tucker, seiya
Suzuki I don't know, I don'thave the contracts up in front
of me, but you got decentcontracts across the board with
these guys.

(08:29):
And then you look at the brewersand you're like, wow, okay, the
way that he approaches the game, the way that he holds his
players accountable, the waythat he you know isaac collins I
truthfully believe the otherday why he's been, why he was
sitting out of some gamesbecause when you think, end of
the day, who's your betteroption Defensively?
Blake Perkins right, but ifyou're looking for who's your
better option all the way around, isaac Collins is going to be

(08:50):
one of your better options.
He's been one of the besthitters on your team
consistently all season long.
He's up for Rookie of the Year.
But he was sitting out andthere was that fly ball that
ended up between him and Ortizand it ended up falling or it
might have been, not a stareeither way ended up falling out
there.
Collins kind of pulled off.
It was.
It was gonna be a tough playfor the shortstop and Collins
ended up pulling off and it wasa mess.

(09:11):
And it led to a mess.
And I think Pat Murphy in thathe held him accountable, didn't?
He didn't see a lot of timeafter that and you know he did
it earlier on this season with,uh, with Joey Ortiz.
The way that he holds theseguys accountable and the way
these guys play, it's likethey're playing for a contract.
Consistently they're playingfor a contract.

(09:32):
They aren't your cream of thecrop, they aren't your stars,
but they're those guys that aregoing to give you everything
they got night in and night out,and that's the kind of manager,
that's the kind of team thatthis was and that's why they
were successful.
And I love that quote thatsomebody and he didn't say who,
maybe it came out that who toldhim that, but he just said the

(09:54):
possibilities and the positives.
And that's why, when welistened to Pat Murphy earlier
on this season and he wastalking about it and he said you
know, a lot of these guys arehitting the ball.
It's just, you know, we got tosee things happen.
We got to see the ball fall.
You know he's got to see somehits fall.
We, the pitching staff's, gotto get healthy.
We got to see this.
And he, he was all cool, calmand positive and all the in all

(10:15):
the fans, me included, were likewait, what are you positive
about right now?
This is rough.
This is rough.
Baseball never wavered, neversteered off the course.
He just he felt he and maybe itwas this guy whoever told him
that, whatever it was but he,just he never changed the way

(10:35):
that he approached this and thisteam never changed it.
They just found, they juststarted finding ways to win
baseball games and and that'sthe crazy ways that they did it.
They had no quit.
They would find their ways back.
They would find their way backin the games.
They would do all the littlethings better than those
opposing teams and that's whythey were the best team and are
currently the best team, bestrecord-wise team in baseball.

(10:57):
They just do those littlethings right and they make you
beat them.
They don't beat themselves offand when they do it gets ugly.
It can get ugly real fastbecause when they have a couple
airs it's like all thefloodgates open for the airs.
But this team, this is a darngood team.
This is a very good team.
Heading into the postseasonthey're limping, they're they're

(11:19):
limping.
We're gonna talk about thathere in the next segment here.
But they they're limping intothe postseason, as some might
say.
But at the same time there'sreasons, right, and there's
different things, differentperspectives to look out.
When you say that so we'regoing to talk brewers here in
the next segment of the show,we're going to keep with the
brewers, talk about what we'vebeen seeing here as of late, um,

(11:42):
and then just kind of lookahead to what the brewers have
coming up here.
We're gonna look at the injuryreport, kind of what we're
seeing there, and then later onwe're going to have Christian
hop on, we're going to talkbadgers because, yeah, it's,
it's been ugly, it's been ugly.
There's a lot of fans callingfor, uh, luke fickle and even
Chris McIntosh and McIntosh.
And now we got a whole boatloadof people coming out.

(12:04):
The uh, was it the Dean, katewas it the Dean came out and,
you know, spoke highly of likeMcIntosh and like faith and
fickle in this program andeverything like that.
And it was like man, who elseis going to come out and vote
confidence?
Like, who else do we need tovote confidence in Luke fickle
and this program?
Because I just got here,chancellor, the chancellor from

(12:26):
uw, uh, jennifer manukin, I Imight have, uh, might have
butchered that one there, butshe released a statement
basically on the ad, uh, chrismcintosh and gave full support
to look fickle.
So we have everybody's giventhat boat of support, except for
the fans, as, as we saw, thefans are pretty upset with this

(12:47):
whole thing, pretty upset.
And Barry Alvarez came out andBarry Alvarez said and this was
on the Barry Alvarez show hesaid I think it's embarrassing,
this was about fans booing LukeFickle and calling, saying you
know, basically fire Fickle,everything like that he said.
I think it's embarrassing, Ithink it's terrible, despicable.

(13:09):
They're spoiled, rotten.
Here's a team, you have youngplayers trying to come on and
competing.
They're going to have a chanceto get better and you flip on
them early in the season and youflip on them and you're
chanting for the coach to befired.
How do you think that makes theplayers feel?
That's the quote right there,and I've been thinking about

(13:30):
that.
I've been thinking about that.
So we're going to get into that.
Let's get to that.
Let's get to that.
When we come back here, we'lltalk about that a little bit.
We'll get into what Barry hadto say.
When we come back from thebreak here, we'll talk a little
bit of Brewers and thenChristian's going gonna hop on.
Later we're gonna dissect thatmaryland game, what we saw,
everything like that we'll getinto that.
Almer's gonna stop by later.
We're gonna talk a little bitof packers there and then we're

(13:53):
going to look at kyle's gonnahop on, look at the nfl, look at
the grand scheme of things,everything like that.
So we have a boatload of thingsto touch into today here on the
show.
Our number one of two is justgetting going here.
We'll be right back here onWisconsin Sports on the Go with
Trage.
We're going to talk Badgershere on the backside of the air.
Welcome back into WisconsinSports on the Go with Trage.
I'm your host, trage, as wecome back here on this Wednesday
.
And hey, this next segment hereis brought to you by Badger

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So we went to the break and wekind of hopped around in that

(14:59):
first little intro there.
Just, I mean, you know yougotta go.
You get a little crazy with itoff the top, but we were talking
about the badgers and what itwas this weekend.
It was a just a.
It was a terrible performance.
Let's just go with that.
It was terrible.
It was just absolutely terrible.
That's just basically how I sawit.
I did not see it any other way,I really didn't.

(15:20):
I did not see it any other way.
You can say oh well, you know,they're on their second string
quarterback and their offensiveline is banged up and this and
that.
Okay, fine, fine, you got yourdoors kicked in by Maryland In

(15:40):
camp Randall.
That's the thing that peopleleave out of this.
They come up with all theseexcuses and everybody's entitled
to their own opinion, but forme, you just got stopped at Camp
Randall by Maryland.
I look at the rest of theschedule and we're going to talk
to Christian here coming uphere next on the show.

(16:03):
But I look at the rest of theschedule.
If you couldn't beat Marylandat home, what other game are you
looking at, where you're likeyep, that's going to be a good
one?
Your home games that you haveleft are Iowa, ohio State,
washington and Illinois.

(16:23):
Yeah, I mean, it's going downfast right now and I want to be
as optimistic as I can be Ireally do.
But what part of that lookedgood.
There's good portions, right, Idon't want to say because the

(16:43):
defensive line for Wisconsin hasplayed well.
Mason Rieger has been fantastic.
The defensive line's playedgood.
The pass defense not good.
Quarterback play.
I don't blame Danny O'Neal, Ireally don't.
The offensive line how do younot have a backup center that
can snap the football?
Where's any depth?

(17:04):
I thought we had depth.
We talked about this in theoffseason there I thought there
was depth and you lost KevinHaywood.
That should not have completelykiboshed the entire offensive
line.
The running backs you can say,oh well, they're not getting
that extra yardage after contact.
Okay, they're getting hit atthe, they're getting smoked at

(17:27):
the line of scrimmage.
There ain't much room to run atall.
And maybe there's room on theoutside, sure, but outside of
that there's nothing going on.
The wide receivers are good,but there there's nothing crazy
in there.
This team is just spiraling andit just seems like there's no,
no fire, no ambition.
It starts with the guy at topright.
So that's why, when we went tothe break I mentioned because

(17:48):
there was a quote by barryalvarez.
He was on his own, the barryalvarez show, and he's on espn
madison maybe and he had a quotehe said I think it's
embarrassing.
This is about the fans chantingfire, fickle and booing the
team.
He said I think it'sembarrassing.
I think it's terrible,despicable.
They're spoiled rotten.
Referring to the fans, here's ateam.

(18:09):
You have young players tryingto come on and competing.
They're going to have a chanceto get better and you flip on
them early in the season and youflip on them and you're
chanting for the coach to befired.
How do you think that makesthem feel?
That's what Barry Alvarez hadto say and I'd love to hear your
thoughts on that.
Quote from Barry Alvarez715-990-4914.

(18:30):
That is 715-990-4914.
Here's my thought.
Okay, here's my thought.
And, like I said, everybody hastheir opinion on this one.
I want to ask Christian hisopinion to be called spoiled
rotten as fans first off, and Ithink I was listening to the

(18:54):
camp, I think it was the campthey're listening to, just
temple, and he had a great point.
He's like calling out the fans.
Probably not your best bet asfans, barry, I'm sorry you
started this.
The badgers went through a they.
They had years, years ofsuccess, years where they built

(19:14):
a tradition, a program Offensivelineman, great defense, good
run game.
It was never enough.
It seemed to beat the reallygood teams, which beat the teams
you're supposed to beat, andyou were a consistent force.
You were relevant in the worldof college football.
You were a consistent force.
You were relevant In the worldof college football.

(19:35):
You were relevant and now, nowyou're no longer relevant.
You are Wisconsin.
Football is irrelevant in theworld of college football.
When was the last time they wereranked?
2023, and that was preseason.
This team they haven't sniffedthe top 25 in the longest time.

(19:59):
Their best wins in the LukeFickle era one of them, as we
looked up I think it was justlast week there that we were
looking it up and one of thebest wins was against Oklahoma
State.
And that doesn't even countbecause it was still 2022.
So you can't even count thatone.
And I'm not saying that theprogram there weren't some hits
in 2022.
I'm not saying that.

(20:20):
I'm not saying that the programwas heading in the right
trajectory, if you wanted totalk recruiting and everything
else.
But what we're seeing right now?
A bunch of lacklusterperformances.
And it starts at the top,because you're looking at a team
right now where it seems likewhen they get smacked, when they
get punched in the mouth, theydon't know what to do, they fold

(20:43):
.
There is no fight, it's a fold,we're done, we're out.
When they get out to a lead,they're fine, and we've only
seen a couple.
But the Alabama game that justwent downhill fast and you know
there was a lot more thatfactored into that.
But that team, I mean they hadopportunities.
It was like they turned themover.

(21:05):
They stopped them on fourthdown, they got the ball back and
then interception and then itwas like downhill maryland
stomped them in camp randall.
That's the worst part.
It was at camp randall.
So you know what?
To tell the fans?
That they're spoiled, rotten.
You're right.
You're right.
This fan base me included, as afan of this team, I was raised

(21:33):
with the tradition that wasWisconsin football the running
backs, the offensive linemen,the great defensive players that
came through Madison from BrettBielema, then he had the year
with Anderson, but then you wenton to Paul Crist and Jim
Leonard running the defense.
You had sustained success.
You were going to bowl games,you were doing all this and I am

(22:02):
completely there was.
I saw a couple people talkingabout this.
They were, like you know, goingback and forth on social media
and they were talking about.
Well, you know this team.
They were never going tocompete the way that NIL is and
everything like that.
They were never going tocompete for national that nil is
and everything like that.
They were never going tocompete for national
championships.
Honestly, I don't care right,we were promised championships.
When luke fickle came in, wewere promised all these

(22:23):
championships.
That's what we were told.
Though this is, this is a moveto win championships.
We'll wait and see on that one.
But, end of the day, like I, Idon't believe that this team, in
the way that college footballset up I mean, you're watching
some of your programs that werepowerhouses a couple years ago I

(22:43):
mean clemson, look what'sfalling up.
Clemson's falling off.
Dabbo said straight up, he'slike dabbo saidabo said I'm
going to stay with recruiting,I'm not going to try to do this
transfer portal stuff.
It doesn't work that wayanymore and Luke Fickle keeps
trying to go into the portalevery single year and grab
quarterbacks and grab this.
And you went back to what was arunning offense.

(23:05):
It was sold as a runningoffense, getting back to the
roots of Wisconsin, but youdidn't grab the guys that you
needed.
And maybe these guys do develop.
Maybe this offensive line getsbetter.
Maybe they do, but there'snothing there.
That offensive line right now,I get you have some young guys

(23:26):
in the offensive line, but whenyou're watching that, how do you
blame Danny O'Neal?
How, how do you blame DannyO'Neal?
And they're like oh well, ifyou had a good quarterback in
there, sure, if you had a goodquarterback, you could maybe
drop off some quick two-yarddumps, because that's about all
you're going to get off.
You have to have one step boomballs out.
But the way that this offensiveline lines blocking and this was

(23:47):
against Maryland, maryland's Idon't want to take everything
away from Maryland, becauseMaryland's they got some talent.
They're not great, though.
And if that's what it lookedlike against Maryland, what's it
going to look like at Michigan?
What's it going to look likeagainst Iowa?
What's it going to look likeagainst Ohio State, oregon,
indiana, illinois?
You know what Illinois and Iowadid and what frustrates me.

(24:10):
They take all the guys thatwisconsin used to take the road
graders, the running, let's runthe football the tough nose guys
.
That's what they're doing andwisconsin's going out.
I I don't even know what they'regrabbing at this with what luke
fickles.
I don't even know what heenvisions at this point Luke

(24:31):
Fickles?
I don't even know what heenvisions at this point, but for
Barry Alvarez to use the quote,they're spoiled, rotten.
That irritates me, because Idon't think it is that.
I think this is a fan basethat's frustrated.
So do I think?
Oh well, we should get upset atthe fans for booing and saying
fire Fickles, sure, you feel forthe players?

(24:52):
Yeah, I feel for the players.
Sure, but don't you think theplayers are standing on the
sidelines saying to themselvesman, we're losing at home 27-10
to Maryland.
We were 10-point favorites,10-point favorites going into
that game against Maryland, andyou laid an egg.

(25:16):
You didn't just lay an egg, yougot beat.
You got beat in about everyfacet you can think of.
It was ugly.
So where?
Where do you think that thisprogram is trending towards?
Because if you're a player, doyou feel like it's heading in
the right direction?
The fans have expectations forthis team, for this program, and

(25:39):
when you continuously see, yearafter year, under the luke
fickle era, the same problemsand no advancement, no, getting
better, it doesn't seem likeit's getting better.
Don't you think that's going toaffect the fans a little bit
too?
And it doesn't matter if chrismcintosh says he believes in

(26:01):
luke fickle.
Or the chancellor says or theyget the board of directors or
whatever whoever you want tocall next, I don't care who you
want to call next and get themto say that he's doing a good
job.
Guess what?
The fans, those fans, the onesthat Barry's like oh, if I was
sitting next to him I'd havetold him to get out.
Those fans booed and they left.

(26:22):
They didn't stay Pretty soon,though, if you don't, this
schedule looks even worse.
Now those fans that weresitting in those seats booing
fickle probably won't be there.
What looks worse Fans in thecrowd booing fickle, or no fans

(26:43):
in the crowd at all?
I love Wisconsin football.
I do Through and through.
I will watch every single game.
I will be irritated watchingevery single game, but I'm going
to watch every single game andI'm going to cheer for this
Wisconsin team.
But right now and this is justwhere I'm at, looking from what

(27:05):
we've seen from the Marylandgame, the Alabama game before
that to Maryland Alabama, I wewere kind of frustrated after
Alabama just the performance andthe way that it not really the
score, but more or less the waythat team looked like.
They were like no fight, nogive.
And then you watch thisperformance against Maryland
manland man I, I'm looking atthis now and it's like where's

(27:28):
the wind gonna come from?
Is there?
Is there another win on theschedule?
And I mean honestly, at thispoint, do you trust chris
mcintosh to make another hire,to hire the next football coach,
if you do end up firing Fickle,which I don't?
I'm not firing Fickle yet,because what do you do?

(27:50):
What do you do, honestly?
So you're kind of at this pointright now where you're like,
okay, we ride it out with Fickle, because how much worse could
it get?
Probably worse, maybe, but howmuch worse could it get?
Maybe that's, maybe that's thethought you're having right now.
I don't know what they do,because how much worse could it
get?
Probably worse, maybe, but howmuch worse could it get?
Maybe that's the thought you'rehaving right now.
I don't know what they do.
I don't think they fire.
If they're going to fire Fickle,chris McIntosh wouldn't have

(28:11):
came out and made the statementthat he made, and you have a bye
week coming up.
So I don't think they're goingto fire him, not today, at least
Not tomorrow.
Maybe, maybe I, maybe I spoketoo soon and maybe it happened.
I don't know.
I don't think they're going toin my opinion.
I don't know, if you do at thispoint, you give him, at this

(28:31):
point, you just give him theseason to fix it, and if he
doesn't fix it then you move on.
There you go.
There's my, there's my honestopinion.
Am I at the camp where I thinkhe's going to be able to fix it?
I don't know, I really don't atthis point.
But I, at this point, I thinkyou have the rest of the season
figured out, and if you can't,then well, maybe you look past
them.
You have to buy out thatcontract, but maybe you look

(28:52):
past them.
Then we'll see.
We'll kind of see what theyhave to do, what the badge is
going to do there.
We have more to get to with thebadges here.
Christian's going to hop on inthe next segment here we're
going to talk badges with him.
I'm going to get his take onwhat we saw against Maryland,
what we're looking for here inthe bye week, what we're looking
for moving forward there, histhoughts on the Luke Fickle and
the Barry Alvarez comment.
But let me know what you'rethinking Luke Fickle, the Barry

(29:13):
Alvarez comment, the Badger, thestate of the program,
everything like that.
I love to hear what you guysthink here, uh, about anything
badgers, because we have somemore badge talk coming up here.
After the quick commercialbreak.
We'll be right back here likejumping around after that badger
game or what we talked about inthe last segment here.
Christian's here, so that meanswe have to play it.

(29:34):
We just have to play it.
When christian hops on here,welcome back into wisconsin
sports on the go with trage.
I'm your hostge.
We're coming back on thisWednesday.
And hey, this next segment here, christian, stop by.
We're going to keep this BadgerTalk going on.
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(29:54):
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(30:36):
Casa M Spice Company.
So, christian, it's Wednesday,we're here, let's just start
with.
How are you doing?
I don't want to hear about howthe Badgers are doing.
How are you doing on thisWednesday?

Speaker 1 (30:47):
I'm good, I'm good.
I'm still kind of recoveringfrom Saturday.
That was a very long game to beat.

Speaker 2 (30:53):
You were there.

Speaker 1 (30:55):
Oh no, I was up in the press box watching the whole
.
Thing.
Oh okay, it was hard to watchin person whole thing.

Speaker 2 (31:04):
Oh okay, so it was hard to watch in person.
That's.
That's actually better.
He was there.
So let's start there, because Iwas just talking about in the
last segment we're talking.
I was talking a little badgers,but by myself.
Can you believe that I wastalking badgers by myself and I
was talking about the barryalvarez.
So I'm going to read it againand I want to hear what you guys
think out there 715-990-4914.
That is 715-990-4914.
That is 715-990-4914.

(31:25):
Text us, let us know whatyou're thinking about this quote
here.
So Barry Alvarez, on the BarryAlvarez Show on ESPN Madison, he
comes out and he says about thebooing that was happening in
Camp Randall, about the booingand the fire fickle chants.
He says I think it'sembarrassing.
I think it's embarrassing.
I think it's terrible,despicable.

(31:45):
They're spoiled, rotten.
He said in in reference to thefans here's a team, you have
young players trying to come onand competing.
They're going to have a chanceto get better and you flip on
them early in the season.
You flip on them and you'rechanting for the coach to be
fired.
How do you think that makes theplayers feel?
He says it's not loyal.
You're not a fan if the personsitting next to me, booze, I say

(32:06):
get your butt out of here, wedon't need you.
Here is basically what he said.
Christian, just uh.
I mean I didn't really have agreat reaction to this because
he just called me a spoil,rotten fan who didn't, wasn't
loyal, didn't really care.
Um, give me your reaction to, Imean, one of wisconsin's
legends telling you this yeah,um, I don't know.

Speaker 1 (32:31):
I thought it was kind of uh, I don't know preachy.
Maybe that's what I'm lookingfor, but just like I mean, are
you watching the game?
Are you seeing the productthey're putting on the field?
And he's talking about the fans.
Like when I was up in the pressbox, I first and I first heard
the fire fickle champs.
I had to like do a double take.
So I'm like is that really whatI'm hearing?

(32:52):
Right, and it was all comingfrom the student section.
Well, if you think about it,who's all the students in the
student section they ever seen?
How are they spoiled, you know?
I mean, like when, as students,when have they ever seen a good
quality product on the field?
Maybe some of them are therelike near the end of the christ
era, which is terrible.
And then you hire fickle andit's this big, like you know the

(33:14):
great, you know the great hopecoming in and trying to fix
everything.
You know like they'reessentially promising things
about promising likeeverything's so hyped, right, so
you get your hopes up and thenyou have the last two and a
fourth year of what you've had.
Like it's just Maryland comesin to camp Randall as 10 point
underdogs and beats you by 17.

(33:35):
Like what are the?
What are they supposed to do?
Cheer for them.

Speaker 2 (33:38):
Yeah, no, that was that's what I said.
My biggest problem was andthat's where I think, a lot of
these, a lot of these hosts andevery show that I've listened to
, they leave out the fact thatit was in camp randall.
You got owned by maryland, whohas a.
They're not good, they'redecent, they have good players
on that team, but you gotmanhandled in all facets of the

(34:00):
game once again.
This time it wasn't even byiowa or minnesota, it was by
maryland, a team that you werefavored against.
Again, like you said, what doyou want?
What do you want from the fanswho expect tradition, pride, you
know, going out there,physicality, being tough, that's
what they were all, what wewere given by you, barry, by

(34:23):
Barry, by Bielema, by we get ridof the Anderson era but by Paul
Christ.
It was the toughness, it wasthe attitude, it was the getting
after teams.
It was, yeah, you're going tolose to Ohio State, but you're
going to beat the teams you'resupposed to and you're going to
be physical in all those games.
It's going to look like you,like you're not giving up, but

(34:46):
you and I have said it a milliontimes this team gets punched in
the mouth and they fold.
They're done.
There's nothing there.
There's no fight, there'snothing.
So I guess, christian I mean Iwas talking about Luke Fickle
and there's we just talked aboutit the fire fickle chants are
going crazy right now and it'sall across social media and
everything like that.
It's even worse than the fireguard chance.
It's like that would start upevery year.
Now the fans want him gone.

(35:07):
Chris mcintosh, the chancellorof you know uw I don't know who
else is going to give him theboat of confidence here, but the
fans the dreaded vote ofconfidence well, it's like who
else we have the chancellorgiving a boat of confidence.
Who else is the governor goingto come out and give him a boat
of confidence at this point here?
Like, what else are we gonnaget for luke fickle?
But the fans are calling forhim to be gone.
I said in the last segment, Isaid at this point there's no

(35:30):
reason.
I mean, you could fire himafter the season, sure, but give
him a chance, let him see if hecan fix this.
You already owe him all thismoney.
What's it gonna do to fire himat this point?
Looking at the rest of theschedule, I mean let him see if
he can fix it by working it out.
What are your thoughts on theluke fickle situation?
Are you moving like they have abye week?
This is like if you're gonnafire a guy, it's now, it's not

(35:53):
it's not like wait until themichigan game.
It's now.
You have a bye week.
You have two weeks to you know,get over it.
What are your thoughts on theluke fickle situation?
What's going?

Speaker 1 (36:03):
I mean, I don't know why you'd fire him now.
I mean, the season's alreadygoing to be a complete I don't
want to say waste, but it's overright.

Speaker 2 (36:12):
Like.

Speaker 1 (36:13):
Maryland was supposed to be one of the winnable games
and they lost by 17 at home.
Now we're looking at Michigan,iowa, ohio State, oregon right,
and then Indiana hand up.
I thought they were frauds forthe last year and a half, but
they just absolutely tookIllinois to the woodshed.
They're legit Washington.

(36:34):
I mean they might be okay, butI can't, I'm not going to sit
and say that they're better thanMaryland, right, or they're
worse than Maryland, like Idon't know.
Maybe it was a Joe Klatt.
It's hard to find three wins onthis.
We might go completely defeatedin Big Ten play.

Speaker 2 (36:48):
We thought that he was nuts.

Speaker 1 (36:50):
Yep, everyone laughed at him Like dude, you don't
know what you're talking about.
Now he looks pretty smart,right.
So I mean, I don't know.
I agree with you.
Maybe Fickle can pull somethingout of his butt and just like,
maybe he'll work him.
Here's the problem.
Do you really want him to keepcoaching?
What if he accidentally beatsOhio State or Oregon or

(37:11):
something like that, and thenthat's just enough to keep, like
McIntosh?
Well, he didn't just beat oneof the top teams in the country,
even though he lost to everyother game.
It's there, we just got to getthere, right?

Speaker 2 (37:21):
It's the double-edged sword now of it's like the
brewers, right, I say, everyyear the brewers keep winning
games with these weird rosterswhere they don't spend money,
and that just helps Mark andAnasio not have to spend money
because they just keep winninggames somehow, so he doesn't
have to.
If Luke fickle finds a way towin one of these games which I

(37:45):
don't think he will, to behonest with you I don't think
he's gonna find a way.
I think the players are gonnashow up and they're just gonna
find a way to win a footballgame.
That's what's gonna happenthere.
It is a fear.
Yes, it is exactly a fear.
I just, I just think you lethim finish it out.
I don't think he, like you,just said where's the next win
on this schedule?
I mean, I I'll say point blankI called, like an ohio state,
like trap game, that they weregoing to pull that one off.
I I feel crazy now.

Speaker 1 (38:04):
I'm just far I think joel klatt, spot on I mean I
said, here I was, I was overlyconfident they'd beat iowa and
minnesota.
And I'm looking at this, I'mlike I got her.

Speaker 2 (38:14):
I got her record predictions written over here on
the way I know.
I think I got seven and six sixand six.
I'm like that was extremelyoptimistic, but I man for me to
find seven wins on this schedulenow, oh boy.

Speaker 1 (38:27):
Well, maryland was supposed to be one of them,
right?

Speaker 2 (38:30):
I'm looking through this and I'm like man, maybe
Iowa, maybe Washington, maybeMinnesota there's three.
I still have to pick up twowins there.
Where are they going to comefrom?
I don't know, and you know whatthere.
Where are they going to comefrom?
I don't know.
Like, uh, and you know what,you brought up a great one.
I, I've said it and I've heardit and I tried to vouch for it
and I tried to understand it.
They told me luke fickle neededto get his guys.

(38:51):
He needed to.
You know he needed this manyyears.
He.
You know it's hard to turnaround a program that's sinking
right.
Kurt singetti, I mean as muchas we want to, like you said, I
wanted to believe.
Believe it was just some crazylittle lightning in a bottle
thing and everything like that.
It's just he turned thatprogram around.
They're relevant.
They went from irrelevant torelevant within two years,

(39:13):
within a year.
Basically, wisconsin went fromone of the most relevant
football programs around toirrelevant in five years.
Yeah, and you wouldn't even sayin five, you'd say probably
you'd give them a grace periodof a year.
There's a four, let's go forright.
Five to six.
Whatever you want to say, theywent from one of the most

(39:33):
relevant programs for 20 plusyears to irrelevant, like it was
nothing.
Yeah, but it makes us questionthat.
You know cause we sat here andwe're like yeah, but it makes us
question that you know cause wesat here and we're like Luke
fickle, he could, he could turnthis around in a year.
And they're like no, he can't.
No, he can't Right, they didn'thave the recruits, he didn't
have this, he didn't have that.
I don't.
I mean, it was the Indiana orwas the Indiana situation just

(39:55):
that much more like enticing theplayers that they wanted to
head off there?
I don't.
Kurt Zangetti brought a lot ofguys with him, yeah, but it all
comes back to and this is thisis where Luke Fickle's greatest
failure will be and why he willlose his job.
He tried to turn Wisconsinfootball into something it
wasn't.
He brought in Phil Longo.

(40:16):
He said let's just say to heckwith tradition, to heck with
whatever was going right here inMadison.
Let's bring in Phil Longo,let's blow it up, let's call it
the dairy raid, let's sell it asthe dairy raid.
This is going to be fun.
Watch this, guys.
That is his biggest failure, Imean.
Am I wrong?
That is his biggest failure.
I mean, am I wrong?
That is his biggest failure.

(40:37):
That is why Luke Fickler, whenyou're here in Madison, is going
south faster than it went north, was because he tried to change
the entire program and with theplayers that were still there,
they weren't even meant to runthat.
They weren't even meant to runthat kind of system.

Speaker 1 (40:56):
Yeah, I think I don't know.
On one hand I agree, Iabsolutely agree, but then
there's just that little thoughtin the back of my head.
It's like, well, paul chris wasstill doing everything they've
been doing, but not doing it.
Well, you know, or maybe thingsare just getting a little stale
.
So maybe he's like maybe we doneed to change, like we need to
catch up with the times, we needto be able to have points on
the board.
We can't win games 17 to 14 or13 to 10, you know, nonstop.

(41:16):
So maybe I mean, I get it,you're trying to come in, you're
trying to be you know cause.
What if it did work out?
What if, I mean, they did putup 30, some points a game and
then they still had a soliddefense?
Then we'd, you know, we'd allbe like man, this dude's a
genius, right, completelyrevamped the program.
But I think obviously longo wasnot the right guy.
I think he looked better thanhe really was.

(41:37):
He was kind of coasted on, likethe players he had, like old
miss, he had dk metcalf and ajbrown, right, um.
But and I mean he had drake mayin north carolina and sam
howells.
I mean, when you got playersthat can actually do stuff like
that.
Then you're trying to bring intanner mordecai and tyler van dy
and you know it's just I don'tknow, it's just not going to
work, but I don't know, I justso.

(41:59):
I think the biggest thing withhim is I think he is a program
builder.
Like he's brought in goodrecruits.
He is like actually like theyhaven't recruited this well in a
long time.
I mean I guess Chris had thatone really good year where we
had Mertz and Logan Brown comeinto like four or five star guys
, you know.
But like outside of that, likewe've always been like maybe in

(42:20):
the top 50 in recruiting, butwith fickle we've been in the
top 25 a couple of times nowalready.
Right, but I think the thingwith him is he's just not a good
coach.
He's like our development,which is that maybe it's kind of
hard to develop playersnowadays because kids just want
to transfer after a while.
But I feel like that's whatChris always had was he could
coach guys and always had.

(42:40):
I mean, yeah, we didn't recruitparticularly well, or at least
by rankings-wise, but he couldactually they could develop
players.
And then all of a sudden therewas just an offensive line
factory or linebacker factory,running back factory, you know,
just because they, the guys whodidn't play, like developed and
then when it was their turn,they were really dang good.

(43:02):
So I think that's kind of thedifference between the two
coaching staffs.
I think fickles, you know, heknows how to sell the program,
but once they're here it's likewhat do they do?
Like it's you know.
But I mean a part of that ispart of that's Longo too, right.
But I just think none of them,none of the players he even he

(43:23):
brought in, really developed ordid anything, and that's why you
got that mass exodus ofdefensive backs over the
offseason.
Where do they end up?
I mean other than Xavier Lucas,but like otherwise, yeah, like
two guys that are playing forToledo, that are playing for
Toledo.
Now One guy is playing I don'teven know where Jace Arnold is
anymore but one of them went toSam Houston State.
None of them are going to powerfour schools.
So it's not like they werenecessarily good players.

(43:45):
At least they haven't shownanything.

Speaker 2 (43:47):
It's the development.
It is the development of thisprogram and building it from
inside out.
And that's where the constantturnover of quarterbacks, where
flipping quarterbacks are.
How do you build a program andflipping quarterbacks every year
?
How do you build a program andflipping offensive linemen every
single year?
You get no cohesive unit.
This line is terrible.
You want to talk aboutrecruiting?
That was terrible, recruitingby him.

(44:09):
I get there's freshmen on there, but you don't have a guy who
can snap the football right now.
I mean, mean, honestly, yoursecond string guy can't even
snap a football.
And then I hear on the radiothey're like, oh well, you know,
he's got to worry about goingleft first.
It's like he's got to worryabout snapping the ball first
and then worry about going left.
I don't care what's going onover there.
If he can't snap the football,danny o'neill, the play is
already it's, it's hosed beforeit starts.

(44:29):
So there's just so much wrongright now.
And I completely agree.
It comes down to he doesn't?
He's not a, he's a greatrecruiter, he's a great seller,
he's a GM.
Yep, that's maybe, maybe.
Maybe they can bring it.

Speaker 1 (44:46):
Obviously I'm not down on the sidelines ever, but
like I just caught myself.
Maybe it's because it was ablowout and I was already kind
of like, wow, this sucks, youknow.
Yep, I kind of caught myselfjust like watching every time
there's a huddle, the coachesare in there, like talking to
the players and stuff andfickles, just kind of stand in a
couple, two or three steps back, just kind of watching every
like almost in every singlehuddle offense, defense, special

(45:06):
teams and I'm thinking, okay,so he just like doesn't want to
overstep.
I know it's not fair at all andI just maybe I'm just, you know
, old man yelling at a cloudbecause I immediately thought of
, like what is the office space?
I just kind of thought what isit exactly?
Do you do here?
You know that kind of thingLike when, when they're on the
field, like they don't makeadjustments, they don't really.

(45:28):
It just doesn't feel like it.
I, he's just kind of there it'salmost like.

Speaker 2 (45:33):
It's almost like and I know my uncle and I've talked
about this many times it's likehe's got all these scapegoats
right.
He had phil longo, he's gottrestle, now he's got grimes.
How many more offensivecoordinators, defensive
coordinators, are we gonna firebefore we go?
Ah, maybe there's a constantproblem.
You know, this constant turnover.
And that's where I was.
You know, I was just thinkingmaybe you bring in, like, uh, an
assistant head, right, somebodywho comes in, who you know he

(45:57):
can't.
You wish Paul Chris would comeback because, like you said, and
that's the thing with PaulChris, was he a great seller of
the program?
Was he a great recruiter?
Maybe not as much, but was he agreat coach?
Was he a good coach?
Yeah, when they beat Ohio Statenumber one Ohio State guess who
was the offensive coordinatorfor the Wisconsin Badgers one
ohio state.
Guess who was the offensivecoordinator for the wisconsin
badgers?
Paul chris.
He was calling a heck of anoffense that night there.

(46:17):
This guy knows how to coach it,just he didn't know how to
bring the talent in there.
If you would have brought in aluke fickle oh, and you know,
you would have said ah, do youwant to be our, our higher up
guy?
Do you want to be a high up guyin the system here?
Maybe not down on the sideline,maybe you're up in the booth,
you're just overseeingeverything, as you're saying he
is.
Maybe that's the move I meanthat's just crazy talk.

(46:39):
That's just crazy talk.
I don't know how it workedright.
He probably quit because he'slike I'm too good of a coach to
do that.

Speaker 1 (46:45):
It's like no dude, where are you gonna go?

Speaker 2 (46:46):
where?
Where is he honestly gonna go?
If the badgers like if, ifmcintosh says like yeah, we
think you would be better off asthe gm of this team, and it's
like maybe, maybe so I don'tknow expensive gm that's an
expensive gm, but what do you?
I mean, you got to buy them outregardless.
Yeah, exactly, let's dosomething with them at this
point and if he can get you therecruits and the guys in the

(47:06):
room, you just need somebody tocome in there and coach them up.
Maybe you have jeff grimes stepinto that role.
I don't know how jeff grimes iswe we've only got a small
sample size of him so far, butmaybe he's a guy where you could
have him, do I?
I don't know, it's just.
I'm just throwing things at thewall right now and hoping
something sticks at this point.
But you're kind of stuck andmacintosh dug it and now he's

(47:27):
got a leg in it right, andthat's kind of what we're seeing
right now.
That's why he had the, the boatof confidence.
It's like no, you don't see theupside in this man.
You're just like this is my boy, I hired him you have to think
like McIntosh.
I mean I'm going to ask you thisbecause McIntosh has made I
could be wrong, but he's madereally one coaching hire since

(47:49):
he's been in Madison and it wasLuke Fickle.
I, like guard was there.

Speaker 1 (47:54):
The women's basketball coach.

Speaker 2 (47:56):
Okay, Can we really Robin Pinchton, which actually I
heard?

Speaker 1 (47:59):
I actually heard.
No, just this just to pile ontoMacintosh.
I actually read something fromdrew ham.
He used to write for a Bucky'sfifth quarter, but now he writes
a sub stack for a, basicallyabout women's basketball, cause
he follows that really closely,basketball.
Because he follows that reallyclosely, he like put in a bunch
of like records, requests andstuff and it kind of found out
that robin pinchton was the onlycandidate that he interviewed

(48:20):
for the women's basketball coach.
So it's just, it's like, areyou serious?
Like I mean, I think they alsoreached out to a lot of people
and a lot of people said thanks,but no thanks, because that
program's just down badly.

Speaker 2 (48:32):
Yeah, but she was the only one that they actually
interviewed it's like he justdoesn't care, like he just picks
and chooses and doesn't care,like at the end of the day right
, and I saw us there's a wholebunch of articles out there
about the amount of money thatthey're actually putting into
the football program now andthey're like getting down
towards the bottom of the big 10.
So you want to see why thereisn't a lot of nil money
floating around they're notputting it into it.

(48:53):
And that's where we thought kindof all the money was going.
So now, where's it going?
Is it going to guard, cause thetalent that?
Hopefully guards been bringingin a lot of good talent just
give it, give it all thebasketball now, just give it to
guard, see what he can do withit with all the money there.
So I mean, it is.
It's going to a question, Iguess.
So grand scheme of things.
One last thing before I have tolet you go do you trust chris

(49:16):
mcintosh to make another hire?
Because I don't know?
There you go, plain and simpleI, I don't, I, I don't.
I.
I said in a facebook post rightafter that game.
I said luke fickle for me isnot the guy and I don't trust
chris mcintosh to make anotherguy make another hire.
So I don't know what they do,but it's you gotta get, he's

(49:36):
gotta go along with him.
And if the chancellor's givingthe boat of confidence to
mcintosh, to give the boat ofconfidence back to luke fickle,
this is a whole messed up thinggoing on right now and I don't
think it's gonna get betteranytime soon, and that is the
problem that we're facing rightnow.
So, christian, let the peopleknow where to find you out there
across social media, yeah.

Speaker 1 (49:54):
Yeah, find me Christian Borman at Twitter or X
, whatever you call it nowadays,whatever it is right, and then
at Badger Backer.
You can follow my stuff there.

Speaker 2 (50:03):
You got to check him out.
He's got great stuff.
What are we working on comingup here?

Speaker 1 (50:06):
I don't know, it's busy man.
At this point it's so hardbecause I'm busy with school,
busy with kids, but then alsothe motivation's not really
there either.
It's hard, like it's hard towrite about a team that loses by
17 to maryland you know, I kindof thought about just talking
men's basketball today.

Speaker 2 (50:22):
I was really.
It was on my mind.
I was like maybe I could justthrow some men's basketball
questions at christian and justjust completely avoid football.
But I was like, ah, we gottatalk some luke feckle.
So, christian, thank you, asalways, for stopping by here
tonight on the show.
We'll be back here after aquick commercial break.
We're gonna wrap up the hour.
We're gonna hop into hournumber two of the show here.
Of the show here, we'll be backhere to wisconsin sports on the

(50:44):
go with trage.
I'm your host, trage.
As we come back here and wewrap up our no, our number one
of the show here tonight.
I hope you guys are enjoyingyour Wednesday, and this next
segment is brought to you byMarshfield Motor Speedway, the
half mile paved track just threemiles west of Marshfield and
County Road H.
Find upcoming events and racesat marshfieldspeedwaycom.
That is marshfieldspeedwaycomthere.

(51:04):
So we went to the break.
We were talking about theBadgers.
Christian stopped by, we weretalking Badgers there and if you
missed any portion of the showso far tonight, make sure you're
checking it out next day acrossall podcast platforms iTunes,
spotify, apple Podcasts, spotifyanywhere where you get podcasts
you can find the show out thereand check us out across social

(51:25):
media.
Just find usWisconsinSportsOnTheGoTrade.
You can find us across allsocial media platforms.
So we always do the MarshfieldMotor Speedway the fan zone.
So we got the fan zone comingup here.
A couple of questions that wehad across messages.
So if you want to get a hold ofthe show, make sure you're
doing it.
715-990-4914.
We can answer your questionshere.
But this first question comesin from Cameron there and he

(51:48):
said would we be in a betterspot if we hired Leonard instead
of Luke Fickle?
If we hired Leonard instead ofLuke Fickle?
Head coach terms, yes.
Recruiting-wise, no.
I don't believe that JimLeonard would have been a better

(52:10):
recruiter than what Luke Ficklewas or what he is.
I think Luke Fickle is a goodrecruiter.
Luke Fickle is not a good headcoach, and Christian and I were
just talking about that in thelast segment there.
He's not a good head coach,he's a good recruiter, he's a
good GM, he's a good runner ofthe organization, just not a
good head coach.
So would Jim Leonard be abetter head coach?

(52:32):
Yes, would he be a betterrecruiter?
Would he have this program in abetter spot?
That's a whole, nother question, because I don't believe he was
going to recruit as well asLuke fickle did.
So I guess that would be mytake on that one there.
Um, also, he had another one.
Would fickle I've taken theWisconsin job If he knew NIL

(52:52):
would be there, it be where itis today.
He did pass on the notre damejob the year before he took the
wisconsin job, if he rememberscorrectly I I don't remember if
that was maybe he was in thetalks for the the notre dame job
, but it was always freeman, Idon't know.
You know, nil changed a lot andit changed a lot of perspective

(53:12):
.
I think luke fickle is set upfor it just because I think he's
goodle is set up for it, justbecause I think he's good at
working he's he's good at beinga general manager.
He's not good at being thecoach, so I think he's good with
the nil.
I just think the problem is isthe ability to coach is his
biggest problem?
So that's where I'm kind of atwith that one there.
I believe there was one morequestion that I wanted to touch,

(53:32):
and I thought it was along thesame lines as the as the Luke
fickle one I was.
So how much more heartache canwe take as badger fans?
We have.
This.
One comes in from man.
It was how much more heartachecan we take as badger fans?
We have the talent and yet wecan't seem to even compete with
teams that seem beatable.

(53:55):
Is this issue deeper, and doesit start with firing our AD or
and only our head coach?
So, is it both?
Is it one or the other?
Basically, what was thequestion there?
I would say we can't take muchmore as fans.
It's you know Barry Alvarezsaid we should be able to, right
, but it's getting very hard towatch and we kind of talked

(54:18):
about in the last segment there.
But we think it goes deeperthan just a head coach.
It goes deeper into the do youtrust the ad to have another
hire.
So that's kind of where we'reat with that right now.
So we're gonna be back here.
Hour number two is coming atyou after the quick commercial
break here.
We got some packer talk to getto umber's.
Gonna stop by.
We by.
We're going to talk Packershere on the backside of the ad
break.
Hour number two is just gettinggoing here on Wisconsin Sports
on the Go with Trades.
We'll be right back here afterthis quick commercial break.