12/25/25: The SportsTalk Year in Review for 2025

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Oh, let's get it going. Good morning, Merry Christmas, and
welcome in to this excursion, our yearly gathering. They bring
together four bright minds, the four brightest minds in Cincinnati
Sports in one room.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
Who's the fourth?

Speaker 1 (00:25):
We always say somebody should be left behind in case
something happens to all of us, because if that's the key,
is the designated survivors left the seg or or Chad Brendles,
and that could get really merry Christmas everybody. Our task
this morning is to uh reset, walk through, recap the

(00:46):
year in Cincinnati sports, and look ahead to twenty twenty six.
Lance Pacallister, Moeger, Tony Pike, Austin Elmore. We are all
decked out in our in our Christmas footy pajamas. Tony
has a scarf, Austin has an elf, hat Mo has
sleigh bells, and I'm wearing a Santa Claus beard. And

(01:08):
we're already a sight for what is about credible? What
is about to unfold? We joke, but one of these
years we are going to do whether it's Meredith who
agrees or Molly agrees, We're going to do this from
somebody's living room. Awesome, Perhaps going to be rock paper
scissors to decide who gets it.

Speaker 2 (01:25):
Well, Tony's'll be the noisiest, Yes will mine this morning,
I could assure you. Whatever we're doing, Taylor Swift is
a part of it, so you'll hear that. So you
have grown kids, Austin has no kids. So it depends
on how much chaos we want.

Speaker 3 (01:40):
True, my kids aren't allowed to open anything until we
all sit down and listen to this show in its entirety.

Speaker 2 (01:45):
You're not gonna open them as you listen to this show.

Speaker 3 (01:47):
Nope. Wow, they're just gonna sit. They're sitting and watching
and listening.

Speaker 1 (01:50):
See, our household doesn't Christmas doesn't begin. I've said this.
We always used to negotiate the time Christmas would start
because they'd want to get up. Casey and Peyton would
want to get up at five and run down the hall.
Now we're to the point where we have to dootiate
Casey actually getting up to open the Presence or he'd
sleep to one.

Speaker 2 (02:07):
So see, you're lucky because you escaped the Elf on
the shelf. Tony and I have been been practicing for
almost four weeks because of Elf on the shelf.

Speaker 4 (02:19):
How many times have you been laying in bed and realize,
oh crap, I forgot, so my wife check on the elf.

Speaker 2 (02:25):
My wife and I usually have a you know, meeting
at night, like who's doing tonight. The day we're recording this,
I woke up at seven o'clock in a panic, in
a panic, and it's like I had to go into
the room next door and get the stuff. And I
don't want to spoil this for anybody who may be listening,
but I had to go get the stuff, take it
to another room, write the note, and as soon as

(02:46):
I got done, she came downstairs.

Speaker 3 (02:47):
My wife despises the elf, and at the start of it,
I was like, well, I'll do it. Yeah, how hard
can this be? It's awful.

Speaker 2 (02:54):
Yes, it's unbelievable. I spend my day furiously like looking
up elf ideas.

Speaker 3 (03:00):
Yesterday I had a string going from our banister to
our tree, and our elf was just riding down this string.
Not sure why not sue? So that was like and
then the very next day, it's like the elf is
sitting on the table because I forget I'm either elaborate
or right. The kids are coming downstairs, and I gotta
throw that thing somewhere. Yes, Magic of Christmas.

Speaker 1 (03:18):
Let's get to it. We've broken this down into segments.
It's very researched, very very well structured and prepared, and
then we're just gonna blow the whole thing up. We'll
start with the high points. I figure we start high
and then work our way down short of segment. Yeah,
exactly right. The high points of Cincinnati Sports twenty twenty five.
I'll throw out the Reds, who made the postseason for

(03:39):
the first time since twenty thirteen. It was a season
and a journey where I think people gave up on
the Reds about seventeen times at various points during the season,
and then late in the season we were scoreboard watching,
got some help from the Mets, but the Cincinnati Reds
in twenty twenty five actually made the postseason in a
full season for the first time since twenty thirteen.

Speaker 2 (03:59):
Cockroaches couldn't kill. I remember walking out of the ballpark
that Friday before the NFL season started. They lost that
Friday game against the Mets, fell six back, and it's like,
all right, well, they literally got us to football season.
Tony and I talked about that a lot, like they
literally got us to football season. And then quietly without
a lot of people paying attention. They won the next
two games and kind of took off from there.

Speaker 3 (04:19):
There was this cool debut series of Chase Burns or not,
like it felt like every team he started against was
a perennial contender, Like the hardest start to your career
you could ever have. But I think it, unfortunately says
kind of the landscape of Cincinnati sports in the last
year that when you talk about high points, we talk
about Savannah Bananas came into town and a high school

(04:40):
football game in pouring rain that brought twenty two thousand
plus down to downtown Cincinnati. I mean, that was incredible
in itself, but there wasn't as many high points as
maybe we've had in years past. But certainly Sayex and
Elder and what they did. You think about what that
game would have been if it was nice weather, holy cow,

(05:00):
or if they had planned it.

Speaker 1 (05:01):
From the planet from the g y and the thing
that started with seven thousand at Mason from the initial
plan it turns into twenty two thousand plus.

Speaker 3 (05:08):
Incredible.

Speaker 4 (05:08):
Yeah, going back to the Reds, the thing for me
is like, for the first time in a long time,
it felt like they were actually trying. It felt like
there was an energy about them, whether it be getting
rid of jam or Candelario calling up Chase Burns, moving
guys around, making trades at the deadline. There was an
energy about the Reds this year that I appreciated. And
obviously it fizzled out towards the end in the playoffs,

(05:30):
but for the first time in a while, you felt
that energy around the ball club again, which I was
excited about.

Speaker 1 (05:36):
And that night with Burns, I mean the anticipation and
the build up and just the short of time from
the time they drafted into He's on a Major League
mount of Great American Ballpark facing the Yankees, and there
was electricity that was almost like Homer Bailey debut, like
Jay Bruce debut, like Roman Yeah, a Rollers Chapman. It
felt big that night, and against the big bad Yankees

(05:58):
for his debut.

Speaker 2 (05:58):
Yeah, And to me, I just think of that the
number of times they would lose a game, and this
goes back to the middle of the summer, the number
of times they would lose a game and you go, Okay,
that's it, and you know, we it got to the
point that we sort of made fun of it, but
they never got swept in a series. You know, right,
never got swept. But you can't lose four, five, six, seven,
eight in a row if you don't get swept in
a series. That team found a way to stay afloat

(06:20):
to the very end, and they made the postseason. They
were very quickly swept out of the postseason. Didn't really
feel like they participated in the postseason. But to have
something like that in September, which has been so few
and far between this century, was a lot of fun.

Speaker 3 (06:34):
It made you appreciate what the crowds in the atmosphere
can be, and the team's competitive in Cincinnati just going
down to the ballpark. I remember the was that the
Pirates came in late in town and I'm sitting there
at the dinner table like I got to take the
kids down, like you don't know when this is going
to happen. And the environments were awesome, and you know,
I equated him many times on the show this year

(06:55):
to like a boxer who it feels like he's about
to get knocked out, he somehow survives the right then
he comes back out the next round and he's back
in it. It felt like that ten different times this season.
With the Cincinnati Rep.

Speaker 4 (07:05):
I went to twenty five Reds games in four states
this summer, and obviously they didn't play Bristol, including Bristol,
which was a disaster in and of itself that we'll
get to. But it was just a fun team that
drew you in. They didn't always play in a fun way,
but they drew you in and it made you wonder, Okay,
what is the Francona era actually going to look like

(07:27):
by the time it's all said and done.

Speaker 1 (07:28):
And FC Cincinnati is going to show up later on
a list of low points. But the fact that they
knock out the Columbus Crew in a three game series
and Brenner scores twice, that was like the first step
in what everybody thought, all right, they're going to the
MLS Championship and then we'll get to the low point later.
But that moment with him against that team, that's like
a Bengals Steeler moment when it's f C Cincinnati the

(07:51):
Crew and they knocked him out of the playoffs.

Speaker 2 (07:52):
So fars is after losing to them in the Eastern
Final two years prior, they lose Game two and just
got absolutely smoked. Yep, somebody who's a Cincinnati sports fan
felt like that was Okay, they missed their chance to
win up there. Now Columbus is going to come back
here and win. Really, that entire season, the regular season
was such a high point because it started so weird,
right they trade away an MVP yep, and then they

(08:14):
get an MVP candidate.

Speaker 4 (08:16):
Pat Noonan's done a great job.

Speaker 2 (08:17):
I know things fizzled out with the way they played
against Miami, but the night that they beat Columbus, I
just I'm so excited for Major League Soccer to adjust
its calendar because that got buried amid all the other stuff.
But for diehard fans of that club, that was a
special night.

Speaker 3 (08:32):
I think one of the high points, along with just
the season, is what that organization continues to do, because
it never feels like with FC Cincinnati that they just
go all in for one year and then you'll worry
about the rest. Like they they have a plan. They're
going to continue to be aggressive, not just for the
season they're in, but they're going to be aggressive for
the future as well, and I think that gives you
confidence as a fan to know, Okay, this organization is

(08:54):
going to try to win year in and year out.

Speaker 1 (08:56):
All right, those are some of the high points.

Speaker 2 (08:57):
We didn't even mention. The Bengals a is a high point.

Speaker 1 (08:59):
And the return of Joe Burrow and how everybody thought
he had written they started doing.

Speaker 2 (09:04):
Oh, got to get off to a fast start.

Speaker 4 (09:05):
That's my point.

Speaker 3 (09:07):
Show's over.

Speaker 1 (09:07):
Let's go perfect transition into low points as we continue.
MO Tony Austin, I'm Lance, thanks for hanging out with this.
Merry Christmas, Thanks for hanging out with us on this
Christmas morning at Sports Talk the Year and Review and
look Ahead Show on seven hundred WLW Mary Christmas and

(09:31):
welcome back in to Sports Talk The Year and Review
and look Ahead Show, Fine tuned with precision by executive
producer Drew Wester Hiding just a flow to this show.

Speaker 4 (09:43):
Good for Tony Bender to finally have a Christmas morning off.

Speaker 3 (09:46):
Yeah, go to Tony by the way.

Speaker 2 (09:48):
One of the biggest parts of twenty twenty five the
rise of Drewby. Yeah, through Western Heidi, that's right, right,
the ascension of Drewby.

Speaker 4 (09:56):
And our building. He's been all over the place.

Speaker 1 (09:58):
Yes, we're serving this morning.

Speaker 3 (10:01):
I'm just happy to be here.

Speaker 2 (10:02):
Breakfast cocktails are right, that's.

Speaker 3 (10:06):
The point a couple of months ago. I didn't know
if I'd be doing this show today.

Speaker 4 (10:11):
Yeah, is that part of the low points we're gonna
gets at the top of the list.

Speaker 1 (10:16):
Wait a minute, we're gonna have to insert this into
my unofficial rundown.

Speaker 4 (10:22):
It says here the Lost Weekend. There was also the
lost job.

Speaker 1 (10:29):
Oh man, I completely blanked on that one, so did.

Speaker 2 (10:33):
The people who let Tony go.

Speaker 1 (10:36):
Let's uh, let's go to the Lost Weekend. It was
November twenty first through the twenty third, and let's see,
in a matter of how many hours, you see loses
Downtown to Louisville in basketball, you see loses to BYU,
with Big Monday in town and hopes and dreams of
a Big twelve championship dancing in our minds. The Bengals

(10:57):
lose to the Patriots, and FC Cincinnati gets blown out
by Messi in Miami four nil, all in a period
of what forty eight sixty hours, and the devastration and
destruction left behind. Everything was in rubble at that point.

Speaker 4 (11:11):
Well, to pick up with from what we said in
the last segment, like after since an FC Cincinnati had
beaten Columbus, there was a lot of confidence because they
had owned Miami in the last couple of meetings, including
with or without MESSI. So you're feeling great about that
energy all over downtown and you get your face bashed in.

Speaker 2 (11:28):
I remember we were wondering which of those games do
you feel most confident in?

Speaker 3 (11:33):
Everyone said up C Cincinnati.

Speaker 2 (11:35):
Everybody said FC Cincinnati.

Speaker 4 (11:37):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (11:37):
I didn't feel great about UC beating Louisville. Although I
loved how they played in the first half, I didn't
really think they would beat BYU counting on the Bengals
as a fool's errand so yeah, I for it to
unfold the way they did. And I think you could
tell when we went to bed on Friday night, It's like,
all right, the Bearcats lost to Louisville. It ain't gonna
get any better this weekend.

Speaker 3 (11:55):
If I could go back to that night, I would
happily take that UC basketball team. Yeah, the way I
felt about them even after a loss. Like I remember
leaving the arena and I said this to Mo. I
hated how many people were content with a ten point law.
It was like, well, we competed, played hard against Louisville.
I'm like, man, is that where this program is at
and then the U see and I know it's it's

(12:16):
the loss to BYU with big newon kickoff, but it's
really the microcosm of what happened down the stretch for
the Cincinnati Bearcats. There's the low point seven straight wins
and I drank the kool aid. I liked what they
were doing on offense. I liked the pieces they had
special teams was elite, and you're thinking, man, they could
compete to play in Dallas for a Big twelve championship.
And then it was a complete collapse down the stretch.

(12:40):
Just more pain for for Cincinnati Bearcat fans.

Speaker 2 (12:44):
The moment show Heyo Tani stepped in the batter's box
in Game one against the against the against the Dodgers
was a low point.

Speaker 3 (12:53):
Say, when Hunter bounced the ball about eight foot and
for eight feet in front of him.

Speaker 2 (12:56):
I love Hunter Green, but when he took him deep
and hit the ball about five hundred feet, it was
like Eric Davis against the A's where you just knew
and it was the same thing you just kind of
knew Best of three series they have notes.

Speaker 1 (13:09):
It was that classic. The ball sounds different coming off
the bat. I'll never forget when show Hey hit the ball,
I jumped. It was so loud off the bat. And
that's after Blake Snell had used a total of I
think eight pitches to retire the Reds in the top
of the first and just it was like that smack
of reality, like welcome to major League Baseball and the

(13:29):
Los Angeles died.

Speaker 3 (13:30):
We're thinking, like, all right, now he's going to settle in.
You know, he gave up the big one. Now he
can settle in. And it didn't happen.

Speaker 4 (13:37):
To go back to that lost weekend, the Bengals were
playing the Patriots. They were doing so without Jamar Chase,
because the previous week Jamar Chase had spit on Jalen
Ramsey and that was a hot topic. And then meanwhile,
there's the idea that Burrow could actually come back for
the Patriots game. He ends up being held out and
the Bengals played one of their best games of the
season against one of the best teams in the AFC.

(14:00):
And that's one of those what ifs. If Burrow had played,
if Chase had played, had the Bengals won that game?
Does this season turn out a lot different?

Speaker 3 (14:08):
It's, unfortunately a season of what ifs, and every loss
was a what if? Yeah, you know you you Bears, Jets, Vikings.

Speaker 1 (14:16):
I went back this morning and looked and how they
gave up. And I know the defense has been bad,
but they give up forty eight points to Curson Wentz
in the Minnesota Vikings. You just look at some games
that they like what the Jet happened?

Speaker 5 (14:28):
The Jets just the fields and the Jets like the
Bills where you have it like And it wasn't until
the Buffalo game where I allowed myself to buy back
in that they're just like, this is in Buffalo, it's
in the snow. Burrow's back, they can do this, that
they can go on this run that everyone has talked about.
Mixed that in with the race like it's it's so
many times, I feel like with so many Cincinnati sports,

(14:50):
and you can equate it to the Reds where they
lose a game and you say that's gonna be one
that comes back to bite them at the end.

Speaker 2 (14:56):
The Burrow injury obviously a low point, but you even
came out of that. Okay, they're two and zero and
Jake Browning will keep them afloat. And then they got
destroyed against Minnesota and he kind of thought, all right,
a lot of weird stuff happened in that game. They
went to Denver and the Broncos were one and two,
and you're like, you know what, get this one three
and one. Then they've got some cushion because you're talking
about like just by time to mid December, right, just
keep it afloat till mid December in what already felt

(15:19):
like a down AFC. And they got throttled that night,
and Jake Browning looked like an Arena league quarterback. To me,
there were all the losses Chicago, the Jets game, how
they lost to Baltimore, and how they lost to the Bills,
the Patriots, But that night against Denver, I think to
me was so sobering because you looked at this and said, Okay,
Plan B a QB isn't gonna work. They're gonna have
to find somebody else.

Speaker 1 (15:40):
I remember when Joe goes down limps off the field
the next day, and then we had to deal with
the onslaught of everybody diagnosing what it was and how
long he was going to be out, and then running
the numbers, thinking all right, if he does come back late,
if they can, if it's eight nine games. Can they
go four and four? Can they go four and five,
five and four? Somehow? Stay in and to see what

(16:01):
Jake Browning. The collapse of Jake Browning. Yeah, you talk
about a lobit, and we're talking about a guy who
had an opportunity a runway in a free agent year
to have a big chunk of the season and he
did nothing.

Speaker 4 (16:13):
Not even close to the same player that took over
for Joe Burrow at the end of twenty twenty three.
I mean, he played that one game against the Steelers
in twenty three where it was like, Okay, that wasn't
very good, but after that he was a viable NFL quarterback.
He was never even close to that in this season.

Speaker 3 (16:29):
It's the most frustrating thing about Cincinnati sports is we're
always talking ourselves into something. If they can just win,
you know, three out of the next four how many
times with the Reds, is it, Well, if they can
sweep this weekend, they're only three back in the wild card.
It's never like midway late in the season you're like, oh,
we're playing for playoff seating.

Speaker 2 (16:47):
Right, They're never playing from a head.

Speaker 3 (16:48):
Same thing with UC basketball, like they're in the tournament.
Now we're playing for seeding. It's always you need a.

Speaker 4 (16:54):
Run in the tournament.

Speaker 3 (16:56):
Yes, well the crown, the un there's a lot of
them now, any one of the tournament.

Speaker 4 (17:00):
Now. Even Terry Francona tried to talk himself into Ian
Jabou being the closer on opening day and that didn't work.
I want to talk him to that low point.

Speaker 2 (17:08):
I will never forget the sound in the ballpark when
that gate flung open and here comes I mean, I
like people were like tapping each other, weren't even paying
attention to the games, Like we're winning, right, Is he
the closer this year? Like? I don't think so. You
talk about low moments for everybody but Jamer Candelario. Yeah,
when they had to end the Jamer Candelario experiment, you
talk about one of the failed signings in the recent

(17:30):
and not so.

Speaker 1 (17:30):
Recent twenty two million.

Speaker 3 (17:33):
See.

Speaker 4 (17:33):
I considered that a high point when they let Jamber go,
because I was like, Okay, we're done with that.

Speaker 2 (17:37):
You talk about like talking ourselves into things. If you
listen to God love Tommy Thrall and Jeff Brantley, but
they were selling it hard during the Cactus League. Jamer
looks like he's in great shape. He's rededicated himself to baseball,
like rededicated himself.

Speaker 4 (17:49):
I remember when Matt McClain looked like Barry Larkin in
the Cactus League this year. That was pretty good.

Speaker 2 (17:53):
I think of low points. I also think of folks
we lost in Cincinnati sports. You know Rudy Johnson way
too young, Dave park Arker right before he goes into
the National Baseball Hall of Fame, Davy Johnson, the last
manager of a Reds team to make an LCS. Our friend,
Bob Trumpy, our friend Jim Kelly. Yeah, just you know,
people that made such an indelible mark on sports in

(18:14):
this town. And it just felt like there was this
run during the middle of the year where we lost
so many of them.

Speaker 4 (18:19):
No doubt, no doubt.

Speaker 1 (18:21):
Let's take a time out. Let's continue with best individual
game performances by players. There were some of those that
might include talking about the shootout, so be prepared.

Speaker 3 (18:31):
I got to step out for a few minutes.

Speaker 1 (18:32):
What Tony Austin Lance, Merry Christmas, everybody at SportsTalk the
Year and Review and look Ahead show on seven hundred
WLW Mary Christmas, Everybody welcome in. Thanks for hanging out
with us and sharing your Christmas morning with us. Moegor,

(18:56):
Tony Pike, Austin Elmore, Lance but Cantlester, SportsTalk, the Year
and Review and the Look a Head show. Do uh
we have a quick side note. We have a like
a fake electric fireplace which I have. I don't believe
we've turned on in a decade or so. Does anybody
use the YouTube fireplace log up on your TV? As
you're looking at you like, we don't know what that is?

Speaker 3 (19:17):
It's been on for three days in our house.

Speaker 1 (19:19):
Yeah, there's on. Go to YouTube. Am I gonna have
to teach you technology? Go to YouTube and google like
Christmas log you.

Speaker 3 (19:28):
Could find some with with music in the background.

Speaker 2 (19:30):
We've got eight TVs in this room. Can we do
it in here and like something happen here?

Speaker 1 (19:35):
A dog will run across the fireplace in front of
the fireplace or a cat. And you've never explained the.

Speaker 3 (19:42):
More power old ones that we do now as you
can turn your TV into like a big picture frame
too with a holiday scene framed holiday scene you just
searched that on YouTube.

Speaker 2 (19:50):
Understand the unending chaos that's going to be unfolding in
my house over a thirty six hour period. And that's
just with one kid that I'm gonna step aside and
turn on a.

Speaker 3 (19:59):
YouTube for the family a little bit.

Speaker 4 (20:02):
I think this.

Speaker 2 (20:04):
We actually have a real fireplace, the crackling of a fire.
You must be well, no, I don't cut what but
my daughter has asked here, if we have a fire,
how to Sanna get in can? So maybe I will
have to go to the YouTube fire.

Speaker 3 (20:17):
I don't know you're racking fire looking up you'll YouTube
put it on my computer.

Speaker 1 (20:22):
Yeah, all right, let's get to uh, let's look back.

Speaker 3 (20:27):
Through the best. Let's keep talking about.

Speaker 1 (20:32):
Let's get to the best individual game performances by players,
and let me get this one out there so we
could move on from it, because I know it'll be
devastating to to Tony. It's memories of Trey Carroll thirty
points seven rebounds in the shootout, which is perfect the
course in that game because every year one of the
storylines is which player will turn into performance nobody was expecting,

(20:53):
and Trey Carroll drops thirty and owned the shootout.

Speaker 3 (20:56):
And let's be honest, Xavier should feel lucky that that
game was played as early as it was, because if
the game is played later in the schedule, then wes
Miller would have had a chance to go over double
teaming the post in a practice.

Speaker 4 (21:06):
Yes, at some.

Speaker 3 (21:06):
Point, because when the game is played that early, you
don't get to go over things like double teaming the
post player when he's going off and no one can
guard him. But shout out to Trey Carroll because he like,
we've talked about but this before. How in this world
of nil and the portal, does the shootout mean as
much or do you understand the value of that game
in the history Trey Carroll did. Yes, the emotion that

(21:29):
he showed and the passion in which he played with
no one from UC matched that. So thirty seven, I
mean that that was incredible and uh, thankful for Xavier
that one later in the year.

Speaker 2 (21:39):
I will remember two things about this year's Skyline Chili
Crosstown shootout. One was how many Xavier fans in the
week up to it were like, just take it easy, honest,
oh god, you know he lost to Santa Clara by
a thousand points.

Speaker 4 (21:51):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (21:51):
And then the incredulous look on my face when I
heard wes Miller say, we haven't had time to double
the post. We han't that time to practice doubling the post.
Can't do it justice. You have a better chance of
me with the YouTube fire law.

Speaker 3 (22:04):
I remember I texted you I had a text mo
because I get fooled a lot on social media. Austin
can like I had a text mo. Like did he
really say that? Like, surely that's not a quote?

Speaker 1 (22:15):
It was AI generated.

Speaker 4 (22:16):
Yeah, it was real.

Speaker 3 (22:18):
It was real.

Speaker 4 (22:19):
But I don't know if you saw. Wes was talking
to Roy Williams the other day. Roy was explaining that
to him just the other day, of how to implement
that in practice.

Speaker 1 (22:27):
Yeah, what are the other finer performances of the year?
Joe Flacco and Joe Flacco arrived in this town and everybody.
The more he talked, the more people loved him because
he gave us insight that nobody had really heard beyond
just short soundbites of Joe Flacco as an opposing player
over the years. But Joe Flacco goes thirty one of
forty seven for four hundred and seventy yards. He'd never

(22:49):
thrown for four hundred in his career. He throws for
four seventy and four touchdowns on a Thursday night to
beat the Steelers.

Speaker 2 (22:55):
The Joe Flacco experience was fleeting but fun. I've become
such a fan of his, and he's a guy that
he never moved the needle for me, you know, which
is you know odd thinking all the years he played
against the Bengals. I didn't love him. I didn't hate him,
but you know, from the get go, he just you
could tell he just appreciated the absurdity of situation he
was in. You could tell that he was going to
embrace the opportunity. You could tell he was going to

(23:18):
approach it with a level of professionalism that was badly needed.
And that night against the Pittsburgh Steelers, it felt like,
it certainly felt like at the time, like a high point.
It felt like, all right, this is probably not sustainable.
But that was a blast that night watching him and
Aaron Rodgers go toe to toe. Jamar Chase was awesome
that night. T Higgins was really good that night. And

(23:38):
I think for most people, for most Bengals fans years
from now, when you hear the name Joe Flacco, you're
going to think of warm feelings, and you're going to
think of a Thursday night against the Pittsburgh Steelers when
it felt like the Bengals had to win that game
or the Steelers were going to run away and hide
from everybody.

Speaker 1 (23:51):
Else and eating by yourself at a restaurant, which I enjoyed.

Speaker 3 (23:55):
Joe Flacco walked so Philip Rivers could run, Like, yeah, yeah,
you know what I love most about Flacco. He just
simplified things, like he threw the ball and that Steeler game,
he threw the ball to Jamar Chase twenty three times, yep.
And I remember like the sincerity like of Joe Flacco
talking during the week of like just the human natean
nature of like, you know, I was talking to my

(24:15):
family and friends and I'm telling him, like Jamar Chase
and T Higgins, you should see that, Like he just
sounds like a normal dude who's excited to get the
throw to Jamar Chase and T Higgins. And he simplified
the game. And it was so fun watching him. And
again it was fleeting and everyone knew it was going
to be but to do it against the Steelers arrival
and you know Tomlin leading up talking about you know,

(24:37):
the Browns giving him to the Bengals and things like that.
It was. It was a high point both individually and
team in a tough season.

Speaker 4 (24:45):
You might remember it was labeled as the Unk Bowl,
him against Aaron Rodgers, two forty plus year old quarterbacks.
My favorite play from that game was Flacco pulling it
on a read option and running like ten yards and
picking up a first down in that stadium going berserk.
But you guys are I mean just the genuine refreshing
nature of Joe Flacco. He's made a fan in me

(25:05):
for life.

Speaker 1 (25:06):
Some of the individual moments rens wise to me. I mean,
I think back to Nick Martinez, who, yeah, the twenty
one million never made sense. I don't know that the
Reds expected him to take it him to take it,
but he did, and he pitched, and he pitched whenever
they needed him. And then on a magical night, he
takes a no hitter into the ninth inning, tracking beyond
a hundred pitches. It was a ball hitt of the

(25:28):
gap that winds up dropping. And then he comes back
and I think then would pitching out of the bullpen.
A couple of days. There was just crazy sequences where
he said, whatever you need me to do. But that night,
the crowd was standing and Nick Martinez was that close
to a no hitter for the Reds.

Speaker 4 (25:42):
Yeah, they had a lot of those this year.

Speaker 2 (25:43):
They had the week where Will Benson was the greatest
outfielder of all time. They had the Austin Wins game
where we thought, you know what, they don't need these
other two catchers. Just let Austin Wins catch every day,
like Eli Dela Cruz play shortstop every single day.

Speaker 4 (25:55):
You know.

Speaker 2 (25:55):
They had the Christian and Karnassi on strand week weekend
against the Arizona Diamondbacks and then he got sent away
and we never heard from him again. They had a
lot of those moments this year. But I think of
the two individual performances were both authored by Hunter Green.
One was that Sunday afternoon game against the Mets that
nobody was paying attention to because the Bengals were playing
their opener and he was awesome in the game they

(26:17):
had to win. Lose your six back, win your four back.
And then that game against the Cubs that Thursday against
the Cubs where he goes the distance, one hit shutout,
one hit shutout, and just it felt like it felt
like Hunter Green for that night putting the team on
his back and keeping their hopes alive. I know he
would go on to pitch poorly against the Dodgers. He
didn't pitch great in that game against Paul Skeens against Pittsburgh,

(26:40):
but they don't make the postseason without those two wins.

Speaker 3 (26:42):
I remember, I don't think I've ever wanted to no
hitter more for someone than Nick Martinez, cause you could
just tell he was gassed. Yes, come on, man, find
a way. You mentioned so many Reds moments Andre Rabbit,
the one nothing win over the Guardians, the three hit shutout,
and Rabbit as a pitcher. He was on the roster
in the postseason. Oh, just did not have a chance
to start.

Speaker 4 (27:02):
Huh.

Speaker 3 (27:03):
But I thought the year of Andrew Abbit, not just
the individual performances aside. Andrew Abbit was solid this year
for the Cincinnati Reds and certainly something to build on
going forward.

Speaker 4 (27:12):
One of my favorite performances took place just a couple
of days ago, Joe Burrow against the Miami Dolphins. After
all that has happened over the last couple of weeks
for him to come out and even though the team's eliminated,
in my understanding, the only game Burrow has played in
his career in which the Bengals were actually eliminated for
him to perform at that level to kind of I
don't know. Just give everybody a deep breath if that

(27:33):
was one of my favorite ones of the year. Have fun. Yeah,
four touchdowns.

Speaker 1 (27:37):
Burrow a perfect segue into our next segment. We'll look
back and discuss some of the injuries that hit Cincinnati
sports and athletes in the calendar year of twenty twenty five.
Merry Christmas, everybody at Sports Talk, the Year and Review
and the look Ahead Show on seven hundred WLW. Very Christmas.

Speaker 3 (28:01):
Listen to that fireplace crackle.

Speaker 1 (28:04):
Moe has discovered in this show the legendary fireplace ce
Curtesy of you two.

Speaker 4 (28:12):
Those presents next to the fire are gonna melt. Give
it long enough, you get an ad.

Speaker 1 (28:19):
On fire.

Speaker 4 (28:19):
Got a fire? Why do you have to have lit candles?

Speaker 3 (28:22):
It's the ambiance that's very nice.

Speaker 1 (28:24):
Welcome back into our Sports Talk Year and Review and
look Ahead show here on seven hundred WLW. I am
one I'm gonna guess before we get into the serious
nature of these injuries. I'm gonna guess. Of the foursome here,
I'm the only one who is prepared each and every
Christmas morning with a garbage bag to take all the
torn wrapping and stuff.

Speaker 4 (28:45):
It into the bag.

Speaker 2 (28:46):
That's usually my job.

Speaker 1 (28:47):
Oh yeah, all right, yeah, I'm the.

Speaker 4 (28:50):
Guy who crumples it up and throws it at people.

Speaker 3 (28:52):
I get to look.

Speaker 1 (28:53):
I scurry around the room and grab it all.

Speaker 3 (28:55):
Go get the bag.

Speaker 2 (28:56):
Yeah, yeah, that's my job. I have two things I
do on Christmas. I have a story for you about that.
I asked my wife what the presents are, and I
go and get the garbage bag. What did we get
this year?

Speaker 3 (29:09):
Cool? My job? This year? I introduced our oldest to
Christmas Vacation because it's my all time favorite. And my
wife just happened to walk down at like the scene
where they're in the malls and he's shopping for Longe Range,
Like really old.

Speaker 4 (29:24):
I'm like, the.

Speaker 3 (29:24):
First of all, it's one scene.

Speaker 2 (29:26):
Right, We're good, He'll mean fine, I'll be fine.

Speaker 3 (29:29):
Yeah, Christmas Vacation. I love it.

Speaker 1 (29:30):
You said you're the bagman, And now I'm flashing to
like Tony and the Wire or something is the bagman?
All right? We're dealing with injuries of twenty twenty five,
and I'm going to start with one who I'd almost
in trying to put this together. I'd almost forgot about it,
and then I went back and I watched the play,
and I remember just how painful it was when the
unknown Red's left fielder Tyler Callahan, who'd been promoted to

(29:53):
the major league level and was trying to impress and
busting his tail, takes off on a dead sprint towards
the left field line to make a play, hits the
wall head first and lie crumple crumpled on the ground,
and it was it was shoulder, it was wrist, it
was arm. There were multiple things broken and torn, and
that image of Tyler Callahan, who was trying to prove

(30:15):
himself as a major leaguer, I think what a lot
of the hearts of Reds fans who said, that's the
all out housele we love. But they had to pick
him up in pieces off the track.

Speaker 2 (30:24):
And he kind of like found out about his story
in the days subsequent to that, and you felt awful
because this guy had battled injuries, had taken such a
twisted road to the big leagues and he finally gets
there on a team where there was an opening for outfielders,
right because of the endless cycle of dudes like Blake
Dunn and Jacob Hurdabies, et cetera. And maybe Callahan was
going to have an opportunity and he gets one, and

(30:46):
that injury was so rough, so gruesome, so devastating.

Speaker 4 (30:50):
I still can't believe they didn't call it a catch.
He caught the ball.

Speaker 2 (30:57):
Brutal breaking it down. I remember watching the game with
my daughter and trying to explain to her why that
wasn't a catch, and like, you know, I'm like, well,
if an eight year old thinks that's a catch, that's.

Speaker 3 (31:06):
Exactly This is the hardest segment I think of the show.

Speaker 1 (31:10):
Because you can relate well, and you can.

Speaker 3 (31:12):
Relate, but it's also like for some of these guys
that their season never was even able to get off
the ground, and you think of the work that goes in,
like I thought of the Burrow injury, not from the
physical side, but from the mental side, because you go
from being around the guys working your tail off to
your alone every day in the training room. I don't

(31:32):
even want to begin to think the mental hurdles that
Joe Burrow was going through, because it's one thing to
go through an injury when you go through an injury
rehab and come back and win Player of the Year,
and then you go through another injury, you just start wondering, like,
what what am I doing? I have to go through
this again and again. It's not the physical part of
the rehab, it's the mental part, because you know what's

(31:53):
going to happen, you know what you're going to go
through to get back. And that's why I give so
many of these guys the credit of a Joe Burrow,
Nick Haglin coming back and winning the Comeback Player of
the Year, Like that's so hard to do, and for
so many of these guys whose season didn't get off
to the start they wanted, it's hard mentally to.

Speaker 4 (32:12):
Do it and to be labeled injury prone. Yeah, I
mean Hunter Green has dealt with that. Joe Burrow now
has dealt with that, and that unfortunately becoming a part
of the story of two of the most prolific athletes
in this city. Burrow and maybe not really a lot
of bad luck, I feel like with his injuries Hunter Green,
it was kind of mysterious at times this year, this
prolonged absence from the team and second opinions and maybe

(32:35):
not hearing what we expected to hear from Terry Francona.
It was a strange year from Hunter Green, but when
he came back, he was nails.

Speaker 1 (32:41):
You know. Then Nick Haglin won sticks out to me
because I remember I had Nick on the show shortly
after he had been in the play. That happened was
a very innocent looking play, and he wound up puncturing
a lung and collapsed lung and broken ribs and he
had to stay back in Atlanta with the team flew home.
He stayed in Atlanta in the hospital for I think
ten days. His wife was watching at the time, and

(33:04):
kids were watching at the time at home, and I'll
never forget Nick telling me his daughter, his young daughter
turned to his wife and said, did daddy die? Because
it was so ugly at that moment. And Nick's wife
took the kids to the grandparents and she caught a
flight to Atlanta to be with him during the whole thing.
And to come back from all of that is kind
of what Nick Haglin has been unfortunately all about, because

(33:25):
he's dealt with so many injuries, but he's continued to
come back and won as Tony mentioned Player of the Year.

Speaker 2 (33:30):
Ellie Delacruz might not have been officially injured, but the
cycle of in the second half of the season, you
would say, boy, Ellie's really struggling, and then you would hear,
well he's hurt, and you'd say, okay, well they should
give him a day off. Well you can't, Okay, but
he's not playing very well while he's hurt. Well, then
they should put him on the injured list. Well they
can't because they need him, but he's not playing very well.

(33:50):
I mean, it just went on and then after the
season when everybody's like, you know, what we should have done,
it's probably given Ellie a day off, Like you think
that was weird? And so I'm I'm kind of curious
this coming season, we'll talk about this as we look
ahead with the injury hopefully behind him, do we see
the old Ellie.

Speaker 4 (34:07):
I love the juxtaposition of the way that David Bell
would talk about injuries and the way Terry Francona would
talk about injuries. And Francona asked about Ellie day la
Cruz said he's got a leg. Yeah, thanks, Tito, appreciate it.

Speaker 3 (34:20):
How weird are talking about mysteries? The Trey Hendrickson situation,
because in today's football, you get injured, you're gonna be
out some time you go on the injured list. It
was it was odd at that moment, and then hearing
Zach every Monday just he's doubtful, He's doubtful, and then
it leads to the second opinion. Then it leads to
the surgery, and it leaves a very unclear future, obviously

(34:43):
for Trey Hendrickson. I think that with the Bengals and
obviously t Higgins because it's most recent. You want to
talk about it. We've talked about this a lot. You
want to talk about a guy, ultimate teammate. No one
would have fall to t Higgins to say, hey, I'm
done for the year. I'm gonna make sure my head
is right and shout out to the Bengals. They they
got the second opinion. They flew him to make sure
he was good. They adjusted the helmet in meaningless games.

(35:07):
With t Higgins going through multiple concussions to come back
and say no, I'm gonna be out there, I'm gonna play.
You can't say enough about him as a teammate in
this organization.

Speaker 1 (35:15):
I'll give you a guy a classic out of sight
out of mind that people forget about is Reht Louder
and as well as Red Louder pitched in twenty twenty four,
the back end of the season and the expectation of
what he would mean for twenty twenty five. He comes
to camp with a forearm issue, a little soreness, so
they're very protective of that that he doesn't pitch at
all during spring training. He makes a rehab start and

(35:37):
tears his oblique. He winds up throwing I think it
was nine minor league rehab innings the entire season, not
a single major league inning, and you forget like what
Rhet Lauder was supposed to be for the team last season, how.

Speaker 2 (35:51):
As good as he was toward the end of twenty
twenty four, a non entity in twenty twenty five, and
one of the questions for twenty twenty six is what
are they going to.

Speaker 4 (35:59):
Get for him?

Speaker 2 (36:00):
I think of injuries Jalen Haynes, you see, because if
he's the whole.

Speaker 3 (36:03):
God, they could double the post, Yes they could. They
didn't have to double the post, right.

Speaker 4 (36:07):
You want to talk about guys coming to spring training hurt.
The strange Spencer Steer injury that somehow wasn't treated during
the off season and leads to him being you know,
fifty percent of himself through the first month of the season.
He turns out to have a pretty good year. I'm
a Spencer Steer believer.

Speaker 2 (36:23):
Hopefully he's did Austin Hayes hurt his calf on the airplane?

Speaker 4 (36:27):
Yes, yeah, something like that.

Speaker 1 (36:29):
And if not for the Tyler Stevenson oblique, we never
have Austin wins So there you.

Speaker 4 (36:33):
Go, Austin, all I do is wins.

Speaker 1 (36:36):
Remember we argued keeping Austin wins Is a third catcher
and then like for a month they didn't use him
at all or a third catcher on the lost which
he said, to whatsoever. Thanks a segue into the Reds
twenty twenty five season and they look back at the
roller coaster ride that was Mo, Tony, Austin, Lance, Merry Christmas, everybody,
Sports Talk, Year in Review and the look Ahead show

(36:56):
here on seven hundred WLW. Merry Christmas, Welcome back in
turn the corner in our second hour. Thanks for enjoying
your Christmas morning with us. Lance McAlister, Moeger, Tony Pike,

(37:17):
Austin Illmore, We're all decked out in our candy cane
striped footy pajamas for your visual enhancement of the show.

Speaker 2 (37:25):
And I'm not just wearing them because it's Christmas, wearing
them because it's Thursday.

Speaker 3 (37:30):
You're a big footy pajama guy.

Speaker 2 (37:31):
Huge footy pajama guy.

Speaker 1 (37:33):
Yeah, we navigate into the twenty twenty five Red season
that was, and on one hand, we talked earlier the
high point, they make the playoffs, first time in a
full season since twenty thirteen, they get bounced immediately. They
win eighty three games, yet they finished third place, and
we debated whether they were done or alive much of

(37:53):
the season. So I'm left to look back at twenty
twenty five and on one hand, I want to wait.
I want to be excited about the postseason. But they
won eighty three games and they finished in third place,
and if not for the collapse of the mat the
Mets in the end, So I'm torn in what exactly
to take away from the season?

Speaker 2 (38:13):
Ask me at the end of this year, because if
twenty twenty five proves to be a jumping point for
something bigger and better, I think we look at this
season as a necessary step. I view it as tangible
proof that what they're doing is working, but tangible evidence
that they need to do more. And so this offseason
so far, and no, we'll talk about twenty twenty six

(38:33):
frankly underwhelming. It doesn't feel like they've made themselves appreciably better.
They're going to have to have a lot of guys
who underperformed in twenty twenty five be better this year.
But I looked at it as Okay, that is a step.
If this ends up being the high point of this
entire process, boy what a failure. But if if this
leads to more postseason appearances, consecutive postseason appearances, actual postseason advancement,

(38:54):
then you go, Okay. The first step was making it
and losing to the Dodgers in twenty twenty five.

Speaker 3 (38:59):
I remember sitting on a day talking about the season upcoming,
and one of the points was you have to dominate
the bad teams. You've got to make your mark there.
You've got to beat the teams like the Pirates and
those types of teams that you get a chance to play.
They were thirty eight and thirty eight against teams below
five hundred. That's not good enough. And then to add

(39:20):
on to that, fifty four times scoring three or fewer runs.
It's a miracle they won.

Speaker 4 (39:24):
Eighty three games.

Speaker 3 (39:26):
So the struggles on offense, and I know when we'll
look ahead to twenty twenty six, well, what's the answer
going to be to that? Feels like they haven't addressed
that much. This offense is not good enough as is.
They've got to find ways to jump start that offense.
But you look back at eighty three wins and five
hundred baseball against teams under five hundred, it's a miracle
they got to eighty three.

Speaker 4 (39:46):
I keep thinking about a stretch of one nothing losses,
about their inability to perform in extra innings, and I've
came away from this season pretty underwhelmed by Terry Francona.
I thought that I was gonna just I thought this
guy was gonna squeeze all the juice out of the
Orange and get the most out of these players. But
it felt like he kind of went the opposite direction
of the way the team is built. And I think

(40:07):
that's part of because the Reds have given him complete
control of how he wants to manage games. That's fine,
but the lack of aggression on the bass pass when
you have a team built around speed and athleticism just
overall to trying to move the runners over this lack
of gut feel and analytics. It felt like he was
indecisive a lot of times. It felt like an underwhelming

(40:28):
season from Terry Franco.

Speaker 1 (40:29):
Yeah, they went from in a neighborhood of two hundred
stolen bases to just over one hundred stolen bases for
whatever reason. But back to the point, the elusive bat,
the search for the elusive bat again, there were thirteen shutouts,
They scored one run twenty one times, they scored two
runs twenty times, and as Tony mentioned, fifty four times
scoring fewer than three runs. And how many times did

(40:49):
we reference wasting a performance by a starting pitcher because
they didn't score that night.

Speaker 2 (40:55):
It was maddening. And we also talked for months about
what bat will they add at the deadline, and then
they add a guy who's known for not having a
bat and.

Speaker 4 (41:09):
Key Brian Hayes.

Speaker 2 (41:10):
It was funny because on Twitter, every time he would
make a really nice play in the field, it was
like see see that, and he was He is awesome
with the glove. He might be the best defensive player
in the sport, but he is, by everybody's own admission,
an offensive zero. We saw it in the postseason. So
just the weirdness of that, and then all the best
laid plans they they put in black magic mark or
Matt McClain second base batting, second league, worst production from

(41:33):
the tool hole, and it felt like Matt McClain had
the longest leash of all time. Ellie de la Cruz,
this team was built around him being awesome. He wasn't
Christian and Carnassi on strain was supposed to hold down
first base got sent down and never heard from again.
So many of the best laid plans not working out,
and then the total lack of debt at the back
end of the roster, where it was Jacob Hurdabies and
Blake Dunn and Will.

Speaker 4 (41:54):
Benson in the doghouse for a while and felt well.

Speaker 2 (41:57):
Will Benson in the doghouse, Matt McLain out there, allowed
to just strike out time after time. They're using Santiago
Espin on the two hole. It was a weird year
in terms of lineup construction, roster construction, and dudes that
you thought were going to be a big, big part
of this team in twenty twenty five, failing frankly to
show up.

Speaker 3 (42:14):
In a weird time because you know, you go back
to when all those guys were rookies. Man, the future
is bright. Well, now the clock is ticking on. Are
they going to be busted or are they going to
figure this out? I'm not one, especially on Christmas Day,
to point the finger. I'll point the finger at Austin.
Austin put an MVP vote a bed end for Matt
McClain to start the year.

Speaker 4 (42:32):
Did you did? I told you in the Cactus League
he's in like seven fifty.

Speaker 3 (42:35):
Placed a wager on Matt McClain to win the MVP.
So I don't want to point the finger.

Speaker 4 (42:39):
But well, I'm happy to take your blame. Here's what
I'm worried about with the Reds this offseason. Last Hey, yes,
did you not watch in the league? Did you not
watch the Cactus League? Game was going like like eight
hits in a row.

Speaker 2 (42:57):
Have to be better than sho Hey Otani to be
the good value, Edgar, you should know this good value
in lighting your money on fire too.

Speaker 4 (43:05):
What if got hurt? Okay, then Kyle Schwarbur, fine, you
never know. Here's my fear with the Reds last offseason.
The Bengals chalked it up to, oh, we got unlucky,
we got hurt. The Reds might look at those numbers.
Lance just gave and said, we're not going to be
that bad offensively. We're not gonna get hurt again. We're
gonna have the pitching depth this time. Terry Francona better

(43:27):
understands this team. We don't have to do that much
to get over the hump. That's my fear with the
Reds and Austin.

Speaker 1 (43:32):
You spent an evening in Bristol among eighty five a
game that was delayed and delayed and then suspended with
one out on the bottom of the first when there
were lakes that had formed in the outfield at its
second base.

Speaker 4 (43:45):
Yeah, just to quickly surreal experience. Bizarre. Still feels like
a fever dream to me. The lines were hours long
to get food. I was in line for over an hour.
We got to the window and all they had left
was popped corn and candy. We couldn't see the pregame concert.
It was seemingly a mile away on the other side

(44:06):
of the racetrack. We got to our seats and a
gutter had broken and was pouring water onto our seats.
There was standing water on the concourses. It was the
biggest disappointment train wreck disaster I'd ever been a part
of at a baseball game or any sort of sporting event.
It was surreal speaking of a red played great for

(44:28):
an inning though.

Speaker 1 (44:31):
Speaking of train wrecks and disasters a perfect segue to
the Bengals season. We'll recap that in twenty twenty five
as we continue. Thanks for sharing your Christmas morning with us, Moeger,
Tony Pike, Austin Elmore, Lance Pacallister. It's the Sports Talk
Year in Review and look Ahead show here on seven
hundred WLW. Very Christmas, Welcome back in this sports Dog

(45:00):
Year in Review and look Ahead Show, seven hundred WLW.
Lance Mccautlester moeg Or, Tony Pike, Austin Wilmore. This reminds
me of the have you seen the Trans Siberian Orchestra
show and the laser lights? And this is the sounds
that you'll get in all that mo has not seen that.

Speaker 2 (45:15):
I would rather be fed to amount.

Speaker 1 (45:17):
You haven't Christmas, I haven't seen.

Speaker 3 (45:20):
The It's very overwhelmantastic. Yes, light shows just be prepared.

Speaker 4 (45:26):
It is a sensory overload.

Speaker 1 (45:29):
Yes, that's the word. I was looking for. Sensory overload,
all right. The Bengals twenty twenty five season began against
the backdrop of needing to have a fast start. How
much did we talk about they were going to change
the the previous off season planning and training camp was
going to be different, and they would hit more, and
they'd play the starters more. And they come out of

(45:49):
the shoot one to oh in a game where they
looked okay against the Steelers, and then in game two
they get to two and oh, but it cost them
Joe Burrow to an injury, and from there it became
a journey that just wasn't fair. So many moments, just.

Speaker 3 (46:06):
A unique I remember being at training camp every day
and walking away like, man, the defense performed well. Today,
defense is flying around, defense is playing confident. I even
had days where I thought Jermaine Burton looked good at
training camp, and you walk away from it and you
look at where this season is gone. For much of
the season, we're talking about not a league worst defense,

(46:27):
but a historically bad defense in the National Football League history.
Jermaine Burton is no longer with this team. It was.
It was unique because it was the fast start. They
found a way to get to two and oh. But
in the backdrop of that, you lose Joe Burrow, the
defense sputters, the Trey Hendrickson and Shamar Stewart situations. It just,

(46:47):
you hate to say, it never got off the ground,
but it doesn't feel like there was ever a chance
this season of things to be anywhere close to normal.

Speaker 4 (46:55):
Yeah. Sorry. As I mentioned in the last segment, the
way the Bengals approached the off season, all that caught
up to them very quickly this year, and it led
to something that we haven't really seen before, which is
Duke Tobin being in the crosshairs of the fan base
more than at any point in his let me count
twenty six years now. In Cincinnati, there was a growing

(47:17):
discontentment with Duke Tobin in the front office in the
way that they have gone about trying to draft and
develop these players, and it caught up to him in
a big way. You know.

Speaker 2 (47:25):
For all the talk of we want a serene offseason
and a different training camp and approach it with urgency,
the Trey Hendrickson thing just took on a life of
its own where he shows up at practice one day
and he's lobbying for himself. The Shamar Stewart thing, which
in this era where we don't really have rookie holdouts,
not only did we have one, we guy was technically
not under contract. Just blasting the team does press conference.

(47:48):
I mean, you know, so as this you know, important
offseason is unfolding, you have these side shows and then
I can't tell you how many times you would talk
about the team this offseason and go, hey, remember last
year's defense wasn't very good. Are we sure they've done
enough to fix it? And you would kind of get
patted on the head Slayton and hey, they're gonna be fine.
Al Golden's gonna fix everything. And they played a game

(48:12):
against the Philadelphia Eagles, I think it was the Eagles
in the preseason where it's like they were just trucked,
and then you were told, oh, Al Owl's he's not
showing anything. Vanilla, it's Vanilla not showing anything. And I
just I can't tell you how many times I would go,
you know, we sure, we sure no distractions? You got
these two major distractions, were sure you did enough to
fix the defense, and as the season unfolded, Obviously, the

(48:33):
answer was, well they didn't we Uh.

Speaker 3 (48:35):
Remember texting back and forth during the National Championship with
Austin when Al Golden decided in the biggest play of
the game to go one on one coverage with Jeremiah Smith,
and I remember like, wait, I don't know, like that
that to me, I don't know if that's going to work.
And you fast forward again, I don't think it's a
full deck he's playing with. I think the back end,

(48:56):
especially the safety position, is lacking in a big way.

Speaker 1 (48:59):
Remember when they asked the starting safety to take a
pay cut.

Speaker 2 (49:03):
But not only that, And I wish you would have
said no.

Speaker 3 (49:08):
But not only that. Our Golden's specialty was linebacker. Yeah,
and then come in your draft two linebackers who have
been awful. You move on from Logan Wilson. Yeah, it's
just it's And then on the backdrop on the offensive side,
we talk about the offense so much, and yet you
look back on this season, you don't get to see
Jamar Tray, Chase Chase Brown, and Joe Burrow together a lot.

(49:29):
And when you do, it's like, man, that's what it
can be. At some point, they get they got to
get on the field together for more than three or
four games the season.

Speaker 2 (49:37):
You know, we did the segment of high points, and
in a weird way, the high point of the Bengal
season was the Jamar and t press conference. Yeah, because
that day felt great. Yep, that day felt great, and
unfortunately every other day afterward didn't feel great.

Speaker 4 (49:48):
Yeah. And what I've learned in this Bengals season is
that it can always get worse. I mean that defense,
it did get worse and way worse. And Tony brings
up the point they hire Al Golden and then all
of a sudden, basically every linebacker he's coached here is gone.
Logan Wilson gets traded, Joe Batchi's out the door of
Keem Davis Gate there has gone. Jermaine Pratt gets let
go car Guys get drafted, and I remember during the

(50:14):
draft thinking they're reaching on these guys because they've painted
themselves in a position to where they have to take
need over best player available. And again it showed up
in a big way on the defensive side of the ball.

Speaker 1 (50:25):
It can always get worse. Should be a Sinsey shirts
worst Josh need so that to hit the perfect. Sure
do we remember the day that Shamar Stewart registered his
first quarterback hit by hitting Joe Burrow? And what happened
that day? Oly cow?

Speaker 2 (50:40):
Because I remember going like, the offensive line should take
him to dinner because he's that day of practice, the
offensive line was terrible, and I said, the offensive line
should take him to dinner. And if they want to
give him a talking to, that's fine because they've taken
the attention away from how bad they were in protecting
their quarterbacks. And then, you know, to me, the way
the season has ended, first of all, the real nineties

(51:02):
feel of billboards, right, you know those of us hold
enough for remember the nineties that this is the sort
of stuff that unfolded then. But we get the added
dose of unending psychoanalysis of the quarterback, which I frankly
am over.

Speaker 3 (51:16):
I'm over, But if I'm the Cincinnati Bengals, I want
to make sure that it's clear to Joe Burrow this
offseason that you can win a super Bowl here, and
you can win a super Bowl without having to be
perfect every single time you take the field. The Buffalo game,
he made two bad plays and he got crushed for it.
You need to show Joe Burrow that you can win
a title here, and you can do it without being

(51:36):
perfect here, and that's going to take a lot this
offseason to get to. But if you want your quarterback
to lock in and get back to the goal of
trying to win multiple Super Bowls here, you need to
take care of that. And you can't let yourself playing
out the string, get caught against quin Ewers and Jacoby
Brissett and Shador Sanders and in three weeks from now

(51:58):
saying they're not that far away on defense, they only
need to make a couple changes.

Speaker 1 (52:02):
We mentioned the Trey Hendrickson hold out in the visual
of the Bengals practicing and Trey standing in golf gear,
a golf shirt and holding a press conference and out
of that in Austin. You've mentioned this before. I think
we've all mentioned it. While all this was going on.
As much as his teammates seemed to rally around getting

(52:23):
Jamar paid and te paid and other guys paid, it's
like everybody just kind of sat back and watched Trey
b Trey and there was never really any public support
offered from within forgetting Trey a deal.

Speaker 4 (52:33):
Yeah, and even when Joe Burrow was asked about it,
he would never go nearly to the same links as
he did, even about a guy like Mike Gesicki, And
I've always thought that was really telling. And prior to
this season, Trey was never voted a team captain. I mean,
how many four time Pro bowlers have never been a
team captain before? And then all of a sudden, all
the veteran guys leave, Von Bell, Mike Hilton, all the

(52:54):
Sam Hubbard, those guys are all gone, and the Bengals
players are like, well, Trey's been here, will vote him
to be a cat And I think maybe behind the
scenes he has been that guy at least in training
camp he showed up, which I think it was all
for show when he finally did show up, and then
he was over on the side working with Shamar Stewart
and all that other stuff. It doesn't seem like it's

(53:14):
going to be a relationship with Trey Henderson and the
Bengals going into next show.

Speaker 1 (53:18):
And I was always bugged by what I thought was
the mixed messaging of the decision to go with two
rookie linebackers and all the growing pains that were going
to come with that in a season that mattered had
super Bowl hopes and dreams, and you did that. I mean,
things got so desperate they went out and traded for
Joe Flacco to try to save the season, and yet
they were content to start two rookie linebackers who had

(53:38):
no business playing. And it just it never made super
Bowl hopes and dreams. Two rookie linebacks never made me say.

Speaker 2 (53:46):
But I go back to the offseason, where it was, Okay,
they've got to fix the defense. Free agency, okay, well
it's TJ. Slayton and Orn Burke's Okay, Well, the draft,
we're gonna get some guys who can help. Right now,
in the moment you watched Demetrius Night and Barrek Carter,
you thought this isn't going to happen. I keep coming
back to how they just it felt like they sat
out the offseason and then for a franchise that's supposed

(54:09):
to be in this championship window, that they just kind
of let this opportunity pass by not addressing a major
deficiency from last year.

Speaker 4 (54:16):
You talk about the psychoanalysis of the quarterback, it's because
there's precedent both with Andrew Luck and what he'd went
through in Indianapolis, and with what Carson Palmer went through
here before, the president of those things leads Bengals fans
to thinking, oh no, here we go again, and it's
up to the Bengals to prevent that from happening.

Speaker 1 (54:33):
Still ahead, we'll get into the season that has been
for the UC football program, a little college basketball.

Speaker 3 (54:40):
And we'll always listen to the most you'll walk.

Speaker 1 (54:43):
As we were all on with the Sports Dog Year
and Review and look Ahead Show here on seven hundred WLW. Oh,
let's sen how happy and festive that music is.

Speaker 4 (54:59):
And now we're going to talk about the Bearcats, Grinch.

Speaker 1 (55:04):
Merry Christmas. Everybody you're hanging out with John Cunningham, Lace McAllister,
Austin Elmore, Tony Pike, and Moeger are sports Dog Year
in Review and look Ahead Show here on seven hundred WLW. Now,
in and around all of our conversation, we've talked about
the YouTube, mule log and Christmas bags. As the elder
statesman of the group, I want to stress to you

(55:25):
what I have learned as we approach a period where're
going to take your Christmas trees down. I would ask
that you follow my model and what I've learned, and
that is, rather than taking the Christmas tree down, packing
all the ornaments, taking them back down to the basement,
bring him back up next season. I have mastered moving
the Christmas tree with the ornaments up into Casey's old bedroom,

(55:47):
leaving it there during the year, and at Thanksgiving the
following year, bringing it back down. And I did not
drop a single ornament off the tree in this moving process.

Speaker 3 (55:56):
And anytime you're in need of just the Christmas spirit,
you can just just walk into Casey's old room.

Speaker 4 (56:01):
There you go.

Speaker 2 (56:01):
Does Casey ever like crash in his old room and.

Speaker 1 (56:04):
Go, No, he's got the basement when crash. Yeah, I
want you to understand. And that's a big ass Christmas tree.
And I grabbed it and I carried it down and
carried it up. Not a single ornament fell off. I'd
like to try this finest thing I did. I'm trying
to think of where we would put it, but I
I'd like to.

Speaker 4 (56:20):
Say, not a lot of room in my eight hundred
square foot apartment.

Speaker 2 (56:24):
Put it in Crossing.

Speaker 1 (56:27):
Yeah night, All right, that's the fun. Let's get to
UC football. You see, lost to Nebraska to open the season.

Speaker 2 (56:36):
Neutral site game, neutral Yeah, and what was the makeup
at that point five million dollar check Ye for moving
that game to Kansas City.

Speaker 1 (56:45):
Yes, and then ripped off seven straight wins.

Speaker 4 (56:48):
I did one.

Speaker 3 (56:49):
I don't think I've ever been an environment like that
in Kansas City as loud as it was for Nebraska.
And I remember Dan dan Hort said, I've been to
Bengals Chiefs games that were not as loud as what
this was tonight. It was incredible and for the most part,
UC's defense was really good and they ran the ball
really well. Sworsby struggled in that game. I remember going

(57:11):
into the game, Man, they've revamped a wide receiver room,
and he had like thirty eight yards passing going into
the final drive of the game, made one of his
worst throws of the game. You look back now, that
wasn't a good Nebraska team. It wasn't a team as
good as they thought they were going to be. Man,
the seven straight wins, you started to believe, you started
to buy in, and then another collapse down the stretch

(57:32):
of a season in a unenviable, unenviable ball opponent coming.

Speaker 2 (57:36):
Out it was I think a game that night in
Kansas City emblematic of what has been the hallmark of
this program for three years, which is they just can't
make the play. They just can't make the play that
puts him over the top or really gives them a
chance to win. And the theme of the season for
me offensively, Tony, and you and I have talked about
this dozens of time. You and I sat in Kansas

(57:57):
City the night before the game, and we talked about, like,
this is a night for Joe Royer, right, because the
Bearcats were unproven at wide receiver. Nebraska has good corners,
They're gonna feed Joe Royer. They didn't that night. They
didn't all season long. Among the many things that troubled
me about the way the season unfolded at the end
was the fact that you have a guy that everybody
with that program will claim is the best tight end
in the country. He had twenty six catches this year.

Speaker 3 (58:19):
You also mentioned that the Nebraska game. For me, looking
back on the season, I didn't know it at the time.
I appreciated that the night we got to have we
sat in the hotel lobby with Jim Kelly. Yes for
how long just and you don't know at the time, Yep,
what was going on or how it was going to be.
But looking back now at the time we had with

(58:39):
him that trip, it was just like Jim. He liked
hanging out in the lobby, liked interacting with fans, and
we got to do it that night. And I remember
that more than anything about that.

Speaker 2 (58:47):
I'll paint the picture really quick. So we were in
Kansas City. It was the Wednesday night before the game.
We went to dinner. Jim did not go with us.
We knew he wasn't feeling great. We're hanging out in
the hotel and then like Willis Reid there he is yep,
and he sat down and had a beer and god knows,
we didn't know he was going to pass so quickly.
But I've thought about that often. That season began, we
got that night with Jim, and I think he's sort

(59:09):
of new, like I need to hang out with those guys,
and he did, and I'm grateful for it.

Speaker 1 (59:14):
The college basketball season, to me, what I think, you see,
I think losing it home to Eastern Michigan, and I
remember and I think trailing thirty to five to Clemson,
and as we walked in, we had mentioned that Eastern
Michigan beat Right State this week, which kind of sums up.
What has happened to this UC basketball season already?

Speaker 2 (59:37):
I think of and you've talked about this a lot, Lance,
I think of all the players from last year's team,
which collectively underwhelmed, that have gone on to thrive for
high major programs or at least contribute to high major programs.
And I think at the end of last year, I
know Tony and I talked about this as diehard Bearcat fans. Okay,
those are good players, but they couldn't make the pieces fit.

(59:57):
What they'll do with the roster this year is bild
a roster and fit guys into certain roles, and they'll
make the pieces fit better. That hasn't happened.

Speaker 3 (01:00:07):
It's been one of the more demoralizing UC basketball seasons
I can remember. And I'll be the first to tell you,
as Mo Will, I'm as big a UC fan as
anything else in my life. That's what I grew up
on and the thing that bothers me most about U
see basketball right now, You see that I grew up
knowing toughness. I don't think they're tough like even the

(01:00:28):
Huggins years, the Croning years. They might not have been
the most talented, but you knew coming in against that
team you were going to be in a dog fight,
and it's not that. Right now, I'm dreading twenty twenty six.
I'm dreading the new year. I'll tell you what I'm dreading.
You want to talk about. You want to talk about
a weekend UC versus Navy on January second. Navy has

(01:00:49):
zero holdouts. No one is skipping that bowl game. That
is a super Bowl to Navy. I don't know see
players are gonna play. I know Tysonviite's three three five
defense isn't gonna bow very well against that. And then
the very next day he's going to start their Big
Twelve conference playing basketball by welcoming Houston into fifth third Arena.
I'm not looking forward to that.

Speaker 4 (01:01:08):
Every Bearcat basketball game in the West Miller era feel
has been the exact same game, and the team makeup
and all their shortcomings has been the exact same And
that's just hard for me to fathom. And then you
look at a team like Xavier and they're in a
year of transition after Sean Miller leaves, and it feels
like even through the first seven eight games, they're going
up into the right and Richard Patino is tinkering and

(01:01:29):
moving stuff around and getting his team into shape. Now
they may get, you know, destroyed throughout the Big East schedule.
I think a lot of people are expecting that, but
it already felt like in ten games Richard Patino had
figured out more about his team than West Miller has
the last few years. And that's a major indictment on him.

Speaker 1 (01:01:44):
And I think it's one of the interesting fun stories
that's developed, and I want to see how it goes
from here. But Travis Steel and the Miami RedHawks are
out to a thirteen and oh start schedule has been questionable,
and Evanepsorrow, their fine point guard from Cubcath has torn
his acl and they'll be without him. But they're thirteen
and oh. They shoot the ball well, they score a
lot of points. They're fun to watch. I want to
see what happens with mac play still ahead.

Speaker 2 (01:02:05):
You know, you had Travis on your show a week
or so ago and you said to him, I'm so
happy for you, And I can't think of anybody who
doesn't feel that way, even Xavier fans. It didn't work out.
It didn't work out for a variety of reasons. Travis
Steel's a good guy and a guy worth rooting for.
And I think a lot of us when he went
to Oxford thought, you know what, that may work.

Speaker 4 (01:02:21):
And it took a year.

Speaker 2 (01:02:23):
And you know, in the NIL era, you wonder about
the sustainability of programs in the Mid American Conference. But
they're fun to watch. They play a fun brand of basketball.
Travis had them on the doorstep of the NCAA Tournament
last year. I'm hoping he can get there this year
because just as a guy, I want that to.

Speaker 4 (01:02:40):
Happen for him.

Speaker 3 (01:02:40):
Xavier opens Big East Play and they get boat raced
by forty one. Yep, they respond, Yes, they go on
the road and be Georgetown. Yeah, that's all you want
to see. You want to see your team getting better.
It's the end of December and KRK CRISA didn't play
in the second half of their last game. For you see,
Seana Bie sat the last twelve minutes of the game.
They still don't know a rotation with the University of Cincinnati.

(01:03:00):
Here's what I do know. UK is healthy, and this
UK healthy team is much different than the team we
saw early in the year. Coming off wins against Indiana.
UK also just beat Saint John's and what Pat Kelsey
has done with Louisville. Louisville is a legitimate Final four contender,
Very very very good to watch UK and Louisville right now.

Speaker 1 (01:03:23):
And I'll toss in Darren Horne and the Norris. We
usually know there that team that follows that mode of
getting better as the season goes on. They've been good
at stages early and then it's three days in March.
They're scoring a lot more than they have I had
him on the other night. They're scoring twelve more points
a game than they ever have it in KU. Defense
is a little bit in question, but there are always
that team come March that builds stewards. Can they win
over three days to make the ncaa tur for.

Speaker 4 (01:03:45):
Those who may have forgotten. When you flip the calendar,
it goes January February Norse.

Speaker 1 (01:03:50):
And on that note, we'll take a time out. It's
a Sports Talks the years Year in Review in the
look Ahead show right here on seven hundred a WLW
all right down the stretch we go, Santa came down
the chimney. It's the Sports Talk Year in Review and

(01:04:12):
the look Ahead. This portion our final segment look ahead
specifically to twenty twenty six. Some of the storylines things
we will follow and wonder about Moeger, Tony Pike, Austin
om or Lance McAllister. I will start my look ahead
with a guy I think his performance the red season
and outlook hinges on how he does. And that's if

(01:04:32):
Matt McClain can bounce back and be anywhere near what
we thought he was beginning to turn into his rookie
season where he got Rookie of the Year votes. This
lineup takes on a whole different look, But there was
a pretty large sample size of last season where Matt
McClain just he was not a serviceable major league player,
a lot of.

Speaker 2 (01:04:50):
Value for him to be NLMVP in twenty twenty six.
How I want to take a look at it now.
How long's the leash and what's the option? Yeah, if
you believe they've dipped their toes in the Catel Marte waters,
does that reflect sort of the fact that they're looking
for somebody else to be the starting second basement? What
might that mean for Matt McClain. Look, at the end

(01:05:10):
of the year, he was hitting ninth. He went from
batting second every day to hitting ninth, So they did
something with him. They can't go that deep into the
season with him hitting the way he did last year.

Speaker 4 (01:05:22):
This year, it was to go into spring training with
the assumption he's gonna be your opening day second basement, right, Like,
it can't be like you have to consider all possibility.

Speaker 3 (01:05:29):
It was so weird last year because he was the
only one that seemed untouchable. Yeah, everyone else can be
sent down, everyone else can be benched for whatever reason.
Matt McLain was the untouchable. I hope Matt McLain has
a bounce back, but as an organization, you can't operate
in that sense. You have to operate to make this
line up better. And then if Matt McClain does have
a bounce back, that's icing on the cake for you.
But you can't operate hoping that he takes another step.

Speaker 2 (01:05:52):
That's what's the story going to be at Reds Fest.
Matt McClain, what got new glasses? Went on a different diet?
Like invariably, there's gonna be this like, well, here's what
went wrong last year, here's how Matt McLean fixed it.
And you better buy that MVP bet right now because
he's poised for a big twenty twenty six.

Speaker 4 (01:06:08):
You know it really takes two years for shoulder injuries.

Speaker 2 (01:06:10):
Yeah right, yes, yeah, he was going through a lot
off the field. There's gonna be something that we all glomb.

Speaker 4 (01:06:16):
On psychoanalysis of Matt McClean.

Speaker 3 (01:06:18):
Yeah, we're gonna have months off and we're gonna hear
right before the start that Allie's still not one hundred percent.

Speaker 4 (01:06:23):
Yeah, of course. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:06:24):
Well, and the latest name churning through the rumor mill
as the elusive bat is Luis Robert who now it
will be in some way, shape or form, somebody who
has had a couple of off off years, or is
coming back from injury or needs a change of scenery.
There there's something in them of one of those players
that will churn through this rumor mill that will pop

(01:06:46):
up onto the Red's ring.

Speaker 4 (01:06:48):
I just looked it up when the rumor came out,
and he's not from Cincinnati, so I'm a little surprised
that there is interest tickets by the Reds considering he
won't be selling as mini tickets.

Speaker 2 (01:06:58):
I'm already prepping my self to look at Luis Roberts
underlying metrics, because when you look at the overlying metrics.
They're terrible, so you're you will be told you got
to look at the underlying metrics. Okay, Well show me
which ones to look at. It feels like they've been
flirting with trading for Luise Robert for two years, and
during that entire time, the White Sox have been waiting
for him to play better so increases his value, and

(01:07:19):
neither things have happened. They haven't traded for him, and
he hasn't played any better. But I'm sure once I
look at those underlying metrics, I'll talk myself into it.

Speaker 1 (01:07:26):
Well, you know, in terms of what we do on
a daily basis, twenty twenty six is going to at
some point include conversation about the future of West Miller,
Scott Saderfield, Zach Taylor, maybe even Pat Noonan based on
how much they spent last year and didn't go as
far as they wanted. There's a whole lot of coaches
in managerial, maybe not managerial, a lot of coaching of us,

(01:07:47):
and who are going to be part of the conversation
this year.

Speaker 4 (01:07:50):
I think you said managerial, I mean Francona. There's a
lockout looming in Major League Baseball in twenty twenty seven.
I don't know how long he's gonna do that, and
the pressure that he feels on this ball club, So
I think that's going to be a conversation at some
point as well. Next year.

Speaker 2 (01:08:04):
I think I think Terry Francona is interesting because even
last year there were a lot of folks who wondered, God,
really want to do this? And you know, he never
gave any indication that this is something he doesn't want
to do, but he has had health issues. He is
closer to the end of his career than the beginning.
If things do go south with the club this year,
I think that's going to be something that a lot
of people talk about. And look, man, this is a

(01:08:27):
season that's going to be judged by do the Reds
not just make the postseason but advance so do they
put themselves in a better position The Bengals not making
the playoffs for a fourth consecutive year seems almost inconceivable,
but we're confronting that reality. Things are very dark for
the UC basketball program.

Speaker 3 (01:08:44):
The tournament or west Miller's gone.

Speaker 2 (01:08:45):
I mean there we're talking about them maybe losing fourteen
fifteen games in the Big Twelve which is for year
five unbelievable.

Speaker 3 (01:08:53):
As one of your favorite things to do.

Speaker 2 (01:08:55):
New Coach Radio, New Coach Radio Radio, Scott Sadderfield's in
a real interesting place because they were better this year,
not beloved by the fan base. They have to replace
a lot of guys. I thought Chris and I thought
that Chris Albright press conference last week was weird, right?
Was weird that that As much as I think Pat
Noonan is universally respected in that sport, as much as

(01:09:17):
I think Chris and Pat have always had alignment, that
press conference did not exactly sound like a ringing endorsement
for the current state of that club.

Speaker 1 (01:09:25):
Yeah, talked about how it felt stale watching during the season.

Speaker 3 (01:09:29):
I think if you would have taken a lot of
UC fans football wise going into the year and say
seven wins, I think a lot of fans would have said, Okay,
that's good, that's improvement. When you look at how it transpired,
and then you look at the makeup of the roster,
like you meant, Dante Corleone just a weird year, playing
about fifty percent of the snaps. What happens to the
three three five when you don't have an NFL caliber

(01:09:50):
nose tackle Joe Royer was underutilized. Brendan Soaresby, say what
you want, he's gonna make three or four million dollars
playing somewhere next year. This team NFL talent and from
a scouting department, they had high level scouts. Because they've
been taken by other universities. I don't know how you
make up for the loss of so many key members

(01:10:12):
of this team and find a way to do better,
because that, to me is the bar. If you're not
better than seven wins next year, then I think you
got to look for the next coach.

Speaker 1 (01:10:21):
You know what else I would aside from all of this,
I'd like to I hope we see in twenty twenty six.
I hope the Bengals have a catch up class of
the Ring of Honor and admit we're we're going to
change the process. We had good intentions to begin with.
We understand there's a backlog. I would love to see
pick the number of candidates. I'd say, anybody on the

(01:10:41):
ballot the last time is eventually going to make it.
I'm not so sure. I just wouldn't put them in
as a celebration class as one and then change the process.
Maybe it's every couple of years, but you're never sadly.
Bob Trumpy is an example. It's just guys should be
honored while they're alive. And there's just too many guys
they're going to have to catch up on.

Speaker 4 (01:10:59):
And they said they're going to change or rethink the
way they do that. What I think is interesting, twenty
twenty seven is the sixtieth anniversary season of the Bengals,
and that would be a great time to maybe restart it,
refresh it, figure out a way, maybe, like you're saying,
do a catch up class, and then restart at that
sixtieth anniversary season with a different way.

Speaker 2 (01:11:18):
Of doing What is the harmon putting all those guys in?
And I tried to make this case last year while
Trump was still with us, because he and Lamar Parrish
were the two oldest candidates. But I also wanted Lap
to go in. Don't put Jim Breach up against Geno Atkins, right,
don't put Max Montoya up against AJ Green. Sure, put
all those guys in, and then it's your ring of honor.
You can decide how you want to do it. You
could put a guy in a year, you could put

(01:11:38):
a guy in a game, you could decide to take
years off, like the Reds Hall of Fame does. You
can make it up as you go along. But I
think when Bob passed away and Lance you talked about
him extensively and understandably so. But one of the very
first things I thought of is when he goes into
the Ring of Honor, he's not going to be there,
and that sucks because I'm not sure there's anybody who
would have enjoyed it more, and I'm not sure there's
anybody who would have had more to say out.

Speaker 3 (01:12:02):
I think good float out. I think twenty twenty six
is very simple. Reds Bengals, Bearcats, f C Cincinnati. When
we're doing this, God willing, next year, they've all had
better seasons. They all have to take major strides forward
that the Bengals can't be on the outside looking into
the playoffs. The Reds can't miss the playoffs, you know,

(01:12:22):
you see, can't be talking about not going to the
NCAA Tournament or winning six games and barely making Bowl eligibility.
F C Cincinnati's got to take the next step. The teams,
and you would think Xavier under Richard Patino in year
two will do that the standard year.

Speaker 4 (01:12:36):
The standards should always be an aggressive pursuit of a championship,
and until that's reached, fans in this city should not be.

Speaker 2 (01:12:42):
Having And there's all there's so much like uncertainty, like
we are, we're closing in. We're in the second half
of the decade. Now Burrow's not going to be a
Bengal forever. You mentioned the lockout twenty twenty seven. Now
this coming baseball season we're nil. And where college sports
are going and how that affect to local teams. There's
so much uncertainty. But I feel like this year we

(01:13:04):
often felt stuck in the mud as it relates to
these teams, even during that stretch where they're not getting Schwarber,
the Bengals lose, the Bearcats lose. There's got to be
something or someone who pulls us out of this. I
don't know who it's going to be, but it's got
to happen.

Speaker 1 (01:13:17):
Merry Christmas, gentlemen, Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas. Thanks for spending
your morning with us. This has been the Sports Talk
Year in Review and look Ahead show. Thanks to Drew
Wester Heidi for Yeah Waller job ding the scenes This
is seven hundred WLW

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