1/16/26 - The Mo Egger Radio Show - Mo Egger

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Your weekend is off to an amazing start. It's Reds
Fast weekend. The gates are open right now, Reds Fast.
I guess they're really not keates, although maybe they are.
I've not been to the new Convention Center yet, but
Reds Fast is happening this weekend. A full show preview
is available right now. Go find it on Twitter. Yes
I still call it Twitter, so it is pretty much

(00:23):
everybody else at moeger. Our previews are a service of
share Fax Credit Union. You want to make a great
financial decision, here's what you can do. Become a member
of shareff Facts Credit Union just good as sharefacts dot org.
Travis Steel, head men's basketball coach at Miami University, the
head coach of the undefeated RedHawks who play Buffalo tomorrow.

(00:45):
Travis is going to join us coming up at four
thirty five, and we're looking forward to that. We got
a lot of different stuff today. The NFL Divisional Round
is this weekend, one more no brainer for the Bengals,
and the weekend at College Bass Cabal ahead as well.
One of the things we say all the time on
this show is usually there's room for multiple truths. With

(01:08):
the Reds offseason, there's room for multiple truths to the
point that they needed to make their offense better so
far at least, and so far is key, But so
far this off season has been underwhelming. If you went
into the off season with visions of Kyle Schwarber dancing
in your head, well, I feel like you're underwhelmed. I

(01:31):
think I know you're underwhelmed. It's not that they didn't
get Kyle Schwarber, as disappointing as that was. As disappointing
as maybe the Reds pursuit of Kyle Schwarber was the
fact that they haven't added a bat, like a real bat,
a power bat, a difference making bat is beyond frustrating.
We all share that frustration. And if the Reds go

(01:52):
to spring training and they haven't added a bat, and
the deals sending out Gavin lux would suggest per apps
that they're gonna go get a bat, well, I mean,
the dude was batting third in the playoffs last year.
As Tony and Austin mentioned earlier today, if they go
to spring training, then they haven't added a bat. And

(02:12):
I'm talking about a bat better than Dane Meers or J. J. Bleday.
That's going to be disappointing. That's very fair to say
there's room for multiple truths in this offseason where the
Reds offensively haven't gotten any better, where they've stalled, where

(02:33):
they didn't get Schwarber, where they've made us wonder why
aren't they being more aggressive in finding a bat? What
they have done, and what they've done I think pretty
well is upgrade their bullpen. So the Gavin lux deal
a three team trade, they get brock Burke. Brock Burke

(02:54):
is a guy who gives them another experienced, quality arm
in the bullpen, an area that they needed to solidify
to make steady. He's a lefty, he's a weak contact guy.
He's a ground ball guy. He's not a guy who's
gonna give up a ton of homers. He's twenty nine

(03:15):
years old, pitched in a ton of games last year
for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, California, USA. Good
good pitcher. They have aggressively, and yes I use that
word as it relates to Nick Crawl in the Cincinnati
Reds aggressively approached, attacked, addressed one key area of their

(03:39):
team with Pierce Johnson good signing, Caleb Ferguson good signing
brock Burke good signing. Also, I like the name brock Burke.
By the way, this is not insignificant for a couple
of different reasons. One is the obvious, right, they needed
a better bullpen. They needed a bullpen where I thinking
we were lucky. Yesterday we had Emilia Pagan and Andrew

(04:01):
Abbott in studio with us. If you miss that conversation,
it's available right now on the iHeartRadio app. Could also
get into the podcast page of ESPN fifteen thirty dot com.
And Emilia Pagan is the team's closer. You may not
believe that he is the most ideal closer, but he
had a good year last year and he's certainly a
good arm in that bullpen. But we talked yesterday about

(04:23):
there being more clearly defined roles in the bullpen this year.
I think as you look at that group, it's pretty
it's pretty easy, at least at the beginning of the
season to identify and to find what everybody's role is
supposed to be. The season could change that, injuries could
change that. Certain pictures, maybe not living up to expectation

(04:43):
could change that. But I think it's pretty easy to
look at that group of relievers and go, Okay, everybody's
role should be clearly defined. That's pretty good. Also, like
I have spent I've spent more than a few segments
on this show in recent and not so recent years,
either talking about or listening to you talk about the

(05:06):
fact that the Reds when it comes to their bullpen,
just sort of seemed to use it as a place
to go stick some retreads, to go, you know, stash
a guy that you know was maybe a failed starter,
and let's see if we can turn him into a reliever,
or go get a guy from outside who was good
a couple of years ago and maybe will rehabilitate him

(05:29):
and get them back on track. They're not doing that,
and this is to their credit. As much as nobody
wants to say anything nice about the Reds front office
right now, and I get why, but to their credit
this year, in the in the off season, they have
prioritized the bullpen. I wish the bigger priority would have
been a bat, but not addressing that area of the team,

(05:53):
at least so far, doesn't mean you can't look at
where they have addressed the team and walk away feeling
a little bit better and even marginally impressed. By the
fact that instead of trying to piece meal it together,
trying to go bargain basement like I get it, like
relief pictures at times can feel like a diamond, doesn't.

(06:16):
There's a lot of dudes like brock Burke out there.
There's a lot of guys like Caleb Ferguson out there.
There's a lot of guys like Pierce Johnson out there.
But you and I both know there have been teams
Reds teams where in the bullpen they've added guys who
don't feel like, look like, or aren't as good as
Pierce Johnson, Caleb Ferguson and Brock Burke. So this, this

(06:40):
is good? Now? Is trading away Gavin Lux a sign
that they're gonna go get a bat? You would? You
would like to think so, You would, You would? You
would like to think so. But I don't know, Man.
We've been talking about the need for a bat for
a while, So I don't know that trading Gavin Lucks
necessarily intensifies the discussions about the Reds needing a bat.

(07:03):
Maybe it increases the likelihood that the Reds go and
get one. We will see if they go get a bat.
Not that this is a shock. But it's not gonna
be Bo Baschett he signs with the Mets. It ain't
gonna be Kyle Tucker he signs with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
That one, in particular, I feel like a tipping point.

(07:27):
Not so much for the league. The LA Dodgers are
the two time defending World Series champions. They're trying to
three peat. They're aiming for a dynasty, which by the way,
they've now won what three of the last six World Series,
so they're aiming for four out of seven. Like they're good.
They were gonna be really good without Kyle Tucker. Probably

(07:50):
a playoff team because the added postseason field and added
postseason team is a benefit to big market clubs. They
have as complete a roster as you'll find a low
a lineup that seems almost unfair. But this feels like
a tipping point. Here is a team that has won
the last two World Series titles, where there are large

(08:10):
economic disparities from a revenue perspective but also from a
player payroll perspective that seemed to dominate the sport. And
here it is the richest of the rich getting richer,
the richest of the rich the loaded of the loaded
getting richer. We have had this before. We've seen, you know,

(08:31):
the New York Yankees back when they were the Evil Empire,
would win a World Series, or go to the postseason,
get to a World Series, and still add still beef
up their team. It's happened before, but this one. To me,
just listening to baseball fans, following many on social media,
this feels like a little bit of a tipping point.

(08:53):
Baseball's got a problem. The problem isn't so much the
fact that you know that the Dodgers will spend X
and nobody else will spend x, or that the Dodgers
can spend X and so many other teams can't. It's

(09:14):
it's gotta It's got a few different problems, one of
which is you've got a lot of fans, right or wrong,
a lot of fans who legitimately feel like their team
has no chance. Now that that that perception may be inaccurate. Right,
you may not agree with that. I entirely agree with it,

(09:35):
But you and I both know you may feel this way.
Their team has no chance, Their team has no chance,
and and when they do have a chance, it feels
fleeting right. It feels like an outlier. I mean, you
can make this about the Reds if you want, right,
if if the Reds, let's say this season, got to
the World Series or made a deep run of the postseason,

(09:56):
it would feel like, boy, they better win now, or
we better enjoy it now, because the bottom's gonna fall
out and they're gonna have to suck for a few years.
Like I think most baseball fans feel that way, with
the exception of fans in certain markets, that even if
our team is good, it's going to have to come
at a cost, and it's going to have to come
at the expense of then the subsequent years being completely

(10:16):
and totally irrelevant. Maybe that doesn't have to be the case.
There are smaller market teams that enjoy long runs of
success or at least relevance. But the perception here matters.
The perception here matters, and so this matters, maybe more
than it usually does, because this isn't necessarily new. The

(10:36):
arguments about small market versus big market in baseball have
been happening for decades. They've been happening literally my entire life.
But we do have a CBA that expires at the
end of this coming season, and in all likelihood we
are going to have a lockout? Now? Is that lockout
going to take us into twenty twenty seven? Is it

(10:57):
going to delay the season? Is it going to shorten
this season? Isn't gonna eliminate the season? Man, I have
no idea. You certainly can find people who follow this
sport closely who believe that there's a very good chance
the twenty twenty seven season doesn't even happen, and so
there's only gonna be more and more rhetoric about the lockout.

(11:18):
What owners are gonna want, what players are gonna dig
in for, and ideally what fans won. I think what
fans want is a different business model. I think what
you and I want is a different economic model for
the sport because there are a lot of folks who
love baseball, who love their teams, but who feel like

(11:39):
their team has no chance. And if those are your customers,
you have to listen to them. Look, there there's so
much good going on in this sport right now. The
on field product is awesome. The on field product is
as good as it's ever been. There are so many fun,
interesting young stars in this game right now. Guys doing
unprecedented things. But at the end of the day, if

(12:00):
your customers or your potential customers feel like their team
has no chance, then they're not going to invest in
the sport nearly as much. How is that good for
the game? How is that good for Major League Baseball?
And I think the unfortunate thing is the only way
that gets solved is by the sport going away. There's
the other problem in order for the game to change,

(12:21):
In order for the sport to change, it's probably gonna
have to go away for a while. I don't want
to dive into a history lesson when it comes to
baseball labor negotiations, but owners have been trying to get
a salary cap implemented for a very, very, very long time.
In the Players Association, the MLBPA, arguably the strongest union

(12:43):
in the United States of America, has held steadfast and
they've basically won every labor negotiation at least when it
comes to this particular issue. But the one thing that
baseball owners have never done is just sort of said
that the sport's not going to come back, and we're
not going to play, We're not gonna have games, and
we'll we'll take into the shorts if we have to
until we get a cap, or until there's at least

(13:06):
some significant restructuring of baseball's economic model. And so I
guess there lies my question. If you're among the disaffected,
if you're among those who you love the sport, you
love the Reds, you love your smaller market team, but
you feel like, as you watch the Dodgers every single offseason,
just load up. As you watch the big market teams
every single year, just load up. And none of these

(13:28):
things are new. These things have been happening for decades,
but I think with each passing year there's more and
more helplessness. If you're among those helpless feeling fans, are
you willing to let the sport go away, probably for
a long time, in order for it to change. Five

(13:49):
point three seven four nine fifteen thirty is my phone number?
Eight six six seven h two three seven seven six
works as well at Moegger on Twitter. Thanks to Delta
Delta Dental is building healthy, smart, vibrant communities for all
good At Delta Dental oah dot com. We have a
very very busy college basketball weekend that in the area

(14:13):
starts tonight. Full slate tomorrow we'll get to all the
games coming up here in just a bit. We'll steal
some audio from Chad Brendel's conversation with Chad Rendel and
Keegan Nickoson's conversation with John Cunningham, the director of athletics
at the University of Cincinnati, who says, if you're a
Bearcat fan, he hears you. We'll have that a little
bit later on, and Travis Steele on the show at

(14:33):
four thirty three plus. Bengals have some no brainers this offseason.
We've talked about two of them. We'll talk about one
more coming up a little bit later on. Twenty minutes
after three o'clock five win, three seven, four nine. Fifteen
thirty is our phone number. I hate doing this. I'm
not doing the show. I love doing the show. I
hate doing what we're about to do next on ESPN

(14:56):
fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station. You are not being pulled
over right now. Don't worry. Don't worry. Once a week
Tarren plays some Bubba Sparks. I like it. You're not
being pulled over. Tarren did want to play some Pitt
Pull this week because Pitt Pull's coming to River Bend

(15:16):
in September, and I told him, no, I know, you're
I was trying to think of how much money I
would accept to go to that concert. I mean it
would be it would have to be a lot between
that and playoffs. Well done, twenty six, it's right, yeah,

(15:40):
twenty six minutes after three o'clock. Travis Steele coming up
at four thirty five. We will look ahead of the
weekend on the hardwood. A busy, a busy weekend in
college basketball. Pretty much everybody locally plays this weekend except
for the Xavier Musketeers. You know, I am just philosophically.
This has come up so many times in the nineteen

(16:03):
years that I've done this show time and again, baseball's economics.
I'm a free market guy philosophically. Don't love anything that
puts a cap on what people can make, whether it's
in the private sector blue collar jobs, white collar jobs,
public sector, professional sports, like I think everybody should be
able to go and get what they're worth. I don't

(16:24):
believe that the original intention of salary cabs was to ever,
you know, create parody. I don't think it was ever
meant to create a level playing field. I think salary
cabs were implemented to drive down salaries. But you have
to listen to your customers, man, And like you, I

(16:44):
hear this all the time. I hear this from like
friends of mine who love baseball, love the Reds, who
despite the reds very long history of not winning, of
at times ineptitude of at times seemingly not caring about winning,

(17:05):
so badly want to get behind this team so badly,
want to want to get behind whatever it is they're doing,
so badly, want to love this sport, but feel like
their team has no chance. And like you could say
that it doesn't excuse how a team operates. I don't
think anybody would excuse twenty years of this current ownership

(17:26):
group not winning. I don't think anybody would excuse anything
the Reds have done to get in their own way.
But I do feel like, you know, and I rolled
my eyes when I saw it during the World Series
last year, like, well, the you know, the if the
Dodgers win, it's going to ruin baseball. And so that's
why I'm running for Toronto. And it's like, you know,
how much money the Blue Jay spend, there is a

(17:46):
there is a feeling out there, and to me, it's
it's not that unlike college sports fans right now. And
you know, again, like I want everybody to get paid,
I don't think anybody wants to go back to the
old ways of how college sports used to opt rate.
I think everybody understands that the value of an athletic
scholarship was ended up being dwarfed because of all the

(18:07):
money in college athletics. But you have a lot of
people who love their school, love their the place you
know that they went to school at, or love a
certain sports team, and they don't feel as connected to
it because the players aren't as connected to it, so
they don't feel as connected to the players. And like

(18:28):
I again, you hear from a ton of college sports
fans who love college basketball or college football or another
college sport, love their school, love the NCAA tournament, love
fall Saturdays, but will tell you that they're emotionally and
to a degree financially distanced from the sport because they
feel like they no longer have the same connection. Got

(18:51):
to listen to those folks. Now. The difference is baseball
has a governing arm. It's well the commissioner and the
owners that he works for. They do have legitimate collective bargaining.
We don't have that in college sports. But like the
you know, the old adage is obviously that the customers

(19:11):
are always right. If the customers are consuming your sport
based on a perception, and if that perception is based
on how you do business, then those customers are right.
And so I felt like last night, every time the
Dodgers sign a guy, every time the Mets, the Yankees
in recent years, not so much because they've claimed poverty

(19:34):
as well, but whenever a big market team, a successful
big market team like the Mets are different. The Dodgers
have won the last two World Series, the New York
Mets haven't won one in almost forty years. But every
time the Dodgers sign an all star caliber player, every
time they add to their arsenal, you know, folks roll

(19:56):
their eyes and there's a round of grumbling. This one
feels different. This this feels different. Paul Doherty, the former sports
columnists for the Cincinnati Inquirer, wrote a morning line newsletter
about this where he refers to this as a tipping point.
I feel like with a lot of fans, last night
was when they threw their hands up and said, I'm like,

(20:19):
oh my team's never gonna have a chance to compete again.
That might not be based in reality. You know, you
can get to the postseason with a team with a
much smaller payroll and still figure out a way to
beat the Mighty Dodgers. And you can still have an
organization like the Milwaukee Brewers and get to the postseason
every year and be relevant and draw fans to the

(20:39):
ballpark and matter. But I'm telling you, man, when you
have a lot of people who feel like their team
has no chance based solely on your business model, as
much as it might pain me to admit it, it's
probably time to change your business model. Twenty nine away
from four o'clock five point three seven four nine, fifteen
thirty is our phone number. There is There are a

(21:01):
few no brainers for the Bengals this offseason. I think
there's like three and maybe four. Maybe more than that.
We've talked about too. We got to get to one more.
We'll do that after sports headlines on ESPN fifteen thirty
Cincinnati Sports Station. Sports Headlines are a service of Kelsey
chevro Lne, home of lifetime powertrain protection and guarantee credit

(21:23):
approval from their family to yours for life kelsey chev
dot Com. The Reds made it official the trade that
was originally reported last night. Cincinnati acquiring lefty reliever Brock
Burke from the Angels is a part of a three
team deal in which the red send Gavin Lux to
the Tampa Bay Rays, Race sent Josh Lowe to LA

(21:44):
in exchange for minor leaguer Chris Clark. Burke had a
three to three six ERA last season in just under
sixty two winnings. Made a career high sixty nine appearances.
That was the second most by an Angels lefty in
a season in team history. And we don't men pitcher
wins and losses, so I'm not going to mention those.
But Brockberk Reds have made their bullpen better. They may

(22:08):
have to win a lot of two to one games,
but they have met their bullpen better. Redsfest is underway
at the Cincinnati Convention Center. Doors opened at three o'clock.
Doors open at eleven am tomorrow. College basketball tonight in
the area. The Dayton Flyers on the road against Loyola
of Chicago ud is four and oh in a ten

(22:29):
play tip off tonight at eight thirty tomorrow. We're going
in chronological order. On ESPN fifteen to thirty, we have
a college basketball double header of sorts, starting with the
game between Kentucky and twenty fourth rae to Tennessee and Knoxville.
That game tips off at noon. Pregame coverage at ten
thirty tomorrow. Also tomorrow, the Ohio State Buckeyes host Mick
Cronin's UCLA Bruins at one. The undefeated Miami RedHawks have

(22:53):
a home game tomorrow against Buffalo. That game also tips
off at one o'clock. The second rated Iowa State Cyclones
in town tomorrow for a game against the Bearcats, tip
off at fifth thirty two o'clock. That game is live
on seven hundred WLW. Pregame starts at one thirty. Indiana
hosts Iowa two and on ESPN fifteen thirty. Tomorrow night,
it's NKU with the second of back to back home

(23:16):
games as the Doors host Robert Morris NKU, coming off
a victory over Detroit Mercy last night. The NFL playoffs
resumed this weekend. The Divisional round two games tomorrow Buffalo's
at Denver, San Francisco's at Seattle. On Sunday, the Texans
visit the Patriots, and the Rams are in Chicago to

(23:36):
take on the Bears. All four games can be heard
on seven hundred WLW. This weekend and a busy weekend
for the Cincinnati Cyclones. Cincinnati host Rapid City tonight at
seven point thirty, again at four o'clock tomorrow, and then
they've got a one to thirty game on Monday against
Kalama Zoo. Also, congratulations to Cincinnati's Rose Level. She has

(23:58):
been voted the US Soccer Female Player of the Year
for twenty twenty five. They announced that like like two
plus weeks into twenty twenty six. Nonetheless, congratulations to h Torose.
There you go, good stuff. Five win, three, seven, four, nine,
fifteen thirty. Travis Steel coming up in just about an hour.

(24:21):
We have we've talked about no brainers for the Bengals.
One no brainer for me is you just move on
from Genostone and we hammered Geno Stone here and it's
it's probably admittedly to a point that it's gratuitous. Like

(24:43):
the Bengals had a lot of bad defensive players last year.
He was far from the only guy who wasn't good,
but he wasn't good. As a free agent signee, in
twenty twenty four, they brought him back. He was bad
as a free agent signee in twenty twenty five, and
like the Bengals, I was wrong about him because I
saw that dude in Baltimore and just thought, that's a

(25:04):
guy who every year you ask him to do more,
he doesn't. He does what they want, and so it
just it felt like a good signing. It didn't work out. Whatever,
you move on. And then the other noe brainer is
the Dalton Reisner thing. And I know there's questions about, well,

(25:26):
was this year as good as it's gonna be for Dalton?
Are there better and cheaper options out there? Because if
you bring him back, you're gonna have to pay him
more money. They're not gonna have to break the bank
for Dalton Reisner. He played well, he wants to be here.
There's good chemistry with this offensive line, like don't overthink this,
go ahead and get that done. The other one is

(25:47):
Joe Flacco, Like there's Joe Flacco or I guess maybe
Jake Browning or whatever's behind door Number two is backup
quarterback now. Obviously, if if things go according to plan
next year, Joe Burrow takes every meaningful snap. But even

(26:12):
if he does, you'd kind of like to go through
the season with as good of an insurance policy as possible.
Are there any better who are going to be available
as Joe Flacco? I would almost tell Joe Flacco, don't
worry about training camp. You kind of prove this year
you don't need it. So if hey, man, you want

(26:32):
to show up in mid August and get here and
kind of you know, play in a preseason game and
you know, chip off the dust or chip off the
the rust, you know, awesome. But that's a no brainer.
Like that, that is Joe Flacco or whatever's behind door
number two. Like I know some are going to say, well,
he's going to look for a starting job in this league.

(26:54):
I don't know. Man, Like, if you're Joe Flacco, who
has I think stated is a desire to be here?
If you're Joe Flacco, do you want to go chase
a starting opportunity for a team that the reason why
they have a starting opportunity for you is they're so
unsettled a quarterback and probably not very good and you're
a temporary plays holder for somebody, Or do you want

(27:16):
to back up Joe Burrow? And if he plays all
seventeen games, you sit. Chances are the Bengals is going
to be at least okay next year. And if you
do have to play, you get to work in an
offense that you already know and throw the ball to
dudes who helped you have this career resurgence last year,
Jamar Chason T Higgins, like this is one of them.

(27:40):
I bring this up as sort of rereading Paul Danner
Junior's piece in The Athletic where he goes through all
the pending free agents and assigns a percentage as to
whether or not they're going to be back, and for
Joe Flacco it was thirty three percent. That's, obviously, you know,
mostly an inexact sign that Paul's going through here, but

(28:01):
he's operating from a place of information, and look, man,
among all the different things the Bengals have to do
this offseason, backup quarterback should not be close to the
top of the list of priorities. So go ahead and
make it not a priority at all by bringing back
Joe Flacco. Like that's there's a handful of things the
Bengals can do this offseason to just make Duke Tobin's

(28:25):
job easier. I guess I should say there's a handful
of things Duke Tobin can do this offseason, at least
at the outset, to make his job easier. One of
them is go sign the guard who has said he
wants to play for you and who's probably not gonna
cost a ton of money. The other is that backup
quarterback that won you a football game in prime time

(28:47):
when he had been with the team for less than
two weeks. Like, let's not overthink this, let's bring back
Joe Flacco. Seventeen away from four o'clock five one, three, seven,
four nine, fifteen thirty is our phone number at Moeger
on Twitter, mo at ESPN fifteen thirty dot com. Seventeen

(29:07):
from four o'clock. This is ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.
You ever jot something down so you remember it, and
then you read it later on and you have no
idea what you were referring to. I'm just looking at
like a page full of notes, and I jotted down

(29:31):
Burrow SB storyline. I will assume that SB meant Super
Bowl BURROWSB storyline. I have no idea what the hell
that was in reference to I wrote it to myself
to remind myself to maybe talk about or do something
about Burrow Super Bowl storyline. But I have no idea,

(29:54):
no remote idea what I'm referring to there. A little
bit later on, I'll play for you a cut from
Chad Brendel's BCJ podcast he does with Keigan Nicholson with
John Cunningham, the director of athletics that you see, and
they talked for about ten minutes about the men's basketball program,

(30:15):
the noise around it, the on court product. Wes Miller
and I thought it was really good. John did not
talk like he did not sound like somebody who is
worrying about his job. And you know, let's be honest,
every time Wes Miller's job status, or anytime we talk

(30:36):
about men's basketball and football that you see and the
two head coaches, invariably and understandably so, somebody will bring
up John Cunningham and whether or not he should be
the person to be hiring any replacements with either of
those two positions. And it's I like John a lot,
but it's a fair question when you have two not

(30:57):
exactly popular coaches in your two signature sport and you
hired them both. It's going to create questions like that.
I listened to the entire thing and it's very, very good.
Chad and Keegan are awesome, but he does not sound
like somebody who is necessarily feeling the heat as it

(31:17):
relates to his own job. I'll have a little bit
of that for you a little bit later on. You
see and Iowa State tomorrow. The Cyclones were kind of
rolled in Lawrence by Kansas the other night. The Bearcats
coming off their first big twelve WE win of the
season over Colorado, and you know, a step in the
right direction. They played better offensively. They executed in ways

(31:40):
that they haven't for much of the season, I thought
for the first twenty minutes of the game, and it
was the best half they have played so far this season.
I think if you look at the entire forty minutes,
there was a really good thirty to thirty two. They
did have somebody make plays last night and day da
Thomas and so nowignificant uptick and competition for the Bearcats,

(32:02):
one in which offensively you see, is going to have
to be probably close to perfect tomorrow. One of the
I don't know if this is the right way to
put it, But sad things about this season is the
Bearcats are nine and eight. They've had a hard time
closing out games, and yet defensively they have been good

(32:29):
enough all season long. Like your I think for the
most part, your your eyeballs have told you that advanced
metrics have told you that like they have defended, they
are right now ken Palm eighth in the country and
adjusted defensive efficiency. Now, you don't need me to tell

(32:49):
you that they're rating for offensive efficiency is probably much
much lower. Yes, they're two hundred and eighth, but it's
like this one. On this one end of the floor,
they have been more than good enough to win on
more than multiple occasis. And like I get it again, Xavier,
they didn't double tray Carroll. That still doesn't make a

(33:10):
lot of sense to me. He ends up having a
career game. He's the main reason why Xavier wins. But
as a general rule, this season, defensively they have been really,
really good. And I guess there's the question for the
rest of the season as it relates to what they
do on the floor. Is there anything that can be
done for the offensive end of the floor to catch

(33:31):
up with what they are doing on the defensive end
where they have been good enough? And is you know
Tony asked me earlier on since he three to sixty
about the game tomorrow and how the Bearcats pull off
an upset and they're six and a half point dogs.
I think most are expecting Iowa State to cover that.

(33:53):
If Cincinnati wins, my guess is they will win a
close game. And you win a close game by executing late,
I guess I would wonder against a better team than Colorado,
do they execute late? Who gets some buckets? Who can
get buckets? When it feels like Iowa State might be
on the verge of, you know, kind of running away

(34:14):
with things if they go, if they look like they're
going to go into ten to nothing, run that sort
of thing, who gets buckets? We are still asking that
question after they have played seventeen games this season. But
you know, the conversation about Wes Miller and the state
of the program didn't necessarily change, and understandably so after
the Colorado game, all you could hope for is it's

(34:35):
the jumping off point. If this team is going to
change its narrative, they're going to have to find ways
to win games that they're not supposed to everything, advanced metrics,
eyeball test, and the Vegas line will tell you they're
not supposed to win the game. Tomorrow, we will see.
We spent some time yesterday talking about you know, I

(34:57):
think the discourse going into the game against Colorado was
a misfire because the focus was on something that was
never really a thing, which was the bags, fans wearing
bags on their heads. And I got some pushback to that, like,
it's not pushback to the anger. You'll hear John Cunningham

(35:17):
reference what he hears from fans, like, it's not pushback
to the anger. There's a lot of anger about the
way the season is unfolded, about seven years without an
NCAA tournament bid. It was pushback against the idea that
one person on one social media account, a widely followed

(35:39):
social media account, but still a social media account, was
creating something that was actually going to materialize into an
actual thing. At the barricat game the other night, nobody
haar be it for me to tell anybody to not
be upset or angry with what's going on with UC basketball,
the booze. I mean, look, I'm sure Wes Miller doesn't

(36:01):
like the booze, but I would be willing to bet
he'd be the first to tell you like that, that's
what comes with not winning, That's what comes with exhausting
people's patience. It's not pushed back on the frustration and
the anger that people feel. It's not pushed back on
the sense of despair the people feel. It's not push
back on the belief that a lot of people have
that it's time for a new coach. The pushback for

(36:22):
me was we no ways say we there's a lot
of us, But the way the wear and paper bags
thing kind of took on a life of its own
on social media and on other outlets would lead you
to believe that there were actually going to be people
who came to the game with bags on their heads.
And maybe there would have been a handful. I don't

(36:43):
believe there ever would have been all that many. And
so I think we took one person's social media account,
an anonymous one, not a bad one one that I follow,
but an anonymous social media account, and we made their
one tweet out to be something that was actually going
to be a movement that I don't think ever really
was going to materialize. The commentary was not about fans.
The commentary was about people who do what I do

(37:05):
for a living, who misfired on that entire story. Five
point three seven four nine, fifteen thirty is our phone number,
and eight six six seven oh two three seven seven six.
I feel about baseball now the way I do about
college sports. That coming up at four oh five on
ESPN fifteen.

Speaker 2 (37:22):
Thirty now for a chance to win one thousand dollars
just entered this nationwide keyword on our website. Money.

Speaker 1 (37:29):
That's money entering. Now tell me if I heard this correctly.
The spot for the Miami game tomorrow, Miami takes on
Buffalo at one o'clock. Travis Steele is gonna join us
in thirty minutes, and we're excited to have Travis on.
I am thrilled for Travis Steele. Look, man, I'm a
UC fan. You know that. I'm guessing Travis knows that

(37:53):
when Travis was at Xavier, Travis was awesome to our
show and at times during some very tough circumstances, was
always willing to come on, always willing to answer questions,
and that has continued at Miami, and so I am.
I am personally very happy for a guy who has
has always been accommodating to us. His team is really

(38:15):
fun to watch. Offensively, they rank as one of the
best in the sport. So Travis is going to join
us to talk about that game. Did I just hear
a spot for the game though? That referred to the
venue the game is being played at as Millet Hall?
Is that something my did? My ears hear that correctly?
I haven't felt great this week, so maybe not, Tarn.
Can you go back and find that it's Mallett Hall

(38:38):
has been around forever. I'm not sure, Nippert Stadium being
an obvious exception. I'm not sure there are many sports
venues in this area that have been around longer than
Mallett Hall. Give it to me this Saturday at one
pm inside Millet Hall the Red Hawk. Come on, man, come,

(39:06):
who did that? Who's who's putting the commercial together that
refers to it as Millet Hall? I will can I
I'll revoice the spot for him. I'll do it. The
thing is, it's four oh six on Friday. We probably
the game is tomorrow, so it's you know, it's it's

(39:29):
it's hard enough. It's hard enough, man like, and I
you know, think Travis would be the first to admit
this part of that job is you gotta get people
to come to games. And and you know, Miami basketball
this century, we'll call it what it is, hasn't been great,
and so folks get out of the habit of going
to games. When I was in college, I went to
Mallett Hall and I watched Miami Dayton games and when

(39:51):
Xavier and Miami would still play against each other. I
remember going to a game with my dad at Mallett
Hall in December of nineteen and this is the year
after they go to the Sweet sixteen. Wally's RBA can
obviously gone to the NBA, so but there was still
some punch to the program, and you know, playing playing
games against local schools. But like Mallette Hall was was

(40:13):
an awesome atmosphere. It was great. And this century, you know,
m you just there haven't been a lot of great
teams that year, and so folks maybe have gotten out
of the habit of going And I get it. Getting
to Oxford if you live in Cincinnati, people talk about
it like it's it's driving to Alaska or something. It
ain't that hard, but it's it's a hard it's a
tough putt like I get it. Every Miami coach that

(40:35):
has taken over that program since Charlie Coles, god rest
his soul, has has had to deal with like getting
fans to come to games. It's hard enough. The commercial
for the game could at least pronounce the arena's name correctly.
It's Mallette Hall. Milett All has been around since like

(41:02):
nineteen sixty five. It's been around since the sixties. And
you know, unfortunately it looks like a plays that was
built in the nineteen sixties but been around for long
enough for I don't know if that's I don't know
who I have. Then AI Voice, which you know, oh what,
I've been a guaranteed human. If you're gonna use the

(41:26):
AI voice, train the AI voice to say the name
of the sports venue correctly. There you go, There you go,
eight minutes after four o'clock. What do you think Travis
Steele will say if when he comes on the show,
I talk about tomorrow's game at Millet Hall? What we
what we doing? I got an email here from Jim

(41:52):
who says I've had an epiphany as it relates to
baseball in a salary cap. It's not an epiphany, man,
like I just there's my basic philosophies, which are open market,
no caps on salaries. That's a sports thing, it's a
non sports thing. There's also the reality of people's relationship
with the sport, which is deteriorating in a lot of markets.

(42:15):
I also think this man like we, you will hear
people make excuses for the Reds for decades of not
being that relevant, and what they will do when they
make excuses for the Reds is talk about the the
troubles that small market teams have. There are no shortage

(42:38):
of people who when a red season goes awry, or
when the Reds during an offseason don't spend a lot
of money or don't increase the payroll. We'll talk about
baseball's economic model. And yes, the Reds from a financial
standpoint are not in the same ballpark as the La Dodgers.

(43:00):
That doesn't excuse, you know, decades worth of not producing
consistently big league caliber players, doesn't excuse a lot of
on field issues they've had. And at some point when
you haven't advanced in the postseason for thirty years, and
a lot of other small market teams have not only
advanced in the postseason, but they've won World Series titles. Sorry, man,

(43:22):
they figure it out. You can't. The Milwaukee Brewers are
good every single year. The Reds were okay last year.
But that's the team you should be trying to emulate.
That's the team you should be trying to beat. But
I do believe this. It's not that unlike college football
and basketball coaches, where the small market thing is a

(43:48):
built in excuse. I mentioned college football and basketball coaches
because one of the things for me that I don't
love about the NIL era. And again, I want everybody
to get paid. Not gonna play about NIL, but I
I feel like it's it's given bad coaches an excuse,
like it's it's given bad coaches something to fall back on.

(44:09):
Team's not very good, well, I need more money. Team underperforms, well, hey,
I can only work with what we can afford, right,
And I do think you hear this around the country
when a season doesn't go quite as well, Instantly it's
we need more money. Even when a team performs well,
even when a coach is doing a good job. Like,
I get it. They obviously want as much money as
possible to buy the best possible players. But I I

(44:32):
sort of feel like nil in college sports have given
coaches a bailout, an excuse. Hey, it's not the coaching,
it's not me. It's not how I coach this team.
It's not how I maybe didn't connect with these players.
It's hey, this is all we can afford. I would
do better if we can afford better players, So give

(44:53):
us more money. I want to eliminate excuses. So I
think about base economics. I want to eliminate excuses. I
want to give fans a chance to feel like, you
know what, if we're well run and we do all
the right things, and we're good at player development, and
we make smart acquisitions, our team could be good every

(45:15):
single year. Our team could matter at least every single year.
I want to get rid of the excuses. I want
to take away from owners. I want to take away
from front office people, the built in excuse of it's economics. Man,
we just pull out our empty pockets. We don't have money.
That's among the many reasons I'd love to see a

(45:38):
redo when it comes to baseball's economics. But again, the
hard part is this, in the history of baseball labor negotiations,
what owners really have wanted for decades they never get
The players Union does not back down. They do not cave.
They have in the past taken whatever public hits have

(46:00):
come their way. They have never caved on this issue.
And so to get them to cave on this issue,
you're probably gonna have to draw them out for a
very long time. The ninety four player strike felt like forever, right,
canceled the season, canceled the World Series, delayed the start

(46:21):
of the nineteen ninety five season. That workstopage felt like forever.
In real time, it certainly did. Was like seven months long.
It's like seven months long. And so you're probably gonna
have to go longer than seven months to get the
players to cave. So if the CBA expires on December

(46:42):
the first, and you go seven months from then, well
that takes it into the middle of the summer of
twenty twenty seven. Probably gonna have to go longer than
that historically speaking, to get the players to cave. And
so like again, like here's the issue. It's for this
h ort to have a better model and for the

(47:03):
sport to achieve what so many wanted to achieve. Like
I believe fans really like the on field product. On
field product is I mentioned this last hour has been
It's been made better by Rob Manfred and it pains
me to say that because I think he's a goof.
But the pitch clock, getting rid of the shifts, limiting
the pickoff throws, even the magic runner role and extra innings,

(47:26):
which I do not like. They've made the on field product,
the television product better, and that's probably the most important thing.
But you still have people who feel like, all right,
you made the game shorter. You've done some really good
things to make the on field product more appealing. You've
added playoff teams, which is opposed to though it doesn't,
but it's supposed to create more interest in the playoff

(47:47):
race in more cities. I still feel like my team
doesn't have a chance to win. In large swaths of
this country, baseball fans feel like their team has no
chance to win. In order for that to change, the
game's gonna have to go away. And if you think
about that for a second, like, all right, we had
the ninety four player strike and that's stunk. Can you
imagine possibly an entire year without a baseball season, like

(48:14):
even COVID, Right, we got baseball starting on I think
it was July twenty fourth, and you know, extraordinary set
of circumstances, right, we had no baseball for three months
and no anything for three months. Can you imagine? And
sports have gone away? Hockey did it in mid two thousands. Again, man,

(48:34):
I think that Kyle Tucker thing. And I don't blame
the Dodgers at all. Like they're everybody's operating under the
agreed upon rules. Be mad at the owners who don't spend,
don't be mad at the ones who do. They had
the resources, They're doing what's allowed. No issue with it.
But with every single one of these additions they make

(48:57):
you have more and more people who just throw up
their hands and go, my team can't compete. If my
team can't compete, why should I care as much? That
is a deep rooted problem in this sport. And it
also gives owners. It gives them an excuse. Well, I
can't win because I wouldn't get rid of the excuses.

(49:18):
I want more people to care about the sport. It's
gonna have to go away for that to happen. Unfortunately,
sixteen after four o'clock at mulllegar on Twitter five point
three seven four nine fifteen thirty will get you in.
Travis Steel's gonna join us to talk about his RedHawks,
who are eighteen and zero. They played tomorrow at Malett Hall.

(49:40):
That is coming up at about fifteen minutes on ESPN
fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station twenty two after four o'clock.
This is ESPN fifteen thirty Maleger. If you missed earlier
this week TJ Friedel on our show. He was terrific,
as were Emelio Pagan and Andrew Abbott. They got a
very nice text from a well respected journalist in this

(50:03):
town who told me that they really enjoyed that interview
with Amelio Pagan and Andrew Abbott, and I appreciated that.
Don't get that. I don't get many many compliments, compliments
at all because I don't deserve them. But when I
get them, they rarely come from well respected journalists. Anyway,

(50:26):
it was. It made my day. So if you missed
that conversation, if you missed TJ. Friedel, if you missed
anything on this show, you can go listen to all
that stuff and so much more on the iHeartRadio app
and also on the podcast page of ESPN fifteen thirty
dot com podcast of our show. A service of Long
Neck Sports Grill. By the way, the new Hebrew location

(50:48):
will be open soon. I can't wait for that. If
you're looking for a place to watch all the college
basketball this weekend, the NFL playoffs Monday nights college football
National Championship game, go watch all that stuff at long
Neck Sports Girl, Wilder, Hebron and Richwood twenty three after
four o'clock. Uh, Scott in Dayton, you're on ESPN fifteen

(51:08):
thirty Scott, good afternoon. How are you.

Speaker 3 (51:12):
Are you there?

Speaker 1 (51:14):
I'm there, I'm here. Are you there?

Speaker 2 (51:15):
Oh?

Speaker 3 (51:17):
You went away for a minute. I don't know if
that was my cell phone or not. I am not
a well respected journalist at all, but I too enjoyed.

Speaker 1 (51:29):
Well that's kind of you. Thank you.

Speaker 3 (51:31):
Yeah, yeah, so I do have to bust your chops
just a little bit, although I thought the same thing.
I'm thinking. This is Miami advertising their own product and
miss mispronouncing their own hall's name.

Speaker 1 (51:51):
Yeah, yeah, I don't I don't know. I don't know
why that happened.

Speaker 3 (51:58):
So here's the busting of your top up. In your
sports brief, before you mentioned that the Flyers were on
the road, did.

Speaker 1 (52:09):
I say that not? They're not on the road to night.
Did I say they're on the road tonight, Yes, they're
they're home for Loyal to Chicago.

Speaker 3 (52:16):
Yes they only beat them by two this last time,
just out of curiosity. You guys do a great job
of you know, but you always include Lexington Louisville. And
it's not, of course not you because it's your home motor.
But we rarely get anything beauty wise on the station,

(52:41):
and we're like forty five minutes away, whereas Louisville.

Speaker 1 (52:47):
What do you mean, like in terms of game coverage.

Speaker 3 (52:51):
No, not not game coverage, just acknowledge it. Just you know,
you talk about Mollett or talk about Miami RedHawks, and
UDI generally speaking doesn't get much of a mention on
the radio.

Speaker 1 (53:08):
I can't speak for other shows. I know Lance mc
Lance McCallister probably does as much UDI stuff as I do,
and honestly, like it makes sense the reach of his
show and that radio station pointing north is greater than
this one quite frankly, But I mean, I can't speak

(53:32):
for anybody else, but I think on this show and
on Lanson's show, the University of Dayton is obviously never
going to be talked about or covered as much as
Cincinnati or Xavier, but it does not get ignored on
my show. And I could tell you as just as
a listener of Lanson's show. I don't know that Tony

(53:52):
and Austin spend as much time on Dayton as maybe
they should, but that is perhaps something you should take
up with them.

Speaker 3 (53:57):
Well again, it should, isn't probable the right word I
just was referring to. It's kind of an anomaly that
Lexington Louisville gets a lot of a lot probably not
the right word, but it gets more coverage than UD does,
and udis a lot closer I think even.

Speaker 1 (54:18):
Huh, there's more Kentucky. There's more Kentucky fans in our
audience and Dayton fans.

Speaker 3 (54:23):
Yeah, that's true. So I just had to call and
tell you that UD was not on the road.

Speaker 1 (54:32):
Now they're at home tonight. I misspoke. They are home
for the for loyal of Chicago. I only know that
because I was actually offered a ticket to that game tonight,
but I cannot go. So, oh, that's too bad.

Speaker 3 (54:46):
One of love to have you in the house. My
son is involved with Lee's and I'm sure you've seen
the chicken promotion that they do, and I think that
that's a really cool a thing that is done at ud.

Speaker 1 (55:03):
Yeah. So I try to take my daughter to a
game every year because I, you know, working UC games,
I can't take her at it. So I try to
take her to a Dayton game every year. And it
hasn't worked out this season. I hold out hope that
it will, but we will see. It was not in
the cards tonight, but I hope that it happens at

(55:24):
some point this year.

Speaker 3 (55:26):
Cool, Well, you have a trivier weekend.

Speaker 1 (55:29):
I'll do my best. Scott. Thank you, Thank you so much,
Thank you so much. Yeah, there's more Kentucky fans than
Dayton fans. I am a proud, proud alum of the
University of Dayton. I am willing to admit that. Man,
I can't speak to anybody else. I'll also say like
there have been there have been a handful of times,

(55:51):
and it's not been recently. There have been a handful
of times where we've tried to get somebody from ud
ON and we've been met with resistance, which is personally
frustrating for me because I did go there. But whatever,
twenty eight minutes after four o'clock, no resistance from Miami
University when we as to have Travis Steel on the show.

(56:11):
He'll join us next on ESPN fifteen thirty h twenty
seven away from five o'clock. This is Esken fifteen thirty
on Oleger. The Miami University RedHawks look for a nineteenth
consecutive victory to open up the season tomorrow at Malette
Hall against Buffalo. That game is going to tip off
at one o'clock. Travis Steele's team just on the outside

(56:33):
looking into the ap Top twenty five men's college Basketball poll,
and perhaps with a victory they can find themselves with
a number next to their name on Monday. The head
coach of the RedHawks kind enough on the afternoon before
a game to join us. Coach Steele, It's always awesome
to have you. Good afternoon. How are you.

Speaker 2 (56:52):
I'm doing well, mo, Thanks for having me on.

Speaker 1 (56:55):
Always love having you. We talked a year ago. You
guys were on your way to to a season and
you know, we know how it ended. You came within
an eyelash of making the NCAA tournament, but you win
twenty fives this offseason. You're gonna start the season by
bringing back ten players from last year's team. So I'm
guessing you thought you had a chance for a good squad.
What about this team this year has surprised you? Though?

Speaker 2 (57:19):
Yeah, Mo, you said it, And I think how we
lost last year? You know, we won twenty five games,
had a great year single season record at Miami for
wins the season, but we did we came in I
lash away from the Nimble Tournament. I think how we
lost really impacted our offseason in a great way. You know,
we've used the slogan unfinished business a lot with our guys,

(57:42):
and I think our guys had a purpose right right
from the jump in the spring, the summer to the fall,
where I knew we had a chance to be a really,
really really good team, especially as you know, like in
this landscape, the retention is hard to find at times,
and we only had to bring in one out of
the transfer portal. We still recruit a lot of high
school We do have five freshmen, but we were able

(58:05):
to retain a good bulk of our roster from last
year's team, which has been huge in our success this year.

Speaker 1 (58:11):
How old school does that, feeld? I mean, it's it's
such an outlier, right, Like I feel like I'm following
a program from another lifetime ago with all those guys
coming back from one year to the next.

Speaker 2 (58:23):
Yeah, it's unique. You know, you don't see it very
often in today's landscape, but I you know, I'm still
holding on to that, you know, in a lot of ways.
And you have to address Listen, We'll go to the
portal if we need to, but I think it's still
we really believe in player development and personal development, and
that's our mission here in our program. And you look
at a guy like Ian Elmer, Evan Ipsar or two

(58:44):
Cincinnati guys that are now juniors, and they're so much
better than they were when they walked in, and I'm
so proud of them. But they have a true love
for each other too, because they're not just with each
other for one year, and they've been with each other
for multiple years. So they really have that those deep
seated relationships, which I think really shows of how we
play on both ends of the floor.

Speaker 1 (59:06):
It feels to me, and you know, you talk about
how last season ended, and so I think it's human
nature to always have an eye on March on the
Mac tournament, right, because that's ultimately going to define whether
or not. You play in the NCAA tournament, right, and
then in the middle of all that, you're undefeated. So
there's a lot swirling around your program. How do you
keep these guys focused?

Speaker 2 (59:29):
You know, we just focused on the process. MO Like
it's you know, I've told our guys I could care
less about our record. I really don't care. I mean,
I'm glad that we're winning. We want to win every game,
but it's about are we going to play our best
in March? Can we peak at the right time. We're
obsessed with trajectory, and our guys know we use a
lot of analytical data to be able to showcase, Hey,
are we growing in the right direction?

Speaker 4 (59:50):
Are we not?

Speaker 2 (59:51):
And our guys process day to day is so elite. Well,
we haven't had one bad practice all year, which is amazing,
and I think that speaks fallways to the character we
have in our locker room and just the player leadership
that we have. Man, it's it's elite and it just
guides us in the right direction every day.

Speaker 1 (01:00:11):
Uh, you're asked a lot about your schedule. You do
not have to defend it. You play who's willing to
play you Have you thought though, like with your success
this year, those phone calls to other programs about finding
games are going to be even more difficult this offseason.

Speaker 2 (01:00:29):
Yeah, it's probably gonna be hard, you know, like it
is what it is, you know, And I listen, And
I don't blame some of the Power five schools for
not playings. You know, I know that they're supposed to
stay away from quad two, Quad three games. They're supposed
to only do quad one and quad fours. That's what
the net that the NBA uses, right, That's what they

(01:00:49):
want you to play. That's at the advantage show school.
So I totally get it. I wish they would change
that equation. The help was school like us out.

Speaker 1 (01:00:58):
But I do.

Speaker 2 (01:00:58):
I thought her, I shud sign a respect. We got
to figure it out, and I think we'll be in
a better position next year. Maybe schedule WHT because we
are moving from eighteen to twenty two back conference games,
so that'll help alleviate our non conference schedule a little bit.
But I'm hoping. I mean, I got a couple of
calls in a couple buddies, am I trying to plead

(01:01:19):
with it to at least play us, you know at
a P five just so we can give our guys
that experience, you know, like I would love to do it.
I mean I would love if we can.

Speaker 1 (01:01:29):
We're trying, well, I mean that's the thing, Like, you
can only be so creative. So does it come down
to simply like reaching out to people you know in
the business and go, look, man, I've done this for
a while. My program deserves it. Give us a shot.
Is it just as simple as that.

Speaker 2 (01:01:46):
Yeah, because I know they're going to say, well, the
numbers say not to play you guys, and everybody's using
analytical data. I love analytical data, but I don't like
that analytical data right, Like I don't like it for scheduling.
But I like Kelvin Sampson for example, Like I have
a ton of respect for him and I worked for
him in Indiana and he'll play anybody. I would say, I

(01:02:08):
think he'll play us next year. I'm hoping, you know, again,
he's got a great program. They don't be there. They're
a top five program in the country, if not top three.
Maybe the consistency that they've had that he's been there
has been incredible. But but we're trying, I know this.
We are calling everybody to see, uh, say we can
get it done.

Speaker 1 (01:02:29):
I can't even imagine. I can't even imagine what those
conversations are like. Travis Steel is with US Miami hosting
Buffalo tomorrow one o'clock at Malette Hall. Uh. You we've
been tracking the number of votes you guys have gotten,
uh since you since you started getting them a few
weeks ago. And you know, I'm watching Scott Van Pelt
on Sports Center. I know you saw it making the
case for Miami to be ranked, and you're focused on

(01:02:51):
the basketball part of it. You're you're focused on the opponent.
You're guys having great practices. But like for for all
of Miami's history, there have only been seven weeks where
the RedHawks have been ranked in the AP top twenty five.
So if you win tomorrow, and if you keep winning,
at some point, you're going to be in the top
twenty five. What will it mean to have that number

(01:03:11):
next to Miami in that poll? If and when it happens.

Speaker 2 (01:03:16):
Well, I just think it shows the growth that we've made.
You know, when we took over here three and a
half years ago, we were really, really, really far away
from being a reality. And to see us that we're
that close man, it's it's nice to get recognition, and
I would love it for our university, for our men's

(01:03:36):
basketball program, for all the former alumni, the former players.
But we got to focus on the things we can
control too, right Like. We can't control that. We can
only control our day to day, our process, and you know,
but it does. I will say you this though, I
think you know. I'm always trying to find ways to
motivate your guys, right like, because it is in the
long season. It's a long journey. We have. We have

(01:03:59):
a lot of guys in our locker room that have
that have a chip on their shoulders, a massive chip,
and who were told that they weren't good enough at
one point for this, at that and all this stuff. Listen,
we have a lot to proof, we have a lot
to prove. We have unfinished business and that and obviously
I hopefully this is all ride all the way through
the market. We can peak at the right time.

Speaker 1 (01:04:23):
I hope.

Speaker 3 (01:04:23):
So.

Speaker 1 (01:04:24):
I know you've got a one o'clock tip off tomorrow,
so a lot on your plate. I am. I'm root
like heck for you, man. I have said this at
the top of our show. You have always been so
good to our show in circumstances that at times haven't
been awesome. So I'm rooting for you. I hope you
get a win tomorrow. I want to see you guys
ranked best of luck the rest of the season. And

(01:04:45):
I can't thank you enough for doing this. Means a lot,
Thanks so.

Speaker 2 (01:04:47):
Much, Thanks Moe.

Speaker 1 (01:04:51):
You got it. Travis Steel, head, coach of the Miami RedHawks,
tomorrow one o'clock against Buffalo, you know, one of three
undefeated teams in the sport. The longer it continues, the
sillier the voters are gonna look for not putting him
in the AP Top twenty five. And I look, Travis
is right. You can't blame Power five coaches for not
wanting to schedule them. And everybody's gonna do what's right

(01:05:13):
by their program, and they've they've got to operate within
the parameters that the metrics say you should operate within.
But holy hell, at some point you want to see
him get a chance to play quote high major competition.
They can if they get to the NCAA tournament. It's
fun ride. And you know that program. We've talked about
it a lot here, largely, and I hate to say this,

(01:05:35):
largely dormant relative to the nineties for much of this century.
It's it's fun to see that program back. It's fun
to see that program in the conversation for a regular
season championship. They were this close after losing by two
in the MAC Tournament title game to Acron last year.
It would be awesome to see the RedHawks not only

(01:05:56):
finish off a great regular season, but have Miami on
on the screen on Selection Sunday after winning the MAC Tournament.
And hopefully that happens. And I mean Travis Steele, you know,
has been on our show a bunch of times, and
it came on during some stretches when he was coaching
e Xavier where it wasn't going great and has always

(01:06:17):
been kind to us, and so I'm rooting like hell
for him. It's fun that Miami is good and hopefully,
hopefully interest continuents, hopefully, you know, I know, getting folks
to come to Mallett Hall has been a quandary for
a lot of coaches of that program. Hopefully, as excitement builds,
attendance grows. And I hope that for Travis, hope that

(01:06:40):
for the school, hope that for a lumps and hope
that for his players. It is sixteen away from five o'clock.
I did not do sports headlines. Let's do it now.
Thanks to Kelsey chevrole at home of lifetime powertrain protection
and guaranteed credit approval from their family, the yours for
life kelseyshev dot com, Red's made it official today. The
acquisition left He brought Burke from the Angels, part of

(01:07:02):
a three team deal that sent Gavin Lux to the
Tampa Bay Rays. Burke had an ERA of three to
three six last year career high sixty nine appearances in
twenty twenty five. He is the newest Reds acquisition, along
with minor league Righty Dusty Davis, who was a Dusty Reevs.
Not Dusty Reeves, Dusty Reeves. You ever had a Dusty

(01:07:27):
Reeves Dusty Reeves? Alrighty. He was picked up by the
Reds from the Mariners in exchange for Righty yazar Zueleta,
who had been dfaed by the Reds earlier in the day. Yes,
excuse me, Reds Fast is happening this weekend at the
Cincinnati Convention Center. Doors are open and Reds Fest is
happening right now, and it's a lot of fun college basketball. Tonight,

(01:07:49):
Dayton hosts Loyola of Chicaga. Eight thirty Flyers have won
four straight all in the eight ten. Tip off at
eight thirty. Tomorrow, Kentucky's at number twenty four Tennis. UCLA's
at Ohio State. The aforementioned Miami RedHawks are hosting Buffalo.
Those two games at one o'clock, the UK game at noon.
Pregame at ten thirty on ESPN fifteen thirty. Cincinnati will

(01:08:11):
host second rated Iowa State. The Bearcats coming off their
first Big twelve win of the season, Iowa State coming
off their first loss of the season. Tip Off at
two pregame one thirty, seven hundred WLW. Indiana will host Iowa.
Also tomorrow, it's a nku A home game against Robert Morris.
That game's also on ESPN fifteen thirty, tipping off at

(01:08:31):
seven pm. The NFL Divisional Round is this weekend. I
don't know why we don't call them the conference semifinals,
so I will. The NFL Conference Semifinals are this weekend.
Buffalo's at Denver, San Francisco and Seattle. Tomorrow. On Sunday,
Houston's at New England. Rams are in Chicago to take
on the Bears. All four of those games can be

(01:08:53):
heard on seven hundred WLW. Cyclones play tonight, It's Grateful
dead Night at the Arena down ten puck drops at
seven thirty. Cincinnati hosting Rapid City tonight at seven and
tomorrow at four pm. It is fourteen away from five
o'clock on moegor thank you for listening today. This is
ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati sports station. Playoff Tilts this weekend.

(01:09:16):
That's what's happening. You could listen to them down the
hall on seven hundred WLW. Not that anythink anybody necessarily cares.
I like Denver this weekend, Like Chicago, Denver on the
money line. I like Chicago, although that line has flipped.
Denver Buffalo. Buffalo opened his favorites. Last I looked, which

(01:09:37):
was late this morning, Denver was laying a point and
a half. I think I'll do that. Do have them
on the money line. What else? I like Chicago getting
the three and a half, Seattle San Francisco the spread,
and that one's a little bit of a stay away
for me, especially with the Darnold uncertainty. But I think

(01:09:58):
the under has been in play for me. Is the
since we saw it that that's what that matchup was
going to be in and sane. Frankly for the Texans
and New England Patriots. I think that's the most interesting
game of the weekend for what it's worth, Not that
anybody necessarily cares about my opinion, because Houston's defense travels.
Houston's defense like, all right, Aaron Rodgers is immobile. But

(01:10:21):
they they they got to them with four. They don't
necessarily necessarily have a lot of bells and whistles on defense.
I'm kind of curious to see whether New England's offense
can be a little bit less punchless than it was
against against the Chargers. That's a bad football game. I

(01:10:41):
mean that that that Chargers Patriots game on Sunday night
was a bad football game. New England's performance. It's a
playoff game. All that matters is do you advance? They
need to be better. And then there's the Texans offense
because CJ. Stroud simply cannot be as bad as as
much as the Texans may lean on Woody Marks, who's
a player that I love. CJ. Stroud at times looked

(01:11:05):
like a dude against the Steelers on Monday Night. Who
was you know, throwing the game. I don't say that
in any seriousness, but it illustrates how bad he was.
He has to be better. All four games again this
weekend on seven hundred w l W. A few other
Bengals things coming up in the next hour. I think
I have I think I have remembered what I was

(01:11:27):
getting at when I wrote down burrow SB storylines. This
is what it is. So Joe Burrow has had some
things to say, and you know, toward the end of
the season, the unending Joe Burrow psychoanalysis got fatiguing as
far as I'm concerned, and he talked at the end

(01:11:49):
of the season about things needing to change, and you know,
there was no bombshell in terms of, you know, a
player that he is banging on the table to have
back that sort of thing like there was a year ago.
But a year ago, you know, Joe Burrow says what
he says about T Higgins after the Bengals won a
Monday Night football game in December, and then pretty much

(01:12:11):
every other time he talked with the media after that
Monday Night football game until the season ended, he talked
about t Higgins and then the Bengals season ended and
Joe Burrow went away. But then the Super Bowl got here,
and Joe went on every show to talk about T
Higgins and Trey Hendrickson. We had a field day with it.
It was great. It was free content. Joe going to

(01:12:31):
Radio Row, Joe going on you know, the larger national platforms,
and you could certainly understand why he would be a
coveted guest doing the plug for god knows what and
then invariably asked questions about the Bengals and asked questions
about T Higgins. I think in a couple of weeks,
when it's it's it's time for the Super Bowl and

(01:12:52):
Radio Row at the Super Bowl and all the different
interviews from the Super Bowl that Joe Burrow may do,
it's going to be interest to see the questions he gets.
A year ago, he was being asked specifically about T
Higgins and then, maybe to a slightly lesser degree, Trey Hendrickson,
and he answered those questions. I think, matter of factly,

(01:13:13):
this year, you know what the questions are gonna be about.
They're gonna be about the relationship between him and the team.
They're gonna be about where he is in his career
and how he feels about where where he's playing right now,
it's gonna be about the Bengals bringing back status quo.
And I think the thing about Joe is like he

(01:13:35):
speaks honestly, and he speaks from the heart, and if
you ask him a, you know, a legitimate question, He's
gonna give you a legitimate answer, and it might not
be explosive, it might not be necessarily with the intention
of dropping a bombshell. I think Joe Burrow at the
super Bowl is gonna be worth paying attention to. That's
I jotted that down. That's what I meant.

Speaker 3 (01:13:54):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (01:13:55):
And you know, maybe maybe he and his advisors or
tea decide, you know what, we're not going to go
to the super Bowl. We're not gonna pitch a bunch
of products, and we're not gonna go to a bunch
of shows. And perhaps, but I don't know. My guess
is we see Joe pop up somewhere, and when he does,
given the fact that he and his career have been

(01:14:15):
such a talking point, He's going to be asked a
lot of questions and it will be interesting to hear
the responses. Coming up on five o'clock an hour ago
on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports date Bonness, he said,
three minutes after five, this is ESPN fifteen thirty. Thanks
for listening. It's five o'clock on Friday. Hopefully your weekend

(01:14:37):
is underway. Hopefully it's off to a great start. Thank
you so much for listening, and if you have listened
throughout the course of the week. I've said this a
few different times. I feel pretty good today. I wasn't
myself earlier this week. We'll just put it that way
from a physical perspective, And so thanks for putting up
with all of that. We have folks waiting. We're not

(01:15:00):
opposed to start the hour by taking phone calls. We're not.
The sports talk Radio Handbook, which has evolved over the years,
still says don't take phone calls to start the hour.
But we don't like the sports talk radio Handbook on
this show. Plus, also, I have to sneeze, which means
I have to have to hit the cough button. And
I can hit the cough button if I let Jeff talk.

(01:15:20):
So Jeff, go ahead. You're on ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 4 (01:15:24):
Well, hey mo, this isn't Thanks for taking the call.
And this isn't necessarily sports talk anyway, so we get
a break there, just briefly. Every time Malett Hall is mentioned.
Every time Metlette Hall is mentioned, I think back to
the first time I saw Springsteen there in nineteen seventy nine.

(01:15:46):
I know you're a big fan.

Speaker 1 (01:15:48):
Yeah, I'm a huge fan. Yes, you saw him at
Mollett Hall eighteen seventy and that would have been the
Darkness on the Edge of Town tour.

Speaker 4 (01:15:55):
Yeah. I was a sophomore to you, and so headed
over there. You know, he's famous for three and a
half hour shows, and I'm pretty sure it was there,
might have might have been Riverfront the next year, but
the Powers ad be pulled the plug on him. He
was He mentioned something about they wanted him to quit

(01:16:16):
but he wouldn't and he just so it was well
over three and a half hours, and he was like
halfway through the Devil in the Blue Dress Madley and
and they just pulled the plug. All of a sudden,
the power went out, sound went out, lights went out.

Speaker 1 (01:16:33):
So in the so not just like he ended a
song and told him he had to go, like they
literally pulled the power as he's performing.

Speaker 4 (01:16:40):
Yes, yeah, it was either the fire department or the
police department. Set enough is enough?

Speaker 1 (01:16:45):
Wow?

Speaker 4 (01:16:46):
He would he wouldn't stop, and they just pulled the plug.

Speaker 1 (01:16:50):
I don't think folks, I don't I don't think folks.
I don't think folks realize Mollette Hall. So Springsteen played there,
you saw that show. Billy Joel has played there, Bob
Dylan has played there, Joni Mitchell played there, Elton John's
played there, Chicago's played there, the go Gos.

Speaker 4 (01:17:08):
Back in the day.

Speaker 1 (01:17:09):
Yeah yeah, a tribe called Quest played there. Probably not
your jam but mine in high school. They played at
Mallett Hall. But they literally pulled the plug on Bruce
in the late seventies out. Well, now I'm happy they
mispronounced the name on that commercial.

Speaker 4 (01:17:26):
Yeah yeah, but even I knew it was Lett Hall,
and I didn't even go there.

Speaker 1 (01:17:30):
Yes, yeah, yeah, you and me both all right? Man, Well,
thanks for.

Speaker 4 (01:17:35):
The story, all right, thought you'd appreciate that.

Speaker 2 (01:17:37):
I have a good one.

Speaker 1 (01:17:38):
Much appreciate you too, man, Thank you very much. We
are airing a commercial that refers to Miami's basketball arena
as Millet Hall. That's what that's in reference to, Mike.
Go ahead, you're on ESPN fifteen thirty micod afternoon. What's up?

Speaker 5 (01:17:57):
Hey, thanks Mo, Yeah, you're very well.

Speaker 1 (01:17:59):
Now.

Speaker 5 (01:18:00):
You shouldn't have done that. You shouldn't have done that
to me with these concerts because I saw Springsteen with
Royal Orbison way before the d just called. Ever saw
Bruce Springsteen when he was a nobody down at the
Lovelow Garage on Levelow Avenue in Clifton, which was a
hotbed for music in the late sixties early seventies. I

(01:18:23):
saw the Almon Brothers there, I saw bb King there,
I saw Just I could go down the line. Cincinnati
was a hotbed for music back then. Then it was
awesome as well. Everywhere was a hotbed for music in
their late sixties and early seventies. Anyway, he just jogged
my memory on that one. Your interviews with Freedol, Pegan

(01:18:45):
and now Steele were very nice. You have a way, though,
of relaxing people. I've noticed this sure of being an
avid listener. You have a certain air about you teams
to relax. Hey, dude, I'm not blowing smoke up your butt.

(01:19:05):
I'm telling you the truth. And I talked to Terarn
about it and he agrees with me.

Speaker 1 (01:19:10):
Well, that's that's kind of you both. I I've never
had anybody frame it that way. I'd uh, most most
interview subjects sound like you know what, I can't wait
for this conversation to be over. So that was obviously
not the case with Travis, and I don't think it
was the case with the Reds players we had this week.
So so thank you. That's very kind of you. Mike,
Thanks very much.

Speaker 5 (01:19:30):
Well, it's just a it's just a factual observation. It's
not it's not hypothetical. Uh, we're gonna keep building that bullpen.
Oh boy, let's just build the hell out of that bullpen.
We ain't gonna score any runs, but we're gonna We're
gonna build that bullpen. Now, let's get to the meat
of the subject for today, which is everybody, what's fire

(01:19:53):
against the Dodgers for getting a Tucker. Listen, folks, the
Mets spend not a whole lot less than the Dodgers.
But you know what the Mets don't do. The Mets
don't spend their money wisely, and it's obvious in their
finishing and what they do regarding world championships. So game

(01:20:14):
on you Mets.

Speaker 1 (01:20:17):
Yeah, I don't think, well, you know, the Mets actually
outspent the Dodgers last year. I haven't looked, and you know,
I don't know what the projected twenty twenty six payrolls
for each is. I don't know if the Dodgers will
end up spending more. I think anger at the Dodgers
is misdirected. And you and I talked about this during
the playoffs because folks, you know, rooted for Toronto forgetting

(01:20:41):
that the Toronto Blue Jays, or ignoring that the Toronto
Blue Jays had the fifth highest payroll, and they made
it sound like the Blue Jays were this plucky group
of upstarts and these ragtag guys that nobody wanted, and
that wasn't remotely true. Because of the resentment aimed at
the Dodgers for spending, I don't think the resentment should
be aimed at the Dodgers. They're playing within the rules.

(01:21:02):
They have an advantage. The thirty owners and the commissioners
say they have an advantage. They're taking advantage of it.
The bigger issue for me would be anybody, any team
that has an advantage, like the New York Yankees have
cried poverty in recent years at times, the Chicago Cups
not so much this offseason, but the Ricketts family at

(01:21:22):
times has cried poverty. That's insulting, that's frustrating. Get mad
at those owners. But I think the frustration with the Dodgers,
if that's how you feel, is misdirected. I think baseball's
got a problem. And I started the show by talking
about this. Whether it's fair or not, there are legions

(01:21:43):
of baseball fans who feel like, because of the economic
framework of the sport, their team doesn't have a chance.
And that's not good for your game. At the end
of the day. As much as people may love the sport,
may love one watching it, may appreciate it, may love
going to the ballpark, if folks who consume your game

(01:22:07):
feel like their team doesn't have a chance, that's a problem.
The one thing that the NFL does better than anything else,
and they do a lot of things really well, but
the one thing that the NFL does better than everybody
else is they make you feel like your team has
a chance. They make you feel like your team's not
that far away. They make you feel like, you know what,

(01:22:28):
one or two good offseasons, a few good drafts, hire
the right coach. We're not that far away. We've got
a shot. In baseball, there are fans who feel despair
because they feel like their team doesn't have a chance.
And when they do have a chance, in those years
where they have an opportunity to play in the playoffs, boy,

(01:22:49):
if we don't win, we're gonna have to suck. You
have baseball fans who feel like that the cost of
winning is your team has to stink forever. It doesn't
have to be that way, and I both know that.
But if that is the perception, and that perception is
driving a lack of interest, or that perception is keeping
people from consuming the sport to the extent that they would,

(01:23:10):
then as an institution, baseball has a problem.

Speaker 5 (01:23:14):
It is and it's not. Listen, it's not the owner's fault.
It's the players union that dictates what the situation is,
pure and simple. It's the players union that's what dictates
what's going on. You look at the.

Speaker 1 (01:23:30):
Rest, I mean I think that's I think that blame
is shared. I mean, they collectively bargain on the rules.
You and I have talked about this. The players have
not caved on the salary cap issue, and I don't
believe that the owners have ever presented to them a viable,

(01:23:50):
a viable set of things that they'll offer to players
to make them cave I And so, I mean, yeah,
if I was a baseball player, I wouldn't want a
salary cap because I'm thinking about myself and I'm thinking
about my career. I think what you're hoping for is
that the players union starts to think about the overall
greater health of the game and goes, Okay, maybe it's

(01:24:11):
within the sport's best interest for us to accept the
salary cap, and so if we accept one, maybe there
are some things we could get that make things better
for our union membership.

Speaker 5 (01:24:22):
Yeah, probably the strongest union and then in the industrial world. Really,
I think it is. It is real quick, Mom, I
know you got to go because I could go on
and on about this. Okay, the Yankees eight point two
billion Forbes valuation this year, Dodgers six point eight billion revenue.

(01:24:43):
Yankees and Dodgers about the same for last year of
over seven hundred million dollars, So you know they got
to do. Okay, playoff football coming up. I like, I
don't like this game. I think I think I almost
want to root for Josh because I'm not a Denver fan,

(01:25:07):
but I just don't think that they have enough he
it's a it's a it's a twenty two player sport, right.
One guy is not gonna make it is not. I
can't see it happening.

Speaker 3 (01:25:20):
Now.

Speaker 5 (01:25:21):
Denver's defense was average or mediocre, but it's awesome. Okay.
Then we go down to the Houston game. Houston, New
England played this one of the softer schedules all year long.
They did, yes, and I can't believe Sud's gonna be
continued to to screw up. Now, maybe he will, but

(01:25:43):
they don't even care if he does. They still win.
You think the weather thing with the Rams game is
as big of a deal as they're making it out
to be.

Speaker 1 (01:25:55):
No, No, not not particularly. I think the Rams have
special teams issues. I think the Rams have issues with
their offense seeming like it peaked six weeks ago. And look,
I mean the Chicago Bears. This is very unscientific. They've
had fourth quarter magic all season long, and I think

(01:26:18):
you can't help but wonder in that game, if it's close,
what are Caleb Williams and Ben Johnson going to come
up with? To figure out a way to win.

Speaker 5 (01:26:27):
Yeah, you do, but then you got two real geniuses,
McVeagh and him going. The thing that worries me about
the Rams is the secondary has been just.

Speaker 1 (01:26:35):
Awful awful, Yes, awful.

Speaker 5 (01:26:38):
Bill Burrow would have annihilated that secondary easily. Yeah, And
what's the last game on forgetting the Niners game?

Speaker 1 (01:26:45):
What do you think with the ob thing San Francisco?
The oblique thing with Sam Darnold, I mean oblique injuries.
I obviously am not qualified to speak to its severity,
but oblique injuries seem like they linger longer than they should,
and you think of all the different ways that may
affect him. But you know, I'm not betting that game

(01:27:09):
on the spread. I like the under in it. But
if you put a gun to my head and said
you got to take one or the other, I'm getting
a touchdown with Kyle Shanahan. I just I feel like
they'll figure out a way to make it close. I
wouldn't feel that way if I knew Darnold was one
hundred percent, But now they played just two weeks ago

(01:27:30):
in San Francisco's offense was completely neutered by Seattle's defense
That Seahawks defense is awesome, but it wasn't like that
game was a blowout, right it was I think thirteen
to three. That game to me just screams under I've
said all week long, I think that's a stay away.
The other three I'd be comfortable. I'd be comfortable betting

(01:27:52):
on the spread. I don't know how Buffalo is going
to score against Denver because their run defense is awesome.
Josh Allen had to put the team on his back
last week. The the offense is at times punchless. I
really like Denver in that game Chicago, I'll grabbed the
three and a half. I lean Houston, but I'm I'm
taking a leap of faith that CJ. Stroud doesn't screw

(01:28:13):
it up, and it felt like for the first three
quarters of that game on Monday against Pittsburgh like he
was gonna screw it up.

Speaker 5 (01:28:21):
Yeah, I did well as usual. I'll follow your lead
because you're the one that helped me start making money
ten years ago, and I'm forever indebted to you for that.
I really am.

Speaker 4 (01:28:31):
You know, you know, you were like I just.

Speaker 5 (01:28:36):
The home dog.

Speaker 1 (01:28:38):
Of course, when you started calling this show, it was
there were two major themes one, you thought this was
the best sports talk radio show in the country. I'm
not sure you feel that way anymore. Number two, you
were you were grateful. You were, Yeah, you were grateful
for all the uh the successful wagers you made and
and we we had times made you pay it forward
based on your winnings.

Speaker 5 (01:28:59):
Yes you did, and I you I got. I you
just smoking Miami. I don't care about their front four
and in their quarterback. Yeah he may be already may not,
but that Indiana team, I want him to make history,
don't you. I really do. Plus they're a local one.
I'm rooting for him.

Speaker 1 (01:29:18):
Yes, I'm rooting for him. I think it's an awesome story.
I like Signetti. I think that game is going to
expose Miami's lack of offensive explosiveness. I think what they
can't do offensively, thank you, Mike just plays right into
the hands of Indiana. And I'm rooting for the Hoosiers.
I honestly like they're an area school. I haven't met

(01:29:42):
anybody who's like rooting against him. I don't get any
like they're an area school, so we're going to resent
them because you know, I'm maybe there's Kentucky fans not
rooting for Indiana. Maybe Ohio state fans aren't either, but
I am. I'm rooting for the Hoosiers. It is a
nineteen minutes after five o'clock. Five one, three, seven, four nine,

(01:30:03):
fifteen thirty is our phone number, and eight sixty six
seven oh two three seven seven six. One of these
days I'm gonna do a show where I do nothing
but read texts I get during. It ain't gonna be today,
but it may happen sometime soon. I'm oegor here at
six o'clock. Thank you for joining us today. Let's let's
get to the baseball issue. Here in a second on
ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station. Raid column on ESPN

(01:30:27):
dot com right now by Dan Wetzel, who writes about
the latest college basketball point shaving scandal. Uh. I encourage
you to go read it. Uh The crux of it
is is this passage. This is about personal accountability. This
is about consciously choosing alleged criminal behavior. Uh So. And

(01:30:48):
I bring this up because you know we'll get to
the conversation yesterday about well, this is this is the
fault of legal eyes gambling. It is it is not
these are these are people who made a decision to
do something illegal. They chose criminal behavior, and and and
maybe would have chosen criminal behavior had sports wagering been

(01:31:08):
illegal around the country, and I obviously know there's lots
of states where it's still not legal. The people involved
in this chose criminal behavior. This is this is personal accountability.
This is violating basic tenets of competitiveness, like the core
bonds of team play. Go read the piece, Dan Wetzel,
ESPN dot com. That's what I did during the break.

(01:31:29):
That's what I did during the break. Five nine, fifteen
thirty is our our phone number here. By the way,
you know we we started the the hour our guy
might by talking about the Reds bullpen. So I think
most of us went into the season, or went into
the offseason thinking, Okay, the Reds they're set with their
starting staff. Hopefully if they trade from it, they do

(01:31:51):
the right things that can still happen. They need to
do two things. They've done one of them, and don't
I think you can do I think you could do
multiple things here. I think you can lament the fact
and be upset at the fact that to this point
in the off season the Reds haven't made their offense better.

(01:32:12):
And by the way, when we say make the offense better,
it wasn't like a dramatic overhaul was ever going to
be in the offing. You know, again, it's multiple truths, right,
Like they need dudes who are on last year's team
to perform better or stay healthy. But that also you
look at the offense and they needed help in all

(01:32:33):
likelihood from outside. Part of what makes what they've not
done so frustrating this offseason offensively, at least to this point,
is it doesn't feel like they're that far away. They
had a league average offense last year. It wasn't a
league worst offense last season. So I want to take
a league average offense and make it an elite offense.

(01:32:55):
And I think there's multiple things that have to happen
for that to happen, and that's nal improvements, better things
happening with players are on last year's team. Go get
a guy who brings to the table what the Reds
sorely lacked last year. All of those things can be
said the other part of the team. I think Nick

(01:33:15):
Crawl has done a pretty good job. And look, man,
there have been lots of years where a common complaint
including from me. A common complaint has been, boy, it
felt like they it felt like they really didn't prioritize
the bullpen. It felt like, Ah, you know what, We'll

(01:33:36):
just throw some dudes there and see if it works out.
I think it's actually gonna be pretty easy to identify
when spring training starts who should do what. I don't
think it's going to be that difficult when when spring
training starts and you look at the core of relievers
to identify who should fit what role. Obviously, as the

(01:34:00):
season unfolds, maybe a spring training unfolds, there could be injuries,
There could be guys who aren't as good as you hope.
They are a lot of different things over usage, which
hopefully isn't the case with this team, because the starting
pitching should be pretty good. But the fact that they
haven't touched that much the offense doesn't mean that what

(01:34:21):
they have done with this other part of the team
doesn't matter. Caleb Ferguson and Pierce Johnson and and Brock
Burke like those are established quality relievers. Are they stars? No,
But they weren't gonna go get stars to fill out
the bullpen. What they got are established, bona fide relievers,

(01:34:43):
not guys who you know were hurt last year and
used to be good and hopefully they can recapture the
magic or you know, dude who needs a change of scenery,
like legitimate relievers. I think it as it relates specifically
to the guy they got from the Angels brock Burke.
It's somebody who gets a lot of groundball, somebody who
doesn't give him a whole lot of contact. I think
a better lefty option out of the bullpen than what

(01:35:04):
they had last year. Like there's you could look at
that area of the team and go, Nick, Carl's done
a pretty good job. They didn't cut corners that They're
not sending some like failed starter out there in the
bullpen to see if he fits as a reliever. That's
good now over here. The unwillingness or inability to this

(01:35:26):
point to add a bat, you know, is frustrating, And
mainly it's frustrating because it's not like we went into
the It's not like the Bengals defense where you look
at the Bengals defense and you're like, man, need a
dude interior the defensive line. You need a guy who
can rush off the edge. They need cover linebackers could

(01:35:47):
use a slot corner, need one or maybe two safeties.
It's they need they need a guy who can hit
the ball out of the ballpark. Now, those are maybe
easier to say you're gonna get than actually go and get.
But don't let that frustration make you, I don't know,
diminish poo pooh if you wish what they have done

(01:36:10):
with the relief Corps. That was not the biggest move
in baseball yesterday. The Kyle Tucker thing, him signing with
the Dodgers. I think emotionally for a lot of baseball
fans feels very much like a tipping point. This is

(01:36:30):
inarguable you have a lot of people who are not
as in love with the sport as maybe they used
to be because they feel like, because of your rules,
their team has no chance. You may believe, you know what,
their team does have a chance. But I think in

(01:36:54):
this instance, the customer is always right. If you have
real or potential customers who feel a certain way about
your product, and it's compromising their interest and compromising their
willingness to buy tickets, buy subscriptions, buy merch or simply

(01:37:15):
consume the product, you got a problem. This is not
a new problem for baseball. And look in large ratings
are good, ballparks are full, think about how much better
things could be, and the reality is like in the
collective consciousness of sports fans, baseball is not what it
used to be. It's always talked about as being a regional,
local sport. I don't think I don't think it's healthy

(01:37:41):
for you when you have a lot of folks who
are just throwing their hands up, go and screw it.
My team has no chance every single year, every single year.
Like you know, obviously not every NFL franchise is well
run to give itself a chance every year. But it's
the beauty of what the NFL does. I don't know
that baseball's economics can look like the NFL is because

(01:38:02):
of just the sheer nature of how the sports are televised.
But in the NFL, fans feel like the perception is
reality here. It doesn't excuse owners, it doesn't excuse teams
that can't figure it out, it doesn't excuse the Reds.
But when you have this super team over here, who,

(01:38:25):
through no faults of their own, is just grabbing talent
like the Kyle Tucker acquisition feels it's not, but it
feels almost gratuitous. It feels like they're just almost just
hoarding players because they can. Again, that is a nuts
and bolts perspective, not what they're doing, but it's what

(01:38:46):
it feels like and what it feels like if that
helps drive interest or if it inhibits interest. If it
prohibits interest, that's a problem for you if you're trying
to sell tickets, trying to get people interested, trying to
make people invest in your sport. Twenty six from six o'clock,

(01:39:08):
five point three, seven, four, nine, fifteen thirty is our
phone number. Again, the big question is you can hate
the players for it, but we've had work stoppages that
have accomplished very, very little in this regard in terms
of changing baseball's economic model. We are careening towards a
lockout next year. Every single one of us hates that,

(01:39:28):
but it feels like there's almost no way for things
to change beyond the sport going away long enough for
the players to go, okay, fine, we'll change, and I
think it's gonna be a long time before that happens.
Twenty five away from six o'clock Sports headlines are next
on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station. My guy Austin Bengals,

(01:39:48):
does he know something I don't. The Bengals need a quarterback?
What are we doing? We got a guy calling it
Millett Hall. We got Austin saying the Bengals need a quarterback?
What world am my operating in today? I've i haven't
felt great this week, and so I've I've taken you know,
I've taken my share of antibiotics. But I feel like

(01:40:10):
I'm in like an alternate universe. Sports headlines are a
service to Kelsey Chevrolet, home of lifetime powertrain protection and
guaranteed credit approval from their family to yours for life
kelseyshev dot com reds fast is happening right now, and
Terry Francona says TJ. Friedel is going to be the
starting center field er. That is apparently news. I wasn't

(01:40:33):
sure that it would be, but it is now. Noelve
Martin might take some reps out there, but it's a TJ.
Friedel's job, So there you go. Red's made it official today.
They have acquired brock Burke. Wouldn't it be more fun
if they got Brooke Burke early? Two thousands, Brooke Burke
was everywhere. Brock Burke pitched for the Angels last year.

(01:40:54):
He's now going to pitch for the Reds because they
traded for him in a three team deal. Burke had
an area of three three six in sixty nine appearances
with the Angels last year. Cincinnati also acquiring minor league
writy Dusty Reeves. I don't know why the name Dusty
Reeves makes me smile, but it does. In exchange for

(01:41:16):
yaz Var Zueletta, who was DFAD earlier in the day
college hoops Tonight, dayton is hosting Loyola of Chicago. That
game will tip off at eight thirty tonight, with the
Flyers looking for a fifth consecutive win to open up
Atlantic ten play tomorrow. I will go in chronological order. Okay,

(01:41:37):
Kentucky's on the road at number twenty four Tennessee the
Wildcats coming off that pseudo miracle finish over LSU on
Wednesday night. Tip off at noon, pregame at ten thirty
on ESPN fifteen thirty. Ohio Stable host Mick Cronin's UCLA Bruins.
That game at one o'clock. The Miami RedHawks looked for
a nineteenth win in a row to open the season,
hosting Buffalo tomorrow at Malette Hall. One pm. Tomorrow, the

(01:42:00):
UC Beracats host the second ranked Iowa State Cyclones, tip
off at two pregame at one thirty. Seven hundred WLW
has the game. Indiana hosts Iowa NKU and Robert Morris
tomorrow seven o'clock tip from Truist Arena. That game is
also on ESPN fifteen thirty. NFL Playoffs this weekend on
seven hundred WLW at the Broncos hosting the Bills San

(01:42:22):
Francisco's at Seattle. Sunday, it's the Texans in Foxboro to
take on the Patriots and the Chicago Bears hosting the
La Rams Hockey tonight downtown. Grateful dead night for the
Cyclones as they host Rapid City puck Drops at seven thirty.
They also play same two teams at four pm tomorrow.
You are, as we say, up to date and congratulations

(01:42:46):
to Cincinnati's own Rose Level, who has been voted US
Soccer's Female Player of the Year from twenty twenty five.
Congratulations to her, all right, uh five point three seven
four nine fifteen thirty. I believe we have Ian. Ian,
you're on ESPN fifteen thirty. Good afternoon, Ian.

Speaker 6 (01:43:03):
How are you hey, brother, I can hear your days.
We'll hopefully you're off the bend there.

Speaker 1 (01:43:11):
I'm doing my best. I just can't get over the hump.
I just it's been six days. I just can't get
over the humpy.

Speaker 6 (01:43:18):
And well, if it makes you feel any better. December one,
my wife tested me and I had blu a and
almost up to Christmas it was terrible and I just
went to the doctor. I still have a lingering in
the chest. But uh, it's ridiculous.

Speaker 4 (01:43:36):
Man.

Speaker 1 (01:43:37):
But uh, I've I've not tested. I've I've I've tested.
I haven't tested positive for anything. Uh. I just have
felt crummy all week, and then toward the end of
the week it's been nobody cares about this. But toward
the end of this week it's been like stuffiness and
I feel like I'm one more, one more good night
to sleep away from beating it. And I hope so

(01:43:58):
because I got stuff I want to do this weekend.

Speaker 6 (01:44:01):
Yeah, man, gotta list what's on your mind? My little buddy,
my little buddy chat ebt here pulled me a list. Yeah,
and I know it's Cringey. But of this list and
the number one tier, it has not realistic. But here's
my question, I'm phrasing. And then I have one other question.

Speaker 2 (01:44:24):
I'll be quick.

Speaker 6 (01:44:25):
And it compares to when they were gonna go after
what's his name and then they dropped out of that
as far as pay, like Cody Bellinger or this bo Bshetty,
what it cost around the same. So when they dropped
out of the deal.

Speaker 2 (01:44:42):
For uh, what's the space that stayed with the Mets
or whatever.

Speaker 1 (01:44:47):
So that so that was that was Kyle Schwarber. Uh,
Boba Boba Shad is off the table because he signed
with the Mets. So somebody has to tell chat chat GBT.
So Schwarberg got five years one. So Schwarberg got five
years one fifty. Bischett got three for one twenty six.

(01:45:08):
So Bashett did not get as much money in total value,
but he got more in terms of annual value average
annual value.

Speaker 6 (01:45:17):
Okay, and then so the Cody Ballinger would that be similar?

Speaker 2 (01:45:21):
Maybe?

Speaker 1 (01:45:23):
Yeah, I think we're I think we're talking about the
same ballpark. I think the fact that Kyle Tucker is
off the board, Uh, bo Baschett's off the board. You know,
if you pay attention to what's happening in New York,
there's a lot of pressure for among Yankees fans and
among people who cover the team to say, all right,
you know, make bring Cody Bellinger back. I think if

(01:45:45):
you look at you know, Pete Alonso five for one
fifty five, Schwarber five for one fifty the Bischett deal,
the the money for Cody Bellinger, I guess would be
would be similar.

Speaker 6 (01:45:59):
Okay, then here's my last thing on these second tier
that he said.

Speaker 2 (01:46:05):
There are four.

Speaker 6 (01:46:05):
Names, and then my my guess, almost like a lottery bet,
because this is what I just feel. Still got Hanio
Suarez out there, uh re hop Hoskins and Ryan O'Hearn.
I feel like the way the Reds are, they would
go try They might actively be trying to make a

(01:46:28):
deal with Ryan ahearn right now. And that's just a wild,
wild guess.

Speaker 2 (01:46:33):
But it's just the way they're doing that with the pitching.

Speaker 6 (01:46:36):
It feels like, why the hell wouldn't they just try
to get somebody. It doesn't make sense.

Speaker 1 (01:46:43):
Oh O'Hearn's gonna O'Hearn. I don't think O'Hearn is signing
with the Pirates. Okay, so he's so he's off the draft.
I don't, I don't, I don't. I read something late
last week about why he hadn't yet officially signed his contract,
but but he has agreed to terms with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

(01:47:04):
Marcelo Zuna doesn't do a ton for me. A U
Haano Suarez does you know now he ain't gonna play
third base because they got Key Brian Hayes. It's not
gonna be a Cody Bellinger. I mean he right now
would be the best available free agent bat. Marcelo Zuna

(01:47:25):
is coming off a season you know that was significantly
down from what he was in twenty twenty four when
he was great. And if a thirty four year old
guy sees a drop in production from one year to
the next, my guess is there's not gonna suddenly be
a huge uptick in production when he's thirty five. So

(01:47:45):
that's why he doesn't do it for me. I think Suarez,
for all the obvious reasons, was obviously very productive last year.
There's the connection with him having been a former Red
they they have that that's at DH, especially with Gavin
Lux gone, so that would be interesting to me, that
would make a lot of sense. But you know, the

(01:48:09):
longer this goes and the more names you see come
off the board, and the fewer names that you even
hear about the Reds being engaged with, I think the
more frustrating of Kits not that they still can't go
at offense. Moving on from Gavin Lux would certainly suggest
that they're going to stash some money away to go
get a bat. But you know, the season ended October first,

(01:48:30):
it's January the sixteenth. Yeah, I think most of us
expected by now there would be some sort of offensive
significant offensive addition JJ Blede and go ahead.

Speaker 3 (01:48:46):
No.

Speaker 6 (01:48:46):
I just like, wouldn't it be terrible if they actually
win after Suarez and then he ended up having a
season like he had like towards the eddit where he
just like fell off like the red lock or something.
But I don't know, man, I really would be great
for them to, you know, just I feel like the

(01:49:08):
whole lockout thing is that they're just being conservative and
they don't really want to dive in and the contact
that they want to offer. Everybody's just not wanting to
do what they were offering, you know, and it's terrible.

Speaker 5 (01:49:24):
I hate it all.

Speaker 1 (01:49:25):
No, I'm it's none of It's when when you're talking
about a lockout being the remedy to issues that a
lot of people think kill the sport, that's a problem.
This war Euadio Suarez is interesting because that last full
season here, No, he still hit thirty one bombs, but

(01:49:46):
his numbers otherwise really dropped off, and they have slowly
and steadily gone up every single year since. To me,
like I would be okay without U Hateo Suarez. That
is an okay consolation prize if you had your heart
set on Kyle Schwarmer. But you know, I just I

(01:50:08):
don't think they deserve the benefit of it out. You
can sit there and go, well, they still have time,
they cleared some money, they'll still get something done. Cool,
But then you're putting a lot of faith in a
franchise that doesn't deserve it. We're done. Show's over. I
am in on Monday night for Lance. So, Tara, do
we know who's doing my show on Monday? That's Chat Chad.

(01:50:28):
Chad Brenda does my show on Monday. I'm in for
Lance Monday evening at six. We are done. Thanks to
Tarren Bland for producing. Thanks to you for listening, have
an awesome weekend. This is ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati sports
station

All Episodes

1/16/26 - The Mo Egger Radio Show

Episode Transcript

Mo Egger News

Popular Podcasts

Two Guys, Five Rings: Matt, Bowen & The Olympics

iHeartOlympics: The Latest

Milan Cortina Winter Olympics

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}1/16/26 - The Mo Egger Radio Show

Episode Transcript

Mo Egger News .css-1q01m3q{margin:0 0 -2px 0;}

Popular Podcasts

.css-r6mb8g{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:1;overflow:hidden;}Two Guys, Five Rings: Matt, Bowen & The Olympics

iHeartOlympics: The Latest

Milan Cortina Winter Olympics

All Episodes