I Love Mondays-Ep46, May 4, 2026

Is Matt LaFleur a good coach?  Pete Dougherty of the Green Bay Press-Gazette weighs in on that, the Packers draft and how the locker room access matters.  Plus the Brewers 20% of the season grades...and a weekend of Hockey and Horse Racing?

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:04

I love Mondays with Mike Heller.

SPEAKER_00 0:14

Broadcasting live from an undisclosed bunker in the Badger State. This is I Love Mondays with Mike Heller. Powered by determination and a little bit of duct tape. Here's your host, Mike Heller.

SPEAKER_01 0:28

Uh, we begin on a Monday. You know, I love Mondays. This is a special Monday. They're all good. Uh every Monday is fantastic, but this is a different one on the I Love Monday, Monday edition of the program. Welcome in. My name's Mike. I'm the host. Uh got in a fight with Cub fans on Twitter over the weekend. That's okay. You know, they're not all gonna be nice. And it was it was a simple, maybe not that funny tweet that I put out to Jesse Rogers, who put out a tweet that said, if you're pitching at Wrigley, something like, Good luck to you if you're pitching at Wrigley Field today with the wind blowing out. And I just quote tweeted and said, if I was pitching, the wind wouldn't matter. Okay. Stupid, whatever. But you can't believe how many people didn't get the concept that if I was pitching was the uh was the intention there. So if 62-year-old me was pitching, or anybody else reading the tweet, it was just a silly, stupid. Didn't need I didn't even need to tweet it. Whatever it happened. And then I had all these Cub fans taken after me on the deal. Um, anyway, so I had that part, and then also over the weekend, it was so much fun to watch a sport that I don't watch, the Kentucky Derby. I don't watch horse racing, I don't know horse racing, I watch one horse race a year, and then sometimes the second or third. So with the the winning horse in the Kentucky Derby this year being Golden Tempo, I have re-watched the overhead of the stretch run probably 20 times since Saturday, with the audio of the call up, which is better than the replay that they show with the Tarico and the analysts talking about it. But the audience call or the the announcer call, the track announcer call, it's amazing. Now, if Golden Tempo is in the second leg of the triple crown, that'll be the second horse race I watched this year. If he's not, I won't watch it. So I watch one horse race a year for sure. That's it. But man, was it good. And how about uh was it uh Goliath that uh reared up and and fell down on the track before loading the gate, and they had to back them all out of the gate? And that's the biggest horse in the race, and it's not even close. And if that horse falls a little bit further one way, then we got a whole different story going on with the jockey who was reared off the horse, and the horse landed backwards on the ground. I've never seen that before. And then, you know, they they don't have time for the vets to do a thorough exam. So it was great white. I'm sorry. Yeah, thank you, Mike. Uh Mike, Mike weighs in as he does at the beginning of every show. Uh sunny morning, everyone. Yeah, it's a Monday morning and it's sunny, and I love Mondays. And then he uh he also put in that it was Great White. Great White was huge, it's a huge, big horse. And that happened before they got in the gate, so they had to back all the other horses out of the gate. And then Golden Tempo, I didn't bet on the race. I don't know anything uh about Golden Tempo, other than the the trainer uh is the first female, Cherie DeVoe, the first female trainer to ever win a Kentucky Derby, 152nd Kentucky Derby. And she was interviewed, I believe, by Donna DeVarona on the track uh prior to. And just and the video of her watching the stretch run on an ISO camera with the audio up is also spectacular. I the only reason I bring it up is that sports are amazing. I mean, they're they're simply amazing. And I'm watching something that I don't watch, and I've got no life knowledge of other than watching, you know, probably 50 or so of the Kentucky Derbies over the years. I mean, I typically find a way to watch it. But it's the only race I watch, unless the winning horse is entered into the second leg, then I'll watch the second leg. And if it's going for the triple crown, then I'll watch that. But it was it was sports theater at its absolute best watching that race on Saturday, and then watching what that horse did from the last position on the track in the final turn, coming down the home stretch. I mean, I think they had gotten just barely to the home stretch when Golden Tempo cleared last place and then just had a kick that was ridiculous, and it was so that was so much fun. So I love Mondays watching horse racing. Don't do it, but man, was that good? And then watching game sevens in the NBA were disappointing as far as competitive balance, but in the Stanley Cup, watching Montreal lose in a game six on their home ice in overtime, and then watching them win in a game seven on the road in Tampa. Also pretty cool. Now, here's here's the story, and and this is where some people uh might take after me. My my former co-host, Nick Bruzewitz, always did, but sort of in a funny way. Um the last Canadian team to win the Stanley Cup is 1993. It was the Montreal Canadians. 1993. Montreal Canadiens, the last Canadian team. That's 33 years ago. It's a long time. There's only one Canadian team still in the playoffs, and it's Montreal. Uh, the the road to get there is going to be tough for them. I got love for Cole Caulfield, Wisconsin native, former Badger, uh, who did not have a big offensive series against Tampa, but they advance with a win um in their game seven in Tampa. That was intriguing. Watching the Minnesota Wild win was awesome. I don't I don't have a big rooting interest, but my daughter Georgia used to work for the Wild, so I do have a little bias towards the Minnesota Wild. They moved on, but then they got hammered, like giving up nine goals in game one at Colorado. That was cool. And then Cameron Young. Talking about Cameron Young, um he won the Cadillac Championship at Durral yesterday. What was it, about three and a half million, three point six million is his take-home check on that. Um led wire-to-wire, wins easily. The PGA championship, by the way, the next major is next week, not this, but next week. So major number two will be uh a week and a half from now. So there is a rules in golf can be dumb. I understand that the the game. I used to be a class A uh golf pro lifetime ago. So I understood, and I understand how the how the game is played. There are still some dumb rules in the game of golf, and one of them took place yesterday. I don't mean to get too weedy on this, but because of rains, they were playing preferred lies, or in other words, lift clean in place. So you get to pick up your ball if it's in the short grass, if it's in the fairway, you can pick up your ball, mark it, pick up your ball, clean it, and place it. So you it's that's why it's called preferred lies. So Cameron Young on the second hole yesterday did just that. And when you replace it, you're gonna place it, you know, within that specific area, but you're gonna prop it up so you have a good lie. Preferred lie. So he was taking his second shot on the second hole, and as he took the club away, he says he saw the ball oscillate forward, uh, just a dimple or so rotation. So he stopped his swing. And he says, and it's audible because the camera's right there, he says, I think the ball moved. And then Scottie Shepler, who was one of his playing partners, said, Did you cause it? He goes, I I I don't think so, but I'm not I can't be certain whether I caused it to move or not. So they call a rule official, and the rules official comes over, and this is all caught on audio, and he he explains the situation. And Cameron Young says, I'm uncertain either way, whether I caused it to move or not. It rolled forward by a dimple. Okay. So if your club is behind the ball and you press down on the club and the ball rolls backward a little bit, the penalty is it's a one-shot penalty. You call it on yourself. He called himself on the penalty. The rules official came over and asked him, and he said, I'm uncertain as to whether I cause it to move or not. And the rules official said, you know, you have to replace it as close as possible and take a one-shot penalty. It didn't end up costing me. Here's the rule: the rule is um the rule is 9.4 ball lifted or moved by a player. And the rule applies when it is known or virtually certain, when it is known or virtually certain that a player, including the caddy, because he's considered the players well, lifted their ball at rest, or the player or the caddy's actions caused it to move. And to me, I don't mean to get the weedy part of it, but to me, the the important part of the ruling and the wording says when it is known or virtually certain that the player caused the ball to move. I tweeted out, it's a dumb rule, and Young said he didn't know if he caused the ball to move or not. Why not just replace the ball? They're playing preferred lies and hit the next shot without penalty. Now it would be a different story for me if they're not playing preferred lies. Because then if he puts the club down behind the ball and the ball moves, he's gonna call himself on the penalty. I have no issue with it. In the preferred lies scenario, A, the the reason I think the rule is done, there's no advantage gained. Now we can all go to the point in the game of golf where an advantage is gained, and then it would not be a stupid rule. Then if somebody is trying to gain an advantage because they're in the edge of a divot, and in the fair way, you can't you can't remove the ball from a divot. But if if you're trying to do something like that, we all get when ill intent is involved, um like it, like that old line, uh define pornography. Well, you know it if you see it. You know if somebody's trying to gain an advantage if you see it. In this case, Cameron Young called a penalty on himself, one shot penalty, went on and made a par on the hole because his next shot was close enough, a great next shot, and then he made the putt and salvaged a par with a one-shot penalty. And he wins the tournament easily. But it still bugs me that they're that a great sport, uh a sport filled with integrity, had a moment of integrity yesterday off of a dumb rule. And if Cam Young loses the tournament by a shot, and he didn't, he wins going away. But if you lose it by a shot, the rule being dumb is a big deal. So I got you know some people on X coming after me on that a little bit. And then I found agreement with people too. I mean, that's typically how that works out. And then this, uh, before I set up the show and tell you who's coming on the show today and when, it'll be Pete Doherty, by the way, the Green Bay Press Gazette. Um, he will join us in about six or seven minutes. Um Packers finished a rookie mini camp over the weekend. We'll we'll get into that. National League Central, the update as we go, we are at the 20% point of the season. 20% of the games in Major League Baseball for the Brewers, and in that vicinity for most teams, 20% of the season has been played. And I ran this poll question today of the Brewers being 18 and 15 and in fourth place in the NL Central, three and a half games back of the surging Chicago Cubs. Cubs have been really good now for about three and a half weeks. Really good. Really good. Uh, so I asked to give a grade on Milwaukee so far. Now, one of my buddies on the Twitter, Paul Junior, he's he said, it's an incomplete. Okay, Paul, I get it. Not my first major league baseball season uh in talk radio or the podcast world. I just want to get like a state of the team from a fan perspective. What's your approval rating on the Brewers so far? So I I posed the question a letter grade, A, B, C, or D. And here's the voting, uh, a little less than 100 votes in, and just posted it a little bit ago. It's an A considering the injuries, that's 12% of the vote. A B, it's good so far. That is 46% of the vote. That's number one. And if you give consideration to no Jackson Churio, he doesn't have any bat yet this year. By the way, he fouled a ball off of his ankle and foot in Nashville on Saturday and was pulled from the game. We'll find out later today whether he's going to be activated or not, or whether he's gonna have to recover from that for a bit. We expect Andrew Bond to be activated today. We did expect Jackson Churio, but now that's a question. Is it a C grade right now, average? That's the second highest vote at 39%, or D below acceptable, and that's 3.5%. I assume those are Cubs fans voting on the Brewers poll question. Just kind of how that that works. It was a good weekend in DC for the Brewers on the field. They win two of three, but they did. They were very, they lacked being hitterish yesterday. No hitters in that game. Uh, and they had to scratch Bryce Durang prior to the game with illness. Uh, they they just couldn't score anything. They lose 3-2. One of those runs came in the ninth inning, and they kind of wasted a really good start by Logan Henderson, who was uh impressive in a spot start there. So, all right, that that's uh kind of the rundown of where we sit out of this weekend. Let me uh set up our guest, which will be Pete Doherty. He will join us uh in just a minute. Let me tell you about our sponsors. We are presented by one community bank. You can go to onecommunity.bank to upgrade to feel good banking. One community bank, proud to serve clients, support colleagues, and invest in our communities. Also presented by our friends at M3 Insurance. They help businesses and individuals manage risk, purchase insurance, and provide the right benefits to their employees. M3INS.com. 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If you have uh injury, uh headaches, spine, go to neuroscience group and check them out. All right. Let me bring in uh let me bring in my guest, Pete Doherty, who is kind enough to uh to jump in on the show on this Monday. And I say hello to Pete Doherty. Hi, Pete. How are you? Good, good, Michael. How are you today? Good. Thanks for saying yes. Thanks for jumping in uh with us today. I I asked this question in jest because I don't think we learned anything, but the rookie mini camp over the weekend just wrapped up. Um, so what have we learned?

SPEAKER_02 18:00

Uh you're correct. So I haven't been to a rookie mini camp practice. I'll bet it's been eight years or so. Um, I just stopped going to, you know, there was just nothing to gain. Um, I had an appointment that morning. I didn't change it when the schedule came out. Uh, I did go to you know I mean you can learn stuff at locker room, you know. Uh you get a chance to talk to them. Uh LaFloor had a press conference. Um, so those are valuable, but they did, you know, even the team stuff, all they did was jog through. So um, you don't see players play. The only thing that I that I saw that jumped out to me about any of the players was um so I walk in the I'm in the locker room and I get one of the guys walks in, and I didn't recognize his face, so I knew it was you know, it was a new guy. Yeah, and I thought, I wonder if that's that can't be Jackson. And I looked up, you know, because they have these at their lockers, they have little like TV screens kind of, and they've got the guy's name and a picture of him. And so I look at the picture and I go, Well, that looks like that face, but this guy does not look like a cornerback. He almost looked to me like a small linebacker, really, you know, he looked like a really well-built cut safety. So I later, you know, when everybody was done talking to him, I went up and asked him how much he weighs, and he said only 197, which that's not huge for a corner. It's on the bigger side, but it's not it's not huge. Um, but he looked, he looked like a really cut, he's he's different, he's built different than most uh corners you see. That was about the only you know thing physically that uh that jumped out to me about any of these guys.

SPEAKER_01 19:33

So when this this is a very small draft class, so you know it's also the undrafted free agents that they brought in and some others over the weekend, but the the very small draft class, I don't know if they've had a draft class uh of that size, just six players. What was your reaction? I'm gonna take you back now a week. What was your reaction to what you saw Brian Gude Kunst and the organization do in the draft?

SPEAKER_02 19:59

Yeah, we knew it was gonna be a small class, but you know, still you thought it was gonna be seven or eight. Um but they made the trade, you know, a couple trades up. Um, you know, you there's there's always this talk about need versus best player and some of its semantics. And as Gude Kunst has said, he thinks need subconsciously uh works its way into the way they grade guys. I think they they made the the reason the class is so small and they made these trades is they they forced their needs to match up with their board. So when there was a position of need, McClellan, who was the highest rated guy on their board, they traded up to get him to make sure they got him, you know, because they thought he was a big and he was at a big position in need. And taking the corner, you know, CSA, you know, there was uh several guys they considered. I think they must have considered them all similar level players. Corner was, in my, at least in my opinion, their greatest need for talent upgrade. They went for that the corner. So he made he forced the need to match up with uh with how their board stacked up. Uh, and I think that explains the trades, the trades up, including for the kicker.

SPEAKER_01 21:08

Pete, just to expand on that, just a touch. Typically, Green Bay has gone by and GMs around the league end up giving the mantra best player available. We're taking the best player available. In this case, you think they manipulated that old phrase to move around and do best player available based on our glaring needs.

SPEAKER_02 21:28

Yes. They yeah. So they, you know, they they needed help at edge. So at when their pick at in the fourth round comes up, I'm I'm don't doubt that Dennis Sutton was their highest rated player. Maybe one of the reasons he was their hardest, highest rated player was you know, they baked need into it a little bit, whether it was subconscious or not. So they took him. But with defensive tackle, they knew they needed one. And the one they wanted, they were afraid somebody was gonna pluck in before he got to them. So they made sure that they got the highest rated guy at their board, which also you know coincided with. With a huge need. In other years, if they didn't need defensive tackle, I think they would have let McClellan, you know, if he fell to him, he did. And if not, then they'd take somebody else and they they wouldn't trade up.

SPEAKER_01 22:10

Also, just one player on the offensive side of the ball, and that's the offensive lineman the center from Kentucky, which tells me a couple of things. They kind of like what they have on offense. They didn't feel like at any point in this draft that they were drafting at a position and had a need with a player highly ranked on their board. The offensive line is a question mark, so drafting a center makes some sense. But Pete it also says to me that they like what they are offensively.

SPEAKER_02 22:40

Yeah, I mean, they they've got a lot of skill talent. Um, you know, I think their their starting five on the line should be okay. The depth would be a huge concern. They need help with tight end, and I still think, you know, there's a glaring need for a number two running back because you just don't know with Marshawn Lloyd. You know, the guy hasn't been healthy for even a full week. I mean, only one time in his two years has he gotten through this. Goes back to his rookie training camp. You know, he hasn't gone more than a week without getting hurt, except for one time when he practiced a week and played in a game. I was that two years ago, or I can't even remember now.

SPEAKER_03 23:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:14

Where he he practiced for a week, played in the game, then got hurt and practiced the next week. You know, they just you know, they've they sent him to a place in California, you know, one of those biomechanic uh clinics. Um, we don't really know what they found out. You know, I'm hoping to ask him about that sometime this offseason. So but you know, he's had you know, they they presumably have him strengthening different parts of his legs and different parts of his body because of imbalances like Christian Watson had. Um, so you know, he's had time to work on that, and so maybe he'll be fine from here on out. But I I sure wouldn't bank on it. So I thought they might take a running back, but this was pretty much consensus across the league was this is a really bad running back class. And there was two taken early, and then I think there was one taken in the fourth round at Washington, and then there wasn't any tick until really late. So um it just you know, maybe they just didn't see any value taking a running back. But I think they're gonna have to do something there, whether that's picking up somebody at final cuts or you know, trading a seventh round pick or something for uh for a legit backup. And I mean, if if Lloyd makes it through camp, then maybe they'd be okay going, but that's still living a little risky in my in my view.

SPEAKER_01 24:26

Talking to Pete Doherty, Green Bay Press Gazette and USA Today Network. I think these are the best times of the year to talk about big picture stuff. I always think it's uh a little odd to talk about big picture stuff in October or November because we have the recency bias of wins and losses. So a couple of bigger picture questions. Is Matt LaFleur a good coach? And has he gotten better or stayed similar to where he was, especially early in his tenure in Green Bay?

SPEAKER_02 24:56

Yeah, you'll I'm sure you asked this, you'll get opinions across the board. And I know there are people who just think he's awful. Um, I think he's a good coach. Uh, you know, you can't be considered a top coach, you got to win the Super Bowl. I mean, that's just you know the way it works. And he hasn't gotten to one yet, let alone um, you know, won one. Um, but yeah, I think he's he's a good coach. I think he's gotten better in um in some ways, you know, in a lot of ways. I, you know, he's just he can um you can tell he's much more confident in what he's doing, he's just more in command. Um, but you know, there are the things, you know, their coaches are up and down, just like players, they they make their mistakes. The one thing I always come back to when I think about this, and people always want to fire, you know, these these coaches and GMs. I guarantee you back in what 1964, yeah, that there were people complaining about Lombardi and saying his time had come and gone because he'd gone two years without winning a championship, you know. And I'm not saying La Flore is Vince Lombardi. Um, but you know, the Packers are who they are for there's a reason that they are the way they are, and the Steelers are the way they are, that they, you know, they ride out the storms, um, and they you know, they they want that continuity and stability that's they prize that. Um when the season ended, I really thought with the way it ended, I thought, man, I wonder if this is going to cost him his job. And if it were me making the call, I might have leaned that way, but I totally completely get why policy didn't make a change. I took the contracts as meaning uh that you know, these guys, him and Guda Koons, they've got two years to, you know, get this team, you know, deep deep into the playoffs and you know, and show what they've built, you know, in the post the post-Rogers era. That's how I interpreted it. I don't don't don't claim to know that that's right, but I think that's that that's my interpretation.

SPEAKER_01 26:47

Yeah, I I found this is my opinion on that same thing, is regardless of the two-year extension, I think listen, when the season plays out, we all know the reasons why they, or at least believe we know the reasons why they win or lose. But if this team were to fail to make the playoffs, and it wasn't because of a significant Jordan Love misses, you know, uh 14 of the 17 games kind of a thing. This team failed to make the playoffs. I don't know that Matt LaFleur, despite the extension, would be completely safe. Do you?

SPEAKER_02 27:21

No, you wouldn't you wouldn't rule it out. And if it's a if they just had a terrible year without you know losing Micah Parsons and love, you know, or something like that. Um, yeah, you know, lifetime contracts, extensions, all that, no such thing. Uh anybody can get fired at any time, except for like the first year somebody signed. You know, you're not gonna sign somebody to a huge contract and then fire them two months later or cut them two months later. Um, these are you know, it's one year you get, and then you know, you play it by ear after that.

SPEAKER_01 27:51

Yeah, and and I I I I have this uh that these little fights on Twitter or X with people. Yeah, as you mentioned when I asked when I asked you the first question, is he a good coach? There are there is a contingent of the fan base, whatever the percentage is, that thinks he's terrible. That that thinks that the only reason he won early was Aaron Rodgers, and that now um you know he's uh showing who he is as being uh you know eight, nine game over 500 coach since Aaron Rodgers left. But Pete, I always look back at the Aaron Rodgers time and say, shoot, he kind of resurrected a little bit what was going on. The same thing that I thought that um that Mike McCarthy did at the end of Favre and into Rodgers. I thought he made Favre better and then really handled the Rodgers transition well. And I think that that Matt LaFleur has done the same thing at the end of Rogers here and into Jordan Love, he's kind of done the same thing, and I believe he deserves credit, not criticism for how he handled that.

SPEAKER_02 28:59

Yeah, there's you know, I try to think about you know how many uh really complete great coaches are there, you know. I'm because I think Shanahan's an excellent coach, he's getting heat out in San Francisco, and they they've never they haven't won a Super Bowl since he got there. Um, yeah, I think LaFleur has us has one really good skill that's you know, it's not everything in the NFL, but it's really, really important. He's good with quarterbacks, yeah. He did he did help, you know. Of course, Rodgers was a great quarterback, but what were they the year before LaFleur got here? What was he six and ten that year? Something like that. Um, so they could be bad with Aaron Rodgers at quarterback. Yes, and he did. He met him halfway. He was you know, Rodgers is not an easy guy to work with, and LaFleur managed that really well. Uh, he's developed love. Look at what he did with Malik Willis. I mean, his chemistry with Willis was outstanding. The way he called plays so well for that guy. Um, I he's really good working with quarter. That's one of the, I think that's one of the basically policy has suggested that that's one of the big reasons is he wanted to keep LaFleur and Love together. He thought they have a good thing going and a good chemistry, and they work well. And as we all know, what that's 70% of it is your quarterback, you know. So um, he's got that skill, and it's really, really important. And you got to take, you know, you take the strengths and the weaknesses, and so you take some of the weaknesses because that is pre that is the most important. If you don't have that, you have no chance.

SPEAKER_01 30:32

We just you just mentioned Malik Willison, and I think the last time we visited, I asked you a similar question uh about Malik leaving, and he saved them on multiple occasions over the last two seasons. There have been times when the Packers lost Aaron Rodgers, their starting quarterback, and had no capable backups and then struggled to win a game. I think the that that one season when Scott Tolzine was one of the answers. I mean, they had no answers. I, you know, history can repeat itself. Do you like their backup quarterback situation as we sit today, or do you think it will change yet?

SPEAKER_02 31:09

Yeah, I can't say I'm, you know, I don't think I'd be real excited about it if I were them. Um, you know, Ritter's interesting and he was good enough to be a third-round pick, and they're talented enough. And, you know, I think his record is like 9 and 11 or something like that as a starter. It's you know, in that vicinity. So, you know, it's not like he's terrible, but the the red flag to me was he was on the Vikings 53 for part of last year. He was on their practice squad for a little while, and then they just completely cut him. So he was on the street when they picked him up. Um, that's that's a little bit of a red flag. And also they, you know, when they're asked about what they have at about these backup quarterbacks, they they're you know, they say they like them, but they don't, um, they're not as profuse with their praise as they usually are, um, which makes me wonder. They just keep saying, you know, well, we really don't know what we have because he really didn't practice. I guess that's true. You know, last year they pick him up late. Um, he's the number three, he's not even getting any practice snaps, really. Maybe one or two of practice and scout team. Um, so I, you know, it kind of makes sense. But I just like with backup running back, I just wonder, I kind of suspect because they know Love has gotten hurt and you know, Willis saved their bacon. I wonder if they're gonna do another one of those uh Willis trade uh at the end of uh at the end of training camp. If I were betting, I would actually bet that as the most likely.

SPEAKER_01 32:28

Yeah, I I'm also uh curious. Uh and you've been around this organization for a very long time. Why have we not met Jonathan Gannon yet? Why has he not had a had a presser been in front of uh of you and your brethren uh in Green Bay? Is that odd?

SPEAKER_02 32:44

It's very odd. And uh as a matter of fact, in one hour and 57 minutes, uh he's gonna be having his first press conference.

SPEAKER_01 32:52

Oh, it is okay.

SPEAKER_02 32:54

Yeah, it's yeah, they're up, they're doing the coordinators today, and then I think it's defensive assistance tomorrow and offensive assistance the next day, something like that. Um, so we will finally get the chance. This is really odd. I mean, they wait, they've waited in the past, but they've waited to get their whole staff, the whole defensive staff, and they've always done it at least before the draft. Here we are after the draft. So yeah, that's really bizarre. I was starting to think he was a fictional character. Um, so you know, but we'll finally get our chance to hear from him today. So I'm really interested to see what kind of you know, just what kind of guy he is.

SPEAKER_01 33:29

And they put I haven't been in it yet, but they put new digs together. I mean, a brand new um media room. This only matters to us, uh to a certain extent. But yeah, uh they upgraded what where you guys do your work.

SPEAKER_02 33:41

Yeah, it's really nice. Uh it's really nice and it's more spacious, and the auditorium's got more more room now. Um, the only thing is it's it's really it's like a two and a half minute walk from the auditorium to the locker room now. They used to be right next to each other. So after games, you know, like you used to be able to go to the auditorium and then you could you know buzz in the locker room, right? You know, not so easy now. So and time, you know, people don't probably realize this, but it's not like people are you know, players are sitting around waiting to be interviewed. They're trying to get out of there as fast as they can. Uh, so it's you know, it makes it's gonna make it tough to uh to get the boat, you know, you kind of have to pick or choose. I'm either doing podium, which is the coach and the quarterback, or locker room, which is everybody else.

SPEAKER_01 34:24

Yeah, a little behind the curtain for those who who are unaware. I mean, it's it's interesting to some and not to others, I get it. But you have to divide and conquer postgame in Green Bay. You can't one man it because the head coach goes to the podium and the quarterback goes to the podium simultaneously to when the locker room's open. If you go to one, you're not gonna get the other, pure and simple.

SPEAKER_02 34:47

Yeah, it's a free-for-all. I and it's really chaotic. Um, you know, if things happen fast, it's you know, I don't know how much time it all adds up to. I think it's usually about a half hour or so, um, maybe, maybe 40 minutes, but it it goes quick. And um, so that's one of the beauties of working for Packers News is we got four of us, you know, so we can uh we can give you things up some. Um, but even then it's really chaotic because the game ends and you've got to decide in an instant. I'm doing this, you you know, and then somebody else says they're doing this, and you know, and you don't even know who's gonna win a lot of times until you know the final seconds. So it's um yeah, it's uh it's really chaotic and uh gets the heart, gets the ticker beating pretty fast sometimes.

SPEAKER_01 35:28

Yeah, we're standing in that corridor, which used to be outside the the um auditorium, and I would see you guys kind of going back and forth, well, I'm gonna do this, and you got that, and then you got to transcribe stuff and yeah, it's a little teamwork, and and that's all part of it. But if you didn't have that as a team, when postgame hits, you just can't do it. I mean, you you'd have to choose, pick or choose. You're gonna go in and and ask a question and and hear what LaFleur has to say, or you're gonna go in and and and stay in there for Jordan Love, or you're gonna go in the locker room and get Micah Parsons and the rest of the the key players of the day.

SPEAKER_02 36:06

And if you know, and you can get transcripts from the um the podium. So if you really, you know, if you feel like you really need to and you're you're working a one-man show, you just go to the locker room, but you don't get things you can't ask questions then. Um, and that's really important sometimes because you might have a pointed question or two you need to ask. And you know, when they when they dodge it or don't answer it, you want to be able to, or they give you, you know, they say something that you weren't thinking, you know, that you didn't know about, right? You got to be able to follow up. So you got to be there to do that stuff.

SPEAKER_01 36:35

I asked uh I'll I'll leave you with this. I asked uh Matt Schneiman a couple weeks ago when I had him on. I said, Do you miss Aaron Rodgers? And he pretty candid. He said, Yeah, from a reporter standpoint, not about who he was or as a player, because I mean that's a different concept, but from a media standpoint, uh he his answer was simple, yes, we do.

SPEAKER_02 37:01

Um, I would agree with that too, because you know, early in his career, yeah, I thought he was really tight-lipped. Um and once he started, he started opening up when he started dating Olivia Mudd. Yeah, and maybe it was part of just that he got older too.

SPEAKER_03 37:16

Sure.

SPEAKER_02 37:17

Um, but he learned he he's learned uh he enjoyed the spotlight and he enjoyed, you know, holding court. Um, and the thing was you could ask him a lot of football stuff, you could get really interesting answers about what happened, what he was thinking, what he saw. And you could ask him big picture questions and you could ask him uh negative questions. It's his last four or five years, you could ask him really negative questions and he wouldn't blanch. Yeah. I mean, I remember Bill Huber asking him, you know, hey, I, you know, I just I don't know what other way to put this, but this is like going into his last season in Green Bay, I think. But but do you still have it? That's what he asked him. Yeah, and Rogers, you know, like you know, young guys and you know, whatever they they would just blanch at that, you know, bristle. And Rogers just, you know, he just stay, you know, I get it. I understand people are asking this, and you know, we've been around the block a lot. So I he was he was really interesting in that way.

SPEAKER_01 38:10

And I I also think just from a media coverage standpoint, it's important that whoever asks that question is a you, a Rob Domowski, uh a Bill Huber, uh Matt Schneiman, somebody that's there all the time. If the the fly-in, the you know, I'm there on occasion, the guy, the wrong guy asks that question, he's gonna look at you funny, right? So you do have to know who you are, and they recognize you guys as being there on the daily and respect that, and you guys can ask questions that maybe some of the rest of us can't.

SPEAKER_02 38:48

Yeah, that that that definitely makes a difference. And you know, you know him a little, you know him a little bit, at least probably more than a little bit. And you know, you've had a chance to ask a lot of questions, and I think he's got a feel for you know people who are being, you know, who are you know just trying to find out the answer to a tough question as opposed to trying to be super provocative, you know. Um, I you know, he can tell he he can kind of they can tell the motivation on that stuff sometimes. So so that that definitely plays a role in it too. Um, the one thing I will say that things got, I thought overall things got more interesting when he left when they traded him, only because it had become Groundhog's Day, you know.

SPEAKER_03 39:32

Sure.

SPEAKER_02 39:33

The same thing was happening every year, they were spinning their wheels, yeah. Uh, they weren't going anywhere, they weren't gonna win the super, they were gonna be good and they weren't gonna win the Super Bowl, they weren't gonna get to the Super Bowl. Um, and so things got more interesting from a coverage standpoint because of the change at quarterback, yeah. And that just changed everything in the in the organization. Um, but as far as you know, love is pretty closed-lipped and put, you know, keep plays his cards pretty tight to the vest. Um, so it's a lot tougher getting interesting info out of him uh than it is, than it was out of Rogers. Although, you know, these guys do grow into the role too, and he the more comfortable he gets, I think, the more he'll he'll share stuff like that.

SPEAKER_01 40:13

Uh about three questions ago, I said that was the last one. This will be it because I find this line of questioning really interesting. It is, at least to me, uh, the value of being in the locker room, there's some push, and it has been for years, about getting media out of the locker rooms. They were not in the locker rooms in college, ever. But from somebody that's there on the daily, your conversations that are not recorded, like if you go up to whether when it was Brett or Aaron or another player at a different position, and you start with, hey, off the record, and this is you and him standing by their locker, you can uncover gems for future stories and also create a trust and relationship. Bring us into that concept.

SPEAKER_02 41:02

Yeah, well, almost it's it's more of the latter, really. It's just uh, you know, you you act like human beings, you know, instead of it's so less formal. If you have to request somebody and wait in a room and they come in, you know, they're like if I stand around the locker room and I see a player, and you know, just like my conversation with Jackson, you know, I he he did the group and I just walked up to him and asked him, you know, we just kind of had fun going back and forth for a minute or two. You don't get that if you got a request like you guys do uh covering Wisconsin. And you just don't treat each other like human beings, so you don't, you know, you don't connect on that level. So yeah, it makes uh it makes a big difference. And you know, when I was younger and a beat writer, you know, I I try to befriend players more, you know, just to get to know them more. And um, you know, if you're covering the beat, that really helps a lot. And I do less of that now as a you know, do being a columnist. I don't want to be friends with a guy and then because I have to criticize all these guys. I don't want to feel like I'm stabbing somebody in the back when I criticize them. So I, you know, I keep it more on that level, but you still want to, you know, be able to treat each other like human beings, you know, and and then that there's a respect level there where you they know at least when you criticize them, you're not being mean spirited about it. You're just you know, you're just uh doing your job.

SPEAKER_01 42:18

Pete, it's always good to visit with you. I th I thank you for doing this today. I look forward to uh to the next time we get a chance to visit. And I don't know if your buddy Dan is having you down, uh Dan Kelly, to play any golf or do anything, but I'd love to catch up with you guys if that's uh in the mix at some point this summer.

SPEAKER_02 42:35

Oh, I'm sure it will be. And I think we may have to uh stop by your house since it's only a little walk down the road there.

SPEAKER_01 42:41

It's just across the street, right?

SPEAKER_02 42:43

So, yeah, that sounds good to me.

SPEAKER_01 42:45

I'll look forward to it. Pete, thank you. I always appreciate it.

SPEAKER_02 42:48

All right, always always love talking with you, Mike. Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_01 42:51

Pete Doherty of the Green Bay Press Gazette USA Today. Uh has been doing it for a long time. And and understand the difference between being a beat reporter and now he's a columnist. So the the line of questioning and what he writes is going to be different than somebody that is doing a daily story rather than daily column. Stories and columns. Uh they just run uh differently. Uh, let me again go through a little bit of this. Uh, let me tell you about our friends at one community bank. You can go to onecommunity.bank to find out all the information and do your banking with them. M3 Insurance, go to m3ins.com. Also the neuroscience group. These are our presenting sponsors. Go to neurosciencegroup.com and then our partner sponsors, and we thank them from Pottawatomi Sportsbook and Casino Bet Above the Rest and Habish, Habish Enrotier. If you need a personal injury attorney, so I was thinking about um where we were gonna go in the conversation today. And I I'm I'm looking, and I had a fairly long conversation with Many over the weekend about who the Brewers are. There, it's not the quarter poll. That's 25%. They're at 20% of the season. And the Brew are 18 and 15. I think the Cubs, I thought so a year ago, but now I think it's playing out similarly. I think the Cubs are the team right now to beat in the division with this caveat, with this asterisk. When the Brewers are healthy, if if and when, right? Random Woodruff is a significant question. Um Priesters, a significant question. He's not close yet. So Quinn Priester, those are your one and two pitchers in your rotation. I'm sorry. Miz is you got three tops, Ms, Woody, Priester. Now you wonder about Woodruff and you haven't seen Priester. So two of your top three guys in your rotation are significant question marks. Miz has been as advertised and at times better. Really good the other night. And then the scare on the hamstring cramp, but it appears he'll go Wednesday in St. Louis. Continuing with the asterisk or caveat to why I think the Cubs are the best team in the division. If the Brewers are healthy, that also includes Andrew Vaughn. Now, with Vaughn, for me, it's healthy and productive. He was healthy and productive for the most part, a really pleasant surprise back half of last year after they acquired him. I really carried him for a bit. But there was a reason he was available, and that's because he wasn't productive. So healthy, Andrew Vaughn. I think he'll be back in probably in the lineup tonight in St. Louis. So healthy and productive, Andrew Vaughn makes a big difference. Healthy, and we know he's productive when healthy, Jackson Churio. That is your number four hitter, like Leon Vaughan. Your number two hitter, like Leon Churio. And now Kristian Yellich has played less than half the games. And somebody's going to respond to that by saying, Mike, he's always hurt. No, he isn't. Played 148 games, 147 games, I think, I mean, within the ballpark a year ago and had tremendous production. Now he's played less than half the games now. Don't know what his status is rolling forward. So we're talking about your number two, your number three, and number four hitter in your daily lineup on average, on balance, those are your two, three, and four hitters, Churio, Yelich, Vaughn. And the highest production there has been from Yelich, who's played less than half. Vaughn played in the first game. Churio hadn't played a game yet. If those three guys are part of your lineup going forward, I think the Brewers are going to give the Cubs a hell of a chase. And then, I mean, it's three and a half games right now, and you played 20% of the season, and the Cubs have been white hot lately. I mean, on a ridiculous roll. And you're three and a half back. So for those who want to write the division story 20% of the way through the season, knock it off. I I'm doing a what is your grade on the brewers 20% of the way in? If you're in high school, you get a quarterly report, right? You can you get a progress report on what you're doing. The progress report on the brewers, for me, here's the grade. It is a B plus. It is a B plus. Let me give you a little something here. 18 and 15, three and a half out. They're plus 45 in run differential. Run differential is a it's a tell. It gives you an idea of what kind of team you have. That's third highest in the National League and fourth highest in all of baseball. And they're a team that does that without home run. And part of the without home run part is Andrew Vaughan, Kristen Yellich, and Jackson Churio. The Brewers are not the bangers. They're not Harvey's wall bangers. They're not that. And they're not going to be that. It's not the way this roster has been built. But you do have to hit the ball over the wall on occasion. And the Brewers don't do it very well. Yet they're still plus 45. Why? Because they essentially are in the top two in on base percentage and stolen bases. They pitch very well and they play great defense. And when they don't, it's a surprise. David Hamilton drops that pop fly in short left field over the weekend. You're going, hey, you don't see that in Major League Baseball, but you certainly don't see it from the Brewers. That was a day that they survived it. But you don't survive playing bad defense and not getting on base if your roster is built like Milwaukee's. I think they're a good team. I would give them a B or B plus right now on their progress report. But man, I'm hoping that Andrew Vaughn is healthy starting tonight and productive. And I'm hoping that Jackson Churio is healthy. And if he is, we know he'll be productive. And then you also think if you can get Yelich back healthy, you also know he'll be productive. He goes through stretches, but the other side of the stretch, the yin and the yang, the yin and the yang of it, when he's yangin, he's really good. When it's yinning, uh, you know, and I don't know which one is supposed to be good, the yin or the yang. It's like the ebb and the flow. I don't know which one is the positive, the ebb or the flow. But Yelich is one of those guys. When he's really good, he's really good. And then he'll go through stretches where he looks a little lost at the plate, but that's been his career, other than a couple of years where he was MVP caliber, where he just never cooled off. So the Brewers in uh in this position, B, is migrate on them. They're 18 and 15. They'll play in St. Louis. Chappatrick against Kyle Leahy tonight. Brandon Sprote and Andre Palente tomorrow night. And then I believe it's going to be Ms. on Wednesday in a day game, I think, against Matthew Liberator. Uh that's coming up on Wednesday. Three games set. Then the Yankees come to town after an off day on Thursday. The Yankees come to town. By the way, the Brewers on pace for 88 wins. Yankees come in Friday through Sunday. And we did lose John Sterling announced earlier today. The Yankees win, John Sterling. He passed away at the age of 87. Called Yankees games for 36 seasons. And by the way, 211 postseason games he got a chance to call. He was a fantastic broadcaster. Never met him, but we've heard his calls over the years. And his the Yankees wins and his uh home run calls with the nicknames on the home runs were fantastic. And I'm not a Yankees fan, but I'm a fan of broadcasters, and he was a fantastic one. Rest in peace. We lost him the announcement coming out earlier today. Tomorrow, Super Fan Tuesday, uh, as Treadmill will be back in the fold. He's gonna jump in, I think he is, tomorrow, and then uh we'll get to uh the rest of the news of the day as we jump back into the chair on our Tuesday edition. That wraps. We're good for today. The I Love Monday Monday edition comes to a close. We'll talk to you again tomorrow. Thanks for being here and for being a part of I Love Mondays.

SPEAKER_03 52:02

I love Mondays with my help.