1/23/25 - The Mo Egger Radio Show

The Reds Caravan made a stop to our station here from Jeff Brantley, Cam Collier, Emilio Pagán, and Chase Burns. Plus Xavier loses a tough game on the road to St. Johns and more on Al Golden becoming the next Defensive Coordinator of the Bengals.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Your chance to win one thousand dollars. Enter this nationwide

(00:03):
keyword on our website cran. That's cran enter it now.

Speaker 2 (00:08):
No one covers the Bengals like ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati's
sports station.

Speaker 3 (00:18):
What's up, Good afternoon on Malegger. This is ESPN fifteen thirty.
Thank you for listening. I'm dealing with I'm dealing with
a little bit of an equipment crisis here about three
minutes ago, right when I was recording the show preview
video for X which is thanks to our friends at
Emory Federal Credit Union, your credit union with heart since

(00:40):
nineteen thirty nine.

Speaker 4 (00:41):
Go to EMORYFCU dot org.

Speaker 3 (00:43):
Guy, I post that on social media and outline everything
we have coming.

Speaker 4 (00:47):
Up on the show.

Speaker 3 (00:48):
And as I was putting myself in position to do this,
I dropped my headphones, which you know, in and of
itself shouldn't be a big deal, except the one ear
has come off and one of the essential pieces of equipment.
There's basically two you have to have to do this job.
One is the microphone. This the microphone, and the other

(01:09):
are the headphones. My headphones. I think I've broken them.
I had really really good headphones and then some idiots
broke into my house, and now they're all going to jail.
I don't care about the stuff they took, but they
did take my really nice headphones. And so what I'm
stuck with are these that are apparently of such low
quality that if they simply get dropped once they break.

(01:32):
So that's what I'm dealing with right now. We are
dealing with a lot above and beyond that. Jeff Brantley
is going to be on this show. The Cowboy as
they call him, coming up in just about fifteen minutes.
A man who is getting set to head to spring
training and joined Tommy Throll for Reds on radio and
John Saidak for Red's TV broadcast.

Speaker 4 (01:53):
A guy who.

Speaker 3 (01:54):
Played for Terry Francona when Terry was starting his managerial
career with the Philadelphia Philly and a guy who is
extraordinarily insightful when it comes to pitching.

Speaker 4 (02:05):
The Cowboy.

Speaker 3 (02:05):
Jeff Brantley's going to join us, coming up in just
about fifteen minutes, and I'm stoked for that. Chad Brendel
as well, Bearcat Journal dot Com coming up in just
about thirty five minutes on UC Basketball as the Bearcats
get set to head to Utah for back to back
games starting on Saturday night with a tilt against BYUUC
is coming off that deeply frustrating road loss on Tuesday,

(02:29):
that is coming up at three forty five, and we're
looking forward to that. Xavier loses last night, which we'll
talk about here in just a few minutes. The Bengals
have made it official. Al Golden's going to be the guy.
The Bengals defensive coordinator, their former linebackers coach, comes to
Cincinnati from Notre Dame, where he was the Fighting Irish
defensive coordinator, helped the Fighting Irish Kid to a national

(02:52):
championship game. Al Golden back they will formally introduce him
or I guess reintroduce him on on Monday. I'm fine
with this. I will I will make an admission. I
will make an admission. You know, if if you were
to corner me and say give me some tips on
being a sports talk radio host, I'm not sure I'd

(03:13):
be capable of giving you a lot of really helpful info.

Speaker 4 (03:18):
But one thing I would tell you, and I've I've.

Speaker 3 (03:22):
Evolved in this regard. The one thing that I will
tell you is you know you you don't have to
have a strong opinion on everything, like you don't. If
you don't have a take, you don't. It's okay to
admit that. It's you don't have to make up something
you don't have to make. Hey, let me come up

(03:43):
with a take, and let me come up with something.
I really don't believe. You don't have to do that.
If you want to do that, God knows, there's a
lot of people who have made a lot of money
doing that.

Speaker 4 (03:50):
But you don't have to.

Speaker 3 (03:50):
It's okay to say, you know, I don't have a
real strong opinion about this, because that's I think, at
least how real life works. There's a lot of things
that have that I don't have a real strong opinion on.
This frankly would be one of those things. I understand it.
I'm not opposed to it. I could see why the
Bengals chose to hire Al Golden. I'm certainly interested to

(04:14):
see if he can make the kind of impact we
all think he can make. I defer to experts, I
defer to people who know a lot more about Al Golden,
and you'll hear one here in just a second. But
I'm also very very curious, and so I think most
Bengals fans are, like me, open minded about this, not

(04:36):
exactly doing cartwheels. Who does cartwheels over the hiring of
a defensive coordinator? But I get it and I'm not
opposed to it. I am curious if you're among those who,
let's face it, we've known Al was going to be
the DC now for a while, but when you hit
the realization that the Bengals were going to make Al

(04:57):
Golden the defensive coordinator, if your reaction to that news
was and has been, I don't like it. I'm opposed.
I'm disappointed, I'm sad, I'm angry. I think this is wrong.
I think this is going to be detrimental to the
team and the ultimate goal of winning a championship. I'm
genuinely curious why I'm not telling you that you should

(05:23):
love Al Golden because I don't love Al Golden.

Speaker 4 (05:27):
I don't know.

Speaker 3 (05:29):
I think the success of the Bengals defensively, and really
the success of the team overall in twenty twenty five
is going to have a lot more to do with
the players they add and who they get and how
well they overhaul the defensive roster than what schemes the
new guy has or what the new guy really does

(05:49):
in terms of, you know, implementing certain strategies. I do
think obviously you're looking for somebody who can get more
out of younger players. And perhaps there are communication techniques
that he has that lu Ana Romo did not that
will pay off as it.

Speaker 4 (06:03):
Relates to helping younger players.

Speaker 3 (06:05):
But because we can't get anybody to agree on anything,
I'm sure there are folks out there.

Speaker 4 (06:10):
Maybe it's you who is not on board.

Speaker 3 (06:15):
With this, disappointed by it, fearful that this is going
to result in the Bengals defensively either being worse or
at least not dramatically better. So if there's a downside
to the Bengals hiring Al Golden to be the DC,
I'm curious, by the way, you might be right, what

(06:36):
is it? What is there to not like? What is
there to not like that people like me are missing?
Five point three seven, four nine fifteen thirty is our
phone number. We're gonna get to the Xavier game last night.
And whether if you're a Xavier fan you're glass half
empty or glass half full. I look, man, you know

(06:57):
who I root for by now. If I'm a hardcore
Xu Fan. I'm trying to be glass half full and
I will be a Xavier can beat Yukon on Saturday,
and whether or not they can is going to depend
a lot on the status of Dalen Swain. The good
news is Sean Miller says x rays on the ankle
are negative, so he's not dealing with a fracture. We'll
see if he's good to go for Saturday, and if

(07:19):
he is good to go, how much he can play
and how effective he could be. They badly need him.
They badly need him on the defensive side of the floor.
On one hand, you went to New York after going
to Marquette, going to Milwaukee and beating Marquette, and maybe
there's a bit of a house money feel to that game.
At the same time, you were up sixteen and had
them beaten and let it slip away. You could talk

(07:43):
about the role of officiating. You could talk about the
role of Sean Miller's bench, and he talked after the
game in audio and video that apparently does not exist anywhere,
talked about the bench didn't give us anything. It felt
like a missed opportunity. I guess you could wash it
away by beating Yukon. But now because they didn't beat
Saint John's on the road, perhaps there's an amplified importance

(08:05):
to beating Yukon on Saturday night. We're gonna spend more
time on that here in just a bit. And if
anybody can help unearth press conference audio and video that
if if you do a press conference and nobody posts
the audio or video anywhere, did it really happen? Maybe
that's a question that we could attack as well. I
do want to play this though for you, and then
we'll chat with Jeff Brantley here in just a few minutes.

(08:27):
On Friday. On Monday, before the College Football Playoff National
Championship game between Ohio State and Notre Dame, we had
Ryan Roberts on the show. And Ryan is a guy
that we have had on our show for years, mainly
to talk about the draft, but he also covers in
great detail Notre Dame football for A to Z Sports.
And so obviously Al Golden coaching in that game, with

(08:51):
the rumor swirling that he was gonna leave South Bend
to be the defensive coordinator of the Bengals. I talked
with Ryan a little bit about Al Golden. Go back
to Al Golden here because he's the favorite I think
to be the new defensive coordinator for the Bengals and
the obviously coach linebackers here before he went to Notre Dame.

Speaker 4 (09:09):
Do I want him to be the DC of the Bengals.

Speaker 5 (09:12):
I think so.

Speaker 2 (09:13):
Man.

Speaker 5 (09:13):
I've been so impressed with coach Golden, especially the last
two years, because he was another guy. In the twenty
twenty two season when it was his first year at
Notre Dame, a lot of Notre Dame fans were not
sold on him at all because I think they have
let up like twenty one points per game his first year.
But again, he had not called a defense since like
two thousand and five when he was at the University
of Virginia. Like, he had not called the defense in
a long long time. But there's a reason he was

(09:35):
a head coaching commodity on the college level. There's a
reason that the Cincinnati Bengals wanted him as a linebacker
coach in general, and why so many NFL people have
such a high opinion of him. And he's really smart,
Like he's just such a he's got kind of it's funny,
it's a different energy. But like he also comes off stoic,
similar to Coach Freeman, like he just he has the answers,

(09:55):
it seems, and he doesn't ever seem like he's frazzled,
like he just like he doesn't have it, Like he
doesn't have an answer. Even if he doesn't have it,
he doesn't show it, which I think is a big
thing for a coordinator, especially the growth that we've seen
from year one to year two, last season with Coach Golden,
and the year two to year three. I mean, he's
built a team that when he first got there, they

(10:16):
could not force turnovers, Like they just couldn't well for
whatever reason, they just were not a team that could
take the ball away. Well, they had like thirty two
forced turnovers this year. Defensively, they leave all college football.
And a big reason for it is he's incredibly smart
with his second level pressures. He's gonna play a lot
of man, but then he's gonna sneak in that occasional
Robert coverage or something that's gonna get a quarterback in trouble.

(10:36):
And more than anything, I think that this is very
important for building a culture in a program. He's consistent
with everything, like even after the year one struggles. He
didn't say I'm gonna scrap everything because that didn't work.
Year one was about growth, Year two was about growth.
It's always about we're doing what we believe in and
we're gonna get better at it. So I cannot think

(10:57):
more highly of coach Gold. And I called it an
unconventional hire at first, because again, he hadn't been he
had not been a main defensive play caller in a
long time, and he was just a linebacker coach in
the NFL. So it was just a very strange hire.
And streets doesn't mean bad, it doesn't mean good. It's
just it's unconventional, Like we just don't know what to
make of it. But three years downline, he has turned.

(11:19):
If he's not the best defensive coordator touchaball, then the
guy he's going against, Jip Knowles, it probably is for
Ohio State, right, So I think it's a tremendous hire.
He's obviously been in the NFL, he's been with Cincinnati.
He kind of knows that program, the organization inside and now,
so I think he's going to do a tremendous job. Man,
he's gonna be a big loss if he does leave.
Notre Dame. But he he's done a great job with

(11:39):
the Irish.

Speaker 4 (11:40):
Absolutely all right, there you go, there's Ryan Roberts.

Speaker 3 (11:43):
That success in Notre Dame certainly doesn't guarantee that he's
going to enjoy similar success in the NFL with the Bengals.
But you know there's somebody who knows his work well
as a defensive coordinator, not as a head coach. I'm
uninterested in what he did as a head coach at
Miami or a temple, completely uninterested.

Speaker 4 (12:00):
It doesn't apply here.

Speaker 2 (12:02):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (12:03):
Interested in what he did as linebackers coach here and
he was a success. Interested in what he did in
the capacity at the college level that he's going to
be serving in here. And again, for me, if the
issue is they they've had a hard time getting a
lot out of younger players, well they're getting a guy
from the college level who has been coaching with younger players.

(12:24):
And as I said a few times over the last week,
the line between college and pro football has never been
more blurred. I'm on board with this. If you're not,
I'm kind of interested as to why your phone calls
are welcome coming up here in just a bit five
point three seven four nine fifteen thirty and eight six
six seven oh two three seven seven six. By the way,

(12:44):
that entire Ryan Roberts conversation, which quite frankly much of
it is dated because it took place on Monday afternoon
before the game on Monday night. Go get it on
the iHeartRadio app podcast page of ESPN fifteen thirty dot
com as well. And while you're there, you can listen
to a Yesterday's Awesome interview not because I did it,
but because the guest was awesome with Red's hitting coach
Chris Valaika. Podcast of the show, a service of Longneck's

(13:06):
Sports Grill, Jeff Brandley's in Studio with Us next on
ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 6 (13:12):
Nation, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty. Traffic from the UC Health
Traffic Center.

Speaker 7 (13:21):
At uce Health, you'll find comprehensive care that's so personal
it makes your best tomorrow possible. That's boundless care for
better outcomes. Expect more at ucehealth dot com. On Redbank Road,
it is an accident that is at Columbia Parkway, Fine Street.
Another accident, this one north of Clinton Springs Avenue. Vehicle
they're going into a poll. It's Outhound seventy five. Traffic

(13:44):
is slow from Ezer Charles drive down to Fort Washington Way.
I'm at Ezelek with traffic.

Speaker 8 (13:49):
This report is sponsored by Musinex DM twelve hours.

Speaker 3 (13:53):
First Reds Cactus League game, which means the first Reds
Cactus League broadcast, which means we'll be listening to a
Jeff Brantley and Tommy Thrall And it can't get here
soon enough. But first we get a chance to chat
with Jeff Brantley. It is awesome to have him here
in studio as part of the Red's caravan. How is
the caravan treating you?

Speaker 4 (14:14):
So far? So good? This is our first stop.

Speaker 9 (14:16):
This is just got finished with the affiliate luncheon and
we are this is our first stop.

Speaker 4 (14:21):
Man, very good, and your first top is with me.
That's exactly right. Oh boy, how does that make you feel? Honored? Honored,
honored to be in your presence, honored to be the
first right?

Speaker 3 (14:32):
Let me start with with this, Terry Francona, so like
what an injection of enthusiasm and energy just as a fan?

Speaker 2 (14:39):
Right?

Speaker 3 (14:39):
You find out say which one about David Bell who
had a lot of positive attributes, but they replace him
with a guy who could not be more accomplished. If
you're looking for somebody who has done everything in this game,
it's Terry Francona. You've been around him, you know him.
Where's his biggest impact going to be?

Speaker 9 (14:56):
I think part of it for Tito, and this is
a great part. Part of it is his ability to
communicate and to be able to push guys together. That
you hear so much about analytics and how we evaluate
the game today, Hey it's still a team sport, and

(15:16):
you've got to figure out a way to put twenty
five in this day and age, just thirty five guys
that all come together and figure out a way to
get it done. Now, I don't know if you know
this or not, Mo, but in nineteen ninety nine and
two thousand, I played for Terry Francona in a Philadelphia
Phillies uniform. Now, we were not very good, and part

(15:39):
of the reason we were not very good is because
I was not very good. You know, you can't win
if you don't get those last three outs, you know.
But that was the beginning of his managerial career. And
you just even in times of desperation because we were bad.
But you could see the makings of a form a

(16:01):
future really good manager just by the way he handled
Kurt Shilling. I mean, Shilling was on that club and
he handled the great players as much as he did
some of the guys that were just trying to break
into the big leagues.

Speaker 3 (16:15):
He's one with veteran players, he's one with younger players.
He's one in the big market, he's one in a
smaller market like Cleveland, like there's no there's no box
that he has and checked. One word that you've heard
used often is accountability. Right, managers have the hold players accountable.
And I'm I'm interested in seeing this is more of
a comment than a question. I'm interested in seeing how
that plays out once the season gets underway.

Speaker 9 (16:36):
Well, I think if anybody that's had a conversation with
with Tito knows that his he defers to that self
deprecating humor and and that's who he is, and he
uses that in a way that when he gets on
you or he's telling you about something that's a weakness
or trying to push you in a different direction to

(16:58):
help you figure out some success, he does it in
a way that makes you when you're finished with the
conversation you think, Man, I love this guy. Now, that's what,
in the real sense of the word, you're managing people,
and that that is who he is because he's a
great communicator, and he does it he does it in

(17:19):
such a different way that every conversation that you have
with him, you leave thinking, well, I can't wait to
run through a wall for this guy. And I think
that's that's part of the reason that he's had such
great success on both of those realms that you mentioned,
not only with the clubs that had the two hundred
and fifty million dollars payroll, but also with clubs that
had a ninety five million dollar payroll.

Speaker 3 (17:40):
Right, Yeah, and he's one with younger players, and he's
one with experienced players, and he's got a lot of
young players. Now, what was so encouraging about last year
and then kind of fell apart in the last five
or six weeks was the starting pitching. You know, it
was frustrating because the team, relative to how good the
starting pitching was, the team kind of underperformed. You know,
it's like, man, they're wasting a lot of really good starts.

(18:01):
At the same time, get those guys healthy. It is
a great foundation on top of what you could build
this year.

Speaker 9 (18:07):
Yeah, I think part of that it is going to
have to be developed.

Speaker 4 (18:11):
Now.

Speaker 9 (18:12):
You have Derek Johnson here, which helps Tito greatly, But
I think from Tito's standpoint, he's going to have to
get to know the personality of those starting pitchers so
he understands when a guy tells him, hey, I can
go two more or I'm good, he knows whether to push.

Speaker 4 (18:29):
That button or pull it back.

Speaker 9 (18:32):
And I think that for this club, Yeah, we'd love
to have everybody healthy for one hundred and sixty two
ball games. That hasn't happened, nor does it happen in
the big leagues period. I think we've got a little
bit more insurance after the Jonathan India for Brady Singer trade.
We've got some guys that may very well be big
League ready coming through our system. I think the biggest

(18:55):
key to this is can you figure out what it
takes to get the guys through that August tenth to
the finish line. I mean the last two years, that's
where everything is suffered. Now you'll have people look back
and say, well, the bullpen, you know they really faltered there. Well, yeah,
because there were Warren flat out and we've got a

(19:16):
pretty good bullpen. And we've had a pretty good bullpen.
But if you're leaning on your bullpen, then you're looking
at pitching totally different. You're supposed to lean on your
starters and then your bullpen picks up the rest of
the slack.

Speaker 3 (19:30):
So the starting pitching conversation always starts with Hunter Green,
who was an All Star last year and deservedly so.
I think he finished eighth or ninth in the Say
Young voting he had before he got hurt in excellent season.

Speaker 4 (19:41):
What's the next step.

Speaker 3 (19:43):
I know you're asked this every off season, but this
step is big because he's already taken so many well.

Speaker 9 (19:48):
I think for Hunter and for Ellie day La Cruz
and maybe a Spencer Steer, guys that have been around
Tyler Stevenson for example. I think the the biggest issue
for that age player is you have to figure out
how to take off because you're no longer just trying

(20:09):
to survive. You're here now, you've already got a nice
contract through your first arbitration series. You've got to figure out, Okay,
what do I need to do to be great? Because
it's no longer about just keeping your nose above the
water and drowning. It's about exploring the whole pool. Get
out there and hey, let's figure out how fun it
is to jump off the high dive. I mean, this

(20:31):
is about figuring out how to win and.

Speaker 4 (20:34):
How to be great.

Speaker 9 (20:35):
And I think that goes back to your original question,
what does Terry Francona bring to this club?

Speaker 4 (20:41):
That's it.

Speaker 3 (20:42):
You know you mentioned Ellie, and it's he does so
many great things, and yet there are times, and you know,
I could hear the frustration and your voice calling the games,
and you could hear mine from the stands when he
gets picked off, or when he's a little bit too
aggressive and gets thrown out, or when he makes a
great play in the third inning and then botches the
routine play in the fifth inning. I'm interested in the

(21:05):
impact of a manager on that stuff being cleaned up
for him for others, but I think for Elie specifically,
because we all know how good he can be.

Speaker 9 (21:12):
Well, every time I think of this, now that Tito
is here, and I think of that same question that
you just asked, the name that keeps popping into my
head is Jose Ramirez, because that was Jose Ramirez early
in his career, and you look at him now and
you think, what would the Indians be without this guy?
I mean, he's he is a He's not just a

(21:36):
really good player, He's a Hall of Fame player. He
is legitimate, bona fide scary. You know, if you're on
the mound and it's late in the ballgame, you don't
want any part of that, dude. And I think that's
where Francona helped manifest that. I mean, the talent obviously
was always there for Jose, but I think Francona threw

(21:57):
his coaches and some other things kind of funnel him
in that direction. I think the same can be said
of what we hope will happen with Elie de la Cruz.
We know the excitement and all of the strength that's
there from rally. I mean, there's nothing he can't do
on a baseball field. Now, it's a matter of being
consistently great, not consistently okay, not consistently Oh well, you know,

(22:20):
I made a great play every now, be great every
time you walk out.

Speaker 3 (22:23):
Yeah, you know there was a game late in the
season and he made, you know, highlight reel play early
in the game and you're you're salivating over it, and
then in the seventh inning, Paul hits off the heel
of his glove and it's like, man, I might have
been able to make that play right, And so that's
the stuff, and it's like, man, I know you could
do this and it's awesome, but you got to be
able to do that.

Speaker 4 (22:41):
If you're going to be what we think you can.

Speaker 9 (22:43):
Be, be consistent because if you're all, if your expectation
is always to be good, well you're going to drop
down below that expectation. So your expectation has to be
I want to be elite. I want to be great
on every single pitch, because if you do drop off,
instead of dropping off from seventy five to fifty, you're

(23:05):
going to drop off from ninety five, ninety nine to
eighty five.

Speaker 4 (23:09):
And that's pretty good if you're Eli Da La Cruz.
No question, need more from Ellie.

Speaker 3 (23:13):
There's a lot of guys who I think we believe
have a tremendous amount of upside. You think of Christian
and Karnassi on strand, and you think of a handful
of players that have shown glimpses maybe at the big
league level or large glimpses at the minor league level
when you go to Goodyear, give me one or two
guys that you're going to be watching for closely knowing
their keys for this club this year.

Speaker 9 (23:32):
Well, you named one of them and that's Christian in
Karnosi on Strand, the second being Matt McClain. And not
from a standpoint of how great their spring goes, but
I want to know that they're healthy. I want to
know that McClain is not having any ribcage issues. I
want to see how that front shoulder does. I mean
it was the left shoulder that he hurt. That's his
front shoulder, that's his pull shoulder. I want to see

(23:57):
how the risk, how the risk for in Charnais Strand
rolls over. You know, some of those finer things that
you know you can fight through in maybe April and May,
but when you get to June and July you can't
do it. It just it catches up to you. So
you want him to be healthy right out of the shoot,
and you want it to be fluid. I'd also like
to to kind of keep an eye on Spencer Steer

(24:20):
because the Spencer Steer that we saw last year was
not really the same Spencer Steer that we saw in
year one. Now, not that that's good or bad, but
I think from Spencer's standpoint, he's got a pretty good
idea about what he needs to do to be successful
up here, and I expect him to take a big
jump next year. I mean, he's a he's a guy

(24:40):
that has that low heartbeat. He never gets way up
too high, he never gets down on himself, and he
just kind of stays that even kill and that that
may be a boat that a lot of these guys
can ride.

Speaker 3 (24:50):
Sure, Yeah, it's interesting. He's kind of a guy you
forget and you shouldn't. I mean, because he could play
a thousand positions. We've seen offensively what he can do,
and yet he sort of gets lost in the mix.
But I think that's also reflective of the collection of town.

Speaker 4 (25:05):
Right there, you go, that's a great point.

Speaker 3 (25:08):
I know you have a lot going on. I can't
thank you enough. Enjoy the rest of the off season.
Great Joey, good year, Good talking to you man.

Speaker 4 (25:13):
Always the cowboy, Jeff Brantley.

Speaker 3 (25:16):
One month from yesterday, the first Cactus League broadcast Next
Hour Ballplayers in Studio coming up in ten minutes our
buddy Chad Brendle on ESPN fifteen.

Speaker 6 (25:25):
Thirty, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty. Traffic from the.

Speaker 7 (25:31):
UC Health Traffic Center. At u See Health, you'll find
comprehensive care that's so personal it makes your best tomorrow possible.
That's boundless care for better outcomes. Expect more at ucehealth
dot com. Exident now cleared away on Redbank Road. This
is over at Columbia Parkway on bind Street. It's an
accident north of Clinton Springs Avenue. Vehicle they're going into

(25:55):
a poll and seth found four to seventy one closed
off bridge repairs seventy one to the belve you exit.
I'm at e Xelik with traffic.

Speaker 4 (26:02):
This report is sponsored very quickly.

Speaker 3 (26:04):
Sports headlines are a service of Kelsey Chevrolet Home of
Lifetime powertrain protection and guaranteed credit approval from their family
to yours for life Kelsey chef dot com. Bengals have
made it official. Al Golden is the team's defensive coordinator.
The NFL has made it official. Joe Burrow is an
MVP finalist, along with Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, Jared Goff,

(26:26):
and Saquon Barkley Burrow also a finalist for the AP
Offensive Player of the Year Award and the AP Comeback
Player of the Year Award, an award that he won
in two and twenty one. Jamar Chase up for Offensive
Player of the Year and Trey Hendrickson up for Defensive
Player of the Year. Chad Brendle next to ESPN fifteen.

Speaker 6 (26:47):
Thirty Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty traffic.

Speaker 7 (26:55):
From the uc Health Traffic Center. At uce Health, you'll
find comprehensive care that's so personal it makes your best
tomorrow possible. That's boundless care for better outcomes. Expect more
at ucehealth dot com. Westbound Ohio Pike. It's an accident
at Merwyn ten mile Road. Traffic starting to back up
in the area on Reading Road. Another accident, this one

(27:17):
over at Seymour Avenue Madison Road. Getting reports of a
vehicle fire. This is south of Dana Avenue. I'm at
Ezeleik with traffic. This report is sponsored by.

Speaker 3 (27:28):
Thursdays we Chat with Chad Brenda Bearcatjournal dot com.

Speaker 4 (27:33):
You see is coming off.

Speaker 3 (27:35):
You might have heard a loss on Tuesday to Texas
Tech and I had a thought on Tuesdays as the
clock was ticking down at the end of the game,
that what we could have done was record this segment
on Tuesday, immediately after the game, so that I could
then see how much of it I would actually be
comfortable airing.

Speaker 2 (27:57):
I mean, I'm usually pretty like you know, I keep
my head level. I'm not even arguing on Twitter after
losses anymore. Now.

Speaker 4 (28:06):
You would have been the more levelhead of the two
of us on Tuesday.

Speaker 2 (28:10):
I mean, I was still not very thrilled with what
I watched, just because so they needed to work on offense, right,
Like we knew that that was evident. But what can't
happen is the offense gets better and then the core
foundations that you've built on go away like that. You know,

(28:33):
it wasn't a matter of like Texas Tech has good
offense and they just made some tough shots. They made
open shots. They made shots that were a result of
bad defense and bad rebounding and bad rotations and bad communication.
Like they're not accidentally ranked in the top ten and
defensive efficiency.

Speaker 4 (28:53):
They have a good defense.

Speaker 2 (28:54):
They didn't play good defense that day, and I think
that for me was probably I mean, they scored seventy points,
like the first time that's happened in Big twelve play,
and it didn't matter because they weren't really close in
the second half.

Speaker 3 (29:10):
No, I mean, I pointed this out and you may
have as well, that the last seven and a half
minutes of the first half they made seven of their
last nine shots, and in that timeframe they lost six points,
twenty two to sixteen. And so at halftime, I had
this just awful feeling. But I mean, it wasn't just
that they shot fifty two percent of the game. Like
I remarked to Dan and Terry, I'm like, this looks awesome.

(29:32):
This looks this is fun, this looks different. There's flow
to it. I know what they're trying to do, but
multiple guys are getting good looks like this, this looks great.
It was the opposite, and yet they still lose that
game by ten points. That is insanely frustrating. And then
you talked about some of the defensive issues. Even when
that starts to get cleaned up a little bit in

(29:53):
the second half, they give up rebounds.

Speaker 4 (29:56):
You just it was whack them all on Tuesday night.

Speaker 2 (30:00):
Yeah, here was the number that got memo. Great first
eight minutes, right, great, first eight minutes, they hold Texas
Tech to seven points and eight minutes, which against that
offense is really really good. They were forcing them to
take shots that weren't good, shots that were rushed, they
didn't look comfortable. And then over the next twelve minutes,

(30:20):
Texas Tech scored thirty five points in twelve minutes. Yikes.
They go six to seven from three in that span,
and most of them were just catch and shoot rhythm threes.
And you know, I've heard people say, well, you know
they were well defended threes. Look, man, just because because

(30:41):
the guy is jumping at the face, at your face
as the ball goes over his head. That's not good defense.
That's a slow close out, that's a late closeout. That's
bad rotation, that's bad position. And then they give up
an offensive you know, they get a stop, they run
good defense, they give up an offensive rebound, they kick
it out and hit an open thirs off the offensive
rebound like it was it was it was you know,

(31:03):
you plug one hole in another one springs.

Speaker 4 (31:05):
Yeah, insanely frustrating.

Speaker 3 (31:07):
So why was a team that has been reliable on
the defensive side of the floor all season along so bad?

Speaker 4 (31:12):
On Tuesday.

Speaker 2 (31:15):
One They played a great offense, an offense that you know,
everybody has talked about. Cincinnati doesn't have like somebody you
can throw the ball to in the post. And it's
not just because that person can score. It's because of
the way the defense has to react. And Cincinnati had
a bunch of different wrinkles that they tried to throw

(31:36):
at Texas Tech. They were running doubles, they were bringing
a guard down to dig on the big guy. But
then what that created was open space on the perimeter
because they were so worried about Texas Tech's interior game.
They did a great job on Darien Williams, didn't do
such a great job on Toppin. But you know, it

(31:57):
just it was a confluence of events that I think
they had a game plan. They tried to do some
things that maybe they don't always do in their defensive coverages,
and I thought it made them sloppy. I thought it
made them a little slow to react. I thought, like
I said, that their closeouts weren't effective. They weren't. They

(32:17):
weren't on time, they were late, which allows guys to
catch and shoot. And you know, it makes me wonder,
this is not this is not I talked about this
with you in the preseason. This is not a team
with a bunch of top one hundred guys, right so,
I think a lot of what they do is geared

(32:41):
towards what they practice, what they drill. What is important
to your coach becomes important to your team. Right So,
over the last two weeks, because the offense was so bad,
they've had to spend a lot of time drilling offense
in practice, which I think just naturally means you have
less time to drill sense. And I think we saw

(33:02):
a slip and you know, maybe it was because they
were doing some different things defensively that they haven't done before.
That the attention to detail wasn't there. But you know
that that is frustrating because in theory, you should be
able to continue to do the things you're good at

(33:23):
you're good at while you work on some things that
need to improve, and that is not what we saw
from this team on Tuesday night.

Speaker 3 (33:31):
Chad Brendel barkat Journal dot com, what has happened to
Dan Skillings?

Speaker 2 (33:37):
I wish I had a good answer for that one.

Speaker 10 (33:39):
No.

Speaker 2 (33:39):
I The thing that blows my mind is his superpower, right,
his thing that makes him you know, a guy that
is supposed to be one of the better players in
this league is his rebounding and it's just gone out
the window. Defensive rebounds. None of them were really out

(34:02):
of area. None of them were really like, oh man, look,
you know we've had that how many times in the
previous two years where you're like, I can't believe Dan
wouldn't got that ball. I don't remember thinking that in
Big twelve play really more than once or twice, right,
And he's got to get back to that. The other
thing that if I had a pen, I would have
thrown it every time he got stuck center of the

(34:26):
chest of a screen. Yeah, I mean he is just
getting picked off on screens left and right, left and right,
and that's bad defense because you trail. It gives the
offense an advantage that they're able to work from, you know,
a plus position because Dan is usually going to be
guarding one of the better scorers on the other team

(34:47):
and now they're open because Dan is late and trailing
the play. Like that's technique, that's footwork. That's I've almost questioned,
like it does hit bad periphial vision that he just
doesn't see that there's a seven foot guys standing there
waiting to screen him and he runs into the middle
of his chest like that part for me has been
really frustrating defensively for him. You know, he's an unorthodox

(35:10):
player on offense, so I think to an extent that's
always going to be a little inconsistent where you're going
to have those nights Ray as eighteen and those Nightsery
has seven, But it's all the other stuff that now
you have seven, you don't rebound and you're playing bad defense. Well,
you know, maybe maybe it's time you play a little

(35:32):
bit less. Maybe it's time you're not on the floor
as much, and this team is not as good if
Dan Skillings isn't playing to his potential and on the
floor helping the team.

Speaker 4 (35:41):
No question about it.

Speaker 3 (35:42):
I think a lot of folks have used finishing five hundred,
as you know, the in the Big Twelve is the
baseline expectation. If they do that, they're a tournament team,
and I think I think that's fair and accurate.

Speaker 4 (35:53):
And there have been major.

Speaker 3 (35:54):
Conference teams that have finished below five hundred and have
still made it. But I think most of us that
are ten and ten of the Big Twelve do what
you got to do in the non league, this team
is going to be Okay, they have to go eight
and five the rest of the way to finish five
hundred in the Big twelve.

Speaker 4 (36:08):
Are they capable of doing that?

Speaker 2 (36:10):
Capable?

Speaker 4 (36:11):
Yes?

Speaker 2 (36:11):
Like we weren't wrong about this team though, Like I
think we were pretty right in our assessment of like
how this roster has constructed what they need to do
to be successful. I do think over the last three games,
especially offensively, we've seen them make strides and see them
trending to be more of that team. But you have

(36:32):
now I hate this. I hate that we talked about this,
but the math is starting to get hard. Yes, And
if you don't go out to Utah and take care
of business and now now you got to go it's
seven and four or eight and three, like it doesn't
you still you still have trips to Houston and Iowa State.
They ain't winning those games MO right right, So, like

(36:56):
there's two losses on the schedule already. When you're when
you're doing that that mass and figuring out what they've
got to do, you're essentially saying you have to beat
every team that you know you are, that that you
should beat and that's just not how it works in
this league. Like you're gonna go on the road and
play a team that maybe you're a little bit better than,
but they're gonna beat you, or bo you're gonna you're

(37:18):
gonna play at home and you're not gonna be able
to win, because that's what happens here now apparently.

Speaker 4 (37:24):
Yeah, you know, it's it's funny you say that. It's well,
it's funny you say that because I was.

Speaker 3 (37:28):
I was asked yesterday about the crowd and I said
that felt like a crowd that didn't expect to win
because fair or not, they've had so many opportunities for
wins in games like that in their building that they
haven't won. And so I think unfortunately now there is
this expectation that at home in games like that. Again,
I mean, look, Tech Texas Tech is good. I don't

(37:51):
think anybody says, boy, that they can win the Big
twelve or that's that's a team that is sure to
be playing in the second weekend of the NCAA tournament.
But but against a good team Q one opportunity they
lose at home, and the vibe in the building to
me felt like one of a bunch of people who
didn't expect the.

Speaker 4 (38:07):
Team to win.

Speaker 3 (38:08):
That to me as a fan is that's that's not good.
That's that's that's incredibly frustrating.

Speaker 2 (38:16):
I think there was definitely frustration at the end of
the first half to offensively have played as well as
they played and they were losing. Yeah, like there was
an air of inevitability, right, like they're not going to
shoot sixty percent from the floor again in the second half,
because that's it. If that was easy to do, lots
of teams to do it. So I think there was

(38:39):
that fear and then you had that that point they
cut it to five, the building gets loud, Dade Thomas
gets fouled, goes to the line, misses the front front
end of the one and one, had a chance to
cut it to three, and before I could, you know,
type on my computer, it was eleven and it was

(39:01):
the under four media timeout and Texas Tech was coming
out of the lock top, out of the timeout, going
to the line to make it twelve. What the bleep happened?
Right like that? That's that's how that's the fan base felt,
because it was like, okay, like you played a team
that was outstanding offensively for a large portion of that game,

(39:24):
and you had it at five at the line to
cut it to three with five minutes left, you had
all the momentum. Their shots weren't going in anymore. Like
you got a couple stops, you made your run. You
were in position to like really put pressure on Texas
Tech that they weren't going to win that game. And
they crumbled completely folded. And yeah, the fan base is

(39:47):
going to react in kind to a situation where they
looked at it and said, Okay, here it comes. Here's
how many times over thirty years in this building that
we saw them do that, and this team just doesn't
do it. They you know, they the same almost exact
same situation against Arizona. They draw it all the way

(40:07):
back to tide and then they fall apart. You know what,
it was a day they missed Dylan Mitchell block shot.
ASA's thinking he's a team of Lojawan with the spin
move and the hook that he missed, and then two
dance skilling turnovers and five is twelve and people are
heading for the exits in Clifton. I don't blame the

(40:28):
fans for.

Speaker 4 (40:28):
That, Nope, I don't either. I don't.

Speaker 3 (40:32):
Unfortunately I don't either. Well, maybe they can get one
on Saturday and change change my mood, change my outlook,
and uh, if they can win two games, this conversation
will be dramatically different next Thursday.

Speaker 2 (40:49):
I mean, mo, I looked at this last night. You
want to hear something crazy. They're one game out of
like seventh place in the conference, sixth seventh place in
the conference, ten teams under five hundred in the league.
Do you realize that the top of this conference is
bludgeoning the rest of this conference? And they're not far

(41:14):
out of what you know, they were predicted six. They're
one game out of seven. I know it doesn't feel
like that, and that's not excusing how poorly they've played,
but it is not completely out of their reach. If
they can go on the road and get a couple
of road scouts and make up for they're three in

(41:34):
the whole on home games. Yep, you're one and three
at home. You've lost three home games. You got to
make those up on the road if you're going to
get to ten and ten, let's see if they can
do it.

Speaker 4 (41:44):
I hope they can. We'll talk next week. Thank you.
As always?

Speaker 2 (41:48):
Where are you at on ten o'clock weekend home or
weekend road games.

Speaker 4 (41:53):
Win the game. I don't care they get played at
five o'clock in the morning, Win the damn game. That's
where I am.

Speaker 3 (42:00):
And if they could play at one thirty in the
morning on a on a Monday, if they win the game,
I don't care exactly.

Speaker 2 (42:07):
All right, thanks mooch, all right.

Speaker 3 (42:08):
The Chad Brendel Bearcat Journal dot com. They're playing in
the Big twelve, a conference that has a bunch of
teams in the Mountain time zone and further west. It's
four o'clock on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 4 (42:22):
Are you ready for some football?

Speaker 2 (42:24):
Hi?

Speaker 11 (42:24):
This is Dan Horror joined Dave Lapham and me for
every play of every game on the official home of
the Bengals, ESPN fifteen to thirty.

Speaker 4 (42:35):
I I can't read the email that I just got.

Speaker 3 (42:40):
Hey, quick update. I fixed my headphones in case shure wondering.
I'm oeger late start to the hour. This is ESPN
fifteen thirty. This is one of the great days to
work in this building. We've got ballplayers with us in studio.
Cam Collier, Emilio Pagan, Chase Burns, who you're gonna hear
in just about twenty five minutes. This is one of
the best days of the year to work in this

(43:01):
building because the Reds as part of their caravan, they
stop here, and you know, we had Jeff Brantley with
us before, and we have a lot of different radio
stations here and so it's it's awesome they sort of
they share the talent, they spread the wealth, and on
different shows, different radio stations, we all get a chance
to talk with members of the Reds traveling party. And

(43:23):
I always love watching. You will have people who typically
you know, sort of keep to themselves, which is, you know,
they're prerogative for the most part, that's what I do,
keep to themselves. And then suddenly you put ball players
on the building here, they are well, suddenly they are
out of their offices. They are they are were wrapping
up me. You put ball players in the studio. Suddenly

(43:44):
there are folks who typically work from home that they
find find time to come in to work here whenever
there's ball players in the building. So it's a fun day,
great day to see some folks that we typically do
not see. That coming up in just about minutes, I'll.

Speaker 4 (44:02):
Tell you, Zach.

Speaker 3 (44:03):
Zach Taylor's hired Al Golden. The Bengals made it official today.
Al Golden Bengals defensive coordinator is something that we have
suspected now for a while. I am I'm okay with this.
I'm not gonna pretend that I'm like, dude, oh man
got out Golden, like nobody feels that way. But I
also don't know how you can be opposed to this.
He has one job and I'll tell you what that

(44:23):
one job is coming up in uh at five h five.
How about that, Zach Taylor got his guy awesome, like, terrific, Zach,
this is the guy you wanted to hire. This is
the guy that you thought, you know, I might hire
a couple of years ago if lou Anaruma becomes a
head coach somewhere. Zach gets his guy great, awesome, awesome.

(44:44):
My guess is Zach is not going to be given
a chance to hire another defensive coordinator if Al Golden
doesn't work out. This is a big hire for Zach Taylor.
Like we talk about hot seat right like, Zach, seat's
gonna be a little bit warm going into twenty twenty five.

Speaker 4 (44:57):
And I believe that to be the case.

Speaker 3 (45:00):
I don't know if that comes with a certain you know,
mandate win ten games, or win the division, or make
the playoffs or advance in the postseason. But I do
think it's going to be interesting if we are talking
about the Bengals at the end of the year and
they have a losing record or they're not going to
be making the playoffs. I think the conversations about Zach
Taylor are going to be a lot different than they

(45:21):
have been at any point during his tenures. So this
is a big year, which means the thing that Zach,
the things that Zach Taylor does to impact winning, to
hopefully impact winning.

Speaker 7 (45:32):
His.

Speaker 3 (45:34):
Have his career on them, so to speak, Like, all right, Zach,
the defense has to get fixed. Who do you want
to be your defensive coordinator? Better make sure they fix
the defense. Zach's got a lot riding on Al Golden,
He's got a lot riding on Duke tobin Io. And
you know, as last season unfolded, we wondered, is this

(45:57):
going to cost lou Ana Arumo his job? Like that
was the thing we've talked about a lot. And then
as the Bengals started to play better down the stretch,
and the defense started to play better. A lot of
us wondered have they done enough defensively to save lou
Ana Rumo's job.

Speaker 4 (46:15):
What I don't really recall was there being.

Speaker 3 (46:18):
That many conversations about how lou An Arumo is the
reason why this has gone south. I don't and maybe
I missed out, maybe my memory is bad. I don't
recall many looking at lou Ana Arumo's schemes, strategies, or
his personnel usage as the main reason why the Bengals lost. Now,

(46:42):
there were some things from a coaching perspective that drove
us nuts. Most notably for me at least, the home
game against the Steelers. Pittsburgh's trying to ice the game.
Bengals have come back. Can they get the Steelers off
the field? Force a punt? Here comes justin Fields? Sixty
five thousand people, which, let's be honest, by that stage,

(47:02):
there might have been forty five thousand people in the stands.
Are all everybody knows what Justin Fields is gonna do.
Lu Aromo's defense couldn't stop it. But when we talked
about the defense this year, for the most part, and
there were exceptions, it was less about coaching and more
about personnel. How many times did we say or talk

(47:23):
this season about how you know, they just don't look
like they have anybody to build around. Trey Hendrickson's great,
having a great year. Who else? Who else do you
build around? Who else do you scheme against? If you're
an opposing offensive coordinator. Who are the difference makers? Who
are the building blocks? Who are the cornerstones?

Speaker 4 (47:40):
Now?

Speaker 3 (47:41):
I think as the season ended, you started to see
some nice flashes from some of the younger players. I
think Chris Jenkins has a chance to be a building block.
Building block doesn't mean star, but a building block. And
McKinley Jackson, I think has a chance to be a
building block. And I'm not yet punning on some of
the young DB's they have. I think there's some upside there.

(48:03):
But as you watch the season unfold, it was to
me and I think for most of us, it was
more about the personnel. It was more about the players
Duke Tobin picked in free agency like Sheldon Rankins, like
Geno Stone, and in the draft like Miles Murphy, and
like a whole slew of others. So Zach Taylor gets
his guy. Now, the question is can Duke Tobin get

(48:27):
his Who are his guys? Who are they going to be?
Who are they going to be among players who could
leave because you cut them like a Gino stone. Who
are they gonna be? Among players you acquire from outside?
Who are they going to be? To replace players who
have been mainstays? We could talk about, you know, maybe
it's time to move on from Sam Hubbard. I'm fine
with that. Who you're gonna get that's better? How are

(48:49):
you gonna replace him?

Speaker 4 (48:51):
Right?

Speaker 3 (48:52):
If you end up trading Trey Hendrickson this offseason, cool,
where are you making up for what that guy does
for you? You're one really good defensive players for the Defensive
Player of the Year award. The out Golden conversation is
fine and interesting and we spend a lot of time
on it. And he'll have his press conference on Monday,
And I mean, he's a significant figuring. He's a big

(49:12):
hire for Zach Taylor. But Zach Taylor's job if he
is kind of twisting in the wind and on the
hot seat and the defense has to get better, all right, Duke,
go help Zach out by having a productive offseason remaking
this defense. And it is a remake. It is an overhaul.

(49:32):
I don't care about the scheme so much. I'm looking
for players who are the players. Are they gonna have
a better draft when it comes to drafting players who
can help the defense instantly, because that has not happened.
It didn't happen with Miles Murphy, didn't happen with Dax Hill,
and no guarantee. Obviously they're gonna take a defensive player
in the first round. But they're gonna be drafting defensive

(49:53):
players if they're active in free agency, which we expect
them to be, not unloading an ungodly amount of money,
not out suspending everybody, not being the team that's talked
about most after the first day or two. But I
still have cash to spend, can have even more if
they cut some guys. How do they spend that money
they whift in free agency on defense? Last year, Gino

(50:14):
Stone was no good. Sheldon Rankins was a disaster. You
can't have disasters next season. You can't have draft picks
that don't step in and help immediately. They're no longer
in a position where you could draft a guy and
stash him and let him have a quote red shirt year.
Any dudes who can step in and help now. Now,
Al Golden and his ability to work with younger players

(50:35):
certainly could help them get a lot out of younger
players instantly. But we talk a lot about this is
the year for Zach Taylor. He's on the hot seat.
Cool with that, this is the offseason that for me,
Duke Tobin's on the hot seat. All right, big boy,
you've got your quarterback. You're gonna do what you do
with the offensive side of the ball. You've had back
to back rosters that were not good enough to make

(50:57):
the postseason. My guy, Hey, uh, go upgrade the offensive line,
go overhaul the defense. And we're not waiting till twenty
twenty seven for that to happen. Zach Taylor got his guy.
Can Duke Tobin get Zach and Al Golden?

Speaker 4 (51:14):
Some guys?

Speaker 3 (51:15):
That's what I want to know, And we're not gonna
get that answer today. Sixteen after four, our phone numbers
are five one, three, seven, four nine, fifteen thirty and
eight sixty six seven oh two three seven seven six.

Speaker 4 (51:28):
College football made.

Speaker 3 (51:30):
I think a bit of a trade off, and I
think it was a good trade. I'll tell you what
that trade is. We'll take some phone call phone calls,
phone calls, phone calls, and ballplayers in studio coming up
in just about fifteen minutes on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati
Sports Station. Cincinnati's e clarification, there is no website Cincinnatis

(51:52):
ESPN dot com.

Speaker 4 (51:54):
Now you can.

Speaker 3 (51:54):
You can go to Cincinnati ESPN dot com and that
takes you to our website. But there is no Cincinnatis
et com. The official website is ESPN fifteen thirty dot com.

Speaker 4 (52:03):
Thank you. Let's see. Let's see.

Speaker 3 (52:10):
We didn't get a chance to talk about Dan Hurley
yesterday throwing another temper tantrum. Look, man, I think this
is an inarguable part of sports. There is nothing more
fun than watching a grown man throw a temper tantrum.
I used to say this about David Bell, Say which
one about David as a manager. Maybe you didn't like him,
maybe you did like him, whatever, But when he would

(52:31):
get ejected, he got his money's worth, and it was
always fun because it's fun to watch her grown man
act like a four year old. And so Dan Hurley,
you know, there aren't as many college basketball coaches who
act like whiney brat children on the sideline anymore. Decorum
has changed a little bit, but you still get you know,
some mccronin a couple of weeks ago against Maryland chose

(52:52):
to get kicked out. And so he says he chose
to get kicked out, and I believe him. He got
kicked out, but prior to him getting kicked out, he
had like a sixty second temper tantrum that did not
earn him a technical foul, and then he still went
on to go get kicked out.

Speaker 4 (53:05):
Dan Hurley the other night throw a.

Speaker 3 (53:07):
Temper tantrum too, watching grown men throw to and that's
what they are, dude. People got mad at me when
I said that about David Bellway throw a temper tantrum
last night, Like, if your five year old does that,
you call it a temper tantrum. If a fifty one
year old does that, it's not a temper tantrum. It's
a temper tantrum. And it's fun to watch grown men
throw temper tantrums. We had a larger segment based on

(53:30):
that particular point yesterday. More of your phone calls are
coming up. Mike is here. Hi Mike, You're on ESPN
fifteen thirty.

Speaker 4 (53:37):
What's up?

Speaker 12 (53:40):
Hey?

Speaker 13 (53:40):
Well, thank you very much for putting me on early.
It's wonderful. You're a good man. I try, How's how
how cold? I'm not trying to be a smart ass.
Is if we're still real cold back at home?

Speaker 3 (53:53):
It's it's still really cold right now, as I well,
it's not as cold. It's a tropical thirty two degrees.
It's not as cold as it has been. It's about
to warm up and we might hit thirty eight thirty
nine on Saturday, Mike, so I might get the shorts out.

Speaker 13 (54:10):
Because I know you are a warm weather man through
and through.

Speaker 3 (54:14):
I can't wait. I can't wait for warmer weather. I
can't wait to go to Arizona in five weeks for
spring training.

Speaker 4 (54:19):
I cannot wait.

Speaker 3 (54:21):
A warmer weather cannot get here soon enough. The older
I have gotten, the more I detest cold weather.

Speaker 13 (54:27):
Yeah, and the older, and then as you get older,
it gets worse and worse and worse.

Speaker 4 (54:33):
Excuse your patient, Like you said, U.

Speaker 13 (54:36):
S kinetics commercials live you know, get these things done
and live your life the way you want to live
your life. Same thing.

Speaker 3 (54:43):
I am legitimately exploring whether or not I could do
this show from Key West, Oh. Put my daughter in
school down there and just say the heck with it.
I'm going to talk about the Reds and Bengals and
Bearcats and Muskies and FC Cincinnati.

Speaker 4 (54:58):
I'm going to talk about them from Key West.

Speaker 3 (55:00):
First of all, I wonder, I wonder if anybody in
this building would even notice.

Speaker 4 (55:07):
Uh yeah, we'll see.

Speaker 13 (55:09):
But that's a cool Is that feasible? I mean, is
that totally inst I'm curious.

Speaker 3 (55:15):
It's technically feasible. Realistically it's not. I also haven't run
that plan past my wife, so I got to see
what she says. But that's that's my wish. Yes, I
like to do this show from Key West.

Speaker 4 (55:26):
That would be nice.

Speaker 13 (55:26):
That's so cool, what a great idea. Hey, you're talking
about these tantrums. I'll never forget when I was real
little boy, that Leo Durocher he was, he made a
fool out of himself. And Billy Martin. You know about
Billy Man back in the day.

Speaker 3 (55:40):
You know, you get Billy Martin, Leo de Rocher, Earl Weaver. Uh,
you know, just these these guys that would Tommy Lesorda.

Speaker 4 (55:50):
You know we have Panello throwing a base.

Speaker 3 (55:54):
Yeah, you know, we don't get as much of that anymore,
and large part we don't get as much of that
because the stuff that man would get mad about, you know,
it gets confirmed via replay, right, so there's not as
many calls to argue because we have replay. But yeah,
David Bell, David Bell owns the franchises record for most ejections,
and well, I'm certainly okay with them replacing him with

(56:15):
Terry Francona. I do wish the Reds would have commemorated
that milestone by doing.

Speaker 4 (56:19):
Something for David.

Speaker 3 (56:20):
Maybe maybe if he comes back in some capacity, they
can do that.

Speaker 13 (56:24):
Yeah, I think that would be I'm with you. I
think it would be fun. You like controversial, You like chaos,
so that that's right up.

Speaker 3 (56:30):
You're I like chaos and I like I like entertainment.
Those are my two things.

Speaker 2 (56:35):
I know.

Speaker 13 (56:36):
I got two more quickies. Yeah, the Dodgers, now with
the signing of Tanner Scott and Kirby Yates, what when
is this going to stop? They're they're one hundred million
over the luxury text. But I mean it, they're they're
within the rules right though.

Speaker 3 (56:55):
They're not doing anything they're not allowed to do. I
mean that they they have a they have a financial advantage.
So you can complain about the rules, and that's fair,
and you could hope that baseball owners do something about
it in conjunction with the players, that's fair. But the
team using the resources available to them, I have no
issue whatsoever.

Speaker 4 (57:16):
None.

Speaker 3 (57:17):
I talked about I talked about this with regards to
Ohio State football, like, well, they bought a title, twenty
million dollars payroll, twenty million dollar roster, so what the
rules that you can do it?

Speaker 4 (57:28):
Do it and they did it better than anybody else.

Speaker 3 (57:30):
I do not blame the LA Dodgers at all for
for doing what they what they are allowed to do.

Speaker 13 (57:41):
How does your pick? How does your I'm a little confused.
I heard somebody commentate on this the other day, and
I got a little confused. They said, the higher your
payroll is that ultimately the less you'll pay in luxury
text because you understand that stuff. Do I have that wrong?
How does that work luxury text versus your your Well.

Speaker 3 (58:02):
So, for they set the threshold at a certain dollar amount,
which this year I think is like two hundred and
forty million dollars if you exceed that, So let's say
that the Reds spent over two hundred and forty million dollars,
they would have to pay a tax, a twenty percent
tax on what they go over. Right, So let's say

(58:24):
they want a million dollars over they would have to
pay twenty percent of that, right, and then it goes
up every year. So the Dodgers correct me if I'm wrong, Mike.
They went over it last year and the year before. Yeah,
so this is the third year.

Speaker 4 (58:41):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (58:41):
So the way it works is the first year it's
a twenty percent tax, the second year it's a thirty
percent tax, and the third year it's a fifty fifty
percent tax, and it's fifty percent every subsequent year. So
a lot of teams use it as a hard cap.
The Dodgers do not, And good for them. I mean

(59:02):
they're willing to pay the tax. And the I think
in twenty six it's going to go up to like
two hundred and forty five mil. Like it'll go up
next year. But every every dollar you spend over that amount,
the first year, you got to pay a twenty percent tax,
and it goes up. Now if you one year, Let's
say the Dodgers next season were to go below the threshold,

(59:23):
and then the following year, they would start fresh at
twenty percent.

Speaker 4 (59:27):
Does that make sense?

Speaker 13 (59:29):
Yeah, it does. So it's a it's a progressive tax.

Speaker 4 (59:32):
Then, uh, it's a progressive tax.

Speaker 3 (59:35):
And there's also like a fee that you pay if
you go if you exceed the threshold by like twenty
million bucks. So the threshold, the threshold in twenty twenty five,
I think is two forty, and I could be a
little bit off on that, but let's say it's two forty.
If they exceed two sixty, they have to pay an
additional search charge on top of the twenty percent tax.

(59:57):
So baseball is heavily. I mean, they're taxing teams for
going over this certain amount. But you're allowed to do it,
and the Dodgers have said, fun, We're gonna go ahead
and do it. And I have no problem with that whatsoever.

Speaker 13 (01:00:11):
So it's all a matter of whether you can afford
to pay that luxury tax and be comfortable with it,
otherwise you don't do it.

Speaker 4 (01:00:16):
Yeah. Yeah, and I think I actually might have misspoke.

Speaker 3 (01:00:19):
I think what they do is if you go over,
if you go over it by twenty mil like, there's
another there's an additional like twelve or fifteen percent surcharge.
And then if you go over it by forty to
sixty mil, they charge you even like, they keep taxing
you more the.

Speaker 4 (01:00:34):
More you spend.

Speaker 3 (01:00:36):
Okay, and so again, the Dodgers and the Padres have
done it recently, they're not doing it now, and the
Mets have too.

Speaker 4 (01:00:43):
I believe.

Speaker 3 (01:00:44):
But only a handful of teams have exceeded the threshold.
Most do not, obviously, And again, the Dodgers have chosen
to do so. And fine, I don't blame the Dodgers.
I don't resent them for doing what they can do.
If I was a Dodgers fan, I would want them
to do everything they can do. I would want them
to spend. If I was a fan of a big
market team, I've seen the Boston Red Sox in recent

(01:01:05):
years plead poverty, give me a break. Same for the
New York Yankees. We don't want to go over the threshold.
We'll go over it, I mean, as a fan, go
over it so until the system changes, which I am
not led to believe it ever really will. I have
no problem with the teams that exploit the advantages that
they get.

Speaker 13 (01:01:24):
Well, that's you know what I like about your opinion
is it's objective and you don't have to get personal
about people get all pissy about some of these things
and it's just not fair and it's horrible and blah
blah blah blah. You know, it's not against the laws,
so it evidently is plausible.

Speaker 3 (01:01:40):
So Mike, I don't resent rich people for building really
nice houses. I don't resent rich people for driving really
nice cars. I resent snobbery. I resent people who have
a lot of money who think they're better because they
have more money. I don't resent rich people for buying
nice stuff, having nice things, and spending their money the

(01:02:00):
way they choose. I don't resent Major League Baseball teams
that have a lot of money that are allowed to
spend it. Who do I don't resent. I don't resent
anybody for using rules to their advantage.

Speaker 4 (01:02:13):
The Dodgers are doing that.

Speaker 3 (01:02:15):
If the rules change, you know, it'll love the playing
field perhaps, But I don't resent clubs like the Dodgers
for doing what they're allowed to do.

Speaker 13 (01:02:23):
Awesome, you see, that's a good explanation. I hope somebody
else didn't fall asleep and got something out of that
if they were staying attention.

Speaker 4 (01:02:31):
But they probably may have put sleep.

Speaker 13 (01:02:33):
I helpe not but I got a quickie on this Washington,
and I'm going to call them the commodores. I can't
call them the commanders. It just doesn't come out. I
call them the commodorees. It must be my Navy background,
but this zach Ernst. I heard an interview with the
veteran tight end zach Ernst ernstace his twelfth year. He
said his opportunity to play with Jalen this year has

(01:02:55):
reinvigorated his desire to keep playing. He was going to retire,
but he said he's been so much fun playing with
this kid that he's going to try to play a
couple more years. And he's actually a very effective tight
end when he gets the football. So I'm wondering if
he can make a difference in this game.

Speaker 4 (01:03:11):
Sunday Mood, Well, he definitely can.

Speaker 3 (01:03:13):
In fact, that's one of my wagers, zach Ertz anytime touchdown.

Speaker 4 (01:03:17):
I think.

Speaker 3 (01:03:17):
You know, he had a couple of years in Philadelphia,
had a year in twenty seventeen or eighteen where he
had well over one hundred catches, you know, close to
twelve hundred yards and hasn't come close to that production.
And then this year had his highest receiving amount total
since twenty nineteen and the most yards.

Speaker 4 (01:03:35):
He had since twenty nineteen as well.

Speaker 3 (01:03:36):
So he has found a great and by the way,
Jaydon Daniels has also turned Terry McLaurin into a star,
who was one of these receivers that kind of toiled
relatively anonymously on a team that wasn't very good and
didn't have very good quarterbacks. And now Terry McLaurin has
become a star as well. It's interesting what playing with
a great QB does, and Jayde Daniels is ascending to

(01:03:59):
that level.

Speaker 4 (01:04:00):
I got a run man, Thank you, Thanks bel if
you have.

Speaker 3 (01:04:03):
Said to yourself over the last couple of hours, got
I would love to hear an interview with Camcollier and
Chase Burns and Emilia Pegan. It's been a couple of
hours since I've heard one of those. Well, good luck,
We've got him in studio.

Speaker 6 (01:04:15):
Next Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty Traffic.

Speaker 7 (01:04:22):
From the UCE Health Traffic Center at u See Health,
you'll find comprehensive care that's so personal it makes your
best tomorrow possible. That's boundless care for better outcomes. Expect
more at ucehealth dot com. Accident now cleared away southbound
seventy five at Western Avenue. Still a little bit of
stop and go traffic back from the Western Hills Viaduct,

(01:04:44):
looking at a two minute delay on Main Street. Another accident,
this one between Brooklyn Drive and Castlebury Court. I'm at
ezelic with traffic.

Speaker 4 (01:04:53):
This report is sponsored by Rapid.

Speaker 3 (01:04:54):
Montana is doing if it means I never have to
hear Joe Montana again. It is twenty two from five o'clock.
This is ESPN fifteen thirty. The Reds caravan has stopped here.
Ballplayers in studio, ballplayers live and in person, ballplayers and
three good ones. Chase Burns with us. Has yet to

(01:05:16):
pitch professionally for the Reds, but boy, a lot of
upside for this guy. First round pick number two overall
twenty twenty four draft out of Wake Forest.

Speaker 4 (01:05:25):
He is with us in studio.

Speaker 3 (01:05:26):
The Futures Game MVP from last summer still just twenty
years old. Cam Collier is here and the old head
the established vet Emelio Pagan.

Speaker 4 (01:05:36):
It is awesome to have you guys in studio. Thank
you for joining us. How are you doing great? Thanks
for having us in gad to be here. Thank you
very good. Hi Emelia, I'm starting with you.

Speaker 3 (01:05:46):
So last year was kind of tough because it felt
like you were throwing the ball really really well, right
kind of toward the end of May early June.

Speaker 4 (01:05:54):
Then the injury. You've got to come back.

Speaker 3 (01:05:56):
I've got to think for any player, you're looking for
good health, but more than anything, you just want to
get through a full season. And if we see what
we saw in glimpses last year, that's going to be
a major asset for this team.

Speaker 4 (01:06:05):
Yeah, it was super frustrating, man.

Speaker 14 (01:06:06):
You know, I had the off season surgery and so
I didn't really get to prepare my body for the season,
and so it was a kind of a slow start.
You know, the numbers were kind of there, but I
didn't think my my stuff was quite there yet. And then,
like you alluded to, I started hitting my stride there
at the end of May, and you know, really that
West Coast trip out to La and Arizona and San France,

(01:06:28):
I started to really feel like myself. And then you know,
unfortunately my life kind of gave out on me there
in La, which I truly think is just because I
wasn't physically prepared for the season the way I normally am,
and so I was really excited to get back. I
tried to get back as fast as I could last year,
and basically felt the same thing right when I first

(01:06:49):
came off the io the first time and went back
and had another MRI and it looked, you know, worse
than it did the first time, So you know, probably
had to swallow the pride a little bit and realized,
I need to really make sure this thing's right before
I get back. And so felt great again when I
came back the second time. But yeah, I definitely I
want to give the organization and the fans and my
teammates most importantly, a true version of who I think

(01:07:13):
I can be.

Speaker 4 (01:07:14):
And so.

Speaker 14 (01:07:16):
Off season started immediately right when I got home. Yeah,
got into getting myself back in shape, and I feel
great right now. So I'm looking forward to season.

Speaker 3 (01:07:26):
And you come back, and right when you come back,
the pitching staff kind of falls apart, and so that
had to be doubly frustrating, right.

Speaker 14 (01:07:33):
Yeah, it was tough because you know, when you come
back from injury, you're you're really not supposed to throw, uh,
you know, four or five times in a week. But
you know, that's where we were, and I felt ready,
and you know, it went. It went really well for
the first couple of weeks, and then you know, we've
talked about it enough in the last couple of days.
Like you lose the amount of arms that we lost

(01:07:55):
in a short period of time, It's it's tough for
any any pitching staff in the game to to keep
it going and keep the team on track. But we
had a lot of guys step up. Man Julian and
Aggie are threw amazing for us. Rhet Louder came up
and did awesome, and then Nick Martinez was maybe the
best pitcher in baseball the last month of the season.
And so you know, I'm excited for what we can do. Man,

(01:08:18):
I think we've got a chance to be one of
the best pitching staffs in all of baseball, not just
our division. And so you know, we got a chance
to be really special on that side of the ball.
And you know, obviously the world knows what Eli and
those guys can do offensively, so our job is just
keep runs off the board for them and then let
them go be superstars.

Speaker 3 (01:08:37):
It was it was, you know, sad, but also I
think very encouraging that despite the fact that the team
maybe didn't win as well, they didn't win as much
as any of us would like, they got really good
starting pitching and there was some really good bullpen performances
and there's a lot of youth and a lot of upside.
Is as a more established guy I won't say old, yeah,
but it's a more established guy. What is it like
when you're surrounded with you know, so much established big

(01:09:00):
league talent that's really just getting started.

Speaker 4 (01:09:02):
Yeah, it's it's difficult.

Speaker 14 (01:09:05):
You know, it's exciting on one hand because you see
what we could become and there there's a window here
where the Cincinnati Reds can really be the talk of
baseball for a long time and these two guys next
to me are going to be a huge part of that.
But on the other side, yeah, you know, like you know,
there's there were stretches where we were playing really good
ball and not winning games, and uh, you know, myself
and some of the older guys in the room, we're

(01:09:26):
trying to relay the message of you know, this is
how we're going to get to the playoffs and if
you've never done it and if you've never been through it,
you know, it's hard to understand. Well, we're not winning,
so uh, you know something needs to change. The danger
of that is you start doing stuff that or it
could be bad habits. You know, you start trying to
do too much, you know, Hitters start swinging to pictures
outside of the zone. Pitchers start trying to throw, you know, overthrow.

Speaker 4 (01:09:49):
A little bit. You walk a couple of guys.

Speaker 14 (01:09:50):
Well, if you walk the wrong guy at the wrong
time in the game, well, now you're facing the heart
of the lineup with second and third no outs, yeah,
and and their starters rolling, you know, and they're not
getting into their bullpen. And so there's little there's little
aspects of the game that you have to make sure
you're doing correctly. And if we do that, if we
just stay out of our own way and do the

(01:10:11):
little things like we're are a playoff team and make
no mistakes about it. And so it's exciting, man, it's
exciting what we can be. It's exciting for who's on
the way. Yeah, and we're all looking forward to it.

Speaker 3 (01:10:22):
So you talk about who's on the way, and who's
on the way or the two guys to your your
left cam. It's interesting, You're just twenty years old, and
yet I've been talking about you and following you now
for a few years. It's remarkable. The first Red ever,
the first Reds farm hand ever as a teenager to
hit twenty home runs in a season futures game, MVP.

Speaker 4 (01:10:42):
Let's talk about that experience. What was that like? Yeah,
it was a great experience.

Speaker 15 (01:10:46):
Had all my family there, I mean, playing in that
game with the best competition, meeting those guys and being
able to represent the Bread, represent the Reds and just
win that award. It was amazing.

Speaker 3 (01:10:58):
Do you have I mean, you want to advance through
the system as quickly as possible. You spent all last
year and date and put up really good numbers. Is
there a goal that you're hoping to achieve by the
end of the season where you go, I want to
be here or I want to have done this.

Speaker 15 (01:11:13):
You know, I never really think too much into I
want to be here because I know the team has
a plan for me and I trust them completely. But
really my plan is to just get a better as
a player, get better as a teammate, and be somebody
that I can help his organization win games In the future.

Speaker 16 (01:11:27):
All right, what is getting better as a player this year?
Look like all around, games getting better, just being more consistent.
I know I've struggled with consistency over my first two
seasons and that's something I really went to offseason and
worked on.

Speaker 3 (01:11:39):
Yeah, the Futures Game MVP, though, I mean, it's it's
a game, right, but it had to be such a boost.
Not that you're shy in confidence, but I had to
provide such a boost and confidence when you could do
something like that on that stage surrounded by all that talent.

Speaker 4 (01:11:53):
Yeah, it was pretty cool.

Speaker 2 (01:11:54):
You know.

Speaker 15 (01:11:54):
I had a lot of friends out there and being
able to do that in front of them, be able
to share that with them, it was pretty cool. And
it was really big for me and my family because
the Future Game is anybody's dream and being able to
win the MVP was amazing.

Speaker 3 (01:12:05):
When you become a professional baseball player before you're allowed
to vote, what is that like?

Speaker 4 (01:12:11):
I can't wrap my brain around that.

Speaker 15 (01:12:13):
You know, Like when I first got into it, it
was it was a lot. I came into Pro Bowl
at seventeen, Yeah, you know, away from my family for
the first time, and it took some time to get
used to, but you know, it's just baseball at the
end of the day, and you get used to it
over time.

Speaker 4 (01:12:27):
Yeah, what's the hardest part?

Speaker 15 (01:12:29):
I would just say, like being away from your family.
Like it's struggling, right, Like I had never struggled before
my life, coming from high school man, always being the
best player, always playing the best, But coming to Pro Bowl,
you're gona struggle. You gotta work on your mental and
just knowing that you're facing the best competition and these
guys are the best of the best as well, So
just getting over that humping and moving.

Speaker 3 (01:12:47):
I mean when I was seventeen years old, I was
playing baseball. I was sitting on the bench for Scott
High School in northern Kentucky, right seventeen years old, A
little bit different. It's it's remarkable when you're when you're
that young and when you're eighteen night ten years old,
you're surrounded by younger guys. But is there someone in
the organization? Is there another member of what are the
teams you've been on that you've leaned on a little bit?

Speaker 15 (01:13:09):
Yeah, Like, uh, last week training I got the opportunity
to stay with a couple older guys in an organization
for a while, and they took me another wing and
they helped me a lot, like Reese Ivan, Yes, Ivan Johnson.
Those guys really helped me a lot. They explained to
me what what I needed to do, how I need
to carry myself when I come to the field, and
it really helped me and helped me move forward.

Speaker 4 (01:13:28):
All right, Chase, walk me through.

Speaker 3 (01:13:31):
So you get drafted, and I want to talk about
that process, and then you you don't pitch in any
competitive games, wait for a season ends as late as
it did, and the plan was, you know what we're
gonna We're gonna get you started in twenty twenty five.

Speaker 4 (01:13:42):
And yet you've been invited to big league camp.

Speaker 3 (01:13:44):
What was it like just going to the last half
of the summer not pitching in competitive situations?

Speaker 10 (01:13:49):
Yeah, I'd say I'm a pretty competitive person. So as
soon as I got drafted, you know, I was eager
to be like, where am I good? Where am I going?
Where am I getting sent out to? But uh, you know,
you gotta look at it as a professional. You know,
they put a lot of time and money in me already,
so I just wanted me to develop. I guess to
spend some time in rookie ball, you know, games every day,

(01:14:10):
you know, just working on some arm care and stuff
like that. So I was there about for about three months.
I did get one live and one inning and rookie ball, yeah,
you know, just get my fee wet and stuff like that.
Then they sent me home. But I was out there
for Battery Camp and that was a cool experience to
see some more top prospects and learn about them.

Speaker 4 (01:14:30):
Then I got the call that you know.

Speaker 10 (01:14:32):
I would be going to major league camp, which is
a huge opportunity for me.

Speaker 4 (01:14:35):
So I'm really excited.

Speaker 3 (01:14:36):
Yeah, so you get the call and the number two
overall pick, and it's interesting. You know, we we talked
about the draft leading up to it, and we had
folks on the show that said, this is a no brainer,
Chase Burns college pitcher Wig Forest, this is who you want,
and so you know the call is coming.

Speaker 4 (01:14:53):
But when the call comes, what's that moment, Like, uh,
this is a real moment.

Speaker 10 (01:14:57):
I mean I remember watching Big Lee spring training games
on TV all the time, so to actually try to
be a part of one and it's huge. But also
just being around the guys, being around a lot of
older pitchers, you know, and just learning from them.

Speaker 4 (01:15:13):
Yeah.

Speaker 10 (01:15:13):
Have you talked to Emilia just Rain a little bit? Yeah,
since I've met him here, you know, I talked to him.
He's awesome, dudes.

Speaker 5 (01:15:20):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:15:21):
Yeah, So you know, it's it's sort of the same thing.

Speaker 3 (01:15:24):
You're going to go into the first year where you're
going to pitch, you know, in a regular rotation at
the professional level. Do you have like a specific goal
that you want to accomplish the I mean, you want
to get better, and you want to you want to
accumulate innings and stuff like that. But you're like, all right,
my first full season of pro ball, here's what I
want to do.

Speaker 10 (01:15:41):
Uh yeah, make an impact? Really, I mean, that's really it, honestly.
You know, the pro season is a lot different than
the college season. So I want to stay healthy, work
on things I need to work on to make an impact.

Speaker 3 (01:15:54):
Yeah, the college season is starting usually right when spring
training is starting.

Speaker 4 (01:15:58):
Is that going to be an adjustment? I don't think so. Really.

Speaker 10 (01:16:03):
You know, I think that I took the time this
off season to be ready for it, so I don't
think there'll be any huge adjustment.

Speaker 3 (01:16:10):
Yeah, how did pitching at the level that you pitched
at in college prepare you for what's next.

Speaker 4 (01:16:16):
It was huge. You know, I was at Tennessee for
my first two years.

Speaker 10 (01:16:19):
I was a Friday night starter as a freshman, so
I kind of was already thrown into the fire pretty young.
So and then this year being in the acc same
level of talent. Really, it's really two leagues that are
really good at baseball. So I think it I think
it got me ready for the big adjustment.

Speaker 3 (01:16:37):
But you have somebody that is you have worked your
way through you know, high school and various organizations and
two colleges that you've tried to sort of pattern yourself after.

Speaker 10 (01:16:47):
I mean, yeah, there's definitely pitchers in the big leagues
that I try to mimic what they do, you know,
learn about, you know, how how they go about their business.
But uh, I mean right now the big ones ret
coming from wake Forest to be able to get close
to him really, So.

Speaker 4 (01:17:01):
Did you have a chance to watch him when he
got caught up last year? Because he was awesome? Yeah,
he was awest. Yeah he's he's awesome.

Speaker 10 (01:17:07):
I couldn't be happier for him, and he's been He's
been great to me.

Speaker 3 (01:17:11):
So the Reds take Hunter Green in twenty seventeen, and
we've seen what's happened with him. And one of the
first things that I noticed and just listening to him
and then eventually getting a chance to talk to him,
was look, he's uber talented, but head on his shoulders
mature beyond his years. And so when we're reading about you,
there's those comparisons. It's like, man, this guy's got the

(01:17:32):
stuff and he's going to be able to pitch, but
he's going to remind you of Hunter Green, and in
that regard, that's that's high praise now, right.

Speaker 10 (01:17:42):
I mean, he reached out to me when I got drafted,
He texted me all the time. So just to be
compared to that guy's it's huge for me.

Speaker 3 (01:17:49):
Yeah, it's a really fun time to be a Reds fan.
When you look at the collection of talent that is
coming through the system. Obviously you're just getting started. Cam
you're on your way, you're almost washed up. I don't
know what to tell you.

Speaker 4 (01:18:02):
I got I got a few good more years. Amy.
It is how many of these have you done so far?
How many? Like I mean, this is a whirlwind for
you guys.

Speaker 14 (01:18:10):
You're talking about just for the Reds Caravane, This is
day two for me.

Speaker 4 (01:18:14):
Yeah, it is a whirlwind.

Speaker 14 (01:18:15):
We've been We've been in a number of different rooms,
already met a bunch of people, forgotten a lot of names.
But you know, we're working on that and it's been
it's been a lot of fun.

Speaker 4 (01:18:25):
Spring training will start here in a couple of weeks.

Speaker 3 (01:18:28):
Do you, as an established Big league are you like
ramping up now or are you gonna take a little
time off before you go to Good Year?

Speaker 4 (01:18:34):
What's what are the coming weeks gonna look like? Man,
it's funny you asked that question.

Speaker 14 (01:18:39):
It's a it's a it's an approach I try to
take every year to show up ready for games, not
just spring training. As I've gotten older, I try to
remind myself that I don't need to be throwing you know,
mid nineties when the day one of spring training. But

(01:19:00):
it's hard, man, I still feel like a young kid.
I mean, I still get to play a kid's game
for for a living. And so I get out there
and you know, the competitive juices start flowing and the
ball I just start throwing harder and harder. So you know,
I'm trying to remind myself to to ease into it,
and not just because I'm gon established, big leader, but
because it's what's best for myself and for the team.

(01:19:22):
If I go out and start trying to throw too
hard too soon, that's how injuries happen. And so, you know,
I said it earlier. I want to give the organization
and the fans and my teammates a full season of
who I think I can be. It's I've been good
at doing that my career up to last year, and
so last year was very frustrating, and so to me,

(01:19:45):
you know, I've said it already, this guy's the limit
for this team. I really truly believe we can win
the division. And so it would be a disservice to
show up and be trying to show off or whatever.
Day one. You know, I want to go about this
the right way.

Speaker 3 (01:19:58):
Cam, What are the coming weeks look like? Take time
I'm off when you're going to good year? What's what's
going to happen between now and the start of spring training?

Speaker 15 (01:20:04):
Gonna go back home, ramp it up a little bit more,
start getting some live at bats, and then head up's
a good year.

Speaker 4 (01:20:09):
February sixth, Okay, have you have you hit off? Him yet.

Speaker 3 (01:20:12):
No, Chase, I know you're you're itching to get started anytime.

Speaker 4 (01:20:18):
What what what are the next three weeks look like
before camp begins.

Speaker 10 (01:20:22):
Yeah, kind of just be ready, game game ready as
soon as I get there. Uh, kind of a little
bit of different approach, you know. I kind of want
to be ramped up one hundred percent to be able to,
you know, show them the talents that I have. So
I'm going to wake here here soon and fine tuning
in some things and then head out to Arizona.

Speaker 4 (01:20:43):
Awesome.

Speaker 3 (01:20:43):
Great to have you guys. I appreciate you guys doing this.
I will be watching you a great American ballpark this summer.
You Cam hopefully very soon and Chase. Chase, same for you,
hopefully very very quickly. But best of luck to all
three of you. Great to have you guys in the studio.
Thank you so much, Thank you. Thank you're having us
ballplayers in studio. Emilie Opagan, Cam Collier and Chase Burns.

(01:21:04):
We thank the Reds for providing them during Red's Caravan week.
We are way late tearing my apologies. Six away from
five on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 6 (01:21:14):
Station, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty traffic.

Speaker 7 (01:21:20):
From the UC Health Traffic Center. At u see Health,
you'll find comprehensive care that's so personal it makes your
best tomorrow possible. That's boundless care for better outcomes. Expect
more at ucehealth dot com. Southbound seventy five at Western Avenue,
two right lanes are blocked from an accident. Traffic their
stop and go from the Western Hills via dout. Keep

(01:21:42):
an eye out for watermin work eastbound on Beachmont Avenue
that is between Wilmer Avenue and Batavia Road. On at
Ezak with traffic.

Speaker 1 (01:21:51):
To win one thousand dollars, I entered this nation work
on our website. Bills PILM bill, not Center Hills Bill.

Speaker 4 (01:21:59):
No one covers the.

Speaker 2 (01:22:00):
Bills like esp Waiting for the bills Cincinnati Bill Sports Station.

Speaker 3 (01:22:09):
I don't know what's wrong with me. Hi, I'm oegar.
This is ESPN fifteen thirty. You're listening to our show,
and I can't thank you enough for doing that. I
got pole questions, I got pole questions. Bengals have a
new defensive coordinator, Al Golden. One of the pole questions
is about Al Golden. Pole questions on this show are

(01:22:30):
a service of our friends that United Heartland Insurance. My
friends at United Heartland Insurance, you know the average insurance
renewal has increased twenty to fifty percent. If your business
has more than five commercial fleet vehicles, save money.

Speaker 4 (01:22:47):
Contact my guy, John.

Speaker 3 (01:22:48):
Turner, the Commercial Fleet expert at United Heartland Insurance, by
going to uhi ns dot com. Al Golden vote now
on x at Moeger thumbs up, thumbs down most of you,
the overwhelming majority of you say thumbs up. I'm on
board as well. The other is a college basketball question.
So Xavier lost a tough one last night. I'm putting

(01:23:11):
it mildly tough one because of the result, tough one
because of how well they were playing and the sixteen
point lead they built. Tough one because of the role
of officiating. And I think Xavier's gotten a really tough
whistle this year. I'm not the guy who complains or
talks that much about officiating, because if you did that
for every game played, that's all you would talk about.

(01:23:31):
But I do think the Musketeers have gotten a tough
whistle this year, and they certainly did last night, missing
Jerome Hunter, missing the front end of a one and
one doesn't help.

Speaker 4 (01:23:40):
No, bench help doesn't help.

Speaker 3 (01:23:43):
But they got a tough whistle last night, and also
frustrating and tough one because of the Dayalen swain injury.
The good news is the X rays of his ankle
were negative and so we'll see if he is available
on Saturday when the Musketeers host Yukon, will see how
effective he is is. Sean Miller talked after the game
about the lack of bench help in the game and

(01:24:05):
how it unfolded. But if you hold a press conference,
if you're a coach, and the recording of the press
conference is just lost to the ether, does the press
conference actually happen? We would love to play some of
Sean Miller's post game press conference audio, love to, but

(01:24:30):
those who recorded it, either at Saint John's University or
in the Big East or at Xavier University have decided no,
We're just We're just we're gonna pretend that didn't happen.
So we have a pole question about that. It's one
that Tony asked me before our show. If you had
to wager on either UC or ex you to make

(01:24:50):
the NCAA tournament, which side are you putting your money on?
I'll be honest with you, I would feel comfortable right
now about either. But I do think the loss itself
being as frustrating as it was. If you're a Xavier fan,
you looked at the two games on the road and said,
get one, come back, I gotta beat Yukon.

Speaker 4 (01:25:09):
But they played well against Yukon.

Speaker 3 (01:25:11):
Dante Maddox was awesome in that game, and again the
Daylan Swayne injury is going to go a long way
toward determining how ready they are to beat Yukon. But
all right, split those two on the road. They got
the one against Marquette. This is a team that is
playing better. They're defending better, they're rebounding better. The Saint
John's matchup is just a tough one for XU. The

(01:25:32):
Bearcats are doing some things better offensively, they're executing better.
They certainly did against Texas Tech. But there is a
measure of inconsistency and unreliability there that if I had
to bet on one or the other right now, probably
put my coin on XU. The other is about the
big concert announcement today, So on September twentieth, at the
venue originally known as Paul Brown Stadium, we're gonna have

(01:25:54):
Billy Joel and Rod Stewart. I have a poll question
about the pole questions really about our colleague Goston Elmore
and his lack of knowledge about Rod Stewart. Vote on
that one and we'll address that a little bit later
on Al Golden is the a new defensive coordinator. They
will officially introduce him or I guess reintroduce him on Monday.
He has one job. You might go, well, yeah, he's

(01:26:17):
going to fix the defense. He has one job. So
today Joe Burrow was named an MVP finalist. There are
five finalists. Now, let's face it, Joe is probably not
going to win the award, but he has won a
five finalists and you're not a finalist if you didn't
have an awesome season. And Joe had an awesome season.
It's a regular season award. Obviously, he's a finalist along

(01:26:39):
with Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, Jared Goff, and Saquon Barkley. Now,
the other four players played in the postseason. Josh Allen
is obviously still alive. His team is still alive, and
so is Saquon Barkley's. But Joe is a finalist, so
you can say he had an MVP caliber season, just
as he did in twenty twenty two, he was an

(01:27:00):
MVP finalist.

Speaker 4 (01:27:01):
Then again, he's probably not gonna win the award.

Speaker 3 (01:27:03):
He is also a finalist for the Offensive Player of
the Year award, so is Jamar Chase. Joe is also
a finalist for Comeback Player of the Year. This is
an award that he has won before. And Trey Hendrickson,
by the way, a finalist for a Defensive Player of
the Year. I don't know if any of these guys

(01:27:23):
are gonna win any hardware, but pretty good, pretty cool,
pretty awesome for them. The task for Al Golden is
to ensure that your team doesn't have these superlative seasons
by individual players and you're not playing in the playoffs.
Like you could say whatever you want about Lamar Jackson
and Jared Goff, their teams flamed out early Detroit. I

(01:27:45):
would say it was a flame out. Baltimore just lost
a really good game after winning one. But they were there.
They were in the dance, they had a chance. They
were there. They were in the postseason, they won divisions,
had home playoff games.

Speaker 4 (01:27:57):
They were there in the regular season.

Speaker 3 (01:27:59):
Joe didn't even get a chance, didn't even get an invitation.
Didn't get a chance. Why in large part because the
team's defense stunk.

Speaker 4 (01:28:08):
So there it is.

Speaker 3 (01:28:09):
Hey, Al, if our quarterback plays in an MVP level,
we can at least make the playoffs, right, Yeah, sure, cool?
Build us a league average defense. That's the great thing
about this job. It would be awesome if if Al
Golden stepped in and suddenly the Bengals had like the
best defense in the NFL, wouldn't it Probably not gonna happen,

(01:28:32):
doesn't need to happen. Like the bar here is not
very high. It's why we talked about this job being
I think so desirable. Wait a minute, I go in
and the quarterback every week is going to hang a
bunch of points on the other team. I just have
to make sure we don't waste it. Okay, I can
do that. So there's the goal. There's the task. By
the way, if they fail, if we are doing this

(01:28:55):
in a year, and I do not think we will be,
but if we are doing this in a year and
we're talking about Joe being an MVP finalist and even
Jamar being an Offensive Player of the Year finalist, and heck,
Joe being an Offensive Player of the Year finalist and
Trey being a Defensive Player of the Year finalist. It
is conceivable, not likely, of course, that you're gonna have

(01:29:15):
the MVP Offensive Player of the Year and Defensive Player
of the Year on the same team and they didn't
even make the playoffs. Is the defense the only reason?
Of course not? Is it the primary reason for my money?

Speaker 4 (01:29:27):
Yes?

Speaker 3 (01:29:28):
Hey, al, let's make sure if we get greatness from
these individuals, your side doesn't screw it up.

Speaker 4 (01:29:36):
And if it does, guess what next?

Speaker 3 (01:29:39):
Next defensive coordinator, probably next head coach. That's it, Al,
we have an MVP playing quarterback. There are no questions,
there's We do not doubt anything about this guy. If
we even had a league average defense this year, Joe
might win the award. We talked about this a lot

(01:30:01):
towards the end of the season. Then, if you're Joe Burrow,
you're like, cool, how many more times is my team
and my organization gonna cost me MVP awards?

Speaker 4 (01:30:10):
Joe still may not have won it.

Speaker 3 (01:30:12):
A vote for Lamar Jackson is a fair one, and
a vote for Saquon Barkley is a fair Well. You
vote for any of these guys and it's gonna make sense.
But we know going in, Joe has probably no chance
of winning the award. Why do we know that because
lou Enorumo's defense stunk. Hey, al, make sure you don't
cost your quarterback and MVP like we could talk about

(01:30:36):
winning championships, winning super Bowls. Start with that. Let's make
sure the quarterback of the team, if he has an
MVP caliber season, it can actually be an MVP season.
The way to do that is to have a defense
that's not atrocious. Have a league average defense. Joe can
win MVPs. The Bengals can win a lot more games.

(01:31:02):
Quarter after five five point three, seven, four nine, fifteen
thirty is our phone number. I have long wondered this
about us as sports fans. Why we care about ratings like?
I feel like that's something that we as sports fans
obsess over. I'm a big NBA fan. When NBA ratings
have dipped, I've had ratings dip. Who do you think, like,

(01:31:24):
I don't care. I care about ratings for one thing,
and barely that. Okay, So the College Wall Playoff championship
game ratings went down I guess three million dollars from
last year. The Michigan Washington game, and so lots of

(01:31:45):
theories out there about why and what college football can do.
And I'd like to see the game move to a Thursday.
Thursday's a more fun night. But I also, you know,
you understand that you're playing neutral site games. The two
semifinal games were on a Thursday and a Friday, Like
you do have to let people figure out how they're

(01:32:05):
going to get to those games if you're gonna have
neutral site games. But college football made a trade, and
it was a great trade, and the history of sports trades,
I think it's one of the best. We'll talk about
the trade more on Al Golden and some red stuff
as well on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 6 (01:32:23):
Station Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty. Traffic from the UC Health
Traffic Center.

Speaker 7 (01:32:31):
At uce Health, you'll find comprehensive care that's so personal
it makes your best tomorrow possible. That's boundless care for
better outcomes. Expect more at ucehealth dot com. Northbound Deliberty Fairfield.
It's a broken watermin after Route four. Use caution starting
to see traffic back up from before Milliken Road. It's

(01:32:52):
construction eastbound on Columbia Parkway between Red Bank and Waterson Road.
Traffic is moving slow. I'm at ezak with traffic.

Speaker 4 (01:33:01):
Yeah, twenty one after five o'clock.

Speaker 3 (01:33:04):
This is ESPN fifteen thirty more Eggram, Thank you for
listening today. A reminder we're back tomorrow because the Bengal
season's been over for a couple of weeks, so we
have a Friday show. And where are looking We we
at least I am looking forward to it after since
E three sixty tomorrow, which obviously airs from noon to three.

(01:33:26):
More on Al Golden, the overwhelming majority of say thumbs up,
thumbs up, And like Al Golden was, he did a
good job at Temple as the head coach, and he
was kind of a mess at Miami, and there were
some things I think kind of beyond his control that
I couldn't care less about. What about what kind of
job that he did as the head coach at any

(01:33:47):
one of those institutions. I care about, how has he
served in the role that he's being asked to serve
and does he kind of fit the profile of the
sort of guy you're looking for a few of the Bengals,
And it feels like, for the most part, the answer
is Yes, the College Football Playoff National title game on Monday,
which Ohio State fans are obviously and deservedly still celebrating,

(01:34:11):
had a double digit drop in viewers from last year. Now,
it was the most watched college football game of the
season this year, but it averaged twenty two point one
million viewers. It was the third lowest audience of the
eleven college football Playoff title games, all three occurring in

(01:34:32):
the past year. So the ratings were down down from
last year, down from last year's game between Michigan and Washington.
Number One, I don't know why anybody really cares, but
I've seen a lot of folks writing about this and
talking about this today, and you know, what can they do?

(01:34:53):
I think there's a couple of things here. Number One,
Monday night has historically been viewed as like a really
good tea night. And yeah, we have Monday night football,
and we have the college basketball National Championship game on
a Monday. But like as events go, the closer you
are to the weekend, like going in or during the weekend,

(01:35:14):
I think the better. Like I would love to see
that game from a TV perspective somehow on a Thursday.
I also think there's this man like, I'm a hardcore
football fan, you're a hardcore football fan. I'm watching playoff games.
So this year we were blessed with a bracket that
gave us eleven games, eleven college football playoff games that

(01:35:38):
ran concurrent to the end of the NFL regular season,
and then you know, we're jumbled in with and expanded
NFL playoff for the first weekend gave us six games,
and then this weekend fo So that's a lot like
if you follow college and pro football, and you know,
let's face it, it feels like most people in the country
follow pro football. So in the NFL, with the expanded postseason,

(01:36:00):
fourteen teams thirteen games, so we have twenty four college
and pro playoff games. There is sort of dilution there,
and I do think for a lot of folks, especially
by the time you get to a Monday, there's a
little football fatigue. Now, maybe not for you and not
for me. Although the more we do the two versus

(01:36:25):
seven in the NFL, the sillier it sort of is.
But it's also kind of cool to have six NFL
playoff games, including one on a Monday. But I do
wonder like at the end of a weekend like this.
This weekend in the NFL had four entertaining games. Washington
Detroit really wasn't a great game, but it was certainly
an entertaining one, and I think the other three were,
you know, Baltimore and Buffalo was a really good game,

(01:36:47):
and Philadelphia, LA was a good game.

Speaker 4 (01:36:49):
And we could debate how good Kansas City and Houston was.

Speaker 3 (01:36:53):
But I think for a lot of more casual fans,
there's like, all right, I've got my football fix, now what.
And the more games you have, the more that you're
you're gonna have. But I think as a general rule,
like you could you can make the argument the game
should be on a different TV night. College football made
I think a really good trade here. So maybe by

(01:37:16):
the time we get to the playoff there's some fatigue.
Like think college basketball, everybody I know is gung ho
for the first round. By the time we get to
the final four, I feel like not as many people
that I know are paying attention. It's like, yeah, okay,
I think the longer a postseason goes, the more likely
it is.

Speaker 4 (01:37:35):
I kind of feel this way about the baseball playoffs.

Speaker 3 (01:37:37):
I feel like there's more engagement early in the baseball
playoffs than there is with the World Series. Like you
have folks who are all in on postseason baseball and
then all right, I've got my fix. I'm good. There's
other stuff going on. Any kind of tune out the
World Series. College football is an entity. I would welcome
that trade as an entity, not just the playoff, but

(01:37:59):
an end because the objective of the college football Playoff,
beyond making its broadcast partners and conferences in schools a
lot of money, and I know I've used this verbage before,
is to make everybody feel like they're invited to the party.
And even if you love college football, I think you
would acknowledge that for much of its history, it really

(01:38:21):
didn't feel like most people were invited to the party.
You know, even fans of schools in large conferences not
really invited to the party. Now it kind of feels
like everybody is invited to the party. Obviously, twelve will
come to the party every year, but everybody feels like,
I think their school has access to the championship.

Speaker 4 (01:38:45):
To the championship tournament.

Speaker 3 (01:38:48):
Some schools have to start over, some might have the
wrong coach, some have a lot.

Speaker 4 (01:38:52):
Of work to do, but it's it's plausible.

Speaker 3 (01:38:55):
I think if you're a fan of any power for school,
but even a good number of non power for schools,
you know what if we if we hire the right
coach and we do the right things with nil, build
the right roster, and do the right things, we could
be a playoff team. Now, playoff team doesn't necessarily mean
championship caliber team, and that was the big mis number

(01:39:15):
of Round one, with all the talk about Indiana SMU,
did those teams really deserve it?

Speaker 4 (01:39:20):
Well?

Speaker 3 (01:39:21):
In other sports, we have playoff teams that are not
really championship teams. The Denver Broncos made the playoffs this year.
There was no way in hell they were getting to
the Super Bowl.

Speaker 4 (01:39:29):
Sorry.

Speaker 3 (01:39:31):
And in the NBA, we have teams that are playoff teams,
sometimes really fun teams that win around. They're not winning championships,
they're not coming close. Baseball's a little bit different because
there is some randomness to it. But let's say had
the Reds made the playoffs in twenty twenty three, which
they could have but didn't, I think would have been
a fun story. Nobody really would have been talking about

(01:39:53):
their championship bona fides. But everybody feels like they have
access to the championship in college football, and I think
that's created a level of interest that makes it worth
losing some viewership on the back end of a longer postseason.

Speaker 4 (01:40:09):
And let's face it, the two schools.

Speaker 3 (01:40:10):
While Ohio State and Notre Dame to have massive alumni bases,
massive nationwide even worldwide followings, you are talking about two
schools very close in proximity to each other, no SEC team,
and it's you know, that's fine. The number was still
really good. Most heavily watched college game of the season,

(01:40:30):
which you would expect. But I think if I'm like
among the powers that be in college football, and again,
the CFP is a separate entity from the NCAA, what
are we trying to accomplish here?

Speaker 4 (01:40:42):
Make money?

Speaker 3 (01:40:43):
They did that, and let's get more fans involved, Let's
make more teams. More fans of more teams feel like
we can engage in this process. We can make it. Indiana,
wasn't it making it the old way? They did this
time and deserve to and I'm glad they did even
though they lost. That is worth whatever you may lose

(01:41:03):
on the back end, which really wasn't all that much
lost a few million viewers still put up a really
good number, so I think, and I've read a lot
of stories and seeing people post about this on social media,
and again like I don't love it on Monday, to
be honest with the other, be really cool if you
could somehow make it to on a Thursday. I think
if you would have made it this Thursday, that really

(01:41:24):
drags it out. If you would have made it last Thursday,
then fans traveling to the game don't have nearly as
much time to make their arrangements. But as a TV viewer, yeah,
Thursdays are more fun night than Monday. As a sports fan,
games on Thursdays are more fun, Like I look more
forward to Thursday night football than I do Monday night
football during the regular season because Thursdays are more.

Speaker 4 (01:41:42):
Fun than Mondays. It's quite simple.

Speaker 3 (01:41:45):
But I think if you're college football and you're like,
all right, you know what, our postseason is now dragged
out a little bit, We're gonna have to deal with
there being some football fatigue and some people who tune
us out because God, let the season be over. I'm
done with it. I think what they've made up is
a lot of fans. A lot of ground with fans

(01:42:05):
who suddenly feel like, you know what, my team can
play for a championship.

Speaker 4 (01:42:09):
That is a really good thing for the sport.

Speaker 3 (01:42:13):
I am among those who considers the college football Playoff
a smashing success. It ain't perfect and probably never will
be perfect, but a smashing, smashing success, and my team
didn't come close to having access to it. It's twenty
nine away from six o'clock sports headlines. Try to grab
a phone callar too as well. On ESPN fifteen thirty

(01:42:33):
Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 6 (01:42:36):
Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty. Traffic from the UC Health Traffic Center.

Speaker 7 (01:42:43):
At u SEE Health, you'll find comprehensive care that's so
personal it makes your best tomorrow possible. That's boundless care
for better outcomes. Expect more at ucehealth dot com. Northbound
de Liberty, Fairfield. It's a broken water main after Route four.
Use cautions. Start to see traffic back up from before
Milliken Road. It's construction. Eastbound on Columbia Parkway between Red

(01:43:06):
Bank and Waterson Road. Traffic is moving slow. I'm at
ezalic with traffic.

Speaker 8 (01:43:11):
This report is sponsored by loads oh Hi Sports Headline.
Sorry sports Headlines uh, completely asleep at the wheel there.
Sports Headlines are a service of Kelsey Chevrolet. I literally

(01:43:35):
was like writing down a.

Speaker 3 (01:43:36):
To do list. That's what I was doing there. It
was jotting down a to do list, stuff I gotta do.
And then I heard the music, and it's like, huh,
wonder what's gonna happen next? And what was gonna happen next?

Speaker 13 (01:43:46):
Was me?

Speaker 4 (01:43:47):
I was, I was gonna talk. I miss the old
days of the I can see you through a window. Yeah,
I you know, I do too, But you know that
that was alway. That was all on me.

Speaker 3 (01:43:56):
I was, I got the thing in front of me
that tells me what I'm coming back. I heard the
music and I vapor locked. I don't know what happened.
Sports Headlines are a service to Kelsey Chevrolet, home of
lifetime power train protection and guaranteed credit approval from their family,
the Yours for Life, kelseyshef dot com Al Golden Name
Bengals defensive coordinator. Today they will make him available. He

(01:44:18):
will talk on Monday morning at eleven am. Meanwhile, Joe
Burrow a finalist for the NFL MVP Award along with
Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, Jared Goff, and Saquon Barkley. Joe
is also a finalist for the Offensive Player of the
Year award and the Comeback Player of the Year award,
and last I checked, he is the betting favorite to
win that award for a second time. Also Jamar Chase

(01:44:41):
finalist for Offensive Player of the Year and Trey Hendrickson
finalist for Defensive Player of the Year. I've babbled long enough.
Let's take a phone call or two if time allows.

Speaker 4 (01:44:55):
Kent.

Speaker 3 (01:44:56):
You're on ESPN fifteen thirty. Good afternoon, Kent. How you doing, mo,
I'm wonderful yourself.

Speaker 12 (01:45:03):
I'm doing pretty good. Wanted to talk about Al Golden.

Speaker 4 (01:45:06):
Al Golden.

Speaker 12 (01:45:07):
I think it's a pretty good hire. But it doesn't
look that good because you're in the same week where
there's his defense didn't really look all that great against
Ohio State, particularly you know, them scoring up the middle
and then leaving Jeremiah Smith wide open, you know, at
the end of the game. But I guess it's gonna

(01:45:29):
be pretty good.

Speaker 3 (01:45:30):
Yeah. I mean, look, it wasn't the best performance, but
should that be I guess my question would be should
that be disqualifying? I think they ran into a Buzzsaul,
you know the two plays where Jeremiah Smith made as
big as impact. I'll be honest with you, I have
no idea what what Notre Dame Secondary was doing. But
should that performance if you went into it thinking al
Golden checks this box, this box, this box, and this box,

(01:45:54):
should that individual performance be disqualifying?

Speaker 4 (01:45:57):
I don't think the answer is yes.

Speaker 12 (01:45:59):
Yeah, it's quickly about the game. Yeah, the viewing might
have been down because there was I don't think there
was an award winner in the game. I know there
wasn't a highst winner in the game, and people probably
have fatigued batt Ohio State and Notre Dame, especially Notre
Dame because they're not in anybody's conference and their schedule

(01:46:21):
is kind of weaker than the most.

Speaker 4 (01:46:23):
Yeah, but I don't, I don't. I mean, it's not
like Notre Dame.

Speaker 3 (01:46:26):
Notre Dame was looking for its first title in thirty
five years, thirty seven years, so like, why why would
there be I mean, like Notre Dame is a huge
national brand. I'll certainly grant that, but I think the
lack of like I can understand in recent years Alabama
fatigue or Clemson fatigue.

Speaker 4 (01:46:44):
I don't I don't understand.

Speaker 3 (01:46:48):
You know, you might just not like Notre Dame, which
is one thing, But like I thought, Notre Dame was
actually kind of a cool story. You know, a coaching
coach in his third year who's not yet forty. They
did have the loss to to Northern Illinois, which a
lot of people thought was gonna torpedo their season. Like
I think Notre Dame was actually a pretty cool story.
And I don't know that Notre Dame. I mean, look,

(01:47:11):
it got a big number, it just was down from
last year.

Speaker 12 (01:47:15):
Yeah, well thanks for a loving mom.

Speaker 3 (01:47:17):
Sure, yeah, I appreciate it. Look, I did not watch
the game on Monday. Overly wowed with Notre Dame's defensive performance.
But if you think Al Golden is the guy, and
clearly the Bengals thought he was the guy going in,
I don't know that that performance against Ohio State should

(01:47:38):
be disqualifying. I thought they had a really good performance
and Drew Aller had a lot to do with it
against Penn State. Thought they were terrific against Georgia, they
were dominant against Indiana, and they were really good all
season long. Jeff Brandtley will be good all season long.
You'll hear him.

Speaker 6 (01:47:54):
Next Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty Traffic from the.

Speaker 7 (01:48:00):
UC Health Traffic Center. At u See Health, you'll find
comprehensive care that's so personal it makes your best tomorrow possible.
That's boundless care for better outcomes. Expect more at ucehealth
dot com. Northbound seventy one at Montgomery Road. Disabled vehicle
that's off on the left shoulder east found State Route
one twenty two near seventy five left lane block from

(01:48:23):
an accident. And northbound Liberty Fairfield after Route four. It's
a broken water main on that ezelic with traffic.

Speaker 4 (01:48:30):
This report is PN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 3 (01:48:32):
Cowboy Jeff Brandley is here part of the Reds caravan.
Be on the mic behind the mic on February twenty
second for the Cactus League opener, which cannot be here?

Speaker 4 (01:48:44):
Can I get here soon enough? Cowboy? It's good to
have you. How's the caravan treating you?

Speaker 14 (01:48:52):
Say?

Speaker 3 (01:48:52):
Which one about David Bell who had a lot of
positive attributes, but they replace him with a guy who
could not be more accomplished. If you're looking for somebody
who has done everything in this game, it's Terry Francona.

Speaker 4 (01:49:03):
You've been around him, you know him. Where's his biggest
impact going to be?

Speaker 9 (01:49:08):
I think part of it for Tito, and this is
a great part of it, is his ability to communicate
and to be able to push guys together. That you
hear so much about analytics and how we evaluate the
game today, Hey, it's still a team sport, and you've

(01:49:29):
got to figure out a way to put twenty five
in this day and age, just thirty five guys that
all come together and figure out a way to get
it done. Now, I don't know if you know this
or not, Mo, but in nineteen ninety nine and two thousand,
I played for Terry Francona in a Philadelphia Phillies uniform. Now,

(01:49:49):
we were not very good, and part of the reason
we were not very good is because I was not
very good. You know, you can't win if you don't
get those last three outs, you know. But the beginning
of his managerial career, and you just even and even
in times of desperation, because we were we were bad,
but you could see the makings of uh A form

(01:50:13):
a future really good manager just by the way he
handled uh Kurt Shilling, I mean Shilling was on that club,
and he handled the great players as much as he
did uh, some of the guys that were just trying
to break into the big leagues.

Speaker 3 (01:50:27):
He's one with veteran players, he's one with younger players.
He's one in the big market, he's one in a
smaller market like Cleveland, like there's no there's no box
that he has in checked. One word that you've heard
used often is accountability. Right, managers have the hold players accountable.
And I'm I'm interested in seeing this is more of
a comment than a question. I'm interested in seeing how
that plays out once the season gets underway.

Speaker 9 (01:50:48):
Well, I think if anybody that's had a conversation with
with Tito knows that his he defers to that self
deprecating humor and and that's who he is, and he
uses that in a way that when he gets on
you or he's telling you about something that's a weakness
or trying to push you in a different direction to

(01:51:10):
help you figure out some success, he does it in
a way that makes you when you're finished with the conversation,
you think, man, I love this guy.

Speaker 4 (01:51:20):
Now, that's what in the real sense of the word.

Speaker 9 (01:51:24):
You're managing people and that is who he is because
he's a great communicator, and he does it he does
it in such a different way that every conversation that
you have with him, you leave thinking, well, I can't
wait to run through a wall for this guy. And
I think that's part of the reason that he's had
such great success on both of those realms that you mentioned,

(01:51:44):
not only with the clubs that had the two hundred
and fifty million dollars payroll, but also with clubs that
had a ninety five million dollar payroll, right.

Speaker 3 (01:51:53):
Yeah, And he's one with younger players, and he's one
with experienced players, and he's got a lot of young players. Now,
what was so encouraging about last year and then kind
of fell apart in the last five or six weeks
was the starting pitching. You know, it was frustrating because
the team, relative to how good the starting pitching was,
the team kind of underperformed. You know, it's like, man,
they're wasting a lot of really good starts. At the

(01:52:13):
same time, get those guys healthy. It is a great
foundation on top of what you could build this year.

Speaker 9 (01:52:19):
Yeah, I think part of that is going to have
to be developed. Now you have Derek Johnson here, which
helps Tito greatly. But I think from Tito's standpoint, he's
going to have to get to know the personality of
those starting pitchers. So he understands when a guy tells him, hey,
I can go two more, I'm good, he knows whether

(01:52:41):
to push that button or pull it back. And I
think that for this club, yeah, we'd love to have
everybody healthy for one hundred and sixty two ball games.
That hasn't happened, nor does it happen in the big
leagues period. I think we've got a little bit more
insurance after the Jonathan India for Brady Singer trade. We've
got some guys that may very well be big League

(01:53:04):
ready coming through our system. I think the biggest key
to this is can you figure out what it takes
to get the guys through that August tenth to the
finish line? Ye, I mean the last two years, that's
where everything is suffered. Now you'll have people look back
and say, well, the bullpen, you know they really faltered there. Well, yeah,

(01:53:26):
because there were warn flat out and we've got a
pretty good bullpen, and we've had a pretty good bullpen.
But if you're leaning on your bullpen, then you're looking
at pitching totally different. You're supposed to lean on your
starters and then your bullpen picks up the rest of
the slack.

Speaker 3 (01:53:42):
So the starting pitching conversation always starts with Hunter Green,
who was an All Star last year and deservedly so.
I think he finished eighth or ninth in the Say
Young voting he had before he got hurt in excellent season.

Speaker 4 (01:53:54):
What's the next step.

Speaker 3 (01:53:55):
I know you're asked this every offseason, but this step
is big because he's already taken well.

Speaker 9 (01:54:01):
I think for Hunter, and for Ellie Day La Cruz
and maybe a Spencer Steer, guys that have been around
Tyler Stevenson, for example, I think the biggest issue for
that age player is you have to figure out how
to take off because you're no longer just trying to survive.

(01:54:22):
You're here now, you've already got a nice contract through
your first arbitration series. You've got to figure out, Okay,
what do I need to do to be great? Because
it's no longer about just keeping your nose above the
water and drowning. It's about exploring the whole pool. Get
out there and hey, let's figure out how fun it is.
To jump off the high dive. I mean, this is

(01:54:44):
about figuring out how to win and how to be great.
And I think that goes back to your original question,
what does Terry Francona bring to this club?

Speaker 4 (01:54:54):
That's it?

Speaker 3 (01:54:55):
You know you mentioned Ellie and it's he does so
many great things, and yet there are times, and you know,
I could hear the frustration in your voice calling the games,
and you could hear mine from the stands when he
gets picked off, or when he's a little bit too
aggressive and gets thrown out, or when he makes a
great play in the third inning and then botches the
routine play in the fifth inning. I'm interested in the

(01:55:17):
impact of a manager on that stuff being cleaned up
for him for others, but I think for Elie specifically,
because we all know how good he can be.

Speaker 9 (01:55:25):
Well, every time I think of this now that Tito
is here, and I think of that same question that
you just asked, the name that keeps popping into my
head is Jose Ramirez, because that was Jose Ramirez early
in his career, and you look at him now and
you think, what would the Indians be without this guy?
I mean, he's he is a he's not just a

(01:55:48):
really good player, He's a Hall of Fame player.

Speaker 4 (01:55:50):
He is legitimate, bona fide scary.

Speaker 9 (01:55:54):
You know, if you're on the mound and it's late
in the ballgame, you don't want any part of that, dude.
And I think that's where Francona helped manifest that. I mean,
the talent obviously was always there for Jose, but I
think Francona, through his coaches and some other things, kind
of funneled him in that direction. I think the same
can be said of what we hope will happen with

(01:56:17):
Elie de la Cruz. We know the excitement and all
of the strength that's there fan rally. I mean, there's
nothing he can't do on a baseball field. Now, it's
a matter of being consistently great, not consistently okay, not consistently.
Oh well, you know I made a great play every now,
be great every time you walk out.

Speaker 2 (01:56:35):
Yeah, you know.

Speaker 3 (01:56:36):
There was a game late in the season and he made,
you know, highlight reel play early in the game and
you're you're salivating over it, and then in the seventh inning,
ball hits off the heel of his glove and it's like, man,
I might have been able to make that play right,
and so that's the stuff, and it's like, man, I
know you could do this and it's awesome, but you
got to be able to do that.

Speaker 4 (01:56:54):
If you're going to be what we think you.

Speaker 9 (01:56:55):
Can be, be consistent because if you're all, if you're
spectation is always to be good, well you're going to
drop down below that expectation. So your expectation has to
be I want to be elite. I want to be
great on every single pitch, because if you do drop off,
instead of dropping off from seventy five to fifty, you're

(01:57:17):
going to drop off from ninety five, ninety nine to
eighty five. And that's pretty good if you're Elie day
La Cruz.

Speaker 4 (01:57:23):
No question, need more from Ellie.

Speaker 3 (01:57:25):
There's a lot of guys who I think we believe
have a tremendous amount of upside. You think of Christian
and Karnassi on strand, and you think of a handful
of players that have shown glimpses maybe at the big
league level or large glimpses at the minor league level.
When you go to Goodyear, give me one or two
guys that you're going to be watching for closely knowing
their keys for this club this year.

Speaker 9 (01:57:45):
Well, you named one of them and that's christian In
Karnassi on Strand, the second being Matt McClain. And not
from a standpoint of how great their spring goes, but
I want to know that they're healthy. I want to
know that McClain is not having any rib cage issues.
I want to see how that front shoulder does. I
mean it was the left shoulder that he hurt, that's
his front shoulder, that's his pull shoulder. I want to

(01:58:09):
see how the risk, how the risk for Inchronice on
Strand rolls over. You know, some of those finer things
that you know you can fight through in maybe April
and May, but when you get to June and July,
you can't do it. It just it catches up to you.
So you want him to be healthy right out of
the chute, and you want it to be fluid. I'd
also like to to kind of keep an eye on

(01:58:31):
Spencer Steer because the Spencer Steer that we saw last
year was not really the same Spencer Steer that we
saw in year one. Now, not that that's good or bad,
but I think from Spencer's standpoint, he's got a pretty
good idea about what he needs to do to be
successful up here, and I expect him to take a
big jump next year. I mean, he's a guy that

(01:58:53):
has that low heartbeat. He never gets way up too high,
he never gets down on himself, and he just kind
of stays that even keel and that may be a
boat that a lot of these guys can ride.

Speaker 3 (01:59:03):
Sure, Yeah, it's interesting. He's kind of a guy you
forget and you shouldn't. I mean, because he could play
a thousand positions. We've seen offensively what he can do,
and yet he sort of gets lost in the mix.
But I think that's also reflective of the collection of talent.

Speaker 4 (01:59:18):
There you go, that's a great point.

Speaker 3 (01:59:20):
I know you have a lot going on. I can't
thank you enough. Enjoy the rest of the off season.
Good good talking to you, the Cowboy Jeff Branty, awesome stuff,
and can't thank you enough, and can't thank the Reds
enough for making us a part of their caravan this year.

Speaker 4 (01:59:34):
We are done.

Speaker 3 (01:59:35):
Anything you might have missed, go find on the iHeartRadio
app and then be with us tomorrow at three oh five.
Have an unbelievable night. Thank you for listening and thanks
to Tarran Bank, Tarren Bland. I've been working with the
guy for six years. I can't say his name. Tarren
Bland for producing We'll talk to you tomorrow at three
oh five on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 4 (02:00:00):
The in com dift symbol a

Speaker 6 (02:00:06):
St.