3/13/25 - The Mo Egger Radio Show - Mo Egger

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
No one. No one covers the Bengals like us station. Yeah,
if you say it often enough, it's true. Hi, mo Egar,
ESPN fifteen thirty, good fternoon, Thank you for listening. A
marvelous Thursday afternoon. This is today and tomorrow are like
my favorite two days in sports. Basketball wall to wall

(00:23):
for like fifteen straight hours. Xavier is playing right now.
We have Peacock. Am I allowed to talk about two folks?
Two people, one in the building another a friend of mine,
have given me their Peacock loggings. Look, I do ESPN Plus,
I do Netflix, I do we do Disney Plus. I

(00:43):
got Amazon Prime Max. I'm gonna have to buy the
FanDuel Sports Network app once I cut the cord, which
is gonna happen soon here. I'm not a Peacock subscriber.
I did find the two nighttime Biggies games last night
on an illegal stream, which was fun. And then I

(01:04):
think the Fed's got that guy, and so I put
out an APB for a Peacock login, and two people
have given me their Peacock login. I don't know if
I'm allowed to share who they are, because I think
they might go to prison. But we've got the Xavier
game on in studio, and so far, so good for
the Musketeers. They led by as many as nine x
us up twenty one to eighteen on Marquette. Just under

(01:26):
eight minutes to go at Madison Square Garden, we will
go to the world's most famous arena. Not right when
this game ends, our buddy Paul Frischner is doing a
lot of work Sean Miller Podcast, also doing some work
for the Big East, but roughly twenty five thirty minutes
after the game, he is going to join us to
talk about the game itself, maybe what's next, especially if

(01:46):
Xavier wins and if they don't, what's next from that
standpoint as well. So will our guy, the official bracketologist
of the Moegger Show, the breakout star of the twenty
twenty four twenty twenty five college basketball season here in Cincinnati,
and someone who I'm sure is gonna be stolen by
the other shows, because that's what the other shows do,

(02:08):
They steal our guests, Hunter Sansom, the Nky bracket Guy,
is We're gonna talk about Xavier, but also Ohio State,
handful of other schools as well. That will be at
five thirty. Chad Brendle on the Bearcats three forty five.
Entire show Rundown is available on Twitter at mullagger on Twitter.
Thanks to Emery Federal Credit Union your credit Union with

(02:31):
heart since nineteen thirty nine. Go to Emery FCU dot org.
A lot of ground to cover today. The story of
Cincinnati Red spring training is unfolding right now, and I'm
not talking about the game they're playing against the Athletics.
I'm gonna call them the Oakland Athletics because what repercussions

(02:53):
are there? If I call them the Oakland Athletics, none,
it ain't the game and something else. We'll get to
that coming up in just about fifteen minutes. We've been
waiting to see if the Bengals are actually gonna do
anything to make their team better. I do think they
are sending a message to Joe Burrow, and I'll tell
you what that message is coming up at four oh five.

(03:15):
They have made it official. Cam Sample is back, which
is fine. Samaj p Ryan is back, which is fine.
I guess we'll hear from Samaj coming up in just
a little bit. But I think it's really hard to
argue right now that the Bengals today are a better
football team, better football team. They might not be worse,
but I think it's hard to argue they're a better
football team right now at three eight in the afternoon

(03:37):
on Thursday, March thirteenth than they were when they walked
off the field after their last game in Pittsburgh. Time
will tell if we say that by the end of
this week. Time will tell if we say that by
the middle of next week. Time will tell if we
say that by the end of the draft. Time will
tell if we say that before the ball goes in
the air for the first regular season game wherever that
is played. But we've been waiting to see what they

(03:59):
do to make the team better. Nothing has really happened.
All the while still waiting to see do they get
something done with t Higgins anytime soon? Do they get
the extension done with Jamar Chase anytime soon? And is
there going to be any movement as it relates to
Trey Hendrickson. My take all along on this Trey Hendrickson
thing has been the Bengals are doing themselves a favor.

(04:22):
They're doing right by themselves. The Bengals are doing right
by themselves with Trey Hendrickson, because you're allowing him to
hit the open market, and if he can find someone
who's willing to give him what you're not, you can
negotiate talk compensation, and if there's something out there that
you think furthers the goal of winning a title this year,
go do it right. Who knows if that's going to

(04:44):
happen in the absence of that. Trey Hendrickson plays football
for you this year, and if he can't find a
team willing to give him what he's looking for, well
then maybe you can negotiate with him, and he's coming
at you from a reduced bargaining position. Diana Russini, who
for years work for ESPN now very good NFL insider
for The Athletic, reported today and I'll read her social

(05:07):
media post. She writes, teams are willing to pay Trey
Hendrickson the contract that he desires, but have found Cincinnati's
current asking price to be ridiculous. As one GM told me,
the Bengals can adjust as the off season progresses, but
right now teams aren't willing to meet their terms. So

(05:31):
one GM says the Bengals asking price is quote ridiculous.
Now nothing at all against Diana Russini because she's simply
doing reporting, and it's good reporting. My instant reaction this
morning when I saw this was no kidding. This is

(05:52):
the biggest no duh headline of the NFL off season.
You mean to tell me that they're not going to
just give him away. They're not gonna just send Trey
Hendrickson to another NFL team likely I'm guessing a contender
in exchange for like a twenty twenty seven to seventh
round draft choice and a handful of kicking teas. They're

(06:19):
not gonna just hand them over. Sure, go ahead, we'll
take back whatever you name. The price, of course, they're
going to be ridiculous, as they should be. The asking
price should be really, really really high for a really
good player like Trey Hendrickson, who they value being on

(06:40):
their team in twenty twenty five, which is a year
they value as one in which they can win the
super Bowl. And so of course the asking price is ridiculous. Again,
this is not an indictment against Ayana Russini or her reporting.
She's outstanding at what she does, and it's not even

(07:01):
an indictment against the general manager. I've I've got to
think anybody in a bargaining position with the Bengals as
it relates to Trey Hendrickson, would understand they're going to
be asking for a lot. Am I wrong? Five point
three seven four nine fifteen thirty? There is one good
reason to trade Trey Hendrickson, only one, one one, and

(07:28):
that one good reason is if a deal comes your
way that furthers the cause of winning this year. Like
that's the equation. There are really good conversations that could
be had about Trey Hendrickson's long term value, whether they
should pay him what it would cost, how much sense
does it make to pay him what he's looking for
if the production is likely to not be what it

(07:49):
has been. What Joe Burrow is gonna think about this?
Like lots of good conversations. But the Bengals have a goal.
I'd like to think they have a goal. We can
debate whether they've gone about it the right way, but
the goal is to win the title this year, right.
Trey Hendrickson being on the team this year helps that goal,
helps them accomplish that goal. And so if I'm making

(08:10):
a trade, I have to be in as good a position,
if not better, to win the title this year that
I'd be if I had Trey Hendrickson on my team.
I'm not interested in draft capital in twenty twenty six,
not interested in draft capital any year, but this year,
I'm not interested in anything that doesn't make my chances
of winning better this year, which means premium picks. It

(08:35):
means early picks that the compensation has to be a lot. Now,
I'm not talking about a herschel Walker sized hall, but
I think we all understand. We're talking about like a
second round picker if you can get it, and frankly,
I don't think you can a first round pick. But
I have no issue with the Bengals sticking with that
asking price, at least for now. There's only one good

(08:55):
reason that trade Trey Hendrickson, because you think a deal
can make you better this year. Now, there are a
few bad reasons to trade Trey Hendrickson. Uh. One would
be well, if you trade him and at least gets
this over with, it eliminates camp distractions. Dude, If you're
so worried about camp distractions that you're gonna you're gonna

(09:20):
give away Trey Hendrickson for cents on the dollar, then
you have the wrong coach. You have the wrong coaching staff. Hell,
I might argue you have the wrong quarterback, like I
if that's the idea here, Look, this is a thing.
Let's just move on. Give him away. Take seventy cents
on the dollar for Trey Hendrickson. Then your team and

(09:43):
your franchise are messed up. The other bad reason to
trade Trey Hendrickson would be, well, they owe it to him.
They owe it to Trey. Okay, two things about that.
Number one, they owe it to themselves to fix the

(10:03):
pass rush. They haven't done that yet. Like so far
in free agency, so far in the new league year,
they've brought back Joseph Osai, Cam Samples coming back. All
that is fine, is the pass rush better. Trey Hendrickson
led the league in sacks last season. I think twenty
teams had more sacks than the Bengals last year. In

(10:23):
spite of that, so they haven't fixed the pass rush yet.
You could talk all you want about Wether's There's a
lot of edge rushers in the draft, and I expect
the Bengals to take some of them, especially if Trey
Hendrickson gets traded. But as of right now, Trey Hendrickson
for the twenty twenty five Bengals appears to be a need,
So that's number one. Number two, they owe it to him. Look, man,

(10:47):
we all love Trey Hendrickson. We all do. If you're
a Bengals fan, how do you not right, one of
the greatest, maybe the greatest free agent acquisition ever. But
dude signed a contract. What they owe him is the
money that the contract he signed dictates they pay him.
They don't owe him anything else. Oh would it be nice?

(11:09):
Would it be a show of goodwill? Would it be
a nice reward? Fine? Yeah, sure. They're a big business.
Businesses are not in the business of simply rewarding people.
They invest in them. And right or wrong, And I
think you can make a very good argument that it's wrong.
I think you can make a very good argument that
it's right. They don't view Trey as a worthwhile investment

(11:31):
at what he's asking for. But the only reason to
tray Trey Hendrickson is if it suits you and your needs,
not the needs of another team, not the needs of
Trey Hendrickson. And so hell yes, I would be pissed
off beyond belief. And if you're a Bengals fan, you
should be too. If you find out that they accepted

(11:53):
a week offer, that they simply took the first offer
out there, that they didn't play some hardball, that they
weren't at least a little ridiculous. I want the Bengals,
and if you're a Bengals fan, you should want the
Bengals to be ridiculous. Seventeen minutes after three o'clock. Our numbers,

(12:14):
as always are five point three, seven, four nine, fifteen,
thirty eight sixty six seven oh two three seven seven
six works as well. You can hit me up on
Twitter at Moegger. We'll have some poll questions at least one,
maybe two, perhaps three coming up thanks to United Heartland Insurance.

(12:35):
A lot more on this. I kind of feel like,
as a Bengals fan, I'm on an island, and I'll
explain why. And I do think they're sending a message
to Joe Burrow. I'll tell you what that is. Coming
up in the four o'clock hour. UH in New York,
they have hit the under four minute media timeout two
fifty three to go in the first have Xavier leads

(12:57):
Marquette thirty eight to thirty one. Must Tiers have led
most of the way so far in the first half
we'll go to Madison Square Garden coming up roughly thirty
minutes after that game, Men's Chad Rendel joins us on
the Bearcats in just about twenty minutes. But first, the
story of spring training is unfolding right now. That's next
on ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 2 (13:18):
Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 3 (13:22):
Traffic from the UC Health Traffic Center. When it comes
to stroke, every second counts. That's why the UCE Health
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two seventy five. Still got that accident after eleven in
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(13:42):
from seventy five with a fifteen minute delay. It's a
grass player on Cleeves Warsaw Pike at Ponchius Road and
a disabled vehicle eastbound seventy four after col Rain. I'm
at Ezelk with traffic after free.

Speaker 1 (13:55):
This is ESPN fifteen thirty on Loleeger forty one to
thirty five. You're not being pulled over. Don't look in
your rear view. We're just playing a song from Bubba Sparks.
It is forty three thirty four Xavier on top of
Marquette one forty five to go in the first half
in New York City. I said this to Tony and Austin,
and this is not a Madison Square Garden thing because

(14:19):
this floor that Xavier and Marquette, this floor that's the
Big East Tournament's being played on, is cooler looking than
the one the Knicks play on. But we had that
abomination in Kansas City, where the Big Twelve Tournament is
still happening. Iowa State lost to BYU today, for what
it's worth, and it has been raked through the coles.
It's not hard have a basketball floor that looks like

(14:40):
a basketball floor. That floor at MSG looks like a
basketball floor. It is clean, it is cool looking, and
it doesn't hurt the eyes. It does not hurt the eyes,
which is key. Ryan Conwell is just turned to three
and it's a forty six thirty four timeout. Shaka Smart
Muskie's up twelve. More on the Bengals coming up here
in a bit. The message to Joe Burrow and why

(15:02):
I feel like I'm on an island when it comes
to the Bengals, And we might talk about our new
Twitter friend Amy who doesn't think anybody here holds the
Bengals accountable. Maybe listening in Louisiana, I don't know. Plus
Chad Brendle on the Bearcats. The Reds are playing, not

(15:23):
that this is a huge deal, but they were supposed
to play at four o'clock today. I guess they're expecting
reigning goodyear, so they slid the game up to three o'clock.
Nick Lodolo is starting for Cincinnati today. Reds are playing
the Fresno or Sacramento A's or wherever they're playing this year.
They're on the top of the second inning. The game
is scoreless. I think the story of Spring is unfolding

(15:44):
right now, and this may not end up being a
big deal. And Terry Francona has gone out of his
way to tell reporters down there he doesn't think it's
going to be a big deal. But Tyler Stevenson is
headed for an MRI. He's having it today because they
want to take a look at his back. Now. Terry

(16:05):
Francona has said, and I quote, he's going to be fine.
This was yesterday. It didn't seem to make sense to
push something through on his pregame radio show today before
the game against Fresno or Sacramento or I don't know
that many other northern California towns, but I'm just gonna

(16:26):
make fun of the a's regardless. On his pregame radio
show today, Terry didn't even talk about Tyler Stevenson, and
so there's a very good chance Tyler Stevenson is okay.
But a couple of things about this Number one, long
list of guys that we've heard across a lot of
different teams, frankly, across a lot of different sports, where
you've heard in spring training or in training camp or

(16:46):
preseason practice, whatever it is. Hey, he's dealing with this.
The athlete is dealing with this. It's gonna be fine,
don't worry, and that it ends up being something that
costs him a lot of time. I mean, I remember,
I remember being patted on the head about Matt McClain
late in spring training last year, and then Matt McLain
played in as many baseball games for the Reds last
year as I did. So there's always some kind of

(17:10):
built in skepticism or fear. So there's that. There's also
the injury itself. It's a back for a catcher. The
sport's most physically demanding position that Tyler Stevenson has over
the last two years, I think accomplished the goal of
shedding the injury prone label, which maybe to a degree

(17:32):
he wore for a while, but he still has an
injury history. He's a catcher, and back problem in mid
March is not something you want to read about. But
also there is this Tyler Stevenson's really really good. You
know it's funny. I was on it was in for
Lance on Friday night on seven hundred WLW, and I

(17:53):
was talking about Hunter Green, my favorite read. I'll go
ahead and call it, and I said, you know, I
think there's a lot of fun who don't maybe either
realize or remember how good Hunter Green was last year.
He was awesome last nine or ten starts, he was unhittable.
There are people who don't, you know, know how really

(18:14):
good he was and how much of a bargain he is.
And I got a tweet from someone who said, I
don't think people realize how good Tyler stevenson was last year. Now,
offensive numbers for a catcher are relative. It's why they
ended the experiment of him playing first base. His offensive
production for a catcher is good. His offensive production maybe

(18:36):
for a right field or a first baseman's not necessarily
what you want. But very quietly last year, Tyler Stevenson
had a really, really nice bounce back season. His ops
he increased it by eighty six points. He got on
base more often, he slugged more frequently, he struck out
a little bit less than the year before. Like Tyler

(18:57):
Stevenson had a really nice year. And as we're talking
about like reds who could be All Stars this season, Well,
you go, Ellie, you go, Hunter me, you might take
a flyer on Matt McClain. I'm putting money if I
can find the market on Tyler Stevenson. Improved, I think
as a defensive catcher, not great at throwing out base runners,
but not that far below league average, really good reputation

(19:20):
for calling games. And you know, let's be honest, the
Rets have some major offensive issues this year. Major offensive questions,
I should say, maybe not issues yet, they don't become
issues till the season starts, but major major offensive questions,
like namely, all those dudes in the outfield Tyler Stevenson,

(19:40):
whether it be his productivity when he's catching or when
he DHS. He's a guy that I feel like you
can you can kind of pencil in what the numbers
should look like this year. There aren't a ton of
guys like that on this team. And so again, no
one is panicking, No one should be owning any alarms.

(20:01):
But this is something you should be paying attention to
for that combination of reasons. It's the quality of the player,
the nature of the position, the nature of the injury
we're dealing with here, the importance of the position like
this is to me. And I know there have been
other guys who have been slow to come back. You know,

(20:21):
maybe they're they're throwing program has been halted. The Spencer
Steers shoulder thing has kind of been hovering over all
the spring training. You know, Jose Travina was an All
Star a couple of years ago for the Yankees and
a goal Glove winner and actually was the the Platinum
Glove winner at his position in the American League, which
is they only give out one of those per league
per year. From an offensive perspective, I don't know that

(20:45):
you want to see Jose Travino back there behind the
plate all that often, certainly not as much as Tyler Stevenson.
I don't know what plans see is a catcher like
this is the story of spring training right now. It's
not Elie Dela Cruz batting third, it's is their potential
all star catcher going to be okay? Hopefully the answer
is yes. We will see five, one, three, four, nine,

(21:07):
fifteen thirty, lots of sports headlines. We'll get to them
and Chad Brindle in fifteen minutes on ESPN fifteen thirty,
Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 4 (21:14):
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 UCE Health Comprehensive Stroke Center is the
clear choice for rapid life saving treatment. Learn more at
UCHealth dot com. He's found two seventy five left two

(21:34):
lanes blocked from an accident after Lebanon Road. Traffic there
stop and go from seventy five to thirty two minute
delay at the moment southbound seventy five near Town Street.
It's an accident off onto the right shoulder, some slow
traffic from Shepherd Lane. I'm at Ezelek with traffic.

Speaker 1 (21:50):
This report gay sponsored.

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By Cincinnati's sports station ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 1 (21:56):
Sports headlines are a service of Kelsey vala home of
lifetime power train protetion and guaranteed credit approval from their
family to yours for life kelseyshev dot Com. Halftime score
at Madison Square Garden quarterfinal game in the Biggiaest Tournament,
Xavier leeds Marquette forty six to thirty six. Winner of
that one will play Saint John's tomorrow. The Red Storm

(22:17):
knocked off Butler at MSG seventy eight two fifty seven.
The other two quarterfinals tonight to Paul taking on Creighton
and Villanova battling Yukon tonight, it's the SEC Tournament Kentucky
taking on Oklahoma. Did anybody watch Oklahoma versus Georgia last night?
Game between two teams that badly needed to win. It
felt like Oklahoma punched their ticket by beating the Bulldogs

(22:41):
last night. The last two minutes of that game took
like a half hour, and the announcers for the SEC
network were Carl Ravish and Jimmy Dikes. Carl Ravich, I
think does a terrific job. Jimmy Dike's fine. You could
tell they had night life plans in Nashville because with
each timeout and foul and stoppage, they became more and

(23:02):
more agitated. And by the way, if I'm in Nashville
and you know, you got to go back an hour.
So it was about, you know, right before eleven o'clock
in Nashville, and I have Nashville outside the door, or
I could watch a first round SEC Tournament game between
Georgia and Oklahoma. I'm choosing Nashville. Those dudes were chomping

(23:25):
at the bit. Anyway. Kentucky and Oklahoma tonight on ESPN
fifteen thirty. The scheduled tip off for that game is
nine to thirty. Pregame coverage on the Kentucky Sports Network
at eight o'clock. Earlier today, in that event, John Calla
Perry lost to Ole Miss eighty three to eighty. The
Miami RedHawks will play in the MAC Tournament this afternoon.

(23:48):
That game is scheduled to start right around four ten
or so. They're in the waiting moments of the game
between Ou and Toledo. The Bobcats have a one point
lead seventy six to sixty five. Earlier in that event,
the top seed at Akron Zip's blowout winners over Terrence
Bowling Green Falcons ninety six to sixty seven. I understand

(24:08):
he got Eddie George ind the NFL to Oregon in
the Big Ten Tournament today seventy two to fifty nine.
And Pat Kelsey's Louisville Cardinals play tonight in the ACC
Tournament against Stanford. The Reds are playing the Northern California
A's right now in goodyear. They have played two innings,
no score. Nick Lodolo on the bump for Cincinnati. He

(24:29):
has so far not given up anything besides a hit
and a walk, and he has struck out four. Catcher
Tyler Stevenson having an MRII on his back which is
a sore right now. Samaj p Ryan and Cam Sample
both back in Cincinnati. We knew that this week. The
Bengals made it official today and the Columbus Blue Jackets
skate at home, where they have been very good this

(24:49):
year game against Vegas. Puck drops at seven thirty twenty
minutes after before four o'clock. I also saw this, and
I just saw this during the This made me, said
John Feinstein, passed away, a longtime Washington Post writer, longtime
ESPN commentator. If you love sports books, John Feinstein is

(25:14):
somebody whom you have read. I just put this on
social media. If I were to list like my favorite
twenty all time sports books, I would be willing to bet.
John Feinstein authored at least ten of them. A Season
on the Brink, Tales from Q School Playball, The Life

(25:35):
in Trouble Times of Major League Baseball, which was like
an early nineties book that I might have read, five
hundred times, Hard Courts, which is a book about the
professional tennis tours in the late eighties. A March to
Madness was terrific, The Last Amateurs, which is a great

(25:56):
book about the Patriot League in like late nineties. God
Next Man Up, which was a year inside the NFL,
or a year I think it was a year inside
the NFL. The Last Dance, which was behind the scenes
at the Final Four. I could probably go on, but

(26:18):
just off the top of my head, those are some
just an awesome sports book writer, sports writer, but sports
book writer for my purposes. He wrote a book about
the Legends Club, which would have been Jim Valvano and
Dean Smith and Mike Krzyzewski. And it was written like
two thy twelve or thirteen, something like that, and it

(26:40):
was about their stories, the rivalries each of those three
coaches won national championships their games against each other. A
terrific book Where Nobody Knows Your Name, which is a
book about minor league baseball and like you know, dudes
who just toiled forever in the minor leagues, some of
which got a chance to shine in the big leagues
and some of which never got a chance to play
in the big leagues. Just an awesome, awesome sportsbook. Author

(27:04):
I guess I'd suddenly today at the age of sixty nine,
So rest in peace, John Feinstein. If you're looking for
a great read, find his bibliography and pick a title
and you won't be sorry. A Chad Brendle on the Bearcats.

Speaker 2 (27:21):
Next Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

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(27:47):
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Speaker 1 (28:00):
It's PN fifteen thirty on my legger. It's a forty
eight thirty eight Savior on top of Marquet eighteen thirty
to go at Madison Square Garden. On Thursdays, we chat
with our buddy, Chad Rendel Bearcat journal dot com. You know,
you sees spring football practices are underway. Maybe we could

(28:21):
just spend the next seven or eight minutes talking about that.
That that probably is not what we should do, but
big part of me that wants to. You see bowing
out the men's basketball team bowing out in the Big
twelve Tournament yesterday, losing to Iowa State High Chad, I'm aw,
I'm I'm well, I'm good. I don't know how much

(28:44):
sense it makes to look back. I think we've done that.
I think we have to look forward. I think we
have to look forward short term and long term. Let's
start with the short term. How's this crown thing gonna work?

Speaker 5 (28:58):
You try to get to sixship players as fast as
possible and then you don't have to go, and then
you don't have to go.

Speaker 1 (29:08):
So you have to have seven, Yes, you have.

Speaker 5 (29:11):
To have seven scholarship players to participate in the tournament.
So you try to get to six as fast as possible,
melt and then and then you let the chips fall
where they may.

Speaker 1 (29:23):
So if you have seven, the Big Twelves contract with
this event stipulates that if you qualify automatically, you have
to feel the team you have to participate.

Speaker 5 (29:36):
That is my understanding. Yes, it is a tournament that
is run by Fox. Fox has you know, commissioned they're
Big twelve or they are leagues that have TV contracts
with Box. So the Big Ten, the Big twelve in
the Big East, Like if somehow Xavier doesn't get in,

(29:57):
they're also going to be in the same situation of
having to play in this Crown tournament contractually. So it's new.
We're all still learning. I was told initially like there's
no way out of it, and then I guess, you know,
as it got closer, people started talking in in Kansas City,

(30:20):
and then it you know, it came out yesterday via
Dan Horde that if you didn't have seven, then you
could get out of it. So we'll see how that goes.

Speaker 1 (30:29):
So we saw this in college football. We saw this,
I think in the college Football Playoff where players hit
the portal and then stuck around and were a part
of their teams for their postseason run. So you could
put your name in the portal if you're a Bearcat
basketball player and if the coaches are okay with it,
still play for UC in the Crown.

Speaker 5 (30:50):
Technically, yes, there are some things that are going to
happen I think, very fast in the portal this year
because use the house case, which is the revenue sharecase,
is expected to be approved whatever on April seventh. So

(31:12):
there are teams that have these large anil war chests
for basketball that when this thing gets approved nil will
be moving to what they're calling quote unquote true nil.
So you're actually gonna have to have like contracts and
like things that you're actually supposed to do for the
company that paying you nil. So you know what these

(31:33):
places want to do, MO. They want to empty out
those coffers by April seventh as much as possible. So
if you go in on the twenty fourth and then
you go play in this tournament hypothetically until April sixth.
That's pretty much going to eliminate you from like taking
visits and like going through the process of finding a

(31:56):
home while teams are trying to spend this extra case.
So I mean, you can do it, yes, but if
I was a player, that wouldn't be what I would
be looking to do personally.

Speaker 1 (32:09):
Do you think the coaches want to participate in that event?

Speaker 5 (32:13):
No, I think they'd probably rather I mean, if there's
gonna be roster turnover, and you know this is not
going to be like last year where we all thought, hey,
let's run this back and see what it looks like.
In year two, I think the roster is going to
look considerably different. I think you'd rather have rather not
have a tournament looming two weeks away that you don't

(32:38):
really care about other than But I guess there's three
hundred thousand dollars to the winner in nil money, So
whoever wins the whole thing, it'll probably be worth it.
But if you don't win the whole thing, what do
you really gain out of it? If your roster's not
going to look anything like what you're taking to Vegas?

Speaker 1 (32:56):
All right? You talk about roster turnover. Do you do
you expect for us to hear news in that regard,
like very very soon, like in the next day or two,
or could this happen slowly?

Speaker 5 (33:12):
I'm not sure. Like the portal doesn't open until the
twenty fourth, so not this coming Monday, but next Monday.
But I would think personally, if like you've had your
meeting with the coaches and the decision is you're going
to enter the portal, you want to get that out
there as soon as possible, right, You want many people
to know that you're on the market as you can

(33:32):
get I don't know what delaying that looks like. So
the question will be Cincinnati has today and tomorrow before
spring break starts. I don't know how many of these
kids are leaving town, but you know, usually if I
have a chance to go on spring break in college,
I took that opportunity Club Lavila, Here we come. But

(33:58):
you know, it just depends on what they can get
done today and tomorrow, I guess, And then from there
who sticks around And do you have to wait until
they get back from spring break to have those meetings?
If you didn't get to him today and tomorrow, how many.

Speaker 1 (34:10):
Of these players would you guess the coaching staff wants back.

Speaker 5 (34:18):
Probably more than actually come back. You know, I think
you want Gisel James if the money's right, if the
situation fits right. I think you want Dayda Thomas. I
think you probably want Dylan Mitchell if you can keep
him from there. I don't you know. Josh Reid would

(34:41):
certainly be a guy that you'd want as a piece.
I don't think you'd go into next year just assuming
he's a starting piece, but I think you'd want him
around just for his leadership and continuity and from there.
Tyler McKinley didn't get to see what he can do,
but he fits the body type that they're that My

(35:02):
understanding is they're going to be looking for. You know,
that's six nine thirty to forty type guy that they
didn't add them this year and they got pushed around.
So if you've got a guy like that and Tyler
McKinley on the rochster, I certainly would want him back
to see what he looks like in this league. You
know probably five or six guys that that you'd want back.

(35:23):
How many of those do you get back? That'll be
to be determined I guess when you sit down in
those meetings and you explain your vision for them next year,
does your vision match their vision? Does your money match
their money? And then you figure it out from there.

Speaker 1 (35:39):
You mentioned Tyler McKinley, and I thought of him often
yesterday watching Iowa State push them around. And I remember
the conversation that you and I had when we found
out that he was that he had suffered the injury
and was going to miss the season. And you know,
I I walked away from that conversation thinking, like, all right,
he might have been able to help a little bit
more than I originally thought. And then I I I

(36:00):
thought about that yesterday and that wasn't the first time.
Over the course of the season. What difference could he
have made for this team?

Speaker 5 (36:12):
Once you figured out Arrington Page couldn't play at this
level or you determined that you didn't think he could
play at this level, probably would have helped a lot.
Like think how many times over the last three four
weeks we saw Dylan Mitchell out there for extended stretches
at the five at two hundred and ten pounds, Like
that's not ideal. You did that because you had to

(36:34):
do that you'd have had another guy that you could
have thrown in there with that kind of size that
maybe he isn't going to get shoved off the block
trying to get defensive rebounds. Maybe that helps you out.
Maybe he helps you out defensively because he can hold
his ground a little bit more and doesn't get like
pushed back into the basket like we saw them get
Asease and Dylan and Page when he was in there. So,

(36:57):
you know, I don't think it would have made a
draft difference, But I do think as you got into
conference play and had this realization that we don't have
enough physicality, Tyler certainly would have been a guy you
would have turned to a little bit more.

Speaker 1 (37:12):
I was asked this question yesterday because they got players
in the portal from high major programs. In the case
of Dylan Mitchell, it worked, in the case of Arranton Page,
it didn't work in the case of Sea Moss Lukasis.
Over the course of his time in Cincinnati, I would
say it mostly worked. It did not over the last
nine or ten games. From a shooting perspective with see
Moss and the shoulder may have been an issue there.

(37:33):
In fact, I'm gonna guess that it was. But do
you think there was a little bit too much emphasis
on we have to get players from those programs where
maybe it might have made a little bit more sense
to go into that well of mid majors or programs
from smaller conferences, lower conferences, if you will, and find
guys who could take the step up.

Speaker 5 (37:57):
I mean, that's a case by case. It's it's easy
to look back on that, like in retrospect. But with
Arronton Page it didn't work out, but he was the
top fifty type talent when he was in high school.
So you get into that world where you decide, do
we bet on what can what can this player become?

(38:21):
Or do you take a guy at a low major
program and say, okay, we've seen this guy do it
at this level, we project that he can jump up
and while he might not be you know, say you
get a big that's seventeen points and eight rebounds, is
it probably going to be less than the big twelve? Yeah,
but if it's fourteen and six, boy, they sure could

(38:43):
have used fourteen and six from a big guy this year. Right.
So that's the the hard part about doing your evaluation.
I think ideally mo what you do is you get
guys from power conferences that have produced in power conferences,
but those guys are expect and that comes down to
what I think when I look at this league, what

(39:08):
I think is probably the proper mindset for Cincinnati is
go get a guard that's got some physicality and some
scoring ability at the top of your roster, and then
go get a big that you think can score and rebound,
and then build around them. Because there are a bunch

(39:29):
of teams that did that that had success. Taylor did
it with VJ. Edgecomb and Norchetto, mere Texas Tech did
it with JT. Toppin and Chance McMillan. You know, there's
a bunch of teams that if you look at kind
of how they were constructed, this is how they were constructed.

(39:49):
And if you don't have the abundance of wealth where
you can just buy it starting five, I think you're
probably best going and getting too high end guys and
then fitting pieces around those too high end guys that
you think will work.

Speaker 1 (40:05):
Chad Brendel bearcat Journal dot Com. I'm gonna keep you
past the top of the hour, so my apologies are Terrence.
Let's do a couple here really quick. The nil discussion.
It reminds me of the arguments I'm watching people have
about the Bengals, where you have the folks who go
they have the money, they're just being cheap, and then
the people who carry the water for them and say,
actually they have a cash problem. What is UC's NIL

(40:27):
situation as it relates to men's basketball.

Speaker 5 (40:31):
I think it's solid, but the problem is you're in
a league where solid might be I might not be
good enough. You know, when I broke it down in
the middle of the season, I made a bunch of
calls around the league. Cincinnati had a quality in IL,
but it ended up being in like the third tier

(40:52):
of the league, which was like nine through twelve essentially,
so you're you're in that same group. Like a team
like Iowa State was in that group. They did a
great job talent evaluation and finding guys that fit into
what they could afford. West Virginia kind of similar. Like

(41:12):
it would have been interesting to see West Virginia what
they look like with Tucker Debris, because I think that
would have been a better team. But when I looked
at West Virginia, this is what was frustrating about losing
twice to West Virginia. I never thought they were like
they were that good of a roster. They had a
really good player in Javon Small and Armani Hansbury came
on later in the year, but they weren't loaded, you

(41:34):
know what I mean, Like that that wasn't a roster
that had a bunch of talent. It's just they constructed
it with two guys at the top of the roster,
and they kind of put some pieces around them that
they think would supplement those guys, and it worked out
for them. They're probably going to get in the tournament.
So I think you have to look at like who's
working with the amount of money that you had, at

(41:55):
the level that you had, what worked for them, and
kind of I want to say, copy it, but find
a way that that works for you. Find a way
that that path works for you, because you're not gonna
outspend Kansas. You're not gonna outspend Dyu, who's bringing in
a six million dollar player next year. But there are

(42:15):
ways to win when you're in that middle ground, Like
they're not at the bottom, they're not looking up at
the field and thinking we've got no chance. They have
enough If they are good at the evaluation process, and
they bring in the right guys. They have enough money
to compete in this league, maybe not for a championship,
but certainly enough to be an NCAA tournament team.

Speaker 1 (42:39):
One more, If it's the Thursday of the Big Twelve
Tournament a year from now, and you and I are
talking and the Bearcats are home from Kansas City, and
we know their name's not gonna pop up on the
screen on selection Sunday, what will we be talking about.

Speaker 5 (42:56):
I mean, I'd have to guess we're talking about the
possible ability that they're looking for a new coach three
years in this league, not being able to get into
the NCUBLEA tournament. It's not good enough for this program.
And I would assume wes Miller knows that. What did
Wes Miller talk about when he beat Xavier? That's a

(43:19):
relief because if I didn't start beating Xavier, they were
going to run me out of town. Well, they're gonna
do the same for the NCUBA tournament. So he's not
a dumb guy. I think he knows if they don't
get the job done next year, that set is going
to be incredibly hot, to the point of is John
Cunningham gonna pull the trigger or not? I think that'll

(43:40):
be what we're talking about. If that's the case.

Speaker 1 (43:42):
Awesome stuff is always Thanks so much, all right, thanks
moll d that Chad Brendel, Bearcatjournal dot Com. We are late.
This is ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 6 (43:54):
Fourth Stational, ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 1 (44:00):
What's up? This is ESPN fifteen to thirty.

Speaker 7 (44:02):
Moegger.

Speaker 1 (44:04):
I got a missing item. I mean not physically missing
anything here, but there is a we all have wishless
as sports fans. We want to see championships. You might
want to see a player played her entire career in Cincinnati.
But there is an item on my Cincinnati sports wish
list that one day I want to cross off. I'll

(44:27):
get to that a little bit later. On Samaja Pete
Ryan made available today by the Bengals. You'll hear a
little bit from the returning Hero. Are we going with
returning hero? The returne ey Samaj is back and he
talked today. You'll hear some of that. I'll talk about
why he chose to come back to a team that
he played for in the Super Bowl. Coming up in

(44:48):
just about twenty five minutes, TJ. Slayton. The Bengals have
made his signing official today. He is actually talking as
we speak. We'll have that for you as well. Xavier
is in a dog fight right now at Madison Square Garden.
Marquette has gone nuts from behind the ark, Ryan Conwell
and Zach Fremantle went to the bench and the Golden

(45:10):
Eagles have taken advantage. And right now Marquette has just
taken the lead sixty five to sixty four at Madison
Square Garden in New York, nine to thirty four remaining
in that one. The winner will play Saint John's tomorrow.
I think more consequential right now for Xavier fans is
a win. You might not want to say win, and

(45:32):
they're in because a lot of other bubble teams are
in action and some others have won in Carolina, one
in Oklahoma won last night. But it really does feel
like you get this win over Marquette, you're gonna feel
okay about their chances, especially because if you lose tomorrow,
very good. Saint john'stein the best team in the Big
East all season long. That's not going to kill you

(45:52):
from a metrics perspective. So more on that as the
afternoon unfolds. We'll go to Madison Square Garden when the
game ends. Our buddy Paul Frishner from the Big East
and from the Sean Miller podcast. We've dubbed him mister
College Basketball. He is going to join us about twenty
five thirty minutes after the game ends. Plus our guy

(46:12):
Nky bracket guy Hunter Sansom's going to join us as
well to talk a little bracketology. Reds are playing right now,
scoreless against the A's in the top of the fifth inning.
It has been a good start for Nick Lodolo, who
went four innings today, struck out six, did not give
up a run, which you knew because it's a scoreless game.
Surrendered three hits in a walk. Red's and a scoreless

(46:35):
Top five that are playing in Good Year games started
an hour earlier than scheduled because of the threat of rain.
I'm typing out for the hour on Twitter right now.
What's coming up, and so that's why you might hear
I might sound like a receptionist in the background. You
hear me typing that's happening right now. The Bengals. The

(46:58):
Bengals seem to be sending a message to Joe Burrow.
We talk about messages all the time, messages from Joe Burrow,
messages from Jamar Chase on his social media or T
Higgins on his social media, messages being sent, messages being
sent to you and I as Bengals fans. Now, they
have done very little this week. And that's no knock

(47:20):
on t J. Slaton, It's no knock on samaj p Ryan,
It's no knock on or In Burks. It's no knock
on the players who played for the Bengals last year
who have come back. But so far, and you have
to use that caveat so far this week has been
very underwhelming, very underwhelming, and it feels like to a

(47:45):
large degree of doubling down on last year's defense. It
feels like they haven't used free agency so far to
make the team that better from the one that ended
the season with a nine to eight record. I think
relative to do a lot of folks expectations, the last
couple of days have been disappointing. I think that's fair
to say. I also think if you use this week

(48:09):
to assess what last year's teams last year's team's weaknesses was,
you wouldn't believe that they had bad guard play, and
that they had a lackluster pass rush minus Trey Hendrickson,
and that they struggled at times and coverage, and that
they were deficient at linebacker. Although Orang Burke seems like
a good signing this week would not make you believe

(48:34):
that we spent weeks on end at the end of
the season. Heck not at the end of the season
all season long talking about the need for a defensive overhaul.
And so we talk about messages all the time. I
think there's a message being sent to, of all people,
Joe Burrow, this is the message. Ready for it? I

(48:59):
think the mess is it? The message is Joe gotta
be better. Buddy. Look, yes, you had a nice year
in all, and sure you were an MVP finalist, but
you weren't MVP. And yeah, okay, so you know, you

(49:24):
completed four hundred and sixty passes and that's nice and all,
and you're sure it led the league, but you also
had one hundred and ninety eight passes that weren't completed
and we're gonna have to clean that up. Like thirty

(49:45):
percent of your passes did not go for completions. Last year.
We're you know, we're not gonna We're not gonna demand
one hundred percent completion percentage, but you know, pretty close,
seventy percent, seventy point six percent not gonna cut it.

(50:05):
Oh and look, you could, you could be excited about
your forty three touchdown passes. That's nice and all, but
you know, if you want to do the bare minimum,
that's okay. There have been quarterbacks in this league who
have thrown for more. That's that's gonna have to be you.
Oh and uh, those nine picks, you're gonna have to
do something about that. In fact, Joe, we were actually

(50:27):
counting and you had this year, uh, eleven turnovers. Yeah,
that's that's not gonna cut it either. Oh and by
the way, really quick, what's with those forty eight sacks?
Could you do a better job of not getting sacked?
Could you do a better job of not getting sacked

(50:47):
and like not getting hit And you might tell us, well,
you know, god, I led the league in yards per game,
I led the league in yards, I led the league
in touchdown passes, I led the league in complete It's fine,
but look at all the categories you didn't lead the
league in, didn't lead the league in interception, percentage, didn't

(51:10):
lead the league in passing success rate, didn't lead the
league in yards per completion or yards per attempt. You
didn't have the highest quarterback rating in the league. You
didn't have the highest passer rating in the league. You
didn't have the best sacked percentage in the league, Joe.
So you know, really it's it's kind of on you

(51:32):
to do all of this. Oh and let's not even
talk about your rushing totals. You're gonna tell us, you know,
you had that one big, long, what sixty yard run
against the Giants on Sunday Night football. That's all well
and good, but you're gonna have to boost that number
up to four point eight yards per rush. Ain't gonna
cut it. Like if if you're gonna run, which we

(51:52):
admit you're gonna have to because you can't get sacked anymore,
then you're gonna have to figure out a way to
like evade tacklers or run through the or I don't know,
just develop speed and quickness that you know, we really
don't associate with you. You're gonna have to do better there.
I mean, top five in the Offensive Player of the
Year voting, that's not good enough. Either gonna have to

(52:16):
be top two at least, and certainly better than an
MVP finalist. Joe.

Speaker 8 (52:24):
I know people talk about you being maybe the best
quarterback in the league, but I mean, dude, we only
went nine and eight last year and maybe only throwing
forty three touchdown passes and only completing seventy percent of
your passes, and you know the eleven turnovers that last year.

Speaker 1 (52:43):
That's that's probably where we could start. Joe. We go
nine and eight, we missed the playoffs. Look at your
football reference page, see holes in it. That's the message
as of right now. That's the message because the theme
all toward the end of the season was Joe was

(53:04):
telling the Bengals I'm not happy, and he was. He
was telling the Bengals through his body language, through his demeanor,
obviously through some of the things he talked about. As
it relates to t Higgins and Jamar Chase, dude, not happy,
not happy with some of the roster decisions, not happy
with the shape of the team, not happy with how
they haven't replaced guys who have gotten away. And we

(53:24):
talked about that for three months. The response to that
has been, yeah, we're good. Joe so I mean, if
you're not gonna do what Joe has pointed out you
need to do, then to me, the message is actually
we're gonna need you to do more. That's the message

(53:47):
I get legitimately, if if you're gonna take a team
that last year that Joe Burrow dragged to nine and
eight and as of right now it's four seventeen. On
March thirteenth, this could change. And I don't think the
Bengals are finished signing players from outside. I believe, like

(54:11):
most do, they will still go get a guard. It's interesting,
you know, some of the names that have been scratched
off the list aren't available anymore, despite the fact that
we talked about them maybe being good fits, and despite
some of them signing contracts that I think financially would
have made sense. And I would have been all in
with signing two veteran guards and drafting one and having

(54:32):
a good competition during training camp. But all right, they've
largely to this point left the roster untouched. They've directly
pointed the finger on defense at Luanrumo, which may or
may not be the right thing, but it just to me.
We talked all last year about how the Bengals are
asking Joe Burrow to do too much, for asking him

(54:53):
to do it all, and he is so damn good
that it almost worked. He dragged that team to nine wins.
It helped, they played a bunch of bad teams with
bad quarterbacks down the stretch, but he dragged that team
to nine wins. And here you have this guy visibly
not happy, visibly at least to a degree, asking for help,
and so far they've given him nothing. So if you've

(55:16):
been criticized for putting too much on Joe Burrow's plate
and you haven't done anything, all I can conclude is
the message to Joe Burrow is we're gonna have to
ask you to put more on your plate. Do I
believe that's really what they're trying to do? Do I
believe that's the message they're really trying to send? Of

(55:37):
course not, But I don't think you're being unreasonable if
you take it that way. Last year we had a
team that Joe Burrow had to rescue. We haven't really
done anything with it. So guess what our plan this
year is? Joe, can you rescue us again? He is
so good that it actually may work. But I'm not

(56:00):
betting on it working to the degree that we want,
which is a Lombardi Trophy. That's the message, Joe, do more.
You're really good, you think you're really really good. Gotta
be better. We need perfection. You cannot only complete seventy
percent of year passes. We need more than forty three touchdowns.

(56:23):
We cannot take an interception. You gotta be perfect. You're
not allowed to fumble, You're not allowed to sack, you're
not allowed to pick, you're not allowed an incompletion. Because
Joe was so good last year that really they're only
really a handful of rungs above that, and one of
them's perfection, which is impossible to attain. I just and again, man,

(56:48):
by this time next week, maybe the Bengals have done
a whole bunch of really cool things with their team.
Maybe maybe, But all I can do is react to
what has happened, and what has happened to this point
is un whelming, and it still feels and looks like
last year's team. Last year's team put too much on
Joe Burrow. So right now the message for me is

(57:12):
just gonna keep doing that, which means Joe Burrow, who
did a lot last year, still wasn't good enough, so
he's going to have to do more. Twenty minutes after
four o'clock, Market up by a point seventy four seventy three,
four point thirty to go at Madison Square Garden Golden
Eagles Ball. We will keep you updated with that. Your
phone calls are coming up on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 4 (57:34):
Station Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 3 (57:38):
to stroke, every 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. Westbound
seventy four before two seventy five, it's an accident on
the right shoulder. Traffic slow from Rye Bolt with a

(57:59):
three minute to left east found two seventy five down
to one lane for construction between US fifty two and
five mile road. Twenty seven minute delay from four to
seventy one on at Ezelic with traffic.

Speaker 1 (58:11):
Twenty six after. For anything you miss on this show,
listen to on the iHeartRadio app. Thanks to our friends
at Long Neck Sports for we've had some good stuff
this week. Paul Dayner was outstanding on Bengals free agency.
You're gonna hear samajp Ryan coming up here in just
a few and new Bengal TJ. Slaton as well. I
guess Samaj is a new Bengal two. Xavier has just

(58:33):
tied it at seventy seven two fifty to go at
Madison Square Garden waiting for a while in my apologies
for that. Ian. You're on ESPN fifteen thirty. Good afternoon.

Speaker 7 (58:43):
Hey, man, I got a quick question because I was
about to download the fan dual app for the red
And man, I can't tell you how Dan, I've been
thinking for like five years, like, gosh, dude, while they
do that, you know that would be so amazing, and
I can't. I think they are only doing it because

(59:06):
of circumstances. But hey, it's benefitting people like me to
pay way way less and not spend a bunch of
money on a streaming platform that doesn't give you much.

Speaker 1 (59:17):
It makes it makes the games available to more people.
You'll pay basically twenty bucks a month, you'll be able
to watch the Reds, and you know you could drop
it if you want when baseball season's over. If the
Reds are forty games. I see, I kind of like this,
and I think it'd be interesting. Let's say the Reds
are not very good and you have a lot of
folks who come July are like, all right, I'm done.

Speaker 7 (59:37):
You know.

Speaker 1 (59:37):
Now, I think there's a little bit of an incentive.
All Right, you know, we've got to stay in the
hunt so people don't drop our service where it was.
You know, if you subscribe to a carrier that had
it and you just kept it, you know you're not
maybe paying extra for it. But now if you're paying
extra for the subscription service and the team is not
very good and you don't like the product, you get
rid of the service. I think this makes it available

(01:00:00):
to more people, It gives fans a chance to opt out.
It maybe further incentivizes the team to do well. I
think it's all around a good thing.

Speaker 7 (01:00:08):
Well, he just made me question because I was sitting
there thinking, do I pay the annual things so I
can save like the twenty bucks off of the whole year,
or now I'm starting to think, well, I don't know,
it's not that big a deal, but I was wondering
if you knew, like if I signed up now, like

(01:00:29):
can you watch any of like the remaining spring training games,
or is it like only going to activate once, like
the opening day starts. I don't know that.

Speaker 1 (01:00:40):
I don't know. I don't know honestly how many Spring
training broadcast FanDuel Sports Network has, but I could tell
you on our stations we have all of them.

Speaker 7 (01:00:52):
Oh, is there a way to or is that like
only accessible to you guys because you guys.

Speaker 1 (01:00:58):
Are part of the What do you mean that you know?
I mean, heck, we we carry the radio broadcast on
our stations. I don't know off the top of my
head how many more spring training games are going to
be televised. I honestly don't have the.

Speaker 7 (01:01:14):
Answer to that.

Speaker 5 (01:01:14):
Yeah, yeah, all right.

Speaker 6 (01:01:16):
Sorry.

Speaker 7 (01:01:17):
The next thing I was thinking because I kind of
call you and I feel like I keep saying the
same dang thing. But the only thing that I could
think and this is I'll loop this and then this
because I know you got others you want to get to.

Speaker 5 (01:01:30):
Maybe, but I relate like Mike Brown's kind of like.

Speaker 7 (01:01:37):
Decades of Ways is to a story from my grandmother
when she gave me my first job and she owned
a bunch of apartments in the Cincinnati area and she
had me work my butt off for like six hours.
I was only like eleven years old, and she gave
me five dollars and I looked at her like blown away,

(01:02:03):
And I didn't know much about money, but I had
this feeling like really like wow, and I kind of relate,
like Mike Brown's thinking like, all right, we'll pay Higgins,
we'll get you Higgins Burro, but we're you know, we're
gonna backfill the way we do in the other areas,

(01:02:25):
and we're just gonna bet hard on this uh draft here.

Speaker 5 (01:02:29):
It's just like I can't.

Speaker 7 (01:02:31):
Fathom any other way than that kind of old school mentality.
I know that's kind of crazy run around, but it's
just like the buck stocks stops with him is.

Speaker 5 (01:02:41):
Just the way.

Speaker 7 (01:02:41):
I mean, people were saying, I don't know if it
was you or James Rakeeen saying like how much power
does Duke Covin really have? And if the buck really
does stop with him and that way that maybe it's
just kind of he pumps the brakes and he's like,
all right, well we'll pay Higgins and Chase, but we're
gonna do this this way, you know what I mean?

Speaker 1 (01:03:02):
Yeah, I think I think when I think when yeah,
I think, when Duke Tobin says I want what Joe
Burrow wants, and then the team, at least to this point,
doesn't do what Joe Burrow wants, then you kind of
wonder how much sway does Duke really have. I don't
say this because I feel like they should be blamed.
I say this because the dynamic of the team has

(01:03:25):
changed from maybe what you and I grew up with,
where I feel like, Look, Mike Brown certainly has veto
power a say, he's the patriarch, he owns all the
controlling shares of the franchise. But I think the financial
decisions that are made by the Cincinnati Bengals hinge more
on the decision making of Katie Blackburn and Troy Blackburn

(01:03:48):
than Mike Brown. Now, yeah, Mike, Mike. Mike Brown has
signed off on a lot of things, a lot of things,
and I think Mike Brown has gotten in the way
of a lot of things. Frankly, I think and Mike
Brown had his way a year ago, Joe Mixon would
still be a Bengal at least would have played for
the Bengals last year. I've talked to folks who would

(01:04:09):
suggest that Zach Taylor's biggest advocate in the organization is
Mike Brown. And so I make it. And again this
isn't a criticism. I think the decisions that are made,
I'll put it to you this way. I think the
decisions that are made by the Cincinnati Bengals that involved
especially big ticket items are made by a collection of
family members and not one person. Whereas twenty twenty five

(01:04:32):
years ago we made those decisions about we made those
decisions to be all about one person. I simply do
not think that's the case, and I don't think, frankly
that's been the case for quite a while.

Speaker 7 (01:04:43):
Yeah, I just got one last thing. I just think that,
you know, the savviness when they get these guys where
they surprise us. I think they really have a lot
of confidence in that belief, like they can find these
unknowns like oh, there's nobody left in free agency, et cetera.

(01:05:07):
But they're able to like somehow get a Hendrickson, you know,
every eight years. They can like really hit on these
kind of unknowns, and I think they're bullish on maybe
that combined with like what's behind the scenes, like the
data on the draft and They're really confident in that,

(01:05:27):
because otherwise I'm scratching my head. I did, that's the
best theory I can think, you know what I mean?

Speaker 1 (01:05:32):
Yeah, look, you're you're right. I mean, they let Carl
Lawson go and they brought in Trey Hendrickson and that
came with a lot of skepticism, and the Bengals were
proven correct. And they let William Jackson walk and they
brought in I think Choudobi a woozier. You know, that
was the swap out there, and that worked out, like
they they did a good job. You know, Mike Hilton
wasn't necessarily a shiny object in free agency. He certainly

(01:05:54):
worked out. Von Bell wasn't necessarily a shiny object in
free agency. God knows he worked out. I think when
you combine the fact that free agency last year for
the Bengals was a dud and recent drafts, especially on defense,
have also been a dud, that adds up to a
lot of distrust about what's next. Ian, I gotta run man,
thank you.

Speaker 5 (01:06:13):
Yep, all right.

Speaker 1 (01:06:14):
We'll hear from samajp Ryan next on ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 2 (01:06:19):
Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 3 (01:06:22):
Traffic from the uc Health Traffic Center. When it comes
to stroke, every second counts. That's why the uc Health
saving treatment. Learn more at UCHealth dot com. Eastbound two
seventy five at I seventy five accident off on the
right shoulder, northbound seventy five. It's an accident on the

(01:06:43):
left shoulder between seventy four and Mitchell and westbound seventy
four accident on the right shoulder before two seventy five
to three minute delay from RII bolt. I'm at Ezeleik
with traffic.

Speaker 1 (01:06:55):
This report is sparvisov Kelsey Chevrolet Home of lifetime powertrain
protect and guaranteed credit approval from their family to yours
for life, kelseyschev dot com. I am fully aware that
if you care about this game, the chances are you're
listening to Joe and Byron or you're watching and you're

(01:07:17):
not listening to this chucklehead on the radio. But it's
still my obligation to tell you what's going on in
New York City. Marquette leads Xavier. It's eighty five to
eighty four. Dalen Swain has just filed out committing a
foul which is going to send Marquette to the free
throw line. I think that's Stevie Mitchell who's going to
go to the line. It is a one in one opportunity.

(01:07:39):
I don't think Xavier is in the double bonus. They
had to pick up a bunch of fouls here in
the final seconds just to get to seven to send
Marquette to the line. It's eighty six. Yeah, the free
throw is good, so it's eighty six to fifty four.
Mitchell has made his first. He is going to get
another here. He is a seventy three percent free throw shooter.
This probably violates all sorts of r probably violates Iheart's

(01:08:02):
contract with Xavier. It's probably breaking some sort of Big
East rule. But I think everybody's going to get over it.
Stevie Mitchell is at the line for his second free throw.
It rolls in, so Marquette is now up three. It's
eighty seven to forty one, and Marquette has committed a
foul with just over four seconds remaining. Chase Ross committed that,

(01:08:27):
so XU which is going to be shooting to here
Marquette doing the mathematically smart thing, which is to foul
up three, sending Xavier to the line for two. Here
in the closing seconds at Madison Square Garden, we will
give you an up to the second update on what's happening.

(01:08:48):
We're going to go to Madison Square Garden. Our buddy
Paul Frischner is there covering it for the Big East
and he is going to join us roughly thirty minutes
after this game comes to an end. But it's eighty
seven eighty four Marquette leading Xavier. There are other games
and other games that are important if you're a Musketeers fan,
that you're going to be paying attention to North Carolina

(01:09:09):
as a bubble team. The tar Heels in the second half,
with about three and a half to go, have a
slim lead one point lead over Wake Forest. It's fifty
seven to fifty six. If you're a Xavier fan, you
have been paying attention to the SEC Tournament, specifically Arkansas.
The Razorbacks won yesterday. They lose today to Ole Miss
eighty three to eighty. Texas has been a team worth

(01:09:32):
paying attention to. With less than a minute to go
in the first half, the Longhorns lead Texas A and
M in the SEC Tournament in Nashville by a score
of thirty three to twenty five. The Mid American Conference
Tournament is happening in Cleveland. Miami has an early nine
to three lead over Eastern Michigan. Earlier in that event,
the top seed at akron Zips winners today over Bowling

(01:09:55):
Green ninety six to sixty seven. Also in that event,
in overtime, Toledo beat OU ninety to eighty five. Back
to the Xavier game, Ryan Conwell at the free throw
line for Xavier. The Musketeers are trailing by three. There
are two point six seconds remaining. Also the Big Ten Tournament,

(01:10:16):
Earlier today, indianafl to Oregon by a score of seventy
two to fifty nine. Later this evening in the ACC tournament,
it'll be Louisville taking on Stanford. A Red's update. Reds
are playing the A's today in Goodyear. Nick Lodolo a
good start four innings, no runs, struck out six. Jam
Or Candelario drove in the only run of the ball

(01:10:37):
game in The Reds have a one nothing lead over
the A's. They have played six innings in Goodyear. Tyler
Stevenson Red's catcher is set for an MRI on his back.
What else do we have? The Columbus Blue Jackets play
Vegas tonight. Bengals News samaj p Ryn made official today
back with Cincinnati. Same for TJ. Slayton. By the way,

(01:10:59):
it is gone final. Ryan Conwell makes a three at
the horn. Unfortunately it's not enough. Marquette holds on too
be Xavier eighty nine to eighty seven. Ryan Conwell was
terrific today, thirty eight points. Tarann and I were just
talking about this off air. Eighty nine to eighty seven.

(01:11:20):
The final score. Marquette advances Xavier, their NCAA tournament chances
very very very much in doubt. The stretch that decided
this game, Marquette made eight of their last ten field goals.
You could certainly highlight that. With thirteen minutes and four

(01:11:40):
seconds remaining, Xavier led by nine points. Sean Miller gave
both Ryan Conwell and Zach Fremantle arrest. I believe at
that point both players each had one foul thirteen to
oh four. They were put back into the game less
than two minutes later, eleven to seventeen to go, and

(01:12:00):
by then Xavier's lead was two and you could just
feel it that a game that felt like it was
in not complete control, but that the Musketeers had a
pretty firm grasp on. Now you got the sense when
those guys came back in they were in for a dogfight.
They had no answers down the stretch defensively for Marquette.

(01:12:21):
But that was the game. Eighty nine to eighty seven
the final score. Xavier loses in the Big East Tournament.
I don't know if that means their bubble is burst. Look,
it's not a bad loss by any stretch of the imagination,
but it felt like win and in. Is it a
case of still lose or lose? Excuse me, lose and
still in? I guess we will find out. Our guy,

(01:12:45):
the Nky bracket Guy is going to join us, Hunter
Sansom at five point thirty three, the official bracketologist of
The Moegger Show, and Paul Frischner is going to join us.
He is at Madison Square Garden right around five point
fifteen or so, and we'll get hit his thoughts on
the game today and what's next for XU. But Marquette
beats Xavier eighty nine to eighty seven. So there you go.

(01:13:10):
A disappointing loss. A loss that ultimately could doom their season.
But I think if you're a Xavier fan, you would
be very willing to admit that it shouldn't have come
down to this, And look, x you may still get
in and they get credit for the run they made
down the stretch, winning those seven games in a row,
going into the Biggiast tournament, taking care of business against

(01:13:32):
bad teams, beating Creighton. But you never want to have
to put yourself in a position to need a win
in your conference tournament. Now we said that about UC yesterday,
you could say it about Xavier.

Speaker 6 (01:13:43):
Now.

Speaker 1 (01:13:43):
Xavier just I think needed to win one game. You
see needed to win five, So the goal much more realistic.
But you never want to put yourself you talk about
it in November. You want to go into your conference
tournament playing with house money, playing for a seed, and
having it not destroy your season or at least your
INCAA tournament hopes if you don't win, and maybe that's

(01:14:05):
where Xavier is. We will find out eighty nine eighty
seven the final score. We'll get a break in. We'll
hear from Sam ajp Ry next on ESPN fifteen.

Speaker 4 (01:14:11):
Thirty Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty traffic.

Speaker 3 (01:14:17):
From the UC Health Traffic Center. When it comes to stroke,
every 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. Northbound seventy five, it's
an accident on the left shoulder between seventy four and Mitchell.
A ten minute to light in through there. East found

(01:14:37):
two seventy five at seventy five. Another accident on the
right shoulder and reading road. It's an accident south of
Glenwood Avenue. Police on scene. I'm at ezelic with traffic.

Speaker 1 (01:14:49):
Can we get Brandon Spinner? At least he brings us bourbon?
When's Jennifer Ketchmark coming back? I've missed her in the mornings.
She doesn't say the wrong radio station you ever do
to Steve Rowlieu if you missed it in New York,
Xavier loses to Marquette eighty nine to eighty seven. We'll
have some Sean Miller audio for you as well. Samaj

(01:15:13):
p Rin is back. Samaj p Rhin had a really
nice run in Cincinnati as the really the perfect complimentary
back to Joe Mixon. You know we would talk about
it all the time, like, you know, Joe's not the
two minute guy Samaj can be. Joe's not the guy
you wanted pass protection Samaj p ran Is and he
made some some really big plays in the playoffs of

(01:15:33):
the Bengals in twenty twenty one. In twenty twenty two,
played the entire season in Denver last year or two
years ago, played the entire season in Kansas City last
year and continued to be productive, specifically in the postseason,
where he caught a game winning pass in the AFC
Championship game.

Speaker 5 (01:15:52):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (01:15:52):
He talked today why he chose to return to Cincinnati.

Speaker 3 (01:15:56):
Did you think this was something that was a possibility
for the last company year.

Speaker 1 (01:16:02):
Uh? For me, Yes, it was. I've always wanted to
come back. I love it here.

Speaker 3 (01:16:08):
Why do you love it so much here?

Speaker 9 (01:16:11):
Playing for Zach uh, playing with Burrow, It's just for me,
it's a It's a great place to be.

Speaker 6 (01:16:19):
What was Kansas City like for you? Is that you
know a similar type of experience where it was seeing
the other side.

Speaker 5 (01:16:26):
That pad against the.

Speaker 10 (01:16:29):
Other side.

Speaker 9 (01:16:30):
Yeah, that one was also having the opportunity to to
play for coach Reid. It's a great experience. By the way, Uh,
he's a great guy, great coach. I just wanted to see,
you know what what that was about. And when a coach,
uh who's had as much success as he's had, when

(01:16:53):
he calls you and says that he loves the way
you play and he wants you to play for him,
it's kind of hard to pass that up. So, yeah,
you know, I just wanted to go and see, you know,
you know what that was like and have an opportunity
to play for him.

Speaker 10 (01:17:10):
Do you think the.

Speaker 6 (01:17:10):
Past two years to slow your.

Speaker 1 (01:17:16):
Day tall and you're so high?

Speaker 9 (01:17:19):
I feel like, for the most part, just becoming a
more uh more proficient blocker. I wasn't a bad blocker necessarily,
you know, third down, back wise, but you know, doing

(01:17:40):
that predominantly for the past two years, I've been able
to you know, uh tweak some things and get better
at that.

Speaker 1 (01:17:48):
Samaj p Ryan and look, Samaj p Ryan is not old.
He will turn thirty this season. He is a player
who has a a relatively low amount of tread on
his tires. I think it would be would be accurate
to say for the role they won him in which look,
Chase Brown is the guy like that's you don't need
me to say that he is the guy? Can he

(01:18:09):
fill a complimentary role? Can he be better than Zach Moss?
Can he be better than Traveon Williams. I think the
answers are yes. I did slightly misspeak. I mentioned he
caught the clinching pass of the AFC Championship game. It
was not a touchdown pass. If you remember watching that game,
Casey was up three, had the ball. I think it
was like third and seven or third and eight, one

(01:18:31):
thirty one, forty to go, and the Patrick Mahomes dumped
off to samajp Ryan. He ran to the sticks and
much much more after that, and it wrapped up the
AFC title game. So he has two AFC Championship rings,
obviously hasn't won the one that he's going to try
to win. Here, sam ajp Ryan is back, and like
I kind of feel like I kind of feel like

(01:18:53):
as a Bengals fan, I'm a little bit on an
island because I feel like, especially during a week like this, yeah,
have two sets of people. You have people over here
that the Bengals can do. No right, everything sucks. Don't
talk about players like samajp rhyme because of who he's not.

(01:19:13):
He's not a splashy, big name guy, doesn't fill their
biggest needs. Everything they do is wrong, And then I
feel like, over here there are the people for whom
the Bengals can do no wrong. Right, I'll carry the
water form. In many cases, everything's fine, don't worry about it.
I like to look at things collectively. But I do

(01:19:36):
think it's fair and I think it's reasonable, and it's
something I like doing to kind of, I don't know,
separate each individual move and judge each one of them
on their own merit. So, for instance, I think they've
screwed up the Jamar Chase thing. I don't think they've
screwed up the Trey Hendrickson thing. Both things can be true.
I think they've had a very disappointing period in free agency.

(01:20:00):
But I think bringing samajp Ryan in that's pretty good.
Should that be the headline of the week. No? Will
Samaj p Ryan be the biggest reason why the Bengals
win thirteen games this year? If they do? No, But
could he help you win a game? Could he provide
a valuable option if something happens to Chase Brown? Yes,

(01:20:20):
I think bringing Cam Sample back is good. I think
bringing Joseph Osi back is good. Who doesn't like MIKEASICKI
somebo of the other moves don't do a lot for me.
I think TJ. Slayton phills a badly needed role, somebody
who could help stop the run. Like you can look
at these things individually and be on board. You could
look at these things individually and go that's good, that's

(01:20:41):
a good decision. But I also think when you add
them up, you're still looking for things that are missing.
They have not yet gotten a guard from outside. I
haven't yet added anybody on defense that looks like they're
capable of making a significant impact. They're riding or die
right now with the secondary full of dudes that weren't

(01:21:02):
very good last year, and they've added no depth to
that position. I'm underwhelmed. I'm very underwhelmed. I'm very underwhelmed
by what the Bengals have done. But I feel like
I'm the guy on an island by himself who loves
this team, who roots like hell for this team, who
can criticize this, this and this, but over here see

(01:21:23):
this and this that he likes this Trey Hendrickson thing.
I think the Bengals have done no wrong. Sorry, now,
if you're over here and for you, the Bengals can
do no right. You don't like hearing that if you're
over here, well, I'm not the guy who's gonna join
you and say they do everything right, because they don't.
They have messed up this Jamar Chase thing entirely. Their

(01:21:45):
free agency stretch is underwhelming. But the Trey Hendrickson thing
them asking for a ridiculous turn in a trade return
in a trade is it makes total sense. Makes total sense.
By the way, I'm gonna if you follow me on
social media, I'm gonna share with you a picture. It's
a picture of Trey Hendrickson. It's a picture of him,

(01:22:09):
and I want you to tell me what you see
when you look at the picture. You gotta follow me
on Twitter at moeger Thanks to Delta Dental. Delta Dental
is building healthy, smart, vibrant communities for all good. At
Delta Dental, Oh dot com, we lump in Jamar and
t and Trey and yeah, man, what hovers over all

(01:22:29):
of this is the Cincinnati Bengals insane failures when it
comes to replacing really good players and executing good plans.
We've documented this for years now. What hovers over all
of this is their recent future draft history. It's inescapable.
It fuels doubt. I have doubts about the draft this year.

(01:22:54):
And the reality is over the last two years, despite
having a great quarterback and huge preseason expectations, they've been
on the outside looking into the playoffs. I think this
year represent one of the great franchise failures in the
history of the Cincinnati Bengals. To be on the outside
looking in the postseason despite having an MVP caliber quarterback.
That is a massive failure, and that looms over everything

(01:23:17):
they have done so far this offseason, which has been
collectively very underwhelming. But hell yes, they should be ridiculous
when it comes to Trey Hendrickson. That's next five o'clock,
plus we'll hear from Sean Miller and we'll go to
New York on ESPN fifteen thirty. This is your Thursday
covers the Bengals.

Speaker 5 (01:23:36):
I like ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati's Sports.

Speaker 1 (01:23:40):
This is going to be thank you five o five
ESPN fifteen thirty. This is going to be a very
busy hour because there's lots going on. Xavier loses in
the Big East Tournament to Marquette. Really good game they waste,
i'll say spoil a terrific Ryan Conwell performance, eighty nine
to eighty seven. The final score. The Muskies very much

(01:24:02):
on the bubble. Sean Miller is going to talk here
in a few minutes. We'll have that for you. Our buddy,
Paul Frischner's at Madison Square Garden. He is winding down
interviews and then we're gonna chat with him at five twenty.
The Nky Brackett guy's gonna join us at five thirty five.
So I have the college basketball covered, by the way,
if you're wondering, Miami is playing right now in the
MAC Tournament. The RedHawks tied at twenty four, five and

(01:24:25):
a half to go in the first half in that
one in Cleveland. Not a lot of Bengals news today.
That has been the theme of the week. Unfortunately, in activity,
they haven't addressed their major needs. Samajp Ryan is back.
We played some of that audio for you. I got
to give some backstory here. I'm really excited. I'm really
excited that we're about to do this. So earlier today,

(01:24:45):
Diana Russini of the Athletic reported something about Trey Hendrickson
and it's this, and I'm pulling up the tweets as
we speak. She tweeted that teams are willing to pay
Trey Hendrickson the contr that he is looking for, which clearly,
for better or for worse, the Bengals are not. So
he has found a suitor, he has found a taker.

(01:25:07):
But according to Diana, she cites an NFL GM who
calls the bengals current asking price quote ridiculous, and she
adds to it, the Bengals can adjust as the offseason progresses,
but right now teams aren't willing to meet their terms.
So I saw this this morning and as having a

(01:25:28):
cup of coffee sitting on my kitchen table, and I
saw it, retweeted it, and my take was good. The
asking price should be ridiculous because Trey Hendrickson's a terrific player. Now,
the Bengals value him, and they won him on the
team in twenty twenty five. Obviously they have balked the
idea that they're going to pay him thirty thirty two

(01:25:49):
to thirty four million dollars. I have thought all along
the Bengals have handled this well give Trey a chance
to go and see if there's another team out there
that will pay him, and if he does, see if
that team something to Cincinnati that the Bengals agree on,
and if that works out and the Bengals make the trade,
then we can assess it on its merits and wonder
are the Bengals in twenty twenty five better off with

(01:26:11):
what they get for Trey Hendrickson or with Trey Hendrickson.
That's gonna be a fair question if it comes to that.
In the absence of Trey finding a contract elsewhere, well
maybe he comes back at a diminished negotiating position and
the Bengals get a deal done, or worst case, he
plays for the team this year and he's highly motivated.
But of course, in my opinion, they should be asking

(01:26:34):
for a lot for Trey Hendrickson because you're giving up
a player who you need right now. They have nobody
else who can get after the quarterback, and they want
to try to win the whole thing this year. So
say what you want about all the other stuff the
Bengals have mismanaged. They're right for being ridiculous here in
my opinion. So I expressed that on social media on Twitter. Now,

(01:26:57):
I think, you know, I don't have a Twitter policy.
Like I hear people talking about their Twitter policy. I
think that's really sort of stupid. But like, I don't
really block people. I've blocked probably a dozen people in
sixteen years. Like, I just unless you're just a huge
a hole, if it's homophobia, if it's racism, if it's

(01:27:20):
I just you're blocked. But I don't. I don't get
a lot of that, So I don't block a lot
of people. I have had less interest over the years
in interacting with folks who tell you nothing about themselves,
And like, one of my goals this year is like
I'm gonna spend less time communicating with folks on social

(01:27:40):
media who are are just they don't tell you anything
about them. Now, look, if you want to be anonymous
and that's your thing, that's cool. I just I like
knowing something about you. That doesn't mean your opinion's not valid.
It doesn't mean I don't look at it. I just
if we're gonna, if we're gonna do this, like give
me something. So I'm scrolling through and I see a

(01:28:01):
tweet from a woman by the name of Amy, and
I hope I'm not butchering this Amy robery and uh,
you know that's it's not like it's uh, I don't know,
Bengal Amy twenty nine sixty two forty five. You know,
like Amy bunch of numbers that there's a picture of her.

(01:28:21):
It's a nice picture.

Speaker 5 (01:28:23):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (01:28:23):
And so it, you know, looks like the sort of
person that is either a finely crafted bot or someone
who you know is going to tell you a little
bit about themselves. So this is the tweet she sent me,
little bit mean. This is the tweet she sent me.
She wrote, how are you helping be a reliable media
representative for the city of Cincinnati? Truly, do you represent

(01:28:45):
the team directly? You should represent the people. Constantly having
the back of the worst run and cheapest franchise in
the league is one way to turn off fans. And
I wrote, I quote tweeted it. I wrote, I appreciate
you following me. I'm sure you're a very nice person.
I appreciate that it seems like you actually use your
name on your profile. But with all due respect, and
this does not offend me at all. I believe you

(01:29:06):
are very unfamiliar with my work. Because whether you like
this show, hate this show, whatever it is, I think
I think I could say and not get laughed at
that I've a I've got a good track record of
not carrying the water for the teams in town. The
people who would be most surprised to find out that
I always have the Bengals back are the people who

(01:29:29):
run and work for the Bengals. So I feel pretty
comfortable in saying that. God knows. I can't tell you
how many times I've had conversations with people with the Bengals,
the Reds, fc U, see Xavier, and I'm not doing this.
This is just part of the job. Lance has had
to deal with this, Tony has had to deal with this,
Austin's gonna have to deal with this. Like you do
this long enough, you're gonna say stuff that pisses them off,

(01:29:51):
and hopefully you have a good dialogue. I'm proud of
our record. I'd never make things personal, but yes, I've
been very critical of the Cincinnati Bengals over the course
of my career. Amy responded and said, actually, I don't listen.
She does hear me on Paul Danner's podcast, and I said,
that's cool. Look listen, here's our link. I think She
lives in Louisiana. She's an LSU alum. As. She fessed

(01:30:13):
up to me on social media and said, you know,
I don't listen to your show. And I said, well,
here's a link and here's a phone number. In all
the years I've been doing this, I can't tell you
how many times I've said to someone who you know,
comes at me and sometimes they're really mean, sometimes they're
just maybe a little antagonistic, and I'll go, like, here's
the phone number, call the show, like, let's have a conversation.
It's sports. We're not going to yell at each other bite,

(01:30:35):
We're not solving the world's problems. Nobody ever takes me
up on the offer until today, Hi, Amy.

Speaker 10 (01:30:46):
Hey, mo, are we going to be friends? I hope
she's a new friendship for me.

Speaker 1 (01:30:51):
Yeah, I hope. So how's it going.

Speaker 2 (01:30:55):
It's going so good.

Speaker 10 (01:30:56):
I was really shocked to hear you just say that
nobody's taking you up.

Speaker 5 (01:31:01):
On that offer.

Speaker 1 (01:31:02):
Nobody. I can't tell you how many, And like I
have stopped, for the most part interacting with like anonymous people.
But like I had a guy once who for years
I used to call him Tony the Racist. He would
email me, and it was always like I could do
such a better job than you, and I'm like, dude,
come on in, like, come on in, Wow, I'll give
you my headphones, I'll show you the ropes, I'll show

(01:31:22):
you where the vending machines are, like, come on in,
and I bet you can. And never took me up
on it. And so I get people that complain at
me all the time and they get mad and I
try to say, like, look, I've got a phone number.
Let's have a discussion and it'll be amicable. We're only
talking sports here. Oh god, we're not talking We're not
talking tariffs. Oh, we're not solving the Ukrainian conflict. We're

(01:31:45):
talking about football. And then usually nobody, not only do
they not do it, don't even respond. So thank you
and God bless you for responding. Or where are you
calling from?

Speaker 2 (01:31:55):
Okay?

Speaker 10 (01:31:55):
So I am a Louisiana girl and a very proud
LSU alone Jo Tigers. But I live in Birmingham, Alabama
for the past eleven years alongside my husband Josh, and
we have two beautiful girls. He's also a proud LSU alum.
And yeah, so I feel like moving from Louisiana to Birmingham.

(01:32:17):
We are about an hour from Tuscaloosa, an hour and
a half from Auburn. We're in the heart of enemy territory,
if you will, with Alabama and Auburn. I am very
used to and comfortable with back and forth sports banter.

Speaker 1 (01:32:29):
All right, hey, by the way, how do you like
that Brian Kelly guy?

Speaker 10 (01:32:33):
Okay, you know, I am not an LSU person who
is just going to try to tell you everything is
great in hunky Dory. With Brian Kelly, I had some
pretty strong opinions. I don't think he's the worst coach. Ever,
I think Notre Dame fans might get their panties in
a wad a little bit about Brian Kelly sometimes kind

(01:32:56):
of like a girlfriend that got left, you know, at times.
But I do I think he's I think he's okay.
I think he's okay. But he made some critical, critical
errors when he first took the job at LSU, letting
go our longtime DB's coach, Corey Raymond, and just not

(01:33:17):
retaining our strength and conditioning coach who now is at
Texas A and M. So there's there's there's some key
critical decisions he made that were errors. Obviously, the defense
was a disaster and has been a disaster. So anyway, yeah,
like the Bengals defense.

Speaker 1 (01:33:32):
This past year, there are similar So is your interest
in the Bengals? Is that because of LSU, because of
Joe Burrow or have you been a Bengals fan all along?

Speaker 10 (01:33:40):
No, I Joe. You guys drafted Joe Burrow and of
course I showed interest that first season, and then of
course the big knee injury in twenty twenty that when
you drafted Jamar Chase fifth overall that next season, I
was all in. I mean, my husband, I can't remember
which Cincinnati artist made that drawing that was a T

(01:34:01):
shirt of Joe Burrow Jamar Chason T. Higgins smoking cigar
in the lockers locker room, but my husband bought me
that T shirt and I wear it proudly anyway, So yeah,
I kind of went all in, and you know, kind
of watched it all unfold. Of course, I was very
aware of the chatter that was around Joe shouldn't go

(01:34:23):
to Cincinnati because the chief ownership and all of this
that didn't really know what to think, had had zero
opinion about the Bengals as a team. And a franchise
prior to drafting Joe Burrow and knew very little other
than Andrew Whitworth played.

Speaker 1 (01:34:37):
Football there, that's right, and at a Hall of Fame level.
All right, So here's here's what I will tell you.
So we were obviously thrilled that Joe was coming to Cincinnati.
The Bengals got Joe Burrow because they were terrible the
year before, and that was at the end of about
a half decade stretch where they got progressively worse every
single season. And you know, we don't have to document

(01:34:58):
the entire history of this franchise, but if we're being generous,
we'll say that it is checkered and there's a lot
of frustration with ownership, and it's deserved, it's justified frustration.
I think sometimes there are criticisms that are a little
bit unfair. I think sometimes there are criticisms that are
a little bit out of bounds. But at the end
of the day, it's a franchise that hasn't done a

(01:35:19):
lot of winning, and when that's the case, you get
what's coming to you. So now, I think, and I
think you would agree. I think in relation to a
lot of what the Bengals have done not just this offseason,
but over the last couple of years. They have earned
every piece of criticism that has come their way, from
the criticism of players getting away and them not being

(01:35:40):
able to replace them, the unwillingness to pay some of
them as good a job as they did in free
agency in twenty and twenty one, They've done an equally
bad job over the last couple of years. Their drafts
in recent years have not yielded enough good players, and
they failed Joe Burrow last year. Joe, as you know,
Amy was I think the best quarter back in the
NFL last season. I think he did he in my mind,

(01:36:04):
if if he's on an eleven win team, he wins
the MVP, they wasted it. You cannot do that. And
so those are those are organizational failures. And the two
things I will tell you is the number one I
think you and I will agree with that. Number two.
I can't speak for anybody else who has a microphone
in front of their face for three hours a day,
every day, but I could tell you on this show,

(01:36:26):
and I think my audience would agree.

Speaker 5 (01:36:28):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (01:36:29):
We have criticized them heavily for that. Uh, not personally
we don't make it personal, but but we have.

Speaker 8 (01:36:37):
I heard.

Speaker 10 (01:36:37):
I listened in a little bit this afternoon, and I've heard,
I've heard your honest opinion, and I appreciate that. So
I apologize my nabal assessment came on a little strong.

Speaker 1 (01:36:47):
Yes, it's okay.

Speaker 10 (01:36:49):
Now, grateful for the opportunity to hear more of your
point of view today.

Speaker 1 (01:36:53):
Well, thank you. So now so we're good there, right,
we're okay, we're on the same page there. Now, this
this Trey Hendricks, right, So Trey was a New Orleans
Saint and so you know, kind of your neck of
the woods. Trey is a terrific player. I think you
can make the case that he is the greatest free
agency acquisition in the history of the franchise. And if

(01:37:15):
the Bengals gave him the contract that he is looking for,
I wouldn't think it was the worst thing in the world.
But I can understand why they view him. He's under
contract for this year, he is going to be thirty
one at the end of the season. I can understand
why they view him as an investment that's only going
to depreciate in the coming years, in large part because

(01:37:35):
it's hard to have the sort of season that he
had last year, and so I think there is the
sticking point. So they've allowed him to see if a
team will sign him, and if one will, then they're
going to have to work out a trade. But because
he's such a good player, and because they really need
him on the team this year, we could debate about
twenty twenty six and beyond, I think the asking price

(01:37:57):
should be very, very high. And I guess you took
issue with my point of view in that regard, and
I'm kind of curious as to why.

Speaker 10 (01:38:06):
Yeah, well, so twofold. Specifically about Trey, I feel like
he has earned every single Kenney. He was grossly underpaid
this past season. I understand that it was a contract
that he signed. The Saints should have never let him go,
but they didn't have a choice. They had such a

(01:38:28):
plethora of defensive talent, like obscene amount of defensive talent
because they were drafting so well, unlike the Bengals have
at least in the past five years that I've been
following closely. And so Trey, like you said, I agree
wholeheartedly the best free agent agent acquisition incredible, But I

(01:38:49):
think he deserves every penny he's owed and then some
I mean, he's kind of single handedly made that defense
it at least at least show up in these games.

Speaker 5 (01:39:00):
And so.

Speaker 10 (01:39:02):
I don't understand if they don't want to pay him
that money. Whatever that is thirty million, thirty five million
a year, you know, I know, Max Crosby, you know
that that pushed that market even higher, and and different
players that have gotten these huge deals since then. But
I do think that if they're not going to do it,

(01:39:26):
I think I think it's just you. You treat people well,
people that have been good to you, you be good
back to them, and I think all that does.

Speaker 6 (01:39:32):
Is help your future.

Speaker 10 (01:39:33):
It helps more people want to be a Cincinnati Bengal.
So you're either good to him by paying him or
allowing him to go to the team that is willing
to pay him without demanding a first round draft pick
out of it. And and I think they're trying to
play it both ways, and ultimately I think it's it's
it burns a bridge that they don't need to burn.

(01:39:58):
I think you win the Super if you have Andrew
Whitworth on the Bengals versus on the Rams. You know,
you don't let go of these players. You don't let
go of Jesse Bates.

Speaker 1 (01:40:08):
You don't do it.

Speaker 10 (01:40:09):
You keep your talent in your city, whether you drafted them,
got it, buy free agents, you do everything. You pay
him early, you restructure contracts early, you pay him, and
you keep it, and you end up saving your team
more money in the long run.

Speaker 1 (01:40:22):
I think my boss wants you to do the show
tomorrow instead of me. I think everything you said makes sense.
I think there's a difference between letting players go and
letting players go and the plan to replace them not working.
And I think that's the issue here, right Like they
let Andrew Whitworth go. He was in his mid thirties,
and you know, okay, fine, but the plan to replace them,
which they telegraphed a year and a half in advance,

(01:40:44):
did not work. And the plan to replace Jesse Bates
did not work. And they drafted a guy who plays
Trey Hendrickson's position two years ago from Clemson, Miles Murphy,
and he had as many sacks last year as you
and your husband combined. I mean it hasn't worked. Uh,
And look, we all like Trey, but the Bengals do

(01:41:04):
have a responsibility to themselves and we can we can,
certainly we can. We can certainly make a case for
signing Trey long term what he's looking for. And I
think there's arguments against signing him long term, but based
on what they have chosen to do. First of all,
they have given him the ability while under contract to
go talk with other teams, which is doing Trey a
solid and number two, given what they have tried to do,

(01:41:27):
they do have an obligation to themselves and to their
football team to get the most back in return, which
means the asking price should be high. They would be
I think, raked through the coals if they just let
Trey walk and took like sixty cents on the dollar
for a guy who was a defensive Player of the
Year candidate last year.

Speaker 10 (01:41:47):
Well yeah, but so so pay him, pay him what
he's worth. It's you have the money. They have the money.

Speaker 1 (01:41:53):
They do have the money, No, I see. The thing
is some will say they don't have the money. Where
you and I are in agreement, it's they they have
the money. I just think they view paying him in
twenty twenty six as something that's not going to yield
twenty twenty four results. Here's the deal, Amy, I gotta
I gotta get moving here because it's radio and we
don't have all day. I need two things. Number One,

(01:42:15):
are we okay? We friends? I just followed you back.

Speaker 10 (01:42:17):
We're friends for life?

Speaker 1 (01:42:19):
Okay? Here we are?

Speaker 10 (01:42:20):
Will you talking football with somebody?

Speaker 1 (01:42:23):
All right? And I know in Birmingham you gotta listen
to Paul Finebaum every day? But but will you? Will
you just give us like just a few hours a
week and call the show again? I cannot tell you
how much I enjoyed this, And I cannot tell you
how cool I think it is that someone that had
a disagreement with me responded to the call no pun,

(01:42:44):
intended to call the show and have a discussion that
I think that is cool as hell, even if we
don't entirely agree, I think that is awesome. And so
we're we're buddies now. And hopefully you'll listen, if not
every day, on an occasional basis. And uh, and you
could you could? You know? Can you to the show occasionally? Okay?

Speaker 10 (01:43:01):
Do you put the show on YouTube? Like if I
go on YouTube?

Speaker 1 (01:43:05):
Or is it just that?

Speaker 10 (01:43:06):
Do you need to download the app? What do I
need to do if I don't live in international.

Speaker 1 (01:43:10):
So it's broadcast today. That's all right. It's broadcast every
day on the iHeartRadio app two to five. You are
a time and we podcast every show. So you can
get it on the iHeartRadio app. You could get it
on and I tweet out the links. You can get
it on Apple, you can get it on Spotify. I
will make sure when I tweet out the link to
today's show and specifically this conversation, that I tag you

(01:43:33):
and then you have the links and you can listen
anytime you want. Okay, that's perfect.

Speaker 10 (01:43:38):
Well, hey, I'm rooting. I'm rooting for this all the
work out. I'm rooting for this, for everybody to get paid,
everybody to be there, and to win a super Bowl
in twenty twenty five.

Speaker 1 (01:43:47):
See, that's the common ground you and I have. We
both want the same thing. Our opinions different to a
degree on how they accomplish that. But there's more common
ground that I think you thought there was this morning. Amy,
Thank you very much. What's your husband's name.

Speaker 2 (01:44:02):
His name is Josh Joshell.

Speaker 10 (01:44:04):
You said our last name, right. You win a gold.

Speaker 7 (01:44:07):
Star for that.

Speaker 10 (01:44:08):
Nobody does that.

Speaker 1 (01:44:09):
Robery, Yeah, robbery's two bees. You have one, So I
got a moron.

Speaker 10 (01:44:14):
Yeah, Hey, I'm impressed with the education up there versus
here in Alabama because they always say robbery.

Speaker 1 (01:44:19):
Yeah, well that in itself is robbery. All right, Amy,
thank you very much. Follow Amy on on Twitter, thank
you very much. That's I'll be honest with you, man.
We've done this show a long damn time. At Amy
Robery on Twitter. Are we gonna call Paul now, tarand
or do I we I screw up the clock because
we we had to do that and Paul's waiting by
standing by at Madison Square guard what should we do here?

(01:44:41):
That is legitimately one of the coolest things that's happened
on this show because I cannot tell you how many
times like you could come at doing this and like
that's part of the job. Like if you if you
think I'm gonna get into radio and sports talk radio
and everybody's gonna agree with me, you're a moron and
everybody's gonna love me, that ain't gonna happen either. People
are going to come at you. And Amy came at me,

(01:45:01):
but like number one came at me with her name
on it, So all right, cool, have a conversation call
the show, and she did like that never happens. Amy
is my all time favorite Twitter person, all time favorite
Twitter person. A lot of folks could take a lesson
from Amy. Listened and called in and we had a civil,
fun discussion, not that hard bite each other's heads off.

Speaker 5 (01:45:25):
All right.

Speaker 1 (01:45:27):
Standing by at Madison Square Garden where I'm sure he
has better things to do than wait for me to
call him. Is mister college basketball working for the Big East.
Part of the Shawn Miller Podcast, our buddy Paul Frischner.
Xavier loses to Marquette, a heartbreaker for the Musketeers eighty
nine to eighty seven. Paul, does it feel like that
Xavier's bubble went burst today?

Speaker 5 (01:45:46):
I don't think so.

Speaker 6 (01:45:47):
I think there is still a chance that Xavier finds
themselves on the right side of the bubble on Sunday.
The problem is now that it's going to be a
long seventy six hours of waiting to see do the
bit Steelers do the other big thieves do this, the
teams that they even need to lose, do all of
them lose? I mean, you know, right now you're watching
Texas and Texas A and M. That game's going on

(01:46:07):
right now. North Carolina will play Duke tomorrow, and Duke's
all banged up. After what we saw there today, you
probably need Duke to win that game for North Carolina
to feel on the wrong side of the bubble. But
you know the other part of it, MO is that
Indiana they lost their game, and some of these teams
that Davier needed to lose have already lost. So it's

(01:46:27):
going to be up to the teams that should win
their conference tournaments, you know, VCU Memphis going out there
and taking care of business, and then can they avoid
somebody else from a major conference pulling an NC state
from last year.

Speaker 1 (01:46:41):
This game swung for me. It was not over by
any stretch of the imagination. And correct me if I'm wrong.
The lead early in the second half got up to fourteen.
I think there's just over thirteen to go. They're up nine.
Freemantle and Conwell and Ryan Conwell was awesome today. They
both sit neither with foul trouble, just for a rest,

(01:47:02):
and within two minutes Marquette cuts the lead from nine
to two, and I felt like at that point we
were in for a dogfight. That felt like the turning
point of the game would you agree, Yeah.

Speaker 6 (01:47:12):
I definitely did. And in that situation, it's hard to
fault trying to give your two best players, you know,
an extra minute of rest going into that under twelve
media timeout. You're trying to just sneak them an extra
minute because then you get that two minute and forty
five second break, so you're basically giving them five minutes
on the bench there that you're able to catch your
breath and kind of get your feet under you going

(01:47:33):
into the home stretch of the game. But it didn't
pay off today, right, And Conwell and Fremantle sitting at
the same time allowed favor to there a lot, rather
allowed Marquette to get back into it and from there. Yeah,
and there are just a lot of different points in
the game. Od I think overarching the turnovers eighteen to
two Marquette and points off turnovers, that's just a really,

(01:47:55):
really hard number to overcome.

Speaker 1 (01:47:57):
Marquette scored made eight of their last ten field goals.
Was that Marquette executing at a high end offensively or
Xavier's defensive issues bubbling to the surface at precisely the
worst time.

Speaker 6 (01:48:10):
Yeah, I Sean Miller just talked about it a few
minutes ago. In a post tame press conference, talked about
the defense and how it did kind of let them
down when they needed it today, especially to close the game.
But you look on both sides, the shot making was
going back and forth. Conwell finished the thirty eighth and
most of the Xavier players ever scored in a Big
East tournament. So I think defensively it just yeah for Xavier,

(01:48:33):
You're looking at one stop, one extra stop, one stop
here or there, and it's a difference maker, and they
couldn't get it down the stretch. Cam Jones, David Joplin
hitting that three. It was too much.

Speaker 1 (01:48:43):
There was a sequence late in the game. Xavier didn't
foul a lot in the second half and so they
had to try to pile up fouls to get in
the bonus to send Marquette to the free throw line.
There was a sequence in there where I think it
was Cam Jones, and I think he runs over Ryan
Conwell right in front of the Xavier bench trying to
catch an inbound pass. At first glance, I think Sean
Miller briefly lost his mind. I think he might have

(01:49:06):
had a case that an offensive foul should have been whistled.
Has there been any talk of that play.

Speaker 6 (01:49:11):
No, nothing after the game on that play. There's been
a lot of talk on social media, but nothing after
the game on that play. I did see that too,
you know, on the on the other end of the court.
It's a kind of a tough view for me in person,
so I want to go back and rewatch it and
see what it was like. But yeah, I mean at
that point, Marquette was up by two. So if that's
a turnover essentially off an offensive found, daver's going to
have the ball down too, with ten or twelve seconds up,

(01:49:34):
whatever it was, and an opportunity to tire or win
the game. Yeah, that's potentially a game changing call that
David didn't get. I thought the whistle was a little
you know, strict on both sides in the first half,
and then it loosened up in the second half. And
I mean, you saw the way it played out. David
had to foul four or five times there down the
stretch just to even get Marquete the bonus.

Speaker 1 (01:49:52):
I know, you're doing a ton of work and it's
all awesome, So I cannot thank you for squeezing in
a few minutes and pardon us for being a little
bit late, I to flirt with a woman on Twitter.
Awesome work. I hope we can talk next week because
that means Xavier's plan and we'll talk about the entire
tournament as well. Thanks so much, absolutely thanks about Paul
Frischner at Madison Square Garden, Xavier loses a tough one

(01:50:14):
eighty nine to eighty seven, the official bracketologist of our show.

Speaker 2 (01:50:17):
Next Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 3 (01:50:22):
to stroke, every second counts. That's why the UCE Health
saving treatment. Learn more at UCHealth dot com. East found
two seventy five at Kellogg Gets an accident off onto
the left shoulder. West found two seventy five another accident

(01:50:43):
between Princeton and Springfield Pike. A two minute delight in
through there On Madison. It's an accident at Ridge and
Reading Road. An accident at Tennessee. I'm at ezelic with traffic.

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3/13/25 - The Mo Egger Radio Show

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