5/1/24 - The Mo Egger Show

5/1/24 - The Mo Egger Show

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
ESPN fifteen thirty. What's up,Good afternoon, I'm Mulegger. This is
ESPN fifteen thirty. Thank you forlistening. It's Wednesday, right. Hope
for having an awesome Wednesday, Aterrific Wednesday, A a wa wacky Wednesday.

(00:20):
I hope whatever you're doing right now, you're you're doing well, regardless
of what day a week it is. We are a pretty pack show.
Today we got a lot to getto. We're giving away tickets to Turfway
Park Racing and Gaming's Kentucky Derby Party. And yesterday we played a game that
I was told afterwards was quite hard. Today, I think we're gonna play

(00:42):
one that's maybe maybe a little biteasier at four to twenty today beyond the
lookout, as we say for that. Abdul Hodge abdul Hodge played for the
Bengals fifteen years ago. He wasa linebacker. It was with the Bengals
from eight through twenty ten. Playedin sixteen. In that nine season with
the Bengals won the division, lostin the playoffs to the New York Jets.

(01:03):
Abdul Hodge is now the tight endscoach at Iowa and Eric all played
last season dealt with injury. EricAll played last season at tight end under
Abdul Hodge at Iowa, so Ithought it'd be cool to get Abdul on
the show to talk about the playerthat he coached. So we have that
for you coming up at four tothirty three. Eric All is one of

(01:25):
two Bengals that has I think someinjury concerns. I'm not sure that's the
right word. He's one of twoBengals that one of two players the Bengals
have drafted that dealt with injuries duringtheir college career. Eric All. Two
of them herniated disk had surgery,acl Tear had surgery. Amrius Mims dealt

(01:47):
with that ankle issue as well,and so I thought we'd get on It's
Wednesday. We always chat with oneof the experts from Ortho Cincy, so
doctor Nick Early is going to beon the show at three thirty three to
talk about those two prospects specifically,and also Christian and Carnasion Strand, who
is not playing today again. Neitheris Tyler Stevenson, neither is Jake Fraley.

(02:10):
It's getaway day for the Reds inSan Diego. The Reds are again
playing shorthanded Willingly. I'm not sureI understand, but Christian and Carnassion's trand
it's interesting because he got hit onthe hand by a pitch. They look
at it, they determine, well, he didn't break his hand this time,
but we see evidence of a priorfracture. How do you find out

(02:34):
after the fact that there was ahand fracture. I'm not asking rhetorically.
We're gonna ask our guy doctor earlycoming up in just about twenty five minutes.
We are sort of all over theplace today. We'll keep you updated.
What's happening with the Reds in SanDiego. They start in just about
one hour. A chance, achance to take the series after a loss
last night, it was just aI think it's a bad night from the

(02:58):
get go, man. I mean, just Nick Martinez was victimized by bloop
hit placement. He was victimized bypoor defense. The Reds with their gloves
last night were not very good.They dig themselves too deep a hole and
they lose to the Padres six'four. The series is now even the

(03:19):
game itself was kind of frustrating.It just there are certain games over the
course of a one hundred and sixtytwo game season. This is not the
most advanced baseball analysis, but Ithink it applies. There are certain games
over the course of a one hundredand sixty two game season where you just
have the sense from almost the getgo it ain't gonna be their night.

(03:43):
This team needs some guys to startswinging the bats better. This team cannot
afford to have the defensive issues wesaw crop up in the fifth inning last
night. Spencer Steer, I guessloses a ball in the lights. They
were sloppy, they weren't very good. But I think what's frustrating to me
is, you know, you overthe course of a season, you're gonna
have moments where a player may notbe available. A guy's dealing with a

(04:08):
nagging injury. It's not the sortof thing that's going to require a stint,
as we say on the disabled list. It's not the sort of thing
that's going to require a big medicalprocedure. And so you try to get
through a game or two without acertain player. Sometimes you might go into
a game without a relief pitcher.You know, this guy's not going to
pitch. He's pitched three straight days, or he's pitched four games out of

(04:29):
five and we can't use him.We just he's not available. That happens.
But watching the Reds over the lastcouple of nights without Christian and Carnassi
on strand and without Tyler Stevenson andthose guys not being called on in situations
last night where you would expect theywould pinch it and they use Nick Martini
instead. And look, Nick Martiniwas a fun opening day story. I

(04:53):
think we're seeing why not many ofview him as a big leaguer, not
having Jake Fraley. I sometimes timeswe say things and it's completely inaccurate,
and we know it, even ifwe haven't looked up the data. Like
we'll say things like, man,it just feels like the Reds every year
they lead the world in pitching injuries. Well, no they don't, but

(05:15):
following this team every day and rootingfor them every day for years, it
feels like, and I could bedead wrong about this, but it feels
like they willingly play shorthanded more oftenthan almost anybody else. Now, I'm
not going to overreact to the factthat Mike Ford, who is tearing it
up at Louisville, has opted outof his minor league deal and the Reds

(05:38):
basically have a choice to make dowe promote him or lose him? But
you know, Mike Ford's healthy.I If I have a choice between playing
with twenty six guys and some ofthem aren't great, and twenty three guys,
I'm gonna take the twenty six.Again. It's one thing if you've
got a guy like Cees or TylerStevenson or Jake Freeley that you figure we

(05:59):
got to get through the game tonight, maybe tomorrow without this player. But
when it's three and you're essentially tellingthe manager you don't have a bench,
you can't go to anybody else ina critical situation like we saw last night.
You know, we talked a littlebit yesterday about making David Bell's job
easier. What of the ways theReds can make David Bell's job easier is

(06:23):
for the starting pitching to go deeperinto games. We've beaten that to death.
But you make his job more difficultwhen you ask him to manage with
one arm tied behind his back,which is what's happening today. They may
win the game, Graham Ashcraft maypitch great, Red may score a thousand
runs, and a bench isn't needed. But essentially saying to a manager of

(06:44):
a team that's got a small marginfor error, go in a game when
the other team has three more guysthan you. I think that's awfully tough.
Speaking of David Belly got kicked outof the game last night, his
twenty eighth ejection. It took Davidover a month to finally get chucked out
of the game. You could understandhis frustration last night. Do we have
tarn the audio the radio call ofDavid Bell getting thrown out of the ballgame

(07:08):
in San Diego last night? Notthe radio call we got the TV call?
Yes, all right, So thisis John Sadak, Yes, all
right, John Sadak, the TVcall, go ahead and hit that.
Amelio Pegan clearly was frustrated. DavidBell raced out in defense of his pitcher,
and he gave it up to CoreyBlazer tossed almost immediately. Now,

(07:34):
this went on pretty much the entiretime we were away. Twenty eighth career
ejection for Bell, this first ofthe campaign. All right, So there
you can get the gist of it. I mentioned Tommy Thrall had a better
radio call in the REDS radio networkin seven hundred wlw uh, David Bell

(07:55):
like loses his mind. It's fineand happens. He was sticking up for
his pitcher, Emilio p On wassqueezed by the homeplate umpire. But the
highlight of it was as he wasgoing back to the to the dugout,
he he kicked the doughnut, thething that goes around the bat in the
on deck circle, just gave itlike a full Evan McPherson boot. And

(08:22):
was he justified in his anger?Yeah? I think he probably was.
But one of the many things Ilove about sports, and I think this
might apply to baseball more than anyother sport, one of the things I
love is you could be an adult, like a grown man. David Bell
is in his fifties, right,grown man, and yet you are allowed

(08:48):
to behave like a six year old. Not only are you allowed, in
some cases, it's encouraged. DavidBell's a fifty one year old man throwing
a temper tantrum last night, andwhat do we say, say, Yeah,
go give it to him, David, Right, Only in sports is
a fifty one year old man allowedto behave that way, Like if your

(09:11):
kids did that, whether it's ona ball field or just at home,
and they lost their mind and kickstuff all over the place. I would
like to think you would discipline them. If I came to work and decided
to start kicking stuff up and downthe office, I would be removed from
the premises. In professional sports.And this is not a criticism of David
Bell, It's not a criticism ofanybody. It's why I love sports.

(09:35):
It truly is an escape. Otherwise, calm, rational grown ups are allowed
to act like seven year olds.In no other part of society do we
allow this. In no other partof society do we allow this. So
that's what I'm gonna remember about lastnight's game, the defense of Shenanigan's being

(09:56):
shorthanded, more than anything. DavidBell. David Bell, you have had
a chance to watch and manage theteam now for five years. This is
not a habitual hothead. Now hegets kicked out of a lot of games,
but who cares. He always comesoff as calm and rational and level
headed. But in certain instances heloses his mind, sometimes at an umpire,

(10:18):
as we've seen in the past.Sometimes that other players on other teams
or the manager. Last night,he took his frustrations out on an on
deck circle donut and kicked it likethe length of the duckout. In no
other realm of adult society are youallowed to behave that way. But in

(10:41):
sports it's accepted and in many casesencouraged and in many cases applauded. That's
among the many reasons why sports arethe best. Sixteen minutes after three o'clock
show video is posted. It's onX thanks to our friends at Emory Federal

(11:01):
Credit Union. Emery Federal Credit Unionis and has been your credit union with
heart since nineteen thirty nine. Goodto EMORYFCU dot org. Punning that thing.
I tweeted Shane Graham to see ifwe can get a breakdown of David

(11:22):
Bell's form. The Rads do playthe Padres today. We will update you
on what's happening with that game,which gets out of wait about forty five
minutes all throughout the afternoon. SomeBengals stuff a little bit later on,
we'll talk about the injury concerns involvinga couple of Bengals draft ease as well,
and in just over one hour,know your famous horses. You know

(11:48):
what I don't have to do todayI'll tell you next. On ESPN fifteen
thirty, Cincinnati's the social media nothappy about the Bengals not using the leaping
tiger logo at midfield, and Iget it, by the way, you
were not being pulled over. We'rejust playing Bubba Sparks from eighteen years ago.

(12:09):
Five one three, seven four nine, fifteen thirty and eight six six,
seven zero two three, seven sevensix are our phone numbers. Doctor
Nick Early from Ortho Sinsey on youknow Eric All is interesting. We're going
to talk about his position coach consecutiveyears where his season ended early twenty twenty
two at Michigan twenty twenty three inIowa the first go around with the Wolverines,

(12:31):
he had herniated disk in his back, had what has been referred to
as life changing, life changing spinesurgery, and then comes back and plays
for Iowa last year, plays well, but then suffers the acl tair and
so you know, whenever there's aplayer like that, there are questions about
the injury concerns and whether we shouldhave them. And so we'll chat with

(12:52):
an actual doctor and orthopedist about thosetwo players coming up in just about ten
minutes, and it's if you havelistened to this show for a while,
you know I love. This isthe greatest job in the world. I
mean, it really is. Thereis nothing else on earth I would rather
do than a radio show that revolvesaround what happens with teams that I love

(13:18):
and care about and have cared aboutfor my entire life. It's the best.
I wouldn't want to do a showlike this in any other city because
I couldn't pretend to care about theOklahoma City Thunder or the Chicago White Sox
like I just I don't. Imean, I do from the standpoint of

(13:39):
being a sports fan, but Idon't. I'm not emotionally invested, and
so I have chosen to do thisshow a certain way, and that's purely
from the standpoint of being a fan. I want the teams here to win,
and I want them to win badly. But I've said this for a
while in part to the fact thatas a kid, I spent some time

(14:01):
in the East Coast, I havefor my entire life been a New York
Knicks fan. And I've told thestory before. My Knicks fandom resulted in
me being a UC fan because Kentuckytook Rick Patino. When I was twelve
years old, my dad loved UKbasketball. Because I was mad about that,
I decided to root for the Bearcatsbecause they played UK and UC did

(14:24):
Rick's first year and Bob Huggins Rick'ssecond year and Bob Huggins second year,
and so that's how I became aUC fan. So, but there are
times, like the twenty twelve Redsplayoffs. They're up to all in the
Giants. Chances are you know this, They come home for three games and
they lose each of the next threegames. And not that this is digging

(14:48):
ditches or a job that carries withit any societal importance. But I'm the
guy that had to come on afterthe game and talk about it, and
I'll never forget it. I wentto the game and as soon as it
ended, drove back here. Ihad to be on for one hour.
I didn't want to be here.I had to come on and talk about
it. I had to come backand talk about it more the next day

(15:09):
for three hours. Did not wantto do that. Did said started the
five o'clock hour right after the Redslost that game, and said, for
the first time in my career,I legitimately don't want to be doing this,
but I did and we were okay. Uh, you know throughout the
years talking about the Bengals. Imean remember just coming in here the Monday

(15:31):
after the Bengals loss to the Steelersthe twenty fifteen playoffs, and that game
was on a Saturday night. See, you have all day Sunday and just
just dreading it, like just legitimatelyfor one of the very few times in
my career, dreading it. It'sno fun to talk about a loss like
that. It's no fun to talkabout a fifth consecutive postseason loss and night,

(15:52):
frankly to a lesser degree than losingin the Super Bowl and then losing
the following season the Kansas City Likeit's frustrating and it's heart and you think,
you know, in the first instance, you're this close to winning a
championship and they don't. In thesecond time, you're this close to going
back to the Super Bowl and youdon't. You gotta come up and the
next day and talk about it.Not again. There are plenty of unfun

(16:17):
jobs, but relatively speaking, apretty not so fun day. And then
as a UC basketball fan, I'llnever forget the Nevada game in twenty eighteen,
driving back from that, getting tomy house at about four o'clock in
the morning and not being able tosleep, and then spending all day thinking

(16:38):
about, God, do we reallyhave to talk about this? So that's
part of it right now. Thefun thing is coming in and being on
the air the Monday after the Bengalswon a playoff game, or talking about
the red season last year, talkingabout a big UC win something like that.
But I've maintained this now for awhile, that I have these teams

(17:00):
that I care about, that Iwant to win so badly that I have
to do my radio show around that. It is helpful, and I mean
this, It is helpful to havea team that is not in this market,
that I can live and die with, that doesn't negatively impact another team
in this market, but that Idon't have to talk about. Right Like,

(17:26):
you know, I pop off onthe Reds, they going, We're
gonna get them mad at me.The beauty of being a fan of a
team that I don't have to talkabout is like I could say whatever I
want about them, and I don'thave to worry about repercussion. I don't
have to worry the media relations guyis gonna get mad at us, or
well, they're not going to gethis guests on because we said something mean
about him. We don't have toworry about that with my favorite NBA team,

(17:48):
So a daylight today. You knowwhat's great about it. So if
you don't know the Knicks, we'reup three to one in their series Game
five last night at home, withjust under thirty seconds to go, they
were up by six points, excuseme, and then former UK star Tyrese
Maxey, who was just unbelievable andterrifying to root against, essentially by himself

(18:15):
forces over time, hits a deepthree at the horn to go to ot
took over the game. Six Erswin, a gut punch of a loss.
The beauty of it is today,I don't have to talk about it.
I don't have any requirement to talkabout it. This is an example

(18:37):
of why it's healthy. Like ifthat's the UC Bearcats in the NCAA tournament,
or for that matter, of theXavier Musketeers in the NCAA tournament,
or n KU and the NCAA tournament, and I'm obviously a little bit more
emotionally invested in one of those asopposed to the others. I got no
choice. I gotta work through it. I gotta talk about it, can't
avoid it, have to recreate it, have to re watch it, have

(19:00):
to go back and re litigate it. The beauty of today is I woke
up didn't really think about it allthat much because it wasn't going to be
a big part of my day,and so I just wanted to mention that
I wanted to talk about how Idon't have to talk about it, and
I just did beautiful. I washaving lunch today and someone said, you

(19:21):
gotta like talk about the Knicks,and I'm like, did My audience doesn't
care if that's the Reds in abig moment where they blow it. It
keeps me up at night, butI got to spend the next day on
it. That basketball game last nightafter I watched the Reds, and that
kept me up. I don't haveto spend a second and I have to
go back and rewatch it. Idon't have to have arguments about it.
I can say what I want aboutthem on social media media. Relations Guys

(19:44):
not gonna get mad at me.I'm not going to be shunned by the
organization. It's awesome it's great.So yeah, bitterly disappointed last night,
very bummed, heartbroken, not veryoptimistic about them winning the series. But
the beauty of having a team inmy position, and I get I admitted,
it's a unique position. The beautyof having a team that I don't

(20:07):
have to talk about is I caninvest myself, but I don't have to
revolve my workday about it. Whenyou have this job, that is a
very healthy thing. Three thirty Allright, ces is broken hand that was
just now detected after the fact.And two Bengals Drafte's with injury history.
We'll get to them with doctor NickEarly from Worthos Cincy Next ESPN fifteen thirty,

(20:30):
Cincinnati's ESPN Cincinnati's sports station, ESPNfifteen thirty Sports saidlines are a service
of Kelsey Chevrolet home of a lifetimepowertrain protection and guarantee credit approval from their
family to yours for life, kelseyshevdot Com, Reds and Pandres series finale

(20:52):
is coming up in just about thirtyfive minutes. Gram Ashcraft gets the ball
for Cincinnati Reds loss last night's ballgame, they still have a chance to
take the series. Joe muskrove therighty, who is not having a good
season for San Diego. He getsthe ball with the Padres four to ten
this afternoon. Your starting lineup aservice of Madewell Restoration. We'll check to

(21:14):
see the Reds lineup. Hopefully it'smade well. Goo to Madewell Restoration dot
com. Benson and right. Ellie'sat short Steers and left. India's second
martiniz dhing Espinal is at third base. Jaymer Candelario is starting to swing the
bat a little bit better. Heis at first base, batting seventh,
mainly behind the plate. Stu Fairchildis in center field and batting in the

(21:37):
ninth position. Reds are off tomorrowand then they come home to start a
three game sept against the Baltimore Orioles. What else do we have? Pretty
light with sports headlines. A goodday for Mark Pope at the University of
Kentucky. Kobe Brya, arguably thenation's best three point shooter at the University
of Date last season. He isheaded south to Lexington and all this about

(22:00):
ten minutes ago. They're getting KerkCries as well, who is well traveled
Arizona, West Virginia and now Lexingtonto play for a coach Pope. I
called him Coach Pope. I'm tryingto get Coach Pope on the show.
I've been given direction as to howto make that happen. Hopefully that is
the case. If he doesn't comeon the show, we'll just call him
mark Uh. We do call NickEarly doctor Nick Early, because he's earned

(22:25):
it. He's with Ortho Sinsey.We talk injuries every Wednesday with one of
the experts from Ortho Sincy. Greatthing about Ortho since he is They've got
specialists and locations all over the TriState and they also offer walkin orthopedic urgent
care during the week from a nineam to nine pm and on Saturday from
nine am to one pm. Youcan learn more at orthosinc dot com.

(22:48):
That's Orthos c I Ncy dot com. Doctor Early is with us. I
want to begin by talking about aMarius Simms. So he played and he
started eight games for the joy ofBulldogs. Last season was interrupted because of
an ankle injury that required tight ropesurgery. What sort of injury requires this
sort of procedure? So when youthink about the ankle, it's kind of

(23:12):
a fairly complex joint and there's yourtwo bones that go down your leg.
Okay, so you got your shinbone and the little bone on the outside,
and there's a bunch of ligaments thatkind of help to hold those bones
together down by your ankle that arekind of part of all the ligaments that
hold your ankle together down further,so when you have a sprain to your
ankle, when you roll your ankleover or it gets twisted in a certain

(23:33):
way, you can injure you know, a bunch of the combination different those
those ligaments, including those ligaments thatkind of hold the two bones together.
And so that's when you'll hear aboutlike a high ankle strain. And that
could be everything from just like alittle stretch injury to those ligaments to frankly
even you know, tearing them orhaving a significant injury. And you know

(23:53):
a lot of times it can besomewhere in between there, and somebody has
a pretty significant high ankles brain typeof injury. Sometimes you'll do a surgery
where you're actually kind of trying tobrace the two bones together to allow those
ligaments to heal. And so tiedroupe is one piece of equipment that is
utilized that that's a name from oneof the companies, and there's some other

(24:17):
products that are similar that are available, so there's a bunch of different names
that it can go by. Whereyou're basically connecting between the two bones with
something that allows for like a dynamicstabilization allow that to heal. So really
what we're trying to do is almostbrace the ankle internally such that it can
heal properly. With any player thatany team is going to draft that the
medical history is something that that obviouslygets a lot of scrutiny. Should should

(24:41):
this sort of injury and the procedureinvolved? Should should this be concerning when
we talk about long term prognosis andhis susceptibility to a similar type of injury.
You know, that's a good question. You know, I think that
there's been a lot of evolution interms of treating me injuries, and people
have gotten almost more aggressive with itto try to prevent those secondary injuries,

(25:04):
and so in some ways, youknow, I think you have the type
of injury, you get treated,and maybe your likelihood of a secondary injury
is probably lower than if you didn'thave the surgery. If you're you know,
kind of susceptible to it. Youknow, there's always concerns anytime you've
had an injury to anybody part thatisn't going to be you know, a
liability, and certainly compared to somebodywho's never had an injury, that is

(25:26):
a concern. But there's been alot of examples of players being able to
return without any issue, you know, with their ankles after this type of
procedure and injury, So the hopewould be that it wouldn't be something that
would hamper him long term. Bengalsalso took a tight end, a local
product from Fairfield High School who startedhis college career at Michigan. Last season
played at Iowa, but that seasonwas cut short because of an ACL tear.

(25:51):
The injury was suffered in October,and so the original prognosis was he
should be okay for the start oftraining camp, which is obviously late July,
and then should certainly be good togo for the start of the season
in early September. Kind of walkme through his recovery with an ACL tear
maybe compared to other sort of kneeinjuries. Yeah, so AHL injuries are
some of the more significant in termsof recovery. Time, and the reason

(26:14):
being is because you always need surgerypretty much for an ACL injury. And
so with that, basically your bodyhas to heal and allow that ligament to
heal that you're you're usually reconstructing.And then after that's healed, you know,
which takes a few months, youryour strength has to return and your
ability to protect your knee, andand that's where it takes so long,

(26:38):
and oftentimes it does take you know, nine months plus to get back to
that point. There are some circumstanceswhere the lead athletes have come back even
faster than that, certainly with youknow all the time, or really work
with the rehabs with their rehab professionalsand you're working with the staff to kind

(26:59):
of get themselves back in the shapethey need to be. There's a good
chance that he'll be ready, youknow by training camp and be hundred percent.
But it is a pretty intense rehab. You know, people are doing
physical therapy pretty much, you know, every day, doing something to try
to get back to that point.And it's not just the ACL. You
know, if there's other associated injuriesthat can slow things down a little bit
sometime. But you see, youknow, an injury where that can happen

(27:22):
that happens in the mid fall lightball, then hopefully he would be okay
to go. So unfortunately for thisyoung man, this ACL injury wasn't the
first example of an injury that endedhis season, because when he was at
Michigan in twenty twenty two, hehad surgery for a herniated disc, and
the surgery has been referred to aslife changing. Obviously, he did come

(27:44):
back and play the following season,But can you walk me through the short
term and long term risks after herniateddys surgery. Yeah, So usually in
a young, healthy fit person,if they have a disc herniation, you
know, it's kind of one ofthose free things where something's happened, and
then if there's a nerve that's beingpushed on a lot of times you're doing
a surgery to decompress that nerve.And once you decompress that nerve, it

(28:10):
feels much better, and it canbe like immediate, Like sometimes people can
wake up from surgery and they're justimmediately feeling like, oh my gosh,
I feel a million times better.And if that's the case, you know,
that's great. Then you can makea great recovery and then it becomes,
you know a lot of times moreabout the long term in terms of
your your back. And that's whatvaries quite a bit. It kind of

(28:30):
depends on if you had to harrya disk, how big is that,
you know, that piece that carniated, How big is the piece of the
disc that was injured. Are thereany other risk factors you know that are
playing into somebody having you know,further back issues. Oftentimes, like I
said, in a young healthy person, they're going to make a good recovery
and be able to get back tofull activities. And the hope would be
it wouldn't really you know, causeany you know, short term issues at

(28:53):
all. You know, when youstart looking at the risk for something like
that, it's usually more of along term, you know, years long
saying where you might get some adjacentproblems with your back. Doctor Nick Early
from Orthocinsia is with this, Iwant to ask you about Christian at Carnassi
on Strand because this is interesting tome. So in the game last Saturday
in Arlington, he gets hit onthe left hand by a pitch and the

(29:14):
good news is X rays revealed nofracture from the being hit by the pitch,
but the imaging did reveal evidence ofa previous hand fracture that they believe
could have been contributing to the swortness. Now, I've broken my hand before
I knew that I broke my handthe minute that I broke it. How
does a hand fracture, a previoushand fracture go unnoticed? Good? Good

(29:41):
question. So there's a couple ofdifferent types of breaks that you could have.
You could have a small little piecethat's kind of chipped off that could
be associated with some of the softtissues in your hand. You could have
a little hairline crack that you didn'treally know was there because it it wasn't
like really moved or anything like that, so there wasn't like obvious that it
was broken and just hurt for awhile, and then after you know,

(30:03):
a couple of weeks, it startsto heal up pretty well, and you
can see evidence of that sometimes onX rays where it looks like something you
know has happened in the past,and you know a lot of times that
can be associated, you know,with other types of injuries. Like I
said, maybe if you have aninjury where you you know have like an
injury to one of the joints inthem. In the hand, you could

(30:26):
have a little piece of bone thatwas pulled off with it and that could
be evidence of an old fracture.And you know, there's a couple other
different things that ways that things canshow up and you may have missed it.
And it doesn't always mean that thatsomething would have been treated differently initially.
So it's not necessarily like Alwa shouldhave had surgery before or something like
that. In fact, the vastmajority of injuries like that are treated without

(30:47):
surgery, and so it wouldn't havereally changed anything. But if something to
keep an eye on, hopefully youknow, it won't be related at all
to what's going on. And oncehis handseling better after you know, this
recent contusion where you got no hit, he'll be feeling much better. You
know. I did see that hewas taking dieting practice already, so that's
a really good sign. Yeah,it took some fielding practice as well.

(31:07):
Doctor Nick Girley from Orthosincy. Expertiseis always appreciate it, man, I
do do thank you for your time. We'll do it again Stone all right,
thank you? Uh. Doctor NickEarley from Ortho Sincy I say this
every single week because I mean it. The great thing about the people at
Orthosincy is they have specialists and locationsall across the tri State, including walk

(31:27):
in orthopedic urgent care weekdays nine ato nine p. Saturday's nine eight to
one p in Edgewood and Eastgate.At Ortho Sincy, you never need an
appointment. It's easier and it goeswithout saying cheaper than going to an er.
Whenever you have an urgent orthopedic injury, go to Orthosinc. Dot com.

(31:49):
That's Ortho c i Ncy dot com. Abdul Hodge, former Bengal is
the tight ends coach at Iowa.He's going to talk about Eric All from
more of a football perspective coming upat four thirty three. I thought Paul
Danner Junior said something interesting yesterday,which is always the case, but said
something particularly interesting yesterday. We'll havethat for you coming up at four h

(32:14):
five on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sportseight away from four o'clock. This is
ESPN fifteen thirty. Moegger. Thankyou for listening. A couple of things
to point out to you if youlike reading stuff, especially if you're a
baseball fan and obviously in particular aReds fan. JJ Cooper, who we're
trying to get on the show,has written a terrific piece for Baseball America

(32:36):
about Ellie dela Cruz taking another largeleap in one area in particular, so
I encourage you to go read that. I retweeted his piece on x at
Moegar another one. I'm a hugeJason Stark fan. Love the perspective that
he covers baseball with. He isa guy who obviously takes his job series,

(33:00):
but never fails to find the wonderin a game that so many of
us love. He has a pieceand it's basically his takeaways through the first
month of the season. And youknow, since last year, and I
think to a larger degree even moreso this year, because of the expectations
for the team and the excitement surroundingall of these young players, we have

(33:22):
scrutinized, and I think, forthe most part in a way that's very
understandable, scrutinized the individual performances ofso many of these young players. You
know, we did the whole thingwith Ellie de la Cruz where people thought
a minority, but you had folksopining that he should be sent to Louisville,
and the scrutiny that Hunter Green gets, and you know, like with

(33:43):
expectation comes at it scrutiny. It'spart of the gig's it comes with the
success, the relative success that theReds had last year. But I'm reading
Jason's piece and I just I thinkthis is worth pointing out. The Reds
aren't the only team that have calledup up some highly touted, exciting prospects,
guys who look like they are goingto be foundational pieces for the future.

(34:07):
And I've talked a lot about how, you know, what the Reds
are trying to do is really hard. They have so many players who are
still developing pitchers and position players,and I think sometimes when these guys struggle,
it's almost as if only young Redsplayers struggle. His passage from Jason's
piece, I thought was worth pointingout Jackson Holiday. So Jackson Holiday got

(34:30):
called up by the Baltimore Orioles.It's funny. I was chatting with a
sports talk radio host in Baltimore yesterdaybecause one of them is coming to town
for the Oriole Series this weekend.And when Jackson Holliday got called up.
It was a holiday, no punintended, specific event in Baltimore. Matt
Holliday's kid. Well, he getscalled up. There's so much hype,

(34:53):
so much excitement. He goes twofor thirty four and gets sent back down.
The A's who I'm rooting against forthe remainder of their existence. They
bring up Darryl Herneze, a lotof excitement over him, the building block
of the future for their move toSacramento, and then maybe one day Las

(35:15):
Vegas batting one seventy four. TheCardinals, a franchise that has historically been
great at getting guys to the bigleagues and having them be big league ready
having them contribute. Almost immediately,they bring up Victor Scott the Second the

(35:36):
Saint Louis Post dispatch. When VictorScott the Second came up, there were
like two whole pages on Victor Scottthe Second got demoted after going five for
fifty nine. There haven't been manyof these highly touted Reds prospects who have
done anything close to that. It'sjust worth keeping in mind. It's Jason

(36:00):
points out in this piece. Baseballis hard. It's particularly hard when you're
just getting to the big leagues.Joe Burrow's changing role. Next coming up
on four o'clock ESPN fifteen thirty fortin fifteen thirty. Hi, it's four
oh four. This is ESPN fifteenthirty. My name is mull Eggert.

(36:22):
I really do appreciate you listening today. We got the Reds and Padres coming
up. We will update you.Oh I nearly forgot. We're playing Know
Your Famous Horses at four twenty.I gotta see here's I gotta put this
on social media also, no,oh yeah, all cat, we are

(36:44):
playing Know Your Famous Horses at atfour to twenty for turf Way. See,
I did a terrible job of settingup hour on social media. Turfway
Park ky Derby me sending tweets onthe air is just awesome radio for Turfway

(37:12):
Park Kentucky Derby Party tickets Okay,very good? All right, So if
you know a lot about famous horsesat four to twenty, Turfway Park Racing
and Gaming is having this awesome KentuckyDerby party on Saturday. Is the one
hundred and fiftieth Kentucky Derby and wehave a four pack of tickets to this
event on Saturday it's a party fourpack, which I think is different than

(37:36):
a four pack, and we're gonnagive them away. We have another four
pack to give away tomorrow. Yesterdaywe asked what I was told were some
pretty tough trivia questions about the sharedhistory of the Reds and Padres. Because
the Reds are playing the Padres thisweek, because this the tickets to the
event or for a horse racing eventin fifteen minutes, Know Your Famous Horses

(38:04):
and Tarn has compiled a collection ofhorse sound effects that I cannot wait to
use. So Know Your Famous Horsesis coming up at four twenty. We
will be looking for two contestants fivepoint three seven, four nine, fifteen
thirty. By the way, wehad some fun with this. Toward the
end of Sincy three sixty, theBengals sent out a It didn't really send

(38:27):
out a release, I guess,but on their website they have a piece
today on twenty twenty four stadium renovationprojects. So the new field which was
talked about about two months ago,new club seating, and upgraded TV system
at the stadium. Uh And wehad some fun with this. In fact,

(38:47):
I asked the Paul question, whatdo we want at midfield new field,
So do we get something at midfield? And like, I'll admit to
you, even as a lifelong Bengalsfan, the primary logo the Bengal B
doesn't do a ton for me,especially as a midfield logo. And so
if I had my way, it'dbe it'd be leaping tiger. Right,

(39:12):
Leaping tiger would be kind of cool. Now it's worth mentioning it's it's worth
mentioning that the leaping tiger was somethingthey used towards the end of their time
at Riverfront and early in their tenureat PBS, which was not a very
good time on the field. Thelate nineties and early two thousands were just

(39:34):
awful for the Bengals. And soit's interesting that this logo that so many
of us of a certain age identifywith future in football prefer that logo.
And again, like I was leaping? Is this something worth getting mad about?
No? No, no, Butdid I have a preference? Yeah,
I was leaping tiger. It isinteresting to me though, that when

(39:57):
they had a leaping Tiger, Idon't recall anybody talking about how cool it
was like late nineties for years.If you recall at the old stadium the
Bengals, there was nothing on thefield. The end zones weren't painted until
the very end of their time atSynergy, and they didn't have a midfield
logo. They had for a whiletoward the end of their time at Riverfront

(40:20):
they had the Bengals helmet, butthe leaping Tiger. They put it on
at midfield when they moved into thenew stadium. If my memory serves me
correct, I don't recall anybody speakingwith any amount of affection for that logo,
and now a lot of people havemade it out to seem like it's
almost iconic. I think the interestingthing about all the renovations, and I

(40:40):
put this on social media, themore important announcement, the more impactful announcement.
If you have ever tried to getout of a game, a Bengals
game in recent years, obviously they'vehad great crowds, but even when the
crowds aren't great, if you've toget out outside Lot D, which is

(41:05):
the not Lot Gate D, whichfaces towards GABP, it can be really,
really tough. There's a very smallamount of space there that plaza level.
It can be really tight. Itcan be really hard to move.
They are tripling the size of thatplaza. The entrance is gonna go I

(41:28):
guess reading the piece here on Bengalsdot Com, the entrance is gonna widen
from sixty feet to two hundred feet. I'm gonna be honest with you.
Making the stadium, making getting inand out of it more comfortable is to
me at least more important than anylogo you paint on the field, like

(41:49):
fine, I'm leaping Tiger. Butsomething that I think matters a lot more,
making it easier to get in andout, like making it less uncomfortable
to get in and out matters ahell of a lot more than anything that's
going to be painted on the field. So you can read all about that
at Bengals dot com. But they'rethey're widening that plaza area, and frankly,

(42:10):
I think that's been needed more thanmaybe anything else that is being renovated
at the venue formerly known as PaulBrown Stadium. There's been a lot of
noise this offseason for the Bengals.Trey Hendrickson has asked for a trade.
T Higgins has asked for a trade. How these things get handled? What

(42:31):
happens with t Higgins specifically, especiallyespecially in the aftermath of them letting Jesse
Bates get away, is kind ofinteresting. There are a lot of people
who look at the Jesse Bates thingwhen they let him walk and said,
well, that's they're not going topay him because they do want to pay
the two wide receivers. And nowit looks like that's not something they're going
to do. They have screwed upthis Dax Hill thing. Now they've moved

(42:52):
him to corner. They're Joell tryingto figure out how to replace a player
who we thought was going to geta contract extension as far back as four
years ago. Obviously that hasn't happenedeither. I kind of wonder, though
we always talk about the Borough effect, the Borough effect has been wide reaching,
right. It's impacted not only everyfacet of this organization, but it's

(43:15):
impacted so many facets of this city. It's been a lot of fun to
watch. I wonder if Joe Burrow, Now I'll put an asterix next to
this, but a Joe Burrow wasn'tthe starting quarterback, a bona fide star,
certainly, somebody who you think ismature enough to handle everything. The

(43:37):
responsibility of being a franchise quarterback isthrowing at him if you took him out
and replaced him with anybody else.Now the asterix is well, they would
be a little bit more amenable topaying t Higgins or maybe even to extending
Trey Hendrickson if they didn't have moremoney being devoted to their quarterback in the
coming years. But it feels likethere are a lot of teams where there's

(44:00):
a lot of noise and we amplifyit because we don't really buy into what
we hear about the locker room culture. We don't think the quarterback's necessarily a
great leader, or we think thecoach doesn't do a good job of keeping
his locker room connected. And Ithink with the Bengals, we hear the
t Higgins stuff and the Trey Hendricksonstuff, and it makes for good fodder,

(44:23):
and it makes for especially the hendricksAnd stuff, something kind of fun
to make fun of. But atthe end of the day, you look
at just how the Bengals operate,You look at, you know, the
quarterback they have, and just understandwhat the culture is all about, and
you tend to think that these aren'tgoing to be things that disrupt this team.
This club, this clubhouse, thislocker room, and football, it's

(44:44):
a locker room in baseball at theclubhouse, this locker room, and the
player's ability to focus on the taskat hand, which is to compete for
a championship this year. I thoughtDaner said something kind of interesting yesterday.
Here's a clip, but Paul joinsus every Tuesday. The entire conversations available
on the iHeartRadio app, podcasts,or a service of a long neck sports

(45:05):
grill. Listen to this. Thisis Paul and I yesterday afternoon, and
in the middle of answering a questionthat we're going to lead with here,
he said something that I think issort of interesting. They take two tight
ends and no running backs. Howdo those things combined to tell us how
they plan on deploying their personnel onthe field. I the running back portion

(45:30):
was the surprise for me, notthe two tight ends, not for the
fact. I just think those latepicks. Their strategy was, let's just
pick guys that we are surprised,fell that we have high on our board
almost no matter where, double ups, you know whatever. They just wanted
to use those all those late picksto take a bunch of extra swings and

(45:52):
see what happens. So you knowMcLaughlin coming in there in round six when
you already took all I just thinkthat's wow, is he still here?
Right? And so they just takehim. Not having a single running back
and ten picks, though, Ithink it says a lot about well,

(46:13):
their confidence in the combination of Mossand Brown to really soak up all of
that and be the true one twocombo, confidence in Trayvon what Travan Williams
showed you to be a third guy, and that they maybe they have their
eyes on a free agent that couldbe come in if they really if they
needed somebody to go do that.I noted in my depth chart piece on

(46:35):
offension, Jerick McKinnon's still out there. Maybe he's somebody that they could go
after. There's there's there's running backsthat are out there, Ezekiel Elliott no
longer out there, just like acouple of years ago. Still not something
they ever considered. But so maybethat's what that is. But I just
think it's that was more about feelinglike the Moss Brown combo is a stronghold

(46:57):
there and and the running back thingjust didn't quite didn't quite hit them or
they just you know, who knows. But I just think it's more about
that and less about some grand personnelchange. They're not gonna come out there
running thirteen personnel every play. Ido think they have And I touched on
this the other day too, andI think there's a lot more to be

(47:19):
done about this. They have somuch more potential after this draft to run
more of a positionless football, versatilething that they're eleven personnel or they're twelve
personnel. If you're talking about Gazikiand Sample being out there or just Gisiki
being out there to go into thehuddle and the defense has no idea what's
coming out of them, you knowwhere they could go in there and go

(47:40):
so many different ways between Burton's flexibility, Chases flexibility, Gasiki's flexibility. There's
a lot more dynamic stuff there.And even you know some of the line
some of the line players, they'reflexibility. What you could imagine, run
up, run the big run thenew I guess the Cincinnti skyline we're going
with, Yes, yeah, runthem out there, offset the three of

(48:01):
them in a row, and thenchase Brown as you go between their legs
like you could do. There's lotsof different stuff that you can do,
but I think the weapons versatility standsout to me now with this team,
of what they could do with allthose different pieces where it looks the same
at the beginning and they can runthe whole playbook out of it. Yeah.
So I think to me, forall of the talk about outside noise,

(48:22):
there's the central component to what theBengals want to be this year and
what matters a lot more than anythingthat could disrupt locker room chemistry or be
a distraction or amplify anybody's hurt feelingsabout not getting paid. There are going
to be if this offense can enjoyremotely good health, so many different things

(48:49):
that Dan Pitcher and Zach Taylor andJoe Burrow should be able to do.
That you could very well argue JoeBurrow, who's had two MVP caliber seasons,
is equipped to have his best year. Now, that doesn't mean the
Bengals are gonna go to the superBowl anything like that. I have a
lot of other questions, how goodis this defense going to be, et
cetera. But the versatility that theway they've constructed the roster will allow this

(49:15):
offense to enjoy and employ is reallyfun to think about. Uh, seventeen
minutes after four o'clock. Do youwant to go to Turfway Park go to
their big Kentucky derby party. Youneed tickets. We've got them a four
pack. Uh, this is goingto be a blast on Saturday, the
one hundred and fiftieth running of theRoses. You don't have to go to
Churchill Downs. Just go to TurfwayPark, go to their party. You

(49:37):
want to win tickets. Do youwant to play a game of Know your
famous horses? We need two contestantsfive one three seven four nine, fifteen
thirty eight six six seven zero twothree seven seven six and even if you
want to play, but you're like, you know what, I don't know
a lot about famous horses. Bythe way, notice I didn't say famous

(49:58):
race horses. I didn't say famousrace horses. No, no, no,
I just said famous horses. Andyou're like, God, I'd like
to go, but I don't knowa lot about famous horses. You could
still be a contestant and make theother person do all the work. So
we're looking for two five point threeseven four nine, fifteen thirty eight six
six, seven oh two three sevenseven six. We'll play Know Your Famous
Horses when we come back on ESPNfifteen thirty Cincinnatis N twenty two at for

(50:28):
four o'clock ESPN fifteen thirty. I'mohegger. We are moments away from playing
Know Your Famous Horses for a chanceto go to a Turfway Park's Kentucky Derby
party, which is Saturday. Nakedkarate girls. There's gonna be a hat
contest. Uh, there's going tobe family friendly activities. So if you
want to go do something cool forthe derby, but you want to bring

(50:50):
the kids taking the Turfway Park,you can find out more at Turfway dot
com. It's it's Saturday now.We're giving away these tickets. If you
win, you these are I likethe fact that they're doing this the old
fashioned way, actual paper tickets,so like, if something awesome happens at
this party, you're you're not gonnahave some QR code that you have to

(51:13):
screenshot as your souvenir. Right,You're gonna have an actual paper ticket.
But the thing is you got tocome pick them up. So if you
want to play Know Your Famous Horses, understand if you win these tickets,
you have to come here to theradio station on Friday. And the good
news for me is I'm not gonnabe here, So I don't know if
that's good news for me or forthe people who have to come here.
But anyway, you have to comepick up the tickets. Do we have

(51:35):
We have Mark who wants to play? You want to? I assume you
want to play? Mark? Youwant to play? Know your famous horses?
Yes, sir? Sure? Areyou excited to? You know a
lot about horses? I sure don't. Man know about as much as the
Reds and I'm very good. Uh. All right, Here's what we're gonna
do. Mark. We're gonna askyou five questions about famous horses and uh,

(51:55):
if you get three of the fivecorrect, you're gonna go to the
big Kentucky Derby party at Turfway Park. Are you ready? Yes, sir?
All right? Here's a question numberone? Terry, do you have
any horse sound effects for us?Good? All right? Uh, here
we go. Question number one.Mark. This horse portrayed mister Ed on

(52:19):
the nineteen sixties TV series of thesame name. Was it a bamboo harvester,
b rugged lark or c Zippo pinebar Let's go b is it B
tearing bamboo harvester? Was the horsethat played mister Reed? Very good?

(52:40):
All right, thank you? Youstill have a chance here? Mark Question
number two. This horse was oneof George Washington's two primary mounts during the
Revolutionary War. Was it a SeftonB Favorito or C. Nelson? A?
Can I get an A no Nelson? All right, Mark, you're

(53:04):
still alive though You're still Marcus overfive? Marcus Mark played yesterday? Yes?
Wow, all right, here wego mark Question number three. This
Civil War general wrote a horse namedCincinnati during the Civil War. His horse's
name was Cincinnati during the Civil War. A Ulysses S. Grant B.
George McClelland or C. Stonewall Jackson. Can I get a Ulysses S.

(53:35):
Grant terry? Yes, all right, very good, Mark, You're you're
still alive? Thank you guy?You got one right? All right?
Here we go. Question number four. Of these three horses, which one
is not an official NFL mascot?A thunder B war paint or C.
Samson? What was that? Sampson? Can I get see Samson tterwn?

(54:02):
Yes? Correct? Very good?Thunder is the horse the Broncos use and
war paint is the horse that theKansas City chiefs use. All right,
It all comes down to this,Mark, Are you ready? Ye?
All right? Mark? In seasonfour of the hit television show on HBO
The Sopranos, Ralph Siferetto enters thishorse into competition and shares the profits with

(54:28):
Tony Soprano. Was it a comancheb piomi or c affirmedna be b pio?
My? What a remarkable comeback Philadelphia? Seventy six ers esk. Mark,
You're gonna go to the big partyon Saturday at Turfoy Park. Awesome,

(54:49):
there you go? All right,hang time, Mark, We're gonna
get you the what is that ahorse eating or something? Yep? We
have sound a horse eating? Andthen and then what what what? What?
What? What happens? Will youtype in like horse sound effects?
Is that what you do there?Tearran pretty much? Yeah? And you

(55:10):
get what other horse sound effects doyou have? But I mean there's like
three minutes full of them. Wedon't have three minutes. So we have
eating, we have running, wehave winning. It's just pretty much winning.
Are there different types? Yes?Give me another one? See now

(55:32):
multiple horses there. It looks likethere's some instability in the barb. Whoa
we we just put that on theradio. Congratulations to Mark he knew his
famous horses. If you want togo hang out with market Turfway Park on
Saturday, go to Turfway dot com. What how are we going to give

(55:55):
away the tickets tomorrow? Tearan.I mean, I kind of like,
I know you're hoof. No,you're guess the hoof? You know,
we often play guess the foot becauseit's a horse racing game. Do we
do? We do guess the hoof? Possibly by the way remarkable catch by
Stuart Fairchild in the bottom of thefirst inning. Spencer Steer with a homer
in the top of the first Redslead the Padres are one yeah with the

(56:20):
catch, we have both yes dothey? Let's go in chronological order.
Give me the home run first.The two to two pitch Steer swings.
He puts a charge into this highand deep left center field profiles back,
he's at the wall, looks upand it's gone just over the fence into
the first row of seats beyond theleft center field wall, and Spencer Steer
has given the Reds a one nothinglead. There go Tommy Thrawl Red's Radio

(56:45):
network fourth homer of the season,four Spencer Steer. And then, with
a two on and one out inthe bottom of the first inning with Manny
Machado at the plate, Stuart Fairchilddid this. It's a lot of ground
balls, the old one. Thisball is not at the will play ball
and is lifted high and deep toright center field. Fairchild's at the wall,
he lays and he caught it.We all want to catch by Stuart

(57:07):
Fairchild. The throat comes back intosecond as the runners scramble back. Stuart
Fairchild just took a three run homerun away from Manny Machado. Very good,
he described that, well, itwas a remarkable catch. Would have
been a three run homer. Instead, the Reds have a one nothing lead.
Those folks listening to the game livemissed a great game of know your

(57:30):
famous horses. To their eternal regret. Thank god we podcast the show all
right. Abdul Hodge used to playfor the Bengals. Now he's the tight
ends coach at Iowa. The Bengalsjust drafted a tight end from Iowa who
also played at Fairfield. Will talkwith Abdul next twenty five away from five
o'clock. This is ESPN fifteen thirty. My names Molegar. So one of
the things we like to do ifwe can, is after the Bengals have

(57:52):
their draft, sift through the players. And I always think that people who
are best positioned to talk about theindividual players or the guys who coached them
at certain positions their position coaches.So we get the draft class and they
gets done, and on Sunday morning, I'm sitting down and I'm like,

(58:13):
well, let's get eric Al's tightend coach on tight end's coach at Iowa
on And so I do the research. It's Abdul Hodge. And then I
go, well, wait a minute, I know that name. Is it
the same guy that played for theBengals in the late two thousands And the
answer is yes, he was alinebacker. Now he's the tight ends coach
at Iowa, which is where ericAll played last year. And so it's

(58:35):
so awesome to have former Bengal andIowa tight ends coach Abdul Hodge with us.
It's good to have you coach.What's going on now? Much Thanks
for having me. I'm glad tobe on. I appreciate you doing this.
So we're excited about Eric All andobviously somebody we're familiar with because he's
from this area. But if youand I were to sit down and watch
film, what's the first thing abouthis game that you're pointing out to me?

(58:59):
This is supposed to missing physicality.I think when you turn the tape
on, AB's a guy that playsthe game one hundred and ten miles an
hour and he gives you one hundredpercent and he's uh. He plays the
game fast and physical, and that'skind of what we loved about him early
on with watching him in the victimChampionship game a couple of years ago,

(59:19):
when he played at Michigan and wehad the opportunity to get him here at
Iowa through the transfer portal, andthe way he plays the game a lot
of passion, at a lot ofspeed, a lot of physicality, and
I tell East to tell Scals,he's one of the most explosive players I've
seen play this game at that position. So you get him at Iowa and
obviously started his career in the Bigten at Michigan. Give me an idea

(59:42):
of some things that he that heimproved upon from the time that you got
him to his departure for the NFL. Well, Michigan did a great job
developing them, so they signed himout of high school. Michigan is a
program that you know that developed players, and especially at his position, playing
the tied end. At the tiedend position, they use them a little
bit more in a passing game,primarily when he was at Michigan. When

(01:00:06):
he came here at Iowa, wegot a chance to also develop him a
little bit more in a run game. I'm not saying he couldn't run block,
but I thought he that was Thatwas one of the phases of his
game. Hey, he can improveon because he's been He's a each I
mean, his ability in the passinggame is u is really great, but
improving in the run game, especiallywhen you look at the NFL teams,

(01:00:29):
most of them running pro style system. So if you look at us offensively
or traditionally, we put guys ina lot of different spots. You know,
they can have you know, theycan be in line, they can
be off the ball, they couldbe split out, and last year we
also used them as at the fullbackspot when we was in our thirteen to
fourteen personnel. So I don't knowif, Like I told Eric, I'm

(01:00:49):
not sure what kind of system they'regonna they're gonna run, but they're not
gonna actually do anything that you haven'treally got before. So he's really comfortable
being on the ball, being offthe ball, being split out at number
number one in the slot, andalso playing fullback. I mean, he
also has a lot of special teamvalue. So he's excited about it.
I know he's excited for him togo back home, and he's excited to
get gone and get to work.Where would you say is maybe an area

(01:01:13):
where between now and the start ofhis rookie season, of the start of
training camp, he needs to focuson more than others. Well, he's
coming off of an injury. Hegot injured and has surge under his knee
week six of this past season.So I think he's ahead right now.
I think he needs to continue that, continue his rehab and make sure that

(01:01:36):
stays on track. But at thesame time, he can get a lot
of mental reps. He can getinto, get in as soon as possible,
and start learning the system, gettingacclimated with a special teams coach,
because that's going to be huge forhim. Which he's a kid that wants
to play special teams. You know, when he first got here, he
was on our starting proNT return.He was on the back line of kickoff
return. So he's a kid that, hey, coach, I want to

(01:01:57):
play special teams and I want toI want to play offense. So he's
going to do whatever it takes tohelp the team win. Which you love
that about the kid and grace smile, love to play the game, and
he plays again the right way.But this process for him, I told
him, don't you know, justcontinue to rehab, continue to make sure
you stay on track with that,because that's the that's the most important thing.
If he's one hundred percent, you'regoing to get a really great football

(01:02:19):
player because he can play football andhe's not. She does a lot of
things, not you on the field, in the passing game, but also
in the running game. You know, the you've you've kind of been through
the process of making the lead fromcollege football to the NFL, and so
you're you're familiar with how this worksas a position coach. Now, what
what questions did teams, whether they'rethe Bengals or or other squads, what

(01:02:39):
what what questions do they have foryou about Eric h That's how he picked
up the system, Like how howis he in the classroom? Because they
know you have the physical capability,so how does he learn? It was
an important part of that a lotof questions. That was one of the
most important questions that a lot ofthe different teams or scouts may asks,
like how does he learned? Howis he in the room? How did

(01:03:01):
how did they you know, comingfrom the coming in as a from Michigan,
from the from the via the transportportal? How did he acclimate at
Iowa? And I told him hedid an amazing job. The guys loved
him. He had a great smile. He loves playing football. You know,
he's he's a different guy off thefield, but and he gets on

(01:03:21):
the field, he's very intense.He's passionate, and he loved what he
does. And he's a he's atough kid physically and mentally so and in
our system, we moved him allaround a lot of different spots, similar
to what he did at Michigan.I thought he did a great job picking
up our system and hitting the groundrunning. So we put him at a
lot of different spots. We puthim at the why, we put him
off the ball at the f weput him at the fullback spot, we

(01:03:43):
put him backside as the acts.So he's a guy that you can move
around and play different positions. Andhe runs like a wide receiver, so
he got the physical capabilities of atight end. So you can use him
as a Miche match on cornerbacks andlinebackers and safeties. And he's a great
kid and I love having him inthe room, and he was he was
awesome. You got to coach SamLaporta and then you get to coach Eric

(01:04:06):
All are are there similarities between thetwo? Absolutely? Absolutely, First and
foremost, when Veric got here oncampus, Sam was one of the guys
that hosted him on his visits,so those two kind of kicked it off.
The other. The other thing wasSam was a guy that can play

(01:04:27):
every position on the football field.I'm talking about receiver and tied end.
So we moved them around at allfour or five spots, okay, and
then you can play in multiple systems. And they're really good in the run
game, and Sam was really goodin the passing game. Now you can
see this past season with the DetroitLions. Eric's very similar where he has
huge upside and athletic ability in thepassing game. But if he turned on

(01:04:50):
that tape, and I would tellscouts turn on the tape and watch how
physical he is in the run game, especially when he's pulling, he's the
lead blocker, like he's playing fast, he's playing violince, he's playing physical,
and that's his game. And whenyou have a guy like that,
like sham La Porter, you havea guy like that for er call.
They're not limited to what you cando with them from an offensive perspective because

(01:05:15):
they weapons in the passing game.But when it's time to run the football,
okay, you can put them atthe point of attack and they'll also
get a job done. Abdul hodgeswith us. So walk me through this.
You were a linebacker, you playedin the NFL, you played here,
you were on a good team intwo thousand and nine. How do
you go from playing linebacker to coachingtight ends? A great question. I've

(01:05:38):
been blessed to be around some reallyreally great coaches and mentors and around a
lot of great systems. So whenI at Iowa, Norm Parker, he
was a defensive coordinator. He wasour linebacker coach. So when you have
when you're playing linebacker for the coordinator, defensive coordinator, offense coordinator. In
my case, with the defensive coordinator, he's coaching the linebackers, Well,

(01:06:00):
you're not just going to learn yourposition, which you're going to learn the
entire defense, and you're going tolearn the offense as well too from a
defensive perspective. When I when Iwent from Green Bay to Cincinnati, coach
Jeff Fitzgeral, he is a reallygreat coach. He was very detailed.
He was really high on the techniquesand fundamentals of the game. He was

(01:06:23):
highling little things to demeanor, beinga great teammate, being a great leader,
being accountable, all the things that'sgoing to separate guys at the collegiate
and the NFL level. So whenI got done coach, When I got
into coaching, I was coaching atlinebackers at University of South Dakota and then
obviously coach Fence reached out to meand there was opportunities for me to coach

(01:06:44):
at tight end. But when youwhen you peel it all back, there's
a lot of similarities between playing linebackerand playing tight end because you're you're involved
in the run game, you're involvedin the passing game, and then it's
a you know, when it comesdown to it, the techniques and fundamentals
may vary, but the fundamentals arethe same. So in on defense,
you still got to get off blocksand you gotta tackle. On offense,

(01:07:08):
you got to be able to sustainblocks, and you got to be able
to get open and passing game inadvance football. And then I've been able
to be around some great coaches herethat's giving me the information I need to
go and coach that position. Butone when I peel it all back,
guys like coach Jesse, Jerald,Noan Parker, of course, Sarence,
coach Moss when I was with thePackers, I take something from all of

(01:07:30):
those guys and then I put itinto those guys in the room. But
it's about the technique and fundamentals.It's not about schemes. It's about the
people. It's about having the rightdemeanor, doing their little things right and
being a great teammate and putting thework in, working hard and executing system
and being more consistent on a consistentbasis so here I am coaching the tight

(01:07:51):
ends and loving it. I'm doingwhat I'm doing at a place that has
become really well known for tight ends. Before I let you go, since
you were a Bengal, give meone or two of your favorite memories playing
for that nine team, which wasreally good. You played in the playoffs
for the Bengals. What's your favoritecouple of memories as a Cincinnati Bengal.
I would say that year. Theone thing that sticks out is when we

(01:08:14):
swept the division. Yes, webeat Greendale and green I'm us beating Green
Bay up in Green Bay. Togo through that division undefeated, we had
it. We beat Pittsburgh twice,Browns twice, you know it's Ravens twice.
And then that when we had upup there in hines Field was huge
that year. So to be ableto go up and do that and say,
hey, we went undefeated in thisdivision, which is one of the

(01:08:38):
best divisions and in football, Ithink was a great thing. But what
I remember the most is uh CoachLewis, Coach Marvin Lewis. What I
remember the most are coach Jeff Fitzgeraldand the guys that was in the room.
You know, your teammates and theguys that you build relationships with.
There's not so much to the footballpart of it, but there was a

(01:08:58):
lot of great guys in that lockerroom and a lot of great coaches to
this day that we still connect andmake sure we're checking in on each other
and we're friends. It's a coolstory. Your coaching career is off to
a great start. Eric All.We can't wait to watch him. I
appreciate the insight. Thank you somuch. Appreciate it any time. Thank
you, you got it. AbdulHodge Eric All's tight ends coach that was

(01:09:18):
good at the University of Iowa.Abdul played for the Bengals. He was
joined the team in eight was cutbefore twenty ten, but was on that
nine team and played in nine gamesthat year, played in the playoff game.
I remember a forced fumble on aned reed punt return Abdul had.
So yeah, I'm sitting there Sundayand kind of looking at you know some

(01:09:42):
people we could get on, andI'm like, man, I know that
name. Former Bengal Abdul Hodge tightends coach at Iowa had Sam Laporta last
year, Eric All. This year, Eric all drafted by the Bengals,
one of two tight ends taken byCincinnati this past weekend. It is a
thirteen away from five o'clock. Thefirst ever Big twelve champion at the University
of Cincinnati is going to join usat five on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports

(01:10:08):
station. Hey there, what's formedium? Hey? You want to win
a brand new lawnmower? Who's this? No to that? No, I
don't want to win a brand newlawnmower. Of course you do. You
want to go to every show atRiverbend this summer. Of course you want
to go to all those two?How about both? How about tickets to
every show and a brand new lawnmower. You could win them if you win

(01:10:29):
our Moyor lawn contest thanks to aBaxla tracker and Riverbend Music Center. We
announced the winner twenty four days fromtoday, May twenty fourth, on this
show. So it's it's a greatcontest. And the best thing about this
is you don't have to really onceyou enter, if you win, you
don't have to do anything. Youdon't have to come to the radio station,

(01:10:50):
you don't have to rent a truck, just sit at home. And
then I'll deliver the lawnmore to yourhouse and the tickets to all the shows
at River Bend. And I alwaysoffered to one time, not on a
recurring basis, Like I'm not comingover every Thursday to cut your grass,
but I'll do it once. I'llcut your grass for you within reason,

(01:11:11):
Like if you've got like twenty sevenand a half acres, no, i'll
cut a patch of that. Butif you have like a normal lawn,
yeah, I'll cut it if youprovide refreshment. I can't even say refreshment.
Most importantly, sign up, goto you can go to the contest
page of ESPN fifteen thirty dot com. You could go to my website ESPN
fifteen thirty dot com, slash Mo, and you could also go if you

(01:11:35):
go to my X that's right,I'm being proper. I'm calling it X.
Go to my x feed. It'spinned at the top. Go there
and click on the link. Signup and good luck. It's the mow
year long contest thanks to a Backslitractor and Riverbend Music Center. Brendanman and
Jones on Baseball's Next Cincinnati's ESPN fifteenthirty Traffic from the u SEE Health Traffic

(01:12:00):
Center. The experts at the UCGardner Neuroscience Institute's Brain Tumor Center offer patients
access to leading edge treatments and unmatchedcomprehensive care. Learn more at ucehealth dot
com. Multiple accidents in the wayseventy one south after Route fourteen. It's
blocking the right lane. You're stopping. Go from seventy five to seventy five
east before double A Highway seventy oneat northbound on ramp from Turfway Road and

(01:12:23):
one twenty eight southbound between Mill Streetand seventy four. I'm John Crawford with
traffic. This report is SPAT Radio. This is ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati
Sports Station. Hey, what's up. It's four minutes at for five o'clock.
This is ESPN fifteen thirty on Moleger. Thank you for listening today.

(01:12:45):
Hopefully you're having a terrific Wednesday afternoon. So far, so good, at
least to this point. For theReds, who got a terrific catch in
center field from a Stuart Fairchild tohelp preserve and early one nothing lead Graham
Ashcraft on the mound for Cincinnati thatBrennanman and Jones segment on Hunter Green and
Niclidolo is really good. Spencer Steerhis fourth home run of the season in

(01:13:10):
the top of the first inning.So far, that is the only scoring.
It's one nothing good guys, Topfour. On getaway Day in San
Diego, Reds trying to salvage.The only time in the American language we
use salvage is when a team istrying to not get swept, or trying

(01:13:30):
not to or trying to avoid,like a losing road trip. The Reds
win today, they salvage a fivehundred road trip. They lose today.
They go to and four five o'clockHappy Hours, a service of michelob Ultra.
As I'm watching the game, itlooks awesome in San Diego. I've
never been to that ballpark. Sittingin that ballpark enjoying a michelob Ultra sounds

(01:13:51):
like something I'd like to do.I can't get to San Diego. I
can't get to the mini mart acrossthe street. I called it a mini
mart. It's again station that sellsMichelo Ultra. Pick up a six pack,
post up outside, have a cigar. That is my Wednesday night for
tomorrow. Right we're having michelob Ultra. Tomorrow five o'clock Happy Hour will involve

(01:14:13):
it's not just going to be broughtto you by michelob Bultra. The five
o'clock Happy Hour tomorrow Tarran will featureyou and I enjoin michelot Ultra together.
Uh. The uh you see golfprogram was in the NCAA Tournament last year
as a team that didn't make itthis season, but Ty Gingrick did Big
twelve champion who gets a chance toplay in the NCAA regionals very close to

(01:14:39):
home. He is from Indiana,from near West Lafayette. He is in
the Purdue Regional and so he isgoing to join us coming up in just
about fifteen minutes. Uh, let'ssee, we've been sort of all over
the place today. Mike, goahead, you're on ESPN fifteen thirty.
What's going on, Mike? Oh, you're very welcome. What's happening,

(01:15:02):
Mike? What is Mike doing?Do they hire all these four? Well,
Mike, Mike, you're hey,does Mike know he's Does Mike not
know he's on the radio. IsMike having a conversation with somebody else?
We are We're we're getting into dangerousterritory here because Mike doesn't know he's on

(01:15:25):
the air right now, could beinvolved in some sort of transaction. Is
Mike there, Mike Mike. Well, yeah, Mike, We're gonna just
let Mike go. Look, asa general rule, would we appreciate anybody

(01:15:47):
who calls the radio show. AndI know ninety nine point five percent of
listeners to a radio show do notcall in statistically, that's how it works.
Uh, we are appreciative of anybodywho does. I understand it's a
bit of a time investment. You'retaking time out of your day. And
as a host, I'm always honored. I'm always it really is. I

(01:16:10):
mean, I'm being serious here.I'm honored that someone would grab their phone
and say, I'm going to callthat show. And you know, sometimes
you have to sit on hold andwait through stuff that we do. And
it's why we don't cut people off. It's why we like to give people
a lot of time to actually havea conversation. There are shows that don't

(01:16:30):
do that, and that's fine,but if you do call, I understand
you're taking time out of your day. Most people are busy, don't have
time to call a radio show.But if you do call a radio show,
understand they may come to you atany point. We can't just stop
the show for we are, inessence stopping it to talk about Mike not

(01:16:50):
being ready to be on the air. But if you call a show,
whether it's our show or since Ethree sixty or anything else, can you
can you at least make sure you'rebuy the phone so that when we go
to you we're ready to go.Do we have to suspend Mike? Like

(01:17:12):
Mike call? What's that meet email? Yeah? Whatever, dude, we
went to you. Mike calls everyday. We probably take the call twice
a week, sometimes three. Sonow we're we're gonna have to like suspend
them not ready to go. We'regonna have to like publicly chastise them.
There's gonna have to be some sortof punishment. See there he is calling

(01:17:36):
back. Are we gonna? Arewe gonna put him on? Being one
shot? Mike? What are youdoing? I had a very important call
that I wasn't expecting from my owncologist, which superseded anything. Apoe is everything.
Okay, I don't know that's what'scalls about, but we'll find out.

(01:17:59):
Look like it sounded like you werecomplaining about people, and well,
yeah, you go through this kindof stuff with the medical department, medical
people, you might get a clueabout what's going on. I'm praying for
you, Mike. What what whatcan we do for you? Yeah?

(01:18:20):
Well, anyway, once again,I apologize. Uh Mike, did was
there was there anything sports related onyour mind? Or did you just call
to say hi? Yeah? No, I okay, I always right.
Well not I noticed that you weretalking about the A's going to Sacramento,

(01:18:45):
and I just wanted to let peopleknow that's not such a bad move for
the A's because Sacramento is a bigcity. It's the thirty fifth largest city
in America. It's twice the sizesof Cincinnati. Yeah, that that that
would be fine if they were goingto play in a major league park and
if they were moving there permanently,But they're not. They're not, So
they're going to Vegas, which isslightly larger, so hopefully the place that

(01:19:10):
they play in Sacramento. I justfeel I felt so sorry for the Raiders
fans and now for the Age fans. These people in Oakland. The city
just screws them on a regular thingbecause I think football in Vegas can work,
right, It's once a week,it's a destination, it's a big
event city. It's the NFL.I think the NFL can work anywhere.
I think it can work in Vegas. I'm not convinced baseball in Vegas is

(01:19:32):
going to work. First of all, it's not a very big TV market.
Second, many of the people wholive in Vegas aren't from there,
so they might be reluctant to forman attachment to the new team. Third,
I think the idea that folks aregoing to stream into Vegas to see
their team play is vastly overstated.I don't think baseball in Vegas is going

(01:19:53):
to work as well as a lotof people think. Now, if they
have a winning team and get peopleexcited about it, like the hockey team
has there, that's going to bebetter than well if they play the way
they have their last few years inOakland. But I'm skeptical that it's going
to work. Las Vegas is likethe what the sixty fifth biggest TV market.
It's not a very big TV market. It's a town where there's a

(01:20:14):
lot of folks who are from otherplaces. I'm not as convinced that it's
going to work as others are.I don't know how many people. I
would be one because I love baseballand I love going to ballparks. But
how many like packs of dudes whogo to Vegas for a weekend of what
else, of God knows what,are going to stop off and go see
a ball game. I'm not surethat number is as big as a lot

(01:20:36):
of people might make you think either. I like I say, I just
my heart goes out to the fansin Oakland because they've just gotten screwed around
bad now twice and there's not muchthey can do about it. So it's
a sad situation. Hey, canwe win? I know that game?
I head to thank you six yourstomach to me a little bit. It

(01:21:00):
reminded me of when the when theCeltics would occasionally beat my legs back and
then check and Kareem Era and boy, I used to get so upset,
dude, I almost was like intears. I was just this draught and
I was in my thirties at thetime. Yea, but they got a
chance without porzingis the Celtics. No, I'm sorry the next he doesn't play

(01:21:26):
for the next anymore, so hehasn't played for him in like five years.
So what am I talking about?I have no idea what you're talking
about. You have to beg mypardon. I'm sorry. Christophs Porzenga stopped
playing for the next five years ago. Yeah, okay, I better call
you back some other time. I'mnot a good guest, so I apologize
for that. Mike. We're rootingfor you, man hanging there? Okay,

(01:21:49):
Well thanks. You know Darren,how we for the most part,
don't have a call screening policy.Yes, do you think maybe we should
revisit it? Possibly? Mike's goingthrough a lot. I think the Knicks

(01:22:17):
have a chance. Sometimes we don'tdo this in sports. Sometimes you just
have to say, you know what, other team had a dude who was
unbelievable. First of all, JoelEmbiid played the best bad game I've ever
seen a player play. Nineteen sixteenand ten plus four blocks. Now,
he also had nine turnovers, buthobbling around, he played forty eight minutes.

(01:22:43):
That is the best bad performance I'veever seen. Tyrese Maxey was superhuman.
He is great. Our boss isa seventy six ers fan, and
he asked me during Game four ishe your favorite seventy six er, and
I go, he's my favorite NBAplayer who's not doing McBride. I legitimately
my favorite guy to watch until he'sterrorizing your team. He was awesome in

(01:23:06):
sports. You know, we're blamingthe refs, so we're blaming those too
many fans of the other team,and look, the Knicks were complicit in
their own demise. Tyrese Maxey wasJordan esque there. I went there as
a fan of a team that wasoften victimized by Michael Jordan when I was
younger and Reggie Miller later on.That's what Tyrese max He did. He

(01:23:29):
was a He was a lot offun to watch at Kentucky. I did
not think he would be this good, but holy crappy was unbelievable last night
and has been for the overwhelming majorityof this series. He played fifty to
two of fifty three minutes. Hehad the ball in his hands a ton
he got, not a ton ofhelp. Tobias Harris was pretty good,

(01:23:51):
not a ton of help from histeammates. The other guy, the other
star in that team, is hobblingaround doing everything he can and Maxi dropped
forty six on him also had nineassists, hits, a logo, three
to snd it to overtime. Justan awesome player and like that, That
to me was the Knicks gagged.I mean multiple things they could have done

(01:24:14):
differently down the stretch of regulation andand overtime. But sometimes sometimes a guy
in the other team just authors anunbelievable performance. I think he's gonna need
to do it two more times inorder for them to come back and win
the series. Uh, all right, it's a sixteen minutes after a five
o'clock five point three, seven fournine, fifteen thirty and eight sixty six,

(01:24:36):
seven oh two three seven seven sixuh. Ty Gingrick is head of
the NCAA Tournament heading home to theNCAA Tournament. He is the first team
or individual to win a Big twelvetitle at the University of Cincinnati and representing
the men's golf program. He'll joinus next since in fifteen thirty am Oegger.

(01:24:57):
The University of Cincinnati is a rapup its first year as a Big
twelve institution and has claimed its firstBig twelve title. It's an individual men's
golf championship one over the weekend byTom Gingrich, who is going to compete
in the NCAA Purdue Regional May thirteenthrough fifteen, so just about two weeks

(01:25:19):
from now. This is going tobe at the Burke Boilermaker Golf Complex.
So a bit of a homecoming fora tie who is from that area and
who has Purdue ties, but makeshistory as the first, the first of
what is hopefully many Big twelve championsat the University of Cincinnati. He wins
an individual men's golf championship after anunbelievable performance at Whispering Pines in Trinity,

(01:25:44):
Texas, shooting a nine under twoseventy nine and kind enough to give us
a few minutes this afternoon toime.Congratulations, thank you for joining us.
How are you well? Thank youvery much. I'm doing it. How
are you mo? Doing wonderful?So you find out today where you're going
to play. You're from the Purduearea, your your dad played baseball at
Purdue, your brother is on thebaseball team now, and so not only

(01:26:05):
do you get a chance to competein the n CUALEA regionals, to get
a chance to do it close tohome. That's pretty cool. Yeah,
it's it's awesome. It's kind ofa dream deal for me. I mean
it's an hour from my house,and like you said, I mean I've
had, you know, a bunchof family go to Purdue, and my
sister graduated from Purdue, and soit's, uh, yeah, it's it's

(01:26:25):
pretty awesome when when you're playing ina high stakes event like this and and
there's an individual championship and a birthas an individual in the NC DOUABLEA regionals
up for grabs. I get nervouson the on the driving, on the
practice team, I get I getnervous tea and off on like four with
my buddies on a on a Saturdaywhen we're drinking beer. How did you
handle all that pressure one shot ata time? Just you know, kind

(01:26:48):
of goes back to all the practiceand preparation that I've been you know,
putting the end for a long timenow, and you know, really just
try not to think too much aboutit, because yeah, there is a
lot of pressure, but you know, just once shot at a time and
and uh, just kind of dowhat I do mentality. So so you
put your score on the card andthen had to wait for the rest of

(01:27:10):
the field to wrap things up.What was that weight like Uh, pretty
nerve racking. Yeah. I cameinto the clubhouse and they had the ESPN
coverage up on the TV, soI was just watching and you know,
hoping that nobody would would catch meor pass me. But uh, yeah,
it was. It was definitely nervenerve racking for sure. Uh.

(01:27:32):
You go from a year where youhad some rounds that weren't your best to
peaking at precisely the right time.What was the key to that? I
think just trusting that, you know, my good stuff is is really good,
obviously good enough to win the Bigten or Big twelve individual title.
And yeah, just having a lotof trust and patience that good golf was

(01:27:57):
on the was on the way andand it came at the right time.
We've watched over the course of theseason every sport make the jump or make
the progression from the American Athletic Conferenceto the Big Twelve. What has that
been like from a golf perspective?A little different. We had the Big
Twelve match Play in the fall,which was a new tournament for US and

(01:28:17):
on our schedule, and then obviouslythe Big Twelve Conference championship is pretty elite
and really strong. But besides that, nothing really changed from our schedule or
we see you know, we sawa lot of the same teams this year
that we did when we were inthe American Uh, walk me through how

(01:28:38):
the NCAA tournament works. So basically, there's six different regionals. There's gonna
be top five teams advance out ofthe regional, and then the low individual
score whose team didn't advance or thepeople playing individually is going to go.

(01:28:59):
So only one guy who's either teamdidn't advance or was it playing as an
individual will go on to nationals.Describe for me the life like a day
in the life when on days you'renot competing. What is the day in
the life of a college golfer?What is the week in the life of
a college golfer? Like, Uh, we have workouts typically three times a

(01:29:21):
week, and then that's in themorning and then kind of have practice either
kind of mid morning to early afternoonor all afternoon, and then a little
bit of studying I guess in theevening. But it's a it's a it's
a good life for sure. Wejust we play a lot of golf and

(01:29:43):
and have a lot of fun.I would say, yeah, it sort
of sounds like my my dream collegescenario. Do you how often do you
play? I mean, you obviouslyplayed competitively and you play for for high
stakes. How how often do yougo play recreationally and when you're just with
like random people playing golf? What'sthat like? Uh? Not often,
I think, you know. IfI'm going to the golf course, it's

(01:30:04):
to it's it's to practice and tryto get my competitive game better. But
I mean, every once in awhile, I'll go out with some buddies
and go have fun. But it'skind of hard to have fun because my
expectations are so high out there.Yeah, and then you have your friends
asking you for tips and stuff,right exactly? Yeah, exactly? Does
that get annoying? Uh No,because I like to help my friends out.

(01:30:27):
But yes, because at the sametime, I'm trying to figure out
this game as well. So yeah, uh and then you obviously and then
correct me if I'm wrong. You'vejust you've just graduated too, correct,
That's right, all right? Soyou're you're gonna leave the university as a
Big twelve champion and we'll see yousee how you do in the NCAA tournament.
What's what's next? I'm gonna beturning pro at some point, either

(01:30:54):
this summer or this fall. Ihaven't really decided that yet, kind of
waiting to see how everything shakes outwith the my college career. But yeah,
the next step is to turn profor me, all right, So
turning pro, that sounds awesome.I know there's a lot that goes into
it. Describe Describe what the comingweeks and months are going to be like
once you turn professional. Uh,just a lot of grinding and hopefully playing

(01:31:20):
some good golf and kind of seewhere that takes me. It's kind of
tough because there's so many different waysto do it, and like, yeah,
you just you just gotta play goodgolf no matter what you're playing in
I guess, and just kind ofsee where that takes you. But yeah,
it's a program. Last year,following them, following you guys as

(01:31:43):
a team in the NCAA tournament.Walk me through the decision to play golf
at the University of Cincinnati. Well, cool story about that. So the
first time that Doug or coach Martinever watched me play in high school was
at the camp and Golf Course,which is where I'll be playing my regional.

(01:32:03):
So he watched me there I wasplaying a junior tournament there, and
then we kind of just started talkingover a period of a few months,
and I just kind of fell inlove with the school and coach Martin and
coach for Rick and the program here, and I just really felt like this
is a place I was going toget better at and learn a lot,

(01:32:23):
and that certainly happened. So,yeah, that's awesome. Well, we
were gonna be rooting for you.How many rounds will you get in between
now in the regionals starting May thirteenth. Well, I can only play one
round at that golf course, Okay, I'll be Yeah, I'll be doing
some practicing here in Cinci and andat home a little bit as well,

(01:32:44):
and so i'll be I'll be readyto go. All right. Well,
we're going to be rooting for you, not just in the NCAA regionals,
but your professional career, which whichhopefully for your standpoint, from our standpoint,
gets delayed a little while because Iwant you to keep advancing. But
congratulations, you made history, thefirst ever Big twelve champion in U SEE

(01:33:05):
history. It is awesome. Andhave a great time playing close to home
in the NCAA Regionals. Ty,I appreciate the time man, thanks so
much, Thanks very much, Mo, you got it. Ty Gingric is
the first ever Big twelve champion atthe University of Cincinnati, will play in
the Purdue Regional of the NCAA tournamentsstarting on May the thirteenth. Reds and

(01:33:27):
Padre is in a good game inSan Diego, two Reds batting in the
top of the fifth inning on getawayDay in socol We'll preview the Kentucky Derby
next on ESPN fifteen thirty you fromsix o'clock. This is ESPN fifteen thirty
onm oegar. The one and fiftiethKentucky Derby is rapidly approaching. Obviously so

(01:33:49):
is the Kentucky Oaks on Friday.We have done this now for a few
years before any of the Triple Crownraces, and obviously with little added emphasis
on the Kentucky Derby. We're alwaysjoined by Dick Girardi, legendary horse racing
reporter and columnists spend decades with thePhiladelphia Daily News. This summer, he

(01:34:11):
will be inducted into the Joe HirshMedia Role of Honor at the National Museum
of Racing in Saratoga Springs, NewYork. Later on this summer he is
with us courtesy of our friends atbed online, where you can go for
the most up to date odds andprops of the one hundred and fiftieth running
of the Kentucky Derby. It's alwaysgood to have you, Dick. How
are you? I'm doing great?Can't wait for Derby one fifty on Saturday.

(01:34:35):
I mean really one fifty, yes, fifty years. It's the longest
running continuous sporty event in North America. Yeah, it truly is. All
right, But before we get intoodds or the specific horses or picks,
give me one or two of thestorylines that will dominate the coming days.

(01:34:57):
Yeah. I think the biggest storylineis Micropoli, who owns fierceness. There's
going to be the post time favorite. It looks like, I mean,
he certainly the morning line favorite.I don't know why it wouldn't be his
favorite. This is really kind ofa bizarre circumstance. He's had the morning
line favorite twice, including the lastyear, and neither horseman hate into the

(01:35:18):
starting game. Remember, Forte wasscratched by the Vets the morning of the
race. Because they just didn't likesomething they saw. And Uncle Moe,
who was his two year old championback a little more than a decade ago,
Will also had some kind of anissue that week. I believe he
was scratched on Thursday. So Ithink Mike has had a lot of success
in the game. Basically on everybig race there is except the Derby.

(01:35:40):
Is first hoping Fierceness can get tothe gate and then obviously get out of
there and see if you can winthis first herve All right, as we
look at the field, give me, give me one or two that I
should at least think about making awater on. So seventeen Fierceness for sure.
I mean, I think he's themost likely winner. He's also going
to go favored. Yeah, maybehe's five to two. If this was

(01:36:02):
say, like an eight horse field, they'd probably be six to five,
four to five even money. Butbecause there's twenty horses, you're going to
get a better price on what's clearlythe best horse in the race. A
long shot for me is the sevenHonor Marie kind of still a little under
the radar. He ran second inLouisiana Derby to Catching Freedom. Catching Freedom

(01:36:26):
is probably going to be like sixto one, where Annam Marie is going
to be twenty to one. Thatwas only a length difference, and a
lot of that is just trainer.Brad Cox trains Catching Freedom. He's very
well known. He's on his wayto the Hall of Fame, where with
Beckman is a young guy first timein the big on the big stage.
But Honor Marie, I think isundervalue at twenty to one. Is there
a Kentucky Derby prop that interests you? My favorite prop with that online And

(01:36:53):
there's a ton of them, andmake sure, as you were saying,
make sure you get onto the siteand check them all out. But my
favorite one is a winning margin likehow much will the way horse win by?
And the overall der and it's astraight even money bet is a length
and a half. I am hugein favor of the over Hey, I

(01:37:13):
like fierceness, and he's one ofthree races combined by thirty legs that's an
average of ten. He's only needsto win by a little over a length
and a half here. And theother good news is if for somehow,
somehow Fierceness does not win, youhave the other nineteen horses. Any one
of them wins by more than alength and a half, you also cash
or that prop. So I dolike that one. One of the other

(01:37:35):
ones kind of a fun one iswill there be a post race inquiry?
Let's hope not. We have gotone back five years ago with maxim security.
Nobody will forget that. That's plustwo hundred. If there's going to
be one minus two fifty. No, I'm not a big fan of minus
two fifty, but it's really notthat likely we're going to see an inquiry.

(01:37:58):
So I think that if you willwith the leg something there minus two
fifty is the right player on theno inquiry after the Kentucky Dirty Very Saturday,
which goes up a little before seveno'clock, No doubt. I you
can talk me out of this ifyou want to. You could say,
look, go ahead and do it. So my name being Mo. There's
a horse Grand Mo the first.Now the odds I'm looking at it right
now sixty six to one. ButI can get I can get decent value

(01:38:21):
in betting on this horse to finishlast, and that would be my luck.
So should I do it? Absolutely? You beat me. You beat
me to it. I was goingto say, don't bet this horse to
win. Bet them at seven toone at bet online to face lest he's
got a real shot at it becausehe has a little bit of speed.

(01:38:41):
And what you want horses that haveearly speed to finish the last because they'll
get tired. You don't want theones that are going to pass a munch
of other tire horses. So grandMo the first I think, I think
you're all over. Unfortunately, that'sthat's as good as I can do.
Dick Calready is with his bet online most up to date odds and props
for the one hundred and fiftieth runningof the Kentucky Derby. Now every year

(01:39:03):
on Oaks Day, I take theshow off and I go over here to
bel Terra Park and hang out onOaks Day. The Oaks Race itself steered
me in the right direction. Reallygood race, much more competitive than the
Derby. In fact, i'd saythere's half a dozen horses if you're comfortable
saying they could win. Now,raising means is the most southed horse in

(01:39:27):
the race, the eleven. Ifyou can get five to one, I
mean, if you can get that, that's an incredible price. The question
about her. She's only had onerace this year. They got her a
little late to the races and it'sback on March thirtieth. But if she's
up to her form from Saratoga lastsummer, I think she's the winner.
But man, a really really goodrace. Just FYI. The two year

(01:39:49):
old Philly Champ is back. Shewent pretty well on her first start of
the year, Lesby's Rose one AslanDana Keenlin at just f y I was
seconds. A strong race. Butyeah, I would recommend the eleven Ways
and Memes with per Chad Brown withTyler Kathley all Right. Long list of
odds and props. Bet online forthe one hundred and fiftieth running of the

(01:40:09):
Kentucky Derby, as well as theOaks on Friday. Always awesome to have
you, Dick. Thank you somuch. You got it. Thank you.
That's the legendary horse racing reporter slashcolumnist Dick Girardi. There you go,
go to bet online. Yeah,there's a horse Grand Mo, the
first Grandmo. The first is goingto finish in last. You could buy

(01:40:30):
that at seven to one. We'llgo ahead and do that. Reds and
Padres even up at two apiece.We'll keep you up to date on that.
We have lots to get to Betweennow and six. ESPN fifteen to
thirty Cincinnati Sports Station, Reds andPadres are playing, and that's too too.
San Diego getting said to bet inthe bottom of the sixth inning.

(01:40:54):
I'm there for your answer. We'rewith your answer. Graham Ashcraft is pitched
all right. Joe Musgrove has pitchedfrankly better. But Ascraft benefited immensely by
a terrific home run robbing catch byStuart Fairchild. That a ball came off
to mat Meadia Machado. If thatgoes over the fence, it's a it's
a different story. Spencer Steer hasgone yard for Cincinnati. Jam Or Candelario

(01:41:19):
has an RBI. He is swingingthe bat a little bit better. It's
a two to two Reds Padres.As San Diego gets set about in the
bottom of the sixth inning, acouple of other things. This just came
down from ESPN's Jeremy Fowler. TylerBoyd still looking for a team and as
the draft got closed, so youkind of felt like, Okay, that's

(01:41:41):
that's gonna be the sort of thingthat doesn't get resolved until after the draft,
when you see who gets who inthe draft. Tyler is going to
be meeting with the San Diego Chargersand Tennessee Titans this week. Obviously,
Tyler Boyd's had a terrific career,had a great run in Cincinnati. It's
funny I asked this question. Sometimeswe do Ring of Honor voting. We're

(01:42:02):
gonna have another round this summer.Good. What I love most about the
Ring of Honor is it creates funconversations about good players from the past.
That to me was always the argumentin favor of having a Ring of Honor.
It gets fans talking about some ofthe best players in your franchise's history.
How's that a bad thing? Thatstuff makes people feel good? And

(01:42:26):
it's interesting. You could find peoplewho you just mentioned a player who had
one or two good seasons. They'llsay that guy should be in the Ring
of Honor. I do think thereneeds to be some degree of exclusivity.
There is with the way it's donenow, there's certainly room for many,
many others. I hope this isthe year that they finally put in Dave
Lapham. But we sometimes ask,like, who's going to be the best

(01:42:49):
player who's not in the Ring ofHonor. I don't know if Tyler Boyd
is the answer to that question,but that's kind of the range of player
where talking about. By the way, it's it's not an insult to say
you're not in the Ring of Honor, right Like, not every good player
is going to be in. Notevery good former Red is in the Hall

(01:43:10):
of Fame, the Reds Hall ofFame. Could Tyler Boyd? That's like
the type of player very good statistically, part of some awesome moments here,
you know, very good, likequintessential complimentary weapon. Is he a Ring
of Honor material? But a verygood player worth remembering? Absolutely and would

(01:43:31):
be interesting to see. I'm certainlyof the belief that the time of boy
could still play. I mean,we're not talking about somebody who's washed.
He is a guy who you know, in the in the right offense with
the right quarterback, and I thinkthe Chargers have the right quarterback. He's
not yet thirty years old. He'snot coming off a year where you thought,

(01:43:57):
oh mg, Tyler can't play anymore. Good year Tyler had again in
the role that he's asked to play, you know, close to seven hundred
yards caught close to seventy passes.That's not terrible. And you know,
by the way, like there's there'sroom on that Chargers team for a wide
receiver who knows what he's doing,and so that obviously could be a fit.

(01:44:21):
And then the Titans are a littlebit different at wide receiver when they've
got some guys who have a lotof experience in this league. Tyler Boyd
would be added to that, butit is an offense. Would think it's
at least remotely similar from what Tylerwas in in Cincinnati with Brian Callahan now
the head coach of the Tennessee Titans, So pay attention to that. Tyler

(01:44:42):
Boyd meeting with two different teams thisweek, Chargers and Titans. According to
ESPNS Jeremy Fowler, we were talkingbefore about the the Bengals in the offseason.
You know, there's sort of awhat now, Like free agency came
and went. The Bengals off seasonis now so different than it used to
be because they participate in the offseason. They participate in free agency,

(01:45:08):
the fun part of the off season, and then there's the draft, and
I think the Bengals, I've beenasked five or six times, like,
what do you think about the draft? I think it's the most interesting draft
they've had. Interesting is good,but there's a lot of upside. There
is some risk here. It obviouslyis going to be compelling to see how
things unfold with the players they take. One of the central themes to the

(01:45:32):
Bengals each of the last couple ofyears has been how they've had to spend
the middle of the season making upfor what they didn't do early in the
season. The dreaded slow starts.Right like we every September, it feels
like that's all we talk about.Why do they continually get off to such
slow starts? Why do they havesuch a hard time avoiding and you know,

(01:45:57):
twenty twenty one they got off toa good start. There were three
and two, but obviously not somuch in twenty twenty two. The and
two start that we all remember,the two and three start that we all
remember, and then we all knowwhat happened early last season. Again they
start to two, they start oneand three, and they have to spend
so much time just getting back tofive hundred, so much time playing catchup,

(01:46:18):
and so some of that is tobe attributed to Joe Burrow not being
himself last year. That goes withoutsaying some of it many attribute to the
Bengals kind of taking it easy duringtraining camp and during this portion of the
schedule mini camps, OTAs things ofthat nature. My position has been,

(01:46:43):
and I think most would agree,you've you've got to be able to find
that sweet spot between going doing thebest you can to protect everybody's health while
ensuring that the team can hit theground running week one. Nobody wants to
watch Joe Burrow play a bunch ofpreseason snaps. Nobody wants to watch Jamar
Chase play a bunch of preseason snaps. I don't, you don't. But
the reality is, over the lastcouple of years, they've had to play

(01:47:06):
catch up because of their inability towin games early and again. The overriding
factor is two years ago, Joewas coming off in apendectomy, but they
lose those first couple of games.Last year, Joe was coming off the
calf issue and wasn't himself early.Okay, hopefully we're dealing with nothing of
the sort this go round, Butstill the Bengals over the last couple of

(01:47:27):
years, early in the season,haven't looked that prepared. So how do
you use the offseason to strike abalance between looking more prepared and being ready
to compete and winning games early inthe season with ensuring that you answer the
bell with as many healthy players aspossible. We're not going to get that

(01:47:49):
answer on May first. I don'tknow that we're going to have that answer
on August the first. But Danaand I talked about this a little bit
yesterday, Like on the field,especially with the defense that is going to
look different, a defense that hasto be better. Really you think about
it, it was kind of themain thing about the team last season,
beyond Joe Burrow not being healthy forthe last month and a half and not

(01:48:12):
being himself early, Bengals had abad defense last year. They had some
players who had great years, TreyHedricktson was otherworldly at times. They had
a bad defense last year. Sothat's got to be fixed. Is it
fixed by taking the same approach duringOTA's and training camp and the preseason where

(01:48:33):
it's going to be light and theworkload's not going to be heavy. I
can't think that the answer is yes. Like nobody's asking the Bengals to practice
like it's nineteen eighty four. You'renot allowed to do that anymore. And
the most important thing in any offseasonis to have as many of your key
players as healthy as possible. Bythe way, if you want the eighteenth

(01:48:53):
regular season game, and I don't, but if you want the eighteenth regular
season game, you're now inviting moreteams to take the long view, which
is we'll sacrifice having our best possibleteam on the field week one because we
have more time to make up fornot winning games early with a longer schedule.

(01:49:15):
I think the seventeen game schedule hasbeen a factor in that as well.
But how does this team use theoffseason to better be ready or to
be ready, to be more readyto win games early as opposed to the
last couple of years, while atthe same time protecting its health. It's
one of the central storylines in thenext three to four months, on top

(01:49:35):
of all the Trey Hendrickson and tHiggins conjecture that's going to be out there.
We're done, we have to goReds and Padres tied it to top
seven. We'll break down this game, of course, in tremendous detail tomorrow
to a little FC Cincinnati and moreanything you might have asked to fight it
on the iHeartRadio app podcast the serviceof Long Neck Sports Girl five o'clock Happy

(01:49:58):
Hour Thanks to our friends at MichelobeCulture. Tomorrow, Tarn, I'm bringing
it a sixer and maybe even moreof mic culture for us to enjoy during
the five o'clock Happy Hour. Iknow you're excited, very I'm excited too.
Have an awesome night. Thank youso much for listening. Make sure
to follow me on x at moegarand have a great night. Don't forget
Sincy three sixty tomorrow at noon withTony and Austin, and then we are

(01:50:19):
back at it tomorrow at three ohfive. Have a great night. This
is ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati sports station. This report is sponsored by Miami