May 21, 2025 • 22 mins
Tony and Austin talk with Jeremy Rauch from FOX19 about his upcoming story on Joe Burrow's parents and the 2020 NFL Draft, 5 years later.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
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Speaker 2 (00:22):
All right, welcome back our number three. Thanks for joining
us at Cincy three to sixty. Thanks to our friends
at Penn Station. Thank you for listening on ESPN fifteen thirty,
Cincinnati's Sports station. Let's do this as the Reds down
two to one right now, our guy Jeremy Ral is
all over the scenes for Fox nineteen and he teased
(00:44):
something via his social media at Fox nineteen. Jeremy, They've
got a special dropping tonight on Fox nineteen around what
happened five years ago at the NFL Draft when Joe
Burrow was sitting in the living room with his parents
and he got that call from the Cincinnati Bengals. But
before we get the real story tonight, I want to
(01:06):
go behind the scenes a little bit. Jeremy's nice enough
to join us right now. Jeremy Row. What's happening?
Speaker 3 (01:13):
Pp, what's up? Man? I'm so glad to be on
the show and kind of you guys to have me on.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
I want to dive headfirst into everything about what's going
to be airing tonight. Before we get to that, I
just have to get your point of view and your knowledge.
I know the game was on Fox last night. Do
we have any more information at this point as to
the pigeon that was struck in batting practice in Pittsburgh?
Speaker 3 (01:41):
So I'm still working to get a second source on this, Tony,
I do have. We called it. We called this half
a source and TV and if you have half a source,
you run with it. Half a source told me that
there was a pigeon limping around in the corner of
the Red dugout and it just kind of like kept
giving the Reds players this like stink guy, You know
(02:03):
what I mean? You've ever seen a bird blink and
just stare with one eye open. It happens more often
than you think. And so this bird is in there
limping around staring at the Red and uh, Pete from
Dumb and Dumber was actually there as well and had
his bird, and.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Well, I just I wondered at this point, because you know,
we we haven't seen the hottest hitter in the National
League in the last two games, and we don't have
a name attached to who hit the pigeon. Could we
assume at this point it was Will Benson and he
is just struggling ever since that that moment to get
back out there and swing the back.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
Well, that same source actually told me that Will was
kind of curled up in a fetal position in the
corner holding that injured bird, and so when Terry looked
his way, the bird kind of gave Terry the stink guy,
and Will said like shook his head like not now now,
right now. So it's again, I'm working on getting a
full source on that, maybe a second source, but the
(03:04):
pigeons certainly played a part.
Speaker 4 (03:06):
While all that.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
Is happening, you're also not stopping with your guys coverage
of the Bengals and everything going on in that sense,
And you guys have something cool coming out tonight at
ten o'clock that I want to dive into for those
that haven't seen or saw the teaser yet, what do
you guys have coming out tonight?
Speaker 3 (03:24):
Yeah, So here's the thing, and It's like a hard
left turn from the story I just told about pigeons
and the reds. This is really cool, right, I have
been on this for a month or so, this idea that, man,
wouldn't it be cool to go talk to Joe Burrow's
parents about what happened five years ago in their house?
You know, Joe gets dratted the number one overall of
the Bengals in the most unique draft in NFL history,
(03:48):
the most unique setting ever for a number one overall
pick I just wanted to chase this story down, and
Jimmy and Robin Burrow, I've been going back and forth
with them for a few weeks on this and schedules,
and they've got so much going on, And finally yesterday
I was able to nail it down with them and
went to Athenes, really the Planes, which is the smaller
part of Athens where Joe Burrow's from, and was invited
(04:09):
into their home, had a chance to do the story.
They still live in the same house. They have not moved.
I know, people think, you know, what did Joe Burrow's
parents do He makes all this money, Do they have
this big mansion? Now? Did he help him out by
a house, like they still live in the same house
that Joe Burrow grew up in, and so it's really
cool to go back to that setting, to be in
(04:30):
that same living room and then talk with Jimmy and
Robin Burrow, Joe's parents, about that night. And there are
a lot of unique stories that haven't been told. There's
video they have that hasn't been shared that I get
to share it tonight at ten on Fox nineteen.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
Now is it when you walk into that room? Does
it look the same? Because I went back and certainly
you got the leather couches and the curtains definitely stood
out in those videos as Joe Burrow was wearing the
seven to four to zero area code long sleeve shirt.
(05:03):
Is is the room essentially still the same? Have they have
they changed up the decor since the draft night five
years ago?
Speaker 3 (05:12):
They have And that was something we kind of laughed
about during part of our interviews. So, you know, I've
never been in his house. When I went to Joe
Brow's hometown before he was drafted, before COVID started back
in February twenty twenty, at the time, Jimmy said, better
not go to the house. Joe's there I don't want to,
you know, I don't want to kind of freak him out.
So I didn't go to the house back then. So
(05:33):
I've not been in their house yet. So like all
of you, I had seen, you know, what happened on
draft night and the drakes, the curtains and all that
and the decor. And so I walk in. I've got
all my gear and kind of walk into the kitchen.
I turn right and I say, okay, this is the
living room? Is this where? Is this where he was drafted?
And they said, yeah, we changed the furniture. And they
kind of laughed and said we've changed the draves as well.
(05:56):
And there's there's funny things about that night, and their
pictures kind of tell the story tonight. But they they
were charged with setting up everything that would be broadcasted
in that room. Remember this is during COVID. Okay, so
you're asking imagine, and I'm not trying to age anyone,
but imagine if you ask your parents Tony draft night.
(06:18):
Let's just say you're the number one overall, pick right,
and you said, Hey, this is gonna sound weird, but
the NFL is gonna send some video elements like a
couple of cameras, some lighting. You got to plug it
all in, make sure it works connected to Wi Fi,
and make sure the WiFi is working. Otherwise when the
world tries to see me go number one, overall, everything's
trying to go dark. This is a lot of pressure, right,
(06:40):
and so they were charged with doing all that. Now
they said, the NFL did a great job with instructions,
but like the behind the scenes stuff, and again, the
drapes have changed now, the couches have changed. They've upgraded
a little bit. Is right below the camera set up
on the floor. This is when he's getting drafted. They
just have a war all over the place. Joe Burrow's
(07:02):
heisman trophy is sitting on the floor beneath these cameras
while he gets drafted number one. Overall, they've since at
its shelves where they have a lot of his awards
and stuff. But it's it's so surreal to be in
that room and kind of laugh about. Man, the world
watched this, saw your drapes and said the Burrows need
to drape They've now changed a lot of those.
Speaker 4 (07:24):
I'm glad you asked about that because that was my question, like,
do they just get this box full of equipment and
they have to set it up themselves, and you know,
do they still I don't know if this is TMI.
I know Joe's talked about this is the Heisman trophy,
just like a centerpiece in their house. Does it just
kind of sit there or is it moved on to
a different place now do you know?
Speaker 3 (07:44):
No, so it's still there. It's not a centerpiece. There
are so many things on the shelves, it's incredible. I
mean there's a there's like a picture frame like you know,
like one of those video picture frames where it's a
picture frame of video played. I find like an old
person describing that, but you get it. And so Joe
Burrow was like a huge Matthew Delavadova fan. You guys
(08:08):
remember that, And so Matthew Delavandova gives him this signed frame,
uh and it has LSU highlights playing on repeat NonStop
for Matthew Delivandova. I found that to be the most
interesting thing, like of all the people. And so that's
that's a funny thing. Uh. You know, he won the
FedEx I think Airplayer of the Year in twenty twenty two.
(08:29):
There's a huge trophy for that that's there, and there's
like this bedazzled Super Bowl ball that's in there. Like
there's all these things on the shelves. And when Joe
says he doesn't really care about awards or know what
to do with him, when you see the picture of
all his awards just sitting on the floor from draft,
now you understand truly how Joe Burrow feels about awards.
(08:51):
I mean, this dude wants a ring on his finger
and anything else can go on a shelf somewhere in.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
His parents out How do you go about if you're
if you're Joe Burrow's parents, Like, where do you draw
the line awards to display? You know, I'm sure like
if you go into my parents' basement, there's probably like
stuff that I did at reading that is still on display.
When your son is the number one overall draft pick
and he's won a Heisman and he's won all these
accolades and awards in college and in the NFL, where
(09:16):
do you draw the line on what awards that you
keep and maybe what awards you move on from.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
Man, that's a good question. You know, I didn't see
the Ohio Mister Football Award in there. It might have
been in there, tucked away and I didn't notice it.
There's also you know, I did ask them, I said,
does Joe Burrow's room look similar to what it was
like when he was growing up? You know? And I
didn't go in there, but they said, yeah, it hasn't
really changed at all. We didn't change it to a
guest room. So I'm sure there's some little type awards
(09:44):
in there, but like a lot of his awards, you
know that, like the bigger ones are are definitely in there,
and they're definitely displayed. I didn't see any small time ones,
you know, maybe from youth football or pee wee or whatever.
But that's an interesting question. I will say this though,
it's funny to think about. You know, Joe Burrow has siblings, right,
He's got siblings, But when you walk in, I can't
(10:06):
imagine how his brothers most feel about this. It is
it's Joe Burrow everything. It's it's port illistrated. I mean
it is, it really is. And I don't want to
go so far as to say it's a Joe Burrow
shrine because they're a very humble family in a lot
of ways, and I know that they understand, they love
their other sons. But it just feels like you walk
(10:27):
in and you realize, oh my gosh, this is Joe
Burrow's parents' house. But from the outside you wouldn't know it.
If you pull up to their house again, the same
house they've had for a couple of decades or so.
There in the planes by Athens, you would not know
at all that this is Joe Burrow's parents house. There's
like a tiny little Bengals flag and that's it. So
(10:48):
they're very humble on the way they go about it,
but it is cool to see all this stuff in there.
Speaker 4 (10:51):
You mentioned them being humble, and we know Joe kind
of has this cocky, you know, arrogant almost swag that
he has on the field and off the field to
an extent. How how does a story like this help
you maybe better understand Joe the person and the football
player and who he is now, if at all.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
It does a lot. I'll give you one. Just one
small thing that I asked about this is off Camra
I said, I got to ask you guys to you know,
Jimmy and Robin. I said, you guys have a son
who's you know, making two hundred and seventy five million
dollars and has all the money in the world. I said,
why do you guys stay here? You know, why why
do you stay in this house? Why is it important
for you to stay as a part of the Athens community.
(11:37):
They said, well, we've we've got friends here and you know,
we're very plugged in and don't see a reason to
leave in Cincinnati's not far. But one of the big things,
no joke, they said, Joe Burrow. They had a conversation
with Joe, their son about potentially moving and and Joe said,
please don't move, you know, don't move. Keep the house.
I love that house. You know, that's home. It's still
like that is home based Joe. And the difference betwe
(12:00):
between Joe the superstar, which he is one of the
biggest superstars in sports right now, the guys at the
met Gala and does all this fashion stuff and you know,
has all this swag about him. They're like, yeah, that's
that's Joe, you know, the kind of the superstar. But
we know Joe as he's always been to us. They
still call him Joey. His mom calls him Joey, so
like they still get the very real version of that Joe.
(12:24):
He still exists, he still comes home sometimes. Obviously it's
very difficult to do those things now, but it's just
the fact that, like they still live in that house,
that Joe still feels something special about them staying in
that home where he grew up. It goes back to
his roots in a lot of ways. And it's funny,
And this is kind of an aside to you ask
(12:44):
him about who Joe is. We see Joe dress up
for these games, like he obviously loves it, right, he
jokes about it. He loves to go to these fashion events. Now,
you know his mom, Robin was very involved in fashion.
That was a big part of her school. So she
said to me, I said, is that different, because it
does seem kind of flashy for a guy who's from
(13:06):
an area like this. And she said, well, I was
in the fashion and Joe always was very particular growing
up about what he was wearing, what he was gonna wear,
how it was going to look. Like. As competitive as
Joe is and as much fire as you see from
them on a football field as a stone cold killer,
we all get it. But like he's always cared about
how he looks. So all of that tracks you know, like, yeah,
(13:27):
it's just kind of all baked into the different elements
of who he is Joe the superstar and still Joe
the kid from Athens, Ohio.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
I'm curious, as you revisited that night knowing that he
was going to be the number one overall pick, what
was there still nerves for Joe Burrow And were there
any And I'm sure, without giving away the rest of
the story that's going to air tonight, any unique stories
from draft night itself that stood out that you were
(13:56):
able to uncover.
Speaker 3 (13:58):
So I'll give you a couple of stories with that,
and it's you know, it's okay to give some of
this away because you're gonna want to see the video
in the story and actually hear from his parents, But
just a couple of stories. One about the nerves. His
mom said, Joe's maybe only been nervous that I can recall,
like four or five times in his life for a game.
She said, he felt he was nervous that night on
Draft Night. One of the craziest things is his mom
(14:23):
said that she was nervous as well because when the
draft coverage started, the phone didn't ring, and she said
she expected it to ring. Right away. Now, keep in mind,
and we reported this back then, and I knew everyone
knew that it was going to be Joe Burrow, but
just the draft gets weird, right, So, uh, this is
what I was told as well at the time. Mike
Brown sent a letter to the Burrow family two days
(14:44):
before the draft and said, hey, Joe's our guy. Can't
wait right like he's he's going to be the pick.
But still in that moment as a parent, and even Joe,
you know, you're sitting on your couch and there's there's
video from that that I'll show tonight. It's a cell
phone video off the side before the pick happens, and
you can just kind of see them sitting there quietly.
(15:04):
You can feel attention in the room. And so it's
funny to me that everyone in the world knew that
Joe Burrow was going to be the franchise changing quarterback,
and yet Joe was nervous a little bit, and even
Robin was nervous because the phone didn't ring right away.
And I'm not saying the Bengals weren't going to take Joe.
It's just one of those things where sometimes it takes
a minute or two to kind of get the draft
go on and then to call happened. So that's that's
(15:25):
kind of a cool thing. Another thing I want to
share is, well, let's start with this. Austin. You're from
a small town, aren't you a smallest town around? Yeah? Yeah, Okay, Tony,
you're not from a small city, but like also kind
of a small town. Reading's kind of yeah. I mean
it's you know, it's I grew up really in the country,
(15:46):
so like I wasn't even attached to a big city
like Cincinnati like you were in some ways. But Tony,
if you had been the number one overall pick in Reading, okay,
and you were watching the draft at you're home, let's
just to see you had a draft party at home? Okay,
what do you what do you think Redding would have done?
What do you think the community would have done on
that night for you?
Speaker 2 (16:06):
I know, Redding has always Reading gave me a uh
a version of the Heisman Trophy after I didn't win
it in two thousand and nine, they had a Yeah,
they had an assembly Jeremy where they presented me with
an exact replica of the Heisman Trophy. Uh So, I
have no doubt that that half of the city, if
not more, would have probably just been out on the lawn, uh,
(16:28):
waiting for that moment and then probably celebrating.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
Accordingly, yep, okay, so your tracking with me here and
Austin the same thing would happen for you if you
were the one overall pick and I know you could
have been and just set it in radio, but like,
thank you, look here here, here's what happened on that night.
And I love this story. This is so great. They
have video of this as well. It's during COVID, so
you know, you're you're not going to have a lot
of people in the front lawn like it might have
(16:51):
been let's just say a year before or whatever. Like
Tony talked about the entire area. I'm talking hundreds of
cars and a fire truck. Did there's this kind of
like a roundabout way in this community where Joe Burrow's
house is where you can go. So like they made
this line of cars sneak of field of dreams at
the end before the credits roll, you know, the line
of cards, Like there's a lot the whole town, led
(17:13):
by a fire truck goes by Joe Burrow's house with
sirens and horn honking, there's kids on bicycles like it
is a whole event. And the best part about that,
and again you'll see the video in the story tonight,
but the best part about that is is Robin said
Joe had just got picked. He's on his zoom call
with local media and trying to do a zoom. Meanwhile
(17:36):
there's firetruck sirens and horn honking and we're stretching out
that there's gonna be horn sounds and like sirens going
to the zoom on Joe Burrow's first round pick number
one overall pick zoom call with us. So that's one
of the funny stories from that night while they're out
there taking video. Joe actually missed all of that because
he was on a zoom the whole time and so
(17:57):
his parents were kind of waving the people for him.
But it's just another one of those stories that I
think is fascinating about that night and the world we
lived in back then.
Speaker 4 (18:04):
I don't think people realize how much like stuff you
got to do after you get drafted in the first round,
like the different you know, logistics with the call, yeah,
interviews and like all that different stuff. I guess there's
a lot that goes on there.
Speaker 3 (18:20):
Yes, it's a ton and he dove right into it.
And again, it was a different world that we lived
in back then. So Joe is celebrated by the entire town,
but in some ways didn't even get to acknowledge it
that night.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
Did they get to keep anything from the night itself?
I know, if you go to like the actual draft
and they keep those cameras, did they keep anything from
the night itself?
Speaker 3 (18:44):
You know what? Okay, that's a good question about the cameras.
I might need to I might need to follow up
today and ask them about that. I have a feeling
the NFL had to ship everything back. I'll say a
couple of cool things. You know. One is they have
it they celebrate I said, what do you celebrate with?
What you toast with? The They had champagne glasses and
champagne I had Joe Burrow's name on it. They still
have that bottle, and so they celebrated that way. There's
(19:06):
another thing that and if you go back and just
watch the video from that night, you'll see it. But
Joe Burrow's wearing shoes, Nike shoes that have like an
lsu flare to them and they have those shoes in
a case, and I'm thinking, like I say, they brought
those out, Like, if you put those shoes on eBay
Joe Burrow's draft night, it'd be worth out, I'm sure.
And so they have some of those things from draft
(19:29):
night as well. Obviously lots of pictures that I'm going
to share as well. Some of the pictures that I
actually really enjoyed was just you know, pictures that they
took of Joe just sitting on the couch by himself waiting.
I mean, what a weird things. It's even weird after
he gets drafted. I mean, you know, Bengals fans are
watching this play out and they're like, you know, we
have our franchise saving changing quarterback, you know, and there's
(19:53):
big celebration, even though it was kind of a weird
NFL draft. And in the room, if you watch the
raw video, it's so quiet. It's so this is a
franchise changing moment for the Bengals, and you know, they
get up, he huggs his dad, he hugs his mom,
and it's just they sit back down and it's quiet.
It's you know, it's such a bizarre thing. And I
think those are some of the fascinating things to me.
(20:14):
But the one thing that Joe wanted to do. I
asked his dad. I said, like, tell me a story
from that night. What did Joe want to do? How
did he celebrate? And he goes, well, Joe's not a
big drinker. I can't even remember if he had champagne
or not to celebrate with us. He just wanted to
go hang out with his friends and they Aleen are
allowed to have a few people there, but that was it.
He wanted to be with his friends and celebrate that way. So, yeah,
(20:35):
he's so low key. Even in that moment, he was
very low key about it.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
Awesome, awesome stuff. It makes it even better to go
back and to see that he's he's lived up to
everything and so much more in his early career here
as a Cincinnati Bengal and where he's already taken this
franchise one more time. From the story itself, how can
those listening make sure that they see this tonight?
Speaker 3 (21:01):
Yeah, so just tuning into Fox nineteen now tonight at
ten o'clock. The story is gonna air, you know, very
soon at the top of the ten So I know,
sometimes people get confused by teases and stuff. When's it coming.
It's gonna air soon in the ten o'clock so make
sure you tune in for that, and then as soon
as that is done airing, of course, it'll be up
on our website. The story itself on social media at
Fox nineteen, Jeremy, my Facebook page, Jeremy rownd, all over
(21:23):
our social media sites on Fox nineteen. But one one
cool added element I just want to sell as well
is we have we call it CTV. There's a new
way like via Roku and some other other platforms to
watch stuff. So what we're gonna do is we're gonna
put the raw interviews from Jimmy and Robin Burrow that
(21:43):
I can't edit down into a two and a half
minute TV piece. We're gonna upload that tomorrow and I'll
share that as well so you guys can see it
because it's really cool. There's a lot of stories that
just don't fit into the piece. But I would just
say that Jimmy and Robin have never done this. They've
never allowed anyone, at least a TV person into their
house like this, so it's a pretty big honor for
(22:05):
us to get that access and the stories that come
with that, I think are well worth it.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
Awesome stuff. Looking forward to that and appreciate your time, Jeremy.
I look forward to doing this again soon.
Speaker 3 (22:17):
All right, and uh, you know, thoughts and prayers of
the pigeons always. Thanks forever.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
Yep, you ain't kidding.
Speaker 4 (22:23):
Thanks Jared.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
We read a book on that, Jeremy, Ralph Fox nineteen
appreciate you. We uh we got a Red's update, we
got a Bearcat update, and we'll take some phone calls
next five one, three, seven, thirty three sixty on ESPN
fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.
Speaker 3 (22:38):
Now your chance to do it.
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Speaker 2 (00:22):
All right, welcome back our number three. Thanks for joining
us at Cincy three to sixty. Thanks to our friends
at Penn Station. Thank you for listening on ESPN fifteen thirty,
Cincinnati's Sports station. Let's do this as the Reds down
two to one right now, our guy Jeremy Ral is
all over the scenes for Fox nineteen and he teased
(00:44):
something via his social media at Fox nineteen. Jeremy, They've
got a special dropping tonight on Fox nineteen around what
happened five years ago at the NFL Draft when Joe
Burrow was sitting in the living room with his parents
and he got that call from the Cincinnati Bengals. But
before we get the real story tonight, I want to
(01:06):
go behind the scenes a little bit. Jeremy's nice enough
to join us right now. Jeremy Row. What's happening?
Speaker 3 (01:13):
Pp, what's up? Man? I'm so glad to be on
the show and kind of you guys to have me on.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
I want to dive headfirst into everything about what's going
to be airing tonight. Before we get to that, I
just have to get your point of view and your knowledge.
I know the game was on Fox last night. Do
we have any more information at this point as to
the pigeon that was struck in batting practice in Pittsburgh?
Speaker 3 (01:41):
So I'm still working to get a second source on this, Tony,
I do have. We called it. We called this half
a source and TV and if you have half a source,
you run with it. Half a source told me that
there was a pigeon limping around in the corner of
the Red dugout and it just kind of like kept
giving the Reds players this like stink guy, You know
(02:03):
what I mean? You've ever seen a bird blink and
just stare with one eye open. It happens more often
than you think. And so this bird is in there
limping around staring at the Red and uh, Pete from
Dumb and Dumber was actually there as well and had
his bird, and.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Well, I just I wondered at this point, because you know,
we we haven't seen the hottest hitter in the National
League in the last two games, and we don't have
a name attached to who hit the pigeon. Could we
assume at this point it was Will Benson and he
is just struggling ever since that that moment to get
back out there and swing the back.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
Well, that same source actually told me that Will was
kind of curled up in a fetal position in the
corner holding that injured bird, and so when Terry looked
his way, the bird kind of gave Terry the stink guy,
and Will said like shook his head like not now now,
right now. So it's again, I'm working on getting a
full source on that, maybe a second source, but the
(03:04):
pigeons certainly played a part.
Speaker 4 (03:06):
While all that.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
Is happening, you're also not stopping with your guys coverage
of the Bengals and everything going on in that sense,
And you guys have something cool coming out tonight at
ten o'clock that I want to dive into for those
that haven't seen or saw the teaser yet, what do
you guys have coming out tonight?
Speaker 3 (03:24):
Yeah, So here's the thing, and It's like a hard
left turn from the story I just told about pigeons
and the reds. This is really cool, right, I have
been on this for a month or so, this idea that, man,
wouldn't it be cool to go talk to Joe Burrow's
parents about what happened five years ago in their house?
You know, Joe gets dratted the number one overall of
the Bengals in the most unique draft in NFL history,
(03:48):
the most unique setting ever for a number one overall
pick I just wanted to chase this story down, and
Jimmy and Robin Burrow, I've been going back and forth
with them for a few weeks on this and schedules,
and they've got so much going on, And finally yesterday
I was able to nail it down with them and
went to Athenes, really the Planes, which is the smaller
part of Athens where Joe Burrow's from, and was invited
(04:09):
into their home, had a chance to do the story.
They still live in the same house. They have not moved.
I know, people think, you know, what did Joe Burrow's
parents do He makes all this money, Do they have
this big mansion? Now? Did he help him out by
a house, like they still live in the same house
that Joe Burrow grew up in, and so it's really
cool to go back to that setting, to be in
(04:30):
that same living room and then talk with Jimmy and
Robin Burrow, Joe's parents, about that night. And there are
a lot of unique stories that haven't been told. There's
video they have that hasn't been shared that I get
to share it tonight at ten on Fox nineteen.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
Now is it when you walk into that room? Does
it look the same? Because I went back and certainly
you got the leather couches and the curtains definitely stood
out in those videos as Joe Burrow was wearing the
seven to four to zero area code long sleeve shirt.
(05:03):
Is is the room essentially still the same? Have they have
they changed up the decor since the draft night five
years ago?
Speaker 3 (05:12):
They have And that was something we kind of laughed
about during part of our interviews. So, you know, I've
never been in his house. When I went to Joe
Brow's hometown before he was drafted, before COVID started back
in February twenty twenty, at the time, Jimmy said, better
not go to the house. Joe's there I don't want to,
you know, I don't want to kind of freak him out.
So I didn't go to the house back then. So
(05:33):
I've not been in their house yet. So like all
of you, I had seen, you know, what happened on
draft night and the drakes, the curtains and all that
and the decor. And so I walk in. I've got
all my gear and kind of walk into the kitchen.
I turn right and I say, okay, this is the
living room? Is this where? Is this where he was drafted?
And they said, yeah, we changed the furniture. And they
kind of laughed and said we've changed the draves as well.
(05:56):
And there's there's funny things about that night, and their
pictures kind of tell the story tonight. But they they
were charged with setting up everything that would be broadcasted
in that room. Remember this is during COVID. Okay, so
you're asking imagine, and I'm not trying to age anyone,
but imagine if you ask your parents Tony draft night.
(06:18):
Let's just say you're the number one overall, pick right,
and you said, Hey, this is gonna sound weird, but
the NFL is gonna send some video elements like a
couple of cameras, some lighting. You got to plug it
all in, make sure it works connected to Wi Fi,
and make sure the WiFi is working. Otherwise when the
world tries to see me go number one, overall, everything's
trying to go dark. This is a lot of pressure, right,
(06:40):
and so they were charged with doing all that. Now
they said, the NFL did a great job with instructions,
but like the behind the scenes stuff, and again, the
drapes have changed now, the couches have changed. They've upgraded
a little bit. Is right below the camera set up
on the floor. This is when he's getting drafted. They
just have a war all over the place. Joe Burrow's
(07:02):
heisman trophy is sitting on the floor beneath these cameras
while he gets drafted number one. Overall, they've since at
its shelves where they have a lot of his awards
and stuff. But it's it's so surreal to be in
that room and kind of laugh about. Man, the world
watched this, saw your drapes and said the Burrows need
to drape They've now changed a lot of those.
Speaker 4 (07:24):
I'm glad you asked about that because that was my question, like,
do they just get this box full of equipment and
they have to set it up themselves, and you know,
do they still I don't know if this is TMI.
I know Joe's talked about this is the Heisman trophy,
just like a centerpiece in their house. Does it just
kind of sit there or is it moved on to
a different place now do you know?
Speaker 3 (07:44):
No, so it's still there. It's not a centerpiece. There
are so many things on the shelves, it's incredible. I
mean there's a there's like a picture frame like you know,
like one of those video picture frames where it's a
picture frame of video played. I find like an old
person describing that, but you get it. And so Joe
Burrow was like a huge Matthew Delavadova fan. You guys
(08:08):
remember that, And so Matthew Delavandova gives him this signed frame,
uh and it has LSU highlights playing on repeat NonStop
for Matthew Delivandova. I found that to be the most
interesting thing, like of all the people. And so that's
that's a funny thing. Uh. You know, he won the
FedEx I think Airplayer of the Year in twenty twenty two.
(08:29):
There's a huge trophy for that that's there, and there's
like this bedazzled Super Bowl ball that's in there. Like
there's all these things on the shelves. And when Joe
says he doesn't really care about awards or know what
to do with him, when you see the picture of
all his awards just sitting on the floor from draft,
now you understand truly how Joe Burrow feels about awards.
(08:51):
I mean, this dude wants a ring on his finger
and anything else can go on a shelf somewhere in.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
His parents out How do you go about if you're
if you're Joe Burrow's parents, Like, where do you draw
the line awards to display? You know, I'm sure like
if you go into my parents' basement, there's probably like
stuff that I did at reading that is still on display.
When your son is the number one overall draft pick
and he's won a Heisman and he's won all these
accolades and awards in college and in the NFL, where
(09:16):
do you draw the line on what awards that you
keep and maybe what awards you move on from.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
Man, that's a good question. You know, I didn't see
the Ohio Mister Football Award in there. It might have
been in there, tucked away and I didn't notice it.
There's also you know, I did ask them, I said,
does Joe Burrow's room look similar to what it was
like when he was growing up? You know? And I
didn't go in there, but they said, yeah, it hasn't
really changed at all. We didn't change it to a
guest room. So I'm sure there's some little type awards
(09:44):
in there, but like a lot of his awards, you
know that, like the bigger ones are are definitely in there,
and they're definitely displayed. I didn't see any small time ones,
you know, maybe from youth football or pee wee or whatever.
But that's an interesting question. I will say this though,
it's funny to think about. You know, Joe Burrow has siblings, right,
He's got siblings, But when you walk in, I can't
(10:06):
imagine how his brothers most feel about this. It is
it's Joe Burrow everything. It's it's port illistrated. I mean
it is, it really is. And I don't want to
go so far as to say it's a Joe Burrow
shrine because they're a very humble family in a lot
of ways, and I know that they understand, they love
their other sons. But it just feels like you walk
(10:27):
in and you realize, oh my gosh, this is Joe
Burrow's parents' house. But from the outside you wouldn't know it.
If you pull up to their house again, the same
house they've had for a couple of decades or so.
There in the planes by Athens, you would not know
at all that this is Joe Burrow's parents house. There's
like a tiny little Bengals flag and that's it. So
(10:48):
they're very humble on the way they go about it,
but it is cool to see all this stuff in there.
Speaker 4 (10:51):
You mentioned them being humble, and we know Joe kind
of has this cocky, you know, arrogant almost swag that
he has on the field and off the field to
an extent. How how does a story like this help
you maybe better understand Joe the person and the football
player and who he is now, if at all.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
It does a lot. I'll give you one. Just one
small thing that I asked about this is off Camra
I said, I got to ask you guys to you know,
Jimmy and Robin. I said, you guys have a son
who's you know, making two hundred and seventy five million
dollars and has all the money in the world. I said,
why do you guys stay here? You know, why why
do you stay in this house? Why is it important
for you to stay as a part of the Athens community.
(11:37):
They said, well, we've we've got friends here and you know,
we're very plugged in and don't see a reason to
leave in Cincinnati's not far. But one of the big things,
no joke, they said, Joe Burrow. They had a conversation
with Joe, their son about potentially moving and and Joe said,
please don't move, you know, don't move. Keep the house.
I love that house. You know, that's home. It's still
like that is home based Joe. And the difference betwe
(12:00):
between Joe the superstar, which he is one of the
biggest superstars in sports right now, the guys at the
met Gala and does all this fashion stuff and you know,
has all this swag about him. They're like, yeah, that's
that's Joe, you know, the kind of the superstar. But
we know Joe as he's always been to us. They
still call him Joey. His mom calls him Joey, so
like they still get the very real version of that Joe.
(12:24):
He still exists, he still comes home sometimes. Obviously it's
very difficult to do those things now, but it's just
the fact that, like they still live in that house,
that Joe still feels something special about them staying in
that home where he grew up. It goes back to
his roots in a lot of ways. And it's funny,
And this is kind of an aside to you ask
(12:44):
him about who Joe is. We see Joe dress up
for these games, like he obviously loves it, right, he
jokes about it. He loves to go to these fashion events. Now,
you know his mom, Robin was very involved in fashion.
That was a big part of her school. So she
said to me, I said, is that different, because it
does seem kind of flashy for a guy who's from
(13:06):
an area like this. And she said, well, I was
in the fashion and Joe always was very particular growing
up about what he was wearing, what he was gonna wear,
how it was going to look. Like. As competitive as
Joe is and as much fire as you see from
them on a football field as a stone cold killer,
we all get it. But like he's always cared about
how he looks. So all of that tracks you know, like, yeah,
(13:27):
it's just kind of all baked into the different elements
of who he is Joe the superstar and still Joe
the kid from Athens, Ohio.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
I'm curious, as you revisited that night knowing that he
was going to be the number one overall pick, what
was there still nerves for Joe Burrow And were there
any And I'm sure, without giving away the rest of
the story that's going to air tonight, any unique stories
from draft night itself that stood out that you were
(13:56):
able to uncover.
Speaker 3 (13:58):
So I'll give you a couple of stories with that,
and it's you know, it's okay to give some of
this away because you're gonna want to see the video
in the story and actually hear from his parents, But
just a couple of stories. One about the nerves. His
mom said, Joe's maybe only been nervous that I can recall,
like four or five times in his life for a game.
She said, he felt he was nervous that night on
Draft Night. One of the craziest things is his mom
(14:23):
said that she was nervous as well because when the
draft coverage started, the phone didn't ring, and she said
she expected it to ring. Right away. Now, keep in mind,
and we reported this back then, and I knew everyone
knew that it was going to be Joe Burrow, but
just the draft gets weird, right, So, uh, this is
what I was told as well at the time. Mike
Brown sent a letter to the Burrow family two days
(14:44):
before the draft and said, hey, Joe's our guy. Can't
wait right like he's he's going to be the pick.
But still in that moment as a parent, and even Joe,
you know, you're sitting on your couch and there's there's
video from that that I'll show tonight. It's a cell
phone video off the side before the pick happens, and
you can just kind of see them sitting there quietly.
(15:04):
You can feel attention in the room. And so it's
funny to me that everyone in the world knew that
Joe Burrow was going to be the franchise changing quarterback,
and yet Joe was nervous a little bit, and even
Robin was nervous because the phone didn't ring right away.
And I'm not saying the Bengals weren't going to take Joe.
It's just one of those things where sometimes it takes
a minute or two to kind of get the draft
go on and then to call happened. So that's that's
(15:25):
kind of a cool thing. Another thing I want to
share is, well, let's start with this. Austin. You're from
a small town, aren't you a smallest town around? Yeah? Yeah, Okay, Tony,
you're not from a small city, but like also kind
of a small town. Reading's kind of yeah. I mean
it's you know, it's I grew up really in the country,
(15:46):
so like I wasn't even attached to a big city
like Cincinnati like you were in some ways. But Tony,
if you had been the number one overall pick in Reading, okay,
and you were watching the draft at you're home, let's
just to see you had a draft party at home? Okay,
what do you what do you think Redding would have done?
What do you think the community would have done on
that night for you?
Speaker 2 (16:06):
I know, Redding has always Reading gave me a uh
a version of the Heisman Trophy after I didn't win
it in two thousand and nine, they had a Yeah,
they had an assembly Jeremy where they presented me with
an exact replica of the Heisman Trophy. Uh So, I
have no doubt that that half of the city, if
not more, would have probably just been out on the lawn, uh,
(16:28):
waiting for that moment and then probably celebrating.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
Accordingly, yep, okay, so your tracking with me here and
Austin the same thing would happen for you if you
were the one overall pick and I know you could
have been and just set it in radio, but like,
thank you, look here here, here's what happened on that night.
And I love this story. This is so great. They
have video of this as well. It's during COVID, so
you know, you're you're not going to have a lot
of people in the front lawn like it might have
(16:51):
been let's just say a year before or whatever. Like
Tony talked about the entire area. I'm talking hundreds of
cars and a fire truck. Did there's this kind of
like a roundabout way in this community where Joe Burrow's
house is where you can go. So like they made
this line of cars sneak of field of dreams at
the end before the credits roll, you know, the line
of cards, Like there's a lot the whole town, led
(17:13):
by a fire truck goes by Joe Burrow's house with
sirens and horn honking, there's kids on bicycles like it
is a whole event. And the best part about that,
and again you'll see the video in the story tonight,
but the best part about that is is Robin said
Joe had just got picked. He's on his zoom call
with local media and trying to do a zoom. Meanwhile
(17:36):
there's firetruck sirens and horn honking and we're stretching out
that there's gonna be horn sounds and like sirens going
to the zoom on Joe Burrow's first round pick number
one overall pick zoom call with us. So that's one
of the funny stories from that night while they're out
there taking video. Joe actually missed all of that because
he was on a zoom the whole time and so
(17:57):
his parents were kind of waving the people for him.
But it's just another one of those stories that I
think is fascinating about that night and the world we
lived in back then.
Speaker 4 (18:04):
I don't think people realize how much like stuff you
got to do after you get drafted in the first round,
like the different you know, logistics with the call, yeah,
interviews and like all that different stuff. I guess there's
a lot that goes on there.
Speaker 3 (18:20):
Yes, it's a ton and he dove right into it.
And again, it was a different world that we lived
in back then. So Joe is celebrated by the entire town,
but in some ways didn't even get to acknowledge it
that night.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
Did they get to keep anything from the night itself?
I know, if you go to like the actual draft
and they keep those cameras, did they keep anything from
the night itself?
Speaker 3 (18:44):
You know what? Okay, that's a good question about the cameras.
I might need to I might need to follow up
today and ask them about that. I have a feeling
the NFL had to ship everything back. I'll say a
couple of cool things. You know. One is they have
it they celebrate I said, what do you celebrate with?
What you toast with? The They had champagne glasses and
champagne I had Joe Burrow's name on it. They still
have that bottle, and so they celebrated that way. There's
(19:06):
another thing that and if you go back and just
watch the video from that night, you'll see it. But
Joe Burrow's wearing shoes, Nike shoes that have like an
lsu flare to them and they have those shoes in
a case, and I'm thinking, like I say, they brought
those out, Like, if you put those shoes on eBay
Joe Burrow's draft night, it'd be worth out, I'm sure.
And so they have some of those things from draft
(19:29):
night as well. Obviously lots of pictures that I'm going
to share as well. Some of the pictures that I
actually really enjoyed was just you know, pictures that they
took of Joe just sitting on the couch by himself waiting.
I mean, what a weird things. It's even weird after
he gets drafted. I mean, you know, Bengals fans are
watching this play out and they're like, you know, we
have our franchise saving changing quarterback, you know, and there's
(19:53):
big celebration, even though it was kind of a weird
NFL draft. And in the room, if you watch the
raw video, it's so quiet. It's so this is a
franchise changing moment for the Bengals, and you know, they
get up, he huggs his dad, he hugs his mom,
and it's just they sit back down and it's quiet.
It's you know, it's such a bizarre thing. And I
think those are some of the fascinating things to me.
(20:14):
But the one thing that Joe wanted to do. I
asked his dad. I said, like, tell me a story
from that night. What did Joe want to do? How
did he celebrate? And he goes, well, Joe's not a
big drinker. I can't even remember if he had champagne
or not to celebrate with us. He just wanted to
go hang out with his friends and they Aleen are
allowed to have a few people there, but that was it.
He wanted to be with his friends and celebrate that way. So, yeah,
(20:35):
he's so low key. Even in that moment, he was
very low key about it.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
Awesome, awesome stuff. It makes it even better to go
back and to see that he's he's lived up to
everything and so much more in his early career here
as a Cincinnati Bengal and where he's already taken this
franchise one more time. From the story itself, how can
those listening make sure that they see this tonight?
Speaker 3 (21:01):
Yeah, so just tuning into Fox nineteen now tonight at
ten o'clock. The story is gonna air, you know, very
soon at the top of the ten So I know,
sometimes people get confused by teases and stuff. When's it coming.
It's gonna air soon in the ten o'clock so make
sure you tune in for that, and then as soon
as that is done airing, of course, it'll be up
on our website. The story itself on social media at
Fox nineteen, Jeremy, my Facebook page, Jeremy rownd, all over
(21:23):
our social media sites on Fox nineteen. But one one
cool added element I just want to sell as well
is we have we call it CTV. There's a new
way like via Roku and some other other platforms to
watch stuff. So what we're gonna do is we're gonna
put the raw interviews from Jimmy and Robin Burrow that
(21:43):
I can't edit down into a two and a half
minute TV piece. We're gonna upload that tomorrow and I'll
share that as well so you guys can see it
because it's really cool. There's a lot of stories that
just don't fit into the piece. But I would just
say that Jimmy and Robin have never done this. They've
never allowed anyone, at least a TV person into their
house like this, so it's a pretty big honor for
(22:05):
us to get that access and the stories that come
with that, I think are well worth it.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
Awesome stuff. Looking forward to that and appreciate your time, Jeremy.
I look forward to doing this again soon.
Speaker 3 (22:17):
All right, and uh, you know, thoughts and prayers of
the pigeons always. Thanks forever.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
Yep, you ain't kidding.
Speaker 4 (22:23):
Thanks Jared.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
We read a book on that, Jeremy, Ralph Fox nineteen
appreciate you. We uh we got a Red's update, we
got a Bearcat update, and we'll take some phone calls
next five one, three, seven, thirty three sixty on ESPN
fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.
Speaker 3 (22:38):
Now your chance to do it.
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