4/9/24 - The Mo Egger Show - Mo Egger

Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
He's ESPN fifteen thirty. What's up, Good afternoon, I'm Mollegger. This
is ESPN fifteen thirty. Thank youfor listening today. I hope you're having
an awesome Tuesday. We're back instudio. Thanks to the folks at Twin
Peaks in Westchester for having us yesterday. It was a blast. But we're

(00:20):
back here, which means on Tuesdays, Paul Danner Junior is here covering the
Cincinnati Bengals for The Athletic. Theathleticdot Com. You could also check out
his podcast The Growler multiple episodes everyweek and had one with me yesterday,
which was good. Paul is hereas he is every single Tuesday to cover

(00:40):
a whole slew of Bengals items.As we get closer and closer to the
NFL Draft, what is going on? We have to turn the microphone on.
I'll turn it on. There wego, do it. Very good.
That sounds fine, it's good.It's good to be self sufficient in
this business. Yes, no congratas you get in the off season trip
to Twin Peaks yesterday. It's nicethat in there. We always do a

(01:02):
show at Twin Peaks on the Mondayof the NCAA tournament title game. It's
a great one, it is.And then we do another one the Friday
of the draft at the Florence location. Get our twin Peaks, Phil,
is the draft coming? The draftis approaching? Do you have the dates?
April twenty fifth? Okay, twentysixth and twenty seventh. I should
I have your big board here?Oh you've got your You've got your big

(01:23):
board. Yeah, I guess yougot to do that right, Well,
yeah, I have to I haveto print it. But yeah, you
got a big board. Speaking ofprinting, it has everybody even put on
notice in the building about tomorrow DaneBruglers the Beast, Oh the Beast,
Yes, out tomorrow tomorrow. Yes, printers in your offices must be You
should get some of the like yellowcaution tape to go around it, so

(01:46):
everyone knows that this is pretty muchgoing to be off limits. While I
print all five and eighty nine pagesof this, I meant to send a
memo today because I do this everyyear because we get Dane on. But
it's also just it's such a greatresource for just what everything we do is
it gets It's awesome. There's there'sthere is no draft guide as comprehensive,

(02:06):
as thorough and as easy to sortof navigate through than then Danes. And
it's over five hundred pages. Andevery year I print it here at the
radio station, and every year Iget admonished by my colleagues. And so
I meant to send the memo yesterdaythat says, hey, by the way,
on Wednesday, DIBs on the printer. It's gonna take a while,

(02:27):
so just be ready. Last yearthey got mad at me because I did
print it in color. Oh wow, yeah, yeah, I mean,
come on, little selfish of me. Yeah, but you know what,
you want to get the full feelingof the photos that are in there,
no question. So that's available tomorrow. Yeah, it's gonna be. It's
awesome. I It's one of myfavorite days too, because I it can
kind of help. It just helpsshape what I like to do after that.

(02:49):
What I'm gonna do is I liketo do a Bengals Trends draft,
because nowhere can you find the truelike details of things like well, our
you know, our relentless motor Captain'scoaches say, this guy does everything the
right way. He has all theseincredible details, the stuff that begles personnel

(03:13):
people and their coaches really latch onto. I mean we know that now,
and so it's a good way tofind different When you combine those with certain
trades and positions you know that they'relooking for. You can put together a
nice little look at some of thetrends of some names pop up that you
weren't previously maybe necessarily focused on ifyou're just looking at the tape. But

(03:35):
Dan gives you so much more thatyou can start to bring that character side
that so often is excluded from draftconversation because only you know so ma some
people have access to it. Youcan really sort of bring that more into
it. So I love when whenthe Beast comes out and usually write multiple
things off of it. Yeah.No, it's It's terrific and it's worth
mentioning. You get it. It'sincluded with your subscription if you read the

(03:58):
Athleticotic subscriber or go subscribe. I'vebeen and you have the Beast. You
have it. You want to code, do anything other than hit download.
It is awesome, all right,but your big board's really good too.
It is is you also get thatwith this you also big board. One
point which would suggest there's going tobe more more big boards. I think
we'll go as far as too.Okay, that's fine. Two big boards.

(04:19):
I think a second one if necessaryit expanded. I like to expand
one into later rounds as we getright up on the draft. Okay.
So it feels like with the folksthat I'm reading at the Athletic who are
participating in mock drafts and then otherpublications, the guy that is the consensus
dude at eighteen is Byron Murphy asof right now? Does that feel semi

(04:41):
accurate? I don't know about consents. I mean, I you know,
I sort of talked about this onthe podcast and we'd a little bit about
it there. That was the hardestpart of this for me, because we
can do what we've been doing andcontinue to talk about the tackles that fit
the side. I mean, weknow this, we know this group,

(05:02):
and you're splitting hairs to to figureout who those are. The question to
me and that's interesting and put doingan exercise like the big board is well,
where does Murphy fit in there?Is he above one guy not another?
Is he behind all of them?Is he in the middle? Is
he really a dude? How muchdispositional you know, importance matter. I

(05:24):
mean, this is a Bengals scenethat has found answers at right tackle for
you know, a decent prices inrecent years versus good luck finding a just
truly disruptive three technique. And wesee what they're getting, you know,
Derek Brown just got a contract.We know what Christian Wilkins got. We've

(05:45):
seen all of these guys. Imean, their numbers are so high,
and so how much does that factorinto that other? So I found that
to be incredibly difficult. So Iwouldn't use the word consensus because I don't
know that you're gonna find consensus onthat inside of the Bengals draft room,
and certainly not across all thirty two. I think that's a really hard thing

(06:10):
to know. It's it would bethe thing I would be most fascinated by
if I could sit in on themeetings that they're you know doing kind of
as we speak right now, ofsorting out that big board is where does
he fit into to their ideas?Odds of him being there at eighteen are
okay? I mean probably not becauseof what I just said, Because of

(06:35):
just the positional importance and what thoseguys are getting in. There just aren't
a lot of them. You know. You can make an argument for Johnny
Newton, you could make an argumentfor some second round guys. But because
there aren't a lot, somebody's gonnawant to. He feels like the type
of guy that someone trades up forto hop in front of someone that they

(06:56):
feel like might take it. Specificallythe Rams, I mean, who are
just dying to find the next airin Donald And would feel like, you
know, Manna from Heaven style,if if you had somebody like Murphy sitting
there and they believed that he couldmaybe be the next air in Donald,
no one is right fill that role, fill that positional role for them,

(07:17):
you know, and give you somethinglike that. So for that fact,
I think that's what you know,that would be someone that you could see
somebody trading up for just because ofthe scarcity of it. And you can't
know that. I'm to sit hereand wait, there's like three dudes.
One of those three will make theirway to us. Now. His teammate
on the defensive line, to AndreSweat, is a guy who visited the
Bengals, but he's since gotten adui. So you see, does he

(07:38):
get crossed off just because of thatcrossed off. Here's the thing. No,
he already was known to have theseissues not getting a DWI right.
You know, he didn't weigh inat the Senior Ball. He's had issues
with his weight. There's questions aboutmotivational stuff. You know, he's all

(07:59):
these reports out now about how he'stalked to teams about his partying, hat
past and all that stuff. Sothat these guys knew that, and these
guys have been boots on the groundin Texas for you. They know exactly
what Tavandre Sweat is and has been. His physical skills and tape when he's
out there giving everything is first roundstuff. So I think the fact that

(08:20):
you've seen him mostly in the secondor outside the top fifty has been a
reflection of that already. So doesthis push it further down? Sure,
because it's further verification of Yeah,anything you were telling us about how those
days are behind you and you won'thave to worry about that with me right
out the window. Because this isall time stupid decision making. I mean,

(08:43):
you got three weeks man, Likejust Colin uber Use, anything you
tell your agent to come get,like anything other than that for three more
weeks. So to me, it'sit's okay, you just can't trust this
guy to make decisions, you know, and he's associated with your team.
I don't know that it's a totalcross off, because I think you already

(09:03):
kind of knew some of that stuff. But yeah, I mean it's it's
any thoughts of a team getting realsquirrely and moving up to round one.
Yeah, those are long, longone, right, Paul Danner. Jinda,
the big board. The big board, by the way, makes me
want all these guys, Like I'malready really indecisive, which is I think
illustrates kind of the interesting position they'rein with where they're drafting, what they

(09:24):
need and how the draft aligns withwhat they could use. But like,
now, like I want all theseplayers on your big board. This is
tough. That's the problem. Thisis like this is like me going to
a great restaurant but I can onlyorder one thing off the menu. It's
a bit of a It's kind ofa cheesecake factory situation or something. Lot.
I keep thinking about what I don'tget instead of enjoying what I have

(09:45):
in front of me. You can'tlive life that way. I have lived
life that way for forty sixons.Every time you look at the menu,
you think about you have the instantregret. You can't have many. It
depends on where I'm going, dependson the restaurant that I'm at, depends
if it's a place I dine atfrequently, but if I go to somewhere
out of town that I might notever go again. And I'm looking at
all the things on the menu,and it's like, man, I can

(10:07):
only really get one of those.I can't help but think about the things
that I didn't get, especially ifsomebody else got the thing that I didn't
get, and then they talk abouthow much they liked it, even if
I really liked what I got.But this is kind of how the draft
works. Now. Would you wouldyou then be the type to angle your
way into that plate, to belike, hey, can you cut me
off piece of that steak? It'sreally good? No? No no no

(10:28):
no no, you ordered that isyour trade, right, Like you have
regret, work a trade afterwards?Is that? Are you gonna pull that
off? No? Not not reallysogret The regret? Is it that strong
to make you consider crazy thing offof someone else? Is disgusting before oh,
before any food has been touched.Yeah, if you're like, hell

(10:50):
a slish off a sliver of this, you're having regret. You're talking about
it while they're making it and somebodyelse got it. Be like, hey,
let's talk. Look, do youwant any how about the sides that
I got? What do you thinkmac and cheese? Like? Can I
offer you something to some kind ofideas? When it shows up, you
make a move. Not he's gota half eaten piece of steak. The
draft works like there's somebody else.I'm done talking about the draft. I'm

(11:11):
talking about your eating habits, yourbig board. Yeah, on big board,
all right, Wennyway, get Paul'sbig board at the Athletic dot com.
It's sixteen minutes after three o'clock.I do want to talk about another
position and wrote, So I broughtout the green highlighter though, oh wow,
some stuff. I didn't know itwas going to be that perfect highlighter.
Oh yeah, why not yellow?Because I didn't have a yellow one.

(11:35):
And the only highlighter that I couldfind was at Austin's desk, and
it was green, and then hecaught me stealing it. It was the
worst thing. He came out ofthe studio during a break. I know
there's one in heresing his desk lookingfor a highlighter. And now he thinks
I'm like being weird, and soit's a whole big thing now. But
that was in this studio I didn'thave I usually have a yellow one at

(11:56):
my desk. It's gone. Itwalked away, so I had to steal
loft there. We walked away intoyour recording studio. It is the last
four minutes, absolutely outstanding radio.Seventeen minutes after three o'clock, exactly,
very very hot. He's Paul DannerJunior. He's here till four. We're
here till six. I'm gonna takemy Ladyla Cruz Victory lap. We're gonna
talk about John Caliperry, who wastalked today about leaving the University of Kentucky,

(12:20):
the title game last night, andan abundance of issues to get to
between now and six o'clock on ESPNfifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports Station, Cincinnati's
ESPN fifteen thirty Moegger Paul Danner Juniorshere covering the Bengals for the athletic and
planning a baseball practice for later tonight. It's big. I'm just hoping to
avoid me. You know, youbecome not only is this a very dad

(12:41):
thing, you know you can understandthis, but you know, if you
get into the world of youth sports, you spent a lot of time monitoring
the weather. You know, Likewe were talking on Friday on Hoo day
Light about dads and like watching storms. Like there's something about something about when
you have a kid, you justreally want to watch a storm. Yeah,
saying I'm still on the porch,stand in the garage, drink a

(13:01):
beer, take it in. I'venever really had an itch to do that
until I was a father. Ithink it's just something that happens out.
It's protective. I don't know whatit is, but like that, and
then this with between baseball and I'mlike sitting here and I'm on the Weather
Channel app like five times today tryingto judge the timing. It's it's not
great. It's not great. Sorryagain, more great radio. It sounds

(13:22):
it sounds painful. No, it'snot. It'sad in theory will be great.
It's just got to get to thefinish line of getting this practice in,
you know, big game weekend openingdays this weekend, Opening days this
week opening days this weekend for thefirst grade team. So, and you're
the head coach, yes, okay, I'm a product of our entire coaching

(13:43):
staff. Okay, so somebody hadto emerge as somebody had to emerge to
be the one to hit buttons afew times and deal with the equipment bag
in their trunk. That's really that'slike ninety percent of it. It's just
hauling the equipment background, I understand. Yeah, So that's my life,
very good, well above and beyond. We look forward to updates next week
and how the team did. We'vegot they're gonna have had fun hopefully.

(14:05):
Well, yeah, that without notabout the results. You're in the first
grade. I'm just saying you said, how the team did well? You're
how did they play? How diddid they have a good time? Did
they enjoy the experience? They didthey learn anything? Okay, I'll bring
you a full report. Please dokeep book. I'll have what am I
gonna do? Have a big boardranking their skill level. I mean,

(14:26):
I'm just saying it's gonna be fun. You want to come keep book,
I'll come keep book that we mightneed that. I'm here for that.
Yeah, yeah I am. I'ma little bit of a harsh scorer.
So like our our guy in centerfieldlast night for the Brewers. Uh,
you know, there's gotta be somewherebetween error and inside the park home run

(14:50):
for scoring that like I'll get you, Okay, he chose to die like
the decision was an error. Okay, that was an error in decision making,
So that should be like e DSeighty right, yes, I well,
the thing is, as it wasunfolding, I'm I'm obviously rooting for
him to do what I was yellingfor him not to do. But as

(15:11):
he's charging in, I'm going don'tdo it, man, No, don't
don't do it. Buddy, You'regonna like this. This isn't going to
turn out well for you. Andas soon as it got behind him,
you knew what was going to happen. It was over. So yes,
it's a home run, and yesit's awesome. No it's not an error,
but I agree with you there doesneed to be some sort of scoring
decision. Yeah, that encapsulates exactlywhat happened there. Yeah, like can

(15:33):
we just put an asterisk next toit? Like one guy was kind of
a do fist, but it stillcounts one will no one will care later,
but maybe just in the actual boxcars I see. I said to
my wife last night, I go, I want Ellie to lead the league
in home runs and win by one. Yeah, and that's the one.
That's the one. That's the one. You did a Q and A as
you often do a mailbag of sorts. And it feels like over the last

(15:56):
two weeks this has crystallized a littlebit more for folks. The wide receiver
in the draft where I think ifsix seven weeks ago, when we were
kind of getting into the teeth ofthe off season, if you would have
said, well, the Bengals aregoing to draft a wide receiver early,
I think most would have shaken theirhead. I feel like a lot of
people have come to the understanding,understanding that this is something that is going

(16:18):
to happen early. As you putit, the receiver pick is coming,
it's coming early, and it makestotal sense. And now I can't wait
to see what they do specifically atthat position, maybe more than any other
acknowledging they have of their needs.Yeah, No, I think it's I
think it's going to be a lotof fun. I think you can start
to, you know, mold thefuture of what's going to happen offensively with

(16:40):
the type of player that you're goingfor. I've spent a lot of time
doing that, and I have astory. We're doing the full Receiver episode,
Jay and I are tomorrow and Ihave a story coming out in collaboration
with it. Really diving in thisbecause you just take. We talked about
this, somebody take with the givesyou. Okay, So the draft is

(17:02):
giving you these offensive tackles in thefirst round, and the draft is giving
you an absolute cornicopia of receivers onon day two and they still haven't filled
to Tyler Boyd. Need you know, they still don't really have a slot.
I think you're Charlie Jones is goingto be in competition there, but
you're probably drafting over Charlie Jones andhoping that Charlie Jones reaches leaps to that

(17:25):
level more than you're doing anything else. You also are thinking about the future
beyond t Higgins. You're also andthis is to me my favorite part of
this decision, how can you makeJamar Chase better? How can you take
Jamar Chase and what he's currently doingand they have used him in a plethora
of different ways. But how canyou take that in and make him more

(17:47):
explosive? And that includes assuring thathe can move around to really any spot
at any time and not just bethere. And you know, okay,
there, one must be trying oneof those wide receiver screens because they've done
that so much. You know,of all the mass volume top receivers,
like they're all of a certain amountof slot usage, it's just how they're

(18:07):
used. And Jamar is used moreconservatively in there than almost any I mean,
it's mostly underneath stuff they're trying toutilize yact. But if you can
have somebody who's more of an insideoutside versatile piece alongside him in the Tyler
Boyd role, if you will,you can have more shot plays out up
where you switch them and put Chaseinside, or you move stuff to it

(18:30):
and try to find more ways touse him, like justin Jefferson is using
Minnesota, which is interesting with youknow, with the new Bengals passing in
coordinator just Er Scotti coming over fromMinnesota. A lot of the things they
did, so I had this,I looked this up today and this will
be in something later, it wasof all those that there's fourteen of these

(18:52):
high volume receivers two hundred and sixtyplus targets over the last two years,
fourteen of them and if you lookat their slot usage, a targets of
at least twenty plus are yards throwingthem down the field when they're in the
slot. Jamar, it's three percentJustin Jefferson thirty you got like the ideal

(19:15):
black hit. You use Jamar Chaselike Justin Jefferson, Yeah, okay.
And so having more of a versatilepiece who's in the slot where Tyler Boyd,
you know, in his prime,was doing a little bit of both,
but he was predominant. He wasin the eighty percent range for first
slot. If you can find somebodywho's a little bit more of both ways,

(19:36):
it allows you to to really,I think, augment what what Chase
can do. And there's a lotof guys that fit that mold here that
you could look at. I mean, Lad McConkey is at the top.
I don't know how he's not probablynot gonna make it to forty nine,
but he's kind of the ideal versionof what we're talking about there. But
there's there's another Ricky Piersoll. Youcould say that about too. There's there's

(19:56):
a few in that range that thatyou could you see, you know,
ending up in that role in themgoing that and going that direction and all
of a sudden, now the offensecould could feel a little different. Yeah,
since you mentioned Justin Jefferson, shouldI should I be conspiratorial? And
wonder if as an entry point?Yeah, that searches back on. Yeah,

(20:18):
don't. Yeah, that's it.Yeah, you don't. Don't use
Jamar Chase like Justin Jefferson just acquiredJustin Jefferson, because I promise you there's
a large chunk of the audience that, as you said that, parked up
and said to themselves the exact samething. Yeah, maybe me being one
of them, Yeah, probably wouldn'tcount. I want to ask about a
trade that didn't happen and probably wasnever gonna happen, and then your thoughts

(20:41):
on a few things that have happenedaround the National Football League, all right
since you were last here. PaulDanner Junior covering the Bengals for The Athletic.
The podcast The Growler is out threetimes a week. The Wide Receiver
episode with Jay Tomorrow tomorrow. Yeah, we're diving in all right, can't
wait for that twenty nine away fromfour o'clock sports headlines and more. Next
ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station Cincythree sixty with Tony Pike. Do we

(21:06):
want to move on dot to keepgoring and bustin Elmore? I think you
chul continue. Let me keep goingthere, Cincy three sixty Tomorrow Which twelve
News on ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati'sESPN for a service of Kelsey Chevrolet home
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(21:26):
kelseyshev dot com Redzen Brewers again tonightat GABP Frankie Montas against Joe Ross six
forty tonight seven hundred WLW starting lineup this evening, India Benson Cees Candelario
Frelian right, Ellie is playing shortbatting six Spencer Steer, Nick martiniz Dhing
Tyler Stevenson behind the plate. JohnCaliperry posted a video on social media just

(21:49):
about an hour ago where he saysthat quote, the fans need to hear
another voice. We loved it here, but we think it's time for us
to step away and step away completelyfrom the pro strongly strongly suggesting he is
leaving UK where he's probably gonna bounceto go be the head coach at Arkansas.
Cyclones play a Kansas City tonight,Jackets play at Tampa Bay. There

(22:12):
are your sports headlines. Paul DannerJunior iss here from the Athletic. Do
you agree that it was time fora new voice at Kentucky. Yeah.
Yeah, it felt like a divorcethat just kind of had to happen.
I mean, I just don't understandsomebody, So I get it, like
wanting to be somewhere where the fanbase has decided. They just despise you,

(22:32):
right, like just what are westicking around? What are's sticking around?
What are you trying to do?What's the point. Yeah, So
I'm glad that I'm glad that itk it ended up going the right way.
It works out best for all parties. What I'm curious is, you
know there's this tier one of hopefulsthat the Kentucky fans and Kentucky administration won,

(22:52):
Dan Hurley and Natoates and Jay Wrightand Billy Donovan and Scott Drew Who's
on tier too? That's what Iwant to know. Yeah, and will
we ever find out? Yeah,I don't. That's a good question.
I mean in the world of collegesports, though, it seems like it's
a endless bucket of money when youreally need there to be. So I

(23:14):
wonder would that be the case inthe basketball world with a place like it's
not the case in Kentucky, thenwhere is it? Yeah, it'll be
the case. Yeah, So it'llbe a case. So is you know
who? Everybody has their price?Right? Sure, we'll find out.
We'll find out. We'll find outit is. It is fascinating. Last
week, Derek Brown gets a contractextension from the Carolina Panthers and Bengals.

(23:34):
Fans I looked at on social mediawere crestfallen because they thought the Bengals were
going to trade for him. Yeah. I mean, if you were looking
at a can there's there's a lotof reaching the grasping Straw's portion of the
program because Okay, is there anyway right who is who would it be?
And it'd be he was entering afifth year, he's in a contract

(23:57):
dispute Carolina, Like they just tradedBrian Burns, maybe they would be willing
to be like, like, wecan't get a deal done here, so
maybe they'll they'll want the receiver,maybe they'll you have to trade t Higgins
or whatever it is. I thinkthat was who's even out, Like,
who could you ever? Is thereany scenario you could see anything maybe happening.

(24:17):
I think that was one of themaybe if everything fell possibly and then
million Yeah that was that. Okay, Yeah, I mean no, it
was never probably gonna happen. Butand then DJ Reader goes on a on
the k Adams Show and had somecomments about his departure from the Cincinnati Bengals.
What did you make of them thatI'm not super I'm a little surprised

(24:45):
in the side where Okay, therewas never any communication with him until actual
free agency started. That's a littlesurprising. But like again, I think
everybody ends up surprising how free agencyworks, and it's much harder when you're
an older player, like and soI'm a little you would think he's around

(25:10):
the building every day. Yeah,he obviously has good relationships with these coaches.
He's been pretty vocal that he wantedto be back if possible. You
would have thought maybe not a hey, let's sit down and talk numbers,
but a lot of like keep yourphone on, like will be will be
in contact. The idea of therenot being anything like that. I understand

(25:30):
feeling hurt by shot. Absolutely thatthat's the surprising them. But the fact
that it ended the way it didand went down the way that it did.
Uh No, that I don't thinkthat any of that was necessarily the
surprising side, but more that itwasn't you know, handle better. But
that's stuff that we've heard in thepast. I mean, it's similar to
what John Williams said was he feltvery blindsided by everything the previous year and

(25:52):
it kind of, you know,made him. Is that just sort of
standard operating procedure in the NFL?Yeah? Whether it should is a different
question, I guess, But itjust that strikes me as that's probably in
most cases how it works, unlessunless you're a you know, unless they

(26:15):
have an undeniable interest in get inbringing you back. Yeah, And but
when they don't, you know,they'll typically just kind of let things stand
until they have an idea of wherethey're gonna fall on it. I I
you know, it's hard to sayspecifically how exactly how every team has handled
that kind of stuff, but it'shard. That's why so many feelings end
up hurt when guys go elsewhere,because you just want to feel like it

(26:40):
mattered more to the team, andit usually doesn't like it usually is just
strictly about business and reconstructing your rosterand all kinds of stuff that makes everybody
uncomfortable. And that's why everybody wasso mad and hurt for dj Reader when
he got hurt. Yes, exactly, that's not how they want it to
end. But I think when thathappened, everybody knew, yes, that's

(27:03):
probably how it's gonna end, right, And no one wanted that, you
know, no one, nobody so, But that's that's when the business side
shows up. That's where we are. Do we cross the Buffalo Bills off
the list of teams that could representthe AFC and the Super Bowl in the
aftermath of these Devon Diggs trade.No, No, they still Josh Allen,
they do, right, So that'sgood. Right, they have extricated

(27:26):
somebody who was problematic internally. Thereis a loaded wide receiver class incoming.
Josh Allen should be able to raisesome boats. Okay, they can still
use that twenty twenty five second ascollateral to make moves this year if they
want to. They don't have to, you know, they I just I'm

(27:51):
just not gonna If you got thequarterback right like you put some these young
receivers that just keep coming in andtaking over the lead in there with them,
they'll they can find a way toscore plenty of points. Are they
hitting a reset Yeah? I meanI think more than the digs trade.
I look at everything else they've hadto do right as why you would maybe

(28:17):
push them down the list for thesuper Bowl this year but love them for
twenty twenty five. That's the thing. I feel like over the last four
years, when the season has started, you have included them among the teams
that you think could play for thewhole thing. Obviously that didn't materialize.
I don't know if I view themthat way right now, but they're going
to be relevant and if you're goingto hit the reset button having your quarterback

(28:41):
in place, that's a pretty decenttime to hit the reset button. You
mentioned the crop of wide receivers,what they get in terms of draft capital.
I think if they dip, it'sa very brief dip, and a
year from now we're talking about howthe Bills are right back among the list
of contenders in twenty twenty five.I mean, I don't know the lines
on it, and maybe they're outand I haven't seen them or paid attention,

(29:03):
uh to me, the Bills arethe favorite twin the East still.
I mean Miami. Miami has justgot too much weird stuff going on down
there. I mean, just theconstant cycle of coordinators and unhappy players and
things. I mean, are wereally going to say the Jets? No,
I mean, sure, talk aboutyour house of cards. It's not

(29:23):
the Patriots. I bet they're stillthe favorite. Bills are right now slight
favorites. I'm looking at over theDolphins, Buffalo plus one sixty, Miami
plus one seventy, the Jets plustwo forty, and then the Patriots plus
seventeen hundred slight favorites. So Idon't know what that was the last week.

(29:44):
They find a way to win theEast. These young receivers that they're
gonna come away with, probably atleast two from early enough in this draft,
have a full season to develop aroundJosh Allen. I'm not counting anybody
out if they make it to January. I don't you know, I just
I feel like we see too oftena player, usually a very very talented

(30:07):
player, taken away and everyone instantlysays their screw. But when it is
a thing that it has been wearingon everyone in the building, a freedom
that that team plays with afterwards,it's just so natural, especially when you're
have young energy on that offense.Dalton Kinkaid is still there, like they
still have a lot of things theycould do. I'm not I'm not counting

(30:30):
them well. And then they addLayl Collins. Maybe that hurts them.
I just look forward to some Instagramvideos of of his his work that he's
doing. I hope the best forI hope he's feeling healthy and can get
back on the field. Yeah.I look forward to those Instagram videos too.
And then Diggs goes to Houston,who are like the most interesting team
in the league. Yeah, Imean they're going for it, they're using

(30:53):
the they're using the rookie quarter theyshould and that that's look again, the
same conversation here, how's it gonnago with Stefon Dix when he's wide receiver
three down there? I mean takeDell was awesome, right, Okay,
and everyone knows what's going on withI mean, Nico is a real one.

(31:14):
I mean, so now it's great, like they've got a big three
that they're fantastic. You just ismixing gonna be able to bring them what
they want in the running game.Is stefan lightbox talk with Joe Mixon last
week, We've never you know,because he saw zero light boxes here.
Look, I I that's it.That's that's fine. I just think there's

(31:38):
a lot of an older running back, an older receiver. I always get
nervous when that stuff enters any equation, and so I'm not gonna crown them
that said, yeah, take thatout of the equation, give me,
give me Nico Collins and take Delland c J. Stroud and that defense.

(32:00):
Yeah, but not as much becauseof you know, the digsistion is
very nice. Assuming it works out, and they'll probably get a good version
of him, certainly for a year. I would think, yeah, all
right, we don't know, butI think it's fascinating and I can see
what the high end looks like.I could also see I could see it
not worse. Look, but it'sfascinating. Off season champs, right and

(32:21):
yeah, sure always the big moveis just not always often what no you
think it will be when this seasoncomes along. No, I'm not saying
this won't be it, but rightI just think there's more questions in it
than people would would like to talkabout it. Yeah, no question about
that, all right. Twelve minutesaway from four o'clock, Paul Danner Junior
cover the Bengals the Athletic dot Com, The Growler Podcast where you get your

(32:43):
podcasts and on Twitter slash x atPaul Danner Junior. He's here for another
segment. This is ESPN fifteen thirtyCincinnati Sports station. Hey, there minutes
with our friend Paul Danner Junior coveringthe Bengals for the Athletic and then I'm
gonna talk about Ellie Deayler Crew.At four oh five, we have John
Calip, Harry's Farrewell that will playfor you if you don't have an Internet

(33:06):
access, and so much more,and talking about last night's National Championship game,
Connecticut rolling Perdue in the second halfto win the Husky second consecutive national
title under Bengals fan Dan Hurley,Big Bengals Fan, Huge Bengals Fan.
One of my more enjoyable podcasts wasThat's Right Yes, it was after right,

(33:27):
it was after Burrows rookie year thatsummer reached out and he couldn't have
been more excited to come on.Yeah. It was one of those where
you reach out to Yukon like,hey, you think you'd have interest,
and got a direct message from him, not the pr person. He was
like, let's go, I'm here, and we talked for it had been
forty five minutes and he just couldn'tcouldn't get enough Bengal sauce. Yeah,

(33:49):
and it came out when you didthat. He's not one of these like
famous people that like, oh yeah, I like the Bengals. No,
No, he knows his stuff.No, he said, I said,
do you have any photos of Hetalked a lot abouthim and his kids,
going did you have any photos?When you guys went yeah. The one
he chose to sent me was himin front of Paul Brown Stadium, him
wearing a uh three what was itthree Johnson's in a big Willie T shirt?

(34:14):
Remember that one? Like, that'sthat's what he chose. That was
his submitted contributed photo to me.I'm like, that's how hardcore of a
fan he is. He's like,that's deep Dan Horde tells the story when
Dan Hurley was at Rhode Island.His team was at the same tournament site
as you see, and so they'rethey're there, I guess for the off

(34:34):
day, the practices or whatever.And Dan's there doing you know, god
knows what, and Dan Hurley walksup to him and introduces him and starts
peppering Dan with like the most hardcoresort of geeky like draft questions and questions
about dudes low on the depth chart. And Dan's like this guy from Jersey
City. He's a Bengals fan.Yeah, like a hardcore one. Yeah.
No. I have a feeling that, like on their flight back from

(34:59):
Phoenix, he might be throwing ona thrown on the podcast, you know
what I mean. Just got alot of catching up to do on dressing
season, and I bet he's readyto do it. Yeah, no,
no, no, And that's whya lot of people think he's gonna come
to UK because he likes the Bengals. That's it. So there you go,
that's gonna be. That's gonna bethe card that Mitch Barnhart can play.
The Hurly Suite. I can hangout down there for when he comes

(35:20):
for preseason game number one. Thereyou go, there you go. That's
right. Well, you have tHiggins in the sweet weather. That's what
I was gonna say. It'll beright next to the T suite, right
because he's got to do the samething, the same thing as Jesse Baits.
Jesse Bates did have to. That'sthat's pre game number three, though
that's not the first one. Dothey have two home preseason games this year?
Howes it work? Yes? Becausethey have? Yes, Okay,

(35:40):
you address this in your your mailbag. There are a lot of people
who think the Bengals are gonna playoverseas this year. Yeah, probably not.
You don't think that's gonna happen.No, because the NFC teams,
they've been the league has been sending, you know, same conference, not
same division over the last two years, almost across the bar, except for
the Jags, who like do weirdstuff. But like, so this year
is they're not, They're very unlikelyAnd then they could, obviously, but

(36:04):
you'd be very unlikely to see ifit doesn't follow the same path of it
just of it being same conference notthe same division, and that Carolina has
three possible opponents, including the Cowboys, which feels like something. I feel
like when they went the last timeto play the Rams, the football people
knew weeks before it came out,in an effort to kind of set forth
the plan for what it was goingto be like from there. Yeah,

(36:24):
in the original one. I meanI remember the original one doing a story
about how it comes. That wasback in twenty sixteen when they put the
tie. They were against Washington andit was I mean, it was a
big process months and nine months inthe making, and they knew early.
But that was because it was sucha challenge. Then now it's just another
road game, Yeah, because everybody'sdone it. Everybody knows how to handle

(36:45):
these international games anymore, even ifyou're going somewhere new. Uh So it's
you know, they don't know asfar in advance. A lot of work
went into tying the uh at thetime, Washington Redskins. I've said it
many times my favorite result ever thetie. Yeah, the tie that football
game, because all the fans inLondon knew exactly how to handle it.
Yes, basall stood up and kindof clapped and walked right out, no

(37:05):
problems in all. Anyone that actuallymade the trip from America was like wait
what what? And everyone's like,oh, good, see the pub.
The game goes to overtime, andI assured the people sitting in front of
us, uh uh okay, non, this isn't soccer, We're gonna have
a winner. And then ten minuteslater they looked at me like what happened?
Pal was drawn? What I rememberabout the overtime before overtime, going

(37:28):
to the bathroom, and then asI'm walking out of the men's room to
go back in my seat, there'sa guy holding four beers as overtime is
about to start, and I go, where'd you get those? He was
a native and he basically is likethe beer stand, like, wait a
minute, it's overtime and you're stillselling. Like I'm not, they are.
So I walked back to the seatswith four beers, a conquering hero

(37:52):
to watch the Bengals tie. Didyou also walk into what? Oh?
I remember about it as well,the betting kiosks. Yes, that were
all there. This is you know, seven years ago, and I remember
thinking, well, that's gonna bethe future. Yeah, like that,
if that's happening here, that's definitelygonna be happening before too long on our
side and then sure enough, sureenough was that in Tyler Eifert being he

(38:15):
played unbelievable in that game, yeah, and was in as much pain after
that game as I remember. Iremember thinking, God, that is gonna
be a long flight back if youare hurting that bad, because he took
a ton of hits and it wasone of his first games back. I
want to say, yeah, butanyway, weird stories about twenty sixteen games.
The other thing I remember about thatday was Anthony Munhos was there,

(38:37):
and you know, he got deluxeaccommodations, and we were comparing our our
trips home and I said, whenare you flying back? He goes,
I'm gonna fly back on Wednesday?How about you? When I said tomorrow,
I'm going to Amsterdam, and Iinvited him to go with me.
As you would imagine, Anthony Munyosprobably passed no interest in Amsterdam, yeah,

(38:59):
or really anywhere you would be going, no question about. And so
God love him. He looked atme, he goes, I'll be praying
for you. I said, man, that is the coolest thing of all
time. I'm walking around amsterday andthe Hall of Fame or the goat is
you're still standing here today. That'sone of the reasons. Yeah. That
and good friends, all right.Paul Danner Jr. Covering the Bengals for

(39:22):
the The Athletic. Read his workat the Athletic dot com. If you're
a subscriber, get The Beast DameBruglers. Do we know how many pages?
Specifically? I haven't seen it yet. I don't have an early edition,
but it's usually up in the fivehundred page plus draft guide that's out
tomorrow, Paul's Big Board, andthe podcast The Growler, which is the

(39:44):
next episode's out tomorrow with Jay andthen Who day Light with Mark Marschalifu program
Alum on Friday. That's right,and follow Paul on X that's where you
can find me absolutely all right.We have a lot of ground to cover
between now and six o'clock five whenthree seven, four, nine, fifteen

(40:06):
thirty and eight six six, sevenoh two, three seven, seven six
are our phone numbers. I sathere six days ago and I took it
like a champ. Everybody telling methat Ellie de la Cruz was a bust
and that I should wager against himbeing an All Star. And so now
I get my turn to tell thosepeople they were wrong. Next four o'clock

(40:27):
on ESPN fifteen thirty. This isSports. I'm Christine Lacy. John Kella
Perry confirmed today he's leaving Kentucky afterfifteen seasons. Posted his announcement in a
video on x He did not indicatehis next move, which reportedly is the
head coaching job at Arkansas. Connecticutcoach Dan Hurley, asked about the Wildcats
opening, said he plans to staywhere he is and try to win a

(40:51):
third straight national title. First takehost Steven A. Smith, he shouldn't
even consider Kentucky. It's no longera job as once was. John Parver,
he has contributed to the job notbeing what it once will. You
got one title in fifteen years.You got one title since nineteen ninety six,

(41:12):
kN got six. Alabama's Natos tookhimself out of consideration for the Kentucky
job as well. Kentucky freshman RobDillingham told the ESPN's NBA Today he will
enter the upcoming NBA Draft. He'sthe number four prospect in ESPN's draft projections.
In a game that will impact NBAplayoff positioning, Lakers hosts the Warriors
tonight. LA is ninth in theWest Golden State. A game and a

(41:32):
half back intent the Lakers Lebron Jamesand Anthony Davis both listed as questionable.
As humans, we like having options. One option you might like is speaking
with a real person when you callabout your credit cards, which twenty four
to seven live US based customer servicefrom Discover. Everyone can talk to a
real person anytime, day or night. Mutations a fly sometimes I discovered got

(41:54):
toime slash credit huh fifteen thirty thatis the name of the radio station.
Thank you, Hi, good afternoon, moegor ESPN fifteen thirty. Appreciate you
listening. I want to I wantto replay that audio from the top of
the hour update that you heard fromSteven A. Smith talking about John cali

(42:14):
Perry leaving UK, because I gotthoughts on that John cali Perry said goodbye
just a short while ago. You'llhear that coming up in just about thirty
minutes. Awesome stuff from Paul DaynerJunior. Now, now, now I
get I get, I get myturn. Here, I get I get
my turn because I was a trooperlast week. Okay, I you know

(42:36):
I watched on social media even heardfrom some of my co workers and I
took phone calls on this show lastWednesday, the day after Ellie had a
bad game, And you know,I tried, and I think I succeeded.
I tried to talk about Ellie dela Cruz like an adult and tried

(42:59):
to have a measured I think fairtake right. He had a bad game,
did some things that were frustrating,But you know what, I'm I'm
still gonna bet on the talent.I'm still gonna bet on the upside.
I'm still gonna maintain an understanding ofwhere he is in his professional baseball career,
not just his Major league baseball career, but his professional baseball career.

(43:22):
But what I heard as I triedto do this, I got a lot
of gotta send him to a ballor a lot of like, dude,
I'm done, I'm out, guysa bus. And I don't think that
those voices represented the majority, butI heard them. I paid attention to
them, so I now get Iget my turn, because well, among

(43:45):
the many things that Elie de laCruz did last night was this four under
here's a line the center field andFrelik won't get it. This could be
an inside the park home run LaDla Cruise is on his horse and they

(44:07):
are waving into the house. Herehe comes the throat of the pike and
it is it isn't inside the parkhome run for La Da Cruise. You
knew it was coming, and youknew it would be him, and he
just did it. Ten eight RedJeff Brantley on the REDS Radio network and

(44:31):
seven hundred W WELWD. By theway, in the context of the game,
I mean, let's be honest,it was eight nothing and then it
wasn't. And if you're like me, and if you're like most, you
are thinking that this is about tobe a completely deflating, absolutely devastating,
impossible to swallow loss. And youknow, granted, there were some issues

(44:55):
at the end that we had totalk about, but the Eli Dela Cruz
in the park Homer didn't just offeran awesome moment, didn't just go viral,
wasn't just really cool. It wasalso something they badly needed in the
context of a game they were tryingto win. They win it ten to
eight. Now, look, Idon't know what South Freelich was doing out

(45:15):
there in center field. I mean, even if it's not Ellie Dela Cruz,
that is a ball you can't letget past you. But if you
let that ball get pasted you andit's Ellie dela Cruz, well what happened
is what's going to happen. SoEllie goes three for four last night.
He had two home runs, Hehad won four hundred and fifty feet that

(45:37):
went out of the park, Hehad a steal, He scored four times.
He was the most important player inlast night's game. He is now
one of three players to homer fromboth sides in the plate in the same
game. The two homers from eachside of the plate, along with the
fact that one of those homers wasan inside the park home run, plus

(45:58):
the stolen base in the four runsall in the same game. According to
OPTI Stats and our friend Doug Grayat Red leg Nation, Elie de la
Cruz is the first player in MajorLeague Baseball history to have a game like
that. Kind of glad they didn'tsend him to a ball, Aren't you

(46:20):
kind of glad they didn't park himon the bench? Aren't you like?
I get to do this now,I get to make a bigger deal out
of the game that he had lastnight. Because a lot of other folks
got to make a bigger deal outof the game he had in Philadelphia last
Tuesday. So if we're going toreact to that game and go, look,
send him to a ball, getrid of them, trade him,
put him in prison. If weget to do that when he has a

(46:45):
bad game, I get to talkabout his Hall of Fame bona fides when
he has a good game. That'sthat's how it works, right. But
that's if we're going to do theextreme thing when he has the bad game.
I get to do the extreme thingwhen he has the good game.
Is that how we're gonna do things? Because if so, if so,

(47:07):
all summer long, when he hasa big game, when he does things
that have never been done before,when he does things that you have to
see to believe, all summer long, my take is gonna be this is
why he's gonna be the best playerin baseball. This is why he's gonna
be a Reds legend. This iswhy there's gonna be a statue of him
outside the ballpark. This is gonnabe why he is the avatar for a

(47:30):
Reds championship season. If we're gonnado the thing every time he has a
bad game, of why we're donewith him, Why it's never gonna work,
Why the guy's not prepared to bea consistently good big leaguer. If
we're gonna do that when he hasa bad game, I get to do
the opposite when he has a goodgame. Is that cool? We got
five point three, seven, four, nine, fifteen thirty or maybe just

(47:57):
maybe we take everything and we combineit into one thing. And that one
thing is this is an extraordinarily physicallygifted player who is not immune to the
mistakes that young players make. Heis still learning. He has not played

(48:19):
in three hundred professional baseball games yet. He is not a finished product.
He's not refined. He is theseventh youngest player in the sport, not
even twenty two and a half yearsold. Last night was his one hundred
and eighth big league game. DoI know for sure that he's going to

(48:40):
be as good as a lot ofpeople think he can be? Of course
I don't. But you mean totell me that that collection of physical tools
isn't worth betting on? You kiddingme? I mean, I'll talk about
Ellie like an adult. But ifwe're gonna do the thing where every time

(49:00):
he has a bad game, he'sa bum, he's a bust. Trade
him. I mean, I heardit from every side last week, right
like, if we're gonna do that, and by the way, he's gonna
have more bad games. Great playershave bad games. Younger players have bad
games. We said last week,youth is unpredictable and it's volatile. Youth

(49:22):
leads leads to things like stupidity,like it just does. Ellie's a young
baseball player. He is still justlearning. He's learning how to hit big
league pitching. I love the factthat he swung early in the count last
night, not falling behind in ahole because he's staring at strikes like we
saw last Friday. Like I genuinelydon't know, I could apply this to

(49:43):
Ellie, I could apply this tothe team as a whole, this most
recent you See basketball season. Ihave no idea if we're gonna long term
consider what just happened with the Bearcats'success. But I remember saying, like
God, everybody said they wanted yousee to be in the Big twelve.
I'm not sure that everybody's really readyfor the roller coaster that's going to be

(50:04):
year one of the Big twelve,and I still don't know if a lot
of folks really knew what the rollercoaster of Big twelve basketball was going to
involve. I'm not sure everybody's reallyequipped to handle the roller coaster that comes
with rooting for a team that isstill very much in the developmental stage,

(50:25):
while expectations are simultaneously higher than they'vebeen in quite a while. I mean,
you know, Ellie had a biggame last night, but Cees is
struggling, and so he will doOkay, is it time to send him
down? Do we demot? Idon't know. How about this? How
about we let these guys learn?How about we let these guys accumulate experience?

(50:49):
Again, in real life, Ihear this all the time that the
greatest educator is experienced. The greatestlearning tool is the accumulation of experience.
Can Can we let that happen forsome of these guys? Can we let
that happen with Cees? Can welet that happen with their pitchers? Can
we let that happen with Ellie dela Cruz? Can we allow him to

(51:09):
kind of make the sort of mistakesthat you're going to make when you're the
seventh youngest player in the sport.Can we let him have some bad games
and hopes that he learns. Ihope that he learns from them. I'd
like to think so, man.But I said last Wednesday, I'll say
it today. I'm gonna bet onthe talent. I'm going to bet on

(51:31):
the physical tools. I'm going tobet on the hard work that, by
all accounts he is putting in messingwith the physical tools to sometime reasonably soon
give us the kind of ballplayer youcan build a team around. I don't
know if that's a shortstop still,I don't. I'm not gonna tell you
he can't frustrate. He does manyHe dropped a ball at shortstop covering second

(51:53):
base on Friday night. That youknow, a nothole kid makes that catch.
But let's kind of decide how we'regoing to talk about La de la
Cruz this year, because I coulddo it. I could do it both
ways, man, I can havethe adult conversation and just hey, look,
last night was a step in theright direction. Let's hope we see
more of it. Or when hehas the bad game and you wanted to

(52:15):
mote him, or somebody wants tobanish him to the bench or somebody wants
to try. I got a phonecall in the show last week suggesting they
trade him. Hey, okay,he has the bad game. You want
to go way this side. Cool, he has a good game. I'll
go away this side and I'll talkabout how last night is why he's going
to be an All Star very verysoon. Hell maybe this year. Small

(52:40):
sample size, right, but Ellie'snumbers this season. He's bent in two
ninety seven. He's got an opsanine to sixty. He's the twenty seventh
highest ops in the entire sport.He's on base getting on base at a
three sixty six clip. Obviously,those numbers took a major leap last night
because of well, it's the tenthgame of the season. He's played one

(53:00):
hundred and eight games. Man,I don't know what the call. I
don't know that there is a specifictime frame that you go, okay by
now, he's got to get it. But I do think if we're being
reasonable, I think we'll all knowwhen that is when it gets here.
Were we really ready to be patientwith what happens when you have a team

(53:22):
of young guys or a team thathas a lot of guys who a year
ago at this time were playing minorleague baseball, like Cees and like Elie
de la Cruz. I will nottell you that any of those guys are
a finished products. It's why Isat on my hands before the season started

(53:45):
in talking about how many games theymight win. I have no I still
have no idea. I'm encouraged bythe start they're off, too. I'm
worried about some things. I'm reallyconcerned about Alexis Daz, but I like
the fact they're off to a sixand four start despite not having all the
guys they've had to play without.I think there's a lot to like.
But I also understand that there's suchunpredictability and volatility when it comes with young

(54:10):
people, much yes young, muchless than young baseball players, And so
I don't know. Last night wasawesome. I hope I see more of
it. I to this day willhear from people who are mad that the
Reds gave up on Edwin and Carnasionin two thousand and nine at the trade
deadline, traded him to the TorontoBlue Jays for Scott Rowland. Now.

(54:35):
I liked the trade then, Ilike the trade now even though Edwin hit
more homers in the decade of thetwenty tens than any player in baseball,
because the Reds got exactly what theywere looking for. At the time that
they moved on from him, hehad played in over five hundred Major League
Baseball games. He had accumulated overtwo thousand played appearances. And I will
still hear from people to this daywho say, well, they never should

(54:58):
have given up on a twenty sixyear old player who went on to become
a multiple time All Star. Youcannot maintain that position and then say things
like trade Ellie Dela Cruz or sendthem to a ball or he's gonna be
a bust, or David Bell shouldjust park him on the bench. You
can't. You can't do both.So I have no idea how good this

(55:22):
team is going to be. Ihave no real idea how good or bad
Eli Dela Cruz is going to be. But I'm ready for the roller coaster.
It doesn't mean there won't be momentsof frustration. Frustration happens, but
I'm ready for the Ellie Dela Cruzroller coaster. I'm ready for the twenty
twenty four Reds roller coaster. Iwas ready for the twenty twenty four You

(55:45):
see basketball roller coaster? Are you? Five point three seven four nine fifteen
thirty eight six six seven oh twothree seven seven six h John Caliperry said,
good alight. A short while ago, we'll have that audio for you
and steven A. Smith. StevenA Smith talking about UK before piqued my

(56:07):
interest. We'll have some of thatas well. It's twenty after four.
As I said, this is ESPNfifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station, twenty six
after four o'clock. This is ESPNfifteen to thirty. Mon names mulligring.
Your phone calls are coming up,I promise, except I I think I

(56:27):
either need a new battery for themouse. Why can't we just have a
phone that works in here like atelephone? Why I cannot tearan I cannot
get the mouse to work in Ido? I don't don't know if I
need a new battery. I needa new battery. I have change ours
last I am. I am changingthe battery. This is live radio.
I'm changing the battery and the mouse. You know. They started putting telephone
calls on the air about two yearsafter radio was invented as a medium and

(56:53):
it worked fine. Oh I gotit to work. I got the mouse
to work. I just needed anew battery. So when radio was invented
like two years after as when theyI think it was actually eighteen months they
put the first phone call on theair, we have attempted to perfect that

(57:14):
nearly centuries old way of doing thingsby making it computerized. Scott, Scott,
you're on ESPN fifteen thirty. What'sup, mo? So I've kind
of complained about this for a fewyears. I mean, I think there's

(57:35):
just too way too much hot takerygoing on these days and overreaction, and
I don't know if that's just somethingwe're going to have to get used to
or not. I mean, Ikind of think that a lot of the
Eric Davis stuff was hot takery andoverreaction. But I you know, just

(57:57):
like these days with the armin Idon't think you need to figure out exactly
why it's happening. It's just kindof a thing, right, I mean,
I don't think there's anything to it. I just think that a lot
of good pictures are getting injured rightnow. I know that sounds silly,

(58:17):
but well, I think I willI'll separate from you to a degree,
because I do think that there hasbeen enough of a rash of injuries that
I think you should always be willingto explore things that can best ensure your
sports ability to keep players on thefield. So one of the arguments right

(58:42):
now, and I don't know ifthe answer is yes I agree or no
I don't. But the Players Associationis countering, is alleging that the pitch
clock is contributing to the rash ofarm injuries major League Baseball saying that's not
the case. I don't know whatto believe, but I think it's something
worth it, right. I dothink it's okay. Look, we implemented

(59:02):
this, and by the way,we had had this in place while most
of these guys were pitching in theminor leagues and so they're used to the
pitch clock. But is there acorrelation here between making the guys, you
know, deliver a pitch every twentyseconds and an uptick in injuries or are
we seeing something that's coincidental. Ithink it's you're being responsible if you're looking

(59:25):
at things through the lens of let'sfigure out what we can do to keep
as many players healthy as possible.Now. Also, at the same time,
forty years ago, a lot ofpitchers who are getting who would get
Tommy John surgery today just moved up, moved on, or retired, or
some just sat for a year,didn't get Tommy John surgery and attempted to

(59:45):
come back because they just thought thebest remedy was rest. And so I've
seen people suggest, well, fortyyears ago, we didn't have these many
Tommy John surgeries. Well, A, the specific surgery was rarely being reported.
B it just wasn't a procedure itwas being done all that often.
It was often viewed as a procedureof last resort, and now it's almost
viewed as a one that you wantto do even before you have an elbow

(01:00:07):
issue. So I think with thisparticular issue, you're always you always want
to keep guys on the field.You always want to best protect your player's
health, and I think you shouldalways be looking at things that can best
do that, whether it's should welessen the impact or lessen the emphasis on
velocity, should we go back toteaching guys how to throw effectively without you

(01:00:30):
know, just maxing out there veloand putting as much stress on the arm
as possible. Is there something tothe pitch clock being an issue? I
think these things are all worth examining. I know that's not why you call
it, but there's my take onit. Well, and you know,
of course there's something going on them. But if you go back and you

(01:00:52):
look forty years ago at some ofthe pitch counts for pictures, it's unbelievable.
Noelan Ryan used to throw. Howmany pitches did he throw in a
game? One hundred and seventy,one hundred and eighty Sure, yeah,
oh yeah, Greg Maddox, hewas economical, but he still threw a

(01:01:15):
bunch of pitches and smolts and allof those pictures all through a bunch.
So yeah, I have no ideawhat the answer is. I was calling
more in terms of these days.You better perform today because if you don't
today, we're going to be onyou tomorrow. And I just think that

(01:01:36):
that's ludicrous. Yeah, I don'tthink. I think just in general as
a society we've never been less patient. That applies to sports, that applies
to real life. I think.I think also, you know, twenty
twenty five years ago, if ifa team had a hot prospect, he

(01:01:57):
was a rumor, right, youget a blurb. Now, you know,
minor league players, high end onesprospects get covered as much as major
league players, and especially if youhave a season like the one the Reds
had in twenty twenty two, there'sgoing to be hyper focus on what's next.
And you could watch these guys andstream them, and you know,
when Ellie de la Cruz was playingfor the Dayton Dragons, I got through

(01:02:20):
the summer of twenty twenty two seeinghis highlights on social media, and so
we know so much more about them. It feels like they've been a part
of our consumption habits for such along time that when they get to the
big leagues, we just expect they'regoing to be ready to go. And
that's not the case. You mentionedEric Davis. Eric Davis, through his
first two big league seasons, wasa two thirty three batter who struck out

(01:02:42):
eighty seven times and fewer than threehundred big league played appearances. As late
as June his third season in nineteeneighty six, when he finished twelfth in
the MVP voting, he was battingbelow two hundred and was a strikeout machine.
And then things clicked when he wastwenty four years old, and by
the way, Eric Davis played fora long time in the minor leagues.
I think, unfortunately we don't accountfor the fact that you learn. You

(01:03:07):
learned by gaining experience, You learnedby accumulating, by making mistakes, you
learn by being humbled, you learnby adjusting. You learned by how the
people adjust to you. And Idon't think we account for that as much
anymore. No, I totally agree. I mean, Joey Vado is another
great example. When he was herein Dayton, he was a strikeout machine,

(01:03:30):
and we would always joke that he'ssomething going to play in the MLB
because I didn't see a pathway forhim because he struck out a lot as
a dragon. So yeah, again, it just wrankles me a little bit,
you know. And I was talkingto another friend who is a big

(01:03:52):
baseball fan, and they think thatDavid Bell mismannates last night's game, And
I said, how did he mismanageit? He was, Ashcraft was doing
great and then it hit a wallor whatever and they didn't get him out
in time. And Graham Ashcraft mismanagedthe game last night by not being able

(01:04:15):
to protect an eight nothing lead,because I could promise you what David Bell
was thinking when the lead swelled toeight, nothing was I could put Carson
Spyers out there to give us twoor three innings, and I could save
everybody else for the rest of theseries. That game was not mismanaged by
David Bell. It was mismanaged byGraham Ashcraft. Right. I totally agree.
But again, the hot taker,he sometimes just gets a little much

(01:04:38):
for me. We're on the samepage, Scott, thank you. As
always. Joey Vado played. IfI'm doing this on the fly, here
subtract the games he played at Louisover the last couple of years in rehab
assignments. When when Joey Vado cameto the big leagues in two thousand and
seven as pretty much a finished productat the age of what twenty four years
old, he he played in overseven hundred minor league games. Seven hundred

(01:05:05):
minor league games. Now, whenhe got here, Joey Vado was second
the Rookie Rookie of the Year votingin two thousand and eight, So I
mean he that dude got here andwas terrific from almost day one. First
big league game hit a homer,his first after he was a September call
up right around Labor Day twenty fourto twenty five games. You know,

(01:05:26):
batted like three twenty one, hitthe ball out of the ballpark, and
then went from there. He wasa finished product. He played in over
seven hundred minor league games. IfI would have said a year ago,
you know what they should do withEllie de la Cruz and dot dot dot
Matt McClain cees noelve Marte. Butwhat they should do with Ellie dey la
Cruz is not bring him up untilhe has played in six or seven hundred

(01:05:49):
minor league games. I don't thinkanybody would have agreed with me. So,
okay, so we're not doing thatanymore. So we're gonna bring him
up now. Let's okay. Canwe let him learn? I said something.
I'm gonna get to a break here. I said something about Zach Taylor
once that I believe to be true. I will apply it to Eli day
la Cruz in the five o'clock hour. There was something last night though,

(01:06:12):
that I think is concerning. DavidBell did not mismanage the game last night.
That's ridiculous too. I gave GrahamAshcraft an eate nothing lead. He's
thinking I could use my last guyin the bullpen who we just called up
to eat some innings, so Idon't have to use my main guys.
And then Graham Ashcraft couldn't get itdone. Hey, David Bell's fault.
There was a major issue last nightthat came up and we have to talk

(01:06:34):
about it. We have a pollquestion we have to get to. We
have John Callip Perry to hear from. We have Steven A Smith on John
Calla Perry in the Kentucky job.We have a lot and we're seven minutes
late for a break on ESPN fifteenthirty Cincinnati Sports Station, Cincinnati's eight time
power train protection and guaranteed credit approvalfrom their family to yours for life,

(01:06:56):
KELSEYSHEV dot Com, Reds and Brewers. Tonight's second four Cincinnati winning last night
on the shoulders of Ellie dey LaCruz, who was the primary reason why
they won the game. Tonight,Cincinnati will give the ball to our staff
Ace Frankie Montas, who's made twostarts for the Reds and both have been
well pretty damn good, righty.Joe Ross throws from Milwaukee six forty tonight

(01:07:18):
seven hundred w aldo. I havenot looked at weather radar. I think
the weather radar is kind of promising, as they say there's going to be
a window. I don't know.I'm barely qualified to talk about sports,
but I'm gonna opine on the weatherforecast. Come on, John Cala Perry
said goodbye today. Let's play someof that audio. This is from coach

(01:07:41):
Cal's Twitter feed. He sent avideo about two hours ago. This is
like almost four minutes long. Idon't know that we're going to play the
whole thing, but you know,we'll see see how interesting it is.
Here's a coach Cal basically saying goodbyegoodbye. It's basically saying goodbye to Big
Blue Nation. Since our season ended, Ellen and I have spent a lot

(01:08:09):
of time thinking about our time hereat Kentucky, what it means to us,
the friends we've made on that court, Regional championships, conference championships,
final fours, the national title intwenty twelve. It's been a beautiful time

(01:08:30):
for us. This is a dreamjob. It was my dream job.
Anybody in our profession looks at theUniversity of Kentucky and basketball and said that
is the bluest of blue. Thelast few weeks, we've come to realize

(01:08:56):
that this program probably needs to hearanother voice, that the university as a
whole has to have another voice givingguidance about this program that they hear and
the fans need to hear another voice. We've loved it here, but we
think it's time for us to stepaway. All right, there you go.

(01:09:20):
There's John Caliperry. He's leaving.He's gone. He did not say
specifically that he's going to Arkansas,but it looks like he's going to Arkansas.
Dick Gabriel, who's part of theUK broadcast football broadcast, said I
believe on Matt Jones show, andI could be dead wrong about that,
but essentially said that Cal went toUK. John Caliberry a lifetime contract at

(01:09:44):
UK, and basically it was like, well you got something better, and
Kentucky said, yeah, we're good, which makes me wonder, like,
what's what's better than a lifetime contract, Like you you get to be the
coach when you're dead. I don'tanyway, John Caliperry is off to Arkansas.

(01:10:04):
Look it is still and I believethis, It is still the biggest
job in college basketball. It's themost high profile that might not be the
best program right now. I thinkDan Hurley and Yukon have the market cornered
on that. But I still believeit's the biggest job in college basketball.

(01:10:27):
It certainly doesn't guarantee you success,but it is the biggest job in college
basketball. And so when that jobis open, it's fascinating. And when
you hear the potential candidates that Kentuckycould be and in most cases should be
interested in. We're talking about somebig hitters here. Why wouldn't they make

(01:10:51):
an offer that Dan Hurley can't refuse. Now, Dan Hurley may say,
look, I'm so damn happy thatI'm creating a dynasty at Yukon. Good,
But yeah, why would you notmake a run at him? Scott
Drew Matt Jones said it on ourshow yesterday, and I agree with it.
Maybe the single greatest rebuilding job inthe history of college basketball. Why
would you not be interested in him? Why would you not make an offer

(01:11:14):
to him? Billy Donovan, Ithink is a little different. I think
when you've been out of the collegegame for a basically a decade, I
think it's kind of hard to jumpback in, but there's no denying his
college basketball coaching bona fides. Whywould you not show interest in Jay Wright?
I mean, hasn't been out ofthe game that long A though,
I think Jay Wright's a very goodbroadcaster, and so Natoates, I have

(01:11:36):
no idea why you wouldn't be thoroughlyinterested in trying to lure him to Lexington.
And you've got some financial freedom hereto pay buyouts because you're not on
the hook for thirty three million thatyou would have to pay to buy out
John Kelli Perry. What I thinkwould be interesting, though, is if
those are all the top tier guys, some of whom have Natoates made it

(01:12:00):
known on social media like I'm happyhere, and Dan Hurley after the title
game last night was pretty adamant I'mstaying in stores. That doesn't mean you
can't offer them or try to talkto him, or as we say,
make him an offer they can't refuse. But if like that first tier of
guys isn't doesn't produce John Caliperry's successorat the University of Kentucky, who's on

(01:12:24):
the second tier, I think alot of folks would say I'm not doing
this to stirn problems here, ButI think a lot of folks would say,
almost instantly, well, Sean Miller, and maybe maybe not. But
I'm kind of curious as to like, let's say, Mitch Barnhardt his dream
set of candidates are the guys thatI just mentioned, and for whatever reason,

(01:12:46):
they don't end up coming to Lexington. Who's on the second tier.
And by the way, if likeSean Miller's your eighth option, that's really
damn good. Steven A Smith waswe played, we didn't play it.
We aired the top of our updateand they used a SoundBite from first take
with steven A and I got somethoughts what he had to say. I

(01:13:11):
think it's going to be in vogueto talk about with that job isn't what
it used to be. I don'tagree with that now. Look, I
mean, Kentucky is the epicenter ofcollege basketball, which was a thing for
the first five or six years ofJohn Calla Perry's tenure, and which was
a thing in the mid to latenineties, hasn't been a thing over the
last couple of years. They werestill able to get talent to Lexington two

(01:13:38):
seasons ago that had the Wildcats asa two seed this year, they were
still able for all of John caliPery's deficiencies, had talent that made Kentucky
good enough this year to be athree seed. Getting players hasn't really been
an issue. Underachieving with those players, specifically in the postseason, has been

(01:14:02):
an issue. So, you know, is Kentucky the Has it been the
epicenter of college basketball now for awhile? No? And look, I
mean the thing about the Caliperi regime, for all of his bluster, and
I love his bluster, but forall of his bluster during his time,
you know, Connecticut won three titlesin Villanova won two, and Carolina won
a couple, and Gonzaga played ina couple of title games, and you

(01:14:25):
know, it just it kind ofgot lapped. But that's during John Caliperry's
regime. That job is still reallyhard because of the pressure and expectation and
the scrutiny to come with it.But it's still a massive gig, and
it's still a gig that I thinkhas almost limited possibilities. Understanding that nil

(01:14:46):
drives the bus nil. But thegood jobs are the ones that have a
lot of nil money. But thatjob is still a really big deal.
I have a poll question. Thanksto our friends at United heart Lane Insurance
on Twitter at Moegar twitter slash xat Moeger United Heartland Insurance. This insurance

(01:15:08):
company is going to be the biggestand best in the entire world. United
Heartland Insurance based in Hamilton, alsooffices in Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky. Go
to uhins dot com. The polequestion involves you see Xavier and Kentucky and
which one will make the second weekendof the tournament. First, well,
think about it for a second,then vote at Moeger, Breniman and Jones

(01:15:30):
on baseball is next in this week'sproval you found Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.
Is you have it? So?Oh, that's right. It's to guess
what day it is, dude day. You know, we got to play
some Lebron James audio a little bitlater on because he talked about UC basketball

(01:15:55):
kind of and that made the roundsyesterday, and so we'll have some fun
with Hi. My name's Malaggard.This is ESPN fifteen thirty. I do
appreciate you listening. Hopefully you're havingan awesome Tuesday. I know we are.
We've been busy, We've had alot to get to a few more
thoughts on Coach Col's departure from UK. Well answer our we we'll address our

(01:16:17):
poll questions. We have two bothkind of Coach cal related. Some thoughts
from a Paul Danner junior on thedraft and the Lebron James UC thing,
which we'll get to in a bit. We've we've been pretty heavy on well
me taking the opportunity to go toextreme lengths to talk about Ellie de la
Cruz. The decision that I havemade on this show is if when Ellie

(01:16:40):
has a bad game, we haveto hear about how he's going to be,
you should send him to Louisville,or send him to a ball or
demote him, or cut off oneof his fingers, or send him to
prison or banish him to the bench. If we're going to do that when
he has a bad game. Whenhe has a good game, I get
a chance to talk about how he'sgoing to be an All Star multiple times

(01:17:00):
over, probably a Reds Hall ofFamer, possibly a National Baseball Hall of
Famer, and the franchise cornerstone ofa team that wins the World Series.
If that's what we're gonna do.Fine, but we've got to do it.
We've got to do it when hehas bad games, and we've got
to do it when he has goodgames, or will take the more measured

(01:17:25):
approach. A couple of years ago, Bengals good at the Super Bowl,
and I thought their run to thepostseason and they're run in the postseason,
it was a credit to a lotof things. I thought the coaching staff
did a great job getting the Bengalsto the Super Bowl in spite of a
massive offensive deficiency upfront. The oldline stunk. That requires a level of

(01:17:48):
coaching that to this day, Idon't think has been completely appreciated. So
in the aftermath of coming this closeto winning a title, one day I
talked about about and how one ofthe things I was excited about moving forward
was, you know, Zach Taylormight just now be coming into his own
as a head coach. And he'shad some failures to learn from, He's

(01:18:09):
had some successes to learn from.He's had some situational football issues that he's
gained experience in and he's going tolearn from that. And you know,
he's still kind of coming into hisown as a coach, and I know
there's a lot of people who aren'tgoing to agree with this in the aftermath
of a season in which the Bengalsdidn't make the playoffs. I think Zach

(01:18:30):
Taylor's a better coach today than hewas the year the Bengals went to the
Super Bowl. I have less issueswith the play calling. I think they
did a good job getting Jake Browningready to play last year. Didn't love
everything. I didn't understand some ofthe Chase brown usage when Jake was when
he first took over, and thentoward the end of the season. But

(01:18:51):
you know, I think sometimes inlife we don't we don't account for how
people start doing something, gain experiencedoing something, and then learn and then
apply the things they've learned to howthey do their job subsequently. So Ellie

(01:19:11):
Dela Cruz gets called up. Heis today the seventh youngest player in baseball,
seventh youngest, and so like I'mI guess I'm kind of a patient
person in life. But you know, somebody asked me today, well,

(01:19:32):
okay, you're gonna be the EllieDela Cruz apologist. How many games does
he have to play before you mightadmit he's not gonna be as good as
you think. And I don't know. I don't know. There's no number
on it. I don't know ifit's four hundred games five, I don't
know. I don't know. Here'swhat I do know that I allow people

(01:19:54):
to gain experience and learn from thoseexperiences, because I believe that there's no
greater lesson teacher than experience. Istarted doing this show in the mid days
in two thousand and seven. Ihadn't been on the air every day,

(01:20:15):
and there were some things they couldtell me about being a Monday through Friday
on air personality, and I hadgained experience working as a producer and doing
some other stuff. But I learnedmainly by doing this job and being on
every day, and it took Honestly, twenty twelve is the first year that

(01:20:36):
I felt genuinely comfortable coming in anddoing a show every single day, and
felt comfortable with my voice, feltcomfortable with my ability to make arguments,
felt comfortable with being wrong, feltcomfortable saying I don't know, felt comfortable
interviewing people, felt comfortable interviewing peoplethat I had never met. Five years

(01:20:58):
five years, you could argue verysuccessfully I still suck at this job,
and you'll get no real argument forme. Took me five years. I'm
not saying it's gonna take Ellie DeaylerCruz or any of these guys five years.
But you know, I heard ittoday Christian and Carnassio and Strand something
like what six for his last thirtysix or something. I don't even know.
I don't even care, because I'mletting these guys learn. I'm letting

(01:21:24):
these guys accumulate experience in hitting,big league pitching and adjusting to the adjustments
the league makes to them, inunderstanding what it takes to compete at the
highest level of the sport. Thisstuff, I know, for many might
sound really hokey, but it's important. I think in professional sports at the

(01:21:45):
highest level, we discount the factthat players and coaches are still learning.
Ellie Deyler Cruz is learning, man, He's learning how to harness his incredible
physical gifts and apply that to beinga very good Big leaguer. Does that

(01:22:10):
mean a multiple time All Star?Does? I don't know. I just
want him to be a productive,contributing member of a good team. That's
a frank, right now, That'senough. For me, that's enough.
I don't put a number on AllStar games or statistically what it has to
look like, or you know,we had a guy called last week and
say, well, he's not goingto be a Hall of Famer. Probably

(01:22:30):
not. The odds are working againstevery player or some great players who have
never sniffed Cooperstown. I just wantthe dude to be a consistent, reliable,
everyday player that contributes to a winningteam. Is he that right now?
You might argue no, And youmight argue he's getting there, and
maybe you have a better chance ofarguing that he's getting there now as opposed

(01:22:54):
to last Wednesday, the day afterhe made a couple of mistakes in the
field. But he's he's he's twentytwo years old and he's learning man.
Like I think in professional I thinksometimes in life, like we just we
don't account for the fact that allright, someone's gonna do something, they're
gonna get better at it, they'regonna get reps, and then boom,
here we go, they're gonna beThey're they're gonna be so much better.

(01:23:16):
Joe Burrow, I expect this nextphase of his career to be insanely good.
I know he's been hurt, he'shad injuries, but he's had four
years of being in an NFL environment, of essentially running the same offense,
of preparing, of game planning,of going through the routine of adjusting the
defenses, of absorbing himself in theworld of NFL quarterback. And so I

(01:23:41):
cannot wait to see what this nextphase of his career looks like and how
he could apply the lessons learned fromthe first four years lots of successes,
certainly some failures, and be aneven better player moving forward. I think
it makes him scary. I thinkit makes Patrick Mahomes scary. I think
it makes Ellie Dela Cruz scary.So, man, we want the Reds

(01:24:04):
to get to the postseason, andthey can, and we want the Reds
to deliver some payoff for as anorganization making us wait nearly three decades to
see them advance in the postseason.But don't let that obscure what is really
going on here. There are stillso many players in the developmental stages of

(01:24:28):
their big league careers. And Isaid this often. Last week, I
said it about Hunter Green, I'llsay it about the starting pitchers. And
I know there are a lot ofpeople who don't want to hear it.
But these dudes are still in thedevelopmental stages of their baseball lives. Some

(01:24:48):
will get it earlier than others.That's how life works. Some will not
get it. My money is onEllie Dela cer CRUs getting it. I
mean, if you look at theReds today compared to one year ago.

(01:25:08):
A year ago, at this time, they're running out Kevin Newman, Jason
Vossler, Will Myers, Jose Barrero. The starting pitcher a year ago today
was Connor Overton. Like a yearago, that's where the Reds were playing

(01:25:30):
dudes that had no chance of beinga part of this team's future. Think
of the names that weren't here.Start with Ellie. So what they're trying
to do is really really hard,man, it is. It's really hard.
And maybe I'm more patient with whatthey're trying to do than others,
But what they're trying to do isdevelop players while trying to improve upon what

(01:25:55):
they did last season. From awin loss perspective, that is really tough.
It's why back in the winter time, when there were different statistical models
telling everybody how many games the Redswould win, I ignored them, ignored
them, didn't get any of thosepeople on the air to talk about them.

(01:26:17):
How do you do a projection whennone of these dudes really have track
records? You can't. So inthe interim, what I would tell you
is enjoy the high points. Enjoythe moments like last night when Ellie Dela
Cruz was a part of something thatwe have never seen a player do before.

(01:26:41):
Understand there are going to be frustrations. That doesn't mean you can't react
emotionally to the frustrations. I wasfirst given a chance to do this show,
I said and did things that madeour people in management and in sales
cringe and lose their minds. Butokay, this is this is kind of
part of it. I'm not tellingyou my high end is anything like Ellie

(01:27:04):
Daylor Cruizes. Like, let theseguys build experience, and you know,
like last Tuesday in Philadelphia, itwas frustrating. Let's hope he learns from
it. Friday night, that atbat and the seventh inning against the Mets,
he falls behind oh two, looksat two strikes and then ends up
striking striking out, looking okay,file that away. Maybe that's a learning

(01:27:25):
experience. If we're still talking aboutlearning experiences with a guy like that,
you know, in two years it'sa little bit different. And this I
keep saying, like the roller coasterthat this season is going to be is
not going to be for the faintof heart. It just it's not.
That doesn't mean they can't win morethan they lose, that doesn't mean they

(01:27:48):
can't get to the postseason. Thatdoesn't mean they can't win the National League
Central. But this team is stilltrying to iron out a lot of things
that just come with youth. Thenyou add to it the injury. This
is going to be a really,really rough roller coaster. But you know,

(01:28:10):
there are two types of people whenit comes to roller coasters. There
are folks who don't ride them becausethey know they're gonna throw up, and
there are people who think that they'rescary but also a lot of fun.
This team, this season is goingto be a lot of fun. That's
not saying it won't frustrate. It'snot saying it won't provide some really hard

(01:28:32):
moments. But man, last night, to me was just part of the
roller coaster, part of the ride. So is Friday night, So was
last Tuesday. That's just with Elliede la Cruz. Five point three seven
four nine, fifteen thirty and eightsix six seven two three seven seven six

(01:28:53):
are our phone numbers. Will graba phone caller to John Caliperry said farewell
to hash tag Big Blue Nation.Today, I want to play some audio
from Steven A. Smith because Ilike Steven A. Smith. I think
he's a wonderful television entertainer. Ithink he's a little off base when it
comes to that program. We'll getto our poll questions a little bit on

(01:29:15):
the draft, and Lebron James talkedabout UC basketball, so we have to
spend some time on that too.On ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati's Espeter five.
This is ESPN fifteen thirty. Weplayed for you earlier, coach cal
We still have to call on that. John Caliperry, soon to be Arkansas
head coach John Caliperry, I saidgoodbye to a big Blue Nation. He

(01:29:42):
was still wearing a blue shirt ofblue Nike pullover. I think he had
just got done walking yesterday. Hewas caught on not caught, but a
television station in Lexington found video orfound him walking his dog while pushing a
stroller that the dog was in,except the dog was like running behind him,

(01:30:02):
but it was a dog stroller.So you could vote now at Moegger
whether that's weird or not. Youcan also vote whether UC Xavier or Kentucky
would be the next program to playin the second week end of the tournament
thanks to a United Heartland insurance.I heard this. This is from a
First Take last Friday. I wasoff, I went and got my oil

(01:30:24):
changed, and they have a TVin the oil the I think the only
place where you could find shows likethe Skip Bayless Show and First Take are
in oil change places, and soI was watching First Take last Friday in
the oil change place, and thenFirst Take airs every day. It's a
behemoth of a show and frankly attimes not totally unwatchable. Skip Bayless different

(01:30:50):
story anyway. This is from thetop of the Hour Sports Center on ESPN
Radio, which obviously we carry,and they used this snippet from a stephen
A talking about the job that JohnCaliperry just left. Somebody's got to say
it, what so I'm gonna sayit. He shouldn't even consider Kentucky.

(01:31:13):
Thank you. A couple of reasonsNumber one. It's no longer the job
it once was. Somebody gotta sayit, coach, so I'm gonna say
it. John Calipari, John CaliParvey has contributed to the job not being
shanton. What it was was yougot one title in fifteen years. You

(01:31:38):
got one title since nineteen ninety six, U Khon got six. All right,
there you go. So part ofwhat he said I think is is
accurate. Like John Cali Perry contributedto the job not being what it once
was, but it's not merely becauseof title count. They still got players
to Lexington, right. Rob Dillingham, my favorite player in the country,

(01:32:01):
played in Lexington this year. Byall accounts, they were getting a new
whole crop of awesome freshmen and gettingplayers was not an issue. The unwillingness
at times to modernize offensively, orto modernize with your staff, or to
embrace the current mantra in college basketball, which is to get old and stay

(01:32:27):
old, those are the main reasonswhy Kentucky has underperformed relatively speaking in recent
years. Those things I don't thinkare reflective of the job not being what
it used to be. Now,Dan Hurley has an awesome job, and
you know, if it's me,I'd think long and hard about leaving a
gig where I could pretty much dowhatever I want to do, where they

(01:32:48):
don't care about football, where Iam in the early stages, you might
say, of creating a long lastingdynasty in stores Connecticut. So this to
me isn't so much commentary on DanHurley, but the idea that the job
isn't what he used to be.The job isn't what it used to be
just because John Kelli Perry didn't dothe job to the fullest of his capabilities.

(01:33:10):
He didn't adapt, he didn't adjust, he didn't modernize. That's a
reflection on him. It's not areflection of the job. A reflection of
the job would be no fan support. That's not an issue. A reflection
of the job would be bad nil. I don't know enough about that to
say that it's an issue there.But you got to think the University of

(01:33:32):
Kentucky can fix that problem if it'sa problem, especially with the right coach
still get players still high profile.There's some things I think the new coach
should do differently. I think it'sridiculous they don't play any home games that
matter at Reperina I don't know ifthat's something the new coach can fix,
But you know, to me,things reflective at the job not being all

(01:33:54):
that good, would be not veryhigh profile, not an issue. Not
Able to get players, not anissue. Il money, don't think that
would be a huge issue. Nobodycaring, not an issue. Can they
win six titles in twenty five years? Probably not. It's really hard to
do. Can they compete for nationaltitles with the right head coach? Understanding

(01:34:20):
how to modernize, understanding how collegebasketball works in this day and age evolving.
There was a piece Kyle Tucker,who's an awesome writer for The Athletic
two years ago, got college headcoaches, obviously anonymously, to talk about
Kentucky's offense and why they were soeasy to defend, how to be fair.

(01:34:43):
That changed this season, But youknow, in this day and age,
just we're going to reload John Calla. Perry back in the day was
bringing in a new team every singleyear, and which is why I thought
what he did at Kentucky was harderthan people realize. Well, now coaches
bring in new teams, they justdo it with older players. Had he
done that at Kentucky? A prettydamn good chance he'd have more than just

(01:35:04):
one title. Five point thirty.We have to play Lebron James talking about
you see red starting lineup and somuch more. Next, it's a Kelsey
chevrolat home of lifetime power train protectionand guaranteed credit approval from their family to
yours for life, Kelsey chef dotcom, Redsen Brewers again tonight at GABP.

(01:35:25):
Frankie Montas will throw for Cincinnati.Now, I will say this understanding
that the starting lineup of the CincinnatiReds is not merely a reflection of the
manager. But I know that's somethingthat not a lot of people want to
acknowledge. But whatever, the startinglineup is, a lot of people signed

(01:35:45):
off on it. I don't understandwhy Spencer Steer bat seventh, Jonathan India
is leading off, Benson's and centerCees at first, Candelario at third,
Freelien right, Dela Cruz at shortstop, Battings six Steers and left, martiniz
dhing tonight, Tyler Stevenson batts inthe ninth position, six forty this evening

(01:36:06):
on seven hundred W l W.I. Meanwhile, John Calla Perry says
I'm leaving I'm out done. Hashe Has he done the thing yet where
he changes his Twitter John, He'sstill at UK head coach John Calipari.
He hasn't changed. It's still IfI look at the thing here, I'm
watching the video now, official Twitteraccount of Kentucky headman's basketball coach John Caliperry

(01:36:31):
with the Kentucky logo next to hisname. Yeah, so maybe maybe he's
having second thoughts or something. Idon't know. Cyclones played tonight at Kansas
City and the Blue Jackets play Ithrew and I play at Tampa Bay.
Quickly here, we'll grab a phonecallar too, and then the best of
Paul Danner Junior. Before we dothat, though, do we have the

(01:36:56):
Lebron James audio to comment on this? Lebron James, By the way,
Lebron James podcast that he does withJJ Reddick is really good. It's awesome.
It's it's wonky, it's basketball nerdy, it's terrific. I feel like
most ex players that do podcasts,or even current players, their analysis consists

(01:37:19):
of he's got that dog in him. With JJ Reddick and Lebron James,
it's it's a little bit different.It's called mind the Game on the Mind
the Game podcast, Lebron James hadthis to say. You know, obviously
he came out of Akron, SaintVincent, Saint Mary, jumped right to
the NBA, which we knew foryears he was going to do. But

(01:37:39):
he had this to say about hisbasketball journey and wanting it to include a
stop in Cincinnati. At some point, I'm saying, like, I love
Cincinnati, you know what Logan andRuben Patterson, you know, and Keny
Martin, all those guys. Whenand then when Kenny Saderfield sepped in Damar
Johnson, it was like, Idon't know what kind of like I remember

(01:38:01):
as I kid watching it, likeI want I wanted it when I was
growing up. I wanted to goto Cincinnati because of the uniforms and because
of how because of hugs. I'msaying, I think it's really cool now
Ruben Patterson and Steve Logan or NortheastOhio guys, So it makes sense that
he mentions them. They were obviouslyalso you know, terrific player. Steve
Logan was the first team All American. So Lebron James and I had that
in common. We both wanted tobe Bearcats. So but my count and

(01:38:26):
you can correct me if I'm wrong, because I'm probably won't be wrong with
this. You see, possibly missout on a chance of Lebron James,
Yeah, Oj Mayo, Bill Walker, Michael Beasley, yeah, anybody else.
I'm sure there were others, butlike it's not like Lebron. I
mean, those other guys like LebronJames didn't play college basketball, correct,

(01:38:47):
So it's I mean, it's notlike he went to Duke or something.
So I heard this and like Ilook at social media. U see,
fans were pretty excited. This islike I've been out of I've been out
of high school now for twenty nineyears. Uh. I have not run
into the girl that I was gonnaask to the prom. But if I

(01:39:11):
did, this is like her sayingto me, yeah, man, I
wanted to go to the prom withyou. It doesn't do me any good
like that that. I was moved. I was just moved by Lebron James
talking about U S as I wasby the eclipse yesterday. It's interesting,
I guess if you're into that sortof that doesn't really okay yet got dark
for five minutes. It dry,the temperatu drop six degrees at my house.

(01:39:35):
So yeah, I mean, youknow, maybe Lebron James could have
maybe gone to UC hading up beengood enough to jump right to the NBA
and become one of the top twoor three players to ever play. Like
what somebody asked me today, areyou going to talk about this? And
I go, sure, but Idon't really know what what am I?
Yeah? It would have been coolto have Lebron James at U. See,
let's see he gets his rookie yearin the NBA was three O four.

(01:39:58):
The three O four team TEA wasthe one that got destroyed by Illinois
in the second round. I thinkthe Bear I think there were a five
seed pretty good team, not great. Um, you know, could he
use Lebron? Well? Like Iit's like finding out decades later. Oh
yeah, that girl would have lovedto have gone out with you, but

(01:40:19):
she didn't. Okay, cool.How much time do we have tearing?
We have much time as you want. Okay, sure, Jeff, you're
on ESPN fifteen thirty. We gota few minutes. What's going on?
You got the bat signal out toget the banana phone delivered to the office
for you. O. Well,I'm not here tonight, but it's not

(01:40:40):
looking promising, and it'll help youwhen your mouse battery dies. Right,
Yes, and how do you andPaul have a conversation about little league coach
without discussing what the snacks are goingto be? Well, I figured this
would be the sort of thing Ijust found out today. He is a
little league coach, and so nowevery single week I'm gonna I'm gonna devote

(01:41:02):
a chunk of his hour to hearingabout, you know, the latest practice,
the latest game, serving snacks andall that coaching little league baseball must
entail. Usually the team parents arein charge of the snacks anyway, that's
not the coach's job, if Iremember correctly. Yeah, I don't know.
Yeah, of course the beast isgonna come out right when my print
at home is broken without a backdoorto move the jam paper or bottom to

(01:41:26):
get the jam paper out. Sothat is just even if you print it
double sided, remember at the office, double sided. Don't try to get
it to staple automatically because it won'tgo through off. Correct Now, I
have my season pro when it comesto printing off Dame Brugler's Beast here in
the office, and my coworkers arealready dreading it. Yeah. Yeah,
well, and quickly on to Ellie. I said to Tony and Austin earlier

(01:41:47):
today. You know, the kid'stwenty two years old. Remember two years
ago on opening Day in the Steelersgame, Joe throws the ball right the
stink of Fitzpatrick on the first playof the game for a pick six.
Game over this year against the Ravens, throws the ball right the Gino Stone.
When you're about to go in andscore score a TV. You've got

(01:42:09):
to give these guys time. Andto all the hot takers, it's much
better to run your life between fiftyand seventy than between zero and one hundred.
It's great for your health, it'sgreat for your sleep patterns, it's
good for your blood pressure. Yeah. I mean all of us who've been
around for a while you kind oflearned that it does take some time,

(01:42:30):
definitely. But he's absolutely gonna befine, you know. The way these
injuries are going, I just hopehe doesn't rack up the next one.
That's what I'm more concerned about thanwhether he's going to be good or not.
You and me both, Jeff,thank you. No that's fair.
He's played in one hundred and eightbig league games. It's played in less
than three hundred games as a pro. Eighteen from six Paul Danner Junior.

(01:42:53):
Next, pack your bag in yourface is funny. It's fourteen from six.
This is ESPN fifteen thirty on Tuesdays. Paul Tanner Junior joins us.
He's with the Athletic. I askedhim, if all these mock drafts,
does it feel like the consensus sis the Bengals are gonna take Byron Murphy
from Texas. I don't know aboutconsensus. I mean, I you know,

(01:43:16):
I sort of talked about this onthe podcast and read a little bit
about it there. That was thehardest part of this for me, because
we can do what we've been doingand continue to talk about the tackles that
fit in the side. I mean, we know this, right, we
know this group, and you're splittinghairs to to figure out who those are?
The question to me, and that'sinteresting and put doing an exercise like

(01:43:41):
the big board is well, wheredoes Murphy fit in there? Is he
above one guy not another? Ishe behind all of them? Is he
in the middle? Is he reallya dude, how much dispositional you know,
importance matter. I mean, thisis a Bengals team that has found
answers at right tackle for you know, a decent prices in recent years versus

(01:44:05):
good luck finding a just truly disruptivethree technique. And we see what they're
getting. You know, Derek Brownjust got a contract. We know what
Christian Wilkins got. We've seen allof these guys. I mean, their
numbers are so high, and sohow much does that factor into that other?

(01:44:26):
So I found that to be incrediblydifficult. So I wouldn't use the
word consensus because I don't know thatyou're gonna find consensus on that inside of
the Bengals draft room, and certainlynot across all thirty two. I just
I think that's a really hard thingto know. It's It would be the
thing I would be most fascinated byif I could sit in on the meetings

(01:44:46):
that they're you know doing kind ofas we speak right now, of sorting
out that big board. Is wheredoes he fit into to their ideas?
Odds of him being there at eighteenare okay, I mean probably not because
of what I just said, Becauseof just the positional importance and what those

(01:45:09):
guys are getting in. There justaren't a lot of them. You know.
You can make an argument for JohnnyNewton, you could make an argument
for some second round guys. Butbecause there aren't a lot, somebody's gonna
want to. He feels like thetype of guy that someone trades up for
to hop in front of someone thatthey feel like might take it. Specifically

(01:45:29):
the Rams, I mean, whoare just dying to find the next airon
Donald and would feel like, youknow, Manna from Heaven style, if
if you had somebody like Murphy sittingthere and they believe that he could maybe
be the next air in Donald,no one is right fill that role,
fill that positional role for them,you know, and give you something like

(01:45:49):
that. So for that fact,I think that's what you know, that
would be someone that you could seesomebody trading up for just because of the
scarcity of it. And you can'tknow that obviously. And wait, there's
like three dudes. One of thosethree will make their way to us.
Now. His teammate on the defensiveline, Tovandre Sweat, is a guy
who visited the Bengals, but he'ssince gotten a dui. So does he
does he get crossed off just becauseof that crossed off. Here's the thing.

(01:46:13):
No, he already was known tohave these issues not getting a DWI
right. You know, he didn'tweigh in at the Senior Ball. He's
had issues with his weight. There'squestions about motivational stuff. You know,
he's all these reports are out nowabout how he's talked to teams about his
partying, hat passed and all thatstuff. So that these guys knew that,

(01:46:38):
and these guys have been boots onthe ground in Texas for you.
They know exactly what Tavandre Sweat isand has been. His physical skills and
tape when he's out there giving everythingis first round stuff. So I think
the fact that you've seen him mostlyin the second or outside the top fifty
has been a reflection of that already. So does this push it further down?

(01:47:00):
Sure, because it's further verification ofYeah, anything you were telling us
about how those days are behind youand you won't have to worry about that
with me right out the window.Because this is all time stupid decision making.
I mean, you got three weeksman, Like just Colin uber Use,
anything you tell your agent to comeget like anything other than that for

(01:47:23):
three more weeks. So to me, it's it's okay, you just can't
trust this guy to make decisions,you know, and he's associated with your
team. I don't know that it'sa total cross off, because I think
you already kind of knew some ofthat stuff. But yeah, I mean
it's it's any thoughts of a teamgetting real squirrely and moving up to round
one. Yeah, those are long, long one, right, Paul Danner,

(01:47:45):
Jinda, the big board. Thebig board, by the way,
makes me want all these guys,Like I'm already really indecisive, which is
I think illustrates kind of the interestingposition they're in with where they're drafting what
they need and how the draft alignswith what they could use. But like,
now, like I want all theseplayers on your big board. This
is tough. That's the problem.This This is like me going to a

(01:48:06):
great restaurant but I can only orderone thing off the menu. It's a
bit of a it's kind of cheesecakefactory situation. Is a lot. I
keep thinking about what I don't getinstead of enjoying what I have in front
of me. You can't live lifethat way. I have lived life that
way for forty secs. Every timeyou look at the menu you think about
you have the instant regret. Youcan't have men. It depends on where

(01:48:26):
I'm going, depends on the restaurantthat I'm at, depends if it's a
place I dine at frequently, butif I go to somewhere out of town
that I might not ever go again. And I'm looking at all the things
on the menu, and it's like, man, I can only really get
one of those. I can't helpbut think about the things that I didn't
get. Yeah, especially if somebodyelse got the thing that I didn't get,
and then they talk about how muchthey liked it, even if I

(01:48:48):
really liked what I got. Butthis is kind of how the draft works.
Now, Would you then be thetype to angle your way into that
plate, to be like, hey, you cut me off piece of that
steak? Really good? No?No, no, no no, no,
you order that. That is yourtrade, right, Like you have
regret, work a trade afterwards?Are you gonna pull that off? No?

(01:49:09):
Not not really? All right?So regret the regret isn't that strong
to make you consider crazy things offof someone else else? Is disgusting before
oh, before any food has beentouched. If you're like, hell,
a slice off, a sliver ofthis, you're having regret, you're talking
about it while they're making it andsomebody else got it. Be like,
hey, let's talk. Look,do you want any how about the sides

(01:49:30):
that I got? What do youthink mac and cheese? Like? Can
I offer you something to some kindof idea? When it shows up,
you make a move, not nothe's got a half eaten piece of draft
works like there's somebody else. I'mdone talking about the draft. I'm talking
about your eating habits, your bigport. Yeah on big board, all
right. More of that available onthe iHeartRadio app, also on the podcast

(01:49:50):
page of ESPN fifteen thirty dot com. Podcast of our show, a service
of long Necks sports Grilled Tomorrow onthe show, Scott Saderfield joins it us
in the three o'clock hour, redsBrewers talking so much more. Have a
great night, Thank you for listening, Thanks to Tearing for producing. We'll
talk to you tomorrow with three ohfive on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports station

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