8-6-25 Thunder At The Fair- Are You Worried About Freddy & Dave Schroeder Joins The Show!
It’s time for Thunder at the Fair with Mitch Nellis. Broadcasting live from the 12:50 a.m. and 1057 FM the Fan Studios powered by the Podawatami Sports Book. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, children of all ages, welcome in and good morning. This is Thunder at the Fair. 12:50 a.m. 1057 FM. We are the fan streaming on the Odyssey app, streaming on the iHeart app. You can find all our shows wherever you listen to podcasts if you are listening on your schedule. But if you are listening right now, you can also watch right now on our YouTube channel at thefan Milwaukee. I was watching Andy Herman ear today uh while I was home getting some stuff done. I tuned into uh the Mason Crosby Show with Tommy Words for a little while there as well. And now here I am streaming live on YouTube at the Fan Milwaukee. And ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, children of all ages, it happened again. I don’t even know that the Brewers need to show up on the field anymore. Can’t we just say Brewers win, come up with new hero of the day, figure out who we want to highlight, who need who Murf needs to talk about, and rotate it. So, everybody from 1 through 26 all get a bite of the action because that is what we are seeing from this Milwaukee Brewers baseball team right now. They’ve won five in a row. They’ve won seven of eight. Uh, and I know the big news that we all like to talk about is that they are 44 and 16 in their last 60 games. The greatest 60game stretch in the history of the Milwaukee Brewers. We will get to that. We’ve got Dave Shrader from WBA in Green Bay coming up at 11:20. We’ve got Jordan Love talk. Matt Laflur talk to the media. We’ll hear what he had to say. Uh, Bart Winkler is going to join the show at 12:40. Drew Wagner at 1:20. Uh so much to talk about, so much to get to today. Uh but we will start as we should with our first place Milwaukee Brewers, first place in the NL Central, first place in the National League, first place in all of Major League Baseball. They’re not 10 games over 500. They’re not 15 games over 500. They’re not 20 games over 500. They are 25 games over 500. 69 and 44. Let’s do the math. That’s 100 + 13 113. That means there’s 49 games left in the season and they are 25 games over. Isaac Collins does it again. and he has a well he has a triple that maybe jerks and profar should have caught but um but you know and we’ll get to what Aaron Naggler said and what said earlier on packadday radio uh and what Tommy Wartz uh reiterated at the beginning of the of the Mason Crosby show one of the best breakdowns of the Milwaukee Brewers I’ve ever heard. Uh but Isaac Collins again added two for four and added a two RBI single. Andrew Vaughn adds two more RBI. His OPS is now over,00 as a member of the Milwaukee Brewers. That’s absolutely nuts. Joey Ortiz, Joey Ortiz is getting closer and closer to 600 on that OPS. And I know like 720 is league average, but when you’ve been stuck around 520 for most of the season, to get up to 590 means you’re doing something right. Joey Ortiz last night goes two for three with two runs scored. The Brewers beat the Braves 7 to2. Uh the Braves are are a mess. I know they were talking about it on the radio broadcast about typically when the Brewers broadcast team goes to Atlanta, like Atlanta draws well. Atlanta draws fans. Atlanta has been a successful franchise, you know, since we go back to to Smoltz and Glavin and Maddox. And they’ve been good since then. And they’re having a bad season. I don’t think they’re a bad team. I think they could very easily bounce back next year if their injured players come back. Uh but they’re in the middle of a very bad season and they were taking note on the radio broadcast because I was in the car. I had softball last night. Uh we won 18 to nothing by the way. We’ll get back. We’ll get to that too. Um and they were taking note of how empty uh Truist, is that right? Is it truest park? Truth truest something. Uh how empty Turner Stadium was. how empty Fulton County Stadium was. Uh remember when there were two county stadiums? There was Milwaukee County Stadium and Fulton County Stadium. Um and then uh and then the Big Bucks took over. But yes, truest field, uh truest park. Uh the truest the truism there is that nobody was at the game last night. No Atlanta Braves fans, at least lots of Milwaukee Brewers fans. Kudos to the Brewers fans for showing up. Um but I got to start with my question for Milwaukee Brewers fans. Um because I I think there is a little cause for concern. Our main man Freddy Peralta who um let’s see does he lead the league? He’s he’s at least tied for the lead league in wins. He’s 13 and5 with a 303 RA 141 strikeouts whip of 1.14. But in his last four starts, he’s pitched he they won the the member of the Brewers after Quinn Prester uh dominated the Dodgers. Freddy then beat the Dodgers 8 to7 after the All-Star break. He pitched five innings, five hits, three walks, uh four earned runs. He then lost to Miami. He didn’t really lose to Miami. Uh the Brewers lost to Miami 5 to one. Freddy Peralta pitched five innings, five hits, two walks, nine strikeouts. only one run but 98 pitches in five innings. Uh the Brewer, he then got shellacked by the Cubs. Four innings, five hits, four walks, five earned runs. Uh 85 pitches in four innings. And then last night, five innings, four hits, three walks, one earned run, seven strikeouts, but 108 pitches. And I believe, let’s make sure that ties a season high for him in only five innings. And um Tommy Wartz and I have talked a lot about whether Freddy Peralta was an ace, whether he was the default ace of the Brewers because he was the best starter or whether he was actually an ace in Major League Baseball. And when he was um 12 and four with a 284 285 RA, when he was 11 and4 with a 266 RA, he sure looked like an ace. And in his last four starts, he’s looked like the Freddy Peralta I argued he was before the season started. Now granted, this was in March. And in March, I said Freddy Peralta’s never really been an MA a Major League Baseball ace. He’s always been the best pitcher on the Brewers for the past couple years, but he’s never actually been a Major League Baseball ace. In his last four starts since the All-Star break, Freddy looks like that Freddy. He does not look like an ace, a major league baseball ace. He looks like a very good pitcher, a pitcher who competes, a bulldog, a guy I want out there. I don’t know if he’s trying to be too perfect with, you know, his walks. He had pitched four p his four starts before the All-Star break, zero walks, one walk, one walk, one walk. And his four starts since the All-Star break, three walks, two walks, four walks, three walks. Now, there’s not a huge difference between averaging three walks a start and one walk a start, but unmute. Unmute my mic. Can I now unmute my mic on YouTube? I’ve unmuted my mic on YouTube. Oh, the lost the comments. Okay, so I’m not on the air right now, I’m assuming. Charlie, can you hear me at all? I got you. I can’t hear you at all. Um, so let’s see. Oh, can you hear me on YouTube? Okay, so I can’t I’m not Yeah, so you can hear me on YouTube. Am I on the air? No. Okay. Oh, I am on the air. Okay. So, I’m still on the air. So, if you’re with us, uh, we are working through this issue at um at Summerfest. I’m assuming I’m on my computer, right? You can hear me right now through my computer, through the YouTube channel. Um, so again, um, if you I’m I’m worried I’m worried. I’m I’m officially worried about Freddy Peralta. That’s not to say I don’t think he can be Freddy Peralta of six, seven innings, six and two/3, six, six. Um, I know he has struggled going deep into games. He has pitched eight innings once this season. He has besides that he has not reached more than six and two/3. So it’s been a bit of a mess. Um and and so to get him to true a status, I think we need more innings. I think we need to figure out a way for Freddy Peralta to get more innings. My name is Mitch Nellis. I’m at the fair. I’m on YouTube at the Fan Milwaukee. Uh and we’re going to take a break. We’re going to see if we can get all this fixed and worked out. Uh, this is the Fan 12:50 a.m. 1057 FM. We’re on the Odyssey app. We’re on the iHeart app. And we are on YouTube at the Fan Milwaukee. You’re listening to Thunder at the Fair on the Fan. Everything’s connected. Do you have to hit the connect button? That green button. And then it seemed out. Are you on the phone with them? I was just on the phone with Charlie. I’m trying to connect like two times now. Hit disconnect. Hit disconnect. This is Thunder at the Fair. My name is Mitch Nellis aka Thunder. uh working through a quick technical difficulty, but thanks to Jack and Tommy and Charlie, I think we worked through it, so we should be all good. Sometimes, you know, there’s just a gremlin in the system and no one can explain it. No one can understand it. It just happens and that’s the way it goes. I still want to talk about uh Freddy Peralta because I’m still I’m still worried about Freddy Peralta. I’m still nervous about Freddy Peralta. I know the Brewers won last night. I know he improved to 13 and five. His erra is at 303, which is great. Um, I’m worried about going five innings. His four starts since the all-star break. Five innings, five innings, four innings, five innings. Um, not great. Not great for an ace. Not great when you know you’re going to be relying on your bullpen to back up Jacob Miserowski if he goes back in the starting rotation. And certainly Brandon Woodruff as he gets back into full strength. Um, I’m not I’m not super happy or excited about Freddy giving you five innings. And I think I I don’t know if that’s a Chris Hook specialty that he’s got to figure that out, but I think he’ll need to figure that out. And we are going to continue this conversation throughout the show today. Thunder at the Fair, of course, from 11 to 2. Uh, today, tomorrow, and Friday, all the weekdays here at the Wisconsin State Fair. Uh but let’s go about 90 miles north, 94, 97 miles north, whatever it is. Uh let’s bring in uh WBAY Sports Dave Shrader. Dave, thanks for jumping on the show today. Hey, glad to join us. Uh so are you at practice right now? I am practice number 11. Number 11. And uh are you I got I got Are you are you like loving it? Uh, are you are you just like all in? Are is it still is it still exciting or have you gotten to the point of training camp where it’s like let’s get to Saturday night already? You know, it’s tough because it’s good to really see the position battles, but this is a team with playoff and Super Bowl aspirations. So, each successive camp I cover, I think this is like number 14, I am more and more eager to see real football in September. So, it’s fun. Right now, I’ve just finished watching the one-on- ones between DBs and receivers. They’re just starting team drills right now. So, uh, it’s a comfortable day. There’s some breeze. So, so today’s a good day to be at practice. I’ll say there’s some sticky, sweaty ones the last two weeks with that humidity, though. I’m Yeah, that humidity has been real as well as the Canadian spoke has been real as well. Um, well, let you know, take us into it. You just saw the one-on- ones with the uh with the defensive backs and the wide receivers. Who won? Who won the biggest matchup? Who impressed you the most, Dave? Uh, Keshan Nixon. Can he be a boundary corner at an elite level? We’ll see. Can rookie Matthew Golden be an elite impact player right away? They went headto-head three times. Nixon winning the first two on what were deep routes. The third time with Jordan Love as a trigger man. Completed a short crosser to Golden against Nixon. It’s also really fun watching yesterday Romeo versus Stevie. Carrington Valentine. They were going at it. Romeo making sure that Carrington knew the score two to one in his favor. Romeo had a great deep catch against CV again. And on the second rep, Stevie got h it was an incompletion, but he had some separation first. Did Got it. Well, we of course I feel like every day on Sports Talk Radio, on the blogs and the podcasts and everything regarding Green Bay Packers, we’re all talking about Matthew Golden and can he step up and will he end up being the number one and whatever it might be. But I keep hearing that Romeo Dodge has had a really good summer so far. Tell us a little bit about what Romeo’s been doing, right? Well, Romeo, if you’ll recall, as a rookie in 2022, was like a training camp superstar, earning rave reviews from veteran Aaron Rogers. It’s been that type of camp again, except people have come to expect it. I I’ve told people for the longest time that I think Romeo has the best hands of any tackle receiver I’ve ever seen. I put him right there with Devonte Adams. Obviously, Devonte had the whole package, the route running, the releases, the hands, the speed, this, that, and the other. But just pure hands, Dobs is right there. Maybe better than Devonte. Uh, I’ve covered this team 14 years. I saw Greg Jennings last year here. Greg Jennings had great hands. Probably on par with it, but I’m a little more fine-tuned with what I’m watching now. His hands are so good, which is why it was so shocking that Romeo had some drops last year and the receiving core as a whole had drops last year. Dodge is not dropping the ball. He’s showing off that late hand. It’s like a vacuum that that ball goes towards his mitts and it stuck. He just he can’t miss. And and it’s really cool to see. I hope he can stay healthy with the concussions and obviously the competition in that room is going to bring out the best in everyone because if you’re not playing your best, you’re not going to get the snaps when the regular season rolls around. Dave Shrader, WBAY in Green Bay joining us on Thunder at the Fair. And Dave, I said the same thing about Romeo last year. Like when we started the Mason Crosby show, I think the first day was October 12th last year or something like that. And I think in the first week Mason was already making fun of me because how much I was in love uh with Romeo Jobs’s hands. Um and then and then we we you know and then he had the week where he he was um he took off or was suspended or whatever and then he had the concussions and then I don’t know if there were there were there were you know some some mental fatigue or or whatever was going on. Um, but h how how good can this receiving core be if if Golden is who we think he is and if Dobs plays his potential and Wix plays his potential and Reed plays his potential? We were told so much that there were three number ones last year and there were like three number TWs at best. Can can this team can this group be who we want them to be? I think the fun word that you use is can. Of course they can. Will they is the question, right? Yeah, because we’ve seen it. Jaden Reeds had week after week where he’s chasing 100 yards and making impact plays down the field. And then last year we saw like a month and a half where he did nothing. Dantavon Wixs, we know his yak attack skills. You get the ball in his hands and he is a hand full, but will he catch it with those hands? Romeo Dobs, can he be consistent with what we all know he provides in route running and catch ability? And Matthew Golden’s been as as you mentioned, a revelation. Go figure. The first first round receiver around here in two decades. Of course, it’s going to be fun to watch if he lives up to his billing. I think they have the talent to do a lot. And I also think not to be overlooked is Jordan loves health and mobility. When he had 18 touchdowns, one pick down the stretch his first year as a starter, he was at the peak of his power. Last year, Brazil scuttled that from the word go, the final play of that fourth quarter. I think if he’s mobile and able to stress defenses late in the down, not just within the initial timing and rhythm, I I think that they really can achieve their their ceiling, not just live at their floor, which is what I feel like they did last year. They’re a playoff team day in day out, even in the toughest division in football. Last year, NFC North, the most wins in the history of an in the NFL in in a division. It was remarkable. This team is a playoff team. They can be a Super Bowl team. I’m not going to pick them. I picked them last year, so I’m not going to do it this time. I learned my lesson. But they can. It’s just a matter of will they stay healthy and will the players live up to that potential that we’ve seen from each and every one of us. I think that’s a fair way to put it. Dave Schrader, WBAY joining us on Thunder at the Fair on the Fan 1250 a.m. 1057 FM and the free Odyssey app. Well, you talked about Jordan Love and I have a couple Jordan Love questions. Um, one is, uh, you know, it sounds like he’s gonna play Saturday night maybe a little bit. Do you expect him to play a series or two? Do you think he gets out there? And and would you play him Saturday night? Because I’m I’m I’m a I’m a I’m a uh uh a bubble wrap. I’m I’m a bubble wrapper. Uh for my ju just for my quarterback because quarterback is such like in any sport, there’s no importance on any position in in any other sport on earth like a quarterback in the National Football League. Um and and Matthew Golden’s the only new face. Like it’s not like Love has to learn a new relationship with anyone else. Everyone else there essentially was on the team last year. Golden’s the only new guy. What What do you do with Love on Saturday night? Uh what I would do is irrelevant, but I think he’ll play similar to last year preseason opener. Had three plays. Got to a third down, threw a bomb. He was done for the the preseason. And I think if you’re going to do it, it makes sense to do it in the first one because you’re going to have a joint practice next week in Indie. He won’t play. Probably a joint practice against Seattle. The next week he probably won’t play. This one’s at home. Give the home fans a little something. and then and then bubble wrap him, so to speak. I I know those joint practices are competitive, but he still has that red jersey on. In terms of live action, does he need it? I don’t I don’t know that he needs to play in the preseason, but I kind of think he will just a little bit. I I I also think it sends a message to the other starters who have to play that, hey, everyone has to do a little bit of this. I don’t know. I don’t know what I would do, but that’s what I expect. Yeah, that’s fair. And I I think you know we kind of heard that from Laflur what it was yesterday uh when he was asked you know are is who’s are people going to play and he said my guys are football players so you know football players play football. Yeah or or whatever it was he said. I also think you could do handoff quick throw and then you know he’s not in harm’s way handing the ball off and doing like a wide receiver screen and then maybe do one drop back pass and hey there you go. And that yeah I I think that that makes a lot of sense to me. Uh Dave Shader, WB on third down, right? It would be feast or famine. You either get the touchdown, get him off the field, or it’s deep and complete and he’s punting. You know, it’s three three plays. Let’s go. Absolutely. Uh who uh who are the starting five on the offensive line going to be Saturday night? And does that does that does that will that tell you something? Uh you know, and we know Rasheed Walker’s a little banged up, so Jordan Morgan might be out there. Um will it will it be telling who the starters are? Oh, absolutely. If the starting O line’s out there, expect Love probably as you watch warm-ups. And if they’re not, then probably not. Although a lot of times Love will warm up before preseason games, then take that uniform off when they reemerge. But I I expect Morgan to be a left tackle with Rasheed banged up. Right now, the first team offense going right now with Morgan at left tackle. Uh do you think there’s a chance is is this the Wally Pip Lou Garri situation? Uh, is is there a chance uh that uh that even with a minor injury to Rasheed Walker that Jordan Morgan could come in and win this job? I think that’s what the Packers would want, right? You want your first round picks to succeed. You want all that those years of player control with a player who’s performing. You see Walkers on the last year of his contract. So, I think he has been up and down in camp. has Morgan at left tackle, but if he starts to settle in, if it were up to me and it were equal, I’d give it to the younger guy who’s the former first down. That’s what I would do if I viewed it as an equal competition. We we will find out that that that’s the beauty of all these questions, right, Dave? Is that like you’re there every day and you’re taking notes and you’re seeing what’s happening, but we’re all going to find out together who’s starting and who’s playing and who can succeed and who maybe is not quite ready for prime time, whatever that might look like. For sure. For sure. September 7th, everything before them’s window dressing, right? Exactly. Exactly. So, uh, we’ve touched on the offensive side of the ball. You know, we’ve talked so much during the preseason about Jordan Love and that, you know, when he got hurt at the end of week one at that game in Brazil against Philly last year, he really wasn’t the same quarterback for quite some time during the season. Um, we found out I when was it really during OTAAS or or when it was um that Kenny Clark was probably dealing with a more serious injury than we knew about uh during the season last year. How’s Kenny Clark looking as part of that Dline with with so many young Georgia guys trying to get playing time and and guys on the edge trying to get in there. What What does Kenny Clark look like so far in training camp? It it’s really hard to tell when you can’t actually hit the quarterback when he gets through the line, but he he’s been his normal self. I expect a bounceback year. He’s a year older, but he’s still not old. Remember when they drafted him, he still couldn’t legally drink until October of his rookie year. So, as long as he’s been in the league, rookie in 2016, he’s not that old yet. I expect still good things from him for a year. Uh, and then the the Dline in general, I know there’s a lot of names out there. Uh, I know that our friend Andy Herman um from Packaday Radio uh likes the the the uh what do I what do I call them? I call them the law firm of Brinen and Stack House. Um because they’re the because they’re the two Georgia guys. Um and of course they’re not the only Georgia guys on that defense. Um but what you know, what are you what are you seeing from that defensive front? Uh and then um and then transition over to are we going to get the LVN that we all need and deserve this year? LVN has looked better at camp. I will say that first and foremost. And Demarcus Coington, the new Dline coach, is looking to get a lot out of these guys. That law firm you’re talking about. We talked to Warren Brinson yesterday and he talked about Nas being focused not just on the field, but in meetings and sometimes that had been a struggle for him in the college ranks, but he says right now we’re seeing the all SEC version of Nas, which I believe was from Sack House’s sophomore year. And I I think that from a guy who knows him as well as Warren does, I think that’s high praise and I I’ve seen him flash. So I’d like to see what what they can do. Nice. I know uh today in his press conference, Matt Laflur had uh kind words about Javon Bullard. Um, and as we’re looking at that that secondary, uh, and how it kind of gets mixed and matched and now with Nate Hobbs out for the rest of training camp, who who has the opportunity to step up with Nate Hobbs out and and kind of show off a little bit over the next couple weeks? I think every I mean, Carrington Valentine to me has had a really good camp. Obviously, you don’t spend a 48 million bucks, 12 million per year on OBS to sit him and obviously you pay that money usually for an boundary corner, not a slot position guy. I mean, Bullard got the high praise from the floor today, but he has been hooked a few times in one-on- ones as Matt said, and even in team periods from that slot position. It’s going to be really interesting to see how the team deploys their best 11 because obviously your linebacking and safety fors are pretty darn good and pretty darn deep. But the corner position your week one and when he’s back he’s going to play. You don’t pay a guy not to play him. Dan is not going to be sitting on the bench either. The funny thing is we talked about champagne problems with Joe Barry a few years ago at corner. Injuries have their their way of working things out too. As much as I hate to say it, a lot of these positions were like, how on earth are they going to decide? Sometimes the decision will be made by the health of the players. And if not, then you do in fact have some champagne problems because I think Karen Valentine’s had pretty good pitch. Dave, you sound like you’re talking about the Milwaukee Brewers starting pitching rotation right now. Right. Because we, you know, we’ve seen that too soon. Right. Right. Right. We well we’ve seen that all season where it’s oh what are they going to do when when all seven guys are healthy and when I and and I you know I I think in in in with starting pitchers especially uh but then certainly with NFL players there’s always going to be an what you know and we don’t hope a major injury on on someone but there’s always bangs and bruises and things that jump up and even like you know with what we saw with Mizowski with the Brewers like does he need to be on the injured list? Probably not. But is it good for him and for the team to give him a two-eek break and to f you know and to go on and and I think that’s what you know it sounds like what the team could do whether it’s Nate Hobbs being out right now or whether Rashid with Rasheed Walker out or whoever you know whatever whatever other position group and that’s why you put the quarterback in bubble wrap right because that’s the only position where that where that that doesn’t exist where we know Malik Willis is a really good backup but that’s what he is he is a backup quarterback in the NFL he’s not the guy You want 17 weeks as your starter. Yes. But Malle, for the first time in my tenure here, I view that backup quarterback position as actually pretty darn solid. For as much as they had backups like Matt Flynn and um Hley, I believe in Malik way more than the others. But you’re right, no one wants to watch that for 17 games when we could all be treated to number 10 for 17 games. No, but you’re right. It does feel nice. Uh it feels a it feels a lot nicer than than some of the backup situations they had when when you just you know and granted like for the most part we knew Aaron Rogers was going to go out there and he was going to be the quarterback but there were you know I mean Senica Wallace had had done you know had had done some nice things in college uh but was you know but was not ready to be that guy. Brett Hunley was was a nice youth quarterback at UCLA not ready to be that guy. And we just thought, you know, that to know that um at least against Tennessee and Jacksonville and whoever, you know, whoever else Malik played against last year, uh that he could come in and not make mistakes. That’s the biggest thing. Right. Right. And not make mistakes, but also not just be a game manager. Like the deep downfield throws, not in the Indie game, but Tennessee and Jacksonville to win those games, not just try not to lose them. That impressed me. Yeah, absolutely. Dave Strader, WBAY, uh, joining us, uh, live from Packers practice here on the fan. Um, anything, you know, I guess the only other question, we didn’t we didn’t talk about Brandon McManis, and I know that like he’s he’s been all oo’s and a’s, like, have you ever seen is he a robot? Is he human or is he a robot? I think that guy is having the best training camp of anyone on this 90man roster. He’s missed two kicks. And it’s not like he’s only attempted like 12. It’s something like 45 more attempts so far. I think 44 for 46 if I’m not mistaken. It’s it’s impressive. Last year, I mean, he did the same thing. He missed two kicks his whole time with the Packers. One in the driving rain against Detroit and then one of course in the playoffs against Philly. Um Yep. That guy’s pretty darn good. Everyone knows why he was available, but uh he has been really solid. Yeah. And so it’s, you know, that that’s another one that since uh since Mason had left had been question mark after question mark after question mark, it’s nice to not have the kicker position as a question mark, isn’t it? It’s nice to just know you got your guy. That’s definitely true. Like in practice, like we’re charting what yards he’s kicking from this, that, and the other, and people are like, “Oh, I don’t know if it’s going to be good.” It’s dead center like almost every single time. I think his two misses playing off the upright even. It’s not like he just yanked one. It just barely didn’t make it. Crazy. Absolutely crazy. Uh well Dave, enjoy. Um is there anything Saturday night that you are like specifically looking forward to when the Packers uh actually play a um I’m going to say meaningless, but it’s not meaningless for everybody. It’s it’s very meaningful uh for you know numbers 50 through 90 on the roster uh in this football game. Is there anything specific that you are looking forward to Saturday night? receiver battle. Micole Hardman and Malik Heath, I believe, will duke it out for the final roster spot. I also really like Will Shepard’s route running. I don’t think he’ll be able to make the 53 here, but I’d love to watch all three of those try to put on a show in the defensive back field. Can Omar Banks, can he continue his hot streak with five interceptions, three on Family Night? Omar Brown, rather, not know I’m looking at Omar Brown. Can you keep it going? cuz obviously that safety positions stack, but he he’s been fun to watch as well. And at corner, I I want to see CV keep doing stuff and keep trying to make tough decisions for his coaching staff. Awesome. Dave, thank you so much for jumping on today. Had a blast. Uh enjoy practice, enjoy the game Saturday night. Uh and we will definitely catch up with you uh down the road as we get closer to, as you mentioned, September 7th. we can take all this window dressing and throw it to to the side and get ready for real football then. But until then, we will learn a lot about this team and it’s fun to learn it together. So, uh Dave, thanks so much for jumping on. Yeah, thanks for having me. Absolutely. That’s Dave Shrader, WBA in Green Bay. Uh he is at every practice, he’s at every Packers, everything. Uh, and it’s, uh, you know, he he’s got his his his finger on the pulse of everything going on, uh, with the team, positionby position battles, and it it’s going to be fun. It’s going to be fun to watch that wide receiver uh, room. And I know he mentioned at the end there, Will Shepard. Um, I, you know, Will Shepard to me shouldn’t make this Green Bay Packers team, but I was a little surprised that like the Packers got to sign him as far after the draft as they did that that he wasn’t able to catch on with somebody and and um, you know, in college he seemed like the kind of player who who could, you know, find a spot as like a fifth or sixth wide receiver as he tries to build his career. So, we’ll see what happens there with him. And, uh, um, and we’ll see what happens with, let’s see, um, handoff on first down, uh, quick out on second down, bomb on third down. And if you missed that, if you’re late to the game Saturday night, you just missed Jordan Love because that’s what Jordan Love’s going to do. Um, Charlie, can you do you have a Sharpie there? Uh, I don’t have a Sharpie. I have a pen. Okay. Write that down. All right. Uh, handoff quickout bomb. Hand off workout bomb. All right. Yeah. And that is that is Jordan Love’s day Saturday uh for the Green Bay Packers. Lots more Green Bay Packers talk to get to and much more Milwaukee Brewers talk as well as we started the conversation, but we’re not done with it yet. We’re still in that conversation about Freddy Peralta and how you feel about how he is performing since the All-Star break, how he’s pitched this entire season. And also the question that we talked to Dave Shrader about, do you want Jordan Love to play Saturday night? Justin Fields, I know, talked to the media yesterday and said he does expect to play. Um, and that but he has a new offensive coordinator. He’s got new coaches. There’s new players there. Jordan Love, like I said to Dave, he’s got Matthew Golden. Everybody else there he’s played with before. I guess if Seavon plays, that’s another new guy. But truly, if it’s Dobs or Wixs or Reed or Craft or Musgrave or Jacobs, he’s played with all those guys before and those are the guys that matter. Those are the guys that count. So, do you want Jordan Love to play on Saturday? And are you worried about Freddy Peralta given the fact that he did pitch five innings last night and got the win? But, uh, 108 pitches through five innings. I’m nervous about what that’s going to mean into August, into September, into October, how much he has in the tank, and how he can be a little uh a little smarter is not the word cuz but how how he can get through games with less pitches, be a little thriftier with his pitches. My name is Mitch Nellis, aka Thunder. I am at the Wisconsin State Fair. One burger down, my iced coffee, of course, cuz you got to have the iced coffee. And we are just having a blast here. You should get out here. It’s another absolutely picture perfect Wisconsin summer day here at the Wisconsin State Fair. I am thunder at the fair on the fan. Have a good Oh my god. For the thousands of people listening on YouTube who have no idea what I just said. Oh my god. If you know, you know. It’s the beginning of Welcome to the Jungle by Guns and Roses on the radio. You should know. My name is Mitch Nellis aka Thunder. Um, so, uh, again, our thanks to Dave Strader from, uh, WBAY in Green Bay, uh, jumping on, uh, the show and breaking down everything, uh, Packers with us. I will say um because I was watching Packaday Radio this morning on YouTube, I had my first experience of hearing Andy Herman sing along to a song that I did not hear on YouTube. Um and Charlie, this might be my favorite thing like ever. Like I loved it. It was so great. Was he good? He was just um he he was not he was I’m sure much better than me. Um he was not bad at all. Um, but but it’s like so funny that um that we don’t have the air quote we don’t have the rights to the songs to play on YouTube that we play on the radio. Um, how do other stations We got We got to figure out like I I I I never watch on YouTube how other stations and other markets and do they do they actually do play the songs or do they not? I gotta figure that out and see because I know like we’ve gotten warnings about it before and it’s like yeah but I feel like other stations and other companies how are they getting away with it or how are they doing it or maybe I just listen to them on the radio and I don’t watch them on YouTube and they’re also not playing the songs on YouTube. I have no idea. I’m very intrigued by this concept. I think it’s so bizarre that we have this that we can’t play songs on YouTube. So when you hear us come back on the radio, that song underneath coming back is not actually being played on YouTube, it’s just like dead air into me talking. Um, which is u just a funny funny I I don’t know what it is. Um, but we have so much to get to today and I, you know, I’m I have these two main questions out uh that that I’m throwing out to you. 414-6771250 is the Nicole Law Fan talking text line. You can pick up your phone and you can dial that number if you want to. 414-6771250. We do take phone calls here at the fan. You can also text to that number 4146771250. Uh your thoughts in general or you can answer our specific questions. Are you worried about Freddy Peralta? Freddy Peralta since the All-Star break. Um, his erra, uh, which was 266 at the All-Star break, has gone up to 303. He’s two and he’s two and one since the All-Star break. Uh, he’s pitched five innings, five innings, four innings, and five innings. Not great. He has walked three, two, four, and three uh, batters where in the four starts before the All-Star break, he had walked one, one, and one. So, that’s our first question that we’re asking. Our second question that we’re asking today is, would you play Jordan Love Saturday night? The Packers are home against the Jets Saturday night. It is game one of three. Remember, they’re now three preseason games, not four like there used to be. Uh, so game two is is more like what game three used to be, if that means starters play longer. We do know Justin Fields has said he is planning on playing the starting quarterback for the New York Jets. Um we think that Matt Laflur told us yesterday uh that Jordan Love is going to play tomorrow. We’re not totally sure about that, but we think that’s what he was talking about when he said he has a team of football players and they play football and that’s what they are paid to do and that’s what they do. Um so those are my two main questions. Uh TNA does write into the show. Um, and this is in response to our conversation with Dave Shrader from WAWY, specifically about Romeo Dobs. Being labeled with great hands comes with game day play, not in August. Practice does not have the same pressure. Plus, weather comes into play in Green Bay. TMP, I totally agree with you. I think we’ve seen Romeo Dobs have tremendous hands in NFL football games, in regular season games. I think whatever went on last year with him um and whatever’s you know we don’t we don’t know like we don’t know his mental strength we don’t know his focus we don’t know the effect concussions have on you um whether it was a a frustration with playing time uh that led uh to some of him kind of shutting down in a way. Um, we also know that he’s not, you know, that that he I’ve heard that I’ve heard that he smiled a couple times during this training camp. I don’t think we saw him smile once, even after catching touchdowns or first downs last year. Um, he was very frequently just giving the ball back to the ref or just running back to the sideline or to the huddle almost with a pout on his face. Um, and so, um, it I still think, and I said this last October, I still think his hands are unbelievable. I think his hands are incredible in practice and in the regular season games. Um, and I hope that he can end up being that player that we think he can. Uh, whether that means that’s good for the Packers or maybe they trade him to Pittsburgh, uh, so he can play with his buddy Aaron Rogers. Um, but that, uh, that can get something really good in return for our Green Bay Packers. joining us now on the uh on the fan uh 12:50 a.m. 1057 FM. Remember the Nickel Law Fan Talk text line 4146771250. John is in Franklin. John, you’re up next on Thunder at the Fair. Hey, what’s going on, Thunder? Uh I’m I’m You know what? I’m at the fair. It is sunny and beautiful out. It is the best people watching there is. You should get your butt over here, my friend. I would love to. Um, believe it or not, this is the first time I’m making a call from a I’m about 18 feet up on a ladder right now, but I’m safe. I’m good. Wow. Okay. You be you be safe. I I don’t want to hear like a yell and a thud. No. I don’t want to make history. I don’t want to be on YouTube. No, I don’t. So, what’s really funny is I just I I popped on the app about 10 minutes ago and apparently it was on a severe delay. But, I’m going to guess by what I heard you talking about. Are you talking about jobs? Uh yeah, that’s what just now I was talking specifically about Dobs. Yes, that’s funny because I was on I was on delay, so I was I was calling about Peralta, but let’s talk about Dobs because my son and I got in a pretty good argument about this and I I alluded to this whole situation with him with the receiver room is chaos. As I saw during, you know, uh within the last couple months, the Packers just keep adding receivers and receivers. And uh don’t don’t get me wrong, I’m a big fan of what they did in the draft. So do not get me wrong, but I am concerned about because if he wasn’t happy last year, how is he going to be happy this year? Because you can’t tell me that his his catch, you know, the amount of balls thrown his way is I don’t I I don’t know it’s humanly possible with all the talent that’s going to be on the field for that to increase. And he doesn’t, you know, I I I can’t blame him. He’s out trying to get get his bag, you know, he’s trying to do what’s best for him and his family. I mean, you get one lifetime and and and you live it the way you want to live it. So, I don’t hold it against him. That’s right. But he’s not he’s not one of these green and gold guys first. It’s just and you know, frankly, we don’t know these guys personally. There may not be that many of them, but you can’t expect him to I can’t expect him to change what he’s really feeling. And I don’t I I I am a little bit worried about this receiver room. And I’ll tell you what, if we if we could get a a halfway decent reliable corner back for him, I would be all over that in a heartbeat. And I I could live with I I know he’s talented. I know he brings a lot to the table and he’s one of the best we have. But if he’s going to end up being unhappy, where are we going? Well, John, and I think that’s what we are all going to find out together. You know, when I talked to Dave Shrader from WBAY and I talked to Andy Herman uh on Packad Radio, uh the great thing about all of this is that we we’re going to find it all out together. We’re we’re going to be watching and we’re going to be watching closely and if Romeo Dobs has figured something out um whether and or mentally uh where he’s going to be able to bring a better focus or uh and I don’t think his I don’t think he had a bad attitude. I think it was like a a mis a misplaced attitude if that’s if that’s if I don’t even know if that’s a thing. Um but I think that like if he if he sees if he reads the room, if he sees that Golden is there, if he sees that they want to get the ball to craft more, um and he goes out and does his job, I think it can work out. I think the problems you run into is when he wants to do more, uh or when he thinks he deserves more. And so that’ll be the question this year. Is he happy with his role or is he going to is it going to be a problem? And not just for him. I think for Wixon Reed, these are questions, too. I mean, they had the opportunity last year, all three of them, to step up and run the wide receiver room. And none of them stepped up. and now they, you know, that you mess around and you find out the repercussions for their actions as you draft a first round wide receiver and that’s the way it goes. So, I I totally hear you. I do think and I do cautious I’m cautiously optimistic that Romeo learned from last year that he figured out that um to to get that bag, it’s not about getting the numbers, it’s about getting along. And if he plays to the best of his ability this year, he can get that bag from somebody else. But if he’s a mal content, he’s never getting the bag from anybody. So maybe he does have to just show up, c run the routes, run the routes the right way. Uh catch all the balls thrown to you. You can’t control when balls aren’t thrown your way and do your best. And that and and and if he realizes that, that’ll be to everyone’s benefit. Do I hope that I I think you’re spot on. I I hope that’s how it goes because let’s face it, on third down, he’s our by far our best option until something else changes. Yes, I totally agree. All right. I know you also had a quick take on Freddy Peralta. Yeah, dude. I I don’t know who was sweating worse yesterday, me or him. Um he he was dripping. He was dripping last night, my friend. And I mean, I know it was raining, but I think that was sweat. And I Yeah. And it was humid. It was crazy humid in Atlanta when it’s going to rain. It’s cra but but he’s like, man, five innings, 108 pitches. That’s not an ace. That’s not an ace. No. And and but we you know, we love Freddy, but we’ve seen this out of him before. And you wonder, is he tiring a bit? You know, you know what’s going on? Because it’s trending absolutely in one direction and it’s going down. And the only good news is we’ve got a lot of depth. But, you know, as a long suffering Brewer fan, I I this this run is just I I’m beside myself with joy, of course. But this scoring 11, 10, nine runs a game isn’t going to all that’s not going to happen, you know, until we got a World Series trophy in our hands. I I I’m not I’m not a Poliana person, but uh I can keep hoping, I guess. But, uh, yeah, he’s he’s got to straighten out or it it’s going to put the management in a heck of a position when we hit the playoffs. Uh, you know what’s interesting? I just had this thought and I I actually wonder what uh what a guy like Tommy Wartz uh who I I co-host the uh Mason Crosby show with would think about this. If if you took the names off the jerseys and you just stacked up the starting rotation right now and and Mrski’s hurt and that’s fine, but if you told me that Quinn Pster was the ace and Freddy Peralta was the two, all of a sudden I feel or or Woodruff is the two and Peralta is the three. All of a sudden, I feel a lot better about this pitching staff like because because the way Crim Priest has pitched six uh plus innings uh numerous times and with the feeling that when they’ve pulled him, it’s not because he’s had 100 pitches. It’s just because he’s, you know, that that’s when that’s when the coach likes to pull him. I mean, he was 90 pitches through seven innings against Atlanta. He got the win against the Cubs, five and two/3, 86 pitches, seven innings against Seattle, six against the Dodgers, but only 77 pitches. He certainly could have gone longer in a number of these starts. If that’s your ace, and if the way Woodruff’s been pitching, if he’s your number two, and Freddy’s your number three, everything Freddy’s doing as a number three actually feels pretty good. It’s just that we’ve put this label on him. Maybe we should just realize he’s not the ace. just let him be Freddy and enjoy that like all the pitchers are pitching as well as they are. Yeah. And I think we have the exact manager to handle this position and it’s not going to be about oh it’s a veteran so I’ve got to I mean I say give him every opportunity but when the chips are down you know when when it when it comes down to the playoffs we got to do what’s best for the Brewers not what’s best for an individual. Yeah. And that’s that’s one of the reasons I actually think if you look at the playoffs and your starting rotation is Freddy and Woody and Priest with Miserowski and Logan Henderson both out of the bullpen, guys who can go a couple innings along with Ashby and DL Hall and whoever else they get. Like now all of a sudden you’re talking about being able to do some real damage. John, thanks so much for the call. Don’t be a stranger. Thanks. That’s John and Franklin on the show in the 12:00 hour here on Thunder at the Fair. Uh we’re going to keep the conversation going about Freddy Peralta. We’re going to keep the conversation going about Jordan Love. Uh we might get into I I have uh on the rundown I did put a little uh basketball in there a little wanted to get back to uh Sham uh chump change uh and what he had to say about Giannis. Uh, but also I know Dame had some uh comments about um his love for Portland and he didn’t say anything bad about Milwaukee um but just a lot of love for Portland. Maybe talk about that. Bart Winkler will join us at 12:40. Drew Wagner’s going to join us in the 1:00 hour at 1:20. So much to get to. We are talking sports here on the fan cuz that’s what we do. This is Thunder at the Fair.
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