7/1/24 - The Mo Egger Radio Show

Remembering Jim Scott.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
He's ESPN fifteen thirty USA A ninethirty in the morning. Good morning,
this is Jim Scott playing a requestsfor Northern Kentucky. But you're living Indiana

(00:20):
or Ohio, you can listen now. Hockey Talk woman, oh most are
the best time. The only thingwrong with honky tonk women are those honky
talk men that hang around you know, Hey, tell me about WrestleMania eighteen.
That was fascinating you in the rockwhen Hulkamania hit Toronto, Canada in
front of seventy thousand people. Iwon my millions and millions of fans back

(00:43):
and it was an unbelievable moment.It was the most impressive thing that ever
happened to me. Don Zimmer,this is a treat to talk to you
your fifty fourth year in baseball now. Derek Jeter is a great player,
but he's just as famous for hisluck with the ladies. Does he ever
let you in on the action?Here's them. I'm too old for that.
Hey, Vincent's with us. Whatwould Pete Rose have to do to

(01:06):
be allowed to be voted on toget into the Hall of Fame? He
just has the big story for thelast few days has been, is he
what he? And he decided yes, and he and his wife Nancy are
going to go to wake for it. Skip Frosser, Good morning, Skip,
Good morning, Jim. How areyou good? I wish you and
your wife the best. Really goingto miss you personally in our community.
I'll tell you that. Well,everybody'll plably miss Nancy a lot more than

(01:27):
you miss me. But thank youfor saying that. For my money,
the greatest radio personality in the historyof the city of Cincinnati. And I
harkened back to the first year Iwas with this ball club. Just send
a limo to pick me up andtake me down the Riverfront Stadium to broadcast
my first Major League Baseball game backin April of nineteen seventy four. I'm
Jim Scott. When I first cameto town to do the morning show on

(01:49):
thirteen sixty WSAI, I didn't knowa soul, and now after forty seven
years, I know you and youknow me. That's what radio is all.
It's the most intimate media that exists. Now, my goal was to
meet as many people as I could, so I bought a three wheeled postal
vehicle I painted at red, whiteand blue and I went door to door.

(02:12):
I dropped by businesses, met theowners, met the customers. I
believe you get listeners one at atime, and then you keep them by
giving them what they want, informationand entertainment and most importantly, to be
respectful and honest. Did I evermention your birthday on the radiock? I
did that dozens of times every daywhen you were in school? Did I

(02:37):
close your school for snow and yearslater? Did I close your kid's school?
Did I mention your wedding the birthof a child. One of my
joys is meeting a person who askedme, hey, Jim Scott, remember
me? I met you with aschool dance, the WSAI Haunted House,
at a charity GalF outing, aKroger store grand opening at the Norwood White

(03:00):
Castle, a special Olympics competition.Did we meet walking in a March of
dimes walk? And can you believeit used to be twenty five miles?
Did we tug together or not?In the German Irish Tug of War every
year at Fountain Square? Did youput money in my Salvation Army red kettle?

(03:20):
Did you wave to me when Ibroadcast from the reds billboard? On
I seventy five an opening day.Did we at a lunch or maybe meet
at a church festival or a fishfry or at the WEVN Riverfest. Did
I meet you at a Christmas partyat Hamilton County Work Activity Center, or
maybe at the Harvest Home Festival orthe annual Martin Luther King Junior March to

(03:45):
Music Hall. Did I see youat the aeronaf Arnold's whiskeys On, Pillio's
Playhouse in the Park Greaters, theHome and Garden Show, Skyline Chile?
Or maybe at a United Way kickoff? Did you win a prize in the
radio? Maybe a record, apizza, a new car, tickets to
a concert? Did I shake yourhand when I broke the world's handshaking record

(04:10):
at the Northgate Mall? Do youstill have that certificate I gave you?
Did we ever meet at Bogart's,the John Hyatt concert or maybe at River
Bend for a Jimmy Buffett concert?If we did, I don't think I
remember the Buffet concert either. Whatabout it a Redge game or the Holy
Grail. I love meeting people andradio is a great connector. I know

(04:32):
you, you know me, evenif we've never met in person. That
is the best who's ever done it, and it's not necessarily close. Good
afternoon. My name's Mollegar. Thisis ESPN fifteen thirty. I thank you

(04:57):
for listening. I hope you hadan awesome weekend. Hope your week,
hopefully abbreviated because of the holiday,is off to an awesome start. Reds
split to a four in Saint Louis, kind of a microcosm of the season.
FC Cincinnati wins again, really badnews for a bear Cat which came
down on Friday. Chad Brendel filledin for me. I thank him for

(05:19):
that, and he spent a lotof time kind of talking about the clinical
and medical part of what Dante Corleonais going through, and that obviously is
much more important. I'll spend sometime with Chad at five point twenty on
the football part of this. Localfilmmaker Cam Miller has an awesome project he's
working on that's Reds related. It'sthe last day the Reds are gonna have

(05:40):
to pay Ken Griffy Junior today,and I've got a bit of a I'll
go guarantee a guarantee on the Bengals. We have all of that between now
and six o'clock, and we're goingto get to it all and it's going
to be a blast. It wouldbe insanely irresponsible of me if we didn't
start the show by talking about somebodywho is very much responsible for it.

(06:04):
I would not be doing this showtoday if if not for Jim Scott.
And I'm gonna imagine that by now, you know that over the weekend we
found out that Jim passed away.He waged a battle against als that we
knew he wouldn't win, but hestill fought it with as cliche as it

(06:26):
might sound, he fought it withamazing courage and amazing grace you have.
I would imagine if you listen tothis show on a on a fairly regular
basis, if you have followed meon on social media, you're probably well
aware of my affection for Jim andmy admiration for him. And it it

(06:46):
doesn't it doesn't solely include his workas a broadcaster, but he was an
amazing broadcaster. You you heard thelittle clip and the little montage put together,
and it started with him as arock and roll DJ. That audio
you heard from his days playing thehits on thirteen sixty WSAI. That's from

(07:09):
nineteen seventy one. I found thaton YouTube, and I need to go
look the guy up who put iton YouTube to give him proper credit.
But that's a clip from nineteen seventyone. And he first came to town
in nineteen sixty eight. That's whathe did. He played rock and roll
music and then kind of mid careerpivots to news talk and he's the morning
man for years on seven hundred WLW. I'm sure that wasn't a very easy

(07:34):
transition, but the format that hethe format that so many of us are
familiar with him being a part of, asked for him to do a little
bit of everything and be a littlebit of everybody. And you know,
you could listen to Jim Show andover the course of thirty minutes, you
would hear him maybe interview a localpolitician about some important Cincinnati relation issue,

(08:01):
and then come back the next segmentand talk to the person in charge of
organizing the chicken dance at Octoberfest,and then come back the next segment and
be chatting with a foreign correspondent aboutthe War on Terror, and then come
back the next segment, and hewould be conducting an interview with the head
coach of the Bengals, and allof that. Each one of those things

(08:26):
requires a lot of preparation. Butto be able to do all of those
things and do it all while adheringto the format, staying on time,
giving listeners essential information, and alwaysconducting himself in a friendly, upbeat tone,
and the entire time on a fastpaced show with so many moving parts,

(08:52):
never not sounding like he was incomplete control. And he didn't do
this for a couple of years.He didn't do this for even a couple
of decades. He did this forever. Think about this. He starts his
career in Cincinnati in nineteen sixty eight. That was the first year the Bengals
played. The Reds were still atCrosley Field, we still had an NBA

(09:16):
team, And he did that clearthrough twenty fifteen. It is remarkable in
this business. That might be thething that I value more than any because,
well, you could fool people fora while and they'll keep you around
if you suck for a bit andgive you a chance to get better.

(09:37):
It's really hard. It's really hardto have him keep you around for as
long as Jim didn't just stick around, but excelled, excelled. His last
day on the radio was twenty fifteen. I'll never forget it. It was
the Friday. I think it wasthe Friday before the Final Four, maybe
the Friday before opening Day. Infact, I know it was. And

(10:00):
he was just as good then ashe had been twenty years before. But
his greatest gift as a broadcaster wasI think his greatest gift as a person.
It was his relatability. And it'sso important that if you do this
for a living, that you relateto people. And maybe I can relate

(10:22):
to some He could relate to everybody, whether it be you know, the
forty two year old construction worker onhis way to work, or the old
lady who really didn't leave her houseall that much, or the homemaker,
or the professional, or the collegekid or the retiree, or somebody who

(10:43):
was a country club type, ormaybe somebody who was a little bit more
blue collaring. He could find aconnection with everyone, And they don't.
You don't go to broadcasting school tolearn that. You know, I took
radio TV courses at the University ofDayton. They don't. That's not in

(11:03):
the catalog. You don't learn that. You don't learn that by being around
the radio. You have that oryou don't. Jim Scott had it,
and you know, on a radiostation where you know they deal with and
that's obviously not the station I'm onon a regular basis, but on a
station where there are a lot ofdivisive topics, a lot of controversial topics,

(11:28):
a lot of polarizing personalities for fourhours every morning. Uh, he
found a way to bring everyone tothe party, to include everyone, didn't
matter, didn't matter political background.I don't know what Jim's political background was,
it didn't matter. I've not heardor seen anybody since who had that

(11:50):
gift, and I never will again. One of the one of the best
things about this job, especially ifyou're as lucky as I am to have
worked in the same place for awhile, is when you find out that
people who have done what you're doingbut have done it better tell you they're

(12:11):
listening. I think that made sensewhen people who are doing what you do
but did it better and do itbetter, when they tell you, yeah,
I listen to your show, orI heard that segment or I heard
this interview, that's awesome. Someof the coolest moments sitting where I'm sitting

(12:33):
right now would be in the middleof the show. We do a segment
and I'd get to the break andI don't love looking at my phone during
the show, but occasionally I wouldlook at it and there would be a
text from Jim Scott and it wouldbe boy, that was a great segment,
or man, that was an awesomeinterview. And by the way,

(12:54):
sometimes the text would be constructively critical. Hey, get your energy up.
Let's move on to another topic.It's like, if you're a baseball player,
it's like Joey Vado telling a hitterthat he likes your swing, or
to look out for the breaking pitch. The guy who, for my money,

(13:18):
is the best who's ever done thisin this town. And by the
way, I'm not the only personhe would do this with just telling you
he was listening and sharing his thoughts. Can you it happened to me And
I can't fully wrap my brain aroundthat. I met Jim Scott in May

(13:45):
of nineteen ninety eight. And Iknow I've I know I've passed some of
this on before, and so indulgeme here. I know some of this
is are things you have heard before, I started at the radio station.
I was still a student at UDI, and I'm working part time. I'm
running the board on the weekends andfilling in here or there. And you

(14:07):
know, for me, all Iwanted to do growing up was work at
a radio station. All I wantedto do once I realized I wanted to
work at a radio station was tobe on the air. And then once
I realized I wanted to be onthe air, all I really wanted to
do was host a sports talk show. That's it. That's what I've wanted
to do since I was nine yearsold, work at a radio station.
And so but when I got here, I didn't really know anything. I

(14:31):
didn't know anybody, I didn't haveany clue as to how it worked.
But I had a great amount ofenthusiasm and I had a great amount of
enthusiasm for working with people that Iwas very familiar with. So after working
here for a few months, theycome to me, and it was right
when my junior year UD ended.So this is like April May of ninety

(14:52):
eight, and they come and theygo, we have a full time job
for you, and like, awesome, great, because this is where I
wanted to work at a year ofschool to go. We have a full
time job for you. It's producingthe Jim Scott Show. And I hadn't
met Jim to that point, buthell, I knew who he was.
And they bring me in and there'sJim, and it's explained to me,

(15:15):
you know, we don't want youin there to just hit buttons. We
need you to be creative. Wewant you to come up with ideas.
We want you to book guests,we want you to kind of be in
charge of the production of the show. And my late friend, the great
Rich Wahlberg sort of oversaw all thisand held my hand and taught me so
much and had veto power. Butit was basically, mo, you and

(15:35):
Jim are going to work with eachother. Now, think about that.
If you're Jim, this is nineteenninety eight, He's already a legend,
he's already been on the air forthirty years, and here's this twenty year
old kid. You have no compellingreason to listen to him, to care
about him, to even learn hisname. And instead, well, he

(15:56):
did the exact opposite. He couldn'thave cared more about what my opinions were.
At least he made me feel likehe cared and it was awesome.
It was awesome. He would askwhat my ideas were. He would ask
what I thought about a guest,He would ask what I thought about a
segment. He always asked for myinput, and as a kid, as

(16:22):
a young guy, that was awesomeand it was empowering, and it gave
me confidence I didn't have, andit made me feel like I was a
part of his show and a partof his team. I produced that show
for five years, and I didn'trealize it really in real time. I'll
admit that. But it was havinga front row seat to greatness every day,

(16:48):
every single day, a front rowseat to witness greatness, legitimate greatness.
And it was a graduate level course, a five year graduate level course
in what it took to not justbeing on air personality, but succeed in
this business, which is not easyto do. And he taught me everything.

(17:12):
And sometimes they were lessons I justlearned by watching, and sometimes they
were lesson lessons I would learn byhim taking me to brunch or him having
a chat with me even during commercialbreaks of his show. He was also
very demanding and I needed that asa young guy. I early on was

(17:34):
you know, it's a morning show. You're on the air at five am,
and I overslept and I got herelate, and he was cool about
it. But then it happened againtwo weeks later, and I'll never forget
it. Man show ends pulls mein his office and it's like, dude,
if you're gonna get here at fiveo eight when our show starts at

(17:56):
five oh five, you might aswell not even come in Legitimately, if
you're gonna get here late, like, don't bother. Our show starts at
five oh five, you need tobe here and when you're here, And
I got this, I got thisfrom him a lot. Man. Look,
I know it's early. I knowyou were up late doing God knows
what. I need you here.I need you alert, I need you

(18:18):
awake, I need you ready toparticipate every single day. And the lesson
there was, you know, here'sa guy. If he could bring that
to the table every single day,guy whould accomplished everything, well, then
stupid old me in my early twentiesand my formative years in this business,
I could do the same thing aguy with a lot to prove. It
was insanely crucial for me to watchhow hard he worked, and to witness

(18:45):
his work ethic. This was aguy you talk about somebody who could afford
to mail it in. He couldafford to mail it in, and he
never did. He never relied onanyone else to do the work for him.
He always gave credit on and offair, and then you know,

(19:07):
kind of above and beyond the onair part of this. It was remarkable
to watch. It was remarkable towatch how he would do a show and
get here at you know whatever,four fifteen, four thirty in the morning,
have as much energy as you couldimagine anybody ever having at that hour
for four hours working on the nextday show, and then right around lunchtime,

(19:32):
hustle off to go speak at aluncheon, and then after that maybe
go meet with advertisers, sponsors fora happy hour, and then go host
a charity dinner or a banquet.The hours that he kept were superhuman,
and the hours that he kept forpeople that he didn't ask a dime from

(19:56):
was remarkable. Charity group, civicorganization, youth group, big, small.
He didn't say no. He didn'tsay no to anybody, and if
he said no, it was onlybecause he already had a commitment, and
then to get up the next dayat two thirty in the morning and do
it all over again, and dothis every single day. It amazes me

(20:19):
even now. It amazes me evennow. I did that show for five
years and all a while. It'stough, man. It's tough when you're
young. It's tough when you're youngworking here because you know they're not gonna
put a twenty two year old kidon the radio, and they shouldn't put
a twenty two year old kid onthe radio, at least not every day.

(20:41):
But all I wanted to do waswas was get a crack at hosting
and yes, initially filling in,but then, man, all I wanted
was a chance to be on theair every day, and if I failed,
I failed. If I succeeded,I succeeded. But all I wanted
to do was was have a Ijust wanted to have a puncher's chance to
show that I could carry three hoursevery day. One could very easily argue

(21:03):
I have not yet demonstrated that,but maybe one day and so I get
a chance to be on the air. And I'm the first to admit,
and many have told me this whowere around back then that when this show
started, I struggled immensely. It'shard. Some people like Jim make it

(21:26):
look easy, but it's hard.And without fail he would offer advice,
he would offer consultation, he wouldoffer encouragement, he would offer constructive criticism.
He would actually listen to our show. And I'm still flattered by that.

(21:47):
And in the early days of it, Man, there weren't that many
people who are listening to it thinking, you know, this might end up
being okay, And maybe he didn't, but he told me it would be
two thousand and nine, you know, was a year is tough year for
me. Man. My dad passedaway that year. We were doing a
show in the morning and it gotcanceled and they put me on in the
afternoon, splitting with Lance. Butthen I was also back on Jim show

(22:11):
doing morning sports, and I wasready to quit, Man, as ready.
You know, the economy really suckedback then, as in my early
thirties, I couldn't get anybody toreally, at least in my opinion,
expressed that they believed in me.And yet, you know, Jim on
some of those days would do hisshow and then he would sit down with

(22:33):
me to talk about my show thatday and convinced me that this was worth
pursuing and that I had an opportunity, even though I didn't realize it,
that I needed to take advantage ofand I needed to take advantage of it
and be serious about it. Andso the show gets going and I'm just
I'm trying to find somebody to careabout it, anybody to care about it.

(22:57):
And we get going, and we'vebeen on for a few weeks,
and I'm now kind of if youremember, during the non baseball season,
I'm hosting the afternoons, and thenduring baseball season, Lance and I are
splitting it, and you know,personally, for me, that was for
a while, deeply frustrating. AndJim said to me, one day,

(23:17):
you're gonna come on my show,and you're gonna join me on Mondays,
and you're gonna join me on Fridays, and we're gonna talk about on Mondays
the weekend in sports that just happened, and on Fridays, the weekend ahead
in sports. And he would haveme on, and as they say in
the wrestling business, this was hisattempt to put me over. And every
single time he would have me on, he would mention mo Egar ESPN fifteen

(23:41):
thirty this afternoon from three to six. Uh, that doesn't happen in our
business, Like somebody like that doesn'tcome along and say let's get you on
every day and make sure we talkabout your show online. It's if you've

(24:03):
listened to this now, and Iknow I've been rambling for a bit,
it should be abundantly clear. WhyI tell everybody that this is somebody that
is primarily responsible for this career,whatever good I've made out of it,
and this show happening on a dailybasis. I could I got two and

(24:29):
a half more hours. I promiseyou we're gonna work. I could hear
Jim right now. Okay, mall, that's enough. But the Reds played
yesterday talk about Hunter Green like Icould hear it now. But I just
I got a few more things Iwant to say. I could give you
story after story of what this guywould do, not just for me either,
what he would do for young peoplein the business on air and off,

(24:53):
and how he would would always goout of his way if he felt
like he could hel help you.He wouldn't think about helping you, would
he would go do it. Ihad a chance late in twenty twelve to
start doing some fill in work onESPN Radio. And I remember sometimes Jim

(25:15):
would do his show, we wouldhave ours in the afternoon, and then
in the middle we'd go have aquick lunch. And I was telling him
that within about a week or so, I was going to be in Connecticut
anyway for a UC football trip,and then on that trip, I was
going to go to Bristol and Iwas going to have a chance to effectively
interview for a chance to be sortof a part time filling which I thought

(25:36):
was a really cool opportunity. AndI happened to mention to the to Jim
that the guy that I would beinterviewing with was his name is Scott,
had spent some time in Lexington radio, had mentioned to me that he had
listened to Jim before, had listenedto the shows on w wel W even
was familiar with ESPN fifteen thirty.And so I mentioned this to Jim and

(25:57):
didn't really think much of it.And then you know, a week and
a half or so later, Igo to Bristol, which was an awesome
experience, and I sit there andI wait, and I go into this
guy's office, and this is likethe first real job interview I really have
ever had. And this man proceedsto tell me that two days prior,

(26:19):
he had had about a twenty minutephone call from Jim Scott. You might
think that sort of stuff happens inthis business all the time. It doesn't.
I told this story before earlier thatyear, twenty twelve, I was

(26:44):
really sort of at a low pointin my life. I got divorced that
year and felt awful about myself becauseof it, and had gone through,
you know, my dad had passedaway and it s having a hard time
getting traction on the air, andthen get a divorce and it's like nothing
in my life is going right.Nothing in my life is going right.

(27:04):
And you know, you find outsometimes when you go through stuff like that,
people people who you think are gonnabe there for you, they cut
and they run. Jim Scott didnot cut and run. He dug in
and he stayed. And I'll neverforget Spring of twenty twelve, I'm doing

(27:26):
a show on a Saturday night aftera Reds game. And if you've ever
done this for a living, ifyou've ever podcasted, there are certain days
you know you got it, orat least we're doing okay. There are
certain days you know like it,It just it ain't working. And maybe
I have some of those days morethan others. But this particular night,
as I'm on the air, Iknow I suck. And that's not typical

(27:51):
you know, self deprecation that youmight hear. I know it's not working,
and nothing that I'm saying is makingsense. The audience isn't responding.
I just I'm doing nothing more thanfilling time, and I know it.
And this was back in the oldconfiguration in our building. Here, I'm
getting close to the end of asegment and all I want to do is
get to the break so I couldspend the next five minutes feeling sorry for

(28:14):
myself and then come back and justget the next segment over. And when
you're doing that, you're not tryingto create compelling content. And as I'm
getting near the end of the segment, I look at our phone and the
hotline's ringing and I recognize the numbers. It's Jim's number, and so I
get to the break and the guywho was producing the show says, it's

(28:34):
Jim Scott for you off air,and so I answer it and in the
most encouraging way possible, proceeds tolet me know. On a Saturday night,
Hey, I'm just letting you know. I'm listening. You know what,
You're sounding really good? You know, why don't you pick your energy
up just a little bit. AndI wasn't feeling it, and I'm like,

(28:56):
you know this, I suck.I shouldn't do this. I'm gonna
quit on Monday. And I rememberhim saying to me in that conversation,
you know, MO, just pretendit's you and me. Now that sounds
really hokey, but in that moment, it's kind of what I needed.
And he knew I was going throughstuff, and he was the one that

(29:17):
told me, like, you knowwhat, it's okay to talk about yourself.
It's okay to tell your audience what'sgoing on in your life. And
I didn't do it that night,but I did it the next week on
this station, and it was extraordinarilytherapeutic. The last year or so,
finding out that Jim had als.I went last year. For the last

(29:40):
couple of years, Jim and Iwould go to a Reds game together Tara,
and I know, I'm insanely late. I apologize. And the game
we went to last year happened tobe La de la Cruz's major league debut,
and so we had made plans wewere gonna go to this game.
It was a Tuesday night, itwas June second or third, and it
just so happened to be The Redscall up Elie de la Cruz, and

(30:02):
he was so excited, he wasso pumped up, and so, you
know, I get done with myshow and we'd go down and and meete
it the Holy Grail. And ithad been a little while since I had
seen Jim, and he had slowednotice noticeably. He was walking with a
cane. His voice was not quiteas as strong. You kind of had
to lean in a little bit.But while he wasn't the same, he

(30:26):
also was exactly the same physically.He was different, but he still had
an incredible curiosity and and and stillhad an insane amount of fun, and
he was still didn't let me payfor a thing at the ballpark. He
still had the same sense of humor. And it was an incredible night.

(30:47):
The Reds win the game. It'sEllie's debut, and Jim and I part
ways and after the euphori of thegame had sort of passed. I knew
something wasn't right, but but okay. And then about a month later he
calls me, and it was duringthe weekend, and I answered the phone
and he informs me that he hasALS. And this is maybe about a

(31:14):
month or so before he went public. He told a handful of us,
and as far as I was concerned, that was his story to share publicly,
which obviously he ultimately did. Butbecause this was a guy who he
handled everything with grace and dignity,he's telling me that he has ALS.
And as he's telling me this,I'm I'm thinking the worst, and I'm

(31:37):
scared for him, and I'm devastatedfor his family, for his wife,
and for his three sons, andfor his grandchildren. This is going to
be awful. And in the middleof all this, he tells me,
I'm teaching myself to play one armgolf, and you're going to have to
tell everybody on Twitter that you lostto a guy playing one arm golf.

(32:01):
It's a small example, but it'san important example of handling something like that
with humor. I wouldn't you probablywouldn't. He did. The ALS symptoms
accelerated. Jim got pneumonia, andI remember his wife telling me about this,

(32:27):
and I think on a Saturday,I texted him and just wanted to
know how he was doing. AndI finished the text by saying, is
there anything I can do? AndI didn't hear from him that day.
The next morning, I am onthe air at the Holy Grail. It's
Tony Pike and I ken Brew wason vacation. We're doing a Bengals pregame
show, and I look at myphone and he was responding to the text

(32:51):
from the afternoon before, and allhe wrote back was just keep making great
radio like you and Tony are rightnow. That's somebody who knows what's coming.
You know. When he announced thathe had ALS, we mentioned it

(33:13):
on this show, and you knowwhat did he do. He went out
and walked in the walk to defeatAls and encouraged as many people as possible
to join him. And he knewwhat the outcome for him was gonna be,
but he wanted he wanted to increaseeven by this tiny bit. He

(33:35):
wanted to increase the likelihood that perhapswalking that event and getting others to walk
in that event would help the nextperson, whether it be somebody living with
als or maybe somebody who ultimately beatsals. That's what he did. All

(33:57):
he wanted to do is help people. This is a guy who, for
all of his acclaim, all ofhis accomplishments, for as well known as
he was, that's what he wantedto do, whether it be on a
grand scale like that or just withme and so many other people at the
radio station. One more and thenwe'll move on. And I was wishing

(34:21):
David Bell would have gotten thrown outyesterday so we'd have that to make fun
of. In radio, we havethe Marconi Awards, and when I say
we, like I'm gonna win oneone day, I don't know who determines
who wins them. I don't know, nor do I care. But Jim
was nominated for a Marconi in twothousand and two, and I remember thinking,

(34:43):
like, this is stupid. Thisis not a guy who needs a
trophy to validate his career, Likehe doesn't need that, and he knew
he didn't need it, but hewas nominated. I think it was Major
Market Personality of the Year, andso U again I mentioned the name Rich
Wahlberg. He and I the ceremonythat year was in Seattle, and the

(35:06):
ceremony is at the end of thislike three day convention where radio people get
together and essentially congratulate each other.So it's out there in Seattle, and
Rich and I and a few ofus at the radio station we had planned
on getting together and then finding outwhether or not Jim had won, and
had he won, you know,we were all going to celebrate and had

(35:29):
he lost. Let's be honest,we were going to drink to that too.
And then about a week before theceremony, our boss at the time,
Darryl Parks, calls Rich and Iin and I don't remember if it
was together or individually, but hebrings I remember he brings me in and
he goes, you know, Jim'sup for Marconi and I said, uh,
yeah, I know, and hegoes, well, you know,

(35:50):
he wants you to be there.And at the time, I was like
twenty four years old, I didn'texactly have spare change to go and buy
a last minute ticket to Seattle.So I said, well, well,
you know, that's great, butthat's not gonna happen. And he said
to me, well, Jim's gonnapay for you, and he's gonna pay
for Rich and he's gonna pay foryour significant others, my wife and whoever

(36:14):
Rich wanted to bring. Think aboutthat for a second, and then the
most amazing thing is we go andwe spend the weekend in Seattle. And
I'm sure often during the weekend Richand I behaved in a way that made
Jim regret paying for us. Butwe go and this this ceremony is happening.

(36:36):
And his award was one of thelast of the night. And the
more the night went on, themore I just intensely wanted Jim to win.
And he did. And he waslike that night, like the fifteenth
person in win a Marconi, right, It's like the Academy Awards. There's
a billion categories. And towards theend of the night, he wins,

(36:58):
and he goes up on stage andhe called us up to his moment of
triumph. What does he do.He brings up the two guys that he
works with. He was the onlyperson to do that, and he thanked
his family, and he thanked hisaudience, and he thanked advertisers, and

(37:21):
then he talked about Rich and Ifor four minutes. That's his moment,
and he made it as much oursas his. Who does that? Who
does that? My favorite part ofthe entire thing that was on a Saturday
night. The next day, wego to the airport. We're flying back

(37:42):
to Cincinnati, and we're sitting thereat the airport gate and we're waiting for
the plane and we're all kind ofbasking in the glow of what had just
happened. This is this is whatwe want a Marconi. I mean,
I had almost nothing to do withit, but it was our Marconi.
He made it feel like it wasours. And I'm still sort of feeling
the effects on the before because wedid go out and party and we're sitting

(38:02):
at the gate and he looks atme and he goes, what are we
doing on the show tomorrow? Andif you do what what we do,
If if you can't draw a lessonfrom that, then I don't know what
to tell you. This industry haslost a legend, This city has lost

(38:25):
probably its biggest advocate. Many ofus in this building have lost a friend.
And I've lost one of the mostimportant people I've ever crossed path with.
And I thank you for letting metalk about him. It's three forty
two on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnatis.ESK. Right. If you want to

(38:52):
pay tribute to somebody who lived theirentire life by a clock, you take
the break that's supposed to be takingat three sixteen. You take it at
three forty two. That's that's that'show you pay proper tribute to Jim Scott.
You you take your break twenty sixminutes late. So I appreciate you

(39:15):
indulging me. I made life moredifficult for Tarn. We are going to
do a sports talk radio show today. We'll get to what happened this weekend
in Saint Louis, which the Redscored nine runs, zero runs, eleven
runs. I'm sorry, no,I screwed that up. That's right.
We pay homage to the greatest ofall time by getting basic facts wrong.

(39:37):
They scored eleven runs, no runs, nine runs and no runs in Saint
Louis this weekend. Ellie de laCruz isn't going to be in the home
run derby. David Bell has noopinion on Pete Rose, nor should he.
I have a guarantee about the Bengals. Three dudes who play for FC
Cincinnati are going to be in theAll Star Game. Cam Miller's making a
movie and the Bearcats have to replaceperhaps their best player. We have all

(40:00):
that to cover between now and sixo'clock on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.
This Little Goofy Show preview video.It's on X at Mullager. It's
a service of Emery Federal Credit Union, your credit union with heart since nineteen
thirty nine. You and I canbelong to the same credit union. Just
go to emoryfcu'dper We are broadcasting fromthe ESPN fifteen thirty studios powered by Greater

(40:25):
Cincinnatis roofing and exterior restoration experts MadwellRestoration dot com. Freshen up your entire
exterior. Just make one call tothe guys at Madewell or excuse me,
go to the website Madwell Restoration dotcom. Uh, Hunter Green pitched OK.
Yesterday, got into a got intowhat do we call that a tiff?

(40:50):
Got into a tiff with Wilson Contreras. I'm not quite sure why.
Jeff Brantley believes that TJ. Friedelis indispensable, and I agree. And
the continue to do the small thingspoorly in games where they have no margin
for error that would encapsulate part ofthe weekend. The other part of the
weekend were these two enormous offensive explosions. It was a weekend that for me,

(41:14):
provided a glimpse into what I thinka lot of us believe the Reds
can be. But it also gaveus a look at, unfortunately this year,
what the Reds are, what theycan be as a team that is
capable of not scoring eleven runs ona consistent basis or nine runs on a
consistent basis, but capable of havingan offense that's got some variety to it

(41:38):
and that could lift them back intocontention. But they do at times the
small things so poorly that it feelslike that is what's going to keep them
either out of contention or from makingthe playoffs. We'll get to all of
that coming up at four h five. We'll get back on time. We're
almost there. I'm maleger Is ESPNin fifteen thirty. This report is sponsored

(42:02):
by O'Reilly Auto Parts. Oh RileyAuto Parts carries a full range of farm,
egg and heavy duty parts, toolsand accessories. Visits in Eddie's Sports
station. Here we go, it'sthree minutes after four o'clock. This is
ESPN fifteen thirty one of the oneof the great filmmakers in the United States
of America is going to make amovie about the Reds back when they were

(42:28):
really really really really good. CamMiller is really really really really really really
good. He is going to joinus coming up in just about fifteen minutes.
I started the show by talking atgreat length, at length, far
greater than I anticipated, talking aboutJim Scott and I tried. I tried

(42:52):
to find some some old interviews thatyou know, were obviously sports related.
This this was this was a sportsfan. He was not a sports guy,
but you know, obviously sports werea huge part of what his show
was all about. I don't knowanybody who loved Opening Day more. I
don't know anybody who loved the SkylineChili Crosstown Shootout more. I don't know

(43:15):
anybody who disliked interviewing Marvin Lewis Moore, because they do on that show.
They do like a once a weeksegment with the Bengals coach and Jim.
Jim had some good years with Marvin, but he also had some not so
good years with Marvin. And whenthey were having some not so good years,
Jim was not afraid to ask Marvinquestions that he didn't want to have

(43:37):
answered. There is audio somewhere ofthem going at it and I could not
find it, but it was reallygood. Also, I mentioned before we
go to a Reds game. WatchingJim Scott work the crowd at a Reds
game was it was incredible. Itwas like it was like there was like
a Reds Hall of Famer walking through, but it was a radio host and

(43:57):
he had time for everybody. Itwas. It was it was awesome.
Reds go fourteen and thirteen in themonth of June, right Like remember remember
back early in June they win sevenstraight games, and you know, toward
the end of May, because wehad to do the unending comparisons between last
year and this year, it was, well, hey, just wait till

(44:19):
June. There were June team.June's when they're going to turn it on,
and for a while, to befair, it felt like they were.
And that didn't happen last year.The Reds in June go eighteen and
nine. This year they go fourteenand thirteen. They remain in contention,
primarily because a the middle of thepack of the National League is impossible to

(44:39):
take one team and distinguish it fromanother. Also, the regular season,
excuse me, has has never beenmore watered down. You know, I
mentioned before that I felt like thisweekend was a bit of a micro cosm
of the season, and it kindof was right, like how many times
this year? And maybe it happensduring these three games in New York against
the Yankees. Series starts tomorrow.Maybe it happens during this homestand and frankly,

(45:04):
this homestand right before the All Starbreak. Let's be honest. If
it doesn't happen, then you knowwhat's it gonna happen. It's gotta happen
very very soon. And after theyplay the Yankees, who recently have been
in free fall, they've actually beencaught by the Baltimore Oriols in the American
League East, then they get achance to play a whole lot of Detroit
Tigers and Washington Nationals and Colorado Rockies. But it just I said this last

(45:28):
week, it feels like the entireexperience of being a Reds fan is well
being told, Hey, just waituntil dot dot dot. Now, it's
just wait until these next thirteen games. And even if they play well over
these next thirteen games and win themajority of them while they're still without key
guys. The math is still reallydifficult for this team. They can go

(45:49):
ten and three over the next thirteengames, and they'll go to the All
Star Break a game over five hundred. Now, on one hand, you
can go, well, for allthe bad stuff that's happened, to go
to the All Star Break a gameover five hundred, well, that's that's
pretty damn good. At the sametime, that's that's a lot of work
just to get back to even youknow, this weekend, you know,
we did it again. Thursday night. They beat the Cardinals and beat him

(46:12):
badly. I know. I wasprobably the only person in America watching baseball
last Thursday night, which means Iwon because those who weren't and were watching
that stupid debate lost. But theRids played really well, and he going
all right, now here it goes. And then because Ellie Dela Cruz decides
to play hero ball on a ballwhere he's not called off by the center
fielder, they lose a game one. Nothing. That sounds like I'm picking

(46:36):
on Ellie Dela Cruz. I am. That's a play that he can't make.
Because it cost him a run.At the same time, be kind
of cool if they had a realcenter fielder out there who's not Stuart Fairchild.
Then they bounce back and huge offensiveoutput. On Saturday they win a
laugher. Yesterday they should Jeff Branleysaid it in the pregame show, lance
Lin's a guy. They should hit. League average was ten points higher against

(47:00):
lance Lynn than the rest of theleague, and yet they get two hits.
There are times when you watch thisteam and feel like, here we
go, and then they stop,often because they can't do the little things.
This team is deeply frustrating. Iknow I'm not really creating any new

(47:25):
ground there, but deeply frustrating.Right this team, next year's team,
I have no idea how good orfrustrating it's gonna be. Not last year's
team. This year's team deeply frustratingbecause it feels like every time you think
they're about to get going, whichlet's be honest, usually happens after the
first game of a series. They'renow what eighteen and nine this year in

(47:49):
series openers. So watch we'll doit again. They'll go to New York,
They'll beat the Yankees in the Bronxtomorrow, we'll do the whole thing
again. Here we go, andthen they get in their own way because
they can't do the little things,or because they're offensively very inconsistent. Nine
minutes after four o'clock. By theway, our phone number are five one,
three, seven, four nine,fifteen thirty and eight sixty six,

(48:12):
seven oh two three seven seven six. It's July, which means this is
the month of the trade deadline.July thirtieth is the trade deadline. Obviously,
there's lots that can happen between nowand then, so we're gonna spend
a lot of time here in Julydoing I'm thinking two things. One talking
about the trade deadline of what theapproach should be. Two wondering if Matt

(48:35):
McClain's gonna come back in August.My money is still on Matt McLain not
playing this year. Pay attention tothe verbage. Whenever Matt McClain is brought
up, it's they hope he cancome back dot dot dot and start a
rehab assignment dot dot dot in August. Maybe that means he comes back,

(49:01):
he rehabs, and he plays enoughgames to really make an impact. But
let's not treat that as if he'sreturning to the big league club on August
first, Like, if that wereto be the case, I get two
months of Matt McClain. Him rehabbingin August could result in any number of

(49:21):
things. So we're gonna do theMatt McClain thing. We're also gonna do
the trade deadline thing. Reading seeTrent Rosecrans in The Athletic who kind of
points out that Red's got to figureout where they stand. And part of
it is the National League extincts thirteento fifteen teams are within four games of
a playoff spot, and everybody canpoint to the Arizona Diamondbacks last year who
won eighty four games and still madethe World Series. And so there is

(49:45):
some mirror to the idea that willyou just get in, just get in,
You're good to go. So ifthat possibility is in front of you,
then well, yeah, go forit. Be buyers. I would
imagine to see trend points out thatover the next month will clear up a
little bit, a little bit.What chances are the overwhelming majority of teams

(50:07):
in the National League at least aregonna feel like they have a chance to
make the playoffs, which means there'smore buyers than sellers, which means you
know how this works, right,demand is going to outpace supply. You
know what that does for prices.So are the Reds going to be buyers
or sellers? Here's my answer,and this is my answer on July first,

(50:30):
it's going to be my answer onJuly thirtieth. They should be in
the business of making this year's teambetter and making next year's team better.
Now, the math wol change here. If the Reds have a killer month
where they go something like I don'tknow, twenty and seven or something like

(50:52):
that and make up a bunch ofground and it's them in Milwaukee, or
they actually have a legitimate chance andwin the division, which let's face it's
kind of hard to imagine they dothat right now. Like if they play
such so over their heads that bythe end of this month, it's like,
dude, go for it, goall in. Playoffs are bust?
Playoff advancement or bust. If theyare effectively where they are now a month

(51:15):
from now, should they be lookingto add pieces. Yes, It's just
that those pieces should do more thanjust stick around for two months. It's
a conversation that I'm sure you're maybekind of tired of hearing. But Louise
Robert what makes him so interesting tome? And it's remarkable because I read

(51:37):
the papers in Philadelphia, and Iread the papers in New York and handful
of other places, and I likebanging on the table, Go get Louise
Robert and here you bring it upand it's like, eh, wait a
minute. If you watched Stuart Fairchildplay, do you legitimately think TJ.
Friedle's better? What do I likeabout Louise Robert? You could conceivably have
him for the next four years now. There are some club options in play

(52:01):
theres that you could use to bailif it's just not working out. But
you know, we use the termteam control. I'm interested in guys who
can make you better this year,and he can. He would instantly be
their best outfielder, and that's withhim having very much a down year.

(52:22):
But he's young. He's twenty sixyears old, and there are team options
through twenty twenty seven, which meansyou control him for at least four years.
Now, he might not be theplayer you want because you know he's
got a long injury history. Andhe's not having a very good season this
year. But I'm looking at playerslike that. To me, the strategy,

(52:43):
the overarching strategy, should not bebuy or sell in the traditional sense,
because when you think of teams buying, you think of teams renting.
Right, you think of two monthrentals, you think of hired guns,
you think of guys that you're gonnaget. You know, Tommy fam last
year leaps to mind because he wasa rental by the Arizona Diamondbacks and now
he's no longer with the Arizona Diamondbacks. The rental, the rental guy,

(53:06):
the guy that you get expiring contract, bad team gives him up, You
get him for a couple of months. That's what we think of when we
think of buyers. And when wethink of sellers, what do we think
we think of team that's got olderguys whose contracts are expiring and you trade
him in order to get something.I'm just looking at making the team better.
I said this last week that inthe short, short term goals for

(53:29):
me for the Reds were clean upthe slop. Didn't see a lot of
cleaning up of the slop in thetwo games the Reds lost this weekend clean
up the slop. But in thelong term, let's start to identify the
real strength and weaknesses of the CincinnatiReds as they relate to twenty twenty five.
And you could do that while tryingto win a lot of games.
And you could do that while vaultingback into contention. And you could acquire

(53:51):
a player who could help you thisyear, but that you also trade for
with the idea of him being apart of the solution next year. You
can also trade for bench help.You know, this year's lack of depth
has been badly exposed to the degreethat now we're watching Santiago espinall play the
outfield, and we've seen dudes likeNick Martini get extensive playing time, and

(54:15):
we clung to hope that Mike Fordwould turn into somebody who's not Mike Ford.
That didn't happen, and so theyweren't very well prepared for injury.
Joe luck Up from the Red TVbroadcast put this on his blue Sky account.
I'm still not sure what blue Skyis, but still use the deadline
to maybe flip guys who are nota part of your team's future to fortify

(54:38):
your bench. But more than anything, the deadline strategy for me, and
frankly, I think this is thesame as if they were four games up
in front of everybody in the NationalLeague Central. You know, last year
at the deadline, they didn't dothis. They could have made this year's
team better at the deadline last year. So now let's apply that strategy to

(54:58):
now that it's a conversation. TheReds could lose twenty of their next twenty
five and I would say, andyou could tell me if you agree or
disagree, I would say, atleast the strategy should be to make this
year's team better, but also makenext year's team better with the same players,
and they could win twenty of theirnext twenty five. And I would
say the exact same thing. Buyingand selling doesn't necessarily have to mean rental

(55:22):
players. Now, you gotta bewilling to give up something. Reds don't
have a lot of prospects who areready for the big leagues right now,
which makes things kind of complicated.So who do you have to give up?
Maybe it is a guy like JonathanIndia, Maybe it isn't. Nobody
wants to hear that right now becausehe's hitting so well. But who's a
part of your future, who's nota part of your future, And then

(55:44):
let's take the guys who are nota part of your future and make next
year's team better by also making thisyear's team better. Now, how many
of those players are out there mightbe hard to say right now. But
the guy who I just talked about, who again admittedly is having a bad,
bad season, is the type ofguy that I'm interested in. Twenty

(56:05):
six, twenty seven years old,has some big league experience, isn't walking
at the end of the year.That should be the trade deadline strategy.
That statement will probably not change overthe next four plus weeks. We love
the work of cam Miller. Ifyou're a Reds fan, you will love
the next piece of work produced bycam Miller. He joins us next Cincinnati's

(56:30):
ESPN, Cincinnati's sports station BREDA,Mint and Jones on Baseball is coming up
And Chad Brandle did this show onFriday, which I appreciate. I was
off and I think right before hewent on the air, maybe two hours
before he went on the air,we found out that Dante Corleone is dealing

(56:52):
with a blood clott issue. Andlook, obviously, the most important thing
there is his health and well being. There is a football component to it.
I know on Friday Show Chad spenda little time on the football end
of it, and so I feltlike today would be an appropriate time to
talk about what the impict impact mightbe on the twenty twenty four UC football

(57:13):
season. Keeping in mind that theonly thing we really care about is is
Dante's health. So that's coming upin just about an hour. Cam Miller
has been on this show before becausewhenever he has either released a cool project
or having an event to discuss andshow one of his projects, or when

(57:35):
he is about to embark in acool project, we get him on the
show. And this morning he announcedin typical camway because he sent out a
press release that used his version ofthe old letterhead that the Reds used to
send out press releases on he isembarking on a project, a full length

(57:55):
feature documentary that tells the story ofthe Big Red Machine. Cam is with
us now. The press release wasawesome. It's good to have you.
Good afternoon, Good afternoon, myfriend. I am doing day today,
but the Cincinnati Basebook Club's dead.I'll be all right, just a scratch.
We're good to go, buddy,that's right. I'm glad you're doing

(58:17):
this. Now. Look here's thething. Right you released this, You're
going to do this project. It'sgoing to be a massive undertaking because you're
not just looking at one year,two years. You want the entire span
of the Big Red Machine. Youwant to connect everybody who played for them.
There aren't that many teams, Therearen't that many eras who have had
their story told before. So giveus an idea of how this is going

(58:37):
to be different. Well, Istarted this actually back twenty twenty. It
would have been the fiftieth anniversary ofnineteen seventy and the whole run of the
Big Red Machine. But of courseCOVID happened and I had to kind of
in the back barn. But Ihad a meeting with the Reds a couple
of weeks ago and we decided,let's go full with this since it's going
to be the fiftieth anniversary of thenineteen seventy five teams. So of course

(59:00):
I already had a lot of thisstuff already cooking, so I just I'm
kind of tweaking things, and Idecided to take a different angle. I
wanted to not only tell the storyof the Big Red Machine, but also
connected with Red's Country because that isreally the decade when Red's Country became a
thing, right because their front's built. They've got the world's largest parking garage.
You got access to seventy five andseventy one, So I mean they're

(59:22):
breaking attendance record. I think itwas eight out of ten years, it
was like two million. I meanthey finished one, two or three in
attendance every year the decade. Theonly year that they didn't was when they
finished under five hundred nineteen seventy one. So it just felt like I had
to tell the story with Pete andJohnny and George and Joe and all of
these guys, but also connected withstories from fans. So I'm going to

(59:44):
be traveling around Red Country, ifyou will, and getting stories, listening
to some transistor radios. Got somegreat set pieces we're working with. We
broke out the leisure shoot MO,We're gonna be it's gonna be fasatic.
My friend, Wow, Well,did I mean you didn't have to go
buy shoot leisure suit? Can't evensay you didn't have to go by when
you already had one. Of course, come on I'm what I'm kind of

(01:00:07):
interested in is and look, Iwas born in seventy seven, so you
know, I know of that erabecause I live here, because I love
the Reds, because my dad worshipedthose teams. But I don't have firsthand
knowledge. Here's what I want toknow, and I don't know if this
is something you could really tap into. The Reds win the World Series in
seventy five, but they lose inseventy they lose in seven games in seventy

(01:00:30):
two, they're upset by the NewYork Mets. In nineteen seventy three,
they don't win the National League Westin nineteen seventy four. I'm kind of
interested in what was said about theReds going into that World Series against Boston,
and maybe specifically what was said aboutthem going into Game seven given the
fact that for all their renown andfor as famous as those guys weren't,

(01:00:51):
for as many individual and team accomplishmentsas that team enjoyed, they hadn't won
the big one, right, Iabsolutely to dig into that. It's really
fascinating when you go back through thearticles and also you know, radio interviews
and not just Cincinnati but the Nationalpundits. I mean, there was a
time there was actually going to bea show. I think it was in
seventy five. There was going tobe this a show that was gonna be

(01:01:13):
broadcast what happened to the Big RedMachine question Mark? And it was the
Channel five I think it was Channelfive. At times they were not showing
that, like it was a thingwhere it was like there was national talk
and since I was like, no, we're not going to hear anything about
that, but you're right, Imean there was. And can you imagine
like Smoky would have been fired afterseventy three, I mean, it's just
it wouldn't have lasted. So thereare some fascinating stories with that. And

(01:01:35):
also bad luck. I mean theinjuries of seventy one, they really I
mean they still to the World Seriesand seventy two, but seventy three the
Mets, that was a surprise,you know, seventy four they still win,
I mean they win ninety games.Stay at the ten years and seventies
they went one hundred and more threetimes, so it wasn't like they were
I mean it was a competitive,competitive era of baseball. So just because
they didn't win the Big One wasn'tlike they were failing, but we measured

(01:01:58):
things by championships, and when oncethey won those two, it was kind
of like that said it. Andthere hasn't been a back to back champion
in the National League since, sothat's not forget that. But you're absolutely
right. I mean, there wasa lot of quote unquote failure talk for
not winning more than they did,but a small market, you know,
team doing what they did. It'sit's just an incredible story. It is

(01:02:20):
an incredible story, and it's soimportant that it's told. It's so important
that it's told while these guys arestill alive. Then obviously Sparky Anderson passed
away fourteen years ago and Joe Morganpassed away a couple of years ago.
It's to me, it's important thatthis gets told while we still have these
guys. Of of the non sortof grade eight big red machine players.

(01:02:42):
In your opinion as a filmmaker involvedin this project, who was the most
interesting, Well, so far,there's been three, and it's really hard
to arrow down arm Brister, Chaining, and Flynn. Those three guys just
have some unbelievable stories and some momentsthat that's one of the things about going
to the archives. I get tolisten to other games besides Al Michael's nineteen

(01:03:05):
seventy two. I get to listento some games besides nineteen seventy five in
the World chairs Like I get togo through all of this these radio broadcasts
and you get to see some ofthese games where it's bottom of ninety two
out and you got chit Channy comingup, and you know, it's just
the magic that he that he brought. The same with arm Us or the
same with Flynn, those guys.There was something about that bench. In
these role players. Everybody had,you know, a piece in the machine,

(01:03:28):
so to speak. They all hadthey knew their role. There was
no ego. It was like Ido this well, and I'm going to
do that. Invest my ability.It just was unbelievable how it was,
I mean managed, it's incredible.I mean going through some of these these
broadcasts just then I kind of thoughtI knew, but until you go listen
to a July game in nineteen seventyfour and Marty and Joe are going at

(01:03:49):
it and it's just the crowd,how loud they were. It was just
an unbelievable time, just incredible.You ever do you need an assistant,
because that's like, right up myalley, come down and offer some help.
I've been listening to people. They'vebeen emailing me about some voiceover works.
So I'm telling you, I'm gonnabe. There's gonna be like imagine
Kim Burns in the Civil War document. You're reading letters of Bob Holston.

(01:04:11):
Oh man, oh man, I'mgonna call you, buddy, I'm gonna
call you. I'm there, I'mthere, and with no hesitation. The
name of the project is the Machinein Red's Country? Was that era?
Red's Country is something that a lotof us have grown up with? Was
that era the first the first timethat that that that phraseology for lack of
a better way of putting it,was used. Yeah, you start seeing

(01:04:34):
it on official publications in sixty eightsixty nine. So when Bob Housen comes
in, he kind of jumps ahold of that, He takes it by
the reins. We're gonna market thisteam, not just to you know,
Cincinnati, We're going to market toRed's Country. And what does what is
Red's Country? Well, they hadone hundred over one hundred radio stations,
and I think it was seven statesand then nine TV stations in four states.

(01:04:56):
I mean, it was unbelievable thereach they had, and of course
seven hundred being having the power thatthey had, and the caravan, I
mean again, stuff that nobody reallydid. They went out and promoted the
Reds, the clean cut team orno mustaches, black shoes. It was
an industry. This is how wedo things, and there's a reason why
they were successful. And of courseBob Housing kind of made it happen with

(01:05:18):
the whole Reds country, you knowmystique. The project is going to be
released next year, coincides with thefiftieth anniversary of the Reids winning the nineteen
seventy five World Series. Can yougive us any specifics on when we'll be
able to see it. The hopeis by this springtime before the season starts,
and it will be in a theaterand it's going to be a full

(01:05:40):
length feature film. I'm talking toa couple of local theaters about doing something
with charity so we can get thatplace sold out and donate part of the
proceeds there. But we're looking atthe springtime release, which means I've got
a lot of traveling to do.I'm hoping I can rent like a VW
bug and then just travel around tothese little cities in Ohio and Indiana.
That's what would you and I needto do, man, Yes, yeah,

(01:06:00):
trail around, smoke some cigars ina VW and get interviews. That's
that's the dream. That's the realReds caravan right there. Absolutely all right,
So you're you're talking about this publicly? Is there somewhere that folks can
go to get teased a little bitmore. I'll be posting a trailer this
week on my YouTube YouTube, CanMiller Films. Get ready for that.

(01:06:23):
I'm working on it. It's goingto be fantastic. I've got a lot
of things coming down the pike.You know. The hard part is I'm
trying to promote it to get peopleexcited about as I'm making it. So
it's like the psychotomy or I'm like, do I show that yet? I've
I'm going to hold that back.I mean, we're talking about old school
Reds tractors from the past that theymight make an appearance. If you remember
the picture of le May on thetractor, we might be getting that back

(01:06:47):
into action. So there's all thesereally cool things I'm working on, but
I also have to promote it.So it's like I got to a trail.
I I gotta throw my bone.So it's coming this week. You
can follow me on Twitter, youcan find me on Facebook and Google.
Can all the films and only goodthings will pop up. I promise.
Cannot wait to see it and thefinal product. I'm sure I'll bother you
to come on with me when it'sout. Uh, I am really excited

(01:07:08):
about this. You're as good asthey come. I appreciate the time,
man, Thanks so much, Thanksmy friend, You're great. That's the
great cam Miller. This is goingto be incredible, the machine in Reds
Country. If you have not goodto Cam's YouTube you can watch all his
other features. Uh. His filmon Riverfront Stadium both from a Reds and
a Bengals perspective films, I shouldsay, just top notch stuff. His

(01:07:30):
Coventon Bluesax film is terrific. Thisis going to be awesome. Go find
it. Look for the trailer thisweek. It is twenty seven away from
five o'clock. Elie de la Cruzisn't going to be in the home run
contest. Neither will I. Bythe way, Connor, or of Sports
Illustrated, says, the Bengals aregoing to the playoffs. I'll give you
my reaction. I think it shouldbe your reaction. Plus, we have

(01:07:53):
Brenda Ban and Jones on baseball andplenty of room for you at five point
three seven four nine, fifteen thirtysports headline. Next, this is ESPN
fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports Station.ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati's sports station.
Sports headlines are a service of KelseyChevrolet, home of a lifetime powertrain protection

(01:08:14):
and guaranteed credit approval from their familyto yours for life, kelseyshow dot Com
Reds are off. They're in theBronx tomorrow night, first of three against
the Yankees. Graham Ashcraft will makehis second start since getting called back up.
Red's coming off having excuse me helost. They lost too out of
four, but they also won twoout of four they split. Road trip

(01:08:35):
continues tomorrow night in New York.Florence Yaws are also off tonight. They
will be on the road against theWashington wild Things, who play in a
ballpark that's right off I seventy inwestern Pennsylvania and is a cool place to
watch a game. There take alittle road trip, maybe go see the
y Alls play. Luciano Acosta,Luca Oregano, and Miles Robinson named to

(01:08:58):
the twenty twenty four MLS All Starroster. They will take on the best.
The MLS All Stars take on thebest of League MX on Wednesday,
July twenty fourth in Columbus. Ithink that's all I got. I also
got here. Connor Or OFSI liststeams that didn't make the playoffs last year
who will make the playoffs this year, and he does each one of them

(01:09:24):
at the expense of a team thatmade it in twenty twenty three. He's
got the Bengals getting in at theexpense of the Cleveland Browns. I don't
know what to make of the Brownsbecause there's two major variables. Number One,
that team season was saved by JoeFlacco. Joe Flacco's not there anymore.

(01:09:45):
Deshaun Watson is. And we aresaying the same things about Deshaun Watson
right now as we were a yearago. How good is he? We
have no idea. And then youknow Nick Chubb coming back. My money
is on him being effective. Buthe is a running back and he's coming
off a major, major injury,and so you know they are a team

(01:10:08):
and there are a few like this. It would be unsurprising to me if
the Browns made the postseason. Ithink it would be unsurprising if they didn't.
When I read this, and youcan go find the blurb at SI
dot com. He's not listing theteam that's gonna win the Super Bowl.
He's not listing the team that's goingto win the AFC, he's not listing

(01:10:30):
the teams that are gonna win everydivision. He's simply listing teams that will
make the playoffs that didn't last year. My response to this was, well,
duh, no knock against Connor orrwho is terrific, who's been kind
enough to come on our show,and that's not why he's terrific. I
don't make many guarantees a lot cango wrong, but I'll make one here.

(01:10:55):
If Joe Burrow plays in fifteen ormore games, they're a playoff team.
Like that to me doesn't even soundlike that bold of a statement.
Now, the caveat there is,well, what if he gets hurt?
And that's a fair question, right. It's been very rare that he's gone
a long stretch without something, andso because of his history that there's been

(01:11:16):
a lot of stuff, you arecompletely reasonable if you think, well,
okay, something's going to happen,because that's his track record. Now,
a lot of it is beyond hiscontrol. But sure he's always dealing with
something, and so if he continuesto deal with things and it costs him
a lot of games, then thisteam season, perhaps in an all likelihood,

(01:11:39):
takes on a different trajectory. Butif I get fifteen or more,
I'm even allowing for him to missa game I know they play seventeen.
I'm also allowing for him to sita game at the end of the season
that really doesn't matter. I'll behonest with you, as much as I
have no idea how good they're goingto be defensively, as much as I

(01:12:00):
don't think they're going to be greatagainst the run, as much as I
wonder where is the pass rush gonnacome from? From someone not named Trey
Hendrickson, as much as I willacknowledge that the linebackers have to play better
than they did last year, asmuch as I will acknowledge that there's a
level that the corners have to ascendto, as much as I will acknowledge

(01:12:21):
that the offensive line is probably atbest going to be league average. If
I get Joe Burrow for fifteen ormore games, how do they not make
the playoffs? Again, make theplayoffs is not that high of a bar
to clear. There are seven teamsper conference. Ten and seven might get

(01:12:41):
him in. Hell, nine andeight might get him in. Now what
happens when they're there? Who knows. There's a lot of different factors.
Who they play, how they're playing, who's healthy, who's healthy on the
other team, where the games arelike, lots of variables. But if
I'm going just by reacting to this, which is teams that didn't make the
playoffs, who will this year?My instant reaction before I even clicked on

(01:13:06):
this was if Connor doesn't list theBengals, I'm gonna wonder what he's smoking.
Like that's not that bold of astatement. The think about that,
how many times in this franchise ishistory? Might it be a bold statement
to say, as long as thequarterback plays fifteen or more games, they
make the playoffs, and again I'mallowing him to miss two, they still

(01:13:30):
get in. Does it comit theexpense of the Browns they're Cleveland's one of
the most interesting teams in the league, but I think the Bengals are as
well. They feel like, bythe way, you can maybe say this
about the Chiefs and a handful ofother teams, they feel like as much
of a slam dunk to just makethe top seven of the AFC, be

(01:13:54):
the third best non first place team, a slam dunk to make the playoffs.
If Joe Burrow plays fifteen or more, and the track record would say
as much. Right the two yearswhere he's played a lot of games,
what have they done. They've wonthe division and they've also made the AFC
title game. Now you might saya bigger if is does he play the

(01:14:18):
fifteen games? And I can't challengethat because I don't know. But if
you're telling me today right now Burrowplays fifteen and I go cool. You
have to wager amount of money thatmatters to you on do they make it?
Do they not make it? Howare you wagering that they don't?

(01:14:39):
Your phone calls are coming up,I promise so is Brendanman and Jones on
Baseball on ESPN fifteen thirty. Thisbaseball season, win the Reds play the
Yankees tomorrow that the thing they nowcall Yankee Stadium. Let's see here.
He's waited long enough, Mike,thank you for your patience as always,
You're on ESPN fifteen three to goahead. Thank you, very nice commemoration

(01:15:04):
of mister Scott. Well, thankyou. Yeah, and I don't think
you went too long. I thinkit was heartfelt, sincere and wonderful.
Well, that's very kind of you, and I think it was definitely heartfelt,
and you know it needed to besaid. It would be irresponsible to

(01:15:29):
start the show and have me nottalk about anything but Jim Scott. But
but you know, there is abig part of me that if Jim were
here, he would be annoyed atthe fact that we took our first break
twenty five minutes late just so wecould talk about him. I you know,
as you described the man's professionalism,I kept thinking, hey, mo,

(01:15:50):
man, you're kind of blowing atyou. Karen's probably hearing the same
thing, going okay, man didn'twell you didn't move on. I'm sorry
I had. I had to givethat one. You deserve that, all
right. Uh home runs mm hmm. This is a problem with the team.

(01:16:17):
Now we're twenty fifth in the MajorLeague. No. Twenty twenty.
Second, I believe the Oakland Aidshave twenty more home runs than we do.
That's a that's that's a problem becausethis is what I mean, we
get you know, how long didyou're going to keep hitting the goggle that
that's kind of stopped? Pretty sick? You need to hit some long ball

(01:16:40):
potential, mom, you just doyou know? It's interesting. I agree
with you. I agree with you. I would I would agree with you
less if they were great at scoringruns in ways that didn't involve the home
run, right, Like, it'sit's okay if you're not a good home
run hitting team, if you don'thave a lot of guys who have long

(01:17:01):
ball power. Boys, that's totallyfine. They're at league average in doubles,
right, They're below league average inon base percentage. They don't,
as a general role, draw aton of walks. They're basically league average
there. They've had their their issuesrunning the bases and running the bases in

(01:17:23):
ways that aren't necessarily tied to aggressiveness, like the not hitting home runs thing.
For me, I could live withthat if they were if they were
good at scoring in ways that don'tinvolve home runs. Because they're not and
because they play in a homer friendlyballpark, the lack of power gets exacerbated.

(01:17:43):
Now, you know, if ifIncarnacion Strand was healthy and we had
the guy we had late last year, they'd be a slightly better power hitting
team. I saw someone on socialmedia, and off the top of my
head, Mike, I do notremember who it was who made the point
that this is a team built fora bigger ballpark. Well, that's not
They're not going to change the dimensionsof of GABP in time for the second
half of the season. And sothey're they're just and they're not going to

(01:18:08):
have a bunch of guys who arenot home run hitters turning the guys who
had fifteen to twenty homers over thesecond half of the season. They're going
to just have to be better offensivelyat scoring when their limitations are the long
ball. Yeah, I mean,bush Dadium is a good example of two
games where they just it was likeKemball, they were working up runs.
Was just a giant ballpark, sure, and they're they're room for the for

(01:18:30):
the for the runners, they runningthe outfielders done a lot of cover gravny
cover. But I'm digressing them,you know, the the quain thing.
I think we've kind of overstated theimportance of it, not that it isn't
really important because he was the studit seemed to me of the group,
But a lot of teams go throughthis. I mean, the Dodgers are

(01:18:50):
sucking win right now without Mookie.It's now you go, oh well,
you got to talking. It doesn'tmatter. Miokie was the guy. Bookie
was the guy that made this teamgo. And it's quite obvious because my
bedroom buddies were kind enough to shuttlemy old ass up to Oracle Park for
three of the games. And theGiants are and that's one of our competitors

(01:19:15):
in this wildcart thing. So theseother teams aren't aren't wasting time, and
we could easily get snuffed out ofthat deal. Yeah, I mean,
look, they just they've got alot more ground to make up than I
think people realize. I keep goingdown this road, and I know it
gets tiresome for many. I don'tcare how many games back you are.

(01:19:39):
I care about how good your teamis. I care about how many games
you win. And again, likeI'll I did this often last year,
and I was off by a game. I said, he's gonna have to
get to eighty five wins. Well, all they needed were eighty four.
I'll still say the same thing thisseason. They're gonna have to get to
eighty five wins. So that's eightyfive and seven the seven. Uh.

(01:20:01):
That means they can lose thirty twomore games the rest of the season to
just get to eighty five wins.That's not catching the Milwaukee Brewers. It
possibly is not even snatching the lastwildcard. It's it's hard to imagine with
how they have played for three months, and look, you can you could
attribute how they've played three the lastthree months to injury. Ain't gonna get

(01:20:24):
any healthier anytime soon. I knowthe schedule ease is up after this New
York series. The longer they gospinning their wheels as they did this weekend
in Saint Louis, the more andmore difficult it is to imagine this team
finishing with eighty five wins. Mike, how are you feeling. I'm not
too good, mo. I don'twant to bring it up. Yeah,
it's not too good. You know, when you're talking about Jim of kind

(01:20:45):
of going down the same world likethey're a different disease, but still pretty
debilitating. So I'm trying, youknow, you try to keep your head
up, but I gotta admit,when you know, when you're by yourself,
you get scared, really get scared. And that's that's the bad parts.
When you get scared. I getit. I get it. Well,

(01:21:08):
Uh, you know what, listenunder your show helps me a lot.
That's that's what we're here for.You woke up this morning, right
yeah, buddy, that's a winin my book. So now we got
to win tomorrow, right yeah.Yeah, it's it's just kind of the
ultimatum of what what's looking pretty finalis what what's hard to deal with.

(01:21:30):
Could have never been in this positionbefore, so he broke what you allow
me. I think Eduardo Perez forbeing a very air badge hitter when he
was a player. Is it excellentcommunicator standing the hitting coach, wouldn't he?
I guess. So he's a terrificannouncer. I think that Sunday Night

(01:21:51):
Baseball crew is really good. EduardoPerez. They'll get mad at me for
saying this. Does MLB Radio onSiriam in the mornings and he's terrific.
I think he's really good. Uh. And because of his communication skills that
he has. Uh, that's thefirst thing you need to be a good
coach. Now, I mean,there's so much more to it, but

(01:22:14):
I think in the jobs that hehas right now, he's he's really good.
Mike. If we don't hear fromyou tomorrow, I'm gonna be passed.
Okay, all right, thanks,Poul, appreciate it. Don't remember,
folks, we're doing the big RedMachine, but the Oaklands. We're
the only team since the Yankees,the three pet in the seventies, Sice
mode. You're welcome, Mike,Bredaman and Jones on baseball. Next Cincinnati's

(01:22:38):
ESPN fifteen thirty to traffic from theUC Health Traffic Center, The University of
Cincinnati Cancer Center is opening the mostcomprehensive blood center in the nation. The
future of cancer is here called fiveone, three, five eight five.
Uc CC stop and go traffic iscausing a ten minute slow down if you
need to travel southbound seventy five betweenAvenue in Fort Washington Way. We also

(01:23:01):
have slow moving traffic that's causing afive minute delay on southbound seventy one between
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is sponsored by Low. This isDave Lapwork and you're listening to the Home
of the Bengals ESPN fifteen thirty.Sure arm, what's up? Five after
five? ESPN fifteen thirty on Oeger. Thank you for listening. Hopefully your

(01:23:25):
weekend is off to a great start. At five o'clock. Happy Hour is
a service of michelob Ultra. Youknow what I did this weekend is I
went down to Lake Cumberland. Ihad some michelob ultras. I'm going to
read this year and I don't wantto rush to any conclusions, but it's

(01:23:47):
it's worth mentioning for the pure transactionpurposes of what we do, and that's
not a very responsible way of puttingit, but it's worth for what it
might mean from a baseball perspective,and worth maybe paying attention to from a
human perspective. I don't know.We all saw when the Reds were in

(01:24:11):
Saint Louis right before the game onThursday, excuse me, Tyler Stevenson found
out that his wife was, Iguess due to give birth, and there
was a very cool scene in thedugout of him and his catcher's gear getting
ready to leave because he's been told, dude, you gotta go and that
was awesome. And they put himon the paternity list, and so he
missed the three games this weekend.The Reds tweeted out three minutes ago that

(01:24:36):
he has been transferred from the paternitylist to the Family Medical Emergency List.
Now there has been no clarification,no elaboration, but that's what they've done.
Per Major League rules, players canspend three to seven days on the

(01:24:58):
Family Medical Emergency List, accumulating aservice accumulating service I'm obviously reading this accumulating
service time during that span. Ifa player's absence extends to more than seven
days, the club must place himon the restricted list, where he is
not paid and does not earn servicetime. I'm not going to be irresponsible
enough to speculate too wildly or drawany conclusions. My understanding is this could

(01:25:23):
be something as benign as Tyler mightneed one more day, and so because
he's now been transferred, the paternitylist says you miss you can miss as
many as three games and then yougot to come back. And so if
if a longer absence is needed,and longer absence might be needed for something
that is completely and totally benign,and that's obviously what we're all hoping for
here. So they put him onthis list, and he missed one,

(01:25:45):
misses one more day and takes careof what he needs to take care of.
Obviously, though, when you seesomething like this as a human being,
you just even if you don't fearthe worst or assume the worst,
which we should not do, it'ssomething where at least keeping in the back
of your mind. So just payattention to that. Reds are off tonight.
They take on the Yankees, startinga three game series tomorrow. I

(01:26:10):
started today's show by talking at greatlength, and great length might be an
exaggeration, it might not be,probably an overstatement, but at great length
about Jim Scott, who passed awaythis weekend after a long battle with als.
Today is the last day that theReds have to pay Ken Griffy Junior.

(01:26:33):
So, as as you probably know, rather famously so in Major League
Baseball, July first is Bobby BeniaDay, where the New York Mets have
to pay him one point one ninemillion dollars. On July first, and
this goes clear through twenty thirty five. So for the next eleven years.

(01:26:54):
Bobby Bonie had a very good majorleague career. The New York Mets send
him a check for one point onenine million dollars. Ken Griffy Junior has
gotten fifty seven and a half milliondollars in deferred money from the Reds over
the last sixteen years. On Julyfirst, the Reds send a check to

(01:27:17):
Ken Griffy Junior for three million,five hundred and ninety three thousand, seven
hundred and fifty dollars, which Ibelieve would have this year made him the
fifth highest paid player on the Redspayroll. This is the last year they
have to do it, So KenGriffy Junior, after that check clears,

(01:27:38):
and I assume it will. Afterthat check clears, he's off the books.
Congratulations to the Reds, and Iguess also congratulations to the great Ken
Griffy Junior. So I saw thisand I think, like, maybe,
like you, I'm sure, likea lot of Reds fans, you couldn't
help a go God, twenty fouryears came by came and went just like

(01:28:00):
that, right, the Reds tradedfor Ken Griffy Junior right before spring training
in two thousand and He played forthe team through the midway point of the
two thousand just after the midway pointof the two thousand and eight season,
and then he spent some time withthe White Sox, went back to Seattle,
and retired as a Seattle Mariner.In the rest is history, he's

(01:28:21):
a Reds Hall of Famer, buthe's primarily associated with the Seattle Mariners,
and understandably so. And in theconversation that has sort of followed the passing
of Willie Mays two weeks ago,in the conversation I believe is that the
greatest living player. I don't thinkI would say he is, but I'm
not sure you can have the conversationwithout mentioning King Griffy Junior. So I

(01:28:43):
was thinking about this today, whatit was like in February of two thousand
when the Reds traded for Ken GriffyJunior. Now it's easy to sort of
gloss over that and then talk abouthow his Red ten year played out,
And let's be honest, it didn'tplay out well. He had some good

(01:29:04):
seasons. He was the comeback Playerof the Year. He played in All
Star Games. His two thousand season, his first with the Reds, was,
to this day is one of thebest individual offensive seasons that any player
has had in a Red's uniform.He was terrific. But you know,
when they traded for him, theywere coming off the ninety six win season
of nineteen ninety nine, and themajority of that team was back. Obviously,

(01:29:29):
with the exception of Mike Cameron andBrent Tompko, who went to Seattle
along with two other dudes in exchangefor Ken Griffey Junior. We all thought
that this next golden era of Red'shistory was about to take off. And
the reality is they had a winningseason in two thousand, but didn't make
the playoffs and then didn't have anotherwinning season for a decade, and so
it didn't really work out. Kendid some awesome things in a Reds uniform,

(01:29:53):
had some terrific moments. Hit hisfive hundredth home run, his four
hundredth home run two, his fourhundredth home run, which I think was
an Colorado, his five hundredth homerun, which famously so was in Saint
Louis on Father's Day, and thena few years later hit his six hundredth
home run in Miami against the Marlins. But as a general rule, his
time and since it didn't work out, he was hurt a lot. And

(01:30:15):
the teams were terrible. They weredecent in two thousand, they were okay
ish in two thousand and six.They stunk the rest of the time.
But when I think of his timein Cincinnati and when I saw that today,
I was thinking about February of twothousand and the weeks of speculation and

(01:30:40):
hysteria that led up to the newsthat the Reds had actually traded for Ken
Griffy Junior, an All century playerin his prime, and were adding him
to a ninety six win team.The excitement and the first during that stretch

(01:31:02):
of time is one of my favoriteperiods as a Cincinnati sports fan now for
me and for a lot of thisit also coincided with the UC Bearcats were
number one in the country and theyhad Kenyan Martin, who was going to
be the the number one pick inthe NBA draft was he was gonna sweep

(01:31:23):
all the Player of the Year awardsand they had a chance to win the
national title. We all know whathappened there. It didn't needless to say
quite pan out. But I've talkedabout this. In two thousand, I
was working on Jim Scott show.I was twenty two years old, and

(01:31:44):
uh, you know, I didn'tbe honest with you, I didn't bring
that much to the table. Butbut me being a huge sports fan was
often where I could contribute the most. And the excitement that Jim had for
the Reds and for us as acity, and for those of us working

(01:32:04):
on his show who were much muchbigger sports fan than the fans than he
was. He channeled all that energyinto just incredible excitement, and so I
was thinking about that. I've beenthinking a lot about Jim obviously over the
last couple of days, as manyof us here at the radio station have,
and so I always think about thatperiod of time where there was so

(01:32:26):
much fun, so much excitement,and then in the last you know,
fifteen or so years doing a show, right were oftentimes we will be so
caught up in what is the endresult going to be that we at times,
and I've tried to avoid this asa fan, and I've tried to
avoid this as a talk show host. I try to focus on the journey

(01:32:48):
in the moment, like I've oftensaid the twenty ten Reds are one of
my three favorite all time teams,but I didn't want to play off game.
But that team was the first onethat while I was on the air,
was good. I'll always love lastyear's Reds team. I'll always cherish
the Bengals super Bowl run and USee's college football playoff run. They didn't

(01:33:13):
end the way we would have liked, but there is something about the excitement,
and there's something about the renewed enthusiasm, and there's something about the hope
that people feel in real time.I love the twenty fifteen Bengals, a
team notorious for a playoff collapse andin a lot of those years, and
I think, especially with the Bengalsduring that stretch of time that culminated with
the twenty fifteen season, we're socaught up in well, yeah, but

(01:33:36):
what if they don't want a playoffgame. I don't know. We're not
there yet. And whenever, wheneverthese sort of conversations come up, I
come back to February of two thousand. It didn't work out. It didn't
work out for Ken Griffey Junior,it didn't work out for the Reds.
It didn't work out for us.It didn't work out for Kenyan Martin at

(01:33:58):
least his senior season, it didn'twork out for the Bearcats. We're still
asking what ifs. But that wasa period of time February and March early
March of two thousand, that wasjust awesome if you lived here. And
that's what I think about first whenI think again Grivy Jr. I think
of the forty eight hours bookending theNews of the trade. There was nothing

(01:34:27):
like it. And if you're notyoung enough, or if you're too young
to remember it, I should sayI'm not even sure I could I could
describe it or do a justice itwas. It was awesome. And then
again, if you if you're aBearcat fan, you added to it the
excitement of like, boy, theycan win the national title. And the
fact that it didn't work out ineither case, to me at least,
does nothing to diminish my memories ofthat time. And for me at that

(01:34:49):
time, I was coming to workevery day listening to Jim Scott talk about
ken Griffy Junior and the Reds andhow much fun it was going to be
and how great it was going tobe. And then you know, we
kind of forced him to talk moreabout the Bearcats than he probably wanted to
because we were such huge fans.Rich Walberg and I I to this day,

(01:35:10):
I cherished that time, and it'sthe first I think at Kenyan Martin.
I think of that Bearcat team.First thing I think about is February
early March of two thousand when theybeat to Paul on the road, Senior
Day when they took on Saint Louis, the excitement for it, and I
think of Ken Griffey Junior. Ithink of him being on the cover of
Sports Illustrated. I think of allthe hypes surrounding his first Grapefruit League at

(01:35:33):
bad and what opening day was like, which had got banged after a couple
of innings because of rain. Andyou know, I don't really have an
overall point to this, but Ido think there is something about in real
time, just appreciating excitement. Gotto do it for the Bengals team this

(01:35:54):
year, man. But when Ithink of that time in my life,
I think of what I was doing, and I was coming to work every
day working with Jim Scott. Thete Corleone News on Friday was very,
very sobering and hopefully he has apositive outcome, and if it means he
never plays football again, that henever plays football again. There is a

(01:36:15):
football component to this, and soI thought it was appropriate to bring Chad
Brendel on to kind of talk aboutit a little bit more from the standpoint
of how it might affect this year'sseason, even though we're obviously primarily concerned
with Dante's health. We'll do thatmore on the Reds as well. And
your phone calls are coming up.I promise it is nineteen after five o'clock

(01:36:36):
on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports StationCincinnati's esp I just I want to reiterate
something here. If you were listeningjust a few minutes ago, I want
you to be careful if you're drivingon the Ronald Reagan Cross Country Highway.

(01:36:59):
It's three minutes after five o'clock.My name's Maleger. Chad Rendell filled in
for me on Friday, which waskind of him, and earlier on Friday
afternoon we found out that Dante Corleoneis going to be out of action because
he's dealing with a blood clot issue, and so Chad understandably and appropriately so

(01:37:23):
devoted the time that he spent onthis to Dante's health and well being,
which is obviously far more important thananything that's going to happen on the football
field. There is a football componentto this. His absence is a,
needless to say, a significant one, and so I thought it would make

(01:37:44):
sense keeping in mind that we're justprimarily concerned with his health. I did
want to spend a few minutes withChad today Bearcat journal dot Com obviously to
kind of talk about what impact hisabsence will have on the Bearcats as they
prepare for the upcoming season. SoChad is with us, Now, what's
going on? Nothing? I justgot done booking a guest for this very

(01:38:06):
show on Friday. Since I'm infor you on Friday, do you do
you get to tell us who itis? The great Dan Horde will be
joining me? Wow? Very cool? How about that? We were at
basketball workouts together and I asked ifhe would like to come on and he
graciously said yes. Dan's podcast,and you know everybody has a podcast,

(01:38:29):
but his new UC podcast. Thefirst episode was Steve Logan was terrific.
It was, I mean, thankfully, Davir basketball has been a podcasting for
Dan to follow in their lineage.I'll leave that one alone. So you
were talking on Friday extensively about DanteCorleone. We're wishing nothing but the best

(01:38:51):
for him from a football perspective.Is there a player that right now they
can afford to lose lease? Yeah? I mean, obviously it is a
massive, massive blow. The goodnews is they did spend a lot of
time in springball. Uh, youknow, guys like Dante, you don't

(01:39:15):
you don't need him to get alot of reps in spring ball. You
know, you know what you're gonnaget from him. So you get him
the reps that he needs to get, but you don't have him out there,
you know, uh, more thannecessary. So they got a lot
of really good work with Jalen Hunt, the transfer from last year from Michigan
State. And I think he isgoing to be a very, very valuable

(01:39:41):
player this year. It's just thatit might have to be even more valuable
than we were anticipating. And thenyou know, you added a couple of
defensive line transfers in the spring portaland you've got some younger guys coming in
that you know. I think thatthey are enthused about plus the kind of

(01:40:01):
a sleeper name to watch I thinkwould be Camani Burns, who was a
red shirt last year as a freshman, and he got some work at that
nose tackle position as well. Sothey have bodies there, they're just not
second team All American and all bigtwelve bodies at least at this point.

(01:40:23):
Yeah, I mean, look,there are replacements. It is a position
where you're going to rotate some dudes. There's nobody who could do what Dante
does. And so boy again understandingthe human end of this, the health
end of this, and the importanceof emphasizing that man, there are ways

(01:40:43):
you could replace, and the aggregate, I guess Dante Corleone areing a soul
on that defensive line who could dowhat he does. No, and that's
what makes him so unique and whyhe's been such a special player for this
year. Hopefully we don't see anymore of him, you know, stunting
on the outside as an edge rusherin this new defense if he does get

(01:41:05):
back on the field. But itjust his strength, his quickness, his
ability to you know, you watchhighlight tapes him and his ability to shed
a center or a guard and justkind of discard them like they weren't even
standing. There is unique. There'snot many guys in the country that have

(01:41:27):
his combination of power and quickness inshort areas that make him so good not
only against the run, but pressuringthe quarterback up the middle. And you
know, that's we saw the rundefense kind of fall apart at the end
of last year and there was nopass rush all year. So losing Dante

(01:41:50):
Corleone, if they lose them forany significant period of time, is going
to be something that Tyson Bite isgoing to have to figure out. I
imagine he's not sleeping real well rightnow trying to piece this together on ways
that they're gonna, you know,kind of do what they have to do
to patch the hole until hopefully theycan get Dante back. Dave, They've

(01:42:12):
got to be better just at thepoint of attacking Big twelve play than they
were last season, just because it'simpossible to be as bad as they were
late in the season. Right therewas no pass rush, and they started
trying to generate pass rush with theirinterior guys and that didn't work, and
then that created gaps in the rungame, and then all of a sudden,

(01:42:34):
you started playing the better running teamstowards the end of the season last
year, and they got they gotdiced up pretty good. It was.
I mean, if you like defensivefootball, the Bengals and the Bearcats put
you through a quite the stress Catsin November and December last year. Yeah,
does his absence amplify the questions thata lot of folks have about the

(01:42:59):
back end of the D sense,Absolutely. I mean, that's the only
way you can sufficiently hide or atleast somewhat masked questionable pass defense is getting
after the quarterback. And Corleone isone of those guys that has that ability
to get in the backfield. Evenif he's not making sacks, he's disrupting

(01:43:20):
plays and he is causing the offensiveline to account for him with more than
one guy. And you know,Jalen Hunt, if that's who ends up
getting the majority of those those reps, and I think it will be.
He's going to have to prove tohave a better motor than he had a
year ago, and he's admitted tothat that. You know, he came

(01:43:43):
back this year because he knew hekind of had to take it a little
bit more serious than he did aseason ago. And that's the hope if
you're Cincinnati's defensive line coach, ifyou're Walt Stewart, that you know you
can get something soil in production.But again, Dante Corleone has received the

(01:44:04):
accolades, and you know what,two years ago he was the number one
graded defender in the country because hewas great against the run and very very
good against the past. Yeah.Uh, since you mentioned you were a
basketball workouts, is is my optimism? Uh? Should it be as through

(01:44:25):
the roof as it is based onwhat you've seen? I mean, it's
you know, it's summer, soit's still a little sloppy and they're working
on things. But what I willsay, mo, is there's there's not
a lot of times when you andthis is I'm not gonna name any names,
but I'm sure we can all fillin the blanks. There's not as
many guys that you watch and go, I don't know how he's going to

(01:44:46):
see the floor. The only timeyou say that now is I don't know
how he's gonna play over this guy, or I don't know how this guy
is gonna play over that guy eventhough he's playing. Consider, you know,
at a pretty high level. That'sgoing to be the challenge for Wes
Miller this year is figuring out howto get a rotation that's got ten to

(01:45:08):
eleven guys, twelve guys that allexpect to play pretty significant minutes in a
league where you know what, nineten guys is what you'll see most teams
rotating through. So that's going tobe a challenge for us, but that's
a good challenge to have. That'sa better challenge than we don't have enough

(01:45:29):
talent to compete in this league.The work to be done is keeping everybody,
you know, pushing forward even iftheir minutes maybe aren't what they want.
But man, there is a lotof guys that can really play,
and that's going to be you know, that creates fun in the summer mode
because every day at practice it feelslike it's somebody a little different than it

(01:45:54):
was the last time you were there. Like okay, Like today, they
were working on a lot of transitionstuff, transition offense, and you know
what their primary you know, actionsare going to be when they get out
and run. And to the surpriseof no one, that allowed Dylan Mitchell
to have an excellent day today becausehe's one of the better, you know,

(01:46:15):
finishers and players in America in transition. So that's the fun part is
every day it's like, all right, who are we gonna see pop off
a little bit today? Uh?I can't wait. I'll be listening on
Friday. Thank you as always.Take a day off, Relax, It's
okay. I will be in thecar while you're on on my way to

(01:46:38):
go do something that compels me tonot be here on Friday. So what
else would I listen to? Chad? That's fair. And I've got Dan
hord On, so you know he'sthe best in the business. There is
no question about that. All Right, thank you as always. Thanks man,
appreciate it. Chad Brendel, BearcatJournal dot Com. Twenty seven from

(01:46:58):
six o'clock. This is be infifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station. Since Ah,
yeah, go ahead and do that. Let's five one three sem Sorry,
Uh, it's twenty three Life fromsix five one three, seven four
nine fifteen thirty is the phone numberI am among the other things I have

(01:47:26):
going on in here. I amquite literally my feet are tangled up by
my headphone cord. So there's there'ssomething that there's something that never happened to
Jim Scott. Huh uh, let'ssee here, Zach. Thank you for
your patience. You're on ESPN fifteenthirty. How are you mom? Good?
Zach Jamison Man, I used towork with you guys. What's up,
Zach? I just wanted to givemy two cents my my Jim Scott

(01:47:50):
Jim Scott story. So when Ifirst worked at the station, was back
twenty eleven, I think, orso, uh first met Jim. He
asked me my name is Zach.He asked me what my full name was.
I told him Zack Jamison. Andeverytime I introduced myself, I've always
went and said Zach Jamison. Ialways was my first name. But he
was kind of a funny thing.And then I think the only remote I

(01:48:12):
ever did with Jim was actually ata Cyclones game and he was actually dropping
the puck at center eyes, whichwas super cool. So I got to
be a part of that, anduh yeah, I actually posted a picture
yesterday on my Facebook page with himand I together standing you can see the
heights in the background. So supernice human being and getting to hear his
voice on the radio, listening toWLW every morning, going in with my

(01:48:32):
dad and stuff, and actually gettingto stand inside by side him on a
couple of occasions. It was prettysweet, you know, And I've shared
this with people who have gone throughsomething similar the first time, anybody who
worked here, and I think anybodywho had a chance to spend more than
just a few seconds with Jim,you always felt like, initially like you

(01:48:54):
were being interviewed, right, becausehe would say, well, what's your
name, and then you bo,what's your full name? Oh, Eggar,
Oh, what's your dad's name,Dennis, what's your mom's name,
Kate, what's your mom's maiden name? Did then what does she do for
a little And it would just keepgoing right, And but you know,

(01:49:15):
that was number one. He hada genuine curiosity about other people, what
they did, what they aspired touh and and it was also his way
of figuring out something that he coulduse to connect with them. And so
maybe it was their occupation, maybeit was a part of the country that
they were from, maybe it wasa part of the country that their parents

(01:49:38):
were from, or their occupation.He was the best I ever saw it
being able to relate to people,and primarily, among many reasons, it's
it's why he was such an awesomebroadcaster, and it's it's a skill that
a lot of us think we canpossess, none of us to that extent
at least really do. Yeah,I mean, and one of the things

(01:49:59):
that I noticed it, you know, because there are certain situations and I'm
sure you run to it being inthe industry as long as you have,
but you know, you have theyou know, you have the guys who
you know, kind of make thenames for themselves. Their nose go in
the air. They don't give twocents about the intern or the guy who's
working on the vending machine. Thathe you never got that sensor of him
at all. He was really genuinelya genuine person and like you said,

(01:50:23):
wanted to know who you were,where you came from, what your background
was. And the crazy thing wasyou might not have seen him for ten
weeks or wherever like that and belike, oh, how'd your dad so
and so it's like, well,I told you that three months ago.
How do you remember that? Yeah, you're exactly right. And it was
in the building at least, andI know for a fact outside the building,
but when you worked here, andlet's be honest, there was a

(01:50:45):
time when we had many more employeesthan we do now. But if,
but if Jim saw you, andit might be you at your desk,
or you in a studio, oryou just walking passing him in the hallway.
You know, here's here's a guywho was at the pinnacle, at
the top of what he did.And not that anybody ever has any reason

(01:51:06):
to treat others poorly, but youknow, as it works out, you
know, sometimes the people who haveaccomplished the most are the ones that are
not the most stand offish, butthe hardest to get to open up,
or they're not as welcoming. Andwith Jim, it didn't matter who you
were. He didn't just say hi. He wanted to get to know about

(01:51:26):
you. Well, where'd you goto school? Where did you work before
here? Uh? Well, whatare you studying in school right now?
And it always once I had beenhere for a while, I would watch
I would watch younger employees across differentdepartments. But I would watch younger employees
often get taken aback because they knewwho he was. And yet this guy
that everybody knew who he was waswanting to be let into someone else's world

(01:51:51):
and wanted to wanted to know moreabout them, and wanted to relate to
them, and wanted to help them. And I was thinking about this a
little while ago because I was talkingabout him texting me while I was on
the air with Tony Pike before aBengals game. He was for a while.
He was at a facility in Florence, and this is a few months

(01:52:12):
after his diagnosis, and it waswhile he was dealing with a few other
health issues. And we do ourMonday show, Tony and Mo Football Show
at Twin Peaks, and so Ihad made plans to get off the air
and then go see him. Andwhen you would go see him, it
was never a long visit because youknow, he'd tire easily. He had
things to do. And I rememberwalking in and we had just gotten off
the air at Twin Peaks and oneof the first things he said to me

(01:52:36):
was make sure you tell Tony howgood he sounds. And that's you know,
nobody does that in our business.Nobody does that. Ye, he
did, and he had no reasonto. And it's what made him so
special. Yeah, Yeah, it'sjust the one thing. I will say.

(01:52:59):
I'm tickled to that I'm sure everybodyin Cincinnati to know who Jim was,
even if they didn't know him personally, but just know what he meant
the city that he got to bethe Grand Marshal. Yes, so I
mean that's you know, obviously,it just it's a sad thing, sad
day, but we get to celebrate, you know, very very genuine and
amazing man. So Zach, Iappreciate you calling him man. Thank you.
Take care. If you don't knowJim, I think marched in the

(01:53:23):
Finlay Market Opening Day parade every year, starting with the first year that he
was on the air here, everyyear. One of my duties when I
first started working with him, Oneyear I drove him in the parade and
and that was cool. But whenhe when he was diagnosed with ALS,

(01:53:46):
and then ultimately when public he wentpublic last August, and he made it
his mission, he made it hisgoal to be in this year's parade,
and through the assistance a lot ofpeople, someone donated the car for him
to be in his ALS physician,a lot of different doctors, but the

(01:54:09):
person who was sort of overseeing thespecifics of his ALS care rode in the
parade with him and a lot ofthings came together, including him being blessed
to just be with us long enoughthat when he was named the Grand Marshal
this year of the Finley Market OpeningDay Parade, there are some who thought

(01:54:29):
he's not going to make it.There are others who thought he might not
make or he might make it,but it's a bad idea from a safety
perspective for him to be in it. And it's all he wanted to do.
It's all he wanted. That tohim, I think was his finish
line. And I remember the night, I think it was the night before
Opening Day, there was an eventdown at Finley Market. The mayor was

(01:54:51):
there and it was Jim Scott Dayin Cincinnati, and folks talked about how
this was going to be Jim's farewell, and I frankly hadn't really looked at
it in those specific terms, butit kind of was. And I'm just
I'm so thankful that he got hegot to Opening Day and he got to
the parade, and if you remember, the weather was awesome and the parade

(01:55:15):
route was just lined with people andand a lot of people made signs and
you know, we're with you,Jim, we love you, Jim.
And it was awesome. It was, It was terrific, and he kept
a lot of people, you know, he got some of the signs anyhow,
and he lived in a facility thelast whatever it was, six to

(01:55:40):
seven months. He lived in afacility in Walnut Hills that sort of specializes
in taking care of people who haveadvanced MS and als and and so he
had a room there and if youwent in to go see him on the
walls. In addition to family photosand mementos from his grandchildren, he had

(01:56:01):
so many of the signs that linethe streets on Opening Day, and to
see that was awesome. And wehad broadcast duties that day, but to
watch the coverage of it, tosee the photos of it, and to
hear him talk about it, whatit was like to be a part of
that event. I'm so thankful thathe made it to Opening Day. And

(01:56:24):
then once he did. Selfishly,I hoped he would stay with us as
long as possible, and I hopethat maybe the disease itself would slow down.
But I remember when he made itto Opening Day and got to be
in the parade that I think alot of us who know Jim, and
certainly those much closer to him thanI just sort of breathed a sire of
relief and said, well, atleast he got that, because that was

(01:56:47):
his goal. And I'm telling youthat there have been bigger baseball fans,
and there have been people who havetalked more about baseball on the radio.
There have been people who knew moreabout the Reds. I don't know anybody
who loved Opening Day as much asJim, anybody who loved Opening Day and
being a part of Opening Day,whether it was being in the parade,
broadcasting on a billboard, broadcasting fromthe Holy Grail, broadcasting from In my

(01:57:12):
years with him, we broadcast fromthe West In one year, we broadcast
from rock Bottom Brewery downtown. Acouple of times, we broadcast once from
Willie's and Covington. It was easilyhis favorite day of the year. It
brought out the best in him.And you could listen to him on Opening
Day and in years where you thought, you know what, maybe the Reds
aren't going to be very good thisyear, you would listen to him and

(01:57:33):
think the Reds are about to starta season where they might win one hundred
and thirty five games. It wasawesome. And it was infectious. I
have missed it for the last nineyears, and to think of Opening Day
next year without Jim a part ofit at all, it saddens me.
But again, at least he gotto be a part of it this year.

(01:57:57):
We are way late, as hasbeen the theme of the day.
It is twelve minutes away from sixo'clock. This is ESPN fifteen thirty,
Cincinnati sports station. We talked forthirty two minutes at the start of the
show about Jim Scott. If Iwent through every NBA transaction happening right now,
it would I needed another three hours. But the latest, Jason Tatum
has got the largest contract a NBAhistory. Jason Tatum did, yes,

(01:58:18):
the largest contract in NBA history untilwhat tomorrow? Right next year? What
Lucas deal is up? How doyou feel about Brownie? You excited?
You're a big Lakers guy. Youexcited about Bronnie No got all these folks.
Look, I wouldn't be excited abouthim as a basketball player either.
What a cool story, I mean, what a cool story. Everybody's focused

(01:58:45):
on the nepotism part of this.Really in professional sports, we have two
teams here that are run by PhilCastellini and Mike Brown. That's not a
knock. Would either of those menbe running sports teams if not for their
parents. That's that's that's how itworks. I mean, I'm I I've

(01:59:08):
never myself been able to benefit fromnepotism. I have no problem with people
who do a lot of things canget your foot in the doorway. Who
your dad is, or who yourmom is, or who your uncle is
can be one of them. Now, at some point that's on you to
take the opportunity and run with it. Some have, some have not.

(01:59:28):
But that Bronni James thing, Ithink it's cool as how that Lebron James,
who has had one of the bestcareers in the history of sports,
has had the longest prime in thehistory of sports, has an opportunity to
maybe play with his son. Areyou kidding me? That's cool as hell.
It's going to be up to hisson to stick, earn playing time,
earn a real opportunity to play,earn whatever money he can get to

(01:59:54):
come his way. Like, Imean, look, the idea that the
reality is this year's draft lack starpower, lack pizaz in many respects of
very eurocentric draft, a G LeagueUnited component to the Draft, which is
awesome, but a lot of peopledon't watch it like it. Just we
consume the draft differently. I'm watchingpeople go off on well, these guys

(02:00:16):
only getting an opportunity because Lebron Jamesis his dad, buddy. I work
in broadcasting. That's how it works. I've watched a lot of people get
an opportunity because of who their dadwas. I've watched a lot of people
who have gotten an opportunity because ofwho their dad was, that took it
and ran with it and did great, independent of who their dad was or

(02:00:38):
their uncle or their mom. Samething happens in sports. Browny's gonna go
play for a team that's owned byGenie Buss, who is her dad.
So let's let's not pretend the Redswere run by Dick Williams. Say which
one about Dick Williams. He wouldtell you I had my job because who
my dad was. Again, hehad to succeed or fail on his own

(02:01:00):
merit. It happens in every business, every industry. It happens in mind.
It happens in sports. Bronni wonthe genetic lottery. By all accounts,
he's a terrific kid. Do Ithink he's an NBA player based on
what I've watched? No, comesfrom a terrific family. Lebron seems as
invested in his kids as any dadin the public eye. Like and by

(02:01:26):
the way, those same people whoare mad at Lebron, had it been
Michael Jordan's son, would be allabout it. So spare me. Thank
you so dared. I think Ijust made you excited about Bronnie James.
Oh yeah, I might. Takinglike I said from the story point,
and Lebron flex and uses his powerto get to sell in the league.
Yeah, I'm happy for absolute atthe basketball perspective. Oh, he can't

(02:01:47):
play it, LI like. Sorry, but it's not like they used the
third overall, he's the fifty fifthpick. Who was the fifty fifth pick
in any of the last ten drafts. I don't know, but when I
looked at the Patty Mills is thegreatest fifty fifth pick of all time.
Okay, that's pretty good. IfBrownie James can be Patty Mills, he

(02:02:09):
will be a smashing success. AllRight, we have to go. Thanks
to a terran plan for producing.Thanks to you for listening. Paul Danner
Junior is not with us tomorrow,so I mean he's he's going to be
back. He's just off this week, and so we'll have to come up
with something else. I look forwardto sharing with you whatever we come up

(02:02:30):
with. Have a great night,and we're back at it tomorrow at three
oh five. Don't forget Tony andAustin have Sincy three sixty at twelve noon
and uh we'll be back tomorrow afternoonon ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.
This report is sponsored by O'Reilly AutoParts. O'Riley Auto Parts carries heavy duty

(02:02:57):
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