I Love Mondays with Mike Heller
Mike Heller is back talking all things sports and all things Packers, Brewers, Bucks, Badgers and beyond.
I Love Mondays with Mike Heller
I Love Mondays-Ep93, July 9, 2026
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Vinny Rottino joins to talk about the role Luis Lara will play in the Brewers outfield, plus a lot of conversation about pitching including "bad news" for Brandon Woodruff...and how it impacts the trade deadline on August 3rd.
I love Mondays with Mike Heller.
SPEAKER_00Broadcasting 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_02Hey, welcome in. It is uh it is a Wednesday, and we have a little special uh edition of the I Love Mondays program on this Wednesday. Uh many times we we just were very topical on Wednesdays, pretty much all throughout the week. Today we're gonna pull back the curtain a little bit on what it is that I Love Mondays is, how we got here. Um, just a little pull back of the curtain uh with uh a very special guest. I always want to thank our sponsors, and I appreciate everything that we get from our friends and partners at One Community Bank and M3 Insurance and Pottawatomi Sportsbook and Casino, Neuroscience Group, Habish Habish and Rotere, Traditions Lighting, and Lombardi Lemonata. They're all part of the bigger picture of what we do with I Love Mondays and Brood Daily. And we got some uh I keep saying we. All right, so here's the we special guest today. Look at that. That is uh she is the captain. Uh that is Kari. And I think everybody that listens, that has listened to the radio show for years and now the podcast, you can always tell if they listen. How?
SPEAKER_05Absolutely. People uh come into red and white or we see them on the street or whatever, which happens quite often. Yeah, like I don't want to forget to talk about that. How many people come up to you and say, Hey, I listen to you all the time. And then they look at me and they're like, You're Kari, right? And I'm like, You do listen to the show.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, because it's spelled K-A-R-I, so many people go just pronounce it Carrie.
SPEAKER_05Yep. And then there's all kinds of people that I meet that are named Carrie. Yeah, and they say, People call me Kari all the time. I'm like, no, it never happens to you. They don't, they don't. Hardly ever does someone get my name correct the first time if they see it spelled, but it's okay. I correct them.
SPEAKER_02So for for a lot of years, so I I did you and I met in 2010 and got married in 2012. But for a long time on the radio, I've shared my life story, family, kind of the reason I did that because in television I never did it. Uh, but in radio early on, I didn't really do it a little. Uh but when I had a chance to to meet Dan Patrick and then got to the opportunity to fill in on the show, one of the things he said to me, we didn't have a lot of conversation, but one of the things he said to me at a dinner that a bunch of us were at, he said, You have to be comfortable if you if you're comfortable, share your life. Uh let the listeners in on let them get to know you. Because then hopefully if there's enough there, they care and they feel like um like you're a part of the of a of a two-way relationship rather than just talking at somebody. So did that was that odd or uncomfortable at all for me to share about you and Ellen and Morgan and Jackson and us and the things we do, certainly my girls. Was that good? Uncomfortable?
SPEAKER_05I I wasn't uncomfortable with it at all. Um, like what how many times have we sat and watched uh like a 30 for 30? Or I can't think of the specific one with Dennis Rodman. And I know that's not a popular thing when I tell people I'm like, hey, give Dennis Rodman a chance because I heard his story.
SPEAKER_06Yeah.
SPEAKER_05And Tom Brady, like I heard I would listen to the story, and anytime there was anything where it dove deeper into someone's life, it changed my mind about them and they became human.
SPEAKER_06Yeah.
SPEAKER_05And um, I still remember like very specifically the Dennis Rodman and the Tom Brady, those are the ones that I obviously just said, but I specifically remember watching that and just thinking, you know what? Yeah, doesn't matter what team you play for, how good or great you are, and people hate success. And so, like, I I loved that part. I think that was brilliant of whoever did that, whoever started that.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and speaking of family, um Elizabeth and Nick, our daughter and son-in-law, they uh collectively created the music for I Love Mondays, the intro music and that theme music that now uh I I use over all of our shows.
SPEAKER_04What a gift.
SPEAKER_02They created your theme music for Sippin' Spill, yep, which isn't in our document to talk about, but it's on it, it's on the way side right now. It's no, it it's it it is going to re-establish and it will it'll be fantastic. We just I mean we have priorities, so again life got in the way a little bit. Uh priorities um from a build of a podcast because so I'll tell a little bit of the story. This probably goes out of the order. Uh, a little bit of the story is that I was let go from iHeartRadio after 23 plus years last September. And I I said it I maybe earlier this week. That's a really tough go for me. And and you you were great and had we shared ideas and you lifted me up um at that time. But part of what one of the concepts we had was a podcast to kind of um preview or pre-build into when I would start my daily podcast, and that was called Sippin' Spill.
SPEAKER_05It is called Sip and Spill.
SPEAKER_02When we decided to start it, we had different names mantied around, but we went with Sip and Spill, and it just you've never done that.
SPEAKER_05I mean, that's really stems from what we just were talking about, like telling the story, and specifically for people who are behind the scenes, and that's athletes, right, or coaches, spouses, however, that worked. And I I'm I love the four that I've done. And it's funny because I obviously you're like, Yeah, you've never done that before. The very first time I I kind of felt like I had deer in the headlight look.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, you were doing it right here with Kathy Sheffield.
SPEAKER_05Yep, and and then as I um continued on with the others, it felt a lot more comfortable. And it's you know, honestly, it's years of listening to you, and we watch a ton of sports, yeah, a ton of you know, not just the games, we watch a ton of stuff that leads up to is the post, all kinds of things, and you just kind of like that becomes your language sometimes. And so I learned it.
SPEAKER_02I'm not an expert by any means, but I have a a heart to to know what goes on behind the scenes, especially in this world, especially social media and how that affects athletes and families and wives and and it's telling a story that um that I don't tell, you know, when I'm telling stories, uh it's about the game. Um, and I've established into with Badger Connect, which we'll get to more at-length interviews that tell the story of the person outside of the game. And I think that's one of the beautiful things of Sippin' Spill is it's the spouse. So um having Kathy Sheffield, the wife of Kelly, the Wisconsin volleyball coach, national champions, uh, final fours consistently, but how they raise kids. Uh, doing the same with uh Annie Thomas, uh, the former Annie Nelson who played women's college basketball at Wisconsin, married Joe Thomas. They've got a beautiful family. What a great conversation. Megan Tressel, uh Mike Tressel, the defensive coordinator's wife, telling the stories behind what goes on because people forget, like in my side of the world, they forget that they're people, they have lives, they have emotions, they have personality, they are not just coaches, they are not just teachers, they are not just recruiters, anyways.
SPEAKER_05It's it goes in, it's it's also it's also the the people in the stands.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, right.
SPEAKER_05It's it's um like when you say you suck to somebody, like don't forget the their mom or dad or child might be sitting right next to them.
SPEAKER_02Because I okay, so uh so let's personalize it because I I'm in on social media all the time as it relates to sports. So whether it's Twitter, mainly it's it's on X, it's on Twitter where people will send comments to me that you don't like.
SPEAKER_05Absolutely. So then I just am like, well, if Mike can take it, I can take it. And I just look the other way or whatever.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, but it impacts you.
SPEAKER_05Oh, definitely. Well, I mean, it also impacts you, yes, and so I can see like something turns in you, and you're definitely on a Twitter fight or something, and I'm like, what's the deal? And so, but I've learned that people are just relentless. It's not you, it's any person, right? But anyway, let me put a plug in. If you, if you guys out there have an idea, guys and gals, of um who should be on the next sip and spill uh message Mike, or yeah, you know, put it on the I don't know if you're gonna draw us a note to Heller Pods 2, the number two. We have a brainstorm list of people, it's a matter of getting through the weddings and babies that we have this year and traveling. And um that you know, it just kind of went on the way and it did its job, right? We got the equipment, we we were up and running, so then by the time you were able to start I Love Mondays, we were like ready to go. Yeah, we didn't have to do all that other stuff.
SPEAKER_02So I'm gonna make a camera switch. So I when I met, we're gonna tell a little bit of our backstory. So I met Kari, we were both going through a divorce in uh 2009 and 2010, and then we met in September of 2010. Mutual friends Tom and Heidi um introduced us, and we were supposed to meet with them out for a dinner, but we cheated uh and and saw each other first. Um she carries kind of made my life we we flipped our lives upside down in the best possible way. Not we won't get into it, but some of the what we had previously lived was not ideal. So when we came into each other's lives, I think we both did similar things for one another, and that was also like our dating led to Red and White, which we opened in um 2019.
SPEAKER_05Let me back up a minute. Not one time would we ever regret those years because of our seven kids, and so that never ever ever wait, we have seven? We do.
SPEAKER_02Oh gosh, that's a lot. Uh, and you you like to play a little game when we meet people that we haven't met before. So walk me through that.
SPEAKER_05Like when they're getting to know us, yeah. They're like, Well, how many kids I like? Oh, we just had a wedding in Minneapolis, Elizabeth got married. Oh, do you have any other kids? Yeah, Mike and I have seven. And so, and they're always like, 'Se's wow, you had seven kids!' And I'm like, Well, my first comment always is, Well, I didn't have them all yesterday. So thank you for being able to have 25 years, well, 23 years of being able to shed the weight, right? Because people look at you, you know, uh your size or whatever, and like you had that many kids. And it's like, well, yes, but not yesterday. And so I go as long as possible.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, you like to play the game.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, for people to think that you and I had seven kids.
SPEAKER_02Usually I'm the one that enters into yeah, we're we're a melded family.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Um, I have four daughters, and then you have two daughters and a son.
SPEAKER_05Um seven girls, which makes seven girls two boys because Mike and Jackson are the bookends of all the girls in the and now uh we have three grandchildren, and we'll get to some of the story there.
SPEAKER_02But when we when we got when we started dating, we neither one of us were really wine drinkers, but somehow I transitioned a little bit into being a wine drinker.
SPEAKER_05I was more than you were.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I think you were, and then we drank a fair amount of Pinot Noir together. So thus our um our growing love for for wines, and we would my family lives in Appleton, so we spent a fair amount of time there with very good friends, Tim and Lisa, and my family. And we would go to a a bar called Red and White, but it was more like a barikes if you're familiar with Madison. It was uh, but we really liked it and we would joke. We never had a we didn't put a business plan together or anything. We would just joke someday we'll maybe have our own wine bar. And then just a little due credit, uh Megan and Tootin Cates. We went in there uh one late July, early August afternoon in 2019 and loved what they were doing. Um and Megan was there that day. And when we walked out, you and I looked at each other and said, Well, this week do this. Yeah.
SPEAKER_05So it's funny, the the very first date we had at Bonfire in Madison. Um, I sat up at the bar and I said, Oh, the Pinot Noir. And not like you, I didn't even know. So she said it too. I don't even think you looked at a menu. And I was like, Well, that was, I guess, kind of rude. Like I didn't wait to see what you wanted, but and then and then you're just like, I'll have what she's having. Was that the first time you had a Pinot Noir?
SPEAKER_02Uh maybe. I don't know. I mean, I'm sure I had one.
SPEAKER_05I I mean I had wine before many times, but I didn't know and now look at you. You know everything about all the wines.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. By the way, that that that first uh meeting, that was a um that was a double dinner night for me because Georgia and Savannah, my two youngest daughters, that afternoon, Kari and I are scheduled to we're gonna meet at bonfire for the first time uh to have dinner, like at six.
SPEAKER_05Is that called a blind date? Yeah, although you yeah kind of what's a what is the meaning of a blind date?
SPEAKER_02You hadn't seen them before. Okay, but not seen me before set up by Heidi and Tom.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, like Heidi and Tom knew both of us, right? And okay, so I don't know what the definition is, but anyway, go ahead.
SPEAKER_02Blind date is just you're seeing each other for the very first time. Okay, uh, so we're doing that, and then we're we're we have it planned, and then George and Savannah reached out that afternoon and said, Dad, can we go out for dinner? Well, my here, camera one again. My philosophy and my advice for anybody going through a divorce with children is if they reach out and hey, dad, hey mom, can you do this? Can you take me here? The answer has to be yes, unless it can't be. So when the girls texted that afternoon or called whatever it was, and said, Dad, can we go out for dinner? My initial and only reaction is yes. Yeah. So we went out for dinner. I said, Can we go like at five o'clock? So we went up for dinner at five o'clock. Um, and then I reached out to you in advance and said, Hey, we have to push back. Can we go like at seven? So had dinner, kind of keep an eye on the watch. The girls were not aware that I was going on a date. I didn't do that much until then. Um, and so it was a second dinner because I didn't want to tell you, I didn't tell you. I said when I pushed it back, I didn't say because I'm going out for dinner with George and Savannah.
SPEAKER_06Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So I had two dinners. Uh so the wine came in handy. Uh, I needed to, I was it was a post-dinner first wine with you, the Pinot Noir, and then we went and sat at a table and had dinner, anyways. Too much time on that.
SPEAKER_05But yeah, it's it's fine. Um, and it that was, I don't think we had exchanged each other's numbers yet. I think that was all Facebook Messenger.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. So, but we did funny. We did.
SPEAKER_05Um, so so fast forwarding to red and white, like we had always like kind of joked around, not specifically a wine bar, just kind of like, oh, wouldn't it be fun to own this or own that? We would just throw it out, and never, ever in a million years when we were kind of joking around about it, did I ever think that it would have come true?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and then when we left Toot and Kate's that day, um, you found the spot in Wana Key. Yeah, and I started working with a buddy of ours, uh, putting kind of a basic business plan together. I mean, I had to research, I'd never done that.
SPEAKER_06Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Um, so and shoot, that's the beginning of August. We had our um our license and our lease and our financing, and we took possession of our space, which is now the current red and white, on November first. November first. And we were open on December 2nd or 3rd. Um, we did a soft opening and then uh a full public opening. It happened in a hurry. Yeah, and there were so many things we didn't know, and then so many things. And then we got hit uh with as everybody did with COVID in the business world. Um deal.
SPEAKER_05Every time I uh turn the calendar year, I say a little like a little prayer, just like kind of like Lord, what do you have in store for me this year? Yeah, and in 2019, when I did that, like never like owning a business by the end of this year, yeah, which not would never have not been. But um it it's just amazing when like you have zero clue of what's happening. And when back to when we started the process, like August-ish, August, September-ish, like yeah, okay, we just looked at each other and said, Well, let's just go for it. What do we have to lose? Yeah, let's just go until we see a red flag.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, not one red flag, not one, and and in areas that neither one of us had any background in.
SPEAKER_05Zero. I think we're still like we're still kind of like I feel like just this summer has kind of been like, oh, this is what it is to own a business.
SPEAKER_02And we've we've also um we've also transitioned in the six and a half years coming up on seven in December that we've been open, yeah. In how we measure success.
SPEAKER_04Oh, a hundred.
SPEAKER_02Because from a business standpoint, uh uh on the financials is red and white a success.
SPEAKER_04Um we're not retired. It's like it's like buying a beach home.
SPEAKER_02Right. It's like when uh when somebody asked Kari if she golfs. Kari, do you golf?
SPEAKER_05I own my own golf clubs.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, good job. Uh how's red and white? We're open.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_02That's what it is. But we've measured success differently.
SPEAKER_05We still watched it like in the last year.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, we kind of figured this out probably over the last year. The way we have decided to measure success, and it was just staring us in the face the whole time. The whole time, but we didn't realize it, is our friendships, our relationships, our experiences with red and white, not the business, not the books, not the inventory, not the ordering, not the staffing, not the scheduling, um the people.
SPEAKER_05Yep, 100%. And uh like we thought we were opening a business, but honestly, I think you said this somewhere along the line. Like we basically opened a community to us. I mean, it's not like we were sitting at home and not having friends or going out and stuff, but the the friendships and the relationships that we have established from opening red and white, and you're right, they were staring at us in the face for so long. And then just recently, like we traveled together, we've gone three different places, we're heading on a bourbon trail, and um in October, we're heading to Madison, Ohio for a girls' trip. Um, all of those people who have traveled with us or are in our wine club, they are regulars, all of that. That is how we measure success. I mean, they're the ones that we're texting these friends, these red and white friends, are pictures on the wedding day, like, oh my gosh, look at and when grandkids do something, or when a grandchild is born, or like sending pictures to this group of people. And that's that's amazing.
SPEAKER_02We're on the Bourbon Trail trip uh starting today. And I think this is our sixth trip, and our seventh trip is your Madison, Ohio uh girls' trip this fall. And then we'll put together our eighth trip, we'll which will be a um a trip out to Willamette Valley, Oregon next April. End of the year.
SPEAKER_04Shout out, travel leaders.
SPEAKER_02Leaders has uh has put that together.
SPEAKER_05So um not all of them, yeah because we do the bus trips, that's pretty simple.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, the bus trips, the suburban trail trip. Uh I started putting it together, but then Kari did it because one of us is better at that.
SPEAKER_05Well, I wasn't sure if there was gonna be a group of guys, that's why. Yeah, you know, so and it ended up being a bunch of couples. So I'm like, well, I don't know.
SPEAKER_02So we did. We we opened a community. Let's also, while we're in on the red and white, um, I don't know if you wanted to okay. All right, so let me tell let me tell the the the story of how we ended up raising money at red and white, because it wasn't initially that was not the intention. We certainly did some things that benefited the community early on. Um, but initially we just tried to stay open through COVID. And then on the back end of COVID in January of 2022, I had a heart attack.
SPEAKER_04Uh January 17th.
SPEAKER_02January 17th. Um went in on a Monday morning because I was so uncomfortable. I had had a tough weekend. I was sick with COVID, had terrible headaches. Like it was traditional COVID stuff, hard time, big terrible breaths.
SPEAKER_04All we were hearing about was COVID.
SPEAKER_02All of the, hey, you're right, gonna have a hard time getting full breaths. Well, that weekend I did, and I had said it to you a couple of times. If it gets any worse, we're gonna go in because I was taking ketchup breaths on Monday morning. It was more than catch-up breaths. I was pretty uncomfortable. I'd had a doctor's appointment follow-up set up. And I remember like I think the appointment was maybe 8:30 or something. And I walked in, you were getting ready, and I walked in, I said, I'm just gonna go and I'll see you back here when I'm done. And you looked at me like, okay, dumb idea. I'm ready. Let's go. So we went. Uh, shortly after I get there, they put me on an EKG, and the doctor poked his head in. It's COVID, so they're not in the room with you and said, We can't treat you here. Which hospital do you want to go to? So you drove me to the University of Wisconsin Hospital emergency room, and uh and I went in there. There was no parking spot, so I said, Hey, just drop me off and go park and come in. We don't say goodbye. I don't, we don't, you know, hold hands or because she's coming right in. And I walked in and the ER attendings, uh, I said, My wife's parking the car and she's coming in. And they said, No, she isn't uh because of COVID. So I had to text you and say, Hey, you can't come in. Uh I go in, they they put me in the heart calf lab 45 minutes or an hour later, and I have three stents. Uh, all of this takes about um two hours, and in the meantime, you end up going home because there's nothing you can do. You can't go in the hospital.
SPEAKER_05Right. Well, at that point, so yeah, so that was a matter, I think that I don't know, 8:30, 9 o'clock, whatever. And by 11:15, I think it was you texted me that you just had I had a heart attack. I just had three stents. And so it most definitely was a matter of time. So um the the part that I want to stress is that I'm so thankful that you were in tune with your body. Yeah, because some people, men and women, not just men, you could have said, you know what, I slept like crap last night. I'm just gonna go. And I, you know, I just I feel better when I lay down. So I'm just gonna go like take a nap. Can you cancel the appointment?
SPEAKER_06Right.
SPEAKER_05And I don't, I'm not sure what I would have done. Uh, because here we are just being inundated with COVID, COVID, COVID. You had just run a marathon the October before, a half marathon. Yeah, you had just had shoulder surgery in December. Yeah, one. So, how how is this even possible that you would have a heart attack? And you ended up having the heart attack, the widowmaker heart attack, the left side, and you have a stent in that side and two on the right. Yeah, and so had Mike just said, I just I'm just gonna lay down, I don't think you would be here today, right?
SPEAKER_02And and you know, the Dr. Giamelli, who was in the heartcath lab, and then Dr. Hillerson, uh, who was my cardiologist. And of course, I didn't have one until that day.
SPEAKER_04You don't want one.
SPEAKER_02I don't want one, but I still have one. Um that they they made the difference. They did what um life-saving, and they do it every day, and it it it's humbling. But it was then why we started to do events that raise money, and we've done a UW, we've done a red and white heart night. We did one three weeks after I came home from the hospital.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, we skipped something like kind of important.
SPEAKER_02What was that?
SPEAKER_05So, so that was on a Monday. You got home on a Thursday, Wednesday, Wednesday, okay, and then um, and all along here I am, I have like several different chats, right, happening. And I feel like I became a cardiologist during that time because I would be on phone calls listening to the whatever people are saying to Mike in the hospital room, like on speaker phone. I'm writing, I have a notebook that I wrote all the notes down, and I still have never opened it back up to read through stuff. I have it. Um, but then I'd be doing all these chats with everybody and like family, and of course, our kids were always the first to hear everything. But um, but then so then, you know, uh your home. Yeah, I uh your current employer said stay home um for the week. We got it covered, and then Wednesday of the next week, right? We're out, we did a a quick little outing together.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, our first time really out of the house for me.
SPEAKER_05We ran a couple errands and you looked at me, and you know, we're supposed to carry around that um nitroglycerin. Nitroglycerin, and you know, because it was so new still, like we forgot it, and we're out dry, we're driving, and Mike's like, he looks at me, he goes, Kari, I just don't feel good again. Like I'm like really scared. Yeah, so we pull over, I get in the driver's seat, and we go home and we hurry to get the give you the nitroglycerin. We do it for five minutes in between or whatever, right? Nothing changed. Called the ER, brought you back, yeah, still couldn't go in. But I walked in with him, and the first thing the nurse said was, You have to leave. I'm like, Yes, I know, but I don't know if he knows the timing of everything. It's probably important for me to let you know. And then said goodbye, and then like a little bit later, you texted me or called and pulmonary embolism.
SPEAKER_02I had a pulmonary embolism, which is a blood clot that traveled up into my lungs, and uh, so they treated me for that. And then, you know, in talking to Dr. Hillerson, our cardiologist, he said, you know, Mike, I just this I think has a lot more to do with COVID than it has to do with um your arteries being blocked from um from what a traditional heart attack plaque would be. And so I asked him the question about okay, so related to COVID, do you think the combination of COVID, the vaccine that I took? I didn't want to, but I did in um August. Do you think those two are combined have a role in this? And he asked about what vaccine, and I told him, and then he said, Well, I don't think so. He kind of left it open-ended. I think that's as close as uh as an as a practicing cardiologist was gonna come to saying, Yeah, uh, but that's not the the point of this. And it the transition here is when you get a second chance, and that was a second chance, then what are you gonna do with it? Yeah, and part of what we did with it is with Red and White Heart Knight, is we have raised money for UW Foundation Cardiology in the the that happened in 2022. So this was our fifth annual, but it's four and a half years ago now. How much money have we raised?
SPEAKER_05So, yeah, so we just we have a check that is uh a big check that's just on display at red and white, and it reads 148,000 dollars. But like after you got home then from the pulmonary embolism, we like that's when I did open up my notebook and we were going, we went through timeline uh probably three or four times, right? And just processed through the whole situation that had happened, and and then what kept on ringing true was how great the staff at UW Hospital was, yeah, the nurses, the doctors, the everybody. And I said maybe we should do something to help right the research or the foundation, so maybe that this wouldn't happen again. So I wasn't thinking like long term, I just thought, well, hey, um, let's have a red and white heart night, like perfect Valentine's Day. Let's do it. So we put it together in three weeks, and that first year we raised over ten thousand dollars like within minutes or basically. Um, and so then we're and then people enjoyed it so much, they're like, Well, hey, when's red and white heart night? And then like February, the Saturday before the Super Bowl, every year.
SPEAKER_06Yeah.
SPEAKER_05So we did it, we skipped one year and celebrated our fifth anniversary of red and white along with a fundraiser.
SPEAKER_06Right.
SPEAKER_05Um I'm not sure exactly why. I think it was just like a lot, maybe, and we just decided to and so many things going on.
SPEAKER_02So we yeah, we're close to $150,000. Will we continue? We'll continue in some sort, but I don't know if it will be the venture that we've bit off uh each of the last number of years.
SPEAKER_05But it is been great too. Like we've had a couple tours of the art lab, it's extraordinary. We've gotten to know some staff at UW, uh, connected with the UW Medical Advisory Board. Yeah um and it's just been it's just been an another, I mean, I feel like our life is just one unexpected turn to yes.
SPEAKER_02So let's let's transition into kind of where we are a little bit now. Uh, and we talk about family and the seven girls, two boys concept. We've had three weddings in 15 months and a grandchild born earlier this year. Um, I mean, it's an extraordinary uh ride that we've been on over the last year and a half. Uh, Savannah got married last March in Zion, Utah. And then Ellen was married earlier this year at the end of May in Phoenix, and then Elizabeth was married a few weeks ago in uh by Zedum, Minnesota. And uh and our daughter Morgan and son-in-law Zeke had a little baby Annie back in April. So, plus in there we had uh river cruise that we went to Europe uh with our family at Red and White Wine Bar, and we had a bourbon trail trip. So um you scheduled a lot for us here.
SPEAKER_05I mean, looking at it on the calendar, we kept on telling people our schedule, and and everybody was like, wow, that's a lot. And I'm like, ah, we got this.
SPEAKER_02And we launched a podcast on March 1st. We launched a podcast.
SPEAKER_05And you know, and like even like last year, you know, like Morgan and Zeke have been married since 21 and they lived in Nashville, so they moved up to Chicago, you know, like it it it yes, our schedule in 2026 has been nuttier than nutty. Um, but I think even leading up to it, we it's one thing after another, but there's certain things that stop you in your tracks, like in September. Yeah, we didn't know how we were gonna move forward.
SPEAKER_02So and here we are.
SPEAKER_05And here we are.
SPEAKER_02The the the Amex has gotten a workout, but whatever.
SPEAKER_05You keep on saying it's tired, it is tired.
SPEAKER_02Um, and and we'll figure out how to take care of that. Yeah, um, so family has really kept us busy from the the weddings, bridal showers, wedding planning, bourbon trail, family traditions, getting together, the things that we do. Um, and we have three grandchildren. Yeah. Um, Addy and Hudson and Annie. And we have a feeling that that uh the family, the the lollipop tree in the backyard.
SPEAKER_05Uh I may or may not have added a little miracle girl to that tree.
SPEAKER_02So the little backstory there. Um, this is Lolly, that's her uh grandma name, grandma name, and I'm Pops, which is my grandpa name. So Lollipops, you get it. So we have a lollipop tree, and uh it grows lollipops, yeah.
SPEAKER_05Even though like it has a little tape on it, it's fine. Yeah, they still when they come here, they love going out and picking off lollipops from the lollipops.
SPEAKER_01Daddy's figured it out. Um why is there tape on the lollipops, Lolly?
SPEAKER_02I said, Well, I wanted you to be able to pick them off, they fell on the ground, so so um part part of what part of what this is in doing this podcast is tell you a little bit about us, but also um describing where we've been part of that red and white, and then part of what we've done, we didn't have this intention was to be community driven. I don't want to undersell, but I mean being a part of the community was not the goal, right? But it was just there, and it and it's part of what, and most of it is what you have done, whether it's book club or these travel scenarios. Um, I did BS and Bourbon, which brought people in and and got them an you know a conversation with uh significant athletes and coaches.
SPEAKER_05Um that was that's been the most fun, and it kind of faded out a little bit, but you get to do that now with Badger Connect anyway.
SPEAKER_02So yeah, and and but that was a a big part of and also one of the ways that we were able to give back through some BS and Bourbon nights, but you you've done that in community with your book club. And we do it with old-fashioned Thursdays, in which we give back to to um charitable organizations on a Thursday night. Old fashioned meaning we're not a cocktail bar, but on Thursdays we make old fashions. But that's been a joy.
SPEAKER_05It's uh part of the business ownership that you kind of like we've punted from the very beginning, yeah. Literally, no idea. We didn't know what permits we needed, what when to pay taxes, like all that kind of stuff. But you definitely have to be ahead of the game on being creative. Yeah, I mean, during COVID was creative overload, and you just relied on other people giving ideas or whatever. Um, but now you just have to constantly have something going because there are so many options out there. And when people walk in our door, we're grateful because there's so many other places that people can go.
SPEAKER_02So we we had to transition last September. You know, when when we had a heart attack in 2022, we got let go from iHeart last September and a radio job that I thought I would have until I said, Hey, um, I think I'm gonna walk away. Yeah, and didn't get that option. Let me tell you a couple of cool things because I was a really sucky time. But one of the cool things is I I was let go on a Tuesday. On Wednesday, I think it was Wednesday, driving over to cover a Brewers game, not really covering it, but I still had a credential and I needed that, a little therapy to go over the baseball stadium, is one of my favorite places to be. On that drive over, Mark Wilson from Badger Connect called me. All right, so I I've been out of a job for less than 48 hours. He called me and said, I think we have something here. And so he started down that road. And let me uh give one other plug here while I'm at it. So I I'm I'm will forever be grateful. Um Mark Wilson and now I work for Badger Connect. Um, that started early this year. Uh that Saturday, I'm in the in Camp Randall for my work with Badger Football, and Evan Cohen, who um is the host of a national morning show on ESPN, and he's in charge of ESPN sports talk radio nationwide. He was in the booth, he's friends with Matt, uh Matt LePay. And Evan pulled me aside. He goes, I'm gonna tell you something that nobody else is gonna say to you. He said, Congratulations. This is going to their mistake on letting you go is gonna open so many doors that you would have never walked through if this didn't happen. He goes, Trust me, this is this will be great for you. So I appreciate that from him. And we're working in the direction of making it great. Yeah, so we we started your sip and spill, then launched I Love Mondays on March 2nd, which was the very first day I could do it. And then in the last six weeks, launched a daily seven to ten minute podcast that I do after a brewer's game called Brewed Daily. We'll do the same thing, we'll probably rebrand it, but we'll continue that into Badger Football and Packer Football this fall.
SPEAKER_05Um let me back up a minute because, like, when you're talking about him saying congratulations, you weren't like, oh, oh no, no, it was not. And for people, people who have gone through this, myself included, back in 2016, it's like you really want to believe that something better is out there. Yeah, and that now you look at that and say, wow, that was the greatest thing someone could have said to me. Yeah, but going through it, it literally drew like your heart and your stomach drop.
SPEAKER_06Yeah.
SPEAKER_05And you're like, now what am I gonna do? And so often after that, I was just like, you know, it was probably this is going to be the greatest thing that has happened to Mike because it was a little bit like working for other people is really hard. We're finding that out as a whole. I'm not saying you and me as a whole, like people are figuring out how to work for themselves, and not everybody can do it. Like, you have to have an entrepreneur spirit, but like I remember too, like the first couple of days after that announcement, you you know, called me and like the last the next couple of days, you get to have that like sadness and process through it. But then I don't know who it was first said it, like, I want to do, I'm gonna do a podcast. I think one of your calls too was or Leroy Butler called you and said, dude, work for yourself.
SPEAKER_07Yeah.
SPEAKER_05And you know, all these directions to a podcast. And and Mike, you know, you um want like it's fun to have strengths and weaknesses, right? In a relationship.
SPEAKER_06Yeah.
SPEAKER_05And I felt like my strength, if I pat myself on the back, was just like, no, you're not calling that person, you're calling this person because I think you were in a state of like, I don't know how to run a podcast. What am I supposed to do? I'm not, I'm probably not gonna do it because I'm not, I don't even know how. Yeah, that's why you get the people that know how. And we you call, I said, you're not calling this person, who you said, and you said, Well, who am I gonna call? And I said, You're calling Ben Bano. Why do you think for some odd reason him and Lindsay were in red and white one night and you guys met for the first time? I don't know, it was 18 months ago. Yeah, that was all set up. Like, had that not happened, we wouldn't know Ben and what he does.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and yeah, he how amazing he's been fantastic. And it's you know, God works in in ways that you just don't see in real time, and then you look back on and go, Wow.
SPEAKER_05Um, we met uh Manly and Kim on a Jamaica radio show Steve Zabin.
SPEAKER_02And then the connection through Manly has led us to Kobe and Agency Next, and they have taken us um the podcast from here to here in a hurry, and they're a tremendous resource, all of these steps, and then I I I'll add in this the and and I do talk about this on a sort of regular on the podcast. When I was going out to figure out how to sell it, I'm I I'm not a salesperson. Yeah, uh, I have been involved in sales in radio when some when a sales rep would get somebody interested, and then I might go to that meeting and and help close a deal or have that conversation. So I had to rely on friendship. People who have known what I've done for a lot of years in radio, and now I'm just selling cloud space to Mike Victorson and uh Brad Nieber at M3 Insurance, to Steve Piotter at One Community Bank, people that we know, but they had to trust my background and our vision on what we could do. Um Jason Knutson with Habish, Habish and Rotier, Luis at Pottawatomie Sportsbook, uh Zach at Traditions Lighting, Vince Vincent at uh Southern Italy Imports, uh, my buddy um who I met at Fantasy Camp, Ben on um neuroscience group. All of those, and and the cool thing there is that when I went and sat with them, or it was on the phone, whatever that was, they said yes. Yeah, right. So they said yes without numbers, without distribution, how many people are gonna listen? They didn't ask those, sort of ask those questions, but they weren't answers we could provide.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02And they're on board. And now the the goal is because I we don't draw a salary from this, we don't get paid independently, we get paid only by sponsorships. So now the goal is to grow it. Yeah, and you and I will work uh down the road as a team to do that. But I I've I've loved it. I'm back in it. I get to do an hour every day from 10 to 11 on I Love Mondays. And then this brewed daily thing has taken on a life of its own and unbeknownst, right? Right, how people influence your life, David Kaplan, he doesn't know this, but uh at ESPN 1000 in Chicago, I've had him as a guest a couple of times on Brewers Cub series. He's a big deal in in Chicago sports media. And he and I have not talked off the air, but I was watching what he was doing and dug into look at what this guy's got going on. And said, Kari, we need to, I need to, we need to move in that direction. And that's what we've done. So it's been really interesting.
SPEAKER_05I need to, I need to fill in a couple of blanks. I think it's I think it's really fun to see some like when you reflect and look back. First of all, uh meeting Ben Bano at Red and White on a Saturday night, random Saturday night. We hardly ever work Saturday night. So there we meet him. Right. When we go to Jamaica, we knew a few people, but we get on a bus right from the airport to the the resort. And who do we sit right? I mean, just by chance, right behind Kimberly and Manley, which started a friendship that has continued.
SPEAKER_06Yeah.
SPEAKER_05Um, and then I don't want you to minimize the fact that how many years have you been in Madison in sports?
SPEAKER_02Uh I came to Madison in August of 1988.
SPEAKER_05I graduated from high school that year. Um, anyway.
SPEAKER_02How did I know that was coming?
SPEAKER_05Anyway, so when you say that, you know, you went to the initial people who are sponsoring you and they said yes, they know who you are, Mike. You have a Madison, Wisconsin sports that you you know, a little bit, you know, give yourself a little bit of credit, I guess, is what I'm saying.
SPEAKER_0238 years I I've been here in either television or radio, right? With a transition in the golf industry in the you know, a lifetime ago.
SPEAKER_05But um so it it's it, I guess what I'm saying is like it, I don't want you to think that it was such a surprise that they said yes, because you know, the other little puzzle piece, which we also like to call life DVR, like that's a whole nother animal, right? But is fantasy baseball, fantasy brewer camp. Yeah, like you had talked about that for years, yeah, and it just so happened that you got to go in January, and you had planned that, right?
SPEAKER_02Like before you got Schroeder, yeah, Rock. Um, a long time ago when we started the when we launched the statewide and in Milwaukee, Drew Olson and I sat with Bill Schroeder. Um, and he said, Why don't we have you guys out of camp? You guys can host some evening events. Drew will start with you, and then Mike will get you next year. Well, Drew went, uh, and he uh tore his hamstring on the first day, by the way.
SPEAKER_05Everyone gets hurt. Uh this is what I've learned.
SPEAKER_02Certainly, yeah. We did, uh, I did. Um so Drew went and then uh COVID hit, they re did reconstructed the Mary Vale where the brewers train, and so like mine got tabled. Uh and I brought it up to rock last spring. I said, Hey, I'd still really on the air. I think I said, Hey, is that fantasy camp invite ever gonna uh materialize again? Yeah, and the next time he was on the radio show, he said, Look, hey, uh Heller, let's have you out at Fantasy Camp next year. You you you come out and put you on scholarship and you'll host some events, and it was so cool. I mean, in very exciting for me. And uh and I went and it's one of the great adult weeks that I've had. Yeah, and uh you know, we talk about 38 years, it had been 38 years since I had picked up a baseball or stepped in and saw a live pitch. I played a little softball, but not baseball.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, um so in in the 16, nearly 16 years, right, that we've known each other, it's coming up on 16 years, coming up on 16. Um, and I I've seen Mike do a lot of fun and cool things, but I will tell you that when I talked to him or when I talked to you at while you were there, I had not heard that level of excitement in your voice in a long time. And it could have been circumstantial, right? Like sure, you got let go from your job. It was something really, really fun that really lit a fire in you. And whenever I would talk to somebody about it, I'm like, there's not a chance he's not going again, or from now on. Yeah, and sure enough, you're gonna go. I'm gonna go.
SPEAKER_02I think I have a torn rotator cuff in my non-throwing shoulder.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, but uh um hurt and iced and bruised and but still like and and I said at one point I said, Well, why don't you just go and then not play? And he looked at me like you looked at me like what uh what not? So, but I think it's it's worth saying, like, if this is something that you think that your husband, brother, dad, uh, whatever and if they're thinking about it, I think you need to do it. I didn't experience it, I experienced it through you, and I can tell. And it it you light up as well, like every time we talk about it with other people.
SPEAKER_02By the way, I need to go buy a glove because I borrowed Sean Kilabrew's glove. Yeah, you need to get a glove. So I need a glove because I'm going back this next January. I think they're almost sold out. Yeah, uh, and I'm going back on my own dime. We didn't touch on something that I wanted to one of the cool things that we've been afforded because of community and through our friends Brian and Laura Ziegler at Red and White, is years ago when I was just on the radio side, I got to go as a guardian on an honor flight. And you were there on the Welcome Home, and I raved about one of the great lifetime experiences I had that day. And I met my veteran that morning. And then it came up for both of us to have the opportunity to do that as guardians um a year and year and a half ago.
SPEAKER_04The Memorial Day of 25.
SPEAKER_02And well, I'll let you tell the rest of the story because you got to experience what I had done once before.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, when when you so it was the first time that I had ever uh been at the airport when you went the first time.
SPEAKER_06Right.
SPEAKER_05And I remember standing there, no veterans had even walked through the airport, and I was bawling my eyes out. I was like, wow, this is amazing.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, look at all these people.
SPEAKER_05Look at all these people welcoming home veterans from a day in DC. And um, right, it's DC. Yeah, yeah. Um, I'm I'm geographically challenged, you know. Yeah, okay, so uh, so when so we've gotten to know Brian and Laura, uh, one of the great um successes of Red and White, and we've raised some money, had some events and raised some money for Badger Honor flight. And um, there was a a chance for Mike and I to be guardians together. And it could not, I don't even know if I'll do another one. I probably will say yes if Brian and Laura asked, but I don't know that it that my experience will ever top the one that I had. And it still brings it's been a year and a half, it still brings me to um an emotional state because it was so special. Um, I like you met my guardian that morning. His name was Fred. Um, his wife, Veronica, and I still um occasionally will text back and forth just checking in on things. Um, Fred, it such an incredible story. Um, he grew up in Germany and his father served in the Germany in World War II fighting for the Germans. Correct. When Fred was 18, he uh came to the US and shortly after was drafted to Vietnam War.
SPEAKER_02Obviously, as an American, but he's not a citizen yet, but he was drafted uh correct to serve the United States and Vietnam.
SPEAKER_05Right, which is incredible. Like to think of that is right, not incredible positive, it's an incredible concept.
SPEAKER_06Sure, yeah.
SPEAKER_05Um and so we spent most of the day, he told me so many stories that it's shame on me for not writing them down or keeping closer notes about it. But what stands out to me is when we stopped at the World War II museum and when we were monument when we got off the bus, when we were getting off the bus, the the bus leader was like, Okay, you probably want to go this way for this, and you know, whatever. And Fred looked at me, he goes, This doesn't mean anything to me. Let's just go sit on a bench. He because his father was fighting for the Germans in the Germany in the in World War II. And so we sat on a bench and just took everything in, and he continued to just tell me story after story. Now, what makes this even cooler is that I lost my dad um a month actually before you and I met. So August of 2010, I lost my dad. His he he was born in July, and so was Fred. And Fred turned 90 last year, and my dad on July 4th, another crazy concept. And then um my father would have turned 90 a couple weeks after that, same year, same month. So it I what I felt like um was that I spent the day with my dad. I got a chance to spend the day with my dad, which is incredible. My dad served in the National Guard, so there's so many parallels, but um, it was like there are when you look back at, you know, whatever the career that you had and you know the anger that you feel, there are certain things where we can take away that it was such a great experience. It was um it was the most, it was one of the top, has to be one of the top 10 memorable days of my life.
SPEAKER_06Yeah.
SPEAKER_05Um and I was so grateful to be able to do that. And the roll call, um, his wife said I I stuck his, you know, magnifying glass in his pocket because I I was told that he's gonna need this. Well, he didn't need it because I read the letters to him with tears streaming down my face. He was definitely um honorable in his family and is definitely a legacy. And wow, what a great experience! And um, what a great thing that Zigglers are in charge of with Badger Honor.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, Badger Honor Flight is one of the amazing organizations. I think we've done more fundraising um uh on their behalf, maybe not at the financial level that we've had with Heart Knight, but uh anytime we're gonna do something and it's uh on awareness to smaller uh scale for fundraising, it's for Badger Honor Flight. Um it's an hour.
SPEAKER_05Are you kidding?
SPEAKER_02No. Um awesome.
SPEAKER_05You need to you need to do a sponsor commercial, yeah.
SPEAKER_02So um, yeah, I I mentioned one community bank, and and these these are the people that are part of what we do with Steve Piotr and One Community Bank. Give them a chance to earn your business, put them in your mental Rolodex the next time you have a banking decision to go through. They've earned our business, maybe even at a time where we thought we'd leave and they earned it. Uh, that is who they are. Feel good banking, one community bank. You can go to their website, onecommunity.bank. M3 Insurance, and I'll be forever uh grateful for the start of everything we've done on the podcast for Brad Nieber and Mike Victorson to say yes. Uh, Julie Redders, uh, their group, Jeff Kennatz, one of my guys. Um, so if you're involved in insurance for business or employee benefits risk management, m3ins.com, give them an opportunity. Neuroscience group, this is a different story. This is this is um for me, this is Brewer's Fantasy Camp because it's a friendship that uh I created out of that that uh had me aligned with neuroscience group. If your somebody in your family or you has uh uh sports concussion, uh head injury, uh back spinal issues, pain management, neuroscience group is they're an answer. They're a pathway back to normalcy, uh, neuroscience group.com. And then also our friends at Pottawatomi Sportsbook and Casino, Luis, and their staff. Uh, again, a yes based on uh reputation and and what I have done in the past, but they didn't have to say yes, and I appreciate that that they did. And then the partnership with uh a very good longtime friend, Jason Kanoton at Habish Habish and Rotier, and what they do and their willingness to say yes, Habish.com. So all of that is part of uh I don't do what I'm doing without them, and the hope is to continue to grow, but um that growth happened, uh hopefully it will happen with seeds planted in those relationships uh that are now business partners in what we do. So what's next?
SPEAKER_04Well, we'd love to sponsor other have other sponsors as well.
SPEAKER_02So so you can always I I I'd say the the email is you can go to the website, I love mondayspodcast.com, or you can email us directly, Hellerpods, the number two, Hellerpods2 at gmail.com, if you're interested with your business of being a partner. And I didn't mention uh Zach at Traditions Lighting, but they they've been part of what we've done for a long time. And Vincent at uh Southern Italy Imports with Lombardi Lemonata and his grandfather John, um, who they say yes. Yeah, so yeah, all of that matters.
SPEAKER_04So what is next?
SPEAKER_02I don't know. Well, I do know. Uh, we're gonna probably rebrand a little bit on what I'm doing with Brew Daily, right? So I can combine it with a it's um it's amazing what those numbers have been on viewers, listeners after a brewer's game. I do uh an eight-minute-ish post-game wrap-up video every night, every night, every day when the brewers play. Um and the viewership, there's a there's a thirst and a hunger for it. So, what we're gonna do is we'll continue to do that all the way through when they're done playing at the end of October, uh, you know, uh winning the World Series in game six. Uh, we'll we'll do it, have special shows.
SPEAKER_05We have to do six games.
SPEAKER_02Well, it's better than better than seven. Do you want a game seven? No. Okay. Uh we'll take the the Brewers and six in a World Series win. Uh, I will also do uh a post-game on badger football. Uh harder when they're on the road, but we'll we'll figure out the the way that happens. I'm with them on the road, but we typically have to leave pretty quick. So I'll figure out ways to to do that. And also Packers games. So every Packer game, preseason, uh, regular season and playoffs, 20 plus. Every badger football game, 12 plus. There's gonna be a bowl game this year. Um, so we'll add that to the brood daily and then the daily uh I love Mondays. So we'll we're continue to grow it um with our friends and help from business partners and agency next and Ben Bano and all the people that have been part and parcel to it.
SPEAKER_05Something that's been fun, like you mentioned the numbers, like seeing the numbers. We didn't really get to see that when you worked for a corporation, right? You got to you got to see ratings, ratings and stuff, but like this, like we're monitoring every day, seeing the growth, and it's really exciting.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and it's a it's a team, you know. Kari is not seen on camera with a microphone on the daily, but this we do this, you know. We do I love Mondays, we do brood daily, um, we do sip and spill, we and sip and spill is coming back in in in a more consistent way. Um, all of that is is part of what we do. So we wanted to to kind of take the time today on a day that we're um leaving on the road on a bourbon trail trip to tell a little bit of the story. I talk about you often. Um now we allowed you to talk about us, and yeah. So uh uh family is important, you know. We talked about our kids, um all of them and our grandchildren, and you know, the growing family that we have, but they're all a big part. You know, Georgia helped us when we started with red and white with the our logo design. Logo design. She brought that to the forefront.
SPEAKER_04Yep.
SPEAKER_02Uh Elizabeth and uh her husband Nick played on our patio.
SPEAKER_04Morgan worked.
SPEAKER_02Morgan worked, Georgia worked too.
SPEAKER_05Help us.
SPEAKER_02Georgia worked. Uh Jackson has worked.
SPEAKER_05Yep. I wish that everyone lived closer. We could yeah, that's one of the other things we like to talk about, is where everybody lives, you know, because we have such great places to visit.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, three daughters and uh two grandkids, and uh son-in-law live in Salt Lake. They have for a long time. Um Nashville, Chicago, Detroit, Elizabeth and Nick live in Nashville and Crouton, their dog. And then um Morgan and Zeke and Annie lived uh in West Dundee, Illinois, and Ellen and Johnny, who just got married uh in May. Right now they're in Detroit, but we think they're gonna be in Phoenix uh here soon. Um so yeah, we have great places to visit. And Jackson, he he's like right in right over there, like right behind us.
SPEAKER_05Is he actually there right now?
SPEAKER_02I think so. Yeah.
SPEAKER_05Okay.
SPEAKER_02All right.
SPEAKER_05Um, so that's fun. And you know, it just like what like we're gonna turn the calendar month and what's happening next. And yeah, just keep on making plans and having events. And if you haven't been to Red and White, please visit us. Yeah uh and we'll hopefully sit on the patio. Yeah, we like to do that.
SPEAKER_02Uh we like to meet people. I love hearing people's stories. A glass of wine or a glass of bourbon. Kari doesn't drink bourbon, so this bourbon trail should be interesting. Um, do you think it yeah?
SPEAKER_05I think a meat bourbon will want to like it so bad. Um I will drink, you know, a bourbon. I know you'll drink a cocktail or a cocktail or something like that. But do you think you'll have do you I will definitely give it my best effort. And I I will give it my best effort.
SPEAKER_02Or even on with water ice.
SPEAKER_05Who knows? Maybe maybe someone's gonna say something that gives me a reason to be like, oh, I'd love to enjoy a bourbon with you tonight, Mike. I'll have mine on a rock.
SPEAKER_02I'd love it.
SPEAKER_05Can you put a little cream in it?
SPEAKER_02All right. Uh we're we're gonna we're we're gonna take off. Uh we're gonna hit the road. Um, thanks for being in here. By the way, the I Love Mondays on Thursday and Friday will be from Louisville.
SPEAKER_06Yep.
SPEAKER_02Um, waking up early uh to to well, I don't know why waking up early to get ready, I suppose. Uh maybe a little hungover. Uh we'll do uh I Love Mondays from Louisville on the Bourbon Trail the next couple of days, and Brood Daily comes to you from a rooftop bar or someplace down there. Uh it should be fun. Is that it? We good?
SPEAKER_06That's it.
SPEAKER_02Thanks, Kari.
SPEAKER_06All right, yeah. You're my favorite of all time. Thank you.
SPEAKER_02Uh all right. I love Mondays back tomorrow. Thanks for being part of it today. Appreciate you as always. Talk to you again tomorrow.
SPEAKER_03I love Mondays with my hell.