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The Chicago Bears are 2-1, national expectations are rising, and some major roster questions are already beginning to take shape.First, Cole Kmet's role has changed dramatically. Through three games, Colston Loveland has played 84.2% of Chicago's offensive snaps, compared with 62% for Kmet, while Kmet has just two receptions for 35 yards and one touchdown and has gone without a catch in each of the last two games. That doesn't mean Kmet has become a bad player — but it does raise a legitimate question about what his future looks like if Loveland has clearly become TE1. Pasted textAnd the economics make the conversation even more interesting. Kmet's restructured deal carries a cap hit of roughly $7.78 million in 2026, but that jumps to $15.425 million in 2027, the final year of his current contract. If Sam Roush continues developing into a cheaper blocking and multiple-tight-end option, Ryan Poles may eventually have a real decision to make. Pasted text Pasted textThen there's Darnell Wright.Chicago gave Wright a massive four-year, $116 million extension with $93 million guaranteed, and early returns have been excellent. Through three games, Wright has played every offensive snap while independent charting credits him with zero sacks allowed, zero QB hits, three pressures allowed and zero penalties. Pasted text Pasted textFinally, the national conversation around Chicago has shifted dramatically after the 27-7 win over Philadelphia without Caleb Williams. NFL.com moved the Bears up four spots to No. 12 in its Week 4 power rankings, while other rankings have pushed Chicago into the top 10 discussion. The question isn't whether the Bears deserve more respect — it's whether fans and media are moving too quickly from “interesting team” to “NFC contender.” Pasted textHaize breaks down:
Looking for a horror podcast specific to horror movies? This is your place for horror movie reviews, trivia, and deep dives. This week on Students of Horror, the Students travel to Loveland, Ohio to investigate Frogman. We hope you join us in a brand new study session! Join the Study Group! Join the Patreon! Follow the Students on social media! Discord: Study Hall Discord Sam on Letterboxd - @machetesam Bryan on Letterboxd - @ByrdWitch Ross on IG - @RossPurvis Email: StudentsofHorror@gmail.com
Send us Fan MailThere's the physical work of caregiving… and then there's everything happening inside your head.In this episode, I'm talking about the invisible mental load that comes with being the primary caregiver to two medically complex children — remembering medications and doses, tracking symptoms, scheduling appointments, coordinating specialists, managing nursing, ordering supplies, dealing with insurance and Medicaid, communicating with school and therapists, keeping up with equipment, feeds, bowel movements, seizures, respiratory symptoms… and constantly thinking about what needs to happen next.Because even when someone else is physically caring for my kids, I'm often still the person carrying the information.This isn't an episode about blaming spouses or keeping score. It's about something I think a lot of primary caregivers experience: over time, one person often becomes the keeper of the information simply because they're the one coordinating so many pieces of care.And that means getting help doesn't always mean your brain gets to shut off.We're talking about the difference between the physical workload and the mental load, why delegating can sometimes become another task in itself, what it feels like to be perpetually “on call,” and why caregiving can be exhausting even on days when you technically had help.If you've ever thought, “I'm not even doing anything right now, so why do I still feel completely overwhelmed?” — this episode is for you.Resources & Links for this episode:Buy Soaring Together: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or locally at Bike Trail Books in Loveland and the Cincinnati Zoo Gift ShopLearn more about our brave warriors: saveromanandstella.comSupport our family: GoFundMeFollow us! Instagram: @confessionsofararediseasemamaTikTok: @rare_mamaFacebook: Jillian Arnold & Confessions of a Rare Disease MamaGet your FREE Positive Affirmations for the Medical Parent PDF here!Shop our ...
CSU scored 45 points and piled up 500 yards at UTSA — and somehow lost by two touchdowns. Joel and Mike break down the Rams' wild 59-45 loss, including an impressive first start from K'saan Farrar, an offense that repeatedly fought its way back, and a defense that has now surrendered 100 points and more than 1,100 yards in the last two games. They dig into Jim Mora's visible frustration with the defense and its staff, the troubling run defense and explosive plays, and what changes could be on the table. Then it's on to Homecoming and CSU's first-ever Pac-12 conference game, as Oregon State returns to Canvas Stadium with an explosive passing attack that presents another major test for the struggling Rams defense. This RamNation Radio episode is brought to you by Pedersen Toyota, your Local Toyota Dealer Serving Fort Collins, Loveland, Windsor and Timnath for more than 50 years. It is also made possible by Ginger and Baker — our favorite restaurant(s) in all of Fort Collins, and Ram Zone (powered by the CSU Bookstore) — the best place to get all your Ram gear. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
THE NEW MONSTERS: THE LOVELAND FROGMAN Episode Three: The Monster Loveland Kept By the summer of 2016, hunting monsters had changed. Armed with smartphones and Pokémon Go, two teenagers wandered near Ohio's Little Miami River and reportedly encountered something that wasn't supposed to be part of the game. Their footage was ambiguous, but the name attached to it was unmistakable: the Loveland Frogman. The alleged sighting resurrected a legend stretching back decades—mysterious humanoid figures beside an Ohio road in 1955, police encounters in 1972, and the wonderfully bizarre story of a frog-like creature carrying a wand that produced sparks. But the renewed attention also brought former Loveland police officer Mark Mathews back into the story. Mathews had encountered and shot the animal associated with the legend in 1972, and his explanation was considerably less supernatural: according to him, it was a large, tailless iguana, probably an escaped or abandoned exotic pet. That should have killed the legend. Instead, Loveland kept the Frogman. In the conclusion of our three-part investigation, we explore what happens when a monster outlives the eyewitnesses who created it. From the arrival of the internet and the 2016 Pokémon Go encounter to the transformation of regional cryptids into hometown mascots, merchandise and cultural identities, the Frogman reveals something important about the way modern folklore survives. Evidence may weaken a legend, but once enough people inherit the story, evidence isn't the only thing keeping it alive. We also bring The New Monsters full circle, from alligators beneath Manhattan and the Bunny Man of Northern Virginia to the strange amphibious resident of the Little Miami River. Cameras, smartphones and instant communication were supposed to make monsters obsolete. Instead, technology gave folklore a distribution system. Maybe the Loveland Frogman really was an iguana. If so, the iguana lost. The monster survived. LISTEN, FOLLOW & REVIEW Listen to The Devil Within wherever you get your podcasts, and make sure you're following the show so you never miss a new episode. If you enjoy the series, please leave us a five-star rating and review—it remains one of the best ways to help new listeners discover the show. WATCH & SUBSCRIBE Watch The Devil Within and more from the Evio Creative network on the Evio Creative YouTube channel. Subscribe and turn on notifications so you know whenever a new episode drops. JOIN THE CONVERSATION Follow @thedevilwithinpod for clips, stories, archival material and more from The Devil Within. Have a strange story, unexplained encounter, case or legend you think we should investigate? Send it to info@eviocreative.com. The Devil Within is written and hosted by Branden Morgan and produced by Evio Creative. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
This week, the Backwoods Cryptid Road Trip rolls into Loveland, Ohio, a quiet river town northeast of Cincinnati with one of the strangest creature legends in America.In March 1972, Loveland police officer Ray Shockey was patrolling an icy stretch of Riverside Drive near the old Totes factory when he spotted something crouched in the road. According to his account, the creature stood upright, looked directly at him, and moved over the guardrail toward the Little Miami River. Two weeks later, fellow officer Mark Matthews reported his own encounter on the same road and fired his revolver at what he saw. Decades later, Matthews would publicly offer a very different explanation for that night. But the Loveland Frog story may go back even further. The episode revisits a 1955 account recorded by investigator Leonard Stringfield, in which witness Robert Hunnicutt described three strange gray figures near a bridge, including one allegedly holding a wand-like object that gave off sparks. Then, in 2016, a photograph taken during the Pokémon Go craze pushed the Loveland Frog back into the national spotlight and once again raised the question of what people have really been seeing along the river.Brian also digs into lesser-known local reports involving a canoe livery, a late-night drive home, and a catfishing spot near Nisbet Park before heading east into the hills of Appalachian Ohio.From there, the road leads into some of the state's best-known Bigfoot country, including the 1978 Minerva Monster case, as well as reported Grassman encounters from East Fork, Vinton County, Wayne National Forest, Salt Fork State Park, Noble County, Shawnee State Forest, and Zaleski State Forest.From frogmen along the Little Miami to massive hairy figures in the Appalachian foothills, Ohio proves to be one of the strangest stops yet on the Backwoods Cryptid Road Trip.If you have an encounter or a stop Brian should add to the map, email brian@paranormalworldproductions.com.Email BrianJoin Our FREE NewsletterGet Brian's Books Leave Us A VoicemailVisit Our WebsiteHave you experienced a Bigfoot sighting, Sasquatch encounter, Dogman experience, UFO sighting, or any unexplained cryptid or paranormal event deep in the woods? We want to hear your story.Email your encounter to brian@paranormalworldproductions.com for a chance to be featured on a future episode of Backwoods Bigfoot Stories.Backwoods Bigfoot Stories is a paranormal storytelling podcast featuring real Bigfoot encounters, Sasquatch sightings, Dogman reports, cryptid experiences, and true scary stories from the backwoods.Follow the show and turn on automatic downloads so you never miss a chilling encounter from the forest. Listen with the lights off… if you dare.
Chris Welsh and Andrew Erickson answer fantasy football trade questions heading into Week 3, with running back depth creating some of the toughest decisions. Omarion Hampton becomes a recurring topic as they weigh what he can return in a deal and when moving him actually makes a roster better. There are also some intriguing buy-low opportunities on the board. Colston Loveland remains a target despite the slow start, while Chase Brown keeps coming up as a running back worth pursuing before his schedule opens up. Welsh and Erickson work through the kinds of trades fantasy managers are actually seeing right now. If your roster already needs some work, this is a good place to figure out which move is worth making, and which one you’re better off leaving alone. Timestamps: (May be off due to ads) Intro - 0:00:00 Omarion Hampton for Jaylen Warren and D’Andre Swift? - 0:01:39 Javonte Williams and another multi-player trade - 0:02:46 Hampton and Schultz for Chuba Hubbard and Colston Loveland - 0:03:14 Marshawn Lloyd: Hold, drop or find a better stash? - 0:05:46 Trading running backs for quarterbacks - 0:07:34 Trey McBride, De’Von Achane and Tony Pollard blockbuster - 0:08:18 Polymarket - 0:10:39 Moving James Cook and Drake London to rebuild RB depth - 0:12:46 Building a deal around JSN, Saquon Barkley and A.J. Brown - 0:13:49 Superflex roster help and packaging Hampton with Terry McLaurin - 0:16:46 Rest-of-season WR value and a Jordan Addison dynasty deal - 0:18:58 How to turn WR depth into a better running back - 0:19:32 Ja’Marr Chase and Brock Bowers headline a massive trade - 0:22:18 FantasyPros Trade Analyzer - 0:24:19 Michael Wilson, Adonai Mitchell and BTJ rest-of-season value - 0:25:06 Would you trade CeeDee Lamb for an elite running back? - 0:26:01 Using receiver depth to fix a thin RB room - 0:27:58 Waiver claims, defenses and more trade targets - 0:30:02 Trading Travis Kelce or Tucker Kraft - 0:32:04 Hampton and Schultz for Bucky Irving and Loveland - 0:33:55 George Pickens vs. Drake London and Garrett Wilson - 0:34:05 TrophySmack Giveaway + Lightning Round Begins - 0:34:34 More Colston Loveland trade questions - 0:36:00 Lamar Jackson and Quinshon Judkins trade reaction - 0:37:21 Bucky Irving deals and moving Bijan Robinson - 0:38:17 Nico Collins’ trade value and Brock Bowers injury concerns - 0:39:32 Drake Maye vs. Kyler Murray + betting on a Bears rebound - 0:40:15 Trading for Justin Jefferson and Dalton Kincaid - 0:41:46 Omarion Hampton vs. Breece Hall rest of season - 0:42:26 Super-Hyper Lightning Round - 0:43:25 Jonathan Taylor deal + packaging waiver-wire receivers - 0:45:11 When the best trade is making no trade at all - 0:46:12 Week 3 lineup questions - 0:47:07 Helpful Links: Polymarket - Polymarket is giving you a $50 bonus when you deposit just $10. Sign up right now with promo code FPPOD at https://app.polymarket.us/S8ac/FPPOD. 18+ Only. Restrictions and eligibility requirements apply. Not available in all jurisdictions. Trading is risky. 100% loss can occur. See http://polymarket.com/tos for more information. The Polymarket US App serves as an independent software provider and affiliate of Polymarket US and Polymarket Clearing, the CFTC-regulated exchange and clearing organization. My Playbook - Sync your league instantly to My Playbook to get custom advice on how to manage your team throughout the season. See your league’s top available players, power rankings, and more for free! Check the “Are They Playing” tool each week to get the latest game-day availability odds for all injured players. If you’re premium – you unlock all kinds of helpful waiver, trade, lineup and league analysis tools. You can even auto-start your team’s optimal lineup each week with Auto-Pilot. 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Kendall Valenzuela, Dwain McFarland and Peter Overzet go through the fantasy football players whose stock actually moved after Week 2 — and more importantly, the specific utilization behind each move.Parker Washington climbs again, this time to a low-end WR1. Jalen Coker rises into mid-range WR3 territory. Dalton Kincaid moves all the way into the top five at tight end. Going the other way: Rashee Rice slides to a low-end WR2, and the Bears pair of Colston Loveland and Luther Burden both drop, Loveland to a low-end TE1 and Burden to a high-end WR4.Then the part your league isn't thinking about yet. Bucky Irving has the sixth-highest running back utilization score in football at 90 — is that a buy even at a high price? George Pickens is averaging just 7.9 points per game on an 85% route share and a 23% target share, which is the exact profile of a player about to be cheap. Tucker Kraft's route participation jumped from 48% in Week 1 to 91% in Week 2 while his production fell. And Stefon Diggs is scoring 18.6 per game on a 59% route share — the definition of a sell.They also play Dwain-Libs on the thresholds that would move players again this week: what route share puts Oronde Gadsden in the TE8-to-TE10 range, what gets Brian Thomas Jr. into WR3 territory, and what designed rush rate makes Tyler Shough a QB10-to-QB12 option. Those are the exact numbers to watch on Sunday.And they close with three adds to make before your league-mates get there — Dwain on Kenyon Sadiq, Pete on Oronde Gadsden, Kendall on Demond Claiborne.
THE DEVIL WITHIN THE NEW MONSTERS: THE LOVELAND FROGMAN Episode Two — The Creature Gets a Name Before the Loveland Frogman became one of America's strangest regional cryptids, it may have been something else entirely. The story takes us back to Loveland, Ohio, in 1955, where a businessman or traveling salesman supposedly encountered three small humanoid figures beside a country road near the Little Miami River. Later versions describe creatures standing three or four feet tall, with leathery skin, deeply wrinkled heads and vaguely frog-like faces. Then one of them reportedly raised a strange metal rod above its head—and sparks began shooting from it. A Frogman is strange enough. A Frogman with a magic wand requires considerably more explanation. In Episode Two of The New Monsters, we investigate how a handful of separate encounters gradually became the mythology of the Loveland Frogman—and why the creature's bizarre origins may have more in common with America's flying-saucer obsession than traditional cryptozoology. The problem begins with the 1955 encounter itself. Unlike the better-documented police sightings that followed seventeen years later, there is no readily available contemporary police report establishing the version of the story we know today. Its famous details reach us largely through later researchers, paranormal literature and decades of retelling, meaning the Frogman's origin story belongs much more securely to folklore than verified history. And then there's that wand. America in 1955 was deep in the first great age of flying-saucer fascination. UFO reports were multiplying, science-fiction theaters were filled with extraterrestrial visitors, and stories of strange humanoids carrying mysterious technology occupied a very different corner of the American imagination. Three small beings beside a road carrying a sparking device don't necessarily sound like unknown amphibians at all. They sound suspiciously like visitors. The documentary trail is too weak to conclude that the Frogman began as a UFO story, but the possibility reveals just how dramatically a story can change depending upon the name we eventually give its creature. Then came 1972. Loveland police officers Ray Shockey and Mark Mathews encountered unusual animals near the Little Miami River seventeen years after the alleged 1955 incident. Suddenly, the older story had something it had previously lacked: recognizable witnesses and the authority of a police uniform. Three mysterious humanoids from 1955 could become earlier examples of the same creature encountered by police in 1972, while those later encounters appeared to prove that something had been returning to the river for decades. Separate stories became sightings. Sightings became a pattern. And eventually, the pattern became a monster. Once the name Loveland Frogman took hold, the transformation accelerated. Paranormal books, cryptozoology collections and eventually the internet standardized a creature that eyewitness testimony had left frustratingly incomplete. Artists supplied enormous eyes, long limbs, webbed hands and unmistakably amphibian features until generations of people who had never seen the creature nevertheless knew exactly what a Loveland Frogman was supposed to look like. And somehow, through every transformation, the sparking wand survived. This week on The Devil Within, we follow one of America's strangest cryptids from an uncertain roadside encounter through police reports, paranormal publishing and the internet, examining how folklore can create a coherent history from stories that may never have belonged together in the first place. Because the Loveland Frogman wasn't simply discovered. It was assembled. Next time, the Frogman enters the smartphone age when teenagers playing Pokémon Go near Loveland encounter something strange beside the water. We'll also meet the police officer who publicly tried to kill his own legend by insisting that the Frogman he encountered in 1972 was actually a tailless iguana—and discover why Loveland kept its monster anyway. Listen & Follow: Follow The Devil Within wherever you get your podcasts. Rate & Review: Leave us a 5-star rating and review to help new listeners discover the show. Watch & Subscribe: Watch The Devil Within on the Evio Creative YouTube channel. Subscribe and turn on notifications so you never miss a new episode. Join the Conversation: Follow @thedevilwithinpod and send your stories, sightings and tips to info@eviocreative.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Musician Suki Waterhouse stops by Radio City Music Hall tomorrow night in support of her latest album Loveland. She joins us for a listening party.New York artist Taryn Simon's new solo show at the Guggenheim is titled "Taryn Simon: Father Country I Do Love You." The show marks the largest display of new work ever to exhibit at the Guggenheim. Simon uses photography to weave the story of her father's life with the story of an unnamed federal agent in 42 different "chapters." Simon discusses the exhibit, which is open through March 14, 2027.Photo by Miles Aldridge Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Police agencies depend on far more than staffing and training to stay ready for the next call. Vehicles, radios, protective gear, medical supplies, firearms and other everyday equipment all need to be available, serviceable and assigned to the right people. When agencies lose track of those basics, the result can be wasted time, avoidable costs and, in the worst cases, safety risks for officers and the public. In this episode of the Policing Matters podcast, host Jim Dudley speaks with retired Loveland, Ohio, Police Chief Dennis Sean Rahe about the often-overlooked work of public safety logistics. Rahe shares practical ways agencies can improve accountability for fleet, equipment and other critical assets; identify maintenance and replacement needs before they become emergencies; and build a system that works. About our sponsor This episode is brought to you by Collective Data, the asset management platform built for quartermasters and supply managers. For nearly 30 years, agencies have used Collective Data to track gear, weapons, evidence and certifications in one central hub. Expired certifications have a way of surfacing at the worst possible moment. Collective Data flags qualifications and training before they lapse, and keeps gear issuance, uniform allotments, weapons, and evidence running on that same platform. A quick barcode or RFID scan at issue means you always know who has what, backed by real-time counts. Visit collectivedata.com and see what your supply operation looks like when every item is accounted for.
After the reality check against BYU, CSU faces a very different—and potentially more revealing—test in its first road game of the Jim Mora era. Joel and Mike preview Saturday's matchup at UTSA, where the Roadrunners have built one of the strongest home-field advantages outside the Power Four. With Hauss Hejny's status uncertain and CSU entering as a surprising double-digit underdog, the guys examine the quarterback situation, a struggling Rams run defense, UTSA's massive penalty problems and the matchups CSU must exploit to have a chance in San Antonio. At 2-1 and exactly where many hoped they'd be through three games, this may be the game that tells us much more about where Mora's rebuilding project really stands. The guys break it down. This RamNation Radio episode is brought to you by Pedersen Toyota, your Local Toyota Dealer Serving Fort Collins, Loveland, Windsor and Timnath for more than 50 years. It is also made possible by Ginger and Baker — our favorite restaurant(s) in all of Fort Collins, and Ram Zone (powered by the CSU Bookstore) — the best place to get all your Ram gear. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
CSU got its first look at an elite opponent, and No. 11 BYU provided a sobering measuring stick in a 41-23 win at Canvas Stadium. Joel and Mike break down what went wrong, from BYU's domination in the trenches and CSU's continued problems stopping explosive plays to the first-quarter hamstring injury that knocked Hauss Hejny out of the game. They also discuss K'saan Farrar and Darius Curry stepping in at quarterback, CSU's continued knack for creating turnovers, and Jim Mora's refusal to use the talent disparity as an excuse. Plus, the guys take a deeper look at the game-day atmosphere, CSU's aggressive ticket-pricing strategy, the large BYU presence inside Canvas and whether record student turnout has masked a bigger challenge in building the Rams' broader fan base. This RamNation Radio episode is brought to you by Pedersen Toyota, your Local Toyota Dealer Serving Fort Collins, Loveland, Windsor and Timnath for more than 50 years. It is also made possible by Ginger and Baker — our favorite restaurant(s) in all of Fort Collins, and Ram Zone (powered by the CSU Bookstore) — the best place to get all your Ram gear. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Are the Chicago Bears dealing with legitimate long-term problems — or are Bears fans reacting to September issues that could look completely different by December?Haize breaks down three early-season storylines that deserve attention without jumping straight to panic.First, Gervon Dexter Sr. is off to a strong start in Atlanta after Chicago traded him for Clark Phillips III and a 2027 fifth-round pick. Through two games, Dexter owns a 78.7 PFF grade, an 83.2 pass-rush grade and eight pressures. Meanwhile, Phillips has yet to log a defensive snap for Chicago. Did Ryan Poles move Dexter one year too early — or could this trade still make sense if Chicago never planned to give Dexter a second contract?Then there's rookie tight end Sam Roush, selected No. 69 overall. Chicago wanted another true inline “Y” tight end to preserve Ben Johnson's heavy 12- and 13-personnel offense, but Roush has had a rough early adjustment. The bigger question isn't whether he becomes a high-volume receiver — it's whether his blocking and versatility eventually unlock Kmet, Loveland and the rest of Chicago's offense.And finally: Jaylon Johnson and Montez Sweat. Both proven veterans have started slower than expected. Jaylon's early coverage numbers have been rough, while Sweat has just six pressures and one sack through two games — but both have much larger track records suggesting a rebound is completely realistic.The real question:Are we seeing Bears problems…or September problems?
THE DEVIL WITHIN THE NEW MONSTERS: THE LOVELAND FROGMAN Episode One — Encounter There are places where the modern world seems to thin after dark. Outside Loveland, Ohio, the Little Miami River winds through wooded banks, bridges and stretches of road where everything beyond the headlights can disappear into darkness. It was along this landscape in March 1972 that Loveland police officer Ray Shockey reportedly encountered something strange near the roadway—an unusual creature that moved toward the guardrail and vanished in the direction of the river. Then another Loveland police officer encountered something in roughly the same area. This week, The New Monsters investigates the legend of the Loveland Frogman, one of Ohio's strangest and most beloved cryptids. But beneath the stories of upright amphibious creatures and mysterious encounters is something even more interesting: a collection of separate incidents that gradually became the history of a single monster. We begin with the landscape itself and the Little Miami River, the waterway that helped shape Loveland long before anyone imagined a Frogman living beside it. From Indigenous history and early settlement to farms, mills, railroads and the growth of Cincinnati, the river became both an economic corridor and a natural boundary between civilization and the remaining woods. Even as modern development spread outward, the river preserved precisely the sort of places where folklore thrives: dark water, wooded banks, blind curves and roads that surrender to the landscape after sunset. Then we travel back to 1955, when the earliest and most mysterious chapter of the Frogman legend supposedly occurred. Later versions describe a motorist encountering several short, upright creatures with leathery, frog-like bodies—and even claim that one carried a bizarre rod or wand capable of producing sparks. The problem is that the original encounter is difficult to document cleanly, and many of its most famous details reach us through later retellings. Seventeen years later, the story becomes considerably harder to ignore. In March 1972, Officer Shockey reported encountering an unusual animal while driving near the Little Miami. Fellow officer Mark Mathews subsequently encountered something in the same area and fired at it. Years later, Mathews would insist there was nothing supernatural about what he saw: according to him, the creature was a large iguana missing its tail, probably an escaped or abandoned exotic pet. That should have killed the legend. Instead, it helped create one. Because once the name Frogman entered the story, separate encounters began fitting together. The mysterious creatures of 1955 became earlier sightings of the animal encountered by police in 1972, while the credibility of the later police encounters reached backward and gave the older story an authority it had never possessed on its own. Loveland no longer had an unexplained animal sighting; it had a history. And that's where our investigation begins. IN THIS EPISODE The Little Miami River and the history that shaped Loveland; the mysterious and difficult-to-document 1955 encounter; Ray Shockey's 1972 roadside sighting; Mark Mathews and the alleged tailless iguana; the exotic-pet explanation; and the strange process by which separate stories became the mythology of the Loveland Frogman. Next time on The New Monsters, we'll go deeper into the bizarre 1955 encounter, investigate the Frogman's infamous sparking wand, and discover how paranormal books, local storytelling and eventually the internet transformed a handful of uncertain encounters into one of America's most recognizable regional cryptids. Listen & Follow: Follow The Devil Within wherever you get your podcasts. Rate & Review: Leave us a 5-star rating and review to help more listeners discover the show. Watch & Subscribe: Watch The Devil Within on the Evio Creative YouTube channel. Subscribe and turn on notifications for every new episode. Join the Conversation: Follow @thedevilwithinpod and send your stories, sightings and tips to info@eviocreative.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
(9-17-2026) Mike and cohost, singer-songwriter Chloe Penny welcomed Gene Loveland to ConversationsRadio Ep.230. Gene is a Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter whose songs live at the intersection of grit, grace, redemption, and real life. Drawing from a lifetime of experiences both on and off the stage, Gene writes songs that blend honest storytelling with emotional depth. Whether he's telling the story of a husband facing a life-changing medical diagnosis, reflecting on the roads that led him away from home, or finding hope in life's messiest chapters, his goal is simple: write songs that make people feel seen. In recent years, Gene's songwriting has gained growing recognition. His song "Grace in the Mess" was named a Semi-Finalist in the International Songwriting Competition and earned an Honorable Mention in American Songwriter's Lyric Contest. His song "No More One Days" was selected as a finalist in a Nashville Songwriters Association International chapter competition. As both a solo acoustic performer and active collaborator, Gene continues to split his time between Los Angeles and Nashville, building relationships within the songwriting community and expanding his catalog through co-writing and recording. His music reflects a belief that even in life's hardest seasons, there is always a story worth telling and a reason to keep moving forward. Whether performing in a writer's round, sharing a stripped-down acoustic song, or crafting a lyric in the early morning hours before work, Gene writes with the same purpose: to create honest songs about real people, real struggles, and the hope that carries us through them. Check out GeneLoveland.com for links to his music and upcoming shows! Follow Gene on Instagram @geneloveland Enjoy the Podcast!
Chris Welsh and Andrew Erickson answer your biggest Week 2 fantasy football trade questions, starting with the latest injury news before breaking down buy-low opportunities like Colston Loveland, Garrett Wilson and Terry McLaurin. The guys tackle blockbuster deals involving Christian McCaffrey, Chase Brown, Jameer Gibbs, Kenneth Walker III, Nico Collins, Brock Bowers, Malik Nabers and Puka Nacua while explaining when roster construction should outweigh pure player value. Plus, get panic checks on Jaylen Waddle and A.J. Brown, rapid-fire trade verdicts, late injury fallout and advice on De'Von Achane, James Cook, Justin Jefferson, Ja'Marr Chase and more before setting your Week 2 lineup Timestamps: (May be off due to ads) Intro - 0:00:00 George Pickens for DJ Moore + Colston Loveland? - 0:02:12 Why Colston Loveland is a top buy-low target - 0:02:31 Jalen Coker for Dalton Kincaid or Sam LaPorta? - 0:04:21 Hampton, Jaylen Waddle & Burden panic meter - 0:07:20 Trading for an injured Brock Bowers - 0:08:27 Chris Godwin, Dontayvion Wicks & Week 2 lineup calls - 0:09:39 Trading Mike Evans for Javonte Williams - 0:10:13 Waiver pickups + Week 2 roster decisions - 0:14:21 Garrett Wilson for Christian Watson? - 0:16:45 More Omarion Hampton trade offers - 0:18:27 CMC + Travis Kelce for Chase Brown + Colston Loveland - 0:19:34 Waiver-wire stash discussion - 0:21:23 Omarion Hampton for Nico Collins - 0:23:02 Zay Flowers/Chase Brown vs. Ladd McConkey/James Cook - 0:23:24 Drake London as a buy-low target - 0:24:35 Dynasty trade: Kyren Williams vs. young RB value - 0:27:04 Nico Collins, Christian Watson & flex decisions - 0:28:33 Terry McLaurin emerges as a strong buy low - 0:29:27 Brock Bowers vs. Malik Nabers trade value - 0:30:26 A.J. Brown + Saquon Barkley trade debate - 0:31:59 What would it take to trade Puka Nacua? - 0:32:44 CMC trade value and Ashton Jeanty - 0:33:32 Jameer Gibbs for Kenneth Walker III + Nico Collins - 0:34:38 Lightning round begins - 0:37:55 DeVonta Smith, Loveland & De'Von Achane trades - 0:38:05 CeeDee Lamb and more rapid-fire deals - 0:39:04 Dalton Kincaid vs. Sam LaPorta - 0:40:11 Breaking injury news + fantasy fallout - 0:41:32 Justin Herbert vs. Brock Purdy - 0:41:49 Kenneth Walker + Ladd for Justin Jefferson + Bucky Irving - 0:42:15 Should you trade Ja'Marr Chase? - 0:42:53 Turning WR depth into a running back upgrade - 0:43:39 Bijan Robinson trade discussion - 0:44:36 What should managers do with A.J. Brown? - 0:45:06 Best WR stash after the latest injuries - 0:45:33 Jaylen Waddle panic meter - 0:46:22 What to do with De'Von Achane - 0:47:30 De'Von Achane for James Cook? - 0:49:06 Helpful Links: Polymarket - Polymarket is giving you a $50 bonus when you deposit just $10. Sign up right now with promo code FPPOD at https://app.polymarket.us/S8ac/FPPOD. 18+ Only. Restrictions and eligibility requirements apply. Not available in all jurisdictions. Trading is risky. 100% loss can occur. See http://polymarket.com/tos for more information. The Polymarket US App serves as an independent software provider and affiliate of Polymarket US and Polymarket Clearing, the CFTC-regulated exchange and clearing organization. Draft Wizard - Dominate your fantasy football draft with Draft Wizard. Run fast mock drafts, test different strategies, build custom cheat sheets, get pick-by-pick draft advice, and learn your leaguemates' tendencies before draft day. Just download the FantasyPros App or head to fantasypros.com/draftwizard Start Your Free FantasyPros Premium Trial - https://www.fantasypros.com/free/ -Get three days free to unlock premium draft tools, rankings, analysis, and personalized advice. 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THE DEVIL WITHIN THE NEW MONSTERS: THE BUNNY MAN Episode Three: Midnight at the Overpass By the 1990s, everybody in Northern Virginia seemed to know the rules. Drive out to Bunny Man Bridge after dark. Wait until midnight. Turn off the headlights. Say his name three times. Maybe get out of the car. Maybe come on Halloween. Nobody could agree on exactly how you summoned the Bunny Man, but that hardly mattered. Because everybody agreed that if you stayed beneath that railroad bridge long enough, something would happen. In the final chapter of our three-part investigation into The Bunny Man, we follow one of America's strangest urban legends through its most important transformation. What began with two reported encounters with a rabbit-costumed stranger in Fairfax County in October 1970 eventually became something teenagers could actually participate in. This week, we head back beneath the railroad tracks outside Clifton, Virginia, during an era when American suburbia was developing some very particular nightmares of its own. Stranger danger was reshaping childhood. Parents inspected Halloween candy for razor blades and poison. The Satanic Panic warned that secret cults might be hiding behind otherwise ordinary American life, while a new generation of slasher movies discovered that the safest-looking suburbs made particularly effective places for monsters. The Bunny Man fit right in. His rabbit costume corrupted something associated with childhood innocence. His axe gave him the silhouette of a horror villain. Better still, you didn't need to travel into some remote wilderness to find him. You needed a car, a few friends and enough nerve to drive into the woods. Folklorists call it legend tripping: traveling to a supposedly haunted place specifically to test the story. Haunted railroad crossings, Crybaby Bridges, cemeteries, abandoned houses and mirrors capable of summoning Bloody Mary all operate on variations of the same brilliant idea. They don't merely give you a monster to believe in. They give you something to do. Bunny Man Bridge became one of those places. Every group of teenagers who drove beneath the tracks created another opportunity for reality to misbehave. A deer moving through the woods became a person. A branch became a weapon. A reflection became a pair of eyes. Then a freight train thundered overhead, somebody screamed, and by Monday morning four people remembered the same ten seconds four different ways. Then the internet arrived. The Bunny Man had spent decades traveling through newspapers, playgrounds, school buses, parties and word of mouth. Home computers and dial-up connections suddenly removed geography from the equation. The abandoned asylum could be repeated from website to website. An escaped inmate could acquire a name, a biography and a body count. Eventually, repetition itself began impersonating evidence. That makes the Bunny Man an important creature in the evolution of The New Monsters. He wasn't born online like Slender Man, and he wasn't collaboratively constructed on the internet like the Backrooms. The internet didn't create the Bunny Man. It inherited him. But before we leave Fairfax County, we return to the question buried beneath more than half a century of mythology: Who was actually inside the bunny suit? Strip away the asylum. Strip away the escaped inmates, mutilated rabbits, murders and supernatural bridge rituals, and two reported incidents remain. In October 1970, witnesses described a rabbit-costumed figure carrying weapons and angrily complaining about trespassing. During the first encounter, a hatchet reportedly came through the window of a car. Ten days later, a similarly dressed person was reportedly encountered near an unfinished house, again armed and again furious about trespassers. Was it an elaborate Halloween prank that escalated? An attempt to frighten people away from private property? Someone angry about the relentless development transforming Fairfax County around him? All are possibilities. None is an answer. More than half a century later, the person beneath those rabbit ears remains unidentified. And perhaps that's why the Bunny Man survives so well. Remove the supernatural mythology and the story doesn't become ordinary. The strange part was there from the beginning. A newspaper story became a playground story. The playground story acquired a bridge. The bridge acquired an asylum. The asylum acquired escaped inmates and murders. Teenagers turned the bridge into a pilgrimage site, and eventually the internet gathered every version into a sprawling digital mythology. No single person created the Bunny Man we know today. Thousands of people did. NEXT TIME ON THE NEW MONSTERS THE LOVELAND FROGMAN Next time, we're heading west to Loveland, Ohio, where another distinctly American monster emerged along the Little Miami River. The story begins with a murky 1955 account involving several short, upright creatures reportedly encountered near the river—one of them, wonderfully, supposedly holding something resembling a wand or metal rod that produced sparks. Then, in March 1972, a Loveland police officer reported encountering a strange leathery animal near the roadway. Another officer would soon encounter something as well. And this time, he shot it. Decades later, that officer would insist the famous Frogman wasn't a monster at all. According to him, he'd encountered a large, tailless iguana, probably someone's escaped exotic pet. That should have killed the legend. It didn't. Next time on The New Monsters: The Loveland Frogman. 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Davis and Jakob Sanderson discuss the Week 2 slate and the dfS impact in this episode of Grinding the Variance. Timestamps: 00:00 - Intro & Week 1 recap 00:25 - CAR/ATL (Bijan, Hubbard/Brooks, Bryce Young, Coker, McMillan) 11:20 - NO/BAL (Ravens WRs, Andrews, Lamar, Henry, Saints pace) 19:03 - MIN/CHI (Caleb vs. Flores, Odunze, Loveland, Burden, Jefferson, Aaron Jones) 29:00 - CIN/HOU (Chase, Burrow, Schultz, Noel, Montgomery) 34:28 - PIT/NE (Metcalf, Freiermuth, TreVeyon Henderson) 39:00 - GB/NYJ (Jets pace, Matthew Golden) 44:18 - CLE/TB (Bucky Irving, Gainwell, Bucs DST) 50:57 - PHI/TEN (Barkley) 52:00 - JAX/DEN (Parker Washington, Waddle, Bo Nix) 57:27 - LV/LAC (Chargers in Survivor, Jeanty, Hampton, Bech) 1:03:28 - SEA/ARI (Michael Wilson, Jadarian Price) 1:05:44 - WAS/DAL (Daniels/McLaurin stacks, Dak, Diggs vs. McLaurin) 1:12:06 - SF/MIA (McCaffrey role, Mike Evans, 49ers stacks) 1:19:42 - Gold star plays & DraftKings lineup build
Fantasy Football show for Sep 16, 2026. Week 2 fantasy football preview! Andy, Mike, and Jason discuss player takes they feel right and wrong about so far. Plus, injury updates, tough fantasy football trade decisions, and a preview of Thursday Night Football between the Lions and Bills. Manage your redraft, keeper, and dynasty fantasy football teams with the #1 fantasy football podcast.JoinTheFoot.com - Get ULTIMATE DASHBOARD access + in-season tools and resources(Timestamps are approximate) (00:00) Intro(07:25) Take Checks(17:40) NFL News(21:05) Thursday Night Breakdown: Lions at Bills(28:35) Mailbag(29:05) Guillotine League Ethics(35:40) Jacobs and Loveland for Bowers?(37:40) Pace of play(39:45) Trade Jadarian Price/George Pickens for CMC/Kaelon Black?(41:55) Waiver priority strategy(46:00) Devonta Smith or Parker Washington rest of season?(47:00) Bailing on a stack(50:00) Mike sucksConnect with the show:Subscribe on YouTubeVisit us on the WebSupport the ShowFollow on XFollow on InstagramJoin our Discord Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Make These Dynasty Trades Before the Season - DynastyDadFF and FFSnoog break down 50+ trades to prepare you for 2026.We PARTNERED WITH UNDERDOG - Use Link https://play.underdogsports.com/vgwg/p-smashyt to get your first deposit 50% matched up to $100Book a LIVE YouTube Team Evaluation with us: https://www.smashacceptff.com/adviceJoin us LIVE every Tuesday at 9:30 PM ET for the Smash Accept Trade Show, where we break down 75+ dynasty trades live from the community and help you make better dynasty decisions.Get access to everything we use:- Team Reviews- Dynasty Rankings- Trade Calculator- Draft Assist- Season Simulator- Expedited Trade Sending Tool- Rookie & Startup Rankings- Discord Community + Trade Advice
CSU is 2-0, scoring points in bunches and suddenly giving Rams fans plenty of reasons to believe. But now comes the real test. Joel and Mike recap a 58-24 rout of Southern Utah that featured 678 yards of offense, another five-touchdown performance from Hauss Hejny and four more takeaways from an increasingly opportunistic defense. They discuss CSU's explosive new offense, Mel Brown's huge night, the team-first culture taking shape under Jim Mora and some defensive concerns that need to be fixed quickly. Then it's on to the biggest test yet: No. 11 BYU comes to a packed Canvas Stadium for a nationally televised showdown on CBS. The guys break down the matchup, what CSU must do to pull the upset, and what a signature win could mean for the trajectory of the Mora era. Why not the Rams?! This RamNation Radio episode is brought to you by Pedersen Toyota, your Local Toyota Dealer Serving Fort Collins, Loveland, Windsor and Timnath for more than 50 years. It is also made possible by Ginger and Baker — our favorite restaurant(s) in all of Fort Collins, and Ram Zone (powered by the CSU Bookstore) — the best place to get all your Ram gear. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Derek Evans managed a $6 billion REIT lending portfolio at Wells Fargo and structured a $3.5 billion bridge loan before joining Realberry as CFO. Now he’s helping guide the Realberry investment strategy through a move from $300 million to over $1 billion in annual deals. Chris Lopez sits down with Derek in studio to unpack how one of Colorado’s most established real estate firms actually decides what to build, what to buy, and what to walk away from. Derek spent 22 years at Wells Fargo before Chad McWhinney recruited him during COVID. His job now is to institutionalize the firm behind Union Station, Dairy Block, and Centerra without losing what made it work in the first place. The Realberry investment strategy is built on conservative leverage and a layered capital stack. Each investor tier fits a different kind of deal, and the firm is opening up a new digital channel to reach accredited investors for the first time. Derek walks through how those pieces fit together. From there, the conversation turns to the investment committee that decides what moves forward. Eight members, one meeting a week, and a voting rule that has ended more Denver metro deals than most investors would guess. Water rights, business climate, and market fundamentals across Colorado, Austin, and Phoenix all shape what gets a green light. Derek closes with where he sees capital moving next: luxury hospitality driven by K-shaped wealth trends, mixed-use in Loveland and Baseline, the firm’s first 55+ for-rent community, and a downtown Denver thesis that still hinges on getting employees back in office seats. In This Episode We Cover: Why Realberry targets 60 to 65% leverage and puts in 5 to 10% GP capital How ultra-high net worth, family office, and institutional capital each fit different deals The two no vote rule that kills any deal at investment committee Why the firm is actively bidding on multifamily in Colorado, Austin, and Phoenix What Derek looks for in luxury hospitality and 55+ for-rent product Why water rights have killed multiple Denver metro deals in the last five years The Realberry investment strategy behind downtown Denver, office-to-resi, and hotel conversions This episode wraps our three-part Realberry series. If you missed the earlier conversations with Chad McWhinney and Taylor Hazlett, go back and start there for the full picture of how the firm thinks about capital, deals, and Colorado. Watch the Youtube Video https://youtu.be/DvQ4uDlSv5Y Timestamps 00:00 Welcome and guest introduction 01:41 Managing a $6 billion REIT lending portfolio at Wells Fargo 04:49 Unsecured vs secured real estate lending (at a larger level*) 06:17 Why Derek left Wells Fargo for Realberry during COVID 08:06 Growing Realberry from $300M to $1B in annual deals 11:55 The Realberry capital stack and conservative leverage 14:45 Ultra-high net worth, family office, and accredited investor tiers 15:55 Institutional capital and the control rights tradeoff 22:19 Inside the Realberry investment committee 37:30 How two no votes kill any deal 28:47 Why Realberry is bidding on multifamily right now 31:54 Colorado, Austin, Phoenix, and Nashville fundamentals 32:25 Legislation, affordability, and Colorado’s business climate 37:11 Placing capital in Colorado 40:47 Water rights and the deals Realberry has killed 44:12 Luxury hospitality and the K-shaped wealth trend 45:29 Downtown Denver and office-to-resi conversions Links in Podcast Realberry Website: https://www.realberry.com Portfolio: https://www.realberry.com/portfolio LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/realberryinvest Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/realberryinvest Investor inquiries: ir@realberry.com Derek Evans LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/derek-evans-051b80a5/ This is the third and final episode in our three-part series with Realberry. If you haven’t caught the first two, start here. Episode 1 — Chad McWhinney, Co-Founder and CEO. Chad walks through the origin story, from a berry stand in Loveland to Union Station and Centerra. He covers 35 years of building in Colorado, how the firm thinks about long-hold capital, and the vision behind the rebrand to Realberry. Episode 2 — Taylor Hazlett, Senior Director of Private Capital. Taylor breaks down how Realberry filters 100 deals to close 2 or 3. He covers the firm’s multifamily underwriting in today’s market, the gap between replacement cost and acquisition pricing, and early signs of recovery across the Front Range. Together, the three episodes give you the founder’s vision, the deal team’s discipline, and the CFO’s capital architecture. That’s the full picture of how Realberry works. Who is Realberry? Realberry, formerly McWhinney, is a Denver-based real estate investment, development, and management firm founded in 1991 by brothers Chad and Troy McWhinney. For nearly 35 years, the firm has focused on creating places people love, with a portfolio spanning master-planned communities, multifamily, hospitality, industrial, and mixed-use developments. Its work includes Denver Union Station, Dairy Block, the Crawford Hotel, and Centerra, and has earned ULI Awards of Excellence, Michelin Keys, and U.S. News Best Hotels recognition. Realberry is family-founded, community-centered, and future-focused.
Adam is joined by Jacob and Dan to recap Week 1 around the NFL, starting with the Giants win over the Cowboys with a closer look at Isaiah Likely, CeeDee Lamb and more (3:01). The guys reveal their biggest Week 1 winners (18:52), Adam covers the latest injury news (22:18), and we dive into the early trend of offenses going under center (25:45), before discussing Jalen Coker's strong performance (32:14). The crew then hits the worry-o-meter for Colston Loveland after his zero-point outing despite the Bears offensive explosion (48:40). Finally, Jacob breaks down the players he is and isn't worried about (54:33), including Davante Adams, Travis Etienne, De'Von Achane, plus the Chargers offense. Before you overreact, find out what these Week 1 results mean for fantasy football moving forward!Fantasy Football Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever else you listen to podcastsWatch FFT on YouTube
Adam is joined by Jacob and Dan to recap Week 1 around the NFL, starting with the Giants win over the Cowboys with a closer look at Isaiah Likely, CeeDee Lamb and more (3:01). The guys reveal their biggest Week 1 winners (18:52), Adam covers the latest injury news (22:18), and we dive into the early trend of offenses going under center (25:45), before discussing Jalen Coker's strong performance (32:14). The crew then hits the worry-o-meter for Colston Loveland after his zero-point outing despite the Bears offensive explosion (48:40). Finally, Jacob breaks down the players he is and isn't worried about (54:33), including Davante Adams, Travis Etienne, De'Von Achane, plus the Chargers offense. Before you overreact, find out what these Week 1 results mean for fantasy football moving forward!Fantasy Football Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever else you listen to podcastsWatch FFT on YouTube
The Storm Skiing Journal and Podcast is going to cover Midwestern skiing whether you like it or not. Don't worry, Colorad-Bro, it's your turn tomorrow.Welcome to the Storm's short-form, news-focused podcast. Don't worry, I will still write newsletters too. To browse a (robot-generated) podcast transcript, click the “transcript” button above - click on any block of text and the audio will jump to that point in the conversation. Paid subscribers can leave a comment in the article below, or by joining The Storm's chat (also below). I'll respond to some comments in the next episode, which is scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 15.The Zoom transcript (click “transcript” above for the Substack transcript, which will zoom to any point in the video when you click on the associated text block; timestamps below DO NOT MATCH THE VIDEO)Stuart Winchester: Welcome to the Storm! I'm your host, Stuart Winchester. It is Monday, September 14th, 2026. Welcome to week two of the New Look Storm Skiing Podcast. If you missed last week, I am still doing the longer form pod.00:15:53.000 --> 00:16:08.000Stuart Winchester: But I'm cutting way back on the frequency of those. Instead, I am doing a shorter, news-focused pod that I release more often, and whenever possible, that I release the same day that I record it.00:16:08.000 --> 00:16:11.000Stuart Winchester: And the reason that I'm doing that is because…00:16:11.000 --> 00:16:19.000Stuart Winchester: the world has changed a lot since 2019, when I launched the Storm Skiing podcast, and when I launched it, there really wasn't anything quite like…00:16:19.000 --> 00:16:26.000Stuart Winchester: what I was doing with the long-form audio stories of a ski area's background.00:16:27.000 --> 00:16:29.000Stuart Winchester: I've done a couple hundred episodes at this point.00:16:29.000 --> 00:16:31.000Stuart Winchester: I feel like…00:16:31.000 --> 00:16:47.000Stuart Winchester: They're evergreen. But what they don't allow me to do is to really talk about what's happening in a ski area right now. Uh Especially when there's a lot of things happening and there's a lot of pieces and parts shuffling around as there is right now in the Midwest.00:16:47.000 --> 00:16:51.000Stuart Winchester: with multi-mountain passes. So, what I'm doing…00:16:51.000 --> 00:17:06.000Stuart Winchester: is I'm trying out a little bit of a new format today. The format… we're gonna experiment, we're gonna play around with it. Sometimes there'll be a guest off the top, sometimes I'll have a take off the top, uh, sometimes I'll have a guest on for a longer period, and that's gonna be the case today.00:17:06.000 --> 00:17:22.000Stuart Winchester: Because right now there is so much happening in the Midwest with multi mountain passes and different mountains leaving and joining is completely changing the landscape there. So I want to bring in someone to talk to us at length about that. We'll do a couple other fun things as well.00:17:22.000 --> 00:17:24.000Stuart Winchester: Let's bring…00:17:25.000 --> 00:17:27.000Stuart Winchester: I'm in now.00:17:32.000 --> 00:17:35.000Stuart Winchester: And there he is. Can you hear me, Matthew?00:17:32.000 --> 00:17:34.000Matthew Zabransky: Hey, how's it going, Stuart?00:17:34.000 --> 00:17:36.000Matthew Zabransky: I can.00:17:35.000 --> 00:17:41.000Stuart Winchester: Oh, I can't hear you. All right. This is a flub, and this is why I haven't heard her.00:17:40.000 --> 00:17:41.000Matthew Zabransky: Thank you.00:17:42.000 --> 00:17:45.000Stuart Winchester: Because I am not that smart.00:17:46.000 --> 00:17:49.000Stuart Winchester: Okay, you there?00:17:48.000 --> 00:17:50.000Matthew Zabransky: Can you hear me?00:17:49.000 --> 00:17:52.000Stuart Winchester: Oh, yes, I can. Look at that.00:17:50.000 --> 00:17:54.000Matthew Zabransky: Okay, perfect.00:17:52.000 --> 00:18:07.000Stuart Winchester: The technology known as headphones. Matthew, this is why you're the production guy, and I generally stick to writing, because I'm an idiot. Alright, I want to introduce today the founder of MidwestSkiers.com.00:18:07.000 --> 00:18:13.000Stuart Winchester: He founded that in 2018, and in 2020, founded MWS Productions.00:18:13.000 --> 00:18:29.000Stuart Winchester: He is making all the Midwest content that I was dying for in the 1990s when I was a teenager living and skiing in Michigan, and the ski mags would completely ignore the region and maybe mention Boyne Mountain or Luton once per year, but he makes.00:18:19.000 --> 00:18:20.000Matthew Zabransky: Okay.00:18:29.000 --> 00:18:38.000Stuart Winchester: Top quality content. I link to it all the time in my stuff because no one else quite does it, as well as Matthew Zabranski. Matthew, welcome to The Storm. How you doing today?00:18:37.000 --> 00:18:56.000Matthew Zabransky: I am doing fantastic. Stuart, thank you, first of all, for the opportunity, but more importantly, for also repping the Midwest. I think it's such an important, obviously, region, and you have ties to it, I obviously have ties to it as well, so it's great that we're getting recognition, not only, obviously, in our region now, but on the national, even international scale, so…00:18:56.000 --> 00:19:00.000Matthew Zabransky: Thank you so much for doing that. I appreciate it. I'm excited to be here.00:18:59.000 --> 00:19:08.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, I love covering the Midwest, Matthew, and I still make it a point to go back and take a Midwest trip every year, because there's…00:19:00.000 --> 00:19:01.000Matthew Zabransky: Thank you.00:19:08.000 --> 00:19:27.000Stuart Winchester: when I'm doing this podcast, there's nothing quite like making relationships, like showing up at, you know, a 200 vertical foothill in the boondocks in Minnesota. People are like, okay, I'll talk to this guy, even though, you know, I've never heard of him. So, but you are 100% Midwest-focused. I cover it where I can and whenever I can.00:19:20.000 --> 00:19:21.000Matthew Zabransky: Mm-hmm.00:19:25.000 --> 00:19:26.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah.00:19:27.000 --> 00:19:37.000Stuart Winchester: There is so much happening in the Midwest that we could talk about. I really want to focus today on multi-mountain passes. So…00:19:32.000 --> 00:19:34.000Matthew Zabransky: Okay.00:19:36.000 --> 00:19:37.000Matthew Zabransky: Mm-hmm.00:19:37.000 --> 00:19:53.000Stuart Winchester: I'll start by, I'll just set this up and then I'll, and then I'll, I'll let you comment on it. So if you go back about 10 years, there was nothing in the Midwest on multi mountain passes. You know, Vale had started to add a few things to Epic Pass and B Brighton and Afton Alps and Wilmot and such.00:19:53.000 --> 00:20:03.000Stuart Winchester: But the real inflection point came in 2019, when IndiePass came along. 2018, Icon added a couple things. So, right now, I'll give you some stats.00:20:03.000 --> 00:20:09.000Stuart Winchester: Of the 124 ski areas that I have inventoried in the Midwest, that you might have a different count.00:20:08.000 --> 00:20:10.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah.00:20:09.000 --> 00:20:15.000Stuart Winchester: They're 117 of those are public. 89 of those are public with aerial lifts.00:20:15.000 --> 00:20:28.000Stuart Winchester: 58 of those, although there's a couple that are just surface toes only, so 58 ski areas in the Midwest are now on a national multi-mountain ski pass. 10 on Epic.00:20:28.000 --> 00:20:32.000Stuart Winchester: 11 on Icon, 37 for Indy. So, so to start out with, Matthew.00:20:32.000 --> 00:20:34.000Stuart Winchester: How has…00:20:34.000 --> 00:20:47.000Stuart Winchester: the acceptance of the Midwest by multi-mountain national passes change the calculus for skiers as they're planning out their winter in the Midwest, compared to what it was for most of history up until just a few years ago?00:20:47.000 --> 00:21:02.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah, it's changed dramatically. It's even going back a little bit further. I think the first initial, if you look at the statistics and you obviously know all this offhand, but back when you go back to Vail's acquisition of Wilmont, Afton.00:21:02.000 --> 00:21:19.000Matthew Zabransky: Brighton back in like 2012. I mean, that's really what started to to kick off this like idea of like. Maybe the Midwest has some legs in it, as far as like developing skiers, and then, you know, bringing them into a pass portfolio that could bring them out west. So that was the very early set, you know, early iteration of this. And then, obviously, as we went along, there wasn't.00:21:19.000 --> 00:21:37.000Matthew Zabransky: too many options outside of just the epic pass. But then, like you mentioned, Indie Pass came in, and I knew, and it's you know, as we dive into this, I do want to do a little disclosure here, and like Indie Pass was my very 1st client from a production side of things. So Doug and I, because I I saw the opportunity like there was an absolute gold mine here. I'm like.00:21:31.000 --> 00:21:32.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:21:32.000 --> 00:21:33.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:21:37.000 --> 00:21:55.000Matthew Zabransky: Because I got to travel around, that's why I started MidwestGears.com, because we were… we were traveling for my wife's job all over the Midwest, and every time we'd go to a new city, Columbus, Akron, I'd be a pass holder at one of these little ski areas, and I'd be like, holy crap, there's a lot of them here, no one's talking about them.00:21:55.000 --> 00:22:15.000Matthew Zabransky: But you know, once you start to realize there was this many, then you're then you're starting to think, okay, like, why isn't somebody coming in here and starting to develop a past that could actually stand on its own. And that's what we've seen the last, I would say, 5 to 10 years. Specifically, we've seen more people traveling around in the Midwest. You'll catch people at any stereo across the Midwest. That's not their home hill, and that's not how it used.00:22:15.000 --> 00:22:27.000Matthew Zabransky: you go ski or one little local place for the most part, you might do your weekend trip up to Boyne or something, but you would never catch people going to some of these really small places, you know, outside of just the local crew there, so it's been really cool to watch people.00:22:27.000 --> 00:22:45.000Matthew Zabransky: travel and discover, more importantly, the different areas, uh, throughout the Midwest. I think a lot of that had to do with IndyPass's push in the Midwest, because, as we're gonna talk about here in a second, it was an absolute auto-buy. Like, there was not even a question about it. From the day it started, when it was, you know, what was that, $99?00:22:45.000 --> 00:23:02.000Matthew Zabransky: up until even just the last year. It was like you almost just were gonna if you lived in the Midwest, and you like skiing, and you don't. You know you like traveling around checking out new things. There was no reason not to buy it. You'd be silly, basically not to, just because how much saturation there was in the Midwest, which I think is going to lead us into our next conversation a little bit here.00:23:02.000 --> 00:23:04.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, so, so the…00:23:04.000 --> 00:23:15.000Stuart Winchester: Just being on the ground, before we get to the shuffling around, you know, I'd imagine you're pretty connected with a lot of pretty hardcore skiers, pretty frequent skiers.00:23:11.000 --> 00:23:13.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah.00:23:15.000 --> 00:23:17.000Stuart Winchester: How much has…00:23:17.000 --> 00:23:24.000Stuart Winchester: that a… a season… a multi-mountain pass becomes something that the person in the Midwest just…00:23:24.000 --> 00:23:40.000Stuart Winchester: considers or, or automatically buys it as compared to several years ago where you might buy your local season pass, but, but you, you probably, like you said, you wouldn't go around. And when I lived in the Midwest, actually, I always appreciated how close the areas were, so I would just kind of bounce around a lot for.00:23:34.000 --> 00:23:36.000Matthew Zabransky: Mm-hmm.00:23:40.000 --> 00:23:46.000Stuart Winchester: for deal days or whatever, back when those were still a thing. But how automatic has it become?00:23:41.000 --> 00:23:42.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah.00:23:46.000 --> 00:24:01.000Matthew Zabransky: Very. I mean, there's people that have been buying the IndyPass specifically now. Up until this season, it was like they were probably on their fifth year of doing it and just continue to. And to be honest, there wasn't any reason not to because the pricing has stayed relatively affordable.00:24:01.000 --> 00:24:17.000Matthew Zabransky: they keep they kept strengthening their pro, their their product. I mean, like they just kept adding more ski areas in the Midwest. And so in in a lot of times the pass would pay itself off within a couple of visits based off of some of the redemption rates that you'd be getting at some somewhere like Lutz and Snow River.00:24:17.000 --> 00:24:34.000Matthew Zabransky: um, those are all, like, you know, $100 tickets, so you buy… you go there once or twice, you get two days of each of them, and basically that's already done. So if you already had one of those trips kind of on there, and if you lived in Chicago, you're going to Granite Peak usually once or twice a year. If you lived in Minnesota, you're going to Lutz.00:24:34.000 --> 00:24:52.000Matthew Zabransky: So it almost became this thing. And then you shuffle in like nubs, knob, and all that. So it it very much was like, yeah, we're gonna buy it every single year, you know, we might not. And some people are hardcore and going to all the places they could. And some people were just, you know. Hey? I'm gonna buy it because I'm gonna go for a weekend, so I might as well. And then I have this option of going some other places.00:24:46.000 --> 00:24:47.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:24:52.000 --> 00:25:03.000Matthew Zabransky: it was huge. I mean, I don't… of course, I don't have any of the IndyPass numbers, but I would… I would venture to say that the Midwest had to be a very big portion of their portfolio from the sales and redemption standpoint.00:25:03.000 --> 00:25:20.000Stuart Winchester: So the traditional numbers that Indy has given me, and it's been a couple years since Doug Fish provided these round numbers to me, but he told me about half of their sales came in New England, and 25% came in the Midwest, which is a really big number for a national pass. So you figured the other quarter were coming from somewhere else.00:25:04.000 --> 00:25:05.000Matthew Zabransky: Thank you.00:25:15.000 --> 00:25:16.000Matthew Zabransky: Cool.00:25:17.000 --> 00:25:19.000Matthew Zabransky: For… yeah.00:25:20.000 --> 00:25:25.000Stuart Winchester: I always give Doug Fish credit, because he's a Pacific Northwest guy, and…00:25:25.000 --> 00:25:40.000Stuart Winchester: Western skiers just love to hate on the Midwest. Everyone loves to hate on the Midwest. It's like the national pastime. It's like the safe thing to make fun of, and you know, I hope you take that personally, because I always do, and I really appreciated that Doug.00:25:30.000 --> 00:25:32.000Matthew Zabransky: Is…00:25:37.000 --> 00:25:38.000Matthew Zabransky: I do.00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:55.000Stuart Winchester: Included the Midwest from the start. That first year in 2019, he had Little Switz, he had Crystal, he had Cabre Fay, he had a bunch of other ski areas. Really got big in 2020 when he added Lutzen and Granite Peak. Now, I always say his insight was…00:25:44.000 --> 00:25:45.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah.00:25:55.000 --> 00:26:02.000Stuart Winchester: that Doug's great insight with the IndyPass was realizing there was value in the mountains that are not.00:26:02.000 --> 00:26:08.000Stuart Winchester: super destinations when you put them all together for skiers across the country. He also…00:26:05.000 --> 00:26:07.000Matthew Zabransky: Mm-hmm.00:26:08.000 --> 00:26:23.000Stuart Winchester: the fact that he extended that to the Midwest is huge, because, yes, I… so, before Icon started adding in into the Midwest, which we'll talk about in a minute, I would always say, Indy Pass is the pass to go to in the Midwest, no one else has anything, and everyone would always say, oh, wait, Epic has 10 mountains. I was like.00:26:14.000 --> 00:26:16.000Matthew Zabransky: Thank you.00:26:17.000 --> 00:26:18.000Matthew Zabransky: Okay.00:26:23.000 --> 00:26:34.000Stuart Winchester: But the Midwest is gigantic. Unless you live in Ohio, they're very spread out, and they're near cities, and there are actually mountains in the Midwest that are more…00:26:34.000 --> 00:26:44.000Stuart Winchester: of, of what you would consider, like, regional destinations. And that, that's your Boyne, Nubs, Lutsen, uh, even, even Spira with the bigger, uh, all the stuff over in the UP.00:26:37.000 --> 00:26:38.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah.00:26:44.000 --> 00:26:57.000Stuart Winchester: So Indy really collected them all together, and it was almost too good to be true, because they had over 40 ski areas in the Midwest. Talk about Indy at its peak.00:26:57.000 --> 00:27:02.000Stuart Winchester: And how great of a pass that was for the Midwest here.00:26:58.000 --> 00:26:59.000Matthew Zabransky: Okay.00:27:00.000 --> 00:27:17.000Matthew Zabransky: It was too great. We're going to get into this, I'm sure, but I think that's part of the reason for the course correction. There was a moment two or three years ago when I literally turned to Nick, my associate who edits for me and stuff, and I said, with some of the additions they announced at that time, I said.00:27:05.000 --> 00:27:06.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:27:17.000 --> 00:27:33.000Matthew Zabransky: this is too saturated like it's got to fix itself at some point like it's just. It's too good of a value, and like for skiers, we like anybody that was buying the passes like this is amazing. It makes it like again. It's an auto buy like, why wouldn't you do this? But I knew that this time was going to come at some point. But I'm you know, at least we got to.00:27:18.000 --> 00:27:20.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah.00:27:33.000 --> 00:27:50.000Matthew Zabransky: to see what it like. The peak of that was for a little while. We got a couple of years. We've got to be happy for that, to be honest. We're starting to see some of those what I'll call course corrections now and and we're going to continue to see this. I mean, you know that every every year it's going to be something new. Someone's changing. It's just kind of the nature of the business. But.00:27:50.000 --> 00:28:02.000Matthew Zabransky: it was not a shock to me when, um, when these changes were announced, uh, both in the spring and then more recently in the last few weeks and stuff, so it wasn't… I kind of saw it coming, it was just a matter of, like, when was it gonna happen.00:28:02.000 --> 00:28:14.000Stuart Winchester: So everyone left… they seemed as though… Epic and Icon seemed like they were just leaving the Midwest to Indy, to take. And I've always thought that Icon's original sin was when they killed the Max Pass.00:28:06.000 --> 00:28:08.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah.00:28:14.000 --> 00:28:15.000Matthew Zabransky: Mm-hmm.00:28:14.000 --> 00:28:30.000Stuart Winchester: And launched the Icon Pass. They brought all the Powder Mountains, all the Boyne Mountains, uh, all the Intra West Mountains, but they didn't bring Granite Peak and Lutzen, which are the biggest ski areas or most modern, however, whatever metric you want to use in Minnesota and, and Wisconsin.00:28:26.000 --> 00:28:27.000Matthew Zabransky: Yep.00:28:30.000 --> 00:28:31.000Stuart Winchester: So…00:28:31.000 --> 00:28:46.000Stuart Winchester: for a long time, Indy just built up this huge coalition. Started to see some cracks last year. Icon had just two mountains, Boyne Mountain and Boyne Highlands, and honestly, and Boyne has never affirmed this to me, but my hunch is, Boyne said, include our mountains or you don't get Big Sky.00:28:39.000 --> 00:28:40.000Matthew Zabransky: Yep.00:28:46.000 --> 00:28:48.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah, yeah.00:28:46.000 --> 00:29:01.000Stuart Winchester: So, so, Icon was like, okay, I guess we'll add these stupid little things. Uh, which is not my opinion of them, but I think that's probably what they thought from Colorado, which is why they dropped Lutzen and Granite Peak. So, last year, we started to see the first crack in Indy's armor.00:28:52.000 --> 00:28:55.000Matthew Zabransky: I was like, don't do that.00:29:01.000 --> 00:29:02.000Matthew Zabransky: Mm.00:29:01.000 --> 00:29:12.000Stuart Winchester: when the Icon Pass… they call them bonus mountains, I call them two-day mountains, because that's what they are. If you have an Icon Pass, you get two days of these mountains. Uh, Buck Hill, Minnesota.00:29:06.000 --> 00:29:07.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah.00:29:12.000 --> 00:29:27.000Stuart Winchester: Uh joined the icon pass as a two day mountain, which for the listeners, that's no, you get no base pass access, you only get full icon access and there are holiday blackouts. So that's what the two day tier is. They added Buck Hill. Uh Indy said, no, you're not allowed to do that. Remove Buck Hill.00:29:27.000 --> 00:29:30.000Stuart Winchester: Uh, which is a great little, uh, you know.00:29:30.000 --> 00:29:34.000Stuart Winchester: kind of trainer hill outside of the Twin Cities.00:29:34.000 --> 00:29:40.000Stuart Winchester: And every square inch is used with very maximum effect. So Indy removed them.00:29:40.000 --> 00:29:53.000Stuart Winchester: Buck Hill has been on Icon, and that was sort of the first… when you first saw that, did you think, okay, here we go, Icon is finally starting to realize the value of the Midwest, and if not, what was the moment that you did think that they got it?00:29:53.000 --> 00:30:09.000Matthew Zabransky: I would, you know, the whole time I've been shaking my head a little bit because it's just ironic to me that Boeing, Boeing, one of the biggest companies in, you know, that started in the Midwest, that literally has its roots here. And I'm just shocked that Icon hasn't.00:30:09.000 --> 00:30:26.000Matthew Zabransky: made this push earlier, and it took this long. But that was like the 1st that was the 1st like mention of that. And the other connection that was really kind of just crazy to me is, there's so many people from the twin cities that go to Big Sky like a lot like you talk to people all over the place. They have cabins up there. They.00:30:23.000 --> 00:30:24.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, so. Yeah.00:30:26.000 --> 00:30:27.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:30:26.000 --> 00:30:42.000Matthew Zabransky: They're traveling there all the time. It's a huge destination for specifically for Minnesota, it seems. So I was always thinking, man, like if they were just to strengthen this pass a little bit in the Midwest, give somebody a reason to, to jump on to the icon pass. They're probably going out to Big Sky anyway.00:30:42.000 --> 00:30:57.000Matthew Zabransky: now all of a sudden, you give them another reason to buy the full pass, you got some… some more local hills, some day… like, weekend trips, you can go up to Lutzen, things like that, and I think that's when… when Lutzen and those guys came on, that was, like, full-blown, that's gonna… that changes everything. Like, everything.00:30:57.000 --> 00:31:14.000Matthew Zabransky: As you know, the lake, Lake Michigan, is a huge divider for the eastern and the western side of what I'll call the Midwest. Basically, if you're on the eastern side of the lake, you're kind of going to stick to mostly your lower peninsula, maybe go up to the UP occasionally. But if you're on the western side over here, in the Minneapolis.00:31:14.000 --> 00:31:31.000Matthew Zabransky: Um, there was really no offerings for Icon, so it really made no sense at that point to buy an Icon Pass. You know, maybe Chicago, you drive up to Boeing, but you're kind of on that cusp there, where it's like, mmm… but I think once they strengthened it this past year, now it's like… it's a fair fight, in my opinion. Now we're.00:31:31.000 --> 00:31:46.000Matthew Zabransky: You know, which one is gonna make more sense for you, or your situation, which it was not, it didn't used to be that way, it just, there was never an opportunity for most people that were on this side of the lake, or in Minneapolis. Sometimes it didn't make sense, unless you're going out to, you know, Big Sky for a week and a half, it, you know.00:31:47.000 --> 00:31:50.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, so just a little background for the listeners.00:31:48.000 --> 00:31:49.000Matthew Zabransky: Mm.00:31:50.000 --> 00:31:52.000Stuart Winchester: Boyne Mountain and and.00:31:52.000 --> 00:32:08.000Stuart Winchester: what they call the Highlands at Harbor Springs. I'll call it Boyne Highlands because no one knows what I'm talking about when I say the Highlands. So Boyne and Boyne Highlands are two of the nicer ski areas, more built up ski areas in Michigan, and they were long on Icon. Uh, Lutzen and Granite Peak.00:31:55.000 --> 00:31:58.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah, this…00:32:06.000 --> 00:32:07.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah.00:32:08.000 --> 00:32:14.000Stuart Winchester: that, uh, Midwest Family Ski Resorts, which owns Lutzen and Granite Peak, bought, immediately took.00:32:14.000 --> 00:32:25.000Stuart Winchester: four old riblet lifts, put in a high-speed six-pack, the first one in the UP. So, those three ski areas had been indie anchors in the Midwest for years.00:32:23.000 --> 00:32:24.000Matthew Zabransky: Okay.00:32:25.000 --> 00:32:30.000Stuart Winchester: This year, for 2026-27 winter, they're going as 5-7 day…00:32:30.000 --> 00:32:42.000Stuart Winchester: mountains each on Icon and Icon Base, and so they are leaving the Indy Pass as a result of that. Now, Icon has also added some more two-day mountains. I'm gonna put those to the side for a second.00:32:40.000 --> 00:32:42.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah.00:32:42.000 --> 00:32:50.000Stuart Winchester: How big of a loss was Lutsen and Granite Peak and Snow River for Indy Pass in the Midwest?00:32:51.000 --> 00:33:06.000Matthew Zabransky: It's it's an easy question. I mean the answer just like, go look at the comments on the thread when it was announced, and you could just read how an impactful it was. And I think that was my argument when people started talking about like, Oh, they're you know, hey? Like they're leaving. They're leaving us in the dust, and we we don't like them anymore.00:33:07.000 --> 00:33:29.000Matthew Zabransky: It's probably justified. If you guys are this upset about them leaving, it means they probably had a little more leverage than they should have in that past portfolio. And I think it to that. And again, I don't know that it needs, like, a passion never be so strong, in my opinion. And I'm talking about the business side of things. You're not talking about the skier. Trust me, if I was, like, just skiing Matthew, put my skiing thing on, I'd be like, yeah, absolutely.00:33:10.000 --> 00:33:12.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah.00:33:24.000 --> 00:33:25.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah.00:33:26.000 --> 00:33:28.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah.00:33:29.000 --> 00:33:49.000Matthew Zabransky: Uh, but from the business side, as an area owner, operator, you gotta look at it, like, what kind of value are we getting back out of this pass? Are we the ones carrying your product? Like, that's the other thing to think about, too, right? We don't… you don't always necessarily want to be the top dog in the pass lineup. Sometimes it works well, sometimes it doesn't. Uh, and in this case, I think that they…00:33:49.000 --> 00:33:56.000Matthew Zabransky: they were carrying that pass line up, and I think nothing speaks more to the volumes of how upset people were when they came off of the pass.00:33:56.000 --> 00:34:00.000Stuart Winchester: So we're… I've kind of looked at this as it's…00:34:00.000 --> 00:34:12.000Stuart Winchester: sucks for Indy, it's probably good for the consumer in the long run, because, like you said, you never want too much market concentration, so now you have… you have the Snow Pass coming up, which is… which is Snow Partners in two days…00:34:04.000 --> 00:34:05.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah.00:34:12.000 --> 00:34:28.000Stuart Winchester: at each mountain. There's none in the Midwest yet, but I suspect there may be at some point. Right now, they're mostly in the Northeast. And then you have Icon. So, before, I think a lot of people in Michigan probably had Icon, because you could use it for the Boynes, but like you said.00:34:28.000 --> 00:34:44.000Stuart Winchester: if you're not from the Midwest, you're probably just thinking it's like a big square, but there's a lake there, and you can't… I mean, you can take a ferry over it, but it takes all day, right? You have to go to Ludington, and it's like a whole thing, right? So really, you have Michigan, the Lower Peninsula, and then you kind.00:34:32.000 --> 00:34:33.000Matthew Zabransky: Yep.00:34:44.000 --> 00:34:58.000Stuart Winchester: Wisconsin. So, you live on the west side of that, I believe, like, around the Minnesota-Wisconsin line. How immediately did you see people say, okay, well, now, yeah, let's consider Icon that maybe never would have before?00:34:48.000 --> 00:34:49.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah.00:34:59.000 --> 00:35:04.000Matthew Zabransky: I think the original, like, when it first was announced, there was just a lot of, like.00:35:04.000 --> 00:35:17.000Matthew Zabransky: oh man, this sucks. Like, now what? You know, what do we do? Because the initial reaction was like, well, I'm not gonna auto-buy this now, I gotta think about it a little bit more. I'm curious because I haven't… it's still so fresh, to be honest, and I haven't, like.00:35:06.000 --> 00:35:07.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah.00:35:10.000 --> 00:35:12.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah.00:35:17.000 --> 00:35:32.000Matthew Zabransky: but to, like, really figure that question, like, the answer to that question out, but I have… the one thing I have been seeing is a lot more people starting to weigh those options, right? They're starting to look at the passes differently now. Now it's, like, not just, like, we're gonna pick up Indy automatically and, you know, whatever might throw a different pass on there. Now they.00:35:25.000 --> 00:35:26.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:35:32.000 --> 00:35:49.000Matthew Zabransky: think about, how am I using my pass? Am I going up to Lutzen for a weekend or 2? Does it make sense for me to just get an icon pass? Am I a pass holder at Lutzen, and want to add it on now that that's an option, and maybe do an out west trip, or if you're granted peak. So I'm starting to see more people analyzing.00:35:42.000 --> 00:35:44.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah. Okay.00:35:49.000 --> 00:36:03.000Matthew Zabransky: in an area where they haven't before. So I'll be curious to see this upcoming season will be a really good test to kind of figure out, like, where are those numbers starting to shift a little bit. But, um, from my first reaction is I have a feeling that there's gonna be a pretty big drop in IndyPass sales in the Midwest.00:36:03.000 --> 00:36:20.000Matthew Zabransky: For that reasoning. Um, and then I do think there's gonna be a bit of a spike, um, in, in IconPass sales. I don't think it's gonna obviously affect much on the Michigan side, Lower Peninsula side of things. I think that'll stay pretty stable. But I think this side, for sure, this market, Minneapolis specifically, a little bit of Chicago.00:36:20.000 --> 00:36:25.000Matthew Zabransky: Um, but I would expect to see a pretty good little spike in sales on the IconPass side.00:36:25.000 --> 00:36:35.000Stuart Winchester: So, Lutzen and Granite Peak, I think, huge losses for India. Snow River, less so, just because Powderhorn is right next door, and it's kind of the same size, and it's, you know, gets the same s.00:36:29.000 --> 00:36:30.000Matthew Zabransky: Mm.00:36:30.000 --> 00:36:32.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah.00:36:35.000 --> 00:36:53.000Stuart Winchester: Continued building by Icon after that announcement, and, and some, and some continued bleeding by Indy. So, so Icon had a Giants Ridge, which is an excellent ski area up in Minnesota. It's, it's kind of in the middle of nowhere, but it's worth it. Uh, Devil's Head, which is a nice, uh, Madison ski area, and then.00:36:44.000 --> 00:36:45.000Matthew Zabransky: Yep.00:36:53.000 --> 00:37:10.000Stuart Winchester: in Michigan left Indy to join the Icon today, so those all joined Icon today. And then Indy also lost Little Switzerland, Nordic Mountain, and Crystal Ridge in Wisconsin. As of now, they are passless. So, you know, those are small ski areas, but they're really important sort of urban.00:37:10.000 --> 00:37:21.000Stuart Winchester: collectors, but do you worry, Matthew, and I'll say, Indy still has 37 ski areas in the Midwest, but do you worry that their coalition is splintering a little bit, starting to fall apart?00:37:16.000 --> 00:37:17.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah.00:37:21.000 --> 00:37:40.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah, a little bit. So I'm going to dance around this as carefully as I can because I have connections with all these owners, operators, and I talk to them on a regular basis, so I kind of know more than I probably should. But I'll try to navigate this the best that I can.00:37:35.000 --> 00:37:36.000Stuart Winchester: Yep.00:37:40.000 --> 00:37:56.000Matthew Zabransky: with… when IndyPass started, Doug Fish and the team did a really nice job of making sure that when they signed a ski area on, that they were being very, very intentional about its location, what… who was serving, and then when they would add another person on, a lot of times they would even approach.00:37:56.000 --> 00:38:04.000Matthew Zabransky: some of the nearby ski areas, and be like, hey, we're adding so-and-so, or making sure that those partnerships were all, you know.00:38:04.000 --> 00:38:22.000Matthew Zabransky: You're not too close where you're starting to monopolize business in different ways. I'll talk a little bit more about this in a second. So that was the approach for many, many years. However, I noticed a pretty big change a handful of years ago when it became more about a statistical difference than building those partnerships and.00:38:22.000 --> 00:38:41.000Matthew Zabransky: making those owners feel valued, if that makes sense. So it was like, okay, how can we just continue to pump numbers, get more? And in that process, what happened was a lot of ski areas in a small geographical area. And why has that caused a lot of issues for owners and operators? Is the idea of the IndyPass was, yeah.00:38:41.000 --> 00:38:50.000Matthew Zabransky: to create value with a portfolio of ski areas across the Midwest to rival that of, like, you know, other multi-mountain passes.00:38:50.000 --> 00:39:06.000Matthew Zabransky: Um, but what some of the owners and operators were starting to see was that instead of skiers buying a season pass at their local ski area, what they would do is buy the Indy Pass, ski two days at the ski area that would have been their local ski area, and then.00:39:01.000 --> 00:39:03.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:39:06.000 --> 00:39:22.000Matthew Zabransky: You know, in some cases, like in the Twin Cities, you have a handful that are within a two hour drive. So then it became this thing of like, oh, we're starting to see RR like personal season passes drop for then people that are using IndiePass redemptions to treat it as if it were basically a season pass.00:39:10.000 --> 00:39:12.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:39:22.000 --> 00:39:40.000Matthew Zabransky: I'm summarizing a lot there. There's a lot, like, to dive into, like, the details, but I can't, unfortunately, go into too much of that. But I think you can probably get the idea of why that was a little bit frustrating for some, um, owners and operators. So they really had to take a deep dive into some of those numbers and start to look at, like.00:39:24.000 --> 00:39:25.000Stuart Winchester: Yes.00:39:25.000 --> 00:39:26.000Stuart Winchester: Okay.00:39:29.000 --> 00:39:30.000Stuart Winchester: Mm-hmm.00:39:40.000 --> 00:39:50.000Matthew Zabransky: Where are these people coming from? How are the redemptions being used? And then, you know, how is this pass either, you know, net positive or net negative for us? And, you know, I always tell everybody, it's…00:39:50.000 --> 00:40:00.000Matthew Zabransky: the ski business is, you know, Stuart, is just a very, very low margin business, and it is a business. Like, at the end of the day, like, they have to treat it like…00:40:00.000 --> 00:40:22.000Matthew Zabransky: you know, like you gotta find out where you're losing money, or is there opportunity? And that assessment has to happen on a yearly basis. And sometimes when they run it for their business, they might be finding out that this might not be a great option for them. Or maybe it was, and things have changed. And now it's not so. It's an ongoing assessment. And like I was mentioning earlier, this is going to be a game that is going to play out over the next 10 years, probably where people are going to be switching teams all the time. And.00:40:22.000 --> 00:40:28.000Matthew Zabransky: and just get used to it. I mean, this is gonna be the way it is, unfortunately or fortunately, you know.00:40:26.000 --> 00:40:31.000Stuart Winchester: If you're Indy, what's your next move to try to build your coalition back up?00:40:31.000 --> 00:40:49.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah, I think the biggest thing they need to do is get some sort of anchor on this side of the lake. I mean, you've got Nub's Knob on Lower Peninsula, which is a great offering. I think that that really does anchor that side for sure. Over here, you gotta start eyeing up some areas that would serve as that anchor ski area. I know Whitecap was added.00:40:37.000 --> 00:40:38.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:40:49.000 --> 00:41:04.000Matthew Zabransky: Um, which is good, but I think, like, you gotta think about, you know, what is that replacement for? You know, what is that replacement for Granite Peak? And it immediately comes to mind, like, a Cascade, right? Or one of those. And we all know, like, it's just gonna be a tough sale for some of these operations, because it's always that, like.00:40:59.000 --> 00:41:00.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, I think so.00:41:04.000 --> 00:41:09.000Matthew Zabransky: If you're an anchor skier, you've probably got a good operation and a good thing going already, so…00:41:09.000 --> 00:41:29.000Matthew Zabransky: you know, what is the pitch? Why should I join your indie pass? So it's always this give and take a little bit, but, you know, given that we've had a bunch of ski areas now come off of indie, there might be an opportunity to fill that little bit of a void and be kind of that new anchor spot that would then highlight that side of the lake. I don't know. It'll be curious to see kind of how things play out, but.00:41:29.000 --> 00:41:37.000Matthew Zabransky: Um, I think we'll see a little bit of this course correction go on for the next year or two, and then I think maybe we'll see some moves in the future. It's hard to say.00:41:36.000 --> 00:41:43.000Stuart Winchester: That was really good, so I'm gonna extend that question. If you're Icon, what's your next move in the Midwest, and if you're Epic?00:41:45.000 --> 00:42:02.000Matthew Zabransky: If if I'm icon, what I'm circling right now to be quite frank is somewhere in the Chicagoland area. There's an opportunity there, and I don't, you know, of course. What is it? We don't know, but I think if you could add an offering like a full offering to which is a little bit tricky to do. But yeah, like you think of something like.00:42:02.000 --> 00:42:24.000Matthew Zabransky: Cascade, Devil's Head, one of those areas, if you can get it into, like, a full area where you can now grab that Chicago market and have it really well solidified, because right now you're kind of in a, you know, it's about four hours from up to Granite Peak, and then Boeing the other way is something like that, five or something. So you're kind of in that weird dead zone there, so I think there's still a huge opportunity to grab that market, which obviously is a huge market of skiers and s.00:42:13.000 --> 00:42:15.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:42:18.000 --> 00:42:20.000Stuart Winchester: Yep.00:42:24.000 --> 00:42:30.000Stuart Winchester: Mm-hmm. And if you're Epic, I mean, they have all city stuff, so what do you do if you're Epic?00:42:28.000 --> 00:42:29.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah.00:42:30.000 --> 00:42:49.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah, I mean, I think Epic's playing the card that they want. The one thing that I am curious to see with Epic is not necessarily that, it's what's gonna happen with some of these smaller regional ski areas that have kind of been left in the dust a little bit. Paley Peaks is the first one that comes to mind when you start to think about this Snow Creek.00:42:45.000 --> 00:42:46.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:42:49.000 --> 00:43:06.000Matthew Zabransky: These ones that are just kind of in no man's land a little bit. They kind of got brought in with the Peak Resorts acquisition. I'm not sure that they necessarily wanted some of these ski areas, but they came in as a package deal as part of that. So it's just gonna be kind of interesting to see. They need a lot of reinvestment over the next, you know.00:43:06.000 --> 00:43:23.000Matthew Zabransky: 10 to 15 years, for sure, if not even sooner than that. So it'll be curious to see kind of how they approach those sort of areas in those regions, because some of those are in their own land like there is no ski area relatively close to some of them, or a couple of hours to the nearest ski area. So it'll be curious to see how they leverage that going forward.00:43:23.000 --> 00:43:44.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, Matthew, I could sink into that one for about two hours and we could have a talk. I'm going to have to bring you back for that one. But for now, let's move on. And some of the folks who may not be familiar with the Midwest, we're going to talk about some of our favorite Midwest ski areas in just a moment. First, I want to tell you that this podcast is brought to you today by Profile Search International.00:43:44.000 --> 00:44:03.000Stuart Winchester: Profile Search is the only talent acquisition firm in the entire world that is 100% focused on the ski industry. They have used their intimate understanding of skiing and related industries, and of available candidates worldwide, to place hundreds of transformational leaders at the best and most progressive ski areas over the past.00:44:03.000 --> 00:44:19.000Stuart Winchester: 30 years. Profile Search has offices in the US and Canada, and they find and negotiate with the right leaders for their team. If you want to reach out to Profile Search, you can find them at profilesearch.com, and you can get their email or phone number there, or send me a note and I will.00:44:19.000 --> 00:44:26.000Stuart Winchester: make that connection for you. That is profilesearch.com. All right, Matthew, I gave you a challenge.00:44:26.000 --> 00:44:43.000Stuart Winchester: Or, or homework or something. I don't know. I'm sure you didn't have to think too hard about this, but we are going to break down our five favorite Midwest ski areas. We each have five. We'll, we'll start with five and, and, uh, and we'll take turns. Now, these are not what we think are the best necessarily because that's a whole different.00:44:43.000 --> 00:44:47.000Stuart Winchester: Conversation and I tried to think about.00:44:47.000 --> 00:44:59.000Stuart Winchester: If you've never skied the Midwest and are only going to ski here once in your life, where would I tell people to go? So, Matthew, I'll start with you. What is your number five favorite Midwest ski area and why?00:44:58.000 --> 00:45:14.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah. So I'll just just key this up with like, yeah, I agree with you. I went with kind of like I took an approach of uniqueness. There's different things that I enjoy about this years for different reasons, and I'll obviously unpack them as we kind of go through number 5 for me was perfect north slopes.00:45:06.000 --> 00:45:08.000Stuart Winchester: Mm-hmm.00:45:14.000 --> 00:45:15.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:45:14.000 --> 00:45:32.000Matthew Zabransky: And at its face, you might not think that that's… it's, you know, it's a ski area right outside of, uh, Cincinnati, um, and the southern tip of Indiana down there. And for, you know, for people that have never heard of it, they'd be like, why does this… why is this even on here? Uh, but the moment that you visit there, I think it all becomes very clear. Their throughput.00:45:32.000 --> 00:45:51.000Matthew Zabransky: their snowmaking capacity, their operations. It is a gold standard when we think of how to run a ski area in extremely challenging conditions and environments. Perfect North is the one that comes to mind. The way that they can move people through their rental department is phenomenal. The way that they can have a stable season based off of where they are.00:45:51.000 --> 00:46:08.000Matthew Zabransky: is just absolutely mind blowing. And they've been doing this since day one. So this isn't something that they have. You know they're new to. They've been doing this for many, many, many decades now at this point. So it's it's definitely worth a visit. Their train's really good as well. They have some Olympians that have come out of there just some some good stuff going down at at perfect north slopes.00:46:08.000 --> 00:46:23.000Stuart Winchester: I'm so glad you said Perfect North, because I did not include it on my list, but I think they are one of the best operators in the country. My number 5 is Chestnut, Illinois, and everyone's… you know why, but everyone's gonna say, Illinois? Like, what does it matter with you?00:46:20.000 --> 00:46:23.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah.00:46:23.000 --> 00:46:29.000Stuart Winchester: It is so unique, because you get up there, and it's about 500 vertical feet.00:46:29.000 --> 00:46:45.000Stuart Winchester: and you ski down to the freaking Mississippi River. It is… there is nothing else like that in American skiing. It is such a gorgeous view, and there's a train that goes by, and, and, and… the lift system is fantastic. Bunch of, you know, really maintained quads.00:46:45.000 --> 00:47:00.000Stuart Winchester: They have bars, which I like, which most Midwest ski areas don't, but they've retrofit them. Their grooming is phenomenal. Terrain's really good, steep and varied, and then one of the best things is on the backside, and the name of this probably is escaping me, it's like the backyard or something.00:46:47.000 --> 00:46:48.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah. Okay.00:46:58.000 --> 00:47:00.000Matthew Zabransky: Uh, far side.00:47:00.000 --> 00:47:15.000Stuart Winchester: Okay, yeah, so they have a terrain park that could be its own ski area, and it has a lift by itself, and so all the badly behaved teenagers go over there and throw cans around and smoke. Maybe it was just the day I was there.00:47:00.000 --> 00:47:02.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah.00:47:15.000 --> 00:47:20.000Stuart Winchester: Uh, but, but my number five is Chestnut, Illinois. Uh, number four, Matthew.00:47:20.000 --> 00:47:37.000Matthew Zabransky: This is gonna be. This is gonna be a deep cut here, and I'll give you my reasoning. So I'm a sucker for community rope toe ski places like it. It warms my heart every time every year there's at least one or 2 that I go to every time I show up. It's just the kids are so excited to show me around.00:47:23.000 --> 00:47:25.000Stuart Winchester: Okay.00:47:27.000 --> 00:47:29.000Stuart Winchester: Mm-hmm. Oh, love it.00:47:37.000 --> 00:47:38.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah. Okay.00:47:37.000 --> 00:48:00.000Matthew Zabransky: They're so passionate and it really brings me back to why skiing is important and what it really is about, right? We talk about the steeps and all this fun stuff all the time, but like when you go to these places, there's just to see a kid just in jeans or whatever it may be after school ripping down. It's so fun. So one of my favorite, if not my favorite rope to ski area in the entire Midwest is a place called Hickory Hills. It's in Traverse City.00:47:59.000 --> 00:48:00.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:48:00.000 --> 00:48:18.000Matthew Zabransky: It's a beautiful setting overlooking the bay, and they have just all ropes and one conveyor, and it's stacked. And it was one of the first ski areas in the Midwest to offer night skiing, which I thought was really, really cool as well. Obviously, not a lot of vertical, maybe 200 feet of vertical, depending on which rope you're going on, but it's one of those places you just show up.00:48:10.000 --> 00:48:12.000Stuart Winchester: Mm-hmm.00:48:18.000 --> 00:48:30.000Matthew Zabransky: And they've reinvested, as recently as 2018, they built a new lodge, new snowmaking, and you just show up there, and you're just like, it brings you back to that, like, oh yeah, this is some good skiing, like, just…00:48:30.000 --> 00:48:37.000Matthew Zabransky: fundamental, good stuff, you see kids ripping around after school, it's like, it's what I think of when I think of, uh, rope tow places.00:48:36.000 --> 00:48:42.000Stuart Winchester: And long live the rope tow. I mean, it is amazing that I think they run five or six there, right?00:48:42.000 --> 00:48:46.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah, I think they have six total, I believe, yeah.00:48:45.000 --> 00:48:59.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, I've been there in the summer. I've never skied there. I used to ski at Sugarloaf down the… down the road till that went out of business. My number 4 is one you already mentioned, Matthew. Whitecap, Wisconsin. I just love this crazy ski area. It is…00:48:49.000 --> 00:48:51.000Matthew Zabransky: Yo.00:48:59.000 --> 00:49:04.000Stuart Winchester: I like to be confused when I'm skiing. I like it when a ski area…00:49:04.000 --> 00:49:05.000Matthew Zabransky: Okay.00:49:04.000 --> 00:49:22.000Stuart Winchester: Kind of hides its secrets and has lots of little trails and the trail map doesn't quite match up with the, with what you actually see. And, and there's lifts all over the place and there's little pockets and there's, you can tell that they don't care if you ski in the trees. And, and, and Whitecap is, is one of the most confusing ski areas I've, I've ever been to and I love.00:49:21.000 --> 00:49:23.000Matthew Zabransky: Okay.00:49:22.000 --> 00:49:40.000Stuart Winchester: it's in the great snow pocket off of Lake Superior, gets 200 or more inches of snow average per year, which is a good thing, because they don't have a lot of snowmaking, uh, there. But I really, really love Whitecap, and by the way, we did not share ours before, so we may have some crossover here. So, uh, what's your number 3, Matthew?00:49:38.000 --> 00:49:39.000Matthew Zabransky: Thank you.00:49:40.000 --> 00:49:55.000Matthew Zabransky: Number three, I am going with a ski area that I think people around here would know, but I think people on the other side of the lake would not. And it is going to be Welch Village. Welch Village is an area that just, you look at the numbers, you read the stats, and you're like, this place…00:49:50.000 --> 00:49:51.000Stuart Winchester: Mmm.00:49:55.000 --> 00:50:15.000Matthew Zabransky: cannot be that good. But it really is. It skis so much bigger than the stats suggest. I think it's about 300 feet of vertical. They have like 50 something runs. But I think what Welch Village has that a lot of skiers don't is the amount of terrain variation and stepping that they have is just phenomenal for beginners, and the fact that it's only about 40 minutes from the Twin Cities.00:50:15.000 --> 00:50:31.000Matthew Zabransky: is amazing. So they have basically a run for every progression. If you want super steep, now obviously it's only 300 feet of vertical, so it's gonna be a handful of turns, but they have that. If you want something very, very gently sloped, they got that, and basically everything in between. And it's just one of those areas that is a perfect.00:50:23.000 --> 00:50:24.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:50:31.000 --> 00:50:41.000Matthew Zabransky: Kind of like just outside the urban reach, right? It's not like in your backyard, but it's close enough where you can easily go for a few hours and just a perfect place to learn how to ski and snowboard.00:50:41.000 --> 00:50:57.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, I love Welch Village. I was super impressed when I went there a few years ago, and it's not too far from Vail's Afton Alps, so you can do both in a day easily if you want to, but Welch Village, first-rate operation, absolutely one of the best in the Midwest. My number three is a nostalgia play, and I'm gonna say Boyne Mount.00:50:42.000 --> 00:50:44.000Matthew Zabransky: Okay.00:50:57.000 --> 00:51:13.000Stuart Winchester: The reason I love Boyne Mountain is not because of the fast lift, so they were the first six-pack in North America, and, you know, they put in the first eight-pack in the Midwest, and there's a lot of history there. The first chairlift in the world is there. They moved it from Sun Valley.00:51:13.000 --> 00:51:23.000Stuart Winchester: the single chair from Sun Valley back in the… in the 40s, and it's now the Hemlock double chair. But what I love Boyne Mountain is because when I… back in the 90s, when I lived in Michigan.00:51:23.000 --> 00:51:30.000Stuart Winchester: they would stay open into May. And back then, there was no social media, so no one knew about it, so I'd show up, and there would be…00:51:25.000 --> 00:51:26.000Matthew Zabransky: Mm-hmm.00:51:30.000 --> 00:51:47.000Stuart Winchester: not kidding, 10 people skiing, and they would be running that six-pack all day, and they would let it bump up, and just run idiots to light, and it's where I learned how to ski moguls, and I've always just been tremendously fond of Boyne for that reason. So while it is one of the nicest ski areas in the Midwest, just on its own terms.00:51:32.000 --> 00:51:34.000Matthew Zabransky: Thank you.00:51:47.000 --> 00:52:02.000Stuart Winchester: It's also very steep. It's just, I have that feeling of, you know, that memory of skiing in my t-shirt in May in 1996, you know, down the moguls at Boyne Mountain with five other people, and it was just, it's one of my favorite ski memories ever, and the fact that they.00:52:02.000 --> 00:52:13.000Stuart Winchester: empowered that and did that. When they lost money, there's no way they didn't lose money doing that. It just speaks a lot to the spirit that still animates that company, even though it's a bigger company now.00:52:06.000 --> 00:52:07.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah.00:52:13.000 --> 00:52:16.000Stuart Winchester: Number two for you, Matthew.00:52:16.000 --> 00:52:31.000Matthew Zabransky: We'll get to this, I'm sure, at the end, but it's cool to see some of that going full circle. I don't want to give too much away. We'll get into that in a second. Number two for me is a pick that I think is going to change a lot this year, specifically because of the new lift alignment, and that's Marquette Mountain.00:52:17.000 --> 00:52:19.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, yeah, yeah.00:52:31.000 --> 00:52:32.000Stuart Winchester: Mmm.00:52:31.000 --> 00:52:50.000Matthew Zabransky: They have phenomenal terrain up there, they get great snow, and the thing that was always just missing was a little bit of polishing around the edges, and I think they're finally getting to that point now with, uh, you know, a lot of snowmaking investments over the last handful of years. This new chair from Dolphin Meyer, uh, triple gonna run up basically the center of the ski area, and I think it's really gonna change the way that this.00:52:50.000 --> 00:53:07.000Matthew Zabransky: Uh, previously, it was divided into kind of two almost separate pods. It kind of had this weird split down the middle. It was kind of hard to navigate. But given that this one's gonna go right up to the center there, you're gonna be able to get full top-to-bottom access a lot more easily, be able to access a lot more of the terrain across the port, the entire, you know, trail map off the front side there.00:52:54.000 --> 00:52:55.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:53:07.000 --> 00:53:23.000Matthew Zabransky: and I think it's 1 of those that like it. This they have the terrain, and there's not many areas in the Midwest that have the terrain. It's usually the other way where it's like, Yeah, okay, we have. You know the infrastructure. We have the location, but we don't have the steeps, or we don't have the trees, or whatever it may be.00:53:15.000 --> 00:53:16.000Stuart Winchester: Okay.00:53:18.000 --> 00:53:20.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:53:23.000 --> 00:53:34.000Matthew Zabransky: It's a Marquette, good city up there in the UP, really the only major city in the UP, but they have a good demographic up there. And I think with the changes that they're gonna see this year with the new lift, it's gonna be really fun to watch.00:53:27.000 --> 00:53:28.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah.00:53:34.000 --> 00:53:44.000Stuart Winchester: Not only do they have the terrain, they have the snow. I mean, they're another one of those Lake Superior. They don't get quite as much as up in the Keweenaw or Snow River, but they do get a fair amount.00:53:36.000 --> 00:53:38.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah, yeah.00:53:44.000 --> 00:53:45.000Matthew Zabransky: They do.00:53:45.000 --> 00:53:54.000Stuart Winchester: So my number two, I'm kind of going chalk on these last two, so you can probably guess what my number one is. My number two is a very obvious one, and that's Lutzen.00:53:54.000 --> 00:53:56.000Matthew Zabransky: Mm-hmm.00:53:54.000 --> 00:54:10.000Stuart Winchester: You know, for, for folks who have never been to Lutzen, it, first of all, it has a gondola. Now, now it's more of a transit lift. It goes more sideways than up and down, but it does have, is it eight or 900 feet of vertical? I think 800 and, or you could ski down to, yeah, of lift served vertical. And the.00:54:00.000 --> 00:54:01.000Matthew Zabransky: Thank you.00:54:05.000 --> 00:54:07.000Matthew Zabransky: It's… yeah.00:54:10.000 --> 00:54:26.000Stuart Winchester: enormous. It's really four separate mountains and it goes in all different directions and they have two six packs and they have that Gandhi, which is fairly new. I think within the last 10 years, they built that to replace their older one. Uh That is one of the best run ski areas in the Midwest. Another one that will stay open into May.00:54:26.000 --> 00:54:42.000Stuart Winchester: when they can. Oh, and speaking of views, I mean, the view off of Moose Mountain of Lake Superior just knock you on your ass. It is so good. I really love Lutzen Mountain, which takes us, Matthew, to your number one ski area in the Midwest.00:54:42.000 --> 00:55:01.000Matthew Zabransky: Man, man, this is one, and it's funny ‘cause I'm working on this video right now, and it's a place that every time I leave this ski area or while I'm at this gear, I just have a smile on my face the entire time. It has nothing flashy, but they do everything right, and that's nub knob. I mean, you go to this place and you just…00:54:42.000 --> 00:54:44.000Stuart Winchester: Favorite ski area.00:54:59.000 --> 00:55:00.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, thank you.00:55:01.000 --> 00:55:17.000Matthew Zabransky: It's just crazy to me that we were working on this video and my editor, Nick, we got to the end of the video and I mentioned like, “Oh, it doesn't have any high-speed lifts, but it almost feels like it does just because of the way that they're aligned and the way the traffic flows and the way that the runs are cut and everything.00:55:17.000 --> 00:55:34.000Matthew Zabransky: It feels like another one that just, you read the stats and you're like, okay, that sounds decent. But then you get on site and you're just like, this is just a really well run ski area. Snowmaking is always top notch. Grooming is amazing. Lifts spin, they don't stop very often. I mean, everything is just really well polished.00:55:31.000 --> 00:55:33.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:55:34.000 --> 00:55:45.000Matthew Zabransky: the core skiing experience, and they really nail it, and again, it's one of those, like, every time I come off the hill there, I'm just like, man, that was a great day of skiing, even if, you know, it's raining outside, I feel like.00:55:43.000 --> 00:55:44.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:55:45.000 --> 00:56:01.000Stuart Winchester: And as a… just to underscore how good of a scary it is, it's right across the street from Boyne Highlands, and it has been, you know, obviously its whole time, but for a scary to succeed, a lot of times, a smaller scary will fail next to a big corporate area, but Nubs has managed to flourish. Matthew, we actually had no crossover, because.00:55:46.000 --> 00:55:47.000Matthew Zabransky: Okay.00:55:49.000 --> 00:55:51.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah.00:56:01.000 --> 00:56:16.000Stuart Winchester: as you can probably guess, is Mount Bohemia, and I'm sure that's probably why you left it off. Uh, Mount Bohemia, for the folks who are not familiar with it, I wrote an article last year, I called it, Mount Bohemia, the scarier the Midwest deserves, because when Mount Bohemia opened in 2000, it.00:56:02.000 --> 00:56:03.000Matthew Zabransky: Hey.00:56:04.000 --> 00:56:07.000Matthew Zabransky: Yep.00:56:16.000 --> 00:56:31.000Stuart Winchester: And it has 900 feet of vertical. They do not groom. They have no snowmaking. They get 300 inches annually. It's all, almost all, glades. Their glading is some of the best I've ever seen anywhere, because there's a lot of underbrush in Michigan.00:56:20.000 --> 00:56:22.000Matthew Zabransky: Okay.00:56:31.000 --> 00:56:48.000Stuart Winchester: Uh, the place is an absolute riot. Talk about culture. You get on the ground and you're like, oh, what's here? They don't even have a proper base lodge. It's, it's all these yurts and then they have this giant complex of hot tubs for some reason that, that everyone's always in there drinking beer and.00:56:48.000 --> 00:56:55.000Stuart Winchester: And the skiing is just… it's great! It's… it's… there's nothing else like it anywhere in North America, where there's just…00:56:55.000 --> 00:57:12.000Stuart Winchester: that much just free skiing available off of a lift, and Lonnie, the owner, has been on a couple times, and I cannot say enough good things about Nubs Knob, including… and I'll let people do their own research on this, but their season pass is $117, or $99 for… you don't want Fridays and Saturdays, and you get all kinds of reciprocals with it, so…00:57:12.000 --> 00:57:16.000Stuart Winchester: It's not a bad multi-mountain pass on its own. So…00:57:12.000 --> 00:57:14.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah.00:57:15.000 --> 00:57:30.000Matthew Zabransky: I was so. I was so nervous the 1st so I went to Bohemia last year for the 1st time ever, and I it has been on my list forever, and I keep like I want to hit it right, because I don't want to like. Just go there and not be able to ski everything. And the entire time I've been super fortunate to see a lot of amazing places in in North.00:57:18.000 --> 00:57:20.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah.00:57:24.000 --> 00:57:26.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, yeah, yeah.00:57:30.000 --> 00:57:49.000Matthew Zabransky: And I was super nervous it was not going to live up to the hype, because I was like, this place is hyped up so much, there is no way that it is going to live up to the hype, and it absolutely did. It's one of the most unique scary areas that you'll ever go to, the operations, the bus system, the hot tub. Nothing makes sense there, but it all does in a weird way. It's an absolute riot.00:57:49.000 --> 00:58:04.000Stuart Winchester: I couldn't have said any better. I always tell people, if you ski one place in the Midwest in your life, make it Mount Bohemia. All right, now, Matthew, what I want you to leave us with today is… I imagine, maybe deliberately, you didn't mention any of these ski areas, but one of the…00:58:04.000 --> 00:58:15.000Stuart Winchester: things that you do an awesome job with every year is covering the race to open in the Midwest. So, so tell us about the race to open. Who's involved?00:58:15.000 --> 00:58:19.000Stuart Winchester: When it generally takes place and how you cover it.00:58:19.000 --> 00:58:35.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah, so the race to open is a pretty big deal across the Midwest. It was something that before I started this website and YouTube channel, I did not really realize a lot, but the Midwest is always usually fighting for one of the first areas to open in the entire country on occasion. It really just depends on the weather.00:58:35.000 --> 00:58:52.000Matthew Zabransky: But what
Get our latest Week 1 fantasy football rankings to refine your tight end strategy. We break down the top tiers for your lineups.Setting up your roster for the opening week requires confidence in your starters. This analysis examines the current landscape of the position, separating players into defined groups to clarify who belongs in your starting roster. We focus on the elite talent within our tight end tiers, including Trey McBride and Colston Loveland, to ensure you understand where the best value sits for your team.By evaluating these rankings, you can make smarter decisions when managing your roster. Whether you are weighing tough start-sit choices or assessing trade value, these insights provide the necessary context to build winning fantasy football lineups. Our goal is to simplify your selection process for the upcoming season and help you approach your draft with a clear, data-backed plan.Subscribe for weekly fantasy football rankings and analysis, and tell us in the comments which tight end you are most confident starting this week.Join our community at http://thefantasysanctuary.com for incredible tools, rankings and much more.
Send us Fan MailRoute 66 turns 100, and that milestone pulls me back to the ride that quietly rewired my outlook on people. I'm Ron Francis in Loveland, Colorado, and I'm retracing a moment from a solo motorcycle trip that started as a simple plan: follow the towns from “Get Your Kicks On Route 66” and enjoy the open road. What I didn't plan for was a morning in Gallup, New Mexico that hit harder than any mile marker or desert vista.Traveling alone on a motorcycle makes you approachable in a way a big group often isn't. You pull off your helmet, you look like just another human passing through, and conversations find you. Outside a local cafe, I met an older man who looked worn down, and my first reaction was pure ego: I assumed I was the helper and he was the one who needed saving. I offered breakfast, ready to feel generous, and I almost offered the kind of “charity advice” that is really just judgment in nicer packaging.Then he spoke, and everything shifted. With quiet dignity he shared his Navajo heritage, his past as a recovering alcoholic, time in jail, and the chaplain's words that helped him rebuild his life. He talked about honest work, gratitude for each day, and the rare treasure most of us chase without finding: peace of mind. By the time the meal ended, I realized the lesson wasn't about what I could give him. It was about what I needed to learn from him.If you care about solo motorcycle riding, Route 66 history, and the real meaning of kindness, this story is for you. Subscribe, share it with a riding buddy, and leave a review on Apple Podcasts so more riders can find the show. What's a moment when a stranger taught you something you didn't expect?Become a Member: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2126578/supporters/newBuy Ron a Coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/peacelovemotoGear Up at the Shop: https://peacelovemotostore.com
In this episode of the Super Progressive Podcast, hosts SP and David sit down with Melbourne-based DJ and producer Mike Rish fresh off a grueling but rewarding seven-week European tour [1:26]. Mike walks through his journey from playing Nom in Barcelona to the Super Progressive Boat Party at Balance Croatia, Loveland in Amsterdam, and closing out in Manchester with Jamie Stevens [3:48], sharing what it means to go full-time with music and why face-to-face connections in this scene are worth their weight in gold.The conversation goes deep into Mike's distinctly groove-driven DJ style, a constant, elastic tension that layers tracks and builds dance floors without relying on long breakdowns [12:13], and how years of experience have sharpened his instincts behind the decks [10:04]. He opens up about the influences that shape his sound, from 90s hip-hop vocal samples and Dub Techno to Depeche Mode to Eric Prydz, whose technical mastery and independent spirit Mike credits as a defining inspiration [27:40].Mike also pulls back the curtain on Tornn Records, his independent label where there are no promo campaigns, no guest lists, and no release schedules forced by outside pressure [42:35]. He explains why the music should speak for itself, why follower counts mean nothing to him when evaluating demos [37:12], and why underground music was never meant to be force-fed to an audience [38:09].Rounding out the episode, Mike previews an exciting slate of upcoming shows including Sri Lanka, South America, and beyond [53:56], and the gang shares their thoughts on Balance versus ADE and why the progressive scene's tight-knit community -- especially out of Melbourne -- continues to punch far above its weight [49:32].
We are Rocky Mountain high!! Join us as we explore LoveLand, Colorado & other areas in this beautiful state. Follow me on my socials @highanddoingthings Also email me at HighandDoingThings@gmail.com
This RamNation Radio episode is brought to you by Pedersen Toyota, your Local Toyota Dealer Serving Fort Collins, Loveland, Windsor and Timnath for more than 50 years. It is also made possible by Ginger and Baker — our favorite restaurant(s) in all of Fort Collins, and Ram Zone (powered by the CSU Bookstore) — the best place to get all your Ram gear. In this episode, Joel and Mike break down CSU's 35-13 Border War win over Wyoming and a Saturday that finally gave Rams fans genuine reason for optimism. From a record crowd and students storming the field with the Bronze Boot to Hauss Hejny's five-touchdown debut, an opportunistic defense that forced four turnovers and a disciplined team that avoided the costly mistakes of years past, CSU simply looked different under Jim Mora. The guys discuss Pryce Tracy's promising offense, RJ Vick's three touchdowns, the new Adidas look and why the biggest takeaway may be that CSU finally looks like a well-coached, competent football team. Plus, they look ahead to Southern Utah and what this encouraging start could mean for the Rams moving forward. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Send us Fan MailJust when you think you've made peace with your life, grief comes barreling back into the station. All aboard! This weekend was a really good one. We had family in town, celebrated birthdays and baptisms, spent time with people we love, and watched all the cousins together.And somewhere in the middle of all that joy, I realized I was struggling.Watching kids around Roman and Stella's ages run around, play together, and experience childhood in ways my kids can't brought up a kind of grief I haven't felt this intensely in a while. Add in the physical and mental exhaustion of getting two medically complex, fully dependent kids to multiple family events all weekend, and by Sunday night, I was completely spent—and sad.In this mini episode, I'm talking about the weirdness of grief as a disability parent: how it can coexist with genuine happiness, how other people's completely normal milestones can unexpectedly hurt, and how accepting your children's diagnosis doesn't mean you stop grieving what the disease has taken from them.I also talk about the guilt that can come with those feelings—because I love my nieces, and cousin's children. I love watching them grow. I want every beautiful thing in the world for them.And sometimes watching them do those beautiful, ordinary things still breaks my heart.Both can be true.So if grief has recently punched your ticket for a ride you absolutely did not ask to take, grab a seat.Apparently we're going for a ride.CHOO CHOO.
This RamNation Radio episode is brought to you by Pedersen Toyota, your Local Toyota Dealer Serving Fort Collins, Loveland, Windsor and Timnath for more than 50 years. It is also made possible by Ginger and Baker — our favorite restaurant(s) in all of Fort Collins, and Ram Zone (powered by the CSU Bookstore) — the best place to get all your Ram gear. With kickoff finally here, Joel and Mike look ahead to Jim Mora's CSU debut and a Border War matchup that could immediately set the tone for a new era of Rams football. They break down an offseason of massive change in Fort Collins, from CSU's move to the Pac-12 and new Adidas uniforms to a revamped roster and an athletic department that appears more committed than ever to building a winning football program. The guys discuss what they'll be watching for against Wyoming, including CSU's still-unannounced starting quarterback, whether 60+ new players can come together quickly, the battle in the trenches, and whether Mora's emphasis on discipline and attention to detail will finally produce a cleaner, tougher football team. They also make their predictions for the Border War and define what would make Mora's first season a success. Plus, after last week's memorable conversation with Jim McElwain, Joel and Mike look back at some of their favorite guests and moments from six years of RamNation Radio. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
This 200th RamNation Radio episode is brought to you by Pedersen Toyota, your Local Toyota Dealer Serving Fort Collins, Loveland, Windsor and Timnath for more than 50 years. It is also made possible by Ginger and Baker — our favorite restaurant(s) in all of Fort Collins, and Ram Zone (powered by the CSU Bookstore) — the best place to get all your Ram gear. Former Colorado State head coach Jim McElwain joins RamNation Radio for a memorable look back at the era that produced CSU's last 10-win season and last bowl victory. Coach Mac shares stories from taking over a struggling Rams program, why recruiting Colorado was so important, beating CU twice in three years, the unforgettable 2013 New Mexico Bowl comeback over Washington State, going toe-to-toe with No. 1 Alabama and the 2014 breakthrough that put CSU back on the national map. He also talks Garrett Grayson, Shaq Barrett, Rashard Higgins, the importance of the Border War and why he believed CSU deserved more respect nationally. Now retired, McElwain reflects on his return to Fort Collins and seeing Canvas Stadium for the first time, weighs in on today's transfer portal and NIL-driven college football, laughs about some of the bizarre moments that followed him later in his career (i.e., Connor Stallions and the infamous shark photo), and explains why he thinks Jim Mora is a great fit to finally get the Rams winning again. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
The Chicago Bears are finally getting healthier at exactly the right time—and Luther Burden III is BACK on the practice field.On today's episode of Chicago Bears Central, Haize breaks down Burden's return, what it could mean for Caleb Williams and Ben Johnson's offense, the latest Bears 53-man roster bubble battles, the still-unsettled left tackle situation and why the Atlanta Falcons could become a legitimate trade destination for Gervon Dexter Sr.Let's start with the good news.After missing multiple weeks with a groin injury, Luther Burden III returned to practice and participated in individual work as Chicago ramps toward the regular-season opener against Carolina.And Burden wasn't alone.
Bobby talks with friend Tanner Kalina in this second part of the conversation and they discuss the themes in his new book "All Your Heart" (https://a.co/d/07zJFvDp) published through Ascension ( @AscensionPresents ). - Tanner Kalina ( @tanner.kalina ) is a Catholic evangelist, author and well-known speaker who has dedicated his life to sharing the Gospel. A former actor, he now presents to tens of thousands of people each year, including youth, parish leaders, and clergy.He has written two books, and he is the Co-Founder of the Saints Alive Podcast on Hallow. He is the presenter of several Ascension Press faith formation video series, and he has contributed other video projects to EWTN, FOCUS, the National Eucharistic Revival, and more. https://www.tannerkalina.com/He and his wife, Alli, reside in Loveland, Colorado.-- Thank you for listening! For more info on our talks, books, and resources, please visit our website at: https://jackieandbobby.com/ If you feel called to support us financially in this ministry endeavor, please prayerfully consider visiting our support page: https://www.patreon.com/jackieandbobby
The Chicago Bears finally tested themselves against another NFL roster—and Caleb Williams made sure the Cincinnati Bengals noticed.On today's episode of Chicago Bears Central, Haize breaks down the biggest winners, concerns and takeaways from Chicago's joint practice against Cincinnati as the Bears continue preparing for the 2026 NFL season.The headline?Caleb Williams showed exactly why expectations are so high.Facing his first opposing defense since the playoffs, Williams reportedly impressed Cincinnati media during an explosive practice that featured touchdowns to Rome Odunze, Kaden Davis and Colston Loveland. One unofficial chart had Caleb completing 16 of 26 passes, including a stretch of 10 consecutive completions in 11-on-11 work.It wasn't flawless. Williams threw interceptions and Chicago's protection deteriorated late.But even Bengals defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence, who intercepted Williams during practice, came away calling him a “special quarterback.”Then there's Colston Loveland.
This RamNation Radio episode is brought to you by Pedersen Toyota, your Local Toyota Dealer Serving Fort Collins, Loveland, Windsor and Timnath for more than 50 years. It is also made possible by Ginger and Baker — our favorite restaurant(s) in all of Fort Collins, and Ram Zone (powered by the CSU Bookstore) — the best place to get all your Ram gear. In this episode, CSU Hall of Famer and eight-year NFL veteran Sean Moran joins Joel and Mike to relive some of the greatest moments in Colorado State football history, including his legendary 77-yard fumble return in the 1994 upset of No. 6 Arizona, the Rams' breakthrough win at BYU and an unforgettable Border War comeback against Wyoming. He touches on three Border War wins, as this year's version looms just two weeks away. Moran shares what made Sonny Lubick's teams special, tells stories about former teammates including Joey Porter, and offers his perspective on why the program struggled to sustain that success in the years that followed. He also looks ahead to a new era under Jim Mora, who coached Moran with the San Francisco 49ers, and explains why Mora's blue-collar approach reminds him of Lubick. Plus, Moran discusses what it means to now watch his son Jack compete on CSU's defensive line and why he believes the pieces are in place for the Rams to start building something special again. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Which fantasy football players are poised to break out in 2026? Chris Welsh, Andrew Erickson, and Establish The Run’s John Daigle use Vegas-implied team totals, offensive projections, ADP, advanced metrics, and projected roles to identify 10 breakout candidates to target in fantasy drafts. The guys break down higher-cost breakout picks including Zay Flowers, Colston Loveland, Ladd McConkey, and Rome Odunze before finding mid-round values such as Mike Evans, Blake Corum, Rhamondre Stevenson, and Dalton Kincaid. They also identify late-round upside plays De'Zhaun Stribling and Rashid Shaheed, plus deep fantasy football sleepers MaSshawn Lloyd and Nick Singleton. Find out why Baltimore’s passing volume could increase, why Loveland can challenge the elite fantasy tight ends, how Mike McDaniel could unlock Ladd McConkey and Justin Herbert, why Corum can break out without replacing Kyren Williams, and which inexpensive players offer access to projected top-10 offenses. Timestamps (may be off due to ads): Intro - 0:00:00How Vegas-Implied Totals Shape the Breakout List - 0:01:38Finding Cheap Players in Projected Top Offenses - 0:03:12Top-10 Implied NFL Offenses - 0:04:07Should Fantasy Managers Avoid Low-Scoring Offenses? - 0:06:10Zay Flowers - 0:08:18Colston Loveland - 0:12:32Ladd McConkey - 0:17:45Rome Odunze - 0:21:23Pristine Auction Giveaway - 0:25:02Mike Evans - 0:26:13Blake Corum - 0:29:14Rhamondre Stevenson - 0:34:49Dalton Kincaid - 0:39:01FantasyPros Draft Wizard - 0:43:46De’Zhaun Stribling - 0:44:13Rashid Shaheed - 0:50:07Marshawn Lloyd - 0:55:33Nicholas Singleton - 0:57:01Tailgate - 0:59:14 Helpful Links: Draft Wizard - Dominate your fantasy football draft with Draft Wizard. Run fast mock drafts, test different strategies, build custom cheat sheets, get pick-by-pick draft advice, and learn your leaguemates' tendencies before draft day. Just download the FantasyPros App or head to fantasypros.com/draftwizard Start Your Free FantasyPros Premium Trial - https://www.fantasypros.com/free/ -Get three days free to unlock premium draft tools, rankings, analysis, and personalized advice. Watch and Subscribe to The Tailgate - https://www.youtube.com/@tailgatenfl - Just friends talking football. Get NFL storylines, weekly analysis, giveaways, and more from the FantasyPros team. Subscribe to FantasyPros on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@fantasypros - Watch the latest fantasy football rankings, mock drafts, sleepers, breakouts, and draft advice. Support the FantasyPros Fantasy Football Podcast - https://www.fantasypros.com/review/ - Leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify to help support the show. Real-Time ADP - Track up-to-the-minute draft trends across all major platforms: https://fantasypros.com/realadp Follow us on Twitch - The team here at FantasyPros is taking questions all week, every week on Twitch. Follow us on Twitch at twitch.tv/fantasypros and never miss a stream! Discord – Join our FantasyPros Discord Community! Chat with other fans and get access to exclusive AMAs that wind up on our podcast feed. Come get your questions answered and BE ON THE SHOW at fantasypros.com/chat BettingPros Podcast – For advice on the best picks and props across both the NFL and college football each and every week, check out the BettingPros Podcast at bettingpros.com/podcast, our BettingPros YouTube channel at youtube.com/bettingpros, or wherever you listen to podcasts.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Help us raise money for St. Jude Children's Hospital here: https://tinyurl.com/FFTDonate2026Jamey, Dave and Heath reveal their must-draft league winners at every position, starting with quarterbacks (2:12), where Brock Purdy, Patrick Mahomes and Trevor Lawrence highlight the late-round upside and depth at the position. At running back (12:40), the guys explain why Breece Hall can thrive in an improved Jets offense, Chase Brown has top-five potential, and Kenneth Walker III is set up for success with his new team. They also dig into late-round RB targets (25:30), including Jonathon Brooks, who is climbing draft boards following the Chuba Hubbard injury. At wide receiver (31:45), Heath makes the case for Zay Flowers, Dave is willing to take Parker Washington as early as Round 5, and Jamey sees Devonta Smith becoming the focal point of the Eagles offense. Finally, they break down tight ends (41:13), including late-round values Sam LaPorta and Tucker Kraft, while highlighting Colston Loveland's potential to become the best TE in football!Fantasy Football Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever else you listen to podcastsWatch FFT on YouTube
Dynasty Tight End Rankings: The Position Has Never Looked Better The tight end tier that used to hold two names now holds seven. Rich Dotson, Matt O'Hara, and Garret Price close out the positional primer with the dynasty tight end top 12, plus the dark horses and the one guy they are all steering around.
“My writing often comes to me that way–something that interests me in the real life world, something kind of political and thorny, something I don't entirely totally know how I think about it, something I'm interested in exploring.” These words from short story writer and novelist Claire Boyles are at the heart of this episode on the relationship between fiction and real life. How might having personal experience in a certain arena both help and hinder our ability to use it as material for fiction? How can characters drive the way opinions are explored in a book? How do we create more compelling characters? What must be let go as we create a fictional realm? How can fiction help us explore “thorny” political themes? And how might our past lives help us in practical ways as we move forward in our creative lives?Claire Boyles (she/her) is a writer and former farmer. Her debut novel, Appraisals, is forthcoming in August 2026. A 2022 Whiting Award winner in fiction, she is the author of Site Fidelity, which won the High Plains Book Award and was longlisted for the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Award, the Colorado Book Award, and the Reading the West Award. Her nonfiction has appeared in Sierra Magazine and Virginia Quarterly Review, among other journals, and she is a screenwriter with multiple credits on the Hallmark Channel. She splits time between Loveland, Colorado and Ames, Iowa, where she is an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing and the Environment at Iowa State University.Claire will be a speaker at the Grand Mesa Writer's Symposium in Cedaredge on September 12. Details here: https://www.grandmesawriters.org/schedule This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit emergingform.substack.com/subscribe
Help us raise money for St. Jude Children's Hospital here: https://tinyurl.com/FFTDonate2026Adam, Dave, Jamey, and Heath break down the top 2026 fantasy football breakout tight ends who could make a major jump in production this season. They kick things off with news and notes (2:10) before diving into the consensus breakout pick, Colston Loveland (3:47), who could be a central piece of a dynamic Bears offense. Dave makes the case for Tyler Warren (9:16) to perform alongside the likes of Brock Bowers, Trey McBride, and Loveland despite being drafted a round later, while Heath is all-in on Kyle Pitts (16:18) continuing to progress in the Stefanski offense. Jamey rounds out the show with high-upside picks Tucker Kraft (19:35) and Isaiah Likely (20:50), who is especially valuable in what may be the biggest role of his career. Check out the rest of our breakout series to find the must-know picks from RB, WR, & QB to help you dominate your draft and win your fantasy football league!Fantasy Football Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever else you listen to podcastsWatch FFT on YouTube
Can Jayden Daniels return to elite fantasy status? Is Colston Loveland really capable of finishing as the TE2? Adam Aizer and Heath Cummings break down Heath's boldest 2026 fantasy football projections, including why he's all in on Daniels despite his fifth-round ADP, why Zay Flowers is a top-10 wide receiver in his rankings, and whether Stefon Diggs changes the Commanders' passing game. If you're looking for league-winning upside and players the consensus may be too low on, this episode is packed with bold predictions to help you dominate your 2026 fantasy football draft.
To get live links to the music we play and resources we offer, visit www.WOSPodcast.comThis show includes the following songs:GinaDeBoss - AMNESIA FOLLOW ON SPOTIFYBlank Instrument - Brand New FOLLOW ON SPOTIFYRuby Greenberg - Pictures of Us FOLLOW ON SPOTIFYLizzie Campbell - Daughters of Water FOLLOW ON SPOTIFYKasper - Boundaries FOLLOW ON SPOTIFYIsa Leight - A Million Little Pieces FOLLOW ON SPOTIFYAdovany - Everybody's Got A Dream FOLLOW ON SPOTIFYPOLI NIKA - sad FOLLOW ON SPOTIFYCat Outwin - We Are Just Stardust FOLLOW ON SPOTIFYAgnes Milewski - Robin FOLLOW ON SPOTIFYShoshan Dunamis - Feel good FOLLOW ON SPOTIFYAudrey Loveland - The Ride Called Life FOLLOW ON SPOTIFYSUNLOCK - 1969 FOLLOW ON SPOTIFYBand of Muses - Ladybird FOLLOW ON SPOTIFYLana Savva - House 41 FOLLOW ON SPOTIFYFor Music Biz Resources Visit www.FEMusician.com and www.ProfitableMusician.comVisit our Sponsor Haisley at haisleymusic.comVisit our Sponsor Two Toed Sloth at tentoedsloth.comVisit www.wosradio.com for more details and to submit music to our review board for consideration.Visit our resources for Indie Artists: https://www.wosradio.com/resourcesBecome more Profitable in just 3 minutes per day. http://profitablemusician.com/join
Help us raise money for St. Jude Children's Hospital here: https://tinyurl.com/FFTDonate2026Adam, Dave, and Heath reveal the players they're targeting most in 2026 drafts! The guys open with the latest on Stefon Diggs (2:30), discussing what this news means for Terry McLaurin's fantasy outlook, before playing a fun game of "Would You Rather" comparing RB, WR, and TE options with similar ADPs. Heath shares why he's all-in on players like Rashee Rice and Zay Flowers (18:07), while Dave highlights Malik Nabers along with tight ends Colston Loveland & Isaiah Likely (29:09). Adam wraps up the most wanted list with Chase Brown & AJ Brown (36:50), before answering listener questions from social media to help you prepare for draft day!Fantasy Football Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever else you listen to podcastsWatch FFT on YouTube
Send us Fan MailWhat happens when two old friends reconnect after more than three decades?This week on Here's What We Know, our host Gary Scott Thomas welcomes longtime Colorado radio personality Dave Jensen for a conversation filled with laughter, memories, and honest reflections about a business they both love.They revisit their days together at TRI 102.5 in Northern Colorado, swap stories that have only gotten better with time, and talk about how a radio career has changed over the years. Gary shares why getting fired became one of the greatest blessings of his life, while Dave reflects on staying in one market long enough to become part of the community's story.This conversation is about friendship, resilience, finding joy in your work, and realizing that the people who cross your path often leave a bigger mark than you ever imagined. Listen now.In This Episode:Reconnecting after more than 30 yearsBehind-the-scenes stories from Colorado radioWhy local radio still mattersHow getting fired changed Gary's life foreverFunny memories from TRI 102.5Dave Jensen's award-winning careerThe future of radio and streamingWhy local, human content still beats syndicated contentWhy relationships outlast careersThis episode is sponsored by:Bison Junk RemovalMike Counsil Plumbing & Rooter (Use code “Gary” to get $89 off any service!)License #: 679261Bio:Dave Jensen was born in Paterson, New Jersey, but moved to Colorado (in the back window of his parents' VW 1968) when he was 12 months old and has lived in the area ever since. Dave worked at Runza in Loveland when he was younger and still enjoys stopping now and then for an Original Runza. Dave is currently the longest-tenured employee in the Townsquare Media Northern Colorado office at 600 Main St. in Windsor, having worked here since 1997. Dave was awarded ‘Best Afternoon Show/Major Market' by the Colorado Broadcasters Association (CBA) in 2025; RETRO 102.5 was awarded ‘Station of the Year' in 2022. He has family in the area, with his brother living in Fort Collins and a nephew in Eaton. Dave loves movies, disc golf, movies, great TV, the local craft beers around Fort Collins, and all things radio.Connect with Gary:Gary's WebsiteFollow Gary on InstagramGary's TiktokGary's FacebookWatch the episodes on YouTubeAdvertise on the PodcastThank you for listening. Let us know what you think about this episode. Leave us a review!
Chad McWhinney has been building in Colorado for more than three decades. As co-founder and CEO of Realberry, formerly McWhinney, Chad has helped shape some of the state’s most recognizable places. In fact, his portfolio includes Denver Union Station, Dairy Block, the Crawford Hotel, and Centerra in Northern Colorado. In this conversation with Chris Lopez, Chad walks through his origin story, the philosophy behind the firm, and the vision guiding Realberry’s next chapter. Chad and his brother Troy co-founded what is now Realberry after Chad moved from Southern California to Loveland at age 19. From there, the conversation traces the story behind Centerra. Specifically, it covers putting options on Loveland farmland in the early 1990s and closing on 3,300 acres through Farm Credit Services in 1997. Next, it moves through the eleventh-hour partnership that brought the McWhinney family into Denver Union Station. Along the way, Chad also explains how the firm thinks about asset allocation and why long-hold, aligned capital produces better real estate outcomes than short-term institutional capital. Today, Realberry is one of Colorado’s most established privately-held real estate platforms. For example, the firm has earned ULI Awards of Excellence at both Denver Union Station and Dairy Block, and Michelin Keys recognition at the Crawford. In addition, the firm is backed by roughly 300 long-term investors, many of whom have been with the firm for over 30 years. Notably, Realberry also locked approximately $1.7 billion in long-duration debt at near-zero rates before COVID, protecting investor capital through the current rate cycle. Overall, the recent rebrand from McWhinney to Realberry reflects the firm’s move to broaden investor access. Beyond that, Chad shares his read on Colorado’s evolving legislative environment. Ultimately, he closes with his view that tokenization will eventually give individual investors direct access to institutional-grade real estate. In This Episode We Cover: The origin story behind Realberry and how Chad ended up in Colorado Assembling 3,300 acres in Loveland through a patient land-option strategy The public-private partnership behind Centerra How Realberry became part of the Denver Union Station and Dairy Block redevelopments Chad’s read on Colorado’s multifamily supply cycle and the current market Where growth is concentrated in Northern Colorado The Realberry rebrand and the firm’s long-view capital thesis Why family capital builds better real estate than institutional capital Stay tuned for upcoming episodes featuring Realberry’s leadership team and behind-the-scenes property walks through some of Denver’s most recognizable developments. Watch the Youtube Video https://youtu.be/z3y_DqgDKdY Timestamps 00:00 Welcome and Guest Introduction 01:10 From Southern California to Colorado 05:21 Assembling 3,300 Acres in Loveland 09:50 Building Centerra 14:12 The Denver Union Station Partnership 25:54 Portfolio Approach Across Asset Classes 27:50 Colorado Multifamily Outlook 32:03 Colorado Legislative Environment and Capital Sentiment 36:11 Northern Colorado Growth 38:50 The Realberry Rebrand 41:41 Tokenization and Investor Access 47:12 Long-Hold Capital and Placemaking 51:49 Closing and Upcoming Episodes Links in Podcast Realberry Website: https://www.realberry.com Portfolio: https://www.realberry.com/portfolio LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/realberryinvest Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/realberryinvest Investor inquiries: ir@realberry.com Chad McWhinney LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mcwhinneychad/ Books referenced in the episode The Warren Buffett Way by Robert G. Hagstrom Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki Who is Realberry? Realberry, formerly McWhinney, is a Denver-based real estate investment, development, and management firm founded in 1991 by brothers Chad and Troy McWhinney. For nearly 35 years, the firm has focused on creating places people love, with a portfolio spanning master-planned communities, multifamily, hospitality, industrial, and mixed-use developments. Its work includes Denver Union Station, Dairy Block, the Crawford Hotel, and Centerra, and has earned ULI Awards of Excellence, Michelin Keys, and U.S. News Best Hotels recognition. Realberry is family-founded, community-centered, and future-focused.
Today's guest is a songwriter four albums deep, with a song that's been picking up new listeners for nine years and Mick Fleetwood playing on her latest record. But her real story isn't any of that.From weekend stage camps in West London to opening Wembley for Taylor Swift five months after giving birth, she spent a decade releasing roughly one song a year into near silence. What kept her going wasn't a plan — it was a pair of collaborators who got nothing back for years and got up and made something every day anyway.This is an honest conversation about what a long stretch of nobody listening actually feels like, and what happens when the proof finally shows up on a timeline you didn't choose.And The Writer Is... Suki Waterhouse!Hit subscribe and turn on notifications. Every week, we go deep with the most interesting creatives in music.Follow us on socials: @andthewriterisA special thank you to our sponsors for making these conversations possible.Our lead sponsor, NMPA — the National Music Publishers' Association. Your support means the world to us.And @splice — the best sample library on the market. Period.They've developed a Sounds plugin that allows creators to actually get paid for derivatively generated work from their art, and they have paid out $100M+ to artists already since inception. Chapters:0:00 Intro0:46 How's being a parent and doing music?1:18 "Being a parent is only hard for good parents"2:49 "The girl with the guitar" — how her daughter describes her job4:30 Test-driving album demos on a toddler in her "no" phase12:44 Somewhere Over the Rainbow — and losing to the girl who sang All Saints14:38 The voice teacher who told her she was too skinny to sing15:58 "I was angry. I had this huge fire in me."16:42 The friend group that turned on her: "fuck this school, fuck these people"26:45 "You walk through open doors" — model, actor, musician28:56 "Brutally," 2016, and ten years of making things nobody heard31:01 Advice to a young female artist: learn to produce, even basically32:56 "I went hunting for my fucking tribe. And I found them."35:54 Amy Winehouse at the pub, The Libertines, and a London scene that's gone38:12 Backstage at a Jake Bugg show — meeting Natalie and Jules at eighteen39:23 "They got zero back for years and years and years"42:45 Extreme ADHD, a giant sitar, and a fight over a song46:26 December 7th: flying to London for a song that didn't exist yet47:16 The pact: "if we're not writing something brilliant, we're not carrying it on"47:28 The worst audition of her life, in the dark48:09 A Wurlitzer, a Mellotron, and the song that opens the album1:01:39 "Good Looking" — top ten on TikTok, written nine years ago1:05:53 Covid, Daisy Jones, and deciding to just make the record1:06:32 Every label said no except Sub Pop1:08:40 "It's nothing about what happens in the first week"1:10:16 "Dangerous Woman" and a song that gains meaning over time1:11:38 Daisy Jones: "my name wasn't on the list and I was fucking pissed"1:16:24 "You're more envious of the check than the song"1:26:14 What makes a good song — Beck, Elliott Smith, and roughness1:29:26 Red Rocks with no ear monitors: "I was in insane debt"1:32:04 Opening for Taylor Swift at Wembley1:34:17 Hayley Williams: "this one's for Mr. Waterhouse"1:37:02 A baby in March, a record in September1:39:44 "When everyone goes a bit red — that's when you keep it in the song"1:40:35 What to play driving at night, heartbroken, walking through LondonCredits:Hosted by Ross GolanProduced by Joe London & Jad Saad Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Suki Waterhouse is a singer-songwriter, actress, and model from London. She released her first single in 2016, and her first album, I Can't Let Go, in 2022, on Sub Pop. You might have seen her in the show Daisy Jones & The Six, which came out in 2023. Since then, she's also had her first child, with her partner Robert Pattinson. And all of that history figured into her new album, Loveland. For this episode, Suki told me about how she made the song “Back in Love” with her longtime collaborators, producer Jules Apollinaire and songwriter Natalie Findlay. "Back in Love" was the first single from her album, but it was the last song that was written for it.For more info, visit songexploder.net/suki-waterhouse.