Cincy 360 w/ Austin Elmore -- 6/17/24

Austin talks about the Reds inability to beat the Brewers, chats with Kelsey Conway about Tee Higgins and the Bengals, talks with Mo Egger, callers, and more on ESPN 1530!

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
This is Skyline Chile. Since hethree to sixty about Cincinnati from Cincinnati,

(00:05):
sponsored in part by Skyline Chile.Stop by Skyline Chili for a three way
or cheeze Coney Today. Feeling good, It's Skyline time. This is ESPN
fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station. Hi, Hello and welcome in Cincy. Three
sixty ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports StationHour one, brought to you by Skyline

(00:30):
Chili. Happy to be back aftera good weekend, great weekend, beautiful
weekend in and around the area.We've got a lot to catch up on.
Hope you had a great weekend.Hope you had a great Father's Day.
I don't know about you, butI had the chance to hang out
with my dad yesterday and I said, you know what, Listen, your

(00:51):
lunch is on me. Anywhere youwant to go, let's do it.
And he couldn't make up his mind. He couldn't figure out what he wanted
to do. First, He's like, well, you know, chicken wings
kind of sound good, but Idon't know if I want to go to
this place, and I don't knowif that place is even open. And
then finally we're like, guy,make a decision and he goes, you

(01:11):
know what I really want? Isaid, what's that? He said,
Skyline? So you know what.We went to Skyline. Had a great
time at Skyline Chiley on Father's Day. And I'll tell you we were not
alone. There was a lot offathers celebrating the big day at Skyline Chili.
Hope you had a great Father's Day. Hope everybody had a great weekend
altogether. Happy to be back inthe big chair. I'm Austin Elmore.

(01:34):
Tony Pike returns in a week orten days from now as he continues to
settle things on the home front withbaby number three. If if you saw
Twitter earlier today, Tony is preparingto return. He's preparing to return.
He'll be back in a little bitlater on at Tony Underscore Pike fifteen on

(01:57):
Twitter for the Lake from Big Tone. All right, we have a lot
to get to between now and threeo'clock. First and foremost, the Reds.
They lose two out of three tothe Milwaukee Brewers. We'll talk about
Friday's game, We'll talk about yesterday'sgame, and we'll certainly talk about Saturday

(02:19):
as well, and the fact thatthey just can't beat the Milwaukee Brewers.
They cannot seem to figure out theMilwaukee Brewers. We'll talk about that.
By the way, when we talkabout all these stories and all these things
that happened over the weekend, it'sour review of the top sports stories,
brought to you by Klaus Roofing Systemof Cincinnati, your trusted local roofing and

(02:40):
gutter company. Visit KRS Cincy witha y dot com. T Higgins made
some news over the weekend. KelseyConway reported that T Higgins would be coming
to Cincinnati to sign his franchise tender, meaning he would be officially on the
roster and officially on the books forthe twenty one point eight million dollars that

(03:02):
he gets for being the franchised player, the franchise tagged player for the Cincinnati
Bengals. So I said to Kelsey, want to come on Monday to talk
about it. She said, yes, Kelsey'll be with us at two pm
today. We'll talk a little bitabout her, about her breaking that story,
talk a little bit about Higgins,and obviously the news also coming out

(03:24):
today that the Cincinnati Bengals have unveiledtheir twenty twenty four training camp schedule.
The first five. The first fivepractices beginning on July twenty fourth are two
season ticket holders and wait list membersonly. The first fully public practice is
on Monday, July twenty ninth,practice from two fifteen to four ten pm

(03:47):
as it is scheduled. Those timesare subject to change, but the first
open to the public practice Monday,July twenty ninth. First practice altogether is
Wednesday twenty fourth. We'll talk aboutthat and how what t Higgins did is
different than what Jesse Bates did anddifferent from what aj Green did, So

(04:11):
we've got that to talk about.Well, obviously get her reactions from Mini
camp and some other things, allthe other sports stories. It's been a
while since we've caught up with Kelsey. FC Cincinnati victorious over the weekend in
San Jose, thanks to no smallpart to you. Yak Kubo comes in
late, scores three goals in tenminutes and U yak Kubo helps put FC

(04:33):
Cincinnati on top for good and beatSan Jose four to two in their first
game coming off the break. FCCincinnati seems to be in good form,
although Pat noonan meeting with the mediaearlier today, says news not great about
Matt Mioska, and we'll be waitingmore information on the long term future of

(04:54):
the FC Cincinnati defender. They area little bit beat up with injuries at
the moment, but f C Cincinnatigets another three points on the road.
We'll talk more about that coming upin just a little bit as well.
What else do we have us open? Yesterday? Man, was it entertaining
at Pinehurst and Pinehurst, North CarolinaRory McElroy and Bryson to Shambeau going at

(05:19):
it on the back nine and Rorychoked. I hate to say it,
but Rory choked, and I wasjust I was like, I'm not one
of those people that absolutely hated Brysonto Shambeau. I understand there was a
lot of those people, and there'splenty of reason for it, but I

(05:40):
wasn't one of those guys. I'vealways just kind of been indifferent towards Bryson.
And yesterday has been kind of theculmination of the change in Bryson to
Shambeau from this robotic type of youknow, arrogant guy to somebody that the
fans really seemed to like and thefans really seemed to appreciate and he was

(06:01):
really playing up the crowd yesterday atPinehurst. Now, some of the things
the fans said I thought were kindof stupid, but we can talk about
that. And I was just gutted, heartbroken for Rory McElroy. And then
on top of that, within sixminutes of Bryson making the putt, Rory
is off the grounds at Pinehurst andwithin an hour his flight is taking off

(06:23):
on his way back home to Florida. Just crazy, just crazy. There's
a really good article by Brody Millerin the New York Times about Rory,
and I think he kind of sumsit up because a lot of people are
on Rory for not talking to themedia after the match, and I get
it. I get that. Imean, he's talked all the time,
and he's not held his his hisHe's not held back about anything over the

(06:48):
last several years. But it feltlike, you know, a cop out
to some people that Rory didn't talk. But I don't know if I actually
feel the same way. I mean, as a media member, I know
how everybody wants, you know,the the athletes to talk, and they
should talk, and I get that. But also I looked at it yesterday
and I was like, you knowwhat, I don't blame the guy.

(07:08):
So we'll talk about that. TheWNBA is in the news again, and
guess what, it's not because ofbasketball shocker. Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark
go at it again over the weekend. Angel Reese a tough foul on Clark.
It's called a flagrant. Angel says, no, you know, some
people just have a special whistle.And I was going for the ball,

(07:29):
and you know, she can't justsay I think it's a bad call.
She can't just say I was goingfor the ball and it accidentally hit her
in the head. I didn't doit on purpose, but the officials thought
I did. She can't just saythat. She just has to tear other
people down with her anytime she's criticized. We'll talk a little bit about that.
And I wish, you know,I like the WNBA. There's a
lot of recognizable players in there,a lot of interesting players in there.

(07:54):
And I don't know if you knowthe continual conversation surrounding it is actually about
basketball. At what point is youknow, there's that old saying is all
publicity is good publicity? At whatpoint is it not good publicity? Anymore
because there's not very much conversation goingon about basketball. Also, I don't
think Caitlin Clark is entirely, youknow, not guilty in all of this

(08:18):
as well. She hasn't She's donedone some things that haven't necessarily helped herself,
I should say. So that's prettymuch everything, at least all that
I have written down. We've gotGame five of the NBA Finals tonight in
Boston. The Celtics six and ahalf point favorites after they were beaten like
a Grand Canyon mule over the weekendin Dallas. The MAVs able to salvage

(08:43):
a game at home. We'll seewhat they can do tonight against Boston in
Boston again, Celtics six and ahalf point favorites. I kind of like
that number for Dallas. Don't knowif Dallas is gonna win, but six
and a half I kind of likethat number. Same thing happened out in
Edmonton as the Oilers beat the Pantherseight to one in Game four of the
Stanley Cup Final. That series isnow at three to one with Florida leading.

(09:09):
They get back in action tomorrow nightin Florida for what could be the
deciding game in that series. Okay, I think we have it all covered
again. Talkbacks at their normal timetoday one twenty one to twenty five ish,
Kelsey Conway at two. Moeegger willstop by at two forty five for

(09:31):
quick hits and locks of the nightahead of his show this afternoon from three
to six, and phone lines areopen five one, three, seven,
four, nine, fifteen thirty.They'll be open all day. Your reaction
to what you saw this weekend,whether that be what FC Cincinnati did in
San Jose with you Yakubo, whetherthat be the Reds and what happened yesterday,

(09:52):
what happened Friday, what happened Saturday? And maybe some Elie de la
Cruz or t Higgins signing the framefranchise tender and deciding to come to camp
at least it appears that way.Deciding to come to camp and what exactly
that means for the Bengals, Allof those topics are on the table.
Any topic is on the table.Five one, three, seven, four,

(10:13):
nine, fifteen thirty is the phonenumber. Let's start with the Reds
because they just continue to struggle againstthe Milwaukee Brewers. They lost yesterday means
that The Reds have now lost eightconsecutive series against the Milwaukee Brewers. They

(10:33):
are eight games back of first place, and they are twelve and thirty two
against Milwaukee since July of twenty twentyone. I'll say that one more time.
The Reds are twelve and thirty twoagainst Milwaukee since July of twenty twenty
one. I don't know how thisteam keeps losing to Milwaukee. Now,

(10:56):
I will give the Brewers credit becausetheir outfield all weekend long was phenomenal,
like it was legitimately great up untilthe final play of the series, including
the final play of the series whereStuart Fairchild gets thrown out at home play
to end the game. Those guystook away so many runs had to be

(11:18):
four or five runs off the boardover the course of the three games that
Brewers outfielders took from the Reds,and that's part of the game. They
played great defense. There's a reasonwhy, you know, Milwaukee doesn't have
the best pitching staff on the planet, and we've talked about how they've been
banged up, but they hit theball, and they hit the ball consistently,

(11:39):
and they play really good defense.And when you're able to do those
two things, you can hide someflaws in your pitching staff, and that's
what they've been able to do.When you look at that. On the
flip side, for the Reds,they don't do that. They don't play
very good defense and they don't hitthe ball consistently. And that means that
when the only thing you really gotgoing for you is your starting pitching and

(12:01):
a little bit of your bullpen,well then you're not going to win as
many games. I think what's crazy. If you look at the Reds numbers
in their expected win loss ratio basedon runs scored and runs allowed, they're
supposed to be thirty seven and thirtyfour. Based on that, the Reds
have a run differential of plus thirteen. Right now, they are the only

(12:22):
team in the National League Central witha positive run differential outside of Milwaukee.
The Cardinals have a run differential ofminus thirty eight and they are five hundred.
The Pirates have a run differential ofminus twenty eight and they have the
same record as the Reds at thirtyfour and thirty seven. The Cubs,
who are now in last place andfour games under five hundred, have a

(12:45):
run differential of minus seventeen. Thoseteams and their run differentials accurately reflect their
record, with the exception of SaintLouis, who is five hundred. The
Reds do not. They have apositive run differential in our three games under
five hundred. The National League continuesto be very, very close. Philadelphia,

(13:09):
the Dodgers, and the Brewers alllead their divisions. Dodgers have had
two major injury setbacks in the lastcouple of days. This is good news
for the Reds. Let me tellyou why. Mookie Betts has a broken
hand. He's going to be outfor a while after he got hit by
a pitch. Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Yamamoto, the starter from Japan that the Dodgers

(13:31):
acquired this offseason. He is injuredin going through something with his shoulder.
The Reds won the season series withthe Dodgers. They lost the season series
with the Padres and the Diamondbacks.In an ideal world, because I don't
know if the Reds are going tobe able to win the National League Central,
they would need one of those twoteams, Arizona or San Diego to

(13:52):
win the National League West. Thatway, when you're battling for a wild
card spot. Bet you got abetter chance against the now. The Dodgers
aren't going to fall off, andI don't think the Reds are gonna go
on insane run. But when you'rejust trying to find ways to get into
the playoffs, this is where mymind goes. Padres and Diamondbacks are still
comfortably behind the Dodgers in the NationalLeague West. Dodgers have an eight game

(14:16):
lead over San Diego, eight anda half over Arizona. But when you
look at the National League as awhole, right now, the Reds are
a game out of the final wildcard spot the Mets. This is just
insane. The Mets, by theway, have won five in a row.
They're within four games of five hundred. They're eight and ten in their
last eight and two in their lastten. The Mets, Cubs, Pirates,

(14:37):
Reds, Giants, Diamondbacks, Nationalsall within a game and a half
of the final wild card spot inthe National League. The three teams with
it right now, Braves, Cardinals, Padres, Padres and Nats are technically
tied, but the Padres have thetiebreaker. Nationals have won three in a
row. They're one game under fivehundred. Okay, let's kind of I

(15:00):
have a little deeper into this serieswith the Milwaukee Brewers when we come back.
We'll talk a little bit about Elliedla Cruz, who had a very
very good weekend for the Reds atthe plate and on the base paths,
but not so much in the field. Five one, three, seven,
four, nine, fifteen thirty.Those are the phone numbers. That's the

(15:20):
phone number for us here on Sincythree to sixty, riding solo again today,
Tony Pike back in a few days, but until then, it's you
and me and we'll talk about anythingyou'd like, starting with the Reds and
Ellie de la Cruz from over theweekend. Five one, three, seven,
four, nine, fifteen thirty isthe phone number. You can also
tweet it me at Audie Elmore aU T y E L M O r

(15:43):
E on Twitter as well. Youcan be a part of the show that
way. Our one sincey three tosixty is brought to you by Skyline Chile
and you're listening to the official homeof the Bengals ESPN fifteen thirty. Hey,
Alexa, what's going on? Maybechange is only going to face stead

(16:07):
of Cruz. This balls crushed leftfield, hit deep, and it is
gone. That is out of here, to left, just over the left
field wall. That'll be a solohome run for day La Cruz. It's
his twelfth home run of the yearand it's back to a one run Brewer
lead. That was a laser outa year to left, one hundred and
twelve miles an hour off the batof Ellie da la Cruz, who had

(16:32):
himself a series win deep yesterday.Twelfth homer of the year for De la
Cruz Red's fall to the Milwaukee Brewersfive to four. Unfortunately in Milwaukee,
the Reds of thirty four and thirtyseven Milwaukee now forty two and twenty nine
get into those three games in justa moment. But that was our power

(16:53):
player of yesterday's game. Brought toyou by Cincinnati Tax Resolution powered by Tofe
Sheldon and Ellie de la Cruz goesdeep. Have no fear tof is here.
Let's start with Ellie. Let's havethat conversation because you know I kept
saying, and you know, apologies, by the way, if I haven't

(17:15):
answered your phone call yet. Myphone screen was down until now. So
now the lines are open and it'sjust now popped up, so my apologies.
Five one, three, seven,four, nine, fifteen thirty.
Somebody changed my phone lines in hereand I didn't see it till now,
so I'm the worst. Anyways,Welcome back to sinty three to sixty Austin
hillmore in today riding solo. Let'sstart with Ellie. Let's start with Ellie.

(17:37):
Over the course of the series inMilwaukee, those three games Friday night,
he was two for four, runscored RBI and a walk. He
tripled, he did not strike out. Good night for Ellie de la Cruz.
On Saturday, he was zero forthree, but he did score a
run because he walked, He struckout twice, and he stole a base,
his thirty fifth of the year.On Sunday, he was two for

(18:00):
three, scored three runs, hadan RBI, walked twice, struck out
once, tripled, and had stolenbase number thirty six. He also scored
from second base on an errant pickoffthrow. That's a pretty good day for
Ellie de la Cruz as a Asa whole, Ellie in the series was
four for ten, five runs,two RBI, four walks, struck out

(18:23):
just three times, tripled, twicestole two bases. That's a great,
great series from Ellie de la Cruz, and it makes you wonder, can
he go on some sort of arun here and kind of sync up when
he's being when he's hitting the ballwell, just like Jamber Candelario is,

(18:44):
And what happens when this offense hastwo players hitting the ball really really well.
Spencer Steer finally woke up from hiscoma the other day, went deep
yesterday as well, huge home run. Can this team string together? They're
a couple of weeks of these guyshitting at that type of clip because that's

(19:07):
what they need. The starting pitchingis fine, it's just okay. The
bullpen is fine. It's just okay. And there's a Elie Dyak or there's
an Alexis Diaz conversation to be had, especially when you look at Friday's game.
But more than anything, can theoffense carry them for a stretch because

(19:27):
they need it to carry them startingnow, think about tonight's game. They're
going up against Paul Skeens. Skeenshas like fifty strikeouts in thirty five innings.
This team has struggled mightily against goodpitching this year, so the pitching

(19:51):
has carried them through a good portion. They've not had help from their defense
because they suck at that. Theiroffense has has been pretty bad most of
the year, but has shown signsof life as of late. Can this
team go on a stretch where theoffense carries them, takes a little bit
of the pressure off the starting staff, and performs well against good pitchers,

(20:19):
because it feels like we kind ofoverlook the Pirates. You know, the
Reds are statistically and historically pretty goodagainst Pittsburgh. But Tony and I had
the conversation a couple weeks ago thatis a team with three really good starting
pitchers and a team that looks atthe playoffs and says, hey, our
starting rotation is good enough to wina playoff series. We might go be

(20:40):
buyers here in the next month.And what do the Reds do? Typically
don't perform very well against good pitchers, And in two of these three games
against Pittsburgh coming up today, Tomorrowand Wednesday, they face two of the
best pitchers on the Pirate's staff MitchKeller on Wednesday, Paul's Skins Tonight Skins

(21:02):
in era under two point four ortwo point five Keller. I think right
around three and a half. Thoseguys are really, really good. You
cannot count Pittsburgh as automatic wins becauseof how bad this team has been against
quality pitching this year. They've dominatedthe White Sox, they've dominated the Colorado

(21:25):
Rockies, they had some success againstthe Cubs, and their pitching's not great.
Can they do it against good teamsagainst good competition? Now? On
Friday Night against Freddy Peralta, theydid. Now. Freddy Peralta had been
dominant against the Reds in the lasttwo years, and he's been scuffling lately.
But the Reds put up ten hits, ten hits, score six runs,

(21:48):
and knocked Freddy Peralta out of thegame. He goes five and a
third innings, gives up all tenof those hits, all six of those
runs walked, the batter struck outsix, gave up two homers. That's
what you need against good pitching,that's what you need. I know that's
a lot to ask. Ten hits, two home runs and six runs every
night is a lot to ask.But I need this offense to start coming

(22:11):
around because I don't think anybody believesthe pitching can hold up forever, and
maybe that's one of the positions thatgets addressed at the trade deadline by Nick
Krawl. But Graham Ashcraft is gettingwhat they call quote unquote space to work
it out in triple A right.And Brandon Williamson the Reds do not seem
like things are going in a gooddirection for him getting back to the big

(22:34):
leagues this year. He's not havingsurgery, he's doing rehab, I believe,
so probably not going to get himback. Carson Spires is starting the
game tonight, and Spires has beengood as of late. But you don't
look at the starting rotation and thinkwe're good with Frankie Muntas, who's just
okay, and Carson Spires, whojury's still out on him. Hunter Green

(22:57):
was good again, although he waswalking a lot of batters on Friday night.
He gets the win. Five innings, three hits, two earned runs,
he walked five and struck out five. And as we know, the
end of this game was just absolutelyinsane. So we get to the ninth
inning. I'm just gonna walk youthrough this. This was one of the

(23:18):
wildest endings to a game I've everseen. Bottom of the ninth Alexis Diaz
comes in to lock down the sameChristian Yelich, who is as hot as
the surface of the sun for thelast month, singles Williadamis, then singles
runners on first and second with nobodyout. Rehye Hoskins comes to the place,

(23:40):
comes to the plate, reaches ona fielder's choice. Runners move up
to second and third. There's anerror by Ellie d la Cruz on the
play, and it is six tothree Milwaukee or six to three Reds at
this time, all right. Thensal Freelich lines out to Jonathan India,

(24:03):
one out. Joey Ortiz then walksand scores Christian Yelich six to four Milwaukee,
bases loaded walk by Alexis Das,then ball singled into right field by
Jackson Surio. Will Benson throws outWillie Adamas at the plate. Umpire does
not give a signal until after hedoes not give a signal at all,

(24:29):
and then Stevenson tags the guy onthe chest and then the umpire which signals
safe, which made no sense.Come to find out, he was out,
all right. Two outs, runnerson second and third, Reds up
a runs six to five. BlakePerkins for some reason bunts and pops out
softly to Alexis DS. Blake Perkinsbunts with two outs, runners on second

(24:56):
and third, down a run,ninth inning, bunts it right back to
DS. DS catches it game overRed's win. They show Pat Murphy,
the Brewer manager, in the dugout. He says, what the f is
he doing? What was that?That was maybe the dumbest play I've ever
seen a baseball player make. AndI was thinking to myself, what type

(25:19):
of awful things what I have beensaying or tweeting or posting if a Reds
player had done that? Unbelievable?And the Brewers gift rap a win to
the Reds on Friday Night. Youfast forward to Saturday. Reds lose three
to one. Andrew Rabbitt makes onebad pitch and it gets put in the

(25:41):
seats. He goes five innings,gives up all three runs, walk three,
struck out three, gave up athree run homer, But the Reds
offense was non existent. They scoredone run on five hits. Two of
those hits came off the bat ofJamber Candelarrio, including the RBI. Stevenson
had a hit. Martini and Indiahad a hit, but they struck out
a eight times and they did nothave a lot of success. They were

(26:03):
one for six with runners in scoringposition, they left five men on base.
Just not a good offensive game.Okay, you'll chalk that up.
I'll give you that one Brewer starterwent pretty was really good in that game,
going five innings, giving up none, striking out six. All right,
Andrew Rabbit makes one bad pitch andyou lose the game. I understand

(26:26):
you don't want to give up threeruns in five innings. The standards should
be higher than that. Get it, totally understand it. However, that's
kind of where this team is at. Pitcher pitches, makes one bad pitch
and you know the game is likelyover. Then yesterday have chances at the
end. We can talk about thatwhen we come back. I know Mark's

(26:47):
on the line and O Marcus ison the line, and others. Get
to your phone calls during the break, and then when we come back,
because yesterday just kind of left abad taste in your mouth, especially with
Lucas Sims giving up a home runStuart Fairchild at the end of the game.
Just didn't make a lot of sense. The way that this this ended

(27:07):
with the Reds, and again youleave thinking can they ever win a series
against the Brewers? Eight consecutive serieslosses against the Milwaukee Brewers. We'll talk
about that and we'll take your phonecalls. Five one three seven four nine,
fifteen thirty. I'm Austin Elmore.You're listening to SINCY three sixty on
the Home of the Bengals ESPN fifteenthirty in the Dynamic World of Prog ESPN

(27:30):
fifteen thirty. Welcome back, Sincythree to sixty ESPN fifteen thirty. Austin
Elmore with you until three o'clock todaytwo pm. Kelsey Conway stops by.

(27:51):
I want to ask her some thingsabout T Higgins, who signed his franchise
tender over the weekend. How thatcompares to Jesse Bates and aj Green when
when they signed their contracts, whatthat means for training camp, and something
that Ian Rappaport reported over the weekendas well. I have some questions about
T Higgins. Maybe this is goingto be a little bit different than we
all thought. Stay tuned for that. Talkbacks in an hour from now,

(28:15):
and your phone calls also long.Five point three seven four nine, fifteen
thirty you can tweet at me aswell at Audie Elmore. A little bit
of news regarding Joey Vado by theway, I know you know some people
are still interested what Joey is doing. Joey has been a sit on a
rehab assignment with the Florida Complex LeagueBlue Jays, which is their rookie developmental

(28:36):
league. He's been waiting to playin games for months in spring training after
injuring his ankle. He is playingin a rehab assignment game right now and
just flew out the center field forthe Blue Jays. So good to see
that Joey is healthy enough to beback and playing in games. We'll be
monitoring whether or not he makes itback to the big leagues for his hometown

(28:59):
Blue Jays. Let's go to thephones, five one, three thirty talking
Reds here an hour one lose twoout of three over the weekend to Milwaukee,
including a five to four loss yesterday. Let's go to Covington where Marcus
is standing by. What's up,Marcus? Oh boy? So before the
Reds. My conversation with the Reds. I don't know if you watch any

(29:21):
of that U Gay game off Saturday, No, I didn't see it walk
off though. That was an absoluteunreal game. Yeah, I heard about
that. That was a That wasKentucky's first walk off hit of the season.
Wow, good time. Yeah.So and they played tonight against A
and M. Hopefully we can goup tow and Omaha. Yeah, that'd
be huge. I forgot all aboutthe Reds series. So yesterday game.

(29:48):
I've given David Bell a little bitof a slack this year because of the
injuries that he's dealing with. However, yesterday I think his two decisions lost
us the game. Okay, allyear, all year long. That sixth
inning decision to bring Lucas Sims inhe has always used Fernando Groups. Yeah.

(30:11):
Now you go to Lucas Sims againstMilwaukee and you're trying to win a
series for the first time against himin two years. Why are you Why
are you bringing in Lucas Sims inthat situation? Yeah, And at the
end of the game, why areyou why are you taking Jammer can Laurio
out the game? Yeah? Iagree, we we we were on the

(30:33):
same wavelength yesterday, Marcus. Iwas scratching my head when Simms came into
the game, and I was scratchingmy head when Jacob Hurdaby's pinch runs for
jamber Candelario and then Espinal comes in. I mean, I get that Espinall
is an upgrade defensively, and Iget that Herdabes, you know, could
have pretented could have been a potential, you know, insurance run or a

(30:55):
chance to score a run. Butit just didn't make sense to me,
because you need runs and he wasyour best He's been your best hitter for
two weeks. It just it madeno sense. Yeah. And I mean
even though Eskaal did get a hitat the end of the game, but
that right there, that had beena perfect script for Chamber to come up
with the game on the line.Yeah, I mean, you have you

(31:17):
have players like kiand Lario at thirdin the lineup for those moments. That's
the whole purpose of batting him there, and especially with him being a switch
hitter, that it doesn't matter whatPat Murphy does. You've got a guy
you trust at the plate and youtook that out of your hands. Yeah.
And fair And I don't know whatFairchild was doing run the bases at
the end, why he booked backrowning third with two outs. I mean

(31:41):
because I mean, if you watchthe replay, you see Fairchriald break on
the break on the pitch and thenhe slows up at third and look behind
him like dude, just run yeah, and then he gets burnt out by
a mile. And that's the thing. I couldn't tell from the replay if
he was being waved around or not. I mean, he he hesitated just
a second, did not get agood enough secondary lead in my opinion,

(32:06):
off of second base, and thencoming around third base just kind of slowed
up a little bit. It didn'treally make a lot of sense. I
don't know exactly what he was doing. I don't know if there was a
stop sign. I don't know whatthe communication looked like from from the third
base coach, but it was justI almost would have rather him just keep

(32:28):
the inning going, get steer upthere with the bases loaded. Yeah,
And it's just it doesn't help.But all that it happened to gets Milwaukee.
That's the most frustrated part, Ibelieve. I think if you like
Pittsburgh or something, yeah we'd bemad. But if Andy Pek gets Milwaukee
right and in a rubber game ontop of that, but I mean we

(32:50):
got Pittsburgh, and we got Pittsburghcoming up. Kind is excited and then
again, I'm not excited to seePaul, but hopefully we can light him
up a little bit tonight. Yeah, I'm right there with you, Marcus.
Thank you for the phone call.My apologies for not talking about the
Batcats. I forgot all about themen's College World Series. I knew I
was missing something, but yeah,Kentucky, the big walk off over the

(33:12):
weekend. Let's go to Florence,Kentucky, where Marcus standing by. What's
up, Mark Man, I'm upsettoday. I hear you. I've been
upset all weekend. Two things thatreally stood out to me from watching all
three games. You remember Friday nightwhen every day the cruise got doubled off
of first base because he didn't knowhow many outs it was, okay,

(33:37):
and Stuart Fairchild, it was obviousto me he was looking behind over his
shoulder because he didn't realize how manyoutsit was. It was two outs.
He was looking behind to see ifthe ball was going to be caught.
I mean, so them two fundamentalissues right there. It makes me feel

(34:00):
like, hey, David Bell,him being a manager, it's a problem
because your team should play fundamental baseballthe right way all the time, regardless
of what the talent level is.And that was an old saying that Sparky
Anderson made a part time player.I'll show you why he's a part time

(34:22):
player. And what Stuart Fairchild did. I mean, he's supposed to beat
that throw because that ball kind ofwent up in the air a little bit.
The center fielder had to come in. He's supposed to beat that throw
easily and score that run. ThenTyler Stevenson made an error on the guy

(34:45):
trying to steal second base. Thatkind of that allowed that extra insurance run,
so to me, So to me, Milwaukee didn't really beat the Reds
or rest beat themselves. And thenokay, let's look at the manager and
the last collar bought the point up. I mean, why you why you

(35:05):
don't go to Fernando Cruise in thatsituation instead of Lucas Siems. I mean
that that kind of had me wonderingtoo. So you know, I just
think we're gonna see this for thenext couple of years as long as he's
the manager and the organization that's doingit the way they're doing it. It's
gonna be mediocre up and down,and when we're gonna have Thetherian conversations going

(35:32):
forward, I just I just don'tunder And that other point, when he
took Candelaria at the game, I'msaying to myself, you might need this
bat later on in the game.Why would you do that? And see
they chose not to pitch the cruiseand pitch the asthma up, which that
covered up that decision because he didget a hit. But but again,

(35:55):
I mean they they walked Ellie dayLa Cruz to get to the guy that
came into the game for him.And listen, Mark, I'm with you.
I mean you and I have disagreeda lot about David Bell, but
I look at yesterday and I say, David Bell's fingerprints are all over that
loss, all over. Yeah,you gotta go to Fernando Cruz, who's
been your guy in those moments allseason long. Understand he's pitched a lot,

(36:20):
but I trust him over Fernando's crewor over Lucas Sims. And that's
a game you have to win.You have to win. You get out
of that end, then you winthat game. That was the game right
there. And I think David Bellgoofed that one up. I mean,
Lucas SAMs has been giving it upall year. I mean, I don't

(36:42):
know what went into that decision.So I'll get off and listen to the
rest of the show. But I'mupset mainly at the fundamental part. I
mean when when your kids, ifyou're a parent, and your kids see
you doing dumb things, they're goingto through it too. Yeah, And
I think when the player see DavidBaial making these dumb, fundamental decisions,

(37:06):
I think it trickles down. Solet me get off and listen to the
rest of the show. Mark,thank you for the phone call. I
don't know about the last part there. Let's talk about it though, And
I've brought this point up in thepast, and we can talk about it
when we get back from a break. Because I mentioned earlier that the Reds
expected win loss is thirty seven andthirty four. They are thirty four and

(37:30):
thirty seven. They are the onlyteam in the National League Central outside of
Milwaukee with a positive run differential.What does that tell you about the team?
And at what point do you pointthe finger at the manager for the
inability of the team to execute fundamentalbaseball. I think that is a fair

(37:50):
way of looking at things, becausethis is his team, and outside of
the analytical decisions that are made aboutthe lineup and how a pitcher might perform
on the mound or how a battermight perform at the plate, the other
parts of the game are controllable,and they don't do good at that.

(38:12):
They aren't good at that. Whodo you point the finger to to me?
It's the manager. We can talkabout that. Phone lines are open
five point three seven four nine,fifteen thirty. More on the Reds coming
up next on SINCY three sixty,brought to you by Skyline Chili on ESPN
fifteen thirty, ESPN fifteen. What'sgoing on in the NF Now getting ESPN

(38:34):
fifteen thirty From iHeartRadio, Welcome backSINCY three sixty, ESPN fifteen thirty with

(38:57):
you until three o'clock today Kelsey Conwayat two. Talkbacks coming up in about
twenty twenty five minutes. If you'relistening on the iHeartRadio app, or maybe
you want to leave a talkback giveyour opinion about what you've heard so far
today, Tweet it me or excuseme leave a talkback on the iHeartRadio app
search ESPN fifteen thirty, tap thatlittle microphone next to the play button and

(39:22):
leave your thirty second message for me. Will play it in just a little
bit. I was saying, tweetit me because I just I just got
a tweet here that we're going totalk about in a moment. But to
get back to what we were sayingprior to the break, you know,
I have hand up. I've beena David Bell defender and a David Bell

(39:43):
apologist. I've been that a lotover the course of his time here,
and I still very much believe thatthat David Bell is a good manager.
Managers do have impacts on games.I thought David had a negative impact on
yesterday's game. How much more,how much deeper is the actual impact of

(40:07):
a major league manager. I getthat you have injuries, and Marcus talked
about that he's given him David Bella little bit of a pass due to
injuries. I think a lot ofpeople would be wise to do that.
However, you know, you can'tcontrol how good Santiago Espanol is when he's

(40:27):
at the plate. You can't controlhow good Lucas Simms is when he's on
the mound. Now, you cancontrol when to put those players into the
game and the impact that that mighthave, but how they actually perform at
the plate and on the mound,David doesn't have a lot of control over
that. My problem with David Belland the organization as a whole right now

(40:51):
is how bad they are about thecontrollable aspects of baseball. They are consistently
thrown out out and picked off onthe base paths. It happens constantly.
They are terrible at base running.Defensively, they are not very good.

(41:12):
Jam Er Candelario has been liability attimes at third base. Spencer Steer,
God love him, is trying toplay three different positions and has struggled at
times at all of them. Alsohas looked good at times, especially at
first base. Elie de la Cruzwas atrocious at the beginning of this season
as a shortstop, and he gotbetter, really went through a stretch where

(41:35):
he played good defense, but inthe biggest moments twice this weekend he faltered
at shortstop. He was bad.Tyler Stevenson had an error defensively and on
the base pass The two things thatyou can control, the very basis of
fundamental baseball. That can change outcomesof games, maybe even more so than

(42:01):
what you do at the plate orhow you pitch on the mound. The
things that this team has no excusefor being bad at, they're bad at.
And to me, I point thefinger at the manager, and if
you know me, you know that'snot what I do. But who else

(42:22):
am I to blame? Yes,the players deserve blame when they performed poorly,
Yes I get that. But whenit's a consistently team wide thing,
there's two options. Everybody on theteam sucks or the manager's not doing a
good enough job hammering down the fundamentals. Which one do you think it is?
Because I don't think the whole teamsucks, and I like David Bell,

(42:45):
but this can't happen in big games. This can't happen in games that
you have a chance to win.This can't happen in National League Central games.
And there are games down the stretch, because I do think this team
will be in it. There aregames down the stretch that are going to

(43:07):
be very, very big games forthis ball club. How are they going
to respond? Are they going tohave poor base running take a run off
the board? Are they gonna haveeasy ground balls to shortstop, end up
three feet into the outfield and tworuns scoring. Are they gonna get picked

(43:27):
off of second base? Are theygonna get picked off of first base?
Are they gonna have boneheaded plays tryingto stretch singles into doubles when the plays
right in front of you and youget thrown out and you take away a
potential game tying run. You canhave a team built on aggression. That's
fine, especially when you're talking aboutbase running. That's fine, that's very

(43:51):
much who this team is. Butwhen you are missing a chunk of your
team and you are not hitting theball very well as a team, you
need to dial up. You needto dial it back your aggression. You
need to tweak the way you operate. You cannot just keep trying to fit

(44:13):
square pegs in round holes. Itdoesn't happen. It's not going to work.
And I think what bothers people somuch about the Reds is that you
see that they have enough to maybedo it, like there's enough there to
make this thing work, and theykeep getting in their own way. And

(44:34):
part of that is on David Bell, and part of that is on some
of the players that are playing morethan they we thought they would be aren't
very good, and part of thatis the Milwaukee defense was fantastic over the
weekend, and you're going to havethat in Major League Baseball. There are
a lot of different ways to lookat it. But the frustration, I

(44:57):
think from the fan base and fromme today is these mistakes are avoidable.
You aren't helping yourself when you're gettingpicked off, when you're making throwing errors,
when you can't catch the ball atfirst base, when you're allowing foul
pops to hit the ground. Thosethings are avoidable, and when you allow
them to continue happening, guess what'sgonna keep happening. You're gonna keep losing

(45:22):
games, and there's gonna be alot of frustration, and more than anything,
people are just pissed off. Thisteam can't beat the Milwaukee Brewers because
they're the number one thing that standsbetween this team being good and having a
run at the playoffs and having arun at the National League Central and the
Reds just can't seem to get overthat hump. Now, can they perform

(45:45):
well against other teams? We'll seethey can certainly play well against bad teams,
They've done it a lot, andthere's time. I said this from
the jump. If they get tofive hundred by the end of this month,
and there is plenty of time todo that, I'll be okay.
But it's maddening to see games likeover the weekend where it's right there for
the taking and they soil down theirleg Since he three sixty hour one sponsor

(46:08):
Skyline Chile, you're listening to theHome of the Bengals, ESPN fifteen thirty
told this is Cincy Shirts since ethree to sixty about Cincinnati from Cincinnati,
sponsored in part by Cincy Shirts.Cincy Shirts all since the all Day.
This is ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati SportsStation. Hi, Hello and welcome in

(46:30):
our number two, Sincy three sixtyESPN fifteen thirty. Austin Elmore in the
big chair today until three o'clock.Tony Pike is out for a few more
days a week or ten days,something along those lines, as they welcome
baby number three to the family,to the world. Spoke with TP a
little bit this weekend. Everything seemsto be going well. Happy to hear

(46:53):
that we've been talking. Red's inour number one. But we've got some
breaking news around the Cincinnati Bengals.If you know me and if you know
this show, there are a fewthings on Planet Earth I love more than
a Hard Knocks And it was justannounced over the commercial break that the Bengals,

(47:17):
alongside the Steelers, the Ravens,and the Browns, will be featured
on Hard Knocks in season with theAFC North. It debuts on Tuesday,
December third on Max and HBO,and that is going to be really really

(47:37):
cool. First time they've done anin season with an entire division. They've
done in seasons in the past withthe Dolphins, with the Cardinals and some
other teams Panthers, I believe thistime they're doing in season with the entire
AFC North and the Bengals will befeatured. That is really really cool for
the Bengals. Also, Bengals earliertoday announced their training camp schedule and their

(48:04):
first training camp practice will be officiallyWednesday, July twenty fourth, and the
first five practices I believe are onlyfour season ticket members and waitlist members.
You have to have a ticket toget in. The first open practice is
Monday, July twenty ninth, sothe first four so Tuesday July twenty fourth,

(48:24):
Thursday July twenty fifth, Friday Julytwenty sixth, and Sunday July twenty
eighth. Those four practices are allfor season ticket members. You must have
a ticket. Monday July twenty ninthis the first public practice open to the
public entirely. The joint practice withthe Indianapolis Colts on Tuesday, August twentieth

(48:47):
is also for season ticket and waitlist members only. You must have a
ticket to get to that. TheBengals did say they will not hold a
public practice inside pay Course Stadium thisyear due to the stadium concert schedule.
I believe Luke Combs is coming,jazz Fest, all sorts of things coming
up this summer at pay Course Stadium. So Bengals dot com slash camp for

(49:08):
more information on that. Always themost exciting time of the year. I
believe the plan is to have Tonyback down there doing reports. I'm not
entirely sure what it's going to looklike, but I'm so excited, so
excited for training camp, so excitedfor football to get here. In an
hour from now, we'll be talkingwith Kelsey Conway. Cincinnati dot Com covers

(49:30):
the Bengals and broke the news overthe weekend that T Higgins signed his franchise
tender, and we'll talk a littlebit about that. I think it's interesting
if you look back the last coupleof times the Bengals have had a player
on the franchise tag, start withAJ Green, he signed his on July
seventeenth, twenty twenty. Jesse Batesdidn't sign his until August twenty third,

(49:53):
twenty twenty two. T Higgins signedhis mid June twenty twenty four. What
exactly does that say about him?What does it say about his plans?
And does it say anything about thefuture of T Higgins with the Cincinnati Bengals.
Those are some of the things thatwe will ask Kelsey. Phone lines
are open five one, three,seven, four, nine, fifteen thirty.

(50:14):
You can also tweet it me ataudielmore Au T y E L M
O R E. And we've gota long way to go. Talk backs
in about twenty minutes from right now, ten fifteen minutes from right now.
Let's go back to the phones.Let's go to Virginia. Jeff is standing
by, Hello, Jeff, what'son your mind? Happy Monday, Austin.

(50:35):
Just to Marcus and Mark covered everything, Marcus. Good luck to UK
tonight. By the way, Yes, what have we said all year,
going back to last year? Marginof error is zero, whether it comes
from the dungout, the first basecoaching box, the third base coaching box,
in the field at the play there. This team cannot make a single
mistake and it constantly kills them everygame, just like you said. So

(51:00):
that's my thoughts on the Reds.I am not all about this hard knocks
announcement. No, God, you'renot about it. Why is that?
Well? Number one, I hopethe locker room's done by that time because
it's going to get really crowded inthere. I think you're going to see
Joe disappear into the trainer's room moreoften than not. I mean, even

(51:22):
even our regular beat writers never approachhim at his locker, you know.
I guess they feel his obligation onWednesday takes care of everything that he has
to do for the week. AndI also think when you look at the
Steelers last eight game, eight,nine, ten game, whatever it was
when we were talking about that,there be a lot of focus on the

(51:44):
Steelers because all they're playing in Decemberis division games. And I've never been
a Hard Knocks fan really period.Anyway, what do you not like about
it? I think it's it's suchan intrusion. You know, you got
dopes like Chad driving through the McDonald'swindow, and folks like Rex Ryan.
You know, they know that thecamera is in place. It's just like

(52:09):
any other reality TV show. Peoplearen't themselves when they're on Hard Knocks.
And I like my Hard Knocks fromJames and Trags and Paul and Ben.
That's where I get my Hard Knocksfrom. Definitely, all right, that's
interesting. I mean, I agreewith you, and now teams have more
control than ever. I mean tenyears ago, fifteen years ago, you

(52:30):
got a little bit more like juicystuff out of it. But to me,
it's just kind of the behind thescenes stuff. And in Hard Knocks
in season, there's like cameras inthe meeting rooms and stuff like that,
so it's not easy for guys tohide as much, maybe as Joe would
like to. I think it's agood thing for him for people to you
know, see him and actually seewhat he's like during the season. I

(52:51):
think that could be a good thingfor him. But I certainly know what
you mean where people kind of playedup for the camera. Jeff or Rex
Ryan was certainly one of those guys. Yeah. I think one of the
few things I liked was if Iremember, like Katie hung up on somebody's
agent, it was Andre I thinkit was Andre Smith. Yeah. They
did not go well, yeah,it was we're not doing that goodbye.
Yeah. And if you remember oncethey did get that deal done. One

(53:15):
of the best moments of that show, Andre Smith walks into Mike Brown's office
to say thank you and congratulations,and Mike Brown looks him up and down
and says, you're gonna need toget in shape. I mean, that
was awesome, just a great momentwhere he basically calls Andre Smith fat to
his face. Well, that inthe real heavyset guy who was our turk
back in the day. Yes,I can't remember. That's the Sydney High

(53:37):
School legend, Jim Lippincott. He'sthe best. Yeah, that's it,
that's it. But that guy wasgreat too. So uh switching to golf
real quick, huh. I thinkBryson is the new Phil, There's not
much doubt about that. It's interesting, you know, whether he's gone off
the Royds or whatever. He's done. I mean, you know, he

(53:57):
certainly slimmed down. He hits greatgolf. I don't blame Rory for a
buzzing out of the parking lot.You know, pros locker rooms have a
fifteen to twenty minute cooling off periodbefore they open the doors. I mean,
you you choke like that and it'sgoing to sting for a while.
Definitely, I would love to seehim bounce back and play well in the

(54:19):
British Open, but you don't knowif guys can recover from something like this.
And the four man booth from NBChas got to be burnt down today
that I ended up spending most ofthe weekend with the volume turned down.
It's pretty obvious that Brandal shamby Bleeis not a Bryson de Shambeau fan for
whatever reason or another. But thosethose guys talking over each other, and

(54:44):
they have such great on course reportersthat you end up losing some of the
stuff from the guys who are rightdown there. So I agree. I
thought there was a little too manytoo many chefs in the kitchen at times.
Well, Tarico and Hicks are bothone one right and helps you know,
and I don't. Maybe it's becauseTrinco is leaving for Paris today,

(55:05):
who knows. But a shout outto the Bengals for recognizing the long term
season ticket holders on the first weekend. Yeah yeah, I thought that was
cool. Get those people out thereand maybe keep some of the modern day
look at me social media people awayfrom the scene if possible, So that'll
be great. I'm I'm like you, I'm looking forward to training camp,

(55:28):
but I'm just not big on thehard knocks. I'm definitely in the minority
on that one. Yeah, havea great Monday, Austin. Yeah,
Jeff, thank you very much.In terms of Hard Knocks, Zach Taylor,
the quote in the release says,quote, we don't think we know
this is the best division in football. I understand why it's an attractive pick

(55:49):
for hard knocks, and it's anhonor to be a part of a division
that people think so highly of.End quote. That is Bengals head coach
Zach Taylor talking about the Bengals beingon in Hard Knocks. I think it's
cool because it's never been a fulldivision before. It's always been just one
team, and you do get tosee a lot of behind the scenes stuff

(56:10):
and about how they prep and whatthe locker room is like on a day
to day basis. Like, Ithink that's really cool. And now there
are now three different iterations of HardKnocks. There's the first one, which
is the Hard Knocks off season withthe New York Giants, where they took
take a look at the in depthfree agency and draft and like that whole

(56:34):
side of the front office of anNFL league NFL team with the New York
Giants. There's the regular training campedition with the Chicago Bears that has been
around for twenty years, and nowthe in season division with the AFC North.
I think that's cool and I thinkthe Bengals should be excited to be
a part of that. I thinkBengals fans should be a part of it.
I get where Jeff's saying, andI do think he's in the minority.

(56:57):
But if you've ever seen that,just the be behind the scenes stuff
that you get, whether it's workingout or in the meeting room or somebody
stepping up or whatever it is,there's there's a lot of really really good
stuff that you can get as aBengals fan out of it. The Bengals
will be very protective of their theirprocess. I get that they should be,

(57:19):
but also it's a good thing forfans to see that want to learn
about their their team and learn abouttheir players. And I think it'll be
a good chance for Joe Burrow toallow his personality to show a little bit
more than he typically does. Ithink it's a good idea. Let's go
to Mike in La. What's up, Mike, Hey, pal Pie in

(57:40):
the satellite again today? Right,Yes, sir, we're up here.
I'll feel you, buddy. Hey, I'm kind of with Jeff Aton not
to be contrarian, but I've neverbeen a big Ard Knocks guy either.
Maybe it's older guys just for whateverreason or you know what I mean them
we don't even know why. Butyeah, I mean, I don't hate

(58:01):
it or anything. I think it'sstupid or anything like that. I just
it doesn't hold my interests for verylong. But I'm kind of like you,
I'm not a big I think yousaid you're not a movie go or
too much. I'm not, andI'm not. I'm not really a big
TV guy unless it's sports or Ithink, or something related to sports.

(58:21):
Really it seems like but but Isee the value in it for sure,
and we know it's popular. SoJeff and I are definitely in the minority.
Like you said, I was listeningto John Smoltz and Kirk Shilling on
a podcast from somewhere a couple ofdays ago, and he had brought up
the win loss thing and also onlow blanket up all the time, and

(58:43):
these guys thought exactly opposite what youguys think. They said, you know,
obviously, if you keep your teamin the game, whether it ultimately
is a winner or loser, isthe most important thing. But they said
when the losses to pictures are veryimportant for a variety of reasons. Typically,
if you've got a lot of winsversus losses, you're probably a better

(59:07):
pitcher than the ones that don't ultimatelyWorth exceptions, and he said it means
a lot to a pitchers prestige wise, respect from their teammates. They tend
to pitch longer in games to pickup wins. Sometimes you get the rung
support and you get lucky. Likeyou said, but I'm feeling different than

(59:28):
you and love because most things it'sjust a stupid pack. They didn't even
mention it. Well, that's nevergoing to happen, and that's how you
get into All Star games typically.And then the last thing I wanted to
mention to is Sea football stirred tome, and I love football, but
baseball is my favorite, then basketball, and then football is my third favorite,

(59:50):
but I love them all. Speakingof basketball, then tonight you give
Dallas any kind of a shot,buddy, or you think it's over tonight.
I do think it's over, butI think from a game standpoint,
them being six and a half,I do like that number. Yeah,
I do too. I just italmost seemed like Boston just took the other
day off, didn't it. Andyou had mentioned that last week. You

(01:00:14):
had asked me that you said,would you rather see him win it on
the road or go home? Yeah? And I think you were dead on
the money there, because why wouldn'tyou want to win at home because you
know you're going to win anyway.Yeah, And they're not playing the big
dude Hinos or whatever his name is. If he plays it all, that
really going to get your butt kicked. So I just hope it's a good

(01:00:34):
game and have some interest. Butthat's all I have for you today,
buddy. Thanks for doing a goodjob. Yeah, Mike, thank you
for calling in. Yeah. Ithink if if Dallas wins tonight, they
might win the whole thing. Ireally think that way. I think there's
a good a better chance that theywin. Well, I know, I'm
not going out on a limb here. I'll say this. If the MAVs
win tonight, They're going to winthe NBA Finals. I don't think they're

(01:00:55):
going to win tonight, but Ido think it'll be a close game,
and I think Boston will win theNBA Finals. All right, let's do
talkbacks when we come back. You'vegot time, iHeartRadio app search ESPN fifteen
thirty. Tap that little microphone andleave me a thirty second message. We'll
play it when we come back.Top of the hour. At two o'clock,

(01:01:16):
Kelsey Conway stops by to talk aboutthe Bengals and t Higgins, and
I'll ask her about this hard knocksituation coming up as well. A lot
to get to between now and threeo'clock, including Moe Egger at two forty
five as he is in from threeto six this afternoon, I'm astin know
Moore. Hour two of Sincy threeto sixty is brought to you by our

(01:01:37):
good friends at Cincy Shirts. You'relistening to the Home of the Bengals,
Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen three sixty is backon ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati's sports station.
I pressed the microphone message, comeon and don't be a Sprinkles record.

(01:02:04):
Drip ou shaft tample the bass.It's our favorite parts. Sorry,
free sex, stay stay, youplay the tacks on your screen and try
not to sabitize it. Welcome backsincey three to sixty ESPN fifteen thirty.
This is a segment we called talkbacks. You can leave your talkback on the

(01:02:25):
iHeartRadio app search ESPN fifteen thirty.Tap that little microphone and leave me a
thirty second message and we'll play itmost of the time as long as it's
not dumb. All right, let'sget started. Hello, this is former
President Ronald Reagan and well, whentrying to score from second on a single,
Stuart Fairchild needs to take Don Henley'sadvice, as given in his hit

(01:02:50):
song The Boys of Summer. Don'tlook back. You can never look back.
When the third base coaches win,milling you home, just put your
head down, gun it to theplate. Stewart Oh cool. Look,
Hey, there's a deadhead sticker onthat Cadillac in front of me. Uh
yeah. I mean when you lookat the replay, he doesn't look back

(01:03:12):
like right away when the ball ishit to see if it's caught. He
has a, in my opinion,too small of a secondary lead, and
he hesitates just a second when theball is hit. That can't happen.
You need to go on contact.Two out, You're going on contact.
That's baseball fundamentals. And I thinkthat cost him a little bit. And

(01:03:34):
they said earlier, somebody said hewhen he was rounding third, he looks
back. I don't know how muchthat really affects his speed, but he
got thrown out. Hey, AustinJaplin Lexington. Does it take somebody like
me or ken In lex to remindyou of a Kentucky Wildcats baseball team.

(01:03:57):
It took Marcus what they did inOmaha over the weekend in their first College
World Series, winning their first oneand walk off session on Saturday, and
tonight go against Texas A and Mat seven o'clock. Go Cats. Jeff,
thank you, Marcus, thank you. My fault, terrible oversight.
I didn't watch any college baseball overthe weekends. It was out of sight,

(01:04:17):
out of mind, but the badcat's got to walk off. Hey
all sending all you fine listeners andtalkbackers out there today. Kevin in North
Kentucky. keV, I too,Hope everyone had a fantastic Father's Day.
I know last year, did THiggins signed his tenure? I believe we
all knew that was going to happen. He was not turning down twenty two
million dollars. I don't care whatanybody says. Probably get his back next

(01:04:39):
year. And a special thanks toPeppy Patties, Trawberry Ice, and so
many others. On social media,he took time to wish my son Harley
a happy seventh birthday Saturday. Thatmeans a lot to me today. Go
rat, Oh well, how aboutthat happy birthday to Harley over the weekend?
Have you been lated? Sweet tea? Still pulling wool down here in
Savannah wordship, Jamber Candelario, what'sthe line in it? All right?

(01:05:09):
Thank you, sweet Tea? That'sokay, Austin, you're forgiving. Thank
you. Your sports calendar is prettyfool right now with nb A, NHL,
the Reds, so much stuff goingon that I can understand you can

(01:05:30):
hear the sarcasm dripping, but that'sokay. And hopefully tonight's away with a
w over Texas. A and M. Thanks thanks Jeff, What up Audie
Craig for the U? All right? Well, I thought the Reds actually
we're gonna win that series yesterday upthree nothing, But I guess all good
things must come to an end.Man, Stash is gone. The Red's

(01:05:54):
lost a series. No bueno anyway. I also had Bryson D. Chambeau
my fantasy golf played yesterday to thirtynine other people, so that didn't get
me much anywhere. And go backcast to night beat A and M.
Go Big Blue Go, Red Legs. Wow, a lot of bat cats
talk on talkbacks today. Got heresouth Lord Monday? I know when Monday?

(01:06:18):
Man, we just can't beat theBrewers for some reason. We got
to figure this thing out, RedLegs, come on, let's stand on
some bitiness. Well, with alldue respect to the most hide you know,
can't you have some sort of effecton this? Scott, Hey,
Austin, Jeff and your richman Bella little while. I hope you're doing

(01:06:41):
well. Why did you chime inabout the David Bell thing. I'm still
not convinced that he is calling theshots even during the game. There's just
so much of Dick Crawl that's fingerprintedall over it, and I think it's
still ownership sells this. This isgoing to be what we deal with,
which, as Reds fans sup becausewe deserve better. I disagree one hundred

(01:07:08):
percent. I don't think Nick Kralhas anything to do with the decisions in
the game, like when to bringin a starting pitcher or when to pinch
run somebody. I don't think NickKral has anything to do with that.
Awesome thanks for having the courage totell it like it is on Ellie.
Some of these radio guys don't havethe courage. Dux are terrified of getting
the backlash from his brainwashed cole.Yeah, this guy's leading the league in

(01:07:31):
airs now fourteen has a point onedefensive war which is tied for thirty second
league even there's thirty team to dothe math on that. They're so willing
to forgive everything because he gives themone exciting game out of thirty, even
though the other twenty nine are trash. That's just how down tried to a
franchise. We've become that we settledfor that name. Well, first and

(01:07:51):
foremost, you're just an Ellie hater, like you, you hate Ellie de
la Cruz regardless, and maybe that'sbecause other people don't like him, and
maybe because he hasn't come in andhit four hundred with forty home runs in
one hundred and fifty nine or onehundred and seventy games or whatever it is.
You're just an Elle hater, period, point blank. That's who you
are and who you've shown yourself tobe. I'm not an Ellie hater.

(01:08:13):
I'm just trying to analyze what Isee. Defensively, he's not good.
I talked about it last week.He was in the midst of a month
and a half long slump that washurting this team, especially with him being
second. That doesn't mean that hesucks. That doesn't mean that he's a
bad player. That doesn't mean thathe won't be a good player. You're
hating on Ellie for the sake ofhating on Ellie. It's not a bad

(01:08:34):
thing that other people are fans ofElie de la Cruz. They might look
at things differently than I do.That doesn't make me any different than anyone
else. It just might be oneparticular talk show host or one person of
the media might value certain parts ofEllie's game more than I do, or
differently than I do, and sothey think differently for the long term.

(01:08:57):
Charlie talked about this. The Redswant and and Charlie's trying to relate to
us what he's hearing from the Reds. That's how all of this works.
That they believe in the development ofhim in the two spot. I believe
that that's nonsense because I want towin. It's where me as a fan
and them as an organization, butheads over stuff because we see things differently.

(01:09:21):
That's kind of what all this isabout. And I believe Elli da
La Cruz is going to be areally, really good player. I'm honest
to God believe that. I understandwhat he's going through right now. We
had a great weekend, But whathe's going through right now, certainly defensively
and for the last month and ahalf of the plate, is not something
anybody wants to see. And itmakes you have doubts. But I also

(01:09:44):
know he's twenty two years old.Sometimes he's gonna suck. I don't like
that. That's also part of baseball. Let's see what else this guy has
to say. I honestly believe theEllie Cole likes him more than they like
the Reds. And it makes nosense because he's probably not gonna be here
in five years anyways because of whohis agent is, Scott Morris, So
the Reds aren't gonna be willing topay the money. So I know,

(01:10:08):
see what the fuss is all about. He's not gonna He's gonna play for
the Yankees or a Dodgers somebody wherehe gets that big contract. Well,
you sound like a miserable human being. I'm not gonna be worried about something
that's happening five years from now.I do not anticipate Elie day La Cruz
to sign a long term contract withthe Reds. In the meantime, I
hope he plays really, really wellfor the Reds. I hope he authors

(01:10:30):
memorable moments for the Reds. Ican't control what happens five years from now.
I can't control the organizational philosophy.But what I do know is that
he's on contract. He's under contractthrough twenty team control through twenty twenty nine,
and so for the next five years, I'm going to enjoy an exciting,
fun baseball player playing for my favoriteteam and enjoy what that could possibly

(01:10:53):
mean for him and for the teamwhile he's here. I'm not going to
be worried about what's happening when I'min my mid thirties worrying about Ellie de
la Cruz doing stuff that I don'tcare. I care about now. I
care about winning. I care aboutwhat he's going to accomplish over the next
five years. And if you're somiserable that all you can think about is

(01:11:15):
how much people like Elie de laCruz too much, and how he's not
going to be here in five years, and maybe being a sports fan isn't
for you. You just sound miserable. Just think about how lame that is.
Yes, I don't know if you'dknow this or not, but fans
and players have cult like followings.That's always been the case, especially popular

(01:11:41):
players, exciting players. There arepeople that are going to be excited by
them. There are people that aregoing to believe they do no wrong.
I jokingly talk about Corey Dillon likethat because I think Corey Dillon is awesome.
He was my favorite player growing upin my eyes. He could do
no wrong. Obviously Corey had someshortcomings, But there are people that are

(01:12:02):
just going to enjoy and appreciate aplayer while it's in front of him.
When I sit down to have ameal, I don't sit and think about,
you know how I'm going to feelin an hour and a half.
When I'm in the bathroom, Isit there and say, this is a
good meal. I'm going to enjoythis, you know what I mean?

(01:12:25):
Like, I don't know. It'snot the best analogy, but that's what
comes to my mind, like whynot live in the present. And it
also reminds me of this meme,one of my favorite memes. Basically it
says this sh let people enjoy things. One big possible positive about this hard
knocks thing. Maybe we can finallyhear the questions that the pressers during the

(01:12:47):
week, although we'll have to waita week to hear them. Anyway,
would be cool if between now andthe started training camp, the Bengals figured
out the press conference thing. Goodafternoon, Hey Austin, it's talk back
matters guy. So I thought himto talk about the and then you might
have already talked about this, youdid. I apologize Ellie Cruz. So,

(01:13:08):
Ellie Cruz, why won't they lethim bump more? I mean,
if they put him in the oneor two hole, he gets more bats
because the one in two and threeholes can go bats to anybody. But
if he could just start button,those would come into doubles, the triples
and to scoring. What did yourthoughts on that? Yeah, I mean
I think anytime he puts the baton the ball, there's a better opportunity

(01:13:30):
for good things to happen. Andapparently during spring training he worked on that
a lot, and it was somethingthat was supposed to be in his his
weapon, his his bag of tricks. Basically that he was able to do
that, and he's laid a coupleof buns down. But I don't think
the Reds are telling him to goup there and bunt. I think that

(01:13:50):
he has the ability to choose whathe wants to do. If he sees
a look, then he'll bunt.I don't think the Reds are going to
tell him to bunt ever number one, because the bun is is not really
a helpful play all the time forhim. It could be helpful because of
his speed, but if he's notthat good at it, you know,
I get it. There's two sidesof things. If he would you rather

(01:14:10):
bunt and see what happens or strikeout, I'd rather umbunt and see what
happens. But the Reds are notgoing to put a directive on Ellie daily
cruise to bunt. That's never goingto happen. Hey, Austin, this
is Adam. Yeah. Do youthink Stewari Fairchild's a good player? I
think Stuart Fairchild is a four Aplayer. Great news at t sign tender

(01:14:35):
is a franchise tag, bad news. The end season hard knocks, nothing
but a distraction, and the timingof it's horrible. December. The only
locker room interaction I want to seethis year is them chugging champagne after a

(01:14:55):
Super Bowl win. Yeah. Idon't think it's as big of a distraction
as you think. They won't justshow up in December. They'll be there
the entire season and you'll see thingsyou know later on as the season goes
along. It's not gonna be justwhat happens beginning in December. They'll be
there for basically training camp through theend of the season, and they install

(01:15:17):
little cameras in the in the meetingrooms and they have some camera people around.
I promise you it's not nearly asbig of a distraction as you think.
It is. Happy Father's Day tothe And if they're distracted by cameras
in the locker room, then maybethey weren't gonna win the Super Bowl to

(01:15:38):
begin with, Happy Father's Day tothe super sub y Yakuba you, Yeah,
I've never seen anything like that.Granted I have not watched soccer for
most of my life, but toget a hat trick as a substitute within
nine minutes, that's absurd. Loveseeing that. I don't care that it's

(01:15:59):
against San Jose. Let's keep itup on Wednesday, go Orange and Blue.
Rough weekend for the Reds. Theygot another chance against Schemes today.
Still not giving up on him.Yeah, yu Yah Kubo became the eighth
player in Major League Soccer history toget a hat trick after being substituted into
the game. Pretty impressive on thehard knocks thing. Yeah, don't really

(01:16:26):
care for a possible distraction for theBengals, but yeah, would be nice
to get some documentation of Burrow destroyingevery single team in the division. That
that could be fun. I reallydon't think it's that big of a distraction.
Ahdie, what up? Iceman here? Glad to see your holding the
fourth down till cheap Pike gets back. Thank you. I we are a

(01:16:50):
month away, a little over alittle less from Bengel's training camps starting.
I can't wait about five weeks andjust all the Bengals season ticket orders.
If you have not yet voted,vote four ready, Atti cought killing Corey
Dylan, Why yes, I encourageyou to vote for Corey Dylon. Yeah,

(01:17:15):
you know, I don't even bothera watch in the Reds because you
know they're never gonna re sign Ellieafter a five year maybe even MVP,
maybe even if we win a WorldSeries with the guy, he's not gonna
stay, So why have n't watch? You know? And Joe Burrow,
that's got me thinking about him,like even if he wins as a Super
Bowl if he doesn't stick around,Like what what's the point of watching sports

(01:17:39):
if your favorite player doesn't just staywith your favorite team for his whole career?
Yeah? God, yeah, yeahmm hmm. Once again for the
clowns. He on Ellie day LaCruz in his first one hundred and sixty
games as a pro. He's gottwenty seven homers, over sixty stolen bases,

(01:18:00):
over fifty extra base hits, thefirst guy to do that in his
first one hundred and sixty games inall of baseball history. The guy also
has over three and a half warin his first full season of production over
two seasons. All these haters needto lay off the drugs. Those are
good numbers right there. Thank youvery much. What's up? Body as

(01:18:25):
KD for Middletown Dogs, And I'lltell you what. Talkbacks must be a
happy hour for all the miserable peopleto come out and get whatever they got
to say off their chest. Imean, this ain't the no fun hour.
People come on here talk about sportsand have a positive attitude. I
just don't get it, Oddie,I don't get it. It's happy hour
for miserable people. Go Reds,Go Bearcats, Go Bengals. Yeah,

(01:18:50):
we're going to turn the corner.I mean it's like there's two sides to
the coin. Like you can loveEllie Da La Cruz and be critical of
him when he screws up and wanthim to play better. You can also
dislike Ellie Da La Cruz and acknowledgewhen he does play well, like you're
allowed to do those things. That'scalled logical human thinking. But some people

(01:19:11):
just they are obsessed with having atake and they're just angry and they're mad
at the world and they want,you know, they want to puff out
their chests and they want to thinkcertain things. It's just it's tough.
Yeaht eat Joe from Case here,what a dog that hard knocks? News
is awesome. I'm with you.I cannot wait. Please make it start
tomorrow. Who Day Joe from Case. Finally someone sees the world like I

(01:19:38):
see the world. Thank you,and that does it for talkbacks. Talkbacks
will be posted on the podcast page. Everything we do, interviews, segments,
and so on. Post it onthe podcast page ESPN fifteen thirty,
dot com, slash podcast, orwherever you get your podcasts, including the
iHeartRadio app. That's how you leavea talkback as well. We'll take a

(01:19:59):
break, We'll come you're listening toCincy Shirts Sincy three sixty on the Home
of the Bengals, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteenthirty. Welcome back, Cincy three sixty,
Touch and go here. Austin Elmore, one half of the typical Sincy
three to sixty Duo Tony Pike backin a week or so. As my

(01:20:25):
late grandma would say, it's hotterthan blue blazes out there. Never really
knew what that meant, but heatwave across the area, Heat advisory across
the area. It is ninety threeright now in Cincinnati. I believe it's
going to get even hotter and hotterand hotter. So be careful, hydrate
if you're going to be outside.Shout out to all of our mail men,

(01:20:48):
postal workers, delivery drivers out therewho I know listen to the show,
Stay hydrated. Hope people take careof you on your routes. We'll
take a break, We'll come back. Kelsey Conway coming up in just a
little bit. More on T.Higgins and the Bengals next on Since E
three to sixty, ESPN fifteen thirty, IRA Cincy three sixty continues on ESPN

(01:21:18):
fifteen thirty, Cincinnati's sports station.Welcome back since E three sixty ESPN fifteen
thirty. I'm astin know Moore withyou until three o'clock, nine minutes from

(01:21:41):
right now. Kelsey Conway. Cincinnatidot Com broke the news over the weekend.
T Higgins was signing his franchise tender. I'm curious to know what exactly
that means for the status of T. Higgins because I was kind of always
under the impression that Higgins would doyou kind of take the similar route to

(01:22:03):
to Jesse Bates, which was lateAugust, he'll sign, he'll show up,
he'll uh practice for a few weeksand then be good to go once
the regular season rolls around. Itskind of the the the That's kind of
what I expected. So I'm kindof curious to ask Kelsey about that and
what she thinks about the timing ofhim deciding to do it right after the

(01:22:24):
end of mandatory mini camp and howmuch we exact, how how much we
really anticipate T. Higgins to participate, And also does him signing that tender
now and the report from I andRapaport that he's opened to an extension off
the tag mean that you know thatrelationship has improved, because we've heard that,

(01:22:45):
you know, things have not gonewell between the Bengals and Higgins representation.
So those are my questions for Kelsey. And you know, I think
in an ideal world, Tea wouldcome in and he would practice and be
involved and do all that, andyou know, comes in and is ready
to go by the time the seasonstarts. I also know that he's got

(01:23:06):
to look out for himself. Iknow that it's going to be hard for
people to feel bad for him orunderstand the lookout for himself thing when he's
making twenty one million dollars guaranteed,almost twenty two million dollars guaranteed, like
Higgins is going to no one's goingto feel bad for him. And I
think there are a lot of peoplethat legitimately think the Bengals can win the

(01:23:28):
Super Bowl this year. I'm oneof them, and him not participating,
or him you know, holding inor holding out or whatever it is,
was just only going to create moredispleasure with him and his decision making,
especially when again he's making twenty onemillion dollars in the Bengals decided to do
that with him. So I thinkit's really interesting that perception and the plan

(01:23:51):
that he takes moving forward, becauseI think a lot of people view him
as a guy that can be anumber one wide receiver, but a guy
who's not quite a number one widereceiver. Part of that being the injuries,
part of that being not being onthe field as much as he needed
to be. Part of that beingthat he almost exclusively plays the outside,

(01:24:13):
and so in today's NFL guys andnumber one wide receivers, they move around
a lot more and they do morethan just be on the outside, and
they play a lot and so Ithink that's a really interesting part of T
Higgins, especially when it comes toOkay, if he can have a really
good season this year, he setshimself up in an explosive wide receiver market

(01:24:33):
to make a lot more money,and it's not going to be in Cincinnati,
so it's it behooves him to prepareand have a good season and produce,
and then that could result in everybodybeing happy, which is the Bengals
end up getting a third round pickand Higgins gets a ton of money.
I think everyone would be alright withthat. This is centy three sixty.

(01:24:57):
We'll talk to Kelsey Conway about allof that when we get back. Thank
you to Cincy Shirts, our sponsoran hour two Kelsey, when we get
back, you're listening to Cincy threeto sixty on the Home of the Bengals
ESPN fifteen thirty Cincy Shack you metyour ex led Penn Station eastco Subs since
e three to sixty of About Cincinnatifrom Cincinnatis, spontered in part by Penstation
eastc Subs. Handcrafted hot grilled subs, fresh cut fries and lemonade. It's

(01:25:23):
all about good taste. Pennstation EastCoast Subs. Order online today. This
is ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station. Hi, Hello, welcome in our
number three of Cincy three sixty ESPNfifteen thirty. Austin elmore with you until
three o'clock today and roughly the nextseven to ten days until Tony Pike gets

(01:25:45):
back and excited about it. Andhere I was thinking we wouldn't have much
Bengals stuff to talk about, butnow all of a sudden, they're going
to be featured in Hard Knocks andover the weekend, our next guest broke
the news that t Higgins was signinghis friend franchise tender, and that took
me a little bit by surprise.So we'll talk to Kelsey Conway from Cincinnati
dot Com Cincinnati Inquire Bengals beat reporterKelsey joins us. Now, Hi,

(01:26:11):
Kelsey, how are you hey,Austin. I'm doing great, thanks for
having me on. Yeah, thanksfor being here. I was surprised when
I saw the report come through thatHiggins was signing his franchise tender. I
guess my question is why now.I think from what I gather, it
was just about being able to justgo into the season this break and not

(01:26:35):
have to worry about, you know, do I need to report on time
and or you know, do Iwait like once the right time. I
think that everyone that knows T Higginsknows he is a really humble, hardworking
player, and I'm sure it wasn'teasy for him to be away from his

(01:26:56):
teammates. Obviously he wasn't happy that, you know, he able to get
a long term extension done because hedoes want to be in Cincinnati. But
I think it's the process has beenbeen harder for him than people. Probably,
you know, admit, because he'sreally close with Jamar Chase, Joe
Burrow and you know him having tobe away probably wasn't easy. So I

(01:27:16):
think the idea was to just getit done, sign the tag so that
way when training camp rolls around,you don't have to worry about when do
I show up? Am I goingto be ready for the season? So
from what I gather that that wasthe reason why. Uh. When training
camp does roll around, and theBengals announced earlier today the first practice being

(01:27:36):
July twenty fourth, do we anticipatet Higgins to be there and be around
and be participating in a full slateof things or do you anticipate him kind
of taking some drills off and notdoing some things, kind of like we've
seen in the past. That wasthe first question I asked, and I

(01:27:57):
try to get more information, andall I was to from cources was that
I should use the term expected tobe at training camp. So I think,
of course, like you don't wantto say definitely one way or the
other. But I was told expected. And back to what I was saying,
I think the whole point of thiswas to get it done so that
he can be there within, youknow, the start of training camp.

(01:28:21):
So I won't go on on recordand say is going to be or guaranteed
to be, but I was toldhe is expected to be there at the
start of training camp. How muchdo you think not only the fact that
the wide receiver market is exploding,but also the Bengals have legitimate Super Bowl
hopes and a new offensive coordinator.How much do you think that plays into

(01:28:43):
the idea of him expected to beinvolved in training camp from the jump.
Well, I think that that's definitelysomething, but I think it's more about
he getting himself ready to have areally big year. I mean, he
understands the market, and he andhis asient are definitely having conversations like if

(01:29:04):
you do this or if these arethe type of stats that you get,
like this is what you could potentiallyget next year. And I think part
of the reason why he wants tobe there at the start of camp is
to be able to get his bodyready to go. And as you know
often covering the team, he's hadsome soft tissue injuries in his last couple

(01:29:26):
of years, and I think thatfor him, first and foremost, it's
about getting himself ready to go,to be in peak game shape so that
he can have the best season hepossibly can. And of course you know
he wants to be a good teammate. But I think it's all going back
to he needs a certain amount ofweeks with full speed reps getting on the

(01:29:46):
same page with Joe Burrow because hecan't afford to have a down year.
It could really hurt him next yearin terms of the open market. So
I think first and foremost it's abouthim getting himself physically ready to go and
have a great season. And forthe Bengals, that's in this tact We've
been saying the whole time I've beenreporting on the subject. It's a win
win, Yes, did they didT Higgins want to get a long term

(01:30:10):
deal done? Absolutely? Did theBengals. You can argue, you know,
with their number too low for him, you know, you can talk
about that all day, but it'sa win win. The Bengals have Jamar
Chase t Higgins and Joe Burrow andthey're going to have a T Higgins who
knows he needs to play well.So you're basically getting the best out of
t Higgins for at least one moreyear. And it's a win win on

(01:30:30):
both sides. And I think thatthe fact that he's going to be there,
there's going to be no drama likethe Jessee Bates situation. I think
it's going to be really good onfor both sides. Talking with Kelsey Conway
Cincinnati Inquirer after your report that hehad signed his tender, Ian Rappaport had
said that Higgins is open to anextension off of the tag, A long

(01:30:51):
term extension still seems unlikely. Doesanything anything about Higgins signing the tender now
suggest that maybe those conversations with theBengals have improved at all. No,
because, as I reported, youknow, the Bengals really only made one
offer to him, and it waslast year, and the time for them

(01:31:13):
to have gotten the deal done wouldhave been last year. I know that
the Bengals full focused from here onout. It's gonna be on Jamar Chase.
So although you know Te's open toit, you never want to say
never. But I would be shockedif they were able to get something done,
just because it wasn't like there weremultiple attempts and they kind of stalled

(01:31:33):
out, like there was one attemptand then it was both sides said,
you know he Higgins in his campsaid, you know that we can't even
work with that number, and theBengals didn't make a counter offer. So
I don't think that this is openingthe door. I think this is just
official business. Like he had beenaway, it was time. He's ready

(01:31:55):
to come back to be around histeammates, and this is the perfect time.
Mini camp had ended and now hecan get himself ready to come back
for camp. So I don't thinkit's opening any doors for a long term
extension based off of what I knowabout the first round of the negotiation process
that I've learned, you can neversay never in the NFL, So yeah,

(01:32:16):
ain't that the truth? Interesting stuffthere? Let's let's kind of go
look at the whole team here.Bengals wrapped up Mandatory Mini Camp last week.
What stood out to you about them? I know that you can't get
a ton from those practices, butwhat caught your eye during Mandatory Mini Camp?
I think what caught my eye themost? And I did a five

(01:32:40):
takeaways from Mini Camp? Right like, obviously number one is how did Joe
look? But you guys have talkedabout that enough on the show. Ben
Jamar right like, he didn't doanything, But again, that's a non
story right now. I think whatstood out to me offensively was how big
of a deal I think Mike Gseki'sgoing to be in the offense. And

(01:33:00):
I know that he was getting aton of those reps because he and Jamar
weren't there, but I think he'sgoing to play a massive role for this
team as a receiving option, justlooking at some of the ways they were
using him in some of the offensivedesigns, and he's getting to get really
good experience with Joe Burrow. He'sreally big, and I think that as

(01:33:21):
you know, like the Bengals haven'treally had a big time like long,
tall target in the red zone oreven like over the middle of the field.
And I really felt like they couldhave gotten more out of Tyler Boyd
last year. I wasn't necessarily thatimpressed with his year last year. So
I think Mikeseki is going to bea really I mean, I'm not I
don't want to put on realistic expectations, but I think he's going to be

(01:33:43):
a sneaky important piece of this offense. And Chase Brown, I think that
he looks way more comfortable as apass catcher. I think they're going to
be able to do some fun thingswith him in the way that they're going
to utilize him out of the backfield. So I would say those two players
on offense, they kind of stoodout to me through the whole mini camp
process, in the whole off season, and then on defense, I was

(01:34:06):
not expecting Dax Hill to be runningwith the starters in Mini camp, I
thought he was going to have tobeat DJ Turner out, and I'm not
right now saying Dax Hill is goingto keep the starter, but that wasn't
by mistake that he was in therenext to Vaughan Belle, opposite of Cam
Taylor Britt with the starting group,and from some of the conversations that I

(01:34:29):
have had, apparently Dax has showna lot in the cornerback room, and
right now, based off of whatyou watch in Mini camp, you'd have
to say it's going to be areally big competition between him and DJ.
But I would say that that wassomething that was really interesting to me is
that by the end of Mini Camp, Dax Hill was starting at corner opposite
of Cam Taylor Britt, which isjust kind of wild to think about the

(01:34:51):
ride that Dax Hill has been on. Yeah, no kidding. That certainly
is something to keep an eye outon going into training. Another part that
I find interesting is Zach Taylor seeminglytake taking a bit of a step back.
We heard about what things would havelooked like with Brian Callahan had he
stayed, and now Dan Pitcher kindof getting to put his mark on the

(01:35:14):
offense. How do you end howdo you envision the offense in terms of
Zach is involved in this much orPitchers involved in this much? And how
how much do you think it changesfrom last year to this year? You
mentioned the different options, How doyou see that balance of power with Zach
and uh and with Dan Pitcher?This has been like such a non story

(01:35:34):
story. I literally asked that Taylorin the last press conference a couple weeks
ago, you know, you hadsaid you take a step back. And
what he was saying is that hedoes that every year in the off season
to allow his coaches to be ableto insert their voices more. And he

(01:35:57):
he has enough confidence in the jobthat he's done, and he's got enough
respect from the guys in the lockerroom that it doesn't always need to be
Zach sports. And I think whatmakes Zach Taylor such a good head coach
is he empowers his death. AndI think last year, like Brian did
most of the installs and the talkingand the offseason. And if you don't,

(01:36:19):
I mean you remember last year,remember when during the bye week when
the Bengals are really struggling, thatBrian Callahan said like he held this meeting
and he kind of like ripped intothe players right before the buy. Like
that's what people I think are missingwith this, Like the offensive coordinator in
Zach's offense, Like they do playa significant role in terms of their ability

(01:36:43):
to run meetings and things like that. At the end of the day,
it's fill Zach's offense. But Idon't think it's going to be any different
with Pitcher. I think Pittuer's goingto bring new ideas and has his own
flavor two things, but at theend of the day, Pitcher doesn't get
to overrule that. So yes,I think it's going to be different in
that it's just a different voice andit's a guy who has different ideas.

(01:37:06):
But this whole kind of notion thatthe offense is going to be completely different,
Like if you listen to what Zachand Joe will say, is they
know what they do really well.They know they weren't good enough. Like
there's not going to be wholesale changes. Things just might look different because they
have different personnel, i e.The running game, Like they can do
more with Zach Moss and Chase Brown, and you can do more with a

(01:37:29):
Mike and sicky. So I thinkthat's kind of what people should look for
more and like how they feature thepersonnel. But as far as scheme changes
and all of that, I wouldtemper your expectations because until Dak Taylor is
not calling the plays, the offensivecoordinator in Cincinnati isn't you know, doesn't
have that much difference in what theydo. They're a really important part,

(01:37:56):
but it's still yah yeahs often atthe end of the day. Yeah,
that's important. And you know,I'm going to take that to Tony when
he comes back, because we liketo fight about zach scheme all the time.
So I appreciate you saying that.I appreciate you making some time for
us and a great job with thereporting. We'll talk down the line.
Kelsey, thanks so much. Awesome, Thanks, have a good one you
too. That is Kelsey Conway,Cincinnati Inquire at Kelsey L. Conway on

(01:38:19):
Twitter. Uh yeah, and youknow you could kind of hear it in
her in her voice there, youknow, Oh, this Zach Taylor thing,
everybody just calmed down. I appreciatethat because you know, that's one
of the things that over the courseof the NFL offseason we can maybe get
stuck on is what exactly the offenseis going to look like, and how
much of a step back is Zachtaking and so on. That's that's part

(01:38:43):
of the June conversations that are hadaround an NFL team. I have said,
and Tony and I have gone backand forth about this constantly, that
I like Zach scheme. I thinkit works. I think when you look
at the film and I am oneof those guys and MO makes fun of
me and other people make fun ofme. I watched the All twenty two.
I am not by any means youknow Bill Walsh or Paul Brown,

(01:39:08):
but I watched that because I knowenough about football and Tony has taught me
enough about things that I have anunderstanding of what the scheme is and how
it's trying to be operated. AndI saw so many times last year where
the scheme was there and it wascorrect, and it was right and it
was fitting. But there were alsoso many times over the last couple of

(01:39:29):
years where you're not getting anything outof Joe Mixon, where you've got a
terrible offensive line, where Tyler Boydand as Kelsey alluded to was less than
impressive out of the slot and feltlike wasn't the best player on the field
to be playing in that position attimes, and when you had guys like
t Higgins who were not available orstuck on the outside, you look around
and you say, Okay, well, no wonder it's not working. These

(01:39:51):
guys don't necessarily fit. And nowwith mixing, gone with Boyd, gone
with Giseke into the fold, withSace Brown into the fold, with Jermaine
Burton into the fold, and withthe ability to move Jamar Chase in all
these different positions, and oh,by the way, you think you've again
got a better offensive line, andyou've got those guys signed for the next

(01:40:11):
couple of years. The possibilities arenow endless. And I think there's going
to be a time where people thinkthe offense looks so much different, when
in reality, it just looks likeit's supposed to look. With Zach at
the helm and with zach scheme,we're finally seeing those pieces put into the
right parts of the puzzle. Andmaybe Brian Callahan will get some blame if

(01:40:35):
the offense looks good, or maybeold people will come back to this story
and say, look what happened whenZach Taylor takes a step back and say,
look what Dan Pitcher can do.And maybe it means Dan Pitchrick gets
a head coaching job next offseason andwe do this whole thing all over again.
I don't know, but I dothink that that was an important part
there. And the perspective at theend is that this part of the off

(01:40:58):
season really allows Zach Taylor, reallyallows his guys to meet with the team,
take control, explain the install inthose sorts of things, and now
I think the personnel on this teamis best fitted to run his scheme than
it has been at any point,maybe since his first year in twenty nineteen.

(01:41:21):
That team sucked and the defense washistorically bad, but some of those
pieces made a little bit more sensefor what Zach does. And you throw
Jamar into the equation and you adjust, and they did adjust and made things
look really good with Jamar. Hisfirst year went to the super Bowl.

(01:41:41):
So you know, I think that'sreally interesting. I'm fired up to see
what this offense looks like. I'venever I have not been this excited about
the offense since Zak has been here, Really I haven't. And I think
the Borough thing is interesting obviously,how he looks. I think he's fine.
Don't think it's a big deal.Don't think Jamar not practicing is a

(01:42:01):
big deal. But the part shesaid about Higgins too, basically saying,
this is a formality, this isbusiness, and he is expected to be
there and be involved in training campbecause he's making twenty two million guaranteed and
he knows if he can have agood season this year, he'll be making
twenty two million guaranteed for several yearsand that is important. And I think

(01:42:27):
the other part too, and Kelseykind of giving us a peek into the
character of t Higgins, and Ithink a lot of us know this,
but also you know understanding how badlyhe likes Cincinnati, how much he wants
to be in Cincinnati, and howthat might have an impact in his decision
making. That's different than aj Greena couple of years ago. That's different
than Jesse Bates a couple of yearsago. That because of the way he

(01:42:53):
operates as a human being and becauseof what's at stake for him in the
future, he looks around and says, it's really important for me to be
my best version of myself, notonly for my team, but for myself
moving forward. I think that's agood thing for T Higgins. I think
this is the way that this isgonna work is beneficial to both sides.

(01:43:15):
T Higgins gets a lot of moneyand gets an opportunity to fit into this
offense with one of the best quarterbacksin the NFL, and he can use
that to springboard himself forward into aninsane wide receiver market. And the Bengals
can get a player that's motivated todo that, a player that's familiar with
this team and loved by the fanbase and might be enough to get you

(01:43:39):
over the top to win a SuperBowl. That's business. Higgins is giving
one thing and getting another. TheBengals are giving one thing and getting another.
And when the time for that partnershipto end comes, they're going to
go their separate ways, hopefully withboth of them being happy with the end
result. I think that's good stuff. Appreciate Kelsey Conway stopping by. You'll

(01:44:00):
hear the whole thing in case youmissed it on the podcast PAGESPN fifteen thirty
dot com and the iHeartRadio app comingup in just a little bit. Phone
lines are back open five one,three, seven, four, nine,
fifteen thirty You can also tweet itme at Audiel Moore au t y E
l m o r E. Mightget into the US Open a little bit,

(01:44:21):
little Rory McElroy, maybe some WNBAMoweger in about twenty five minutes for
quick hits and locks of the night. You're listening to Cincy three sixty,
brought to you by our friends atPenn Station on the Home of the Bengals,
Cincinnatis, ESPN fifteen thirty. Loegar. We've talked about this a lot.
He's got what you want, like, who's the go to guy?
Gonna be the interviews, his viewsand your calls. Go to guy isn't

(01:44:44):
the team's leading score Loegar Today atthree on ESPN fifteen thirty, Get Beauty,
Comfort Energy at fits. Cincy threesixty is back on ESPN fifteen thirty
Cincinnatis Sports Station. Welcome back sinceythree sixty ESPN fifteen thirty. I'm Austin

(01:45:11):
Elmore with you until three o'clock atAudiomore on Twitter posted the Kelsey Conway podcast
should be coming up any second nowin your feeds. That was great stuff
from Kelsey. Looking forward to tolistening to that again. That was that
was good stuff, ESPN, fifteenthirty, dot com, slash podcast,

(01:45:35):
anywhere you get your podcast. Allright, let's talk about this for just
a second. I thought it wasinteresting over the weekend that some people had
a big hubbub about about Rory McElroyafter the US Open Championship. So last
night yesterday, I guess last nightyesterday evening, whatever you want to say,

(01:45:56):
Bryson d Schambeau wins it as Rorykind of chokes it ay at the
US Open at Pinehurst, and withinsix minutes of Bryson's putt going in,
Rory McElroy leaves the golf course andwithin an hour he's in the air on
his way back home to Florida.And people seem to be upset with Rory

(01:46:23):
about this. And I'm admittedly aRory McElroy fan. I'm also somebody who
believes that athletes should talk and theyshould stand up in those moments of heartbreak
and when things go wrong. LikeI've always felt that way and I stand
by that. But last night,when people were seemingly upset with Rory about

(01:46:49):
the way that he left and aboutnot talking to the media after his round,
I kind of felt like doesn't thattell the story because people want the
story of what happened when he bogeiedthose holes and missed those putts, and
four hundred and ninety six out offour hundred and ninety six this season inside

(01:47:11):
three feet was Rory McElroy and twofeet nine inches or whatever it was,
he misses and then misses another onejust under four feet, and Bryson has
two great shots and steps up ina moment himself, which I think is
a story worthy of telling just asmuch as Rory choking is the fact that
Bryson made up, stepped up tothe plate, and delivered in those big

(01:47:39):
moments, especially coming out of thatbunker and out of what they call the
native area prior to that, AndI felt like Rory leaving said everything you
needed to say. This guy hasbeen ten years now without a major championship
and won four in his first fouryears, and all of a sudden had

(01:48:01):
the weight of all these expectations andwas the guy who was always willing to
talk and always willing to represent thePGA Tour, and the guy who stood
up against live and had people gobehind his back and has never minced words
about the way that he's felt anda guy who over the last couple of

(01:48:23):
weeks has had people digging into hismarriage and his personal life and whether he
might be getting divorced or not gettingdivorced, and throwing out all these accusations
about him and other people. He'sbeen under the magnifying glass a lot the
last couple of years, and evenmore so the last couple of weeks.

(01:48:44):
And I felt like him driving awaythat image of him that has been now
going turned into a meme. HellI tweeted as a meme this morning of
him standing there kind of in disbeliefin the scorer's tent, hat lobsided on
his head as Bryson wins the USopen. To me, that says everything

(01:49:04):
you need to say. And Ithought, I think it was Brody Williams.
Maybe if Brody Miller excuse me.New York Times has written a really
good piece about it on the Athleticand he said, there's nothing else to
say. There was nothing left tosay, he said, quote the golfer,

(01:49:27):
known for his ability to speak eloquentlyon all subjects, declined to speak
to the media. There was nothingleft to say, And for me,
just kind of from the human sideof it, I'm like, I get
it. From the sports media sideof it, I'm like, I get
it in him not being there andnot talking about it is as much a

(01:49:49):
story as him if he explained whathappened on those putts or explain how he
was feeling in the moment, Whatmore indication do you you need for the
way he feels than him speeding outof that golf course and being in the
air an hour later, not evenAnd I get where a lot of people

(01:50:11):
want him to talk, and Iget why he's being criticized for not doing
it, But my question would be, what more do you want from Rory
McElroy. He's given you a lot, you know, Bryson or not Bryson.
But Brooks Koepka this week declined tospeak with the media, citing the
fact that he just didn't feel likeit and had kind of this arrogant conversation

(01:50:35):
over text and dragged the media inthat text the entire time. McRoy doesn't
do stuff like that. Rory showsup and has opened his life to these
Netflix documentaries and again has had peoplepoking and prodding around it a lot the
last few weeks. And now tosee you you choke away an Open championship

(01:51:02):
that could have been the revitalization ofyour career, that could have changed all
the narratives that could have seen youbeat a live golfer in a huge major
and a guy that a lot ofpeople disliked who was on this PR tour
over the last few months, culminatingin a US Open Championship in Bryson.

(01:51:24):
Sometimes you just don't have anything elseto say, and I felt I felt
for Ry McElroy in that moment.I was gutted for him, and I
saw him leaving and people talking abouthim, and I was just like,
I get it, Rory, youknow what I mean? Like that to
me is as big of a storyand as big of an indicator as to

(01:51:45):
what someone is going through and howthey've been tormented by these majors as it
would have been if he was upthere talking about the shots. I think
it just was a legitimate peek insidethe mind of somebody who was hard broken
again at a major championship. AndI thought Bryson Deshambeau, on the complete

(01:52:06):
opposite end of the spectrum, hasgone from this arrogant kind of guy that
nobody really liked and was robotic andnot fun and had gone to the live
tour and people made fun of himconstantly for the way that he does his
work, but slowly but surely hasbeen more open and more relatable and more

(01:52:29):
genuine. And the way that hehandled winning yesterday and taking the trophy around
and letting everybody touch it, andthe whole thing with the Golf Channel guy
and the bunker and you know,signing autographs and all sorts of stuff.
Just he was on the exact oppositeend of the spectrum of he did revitalize

(01:52:50):
his career. He changed course ofthe way people think about him and remember
him. And I wonder if yearsfrom now the twenty twenty four US Open
will be remembered because Bryson changed courseand hit that unbelievable shot out of the
bunker, or will it be rememberedas the one that Rory mcelroyd choked away.

(01:53:15):
And to me, that's the beautyof major championship golf. Phone lines
are open five one, three,seven, four, nine, fifteen thirty.
I'm Austin Ellmore. This is Sincythree sixty, brought to you by
a Penn station on the home ofthe Bengals. ESPN fifteen thirty. You
sailed beyond Welcome back SINCEY three sixtyESPN fifteen thirty. A few minutes here

(01:53:40):
before we go to Moe Eggar quickhits Locks of the Night MO in three
to six this afternoon. He's backback, looking forward to hearing MO and
uh finding out what's on his showthis afternoon. Quick. Red's update not
really an update, but uh twothings. Ellie day Look is now the

(01:54:00):
cover athlete for Tops twenty twenty fourChrome Tops Chrome twenty twenty four. I
should say, a new release fromTops Baseball cards, So shout out to
Ellie de la Cruz for that.I know Tony and I will be excited.
I know Moe and his friends thathe Hits seekers will be looking after
that. Red's released the update onthe National League All Star ballot. In

(01:54:24):
terms of Red's players, I saidlast week, I don't know that anybody
on this team is really deserving ofan All Star spot. But the update
is as follows. Tyler, Stevensonand Christian and Carnassio and Strand are both
tenth for their position in balloting.Jake Fraley is ninth as a DH.
Jonathan India eighth as a second baseman, and no surprise, Ellie Da la

(01:54:46):
Cruz is third amongst shortstops for NationalLeague All Star voting. Reds are at
the Pirates tonight. Paul Skeens getsthe start for Pittsburgh. Is their phenom.
Number one prospect in baseball, numberone prospects certainly in their press,
in their their organization. And youknow, Pittsburgh when you look at it,

(01:55:11):
they're the same record, I thinkas the Reds right now. And
they've got this pitching staff that iscertainly good enough probably in the minds of
them and many others, to wina playoff series. And it makes them
really interesting, you know, areally interesting team at the deadline, because
I remember talking about this at thebeginning of the year. They could be

(01:55:31):
this year's Reds of last year.And I wonder if you know, they
look at the Reds and the waythat they operated last year and say,
you know what, we need togo add somebody this year. We need
to go pick up somebody this yearthat can put us over the top.
And the rest of the NL CentralSaint Louis, the Reds, Pittsburgh,
Chicago really interesting because they're all rightthere and I think they all have a

(01:55:53):
chance in the National League wild cardrace to be one of those teams,
and what that looks like, Ithink is fascinating, and especially what it
looks like in terms of teams tryingto acquire talent prior to the trade deadline.
As far as tonight goes, PaulSkeen's is filthy, man, I
mean, he's absolutely filthy. He'sgot like I think, oh gosh,

(01:56:17):
I missed out on the I can'tremember, but he's got a ton of
strikeouts, Like forty six strikeouts Ithink in thirty three innings is the number
I was looking for. He's beenfantastic. The plan tonight has to be
to make Paul Skeen's work and getto the bullpen early. The thing is,
Paul Skeens knows that's the plan,and he is very, very aggressive.

(01:56:38):
So the Reds have to find thatbalance between being aggressive and trying to
hit early count fastballs and also gettinghim and getting that pitch count up and
getting to the bullpen because the Pirateshave one of the worst bullpens in baseball.
They're twenty fifth in the major leaguesin bullpen era at four point six
y three in two hundred and fiftyone innings this year year from Pirates relievers,

(01:57:00):
They've given up two hundred and thirtyone hits and walked one hundred and
fourteen batters. That is really,really bad. So the Reds have to
get to the Pirates' bullpen and makesome noise that way if they are to
be successful in Pittsburgh tonight. Andbelieve it or not, first time,
first time the Reds and Pirates haveplayed this season. Neither one of these

(01:57:24):
teams has seen the opposing pitcher.Carson Spiers goes for the Reds. He
has a two point three to threeERA. Paul Sken's forty six strikeouts,
as I mentioned, has a twopoint four to three ERA and six starts
for Pittsburgh. We'll take a break, we'll come back. We'll talk to
Moe Egger for quick hits and locksof the night. You're listening to Sincy
three to sixty, brought to youby Penn Station on the Home of the

(01:57:45):
Bengals, ESPN fifteen thirty. Sinceythree sixty continues on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati
Sports Station, It's time for Sincythree sixty Quick Hits on ESPN fifteen thirty
was looking for mo. Yes,indeed it is, and Moegger joins us
now for quick hits and locks ofthe night And Hi mo, what's up

(01:58:06):
body? Oh not a whole lot? Did you enjoy your long weekend?
I did? Is this officially loadmanagement June? Like it's it commenced last
weekend? Yeah, it's load managementseason. Okay, it's load management season.
We're in the throws of load managementseason. We're going to work three
days this week, next week four, and the week after that three.
Have you ever seen a dumber playthan what Blake Perkins did Friday night for

(01:58:29):
the Milwaukee Brewer. I don't knowthat I've seen a dumber player play by
a baseball player ever. No.Now, I'll give him credit because he
did try to offer an explanation infront of his locker after the game.
I give him credit for doing that, and I appreciate him, I think,
very meticulously taking people through the thoughtprocess. And I listened to it,
and at the end of his explanation, I still thought, that's maybe

(01:58:50):
the dumbest thing I've ever seen abaseball player do. The best part of
it was the reaction of his manager. Oh my god, Murphy and the
dugout on Friday with this look.But I mean, here's the thing.
If he doesn't do that right,if he doesn't bunt. Is there anybody
who thinks he doesn't get a hitif he swings the bat. No,
which, just the way the inningwas unfolded, with the way that Alexis

(01:59:13):
Daz was struggling, Like, that'sthe thing. If you're a Milwaukee fan,
you take two out of three,you're going if my guy just swings
the bat, chances are they sweepthe Cincinnati Reds. Uh? What was
his explanation? Basically he didn't thinkhe could get good contact against Alexis ds.
Oh wow, okay, well he'dbe the only one. Is there

(01:59:33):
an Alexis ds problem with the Reds? Yeah, they're playing with fire.
He's playing with fire, and wecan make it as simple as do you
have somebody else close? And I'mhere for that conversation. But they've got
to get him right because he's stillgoing to pitch in high leverage situations.
And you know, the more youplay with fire, the greater the possibility

(01:59:54):
of getting burned. And so onone hand, you could say, look,
he is still getting the last threeouts, as adventurous as they may
be, he is still getting thelast three outs the overwhelming majority of the
time. But it's it's like ateam that shoots free throws poorly in basketball,
Like you still may win your allyour games at some points. At
some point, it's gonna catch upto you. Yeah, at some point

(02:00:14):
in a big moment. If thiscontinues, Alexis Diaz is going to cough
one up and this team is operatingwith no margin for air right now,
he shrinks it. Yeah, Ithink there are legitimate conversations to be had
about Alexis, his role on theteam and what can be done to make
him better. They're now they havenow lost eight consecutive series against the Milwaukee
Brewers. Why can't they beat theBrewers? The Brewers are better and have

(02:00:36):
been for a while. I mean, just they have a better team this
year. Now, Do I thinkthe Reds can still make this interesting if
the starting pitching holds up. Yeah, but the Brewers over these last eight
series at any point last year tojust say, God, the Reds are
a better baseball team than the MilwaukeeBrewers. No, I mean, like
the Reds were fun last year.Milwaukee was better they proved it over the

(02:00:58):
course of the entire season. They'veproved it over the course at the last
couple of years, they've been thebetter baseball team, So it makes sense
that the better baseball team wins.But to me, like this is when
they'll get over that hump, right, we used to talk about this with
the Reds and Cardinals. Start winningyour head to head matchups against a team
that in recent years has kind ofbeen the standard center in the National League

(02:01:18):
Central and you will have arrived asa bona fide contender. How do you
feel if they get to five hundredthe Reds by the end of this month?
Good? Yeah. Do you thinkthat pushes Nick Crawl to do something
sooner rather than later just because ofhow tight the National League is? I
would like to think so, ButI still feel like there's a lot of

(02:01:40):
teams trying to figure out what theyare. Like. There are, legitimately
in a thirty team league, fiveteams that would say we are definitively out
of it. Five. So whatis that sixteen percent of year which means
eighty four percent of teams either arein it or think they still may be
in it by the time we getto the deadline. And so if you
want to jump to the front ofthe line and go get a bat,

(02:02:00):
which I think most of us wouldagree, they're going to need. You're
gonna have to overwhelm somebody with anoffer. And boy, it's interesting because
I hear people talk out of bothsides of their mouth. They'll say,
I want Nick craw to be aggressive, and then they'll name like forty five
players they don't want to trade.You can't do both, and so are
we legitimately willing to let Nick lookat what they have and part with a

(02:02:21):
piece. Yeah, though, toget to your original question, we said
this at the beginning of the month, get to late June, get to
the end of the month at fivehundred. That's doable. The schedule eases
up slightly. But I guess whatI want to know is if they're not
at five hundred by June. AndI'm not talking about like a game or
two off the pace, but let'ssay they really crater these next two weeks,

(02:02:45):
than what happens, Yeah, becausethey're not gonna blow it up.
Then what happens? I mean,do we stop counting on the turnaround that
we've been pinning our hopes on allalong. T higgins side is franchise tag
over the weekend. Surprised by thata little bit. Was listening to you
and Kelsey talk about this a littlebit, but not surprised, but not

(02:03:08):
shocked. And we're gonna talk aboutthis because I think with T we forget
He's got a lot to play forand a lot to prove. And so
on one hand, okay, youcould, I guess understand anybody who's like,
dude, I'm not getting paid todo this. You can't find me
for not doing this, and soI'm not gonna show up for camp.

(02:03:29):
At the same time, he hasa lot riding on this season. He
wants to prove to the league thathe is deserving of number one wide receiver
money. He's I think, outto prove to the league that last year
was not indicative of his overall abilityto stay healthy. I think he's out
to prove and should be out toprove that he is deserving of the sort
of money that he seeks and thathe can't get from the Bengals. And

(02:03:49):
so how does he get that moneyhave a great year? Do you have
a better chance of having a greatyear if you show up for training camp
on time and go ahead and getthat like they're not gonna reverse course and
give him a long term deal.We know how this is gonna end.
So if we know how this ends, why not in the interim make the
most of the situation the Bengals andt Higgins find themselves in. And so

(02:04:11):
T, I guess to me,has decided We're gonna go ahead and try
to have a great year. I'lltry to prove that I'm a number one
wide receiver and maybe win a ringin the process. What else do you
have on your show today from threeto six? So we missed opportunity for
the Reds. Good news for theBengals, Good news for Bengals fans.
What were fifty six thousand people thinking? Well people in Cincinnati ever do what
they did in Saint Louis And wheredoes thirty years ago tonight rank on the

(02:04:35):
list of moments we wish Twitter wasaround for fantastic Hey Degenerates, It's time
for Lots of the Night presented byCincy Shirts. Visit the stores in Hyde
Park, Lovelin, or on DixieHighway in Fort Mitchell and always online at
sincyshirts dot com. Now let's makeyou some money. I have a question

(02:04:57):
for you. Yes, since you'refired up and I am too, Hard
Knocks is going to feed for theAFC North in season all the way through
the playoffs. I'm foaming at themouth. I love this. There's nothing
that NFL films does that is donepoorly like Hard Knocks. Some seasons are
better than the others because you knowone teaeam are very particular. Sure right,
what is your favorite all time seasonof Hard Knocks that doesn't involve the

(02:05:18):
Bengals? Ooh uh, that's youput me on the spot right there.
I liked the Dallas Cowboys when MikeZimmer was the defensive coordinator. That was
probably twenty years ago. That wasa really good season. The Baltimore Ravens
was Shannon Sharp and Ray Lewis.Yes, that was a great season,

(02:05:40):
probably one of those two. SoI love the Ravens. My favorite one
that doesn't involve the Bengals was theJets in twenty ten. Yes, because
it was the last one really beforetraining camp turned into something that it is
now. Teams were still going away, there was a lot more contact was
it was like the last one thatwas really FOOTBALLI and the one subsequent to

(02:06:01):
that. Many of them have beenquite good. But that's one that I've
like rewatched on YouTube a bunch oftimes. Yeah, that's a good one.
I also like the Buccaneers a fewyears ago. Yes, I think
the MAVs six and a half pointdogs is interesting. Tonight Game five of
the NBA Finals. What do yougot for locks of the night? The
under is hitting every game in thisseries. We got to buck that trend.
We'll go over tonight. Dallas didemphasize putting their foot on the gas

(02:06:25):
on Friday. Boston still shoots alot of threes. They're at home.
I think we finally get an oversince two thousand and five home favorites coming
off a double digit road loss inthe playoffs are one thirty four to one
oh two and five. Let's takeaway round one in the play in their
seventy five forty six and one.I think Boston covers. I'm also gonna
go Horford over one and a halfblocks and steals. All right, that

(02:06:49):
sounds spicy for NBA Finals Game five, mo, thank you so much.
I'll talk to you again tomorrow.You will, all right? That is
mo Egger coming up this afternoon fromthree until six, right here on ESPN
fifteen thirty. Back again tomorrow.I am in the big chair looking forward

(02:07:10):
to it. We'll certainly talk aboutwhat the Reds do against Paul Skien tonight
in a whole lot more. Thankyou to Kelsey Conway for stopping by.
Thank you to Moegger, to ourtalkbackers, listeners, callers, and of
course the great sponsors of SINCY threesixty. We are, We're out.
We'll do it again tomorrow. You'vebeen listening to SINCY three sixty on the
Home of the Bengals, Cincinnati's ESPNfifteen thirty