12/17/25 - The Mo Egger Radio Show - Mo Egger

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
So what's the latest on.

Speaker 2 (00:01):
The NBA Getting ESPN fifteen thirty from iHeartRadio.

Speaker 1 (00:05):
Look at the Nicks our NBA cop chapions. Winners go first,
Winners go first on this show. Sorry, sorry, all right, I.

Speaker 3 (00:24):
Don't have time to milk this because we got to
get to a Joe Burrow press conference in ten minutes.
But Tarren, thank you very much for humoring me. I
an eagle on Amazon Prime last night. My team wins
a championship. My team wins a championship. No betner will
be hung. Merch has been purchased. Nicks win. Things are
going really well for the New York Knicks. They're going

(00:46):
very poorly for the Cincinnati Bengals and Zach Taylor today
just a short while ago, chose to make them worse.
You'll hear it in just a second.

Speaker 1 (00:55):
Show.

Speaker 3 (00:55):
Preview is available on Twitter at moulager. Thanks to Shaffac's
Credit Union and make sure you become a member just
like me at share facts dot org. You are gonna
hear Joe Burrow's press conference in its entirety, coming up
in less than ten minutes. This is a snippet from
earlier today, So yesterday, Paul Danner Junior wrote the piece

(01:15):
that centered around the very strong suggestion that Zach Taylor's
job is safe. Duke Tobin's job is probably safe, Al
Golden's job is probably safe. And not only Zach Taylor's
job is probably safe, but he's actually got one more
year on his contract extension that I think a lot
of people believed. So he's got twenty twenty six and
twenty twenty seven. So Zach, as you might understand, was

(01:37):
asked about that today. Here is just under two minutes
of Zach being engaged in an exchange with reporters about
his contract earlier this afternoon, that.

Speaker 4 (01:48):
Your contract with the Bengals goes through twenty twenty seven.

Speaker 5 (01:51):
Can you confirm if.

Speaker 4 (01:52):
That's true, and if so, the organization decided not to
announce it. Do you know why the team decided not
to announce it a year after they announce.

Speaker 6 (02:00):
I don't think it run matters.

Speaker 7 (02:02):
I coach every day like it's my last, and I've
been through years in twenty nineteen, twenty twenty that were
literally you coach every game thinking it could be.

Speaker 6 (02:09):
Your last game.

Speaker 7 (02:10):
And have seen how we responded after that twenty one,
twenty two competing for division titles and championships, and so
this year is no different for me. It's going through
adversity coaching every game in this profession like it could
be your last one. I have a lot of confidence
in our staff that we're gonna get this turned around
and we're going to finish the season really strong and
put together a great plan to get back to those

(02:31):
championships I mentioned, so very confident that we can.

Speaker 8 (02:33):
Do all that, though it is through twenty twenty seven.

Speaker 7 (02:38):
I'm not going to respond to that. I just told
you I coach every day like it's my last one.

Speaker 9 (02:41):
When you don't get a chance to talk to ownership
or we don't get that opportunity, what kind of assurances.

Speaker 6 (02:47):
Have you been given from We just talk every week.

Speaker 5 (02:50):
Every week you've talked about your contractor.

Speaker 6 (02:52):
Every week we talk about everything.

Speaker 7 (02:55):
Well, time we spoke about your contract, and that's not
really part of our conversation.

Speaker 6 (03:00):
It's every week.

Speaker 7 (03:00):
We're just trying to create together a great plan to
win football games and make sure our team's ready to go,
make sure I'm ready to go. So I know that's
of curiosity to you guys, but we're just focused on
being the Dolphins.

Speaker 9 (03:12):
To say that's reassessed after the season every year. Ask them, Yeah,
we don't get that chance.

Speaker 6 (03:18):
Okay, Well I'm sorry, Okay.

Speaker 10 (03:21):
I'm just being straightforward that we would ask them, but
we don't get that.

Speaker 6 (03:26):
Okay.

Speaker 3 (03:36):
There's Zach Taylor earlier today, little little Marvin Lewis to
that whole thing, and you know, the the audio doesn't
do it justice, the little sort of smirk at the
end when he's pressed or at least reminded, Hey, we
don't get a chance to talk to ownership. Zach Taylor
chatting with reporters earlier today. A few things about this,

(04:00):
and I don't have a ton of time right now
because we want to try to stay as close as.

Speaker 1 (04:04):
We can on time. Today.

Speaker 3 (04:05):
We have a long Joe Burrow press conference in just
a few minutes. Things are really bad for the Cincinnati
Bengals right now, really bad. They've missed the postseason for
a third straight year. The quarterback has a problem. I
don't know what the problem is. I'm not going to
leave to conclusions, but there is something off as it

(04:28):
relates to the QB or the QB's relationship with his team,
or his teammates.

Speaker 1 (04:33):
Or his coach. I don't know.

Speaker 3 (04:35):
Things ain't good right now. When it comes to Joe Burrow,
things aren't good between the Bengals and their fans. They
just had a game on Sunday where one of the
big stories was the fact that they wouldn't wipe the
snow off people's seats. Things aren't good. They had this lackluster,

(04:56):
listless comatose performance against the Baltimore Ravens. Things are really bad.
You have players on other teams taking shots at the Bengals.
You have former Bengals taking shots at the Bengals. You
have folks on national platforms taking shots at the Bengals.
You have pissed off fans. I have gotten since that
press conference earlier today, two emails from people who have

(05:17):
said I'm done, I'm done with my tickets, I'm out,
I'm done. Things aren't good. Things aren't good for a
lot of different reasons, the most important of which is
the fact that the team is four and ten and
not going to be in the playoffs for a third
consecutive year. If you're Zach Taylor, why make things worse?

(05:39):
Why continue to dig a hole? Why not just handle
those questions very simply by going, yeah, you know what.
We didn't make a big deal about it when it
came when we got it done, But yeah, I am
un a contract for two more years. I hope to
coach here for the next ten to twelve years. I'd
love to finish my career here. I have a lot
of work I want to get done here. Right now,

(05:59):
my focus is on Sunday, finishing the season and getting
us back to a point where we're competing for championships instead.
You got what you got there? Like, did that help?
Maybe it doesn't matter to Zach Taylor. Maybe it doesn't
matter to you. Was that at all helpful? Did that
do anything other than just make people feel like, you

(06:20):
know what, this franchise doesn't care about me and it's
chief spokesperson, which is what Zach Taylor is doesn't care,
doesn't care enough to simply say, yeah, you know what.
We did the deal after the AFC Championship game. For
a lot of different reasons, we didn't make a big
deal about it, but yeah, two more years for now,
and god, I love to stay here for a much, much,
much longer than that. It's it's up to me to

(06:42):
make that happen. Hey, let's talk about the Dolphins instead
ask ownership when you know, damn well, ownership's not going
to answer any question about anything because ownership is never
made available, nor is Duke Tobin.

Speaker 1 (06:56):
Like that.

Speaker 3 (06:57):
That just makes it that just everybody's got a bad
tay in their mouth when it comes to this franchise.
That made a bad taste slightly worse? Why what's the point?
What good was done? What is the harm? And just hey, look,
yeah under contract?

Speaker 1 (07:12):
Two more years?

Speaker 11 (07:12):
Cool?

Speaker 3 (07:13):
Can we not really comfortable talking about my contract? But yeh,
it's two more years? Can we talk about the Dolphins?
And I would imagine most would say, okay, fine, why
make things worse when they're.

Speaker 1 (07:25):
Already really really bad. You'll hear Joe Burrow.

Speaker 12 (07:28):
Next Cincinnati's ESPN.

Speaker 3 (07:36):
Nineteen after three. Now for the unending barrel of laughs.
That is a Joe Burrow press conference on ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 13 (07:44):
I think a lot of things went into it first
and foremost just mistakes by me.

Speaker 14 (07:52):
But there are a lot of things.

Speaker 15 (07:56):
I are playing in the last three weeks so important,
pretty act, why doesn't matter to you.

Speaker 14 (08:02):
Even though you guys are reliminating. I like playing football.

Speaker 13 (08:10):
For the same reasons that I wanted to push to
come back from injury for some reasons, I want to
play this week.

Speaker 14 (08:17):
It feels like.

Speaker 13 (08:20):
Everything everybody's trying to kind of do everything in their
power to make me not play football, and I feel
like I'm fighting it, like fighting everybody else, like I
just want to play.

Speaker 14 (08:29):
I just want to play ball.

Speaker 15 (08:32):
Speculation after last week, just in general, about your comments
last week, how much do you love playing football?

Speaker 14 (08:39):
Anyone ever thought about that?

Speaker 13 (08:45):
I mean, you you think about it, but you think
about a lot of different things and in your life,
just like everybody does. You think about all different possibilities
that could happen. I'm gonna be playing for a long time.
I expect to play for a long time, and I
expect to play well and consistently great for a long time.

Speaker 6 (09:05):
Is anybody in the building trying to get you to
not play?

Speaker 11 (09:08):
No?

Speaker 5 (09:08):
What's it like here? And your fans are like, we'd
like better draft, we'd like to content Joe.

Speaker 16 (09:13):
How frustrating is it to hear that given all the
work that you put in, and it's your reaction with
people kind of say stuff like that.

Speaker 14 (09:20):
It's just noise to me.

Speaker 13 (09:23):
Obviously, fans are going to have their opinions about what
their favorite teams should or shouldn't do. That's what makes
this sport great, and that's why revenues are so high,
and that's why we get paid so much, because fans
care a lot about what we do and who we

(09:46):
are and all the things that come with that. So
that's part of it. That's something that you have to
number one, embrace. Number two take with a grain of
salt a lot, but this comes with the territory.

Speaker 17 (10:03):
Fans have their opinions, Joe, but you have your opinion,
and obviously yours carry is a lot more weight in
the building a report out since we had Zach's gonna
probably be here for the next two seasons, probably not
going to be any changes in.

Speaker 5 (10:16):
The front office.

Speaker 9 (10:18):
I think you've been on record before saying that you
know status quo isn't enough if we're not playing to
our standard. How do you come to grips with those
two realities in your mind?

Speaker 14 (10:29):
Number one, I think I think we have great coaches.

Speaker 13 (10:32):
I think we're consistently put in good positions to make
plays and do our best. Obviously, there's good games in
bad games, just like players have good games in bad games.
But I have a lot of confidence and and everybody
that's putting together the plans for us week in and
week out.

Speaker 14 (10:53):
That's not to say that.

Speaker 13 (10:59):
Changes don't need need to be made. I'm not saying
personnel or people. I'm just saying, you know, what we've
been doing hasn't worked the last couple of years, so
you know, we have to think outside the boxing to
creative about where we go from here.

Speaker 4 (11:15):
Do you think that from your conversations in years past
with Ownership and dug in Sack that the organization would
be willing to take a look at it and evaluate
it for what it is in terms of change might
be needed in some areas.

Speaker 14 (11:34):
Yeah, we all we all want to win.

Speaker 13 (11:36):
We all want to do whatever it takes to win,
and we have a lot of smart people here that.

Speaker 14 (11:49):
Know how to.

Speaker 13 (11:52):
Put the right people and decision makers in place to
try to be our best. You know we've done before,
we'll have to do it again.

Speaker 5 (12:02):
Have you wasted your opinion to them front office and ownership.

Speaker 13 (12:07):
We have we have constant communication, a lot of conversations. Uhh,
that's a pretty vague question.

Speaker 14 (12:15):
I think.

Speaker 6 (12:19):
You can be a specification.

Speaker 13 (12:20):
Yeah, I know, I know, you get I know I
can there, there's there's conversations. There's always conversations being had
about different perspectives about what's happening and what's going on
that are being shared.

Speaker 15 (12:39):
Is there one change that you feel like will be
particular that you particularly care about?

Speaker 11 (12:44):
Beneficial that is that.

Speaker 5 (12:45):
It's the top of your list?

Speaker 18 (12:46):
Tough to say right now, right now, with the big changes,
would you expect them to talk to you about them
if they were having conversations about that, about the big
potential change head coach trying to plan for stuff like that.

Speaker 13 (13:07):
I appreciate being informed of of decisions that are being made.

Speaker 14 (13:15):
That's not to say that I need.

Speaker 13 (13:17):
To be involved in the decision making processes, but I
enjoy being kept up to date about thought processes and.

Speaker 14 (13:29):
Decision making trees.

Speaker 4 (13:31):
A popular fan sentiment is that with you guys missed
the playoffs three years ago, that your prime could be
wasted because you haven't been in the playoffs and hadn't
had a chance to get back to where you were.
When you think about the changes that we're all talking
to you about, does.

Speaker 5 (13:49):
That weigh on you?

Speaker 4 (13:50):
Where you know, you've turned twenty nine and you've talked
about you know, wanting to play for a long time.

Speaker 19 (13:56):
But do you think about that and really take it
for what it is and hope that the organizations see that.

Speaker 5 (14:03):
You hope you get as many years as you can here.

Speaker 4 (14:05):
But right now the new play is tomorrow and here
you get yourself back into the playoffs.

Speaker 13 (14:13):
Yeah, obviously we haven't been where we want to be
the last three years. The big part of that is
the degree is on my end, I've played one full season.
I've played four games this year. It's hard to make
an impact on a season when when you play four games.

(14:34):
So that's an emphasis. Obviously, you need to figure out
a way to be available for everybody here and so
as far as what I can control, that's something that
is on top of mind for me.

Speaker 16 (14:51):
When the Bengals played the Dolphins in twenty nineteen, were
you aware of what that result could have been?

Speaker 5 (14:55):
Three personal talk?

Speaker 14 (15:00):
I think so. I think we're at the point in
the year for me where.

Speaker 13 (15:09):
I kind of expected to go where I was going
to go at that point, and I feel like I
had thoughts like that. It was a long time ago now,
but I believe I remember I remember thinking something like that.

Speaker 5 (15:23):
Did you watch any of that game at all.

Speaker 13 (15:26):
I think we showed the highlights in a team meeting
one of those days, something like that.

Speaker 5 (15:32):
Why why why did that? Why did those highlights end
up coming up?

Speaker 13 (15:35):
I think it was in a situational meeting because there
were a lot it was a crazy game and there
were a lot of situational teaching moments in that one,
So I think we I think we were showing those.

Speaker 11 (15:50):
Joe.

Speaker 20 (15:50):
I would imagine there are organizations in this league that
either might not appreciate a player being so outspoken publicly
about different issues or just.

Speaker 14 (16:01):
Wouldn't want to hear it.

Speaker 20 (16:03):
How valuable to you is it that you're in a
place where you feel comfortable two solicit feedback from them,
but also like that you know ownership, but also.

Speaker 14 (16:19):
Comfortable enough to speak your mind. How how valuable is that? Yeah, it's.

Speaker 13 (16:26):
I've never had any conversations like that. I also, I
don't think I've said anything crazy. I h I share
what I'm comfortable sharing, sometimes vage, sometimes specific.

Speaker 14 (16:49):
I don't think I think a lot in my life.
I very quiet.

Speaker 8 (17:00):
And so.

Speaker 14 (17:02):
I often don't say a lot, and so people then
like to.

Speaker 13 (17:14):
Fill in the gaps here and there, If that makes sense.
I think I think about what I say a lot,
and I don't necessarily care what comes of it. I

(17:43):
don't think I'm smart enough not to say things are
going to put people in bad positions, and I'm smart
enough to know what to say and what not to say.

Speaker 14 (18:06):
I think everybody in the building trusts that. Do you
accept the premise that you are in your prime right now?

Speaker 20 (18:13):
Or when you see quarterbacks playing longer the thirties, do
you think your prime can still be in front of your.

Speaker 13 (18:19):
Well, I think people have proven that you can play
at a high level for a long time. Tom Brady
proved it, Peyton Manning proved it, Drew Breed's proved it,
Aaron Rodgers is proving it, Joe Flacco has proven it.
And so you know, I want to be in the

(18:40):
conversations with people like that. So and I do everything
that I need to do for my body to prepare
it for these games and for long term success. So
I plan on doing it for a long time at
high level.

Speaker 15 (18:58):
On Sunday, you say not that far when asked how
close this organization was to getting back to those big stages.
Why do you think you guys are not that long?

Speaker 14 (19:13):
Well, we have young guys that are getting better. I
think we have really smart coaches.

Speaker 13 (19:20):
We have a lot of highly talented people that go
out and perform at a high level on Sundays, weekend
and week out. You know, it's hard for me to

(19:44):
it's hard for me to talk about the totality of
the season this year because I was removed from it
for so long, and you know, I really I haven't
had a season. I've played four games and that's frustrating to.

Speaker 21 (19:59):
Me, and.

Speaker 13 (20:04):
Kind of it made you feel like I was on
the outside looking in for a lot of it because
that's what happens. And so I'm just getting my feet
wet again with all this and it feels good.

Speaker 14 (20:16):
But you know, I feel confident in the people that
we have that we have here in your mind.

Speaker 15 (20:21):
You guys would be right there had you just stayed
healthy or do you not even let yourself go down that.

Speaker 14 (20:27):
A lot of what ifs in that situation.

Speaker 16 (20:30):
Obviously, you and two are going to building together for
a long time because we all in the same draft
class and having the nineteen seasons Shell.

Speaker 5 (20:36):
Did just out of curiosity. Do you think it's that
everyone talks about that game?

Speaker 3 (20:40):
Y'all?

Speaker 16 (20:40):
Had against Obama in nineteen how stack those rosters were.
Do you think it's going to be possible again? Given
the way calls football changed?

Speaker 14 (20:48):
No, I think that's part of the change in landscape
with and I Oh.

Speaker 13 (20:56):
I think you see a lot of different teams in
the playoff year and in year out. It's not just
you know, the Alabama's, Ohio States and LSU's and Clemson's
and Oklahoma's anymore. Yeah, those teams are still making it,
some of them not. But with the expanded playoff with nil,
with all these different.

Speaker 14 (21:19):
Rules, now.

Speaker 13 (21:22):
There's the town is so much more dispersed across all
these different schools. And I think that's been for the
most part good for the on field product and competitiveness.
Obviously there's downsides to that, certainly off the field, but

(21:47):
I think for the most part, on the field it's
been good.

Speaker 1 (21:51):
The definitely so much speculation.

Speaker 14 (21:54):
Is there, ever, is there any.

Speaker 15 (21:55):
World in your mind when you're not the quarterback of
the Bengals next year?

Speaker 14 (22:00):
I could, I couldn't. I can't see that.

Speaker 8 (22:02):
Now.

Speaker 10 (22:03):
Did you ever both thought about the possibility of not
being the quarterback here.

Speaker 14 (22:07):
During your career or do you think about a lot
of things.

Speaker 15 (22:12):
And when you look at quarterbacks over the course of
their time, great ones, Hayden Brady, you kind of have
to understand that you never.

Speaker 14 (22:21):
Know what this leabeal bringing.

Speaker 15 (22:22):
What did you learn from watching how their careers on the.

Speaker 13 (22:24):
Hold those Yeah, A lot of crazy things happen every year.
Michael Parsons got traded right before the right before the season.
I think this year that is a something I hadn't
seen in a.

Speaker 14 (22:42):
Long time in the NFL. So crazy things canna happen.

Speaker 22 (22:48):
I hope you know a lot to see these last
three games for me as what kind of meaning do
you think, think Harry for you know, guys, outside of
the poor that you have, you're gonna show that it
can be part of you know, the plans and what's
going to be a big off season to helpe you
guys get back towards feeling can.

Speaker 13 (23:05):
Beat Yeah, anytime you get the opportunity to shove up
the pads and put the cleats on and go in
the front of the world and prove your worth, prove
all the hard work that you've put in, Prove that
you're improving week to week. That's what we're all trying
to do. We're trying to get better and better ourselves,

(23:29):
and we have three opportunities to to do that. You know,
when I wanted to come back, obviously you want to
make the playoffs and you want to make a run
and all of that, but that was kind of tertiary
and in my mind, I just wanted to get back

(23:50):
out there and play and put on a show and
try to play well and produce.

Speaker 14 (23:55):
Do you have a cross pads to put in yours
at any point?

Speaker 11 (23:59):
Right?

Speaker 5 (24:00):
Yeah, I assume you've seen the news where he's supposed
to start.

Speaker 15 (24:03):
I think back at all to your first career started
at a different situation.

Speaker 14 (24:06):
I has been winning umber one pick except run pick.
But just how much you had not even swimming that
first game. Yeah, certainly different situations.

Speaker 13 (24:16):
I had a full off season, too, full offseason to prepare.
He's getting thrown in there and weak fourteen with basically
one week of practice as a starter. So that's certainly
not the easiest position to be in. But that's the

(24:39):
situation that you can find yourself in.

Speaker 18 (24:42):
How different is the defense of the Dolphins from the Ravens.

Speaker 14 (24:49):
Pretty similar scheme they like to.

Speaker 13 (24:55):
They like to use minca kind of like the Ravens
use Kyle Hamilton, So we'll see if Minka ends up
playing or not.

Speaker 14 (25:03):
But you always got to be aware of where he's at.
I think their front is very disruptive, explosive. They play
well together.

Speaker 4 (25:12):
There you go.

Speaker 3 (25:13):
Joe Burrow chatting with the local professional football media. I
think the quote that many will take with and run.
When asked about the possibility of whether he has thought
about the possibility of not being with the Bengals for
his entire career, he said, quote, you think about a
lot of things. Uh, there you go. All right, we
got to step aside. We'll get sports headlines. Rick Boring's

(25:33):
gonna join us in just about ten minutes to talk
Xavier and NKU basketball. Jisel James is back for UC.
We'll get to that as well in the four o'clock hour,
and lots on the Bengals in the unending soap opera.
That is what is going on at the evenue originally
known as Paul Brown Stadium on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.

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Station Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

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Speaker 24 (26:31):
The Bengals and Dolphins meet up in Miami for a
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The yours for Live kelsey chev dot com. Bengals prepping
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concussion protocol.

Speaker 1 (27:17):
Chris Jenkins is not going to go to a tank.

Speaker 3 (27:19):
If I Lowa benched for the Dolphins, They'll turn to
a former Ohio State and Texas QB Quinn Yours one
o'clock Sunday Live on ESPN fifteen thirty. Zach Taylor would
not elaborate on whether or not he has a contract
for the next two years. Bengals game plan has that
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(27:42):
is expected to be in uniform tonight for the UC
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(28:36):
southbound seventy found a disabled vehicle on the entrance ramp
from Galbreath and an accident on Reading Road at Martin
Luther King. I'm at ezelic with traffic.

Speaker 1 (28:45):
This report is sicked.

Speaker 3 (28:46):
It as the Bengals, and we have to talk about
Gisel James coming back in the four o'clock hour. But
on on Wednesdays at this time we talk with Rick Browing.
Rick the owner and proprietor of Musketeer Report dot com XAVI.
You're opening up Big East play tonight with a home
tilt against Creighton. Rick is also the color analyst on
NKU radio broadcast the Norris seven games a night against

(29:07):
Oakland that game.

Speaker 1 (29:08):
Tim's off at seven o'clock.

Speaker 3 (29:09):
It's Teddy Bear a toss night, So bring a Teddy Bear,
throw it on the floor, and if you throw it
on the floor and hit Rick while he's sitting courtside,
you'll win tickets to another upcoming NKU game.

Speaker 1 (29:20):
That'd be kind of cool, cool promotion.

Speaker 25 (29:21):
Hi, Rick, No, I'm not sure if that's exactly how
the promotion works.

Speaker 3 (29:26):
But yeah, thank you, it's nice to have you. Nonetheless,
I'll double check. I thought that was in the press release,
but I might have read it incorrectly. Xavier starts Big
East plate tonight. They play twenty conference games. If I
set the over under for conference wins at seven and
a half, will you go over or under?

Speaker 25 (29:46):
I'll be honest, I have no idea.

Speaker 1 (29:48):
I said, you keep cutting out.

Speaker 3 (29:49):
Oh well, let's try it again. Xavier plays twenty Big
East games, as you know, starting tonight a home game
against Creighton. If I set the over under for conference
win for the Musketeers at seven and a half, will
you go over or under?

Speaker 25 (30:08):
I was definitely under when the season started. I was
definitely under when we got to you know, the the
first four or five games out of the way, sitting here. Now,
that's a really good line. I think they'll stay it under.
I think six or seven is where I would probably
put them.

Speaker 3 (30:27):
All right, how many of those games? You know, Connecticut's awesome,
I think Sant John's is still really good. I haven't
really watched Seaton Hall. How many of those games in
the Big East are fifty to fifty and is tonight
one of them?

Speaker 1 (30:41):
Yeah?

Speaker 25 (30:41):
I think that's a kind of a good way to
look at the conference now. I mean, when you look
at what Xavier's been able to do in the non
cop and slate, they don't have add Water Quad two
win yet, but you do have the Cincinnati and West
Virginia games that are top seventy five ish in the country.
Both of those teams were somewhere between seventy and eighty
in terms of their ken Pom ranking. And when you

(31:02):
look at the Big East, the big teams that are
kind of around that same range or farther back. And
so if in factor those five teams you play ten
games against them, I think it's reasonable to expect Xavier
to do five hundred or maybe even slightly better against
those teams. So that's where I get to the first
five or six wins, and then you know, if you

(31:24):
can scratch out one or two wins against the top
teams in the conference. And there's top teams, you know,
that would also include like a Villanova. Can you beat
Villanova at home? I think that's possible. So yeah, I
think there's definitely a path for Xavier to get to six, seven, eight,
maybe even more wins than that, which is definitely much
different than where we started to see.

Speaker 1 (31:44):
Usually Creighton's really good, now they're not.

Speaker 25 (31:46):
Why well, I think one thing is that everyone in
the Big East had the same problem that Zavier did
this year for the most part, aside from Yukon and
Saint John's which is being bankrolled by you know, the
coaches billionaire friend, all of these teams really struggled to
compete in the nil era this year with the transfer

(32:07):
pointal and so I think this year was very unique
for the reason that we've talked about many times on
this show. I don't think it will be that way
all the time going forward, necessarily, but I think you've
seen that with the lack of talent across the board
in the Big East, and Creton is one of those
teams that was hit with that if you missed on
one or two of your top guys they didn't turn

(32:27):
out to be the types of players that you thought
they'd be, then you're going to struggle a little bit.
I think that's something we've talked about with Xavier, and
it's definitely something that Creton's dealing with. The Other thing is,
you know, they had a pretty darn good team the
last few seasons, and it was anchored by Ryan Kolkbrenner,
who was there for seventeen years, and he's not there anymore.
So they're having to still try to play that same

(32:48):
style but tweak it a little bit because you don't
have a unique seven foot shot blocker anchoring your defense
and anchoring your offense inside. So it's definitely been an
adjustment period from that for respective as well.

Speaker 3 (33:00):
NKU goes into tonight having won eight out of nine
and the one loss, you know, they lose by two
on the road to Purdue Fort Wayne. You and I
talked about that they were playing great for the first
half and then kind of melted down in the second half.
They have the best combined record through two games of
league play along with all the non conference games at
nine and three. In the Horizon League, would you consider

(33:22):
them favorites to win the conference regular season title?

Speaker 25 (33:26):
No, I don't think that that'd be fair to say.
I mean, when you look at the conference this year,
you have really four or five teams that are all
ranked at least at where NKU is or better in
the current ken Pom rankings. Their overall records may not
reflect that, but everyone plays such a different non conference schedule.
If you look at Oakland, for instance, I mean, you know,
three or four of their games were against teams that

(33:47):
are ranked nationally and were games they were never going
to be competitive in for the most part, so it's
not a surprise to see their record where it is.
This is one of those teams Oakland that has a
chance to compete for the Horizon League title this year,
along with NK You they were picked second in the
preseason polls. I think Youngstown State, Robert Morris, Wright State,

(34:07):
all of those teams are going to be buying for
a conference title this year. And the really interesting part
about the league is going in there doesn't appear to
be a clear cut favorite by any stretch of the imagination.
I mean, any of those teams that I just named,
if you told me that they were going to emerge
midway through the conference season is the best. It would
not surprise me one day.

Speaker 1 (34:26):
N K you and Oakland.

Speaker 3 (34:28):
Tonight at seven o'clock, it's a Teddy Bear toss night.
The Norris are playing really well. They're fun to watch
and you can help out kids in the process. Tonight
it's a toy drive as well. If you can't be
there in person, you can listen to Rick and Jim
on Fox Sports thirteen sixty. It's always a pleasure. I
don't have a show next Wednesday or the Wednesday after that.

(34:49):
So thanks for everything this year, and I'll bother you
often in twenty twenty six.

Speaker 14 (34:53):
Get wait for it.

Speaker 1 (34:54):
Thank you, Rick Boring.

Speaker 3 (34:55):
By the way, don't throw Teddy bears at Rick if
you go to the NKU game tonight. Meanwhile, Xavier creating
fifty five KR see the Bearcats are playing Alabama State
on seven hundred WLW. We'll get to them and the
return of Jisel James coming up, plus more on Zach
Taylor and not talking about his contract and failing in
his job as team spokesperson coming up on ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 1 (35:19):
All afternoon.

Speaker 3 (35:20):
It just really quick, I'll buy like eight cases of
downy rintz if instead of hearing that commercials forty eight
times a show we heard at like thirty.

Speaker 1 (35:29):
Yeah, we're basking in the glow.

Speaker 3 (35:31):
This is the first time I've ever had a chance
to do the show the day after my team wins
a championship. Congratulations to me, Chad Brendle in just about
fourteen minutes on Mowager. This is ESPN fifteen thirty. On Twitter,
we do poll questions. They come your way thanks to
United Heartland Insurance. I don't know what you pay for insurance.
Why would I know that, But I do know that

(35:53):
it's worth taking a look at what you're paying, and
then it's really worth checking out with the folks that
United Heartland Insurance can do for you regardless of whatever
insurance you're looking for. So look him up uhins dot com.

Speaker 1 (36:07):
So Zach Taylor, we're.

Speaker 3 (36:08):
Beating up on him for his unwillingness to answer questions
about his contract, But he also was asked about that
twenty nineteen game against the Miami Dolphins, and we remember
that that's the game where the Bengals were getting destroyed,
losing by twenty two points. Stormed all the way back
nearly one and it is the first time in my
life I have actively rooted against the Cincinnati Bengals, actively

(36:32):
rooted against him because the prize was Joe Burrow.

Speaker 14 (36:36):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (36:38):
I don't think it's fair to ask a coach about
the upside to his team losing, but there's upside of
the Bengals losing.

Speaker 1 (36:46):
I think tanking.

Speaker 3 (36:47):
I think tank talk is the most overblown and overrated
thing in sports because coaches and players don't tank.

Speaker 1 (36:55):
They care too much. They're competitive people, they care too much.

Speaker 3 (37:01):
Tanking is fun to talk about in the NFL Monday
through Saturday, it's not really a part of reality on Sundays.
If you're a Bengals fan, are you rooting for your
favorite team to lose these last three games? I've given
you three options, A yes, B, no, or C. I'm
not a Bengals fan. Fifty three point eight percent of

(37:22):
you say you're rooting against the Bengals these last three games.
I understand, I understand. I don't know if I'm gonna
do that.

Speaker 24 (37:32):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (37:34):
I don't know if I'm wired that way, but I
know many are. And that's okay.

Speaker 3 (37:40):
We started the show by talking about Zach Taylor, who
was reluctant, and that's putting it mildly, basically refused to
answer questions about his contract status. Paul Dayner, junior head
and his piece yesterday that came out at the Athletic
dot Com, which frankly, we should have talked about a
little bit more when Paul was with me. But the
nugget that I think a lot of people, for a
lot of people, was eye opening was the fact that
it's Zach Taylor is not going to be a lame

(38:01):
duck coach in twenty twenty six and instead actually has
a deal for twenty twenty seven.

Speaker 1 (38:05):
Zach did not want to talk about.

Speaker 3 (38:07):
It, and look, I can't recall many instances where an
NFL head coach has talked about his contract status. Now
they're often asked about, Hey, are you worried about your job?
Do you feel like you're on the hot seat? Do
you think you're coaching for your job? But I can't
really recall that many instances. In fact, I can't recall

(38:28):
any instances or another NFL coach. I'm sure it's happened,
but we're a coach. An NFL coach was answering questions
about how many years were left on his contract, and.

Speaker 1 (38:40):
So there is a big, big, big part.

Speaker 3 (38:44):
Of me that doesn't expect Zach Taylor, who's an NFL
head coach, to say all that much about his contract status.
Like I understand that. The problem, though, is Zach Taylor
isn't an ordinary NFL head coach. He is also basically
the franchise his spokesperson, and by the way, he's having

(39:09):
a hard enough time serving in the role as coach
that to ask him to be the spokesperson for the
franchise is unfair. This is something we've talked about before,
you know, during the bye week, when this thing was
really starting to spire a out of control, and the issue,
I think for most of us was more personnel than

(39:30):
how the personnel was being used, and a lot of folks,
myself included, wondered, Hey, wouldn't this be a good time
for Duke Tobin to answer some questions. It's a bye week.
Duke's players, the players he added to this roster, the
players he chose to keep on the roster haven't been
very good. The team is underperforming. And my take was,

(39:51):
if I'm Duke Tobin, just as a human being I'm
gonna go you know what, I'm not gonna make Zach
have to answer questions that I am gonna am unresponsible for.
So I'm gonna go downstairs and guess you know, schedule
a press conference, meet with the reporters, go to the
interview room, and there I am ask away. Might not
give great answers, but but here I am. Instead of
making Zach Taylor answer questions about stuff he's not as

(40:15):
responsible for as I am, I'll do it. That was
my take during the bye week. The reality, though, is
Zach Taylor has spokesperson responsibilities, ownership, doesn't talk. Duke Tobin
doesn't talk. Zach Taylor is the only person in the
Begels organization who has press conferences three times a week

(40:38):
and has to answer questions about everything, including obviously stuff
he's responsible for play calling, game management, strategy, personnel usage.
But he's also going to answer questions about well, how
the roster was built, the draft holdouts, contract to goiations,

(41:01):
contract squabbles.

Speaker 1 (41:03):
He's the only.

Speaker 3 (41:04):
Person that ever answers any questions he's obligated to, and
by the way, for the most part, he gainly doesn't.
I'm surprised they didn't make Zach Taylor answer questions about
the snow not being removed from the.

Speaker 1 (41:15):
Seats on Sunday.

Speaker 3 (41:17):
So the problem is this, Zach Taylor said today when
asked about the contract for twenty twenty seven, he goes, look,
talk to ownership, and on a normally functioning team, that
would be okay, Hey, look, that's a question for my bosses. Okay, cool,
one of your bosses gonna talk. The problem is Zach
Taylor's boss has never talked, and he knows that, so

(41:40):
he comes off as smug and dismissive when he says
talk to ownership. And I think it was Mike Petrellia
who said to him, I think twice today, Well we
don't get to talk to ownership. They're not made available.
There's no press conference on paraphrasing Mike, and Zach was like, okay,
kind of had that, you know, doofy little smirk on
his face, Marvin Lewis esque smirk on his face. Well, dude, unfortunately,

(42:04):
you're the team spokesperson. So it's not the same if
you're the coach of a normal team where the GM,
the de facto GM at least speaks on a somewhat
regular basis, or ownership is made available, or people in
front office decision making capacities are made available. Yeah, you
could take a question like that and kick it upstairs.

(42:26):
But was Zach Taylor? You have to answer questions about
everything because you're the team spokesperson. So as team spokesperson, yeah,
you should say, well, yeah, the contract is for two years,
and uh, you know, I hope I'm here for the
next fifteen years. I'd love to carve out a legacy here.
I'd love to be the coach of the Bengals for
the rest of my career. And yeah, that's all I

(42:48):
really want to say about it, instead of sounding like
he did today, which was little standoffish, little defensive, little
dismissive and then at the end kind of smug.

Speaker 1 (42:57):
Oh yeah, really, you can't talk to ownership. Gee didn't
know that.

Speaker 3 (43:00):
Of course he knows that. Of course he knows that.
This is why the head coach can't be the only spokesperson.
This is why you gotta make ownership available. This is why,
at the very least you got to make Duke Tobin available,
not every single week, occasionally though more than once at
the combine and then at the mock turtle soup thing.

(43:22):
Because Zach is right, that is a question for ownership.
You know that is a Zach is in charge of
answering questions about things that are under his umbrella. The
head coach's contract is under the owner's umbrella. But in
the absence of ownership speaking, and in the absence of
Duke Tobin speaking, you're stuck with team spokesperson.

Speaker 1 (43:43):
Zach Taylor.

Speaker 3 (43:44):
The guy has a hard enough time coaching his team.
He has a hard enough time telling Joe Burrow, hey,
can you put your foot on the gas, We're down
by seventeen points in the fourth quarter.

Speaker 1 (43:54):
Is a hard enough time doing that.

Speaker 3 (43:55):
He has a hard enough time figuring out when to
call timeouts and throw challenge flags. He has a hard
enough time figuring out do we do the thing we
try to draw the other team's defense off sides? That
job is really hard. You're asking him to be press secretary.
The problem today wasn't Zach Taylor the head coach, although
I do think it would have been very easy for

(44:16):
him to go, yeah, it's through twenty twenty seven. We
didn't want to make a big deal about it when
I signed the contract extension, and by.

Speaker 1 (44:23):
The way, I believe that was the case.

Speaker 3 (44:24):
I believe that at the end of the twenty twenty
two season, which is when they lost to the Chiefs
in the AFC Championship Game, my guess is Zach said, hey,
look we just lost. It's been along two years. I
want to get out of town. I don't want to
deal with questions about my contract. I don't feel like
being bothered by people. I just want to go and
spend time with my family and don't worry about announcing it.

Speaker 1 (44:42):
And that's fine.

Speaker 3 (44:42):
But today there would have been no harm in saying, yeah,
it's two more years, happy to be here. Hope it
goes longer than two years. I need to earn that.
Let's beat the Dolphins and then let's get started on
next year. Okay, cool, done. Instead it becomes a whole
big thing. This is why the coach can't be the
only spokesperson. Unfortunately, when you're the coach of the Bengals,

(45:04):
you have to wear that hat too, team spokesperson. The
only thing that was missing today, or I guess on Monday,
when Zach also spoke, were questions about the snow. Sixteen
minutes after four o'clock, uh Gizzle James is back for
U see specifically what went down between Jizzle and his

(45:30):
teammates or what made the school or the coaching staff
decide the Jizzle's got to go away. There's been lots
of conjecture online. I'll let that sort of unfold online.
I don't know. I also don't know how much of
a difference he's going to make. This team has issues.

(45:50):
They've got major offensive issues, and the schedule in the
coming weeks is also going to be an issue. Let's
assume they win tonight, they have to go to Clemson.
It's not a true road game, it's a neutral slight,
but it's a game in South Carolina against Clemson, and
then one more by game and then the Big Twelve.
I don't know what their offensive issues and their schedule

(46:11):
and the four losses they already have that Gisel James
is going to be enough of a difference maker to
take this season and completely change its trajectory. And look,
Gisel last year as a sophomore was not what I
thought he would be when I was watching him as
a freshman. But if he has done the things that
have been asked of him, and if he is in

(46:33):
a good place, and his life off the floor. I
see no way that his addition can hurt the team.
May not help it all that much. I've seen some
suggest well, he could really throw off the chemistry. I've
watched every minute of this team this season. There is
no chemistry.

Speaker 1 (46:53):
He's going to disrupt the chemistry, okay with who like?

Speaker 3 (46:59):
How does that get broken up? How does it get fractured?
It doesn't exist, by the way, it's worth pointing out,
and many many have very fairly adjustifiably so. Pointed to
the number of players who have left UC from last
year's team and gone on to play at high majors,
and some have had, you know, contributions this year. Some
have had really good games.

Speaker 1 (47:20):
That's cool.

Speaker 3 (47:21):
They had some talented players. It is completely fair to wonder,
as I have, why did it not work with a
bunch of players that individually seem to be pretty good.
But among all those players, Gisel James led the team
in scoring last year. By the way, if I would
have said, I don't know last week, the Bearcats can
get a guy starting in mid December who last season

(47:44):
playing in the Big twelve, averaged sixteen and a half
points over his final thirteen games. Who would have said
no to that. That's what Gisel James did. And by
the way, just for what it's worth, is Wes Miller
acting out of desperation here?

Speaker 1 (47:56):
Maybe?

Speaker 3 (47:57):
And by the way, why wouldn't he be. It's a
make or break year. It's year five, his team has
lost four games and the Big twelve is coming. I
would be desperate too. I've been a fan of this program,
a diehard fan of this program for a very, very,
very long time.

Speaker 1 (48:13):
I can't even.

Speaker 3 (48:14):
Begin to tell you how much time over the course
of those thirty five years, we have been wondering if
a player who is told to leave the team is
coming back, and then that player eventually comes back. Could
be for academics, could be because of a legal issue,
could be a violation of team rules. There have been
players who have just decided I'm leaving, and then they

(48:36):
decide they want to come back. There have been issues
that players have had with certain teammates. By the way,
this isn't just the Bearcats. There's a long list of
players who have been told to leave and then are
welcome back. This team desperately needs a spark. I do
not know if Gisel can give it to them, but
I also do not know where else the spark is

(48:57):
supposed to come from, So welcome back Jisel, Chad Brendel
and the Bearcats.

Speaker 2 (49:03):
Next Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 1 (49:08):
Traffic from the UC Health Traffic Center.

Speaker 23 (49:11):
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and pancreas cancers, and clinical trials you won't find anywhere else.
Get a second opinion, now call five one three, five
eighty five. UCCC on Love It and Pipe. There is
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are directing traffic around that spot. Another crash is found

(49:33):
on US twenty two, that's after Creek Road and on
Vine Street. One more crash at fifth. I'm at ezelic
with traffic.

Speaker 19 (49:40):
This report is sponsored by check.

Speaker 2 (49:42):
This is Football in the NATI, brought to you by
Belterra Casino and Belterra Park on ESPN fifteen thirty, theficial
home of the Cincinnati Bengals.

Speaker 1 (49:54):
All right, Chad Brendel's with us.

Speaker 3 (49:57):
I think he's hosting this show tomorrow because I am
off fair Cat Journal dot Com. Jizsel James is back
with the UC basketball team. Men's basketball team. They play
Alabama State tonight.

Speaker 1 (50:08):
Hi, Chad.

Speaker 26 (50:10):
Him, how you doing.

Speaker 3 (50:12):
I'm well, there's a lot going on. Jizsel James has returned.
It felt like that was not going to be the
case as recently as a few weeks ago.

Speaker 1 (50:19):
So what changed.

Speaker 26 (50:22):
A few weeks ago? They weren't six and four. I mean,
you know, like there are some some things that played
into it. Jalen Haynes is out, Jalen Celestine is dealing
dealing with the back injury. Tyler McKinley is dealing with
the knee injury. Like those two aren't. The guys are out,

(50:44):
but they are limited. It has cost them time and games.
You need bodies, You need guys you can count on
that can play at a high major level. Gisel's a
guy that can play at a high major level. He
was in your program. Here it is, let's see what
it looks like. I guess uh.

Speaker 3 (51:03):
Some have wondered, is he gonna disrupt team chemistry? My
counter to that is what chemistry? Is that a fair
way of looking at it?

Speaker 26 (51:12):
Yeah, do you think this team's that? If you've watched
this team? It thought, Man, the synergy on this team
is outstanding.

Speaker 14 (51:19):
Like.

Speaker 26 (51:21):
You've watched the Bengals and the Reds for too long,
So it's it's if that's your main concern, then yeah,
bring Gisel James back. Like they're not playing well, they're
they're not handling adversity well. They play well in short stretches.
Then it falls apart, and then you wonder how long

(51:43):
it's gonna take to get it back, if they get
it back. I mean, you know, the Georgia n. Louisville
games both had the same script. They started really well,
they look cohesive, they looked really good, and then as
soon as they got punched in the mouth, they went
all right, well, I guess we got Alabama State on Wednesday.
Like that, he's gonna mess that up.

Speaker 3 (52:05):
Oh how prominent a role do you expect him to
have in Wes's rotation?

Speaker 26 (52:15):
I would imagine pretty small tonight, just to get him
back out on the floor, you know, I think you
want to ease him into it. He hasn't been practicing
for long. He's really only been back in town about
a month. He's been practicing for a couple of weeks. Like,
I don't think he's gonna be at peak performance tonight,

(52:36):
So I could see a couple of rotations, eight twelve minutes,
maybe fifteen if he's playing well. That's a different answer
if you ask me how much he's gonna play on
Sunday versus Clemson, because you're probably gonna need him if
you got any chance to beat Clemson more than eight
to twelve minutes.

Speaker 3 (52:56):
If this team is nine and one, as Gisel James
playing for the bear Cats tonight.

Speaker 26 (53:03):
My instinct says probably not. Like if the only loss
is Louisville and a game that you played really well,
and you know, a top ten, fifteen team whatever it is, OUTLASTU.
I don't think you feel like you need to break
glass in case of emergency, right, Like? Is that what

(53:25):
this feels like? Break glass in case of emergency? You
mentioned something that I just wanted to expand on a
little bit, like wes Miller's jobs on the line, and
then to put that in numerical terms, wes Miller's multi
million dollar job is on the line. If I had
a multi million dollar job and I had an emergency,

(53:50):
I would break class. I think we all would. That's
what it feels like is happening here, So you know,
I don't necessarily fault him for it. I might not
agree with it, but things are dire right now. This
team needs a bleeping miracle to make the ncublea tournament,
and making the NC doublea tournament felt like what needed

(54:10):
to happen for West to continue on here. So the
glass is broken, We're in the emergency. Let's see how
it goes.

Speaker 3 (54:18):
So acknowledging that they are breaking the glass because this
is an emergency, and also acknowledging that from a basketball perspective,
last season, and I said this to you months ago,
Gizsel left a little bit to be desired. But it's
interesting because a lot of players from last year's team
have left gone to play for other programs, high major programs,
and they're contributing. And so that is a common lament

(54:40):
that along with this frankly awful start to the season,
you're watching all of these players go and succeed elsewhere. Well,
among all those players, Gisel James led him in scoring
last season. He averaged sixteen and a half over the
last thirteen games of the year. He wasn't great by
any stretch. Maybe he wasn't the most efficient player, maybe
dribbled a little bit too much, but he's not a nothing.
So if I would have said on Monday morning, look,

(55:02):
this team is going to get a guy who led
a Big twelve team in scoring and averaged sixteen plus
over the last thirteen games of the season last year,
would you want him back? Regardless of position, most would
say yes.

Speaker 26 (55:15):
I agree. The only thing I would at least make
a dendum to the guys that left are essentially the
same players they were when they were here. I don't
other than maybe Arrington Page, but like, if you watch
Dan Skillings play, looks just like Dan Skillings. But yes,

(55:37):
Sizzel was the leading scorer on a team with a
bunch of high major dudes on it. So you're getting
a guy back that can play at the Big twelve level,
and this team needs guys that can play at the
Big twelve level. So one plus one doesn't equal three
in this instance, I don't think.

Speaker 3 (55:57):
Well said, enjoy the show tomorrow. We'll see you tonight,
see you tonight.

Speaker 26 (56:03):
Now, are yous? The helicopter coming? Is it ready?

Speaker 3 (56:05):
The helicopter is going to arrive at five fifty and
on top of the building here in Kenwood, And I'm
told that I will be at fifth Third Arena by
ten after six.

Speaker 26 (56:18):
I'm looking forward to seeing you backwise.

Speaker 1 (56:20):
We'll see you then.

Speaker 26 (56:22):
Thanks.

Speaker 3 (56:23):
Chad Brendel, Bearcat Journal dot com. Amy Wagner on sports
and money.

Speaker 2 (56:26):
Next, you've been listening to football in the NATI on
ESPN fifteen thirty, the official home of the Cincinnati Bengals.

Speaker 12 (56:39):
Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 23 (56:42):
Traffic from the UC Health Traffic Center u See Cancer
Center offers advanced surgical options for complex liver and pancreas, cancers,
and clinical trials you won't find anywhere else. Get a
second opinion now, call five one three five eighty five
UCCC in Ohio on westbound two seventy five. It's an
accident on the off ramp to northbound seventy one. Little

(57:04):
bit of slow traffic through that area from Montgomery Road
on northbound seventy one at Montgomery accident on the right
shoulder in Dixie Highway. A crash at Holden Boulevard on
that eazelic with.

Speaker 3 (57:15):
Traffic bus Chevrolet home of lifetime powertrain protection and guaranteed
credit approval from their family to yours for wife kelseyshev
dot com Zach Taylor today, wou would not would not
elaborate on whether he indeed is under contract through the
twenty twenty seven season. Even though he is, He did
say that t Higgins remains in concussion protocol. No Chris

(57:38):
Jenkins on Sunday Bengals and Dolphins too. Tigerflowa has been benched.
Quinn Ewers is going to start for them one o'clock
Sunday Live on ESPN fifteen thirty. Get a lot more
tonight on Bengals Game Plan from six to eight on
ESPN fifteen thirty. College Troops Tonight, Jisel James is back
for the UC Bearcats. They take on Alabama State at
seven on seven hundred wlby whose Xavier opens up Big

(58:01):
East play against Creighton tip off at six point thirty
on the Double. Nickel fifty five KRC and NKU battles Oakland.
I talked about this a little bit earlier with Rick Browing.
I went to see NKU play Cleveland State two weeks ago.
They're fun to watch, they're playing well. I don't tell

(58:22):
people what to do with their free time and money.
That is a program, however, that deserves more support. They're
home tonight at seven on Fox Sports thirteen sixty. The
Cyclones hit the road to take on Greenville. The puck
drops at seven to five on Wednesdays. At this time,
we talked sports and money with someone who's an expert

(58:42):
on one of those things and a fan of the other,
our friend Amy Wagner from Dean Dorton Private Wealth.

Speaker 1 (58:47):
She's a wealth advisor.

Speaker 3 (58:48):
To learn more about the Dean Dorton difference at Deandorton
dot com.

Speaker 1 (58:51):
Amy, Hi, Hi.

Speaker 21 (58:53):
I would say I am an expert on any kind
of sports when I'm watching it, and.

Speaker 19 (58:57):
I have big opinions on it.

Speaker 21 (58:59):
Yeah, feel like the Bengals should have probably called me
on Sunday and I might have made a few different calls.

Speaker 1 (59:05):
I would have been okay with that.

Speaker 19 (59:06):
I think I am an expert, but I'm not so
I will leave that to you.

Speaker 3 (59:10):
You're all excited about Kentucky basketball again because they beat out.

Speaker 24 (59:14):
One good win.

Speaker 19 (59:15):
We needed that win.

Speaker 1 (59:16):
It must be nice. Must be nice. From where that
sounds awesome.

Speaker 19 (59:20):
It's been a while since you've gotten to talk about
it winning team.

Speaker 3 (59:22):
I understand that, you know, I know you don't care.
But I have the NBA Cup champion New York Knicks
in my life.

Speaker 19 (59:28):
That's true.

Speaker 1 (59:29):
Yes, full disclosure.

Speaker 19 (59:31):
I used to call you and complain when you talked
about the NBA.

Speaker 1 (59:34):
Guess I would think.

Speaker 19 (59:36):
No one here cares about the NBA.

Speaker 21 (59:37):
And now I have a son who's sixteen, who actually,
you know, all the collegiate players that we've watched for years,
especially Kentucky, are now in the NBA, and I actually
very much enjoy it. So I will publicly now say
all of the time that I gave you a really
hard time, Now I'm actually on bored.

Speaker 19 (59:54):
And I love when you talk.

Speaker 1 (59:55):
About we have Karl Anthony Towns.

Speaker 19 (59:57):
I love him.

Speaker 1 (59:58):
I know, I know.

Speaker 19 (01:00:00):
Oh there you go.

Speaker 3 (01:00:00):
All right, let's talk about And this was actually not
the case in the NBA Cup games in Vegas because.

Speaker 1 (01:00:06):
Tickets were pretty cheap.

Speaker 3 (01:00:07):
But this is something you and I have talked about,
and it's something that's really going to hit home for
folks who want to go watch World Cup matches in
the United States. But the increasing cost and this is
never ending and I see no end in sight, but
the increasing cost of being a sports fan and specifically
attending games, well, and I.

Speaker 19 (01:00:25):
Think you have to look at this in two ways.

Speaker 21 (01:00:27):
Right, there are professional sports and then there are collegiate sports.

Speaker 19 (01:00:31):
That are now professional.

Speaker 21 (01:00:32):
Supports, right, and so they are struggling with a new
business model that they're not yet keeping up with, right.
So we'll get to that in a moment, But let's
start with the World Cup, right, Because North American World Cup, right,
So there will be games, you know, Canada, Mexico, US
are hosting, and then they release ticket prices and everyone's like, well,

(01:00:53):
who can actually afford to go to it?

Speaker 19 (01:00:55):
So there are fans of an English.

Speaker 21 (01:00:58):
Football club who actually did the math and said, okay,
if our team were to make it all the way through.

Speaker 19 (01:01:06):
It would cost us seven thousand.

Speaker 21 (01:01:08):
Dollars in tickets alone for one person to attend the
World Cup from beginning to end, obviously exorbitant.

Speaker 19 (01:01:17):
You add travel costs, food, everything.

Speaker 21 (01:01:20):
Else on top of that, like sports are who can
afford those things now? And so the response from FIFA,
which I thought was interesting, was we will.

Speaker 19 (01:01:31):
Release some affordable tickets.

Speaker 21 (01:01:33):
There will be sixty dollars tickets available also, maybe a
few hundred of those. It like cons back to Black
Fridays of past where they're offering a two thousand inch
TV for twenty two dollars and everyone lines up for

(01:01:55):
days to get that and there's actually two of them, right,
Like it's a.

Speaker 19 (01:01:59):
Little bit like that.

Speaker 21 (01:02:00):
It's like we're saying, we hear you, and we want
to make these these games affordable for actual fans. And
the only people who will have access to the more
affordable tickets are those that those football clubs deem loyal fans.

Speaker 19 (01:02:15):
So you're not going to get on stub hub and
find them there.

Speaker 21 (01:02:18):
You know, you'll get them through your club, but there
will be a very very small amount.

Speaker 19 (01:02:24):
Of those tickets that are affordable.

Speaker 21 (01:02:25):
And it's a shame. And you know, I think one
thing you have to think about too, is.

Speaker 12 (01:02:29):
The US is trying to grow interest.

Speaker 21 (01:02:32):
In this sport here, and so if you're trying to
get win people over to say come to this game,
we think you're really going to enjoy this. By the way,
it's two thousand dollars, you know. I mean, that's a
tough style. So I think.

Speaker 19 (01:02:46):
We'll see how this plays out.

Speaker 21 (01:02:48):
But when I think about inflation over the past few years,
one of the biggest things that comes to mind is
just sports. I Mean, it was not that long ago
that maybe tickets felt like a little bit of a stretch,
but now they're almost unaffordable.

Speaker 3 (01:03:03):
Yeah, and I think you can apply that to entertainment
as a whole. I guess what gets me is I'm
driving down seventy five and there was a local professional
sports franchise that was touting fee free tickets.

Speaker 1 (01:03:17):
If you buy tickets this week, no fees.

Speaker 3 (01:03:19):
Why don't you just get rid of the fee entirely right,
You're telling me the fee isn't necessary. If I buy
this one time a year, you're not going to give
me the fee. But the rest of the time, well,
that fee is really necessary.

Speaker 21 (01:03:29):
They're drawing attention to the fees that most people weren't
paying attention.

Speaker 3 (01:03:33):
It's almost my thing, like, just just up front, tell
me what the cost is going to be, tell me
what I'm going to have to pay.

Speaker 1 (01:03:39):
There was an app.

Speaker 3 (01:03:39):
I went to an NBA playoff game this past May,
and we bought tickets pseudo last minute. It was Nick's Pacers,
And I don't remember what the app was because my
buddy got the tickets, but he's like, here's what they are.
And what I loved about it was it had all
the fees included a little bit easier to swallow. That's
what bothers me. But it's also like you buy the tickets,
it's the park game, it's them. I mean it just

(01:04:02):
I have a daughter and she and I go to
Reds games, and I think Reds games are, for the
most part, reasonably affordable. I don't know how families afford
do it. I don't know how families afford to NFL games.
I don't have families afford to do NBA games, families
afford to do college football games.

Speaker 21 (01:04:16):
I was actually thinking about the Reds on my way
to the studio today and the fact that you know,
we all have memories growing up, precious memories going to
Reds games with grandparents, in our own parents. I know
you've got beautiful stories and memories of that.

Speaker 19 (01:04:31):
You've got one daughter.

Speaker 21 (01:04:32):
What if you had three or four and you were
taking everyone to the game, and by the way, they
wanted a hot dog, and they wanted ice cream, and
they want a coke, right like then it becomes out
of the realm of the way that all of us
grew up going. And I think it's a shame. And
you know, I mentioned collegiate sports, and I think that's
also worth a mention here because over the past few years,
now that we have nil money in that space. We

(01:04:56):
now have collegiate sports that are professional sports. And I
don't know that the business structure has caught up yet
with this new reality. And so and I think you know,
here's just one case in Point So, Florida State recently
redid their football stadium. There is a family that has
been going for generations to every game.

Speaker 19 (01:05:16):
They have season tickets, they all tailgate.

Speaker 21 (01:05:18):
Now they're saying, first of all, we can hardly even
afford the parking anymore for the tailgate. As someone who
has kids at the University of Kentucky, I can tell
you that parking in a parking lot in Lexington on
game day this year for Parents Weekend, you could not
touch a parking spot for.

Speaker 19 (01:05:36):
Under two hundred dollars, especially parking spots. It is absolute insanity.

Speaker 21 (01:05:42):
So these Florida State fans who have been fans for
centuries are now saying, listen, like we cannot or for decades,
we cannot even afford this anymore. Florida State recently redid
their stadium. They got rid of twelve thousand seats. Do
you want to guess what they replaced? Many of those
seats with suites, luxury boxing of course, after money off
of the luxury boxes, then Moegar and Amy Wagner are

(01:06:05):
paying to be in the nosebleeds, right, And so this
trend toward how can we finance a team that we're
paying people for you know, I mean I was thinking
about it earlier.

Speaker 19 (01:06:18):
You were talking about my ukwylcat basketball team.

Speaker 9 (01:06:21):
Right.

Speaker 21 (01:06:21):
For the first time ever has part of the conversation
been this is a twenty two million dollar roster that
cannot win, you know, like it used to.

Speaker 19 (01:06:29):
Be when I was growing up.

Speaker 21 (01:06:31):
This is a team with two McDonald's, all Americans, and
how are they not winning? You know, you would talk
about their credentials for college from high school.

Speaker 19 (01:06:39):
You would not be talking about how.

Speaker 21 (01:06:40):
Much they're making to play college basketball. So, you know,
these colleges have intense pressure to win, to be able
to attract top athletes, to be able to attract top coaches.
Now we've got this crazy merry go round of coaches
coming and going and teams having to pay out tens
of millions of dollars to coaches that they've led.

Speaker 19 (01:07:00):
Oh, we just haven't figured this out.

Speaker 21 (01:07:02):
And the loser and all of this time and time
again is really going to be the fan.

Speaker 3 (01:07:05):
Yeah, there's similar to the Florida State family you're talking about.
I've read pieces, and not just here, but I've read
pieces where folks are they're college football fans or they're
college basketball fans of a certain school, and so they
have to make a donation. The donation gives you the
right to buy tickets. But if you want to buy tickets,
and look, youc used to do this in the nineties,
if you wanted basketball tickets, you had to buy football tickets.

(01:07:27):
Now you know, you have schools that are saying, well,
if you want men's basketball tickets, we need you to
buy some volleyball tickets and some women's basketball tickets.

Speaker 1 (01:07:36):
And nothing against those programs.

Speaker 3 (01:07:37):
You want those programs to thrive, but like, hey, look
I just want to go to fifteen to eighteen men's
college basketball games. Yeah, I don't want to have to
pay for this other stuff that I'm not that interested in.
And yet that's happening around the country.

Speaker 21 (01:07:48):
Yeah, and I think it's just becoming more and more
difficult to support the teams that we love, and then
it becomes I'm.

Speaker 19 (01:07:54):
Watching it from home.

Speaker 21 (01:07:55):
And if you want to bring everything full circle, now
you have to have seventeen subscriptions. And it's funny because
my husband the other day said, wait, there's games on
Christmas Day and I was like, well, obviously, don't listen
to MONI. We've been talking about. Yeah, we're been talking
about which subscriptions you have to have in order to
watch those particular games. So, yeah, it's getting more and

(01:08:16):
more frustrating, you know, and then you throw in that
we're Bengals fans, a team that can you know, pull
off a win, you know, in the best of circumstances,
and you know, it's it's harder and harder than to
sell us on you know, paying for parking and season
tickets and things like that.

Speaker 1 (01:08:34):
One more story I want to ask you about.

Speaker 3 (01:08:36):
So I read in The Athletic this week that there's
going to be this capital partnership with the Big Twelve,
with Big Twelve schools that could funnel as much as
thirty million dollars to each school. Now, as a UC fan,
that my ears perked up. I'm told this is different
than private equity. So what is a capital partnership and
what might this mean for me? A frustrated bear Cat fan,

(01:08:59):
but a bear Cat fan on the list.

Speaker 21 (01:09:00):
This is private equity under another name. I want to
be clear about that. The difference is initially private equity
was striking these deals with these conferences, right, and so
this is allowing each individual school to opt in to
unleash or tap this capital that they would then be

(01:09:21):
able to use. You know, a rose by any other name,
still a rose, right, It is still the same thing.
The difference now is that each school can choose whether
to opt in or not.

Speaker 19 (01:09:30):
And I think a lot of schools kind of came
to the table with their.

Speaker 21 (01:09:33):
Conference and said, we have huge reservations about what this
means when you have an investor putting this much money
in expecting this amount of return.

Speaker 19 (01:09:41):
What kind of voice are they.

Speaker 21 (01:09:42):
Going to have, and how we run this program? And
so now the schools can individually choose to opt in.

Speaker 19 (01:09:48):
Here's my prediction.

Speaker 21 (01:09:49):
Okay, they will wait for one school to tiptoe in,
They'll give it a few months, and then everyone will
opt in at some point because listen, you know, with
the the latest settlement, each school is on the hook
for what twenty and a half million dollars to pay
into the ANIL pot on back pay, they're having to
pay these rosters. They're having to pay exorbitant coaches fees.

Speaker 19 (01:10:12):
And you know what I think.

Speaker 21 (01:10:13):
Also, one other piece of this is alumni tapped out. Yes,
fatigue again fatigue right, like when you're having to you're
going back to the same till every time and again,
time and again they're done. So this is a new
source of income available to these teams.

Speaker 19 (01:10:33):
We don't know what kinds of strings will be attached.
We don't know yet what this looks like.

Speaker 21 (01:10:38):
This is brand new right in the sports space, private
equity and collegiate sports space. So I can't even begin
to predict what the outcome will be, except that I
know that there's so much competition that someone will tiptoe.

Speaker 19 (01:10:50):
In and everyone else will I think follow in short order.

Speaker 1 (01:10:53):
That that makes sense.

Speaker 3 (01:10:55):
Yeah, I've heard from donors at a few area schools
here who are like done, like just and it doesn't
help when the teams aren't winning to the degree that they.

Speaker 21 (01:11:05):
Would like, Yeah, well you love your program, you have
all you want to see them be successful, but at
some point you're like, I also have grandkids, you know,
or whatever. It is like, Yeah, even the wealthiest families
are doing legacy planning, right, So you know, when you
look at a report, you're throwing good money after bad.

Speaker 19 (01:11:22):
You know, at some point, I think for some families
it starts to feel that way.

Speaker 3 (01:11:25):
Deandortonwealth dot Com. Amy Wagner, Wealth Advisor from Dean Dorton.
Learn more about the Dean Dorton Difference. Awesome to have you.
I uh, we're done for the year. Yeah, well this
is my last Wednesday show of the year. So have
a great Christmas, an awesome New Year, and awesome to
have you a part of our show here at the
back half of twenty twenty five.

Speaker 19 (01:11:43):
Always happy to be with you.

Speaker 1 (01:11:45):
Thank you so much.

Speaker 3 (01:11:46):
Amy Wagner, Dean Doortonwealth dot Com. I am going to
try to answer the question of the off season for
the Bengals. Richard Skinner is going to join us, and
things are not going very well right now for our
area professional football team. M Zach Taylor today may have
made it worse. We'll get to that coming up in
about ten minutes on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 23 (01:12:09):
From the UC Health Traffic Center. UC Cancer Center offers
advanced surgical options for complex liver and pancreas cancers and
clinical trials you won't find anywhere else. Get a second opinion.
Now call five one three five eighty five UCCC in Ohio.
On westbound two seventy five. It's an accident on the
off Rampton northbound seventy one. Little bit of slow traffic

(01:12:30):
through that area from Montgomery Road on northbound seventy one
at Montgomery accident on the right shoulder in Dixie Highway.
A crash at Holden Boulevard. I'm at ezelic with traffic.

Speaker 24 (01:12:41):
It's ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati's sports station, Cincinnati's six there.

Speaker 3 (01:12:48):
It is my play it every day for a year
because they'll be NBA Cup champions for a year.

Speaker 1 (01:12:54):
Uh seven after five, ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 3 (01:12:57):
Thank you so much for listening, and thanks to terrem
Land for playing this homage to the NBA Cup champions.
This bright beacon of light in the distance has helped
me get through the dark time that is being a
Cincinnati sports fan.

Speaker 1 (01:13:09):
You know what else can help? An ie called bud Light.

Speaker 3 (01:13:11):
It is the bud Light five o'clock Happy Hour on
ESPN fifteen thirty. Bud Light, easy to drink, easy to enjoy.
I am off tomorrow and the rest of the week,
and so after the Bearcat game tonight, there is probably
a bud light in my future. I would say right
around nine nine thirty, perhaps after watching Gisel James make

(01:13:32):
his triumphant return. Perhaps perhaps a little bit later on,
we'll talk injuries with doctor Madam At doctor Adam Metzler
from Orthos Sincy. By the way, speaking of injuries, there
are like a thousand players on the Bengals injury report today,
including Joe Burrow, who was a full go, but he's
still popped up on the report with a knee. Dylan

(01:13:53):
Fairchild full go as well. No go for Noah fen
hurt his ankle on Sunday. T Higgins still in the
concussion protocols to officially listed as limited. No go for
BJ Hill, no Chris Jenkins. Zach Taylor today said Chris
isn't gonna go. Still a no go for Charlie Jones A.
Marius Mims a full go. Injured his knee on Sunday,
that's good news. Joseph Oside did not go with that ankle.

(01:14:16):
Samajp Run full go, lots of dudes. Full go for
Shamar Stewart, full go for DJ Turner. DJ Turner has
been a very bright spot on this year's team. I
don't really get into the Pro Bowl or who should
make it, but I think it'd be really cool if
DJ Turner did.

Speaker 1 (01:14:31):
And at the very.

Speaker 3 (01:14:32):
Least he's he's a piece, you know, is is he
CB one next year?

Speaker 1 (01:14:39):
If you can find one better, that'd be awesome.

Speaker 3 (01:14:40):
But there aren't many guys in that defense you look
at and go, Okay, I want that guy back next year.

Speaker 1 (01:14:45):
He's one.

Speaker 3 (01:14:46):
I think Miles Murphy is one. Miles Murphy will ever
live up to first round pick. I have liked almost
everything I've seen for Miles Murphy over the last month plus.
It'd be great to see some flashes from Shamar Stewart
these last three games. Zach Taylor talked today about the Dolphins,

(01:15:07):
and I thought he had some good answers about, you know,
winning these games and not wasn't necessarily asked about tanking.
But he had some good answers when he was asked
about the twenty nineteen Bengals Dolphins game, which many of
us wanted them to lose. But his answers about his
contract I just think are unnecessary and look, Zach Taylor

(01:15:28):
in these settings is usually a portrait of affability. We've
seen dour sour puss Bengals head coach press conferences. That's
typically not Zach Taylor, by all accounts, is professional in
his dealings with the media. Is maybe not the most
forthright about team matters, But which head coach is This

(01:15:51):
to me is just a silly thing to not be
very forthright about. So Paul Danner Junior had the piece
yesterday that you know, essentially he's sent it around the idea,
the suggestion that don't expect Zach Taylor to be fired,
don't expect Duke Tobin to be let go, don't expect
massive changes, and maybe that isn't going to be the case.
We'll see what happens these last three games. But in

(01:16:12):
that piece, Paul mentioned the fact that Zach's actually under
contract for the next two seasons, that they did an
extension at the end of the twenty twenty two season,
and by the way, them not announcing it. It'd be
cool to be transparent with your fans about such matters,
but when it apparently happened, I could understand them not

(01:16:34):
making a big deal about it because I bet you
there's a decent chance Zach Taylor told him not to
make a big deal about it, but it's out there.
Your job status is up for discussion. Zach was asked
about his contract, whether or not he actually is under
contract for two more years, and here's how that exchange
went with the local professional football media.

Speaker 4 (01:17:00):
Contract with the Bengals goes through twenty twenty seven.

Speaker 5 (01:17:03):
Can you confirm if.

Speaker 4 (01:17:04):
That's true, and if so, the organization decided not to
announce it. Do you know why the teams decided not
to announce it a year after they announced.

Speaker 6 (01:17:13):
I don't think it won't matters.

Speaker 7 (01:17:14):
I coach every day like it's my last and I've
been through years in twenty nineteen, twenty twenty that were
literally you coach every game thinking it could be your
last game. And I've seen how we responded after that
twenty one twenty two, competing for division titles and championships,
and so this.

Speaker 6 (01:17:29):
Year is no different from me.

Speaker 7 (01:17:30):
It's going through adversity coaching every game in this profession
like it could be your last one. I have a
lot of confidence in our staff that we're going to
get this turned around and we're going to finish the
season really strong and put together a great plan to
get back to those championships I mentioned.

Speaker 6 (01:17:45):
So I'm very confident that we can do all that.

Speaker 8 (01:17:46):
For accuracy, though it is through twenty twenty seven.

Speaker 6 (01:17:50):
I'm not going to respond to that. I just told you.
I coach every day like it's my last one.

Speaker 9 (01:17:53):
You don't get a chance to talk to ownership or
do we don't get that opportunity?

Speaker 5 (01:17:58):
What kind of assurance is have you been given?

Speaker 6 (01:18:01):
We just talk every week?

Speaker 5 (01:18:02):
Every week you've talked about your contractor.

Speaker 6 (01:18:04):
Every week we talk about everything.

Speaker 7 (01:18:07):
Well, the last time you spoke about your contract and sads,
that's not really part of our conversation. It's every week.
We're just trying to create together a great plan to
win football games and make sure our team's ready to go.
Make sure I'm ready to go. So I know that's
of curiosity to you guys, but we're just focused on
being the Dolphins.

Speaker 5 (01:18:23):
Fair to say, that's reassessed after the season.

Speaker 9 (01:18:26):
Every years them ask them, Yeah, and we don't get
that chance.

Speaker 6 (01:18:31):
Okay, Well I'm sorry.

Speaker 10 (01:18:32):
Okay, I'm just being straightforward with that. We would ask them,
but we don't get that.

Speaker 3 (01:18:38):
Okay, Okay, So if Zach Taylor is being asked about
his contract, and the team is ten and four in
first place X next to its name because it's clinched
to playoff spot. Nobody cares. Things aren't going well. Things
aren't going They're not going to be a playoff team.
Third straight year. They'll finish with at least ten losses.

(01:19:00):
The quarterback is having some sort of existential crisis. Fans
are pissed, fans are turning in their season tickets. You're
not shoveling off the snow from the seats, like maybe
there's nothing about Zach Taylor's press conference that could have
given the Bengals a win, but don't add to the
lost column. Look, there's a part of me that certainly

(01:19:23):
understands the questions about the contract should be thrown at
ownership or the front office. But Zach saying ask ownership.
He knows ownership is not available. Ownership doesn't make itself available.
Zach Taylor is the spokesperson. So in the absence of
ownership being able to step in and say, well, you know,
here's what we've done, here's how long this contract is for.

(01:19:48):
Why not just answer the question, like, what, you know what,
I'm under contract for two more years and I want
to be here for the next ten to twelve to fifteen.
I'd love to be in Cincinnati for as long as
Mike Tomlin has been in Pittsburgh or John Harbaugh has
been in Baltimore. And I want to win a title
like those guys. And you know we didn't. We fell
short this year, but you know, I want to focus
on the Dolphins like and then okay, and I would

(01:20:11):
imagine everybody just moves on. I just Zach Taylor's not
a bad guy. Zach Taylor isn't you know? He is
certainly complicit in this season just spiraling down the drain,
But I don't think he's the biggest reason. Quite frankly,
I don't know, man that that just was unnecessary. It's

(01:20:32):
kind of a middle finger to everybody. And again, like
you aren't the spokesperson for the franchise. So no, most
head coaches are not getting questions about their contract status.
Most head coaches don't have to answer questions about everything.
Joe Burrow talked for nineteen minutes that I here is
the portion of his press conference that I believe is

(01:20:53):
raising eyebrows from earlier this afternoon.

Speaker 15 (01:20:57):
Is there, ever, is there any world in your mind
when you're not the quarterback of the Bengals next year.

Speaker 14 (01:21:03):
I couldn't. I couldn't. I can't see that now.

Speaker 10 (01:21:06):
I didn't you ever both thought about the possibility of
not being the quarterback.

Speaker 14 (01:21:09):
Here during your career or can you think about a
lot of things?

Speaker 11 (01:21:16):
All right?

Speaker 1 (01:21:17):
So it's a fair question.

Speaker 3 (01:21:22):
Joe Burrow is probably gonna play beyond the twenty twenty
nine season. The contract that he's under now takes him
through the twenty twenty nine season. I don't blame him
for not wanting to attach himself to well, yeah, I'm
gonna play here forever, because then if he doesn't, then
he has his words thrown back in his face that said,

(01:21:43):
when you are where Joe Burrow is, and when you
are playing for a team that is where the Bengals is,
folks are gonna take that and run. I don't. I
don't know that I'm going to. I don't know that
I'm going to because I just I wouldn't expect him
to say, like, yeah, I'm gonna play here forever because
there's a very good chance that doesn't happen, and because

(01:22:03):
he's not under contract for the rest of his life.
Why would he not leave himself open to maybe playing
somewhere else someday. At the same time, what it's burrow
in the current state of the Bengals and what has
happened so many times in the past with the Bengals.
You just can help, but wonder Richard Skinner.

Speaker 2 (01:22:25):
Next Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty, Traffic.

Speaker 23 (01:22:31):
From the UC Health Traffic Center u SE Cancer Center
offers advanced surgical options for complex liver and pancreas, cancers,
second opinion now call five one three five eighty five.
UCCC westbound two seventy five is closed off due to
an accident that is between Graves Road and a Petersburg exit.

(01:22:53):
Traffic is backed up back from the Hebrun exit and
on eastbound two seventy five in Ohio too. Right lanes
blocked between Print Pike in seventy five at Ezelk with traffic.

Speaker 6 (01:23:03):
This report is sponsored by.

Speaker 2 (01:23:05):
This is Football in the Nattie, brought to you in
part by Postman Law and Vice. Skyline Chilly on ESPN
fifteen thirty to the official home of the Cincinnati Bank.

Speaker 3 (01:23:17):
Twenty four after five o'clock. This is ESPN fifteen thirty.
Richard Skinner joins us on Wednesdays, sometimes before he helps
his high school basketball team that he coaches, Bludge and
Milma Mater, and sometimes at Texas Roadhouse. I don't know
what it is this week, but it's awesome to have you.

Speaker 26 (01:23:35):
I appreciate that, mo. I'm sorry that we did that
to your team.

Speaker 11 (01:23:38):
I like the head coach, Steve Romeyer very much, and
they've actually they've actually won game since then, so maybe.

Speaker 19 (01:23:43):
It's just us.

Speaker 26 (01:23:44):
I hope it's just us.

Speaker 1 (01:23:45):
Good win for you, guys, is what you're trying to say.

Speaker 26 (01:23:47):
Well, yes, very good.

Speaker 3 (01:23:49):
You outlined a pretty dark Sunday you've been You've been
covering this team and covering sports in various capacities for
a very long time. How would you encapsulate the last
week for the since and any Bengals? Uh?

Speaker 11 (01:24:02):
Deflating and weird? Both deflating that it seems like there's
no real change coming, whether it be in the coaching
situation or the front office situation. The quarterback's in a goofy,
weird place, and you can even say a dark place.
You know something's amiss. You don't see what you said

(01:24:23):
last Wednesday and then follow it up with that performance
on Sunday without it being something. Right, I don't know
what the something is. None of us know what the
something is.

Speaker 3 (01:24:31):
To me.

Speaker 11 (01:24:32):
I think it was a message to the organization. I
can't keep having major surgery and rehabbing and coming back
and you guys doing nothing to help me out. That
was the message. But I'm not going to speak for
and that's just my takeaway from it. But yeah, I
mean it's been a it's been a weird and frustrating week.

Speaker 3 (01:24:45):
The game on Sunday. We've watched Joe Burrow have subpar games.
I've watched him make mistakes, certainly saw it against Buffalo
like I've I've seen him play poorly. I think you
had to have watched that, like you you could look
at the box sper and go, man, Burrow must not
a player. You had to have seen how that unfolded
on Sunday, I think to completely grasp what was going
on with him in this offense.

Speaker 26 (01:25:08):
No, I agree with that.

Speaker 11 (01:25:09):
Yeah, yet to your point, I mean, you can just
look into lay you didn't play well. No, it's more
than that. It was.

Speaker 26 (01:25:13):
It was more than that.

Speaker 11 (01:25:15):
It was almost like the guy's who lost his fire
and his drive and was resigned to whatever happened happened.
And that's just not him. That's not the guy. I've
watched cover and people change. I get that, you know.
I hope it's the organization hasn't made him change because
of and and to that kind of a guy, the
thing that the superpower is the competitiveness. It is the

(01:25:36):
the gloving the grind, loving the process, loving the test
on a Sunday and then seeing if you pass that test.
And I think Buffalo broke him, Does it mean it's
broken him forever? No, not forever. I'm super interested to
see what this looks like in nice weather, you know,
against the blessed football team. Uh, and to see if
there's a bounce back performance in him especially and then

(01:25:58):
you just go, Okay, that was a weird liar on
a weird week that you're going to look back on
and go, he was broken. And sometimes to get things
fixed and pips patched back together, you've got.

Speaker 26 (01:26:06):
To get broken.

Speaker 11 (01:26:07):
And I think Buffalo broken man. And now it's a
chance this week to start building himself back up.

Speaker 3 (01:26:13):
If if people aren't going to lose their jobs and
they're not going to swap out people who are here
with folks from outside.

Speaker 1 (01:26:20):
How do things change this offseason.

Speaker 11 (01:26:23):
That's a great question because and you could sense the
frustration from my frien Mike. But to try you today,
because we've been trying to get to speak to Duke
Tobin for weeks now. We actually put a formal request
in a few weeks ago try to get in to
talk to us, and it just keeps getting ducked and dodged,
and to this point's gone to know a vail. Mike's
the president at the local Pro Football Writers Association, so
he put a literally a formal written request in to

(01:26:45):
talk to Duke. I think he's going to put another
one in. So there was some frustration there and I
don't know, I mean, I guess think go like this.
I know what exact's answer was today that you know
we did this in twenty one and twenty two. That's fine,
Yeah you did, and those same people were in place.
But this is a what have you done for me lately?

Speaker 21 (01:27:02):
Lead?

Speaker 11 (01:27:02):
And sometimes it's a what have you done for me lately?
Year to year? You've now had three straight misses and
really kind of a epic collapse this year with Joe Burrow.
Without Joe Burrow, you were still not going to be
a very good team this year. Because you've proven that.
And I don't know how you trust this, that that
personnel department to get it right. You know, you've now

(01:27:26):
in the.

Speaker 26 (01:27:26):
Zach Taylor tenure, and I'll give.

Speaker 11 (01:27:27):
Us that credit for this from today, he pointed the face,
and the buck stops with me and nobody else. And
I'm guessing he's probably covering for Duke because guess what again,
we can't ask that at the moment. Zach's the oneman
has to answer the questions board, so he can certainly
point the finger inwards. And I got my fingerprint all
over this. Okay, I'll take your word at that. But
so then what makes me trust that you can get
this right? Because you did it twice when the other

(01:27:47):
times you've had five non playoff seasons out of your seven,
and you've had more losing seasons in the playoff season
than your ten year three now. And I know the
first two years were kind of you know, gud roster
from the end of the Marvel loose here, but you're
still that's on your record, man, So I don't know
why all these guys feel like they think they can
get it right. They've got it right less often than
they've gotten it right, and why would I trust them

(01:28:09):
to get it right again? That's the answer for du tilman,
Why should we trust you to get this right? What
makes us think as journalists and what makes you think
the fans can think this that you can get this right.
I think it's a great answer that would come.

Speaker 3 (01:28:24):
Is it that hard to simply say, yeah, I've got
a contract for two more years and I hope I
can stay here even longer.

Speaker 11 (01:28:31):
Uh No, I'm kind.

Speaker 22 (01:28:32):
Of with you.

Speaker 11 (01:28:33):
I I do think that he will eventually apologize to
Mike personally. I think that's who Zachy is. I think
it got the way it was, fraz I did catch
him off guard, to be quite honest with you, because
we've been talking about this for a long time, like
when we get when we get told that response, I
that's a question for Duke. The response from us has
to be, well, we don't get kids talking to Duke

(01:28:55):
and God loved mine because that's literally snapped right back
at him, and I thought it was you know, I
know people hate us as reporters and all that. But
I thought Mike hal him so great. I thought it
was a great response, and I think it caught Zach
off guard. But I think your points right. I mean,
the contract really goal is in any of our business.
I'm a little surprised he didn't announce it after the
DAFC Championship game. Guy's right in high off of the

(01:29:15):
Super Bowl, in an AFC championship game. We just extended
his cat for another year. And I know again he
was kind of even a polarising figure then, But wouldn't
you be proud to announce that. If you were proud
to announce.

Speaker 1 (01:29:25):
That, I would be. I would be.

Speaker 3 (01:29:27):
And again, if the answer is going to be, well,
ask ownership, that's cool, but you know, you know ownership's
never made available.

Speaker 1 (01:29:35):
That was bizarre.

Speaker 3 (01:29:36):
Today things are bad and that didn't do anything to
make it better.

Speaker 11 (01:29:40):
No, it didn't, it didn't.

Speaker 1 (01:29:41):
It did not.

Speaker 4 (01:29:42):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (01:29:43):
This is my last Wednesday for the year, so so
thanks for all the all the appearances, and we'll bother you.

Speaker 1 (01:29:48):
After the last game. Thanks as always. Oh good, that's
our guy.

Speaker 3 (01:29:52):
Richard Skinner from Local twelve and Local twelve dot com.
I'll try to answer one of the questions I just
asked Skinn. In just a few minutes, we'll talk injuries
with one of the many experts from Ortho Sincy.

Speaker 1 (01:30:06):
Next on ESPN fifteen.

Speaker 2 (01:30:07):
Thirty, You've been listening to Football in the NATI brought
to you by Cincinnati Tax Resolution powered by Tope Sheldon
on ESPN fifteen thirty, the official home of the Cincinnati Bengals.
Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty Traffic.

Speaker 23 (01:30:27):
From the UC Health Traffic Center. UC Cancer Center offers
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clinical trials you won't find anywhere else. Get a second
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(01:30:50):
one has been reopened after an earlier police escort between
Ronald Reagan Highway and Montgomery Road. Still delays from Fields
Eardle I'm at ezelic with traffic.

Speaker 3 (01:31:00):
A couple of very quick sports headlines thanks to Kelsey Chevrolet.
Quinn yours is going to start a quarterback for the Dolphins.
On Sunday two at Tanka. Maloa has been benched. Bengals
and Dolphins at one o'clock live on ESPN fifteen thirty.
Bengals game plan takes over for US at six oh five.
College basketball tonight, Gisel James is back for the UC Bearcats.
They take on Alabama State tonight at seven on seven

(01:31:21):
hundred WLW Xavier opens a Big East play with a
home game against Creighton at six thirty on fifty five
krc NKU looks to make it nine out of ten
with a home game tonight against Oakland, tip off at
seven on Fox Sports thirteen sixty cyclone skate tonight at Greenville.

Speaker 1 (01:31:37):
It is that time of the week again.

Speaker 3 (01:31:40):
We talked with one of the experts from Orthos Sincey
Orthopedics and sports Medicine. The great thing about Orthos Sincey
is they've got specialists, specialist locations and services all over
the tri State. That includes walk in orthopedic urgent care
at five locations with extended evening and weekend hours in
Edgewood and Anderson. You can learn more at Orthosinc dot com.

(01:32:01):
That's Orthos ci NCY dot com. Doctor Adam Metzler from
Orthos since he is with us. I want to start
by talking about two non bangals, Patrick Mahomes and Michael Parsons,
both with season ending ACL tears. Patrick Mahomes has already
had surgery. We're going to talk about that. But this
type of injury, how long does it take to determine
whether or not something like this is a sprain or

(01:32:23):
a tear.

Speaker 27 (01:32:25):
Well, the reality is understanding a little bit of the
difference and with that the meaning of those terms, and
they kind of can be used interchangeably. But the reality
is is that on the sideline, most of the time
we can tell whether someone's ACL is completely torn or
not based on the test we call the Lochman test,
and at the time of injury times zero the time

(01:32:46):
they do it, they're not super swollen, they're not guarding
too bad. You can get a pretty good exam, so
usually we know pretty quickly with a high probability.

Speaker 8 (01:32:54):
If you're a sports medicine surgeon and.

Speaker 27 (01:32:56):
A sideline doc, I've been on the sidelines nineteen years
now and done fifty teen hundred ACL surgery, most of
the time we can feel right away on the sideline
they have a torn ACL.

Speaker 8 (01:33:05):
Now, sometimes you use the word sprain.

Speaker 27 (01:33:08):
But a generically sprain is very interchangeable. So a great
three sprain is a complete tear. So if it's a
partial tear, you'll still feel an end points or a
firm points to their ACL. But beyond the physical examine
MRIs confirmatory for the diagnosis of an ACL tear.

Speaker 3 (01:33:25):
So Patrick Mahomes had his surgery within twenty four hours
of suffering the injury. Micah Parsons hasn't had his yet.
So what factors determine when to have surgery.

Speaker 27 (01:33:35):
That's a great question, and we've evolved and gotten better
at this, and the reality is is an isolated ACL
tear without other significant meniscus or cartilage involvement or other
ligaments involved. We typically will put patients in two to
three weeks of rehab before their surgery, called pre rehabilitation

(01:33:57):
or prehab for shorts. What that does is a lot
all the swelling to go down, allows the range of
motion to be normalized, regain a little bit of their
native strengths back trying to get their knee to move
and look normal, and then somewhere around two to three
sometimes up to four weeks will do their definitive acal surgery.

(01:34:17):
The purpose of that is the better their knee moves
before surgery, the better the post operative outcomes. There was
an old term, the quicker we got some of the surgery,
the quicker they got back to sports.

Speaker 8 (01:34:28):
We've the data proved that wrong. Where we needed patients
needs to be less slow and.

Speaker 27 (01:34:34):
Have better range of motion, and that helped them nine
to ten months down the road when they were getting
back to sports. So if they come into surgery stiff,
the bottom lines will come out of surgery stiff. So
they're going to probably do to two to three weeks
of rehab in advance, get their acal surgery done for
Parsons like many of our other patients, and he'll do great.
For Patrick Mahomes, he had other associated injuries such as
the lott of clatter ligament terear. So not only did

(01:34:55):
the injuries ACL, but his louder clatter ligament. And those
patients have to surgery quicker. They don't have the luxury
of being in prehab before surgery. We got to attack
and repair the loud spot a ligament or for example
a bucket handle or flipped miniska's tear. In addition to
the ACL, those patients need to go much sooner than
they need to be put on much quicker. So unfortunately

(01:35:16):
they don't get the luxury of having the prehab because
the other associated injuries dictate quicker treatment.

Speaker 8 (01:35:21):
As the bottom line for him.

Speaker 3 (01:35:23):
Let's talk about the big picture of timeline here, because
I think a Joe Burrow suffered his knee injury in
the twenty twenty season. It was the last Sunday of
November and he was back. He played the season opener.
He had multiple tears, if my memory serves me correct.
So are we talking about something here that at least
allows for the possibility that both these guys could come
back to start the season on time, you know.

Speaker 27 (01:35:46):
Pending nothing else else crazy, spending nothing else crazy. The
reality is is that a nine month window for you know,
genetically gifted professional athletes is very reasonable. The reason nine
months is the magic term though, and magic numbers because
that's when you get the acl that we reconstruct to
get a good blood supply, and by getting good blood
supply helps reduce that risk of retear. And again learned

(01:36:08):
all this through data, and so that's still be going
to be a typical timeline. You're going to see a
professional athlete or comediate athlete return. So if he kind
of march backward in time, that does put us kind
of near that start of the season season openers for
both the pinning of step backs and no other major complications.

Speaker 3 (01:36:25):
Doctor Adam Metzler from ORTHO, since he is with us,
let me ask you about Treny Hendrickson. And this has
been a saga now for weeks where you know, we've
heard back injury, we've heard pelvic injury, we've heard sports hernia.
His season is over because he has had core muscle surgery.
I don't know that I have ever heard of this procedure.
What is core muscle surgery?

Speaker 27 (01:36:47):
Yeah, and there's a little bit of variation to these,
but there's a lot of semantic terms that go along
with this, and so just to kind of dispel some
of the myths, So core core muscle surgery is really
the term that the surgeons that we like to use
for sports hernia, and that's the term more frequently used.

(01:37:09):
This is not an abdominal hernia or an enguinal hernia
where something is bulging through. Most people know are familiar
with englinal hernias. These are sports hernias, but the term
they want us to really use and promote is core
core muscle injury or core surgery when necessary. So what
this is is essentially for high level athletes like hockey

(01:37:33):
players and basketball and football players are doing a lot
of twisting and cutting essentially get whole of their abdominal muscles.
There's six pack muscles if you will, off of the
pelvis or off the pubists, and we can get these
partial tears. And the reality is that a short period
of physical therapy is tried, but oftentimes if unsuccessful, we

(01:37:55):
go in and try to repair those directly back down
to the bone and the pubis there.

Speaker 1 (01:38:01):
What sort of timeline are we looking for for trey?

Speaker 27 (01:38:04):
You know, if you look at what they said six weeks,
six weeks is when the initiation of you can try
to do for specific function, But most of the time
it's close to three months. For an athlete, it's full go,
full participation and can do whatever they want. Sometimes again
very genetically gifted athletes, they can have a little bit
increased recovery or decrease recovery time, I should say, But

(01:38:25):
you know, somewhere between eight and twelve weeks I think
is not unreasonable. So obviously they're not going to see
him this year at all. But moving forward, whether he's
with the Bengals or not, he should be ready to
go for you know, spring activities.

Speaker 3 (01:38:38):
All Right, One more, and this might be kind of
a stupid question. So the Bengals had five players have
to leave the game on Sunday with different injuries. I
don't know that any of them are being looked at
as serious, but the common denominator on Sunday was it
wasn't just cold. I mean it was it was obscenely cold. Right,
And so again this may be a stupid question, but

(01:38:58):
is there a greater risk of, for lack of a
better way of putting in typical football injuries when the
temperatures are in the single digits and wind chills are
below zero.

Speaker 27 (01:39:09):
I think there's there's not a great study that says that,
except for the skiing world, because we've looked at this before.
The professional skiers have a higher risk of even recreational
skiers have a higher risk of ACL injuries associated with
colder temperatures and different snow conditions. But there is an
increased risk overall of injuries in colder weather because you
have decreased muscle elasticity and the temperature affects the joints

(01:39:35):
where you don't quote feel the joint as well as
you normally would. So in general there's an increased risk
of overall injuries muscle sprain, strains, tears. You know, coldest
game and what I think was the coldest game in
bangals history that we just had this best weekend, so
definitely see what can happen with that too, with the

(01:39:55):
number of injuries we had. The other caveat to that
is we're at the end.

Speaker 8 (01:39:58):
Of the seasons.

Speaker 27 (01:39:59):
We do see in increased injuries towards the end of
seasons in professional sports as there's a fatigue factor that
plays in as well.

Speaker 1 (01:40:06):
Makes sense.

Speaker 3 (01:40:07):
Awesome insight as always, Doctor Adam Mesler from Worthos Sincy,
appreciate the time, man, Thanks so much.

Speaker 8 (01:40:13):
Always a pleasure, Thanks for having me.

Speaker 3 (01:40:14):
All right, there you go, Doctor Adam Mesler from Ortho Sincy.
I say it every week because it's true. The great
thing about Orthosincy is they have specialists and locations all
over the Tri State. This includes walk in orthopedic urgent
care weekdays from nine a m. To nine pm and
Saturdays nine am to one pm. At both Edgewood and Anderson.
It's easy because you do not need an appointment, and

(01:40:35):
it's most definitely cheaper than going to an er. Whenever
you have an urgent orthopedic injury. Good Orthosinc dot com.
That's ortho ci Ncy dot com. We'll try to answer
the question of the off season.

Speaker 2 (01:40:47):
Next Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 23 (01:40:52):
Traffic from the UC Health Traffic Center u See Cancer
Center offers advanced surgical options for complex liver and pancreas cancers,
second opinion now call five one three five eighty five.
UCCC westbound two seventy five has now been reopened from
an earlier accident between Graves Road and the Petersburg Exit.

(01:41:14):
Still a three minute delay to get through there. Otherwise
seeing slow traffic southbound seventy five between Hoppele and Fort
Washington Way. I'm at ezelic with traffic.

Speaker 3 (01:41:24):
This report is stuff at six oh five on ESPN
fifteen thirty. Don't forget Bengals and Dolphins on Sunday Live
on ESPN fifteen thirty. Chances are you do not need
me to remind you of this, but it's no longer
a night game. It kicks off at one o'clock pregame
coverage at nine oh five. I attempted to do this
segment that I'm about to do now yesterday, and I

(01:41:46):
think I did it poorly, But I think it's something
we're talking about, so I'm going to take another stab
at it, so to speak. So the Bengals aren't making
wholesale changes to their coaching staff and not make a
change in the front office as it relates specifically to
Duke Tobin, and that's not a surprise. I think that

(01:42:06):
is the overarching takeaway from Paul Danner Junior's piece yesterday.
They're not going to be firings, not going to be
among the bigger name folks, Duke Zach Al. Maybe there's
a position coach or two that gets wopped out, but
don't expect firings, don't expect mass firings. Don't expect Zach
Taylor to be cut loose, don't expect Tobin to be

(01:42:27):
cut loose.

Speaker 1 (01:42:28):
And maybe that changes.

Speaker 3 (01:42:30):
Maybe there's a meltdown over these final three games that
puts ownership at a place where they decide we're moving on,
We're changing our mind, we're moving on.

Speaker 1 (01:42:39):
Maybe.

Speaker 3 (01:42:41):
My colleague and friend, Austin Elmore asked this question yesterday,
which is basically, if you're not if you're not firing people,
then what changes can we expect? That's not exactly how
he put it, but essentially, if change doesn't equal, then

(01:43:01):
what can change with the same people in place that
have overseen this disaster? Can we expect? And it's a
fair question. It is the question of the offseason. I guess,
along with like how do you make Joe Burrow happy?
You can change your organization can change without wholesale firings.

(01:43:22):
You know, people do evolve. Organizations do evolve. College basketball,
remember when Mike Krzyzewski was kind of anti One and Dons.
Remember that, and then he saw the success that John
Caliperry at Kentucky and other schools were having and he's like,
you know what, need to embrace One and Dons. He
embraced One and Dons. He won a national championship. So

(01:43:44):
people do evolve. The Bengals have done this. They dove
headfirst into free agency in twenty twenty after never really
diving head first before. Now they kind of had to,
but they did so you can have peoples. Ball teams
have had to do this. There are baseball teams that
fifteen years ago are like analytics, and now some of

(01:44:07):
the same people in the same positions are fully into
analytics because they see its value. So maybe there's evolution here.
I think change comes in the form. You know, everybody
with the team right now is going to talk about alignment.
Zach is aligned with Duke, and Zach and Duke are
in alignment with ownership. I don't know if I agree

(01:44:28):
with that now, I'm not there every day. But do
you think Zach Taylor has wanted the Bengals to go
through these protracted contract negotiations? Do you think Zach Taylor
has wanted these holdouts or hold ins? Do you really
think and I'm not excusing Zach Taylor here, but do
you really think Zach Taylor and Al Golden one of
the Bengals to do nothing to their defense this offseason?

(01:44:50):
I'm gonna guess that Zach was not that interested in
the endless contracts, wobbles and drawn out negotiations and just
all field drama that has seemed to dominate this franchise
over the last couple of years. I would be willing
to bet that if you did a deep dive into
how the Bengals have approached the roster and personnel, I
would bet we would find out that the alignment isn't

(01:45:13):
what it is with some of the more consistently successful franchises.
That doesn't mean that everybody has to agree on everything,
but again, just look at how things played out this year.
Could they change in how they evaluate prospects? You know,
Shamar Stewart's at the epicenter of this may still end
up being a terrific player, but he is kind of

(01:45:33):
at the center of the traits versus production discussion, which
the Bengals are a little bit more inclined perhaps to
look at the measurables with the tape measure shows and
not with the film shows.

Speaker 1 (01:45:45):
Does that change? Maybe it does.

Speaker 3 (01:45:48):
Maybe, And here's the one that I'm pretty sure is
not going to happen, but maybe a serious evaluation as
to how the offense functions to make it run more efficiently.
Go back to Game one of the season. The whole
thing was clunky year seven head coach, year six quarterback
having a hard time getting the play in. Look at
the game this past Sunday they're down seventeen points, look

(01:46:12):
like they were going through a walkthrough, look like an
August game, look like they were winning the game by
thirty one points. Nobody in the headset to go, hey,
let's pick it up here. Despite the personnel, despite Joe
Burrow's greatness, there have been times where we have seen
these long, offensive lalls. I'm not talking about play calling
play calling. I'm not qualified to talk about play calling,

(01:46:33):
but I could talk about efficiency and overall function. Is
there a way to be more efficient and function better?
And does it involve Zach Taylor giving up play calling duties?
You can change, You can change and not fire people
by adding people. Now you're probably very skeptical that this
will happen, and to a degree I am as well.

(01:46:55):
But you can add scouts, analysts, you can add evaluators,
you can add people. You can add good qualified, smart
people and give them a say and give them a
voice when it comes to hard decisions. Again, I think
I listed a few things here. You may expect the
Bengals to do none of this stuff. I kind of
don't expect them to do most of it. But if

(01:47:16):
the answer if the question is how do you change
without firing people.

Speaker 1 (01:47:20):
There are ways.

Speaker 3 (01:47:21):
You're asking Duke Tobin and Zach Taylor to work more
in concert with each other. You're acting, You're asking everybody
involved to be more aligned. You're asking them to perhaps
prioritize different things and do their jobs differently.

Speaker 1 (01:47:34):
It sounds easy. I don't know that it is, but
it is possible.

Speaker 3 (01:47:39):
We're done. Bengals game plan is next. I am off
the rest of the week, back on Monday for the
Tony and Mo Football Show at Twin Peaks in Florence.
So have a great night and I'll talk to you
here on Monday. This is ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 14 (01:47:57):
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