3/11/25 - The Mo Egger Radio Show - Mo Egger

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You found Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 2 (00:03):
All right, what's up.

Speaker 3 (00:04):
Good afternoon on maleger This is ESPN fifteen thirty. Thank
you for listening. Hopefully you're having an awesome Tuesday afternoon.
It is just gorgeous outside. The UC basketball team. The
men's basketball team wins again in the first round of
the Big Twelve Tournament. West Miller's team, taking care of
Oklahoma State in Kansas City by a score of eighty

(00:25):
seven to sixty eight. Bearcats advance to tomorrow. They'll take
on a decidedly better opponent, Iowa State at twelve thirty
tomorrow afternoon, So we'll effectively be the sports talk radio
postgame show for that tilt and looking forward to it.

Speaker 2 (00:40):
We will go.

Speaker 3 (00:41):
To Kansas City coming up at five oh five, and
we'll hear from Wes Miller as well. Kat's played well today,
beat an Oklahoma State team that frankly they should have
beaten on Saturday. And you can't help but ask what if?
And look, they're going to be huge underdogs tomorrow and
understandably so, but you can't help it. What if had
they taken care of business in some of these games,
but they have lost.

Speaker 2 (01:02):
We are.

Speaker 3 (01:03):
We're looking at the tomorrow's game through a slightly different lens,
a win and intilled perhaps unfortunately win and he simply
now move on to the quarterfinals if they pull off
the upset. More on that throughout the course of the afternoon.
It's Tuesday, and it's the first time in a while
he's been here because I was out last week and
he was at the NFL Scouting Combine listening to a

(01:23):
Duke Tobin write checks that nobody seems willing to cash.
Paul Dayner Junior, who has been podcasting and youtubing, is
face off the last couple of days and with the
Athletic Dot Com as well. The Growler podcast now has
its own Twitter feed, Yes, which is enormous.

Speaker 4 (01:39):
It is you got you know, we're it's there's there's
the TikTok as well.

Speaker 2 (01:44):
You know all that stuff you gotta have. You gotta
have that? Are you you a big TikToker?

Speaker 5 (01:48):
No?

Speaker 2 (01:49):
No, you should. You should get on board at it
to You could use a few more.

Speaker 3 (01:54):
I got Twitter, more social outlets, I got Instagram.

Speaker 2 (01:57):
Yeah, I got a marginal presence on face.

Speaker 6 (02:00):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (02:00):
I have a Thread's account, I have a Blue Sky,
I have not touched either.

Speaker 4 (02:04):
Of those people having to lean into the threads and
the blue sky yesterday when wast comical at a critical
moment like, oh no, I haven't been really monitoring this
very well.

Speaker 3 (02:16):
I have friends in mine that send me TikTok videos. Yeah,
and I get I'm like, I don't, I don't have
a thing, yeah, and then it's your click on.

Speaker 2 (02:24):
No, I'm probably not gonna be a TikTok's.

Speaker 4 (02:26):
Fine, it's fine, Like I just there's it's just another
there's just so many Sure, they just really prefer if
there was one thing I could do and send it
to ten different places.

Speaker 2 (02:36):
Yes, that's what I'm looking That's what I'm looking for.

Speaker 4 (02:39):
If you're out there and you know that, and I
sound like an idiot right now for not having it,
Please tell me you.

Speaker 3 (02:43):
Want to talk about a slice of embarrassment. If anybody
can find my MySpace page from like two thousand and four,
two thousand and three, there's there's stuff in that thing
that you could if you really wanted to blackmail me.
You and Tom, Yeah, you're here for the hour, and
god knows, we have a lot to discuss. How would

(03:04):
you encapsulate as of three eight in the afternoon, that
this could change in the over the course of the
next two minutes. As of right now, how would you
encapsulate what they've done and how they've done so far
in free agency, both with players who they've brought in
from outside, players they have retained, and I guess the
third one would be uh, players who are under contract

(03:26):
to them that they haven't yet extended.

Speaker 2 (03:28):
Eh, I don't.

Speaker 4 (03:31):
Know if we you know, I sort of was buying
the whole, like, gonna it's gonna be different, Right, You're.

Speaker 2 (03:39):
Gonna rebuild this. I think we all were, Yeah, you're
gonna rebuild this thing.

Speaker 6 (03:43):
Right.

Speaker 4 (03:44):
Sure looks like a lot of the same things are happening, right,
these are the same people, and I think I didn't
think that there would be so much And that's fine.
It kind of is a bit of a double down
on it was lose fault if these are the same guys. Yeah,
like if these are kind of a lot of the
same guys that are coming back outside of a select

(04:06):
few and some of the older players. You know, I
guess Hubbard retires and Kap has gone. That's on the
offensive side of the ball. But whatever's gonna put with
your main Pratt, But I mean a lot of the
same guy. When you bring back bj Hill and and
and you bring back Joseph Asai and you're doubling down
on Miles Murphy and you're doing all those things with

(04:27):
your front seven. Obviously they're loving, you know, they've been
talking up Logan Wilson, they're investing, They're clearly comfortable with
their young corners and secondary. It's kind of a run
it back with a new person in charge feel on defense.
That's that is a large bet to put on Al

(04:47):
gold Now, I don't know.

Speaker 2 (04:50):
Maybe maybe it was.

Speaker 4 (04:52):
Maybe they'll be proven right, Maybe it'll be Al Golden
will come in and things will click for all these
young players and everything will fall into place better. And
part of it was is a disconnect between the coordinator
and the personnel. I don't know, maybe that will be
the case. I wasn't expected it to be this much
in that direction though, And gosh, didn't we just get

(05:12):
done talking about how it's Trey Hendrickson nobody else rushing
the passer, and now it's still just Trey Hendrickson and
I don't know who else rushing the passer right as
of three to eight today. But it's not like there's
a lot of other difference making pass rushing options outside
of the draft. And so now here we are again

(05:33):
another year where you're saying, Man, granted the draft is
good for it, but yeah, here you go, gotta go
get yourself some pass rushing defensive linemen to sprinkle into
this mix if you're gonna have some some game changers
beyond what.

Speaker 2 (05:49):
You already know.

Speaker 4 (05:49):
And like I said, I mean, there's good there's reasons
to make bets on and take chances on Josepho's side,
and on Miles Murphy and or Chris Jenkins and McKinley
Jackson and like the these are guys that, yeah, you
take some bets, you'd like to have a little bit
more in the share thing department. Yeah, though to go
along with it, and I think it's a little surprising,

(06:10):
you know, that there really hasn't been anything in that regard.

Speaker 3 (06:14):
I look at every individual move in a vacuum, and fine,
the guys they've kept Cody Ford, fine, Mike YASICKI fine,
BJ Hill, but fine, okay, fine, And who they've acquired
from outside TJ. Slaton was a part of a good
Green Bay run defense, that's what he does. Okay, well

(06:36):
they need help there. Orrin Burks makes tackles. Well, I
complained about that a lot last year. And so individually,
like I look at some of these players, both returnees
and new guys, and I go cool. But when I
add them up together, there's I'm seriously underwhelmed.

Speaker 4 (06:52):
Yeah it's missing, it's missing something. And again that's as
of right now. Yeah we have seen them. We get
to the middle part of the week. In the past
acquire players and free agency who have helped. I don't
know who's out there to do that. But I woke
up this morning and looked at my phone to see
if I had missed anything, and uh, you hadn't. I hadn't,

(07:13):
And I said out loud, I'm underwhelmed, yea, which is
what I often say when I wake up.

Speaker 2 (07:19):
In the morning.

Speaker 4 (07:19):
I do tend to agree that the first twenty four
hours of free agency tends to be bad money, it
tends to be bad value. It tends to be guys
that will be available next year. And certainly there are
gonna be teams that we're going to look back and say, man,
that really worked out. Maybe everything that the Vikings just
spent on their trenches works out. Maybe you know, some

(07:40):
of these other teams that have spent a lot of
money feel good about it, and maybe the ones that
waited for the second wave and found value there and
then drafted to fill those spots are the ones you
end up looking and say, Okay, that was maybe the
proper move. That's certainly been the Bengals philosophy for the
most part over the years, outside of a couple of
years when they were in that true rebuild. Uh So,

(08:02):
maybe maybe that works. But and we've seen that, we've
seen them sort of approach free agency this way before.
I'm not I'm not totally discounting that. As you know,
if you go and you get good value on like
on a guard, whether it's like Tevin Jenkins or Brandon
Sherff or whatever they want to go do to fill
that spot, I'm okay. And then you draft a guard

(08:23):
some with one of your first three picks, like.

Speaker 2 (08:26):
I'm okay with the way that line looks.

Speaker 4 (08:28):
I wouldn't feel bad about that if I had a guy,
a veteran or a guy like Jenkins sitting there as
one of my starters and the other one was a
draft pick and Cody Ford and Jackson Kirkland in some
in Cordell Vohlson in some kind of a battle, like
I'm okay with that right. The same thing with edge,
like if if you throw in somebody that carings you

(08:49):
a little bit more juice off the edge right now
into that group, then you feel maybe okay with it
when there's also now a first or a second round
draft pick that's in there with them. And the same
thing with the interior. It's just a lot to say
that you're gonna get all those things the way you
want them, and then those players are going to immediately
pay off. They paid this price last year having to

(09:11):
make these bets on Chris Jenkins and McKinley Jackson to
come in and immediately have an impact because they had
kind of whift and free agency at defensive tackle. Well,
you're counting on these guys to come in as rookies
and immediately make an impact. They didn't have enough bodies.
The rookies were still learning. It's a tough position to
get in there and be just day one impactful, especially
if you're not a top ten overall pick, and it

(09:33):
takes time. And so I just you know, it just
it feels like you would have wanted to see a
little bit more. But maybe that maybe the more calculated
moves are are still coming. But as we speak, yeah,
I think it's I think there's an underwhelming feel to it,
for sure.

Speaker 3 (09:49):
And you talk about calculated moves and maybe I'm giving
them credit they don't deserve. But I look at the
Tray Hendrickson thing, and I think this has actually been
pretty deft because he goes and he hits the mar right,
he can go seek a trade, and that was never
gonna be I don't think a month's long pursuit, right,
that was gonna be like a go, go, hey man,
spend the next couple of days seeing if you can

(10:10):
find a team that's gonna pay you, and if they're
willing to give us good compensation, we'll do it. So
he has the freedom to essentially be a free agent.
Now it comes with the caveat of the team's gonna
have to throw in compensation to the Bengals, and so
he tries to get as much money as he can
and maybe it's not there. So now he comes back
to the Bengals and he's at the negotiating table from
a diminished position, and maybe they can get something with

(10:32):
him done long term and they don't have to pay
him the coin he was looking for, or they just
look at each other and go, let's run it back.
One year left twenty twenty five. Now he's motivated not
only to stick it to the Bengals, but show the
rest of the league the dollars I couldn't get when
I was a pseudo free agent. I deserve next offseason.
I think that's I think that's playing it pretty well.

Speaker 2 (10:53):
Yeah. I think more teams should do this.

Speaker 4 (10:55):
And the Rams successfully did it with Matt Stafford, where
you just kind of say, look, we're in an impasse.

Speaker 2 (11:01):
And and Big.

Speaker 4 (11:03):
Wit talked about this and he was great on it
about players just want transparency, right, they want to know what?

Speaker 2 (11:10):
What?

Speaker 4 (11:10):
What did they say that they wanted all the guys
doing the tours of of media row?

Speaker 6 (11:15):
Right?

Speaker 4 (11:16):
Want we want to know that we get there paid
what we're worth, want to get the value I want,
we want to we want to be in Cincinnati.

Speaker 2 (11:21):
We want what we're worth. Well, go find out what
you're worth, right, Like?

Speaker 4 (11:26):
And I think more teams should take advantage of this
and play and there shouldn't be a negative stigma around it.

Speaker 2 (11:32):
I think there was.

Speaker 4 (11:32):
I think there was all they're blowing it right, Bengals
have earned that over time.

Speaker 2 (11:39):
I don't think they blew this.

Speaker 4 (11:40):
I don't not yet, But I'm saying, like, I think
that it's fine to say more teams should use that.
I want you to get your value too. Go find
out what it is, and you come back to me,
and then let's negotiate with all of that information on
the table so you don't feel like we're doing you

(12:01):
an injustice with this offer, okay, And and that because
then you can make your decision and we can figure
out the decision about whether it's worth it to you
to stick around and play here for a year, or
renegotiate for a one year or a two year extension,
or or whatever it is that would mean to you
what you now know about your market, reevaluate it then,
rather than sit here and be mad at us because

(12:23):
you think that we're not valuing you correctly. And I
think having that information helps everybody come back to the table,
and perhaps that has them at the table right now
talking differently about things. It certainly would suggest so, and
they're certainly in a place now as a as a
team that he's got to play for.

Speaker 3 (12:40):
I mean, like there's no plan B. You know, Joseph Osai.

Speaker 2 (12:44):
I like it. Maybe that's part of it. I like
the one year bet on him.

Speaker 3 (12:46):
And if Al Golden can squeeze a sack out of
Miles Murphy, awesome, But like if we found out right
now Trey Hendrickson has been moved to another team, well
then what Yeah, that's that's not what I'm saying on
Saturday or Sunday. That's not what I'm saying maybe yesterday
at this time. But like now that things have unfolded
the way they have and they've done and prioritize what

(13:08):
they've prioritized, what you wrote about in the Athletic and
free agency, Like, if not Trey, then what do you got?

Speaker 2 (13:14):
Not much? I mean a lot of hope.

Speaker 4 (13:17):
And so yeah, I mean you would certainly be fully
reliant on a bunch of rookies because you would have
had to have some kind of a hedge plan as
a bridge.

Speaker 2 (13:27):
Yeah, and those are gone.

Speaker 4 (13:28):
The bridges are gone, Burns, unless you have something else
up your sleeve that we don't know about, and I
just doubt that. And so yeah, you're You're exactly right.
He feels more relevant to them now than than before.
But you know, in their case that with everything being
sort of on the table right now, they should be
able to figure that out.

Speaker 2 (13:50):
You know, they hope. I don't.

Speaker 6 (13:52):
I don't.

Speaker 4 (13:52):
I don't know where where it goes from here. It's
it's been really interesting to see how locked up it's
all kind of it's all kind of felt. There's just
a lot. There's been a lot happening behind closed doors
on this stuff, and we'll see how it all comes out.

Speaker 3 (14:08):
Two weeks ago, entirely absent from my vernacular was this
phrase highest paid non quarterback in the NFL. Now it's
become commonplace and we have to talk about it when
we come back. Paul Danner Junior, The Growler Podcast. You
guys want live tonight?

Speaker 2 (14:23):
Yeah? Wow? Yeah, time nine o'clock every night. We're doing
it through Thursday night. Wow. You should do it every night.
Sun you should join us. You want me tonight? Okay? Thanks?
You know you're in pain.

Speaker 3 (14:37):
You know what my strengths are, and it ain't back.
It is nineteen minutes after three o'clock. He's Paul Danner Junior.
I'm oh Hecker. This is ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 1 (14:47):
Station, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty traffic from.

Speaker 7 (14:54):
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Learn more at ucehealth dot com. Northbound seventy one Cruise
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Left lane remains blocked off there near Reading Road. Traffic

(15:15):
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of Lynn Street on that Ezelek with traffic.

Speaker 3 (15:25):
This twenty four after three o'clock. This is ESPN fifteen
thirty one. Oegor Paul Danner Juniors here from the Athletic
and the Growler podcast.

Speaker 2 (15:34):
What time do you guys start tonight.

Speaker 4 (15:35):
Nine o'clock, nine o'clock, nine o'clock every night perfect now
through Thursday.

Speaker 2 (15:38):
Very good.

Speaker 3 (15:40):
Paul's here till four, We're here till six. You see,
won their Big twelve Tournament game today over Oklahoma State
eighty seven to sixty eight. So two weeks ago Duke
Tobin starts talking about how we want to make Jamar
Chase the highest paid non quarterback in the NFL. When
he said that, did he and vision two players becoming

(16:02):
that one obviously temporarily and the other obviously also temporarily.
But did he envision two players achieving that title before
he got the Jamar Chase thing done?

Speaker 2 (16:12):
I mean, probably not to that extent. I don't know
he was.

Speaker 4 (16:16):
In fairness, he wasn't the only one that certainly sounded
like a company line, because Zach Taylor said the same thing.
It sounded like they went there with with messaging right
on that to try to make sure everybody knows that
that's what it's going to be. You don't want to
see five million dollars higher showing up.

Speaker 2 (16:35):
Now. How you think ownership signed off in that company line?

Speaker 4 (16:38):
Yeah, I don't think they don't think they're just out
there spouting without people knowing what they're gonna say. I mean,
maybe they are, but I don't think that that's the
case in the least. I think that was the company
line that they felt like. They probably felt like they
were already there, which I think they were already there
with So why wouldn't they say it, we let's just
go out there and let's be bold. This is what
we're doing. We're doing this and no, how it's like,

(17:01):
oh no, this is backfired, not necessarribly. How did this
It's a yeah. I mean, it's that's what those that's
what it is.

Speaker 8 (17:10):
That's why, it's why, you know, and it's why last
August and September you just say, let's just bite this
now before it gets worse, and you know, just just
do it.

Speaker 3 (17:24):
And do you think I don't know that publicly they'll
ever admit that they screwed up, But do you think
privately with each other they're like, how could we have
screwed this up the way we did?

Speaker 2 (17:39):
Yes?

Speaker 4 (17:39):
And no, I think they believe in the way that
they have operated. And there's you know, there's two things.
There's two things at play here. One, I think you
have to put Tea in a separate bucket because I
don't think this was about money. This was about misjudgment,
and this was about changing scenarios, which we've talked about
all and I just t was not I think extending

(18:03):
him for the long terms was not the planet.

Speaker 2 (18:06):
I mean.

Speaker 4 (18:07):
And so now because you you pay, you're paying another
tax because you screwed up in in X, Y and
Z buckets with draft picks and with development and whatever
all the other stuff, and so okay, so you're kind
of in this in this spot there, so you're eating
that this other part. Yeah, I think you can look
back now and say, yeah, maybe we screwed that up.

(18:27):
But I think they want even They were like, I mean,
what's he gonna do? Go win the triple crown? Yeah,
I think there's a part of you we were saying, Look,
there was still doubt about not a lot of couldn't
have been doubt about Jamar Chase. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

Speaker 2 (18:45):
Say no.

Speaker 4 (18:47):
There was still doubt about is he year? Is he
not better than Justin Jefferson? How many people before last
year were saying is he better than Justin Jefferson?

Speaker 2 (18:53):
Nobody? They weren't.

Speaker 4 (18:55):
They didn't, He wasn't quite view he They changed the
way they used him, and he took his game to
another level when they did that. I give credit to
Dan Pitcher and Zach Taylor for for finding that next
level in Jamar and Jamar for taking it and running
with it, and he became and Burrow helped feed it.

Speaker 2 (19:14):
He became that he had that year. It's not like.

Speaker 4 (19:17):
He he was so clearly heads and above going into
this year. Now, when you want to live in the
game of information, sometimes it helps you and sometimes it
bites you. They've never got a bit quite like this before,
and they got and they got bit. So I think
I don't know if you gave him true serum, if
they would say, is this gonna make you change your ways?

Speaker 2 (19:40):
I don't know if it will or not. I don't know.
I'd love to know the answer on that. But I
do think they believe in.

Speaker 4 (19:46):
Some of the philosophy they had they've It's not there
against paying guys early. I just think they like the information.
It's it comes across that way. Certainly, they look no question,
I understand everything said.

Speaker 2 (20:00):
Yeah, I do. I totally get it.

Speaker 3 (20:02):
They look this all may work out and have the
resolution that folks.

Speaker 2 (20:06):
Like me want.

Speaker 3 (20:07):
They look incompetent, and as it relates specifically to Jamar
Chase T. Higgins, is a slightly different conversation as you
just said. But with the Jamar Chase thing, they are
a punching bag and that's not going to change anytime soon.

Speaker 4 (20:24):
Yeah, I wonder, you know, I wonder, I don't know,
I wonder what people are saying. I wonder what I'm
curious what the narrative would have been if they would
have given Jamar Chase on September eighth, last year forty
million dollars average annual value. What would what? What would
you have said? What would what would people have said?

(20:46):
I mean, that's overpaying for what he currently is? How
Justin Jefferson blew people's minds at thirty five last summer,
sure less than a year ago. Well do you think
it would have it would have taken forty I think so.
It would have required forty millions. I think would have
acquired a lot of money for him to He didn't need,
you know, he wanted it, but he didn't have to

(21:07):
say yes, he's he just keep on go do this
and have him in this spot, right, he can keep
pushing it down the line. I just I just think
that there's I wonder what that conversation would have been
like if if you would have gone to there with.

Speaker 3 (21:20):
Yeah, a lot of people would have said the Bengals
overpaid for Jamar Chase, But I think the reasonable take
would have been, Okay, they probably have overpaid, but like,
they like this guy. They drafted him fifth overall for
a reason. Burrow loves him, They love him for what
it's worth, fans love them. They're moving on from t Higgins,
which we all assume was going to be the case
a year ago, and so I think there would have

(21:40):
been a you know what, maybe they shouldn't have reset
the market so quickly after Justin Jefferson had given Jamar
forty million dollars. But at least this isn't going to
be a thing moving forward. This is over, like he's signed,
this is it and so and so maybe that's worth
paying for. I think that's how I would have framed it. Yeah,
I agree with you. And then it always has happens
the moment you sign any deal. The next year, it's like,

(22:03):
oh man, look how much of a bark on that looks?

Speaker 6 (22:05):
Right?

Speaker 2 (22:05):
Every year almost no matter what.

Speaker 4 (22:06):
Yeah, I mean, people are going to be saying that
about Justin Jefferson in three two one, right, I mean there,
it's like, that's that's just the nature of it, and
it's it's it's exponentially more obvious when you have what's
happened the last two years with the cap and with
all the influx of money, it's gone up this massive amount.
I mean, the percentage is that you know in court

(22:29):
on the cap that you're paying for people is maybe
the same, but it's just so much higher, and the
money is so much higher now that getting in in
front of this wave is it's it's even more obvious.

Speaker 2 (22:40):
And then you have the.

Speaker 4 (22:41):
Eagles that make it even more obvious, and uh, you know,
and and here you sit.

Speaker 6 (22:47):
All right.

Speaker 3 (22:48):
More on this coming up. It's twenty nine away from
four o'clock. Paul Danner Junior from The Athletic and the
Growler podcast live tonight at nine o'clock on YouTube.

Speaker 2 (22:57):
Is on TikTok too. No is that how TikTok gets
folded in?

Speaker 6 (23:01):
No?

Speaker 2 (23:02):
Well, not like that. No, that's just social clips. I
don't know how that works. I don't. We don't do
I don't. You can't live stream on TikTok. I'm gonna
tell you.

Speaker 4 (23:10):
You're probably talking to the wrong guy.

Speaker 3 (23:14):
Fair enough. It's twenty eight away from four o'clock. Paul's
here till the top of the hour. Sports headlines next
on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 1 (23:23):
Cincy three sixty with Tony Pike.

Speaker 2 (23:27):
Do we want to move on?

Speaker 1 (23:27):
They'd have to keep going and Boston Elmore.

Speaker 2 (23:30):
I think you should continue to Let me keep going.

Speaker 9 (23:32):
Then Sincy three sixty tomorrow, which twelve noons on ESPN
fifteen thirty Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

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(24:03):
An eight minute delay there. Northbound seventy one traffic also
is slow from Smith Edwards up towards Stuart Road, looking
at a ten minute delay there on that ezelk with traffic.

Speaker 2 (24:14):
This report is sponsored by Rats our Service.

Speaker 3 (24:16):
I'm Kelsey Chevrolet home of lifetime power train protection and
guaranteed credit approval from their family to yours for life
kelseyshev dot com. Bengals have taken a step toward winning
the Super Bowl by re signing quarnerback Marco Wilson to
a one year contract. He played six games the Bengals
last year after being claimed off waivers from New England.

(24:37):
The UC Bearcats have taken a step toward the Final four.
I think this is one of the best streaks in
all of North American sports. U SEE has now won
a conference tournament game in eight straight tourneys eighty seven
sixty eight winners today over Oklahoma State. Bearcats will play
Iowa State tomorrow at twelve thirty. Reds are in action
today in Goodyear. That game will start at four oh five.

(25:01):
Cincinnati taking on the Colorado Rockies. FC Cincinnati is battling Tigress.
You a n L in the deciding leg of the
round of sixteen match in the CONKAKAF champions Cup. I
have no idea what I just said, and the Blue
Jacket skates a night against the New Jersey Devils.

Speaker 2 (25:20):
I believe in transparency. Yeah, that's fair. That's fair. Paul
Danner Jr.

Speaker 3 (25:25):
From the Athletic When they franchise tag T Higgins, there
was a lot of conjecture that, well, they're doing this
because they want to re sign him, so this should
happen quickly. Are you surprised that we are sitting here
today at three point thirty nine on Tuesday and it
hasn't happened.

Speaker 2 (25:39):
A little bit.

Speaker 4 (25:40):
But I don't I don't think it has to happen
quickly if you know where you're gonna go, Like if
they're at this point now, I mean where they're close
enough and they're working towards it, and I do feel
like they feel good about where it's at. You know,
you you can account for that money, right and so
I think that putting finalizing it or whatever is it

(26:07):
doesn't it doesn't have to happen right now if you
know what it is and you have until technically Jill fifteenth.
No one wants that, mostly me, but but you have
you have time to get that done. If you feel
like you're close and it's a matter of details or whatever.
I understand why there would be people who are shaking

(26:29):
their heads saying, yeah, we'll I've heard this before or whatever.
But I do think I do think there's there's optimism
about that they're going to get there and where it's at,
and again, everybody wants to get it done and so.

Speaker 2 (26:40):
Hopefully they hopefully they do.

Speaker 4 (26:42):
So there's a little bit of surprise because you know,
probably felt like, Okay, go get it and move on.
But yeah, I didn't. I definitely didn't get the sense
that they feel like it's messed up. But things can
change a long scene.

Speaker 3 (26:57):
Lot, A lot of people have rational to what the
Bengals haven't done with their belief and perhaps it's a
valid one that the Bengals have a cash problem. Now,
I know they don't open up their books. Do you
think they have a cash problem? No, I don't either.

Speaker 4 (27:15):
No, I don't think they do. I think that I
don't think they think they have a cash problem. I mean,
there's not I hear. It's a hard sell.

Speaker 2 (27:23):
I hear.

Speaker 3 (27:25):
I hear this all the time. I'm sure you see
it as well. They don't have a cap problem, they
have a cash problem.

Speaker 2 (27:30):
They have plenty of cash. This is not this is the.

Speaker 3 (27:33):
NFL like Brown number three hundred and thirty eight and
Forbes four hundred four hundred richest people in the United
States of America. Now, he has no obligation to spend
his personal fortune on the football team. But you don't
have a cash problem if you're on that list. No,
you do not have a cash problem.

Speaker 4 (27:52):
And you don't have a cash problem when the NFL
is sending you checks for four hundred million and we
don't pay rent.

Speaker 2 (28:00):
I mean yeah, like legitimally.

Speaker 3 (28:03):
I hear this all the time, and I go, look,
I'm not an economist, and they don't open their books,
and I like, far be it from me. I understand
that they're their revenues are football, right, and they don't
own hotels and casinos and restaurants. Their revenues are football,
and I guess the occasional concert, that's what they do.
Mike Brown's not digging for oil. I understand that. So

(28:23):
if you want to say, well, there, their level of
cash is not what the Cowboys might be or other
larger market franchises. Fine, I understand that. I WinCE when
someone suggests to me they have a cash problem.

Speaker 2 (28:37):
Yeah, there's the hardest sell of all cells. Yeah, and
I don't.

Speaker 4 (28:40):
I've never I've certainly never heard anyone say that internally
to me.

Speaker 2 (28:47):
I mean, not that they would go around being like.

Speaker 4 (28:48):
Cash problem, but I that's not any messaging or any
excuses that I've ever heard, And so I don't. They
don't and I don't think they've I've ever heard them
claim as much.

Speaker 3 (28:59):
Right, So they're not crying poor behind the scenes, nor
should they be.

Speaker 4 (29:03):
The National Football League it's national. They're just swimming in
money at this point. It's unbelievable, I don't think. I mean,
when we've never seen a league have a run like
they've had over the last ten years. No, five years
after a pandemic. Yeah, and it's only just starting because
of streaming and gambling money. It's only going to increase.
There's no cash problem, or it can't be a cash problem. No,
Like you are worse than me at managing money if

(29:24):
you run that franchise and you have a cash problem.

Speaker 2 (29:27):
And they're not bad at managing money, I can tell
you that. Yes. By the way, they're also not cheap.

Speaker 3 (29:32):
Like if you're going to allow Jamar Chase to do
what he has done and hold it out and make
him reset the market again, you're you're not a cheap franchise.

Speaker 2 (29:40):
No, they will spend, you know.

Speaker 4 (29:43):
I do think there's a little bit and this is
a little bit of the old school Bengals reporter in me.
I do tend to be more patient in waiting to
see what it looks like in September, they just you know, sure,
you know, we should be Let's see what a whole
picture looks like before we start judging cash and cap

(30:05):
and if this was the right move or that was
the right move, and should they you know, you see
whether it's fans always have freaked out here, you know,
then it's better now than it used to be.

Speaker 2 (30:15):
Sure, I mean this, this used to be the worst.
I hated this week every.

Speaker 4 (30:19):
Year because fans would just lose their mind, wanting them
to go spend with everybody else and they wouldn't. And
then you look at the roster by the time it
got September and you're like, oh, probably a good thing
they didn't do that and did this, and you.

Speaker 3 (30:30):
Would have to be reminded, you know, the goal isn't
to win the off season. Of course, the goal isn't
to win the first day of free agency.

Speaker 4 (30:36):
It did help their case that the Browns kept winning
the off season at that point, you know what I mean.
And it was like the prime example of don't don't
be what Cleveland is being right now?

Speaker 3 (30:47):
Who speaking of Cleveland, who should we be laughing at more?
The Browns or Miles.

Speaker 4 (30:51):
Garrett, Miles Garrett, mister, I want to win it's not
about it's not about Cleveland to Canton. I want to win,
That's all I want to do, not about the money
over forty million dollars what Okay, well we can he
could probably win here, right, can we win here? Deshawn's
still here?

Speaker 2 (31:11):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (31:11):
Yeah, no, I mean you were like, I'm laughing at
the Browns were probably wanting to pay him this money
all you know, right the whole time they wanted to
keep my they wanted to be in the keep Miles
Garrett here business. Obviously, you know, we know the Hasms
don't care about that, and so that's fine. Miles Garrett
is the one that looks foolish for saying that all
he wanted to do was go win, and now he's

(31:33):
just gonna take the money.

Speaker 3 (31:34):
Am I wrong for wanting Aaron Rodgers to end up
in Pittsburgh? I badly want this to happen. Look, I'll
eat this.

Speaker 4 (31:42):
Last year I was, I was, I was trying to
be a little outside of the box with my predictions,
and I went jets. I said, look, if Rogers is
seventy five percent of what he was with the cast
they had around him, and with Robert Sola's defense, and
I think that they could be a surprise. I'm here,
I'm gonna say that I think they can make a
run here right never again.

Speaker 2 (32:02):
He's going to ruin every franchise he touches from this
point forward. And he's kind of proven himself to that.

Speaker 4 (32:08):
Like how many locker rooms do you have to see
him essentially dismantle?

Speaker 2 (32:13):
Now? Can Mike Tomlin tame him?

Speaker 4 (32:16):
I want to watch that? Yesh, let's go. Can we
bring hard Knocks back into Pittsburgh again? I'm sure they
love that. But I'm saying I I you know this
would be this would be Mike Tomlin's Ultimately, you thought
Antonio Brown was a challenge, here comes Aaron Rodgers as
your quarter.

Speaker 3 (32:34):
Well, and I could see the people in western Pennsylvania
just going along with all the bs that comes with
Aaron Rodgers, Like I could see I could see those
fans just buying it.

Speaker 4 (32:44):
Yeah, I mean, you know, maybe maybe they can put
something together. I just it feels just like Russell Wilson,
you know what I mean. It's like you think, Okay,
Tomlin is not a miracle worker. Okay, you can't just
change this, and so you know, maybe it can be functional,

(33:04):
but Aaron Rodgers, to me, has proven that you can't
build a team around Yeah.

Speaker 2 (33:08):
You know Tomlin, He's he's never had a losing season never,
so yeah, so you.

Speaker 3 (33:13):
Know he and Aaron Rodgers can achieve nine an eight
and everybody be happy. It's thirteen away from four o'clock.
Paul's here for another segment. We'll dive into UC's win
today and a few other Bengals topics as well, after
four o'clock on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 1 (33:27):
Station Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty. Traffic from the UC Health
Traffic Center. When it comes to stroke, every second counts.
That's why the uc Health Comprehensive Stroke Center is the
clear choice for rapid life saving treatment. Learn more at
UCHealth dot com. What's thele Avenue? It's an accident at

(33:48):
Madison Road. Northbound seventy five traffic stop and go between
Mitchell Avenue and Paddock Road. An eight minute delay there.
Northbound seventy one traffic also is slow from Smith Edwards
up towards Stewart Road. Looking at a ten minute delay
there on that ezelic with traffic.

Speaker 2 (34:04):
Report and not just about ten minutes. Paul Danner Junior
is here for another few minutes.

Speaker 3 (34:09):
Catches live podcast tonight on YouTube nine o'clock, The Growler
tonight tomorrow night, Thursday Night.

Speaker 2 (34:16):
Yes, plus all the all the normal stuff on the athletic.

Speaker 3 (34:20):
All the normal stuff on the athletic breaking down. Free
agency is there, and I know you don't have it
in front of you, But is there an available free
agent now that you look at and go that would
be a good fit in Cinternet?

Speaker 4 (34:31):
I mean, I think Tevin Jenkins, Brandon Sheriff, one of
the one of the two guards you know that have
been solid as past protectors, you know, one younger, a
little more volatile, another one older. All that comes with that.
But you know, I think you feel you feel good

(34:53):
where if they signed one of those two guys, you say, okay,
opening day starter at guard. And I think if you
can say that right now with everything else you have
in place, I think you feel really good about the
state of the offense, you know, in general, and so
at that point that that'd be a nice sentence to
be able to say for the most part. So that's

(35:14):
that's kind of where where I start right now, looking
at the group that what stood out about what they
did with Mikeysiki that they understand the value that they
figured out with him. I think they figured out how
to make it work where he really elevates them. He's
not just a guy, He's not just a receiver or

(35:35):
he's not just a like kind of tight end. He's
somebody that in their system and the way they operate
it really unlocks something. He really when teams go double
double on Jamar and T, you let Gasiki loose on
whoever you decide to put on him as a defense
and you're in trouble, and that was a big weapon.
And then on top of it, when you know that

(35:57):
T is part of your plans. He's the altar compliment
to Tea because he's done a great job when he
has had When he had those injuries, the soft tissue
stuff and he missed a couple of games Gausick. He
did a great job of sticking in there, being able
to play everywhere, being a very versatile player. What did
they value so much last year that really set off Jamar.
Chase versatile players around him so that it makes Jamar

(36:20):
more versatile, and that's what teams really can't stop. What
good no that was in Yosebash was kind of the
same way, and that he could move inside outside and
when you have all of those pieces out there together,
that's when their offense really took off.

Speaker 3 (36:32):
What was more eyebrow raising when you saw the Samaj
p Ryan was back and when you saw the original
report that he had gone to the Buccaneers.

Speaker 4 (36:38):
For two million, Hey, that was a big old good
for you.

Speaker 2 (36:43):
I couldn't.

Speaker 3 (36:44):
There are very few things I see that I'm like, no.

Speaker 4 (36:48):
No, I know, And everybody was kind of like, oh wow,
congratulations yeah him, yeah, yeah, okay, boy, the running back
markets not what I thought it was, yeah, exactly, and
then it was like, now, but good to have Smaj
back here. They've been trying ever since this, ever since
he was a free agent from here, and so they
finally actually get him back, and that's a it's a

(37:09):
nice compliment to start to fill out.

Speaker 2 (37:11):
There for the role that they were looking to fill.
He's perfect.

Speaker 4 (37:13):
Yeah, I think, yeah, I think he's what he was before,
probably minus like twenty five percent, because they have they
love Chase Brown so much, and Chase Brown proved himself
in past pro in some two minute which is Samaj's
primary role. So so you would He wouldn't necessarily be
the guy all the time in that where you could
be come, but you you like him and be able
to fill out that role. And he has what does

(37:34):
he have the most important thing in the building, trusted
Joe Burrow.

Speaker 2 (37:38):
That's what matters, no question.

Speaker 3 (37:39):
All right, enjoy tonight nine o'clock, the YouTube, the Growler podcast,
and all the coverage of Bengals free agency in the
athletic Do we have mock draft one point oh coming up?

Speaker 4 (37:48):
One point oh will be coming out next probably next
week they finally get off the zero point five, zero
point seventy five because those in count real one point
oh comes down, that free agency will be Uh, there's
gonna be some pass rushers in there, I can tell you.

Speaker 3 (38:01):
Spill the beans spoiler alert. Follow Paul on Twitter at
Paul Danner Junior. Back with us next Tuesday. All right,
we'll talk about today's UC win over Oklahoma State next
ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 2 (38:15):
I'm an old school.

Speaker 1 (38:16):
Justfes PN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 3 (38:17):
All right, there we go find that before This is
ESPN fifteen thirty. IM box. Thank you for listening. I
hope you're outside. Thank you for having an awesome Tuesday afternoon.
We have a lot of ground to cover. Back to
the Bengals in a bit. The Bearcats played today in
the Big Twelve Tournament, and you never want to have

(38:39):
to play on Tuesday. That's the goal next year, right,
no Tuesday game. But they played today and played, frankly
pretty well. Beat Oklahoma State, not a very good Oklahoma
State team, eighty seven to sixty eight. The Bearcats got
a good game from Dad A.

Speaker 2 (38:54):
Thomas. He had twenty one points.

Speaker 3 (38:56):
Dylan Mitchell, I thought was really good on both ends
of the floor, a big game for him eighteen and fifteen.
He did have six turnovers, but still eighteen and fifteen.
That'll play. Josh Reed had nineteen points. Dan Skillings had
thirteen off the bench. The Bearcats way too many turnovers today,
but not as many as Oklahoma State. The Cowboys turn
it over twenty four times. Season over for Okay State.

(39:20):
Season continues for the Bearcats, who are now eighteen and fourteen,
and it sets up a matchup tomorrow against an excellent
Iowa State team. By the way, if you're following the
Big Twelve Tournament, they're at halftime in Kansas City TCU
as a one point lead over Colorado twenty seven to
twenty six. There are two games tonight, Arizona State's at
Kansas State and Utah will host you c F the

(39:43):
Bearcats do advance. Here is Wes Miller in the postgame
press conference in Kansas City.

Speaker 10 (39:50):
I thought our guys played with great effort tonight and
great activity. You know, got our hands on a lot
of balls, and I think that's why you see the
high steel numbers. I thought we had good pop and
then you look down at the lines. I think when
you play with great effort, you play with great energy,
you give yourself a chance to do other things on

(40:13):
the offensive end, and you look down and a bunch
of guys had some really good nights. One of the
things I'm excited about is, you know, Gisel and Siemas
didn't play their best offensive basketball. And that's a good
sign for our team that we have so many different
guys contributing.

Speaker 2 (40:27):
You get to eighty.

Speaker 10 (40:28):
Seven and to your best better offensive players had off nights.
But Oklahoma State's a really aggressive defensive team. They make
it difficult, they push your way out on the floor,
and I thought our guys had some moments where that
frustrated us or we struggled, but we did a great
job of getting back and not letting those mistakes compound.

(40:50):
So again, please with the effort tonight. It's good to
get the first one under your belt and excited to
get back and do this again tomorrow night.

Speaker 3 (40:58):
Cincinnati and Iowa stayed Tomorrow. The Cyclones won the first
game in ames eighty one to seventy. The Bearcats played
well that day. They're gonna have to obviously play even
better if they have any chance of pulling off the upset.
And let's be honest, they've they've got to get something, something,
anything out of a excuse me. Simas Lucasius, who was

(41:21):
zero for six today. His shooting woes have gone back aways.
He is now twenty of his last seventy eight and
having watched every minute of every game, I could tell
you a good number of those looks wide open. He
is struggling at the rim, He is struggling from behind
the arc. He is struggling with the mid rage jump

(41:43):
shots that he takes. Cincinnati's not beating Iowa State if
Siemas Lucasius continues to shoot it the way he has
but they at least get a chance to play Iowa State.
Tony was talking about this. Excuse me Austin as well
on since he three to sixty. The win today means,
in the grand scheme of things, very little Cincinnati to

(42:04):
make the NCAA Tournament. I stopped looking at bracketology weeks
ago as it relates specifically to the Bearcats. Now, I've
been checking for our guy, Nky Brackett guy on a
daily basis to see where he has Xavier, to see
where he has Ohio State, Indiana, to see where he's
had Louisville and Kentucky. But the Bearcats really haven't seriously
been in the NCAA tournament conversation now for for a while,

(42:27):
I think, really since the second West Virginia game. So
today's win in that regard doesn't mean much of anything.
The Bearcats did not take a step toward the tournament.
It wasn't a situation where if they could win one
or two they're in. It's not like that. I think
even getting to the final is going to have them
on the outside looking in, even though they would pick
up a bunch of really good wins in the process.

(42:48):
It's painful though to think about what tomorrow's game could
be had they done what they should have done against
any number of opponents this season. This is not that
dissimilar from the Bengals dynamic. Now. The Bengals were this
close to making the playoffs. The Bearcats right now are

(43:10):
not that close to the NCAA tournament.

Speaker 2 (43:12):
But you know, you just you wonder.

Speaker 3 (43:15):
And granted, they're gonna have a hard time beating Iowa
State tomorrow no matter what. That frankly goes without saying,
but I think we'd be looking forward to the game
a little bit more as all right, do this beat
this team and you're in. Had they taken care of
business against well, Villanova on the road, a very shall

(43:39):
I say, okay Villanova team. I think that's fair, A
very okay Villanova team that the Bearcats lost you back
in early December when we thought this team ceiling was
really really, really really high, or either of the Kansas
State games, it sounds like I think Kansas State stinks.

Speaker 2 (43:57):
I don't.

Speaker 3 (43:58):
I think Jerome Tang's a good coach, but I think
the Bearcat should have won both games they lost to
the Wildcats. Instead, they take a couple of els the
Arizona game was there for the taking. Kansas is not
great this season. The Bearcats held the Jayhawks to fifty
four points, and yet the game itself wasn't close because

(44:19):
they scored excuse me forty there was how they played
in both West Virginia games. West Virginia is very okay,
a ten to ten team in the Big Twelve. They
were non competitive against him in the game here, and
they blew a lead with about seven minutes to go there.
The loss to Kansas State here, the loss on Saturday
at Okay State. Cincinnati finished seven and thirteen in the

(44:44):
Big Twelve. I don't know how many games they would
have needed to win that they lost in order to
make tomorrow's game really, really really count. But you can't
help but look at it through that lens. Right just
tomorrow would be maybe win and in and again, and
a really hard game to win, a really hard game
to win. Instead, you're just hoping they could stay alive

(45:07):
another day and reach the quarterfinal. We will see Keing
and Nickoson from a Bearcat journal is in Kansas City.
He is going to join us at five oh five.
Maybe he could explain to me who signed off on
if you were watching the game today on the floor
in Kansas City, which looked like one of those I
ever seen one of those posters that were big in
the nineties, one of those posters that you're supposed to
stare at for like three minutes and then suddenly a

(45:30):
three D image emerges. Magic eye, I think is what
it's called. I don't know if they still make those.
The floor was just this collection of x's and i's
Roman numerals for Big twelve, so this repeated pattern all
throughout the ninety four feet XI XII. It looked disorienting.
I think that's the word to use. But the Bearcats

(45:53):
won on that floor.

Speaker 2 (45:53):
So it's okay.

Speaker 3 (45:54):
U C and Iowa State tomorrow tip off at twelve thirty,
and of course we'll talk about the game as soon
as it ends. I have I'll be honest with you.
You see is probably gonna play in the Crown in
Las Vegas. I haven't even begun to look at how
that tournament's gonna work. Just I don't, I don't really care.
I'm sorry, I haven't begun to look at how that

(46:17):
tournament's gonna work.

Speaker 2 (46:18):
Well, you'll be left. No, they don't play till March
thirty first. Yeah, they play.

Speaker 3 (46:22):
It starts on the Monday after the Elite eight games.

Speaker 2 (46:27):
Like I do know this.

Speaker 3 (46:28):
The tournament starts on Monday, the thirty first, and then
if you play Monday, you play again on Wednesday, then
you play again on Friday, and then I think you
play again on Saturday or Sunday. Like it's it's the
final is Final four weekend, so you're gonna have I'm
I am fascinated by how this works from this perspective.
Number one, it's it's a tournament that starts the n
I T. There are n I T games not every year.

(46:50):
There are n I T games that take place the
day after selection Sunday because of arena availability that sort
of thing. Obviously, most teams in the n IT he
played Tuesday or Wednesday. And it's kind of opposite. It
starts right as the NCAA Tournament is starting. The NCAA
Tournament this year is going to play its first four
rounds and then the Crown's gonna start. Now there isn't

(47:13):
nil component, but I do wonder how many players across
the sixteen teams in the Crown are going to show
up to play or get a jump start on what's next,
especially because of the House resolution and how things are
going to change. From From an nil perspective, I think
the day after the Crown ends, but it looks like
the Bearcats are going to play in it. They'll be

(47:33):
in Vegas, and by the time it comes around, I
will I'll work up some enthusiasm. But let's be honest.
The idea when the season began was, frankly, it was
not only was it to not play in the Crown.
It was to not play in the Big Twelve Tournament
needing to win the whole thing. It was to not
play on Tuesday. It was to use the Big Twelve

(47:53):
Tournament to perhaps improve their seating, to perhaps improve their positioning. Instead,
another year has come and gone, or really hasn't gone.
I guess yet where the Bearcats need to win the
whole thing to advance. And let's be honest, the odds
are not in their favor. Uh five point three, seven
four nine, fifteen thirty is our phone number. The Bengals

(48:16):
have taken a lot of criticism, a lot of criticism,
and much of it deserved for how they've handled free
agency and t Higgins and Jamar Chase. How they've handled
this Trey Hendrickson thing though, I think has been really,
really savvy. We'll explain why next on ESPN fifteen thirty
Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 1 (48:34):
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(48:54):
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Speaker 3 (49:10):
This is ESPN fifteen thirty. Lm Oeger, Thank you for
listening today. Anything you might have missed on this show,
go get on.

Speaker 2 (49:18):
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Speaker 3 (49:20):
Podcasts of this show are a service of Long Next
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Five point three seven four nine fifteen thirty is our

(49:41):
phone number. I believe in being fair. I believe in
being fair and equitable and calling it as I see it,
even though as I see it is often wrong. So
I think the Bengals have screwed up the Jamar Chase thing.
Paul Danner Junior last Hour brought up an interesting question,
and it's a fair one. What if the ben those
would have just blown past the market for Jamar Chase

(50:03):
last year, would we have been completely on board? And
I think the answer is yes. I think we would
have recognized and they probably overpaid just a little bit,
but it's it's worth paying the freight number one to
just get this over with Number two. There's a very
good chance he has an outsized season.

Speaker 2 (50:23):
And again, nobody.

Speaker 3 (50:24):
Expects a guy to win the triple Crown. But if
he does, and then other things around you happen like
there's there's you know, forty million dollars could end up
looking like a bargain for Jamar Chase. And I think
we make it sometimes a little bit too much about
the wide receiver market for a player like Jamar, I
think it's more about the market for elite players. Jamar
Chase is an elite player. Miles Garrett has been an

(50:46):
eleaite player in this league for a long time. Max Crosby,
when healthy is at least pretty damn close to a
lead and probably deserves that title. Justin Jefferson is elite,
So I kind of removed Jamar from wide receiver, and
I make it about this collection of players who would
be in the running to be the highest paid non quarterback.

Speaker 2 (51:04):
In the league.

Speaker 3 (51:05):
And Jamar was elite a year ago. At this time,
he's even more elite now. I would have looked at it.
And this is easy for me to say because it
didn't actually happen. Had they signed him for forty million
dollars last August, I would have recognized the fact that
they dramatically paid him more than Justin Jefferson.

Speaker 2 (51:21):
But I think I would have understood it.

Speaker 3 (51:23):
The market for elite players is going to skyrocket pass
forty million dollars. Let's go ahead and get this done
this year. Now that they haven't, they're gonna have to
pay even more, and that's money you could have used
in other areas on the team. So yeah, I think
they've kind of butchered this the t Higgins thing. You know,
they had a plan and Joe Burrow changed it for him.
And if I'm t Higgins, I'm I'm not signing. I'm

(51:47):
not signing for less than I think I'm worth. I'll
play this year, get a twenty percent raise, had free
agency next year, see what happens. That's easy for me
to say, I would certainly understand why he would want
the long term financial security that would come with a
long term contract, even if it didn't give him every
time he wanted. The Trey Hendrickson thing, though, I think
they have played perfectly. We don't know what the final

(52:09):
result is gonna be. But we found out last Thursday
that Trey Hendrickson had been given permission to go seek
a trade. Basically, see who is going to pay him
with the Bengals are not willing to pay him. He
is not a free agent necessarily because he is under
contract to the team, And in order to acquire Trey Hendrickson,

(52:29):
you have to come up with appropriate conversation that would
make the Bengals go, yes, let's make the deal. But
the Bengals said to him, we're not paying you what
you want, so go see if somebody else will, and
if they will and we can get taken care of
on the back end, we'll send you there. No hard feelings.
So Trey had a chance. And this was never going
to be a week's long pursuit, or it shouldn't have

(52:51):
been at least a week's long pursuit. This was never
going to last all off season. Free agency was about
to begin. The Bengals have a season to prepare for.
They've got to have contingencies against Trey not playing on
the team. There are other edge rushers maybe out there.
So they gave him a couple of days and said,
go see if somebody will give you what you want.

(53:13):
I have not seen it reported anywhere that a team
was willing to do that. Again, I know it's not
actual free agency because there's showing a willingness to give
Trey what he wants and a willingness to give the
Bengals what they're looking for to make the trade make sense.
So he has a couple of days to go shop himself.

(53:34):
There's no takers. There's no one out there. Maybe there
would be if a trade wasn't in the works, and
Trey was an actual free agency or free agent, but
there's nothing out there for him, and so now he's
essentially forced to come crawling back in what is possibly.

Speaker 4 (53:59):
A reduce bargaining position, like, hey, I want thirty four
million dollars.

Speaker 2 (54:06):
All right, Well go see if somebody had given it
to you.

Speaker 3 (54:08):
Well, if nobody's gonna give it to you, guess what, man,
We're not gonna give it to you either. So let's
let's start from the beginning. Let's start from scratch and
see if there's a long term deal that makes sense
for us, makes your position better. And hell, maybe Trey
ends up signing with the team long term and he
plays maybe the remainder of his career in Cincinnati, and
he does so without them having to pay him what

(54:31):
he is looking for. They do so without having to
go past what they think his value is. His bargaining
position with the Bengals right now, from my perspective at least,
is significantly diminished. Or he may say, all right, thank you,
appreciate the chance to go shot myself. Got a good

(54:52):
sense for what the market is. Nothing really got done,
but you know what I'll do now? I'll play for
the Cincinnati Bengals in twenty two. I'll try to have
another outstanding season and I'll see if I can boost
my value on a market that's going to be wider
open next year. Because when I shot myself, we don't

(55:12):
have to execute a trade as well.

Speaker 2 (55:15):
Like the Bengals.

Speaker 3 (55:16):
And let's be honest, and Dana and I were talking
about this last hour with what they have done so
far this offseason, and it's interesting if you look at
a lot of the individual moves. I don't think there's
any reason to have a major issue with any of them.
I'm gonna guess Bja Hill's best footballs behind him, but
I'm not gonna lose my mind about them signing him.

Speaker 2 (55:33):
The other moves, you.

Speaker 3 (55:34):
Know, the Slaton from Green Bay was a part of
a good run defense last year, and the Bengals run
defense has to be better. Berks from Philadelphia, I was
watching parts of the Super Bowl this morning. He was terrific.
Those are good moves. You add them all together, were
all kind of underwhelmed. And the quest remains what's gonna
happen with the pass rush, both in terms of it

(55:56):
just being more productive, but also them adding pieces from
outside to bolster the pass rush. They haven't signed anybody,
they haven't traded for anybody. They did bring back Joseph Osai,
they still have Miles Murphy. How's your pass rush going
to be any better given what they haven't done so far?
If Trey Hendrickson's not on the team this year, so
they almost have to have him on the team this year.

(56:17):
But the good news is he's under contract. And so
I know there's a lot of folks who looked at
this and they I've brought this up a couple of
different times that it feels like for high end players
there's this thought that, like, you simply cannot ask them
to play with one year left on their contract. Well,
yeah you can. You can if you don't think extending
their deal at their terms makes sense for you. And

(56:41):
so Trey play under the terms of the contract extension
that you signed less than two years ago, and if
you play great, you'll hit free agency and you might
win a ring here in the short term.

Speaker 5 (56:57):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (56:59):
I think the Bengals handled this.

Speaker 3 (57:00):
Nobody wants to say this about anything they've done, and
they have become a punchline for the Jamar Chase thing.
And for the t Higgins thing to a degree, and
they have to wear that for a.

Speaker 2 (57:11):
While at least.

Speaker 3 (57:12):
But I do think this Trey Hendrickson thing, they may
be wrong about Trey Hendrickson. Tray may have twenty sacks
this season, may win the Defensive Player of the Year award.
Might might be the single singular reason not named Joe Burrow,
why the Bengals go deep into the playoffs. Maybe, But
the cool thing for Trey is if he does that,
he's gonna there's gonna be a market for him.

Speaker 2 (57:33):
There's gonna be a big.

Speaker 3 (57:34):
Market for him, and maybe not the exact dollar amount
he's looking for right now, and he could win here.
So I think instead of just giving him a blank check,
which a lot of people wanted them to do, they
let him go see if somebody else was willing to
give him the kind of money he's looking for. And
now he comes back to them in a weaker bargaining

(57:54):
position and as of right now at least, looking very
likely to play for the team in twenty twenty five.
And while he may not like it, and understandably so,
and while he may make some noise during the summer,
I will call his bluff and say he's not gonna
choose to miss games once the regular season begins. I
could be dead wrong about that, but that happens.

Speaker 2 (58:16):
Very very rarely.

Speaker 3 (58:17):
That he's leaving a lot of money on the table.
Trey Hendrickson's gonna play for the Bengals in twenty twenty five,
at least, that's how it looks like right now. That's good.
That's good, and he might be more motivated, or you
may sign him long term and sign him for less
than you would have had you given him what he
wanted a week ago. As much as the Bengals are

(58:37):
being just roasted for how they've mismanaged some things, this
to me, at least, and you can tell me if
I'm wrong, five point three seven four nine fifteen thirty
is textbook good management. Look, man, I'm far being from
me to be the guy who carries the water for
the Bengals, but you got to call it the way
you see it, and maybe you disagree. I think the
Bengals have handled this Trey Hendrickson thing really, really well.

(58:59):
Twenty nine after four clock five point three seven four
nine fifteen thirty. There is something I'm begging the Bengals
to do, begging them to do simply for my own
love of chaos, I'm begging them to do this. Coming
up at five oh five. Sports Headlines next on ESPN
fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 1 (59:19):
Station is ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 3 (59:24):
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. Reds are playing
the Rockies today in a goodyear Cincinnati giving the ball
to Brady Singer. So far, so good. He's pitched two innings,
struck out four, has not given up run. Elie de
la Cruz is in the lineup today, so is Tyler Stevenson.

(59:48):
So is Ces so is Matt McClain. Game is scoreless
as they head to the top of the third inning
in goodyear. The Bengals today resigning quarterback Marco Wilson to
a one year contract. He played in six games with
Cincinnati after joining the Bengals off waivers from New England.
College basketball Uce wins its first round Big Twelve Tournament
game today, knocking off Oklahoma State eighty seven to sixty eight.

(01:00:11):
Donovan Mitchell eighteen points fifteen boards. Bearcats will take on
Iowa State tomorrow at twelve thirty. Also in that event,
Colorado leads TCU by a score of thirty nine to
twenty eight with just under sixteen minutes to go. FC
Cincinnati plays the deciding leg of the Round of sixteen
in the Conka CAFF Champions Cup against Tigris U a

(01:00:32):
NL that is on ESPN fifteen thirty tonight at ten
o'clock and hockey this evening. The Blue Jacket skates in
New Jersey against the Devils. We have not done this
in a couple of days, and I've got mean emails
because we haven't.

Speaker 2 (01:00:49):
Mike, You're on ESPN fifteen thirty. How's it going, Mike? Hello,
Hi Mike.

Speaker 5 (01:00:56):
Oh yeah, I'm sorry. I just know you have me.

Speaker 1 (01:00:58):
I'm sorry, lot, I.

Speaker 5 (01:01:02):
Got a question for you. Yeah, when you eat em
and MS, do you lay them out and pick out
the colors you like? Or do you eat them in bulk?

Speaker 3 (01:01:10):
That takes too much time in organization. I just shovel
them in my mouth.

Speaker 5 (01:01:15):
Okay, just thought i'd asked.

Speaker 3 (01:01:18):
That's what was on your mind? Of all the different
things you could have brought to the table. That's what
was on your mind.

Speaker 5 (01:01:25):
Trying to have a little levity. If it didn't work,
Sorry about that. Hey, hey smarty pants, yesterday you sounded
like the publicist for mister Hunter Green.

Speaker 2 (01:01:40):
I am, and I.

Speaker 5 (01:01:41):
Can appreciate that because we all know his potential. However,
let's look at the numbers. He's eighteen and twenty five
in his career. I know you don't put anything in
wins and losses, but there has to be some credence
to wins and losses. I'm looking at his dr compared

(01:02:01):
to the league. So twenty twenty four is good two
point seven five versus four point zho seven for the
league for starting pitchers good, twenty twenty three four point
eight two fer Hunter four point three three for the league.

Speaker 3 (01:02:16):
I don't care what his era was in twenty twenty three.
I'm more concerned with what he was most recently, and
that was last year.

Speaker 5 (01:02:23):
Okay, now, but has this and I hope the guy
does great. But my question THO is has he he
has had health problems? First of his three years? Has
he not?

Speaker 2 (01:02:37):
No question?

Speaker 3 (01:02:37):
That's Burbs, that's the hangoup, that's that's the next box.
He asked the check, get through a full season without
missing a start, get through a full season without going
on the injured list. He came close last year, and
he did come back and pitch at the end of
the season, which was great. But that's the one thing
he hasn't done, so you're you're being fair if you
are slightly hesitant until he does that. But the performances

(01:03:01):
themselves last year were terrific. Over his last nine starts,
opposing batters batted one thirty against Hunter Green.

Speaker 2 (01:03:09):
That's pretty good.

Speaker 3 (01:03:11):
His era, his era over his last nine starts, and
there's lots of different ways to measure a pitcher's effectiveness,
but his era over his last nine starts a sparkling,
a microscopic one point two. He led all of Baseball's
pitchers with the exception of Trek skoobl and wins above
replacement six point three, and that's despite missing five or

(01:03:34):
six starts. He was an All Star. He got Cy
Young votes. He had his career best rate at allowing
home runs only point seven per nine innings. He cut
that in half from the year before. He shaved the walks,
He shaved the homers, He even shaved the strikeouts a
little bit, which to me is a sign of maturation
as a pitcher. Again, I would have loved to have

(01:03:55):
seen him get through the entire season without missing starts,
But when he was on the mound, Hunter Green passed
the test of twenty twenty four with flying colors, convincing.

Speaker 5 (01:04:07):
I just hope that poor guys stays healthy because they're
meeting that.

Speaker 3 (01:04:10):
Look, that's the thing about this team, right, It's why
they had to go get Brady Singer, and obviously Nick
Martinez is going to be a starter, But there are
still a lot of guys Nicolodolo, Graham, Ashcraft, Andrew Abbott,
Hunter Green, you know, for what it's worth, RTT Louder
as well, they don't have anybody else who has gotten
through a full big league season without an injury or demotion.

Speaker 2 (01:04:32):
And that has to change at some point.

Speaker 3 (01:04:33):
And if it doesn't change this year, then the ceiling
for this team is not as high as I'd like
to think it is.

Speaker 5 (01:04:40):
Okay, well, put I want to do. I want to
I want to give you my picks for the March
Madness real quick. I only take a second. But before that,
I just want people in Cincinnati to realize how lucky
they are compared to any other city, with the exception
of maybe a few but maybe not which gully or

(01:05:00):
whoever out there, but are out here, but the Reds.

Speaker 6 (01:05:04):
I grew up.

Speaker 5 (01:05:05):
Listening to Wade Hoyt, probably the coolest you know when
you're that age. He seemed like a fictitious figure to
me listening to Wonner. He tells the stories about the
Yankees in the heyday when he was pitching for them
and stuff, and then you go on to it. I
believe Ed Kennedy was next, and Ed Kennedy was good.

(01:05:27):
Then it was Al Michaels, then it was Marty. I
just think the fans there have been bussed. You Do
you like John Miller as he and Jill Morgan were
great together? Do you like John Miller as a play
by play guy?

Speaker 2 (01:05:38):
How do you not?

Speaker 5 (01:05:39):
Right?

Speaker 3 (01:05:40):
One of the one of the voices of my youth
in my twenties. You know, people soured on Joe Morgan
as a broadcaster because he failed, he was reluctant to
embrace newer statistics. But those two guys narrating a Sunday
night baseball game, for my money, there was nothing better.
I'll tell you this. I flew to Arizona two weeks ago.
I had not watched the Pete Rose documentary on max I.

Speaker 2 (01:06:05):
I'll be honest with you when it came out.

Speaker 3 (01:06:07):
I just I had Pete Rose fatigue, but I had
lots of time across two different flights. I had access
to it on the plane, so I watched it and
it was terrific. It was Actually I wish I would
have watched it when it first came out. But John
Miller's a part of it, and I'm reminded listening to
him talk during that documentary, how awesome that dude's voices.

(01:06:28):
You talk about a voice that as a broadcaster, I
would kill to have John Miller, who still does San
Francisco Giants games, a longtime voice of the Baltimore Orioles,
and yes, the long time main play by play voice
on ESPN Sunday Night Baseball.

Speaker 6 (01:06:42):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (01:06:43):
Just I wanted to bring that up because I never
hear the guy's name mentioned, and he's in a quest
of his own. Can I hit you real quick with
my picks on this?

Speaker 6 (01:06:54):
Well?

Speaker 2 (01:06:54):
You know, you know the brackets not out yet?

Speaker 5 (01:06:57):
Right, No, I know it's not. So here's my hit
you with it first? Four out Texas, Carolina, Dayton and
my favorite mascot, do uc Irvine Anteaters, who had a
good season.

Speaker 2 (01:07:13):
By the way, I.

Speaker 3 (01:07:16):
Don't think Dayton and I say this as an alum,
and I certainly hope they can win the A ten tournament,
and I think they possess that capability. I'm gonna guess
most bracketologists do not have the Dayton Flyers among the
first four out.

Speaker 2 (01:07:30):
I don't think they're that close.

Speaker 5 (01:07:34):
Well, yeah, that could be first four in Zager Baylor,
Ohio State, Indiana.

Speaker 2 (01:07:41):
Yeah, that makes sense.

Speaker 3 (01:07:44):
Thursday feels like very much a win and in game
for the Musketeers, and I think just because of their
placement in relation to the rest of the bracket and
other bubble teams, if they lose that game to Marquette,
it might not eliminate them from making the tournament. But
if you're a Xavier fan, you're going to do a
lot of sweating over the next seventy two hours.

Speaker 5 (01:08:06):
Oh yeah, and we we can't wait, right? What is
it not this Thursday? How many thursdays before we take
off work for the first Thursday Friday next Thursday? You're
not coming to work, right.

Speaker 3 (01:08:18):
I'm going to do a show Thursday morning from the
Holy Grail and then I am gone for four days.

Speaker 5 (01:08:24):
I love it. I used to take a lot of
my vacations. Okay, four seeds. I got Purdue, Iowa State, Maryland,
Clemson three seeds. I got Texas Tech A and m
Kentucky Wisconsin two seeds. I got Michigan State and Comiso.
Still blows my mind. But Michigan State Vamma Tennessee and

(01:08:49):
the Johnnies. That's my team. And the one seeds are
of course Auburn, Houston, Borida, who really looks dangerous right now.
And but I don't know about Duke. They haven't played
anybody in a while, even though they had the best
player in that country. What do you think about Duke?

Speaker 3 (01:09:07):
I think Duke is the third best team in college basketball,
maybe the fourth best team in college basketball, which is
obviously still really really good.

Speaker 2 (01:09:14):
But you're right.

Speaker 3 (01:09:14):
The the ACC was relatively down this year. You know,
Louisville's good, Victor Lockin and Clemson are really good. The
middle of that league is is not that strong. They
did get a game they played, and I give John
Shire a credit. They played a neutral site game during
the conference schedule, which doesn't happen all that often. They
played Illinois and blew the doors off the fighting line eye.

(01:09:38):
I think that game was like one fifteen to sixty
seven or something. That's not a great, fighting a line
eyed team. But yeah, I think the story of the
year in college basketball Mike, for my money, has been
how good the SEC has been. This might be and look,
the leagues are bigger, but it's it's not like it's
not like the leagues are better that the SEC is

(01:09:58):
better this year because of Texas in Oklahoma.

Speaker 2 (01:10:01):
But I think this is the.

Speaker 3 (01:10:02):
Best single season that any college basketball conference has ever had.
I've not and again, leagues are bigger, I've not seen
anything like this. You know, I'm certainly aware of how
awesome the Big East was when it was at its heyday.
I certainly am aware of how good the Big twelve
has been in recent years. I certainly understand how good

(01:10:25):
and deep the Big Ten can be. I don't think
we've seen anything like this, And I think because of that,
like if you were reading your top four seas, there's
just not gonna be a lot of movement there because
Auburn and Florida and Alabama have a chance to each
be a one seed Tennessee maybe just on the outside
looking in. So you have four teams out of the

(01:10:46):
SEC that you could argue are among the best six
teams and the should get seated first. And then you
add to it Kentucky, like our guy Nkoy Brackett, guy
Kentucky got a good win against Missouri. Kentucky hasn't moved
in his breath, and so I think going into this week,
you're not going to get a lot of movement at
the top. You're not going to get a lot of
movement among the one seed. You're not going to get

(01:11:07):
a lot of movement among the two seeds because of
how many SEC teams are cloistered in there. I think
that is the story of the year in college basketball.
And as a pure college basketball fan, look, I root
for Houston because and every Bearcat fan will say this,
they play the way my favorite all time Bearcat teams played,

(01:11:27):
and so I'm rooting for them. But I'm rooting for
some of these SEC matchups in the NCAA Tournament. Alabama
and Auburn this weekend for a second time, was must
watch TV. Do we get that in Nashville and do
we get that in the NCAA Tournament. Do we get
some of these high end SEC schools playing against each
other and obviously have to be late. Do we get
it late? But I think the story of the year

(01:11:49):
in college basketball being the strength at the top of
the SEC is reflected by the fact that this week
it's really not that up for discussion. Who the ones,
twos and threes are going to be?

Speaker 5 (01:12:00):
No, it's not And I don't know if that's good
or bad. But here here's my last question for you.
Do you think if the Johnny's played in the SEC?
How do you think they would have finished in the
league if they were in the SEC?

Speaker 3 (01:12:12):
Probably behind Auburn, Tennessee, probably behind Texas, A and M.

Speaker 2 (01:12:23):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:12:23):
Rick, you and I had this conversation last week. Rick
Patino is the greatest college basketball coach of all time.
He's got a really fun team to watch. It's it's
cool seeing a college basketball team get talked about on
stuff like The Tonight Show, which happens when the team
in New York is really good. But I think there
are rung below. They're really good and they can get
back to a Final Four. It'd be a cool story
if they did, but I think there are rung below

(01:12:46):
the best teams in the SEC this year.

Speaker 5 (01:12:49):
I just just from the tier offensive side of the ball,
because I think even with the great defense that Rick
teams play with and the fenacity, I just don't know
how you overcome me bad ass offensive ball.

Speaker 3 (01:13:07):
I think Saint John's where is the label that Houston
did for years where you would say about Calvin Samson's
team in March, they're gonna need six games to win
the whole thing. They're gonna need six games where the
officials swallow their whistle.

Speaker 2 (01:13:21):
I don't feel that way.

Speaker 3 (01:13:22):
About Houston now, and frankly didn't feel that way about
them last year. If Jamal shed wouldn't have gotten hurt,
I think I think they win the whole thing. But
I think Saint John's there's going to be a game
in the tournament where they get a tough whistle, where
they get a tight whistle, and it's going to hurt them.
It might happen in the National Championship game. But as
you're looking at teams that could win six defensively, they

(01:13:43):
are awesome, but are they going to be allowed to
play they want to play six times? I am I'm
somewhat skeptical, Mike, I got a run, man, thank you. Yeah,
it's it's it's been a so weird year in college
basketball and a great year in college basketball. The player
of the year discussion, I don't think we've had a
player of the year discussion like this in college basketball.

(01:14:04):
And look, man, the folks who want to sit in
the corner and cry that the sport is not like
it was in nineteen eighty eight, I can't do anything
for you. What I can tell you is the on
court product this year. You know, whenever I hear people
talk about NBA ratings, and I'm a big NBA fan,
I'm a big basketball fan. But the college game has
just been better this season, and frankly, I don't think
it's close.

Speaker 2 (01:14:24):
It's just been better where.

Speaker 3 (01:14:26):
The NBA game this season has seemed oftentimes, and there
have been individual games that have been really good, kind
of bland, anti septic. Everybody complains about all the three
pointers being shot. To me, it's not the amount of
three pointers being shot. It's the fact that everybody in
the NBA is running the same offense. In college I
get a variety of offensive styles. I get because of

(01:14:50):
nil players staying in college longer, even if they don't
stay at the same schools for a long time. I
think the product this year has been awesome. On a
night excuse me, on a nightly basis, you can usually
find a really good, really high end college basketball game,
and especially you know, I'm no SEC homer, but the

(01:15:10):
top of the SEC this season has been just terrific,
just awesome on a nightly basis. And like I get
as a college basketball fan, I get frustrated when the
conversation solely drifts toward nil the portal and how much
all that's ruined the sport. Well, if it's ruined the
sport Number one, why are people still going to games?

(01:15:32):
Number two? Why is the product so good? I look,
college basketball is kind of like baseball. I think a
lot of people care about their teams and don't watch others.
You know, that's I think that's what's happened to baseball,
right Like Reds fans watch the Reds. You watch the Reds.
You're not sitting down on a Saturday afternoon if the
Washington Nationals are on FS one taken on the Phillies.
I think college basketball has kind of turned into that

(01:15:55):
and I certainly will admit that there is a part
of me that does miss watching a player play for
or maybe five years for the same school and grow
and evolve. I mean, it's so I like my top three.
One of my top three out time favorite Bearcats is
Gary Clark because I enjoyed watching him do that. But
night in, night out, the product in college basketball this
year has been terrific.

Speaker 2 (01:16:14):
Terrific.

Speaker 3 (01:16:15):
By the way, I heard Jay Bill say this on
a podcast college Basketball. If you like physical, old school basketball,
you get that in college basketball a lot more than.

Speaker 2 (01:16:23):
You do in the NBA. Right now, you just do.

Speaker 3 (01:16:26):
The skill level is better. Players are sticking around longer,
we have a compelling Player of the Year race. We're
gonna have I think, a really compelling NCAA tournament and
a really fun week this week. And so the folks
who kind of sit in the corner and like I
get it. If you're a UC fan, you know, maybe
your enthusiasm is diminished because the Bearcats have failed to
live up to expectations. I can totally relate to that.

(01:16:48):
It's not the same. I know they play tomorrow, but
it's not the same. But removing rooting interest from the
equation for a second. Like I've put this on social
media a few times. I think the sport is on
fire right now. By the way, Like I don't love
conference realignment. I think it's stupid that we have a
league the ACC has schools from just off the Pacific Coast.

(01:17:11):
I it's done that the Big Ten has a school
in New Jersey and two schools in LA Like, I
think it's silly. But as was the case in college football,
conference realignment has given us more really good matchups, more
really good in season regular season matchups, and conference I've said,
I know I'm on a bit of a rant here.

(01:17:31):
I've thought for years, and I've said this on this show,
that one of the most devalued or undervalued things in
sports are regular season conference titles in college hoops, because
not that anybody can speed through a tournament. But I
think there's something said about the nine, ten, eleven, twelve,

(01:17:51):
depending on when you start playing games in your conference,
the long grind of the season, having to go play
on the road, and being the team at the top
of the standings at the end of all this, I
think that's you know, it's talent, it's toughness, it's luck,
it's overcoming stuff, it's fighting through the dog days, it's
winning on the road, like that's really hard.

Speaker 2 (01:18:09):
It's never been more difficult.

Speaker 3 (01:18:11):
Like a conference title in basketball in the regular season,
to me at least, has never meant more. And so look, man,
college hoops when it's been bad, I've said it's been bad.
And college basketball right now is on fire, absolutely on fire. Selfishly,
I just wish the Bearcats were but they were today
and Keith and Nickoson was there. He'll join us from

(01:18:31):
Kansas City in ten minutes on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 1 (01:18:34):
Station Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty. Traffic from the.

Speaker 7 (01:18:41):
UC Health Traffic Center. When it comes to stroke, every
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Learn more at UCHealth dot com. East found two seventy
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a little bit of stuff and go traffic from seventy five.

(01:19:03):
It's an injury accident on Glen Way between Beach and
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with traffic.

Speaker 1 (01:19:12):
You found Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty, but.

Speaker 3 (01:19:16):
Damn thre you have what's up? It's four minutes after
five o'clock. This is ESPN fifteen thirty on my legger.
Good afternoon, Thank you for listening. Don't forget we have
FC Cincinnati soccer. Tonight is the Orange and Blue plays
Tigress U A n L and the second leg of
the Round of sixteen in the Conka CAM champions Cup.

(01:19:37):
There is something I badly, badly badly want the Bengals
to do, badly want the Bengals to do, and it's
not really gonna make the football team any better. I'll
tell you what it is, coming up in just about
fifteen minutes. College basketball today, the UC Bearcats have extended
their stay in Kansas City. Played well, beat Oklahoma State
Round one of the Big Twelve Tournaments eighty seven to

(01:19:58):
sixty eight. Cats advance to take on Iowa State tomorrow afternoon.
Keegan Nickoson from Bearcat Journal dot Com is in Casey
and he's covering the Bearcats. Is they go on a
quest to win five games in five days?

Speaker 2 (01:20:12):
Hey, one down, Keegan. You can't win five and five
if you don't win the first.

Speaker 11 (01:20:17):
Now that is mass that I can agree with. Winning
five and five days for this team would maybe be
one of the most maractulous seats in Cincinnati basketball history.

Speaker 3 (01:20:27):
So yes, no question about it. They played well today.
They didn't play perfect. They'd turn it over too many times.
Where was that team on Saturday? And where was that
team last Wednesday night?

Speaker 6 (01:20:39):
Yeah, I really don't know.

Speaker 11 (01:20:40):
I asked Wes Miller about it kind of what was
the what was the message? What did you guys do
in between losing to Oklahoma State and getting to Kansas
City in those forty eight hours, and again said, we
didn't do a lot.

Speaker 6 (01:20:54):
They practiced a little bit, they.

Speaker 11 (01:20:55):
Had some strategic meetings, but it didn't seem like there
was some big come to Jesus meeting or inspiring effort
kind of meeting. I don't know if it's then just
choosing to show up today. I don't know what that
effort came from, but it was a noticeable increase in
intensity and aggression and activity.

Speaker 6 (01:21:16):
I mean, and you saw it from the beginning.

Speaker 11 (01:21:18):
Dylan Mitchell with I think five offensive rebounds just in
the first half, and they were really really active on
the offensive boards, getting second chance points. In the first half,
I think they had forty three deflections, which is among
the most they've had all season. It just seemed like
every other possession they were getting to steal in the
second half, and that's the kind of brand of basketball

(01:21:40):
that west Miller wants to play, that Cincinnati wants to
play because it just masks so many deficiencies and you
can rebound. Willy went really well in place of really
good defense, and you.

Speaker 6 (01:21:50):
Saw that today.

Speaker 3 (01:21:51):
I hate to go down the road of negativity when
they did advance in the Big twelve tournament, but they're
not beating Iowa State. They're not staying longer than one
more day if they don't get Seamoss. Lukashi's going and
I know you get this question a lot. He is
after today's zero for six twenty for his last seventy eight.
The dude could not miss in November, and I know
they weren't playing Big twelve teams in November.

Speaker 2 (01:22:13):
What has happened to Seamos.

Speaker 6 (01:22:16):
I don't know if it's.

Speaker 11 (01:22:17):
His shorter injury lingering anymore, but it just kind of
seems like somebody on the team in the past two
years just ends up disappearing for long stretches.

Speaker 6 (01:22:29):
I mean, last year it was Victor Lockin, this year
it was Chisel James and Dan Skillings. Now you get
Chisel back going.

Speaker 11 (01:22:35):
Dan's starting to kind of trend upward a little bit
just in terms of his effort and what he's producing,
and now Seamos.

Speaker 6 (01:22:42):
Is kind of disappearing.

Speaker 11 (01:22:43):
I don't know if it's the role of coming off
the bench and it's just not really meshing well with
what he wants to do, but a lot of it
is just missing open shots, and that's not something that
we'd seen him do for a long time when he
was making around forty percent of his threes at the
first half of the season. So I'm not sure really
what to credit that to. It could just be a

(01:23:06):
flow thing, but I think if I had to guess something,
it would be the shift to coming off the bench
and just kind of impacting who he's playing with most
of the time and kind of the flow of it.

Speaker 3 (01:23:18):
Do you give them a puncher's chance against Iowa State.

Speaker 6 (01:23:23):
If they play like that? I think so.

Speaker 11 (01:23:25):
Ioa States kind of been sliding a little bit Keishawn
Gilbert status I think might be up in the areas
and struggling with some injuries lately, so I definitely give
them a chance if they're going to play that active
and that aggressive. But you know, playing two games in
twenty four hours against some of the best talent in
the country never easy, never ever, ever easy. So I'm

(01:23:48):
definitely feeling very comfortable saying Iowa State it's going to
win that game, coming off the extended rest and just
knowing the kind of talent they have. They're going to
have a pretty big crowd here at Iowa State. At
King City, it's I think about a three hour drive,
so they should have a lot of support. But I'm
pretty comfortable saying it's going to be IU. But you see,
he's got a chance. It's not Houston. You know, it's

(01:24:11):
not impossible for UC to be the team, So I
think they got a chance.

Speaker 3 (01:24:15):
Did your eyes hurt after watching a game on that
floor for two hours?

Speaker 11 (01:24:20):
My eyes heard after seeing twenty combined twenty combined turnovers
in the first half, So I can't really see it
moving back and forth on the TV screen like when
I've seen videos of it.

Speaker 6 (01:24:33):
It looks horrible. And like you'd have to look away.

Speaker 11 (01:24:35):
It's like kind of like you're looking at the sun
that you can only take it for so long before
it blinds you. But your Mark said, all the players
he's talked to about it have loved it. I asked
Dance Goings about that sort game. He said, he loves it.
It's definitely unique. I don't think it hurts the eyes
of the players mirror as much as it does the
fans watching on TV specifically, But obviously that's ninety nine

(01:24:58):
point nine percent the audiences tuning in from the television,
So having it being on a very.

Speaker 6 (01:25:04):
Pleasing court would be annoying.

Speaker 11 (01:25:05):
And I would be surprised if they didn't go back
to just more of a traditional model next year.

Speaker 2 (01:25:10):
I hope.

Speaker 3 (01:25:10):
So now, your Mark he's the commissioner of the Big twelve.
He said today he favors a seventy six team NCAA tournament.
When he said that, did people boo him.

Speaker 2 (01:25:21):
No, that's awful. We don't need seventy six teams in
the NCAA tournament.

Speaker 11 (01:25:26):
He's an innovator, you know. He says he's bullish in
the big He says he's bullish on the big post future.
He's happy at sixteen, but he doesn't know about ten
years from now. I could see twenty four teams being
in the Big twelve by twenty thirty.

Speaker 3 (01:25:42):
That's fine, that's all, well, a good Expanding the NCAA
Tournament to seventy six teams is ridiculous.

Speaker 6 (01:25:49):
Hey, it works for the college football playoffs.

Speaker 11 (01:25:51):
Everyone loved that we're not doing in basketball Coffee and taste.

Speaker 3 (01:25:54):
Yeah, yeah, that's fine. If you want to shrink it
to twelve, that's okay too. Can you explain how it
just it feels like they're destined to play in this thing?
Can you explain how the crown works?

Speaker 11 (01:26:06):
So it's basically the top two teams and the NET
rankings that do not make the NCAA Tournament out of
the Big twelve, Big ten at SEC.

Speaker 6 (01:26:17):
I think there might be.

Speaker 11 (01:26:18):
Other conferences involved, but I know it's those three conferences.

Speaker 6 (01:26:21):
The top two teams that don't make the NCAA Tournament
and the NET go to Vegas.

Speaker 11 (01:26:25):
They play at the MGM Grand Arena and the T
Mobile Arena out there.

Speaker 6 (01:26:31):
Depending on how far you advance.

Speaker 11 (01:26:33):
And I've heard that there's anil attached to it to
try to kind of compel players to play and not
enter the portal or just sit out. But it's kind
of just a NIT type event that they're trying to
get the best teams remaining and get some things to
travel out the Vegas. Obviously, it's not going to be

(01:26:55):
as intriguing as the NCAA tournament that there's no really
way to create the scenario where that's the case. But
it's basically just trying to post the best remaining teams.
And it's March thirty first through April sixth to a
very weird date because I think that's when the Final
Four starts. So they're just trying to capitalize on some eyeballs,

(01:27:15):
I think, and they're doing it. It's the first year
they've done it, and I wouldn't be surprised if it's
something that doesn't last very long in all honesty.

Speaker 3 (01:27:23):
Well, and you mentioned there is an NIL component, and
I get that, and there should be. But it's more
than two weeks after selection Sunday. There are going to
be a lot of kids, including maybe a bunch on
this team, who want to get a jump start on
what's next and go find out where.

Speaker 2 (01:27:38):
They're going to play college basketball next.

Speaker 3 (01:27:40):
Year and get paid to play college basketball next year
that I would imagine are going to have much room
in their schedule for the Crown.

Speaker 11 (01:27:48):
Yeah, it's not very beneficial for kids to wait for
two weeks and have spots taken at school, as I
completely agree you're saying, that's why the date range doesn't
make sense. And you know if you see us to
lose tomorrow. Of my playing questions is do you expect
this group to be together in whatever postseason tournament you
play in? Because I'm really intrigued because I just don't

(01:28:08):
think it's possible. I think a lot of guys are
gonna there's already guys that enter into Portal from smaller
schools that have been knocked out of their conference tournament.
And I think that's going to be a growing trend
as we continue through conference tournament season that the day
after your team loses, you put yourself out there for
coaches and teams to get familiar with.

Speaker 2 (01:28:28):
Now what do you do tonight?

Speaker 3 (01:28:29):
You hang on for every dribble of Arizona State, Kansas State,
and U see for Utah. Go find something more productive.

Speaker 11 (01:28:36):
I think I'm gonna get some food, might go to
a gym, and get a workout in.

Speaker 6 (01:28:40):
But you know, this city is awesome. I love Kansas City, very.

Speaker 11 (01:28:44):
Very walkable, and I don't blame a lot of you
see fans not coming out. But when this team is
better in the future, I highly highly recommend getting out
here and Brett you or Mark sis is going to
work on the non direct flight situation.

Speaker 6 (01:28:57):
From Cincinnati to Kansas City. So look forward to.

Speaker 2 (01:29:00):
That, all right.

Speaker 3 (01:29:01):
So you'll miss Arizona State Kansas State, but you'll be
there for UCF and Utah hanging on every I mean,
you never know, you might have to watch the Bearcats
play one of those two teams later this week.

Speaker 11 (01:29:12):
Yeah, future Duke assistant Johnny Dawkins, I look forward to
Washington coach.

Speaker 2 (01:29:17):
That's right, all right, man, thanks for doing this. If
they win, can we call you back tomorrow?

Speaker 6 (01:29:22):
Absolutely? I would love that, all right.

Speaker 2 (01:29:24):
We'll make it. Enjoy the gym and whatever else you
do tonight. Thanks so much.

Speaker 6 (01:29:29):
We'll see That's.

Speaker 3 (01:29:31):
Keithan nickoson Bearcat Journal dot Com on the ground in
Kansas City, where the Bearcats advanced to take on Iowa
State tomorrow in the Big Twelve Tournament eighty seven to
sixty eight. Winners you see will take on the Cyclones
tomorrow at twelve thirty.

Speaker 2 (01:29:46):
Meanwhile, the.

Speaker 3 (01:29:48):
Second game of the four today, in case I would
stop short of saying it's been good, you know there's
a close game. Is not necessarily a good game, but
it has been close this floor. If you have not
seen it, and I watched a few minutes of when
I could, U sees women in the Big twelve tournament,

(01:30:09):
I guess they were playing on the same floor. The
floor they're playing out of Kansas City. If you didn't
see the game today, if you haven't seen any of
the games in Kansas City, is one of the most
garish looking things I've ever seen. Anyway, Colorado leads a
TCU sixty five to sixty three. That game has twenty
point five seconds to go. So the potential for drama

(01:30:29):
in KC, which there was none in the first game
today because the Bearcats blew out Okay State. All right,
it's quarter after five ESPN fifteen thirty. There is something
I badly want the Bengals to do for nothing more
than my own entertainment. I'll tell you what it is
next on ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 1 (01:30:48):
Station Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty traffic from.

Speaker 7 (01:30:54):
The UC Health Traffic Center. When it comes to stroke,
every second counts. That's why the U See Health comper
and some Stroke Center is the clear choice for rapid
life saving treatment. Learn more at uchelp dot com. Westbound
two seventy five, it's a disabled vehicle that's got the
left lane blocked off approaching the Kentucky Indiana state line.

(01:31:14):
Glennway still got that injury accident between Beach and Warsaw
Avenue and on eastbound two seventy five, it's an accident
at seventy one on the left shoulder on that Ezelic
with traffic.

Speaker 3 (01:31:25):
ESPN fifteen thirty. Mollegger, thank you for joining us. I
hope you had an awesome, awesome I said Tuesday afternoon.
I was just talking to Keg and nickoson there and
Brett Ormark, the Big twelve commissioner, says he's in favor
and we're we're gonna get there. We're gonna get a
tournament expansion, whether we like it or not. I have
yet to hear a compelling argument in favor of tournament expansion,

(01:31:47):
aside from willmore basketball. We don't need to reward more mediocrity.
We don't need to water down the regular season even more.
I've yet to hear compelling argument why the tournament needs
to expand beyond what it is like. I don't know
a college basketball and you know, there's a difference between
fans and you know, administrators and coaches and et cetera.
I have yet to talked to a college basketball fan

(01:32:09):
who has any appetite to see the tournament expand. By
the way, that game I mentioned Colorado is it's just
gone final in Kansas City. The sixteen seed advances Colorado
beats TCU sixty nine to sixty seven. So the Buffalo's,
who won three games all season in conference play, advance
to take on West Virginia tomorrow. That'll be after the
Cincinnati Iowa State game. There has been no real Bengals

(01:32:34):
news today, No real Bengals news, not not a lot
going on, no free agent signings. The Marco Wilson is back,
but no real Bengals news today, and so we'll see
how the rest of the week unfolds. The Bengals are
taking a lot of criticism, some of it deserved, much

(01:32:57):
of it deserved as it relates to Jamar Chase. Some
of it deserved as it relates to t Higgins. I
don't think it's that deserved when it comes to Trey
hendrickson the free agency week this week, so far, at least,
and again I could change my mind. It's twenty two
minutes after five o'clock on Tuesday, the eleventh of March.
By forty eight hours from now, I might think the
Bengals have the greatest free agency period ever, but so far,

(01:33:20):
you know, what they have done doesn't necessarily mesh with
defensive overhaul, and they haven't addressed the guard position. Now
Cody Ford can play guard, and we're all happy that
he is back, but ideally not in the starting role.
So I think you're being reasonable if you're like me
and you feel underwhelmed. That doesn't mean that some of
these individual players can't help out. But I feel I

(01:33:42):
feel underwhelmed, and I think most Bengals fans. You could
tell me if you do as well. I think most
Bengals fans, at least ones that I've talked to, feel
the same way. I've seen versions of this or heard
versions of this. Mo the reason why the Bengals are
kind of stuck in spinning their tires. The reason why

(01:34:03):
they haven't gotten Jamar done, the reason why they haven't
extended T. Higgins is they have a cash problem. Acknowledging
that NFL cash problems are different than real world cash problems.
Right now, if you play the stock market, you might
have cash problems because it is plummeted. That's not a

(01:34:25):
political statement either, It's just something that's happened. But so
we're talking about legitimate first world problems. Now, I understand
that the Cincinnati Bengals, that the people who own and
run the Bengals, the Bengals are what they do. This
isn't a side hustle. They made their fortune and build

(01:34:46):
on their fortune with football. They're not building hotels or restaurants.
There's no big casino going up to the Bengals own.
They're not drilling for oil. A lot of owners the
NFL team is a side business or it's one of
many businesses, lucrative businesses in their portfolio. And you know
they have bigger market revenues and they have more cash

(01:35:06):
to stash away to take care of guaranteed contracts. We
talked about this when the Bengals sold the naming rights
of Paul Brown Stadium, and I think most of us understood,
like they're they're entering a world where they're gonna have
to devote this huge chunk of money to Joe Burrow.
And so even if you're anti corporate naming rights deals,

(01:35:27):
this is the reality that the Bengals live in. This
is the reality of the NFL. And so it made
sense to sell it. And they sold it to a
payroll company, which all well and good. But number one,
I don't believe the Bengals have a cash problem. But
I've never looked at their books as a lover of chaos,
which I am. I'm a fan of two things in

(01:35:48):
sports really three one my favorite teams. Two anything that's funny.
Three anything that gives us chaos. One of my sports
avatars in the last ten years is Lvar Ball because
LeVar Ball brought with us, brought to the table chaos.

Speaker 2 (01:36:06):
I loved it, loved everything about it. Love chaos. Huge
fan of chaos.

Speaker 3 (01:36:11):
So I am begging the Bengals, and I don't think
they're going to do this. I am begging the Bengals
if they genuinely believe and I'm talking about ownership, if
they genuinely believe that they have a cash problem, and
because of that cash problem, they're at a disadvantage. I
want them to have the guts to come out publicly

(01:36:35):
and say as much, just so I can watch everybody react.
I don't believe the Bengals have a cash problem, but
if that's something, that's a thing, I want them to
come out and tell everybody that they have a cash problem.
I don't say this as a criticism. Mike Brown was
ranked three hundred and thirty eighth on Forbes four hundred

(01:36:59):
on the Forbes four hundred list, basically the four hundred
wealthiest people or families in the United States of America
three three eight. Now, again, that's not a criticism. I
don't begrudge him or anybody else for how they made
their money. If you want to say, well, he's a
genetic lottery winner, so are a lot of people of
influence in this country. That doesn't bother me at all.

(01:37:21):
He has proven to be a good business person. He's
been credited with that even when the team has not
been very good. I am begging for the Bengals to
come out and try to explain to us how they're
effectively poor when the owner of the team is three
hundred and thirty eighth on the Forbes four hundred. When

(01:37:45):
we all know it's public information what NFL revenues are
per team year in and year out. We've all seen
the explosion of the salary cap. The explosion of the
salary cap is a byproduct of insanely lucrative revenues. We
read all the time about new media deals. The NFL
and its team strike new sponsorship deals. They're going into

(01:38:08):
new countries like this. This is a cash cow. It's
impossible to lose money owning an NFL team, and it's
impossible to convince fans. You know, your average fan, your
average workaday fan, yeah, we're poor. So as a lover
of chaos, I want to see a team that's helmed
by somebody among the three hundred and thirty eight richest

(01:38:31):
people in the country, that has a relatively small staff.
This gets talked about all the time. The Bengals office
is reasonably small compared to other teams, that has enjoyed
a huge streak of sellouts, that currently has a waiting list,
that just raised season ticket prices, is sole naming rights.

(01:38:51):
I want to hear them tell your average Bengals fan,
we're having a hard time because we have a cash problem,
have the gumption to do it. Don't don't, don't, don't
don't hide behind that, don't don't let don't let you
know your your biggest apologists carry that water for you.

(01:39:11):
Come out and try to explain to people why you've
got a cash problem.

Speaker 2 (01:39:16):
Again, I don't believe they do.

Speaker 3 (01:39:18):
But if this is something that we're gonna go with,
if this is something that we're going to be asked
to not along with, and you.

Speaker 2 (01:39:22):
Can find a lot of folks, find a.

Speaker 3 (01:39:25):
Lot of folks who's uh, Who's part of their public
persona is to tell you that the Bengals, everything they
do is great. They may attempt to go out of
the way to tell you and I the Bengals have
a cash problem. I don't want to hear that from
somebody on Twitter. I don't want to hear that from
someone who's a super fan or Bengal Billy twenty two.

(01:39:46):
I'd love to hear from the team. And I'm not
demanding this, but I don't think anything would be funnier Legitimately,
I don't think anything would be funnier then during this
time where the Bengals are very much at a crossroads,
were there entering their window to win, and I genuinely
believe in the next three years they can win a
Super Bowl, and almost have to in order for the

(01:40:07):
Joe Burrow ear to go down as a success. With
where the Bengals are right now on the field, with
their roster and in relation to their player payroll, I
can think of nothing funnier, nothing funnier than them trying
to tell the rest of us we have a cash problem.

(01:40:31):
By the way, Mike Brown and his family, it is
their prerogative to do with their personal fortune whatever they wish.
I am allowed to say, God, I wish they would
throw that into the football team, but they're allowed to
do with their personal fortune whatever they wish. I do
not believe in telling people what to do with their money.
But I number one, I do not believe for a

(01:40:51):
second there's a cash problem. Number Two, I would love
for there to be some sort of public event where
it is explained why a National Football League team that
doesn't pay rent, that has a season ticket waiting list,
that gets one thirty second of all the media money,
has a cash problem. The reaction to that would be unbelievable,

(01:41:14):
but genibally unbelievable. That's what I want to see happen next.
I mean, what I want to see happen next is
they resolve the Jamar Chase thing. What I want to
see happen next is the Bengals have this sort of
offseason free agency and the draft that puts them in
a position to contend for something good, to contend for
something meaningful this year. But along with that, come on, man,

(01:41:38):
do it have the stones? Come on out, tell us,
tell us, tell us about your cash problem, tell us
how poor you are?

Speaker 2 (01:41:43):
Come on? And I don't know that the Bengals feel
they have one. I don't know.

Speaker 3 (01:41:48):
I believe if you asked folks in ownership, do you
have a cash problem, they would insist the answer is no.
Like I believe that, I believe they believe the answer
is no. I do not think they will do this,
don't think they would do this publicly or privately. But
if we're going to latch onto this narrative, can you
imagine anything funnier or anything better than a press conference

(01:42:09):
with them explaining that they're poor?

Speaker 2 (01:42:15):
Uh? Five?

Speaker 3 (01:42:16):
One, three, seven, four, nine, fifteen thirty is our phone
number twenty nine away from six o'clock sports headlines and
Paul Danner's thoughts on what the Bengals have done in
free agency so far. Coming up on ESPN fifteen thirty
Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 1 (01:42:29):
Station Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty Traffic from the.

Speaker 7 (01:42:35):
second counts. That's why the UCE Health Comprehensive Stroke Center
is the clear choice for rapid life saving treatment. Learn
more at UCHealth dot com. On eighth that is an
accident near Trenton Avenue East found two seventy five accident
on the left shoulder. That at seventy one westbound two

(01:42:56):
seventy five accident on the right shoulder approaching seventy four
in slow traffic southbound seventy five Shepherd down toward Town
Street on that he's that like with traffic.

Speaker 3 (01:43:06):
This report is sponsor service of Kelsey Chevrolet Home of
Lifetime power train Protection and guaranteed credit approval from their
family to yours for life Kelsey chev dot com. Red's
are leading the Rockies three zip. Colorado is batting in
the top of the sixth inning. Obviously, the game today
is in goodyear Christian and Carnassi on Strand has driven

(01:43:29):
in a run. Matt McClain has doubled, Stuart Fairchild has doubled.
Brady Singer a solid start four innings, gave up just
a hit, walked a guy, struck out seven. That'll play
as we say, what else do we have? The Bengals
have brought back cornerback Marco Wilson on a one year contract.
He started last year with the Patriots. Bengals claimed them

(01:43:49):
off waivers and he played in six games, and I
have no recollection of anything he did during those games.
College basketball Today in Kansas City, the UC Bearcats were
winners in the Big Twelve Tournament, knocking off Oklahoma State,
getting revenge for beating Oklahoma State on or losing to
Oklahoma State on Saturday by beating the Cowboys today eighty

(01:44:10):
seven to sixty eight. Cincinnati was led in scoring bye
Dade Thomas, who had twenty one points. Dylan Mitchell had
eighteen and fifteen rebounds. Cincinnati forced and forth a lot
of them, not all of them twenty four Okay State turnovers.
Up next for the Bearcats a tilt against Iowa State,
a team they lost to by eleven points in Ames

(01:44:33):
just about a month ago. In the other Big twelve
tournament game. Today, Colorado got past TCUs So the Buffaloes
will take on West Virginia tomorrow. FC Cincinnati Soccer tonight
in the CONCA Calf champions Cup. It's the deciding leg
of the round of sixteen against Tigris.

Speaker 2 (01:44:48):
You a NL.

Speaker 3 (01:44:51):
That game will start a little bit after ten o'clock.
You'll listen to it, I hope on ESPN fifteen thirty.
In hockey this evening, the Blue Jackets in Newark, not Newark, Ohio, Newark,
New Jersey.

Speaker 2 (01:45:03):
To take on the Devils Buck drops at seven thirty.
There you go.

Speaker 3 (01:45:08):
Anything you might miss on the show, go get on
the iHeartRadio app. Thanks to our friends at Longneck Sports Grill,
this is a great week to go to long Nex
Sports Grill. You got Wilder, you got Hebren, you got Richwood,
you got four KTVs all over the place. You got
awesome wings, you got a top notch beer selection and
an awesome staff. If you're in Hebron, go see my

(01:45:29):
friend Amanda, one of the servers there, and she's a bartender.

Speaker 6 (01:45:33):
Actually all right?

Speaker 3 (01:45:35):
Uh. Paul Danner Junior assesses free agency to this point
next on ESPN fifteen.

Speaker 1 (01:45:40):
Thirty Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty traffic from the.

Speaker 7 (01:45:46):
second counts. That's why the u see Health Comprehensive Stroke
Center is the clear choice for rapid life saving treatment.
Learn more at UCHealth dot com. Southbound four to seventy
one accident on the ramp through eastbound two seventy five
on southbound two seventy five. Accident on the right shoulder

(01:46:06):
approaching State Route thirty two. Some slow traffic from Milford
Parkway and slow traffic southbound seventy one two seventy five
to Montgomery Road on that ezelic with traffic.

Speaker 3 (01:46:17):
A quarter to six ESPN fifteen Tonyamole or Paul Daanner
Junior from the Athletic. It has been a quiet day
for the Bengals in free agency. Yesterday it was not quiet,
but it was How would you assess what the Bengals
have done so far.

Speaker 2 (01:46:31):
In free agency? Eh?

Speaker 4 (01:46:35):
I don't know if we you know, I sort of
was buying the whole, like gonna it's gonna be different, Right, You're.

Speaker 2 (01:46:44):
Gonna rebuild this thing. We all are yeah, you're gonna.

Speaker 4 (01:46:47):
Rebuild this thing, right, Sure looks like a lot of
the same things are happening, right, These are the same people. Yeah,
And I think I didn't think that there would be
so much And that's fine. It kind of is a
bit of a double day on It was Lo's fault, right,
These are the same guys. Yeah, Like if these are

(01:47:08):
kind of a lot of the same guys that are
coming back outside of a select few and some of
the older players. You know, I guess Hubbard retires and
Kapp has guard that's on the offensive side of the ball,
but whatever with your main pratt, But I mean a
lot of the same guy when you bring back bj
Hill and and and you bring back Joseph Asai and
you're doubling down on Miles Murphy and you're doing all

(01:47:31):
those things with your front seven. Obviously they're loving you know,
they've been talking up Logan Wilson, they're investing, they're clearly
comfortable with their young corners and secondary. It's kind of
a run it back with a new person in charge.
Feel on defense, that's that is a large bet to

(01:47:51):
put on al golden Now. I don't know, maybe maybe
it was maybe they'll be proven right, Maybe it'll be
Al Golden will come in and things'll click for all
these young players and everything will fall into place better.
And part of it was a disconnect between the coordinator
and the personnel. I don't know, maybe that will be
the case. I wasn't expected it to be this much

(01:48:12):
in that direction though, And gosh didn't we just get
done talking about how it's Trey Hendrickson nobody else rushing
the passer, and now it's still just Trey Hendrickson and
I don't know who else rushing the passer right as
of three to zero eight today. But it's not like
there's a lot of other difference making pass rushing options

(01:48:33):
outside of the draft. And so now here we are
again another year where you're saying, man, granted the draft
is good for it, but yeah, here you go. Gotta
go get yourself some pass rushing defensive linemen to sprinkle
into this mix if you're gonna have some game changers
beyond what you already know. And like I said, I mean,

(01:48:55):
there's good there's reasons to make bets on and take
chances on Joseph's and on Miles Murphy and Chris Jenkins
and McKinley Jackson, and like, these are guys that, yeah,
you take some bets, you'd like to have a little
bit more in the share thing department. Yeah, though to
go along with it, and I think it's a little surprising,

(01:49:15):
you know that there really hasn't been anything in that regard.

Speaker 3 (01:49:19):
I look at every individual move in the vacuum and fine,
the guys they've kept Cody fo fine, Mike YASICKI fine,
BJ Hill, but but fine, okay, fine, And who they've
acquired from outside TJ. Slaton was a part of a
good Green Bay run defense. That's what he does. Okay, Well,

(01:49:40):
they need help there. Orrin Burkes makes tackles. Well, I
complained about that a lot last year. And so individually,
like I look at some of these players, both returnees
and new guys, and I go cool. But when I
add them up together, there's I'm seriously underwhelmed. Yeah, it's missing,
it's missing something again that's as of right now. Yeah,

(01:50:02):
we have seen them and when we get to the
middle part of the week. In the past acquire players
and free agency who have helped I don't know who's
out there to do that. But I woke up this
morning and looked at my phone to see if I
had missed anything, and uh, you hadn't. I hadn't, And
I said out loud, I'm underwhelmed. Yeah, just do what

(01:50:23):
I often say when I wake up in the morning.

Speaker 2 (01:50:24):
I do.

Speaker 4 (01:50:25):
I do tend to agree that the first twenty four
hours of free agency tends to be bad money. It
tends to be bad value. It tends to be guys
that will be available next year. And certainly there are
going to be teams that we're going to look back
and say, man, that really worked out. Maybe everything that
the Vikings just spent on their trenches works out. Maybe
you know, some of these other teams that have spent

(01:50:46):
a lot of money feel good about it.

Speaker 2 (01:50:48):
And maybe the ones that waited for the second.

Speaker 4 (01:50:50):
Wave and found value there and then drafted to fill
those spots are the ones you end up looking and say, Okay,
that was maybe the proper move. That's certainly been the
Bangalis philosophy for the most part over the years, outside
of a couple of years when they were in that
true rebuild. Uh so, maybe maybe that works. But we've
seen we've seen them sort of approach free agency this

(01:51:11):
way before I'm not I'm not totally discounting that. As
you know, if you go and you get good value
on like on a guard, whether it's like Tevin Jenkins
or Brandon Sir or whatever they want to go do
to fill that spot, I'm okay. And then you draft
a guard with one of your first three picks, like,
I'm okay with the way that line looks. I wouldn't

(01:51:33):
feel bad about that if I had a guy, a
veteran or a guy like Jenkins sitting there as one
of my starters and the other one was a draft pick,
and Cody Ford and Jackson Kirkland in some in Cordell
Vohlson in some kind of a battle, like, I'm okay
with that right. The same thing with edge, like if
if you throw in somebody that brings you a little

(01:51:54):
bit more juice off the edge right now into that group,
then you feel maybe a okay with it when there's
also now a first or a second round draft pick
that's in there with them. And the same thing with
the interior. It's just a lot to say that you're
gonna get all those things the way you want them,
and then those players are going to immediately pay off
they paid this price last year, having to make these

(01:52:16):
bets on Chris Jenkins and McKinley Jackson to come in
and immediately have an impact because they had kind of
whift and free agency at defensive tackle. Well, you're counting
on these guys to come in as rookies and immediately
make an impact. They didn't have enough bodies. The rookies
were still learning. It's a tough position to get in
there and be just day one impactful, especially if you're
not a top ten overall pick, and it takes time,

(01:52:38):
and so I just you know, it, just it feels
like you would have wanted to see a little bit more.
But maybe that maybe the more calculated moves are are
still coming. But as we speak, yeah, I think it's
I think there's an underwhelming field to it, for sure.

Speaker 3 (01:52:54):
And you talked about calculated moves and maybe I'm giving
them credit they don't deserve. But I look at the
tray Hendrickson and I think this has actually been pretty
deft because he goes and he hits the market, right,
he can go seek a trade, and that was never
gonna be I don't think a month's long pursuit, right,
that was gonna be like a go go, hey man,
spend the next couple of days seeing if you can

(01:53:14):
find a team that's gonna pay you, and if they're
willing to give us good compensation, we'll do it. So
he has the freedom to essentially be a free agent.
Now it comes with the caveat of the team's gonna
have to throw in compensation to the Bengals, and so
he tries to get as much money as he can
and maybe it's not there. So now he comes back
to the Bengals and he's at the negotiating table from
a diminished position, and maybe they can get something with

(01:53:37):
him done long term and they don't have to pay
him the coin he was looking for, or they just
look at each other and go, let's run it back.
One year left twenty twenty five. Now he's motivated not
only to sticket to the Bengals, but show the rest
of the league the dollars I couldn't get when I
was a pseudo free agent I deserve next offseason.

Speaker 2 (01:53:54):
I think that's I think that's playing it pretty well. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:53:58):
I think more teams should do this, and we the
Rams successfully did it with Matt Stafford. Where you just
kind of say, look, we're in an impasse. And and
Big Wit talked about this and he was great on
it about players just want transparency, right, they want to
know what what? What did they say that they wanted
all the guys doing the tours of of media row? Right,

(01:54:21):
we want to know that we get there paid what
we're worth. Want to get the value I want, We
want to we want to be in Cincinnati. We want
what we're worth. Well, go find out what you're worth, right, Like,
And I think more teams should take advantage of this
and play and there shouldn't be a negative stigma around it.

Speaker 2 (01:54:36):
I think there was.

Speaker 4 (01:54:37):
I think there was all the're blowing it, right, Bengals
have earned that over time.

Speaker 2 (01:54:44):
I don't think they blew this. I don't not.

Speaker 4 (01:54:45):
Yet, right, But I'm saying, like, I think that it's
fine to say more teams should use that.

Speaker 2 (01:54:52):
I want you to get your value too.

Speaker 4 (01:54:55):
Go find out what it is and you come back
to me, and then let's negotiate with all of that
information on the table, so you don't feel like we're
doing you an injustice with this offer, okay, and that
because then you can make your decision and we can
figure out the decision about whether it's worth it to
you to stick around and play here for a year,

(01:55:15):
or renegotiate for a.

Speaker 2 (01:55:17):
One year or two year extension or whatever it is.

Speaker 4 (01:55:20):
That would mean to you what you now know about
your market, reevaluate it then, rather than sit here and
be mad at us because you think that we're not
valuing you correctly. And I think having that information helps
everybody come back to the table, and perhaps that has
them at the table right now talking differently about things.
It certainly would suggest them and there's certainly in a
place now as a as a team that boy think.

Speaker 3 (01:55:43):
He's got to play for. I mean, like there's no
plan B. You know, Joseph Osai.

Speaker 2 (01:55:48):
I like it. Maybe that's part of it. I like
the one year bet on him.

Speaker 3 (01:55:51):
And if Al Golden can squeeze a sack out of
Miles Murphy, awesome. But if we found out right now
Trey Hendrickson has been moved to another team, well then
what Yeah, that's That's not what I'm saying on Saturday
or Sunday. That's not what I'm saying maybe yesterday.

Speaker 2 (01:56:08):
At this time.

Speaker 3 (01:56:09):
But like now that things have unfolded the way they
have and they've done and prioritize what they've prioritized what
you wrote about in the Athletic and Free Agency.

Speaker 2 (01:56:16):
Like, if not Trey, then what do you got?

Speaker 4 (01:56:18):
Not much? I mean a lot of hope. And so yeah,
I mean you would certainly be fully reliant on a
bunch of rookies because you would have had to have
some kind of a hedge plan as a bridge.

Speaker 2 (01:56:31):
Yeah, and those are gone.

Speaker 4 (01:56:33):
The bridges are gone unless unless you have something else
up your sleeve that we don't know about, and I
just doubt that. And so, yeah, you're you're exactly right.
He feels more relevant to them now than than before.
But you know in their case that with everything being
sort of on the table right now, they should be
able to figure that out.

Speaker 2 (01:56:55):
You know, they hope. I don't. I don't.

Speaker 4 (01:56:57):
I don't know where where it goes from here. It's
it's really interesting to see how locked up it's all
kind of it's all kind of felt. There's just a lot,
there's been a lot happening behind closed doors on this stuff,
and we'll see how it all comes out.

Speaker 2 (01:57:12):
More of that conversation. Paul Danner Jr.

Speaker 3 (01:57:14):
Available on the iHeartRadio app or you can go to
my page at ESPN fifteen to thirty dot com. Podcast
of this show a service of Long Neck Sports, Grill
and Don't Forget. Paul will be doing his YouTube show
with Jay Morrison and Mark Shalafu and others tonight at
nine o'clock. Look for the Growler podcast.

Speaker 2 (01:57:31):
We are done.

Speaker 3 (01:57:32):
Tomorrow, we'll react to the Bearcats in Kansas City. We'll
chat with Rick Boring about the Musketeers and the Norse,
and if the Bengals have done anything by tomorrow, we'll
talk about that too. My thanks to Tarren Bland for producing,
and to you and Taran for putting up with me.
I've not been at my best today. We'll put it
to you that way. Hopefully I feel better tomorrow. Hopefully

(01:57:53):
you're here, Hopefully I'm here. Have a great night. Thank
you for listening. This is ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports station.

Speaker 2 (01:58:05):
Since Chef you went to River First

Speaker 4 (01:58:07):
To watch the hid

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