6/30/25 - The Mo Egger Radio Show - Mo Egger

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
To college. Entered this nationwide keyword on our website. Bank
that's bank enter it now.

Speaker 2 (00:07):
As a great game yesterday afternoon, just a great baseball
game yesterday afternoon. Had a really fun weekend series. Red's
to take two out of three from the Padres. What's up, Mulleger,
ESPN fifteen thirty Thank you for listening, but you had
an awesome weekend show. Previews available on Twitter. And I
have never questioned whether or not I should leave or

(00:29):
stay on Twitter, but there were for a few minutes
on Saturday morning. I thought to myself, maybe those folks
who have gone to other platforms are onto something. And
I'll explain coming up here in just a bit. But
today's show preview is available on Twitter at moegar. It
comes your way thanks to Emory Federal Credit Union, your

(00:49):
credit union with hard since nineteen thirty nine. Go to
Emery FCU dot org. Red's wind two out of three
Friday was awesome, a blowout win, three homers from Spencer
Steer a near no hitter from Nick Martinez. Saturday's game
was deeply frustrating. Yesterday's game the end was uplifting. Will Benson,
my guy, Will Benson, this team, Tony and I were

(01:13):
just talking about this has a lot of guys who
are really easy to root for. I think Nick Martinez
is a guy who is really easy to root for.
I do not know if you can give Will Benson
three hundred or so at bats in the second half
of the season in right field. I don't know. I'm
skeptical that that's a winning formula. I do not know
what kind of like regular big league player he could be.

(01:37):
They should be looking for outfield help. I don't know
that you could say, you know, Will's gonna be our
guy in right field, Ryde or die, I don't know.
I don't know. And especially now with the Jake Frayley injury,
the need for an outfielder is exacerbated. But Will Benson
is a guy that I just cannot help it. Root
for the game winning walk off hit yesterday, Here's a

(02:00):
chunk of Will after the game on the FanDuel Sports
Network with Jim Day. How good is that one? Feel? Amazing? Amazing?

Speaker 3 (02:09):
I'm glad I got the opportunity I was just thinking
about in the dugout. You know, when I get my
chid to win a game, I'm gonna be aggressive.

Speaker 1 (02:15):
Is that something that you envisioned right there in the
dugout of the situation.

Speaker 3 (02:18):
Of course, now, I just kept telling myself, Hey, you
gonna get a chance. You're gonn get the opportunity to
impact his game. Just stay ready, to stay ready in
I got a chance.

Speaker 1 (02:25):
All Right, you're in there against a guy that's hast
high velocity basis juice.

Speaker 2 (02:29):
What's the mindset in the box?

Speaker 3 (02:30):
Min said, you gotta be ready to go because obviously
if you're anywhere in between, it's gonna get on you.
His hange up ninety, his fastball is one hundred. So regardless,
you gotta be ready. And I was ready to go.

Speaker 4 (02:40):
You guys have won six out of the last seven series.

Speaker 2 (02:43):
What can this type of momentum and a game like
today do for you going forward?

Speaker 3 (02:48):
There's just more affirmation again what we're doing in our
identity and what we're trying to create. Obviously, like that's
the moment we want to keep going.

Speaker 2 (02:53):
Congratulations on a big moment. Yeah, I appreciate that big moment.
Jim Day, Will Benson, FanDuel Sports Network. That was awesome.
The game winning hit yesterday, Reds come from behind win
the game three to two, they're in Boston tonight, first
of three against the Red Sox. The tone was set
though in the ninth inning the at bat by Ellie
Dela Cruz. See Trent Rosecrans of the Athletic rites about
Ellie Dela Cruz today, and he goes into to pretty

(03:16):
good detail in the at bat leading off the ninth
inning against Robert Suarez, who is a terrific closer, Ellie
Dela Cruz fighting off pitches, taking close pitches. That was
the sort of at bat. That was the sort of
at bat that at times over his first two seasons
we've been hoping to see. Right in a situation, big situation,

(03:36):
you're leading off the ninth inning, you're down by a run.
You've got a chance to create some havoc with your
legs if you can get on. He quote didn't try
to do too much. He showed maturity, He showed patience.
He showed the ability to stay alive with two strikes.
We can debate whether or not the ball that he
hit to third base could have been played, should have
been played. It was, I guess, originally ruled an error,

(03:58):
ultimately ruled a hit. I think that was the right decision.
But it was. That was a great at bat by
Ellie Dela Cruz. And let's face it, man, we all
love Ellie, right, we all know the great June that
Ellie has had. We all are excited about his skill set.
But man, there have been times where we've talked about
his maturity at the plate and we've wondered if he's
ever gonna be a good hitter with two strikes? Is

(04:20):
he gonna have the kind of at bats like yesterday
where he doesn't try to do too much? And I
know that sounds cliche, but you saw it in the
sixth inning yesterday. You saw it in the ninth inning yesterday,
and it started a two run reds rally that helped
them win the game. There is the at bat last night,
and what it demonstrated is also the month that Ellie
Dela Cruz is winding up. Obviously, today is the last

(04:43):
day of June. Ellie is making the leap man, And
I don't know what that's gonna result in statistically. I
don't know what that's gonna look like in terms of awards.
I don't know what that's gonna look like in terms
of teams access. But I'll just I'll read this passage

(05:04):
from the piece I mentioned from Si Tran, and then
go read the rest at the Athletic dot Com. His
eighteen point one percent strikeout rate is the lowest of
his career by more than seven percent. This month, he
has the second his second best walk rate for a
month at twelve point nine percent. His best walk rate
came in twenty twenty four, when he walked in thirteen

(05:24):
point nine percent of his plate appearances but struck out
in more than thirty percent of his plate appearances. He
is getting better. We talked yesterday. Look, I don't care
so much about the All Star Game. I don't care
so much about All Star Game voting. But this is
a guy who fits in and statistically in many cases
is better than established peers like Francisco Lindor and Mookie Betts.

(05:49):
Now this is important. It's important because you know, back
in April and May, when the Reds were treading water,
we often talked about how the Red Stars need to
be stars, the guys who they told you at the
beginning of the season are supposed to be our best players.
You know, I get accused of picking on Matt McClain
the Reds on opening Day told you how good they

(06:12):
think Matt McClain should be because they hit him second.
They have been telling you for a while how good
they think Elie Dela Cruz is supposed to be because
they've been hitting them third. And so we can parse
through other positions in the batting order, and we could
talk about other players. The success of the reds hinges
a lot more on players like Matt McClain and Ellie

(06:34):
Dela Cruz than it does Santiago espinall. We all like
Santiago Espinal, the Red Stars early in the season did
not perform like Stars. Matt McLain obviously has hit better.
Elie Dela Cruz is hitting at an elite level. Now
that's great if you just love Ellie Dela Cruz, and
it's great if you want to make the case that

(06:56):
Elie Dela Cruz is among the best players in the sport.
But from a team perspective, looked they need help from
other teams. The trade deadlines now than a month away.
They have other guys who have to stay healthy, They
have other players who need to perform better. We can
talk about what the Red should acquire from other teams.
Close to the deadline. They need their stars to perform
like stars. They have no bigger star than Elie de

(07:18):
la Cruz. Over the last month he has performed like
a star. And yesterday in the ninth inning, when a
home run would have been great, but more than anything,
they needed a competitive, mature, patient, tough, tenacious at bat,
and they got one to lead off the ninth inning yesterday,
twelve minutes after three. By the way, our phone numbers

(07:38):
are five point three, seven four nine, fifteen thirty and
eight six six seven two three seven seven six. Duce
McBride's going to be on the show at four thirty five,
the Pride of Molar High School. And yes, we would
have Duce McBride on the show today if he played
for anybody else, but he plays for the Knicks, and
so I'm a little bit extra excited. Also fiveh five

(07:59):
today Steve Trout from NFL Films, who is one of
the producers of Quarterback on Netflix, which premieres season two
of Quarterback a week from tomorrow night. Steve Trout has
been in charge of the Joe Burrow portion of Quarterback,
and so he's going to join us at five oh five,

(08:19):
And we have tickets to give away to that game
on July tenth. The week from Thursday, reds Marlins with
an Old Dominion postgame concert. The game on Friday, I
went to the game. I took my daughter and that
was probably somewhere between her tenth and fifteenth game that

(08:39):
she has ever gone to, just hern Eye. And so
for a second, I thought, like, this kid's gonna see
a four homer game from Spencer Steer and a no
hitter from Nick Martinez. Obviously we saw neither. Spencer struck
out his fourth time up, but he still had an
awesome night three homers. Nick Martinez did not obviously finished

(09:01):
the no hitter, but he was terrific and it set
the tone for the weekend to a degree, even though
they didn't win the game on Saturday. Nick Martinez is
a guy who, you know, if you want to focus
sole the only amount of money he's making, that's fine,
but has been a pretty solid edition for this team
since he got here before last season, and he has
been a reliever and he has been a starter, and

(09:23):
he has been a guy who has shown a willingness
to take the ball and relief when his team needs it.
Take the ball is his starter when his team needs it,
and he's an easy guy to root for. He didn't
finish the no hitter. I woke up on Saturday and
the game was being replayed. I fell asleep on the couch,

(09:44):
and I got some thoughts on that here in just
a bit being at the game in real time, it
did not occur to me. It did not occur to
me that when the no hitter was broken up, which
by Elias das backup catcher for the Padres, that that

(10:06):
was a ball that anybody who was watching, either at
the ballpark or on television thought could have been caught.
But because you know, you can find people who think
the weirdest things on Twitter, Like you can find people
on Twitter who believe the Earth is flat. I mean,
you're not going to find anybody who says that where

(10:27):
you work. You're like, there's nobody in your circle of friends,
so I'm sure would tell you that, because even if
they believe it, they're going to be laughed at. But
on Twitter, you can find people who believe anything or
will at least say something even if they don't believe it.
So I guess on social media, and I was disappointed
because I don't follow idiots like whenever I hear that,
there's like people on Twitter are doing this, I'm like, well,

(10:50):
not on my Twitter because I don't follow stupid people,
but man, on Twitter late on Friday, there were people
who believe that Ryan Valaide and left field could have
caught that ball that Diaz hit that broke up the
no hitter. I'm just I'm gonna help you, and let
me first say this. I would love I don't want

(11:14):
to say I would have loved it. But had that
ball been catchable and the fielder in question not tried
to catch it, that helps me because then I could
go off on him and I get a few segments
out of it. That ball was not catchable. And major
league outfielders, even fringe major league outfielders, they're all mostly

(11:38):
really good at determining whether or not a ball is catchable.
You know, there are times Ryan Friedel has done this
a couple of times, or TJ. Friedel has done this
a couple of times this year where he is he
has chose to die for a ball that he really
couldn't have caught. But for the most part, major league
outfielders are really good at determining whether or not a
ball could be caught first to admit that the TV

(12:01):
angle was a little deceptive. I was sitting on Friday
night in the moondeck in right field. I could not
have had a better look at it. That ball hits
the top of the wall where Ryan Valade started where
he ended up. There was zero chance he was gonna
catch that ball. So if you like watching outfielders aimlessly

(12:25):
run into walls, then I guess I guess you were disappointed.
If you like watching baseball players make pointless attempts at
balls they cannot catch that serve no real purpose, I
guess you were disappointed. If you understand how physics work
and the limitations of the human body, well you know
why he played the ball off the wall. The TV angle,

(12:47):
I will admit, is deceiving. It often is sometimes watching
on TV a ball that appears to be out of
the strike zone is actually a strike, and vice versa.
What are you of this? And I said to the
total stranger sitting next to me, you know what, There's
gonna be people who thought he could have caught that.

(13:08):
You and I both know he couldn't. That ball was
not catchable. I'm sorry that ball was simply not catchable.
I do not expect, whether there's a no hitter on
the line or not, a major league outfielder to just
run into walls so we could say, well, he tried.
By the way, you think Nick Martinez would be the

(13:29):
first person to tell you that that ball is not
being caught. It hit the top of the wall. Ryan
Valaide had no chance of catching it none. I wish
I was wrong about this, because I'd love to bang
on Ryan Valaide. He'd be low Hanging Fruit talk show host,
love long Low hanging Fruit. If your thing is just

(13:52):
watching people crash into walls and jump into walls and
look like they're in one of those indoor trampoline parks
where they could just throw their body into stuff, then
you were probably very disappointed. So I saw people tweeting
about this, and I really thought, man, I'm like, you know,
people complain about people on Twitter all the time. I
don't because I don't follow idiots. My Twitter experience hasn't

(14:14):
changed at all since I first jumped on that app
sixteen years ago. I also know that there's a difference
at times between Twitter and real life. In real life,
there's nobody who legitimately could actually claim that that ball
could have been caught. Who looked at that play, maybe
not in real time, but slowed it up, or at

(14:34):
least listen to the perspective of people that had a
better angle, like I was sitting in the right field.
We had a great crowd on Friday, and we were
all kind of in agreement, strangers nodding along with each other.
You can't get strangers in this country to agree on anything,
and we were all like, yeah, man, that sucks. Was
hoping he'd get the No. No, there's no chance that
ball was being caught, Like we had a good look
at it. So I either have confirmed what you already knew,

(15:01):
or maybe I've convinced you otherwise, I'm here to tell
you that ball had no chance of being caught. Now,
you might not care about Ryan Valaid. I don't care
about Ryan Valaide. If you if you were looking on
Friday night for a reason to be angry at something, well,
you know, you got your thing and then you found

(15:22):
something else the next day. We all know there's a
lot of people who uh they spend basically every waking
moment looking for something to be mad about, and so
that might have been it for you. And you got
your your fix of being mad, and that provides the
dopamine rusher looking for Buddy. That ball wasn't being caught,
and Ryan Valaide played it the way he should have
because that's how you play a ball that you have

(15:43):
no chance of catching. And and since since this is
real life and not so much Twitter, we got a
line open if you can somehow convince me that I'm wrong,
but I'm not. Five point three seven four nine, fifteen
thirty is our phone number? Eight sixty six seven oh
two three seven seven six works as well. I think

(16:05):
I think I use one two many sevens. Nicklodolo pitched yesterday.
Can we do a Nicklodolo appreciation segment? We can because
it's my show, So we'll do it next on ESPN
fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 5 (16:17):
Station Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

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The University of Cincinnati Cancer Center has the most comprehensive
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I'm at ezelic with traffic.

Speaker 2 (16:55):
Then fifteen thirty Moelgger, thank you for listening. Hopefully your
week is off to an awesome star. Five point three
nine fifteen thirty is our phone number, and you can
send a tweet at Moeger thanks to Delta Dental, which
is building healthy and smart and vibrant communities for all
good adulta dental oh dot com. So, Andrew Abbott is

(17:19):
having an all star caliber season and I hope he
pitches in the game. And when he was healthy, Hunter
Green was having uh an all star caliber season, and
it's completely fair to be frustrated with the fact that
Hunter just simply has not been able to stay healthy.
I guess he's gonna start throwing off a mound this week,
which is a step in the right direction. But Andrew

(17:41):
Abbott is pitching like a staff ace. Hunter Green has
often pitched like a staff ace. Nickolodolo is not a
staff ace, and that's okay to me. And maybe It's
just me. The depth of a starting rotation has more
to do with the middle to back end of the

(18:02):
rotation guys then the studs at the top of the rotation.
When I think of like twenty twelve, twenty twelve Reds
the best Reds team they've had this century, Johnny Cueto
was the ace of that staff, and then there was
Matt Latos. But they also got a really reliable season

(18:22):
from Homer Bailey, a really reliable season from Bronson Arroyo,
a really reliable season from Mike Leak. There's something to
be said, and you could pitch for a long time
in the big league simply being reliable. That's what Nicolodolo is.
Nicolodolo has pitched into the sixth inning in thirteen of
his seventeen starts. I'll take that he has had this

(18:45):
season two like legitimately bad starts. Like legitimately bad starts,
if you understand that over the course of a season
they happen, you kind of shrug your shoulders and go, okay,
well you're do a clunker to Nicolodolo has had like

(19:06):
maybe three genuine clunkers three all season. Not there been
some starts where He's pitched okay, but he hasn't necessarily
gone as deep, and you wish he would. The start
the other night last week against the Yankees not exactly efficient,
but he gave up one run in four and a
third innings. If that's a bad night for a pitcher,
that's pretty good, I think. I think when we talk

(19:28):
about like starting pitching depth and quality of rotations, that's
not so much about the guy at the top. Every
team has a staff ace. Now, some teams have a
Trek Skooble and some teams don't. Some teams have a
fully healthy Hunter Green and some teams don't. But every
staff has a top of the rotation guy. It's who's three,
four or five. That to me really says more about

(19:50):
the quality of your rotation. I'll take these every single year.
This season, Nicolodolo is thirty fourth in the major leagues
in eer second an innings pitched. He is twenty fifth
in hits per nine innings, fifteenth in walk to strikeout ratio.
I should say strike out to walk ratio. Much more

(20:13):
often than not, he is still pitching by the time
the sixth inning comes around. In more than half of
his starts, he has gone at least six. If he's
your ace, you got problems. If he's your fourth guy,
you're pretty damn good. The Reds have a good starting
staff in large part because the fourth guy is pretty
damn good. If you ask most teams in the sport,

(20:38):
contending teams, would you like Nicolodolo in your rotation, in
particular at the money he's making since he is early
in his career, all of them would say, hell, yeah,
you know, I wish he was as good as he
has shown the ability to be at times. I which
I wish he pitched a little bit deeper into games.

(21:00):
I think we all do. I have heard Nickolodolo described
as just another guy. If he's just another guy, then
there are more really good rotations in this sport than
I realize. So yesterday he pitches fine more than fine.
You know, on this show, we don't care about pitcher
wins and losses because it's a totally irrelevant stat. So

(21:21):
if you're judging him on whether or not he won
or lost the game, I can't help you there. He
gave his team a chance, totally understandable if you go, well, man,
I wish I wish he could have gone through six,
that's fine. More often than not he gives his team
a shot to win. They have won more of his
starts than they have lost. He is a fine more

(21:44):
than fine middle of the rotation starter. You need fine
middle of the rotation starters. You can make a lot
of money in this sport being a middle of the
rotation starter. Now, if we see a Chase Burns ascension,
and if Chase Petty figures it out and Rent Louder
it comes back, you could get to a point where
maybe a guy like Nicolodolo is expendable. The Reds are

(22:07):
not at that point. Sports headlines your phone calls and
remembering the Cobra. Next on ESPN fifteen.

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Sports headlines are a service of Kelsey shore Lay, home
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Six game road trips starts tonight for the Reds, first
of three in Boston against the Red Sox. Chase Burns
will make his second big league start against lefty Garrett Crochet,
who has been awesome this season. Seven to ten tonight

(23:20):
is a first pitch on seven hundred wlw's starting line
at this evening. Are you ready? Friedels in center, Matt
McLain is at second base, Elie Dela Cruz at shortstop,
batting third, Hayes's Dhing, Spencer Steers and left Tyler Stevenson
is behind the plate, Reese Hines and right field Cees
at first base, batting eighth, and Santiago Espinal is at
third base and batting ninth. Reds have now won six

(23:44):
of seven series. Boston comes in three hunder five hundred
night game tonight night game, Tomorrow, night game on Wednesday,
off day on Thursday, and then the fourth of July
weekend redslby in Philadelphia obviously to take on the Phillies.
A big NFL trade. Pittsburgh acquires corner Jalen Ramsey and
tight end John new Smith in exchange for a safety MIKEA. Fitzpatrick.

(24:06):
So if Jamar Chase and m I Fitzpatrick exchange pleasantries,
it's going to occur when the Bengals play the Dolphins
in December. Also one other note, and this is just
coming across. Ian Jabo goes on the fifteen day injured
list with a right shoulder impingement. Joela Soarsa and his

(24:26):
stirrups up from tripa A Louisville. So there you go.
Reds win two out of three over the weekend. It
was the weekend where the seventy five and seventy six
teams were celebrated. I thought Johnny Bench's speech on Friday
I'm sorry on Saturday was awesome. We were there on
Friday for the pregame parade with those guys. We talked

(24:47):
about this on Friday Show. I know some people roll
their eyes when it comes to the unending reminders of
how great the Big Red Machine was. I don't think
you can celebrate your franchise's greats enough. I'd bring him
back next year. Saturday's festivities in the game occurred against
the backdrop of the news that the great Dave Parker

(25:11):
passed away. And this one hit hard for me, man,
because like, there are certain athletes that when you're a kid,
you just gravitate toward. Dave Parker was one of them
for me. Number one, he had the coolest nickname ever.
I've complained about this to a degree in recent years
that we don't have that many great sports nicknames anymore.

(25:35):
The Cobra was an awesome nickname, and obviously he was
a terrific player. He's going to be inducted into the
Hall of Fame here in a few weeks, and it's
heartbreaking that he couldn't get there. And I think for
a lot of us that was our first thought on
Saturday when we saw the news. It's like, Man, I wish,

(25:55):
I wish he just could have hung around long enough
to have that moment in Cooperstown. And it's not going
to be the same without him, but at least he
passed knowing that he is going to be a Hall
of Famer and that induction, for my money, is well overdue.
But he was a terrific player. But come on, now,
if you grow up watching Dave Parker, whether you're older

(26:16):
than me and have a better recollection of his time
in Pittsburgh or you mainly remember his time as a
Red there weren't that many guys who are cooler than
Dave Parker. You know, we talk all the time at
baseball about five tool players. Hit for average, hit for power, run,
feel your position, and throw. Dave Parker was a sixth

(26:38):
tool player because the sixth tool was intimidation. Like here
you had this hulking presence who stood right on top
of the plate. Good luck throwing inside on him. And
so just as a kid, I remember, you know, I

(26:58):
knew Dave Parker played for the Reds. I didn't know
that much at the time about his time in Pittsburgh.
I knew he had an awesome nickname, and I knew
every time they showed that guy on TV, every time
I heard him interviewed, like dude was a total badass.
So I owned two Reds jerseys. One is Barry Larkin.
My all time favorite player. My other one is Dave Parker,

(27:22):
which I got for Christmas, I don't know, five or
six years ago, and I wear it proudly. And by
the way, was criminally underrated, and I used to when
I used to write blogs. I wrote one years ago
about like Dave Parker's Hall of Fame candidacy, which was
hurt by two things. Number one, his age thirty and

(27:44):
thirty one season. He dealt with all sorts of injuries
and played in those two years a combined one hundred
and forty games. And so those were two years right
in the heart of his prime where he missed a
chance to compile stats. And he was also hurt to
a degree. And Tim Rains, who's in the Hall of
Fame now, His candidacy was hurt as well by the

(28:05):
Pittsburgh drug trials of the mid eighties, which were then
and are now a total sham because it wasn't the
players who were on trial. But nobody remembers that, and
Dave Parker was one of the names, one of the
guys who had to testify in that trial. And I
believe there were always writers who held that against him.
But even before he came to Cincinnati, like the Pirates,

(28:26):
won the World Series in nineteen seventy nine. Willie Stargel
was the co MVP of the National League that year.
Keith Hernandez of the Cardinals was the other and Willie Stargell,
it goes without saying, was an awesome player and obviously
a Hall of Famer in his own right, and probably
the most identifiable Pittsburgh Pirate from that season. Dave Parker

(28:47):
was the better player, an MVP, a two time batting champion,
and then you know, he comes to Cincinnati and the
way it ended for him in Pittsburgh. Dave Parker's autobiography,
by the way, which is appropriately idled Cobra, is one
of the best autobiographies I've ever read, not just a
sports autobiography either. A few autobiographies are as revealing and

(29:10):
or as detailed as Dave Parker's is. And he writes
about how things kind of came to an end for
him in Pittsburgh, and you know, his off field habits
had kind of caught up to him. So he comes
to Cincinnati, and when the Reds signed Dave Parker, that
was a huge deal. And it was a huge deal
for two reasons. One's Dave Parker from Cincinnati Number two.
The Cincinnati Reds famously were one of the last teams

(29:32):
to even come close to embracing free agency, and he
was their first, like big fish free agent, and the
four years he had here were awesome, and eighty five,
Willie McGee was the MVP of the National League. Dave
Parker could have won it, and had the Reds won
the division, and that was obviously Pete's first year back,
his first full season back as player manager, the red

(29:53):
surprise a lot of people, finished in second place, hung
in the pennant Rais for most of the season. If
they would have found a way to outlast the there's
a pretty good chance Dave Parker would have been MVP instead.
And so he had four really good seasons here, and
then I think people forget he went to Oakland and
he was on two World Series teams there, including a
team that swept the Giants in nineteen eighty nine. He

(30:13):
goes to Milwaukee and as a thirty nine year old,
you know, people think of Dave Parker as this like
huge presence in the late seventies when for a time
he was like the best player in baseball and people here.
We remember his years as a Red four Good Ones.
The eighty five season is one of the greatest in
franchise history, But as a thirty nine year old with

(30:35):
the Milwaukee Brewers in nineteen ninety he made an All
Star team. He had an insanely long career, and so
I was so happy when we found out last winter
that he is going to get his moment in Cooperstown,
and yet so heartbroken to see on Saturday that he's
not going to be there for it. The first time

(30:56):
I ever met Dave Parker, I was picking up chicken
at Popeyes because he owned Popeyes, like a bunch of
Popeyes restaurants, and I was on my way to my
buddy's house to go watch a bear Cat game. I
was in college, and I swung by Popeyes and the
guy handing me my food at the drive through was
Dave Parker. And I get to my buddy's house and

(31:17):
I'm like, do you know Dave Parker's working to Popeyes?
And He's like, no, Dave Parker owns Popeyes. And then
the very next time that I met him, I was
standing in line at the original Pancake House, and there's
one in Montgomery, and if you've ever been to the
original Pancake House in Montgomery, there's a line to get in,

(31:39):
and I'm standing in line, and I'm with my first
wife and Dave Parker walks in and I just blurred out, Hey,
it's Dave Parker. And he could not have been cooler,
could not have been nicer. And then in recent years
Dave Parker would always come up and join us on
this show. We had a chance to talk with him

(32:01):
when he found out that he was being inducted into
the Reds Hall of Fame, which that was a cool
class because twenty fourteen was Ken Griffey junior from Cincinnati
and ron Oaster from Cincinnati and Dave Parker, who, by
the way, at quarter Tech was an awesome three star athlete.
I could have played college football, his knees were shot,

(32:22):
ended up not being able to play basketball as last year,
and things athletically at least kind of worked out for him.
But he would come up here in recent years and
promote his golf outing Dave Parker Cobra Classic, which I've
been lucky enough to play in a bunch of times,
and it was never not cool. And even in recent years,

(32:43):
when Dave was in a wheelchair, and you know, it
took longer for him to communicate. Number One, he always
had the strongest handshake, and number two, he was still
the coolest guy. And it never it was never lost
on me, like I get a Shane to spend some
time in studio with one of my childhood heroes who

(33:03):
was awesome, And because he was around town and from
here and so many people, you know, got a chance
to meet him. I never heard anybody talk about like
Dave Parker, big time dumb er shot him down for
an autograph or for a picture of that sort of thing.
And so it has just always been one of my
favorite players, one of my favorite athletes, and I was
heartbroken on Saturday to find out that he passed. I

(33:27):
cannot wait for his induction because his story is going
to be told and it's going to be beautiful and
it's going to be overdue, but it's not going to
be the same as it would be had Dave been there.
And we've talked about this before as it relates to
Hall of Fame inductions, I hate it when the person
not being inducted isn't there. I hated it for Ken

(33:47):
Riley's family a few years ago. As much as I
think Ken Riley was a Hall of Famer and I
was thrilled that he got in, it killed me that
years and years and years passed before he got in.
And I hate that years and years and years past
for Dave Parker to get in so much so that
he's not going to be there. For the clincher for
me was a few years ago Harold Bains got in,

(34:09):
and fine, Harold Bains is in Cooperstown. Harold Bains is
a heck of a hitter. Harold Bains became a dh
when he was twenty seven. Dave Parker was dominant as
a right fielder. Chances are you've seen the highlights of
him in the seventy nine All Star Game, which is
must watch, and he was obviously dominant as a hitter.
So rest in peace to the Cobra. And as much

(34:30):
as I cannot wait to hear how his story is
told in Cooperstown on July twenty seventh, it is going
to be extraordinarily bittersweet that he is not there. But
I wanted to spend a few minutes on him because
we all have our favorite all time athletes and we
all have the people that when we were kids just
made us bigger fans of the sport. And even though

(34:51):
he wasn't a red very long, Dave Parker was one
of those guys for me. So rest in peace. Cobra.
It is eleven away f from four o'clock. Your phone
calls are coming up. Plus Douce McBride at four thirty
five on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 5 (35:07):
Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty. Traffic from the UC Health Traffic Center.

Speaker 6 (35:14):
care is here called five one three, five eighty five
UCCC northbound seventy five after Butler Regional Highways. The left
lane blocked off from an accident, got another crash on
Just Street that is over near Evans and en Vine.

(35:37):
Reports of the traffic signals flashing red at Martin Luther King,

Speaker 2 (35:43):
This threepook toob of the hour. I promise poll questions
on this show on Twitter. Thanks to United Heartland Insurance.
They're my friends and they're yours, and they can solve
all of your insurance needs. Three offices in the area.
Check out hinps dot com. Three questions today. Number one,
which person is easier to reason with? A someone who

(36:04):
believes that the Earth is flat? Or B someone who
believes that the ball that broke up Nick Martinez and
has no hit or bid could have been caught? A
or B. Which one is easier to reason with? Somebody
who believes that the earth we live on is flat
or someone who thinks that ball could have been caught?
Vote now? Question number two. John Sadak on the TV broadcast,

(36:26):
and I cannot speak to Tommy Thrall. I was actually at
the game on Friday. And you know how FanDuel Sports Network,
when they're not showing the James's Podcast or the Bobby
Carpenter Show, or the Hanford Diction Show or Poker matches,
they replay the game from the night before. I fell
asleep on the couch when I got home, and the

(36:48):
game is on, and so I got a chance to
watch a few innings because I was awake and I
wanted to see Steer hit a home run. John Sadak
was talking about without sort of skirting the issue he
was referring to Nick Martinez working on a no hitter,

(37:09):
which I greatly appreciate. Number one, I do not believe
in jinxes. Number two, I want the broadcaster to treat
me like a grown up, and the way to do
that is to say the picture whether it's a guy
on the other team or a guy on the Reds
is throwing a no hitter. So vote if a pitcher
is tossing a no hitter, should his team's announce a

(37:31):
refrain from referring to a no hitter? And then the
other one is based on what the Steeler is acquiring
Jalen Ramsey and John new Smith, which I have thoughts on.
If you had to wager an amount of money that
matters on either the Bengals or Steelers winning a playoff
game this season, which one are you betting on? Cincinnati
or Pittsburgh. I know it's not the most objective metric
because I live in Cincinnati, but vote nonetheless at Moeger

(37:54):
Thanks to United Heartland Insurance, your phone calls are next
on ESPN fifteen thirty. Welcome to Team Mike Cward.

Speaker 1 (38:04):
On our website, money that's money, Enter it now.

Speaker 2 (38:10):
Money. By the way, Evander was money again on Saturday.
FC Cincinnati wins again. They pulled themselves out of their
funk two to one win in Orlando. Evander had both goals.
Named the MLS Player of the Match Day presented by
michelol Ultra for Match Day twenty one. Became the third
FC Cincinnati player in history to score multiple goals in

(38:34):
consecutive games. Randon Vazquez did it in twenty twenty two
and Brenner did it in twenty twenty two as well.
Congratulations to Evander. Three more points, big three point swing
on Saturday night. I got folks waiting, I got folks
winging five win three seven four nine, fifteen thirty. I
have gotten an email here about the ball that broke

(38:57):
up Nick Martinez and his no hitter. He didn't break
up Nick mart Tinez. Nick is still with us, but
it broke up his no hit bid and the email
still works mo at ESPN fifteen to thirty dot com.
You can also send me a letter eighty forty four
Montgomery Roade Sweet six fifty Cincinnati four five two three six.
And there's a lot here in the email about a
lot of other topics and some very nice words about

(39:19):
the show, which I appreciate. But the crux of it
is the ball was not catchable, but he still should
have made more of an effort. Huh, the ball's not catchable,
but he should still dive headfirst into the wall. He
should still like run his body into the fence. Big

(39:40):
league players call that eyewash. Eyewash is something that's just
kind of done for show. I'm not interested in eyewash.
I mean, Ryan Vlade is not at all a big
part of this team. Pretty good chance that guy's not
going to be a part of the team in a
couple of weeks. Ah, I'm not into optics. Optics don't matter. Again,

(40:04):
that ball was catchable, dude, sell yourself out. Guy's got
a chance to throw no hitters. Sell yourself out. A
ball was not being caught. Many like big league players,
if you watch enough baseball, there are exceptions. I believe,
for the most part, they are really good at judging
whether or not a ball even has a chance of
being caught. If you're Ryan Valaide, a fringe big leaguer

(40:30):
at best, what incentive do you have to not exhibit
the most amount of hustle possible. He ran hard toward it.
He was in a position to field it. He was
not in a position to catch it before it hit
the wall. But you can't acknowledge that and go, well,
he still should have just run into the wall, Like,

(40:52):
what purpose does that serve other than maybe getting a
guy who's dying for a big league roster spot having
him a chance to get hurt. Appreciate the kind words
on the email. Nonetheless, all right, thanks to everybody who
has waited. Five point three fifteen thirty Kevin, You're on
ESPN fifteen thirty. Good afternoon, Kevin, How are you?

Speaker 9 (41:14):
Emmo? Thanks for running such a great show I listened
to every day.

Speaker 2 (41:19):
That's kind, Thank you, Thank you.

Speaker 9 (41:22):
A big fan of the Cobra, I'm reaching out to
you to talk about how uh I'm a baseball card
enthusiast collector, collector and such, and the Cobra's nineteen seventy
four Rookie card is one of the most beautiful baseball

(41:45):
cards of the seventies, right behind the Johnny Bench nineteen
seventy six card. I'm sure you you've seen those, And
there's plenty of people that listen to your show that
realize that the collect but that that Dave Parker rookie
card is so beautiful that everyone cussed it. Everyone wants it,

(42:10):
and he is such a good guy. I've met him
about four or five times, and he could not have
been more of a He's like a big kid, right, Yeah,
he's like he smiles, smiles, shakes your hand with that
big giant mid of his and he is a super
super guy. And I will miss them greatly.

Speaker 2 (42:30):
What makes the seventy four card esthetically pleasing?

Speaker 9 (42:35):
All of your listeners can just look it up right
now on eBay. He is looking to the side. He
is the most handsome dude looking in that nineteen seventy
four set, and it's so appealing that everyone wants wants
to buy it is a very valuable card. Before he

(42:56):
even passed away, like he everyone's so it's yesthetically pleasing,
Like look, look it up.

Speaker 2 (43:03):
I'm looking at it right now. It is a good
looking card.

Speaker 9 (43:06):
Yeah, it's it's unlike any other card. He's looking looking
to the right, right, and it's beautiful.

Speaker 2 (43:14):
He's got that cool yellow pirate's helmet on. Yeah, that's
a good looking that's a good looking card. That's a
good looking card.

Speaker 10 (43:22):
All right.

Speaker 9 (43:22):
Anyway, thank you for taking.

Speaker 2 (43:24):
My call No, you got it, Kevin, I'll be uh,
I'll be on the hunt for it. I think there's
two things about Dave Parker. I did not mention. Number One.
In Pittsburgh, he was essentially the guy who took over
for Roberto Clemente. And you talk about some of the
biggest and most difficult shoes to fill in all of sports,
and it is it is one thing to fill the

(43:45):
shoes of a legend who retires. As you probably know,
Roberto Clemente was killed right after he got his three
thousand hit. He was killed on a plane crash. And
you know, a base legend, and obviously a Pittsburgh legend
cannot be easy to fill those shoes. And the other thing,
and I mentioned this briefly before, but it's worth mentioning.

(44:09):
Dave Parker got his Parkinson's diagnosis in the early twenty tens.
I know, the first time we ever had him on
our show was when he was inducted into the Reds
Hall of Fame, and by then he had been diagnosed
where he had at least made his diagnosis public, and
we asked him about it and he talked about, look,

(44:30):
I have some really good days, I have some not
so good days. He was still playing golf, he was
still doing some coaching with the Reds Community Fund, that
sort of thing. But his foundation really dove headfirst into
Parkinson's disease, support, education, and fundraising in ways that I

(44:55):
think are very very unique. And we would have Dave
come on the show along with his friend Doug King,
who sort of spearheaded a lot of the initiatives put
forth by the Dave Parker Kobra thirty nine Foundation, and
we would talk about fundraisers like the golf tournament, but
we would also talk about some of the programs they
were involved in and the amount of work and the

(45:18):
amount of time and effort that was being expended to
help people with Parkinson's and to raise money to give
those people support and to raise money for Parkinson's research
was really something to behold. And that has to be
mentioned as well. He didn't just have Parkinson's. He had Parkinson's,

(45:39):
but decided to turn that diagnosis into a positive for
a lot of people, and that again, is, as far
as I'm concerned, pretty awesome. Let's see here, Mike, go ahead,
You're on ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 10 (45:51):
Good afternoon, Mike, Thank you all trust you had a
very splendid weekend.

Speaker 2 (45:56):
It was very relaxing, Thank you.

Speaker 10 (45:59):
I was devastated with the death of mister David Parker. Uh. Yes, yeah,
it tore me up. Uh. He's a year older than me. Uh.
And when I was going to high school with Koto,
we would play a couple of tournaments each year and
we'd play some of the schools down the city and

(46:20):
we played played those guys and MO, I swear to god,
he wasn't as big as he was eventually, but he
was a behemus. He came out and we thought he
was the coach.

Speaker 11 (46:36):
MO.

Speaker 10 (46:37):
He was towering. He would be like if you sit
next to Aaron Judge right now. I mean, the guy
was just and we thought and then they said, no,
you're he played for them. Were we gonna win this game?

Speaker 2 (46:49):
Now we're gonna win this game? Yeah?

Speaker 10 (46:52):
It was uh, but the dude was just so friendly,
just uh, poor mind butt up.

Speaker 2 (47:00):
Yeah, tore me up.

Speaker 10 (47:01):
I'm still tore up. And I'm sure his wife, Kelly
will give a beautiful, beautiful beach at the Hall of Fame.
But I know he he meant a lot to you
as well, so I don't mean to get choked up
here a little bit, but it does tear me up
because that guy was a class of class and my
two favorite uniforms that he played in, And not to

(47:22):
detegrate the Reds, but the Reds aren't always one of
my more favorite uniforms, even though I love the Reds.
But when he played for.

Speaker 12 (47:30):
The A's, yeah, he he just stood out with his
white cleats and that beautiful A's uniform and then with
the Pirates, he made him look bigger or he stood
out more.

Speaker 10 (47:42):
I don't know what it was, Mom, but you know
what I'm talking.

Speaker 2 (47:45):
No, I love those A's uniforms to this day. The
hole Man, the road, especially the road with the Oakland
on it. And you're right, you know, there were that
ear a lot of great players. I heard Barry Larkin
yesterday refer to his presence. And you know, Mike, you're
obviously older than me, but just as a kid, like
there are a lot of great players, man, but there
were only a handful of guys that had just this
presence on the field. And I'm talking about like just

(48:07):
me watching on TV and as a kid, I'd watch
him stand over the plate and wonder, like what would
happen if if somebody plunks him, Like, who's the pitcher
that dares come a little bit too close, you know,
a little bit too too far inside. I said this before.
We always talk about five tool players. He was a

(48:29):
sixth tool player. That's sixth tool being intimidation and having
a presence. But you mentioned something that I think is important.
You know, he was he was arguably the best player
in baseball for a while in Pittsburgh, and then he
had this awesome resurgence in Cincinnati where his career really
had kind of bought him out with the Pirates. But
then he went to Oakland and those A's teams of

(48:51):
the late eighties were awesome to watch. It was not
on the ninety team that the Reds be but in
eighty eight and eighty nine when they had the Bash
Brothers and they had Dave Still and they had Dave Henderson,
and in eighty nine they acquired Ricky Henderson, and they
had Dennis Secres League and Carney Lansford and obviously, you
know I mentioned the Bash Brothers. Kensekoa Maguire, Dave Parker

(49:12):
was a really big part of those teams. He wasn't
just an accessory. He wasn't just a guy who was
hanging on toward the end of his career. He was
a big part of those teams. He went to Milwaukee
in ninety as a thirty nine year old and he
was an All Star, and people forget this. His next
year he went to the Angels. He was cut loose.

(49:33):
The Toronto Blue Jays picked him up and they were
trying to make the playoffs, and they got Dave Parker
after September the first, which meant he was not eligible
to make the be on the postseason roster. And yet
he still played great for a month, helped the Blue
Jays win the American League East, and was a big
part of that team, even if for a very short

(49:53):
amount of time. People always talk about, well, you know,
in his prime he had some all field stuff, and
he was robbed of his age thirty and thirty one
season because he was hurt a lot. But the guy
played for a very very long time, put up some
awesome numbers, won a couple of World Series, and again
as a deserving inductee into Cooperstown.

Speaker 10 (50:16):
Yeah, just what a crappy ass timing. I mean, god, lord,
you know, cut us a break. It just seems so
brutal moment. Yeah, anyway, I appreciate you giving me that
time to elaborate on how I feel about him. I
did want to. I did a little research because it
was the big weekend for the Big Red Machine this weekend,

(50:38):
and I got to thinking, I never have heard who's
attributed with the slogan big Red Machine. So I get
onto Google. I was a sports writer at the La
Times named Bob's Hunter. He's in the Writers Hall of Fame.
And in sixty nine before Morgan got there, So it
was bench Perez and Rose and Lee made the big

(50:59):
Bob or Tony was playing third, and Davey was there,
I believe, Well maybe not not in sixty nine, I'm
not sure, but he's he and the Dodgers in the
Reds were big rivals, and because they were in the West, right,
and he said that the Reds hit the ball so
hard that they were like a machine. And he is

(51:20):
evidently the guy credited with the term big Red Machine.
I thought that was good trivia.

Speaker 2 (51:25):
Well it might be, except I've actually always believed it
was Bob Hertzel, who covered the team for the Inquirer
at the time. And this is before nineteen seventy, but
included the term big red machine in a game story. Huh,
so I remember Bob. I think it was. I think

(51:47):
it was Bob. Bob Herzel is still writing about sports
in West Virginia if I'm not mistaken. So I'm going
to challenge you on that, Mike, and I actually believe
it was Bob Hertzel who coined the term big red machine.
Now maybe maybe, maybe, maybe not, but but I would
say this, even if Bob Herzel wasn't the first, it

(52:08):
picked up steam when Hertzel wrote it because he was
obviously covering the team for the local paper.

Speaker 10 (52:14):
Yep, that makes total sense to me. I bet you're right.

Speaker 2 (52:17):
You sound like you're feeling good.

Speaker 10 (52:19):
Okay, Yeah, I'm just a little horse today. I'm getting
used to my prosthetics. It's it's amazing, Mo, this prosthetic
that I have, it weigh It doesn't weigh more than
a big, giant bull of spaghetti.

Speaker 2 (52:32):
Really is that?

Speaker 10 (52:33):
It's incredible?

Speaker 2 (52:34):
Is that how the doctor put it when he told
you he was going to fetch you for it? This
is what weighs as much as a bull of spaghetti.

Speaker 10 (52:40):
He did, he did, He's got a great sense, and
it fits well and I'm getting used to It's gonna
take about six months, but it's it's comfortable and I'm going,
you know pet and I'm learning how to walk against.
So I'm real thankful for it and couldn't be more,
you know, more thankful. One more quickie, if you.

Speaker 2 (52:59):
Allow me, please go ahead.

Speaker 10 (53:00):
The hottest team in baseball? No, these Tampa Bay Rays
or something to talk about since May twenty if they're
the best team in baseball and they're young, and they
are the fastest team in baseball. I've been following them
a lot. I love that MLB extra inning guy. I
watched so much baseball I get nauseated sometimes. But they
are incredible, and they don't have the klan ahand they's

(53:20):
a young ward winner.

Speaker 2 (53:21):
Now, you're your team is unreal. You're You're exactly right,
and you know, everybody talked about their rotation before the
season started. Not a lot of people talked about their offense.
They won fifteen of twenty two at one stretch in June,
outscored teams by a bunch, put up a bunch of
big totals. Only they went into yesterday a half game

(53:42):
behind the Yankees. New York won yesterday Tampa Bay loss,
so it's a game and a half. But I've read
that they're already trying to figure out where they may
play their postseason games, since obviously their ballpark got tore
up in the hurricane. And that's going to be interesting
to see what they do. Mike, it's awesome to hear
you sounding so good. I got a run, man, Thanks
so much, Thank you very much. All right, nineteen minutes

(54:02):
after four o'clock five one, three, seven, four nine, fifteen
thirty is our phone number. You'll hear Andrew Hawkins on
Joe Burrow coming up in a bid, plus Brenneman and
Jones on Baseball, one of the producers of Quarterback on Netflix,
which will star Joe Burrow this year. We'll update our
poll questions and my guy, Deuce McBride joins us in
about fifteen minutes on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 5 (54:23):
Station, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty. Traffic from the UC Health
Traffic Center.

Speaker 6 (54:31):
uccc of separate check my semi situations. If we got
the left and right lane blocked off. That's between Butler

(54:51):
Regional Highway and State Route sixty three and on guests,
it's an accident over near Evans Street. I'm at Ezelich
with traffic.

Speaker 7 (55:00):
At the sports station.

Speaker 4 (55:02):
ESPN fifteen to thirty.

Speaker 2 (55:05):
Somebody's sending morrise code in that Bromo twenty four after
four o'clock. This is ESPN fifteen thirty. Deuce McBride joins us.
In ten minutes, more of your phone calls are coming up.
This is from ESPN's NFL Live. This is Jeremy Fowler.

(55:25):
I'm sorry, no, it's on Get Up. Sometimes I confuse
my ESPN shows. Get Up is actually pretty good. Here
is a segment with Jeremy Fowler and Andrew Hawkins talking
about the Bengals and some of their lingering contract issues
as they relate specifically to the face of the franchise,
Joe Burrow.

Speaker 4 (55:45):
This continues to drag out.

Speaker 13 (55:47):
Are the Bengals doing Burrow disservice by not getting these
guys locked up?

Speaker 14 (55:52):
I don't think so, man. I think everyone's had a
hand in it. When you look at Joe Burrow, the
top five quarterback, there's going to be holes in your
team whenever you're getting paid the way that he's getting paid.
And more importantly, he made it very clear he wanted
his guys, he wanted Higgins, and he wanted Chase get
the deals done.

Speaker 2 (56:07):
I don't care. So when that.

Speaker 14 (56:08):
Happens, now something this is on your shoulders as well,
to make whatever the circumstances are work.

Speaker 13 (56:14):
Jeremy, what do you hear from inside that building about
Burrow and the way he's approaching all this? Yeah, Dan,
I checked with a source and I was told that
Burrow really doesn't blame people behind the scenes, front offices,
coaching staff, other players when it comes to football operations.
He puts it all on his shoulders. He said, Hey,
we have to get this done on the quarterback of
this franchise.

Speaker 2 (56:33):
Let's do it.

Speaker 13 (56:34):
But he does acknowledge that this is a distraction, that
getting Hendrickson done is important. Now Burrow has stumped publicly
for Trey getting paid. He did the same for Jamar
Chase and t Higgins and those guys got taken care of.
So still the hope for the Bengals blueprint is that
Henderson is that third star that they pay. They are
dedicated to it, but they have their limits right now,
and that's the issue.

Speaker 2 (56:54):
All right. Today's the last day at June, which means
we will go into July still talking about Trey Hendrickson
and Mars Stewart. Training camp starts in just over three weeks.
I think there's something there's a little bit too that
we obviously we all love Joe Burrow, right, and we
talk extensively about, you know, what's he thinking about what
the Bengals are doing with a certain player, what their

(57:14):
approach and free agency is, their approach to team building.
I do believe there is something to the suggestion that
once you've been made out to be what the Bengals
have made Joe Burrow out to be, that it's on you,
big boy, no matter what.

Speaker 3 (57:34):
Now.

Speaker 2 (57:34):
I think there's a difference between that and, you know,
asking Joe to do a little bit too much. We
saw the Bengals fail with that strategy last year. It
wasn't really a strategy, I guess, but we saw them
fail with that being the case last year. How much
can you ask them to do? One quarterback can only
do so much. But as it relates specifically to Trey Hendrickson.

(57:54):
I guess, like, yes, it is a distraction, and yes
it is annoying, and and yes, we're probably gonna spend
the next two months wondering if Trey is going to
play in the first game, though we will see. But
whenever we make it about well, what is Joe thinking
about this? Joe's acknowledged it's a distraction. But I guess

(58:16):
two things about this. Number One, I think distractions are
almost impossible to avoid as long as you have good players. Now, yes,
you would love to avoid them every year, that would
be refreshing. But as Joe goes about his NFL career,
whether it's spent entirely in Cincinnati or elsewhere, as long

(58:36):
as he is on a team with good players, there's
gonna be somebody upset with their contract. There's gonna be
somebody dealing with some sort of holdout. There's going to
be some sort of off season roster uncertainty that he
still has a responsibility to work through. And like, yes,
it's a distraction, and yes it's it's it's annoying, and

(58:59):
it's tires and just once, I think we all want
to watch the Bengals get through a training camp and
get through an offseason without wondering if a star player
is going to be there for the first game, but
if there is a quarterback who has practice in trying
to prepare for the season despite distractions, it is Joe

(59:20):
And yes, at some point, while you're the quarterback of
an NFL team who has been made the franchise's face,
it's up to you to figure out a way to
get your team to hit the ground running, no matter what.
I don't for Joe Burrow when you have been given
what he has been given, which is t Higgins, which
is what he wanted, and which is what he wanted

(59:41):
more than anything. Uh, all right, man, hit the ground
running week one, whether Trey is here or not. It's
it's on your healthy, as healthy as you have been.
There's no lingering injury issue. You're not coming off of surgery,
though he has a knowledge that in some respects he
is still working his way back from the wrist injury

(01:00:04):
two years ago. Like, yeah, it's a distraction, man, And
yeah the Trey Andrickson thing may leak into the season.
That does not provide you an excuse. And Joe Burrow
would be the first to admit that we don't want distractions,
but you are made a franchise quarterback because the franchise
believes that you can still help win help them win

(01:00:25):
games no matter what is swirling around the team. That
expectation is there for Joe Burrow, and that expectation is
a reasonable one. Deuce McBride from Mohler High School was
on a team that made that franchise his first Eastern
Conference final in twenty five years and two years ago

(01:00:46):
we had Deuce on the show and he was trying
to establish himself as an NBA player, and now he's
the backup point guard for what this year was a
Final four team. Deuce is one of my favorite players.
He has a molar product. He's a great guy. He's
going to join us next on ESPN fifteen.

Speaker 5 (01:01:02):
Thirty Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty. Traffic from the UC.

Speaker 7 (01:01:08):
Health Traffic Center.

Speaker 6 (01:01:10):
care is here called five one, three, five eighty five,
UCCC seventy five and northbound only. The left lane now
blocked off from an accident between Butler Regional Highway and
State Route sixty three up to a twenty minute delay.

(01:01:31):
Still though at northbound seventy one after Western Road, it's
an accident on the right shoulder. I'm at Ezelik with traffic.

Speaker 15 (01:01:39):
This report is listening to the Home of the Bengals,
ESPN fifteen thirty, twenty.

Speaker 2 (01:01:43):
Seven away from five o'clock. This is ESPN fifteen thirty.
We'll do sports headlines in just a few minutes. As
you know. Chances already know, at least if you listen
to the show. I am a lifelong and die hard
fan of the New York Knicks, going back to when
I was a kid. In recent years, it's been more
fun for two reasons. One, the team has been relevant

(01:02:05):
and they've been good, and they've made playoff runs. But
above and beyond that, they've got a local guy. And
he's not just on the team. He has established himself
as a key contributor to the Knicks, who made the
Eastern Conference Finals for the first time in twenty five years.
A big part of that team, he made ten starts
this season, averaged a career high nine and a half points,

(01:02:27):
authored a ton of big moments in the postseason Above
and beyond that, he is a newly published author of
a children's book, and he just became a father for
the first time. He is a Molar high school product
and kind enough to give us a few minutes during
his offseason Deuce McBride, Deuce, it is awesome to have you.
Thank you for joining us. How are you, man?

Speaker 16 (01:02:48):
I'm doing well. Appreciate you having me.

Speaker 2 (01:02:51):
I said this during the middle of the postseason run.
We got to get you on the show. You join
me two years ago and my sincere hope was you
would be joining me after some sort of championship parade
that didn't happen. I've barely gotten over it. How about you.

Speaker 16 (01:03:08):
I'm still having nightmares myself. But uh, you know it
was a good run.

Speaker 11 (01:03:14):
You know, I'm very fortunate to have had the year
I had and you know, play with the guys I
played with.

Speaker 2 (01:03:20):
So are you able to Are you able to now
with the benefit of a little time since the season ended?
And I know you've been busy with with your personal life,
but but are you able to look back on it
as a positive experience? Are you starting to turn the
page to next year?

Speaker 6 (01:03:34):
Like?

Speaker 2 (01:03:34):
How do your process the way the season went down
and how it ended.

Speaker 11 (01:03:39):
Yeah, definitely we're starting to turn the page. Obviously making
making moves within the team. But myself, you know, I
look at a year as any year I don't win
a championship.

Speaker 16 (01:03:50):
You know, it's it's definitely, you know, disappointing.

Speaker 11 (01:03:54):
It's it's not a failure, but you know, it's very
disappointing to know that we came up short. But now
is the time after you know, Okay, see one is
when I started shifting my focus to next year.

Speaker 2 (01:04:07):
What are you guys going to hire a coach?

Speaker 16 (01:04:11):
Hey, that's above my pay games, that's above my.

Speaker 2 (01:04:15):
I mean it is, you know, it's almost July. Everybody
else has a coach right now? I mean is it?
Are you and your teammates kind of texting each other
wondering like, all right, you know it's it's it's kind
of time to to hire somebody to put on the
bench for us next year.

Speaker 11 (01:04:31):
I mean, I mean, our front office has done an
amazing job, you know, putting together teams, and I trust
them with whoever they hire, you know, they're going to
do a great job and do their due diligence of
you know, finding whoever's best to coach us?

Speaker 2 (01:04:47):
What is playing for Tom Thibodau.

Speaker 16 (01:04:48):
Like it was a It was a great experience.

Speaker 11 (01:04:53):
You know, four years with him, you know, taught me
a lot of how to approach each day as a pro.
You know, he's obviously a hard coach, a lot of
tough moments, but overall it was it was a good experience.

Speaker 2 (01:05:07):
Just playing for Bob Huggins at West Virginia, prepare you
for playing for Tom Thibodeaux, Oh, without a doubt.

Speaker 11 (01:05:15):
You know, Tams was definitely a hard coach. But there's
not many built like hugs, not many men.

Speaker 2 (01:05:24):
That's an understatement. So let's talk about the playoff run,
because the highlight for those of us who love the
Knicks and those of us who just care about the Knicks,
maybe just because of you, was Game six against Boston,
where the Knicks haven't made the Eastern Conference Final in
twenty five years. Knicks fans are conditioned to expect the worst,

(01:05:46):
and so you lose Game five, you come home, you
don't want it to go to a game seven. Obviously
Jason Tatum is hurt, but Knicks fans are fearing the worst,
and then you blow Boston out. So the fourth quarter
was like unlike anything I've experienced as a fan of
that franchise in quite a while. You were on the
floor for most of it. What were those moments like

(01:06:07):
during Game six against Boston?

Speaker 11 (01:06:10):
I mean, honestly, that was one of the art more
intense games.

Speaker 16 (01:06:14):
I feel like we played the whole season. We felt like.

Speaker 11 (01:06:17):
We didn't come into Game five prepped the way we
should have been, And you know, I feel like Game
six we had this mentality like I don't think I've
been on the team my whole life that had a
mentality going into a game like that.

Speaker 16 (01:06:32):
So being on the.

Speaker 11 (01:06:33):
Floor with guys you know that are giving their all
to do something special, there's nothing like it, and especially
being an MST to do it for the fans for
a city that's you know, been longing for a good
Knicks team and to go back, you know and be
good and you look at all the old teams that've
done great things.

Speaker 16 (01:06:52):
I mean, it was it was special to be on.

Speaker 2 (01:06:54):
The floor when a Madison Square Garden crowd during a
playoff game is yelling your name out loud in Unison.
What is that like?

Speaker 16 (01:07:05):
It's special?

Speaker 11 (01:07:06):
I think, you know, being able to come from basically
playing not at all, you know, my my rookie year
to like you said, having all.

Speaker 16 (01:07:17):
Of msd yell my name. I mean, there's not.

Speaker 11 (01:07:19):
Much more you want as a basketball player, and you
know those are things you dream of as a kid,
dream of as a kid, being able to go into
the mecca of basketball, the world's greatest arena, playing the
world's greatest stage, and you know the fans love you.

Speaker 2 (01:07:34):
You have been described as one of the NBA's best bargains.
Is is that? Is that a title that you're proud of?

Speaker 16 (01:07:43):
I would say so yeah.

Speaker 11 (01:07:44):
I mean I'm glad everybody else thinks. You know, I'm
worth more. You know, obviously it was a good contract
on both parts.

Speaker 16 (01:07:56):
I'm making a lot of money, more money than I've
ever made in my life. So I'm really blessed in
that sunset.

Speaker 11 (01:08:02):
You know, when the time comes, you know, I'll be
I'll be ready.

Speaker 2 (01:08:09):
I hear that. You know, you joined us two years ago,
so you had been in the league for two years,
and it kind of felt like during that second year
there were moments that made a lot of us go okay,
like Deuce may stick and he may do then just
more I may do more than just occupy a roster spot,
like he's he's got a chance to make a difference there.
Go back to the twenty twenty four season when you

(01:08:32):
guys played Indiana in the in the second round and
there were a bunch of injuries and you guys lost
in the Eastern semifinal. It felt like that was the
season where you really arrived and we're not shuttling you
back and forth between here and the G League, like
you have an established role and here's what it's going
to be. Was there a moment where you went, you
know what, I'm here. This is the role that I
can be in and I can be a reason why

(01:08:53):
this team does really well.

Speaker 10 (01:08:55):
Yeah.

Speaker 11 (01:08:56):
I mean honestly, I always felt like I was capable
of it. I just felt like I needed the opportunity.

Speaker 16 (01:09:03):
To showcase it, honestly.

Speaker 11 (01:09:06):
And obviously make some trades. Some guys got injured, and
it was just the perfect the perfect chance for me,
and I felt like I'd worked my whole life to
be ready for that role, and I feel like I
just stepped into it because I was prepared.

Speaker 2 (01:09:22):
What has to happen for you guys to bring New
York its first NBA championship since nineteen seventy three next year.

Speaker 11 (01:09:32):
I mean, honestly, I felt like we were right there.
I think there's a great chance for.

Speaker 16 (01:09:38):
Us to do something special.

Speaker 11 (01:09:40):
I think as long as you know, we handle our
business and we come into the season focus, I don't
see a reason why we're not, you know, hoisting up
a banner at the start of the following season.

Speaker 2 (01:09:55):
So the season ends and you announced that you're a
father for the first time. What has that experience been like.

Speaker 16 (01:10:05):
Oh, it's been amazing. It's my daughter, Ace is It's
truly a blessing in my life. It's it's been some.

Speaker 11 (01:10:13):
Some sleepless nights, without a doubt, But uh, I definitely
appreciate what my parents did for me a lot more.

Speaker 2 (01:10:21):
So you have you have a Deuce and you have
an Ace in the same household.

Speaker 11 (01:10:25):
Yeah, yeah, very good, Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:10:27):
Good, very good. On on top of that, you have
released a children's book, Deuce The Champion of Friendship. When
did you decide you wanted to write a children's book?

Speaker 16 (01:10:40):
You know, it's it's it's been a long time coming.
I felt like.

Speaker 11 (01:10:45):
I've always wanted to inspire the youth, and I feel
like writing this book, it's going to give people a
chance to understand that, you know, we're not just basketball players.
We're not just athletes. We have a lot of other
endeavors in our lives. And I felt like writing this
book would kind of showcase that you can be more
than an athlete as well as being a good person

(01:11:08):
and like I said, inspiring the youth overall.

Speaker 2 (01:11:11):
Deuce A Champion of Friendship is available on Amazon in
addition to other outlets. Is this the first of a few?

Speaker 3 (01:11:17):
Like?

Speaker 2 (01:11:17):
Is this going to be a thing moving forward?

Speaker 16 (01:11:20):
I think so.

Speaker 15 (01:11:21):
Yeah.

Speaker 11 (01:11:21):
I got a good idea for the next one, So
I'm going to let this first one marin a a
little bit, and hopefully the next one will be coming soon.

Speaker 2 (01:11:29):
I know, when you have an infant, that's your world,
but you do have a fair amount of time between
now and the start of training. Can beyond just learning
the roads to being a father. What are you doing
this offseason?

Speaker 11 (01:11:41):
Honestly, just working on my game, obviously waiting on the coach.
So I'm just going to continue to do what I've done,
you know, my whole life, and.

Speaker 16 (01:11:50):
Just work on my game.

Speaker 11 (01:11:52):
I take the summer is pretty serious in my development
so I'll be hanging around New York.

Speaker 2 (01:11:59):
Yeah, what do you what is the area of your
game that you feel like this summer you have to
work on the most.

Speaker 11 (01:12:07):
I think just continue to be you know, for a general,
whether I'm bringing up the ball or playing off the ball.
I think I can continue to command a presence, you know,
as a as a leader of the team. I'm growing
into a more of a bet role now, so I
think I have a I.

Speaker 16 (01:12:25):
Can demand a bigger, bigger role.

Speaker 2 (01:12:28):
It's it's kind of cool with your role really firmly established.
You know, you've had training camps where you're just trying
to make the team, and you've had training camps where
you're trying to show that you deserve minutes. It's got
to be, and I'm sure was the last summer last offseason,
a little bit of a different dynamic. When you'll show
up and you've established yourself here's what I can do,
and then you talked about wanting to do more. That's

(01:12:50):
that's got to be a pretty good place to be in.

Speaker 11 (01:12:53):
Yeah, for sure, I feel like, you know, my feeling
is really high. I think I try not to put
any limits on on myself because I think I can.
I can do great things in this league, and I'm
showing case a lot, and I just want to focus
on continuing to raise the raise the bar.

Speaker 2 (01:13:12):
You also annually have a basketball camp you now in
the middle of all these other things. Is that still
happening this summer?

Speaker 16 (01:13:20):
I think so.

Speaker 11 (01:13:21):
I think it might be more of a camp on
a on a weekend day in September. I know people
are usually on football time, but I think we're going
to make it work in either middle August or September.
So be on the lookout for it, everybody, all.

Speaker 2 (01:13:36):
Right, we'll be checking that out. How much time do
you spend in the off season in Cincinnati.

Speaker 11 (01:13:41):
I try to get back home a good amount, whether
it's you know, seeing family or working out.

Speaker 16 (01:13:48):
But I'll get back home a decent amount.

Speaker 2 (01:13:50):
I met your mom two years ago and you had
been on our show, and she said to me, are
you really a Knicks fan? And I had to tell
her like yes, like even more so since we have
a local guy on the team. I had to convince her,
so do me a favor. Tell her that radio guy
remains as big of a Knicks fan. I was heartbroat.

(01:14:10):
I went to Indy for Game four. I was heartbroken
that you know, you guys lost when you did. But
watching you and watching team look, man, it's a team
that in Cincinnati I don't have to talk about professionally,
and so that playoff run was really exciting. And in
a year I need you to join me after you
guys you know, are in the parade at the Candian

(01:14:33):
Heroes in New York.

Speaker 11 (01:14:33):
Okay, hey, hopefully we'll be seeing you up in New
York for the parade.

Speaker 2 (01:14:38):
Don I'll broadcast from it. Okay, there we go. Lovely,
congratulations on a great year, Congratulations on becoming a father
and the children's book and continued success. I can't thank
you enough. I've become a huge fan and it's awesome
to have you. Thanks so much, Hey, thank you so much.

Speaker 16 (01:14:57):
I appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (01:14:58):
That's our guy, Deuce McBride, New York Knicks. The children's
book is available on Amazon. It's it's pretty cool, So
go and check that out. Deuce The Champion of Friendship
available now. Duce McBride a member of the twenty twenty
six NBA Champion New York Knicks Tarren Bland getting that done.

(01:15:22):
The Pride of Molar High school in West Virginia University
and keep an eye out. I know Duce mentioned it.
The plans for the basketball camp have been kind of
fluid because of Deuce's schedule, but obviously you heard. The
plan is to still have it here late summer, perhaps
early fall. We are what thirteen away from five o'clock

(01:15:42):
and Brendanman and Jones on baseball? Do we have time
to update our poll questions? I think we do. They
come your way thanks to United at Heartland Insurance. Make
sure you check out uhi ns dot com for anything
you need that needs to be in short uh. Three
of them here, all of them on Twitter. Computer moving
very slow today, which is why you hear me stalling

(01:16:03):
for time at number one. Who is easier to reason
with someone who believes the Earth is flat? Or someone
who believes that ball that broke up Nick Martinez no
hit bid could have been caught?

Speaker 10 (01:16:14):
Right?

Speaker 2 (01:16:14):
This is very close. Fifty point eight percent believe a
person who believes the earth is flat is easier to
reason with other ones Very close too. If a pitcher
is tossing a no hitter, should his team's announce a
refrain from referring to a no hitter? Fifty five point
four percent of you say no, I agree, by the way,

(01:16:35):
and the other one I'm not going to get an
objective take here, but I throw it out there. Nonetheless,
if you had a wagered amount of money that matters
on either the Bengals or Steelers winning a playoff game,
not just making winning the playoff, winning a playoff game,
which one of you betting on Cincinnati or Pittsburgh. Bengals
are running away with it an eighty six point six percent.
By the way, my money is also on Cincinnati. Speaking

(01:16:55):
of the Bengals, Joe Burrow is going to be featured
on Quarterback on Netflix, which is a really well done
show because it's produced by NFL Films, and everything that
NFL Films does is well done. So we're gonna chat
with one of the producers coming up at five oh five,
But first, Brediman and Jones on.

Speaker 5 (01:17:12):
Baseball Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 4 (01:17:17):
Traffic from the UC Health Traffic Center.

Speaker 6 (01:17:20):
care is here. Call five one three five eighty five
UCCC northbound seventy five between Butler Regional Highway and State
Route sixty three right lane blocked off from an accident.
It's still about a thirty minute delay in through there.

(01:17:42):
Northbound seventy one at Montgomery, the left lane blocked off
from an accident. I'm at Ezelk with traffic.

Speaker 1 (01:17:48):
A chance to win one thousand dollars. Enter this nationwide
keyword on our website.

Speaker 2 (01:17:53):
Credit. That's credit. Enter it now. Are you ready for
some football? We are?

Speaker 15 (01:18:02):
This is Dave Lapo and you're listening to the Home
of the Bengals, ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 2 (01:18:06):
All right, it's four minutes after five o'clock. This is
ESPN fifteen thirty, Am Boeger, Thank you so much for
joining us a week from tomorrow night. I am stoked
for this on Netflix at season two of Quarterback, which
season one was terrific, Season two is gonna be even better,
at least around here because Joe Burrow is a part

(01:18:27):
of it, which is I think gonna be awesome. Premieres
on Netflix next Tuesday, a week from tomorrow, and one
of the producers, and my understanding is the producer kind
of in charge of the Joe Burrow person of Quarterback,
which also includes Kirk Cousins, who is a part of
season one and Jared Goff of the Lions. Is Steve

(01:18:47):
Trout from NFL Films, who's kind enough to join us
this afternoon. Steve, it's awesome to have you. I'm the
world's biggest NFL Films fan, so I can't thank you
enough for doing this. Good afternoon.

Speaker 15 (01:18:57):
How are you good after new Man.

Speaker 2 (01:19:00):
It's my pleasure for those who are maybe uninitiated and
aren't familiar with quarterback, tell my audience what it is.

Speaker 15 (01:19:09):
It's you know what we've done. So it's a series
on Netflix that is a joint production between us and
Omaha Production, which is Peyton Manning's company, And it started
three seasons ago, and it was just our idea together
was to really from the inside out peel off the

(01:19:31):
labels of what it means to be a quarterback in
the NFL, both from a human journey and from breaking
through all these what we're up to this point closed doors.
And so the first season was quarterback, second season we
branched off and did receiver, and then this third season
is the second incarnation of quarterback, and it takes a

(01:19:52):
look into what is probably the most pressure filled position
in all of sports in a way that has never
been done before. And it's you're at home with these guys.
You they're wearing mics for every game, you're behind closed
doors in the team facility. It really is a kind
of a mold breaking approach to this position.

Speaker 2 (01:20:17):
Joe Burrow says, yes to this. Were you guys surprised
that he agreed to take on the project?

Speaker 15 (01:20:23):
Well, yes, and no, you know, I didn't know him
well before August, but I did spend the year with him,
and and and hearing how private he was before, you know,
before this, and and yes, after the fact, I am surprised.
But here's all the credit goes to him, because he

(01:20:44):
has to be one the most authentic, and I've been
doing this for twenty two years, the most authentic and
genuine player slash superstar I've ever met in my life.

Speaker 11 (01:20:55):
He is.

Speaker 15 (01:20:55):
He doesn't change a thing. And he wore a mic
every game, which no one knew about. You know, of
course the team did, and he did. But he wore
mike every game. He wore uh, a mike at practice,
during the during the during the week.

Speaker 10 (01:21:07):
Uh.

Speaker 15 (01:21:07):
He let us do things we were at home with
him that he's never done before. Obviously, I think there's
a great trust factor there. But he doesn't change a thing.
I think there are some players who will put airs
on and and fake things when the camera's around. Joe's
the exact opposite. And that's what like a documentary or
a documentries like this needs, you.

Speaker 2 (01:21:27):
Know, it's it's interesting, this is you document year five.
So Joe has been here for a while. Everybody here
loves him. He's won a bunch. He has the most
high profile position in all of sports, and yet I
feel like there's still a lot about him that a
lot of people don't know. He's kind of a private guy.
So give us an idea of some of the maybe

(01:21:47):
behind the scenes, non football stuff you guys take us through.

Speaker 15 (01:21:51):
Well, it's neat because you're gonna meet his parents. I mean,
he still is. One of the biggest goals to try
and do for this is really humanize these guys. So
I think fans see him for three hours on Sunday
or Thursday, a mundane and they've got their helmets on,
re see him on the bench. We want to make
them a son or in Kirk and Jared's you know situation,

(01:22:11):
a husband or a brother or a whatever it takes.
And I think we did that with Joe for the
first time. And again all the credit goes to him
to letting me and letting us in. And you see
him as a son, and you see him as this
you know, he puts his pants on like you and
I do, as this vulnerable and authentic twenty seven year

(01:22:32):
old whatever he is human being. Besides the fact, he
put up maybe one of the best offensive seasons in
NFL history as a quarterback.

Speaker 2 (01:22:41):
So obviously you know, NFL Films produces Hard Knocks as well.
The Bengals were part of Hard Knocks last year the
last quarter of the season that aired. All the AFC
North teams participated. So how does this get produced at
the same time as a show like Hard Knocks.

Speaker 15 (01:22:58):
Well, it's funny. And because I'm the lead director of
Hard Knocks a Hard Knocks in season, so it was
a it was a challenging double dip, but it was
a That's why I I wanted to do both, so
it didn't I didn't want Joe to have two different
people to to kind of be the face of these
two shows. And and you know, Hard Knocks is this

(01:23:20):
fly on the wall approach to the whole team and
by the second or third day, the team forgets were there.
And that's that's been the truth since we started this
twenty some odd years ago. Now quarterback is just just him.
So it is a difference, uh, in terms of a
team based thing versus just him.

Speaker 10 (01:23:40):
Uh.

Speaker 15 (01:23:40):
And there was a line that was drawn early on
to make sure he know what you know what was
because obviously hard Knocks airs the next Tuesday, right this
Obviously we take time to edit these episodes together to
air and to drop in July. But I it's such
a good thing that that how it happened, the fact
that he had such a good season, and a lot

(01:24:03):
of people when we ask about these shows that they
think of the distraction, and I mean he is the
the the poster boy for no, it's really not. He
had an incredible year despite you know, wearing a microphone
and grant little look, our cameras are so far away
from him. We've we've kind of really made this model

(01:24:23):
of this embedment series and how to tell these stories
and we do it from afar with with the power
of technology.

Speaker 2 (01:24:30):
Joe was asked about taking on the project this offseason
and he talked about, you know, Peyton Manning, and I'm
sure that doesn't hurt when you can go to a
quarterback and say, hey, look, this is going to be
a Peyton Manning project. I'm sure that helps if any
convincing is needed. What's what's his role specifically with with
something like this.

Speaker 15 (01:24:49):
Yeah, I mean they are a major part of this,
and and really Peyton does all the asking in the
off season. We're the production company that takes us from there.
But I think you're right. I think people I got
a call from Peyton and what Peyton again, another genuine
human being and he knew too, and he played there's
a power to being able to show your kids or

(01:25:11):
your grandkids something like this in ten twenty thirty years,
to show what dad did or what Grandpa did, and
you know, because it does make him make Joe such
a human being, and there's a power to the history
of that and a legacy of that. And then once
they see how unobtrusive we are, then it spreads like

(01:25:34):
you know wildfire, that Okay, this isn't what I thought
it was. And it's a lot easier for me to
be myself around these guys. And look, I think what
NFL Films has had for fifty years is a trust
with NFL players that no one else gets or no
no one else has.

Speaker 2 (01:25:52):
I'm sure you're asked this all the time, and I
marvel at it because the Bengals run Hard Knocks and
nine again in thirteen, part of it this year, and look,
NFL Films goes way beyond Hard Knocks. But that's when
they've been around. And every year I talk with people
with the team who talk about what you just referenced
that after a while, you don't even notice the cameras,

(01:26:14):
You don't even notice the crew members. You don't even
how do you do that? How do you accomplish being
able to capture so much without getting in the way.

Speaker 15 (01:26:22):
I think of the combination of technology. The first hard
act I did was O nine with with Marvin and
Chad and Carson that in that whole year. And so
we have robotic cameras in the in the meeting rooms
which are little tiny you know, everyone knows they're there.
They're not a secret, but that helps us not putting
a manned crew in the in the you know, team

(01:26:44):
meeting room. We shoot practice from sixty yards away. We're
not in their faces. We are through technology, but we
do it in a way that the cameraman or camera
woman is not right there. And because we've done this
for so long that once we start doing it Hard
Knocks and one with the Ravens, you know, right if
they won the Super Bowl, the Ravens tell the other teams,

(01:27:06):
oh my gosh, it's amazing. No, And you know, it
becomes this power of spreading, you know, by word that no,
it's not what you think. And a lot of times
when teams get the assignment or they volunteer you for
Hard Knocks, they'll call the last two or three head
coaches and they'll get the same thing. Guys, you know
you're gonna forget it. It's it's there by the second

(01:27:29):
or third day. And I think that's what allowed us
to expand the Hard Knocks universe and the Hard Knocks
off season, hard Knocks in season, and then ideas like Quarterback,
which Netflix has mastered, the more individual based. I think,
really we're probably the only ones that could do it.

Speaker 2 (01:27:46):
I can't wait, it's a week from tomorrow. Quarterback Season
one was terrific, and as it was unfolding, you know,
we even talked about here would that be the sort
of thing that Joe Burrow would ever decide to do,
and so uh thrilled that he is going to be
a part part of it. You guys do an amazing
job with everything you guys do, and so cannot wait.
I know you're busy getting ready for next week. So
I can't thank you enough for the time, Steve, appreciate

(01:28:09):
you doing it and maybe we could do it as
the show airs. Thank you, you got it. That's a
Steve Trout, not the former Cubs pitcher, the producer for
NFL films and quarterback Stars. Three guys, Kirk Cousins, Jared Goff,
Joe Burrow. Steve was kind of the guy im betted
with Joe Burrow. And so it's going to air on

(01:28:29):
Netflix a week from tomorrow, July the eighth. It's the
michelob Ultra five o'clock Happy Hour on ESPN fifteen thirty
on Oegger five one three, seven four nine, fifteen thirty
and eight sixty six, seven oh two, three, seven seven
six are our phone numbers. By the way, Congratulations to
uh Spencer Steer National League Player of the Week. We'll

(01:28:50):
get to that coming up when we do sports headlines
Reds and Red Sox Tonight Cincinnati, coming off a winning
weekend against the Padres. We have an awesome Ellie Della
Cruz at bat to discuss perhaps a new Reds motto,
and uh, we're gonna give away some tickets in about
twenty minutes. If if you know anything about you know
where this is going, right the shared history of the

(01:29:11):
Reds and Red Sox. We're gonna give away Reds Marlins
tickets postgame concert starring Old Dominion. Part of that night.
Ticket giveaway coming up in just about twenty minutes. Your
phone calls between now and then on ESPN fifteen thirty
Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 5 (01:29:25):
Station, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 4 (01:29:30):
Traffic from the.

Speaker 7 (01:29:31):
Uc Health Traffic Center.

Speaker 6 (01:29:33):
care is here called five one three, five eighty five.
UCCC northbound seventy one at Montgomery rode the left lane
block from an accident. Fifteen minute delay right now back
from Norwood Lateral. Also on northbound seventy one, another accident

(01:29:56):
approaching State Route forty eight.

Speaker 7 (01:29:58):
I'm at ee zelik traffic.

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

Speaker 2 (01:30:03):
I said, though I was warning somebody twenty one after five,
it's almost six. We've almost made it to the month
of June five one three, fifteen thirty. Let's talk to
other people. Uh, David, hang on, David, you're on ESPN
fifteen thirty. What's up, David? How are you? O?

Speaker 10 (01:30:22):
Hey, it's your favorite Xavier statistician.

Speaker 2 (01:30:24):
How are you, David? What's up? Man?

Speaker 10 (01:30:26):
Hey there? Hey, I was at the game's Friday night,
as were you?

Speaker 7 (01:30:29):
As was.

Speaker 10 (01:30:31):
Oh the gentleman down the dial. Uh Rocky back, Rocky Rocky.

Speaker 2 (01:30:36):
Rock Rocky Rocky was sitting right behind me.

Speaker 10 (01:30:37):
Yes, yes, what I heard that as well as I
was slipping through the channels too. So my sisters like,
is that really him? And I said, yeah, she goes
I didn't imagine that, and I said, yeah, you haven't
seen no agger, have you. The boys don't align with
the faces usually. Hey, yeah, I was at the game,
my sister, she took us my wife, who uh not

(01:30:58):
a sportsman. In fact, I would say she hate sports.
It's funny with you know, myself.

Speaker 2 (01:31:02):
And my son are.

Speaker 10 (01:31:04):
It's crazy. It is one of the weirder situations we've got.
But she's also very good about saying, hey, if you'll
do things with me, I'll do things with you. My
sister's got first row right behind the reds dugout by
the camera. Well, so really nice seats. And of course
as long as they have frosty malts or you know,
ice cream and a cup, she's willing to try it.
And she's like, as long as we don't have to
stay for the whole game.

Speaker 2 (01:31:26):
As the game.

Speaker 10 (01:31:28):
Is going on, of course, my son and I are
looking at her going, oh, we are so sorry we
cannot leave early.

Speaker 2 (01:31:34):
Correct correct, sorry.

Speaker 10 (01:31:38):
Yeah, but it's fice to say. After it was all
said and done, my wife said she had such a
good time at this event, and she won't call it
the sporting event, but she says, you know that what
all went on, she's kind of turned a bit of
a lease as far as maybe enjoying sporting events when
there's things like this. Now, given we're not always going

(01:31:58):
to get three home runs and a one hitter, but
how it goes. One other thing too, I want to
talk about because one of your questions, I'm not even
going to talk about the whole can't he catch it?

Speaker 8 (01:32:08):
No?

Speaker 10 (01:32:09):
I was there.

Speaker 2 (01:32:09):
You were there.

Speaker 10 (01:32:10):
He could not have caught.

Speaker 2 (01:32:12):
You're a reasonable person or a smart person. You understand
you understand math, right, you? You probably more than I could.
Couldn't understand the geometry involved, the physics involved that ball
was not catchable.

Speaker 10 (01:32:24):
Stopping the time continuum might have given him a chance.

Speaker 15 (01:32:27):
Sort of that.

Speaker 11 (01:32:28):
Uh.

Speaker 10 (01:32:29):
The funny part was about the fifth inning. I think
I turned to my son, I said, I said, oh,
he'd have a perfect game, is one for that early
walk that he had? And the guy next to me
got upset, really that we were talking about this, and
I thought, finally I get it. I saw Martinez come
into the dugout every time and he would nobody would
talk to him. And I know that's how the players

(01:32:49):
want to handle it, but I'll be danned if I'm
not going to talk about it. It was the most
exciting thing going on. And guess what everybody was was
standing because we were waiting for four home runs from Steer.
I'm not sure if we jinxed him because we were
doing that, but we were also all standing in the
ninth inning because we all knew what was at stake
right now. That's were we jinxing. Him because we were

(01:33:09):
standing up and clapping and rooting him onto what would
have been an awesome, awesome accomplishment. No silling. This silly.
The people and their unwritten rules and things like that
just drive me out of my mind. And you know,
I do a lot of sports stuff, believe here.

Speaker 2 (01:33:24):
I just don't believe in Jenxus. I just don't believe
in Jenson's I'm sorry, I just know I don't believe.
I don't believe that me sitting in section one, p.
Forty one acknowledging this guy's throwing a no hitter is
going to have any bearing on the outcome. I went
through something very similar when Homer Bailey threw his no

(01:33:44):
hitter in twenty thirteen, and I was dating my wife
at the time, and we went to the game with
her sister and her husband and my sister in law,
not a huge baseball fan and my wife at the
time a baseball fan, but not nearly as much as me,
And as the seventh, eighth and ninth inning are playing out,
I wanted to explain to them why a little closer

(01:34:05):
attention was being paid. That was not a blowout game.
It was three to nothing, so you know it was
still in jeopardy in the later innings on like Friday night,
and I said, Homer Bailey is throwing a no hitter.
And I got the same looks from people that you did,
and I said, look, I have to explain what's going
on here. I'm I can't use coded language, I can't
pussyfoot around it. I've got to I've got to say

(01:34:28):
no hitter because the two people I'm talking to know
what a no hitter is. I'm not going to talk
to my girlfriend and go, well, he he hasn't allowed
a hit. He's flirting with history. He's throwing a no hitter.
And Homer Bailey threw the no hitter last night, so
I clearly did in Jenson.

Speaker 10 (01:34:45):
That's right. That's why I was at that game as
well too. My son had the straight A tickets or
whatever from school, and so they were way up in
nosebleed Land. I remember we went to the center field,
which above them at that time the Reds bullpen, which
is now the Visitors bullpen, and watched the last couple
of in there. My son even said, are you sure
we can leave our seats? I said, dude, we have
no bearing on the outcome. Over at least pitching by

(01:35:07):
moving ourselves right now.

Speaker 2 (01:35:08):
You know what I remember most about that night is
telling it again. I had been dating my wife for
maybe eight months. Tim LINCECM pitched that night, and I
love Tim LINCCM love like one of my all time
favorite non Reds players. And We're going to the ballpark
and I'm like, look, I'm stoked to watch Tim LINCECM.
Can't wait to watch this guy. And he was kind
of on the downside by then. And then the other

(01:35:30):
guy throws the no hitter, and so after the game,
she says to me, like, I thought we were excited
to watch the Giants pitcher who was pedestrian that night.
I'm not sure he got out of the fifth inning.
And I'm like, well, actually no, the other guy threw
the no hitter. But yeah, I said no hitter in
the stands and he's still threw the no hitter.

Speaker 10 (01:35:47):
You got it awesome though. Hey have a great one,
Sir David too.

Speaker 2 (01:35:51):
It's good to hear from you. I just I don't
believe in jinx's. I get accused sometimes on you Jinx.
I don't believe in jenxs. Jinxes aren't real. If you
believe in them, that's fine, But because you believe in them,
that doesn't make me have to adhere to your jinx rules.
I don't believe in Jinx's. So when i'm and I

(01:36:12):
got the poll question on social media John Sadak the
other night, and I don't know what Tommy Thrall did
because I didn't hear the radio broadcast, But when I
heard the replay of the TV broadcast, John Sadak was
referring to a no hitter. Now, every announcer has their
own rules. What I want from the announcer that I'm
watching is talk to me like I'm a big boy.

(01:36:32):
Talk to me like I'm an adult in for me,
what's going on? If I turn that game on in
the seventh inning, right and the score is lobsided, I
expect there to be occasional resets as to the important
stuff happening in that game. And so, as a new viewer,

(01:36:53):
I need you to tell me this guy's working on
a no hitter. You will have no bearing on whether
or not he actually thrown. Again, I bring stuff up
like this, and I get acute, well, you jinxing. I've
been accused of jinxing stuff on social media. Before. I
just don't believe in Jinx's I'm not a very overly
superstitious person. I don't believe that I can alter the

(01:37:17):
I have any bearing over the outcome of something that
I'm not actively participating in. So what I want from
the announcer is tell me what's going on in the game.
And what's going on in the game is a no hitter.
If Nick Martinez would have given up zero hits, we
wouldn't have said Nick Martinez against the Padres through nine

(01:37:40):
innings of baseball without giving up a hit. Or he
faced so and so above the minimum, or he retired
twenty seven batters. No, we'd say he threw a no hitter.
So use that language and tell me what's same for
Spencer's tire. He's coming up, he said. Three homers the
last read to hit four in a game with Scooter Janet.
So many players have hit four homers in a game.

(01:38:02):
He would be the second guy this year to do it.
At Uhaneos Juarez hit four for the Diamondbacks this season.
I'm an adult. Tell the adult what's going on in
the game. Stop worrying about jinxing stuff, So John, I said,
Wade Miley threw a no hitter in twenty twenty one.
I said the exact same thing. I watched that game
on TV. I remember coming in after cutting my grass.

(01:38:24):
The Reds were winning the Guardians, I think they were
the Guardians at that point, had no runs, and John
Sadak says, Wade Miley is working on a no hitter.
And I said on the air the next day, or
maybe it was the next Monday. Thankfully, John Sadak was
okay with referring to a no hitter, and guess what,
Wade Miley that night threw a no hitter and it

(01:38:46):
was awesome and it was okay to acknowledge it. Jinxes
are not real, But your chance to win tickets to
go see the Reds and Marlins in a postgame Old
Dominion concert are. We're looking for contestants five one, three, seven,
four nine, fifteen thirty eight six six seven zero two
three seven seven six looking for a contestant. We're going

(01:39:08):
to test your shared knowledge of or your knowledge of
the shared history between the Reds and Red Sox. Next
after sports Headlines on ESPN fifteen.

Speaker 5 (01:39:18):
Thirty, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty, Traffic from.

Speaker 6 (01:39:24):
The UC Health traffic center. The University of Cincinnati Cancer
Center has the most comprehensive blood cancer center in the nation.
The future of cancer care is here called five one three,
five eighty five UCCC northbound seventy one. The lut lane
blocked from an accident at Montgomery Road. Looking at a
fifteen minute delay back from Norwood Lateral southbound seventy one

(01:39:47):
seventy five. The entrance ramp from Twelfth Street partially blocked
off by a disabled vehicle. I'm at ezelic with traffic.

Speaker 8 (01:39:55):
This report is sponsored ESPN fifteen thirty Sports Headlines Service
at Kelsey Chevrolet, home of lifetime power train protection and
guarantee credit approval from their family to yours for.

Speaker 2 (01:40:06):
Life, Kelsey chev dot Com, red Zen Red Sox at
historic Fenway Park Tonight, seven to ten. First pitch, Chase
Burns set to make his second big League start against
lefty Garrett Crochet, who's having an excellent season with an
ERA of two oh six. Here are the action live
on seven hundred. Wlw's starting lineup tonight, Friedel's and center
McLean's at second. Ellie is playing shortstop. Austin Hayes is

(01:40:29):
dhing Spencer steer and left. It says here. It says here,
Tyler Stevenson is catching the way I wrote Stevenson, it
looks like Stapleton. Tyler Stevenson is catching and batting sixth
heinz and right field cees at first, espinall at third.
Ian Jabo back on the injured list with a shoulder

(01:40:51):
impingement third time this year. Joela Sorsa up from Triple
A Louisville. Congratulations to Spencer Steer Spear for the second
time in his career a career named National League Player
of the Week. Had five twenty two last week with
three homers all in one game, seven RBIs, a double,

(01:41:12):
a walk, five run scored, a nine to fifty seven
slugging percentage and a five twenty on bays percentage. On
top of all of that. Congratulations to Sal Stewart and
Alfredo Dunno or is it Dunio? Both are going to
be in the Futures Game, which for some reason has
played at four o'clock in a Saturday afternoon That doesn't

(01:41:34):
make any sense. Red's farm hands If you will time
for today's Postman Law. Injury reported is delivered by Postman Law.
If you're injured. Postman delivers Hunter Green's going to start
throwing off a mount in Boston this week as he
comes back from his right groin strain. I mentioned Ian
Jabou Jake Freeley, this is going to be interesting. Has
had a courtizone shot in his injured shoulder and he

(01:41:57):
is going to stay in Cincinnati while the team is
on the road and then begin rehab. He is gonna
have to have surgery at the end of the season,
but they believe with a tear in his right laborm
that the courtizone shot should be enough to allow him
to continue playing. Let's see Graham Ashcraft has thrown a
couple of bullpen sessions. He's set to throw a simulated

(01:42:17):
game in Boston this week. Noelve Marte is five for
eighteen at Chattanooga, but he has a hit in each
of his last four. Went three for three for six
in Chattanooga's double header yesterday, including a game tying hit
with two outs in the last inning. And what else
do we have? Connor Joe is still on the injured
list with hand, foot and mouth disease. That is today's

(01:42:38):
Postman Law. Injury Reported is delivered by Postman Law. If
you're injured called eight four to four postman. Evander has
been named to has been voted MLS Player of the
Match Day for scoring two goals in FC Cincinnati's two
to one win over Orlando on Saturday, And the Pittsburgh
Steelers have acquired cornerback Jalen Ramsey and tight end John
new Smith from the Miami Dolphins in exchange for safety

(01:43:01):
Minca Fitzpatrick. There you have it. There are your local
sports headlines. All right, what else do we have? We're
giving away tickets Red's Marlins a week from Thursday, and
there's a postgame. I was gonna say, gonna say Diamond
Rio Concert, not Diamond Rio old dominion. I should have
played music there. I didn't. So we're gonna give away

(01:43:23):
tickets to our friend here hopefully give away tickets to
our friend Mark. Mark. You're on ESPN fifteen thirty. Are
you ready to attempt to win tickets to this magical
night at GABP a week from thursday?

Speaker 10 (01:43:35):
I'm ready? All right?

Speaker 2 (01:43:36):
Are you your big Reds fan, knowledgeable Reds fan, smart
Reds fan?

Speaker 15 (01:43:40):
I'd like to think so. We'll find out.

Speaker 2 (01:43:42):
Are you really good at just taking wild guests? As
a questions you don't know the answer to.

Speaker 15 (01:43:47):
I'm just gonna fix see.

Speaker 2 (01:43:48):
Probably, Well, let's see how you do. We have five
questions related to the shared history of the Reds and
Red Sox, and says, you know the Reds are playing
in Boston this week. You have to get three. We
had a five correct. Are you ready? Let's go all
right here? Question number one? Oh, we got the music
and everything, all right? This Former Reds gold glover played

(01:44:12):
with the Boston Red Sox in his final big league season,
which was two thousand and four. Hear the Red Sox
won their first World Series since nineteen eighteen, and he
appeared for them in every postseason game. Former Reds gold
glove winner appeared for the Red Sox in every one
of their postseason games in two thousand and four. Was
it a Todd Walker, B Sean Casey or C Pokey Reeves?

Speaker 16 (01:44:38):
Sean Casey?

Speaker 2 (01:44:39):
Was it Sean Casey? No, Hookey Reees. Hokey Reeves got
a ring with the Red Sox in two thousand and four.
That's okay, Mark, You still have four questions left. You've
got to get three. Are you ready for question number two?

Speaker 16 (01:44:54):
I'm ready?

Speaker 2 (01:44:54):
All right? This guy pitched against the Reds in the
nineteen seventy five World Series and would later come to
Cincinnati to serve as the Reds pitching coach. Was it
a Dick Pole, b Rick Wise or C. Dick Drago.

Speaker 15 (01:45:14):
Dick Pole?

Speaker 2 (01:45:15):
Was it Dick Pole? Can I get a Dick Pole?
Tarn Yes, Dick Pole, Red's pitching coach from seven through
two thousand and nine. All right, you gotta get two more.
Here we go question number three. This man played for
both the Boston Red Sox during the nineteen eighty eight
postseason and for the Reds during the nineteen ninety postseason.

(01:45:37):
Was it a Bill Doran, B. Billy Hatcher or C.
Todd Benzinger?

Speaker 10 (01:45:45):
Who was the first one?

Speaker 2 (01:45:47):
Bill Doran, A B. Billy Hatcher or C. Todd Benzinger?
Bill Doran, the Bill Dorran Todd Benzinger remember the Boston
Red Sox in nineteen eighty eight when they lost in
four to the A's and of course caught the last
out for the Reds in the nineteen ninety World Series.
That is okay, Mark, but you gotta be perfect the
rest of the way. Are you ready for question number four?

(01:46:09):
I'm ready, Terry Francona is one of two men who
have managed both the Reds and the Red Sox. Who
is the other? A Davy Johnson, B vern rap or C.
John McNamara, John McNamara, John McNamara tarn Yes. John McNamara
managed the Reds in the nineteen seventy nine NLCS and

(01:46:32):
he managed the Red Sox in the nineteen eighty six
World Series. All right, last question. This is for all
the marbles. These are for the tickets, the concert and
the bag of cash that comes with it. Quick note,
no bag of cash comes with it. Are you ready?

Speaker 16 (01:46:45):
I'm ready?

Speaker 6 (01:46:47):
All right?

Speaker 2 (01:46:48):
This Reds Hall of Famer started sixteen games for the
Red Sox in nineteen eighty six, which was the year
that Bill Buckner made a colossal airr in Game six
of the World Series, helping Boston loose to New York.
So this Reds Hall of Famer was on that Boston
team in nineteen eighty six. Was it a Tony Perez,

(01:47:11):
B Tom Sever or C. Joe Morgan.

Speaker 9 (01:47:19):
Tony Perez?

Speaker 2 (01:47:20):
Was it Tony Perez Tarren? I have to ask Rob
Salt and Mark. I'm sorry it was Tom Sever. Tom
Sever pitched in sixteen games for the Boston Red Sox
in nineteen eighty six. My apologies that we appreciate your participation.

Speaker 10 (01:47:36):
Nonetheless, no problem, Thank you, Mark.

Speaker 2 (01:47:40):
Thank you. I feel bad. We should have like consolation
prizes for people, you know, like folks go on game
shows and they have a chance to win a car
and they they don't win, and they get like a
board game or something. We should have We should have
consolation prizes, all right, Uh tarn line one or line four.
You're Carl. Hey, Jeremy, you did absolutely nothing, but you've

(01:48:03):
won tickets to the game next Thursday. Congratulations, there you go.
Jeremy's very very excited. Old Dominions coming to Great American
Ballpark July tenth as part of the Ohio Lottery postgame
concert series Reds and Marlins five ten. First pitch and
then everybody in attendance can stick around and enjoy a
set from Old Dominion and and you can upgrade your

(01:48:25):
ticket to a field pass pitfield pass and be right
up close to the stage. Get tickets and info at
Reds dot com slash Concerts. Reds dot com slash Concerts
will have one more pair to give away tomorrow. I
don't know that We'll do more Reds Red Sox Trivia.

(01:48:46):
It is seventeen away from six o'clock on Moeger. This
is ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 5 (01:48:52):
Station, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 4 (01:48:57):
Traffic from the UC Help Traffic Center.

Speaker 6 (01:49:00):
UCCC northbound seventy one at Montgomery Road left lane remains
blocked off from an accident. Traffic backed up from Smith
Edwards with a twenty minute delay, and southbound seventy one

(01:49:23):
to seventy five disabled vehicle on the ramp from Twelfth Street.

Speaker 2 (01:49:29):
This report Jalen Ramsey and john Us Smith, and I'm
not gonna say that neither player has no value. I
feel like John Us Smith's season last year with the
Dolphins was an outlier. And Jalen Ramsey, while a guy

(01:49:49):
who's at a terrific career and is a big name,
I'm gonna guess his best years are behind him as well.
We will see, but that's what's going on in the NFL.
Micka Fitzpatrick is off to Miami. Bengals will see him
in December when they played the Dolphins, because that's the
team that MIKEA. Fitzpatrick has been traded too. By the way,

(01:50:10):
we talked last week about Elie della Cruz and you know,
whether or not he should participate in the Home Run Derby,
and my take on it was if he wants to
be in it, great and if he doesn't want to
be in it, that's fine too. You will find players
who have gone on to have great success in the
second half of the season after participating in the home

(01:50:31):
run Derby, and you'll have players who have fallen off
a cliffs statistically after participating in the home run Derby,
and the player will say the derby was not a factor.
And you'll have players who say, you know, I participated
in the home run Derby and my second half struggles

(01:50:53):
can be attributed to participating in the home runner anyway. Ellie,
I guess was and has declined an invitation, and he's
you know, first of all, he has acknowledged that the
time is going to come. In fact, that's his direct quote,
the time is going to come, but not now. And

(01:51:14):
that is totally fine. In fact, I think there's there's
something mature. We talked about Ellie Dela Cruz are really
mature at Bad in the ninth enning yesterday. I think
there's something about that. I can understand why a player
like Ellie would feel the pressure to be in an
event like that, and I could also see why a
player like Ellie would feel a poll I feel a

(01:51:34):
desire to be in an event like that, but sometimes
the best thing you could say is no, especially if
you're being spread a little bit too thin. Ellie has
played in every game for this team. He's also he
also lost his sister earlier this year. I feel like

(01:51:57):
there's still a very good chance that he has selected
for the game. If he's not selected for a game,
he gets four days off. If he is selected for
the game, then you know, it's a little bit different
just playing in the game and he's not going to
be a starter and getting in for an ending or
two and doing that, but also being in the home
run derby and he'd chosen to be in at number one,
I'd be rooting for him number two. Fine, But I

(01:52:18):
think there's something kind of mature about the person who says,
you know what, in this instance, while I'm sure it's tempting,
and while I'm sure he would love to compete on
that stage, which frankly has become a bigger stage than
the All Star Game itself, sometimes the right thing to
do is to say no. Sometimes a lot of people

(01:52:39):
taught for Asia. I've talked with him about this. In
twenty fifteen, he was not only in the Home Run Derby,
but if you remember, he was named as the Reds
All Star Game Ambassador, and you know, obviously he authored
what for most of us is the greatest home run

(01:53:01):
Derby of all time. I think him winning the Home
Run Derby is one of the coolest moments in the
history of GABP. And you might say, well, that's also
a reflection effect that GABP hasn't had that many awesome moments.
But not only was he in the Home Run Derby,
but he was in the game. And then I asked

(01:53:25):
him about this at an event two years ago, because
in the second half last year, prior for that year,
prior to the All Star Break, Todd Fraser had twenty
five home runs with an ops of nine to twenty
two in the second half of the season, he had
ten home runs with an ops of six sixty four.

(01:53:49):
And I did. We did an event with Todd Fraser
two years ago for the Home Run Derby, and I
asked him at the event. I think I may have
asked him on the air promoting the event, like did
it wear you out? And his answer was, and I'm
paraphrasing him here, the Home Run Derby in and of
itself did not wear me out. The fact that I

(01:54:11):
said yes to everything from like Sunday to Wednesday did
wear me out. And if you remember, they played the
game on Tuesday, and like, he went to New Jersey
with Mike Trout on Wednesday and got away for like
the second half of the All Star Break. And I
asked him, like, all right, the Home Run Derby, like

(01:54:32):
that had to be physically exhausting, and he said it was.
But what really took a toll was I didn't say
no to anything, and he like outlined it for us.
He's like, I went to something on Sunday night when
the Reds were not even in town. He's like, I
had a sponsor thing on Monday, and then an MLB
thing on Monday, and then there was this dinner on Monday,

(01:54:55):
and then there were two events on Tuesday, and then
the derby on Tuesday, and then another event on Wednesday,
and then the I'm Sorry the Home Run Derby was
on a Monday, and then then like the All Star
Game itself on Tuesday, the Red Carpet an event that morning,
and event that and he's like, I just I didn't
say no to anything. I said yes to everything, and

(01:55:15):
there were some things I was obligated to do. But
he said, my biggest mistake was I just said yes
to everything because they felt like I had to. And
he goes, if I could do it all over again,
and I'm paraphrasing him here, is like I'd be in
the Home Run Derby. It was fun. I would have
said no to a lot of the other stuff. I
don't know what other opportunities Ellie Dela Cruz may have

(01:55:36):
surrounding the All Star Game. But sometimes you gotta say
no to stuff. Sometimes that it's really hard to do
because either you're saying no to stuff that you would
really love to do but you know it might not
be best for you, or you say yes to stuff
because you feel like you have to. I think it's
cool that Ellie Dela Cruz doesn't feel like he has

(01:55:58):
to say yes to the home Runner when you and
I both know there are a lot of people who
want to see him in the Home Run Derby and
there's some probably some cool branding opportunities that can come
out of participating in and winning the Home Run Derby,
and Ellie says, you know there will be a time
he'll want to be in it, but good for him

(01:56:19):
for saying no. And it makes sense because he's uh,
he's big to this team in the second half of
the season. We've said it all along, the Red Stars
need to perform like stars. Ellie Dela Cruz over the
last month has performed like a star, and he certainly
did that at Bad on the top of the night
inning yesterday. All credit to the guys who got the
game tying hit. In the game winning hit, the tone

(01:56:41):
was set by an awesome at bat by Ellie Dela Cruz.
Hopefully he has four or five more of those Tonight.
Music means the show is over. Danner's not here tomorrow,
but we're working on a good NFL guest recapping Reds
and Red Sox and so much more. Missed anything it's
on the iHeartRadio at podcast of this show a service

(01:57:04):
of Long Neck Sports Grill. Fourth of July weekend post
up at Long Necks or Hell. June thirtieth post up
at Longnecks. Wilder Hebron and Rich Wood U follow on
Twitter at Moegger. Don't forget since he three p sixty
with Austin Elmore and Tony Pike tomorrow at noon. We
look forward to that. I didn't get into Spencer Steer's

(01:57:25):
new Reds motto or slogan, slogan which is mow your
own grass. What major League Baseball player mows his own grass?
Maybe we'll spend some time on that as well. Have
a great night, Thanks for listening, and thanks to Tania
for producing. This is ESPN fifteen thirty Man The Summer

(01:57:53):
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