Episode Transcript
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Show is send me a tweet onTwitter slash x at Moeger thanks to our
friends at Delta Dental. Delta Dentalis building healthy, smart, vibrant communities
for all good at Delta dentaloh dotcom. Using my Dental Delta Dental Insurance.
Tomorrow for a teeth cleaning, someinformation you didn't need twenty two after
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three tomorrow morning, here's some informationyou need right right right before I get
my teeth cleaned. Michelle Smallman isgoing to be a part of the show
on ESPN Radio every weekday morning fromthree to six. And these guys have
been on the air now for abouttwo and a half months, Evan Cohen,
Chris Canty and Michelle, and they'vedone a terrific job. Michelle is
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from Saint Louis, has a backgroundin Saint Louis sports talk radio. Hey,
you know, look, you're you'rea bit of it's good to have
you. You're you're a bit ofa an NFL fan free agent, so
to speak. So tomorrow primetime,you guys are gonna be talking to me
about this game for four hours.Bengals and raven It is an opportunity,
especially if they win for you toreally lean into the Cincinnati Bengals. Mo,
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thank you so much for having me. It's so great to speak with
you. And you're right. Ican tell you've been listening to the show
because the business hill that I havebeen dying on this season is my belief
in the Cincinnati Bengals. I knowthat they got off to a one and
three start, but we've seen thisbefore. We've seen the Cincinnati Bengals get
off the school starts before. Andby the way, Joe Burrow obviously not
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himself at the beginning of the seasonas he was dealing with that cast,
I kept saying to my co hostChris Candy and Evan Cohen, my belief
in the Cincinnati Bengals, and specificallyand Joe Burrow is so strong that I
know, once he gets healthy,this team's going to go on a run
as they have in years past,and they're going to be just fine.
Now, what I didn't anticipate isthat all the other teams in the division
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would be doing really well as Cincinnatiwas finding their footing there. But the
loss of the Texans certainly didn't helpmy COSMO over this past weekend. So
as you're looking at this game withBaltimore that's coming up here. It was
already a huge game, but itmade even more important than Cincinnati Bengals after
they dropped that game to the Texas. Yeah, you know, look,
I've I've heard Chris Canty count themout. You've countered him, and look,
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yeah, they lose. They loseto the Texans. Let me ask
you this, because you know,you have a background. You did radio
in Saint Louis, You did alot of stuff in Saint Louis. So
Bengals go to the Super Bowl andplay the Rams a couple of years ago,
and I started getting phone calls fromyou know, Western Illinois and Missouri
and Saint Louis, from folks whoare like, all right, we're adopting
the Bengals. So is is yourrecent Bengals interest? Is it rooted in
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that? How did this start?Maybe it did start there and I didn't
even realize it because there was probablyoutside of Cincinnati, no bigger Bengals fans
in the entire world than we're inSaint Louis, Missouri. During that Super
Bowl. Let me tell you,we were probably right in there with you
in the same level as heartbreak aswell, because when somebody leaves you and
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then they GIFs you disview nationally.You don't want to see them have success.
You don't want to go and watchthem achieve their ultimate dream on the
biggest stage. I mean, thatwas very brutal for both of us.
So we share that common heart break. But I think for me, it's
less about the fact that I'm aCincinnati Bengals fan and more in proof of
context and what I've seen from thisteam and from Joe Burrow. We know
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when he's healthy, what an absoluteX factor he is, and I just
have so much faith in him tobe able to get the job done.
And in watching those first four games, is so obvious that that calf was
really hindering what he was able todo. And I just have seen him
be able to pull a team togetherand in the biggest of moments deliver.
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And so I just was like,I don't know why we are counting out
what we know about Joe Burrow andwhat we know about the Cincinnati Bengals just
because they've gotten off to a slowstart. Hadn't we seen this movie before.
It was very surprising to me thateverybody was so ready to dismiss them
because of a slow start. SoI will ride with the Bengals and Joe
Burrow for the remainder of the season, and I hope that they don't let
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us down though, because they putthemselves in a pretty big hole. No,
no, you're right. It's sogreat to hear you talking about the
Bengals in the mornings on ESPN Radio. Let me ask you this. I
think since you guys signed off thismorning, the big NFL story, Deshaun
Watson season is over in Cleveland.Now Bengals have to win this game tomorrow.
If they don't, they're not winningthe AFC North. Then suddenly their
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playoff hopes overall are in significant jeopardy. If the Bengals win, then it
sort of feels like here game onin the race to the AFC North title,
it's Baltimore, it's Cincinnati. Ithink we were talking about Cleveland being
in that race, but now I'mnot sure you can. Are the Browns
done as AFC North contenders because DeshaunWatson's injury. I'm not ready to go
there just yet, just because we'veseen them win games this season without Deshaun,
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whether he was off the field becauseof injury or on the field and
not playing well. We've seen themrally around other quarters and find a way
to win. They have such anoutstanding defense and so much talent on the
field that I'm not ready to countthem out just yet. But I wonder,
from an emotional standpoint, well,what this is going to do to
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this locker room, because Deshaun Watsonup until this point had not been the
quarterback that the Cleveland Browns anticipated thathe would be when they gave him that
two hundred and thirty million dollars guaranteed, And we just thought, for the
first time, we saw one halfof football where Deshaun looked like he was
going to be the guy that theyexpected him to be. They have a
huge win over the Baltimore Ravens,and for this injury to come off the
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heels of that, I think isa huge emotional blow. Now, of
course, he's the professionals and they'regoing to try and find a way to
rally and turn the page. Butwe are human beings. They are human
beings, and I just wonder whatthat's like to finally have a glimpse of
what you know your team can be. And for a team that has felt
like They're a quarterback away for solong to finally think that maybe they have
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that quarterback, that that game andthat win could have been such a critical
building block for that team and forDeshaun Walkson from a confidence standpoint, to
have that taken away, I wonderhow the team is going to respond to
that. And it's also a hugeopportunity for the Cincinnati Bengals. This game
versus Baltimore is important for several reasons. But if all of a sudden,
the Cleveland Browns looked like they're vulnerable, and even though Pittsburgh is right there
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in the next I still don't knowabout the team. I'm shocked, frankly
that the Sailors are where they areright now in the season. And even
though I love Mike Tomlin and you'regoing to bet on a coach, you're
likely going to bet on him.I don't know if it's sustainable for them.
It just feels like if Cincinnati cantake care of business on their end,
the division might fall in their favor. Michelle Smallman is with us one
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third of Unsportsmanlike with Evan Knty andMichelle weekday mornings here on ESPN fifteen thirty
one. You know, we sawESPN Radio was going to have a new
morning show. I said this onmy show, and nothing against anybody who
came before you, but I wanteda radio show hosted by radio. And
you know, obviously evans background isradio. Your background is radio. I'm
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teeing up sort of an inside baseballquestion, but I am kind of curious
you did radio in Saint Louis.You did it without an NFL team.
What's that like, you know,in any other market in America. I
would say probably brutal, but SaintLouis is so singular and their obsession with
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baseball and with that team, withthe Saint Louis Cardinals, that even when
the Rams were there, it wasCardinals basically twenty four seven, three sixty
five. And I don't know ifthere's any other market in America where football
doesn't dominate, or at least afootball market in America where football doesn't dominate.
But you have to understand, theRams were so bad for so long.
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They must sit fifteen and sixty fiveover a five year stretch, which
is tied for the worst five yearstarts of football in NFL history. And
while they're terrible, the owner isthreatening to move. Now, the fans
still showed up. They supported theteam, and they had to hope that
eventually it would turn around and thatthe team would stay in Saint Louis.
What happened with that is a realsports tragedy, and Saint Louis did not
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deserve that, and that's whether oneseven hundred and ninety million dollars in the
lawsuit. But the Cardinals were alwaysthe standard in that town, even though
the Rams had come in with thegreatest Sean turf and want of Piot ball,
and the Blues have a very passionatefan base and they eventually want a
Stanley Cup in twenty nineteen. TheCardinals are a crown jewel franchise and Saint
Lois will lives and breathes with CardinalBaseball. It's like I always say,
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the Cardinals have a seat at thetable, right, It's like they have
a seat at your family Sunday dinner. That's how much we love and care
about that franchise. So when theRams left, it was very devastating,
there's no mistake about it. Butit's not as if they were the biggest
tickets in town and we didn't haveother things that we could talk about.
But it's been weird though. LikeI have to tell you, I feel
like I'm on an island because wetalk about football every day. Both of
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my co hosts have teams that theylove, that they're passionate about, and
I'm just kind of there. I'mjust I don't have an emotional connection to
anybody, and I feel left out. I'm kind of ready to love again.
And the team we're you know,just come on over, come on
over, and you know, we'lltake you in. It'll be awesome.
I'll fill you in on the franchise'shistory. If you need some gaps colored
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in, we'll do it. We'llmake you a Bengals fan. Now you
talked about the Cardinals. We don'tlike the Cardinals here, and it's born
out of jalous, right, Imean, it's just it is. It's
two Midwest cities, the Cardinals,not this past year awesome for basically the
entire existence of the National League Centraland the Reds haven't advanced in the postseason
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since nineteen ninety five. So,like, does all that Cardinal talk mean
you hate our up and coming Reds. I do not. Actually, I
love the Cincinnati Reds. I thinkyou guys have a very time. Well
hold on, let me back up. How can anybody hate Jolly Votto?
If you're a baseball fan, youcannot hate Jolly Votto. So I definitely
don't have any hate for the CincinnatiReds now, I'm going to be honest.
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I did back in the past whenthere was the Brandon Phillips Yatti or
Miliam Vesta. You know, wegot to take number fourth side and there
was bad blood between the Cardinals andthe Reds for quite some time, and
I really miss that. You know. It's it's one of those things and
people in Cincinnati aren't going to likethis. So I think baseball is better
when the Cardinals are good because theyare so easy to hate, especially to
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Tony Lewis, the Yadi and Molinaversion of the Cardinals. They were kind
of the perfect villains. And Ithink that the Anal Central well, with
Craig Council leaving and going to theCUB, there's certainly going to be a
new, big rivalry brewing in theAnal Central and some bad feelings that are
going to be fostered there. ButI just think back in the day when
it was kind of a revolving doorof who hated the Cardinals the most.
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It made it more fun. That'spart of the reason that we love sports
is galvanizing and our joy and ourhope, but also and our hate.
And I think when there's really healthyrivalries and baseball, specifically in our division,
in the Anal Central, it's betterfor baseball. So I miss it.
So maybe we should start a beat. Maybe we should start some gas
lad brewing. I'm in let's here. You know you said baseball's better when
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the Cardinals are good. They werebad last year. I loved it.
It was great. I loved thatbaseball season. So you know, I
look, we'll let you watch thegame tomorrow and then on Friday, you
know, you could just talk abouthow you're with them all the way.
And the Bengals win, you knowthey're going to take off, go in
the AFC North and you'll be You'llbe driving the bandwagon at ESPN Radio.
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The show sounds awesome. Congratulations,it's awesome to have you, and I
hope we can do it again absolutelyanytime. Thank you so much for having
me on, and more importantly,thanks for your invitation to be a Bengals
fan. Because that's kind of thefirst step for me, is having and
after a team will leave who theydesert you, you want to feel wanted
again. So that's the first step. And I've never been to Cincinnati.
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I know it's an amazing Midwest town. It's on my list of places to
go, so I need to makethat a priority to come down and go
to a Bengals game. Well haveyou, We'll bring in, you could
do the show. It'll be youknow, typically for most of my life
when when we've invited people to beBengals fans, it's like when I used
to invite you know, girls togo to the dance. It was I'm
good. And now there's at leastsome interest. There will be even more
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if they win tomorrow. Absolutely well, I'll tell everybody to scoot over on
the band raging because we're gonna bringas many people as we can with us.
I love it. Michelle, thanksso much. Thanks for having me
unsportsmanlike with Evan Knty and Michelle weekdaymornings. Tomorrow's a weekday morning, six
to ten, and they've done alot of good Bengal stuff. I mean,
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like Chris Knty has been critical andlet's face it, they've deserved it,
but I think they're Bengals. Conversationhas been been pretty good, pretty
nuanced. I have an unnuanced Bengalstake next