2/4/25 - The Mo Egger Radio Show - Mo Egger

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Win a thousand dollars. Enter this nationwide keyword on our website, bills.
That's bills.

Speaker 2 (00:06):
Enter it now you found Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 3 (00:11):
Well, sure you have.

Speaker 4 (00:11):
What's up? Get afternoon on my legger. This is ESPN
fifteen thirty. Thank you for listening. We uh, we got
a short show today done early. UK basketball takes over
at five thirty. Wildcats battling old mess tonight. Both teams
trying to bounce back. Both teams have have struggled recently.
We'll put it to you that way. So two and

(00:34):
a half hours to get in, three hours worth of stuff.
Solomon Wilcott's We're gonna do a Radio Row interview with
Solomon Willcotts at four oh five. And by Radio Row interview,
you know what that means. It means Sally's gonna come
on for eight minutes. It was gonna come on for
ten minutes. For eight minutes, we're gonna talk about the Bengals,
and we're gonna talk about the time he saved the
broadcast the last time the Super Bowl was in New Orleans.

Speaker 3 (00:55):
And then we have to spend two minutes talking about.

Speaker 4 (00:58):
Prosthetic legs or something I'm not really sure, but anyway,
that is coming up tough. I just I like to
let the audience know in advance, here's what's gonna happen.
We're gonna take this weird pivot from the NFL and
the Bengals and the upcoming off season or the off
season and the super Bowl itself, and then we're going
to talk about something that is of no major interest

(01:19):
to our audience. So you have that coming up in
just about an hour. I have a question for UC
fan another question for UC fans based on the a
poll question we had yesterday. I have a question for
Joe Burrow. And we have more more Reds off season
speculation to a touch on as well. Full Show Rundown

(01:41):
is available on x thanks to Emery Federal Credit Union
your credit union with Hart since nineteen thirty nine. Go
to EMORYFCU dot org. But first and foremost most importantly,
Paul Danner Junior's here.

Speaker 3 (01:51):
What's up? How we doing?

Speaker 5 (01:53):
I'm doing great, It's just good. I'm just lucky to
watch a master in his craft right now. Yeah, you're
doing five things. Once you know, you're like, you're getting
the camera going, You're getting the back going, you've got
like you're working on the paper. I mean, I'm just impressed,
and you're talking through it the whole time. And if
I I it was radio at like most people listening
home wouldn't even know how multi talented you are.

Speaker 4 (02:15):
Right now, I am a disorganized mess. I think is the.

Speaker 3 (02:22):
Pulling it off.

Speaker 4 (02:23):
I am a complete and total disorganized mess. What's good
to have you here? What's going on?

Speaker 3 (02:28):
Not much?

Speaker 5 (02:28):
You know, just you know, it's like, normally this is
supposed to be the slow down time, and it just
feels so not slow. It's just everything is is very
I the word that I keep coming back to, and

(02:49):
I say, well, it's not that, and then I'm like,
well maybe it is.

Speaker 3 (02:52):
Everything feels very quietly volatile.

Speaker 5 (02:55):
Yeah, you know, it just feels like, man, everything's simmering
below the surface, waiting for these looming deadlines, and it's
so much big, important stuff happening, and.

Speaker 3 (03:06):
It's just you've got comments.

Speaker 5 (03:09):
You're parsing through comments from the Pro Bowl, this big,
happy fun time with these silly games, and guys are
over here jumping into foam pits, and meanwhile, Joe burrows
like they better pay all my guys. Why can't we
pay all my guys. We're gonna be able to do that,
and we're doubling down on that again. There's just a

(03:30):
lot of the fun, happy time stuff that you maybe
would think is happening right now.

Speaker 3 (03:35):
I have fatigue. Yeah, I'll admit no doubt. I'm ready.
It's just figured out.

Speaker 4 (03:39):
And I, like any Bengals fan, I love Joe Burrow,
I have Joe Burrow makes headlines.

Speaker 3 (03:45):
Fatigue. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (03:47):
Like I said this on our show yesterday, It's like
when my daughter and I go to King's Island. She
wants the blue ice cream. She tells me on the
drive up, I want blue ice cream. She tells me
on the walk in, I want blue ice cream. She
tells me as we're going in, I want blue ice cream.
She tells me. After the first couple of rides, I want.

Speaker 3 (04:02):
Like, I get it.

Speaker 4 (04:03):
We're going to get blue ice cream. I heard you
the first nineteen times, and it's maybe not the most
fair comparison, but Joe, you want tea here? Yeah, I
get it. So I don't know where this goes next,
but it's it's gonna be at least a little while
until we get some answers.

Speaker 5 (04:20):
Yeah, I you know, I don't. I don't mind it.
It's not I mean the fact that it gets blown
up every time. He's mostly just answering questions yes, And
I don't feel like he's going out of his way.

Speaker 3 (04:36):
I mean he could. He could soft handed this. Someone
someone asked him a question.

Speaker 4 (04:41):
It's less with Joe, and it's more like we take
the same thing that he says and we create new
content out of it. And I'm guilty of it too.
I mean, I'm as guilty of it as anybody.

Speaker 3 (04:49):
That's that's what I'm saying.

Speaker 4 (04:50):
I don't think this is a a Joe thing, and
I don't think this is a Bengals thing. I think
this is a NFL machine thing.

Speaker 5 (05:00):
But it's necessary, it is important, it is notable, like
and that's why that time December ninth and Dallas was
a huge deal because like, oh, he's going down this path.
Now we know he's going down. We know the path,
the lines. You can't draw them any clearer than they've
been drawn. This is what it is, like.

Speaker 4 (05:18):
We know what he wants, we know that there will
be a decision of whether they're going to give him.

Speaker 5 (05:22):
What he wants or not. It's all out in the
public domain, so we'll see what happens. But the need
to be like Joe said it again, he did another thing.
It's like, I honestly have a hard time keeping up
with how many times this has happened at the exact point,
because it just kind of keeps happening or patily for
those that have been paying attention, and maybe to some

(05:42):
it's new, but you know, it is starting, it's getting
closer to coming to a head at least, and so
we have that going for us.

Speaker 4 (05:49):
So I'm not even sure where to start because there
are so many things out there.

Speaker 3 (05:56):
Let me begin with that.

Speaker 4 (05:58):
So Joe keeps saying the same thing, and we keep
making a big deal out of it. Let's say that
Joe doesn't get what he wants, then.

Speaker 5 (06:06):
What I mean, that's the question that has no answer,
And that's the one that I would like to ask
Joe Burrow. And we haven't really had a chance to
since the season ended, and probably should have maybe at
that point whenever, whenever we did last talk to him.
But you know, and that is what it. You know,
this is this could be perceived as threats. Now you're

(06:27):
you're saying this is a need Why can't we get
this done? Obviously, Duke says, he's talked to you. So
if that's if all those facts are true, and you're
saying what you're saying now, so what happens if they
go a different direction, because it feels very much like
you're saying, well, I won't agree with this, and you
now I said this on who they lied on Friday.

(06:49):
He is basically family now in the power that they
have given to him.

Speaker 3 (06:56):
Do you know how uneasy that makes them? Like?

Speaker 5 (07:00):
They they have given him this power and he's kind
of out there holding it.

Speaker 3 (07:06):
He's kinda he's you know, we talk about this in
other ways.

Speaker 5 (07:09):
It's your daughter walking with the cereal across the kitchen
to go take it over.

Speaker 3 (07:13):
The milk's starting to splash? How much do I trust this?

Speaker 5 (07:16):
And and now you're just saying, well, what happens if
it goes good?

Speaker 3 (07:21):
I don't think we know. Yeah, I don't think we know.

Speaker 5 (07:24):
If this is like it's going to come out as well,
I get it because of X, Y and Z or
it's going to be I told them that I was
not going to stand for this, that we could do it,
and they should have done it, and now I feel
this way, and you start going down and you now
you flip the calendar on the like the Carson Palmer calendar.

Speaker 4 (07:45):
That people keeping their head right, like, where are we at?
Where were you worry about that from?

Speaker 5 (07:50):
You know, everyone's always worrying about that, And so I
just think that is what does this mean? Does this
mean you flip the calendar or does this mean you say, ah,
wish we could have gotten that done?

Speaker 3 (08:00):
Nobody really knows but Joe, right, And that's.

Speaker 4 (08:04):
That's where I am with this, Like, Okay, we understand
the cases for and against giving t Higgins what he's
looking for. We understand the difficult financial decisions they have.
We understand the caliber of players we are talking about.
You wrote about Trey Hendrickson earlier this week, and that's
that's a dynamic that you have to consider when talking
about tea. And it feels like with the public discourse,

(08:27):
we're now folding understandably so training to the conversation about tea,
which has been taking place for a couple of months.
But what I'm most fascinated by is, let's say, when's
the league year start March?

Speaker 3 (08:38):
Yeah, this is technically Wednesday. That Wednesday yeah, ten twelve.

Speaker 4 (08:42):
Right, So let's say within twenty four hours of the
new league year starting, we're in the early tampering period.
We find out t Higgins is an LA Charger or
a Green Bay Packer or god forbid, playing for an
AFC team that we don't want him to play for.

Speaker 3 (08:56):
Okay, then what right? Then what from a roster?

Speaker 4 (09:00):
But then what from because it's it's still gonna be months,
I'm guessing before Joe talks to you guys, it's gonna
be a long time before Joe has any sort of
there's no radio row that he's gonna be bouncing around
at like he's I'm guessing radio silence. And then so
we're all gonna be waiting to wonder, Okay, what's Joe's
take on this, what's the reaction and what is the

(09:22):
possible fallout?

Speaker 5 (09:23):
Yeah, and and I think that's something that and I
would expect, knowing you know what you know of Joe,
that something that he will very carefully think about how
he wants to frame his opinion coming out of that,
and and we'll all.

Speaker 3 (09:36):
Kind of find out at the same time.

Speaker 5 (09:39):
The thing is like, that's what this has become for me,
This isn't about actually replacing t Higgins the football player
at all anyway, Right, Like, I we've kind of talked
about the pros and cons on both sides enough, like
I can see a path either way, sure, like letting
te goes using that money in other ways, putting a
solid number two draft another receiver, you know, Jamar's the man,

(10:03):
you know, Like that's that's a viable strategy that that
no one should really have a problem with on the surface.

Speaker 3 (10:09):
Yeah, I'm not I want Tea here.

Speaker 4 (10:12):
Yeah, I'm not gonna burn a bunch of Bengals gear
if he's not. And I still think there's a very
clear path that the Bengals could take that puts us
in a place where in early September we're talking about
them having a chance to win the whole thing.

Speaker 5 (10:24):
Yeah, I mean, you know we talked about when you
looked at the AFC Championship game, it was kind of
a takeaway from me. I mean, this is a team
that traded Stefon Diggs and supposedly was rebuilding because they
just had a bunch of young receivers. You had Kansas
City that notably traded Tyreek Hill and didn't have her
sheet Rice and had a bunch of young guys that
had stepped up for their offense and built strong defenses
and good offensive lines, and like, these are the teams

(10:45):
you got to go beat and look how they've done
it right, there's there, you know, there's nothing wrong with
doing it that way when you have the franchise quarterback.
There's there's proven models there. So it's about the reaction
of the quarterback. Now, it's it's it's a about the
reaction of what does this really mean for how Joe feels?
You know, And that's uncomfortable to feel like you're in

(11:08):
that place because you'd like to think that he you
would feel like he would be in lockstep with everybody
else in understanding why they're taking certain paths forward and
maybe it will come out at the end that he
does come out that way. So I don't want to
put that over him right now because we could be projecting.
This is a scarred fan base. Yeah, so there's projecting

(11:28):
going on there with some of it. Well, we have
to talk about it.

Speaker 4 (11:31):
And I tried to do that a little bit last week,
and I'm I'm as I'm as unqualified to do that
as anybody, but I'm like, all right, there is looming
over all of this. What we saw Carson Palmer do.
That was an extreme reaction to what was going on
with the Beg an extreme. You might have blamed him,

(11:52):
you might have thought what he did was fine, but
it was an extreme reaction. That's the extreme is never
the most likely outcome. Right, So could I see Joe
being skeptical, hurt, pissed, curious? Could I see him being accepting?
I could see him being all those things. But the
least likely is he's so angry that suddenly he goes

(12:14):
scorched earth and decides to maneuver an exit that involves
him threatening to retire, right.

Speaker 5 (12:22):
Right, Yeah, and that's that's that's all the way to
the end. But there's or just starts starts becoming frustrated. Sure, right,
and and you know, because before it didn't feel like
it would get that way. I mean it was Kumbai yah,
they're winning, They're all these things. And oh remember when
people said that stuff about don't go there. Ah, man,
that's right, Carson's wrong. It's changed. Everything's different.

Speaker 4 (12:44):
Now.

Speaker 5 (12:44):
Look you proved it, right, Well, this is the point
where the rubber meets the road on that where where
those people right or wrong, whether that success happened early
on or not, because it's it's easy to say things
went right when you have the advance of a franchise
quarterback on a rookie contract. It's not easy to go

(13:04):
out there and do it when that guy is getting paid.
And I think that's sort of, you know, the knock
against this franchise. Can you go out there and do
it when the guys when that guy's getting paid, and
work the outside edges to make the roster work for him.
I think that there should be more faith than probably
is given to this front office that they can do that.
They probably don't get enough credit for the things that

(13:25):
they were doing around Joe Burrow to build that team in.

Speaker 3 (13:28):
The first place.

Speaker 5 (13:30):
That said, the criticism is warranted and real, and it
doesn't really matter what we think.

Speaker 3 (13:36):
It really matters what Joe thinks.

Speaker 5 (13:39):
And nobody knows, and nobody knows there's no way to know.
I don't like, I don't know if Joe really knows.
I mean, Joe has largely got what he wanted here
at almost every turn, Like he's gotten them to break
every rule that mattered to him. He's gotten them to
do things in terms of the way they build the roster,
the way they spend on free agent, that's the way

(14:00):
they do guaranteed money with their star. All of these
things that have changed around him, and he's rewarded them
with great play and so many things. But like, on
the other side of that, I mean, there's a lot,
There's a lot that's on the other side of it.

Speaker 3 (14:16):
You know what I mean? You do you know what
I mean?

Speaker 4 (14:17):
Yeah, but I totally know what you mean. And so
that's what I've been stuck on. Okay, if it's mid
March and we are reconciling ourselves with the reality that
t Higgins is playing for any one of the other
thirty one teams, we're all going to sit there and wonder. Okay,
what's next as it relates to Joe Burrow's reaction specifically,
not what's next for the roster.

Speaker 3 (14:39):
They'll go find a number two wide receiver somewhere.

Speaker 4 (14:41):
Yeah, like the guy might be as good, might not
be as good, might not work, may work. I have
no idea. But what is Joe thinking and what is
going to be the public response to what Joe is thinking?
And what is the fallout?

Speaker 3 (14:55):
Can it be. Will there be any threats? Will there
be this visibly frustrated guy from a dude who last
year was at times visibly frustrated. What is all that
gonna look like? And I think there's a tremendous fear
that that's that's not gonna that's not gonna be fun.

Speaker 5 (15:09):
And how does that land with your fan base in
the fact that more than maybe any player ever and
I mean we probably I bet if you went back
and went I'd love to go back to some of
your shows in two thousand and five, in two thousand
and six, where Carson Palmer was this untouchable.

Speaker 4 (15:23):
I wasn't on the air then, but that's all people were.
In my mind, you were ye for other people doing this, Yeah,
far better by the way.

Speaker 5 (15:31):
In my mind you were at least talking to somebody
about this. But I think that the attitude was different, right,
and I and and but then it changes. I feel like,
I mean, in Burrows case, like he's as beloved and
untouchable as any player in the history of this franchise
in the terms that fans will always side with him. Yes,
there's a big group. And granted a lot of it
was because of the whole retirement how it ended thing.

(15:53):
But before that, even there was a there was a
groundswell of people that were like, Eh, Carson, man, I
don't know what's going on with him with the interceptions
and complaining whatever. I have a hard time seeing it
going that direction with Burrow and in the unless a
ton of new stuff happened in terms of this fan
base not always looking at a situation insiding with nine

(16:15):
over the team. Yeah, and that can poison your base
a little bit if your quarterback is saying things that
you know that that send them feeling a certain direction.

Speaker 4 (16:24):
Well, it's funny because as you were saying that, I remember,
I mean I was on the air, you know, I
started doing this show in two thousand and seven, which
was the year Carson led the league in picks, and
then the next year he got hurt, missed a bunch
of time, and then the next year he was okay,
but they you know, it's Cedric Benson and a great defense,
and then the next year the bottom fell out. But
I remember when when Carson did what he did in

(16:45):
January of eleven, My response was like, okay, yeah, like
they could save a lot of money and get a
quarterback who's almost as good, Like, I mean, it just
wasn't whereas if Joe Burrow did that, right, right, let's
take the franchise, move it to Toronto, right. So it's
a little bit different because Joe just wrapped up a

(17:05):
season where he would be MVP at the Bengals maybe
one one more game.

Speaker 5 (17:08):
Sure, and it was so clearly everything else around him
that was at fault. Yeah, right, and who is irresponsible
with that other than the people that put those people
out there? So but yeah, I mean again, I guess
that's the long winded way of saying quietly volatile. It
just feels like it's just kind of this this unknown
that hovers around all of it, of how is this

(17:29):
all going to come together? And what will it mean
for the most important people in the building.

Speaker 4 (17:32):
It's kind of like the first time you get into
like a disagreement with your wife or your girlfriend, you're
not sure.

Speaker 5 (17:38):
Yeah, how's this going to go? Yeah, we've never had one,
like you're a fight like this? What's this going to be?

Speaker 6 (17:43):
Like?

Speaker 3 (17:43):
Yeahright?

Speaker 4 (17:44):
And so maybe maybe that's where we are, all right,
we are very late twenty two minutes after three o'clock.
He's Paul Danner Junior covering the Bengals four at the
Athletic dot Com. He does a podcast, The Growler Podcast,
The Charlie's Clicker, the most recent one, Charlie's Talkboard, Charlie's Charlie's.

Speaker 5 (18:01):
Chocolate Factory, Charlie writes Charlie's Chalkboard on substance. People subscribe
to its. Fore you get it to you, we just
do rewatch reaction. I know there's so many names track
of I can write them all down for you if
you want. There's too many, or I can actually be
a pro and I'm comfortable with you just calling at
the Growlary.

Speaker 3 (18:20):
It's totally for you. Don't You don't need to go individual.

Speaker 4 (18:23):
It's like I lose track between the CSI and n cis.

Speaker 3 (18:27):
Oh yeah, kind of becoming that yeah cop show. Yeah, sadly, yeah,
kind of going all right.

Speaker 4 (18:32):
Twenty three minutes after three o'clock, Paul's here till four,
We're here till six. This is ES over here to
five thirty. Actually, this is ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 2 (18:39):
Station Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 7 (18:44):
Traffic from the UC Health's Traffic Center Heart Disease is
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It's an exodent on the right shoulder, a couple of cars.

(19:05):
They're waiting off on the right burm for a tow
truck to arrive. Ken Wood Road. Getting reports of traffic
lights working incorrectly at Creek Road. Use caution there that
he's like with traffic this week.

Speaker 4 (19:17):
We're gonna be short here because we were late. Let
me hitch you with a couple of things really quick.
Are the Bengals gonna trade for Cooper Cup No? Are
the Bengals gonna trade for Miles Garrett? No, Trey Brown
is going to interview with the Jaguars.

Speaker 3 (19:29):
Who's that? Who's Trey Brown?

Speaker 5 (19:32):
Yeah, he's an executive on the in the Bengals personnel.
So he's been He's got a bunch of history, I
mean with the Patriots and with the Eagles, and then
he'd been here for a while now though it was
a big part of building the Super Bowl teams. And
he's a really integral part of their personnel department. I
mean they all are, but you know, he certainly is
is very well respected and that's why he's gotten a

(19:53):
ton of interviews lately. So we'll see. He's kind of
the one. He is the one name that when these
GM interview cycles keep happening, He's the one Bengals name
that does keep getting interviews and showing up there. So
that would be a loss for them if.

Speaker 4 (20:09):
If they if they did lose to the Jacks, no
Cooper Cup, no Miles Garrett, Yeah, and maybe no Trade Brown.

Speaker 5 (20:16):
I mean there were there were a number of there
were a number of names. Yeah, there were a number
of names on that list. So yes, yeah, maybe all right.

Speaker 4 (20:22):
Uh, Paul Danner Junior with us for another thirty minutes.

Speaker 3 (20:26):
I was quick, you said he was. I was just
trying to keep it as a good job.

Speaker 4 (20:29):
You're we're looking at me like, really, we're already gonna
break because we went likes long the last time.

Speaker 3 (20:34):
Yeah, that's okay. Other stuff I can't given it out.
I can we'll do with with averages. I can do
it very nice.

Speaker 4 (20:39):
It's three thirty Sports Headlines and More with Paul next
on ESPN fifteen.

Speaker 2 (20:43):
Thirty, Sincy three sixty with Tony Pike.

Speaker 3 (20:47):
I don't want to move on. We don't have to
keep going.

Speaker 2 (20:49):
And Boston Elmore, I think you should continue to let
me keep going there sincey three sixty tomorrow which twelve
News on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati's e ESPN fifteen thirty Traffic.

Speaker 7 (21:03):
From the UC Health Traffic Center. Heart disease is the
leading cause of death in the US. If you're at risk,
trust the experts at U. See help for innovative and
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(21:26):
use caution around there in southbound fourth seventy one closed
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Speaker 4 (21:36):
Of Kelsey Chevro light home of lifetime powertrain protection and
guaranteed credit approval from their family to yours for life
kelseyshev dot Com. Bengals today signed wide receiver Mitchell Tinsley
to a reserve future contract who the hell is at
I don't know.

Speaker 3 (21:53):
I saw it and I was like, I don't think
I'm even gonna tweet this. Well, I'll tell you who
he is. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (21:58):
He is a six foot one, two hundred five five
pound wide receiver who will be a second year player
in twenty twenty five. Originally a college free agent signee
out of Washington or of Washington in twenty twenty three,
played in two games for the Commanders in twenty three
no stats, was active DMP in fifteen games, and then
this past year he was on the Commander's practice squad.
He played collegiately at Hutchinson Community College, Western Kentucky and

(22:22):
Penn State.

Speaker 3 (22:23):
Well there you go. So this is the T.

Speaker 4 (22:25):
Higgins air apparent Right there, there you go? Fixed, What
else do we have? You See has announced it's twenty
twenty five schedule. We knew the first three games Nebraska
in Kansas City, Bowling Green and Northwestern State. U See
will go to Kansas home for Iowa State home for
UCF at ok State home for Baylor, at Utah Arizona

(22:48):
BYU here and at TCU. If you want more details,
you know where to get at. Reds have signed to
minor League contracts and invited a spring training ian Jabbo,
Joels Soursa and lefty Wade Miley. He's back college basketball tonight.
Xavier's hosting Georgetown at eight thirty on seven hundred WLW,
both teams five and six in the Big East. Kentucky's

(23:11):
at Ole Miss tonight at seven o'clock on ESPN fifteen thirty.
Also tonight, Miami's at Central Michigan. Dayton host Davidson and
IU is at Wisconsin. The NKU Coaches Show is at
six on Fox Sports thirteen sixty, and then they'll flip
it to Buffalo, where the Columbus Blue Jackets, owners of
the last wildcard spot in their conference, will take on

(23:34):
the Sabers. I almost said Bills. It's twenty two from
four o'clock. They're not playing the Bills. Tonight, Paul Danner
Junior from the Athleticas. Here your Bengals media peer Kelsey
Conway did a Q and A with a Duke Tubin.
Looks like we were gonna say something. No, No, I'm waiting,
curious where you're gonna go next. I'm just on that
on pins and needles here. Okay, So he was asked

(23:57):
a lot of questions about players who may depart they
may do. Did you have an overarching takeaway from that
Q and A. Yeah, I mean that Duke's not so sure.
I mean, is that fair to say that all this
is as possible as people.

Speaker 5 (24:14):
Maybe want to think that it is, and that maybe
it has been suggested that maybe it is, you know,
like oh this can we can get all this done right?
Which has sort of been the theme from one side
and the other side is down on lane.

Speaker 3 (24:26):
I don't know.

Speaker 5 (24:27):
I thought the you know, we need engagement from your
camp thing that that you know, oh no, are we
blaming the agent again?

Speaker 3 (24:35):
Yeah, like you only get how many times can you
play that card once? Once?

Speaker 4 (24:40):
Yeah?

Speaker 5 (24:41):
So he drops the old agent an noo, it's the
new agent. And now we're hearing again about engagement from
from the other side. But that so, that was the
stuff I think that stood out to me was of,
you know, a hesitancy. Now did I expect him to
come out and be like we're going to give him
whatever they want or whatever, But you'd like to feel
like it was in a little bit better place place

(25:02):
when you hear you know, conversations about how they're going,
you know, well, you know, it's it's we're hopeful and
working with we're working with them, and we're thinking that
we can make it happen. And I think that they
there's some of that there, But you know what stands
out is the side where it's like, well, you know,
if we don't get any help from them, you can,
you can. It's like the ground the groundwork being laid

(25:26):
for when the bad thing happens. And so but it's
like all these negotiations in a lot of ways. I mean,
they all a lot of times they sound like this
and then next thing, you know, oh it's done. Yeah,
you know, So that's all just gonna be part of it.

Speaker 4 (25:38):
The one thing that sort of stood out to me
was and asked when he was asked about Jamar Chase,
he used the word framework three times.

Speaker 3 (25:46):
Do you think Jamar Chase cares about that framework?

Speaker 5 (25:50):
No, because I assume the framework he was referring to
is that of Justin Jefferson and Ceedee Lamb, and that
is irrelevant.

Speaker 6 (25:55):
M h.

Speaker 5 (25:56):
It was relevant last year, right, but there the Triple
Crown framework. I don't know that that exists, and it's
certainly different than you know, So if you think it's
going to be copy and paste, you know, or find
and replace Justin Jefferson for Jamar Chase.

Speaker 3 (26:15):
No, I don't think and I think that's fair on
Jamar's side.

Speaker 4 (26:19):
Justin never did this right and and change the framework
has changed, and so I think that's going to be
where you know.

Speaker 5 (26:27):
Where the negotiation lives is. Okay, what is what is
Justin Jefferson? What is the difference between Justin Jefferson's deal
and what Jamar Chase's deal should be? Now at this point,
how different is this year's price from last year's price?

Speaker 3 (26:42):
And you know, I'm sure, I'm sure that'll go well,
I don't see anyway. But that's the thing that I
talked about this a little bit after I read Kelsey's
Q and A.

Speaker 4 (26:52):
I think there's been this assumption that with all these
different balls that the front office has to juggle, that
this will be easy. Right, hey, just cup, where you
get left, where you left off, here's the pen, here's
the contract. Cool, let's take a picture, Let's go get
a steak. And I'm going no, no, no, no no no.
Like if i'm Jamar, we're kind of starting from square one,
which doesn't necessarily suggest that this is gonna be easy.

Speaker 5 (27:17):
No, you're you're exactly right. I mean, I don't think
it's gonna be easy at all. I think, you know,
everybody always wants to do it now it's it's not
gonna get done now.

Speaker 3 (27:29):
I don't. I don't.

Speaker 5 (27:30):
There's too much there. There's too much other stuff happening too.
And I think the framework element where I think there's
a positive to that is there's a point of we
we know basically where we're gonna have to go with that,
so we can do the other things without having to
deal with this first, because that's very complicated. You just
I've said it many times. You just don't want Jamar

(27:51):
in the hat on the first day camp or not
there on the first day camp standing next to tree
hand and also in a hat, you know, holding a
calf or something, you know, whatever. You just don't want
it to go there, get it done. You know, on
the same timeframe that Justin's was done last year, in

(28:11):
the middle of the summer, you know, happy time there.
Everybody you show up for camp ready to go and
attack the season. That's the one thing and to me,
that's the part of this timeline that's just so important
not not getting it done now and putting Tea and
Jamar out there together and before free agency here, before
the draft or any of that stuff. Get it done

(28:32):
before camp starts. And I think you're okay with it.
You'd rather earlier is the better on every way imaginable,
but get it done by then.

Speaker 4 (28:41):
You and I talked toward the end of the season,
or maybe right when the season ended, about how one
of the goals this year should be for a quiet camp,
a quiet preseason, not a lot of off season noise.
And yet we've talked about multiple topics here that could
create a lot of noise. Whether it's maybe the Joe
not having a positive reaction to not getting what he wants,
the Jamar Chase leaking in the camp, possibly, the Jamar

(29:03):
Chase contract extension leaking in the camp again, Possibly if
they don't extend Trey Hendrickson and don't trade him and
he's playing on a one year deal and he's not
happy about it. Could that And I just I've arrived
at a place where I assume now, if you have
good players, a peaceful camp.

Speaker 5 (29:19):
Is almost impossible. Yeah, And when when you have three
players up for major awards and one on top of that,
who is the number one free agent on the market.
It's just wildly complicated, right, you know, it's I've been
sort of calling it, it's the Jigsaw puzzle from hell
right now.

Speaker 3 (29:38):
Like they just you have a bad team and four
stars to deal with, you know what I mean?

Speaker 5 (29:43):
Like that's just like you know, you have so many
other things you have to figure out, and so that Yeah,
there's that's the NFL. I mean, that's around the league.
I mean you go, you go around in the last year,
how many of these things were happening at camps. I
mean everybody was hold ins and holdouts, right, I mean,
that's fine, that's part of it.

Speaker 3 (30:01):
You just you just don't want to be every year, no,
you know, and I just.

Speaker 4 (30:04):
I have assumed that this is just part of the
reality of having a team that has good players. And
it might not be every single year, but this idea
that you know, we're gonna be the sort of franchise
that never has this.

Speaker 3 (30:17):
You are unless you do oh, I don't know.

Speaker 5 (30:20):
Let's take it a perfect example playing on Sunday, Philadelphia Eagles.
Stay ahead of it, pay the guys early, invest in
your guys, and do it and before they even maybe
think that they're going you're going to right. We've seen
the Eagles do this time and time and time again,
and it has paid off for them a lot. And
they've probably had a few that didn't totally live up,

(30:40):
but they've far out, you know, gaining what they've saved
by doing the right ones that went right early, right,
you know. And this franchise has done that. And there
was a time where I believe that they always would
do that. I don't know that I feel that way
as much as anymore because they've proven otherwise lately. But
like I always thought that was kind of the core
of what the best English model was trying to be was,

(31:03):
you know, draft, develop and then and retain early, you know,
and and you don't end up in this mess as much.
But there, you know, when when it looks like when
it goes like this, and you push, when all these
cans get kicked down the line to the very end.
You know, you did the one year extension, you got
Jamar up against it, now you got Tea up again.
Everything's been kicked. Eventually you got to pay the bills

(31:25):
and uh, you know, it's it's time to pay.

Speaker 4 (31:27):
Your colleague Diana Russini said on her on her podcast,
and we played this audio yesterday that he's quote, he's
trying to figure out and his representation is as well,
who's going to pay the most amount of money for
T Higgins, essentially saying that's what he wants to know.

Speaker 3 (31:44):
That's not going to be the Bengals.

Speaker 4 (31:45):
No, the question that he is going to So if
that's if that's what this is hinging on, let's assume
he's not going to be.

Speaker 5 (31:50):
Back, but that might not be what it's hinging on.
He wants to be back, sure, and and and I
get the sense that he is. I mean, everybody is
gonna have their price, and when you put two numbers
next to each other, it's hard when there's a when
there's a certain gap, he has to figure out what
that gap is for him to continue to be a

(32:12):
place that he's obviously wants to be in terms of
playing with Joe and Jamar and being a part of
something special here like that does matter to him. It's
the reason he changed agents, like it's it's why we're
at this spot right now. The question is if he's
getting offered thirty one million dollars per year from the

(32:33):
New England Patriots and twenty five from the Bengals. Is
that money so sizeable that you'd say I'm gonna I mean,
I'm just gonna go play in New England? Or would
you say, I know what I have here in terms
of happiness, quarterback, chance to win, this is more than
enough money for me. That's a question that he has
to answer for himself when I think what Diana was

(32:54):
hinting at there is that he's gonna have to decide,
is what is that price that he willing to stay
in Cincinnati four because of happiness with the people he
plays with and the place that he's at and all
the comfort things of having a great quarterback throwing to
you all the time.

Speaker 3 (33:10):
Yeah, and how much is it? Well, that's a lot
of money.

Speaker 4 (33:13):
On the Trey Hendrickson thing and the Duke Tobin thing.
In the same Q and A, he talked about Trey
Hendrickson and what their options are, but he also acknowledged
we hung onto players too long who were a part
of the Super Bowl run in twenty twenty one, and
you and I have talked about players that they've in
the past, going back before they won or went to

(33:34):
the Super Bowl players that they gave another deal to
didn't hit the EJEC button on. So I mean to me,
if you're gonna say we held onto guys a little
bit too long, who are here in twenty twenty one,
and Trey Hendrickson is one of those players and he's
under contract for one more year, those comments don't add
up to being that excited about giving him what he
wants in a longer term deal.

Speaker 8 (33:54):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (33:55):
And I think some of the comments you know in
there as well about you know, how how attainable is
it to get to the number that he's comfortable with?

Speaker 3 (34:04):
You know, like what is that?

Speaker 5 (34:05):
And to be determined? Right, a phrase that stood out
pretty clearly, I think in that I didn't think that
was as much about Trey, and I just think that
was more about guys that really covered, you know, that
defensive roster last year.

Speaker 3 (34:19):
It was about Sam Hubbard, it.

Speaker 4 (34:21):
Was about Von Bell, you know, it was about and
I don't know, it began a number of guys that
you saw that were that were held held onto from
from those teams.

Speaker 5 (34:31):
And it's sort of like I thought, in a lot
of ways without saying and again, this is me, this
is my interpretation not necessarily what he's saying, but like
it certainly seems like it's like, we gave Lou one
more chance with this with his guys, right, Like twenty
three was an aberration. Your guys that know your system,
Let's get your system back in here and reignite the magic, right,

(34:54):
keep your guys, let's improve it, and and that thing
went sideways. And so when Lou leaves that there's an
emission that everybody there probably held on one beat too
long onto everything that was happening defensively, and without saying, look,
this league, you, especially on defense, you have to constantly
be churning and hitting the reset and reinventing yourself every

(35:18):
single year. It just demands it on that side of
the ball specifically, and so you can't behold I mean,
we would talk about for years. Hear them holding on
to players, you know, trying to hold on to twenty thirteen,
hold on to twenty fifteen, and we're gonna bring that back,
and Michael Johnson's coming back and Pat Sims and like

(35:38):
you know, it's like, all, well, it was every year
it was a bringing this guy back from that team,
and it was like there is a certain point where
that just becomes you can't do that. You have to
you have to trust your drafts, your valuations, and the
confidence and how you reset things every single year and
view every team as a new team and not as

(35:59):
a recreation of an old team.

Speaker 4 (36:01):
And I think that was probably the lesson that he was,
you know, trying to say there. I think Philadelphia should
be favored in this game on Sunday, Like Philly, I'm
with you. I think it's silly to bet against Patrick
every time you say this, right, and they're like.

Speaker 3 (36:16):
Wait, are we doing it again? Are we betting against
Patrick Mahomes again?

Speaker 4 (36:20):
I like this Philly team. I like their defense roster
versus roster. Okay, just forget history. Mahomes three pete roster
versus roster. Philly's better. Yes, and don't I don't want
to say it's not close. There are Super Bowl teams
and the spread is is pretty thin, but I like,

(36:40):
I don't think.

Speaker 3 (36:41):
It's that close.

Speaker 5 (36:43):
Well, but the the you know, it's Mahomes again, it's
the super Bowl. But I go back to Jalen Hurts
played unbelievable in that Super Bowl cup. You're not worried
about him on that stage right, I would. I mean,
if I'm Philly, I don't care what's happened this year
when they're passing, and that's taken a lot of heat
in Philadelphia obviously, But like, I'm not worried about Jalen

(37:05):
Hurts on the big stage because I've seen that show
and it was a heck of a show, and so
I'm not worried about that. I love their defense. Their
defense is in such a better place. It's the perfect
example when we talk about things through the Bengals lens
of get young. Put a bunch of dudes up front
that are young and aggressive and get after the quarterback
and just let it go and believe in your youth.

(37:26):
Quinyan Mitchell and Jalen Carter and Jordan Davis and Nolan Smith,
like it's all dudes that have just been premium draft
picks to broad in there and go and go do it.
And they reset that from what it was a couple
of years ago, where it was a lot of older
guys that were chasing Patrick Mahomes around. And I think
that is where you could see it payoff on something.

Speaker 4 (37:43):
I you know, look, I'm a Bengals fan. I'm supposed
to root against Kansas City, but there's a part of
me that wants the Chiefs to win the title on
a bad call.

Speaker 3 (37:54):
For your content sake. The lines won't turn off.

Speaker 4 (37:57):
My favorite team in the NFL is the Cincinnati Bengals.
My second favorite team in every sport is chaos and content.

Speaker 3 (38:04):
Yes, so there is nothing.

Speaker 5 (38:06):
There's no button you could push right now right that
would create more castle.

Speaker 4 (38:11):
I want some sort of like egregious It's it's fourth
and seven, Maholmes is you know, about to fling it
out of bounds and the game is about to be
over and they get a reprieve from the guys in.

Speaker 3 (38:24):
Stripes like something like that.

Speaker 4 (38:26):
Some sort of egregious just you know, feed the conspiracy
sort of call that just tilts this in favor of
Kansas City would bring about the sort of chaos that
I am a huge fan of. You think the did
you see the statement made by the like head of
officiating about Ugh can't believe I'm having to address conspiracy theories.

Speaker 5 (38:46):
It's ridiculous. How much is he dritting that? Ron Torbert
is the officiales It's like, look, I quit this statement.
Put my face out there. Man, I made a statement
about this whole thing and now we got to count
on Ron to get its right.

Speaker 3 (39:00):
Yep, good luck. But I don't know in the history.

Speaker 4 (39:03):
I mean, look, there's always an immense amount of pressure
on any NFL officiating crew, even more so in the
Super Bowl. In this one, though, I'm not sure an
officiating crew has ever had more pressure on it because
if you're the league, like you just the last in
a season where a lot of great games, I mean
think Cincinnati Baltimore, the road game, the great game, and
the next day all we do is talk about one

(39:23):
call at the end of the game. There's been a
lot of games like that this year. You don't want
that in your Super Bowl, but you definitely don't want
that in a Super Bowl where Kansas City benefits from it, Like,
you don't want that. So a lot of pressure on
this crew.

Speaker 3 (39:35):
There's a lot of pressure. There's a lot of pressure
on every crew. That's just it.

Speaker 5 (39:39):
It's so hard. Yes, but man, you messed this one up,
and it's just gonna be feeding the entire offseas and
you know we're gonna hear about it, Like, I mean,
these aren't even full time employees. Are you gonna pay
they need more training and more overrated trope than make
them full time employee. You think that they all of
a sudden won't make bad call because they in the

(40:01):
summer they sat around and you know, took training sessions
instead of their insurance sales job.

Speaker 4 (40:06):
Wait a minute, My primary vocation is going to be
a job where if I make one mistake, you want
me out? Yeah, hard, pass on that it'll it'll stay
my side.

Speaker 3 (40:14):
Gig.

Speaker 4 (40:14):
We're good and a well paying one. Paul, thank you,
no problem. The Growler podcast. I takes many iterations and
readthathletic dot com. Follow Paul on x at Paul Danner Junior.
We we'll see you next week. Looking forward to it.

Speaker 3 (40:26):
I can't wait. No officials talk next week.

Speaker 4 (40:28):
We won't.

Speaker 3 (40:28):
We won't know.

Speaker 4 (40:29):
Let's need to I hope not.

Speaker 3 (40:30):
No, you do, though, yeah, I kind of do.

Speaker 4 (40:33):
It's five minutes away from four o'clock. Solomon Wilcotts is
going to join us in about ten minutes on ESPN
fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 2 (40:41):
Station Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty traffic from the UC.

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(41:10):
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Speaker 3 (41:18):
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ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 3 (41:31):
There you go.

Speaker 4 (41:32):
It's five minutes after four. This is ESPN fifteen thirty
on mowager. Thank you so much for joining us. We're
having an awesome Tuesday. UK so done early today you
can ole miss coming up at five point thirty on
a busy night for area college basketball teams. Wildcats and
Rebels tip off at seven o'clock. Xavier has a game tonight,

(41:53):
a big one against it. They're all big right now
for the Musketeers. X You taking on a Georgetown team
that beat them by six points in Washington, DC a
few weeks ago. Sean Miller was with us yesterday. If
you missed that conversation, well, the good news for you
is we record everything. You can find Sean Miller and
you can find me, and you can find us talking

(42:14):
with each other on the iHeartRadio app also on my
page at ESPN fifteen thirty dot com.

Speaker 3 (42:20):
Podcasts of this show.

Speaker 4 (42:21):
By the way, are a service of Longneck Sports Grill,
which if you're looking for a place here in northern
Kentucky tonight, right, Well, I want to watch Kentucky and
Ole Miss cool. I want to watch Xavier and Georgetown.

Speaker 8 (42:34):
Cool.

Speaker 4 (42:36):
May maybe maybe you want to expand your horizons a
little bit and and watch a team that is basking
in the glow of winning the archbaron Cumpany you want
to watch the Dayton Flyers tonight, Well, cool, you could.

Speaker 3 (42:47):
You could do that too.

Speaker 4 (42:49):
Perhaps perhaps you want to watch the ESPN Plus broadcast
of Miami's game tonight as they take on Central Michigan.

Speaker 3 (42:56):
Cool, you could.

Speaker 4 (42:56):
You could watch any of those games on any one
of the four KTVs at long next three locations. You
got Wilder, you got Hebren, you got rich Wood, so
there you go.

Speaker 3 (43:07):
Have a blast.

Speaker 4 (43:08):
We are in a bit of a holding pattern for
our friend Solomon Wilcotts, who is by the way, the
last time the Super Bowl was in New Orleans, Solomon
Wilcotts saved the broadcast as the sideline reporter for CBS.
If you remember, the lights went out, just think if
I can recall just after halftime, and chaos was unfolding,

(43:30):
and nobody knew what was going on, and yet there
was Sally on the sideline providing the audience answers as
not only to what was going on, but what the
teams were doing when play might restart. It was a
really terrific example of why sideline reporters are important and
how good someone in that role can be if they
are as good at their job as Salias. So hopefully

(43:52):
we run him down and he joins us for a
couple of minutes. We are looking forward as we say
too that uh. In the meantime, five point three seven,
four nine fifteen thirty is our phone number. We do
have to throw a poll question out there on Twitter
at Moeger and deal with a handful of other things
as well. But first, but first, let's go ahead and

(44:14):
spend a few minutes by chatting with Jeff. Jeff, you're
on ESPN fifteen thirty. Good afternoon, How are you? Oh?

Speaker 9 (44:19):
Happy Tuesday?

Speaker 10 (44:20):
Mo?

Speaker 9 (44:20):
I mean, between Paul and Sally, you're not going to
have a better day, that's for sure.

Speaker 4 (44:24):
Well, we we we have to get Sally and we're
trying to run him down and hopefully he's okay. But
hopefully that happens here in a few minutes.

Speaker 9 (44:31):
Maybe the power one out again, who knows, could be Yeah,
it could be. So a quick thought on Duke. How
come nobody ever references Hobbs his interview and only references Kelsey.
He did speak to Hops too, he did s an exclusive.

Speaker 4 (44:45):
He did speak to uh, to Jeff Hobson uh, and
it was very good. I think the conversation nothing against Butch,
nothing against the work that he does which is terrific,
Nothing against Bengals dot Com. I think the one that
most people were referencing was Kelsey, so I use that
as a point of reference.

Speaker 9 (45:04):
I thought they're both very well done. And then just
a couple of quick thoughts. You know, I don't think
I'll ever get tired of Joe, just because I've been
a fan since the team was formed, and we know
the front office unfortunately too well, it can be I
see how people can see that. It's grating, definitely, but
I'm glad he's doing it. I'm super glad he's doing it.

Speaker 4 (45:24):
Yeah, I have no issue with him doing it. He's
answering questions, and he's doing it, you know, in a
rational way. He's not giving canned answers. I think that's
a part of what we like about Joe Burrow. You
ask him a question, He's going to give you an answer.
You might not love the response it is. It is
interesting and maybe slightly annoying to me that every time

(45:45):
he does it's treated as this like earth breaking, earth
shattering piece of news when he's not really saying anything
new at this point.

Speaker 9 (45:53):
That's the ESPN and NFL network though, we're never going
to get.

Speaker 3 (45:55):
Away from I'm guilty of it. Yeah.

Speaker 11 (46:00):
Then, you know, even if he does restructure, he's not
taking a pay cut, he's not taking less. They're just
moving money from one bucket to another in Pulam at
a different time. So, you know, I think people get
a little confused on that. And on the team side,
you know, people I was like, oh, the Brown family
is worth four billion dollars. I'm like, they are not

(46:20):
worth four billion dollars until somebody offers them four billion dollars.
They are probably about ninety five percent of that ill
liquid if they're lucky, would be my guess. And I
think the other side of that coin is I've never
met them, don't know them, but I would guess that
if somebody came in and offered them six billion for
a four billion dollar team, they still.

Speaker 9 (46:39):
Wouldn't sell it because they're just not the type of
people to build a house in turfs and cacos and
drink umbrella drinks all day.

Speaker 3 (46:45):
This is their business. This is what they did exactly.
This is this is why they believe they were put
on the earth.

Speaker 4 (46:51):
So you know, when whenever I hear someone say, well,
I wish someone would buy the Bengals, well you can't
buy what's not for sale. And by the way, if
someone did buy the Bengals, well, then be careful what
you wish for, because then who knows where the franchise
ends up. They're not selling it. I'm willing to bet
you know. I'm forty seven years old. I don't know

(47:12):
how much time on this earth I have left. I'm
willing to bet when I pass away, the Bengals will
still be within the ownership of the Brown and Blackburn family.

Speaker 9 (47:21):
So well, we've got it laid out right in front
of us already, so we know exactly what's coming down
the pike. All right, Well, good luck with Sally, get
him back on the phone and have a good two
s all right, We hope we can run them down.

Speaker 4 (47:33):
Solomon Wilcott's yeah, that's not the Joe Burrow thing here.
I appreciate his candor, and I appreciate his honesty. And look, man,
I'm a sports talk radio host. At the end of
the season, Joe Burrow gave me a gift, and Tony
and Austin a gift, and Lance McCallister a gift, and
he gave a gift to a lot of people who

(47:53):
talk about the NFL, you know, league wide, and that
was let's talk more about T Higgins. Let's talk about
Higgins really for the first time since August. Let's talk
about T Higgins really for the first time since since June.
And so I appreciate his honesty. I appreciate him answering
questions with answers as to how he feels. Now, there

(48:17):
was a part of me that wonders two things. Number One, Okay,
you believe this can get done? Can it get done
without you doing a restructure? And are you intimating at
your ability to get a restructure done? If the answer
is yes, okay, well you know, then then it becomes

(48:37):
a little bit more feasible to suggest that this is
something they have to do because the quarterback wants it.
Tony asked me this, and he asked his audience, hopefully
you were in it. Earlier today on ESPN fifteen thirty,
we keep talking about like, all right, well Jamar, Jamar's
value has skyrocketed, the framework has changed, and t Higgins
is gonna want top dollar. Maybe not maybe not from

(49:01):
the Bengals paying him more than a team like the
Patriots of the Jets or somebody, but he wants his money,
and Trey Hendrickson wants his money. I keep hearing about
who the Bengals are gonna have to pay, and I
keep hearing about how well so and so will take less,
and yet I haven't really seen in the real world
any suggestion that any of these players are going to

(49:23):
take significant discounts. So maybe that changes, But can it
change if all those guys ask for top dollar and
Joe doesn't do a restructure. So there's number one. I
hope I made that clear. And the other part of
this is like we all hear what Joe wants, and
we all analyze and discuss what Joe wants, and we

(49:48):
talk about the realistic possibilities of Joe getting what he wants.

Speaker 3 (49:56):
What if he doesn't.

Speaker 4 (49:58):
All I can do is make an assumption based on
what I've seen with Joe in the public realm, and
what I've seen from Joe in the public realm is
he's not impulsive, he's not immature, He's not unwilling to

(50:18):
see what's next if what he wants isn't what he gets.
And so my guess, and this is purely a guess,
not based on me trying to get inside his head,
not based on me having chatted with him about this.
It's a guess based on watching him in the public view,

(50:38):
and that's a very limited thing to go by. My
guess is Joe will not be thrilled, but at least
want to see what's next, try to work with and
win with what's next, and not have this be the
sort of thing that becomes a thing before or during

(51:01):
the season. But if it turns out that what they
chose to do this offseason results in him spending another
Playoff on the outside looking in, perhaps having again put
up MVP caliber numbers, or the team continuing to not
compete for a championship, then I think there could be fallout.

(51:26):
I don't think Joe. You know, let's say March fourteenth,
we find out Tea is signed with Pick your Team, Raiders, Chargers, whoever,
Pick your team. I don't think that's the next day
Joe storms into the offices at what used to be
called Paul Brown Stadium, starts banging on Mike Brown's door
and yelling and screaming that he has to be traded.

(51:47):
I don't think it's that. I don't think we're gonna
get a whole bunch of vague tweets. I think we're
gonna get somebody who publicly might express some degree of disappointment,
but also some open mindedness that you know what. Okay,
let's see if what they are planning to do without
T Higgins works, and I'll do my best to make
it work, that's my guess. And if it works, all right,

(52:09):
all good, we made it work. Too bad Tea's not here,
but we're good. If not, you know, then maybe you'll
worry about Joe doing something to trigger an exit. He
still has the rest of his decade on his contract.
But unfortunately, what does hover over this is a shining

(52:30):
example of a quarterback who saw some things he didn't
like and then ultimately decided to bolt, and that was
obviously Carson Palmer.

Speaker 3 (52:36):
What Carson did was extreme extreme. I'm gonna walk.

Speaker 4 (52:41):
Away from I think he would have ended up walking
away from fifty million bucks had he not come back
and played for the Raiders when they traded him. I'm
gonna go away. I'm gonna leave this money on the table.
I'm fine, I'm fine walking away. I'm not playing for
you again. That was noteworthy because of how extreme it was.
Joe Burrow doesn't strike me as an extreme guy. He

(53:04):
may request a trade, he may express his unhappiness. He
may make it known, you know, my next contract, I'm
not signing here. He may privately and maybe even publicly,
make it known that he wants out. I don't see
him putting a gun to the Bengals head and saying,
like you better trade me, because if not, I'm gonna

(53:24):
sit on the beach. I don't see that happening, but
I do understand why if you're a Bengals fan that
hovers in the background, We've seen before what happens. And
I'll be honest with you, I think Joe Burrow is
a thousand times better at Bengals quarterback than Carson Palmer.
And I'm the guy who in two thousand and eight,
nine and ten was talking about how like, I'm not

(53:45):
sure that this guy is that good. Like, Okay, fine,
they're gonna have to figure out a way to replace
Carson Palmer, who hasn't been really, really, really good in
quite a while. Joe is entirely different. But when you
do have this example of not just Carson, by the way,
but a lot of players who have tried to engineer
their exit or have demanded a trade, or have tried
to get out of their deals or whatever with the Bengals,

(54:07):
and most noteworthy is Carson Palmer, when that hovers above
everything the Bengals have done subsequently. Sure, there is I
guess a slight concern that if Joe doesn't get his way,
the fallout could be significant, but that's the part of
this that's I think impossible for those of us who
care about this team to really wrap our brains around like.

Speaker 3 (54:32):
Is Joe making a threat? Is he just stating his desire?

Speaker 4 (54:36):
Is is he is he understanding that there's a very
good possibility that he doesn't get what he wants and
open minded about what's next. Is he gonna fold his
arms and pount Is he gonna throw a temper tantrum?
Is he gonna call a press conference and yell and
scream about ownership? Is is he gonna say all the
right thing?

Speaker 8 (54:54):
Like?

Speaker 10 (54:54):
None of us know?

Speaker 3 (54:55):
And that's that's part of what makes this interesting.

Speaker 4 (54:58):
It's it's part of what makes said maybe frustrating is
not the right word, but but it's it's it's part
of what makes it again the word I just used,
it's it's interesting, right, What if Joe doesn't get what
he wants?

Speaker 3 (55:12):
We don't know, like we we do not know, We
do not know the answer. What if he doesn't get
what he wants? What does that mean? What does that
look like? What does he do?

Speaker 4 (55:21):
What does he say? What does he do behind closed doors?
What does he do with his teammates? What does he
do with Zach Taylor, how does he play?

Speaker 3 (55:29):
What happens?

Speaker 7 (55:32):
And so.

Speaker 4 (55:34):
I am not tired of hearing Joe express his desire
for t Higgins to play for the Bengals. I am
not tired necessarily of Joe Burrow standing up for his
teammates and and and talking about how the guys who
are at the best at what they do should get
paid like those who are at the best at what
they do. And I certainly don't have a huge issue

(55:57):
with the content this is created, because I I've used
to create.

Speaker 3 (56:01):
My own content.

Speaker 4 (56:02):
The question that I wish was asked is what happens
if they don't dot dot dot bring back t Higgins?
What will your reaction be if they don't dot dot
dot And you can make it about getting a Jamar
extension done in time, and I think they will. I

(56:23):
just don't think it's gonna happen immediately. What happens if
they tray Trey Hendrickson? What happened, what happens if Trey
does end up playing the season without an extension? What
happens if they let t Higgins walk?

Speaker 8 (56:34):
Then?

Speaker 7 (56:34):
What?

Speaker 4 (56:36):
That's the part we don't know. And from the standpoint
of loving things, that are interesting, this big part of
me that wants to see what will happen if they
let T Higgins walk. I'm in favor of T Higgins
playing for the Bengals next year because I do believe
you can make it work. I do, I'm I'm I'm

(56:58):
also I don't know, maybe this is an argument against
signing T.

Speaker 3 (57:01):
Higgins.

Speaker 4 (57:02):
I'm not of the belief that if he leaves that
uh oh fold the franchise and they have no chance
of winning next year. Like all right, that money you
would have paid Tea is now added to a very
large pile of money laying around that you could spend
on other areas of the team.

Speaker 3 (57:19):
They have a lot of needs.

Speaker 4 (57:21):
College football yields a billion great wide receivers every year.
You still have Joe Burrow, you still have Jamar Chase.
Like it's it's not the end all, it's not you know,
cashing in. This team's done, sell the farm.

Speaker 3 (57:35):
You know, it's not like that. But yeah, I would.
I would like to build around a person like T. Higgins.

Speaker 4 (57:41):
I'd like to build around a pro like T Higgins,
And I do think you can still fix other areas
of the team while you bring him back. But man,
more than anything, I'm curious what happens if Joe doesn't
get his way?

Speaker 3 (57:55):
What does that look like? What's the fallout? Two? And
it's after four o'clock.

Speaker 4 (58:01):
Our numbers are five one, three, seven, four, nine, fifteen
thirty and eight sixty six, seven oh two three seven
seven six.

Speaker 3 (58:09):
Sally, just keep pushing us to voicemail is out? Is that?
What's happening? Yes?

Speaker 8 (58:13):
I have you?

Speaker 3 (58:14):
Shot him? Takes no response nothing?

Speaker 6 (58:18):
Uh?

Speaker 3 (58:19):
Is he in New Orleans? Do we know? I would assume?

Speaker 8 (58:23):
So?

Speaker 4 (58:23):
Okay, Well, we hope we have them. Are they mad
because I made fun of why we're having them on?

Speaker 3 (58:29):
I hope not. No sense of humor? You never know,
you never know. Well, hopefully we run him down. I
have a question about your answer to a question.

Speaker 2 (58:41):
Next Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty Traffic.

Speaker 7 (58:48):
trust the experts at you see help for innovative and
personalized heart care expect at UC help dot com. Delhi
Avenue blocked off due to an accident with downs wires
between Roebling Road and Rosemont Avenue. River Road or Ape Street.

(59:09):
Your best alternate southbound seventy five center lane blocked from
a disabled vehicle after Dorwood Lateral. I'm not ezelic with traffic.

Speaker 4 (59:18):
Is ESPN fifteen thirty, I'm oegar. On Friday, we're doing
the show from Twin Peaks in Westchester. We are looking
forward to that. Obviously, the home of the Toni and
Mo football show. Tony won't be with me because it's
like it's not a Toni and Mo football show. But
I'll be there and really that's that's all you need,

(59:39):
and so hope to see you there Westchester, Twin Peaks
on U Friday from three to six. That is going
to be an absolute blast. I U sometimes I have
questions and I ask pseudo rhetorically, and sometimes I ask
questions and I legitimately, I legiti want to know the answer.

(01:00:01):
So I asked a couple of poll questions yesterday. One
was about the Reds and their Pakoda projection of seventy
three and a half wins, which I think the Reds
are going to win more than seventy three and a
half games. I'm not entirely sure they're gonna win more
than eighty three and a half games, but I don't
think they're gonna win seventy Well, they're not gonna win
any and a half games, because that's not how baseball works.
But the Pakoda projections from Baseball Perspectus have the Reds

(01:00:25):
winning seventy three and a half games over the course
of so many simulations, and they are picked to finish
in last place. And so one of the pole questions,
thanks to United Heartland Insurance, by the way, is basically,
what are your thoughts on that?

Speaker 3 (01:00:39):
No or probably accurate? And most of you said no,
and I agree the other one. I asked this.

Speaker 4 (01:00:50):
About UC basketball, which was a huge focus of our
show yesterday, and I think understandably so given the ways
the season has gone and how they played on Sunday
and how they looked in that game. I've I've had
a lot of conversations with people over the last couple

(01:01:11):
of weeks as the season has started to unravel, and
invariably often I will hear someone say, well, you know,
in the nil world, it's nil or the portal or
attribute the attribute the spiraling out of control of the season,
if you will, to stuff like nil in the portal,

(01:01:32):
And so I just threw a question out there yesterday
when discussing the Eels of UC basketball this season, should
we include nil in the portal as issues?

Speaker 10 (01:01:40):
Now?

Speaker 3 (01:01:41):
The majority of you who responded said no, majority meaning
fifty three point six percent. Forty six point four percent
of you said yes. So that's obviously a minority, but
it's a large minority. So I'm legitimately curious. Why is
that one of the things we blame? Why is that

(01:02:04):
one of the things we point the finger at nil
and the portal?

Speaker 4 (01:02:09):
When every school has ANIL, every program is dealing with it,
the good and the bad of it, the good and
bad of the portal. D NCAA didn't throw the portal
in nil at you see and say, hey, you guys
got to figure this out. Everybody else gonna plan under
a different set of rules. I'm legitimately curious. I do

(01:02:33):
have open phone lines at five, one, three, seven, four, nine,
fifteen thirty. Solomon Wilcotts is allowed to use one of them. Uh,
why why is why would that be a part of
the conversation Nil and the portal? Why are those things
that you include among the reasons why this season has

(01:02:54):
gone the way.

Speaker 3 (01:02:54):
It has and by the way.

Speaker 4 (01:02:55):
You might be right, You might convince me that this
is a major re and for this program's striking lack
of success since mid December. I have a hard time
doing it, just because, well, everybody else has to deal
with this current landscape at college basketball, and many seem

(01:03:18):
to be not just surviving but thriving, including some traditional
powers and some that are maybe not quite so traditional.
Other coaches, other programs have figured out how to make
the new way of doing things in college basketball work.

(01:03:42):
I guess some are going to say, well, you got
guys here, they got their money, and so they're not
going to play hard, they're not going to try hard.

Speaker 3 (01:03:47):
Like that can't be it, man, I mean, are there
people like that? Shore? Are there people like that in sports? Sure?
But then that's not an nil or portal issue. That's
you got the wrong guys issue.

Speaker 4 (01:04:01):
If you pay someone to do a job and you
give them a market valued salary and you give them
good benefits and they don't do the job, it's not
because you pay them too much. It's not because they
got a big pay raise. It's because you hired the
right person. You hired the wrong person, and hire the
right person. So I'm curious as to why that's being

(01:04:27):
pointed to as one of the issues that this team
is dealing with as they somehow try to pull themselves
out of the muck of a stretch where they've lost
eight out of ten. They do play tomorrow night down
the road against UCF. I view it as a roster
construction issue. I view it as a coach not being

(01:04:50):
able to get enough out of these players. Certainly seems
like there's a bit of a motivation issue, which I
don't tie to the players getting paid. There's you might argue,
an identity issue. There's certainly an effort issue. There's a
an ability to implement the correct schemes deployed the right

(01:05:13):
strategies during games, like lots of different issues, having too
many guys who only do one thing well and in
some cases players who don't do much of anything right
now well, some players who haven't progressed at the rate
that we would have liked. There are lots of issues,
lots of issues. I've not watched this season unfold the

(01:05:37):
way it hasn't.

Speaker 3 (01:05:38):
Thought. God, you know what, the problem here is Portland
and IL.

Speaker 4 (01:05:42):
So if you view it differently, as always, there is
room for you five one, three, seven, four, nine, fifteen thirty.

Speaker 3 (01:05:52):
He is in New Orleans, by the way, that's confirmed.
He is in New Orleans. Have you talked to him. No,
I've just seen him do other radio interviews on Twitter.

Speaker 4 (01:06:00):
Okay, so Sally is in New Orleans. Do we think
he thinks it's four o'clock Central time?

Speaker 3 (01:06:07):
Maybe the dude that I booked it with. I just
checked my text message with the guy.

Speaker 4 (01:06:14):
Four pm Eastern with Sally Wilcott's on Tuesday, February fourth,
So I you know, and like texted him at Taran
I'll show you at twelve twenty one today anything I
need to know for Sally today and then he sent
me the thing I have to plug, which is fine, transactional.

Speaker 3 (01:06:36):
I get it.

Speaker 4 (01:06:37):
And then I wrote at two seventeen are we just
talking to Sally? As you know, at times we talked
to Sally and we talk about football and the Bengals
and stuff, and then we have to, you know, do
a plug. That's how this works. Sure you've heard radio
row interviews by now, And there have been times in
the past where like Sally will hand the phone to

(01:06:57):
a doctor and I was one. So at seventeen today,
Sally's guy, Sally's PR dude. This is like two hours
and fifteen minutes ago. We were conversing about Sally being
on today. So we'll find out if Sally thinks, you
know what, it's gonna be four o'clock Central time, since

(01:07:18):
he's in New Orleans.

Speaker 3 (01:07:19):
I am looking at his Twitter. Is he is in
New Orleans?

Speaker 4 (01:07:22):
He is doing He's doing like big national radio shows.
So maybe he doesn't have time for his friends in Cincinnati.

Speaker 3 (01:07:28):
I don't know.

Speaker 4 (01:07:29):
Sports headlines are next, phone calls coming up as well.
This is ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports station. All Right,
I got an answer. Sally thought four pm Central Taran.
So there the mystery has been solved. I've had Solomon
Wilcott's on this show a million times. He is prompt,

(01:07:50):
he does this for a living. He does, you know,
serious NFL radio, and so I thought, this is weird,
this is bizarre.

Speaker 3 (01:07:57):
He's in New Orleans.

Speaker 4 (01:07:58):
I bet you he thinks it's four cents. And then
I just texted his guy, and this guy wrote me
right back and said, my bad.

Speaker 3 (01:08:07):
He thought.

Speaker 4 (01:08:07):
We thought, because he's with him, we thought for for
Central time. So Solomon will Cotts will be on this
show in uh in twenty minutes.

Speaker 3 (01:08:16):
Oh, never mind, we'll go ahead and say it. Taran,
It's all right. I bet that he might need to
fire his guy.

Speaker 4 (01:08:21):
Oh you know what honest mistake I've made that mistake.
That is that is a totally that is a completely
honest mistake. Maybe among the many changes happening in the
United States of America, we're gonna get rid of time
zones next.

Speaker 3 (01:08:34):
I don't know, but no, that's I. That is I
I've made that mistake.

Speaker 4 (01:08:39):
So I've made that mistake where you know, you often
get the call, like from a market, you know, where
they're playing the Bengals and they want a Cincinnati guy on,
and I guess none of the legitimate media members say yes.
So they call me and let's say it's in Kansas
City or Houston or something, and they'll be like, all right, uh,
three o'clock and and okay, fine, and three o'clock and

(01:09:02):
then three o'clock comes and goes and they don't call,
and then I forget about it and they meant three
o'clock their.

Speaker 3 (01:09:07):
Time, So I've that's okay, all but didn't he say
for Eastern he did?

Speaker 7 (01:09:12):
You know?

Speaker 4 (01:09:12):
What he did, but he might have He like, he
probably got it right, but Sally got it wrong. We
can make this the subject of the interview when we
call him in about twenty minutes, so we can get
to the bottom of this. So maybe maybe he told
us Eastern and told Sally four and four is out,

(01:09:33):
there is three and so miscommunication. Sports headlines are a
service of Kelsey Chevrolet Home of lifetime powertrain protection and
guaranteed credit approval from their family to yours for life,
kelseyshev dot Com. Let's start with the Bengals. They signed
a wide receiver Mitchell Tinsley to a reserve future contract.

(01:09:55):
Tinsley will not count on the team's active list until
after the season, which on Sunday.

Speaker 3 (01:10:01):
He is a second year player, will be a second
year player.

Speaker 4 (01:10:04):
He was a college free agent signee of the Commanders
in twenty twenty three, played in two games for them,
didn't have any numbers, then spent this past year on
Washington's practice squad. He played collegiately at Hutchinson Community College
in Kansas, Western Kentucky University. That was my number two
school in Bowling Green and Penn State. In twenty twenty two,

(01:10:26):
what else do we have? The Reds madded official. Wade
Miley signs with a team to a minor league contract.
So does Ian Jabbo. Wade Miley had Tommy John surgery
last April. Ian Jebbo didn't pitch last year, if memory
serves me correct. If I had working Internet, I'd be
able to confirm that for you. College football you see

(01:10:47):
has announced it's a twenty twenty five schedule.

Speaker 3 (01:10:50):
We've known. You want me to run through it, I'll
run through it.

Speaker 4 (01:10:54):
If you want the Nebraska game, which you knew in
Kansas City Thursday, August twenty eighth, bg y, we were
gonna bet on the Bowling Green game.

Speaker 3 (01:11:02):
Yes, we got to September sixth, that's at Nippert. Northwestern
State September thirteenth, that's at Nippert. Then a bye week,
a bye week for the Bearcats. Then they go to
Kansas on nine to twenty seven, Iowa State here ten
to four, UCF here on ten eleven, at ok State
ten eighteen, Baylor here ten twenty five, at Utah on

(01:11:25):
eleven to one, then a bye Arizona here on eleven fifteen,
BYU here on eleven twenty two, and the Bearcats will
be at TCU on eleven, twenty nine. College trip tonight.
Does Xavier host Georgetown at eight thirty tonight at the
Centaz Center. Hoy has won the first game against Xavier
and Washington, both teams five and six in Big East play.

(01:11:48):
Sean Miller was on the show yesterday to talk about
the game and so much more. Find that on the
iHeartRadio app.

Speaker 4 (01:11:53):
Also tonight, Kentucky versus Old Miss, UK obviously coming off
their laws at home to Arkansas. The Wild as good
as they have been all season longer now three and
they've lost three out of four. Ole Miss has lost
four out of five. Tip Off at seven o'clock tonight
in Oxford, Miami looks for a third consecutive win. Central
Michigan hosts them tonight. Dayton's got a home game against

(01:12:15):
Davidson Flyers, coming off their victory over Saint Louis on Friday,
Indiana's at Wisconsin. The NKU Coaches Show is tonight at
six on Fox Sports thirteen sixty, and the Blue Jackets
skate on the road tonight against Buffalo. That game can
be heard on Fox Sports thirteen sixty at seven o'clock.
After the aforementioned NKU coaches show.

Speaker 3 (01:12:37):
We all love this time of.

Speaker 4 (01:12:39):
Year, bracketology and different metrics and different tournament projections, and
it's one of the fun things about being a college
basketball fan. The next you know, it kind of kicks
in the gear really after.

Speaker 3 (01:12:51):
The Super Bowl.

Speaker 4 (01:12:51):
But it's one of the fun things about being a
college basketball fan, just trying to put the puzzle together.

Speaker 3 (01:12:57):
Who's gonna make it, who's going to be on.

Speaker 4 (01:12:58):
The outside looking in, which games have a lot of
impact on the bubble. It's part of the fun of
being a college hoops fan. And I've missed it in
recent years because you have to go back to twenty
twenty when there was no NCAA tournament to find the
last time that, realistically in February is a Bearcat fan.
We were spending much time on stuff like bracketology or

(01:13:20):
its cousin bubble watch. ESPN has released It's a bubble watch,
actually their first bubble watch of the year, and chances are,
if you're a college hoops fan, you know how this works.
They go by conference and they list locks schools that
are going to be locks, so like for instance, in
the SEC, Locks or Auburn Tennessee, Alabama, Florida, Texas, A

(01:13:44):
and M. And then schools that should be in, like
for instance, in the SEC Kentucky, and then schools that
have work to do, teams that have work to do,
and then teams that are on the outside looking in.
So the Bearcats have been rough, and I'm putting it
very very mildly. They've been bad. They've lost eight out

(01:14:04):
of ten. They're not playing well, they're getting worse. There's
nothing about this team that when you watch them on
the floor, screams NCAA Tournament. So if you go to
the Big Twelve, it's got the teams that you would
imagine are locks, right Houston, Arizona, Kansas, Iowa State, Texas Tech.

Speaker 3 (01:14:20):
And then there are the.

Speaker 4 (01:14:20):
Teams that should be in, which is like kind of
barring catastrophe, they make it, and that would be Baylor
and BYU, and then there are teams that have work
to do. Now, the Big Twelve, according to ESPN right now,
lists four, and with each of the four teams it

(01:14:43):
has their chances of making the tournament by percentage. So,
for instance, at the bottom of the list, UCF with
a ten percent chance of making the NCAA tournament, Arizona
State twelve percent, West Virginia twenty te nine percent, the.

Speaker 3 (01:15:02):
Bearcats sixty eight percent.

Speaker 4 (01:15:06):
And i'll read the blurb here, I'll give away the
content says the Bearcats are among the most polarizing teams
in our data. While the ESPN forecast assigns them a
sixty seven percent attorney chance on the basis of a
number forty three ranking in their Basketball Power Index and
a manageable thirty seventh ranked future strength of schedule, that's
a clear outlier relative to other forecasts. Putting the algorithm aside,

(01:15:29):
they have a lot of work to do to improve
upon a one to seven record against top fifty fos. Now,
for what it's worth, the game tomorrow night is a
Q one opportunity for the Bearcats. So you could do
a couple of things here. You could look at who
they have left on their schedule and go, boy, plenty
of opportunities for really good wins. And you could look
at who they've played and who they've lost to and go, well,

(01:15:51):
there's not really just a crushing, a metrics crushing loss.
This is this is why I at times I don't
want to say plead, but I talk more about the
basketball part of this, because if I'm just looking at
the resume and the metrics and the schedule they have
coming up, I can conclude this is a team that

(01:16:15):
has a lot of work to do, but it has
a path to the NCAA Tournament. If I do that
and just look at their numbers, their metrics, where they
are from a ken palm, from a net, from a
BPI from a bart Torovic, I can look at that
and go, this team has a lot of work to do,
but if they do it, they can get in. When

(01:16:37):
I watch them play basketball, let's be real, they have
ten regular season games to go. They've got to win
a lot of them. I hope they do. I wouldn't
bet on them, so Tony and I were talking about
this off air this morning. It's one of those things
that you look at and you're like, well, you know,
maybe all hopes not lost until you remember what you've

(01:17:00):
seen when you've watched them play again, Like the Utah game,
they were better, but in two of their last three games,
let's be honest, they are non competitive. This doesn't feel
like it's going in the right direction. And now you
got to go on the road. By the way, Yeah,
they have plenty of opportunities for really good wins. They
still play what I think is the best team in
the league, and the standings would say as much, and

(01:17:22):
what I think is the second best team in the
country in Houston that's played a good Eyowa State team
that kind of got rolled last night, but still like
sixty eight percent looks nice if you're just looking at
pieces of paper. Unfortunately, to really assess this team, you
have to look at what they put on the floor.

(01:17:42):
By the way, Xavier thirty one percent, and I'll read
the blurb there too. Sean Miller's team has generally improved
as the season has progressed. Xavier ranks in the top
fifty and both BPI and Ken Palm, though their resume
against top competition is lacking. The Musketeers are five to
nine against the BPA BPI two up one hundred. They
have mostly gotten through the tough part of their schedule

(01:18:03):
and they will at least be able to improve upon
their raw win lost mark from here. And that's something
that Sean and I talked about yesterday, was the schedule.
I mean, he won't say it this way. The schedule
does ease up. They play a bunch of teams in
the lower half of the Big East, and they play
a bunch of teams that if you've watched them at
all this year, you would say Xavier should beat.

Speaker 3 (01:18:23):
There's just not a lot of quality there.

Speaker 4 (01:18:25):
That Creighton game here, I think is going to be massive,
and the Villanova game on the road is gonna be
really important too. I still believe with where they are
right now, and this is again a pretty tall task.
They're thirteen and nine. They're gonna play a team tonight
that beat them eight and a half point favorites, and
then they go to Villanova. That game is Sunday, which

(01:18:49):
is obviously not gonna be easy. Villanova had them on
the ropes here. If they can go eight and one,
they go to the Big East Tournament twenty two to ten,
and they will have finished regular season play in the
Big East with a thirteen and seven record. I would
feel pretty comfortable if I was a big Xavier fan

(01:19:10):
about my team's chances going in if they did that.
From a basketball perspective, can they can they continue to
get better on the defensive end, Can they get productivity
off the bench, Can they still figure out ways to
win games? When the scoring's not there, they have a
very small margin for error and not many opportunities for

(01:19:35):
great wins, but lots of opportunities for wins.

Speaker 3 (01:19:40):
So there you go.

Speaker 4 (01:19:40):
Seven away from five o'clock, an interview that is an
hour in the making. Solomon Wilcotts is joining us in
twelve minutes.

Speaker 3 (01:19:50):
We think my name is Maegar. This is ESPN fifteen thirty,
Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 2 (01:19:56):
Station, Cincinnati's ESPN fifty Traffic.

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Speaker 5 (01:20:33):
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Website and cran that's crap.

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Enter it now you've found Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 4 (01:20:45):
Per have what's up four minutes after five o'clock for
a minute early you get a three minute wow. This
is ESPN fifteen thirty on Moeger. Thank you so much
for joining us. We are done early out of the
at five thirty to make room for UK Hoops Wildcats
taking on Old Miss tip off at seven o'clock tonight.

(01:21:06):
I Meanwhile, we are inching closer and closer to the
Super Bowl. We are inching closer and closer to the
new NFL league year, which means we are inching closer
and closer to getting some of the answers about the
Bengals that have dominated the off season and much of
the regular season so far. Here to spend a few
minutes with us to talk about some of those questions

(01:21:27):
is a guy who once provided a masterclass on sideline
reporting from a Super Bowl in New Orleans. He is
with us on behalf of Macy Arthrow, our friend, Solomon Wilcotts.
It's good to have you, sir.

Speaker 10 (01:21:39):
How are you, oh mohem, I'm doing great and always
good to be on with you, and thank you for
that wonderful, lovely introduction.

Speaker 3 (01:21:48):
Well, it's true.

Speaker 4 (01:21:49):
I was thinking about that today. The last Super Bowl
in New Orleans. The lights go out, they go to
you on the sideline, and you were the first to
tell us what was going on. It was an awesome
piece of broadcasting.

Speaker 10 (01:22:00):
Well, I appreciate it. You know, this news gathering in
times of when it's not even unexpected. Right, you got
to be able to keep your wits about you. You
got to be able to get people to talk to you.
Then when that camera is staring you in the face,
you got to be able to look at it like
it's a person and not an inadamate object, and be
able to deliver. You know, I had days when I

(01:22:22):
was I couldn't quite do that. So it was good
that I was ready when the time k.

Speaker 4 (01:22:27):
Well, you and I have talked about it before, and
I thought about that today because you're back in New Orleans.
The super Bowl is back in New Orleans, and so
so that memory came up. I'm going to ask you
to switch jobs. I'm going to give you Duke Tobin's
job for a few minutes.

Speaker 3 (01:22:41):
Where do you start.

Speaker 4 (01:22:42):
This is an off season in this franchise's history, unlike
any other.

Speaker 10 (01:22:47):
Yeah, I think. Look because and you're right, because there's
multiple places where there's strong need. I think we need
a good edge rusher. I think you need good interior
defensive line. Even though we went heavy there last year,
I think you still need more. I think you need
a wide body, zero technique. Not that you have to
do this all. You don't have to do it all

(01:23:08):
in the first round. But this is just the laundry
list right of what you really need. You need or
a linebacker that can play multiples in terms of heavy
against the rum, but still stay on the field on
passing downs of someone who's more athletic. Let's just keep
it real. I think we need another cover corner, and

(01:23:30):
I think we need another safety who's.

Speaker 8 (01:23:33):
Got range and ball skills.

Speaker 10 (01:23:35):
Those are hard to find. You can't let people throw
the ball over your head. And we saw that happen
this year yet again for the second year in a row.
And you notice all of those things were on defense.
I haven't even talked about maybe another interior guard like
on the offensive line wouldn't hurt either.

Speaker 4 (01:23:55):
Let me stay on defense really quick, and then we'll
talk about some of the decisions they have regarded their
own players, how well if it all.

Speaker 3 (01:24:01):
Do you know Al Golden?

Speaker 10 (01:24:04):
I don't know him, but have watched from Afar just
so I happened. I you know, I have a friend
of mine a son, played with a freshman at Notre Dame,
so I saw in a lot of those games this year.
Got to watch him. I love the way he deployed.
So it's some of lu Ana Romo there. You know,
multiple defensive backs they really make the defense go. Obviously

(01:24:26):
you gotta have presence up front on the on the line,
but they they're gonna play with five and six defensive
backs right and have to be very active. You're gonna
play with maybe two linebackers, but they have to be
very good in coverage and they got to be thumpers
in the run game. Uh. So I saw a lot
of that. Look look to me when I named all
those missing pieces. If you the best player in the

(01:24:49):
first round at one of those positions, it's going to
be there. And one such guy I don't I'm not
saying you gotta go get a safety. I'm not saying that,
but if Xavier watch all Americans from Notre Dame is there, it's.

Speaker 8 (01:25:02):
Gonna be hard.

Speaker 10 (01:25:04):
It's gonna be hard. For Algodon, not to say he's
a phenomenal player and I think he can be a
difference maker, the kind of playmaker in the secondary of
the Bengals are looking for.

Speaker 4 (01:25:15):
All Right, I'm asking you to stay in Duke Tobin's capacity.
You've got this t Higgins thing which is coming to
a head. This is something we have been talking about
now for two years. You've got your franchise face stating
publicly he's in need. I want him back. You're dealing
with the spreadsheet, the financial realities of the NFL, and
a roster that you have to repair.

Speaker 3 (01:25:36):
What are you doing.

Speaker 10 (01:25:39):
Coming? First of all, I'm talking to the agents obviously,
and then I'm you know what the numbers are. The
numbers are going to be, you know, some thirty million
for Jamar because you waited. On first of all, I'm
using I'm using the franchise tag again on tea and

(01:26:00):
now not because I want him to play under the tag.
That's gonna keep him from hitting free agent market. I'm like,
I'm sorry, you're too good. I'm keeping you know. I
want you on my team. I want you on my team,
and I'm gonna do what I should have did a
year go acidning to the long term deal. It's gonna
be probably because I'm gonna say, look, let's give him
a little more guaranteed money. But you know, if it's

(01:26:22):
around twenty eight meal per year, you know, I think
that might get you there. You know, Jamar is gonna
be over thirty meal per year. He's gonna be north
of Justin Jefferson. Just know that the guys, you know,
in a proved year, he hit a Grand Slam, right,

(01:26:42):
come on, man, if you said, well, you gotta prove it.
He didn't get a hit, get a home run, he
got a Grand Slam, walk off game over Grand Slam.
And now the Bengals have themselves to blame for that.
But look, they have the same agent, Chase and Higgins.
He's got the quarterback who want to keep them there.

(01:27:04):
This is where the Bengals I think I have to
really be creative enough to draw some models, multiple ways
of what those contract looks like and things that Joe
that Joe may not need all this money now, right,
neither of the receivers. They may not need all of
their money.

Speaker 3 (01:27:22):
Now.

Speaker 10 (01:27:22):
He's not upfront, and if the guaranteed can to be
paid out, you know, over some years. I know players
who are still getting paid long after they're done playing.
Works like an annuity that you can push money out. Okay,
there are creative ways. You cannot be an organization that
paint by numbers. Oh, there's only one way we know

(01:27:43):
how to do it. It's not we're gonna do it,
do it this way, or don't get done. You cannot
be inflexible in that way. That's why, to me, it's
gonna be between the agent. It's gonna be between the
players and Joe Burrow and the front office all get
together and just kind of he creative. You cannot cannot
be paint by numbers. Bo. You can't do that. You're

(01:28:06):
gonna have to do some things maybe they haven't been
done before, if you want to have a prolific passing
attack like no one has ever had before.

Speaker 4 (01:28:15):
And then there's the dynamic with Trey Hendrickson, who's a
defensive Player of the Year finalist. If you're al golden,
you can't wait to get your hands on him and
build a defense around him. At the same time, one
year left on his contract, he's already asked for a
trade before. I'm sure he's going to be seeking an
extension this offseason. He just had a great year. At
the same time, he's going to be thirty one at

(01:28:35):
the end of this season. What do you do with Trey?

Speaker 10 (01:28:38):
That's I think that's the biggest problem. There's the age factor.
And then he did sign a new stitch and you
know how it is, and they give you new money
and then you come back and act some new money
and think or said, we just gave you new money.
But look, I think the guy outplayed his deal. I
think it'll be okay to sign him, to extend it,

(01:28:59):
to put it another one year on it. I don't
think you're going to extend it with two more years,
right'd like the thirty three and thirty four. You're just
that's just not gonna happen. I think the agent knows that.
I think Trey knows that. To me, he's such a
great player and he's such a The work ethic is
what you're rewarding here and the model for your franchise.

(01:29:20):
It's kind of like, you know, we had Wit. Was
was Wit at the top of this game?

Speaker 3 (01:29:25):
No?

Speaker 10 (01:29:25):
Was Wit still good? Heck yes, he's still good. Was
he a wonderful locker room presence? Yes. Did he provide
a great model for the rest of your team? Yes,
he said, so, so what are we talking about here.
It's like, you know, you pay people for multiples. He's
a productive player, and he's a good leader, and he's
a hard worker, and he represents a great model. So

(01:29:48):
all those things. Now, I know it's easy for me
to say, yeah, pay the guy, but it's not my money.
But I'm just saying, if you're going to build a
winning franchise, this is what you do.

Speaker 4 (01:29:57):
Solomon Wilcott's with us from New Orleans on Sunday. He
is with us on behalf of Macy Arthrow. There are
a lot of folks on our audience who have had
knee cartilage injuries and have dealt with the pain that
it causes, the dysfunction that it causes, the various medical
procedures that it might trigger.

Speaker 3 (01:30:16):
What can the folks that Macy do for those people?

Speaker 10 (01:30:19):
Well, how about this. They can take their existing healthy tissue,
and then they can take it into a lab and
they can grow the healthy tissue, and then they can
go back in orthoscopically or reinserted. It adheres to the
healthy tissue and to the bone, and so it's using
their own it's in metolic as Science, which using their

(01:30:40):
own sales to do it, and it keeps you from
deteriorating to the point where your bone on bone and
then even later having to have a joint replacement surgery.
So it's a new innovative treatment. Macy's been around for
about eight years, but orthoscopically it was approved by the
FDA just last Augus And so as you well knowing,

(01:31:01):
orthoscopic procedure is less invasive, so you don't have to
have this long cut on the knee. They're going to
go in orthoscopically. You can go to the website to
find out more Macy dot com, maci dot com to
find a doctor in your area and learn more about the.

Speaker 3 (01:31:19):
Procedure Macy dot com. That's m A c I dot com.

Speaker 4 (01:31:26):
Sally enjoyed the week.

Speaker 3 (01:31:27):
I appreciate it. Man, thanks so much.

Speaker 10 (01:31:28):
You're the best of all, all the best.

Speaker 8 (01:31:30):
Thank you.

Speaker 3 (01:31:31):
Good to have you.

Speaker 4 (01:31:32):
Solomon Wilcotts fourteen minutes after five o'clock. Good stuff. It
was worth the wait. It was worth the way getting
Sally on from New Orleans. Seriously, go back. I've joked
about this and Sally was nice.

Speaker 3 (01:31:43):
Enough to join me.

Speaker 4 (01:31:44):
When the Bengals were in Los Angeles for the Super
Bowl and I was lucky enough to broadcast from there.
Sally joined me for like twenty five minutes, and I said, like,
all right, I want to talk about you being on
the sideline for that Super Bowl in New Orleans. And
I'm sure this game, I'm sure it's all on YouTube.
So it's San Francisco and Baltimore, they're in New Orleans.

(01:32:06):
The lights go out, it's right after halftime, and you know,
you're thinking, God, this could be anything, this could be
terrorist attack, this could be a massive city wide power outage,
like what's going on here? And as it turned out,
the lights were turned back gone within ten minutes. But
you know, for a few minutes, there's a lot of uncertainty.
I'm sure the teams are wondering, like when are we
going to restart the game? And we're gonna have to

(01:32:26):
wait a while? Is there gonna be a warm up?
And honestly, like nobody in the broadcast booth had any answers,
Nobody at the CBS halftime set had any answers. They
had to go on the field and talk to somebody
who could get answers in real time, and Sally was
that guy. And you know, for you know, Sally has
often thought of as an analyst, and as you just heard,
a terrific one. But I remember that day going like,

(01:32:48):
that's that's why you have a sideline reporter. You'll have
a sideline reporter to ask the you know, the softball
questions of the coach coming off the field, like that's
largely pointless. You have a sideline reporter in case they're
there's stuff that happens. Again, think of like Lisa Salters
for the Tomorrow Hamlin situation here, like for the ESPN broadcast,
they had someone on the sideline to give provide some

(01:33:10):
clarity and answer some questions, and Sally did that.

Speaker 3 (01:33:14):
And I remember saying the next day on this show
like that was awesome.

Speaker 4 (01:33:18):
Thank God for Solomon Wilcott's And I think Steve Tasker
was on the San Francisco sideline and was equally as good.
But we don't care about Steve Tasker as much as
you're about Solomon Willcott. So I always think of that
when I think of New Orleans and Super Bowls and
stuff going wrong. How good he was that day, And
he is always kind enough to join our show even
when we get the time mixed up.

Speaker 3 (01:33:40):
Hopefully they feed him. He said he hasn't eaten dinner yet.
You talked to him off air, Yes. How many interviews
has he done today? A lot, A lot.

Speaker 4 (01:33:50):
I saw he's on the Jim Rome Show. I saw
he was on something on CBS. So he's like just
cranking out making the rounds. He's at Radio Row. He's
doing a thound and interviews. The good news is, Tarren,
he's in New Orleans, the greatest culinary city in the
United States. You know, he's they're not doing the Super

(01:34:11):
Bowl from Detroit. Not that there's not good restaurants in Detroit.
Detroit people are going to be mad, big mad. If
you're hungry, there is no better place in the United
States of America to be than New Orleans. So the
good news is, you know, it's not like, well, he'll
he'll go dinner Radio Row and then a little a

(01:34:31):
drive through. He can go to any number of awesome
restaurants and I'm sure he will, and chances are Macy
is going to be paying for it. I mean, doesn't
he have like a guy with him that can get
him some food him right. Where is do we know
where Radio Row is? I that's some hotel or something,
some convention center probably. I mean, isn't there someone there

(01:34:55):
that you can go? Hey, can we give Solomon Wilcotts?
Can we can we get the guys something to eat?

Speaker 3 (01:34:59):
He just told he skipped dinner last night. He said
he's not doing that again the night, so he will
eat to meat. Why he skipt dinner because he was
doing radio stuff all day, oh night yesterday.

Speaker 4 (01:35:09):
Well, New Orleans is open like twenty four hours. Like
the cool thing about that town is you can go
find something to eat that's good at like two am.
You can find a lot of things at.

Speaker 3 (01:35:18):
A New Orleans. I got to say, you gotta be
careful that.

Speaker 4 (01:35:20):
You could find a good meal at two o'clock in
the morning. Go to the Clover Grill, get the Hubcap Burger,
and you are good to go right there on Bourbon Street,
and then you walk down and go to Lafite's Tavern
and get the best hurricane in New Orleans. Like that's
what Sally and I should have talked about. Stuff to
do and eat and drink in New Orleans. Thanks to Macy,
go to macy dot com. Nineteen minutes after five o'clock.

(01:35:41):
This is ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 2 (01:35:44):
Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty traffic.

Speaker 7 (01:35:49):
From the UC Health's Traffic Center. Heart disease is the
trust the experts at U see help for innovative and
personalized heart care. Expect more at uchelp dot com. Delhi
Avenue is blocked off due to an accident between Robelink
Road and Rosemont Avenue. That's got down to wires on

(01:36:10):
the roadway as well. Eastbound State Route thirty two. It's
an accident at Eastgate Boulevard that's blocking off the right lane.
I'm a he Zealik with traffic.

Speaker 3 (01:36:20):
This report gay sponsored by Truth.

Speaker 4 (01:36:22):
Thanks to my friends at United Heartland Insurance. If you
haven't reviewed your home and business insurance policy, you might
want to know the average insurance renewal has increased twenty
to fifty percent. United Heartland Insurance has saved customers thousands
of dollars in premiums. Don't wait until it's too late.
Go to uhins dot com and tell them you want

(01:36:42):
to save more money uhi ns dot com. The question
today what do you think? What do you guess Joe
Burrow will do if the Bengals don't bring back t
Higgins A throw a tantrum and demand a trade.

Speaker 3 (01:36:55):
B shrug his shoulders and wait to see what's next.

Speaker 4 (01:36:57):
My guess is B. I don't think he's gonna throw
a tantrum. I don't think he's going to request a
trade I don't think he's going to demand one either.
We have exactly two minutes. We have a hard time,
as we say in the business, Mike, you could have
ninety seconds. What's going on?

Speaker 8 (01:37:14):
Oh my god? That was like the Blitz Greag coming
in the one that I wasn't ready for it. I'm
your voice.

Speaker 6 (01:37:22):
Likewise, I talked to my buddy Rich Herrera, who's been
sports tuck guy for years, used to be with kN
VR up in San Francisco, which was a very successful
sports tuck.

Speaker 8 (01:37:35):
Yes, as you know, it's powerful and good. Gary Bradmans
all those guys, and Pete said, he thinks this is
and he's a big baseball Josh. He thinks this is
the Reds here. There is no reason that they cannot
win that division. And he's a big Giants Niners fan
because he's a Bay Area kid and he thinks Taylor

(01:37:56):
Rogers is going to please the Dickens out a Cincinnati
And the only reason the Giants gave up on didn't
give up on it, but we're willing to trade him
was they're loaded with some young arms in the bullpen
that they're really excited about. So I just wanted to
share that with Cincinnati fans.

Speaker 4 (01:38:13):
Well, Mike, I appreciate you doing that. It's great to
hear your voice and hope you're okay. I wish we
could talk more, but I got to run here in
a second. I think the biggest reason why the Reds
might not win the National League Central that has nothing
to do with them is the Chicago Cubs. I think
years of after years of kind of sitting there and
doing nothing and making some very very minor and conservative additions,

(01:38:37):
they've had a really good offseason. I'm not sure the
collection of parts is good enough to win ninety to
ninety five games. Beyond that, it's inexperience and it's just
not being able to count on all that much from
guys who are largely unproven. But I do think the
red ceiling is pretty high now. The ceiling is typically
not the most likely outcome, but I do think the

(01:38:58):
ceiling is actually pretty high, and perhaps we'll spend more
on that. Tomorrow we have to go UK basketball coming in,
excuse me, coming up next, Wildcats taking on Ole Miss.
Have a great night. Thank you for listening. Thanks to
Tearing for producing. This is ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports station.

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