1/22/25 - The Mo Egger Radio Show - Mo Egger

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
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Speaker 1 (00:12):
What's up?

Speaker 3 (00:13):
It's five minutes after three. This is ESPN fifteen thirty.
Thank you for listening. It's Wednesday. Keep thinking it's Thursday.
I hope you're having an awesome Wednesday Show. Preview video
is up on x at Mullegar thanks to Emery Federal
Credit Union, your credit union with heart since nineteen thirty nine.

(00:36):
Go to EMORYFCU dot org and we'll be members of
the same credit union. Isn't that what you always wanted?

Speaker 1 (00:42):
Of course?

Speaker 3 (00:42):
It was two guests this hour. Chris Valaika is the
new Red's hitting coach. He is going to join us
at three twenty. We are excited for that. And Rick
Brooring on the Musketeers and the Norse, two teams that
right now are going in opposite directions. The Musketeers Xavier
coming off a huge road win against Marquette on Saturday,
and now they play a team that is a tough

(01:03):
matchup for the Musketeers. We saw what Saint John's did
just a couple of weeks ago at the Cintas, center
Xavier and Saint John's tonight at MSG. Rick joins US
at three forty five. Let's start with college basketball. Last
night was the most frustrating kind of loss if you're
a college basketball fan, because you see came into that

(01:25):
game last night offensively not good. We have examined their issues,
we have talked about them, we have yelled at each
other about them. Not a good shooting team, not a
good offensive team, not that far removed from scoring forty
points in a game, and more than the point totals,
looking clunky, just combobulated, disjointed at times, playing in the

(01:50):
half court, at least in a manner that has made
people wonder, myself included, what is this offense? Last night?
The offense looked entirely different. It flowed, it generated good looks.
The players moved, the ball moved. They didn't make outside shots,

(02:12):
but they made a lot of shots. At one point
in the first half, they were shooting like sixty three percent.
They were really good. They executed beautifully. It was extraordinarily
fun to watch. If you knew nothing about UC basketball,
specifically in the first half, but really for the entire game,

(02:34):
you would have thought this has got to be one
of the better teams in the conference and maybe the country. Offensively,
they're efficient, they're getting good looks, they're not forcing stuff,
They're initiating the offense quickly, guys are moving, the ball
is finding open players, and the shots are going in.
They did the stuff they normally do poorly well, and

(03:00):
yet they still lost a ten point home loss to
Texas Tech. You see, is now two and five in
conference play. I've talked about this extensively. I've talked about this,
probably to the point of exhaustion. Something we mentioned on
the show yesterday that there it felt like going in
like there was going to be a major, massive difference

(03:21):
between UC winning that game and heading on the road
for back to back games on the heels of a
three game winning streak, a thirteen and five record and
a three and four Big twelve record, A major difference
between that and twelve and six, two and five, a

(03:43):
blown opportunity for a Q one win, and now they
got to go back on the road like and a
one and three home record. Major difference A game was massive.
Last night, we talked about it a lot, and they
scored seventy one points. Not exactly you know, the Alabama
Crimson Tide scoring one hundred and two at Roparina on Saturday.
But still for this team, pretty good output more than anything.

(04:06):
How they played, how they looked, how they executed, and
yet they still lost at one point.

Speaker 1 (04:14):
I put this on social media last night.

Speaker 3 (04:15):
The final seven minutes and thirty three seconds of the
first half, the Bearcats made seven of their last nine shots,
which is terrific. That's seventy seven point eight percent shooting, right,
That's good.

Speaker 1 (04:29):
That's good. That's what seven out of nine is good.

Speaker 3 (04:33):
And yet during that stretch of time they lost to
Texas Tech twenty two to sixteen. Was seven thirty three
to go, they were winning by two, went on to
make seven of their next nine shots, and at halftime
they were still trailing by four. The tone was set

(04:53):
right then and there. What they were doing offensively was
not going to be good enough. Why because they couldn't
guard any you know, the one thing that this team
has done reasonably well for much of the year. And
we talked yesterday that this was going to be a
matchup between a Texas Tech team top ten in the
country and offensive efficiency against a UC team top ten
in the country. In defensive efficiency. Offense won out, and frankly,

(05:16):
it wasn't even close. Defensively, they played like a bunch
of guys who looked like they just met each other.
There was no communication and there were no rebounds. Specifically
early in the second half. You could look at Texas
Tech's offensive rebounding total ten and maybe not arrive at
the conclusion that that was a major factor in the game.
But it was because when the Bearcats did start to defend,

(05:40):
when they did start to lock in defensively, well, then
they gave up an offensive rebound, a second chance bucket.
At one point, the second chance points were ten zip
in favor of the Red Raiders on the other end
of the floor. Dan Horden Terry Nelson talked about this
in the postgame show last night.

Speaker 1 (05:56):
You see had twenty five misses all night long.

Speaker 3 (05:59):
The Bearcats grab three offensive rebounds on those twenty five misses.

Speaker 1 (06:04):
That's not good.

Speaker 3 (06:05):
That's twelve percent, right if I'm doing my basic Kentucky
Public High school math.

Speaker 1 (06:10):
Twelve percent. Yeah, not good.

Speaker 3 (06:13):
Bad, defensively killed on the glass, and as a result,
they lose a game that I hate to say, they
had to win. Here's one of the reasons why it's
frustrating not just that they played well offensively and lost,
but there was a part of me that looked at
that game in a vacuum and said, all right, good
team came to town and just executed better. They made

(06:35):
three point shots, you see, didn't they grabbed offensive rebounds,
you seed didn't. Texas Tech was tougher, Texas Tech was better,
and you know what, in the dog days of the
season sometimes games like that happened. But you know what,
no big deal, except you couldn't do that because they
were two and four coming in and because they're still

(06:56):
in desperate search of a Q one victory. They did
not get it last night. They did not get a
home win last night. Here's Wes Miller and his team's
defensive performance after the game.

Speaker 4 (07:08):
Yeah, needless to say, disappointed. Big opportunity here at home
against a good team, and we didn't. We didn't do
our part. They're a very very good offensive team. I
believe we have the ability to be a great defensive team.

Speaker 1 (07:26):
We didn't.

Speaker 4 (07:27):
We didn't defend tonight. I think our offense is continuing
to find its rhythm and improve. I thought there were
some good moments there. Obviously, I don't like how we
executed in the last two and a half minutes of
the game, three minutes of the game. That was very
frustrated with that. But the defense didn't hold force tonight.
And generally, defensively, when you're geared up, you know, your

(07:48):
deflection numbers look right. The offensive rebounding is consistent with
defensive effort because it's just movement to the ball and
effort to the ball. Loose balls, and we didn't win
those battles tonight.

Speaker 1 (08:00):
Was very frustrating.

Speaker 4 (08:01):
I thought, like, like Ap sitting right here, he's starting
to grow as a young player that we've been talking
about some little things that he can do to be
more effective. I thought he was very effective in his minutes.
Tyler Betsy had a couple good moments there. I think
that's really important. He was effective. We need those young
guys to keep coming to give us some depth, and

(08:23):
they're very gifted to make an impact. So that was
positive and proud of those two, you know, And it
was good to see the lid come off for Jisel.
You know, it's been been a stretch for him, so
it's good to see him make some shots.

Speaker 3 (08:38):
Yeah, I would agree with everything that he said there,
primarily the fact that his team didn't defend, didn't rebound,
and most importantly, they didn't win a home game. I
have crushed this to death in recent weeks as well,
and so I know if you listen to the show.

Speaker 1 (08:49):
You've heard me talk about this. You have to win
your home games.

Speaker 3 (08:52):
You have to in this you know what we're gonna
say in this conference, like you gotta win your home
games in the Big East too, you gotta win your
home games in the Act, in your home games, like
winning on the road and high major conference play is
really really hard. What you see has to do now,
which is find some road victories, is not going to
be easy.

Speaker 1 (09:09):
It's not.

Speaker 3 (09:09):
You got to win your home games, especially when you've
lost your first two in the conference. Well now they're
one and three at home in the conference, which feels
a lot like last year. You got to win your
home games. You've also got to take advantage of opportunity
when it's given to you. Last night was a quad
one opportunity, a chance for a Q one win, a

(09:30):
resume building block, something you can point to, something the
committee can look at and go, Okay, they check a box. Here,
they have at least one chances. Are you need more
than one? You know, we've talked a lot. You see
as trying to rebuild, they're trying to get back. Folks
want are we back s Bearcat basketball back?

Speaker 1 (09:47):
Is it back?

Speaker 3 (09:48):
You'll know when it's back. You'll know when it's back
when they start winning Q one home games. Since the
start of the twenty twenty one twenty twenty two season,
the Bearcats are oh to ten in Q one home games.
They have more opportunities later, they have some Q one
road opportunities later, oh to ten. All of those ten

(10:12):
losses came with Wes Miller on the UC sideline. When
will the program be back? When that changes, Because when
that changes, then we're gonna start realistically talking about their
NCAA tournament chances. And when we start realistically talking about
their NCAA tournament chances in January, then they're gonna have
the sort of team that could actually go win games

(10:32):
in the NCAA Tournament. The other stuff, recruiting rankings, cool uniforms,
all that stuff.

Speaker 1 (10:38):
I love.

Speaker 3 (10:38):
That stuff doesn't matter. You gotta win home games, especially
the Q one home games. You don't have to win
them all. You might not have to win most you
gotta win at least one. Last night they didn't win one.
You can look at the calendar, you can tell me
how much season is left, but tell me it doesn't
feel like things are starting to slip away, primarily because

(10:59):
of the game they lost last night. Chris Valaka is
the new hitting coach for the Reds. He joins us
next on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station. It's twenty
on ESPN fifteen thirty. M Oeger. It's Red's Winter Caravan Week.
There's a big event tonight at the Roberts Center in
Wilmington that is free and open to the public, starting

(11:19):
at six point thirty. The season is getting closer and closer.
In fact, the first Cactus League game there are two
is a month from today. Reds and Guardians, Reds and
Brewers cannot wait. And a lot of excitement for Terry Francona,
a lot of excitement I think for the coaching staff,

(11:40):
the new director of hitting in Major League Hitting coach
as a guy that if you're a longtime Reds fan,
you know this name. He came up with the Reds
through their system, made his big league debut for the
Reds in twenty ten and has joined Terry Francona's coaching
staff in Cincinnati, worked with him in Cleveland, and is
going to be the major League hitting instructor and director
of hitting for the Reds. Chris Valaka kind enough to

(12:02):
join us this afternoon. Chris, it's good to have you.
Welcome back to the Cincinnati Reds. Good afternoon. How are you.

Speaker 5 (12:08):
I'm doing great, man, Thanks for having me.

Speaker 6 (12:10):
I'm really excited to be back.

Speaker 3 (12:12):
I'm excited to talk to you. Let's let's talk about
the process. When you get the job and you got
the off season to prepare and you're going to be
working with new hitters, many of whom you're going to
be working with for the first time and introducing yourself
to for the first time. Kind of take me through
the off season process of getting to know the guys
you're going to be working with.

Speaker 5 (12:32):
Yeah that, you know, first years are always tough like that,
you know, with hiring season being at the end of
you know, the season. Then you jump into the off
season where you don't get a ton of FaceTime with
these guys. So, you know, the biggest thing for me,
especially in year one, is building relationships, building trust, you know,
not trying to come in and overhaul everything. So a

(12:54):
lot of a lot of us behind the scenes homework,
you know, watching a ton of video, looking through a
lot of the information about these guys, and trying to
put my plans together and and you know, subtly nudge
guys towards certain things. But you know, I think it's
tough without having the relationship to come in and tell
them they're doing something wrong or or we need to
change something, you know, egregiously with without being in the

(13:15):
trenches with them.

Speaker 3 (13:16):
Yet do you do you have conversations? Do you reach out,
do you call, do you go visit? Or do you
wait for that to happen in goodyear?

Speaker 5 (13:24):
No, no, no, I've been in contact since since the
day I got hired. So the day after I you know,
the ink wasn't even dry yet, I was calling all
the players and introducing myself, giving a little background on myself.
Then then went into the hiring process for my two assistants,
but tried to touch base with with every guy. You know,
told them that, you know, enjoy the holidays. I'm not

(13:44):
going to hound you, but you know, be in touch
every couple of weeks, so kept that same cadence. You know,
a couple of guys playing winter ball and you know,
the other guys ramping up at different times. So you know,
it's been a it's been a full off season with that.
You know, I'm really looking forward to, you know, being
with the pleasantries and getting in the cage and and
and getting to work with these guys.

Speaker 3 (14:04):
Obviously, every hitter is different, and what every hitter wants
to or needs to work on is different. But is
there sort of an overarching goal for this team's hitters
as you go into spring training.

Speaker 5 (14:14):
Yeah, you know, there's there's there's always been the elephant
in the room with some of the strikeouts and the
swing and this.

Speaker 6 (14:21):
So you know, I don't I'm not.

Speaker 5 (14:23):
Concerned as much with with strike three as I am
with how we're getting to strike three, you know. So
I think the big things that we're going to focus
on in spring training is is how we're getting to
that point. So do we need to be more aggressive early?
Do we need to limit some of the chase early?
You know, just how how can we pay attention to
the game a little bit, you know, a little bit
more intelligently so we're hunting the pitches we want to

(14:44):
do damage on, We're picking up on trends, and then
and then overall just getting back to more of the
fundamentals of baseball.

Speaker 2 (14:49):
You know.

Speaker 5 (14:49):
Fortunately, then with with Tito for a couple of years
and know what he wants and know what he expects that,
you know, I think it's not just going to be
something we talk about once in spring training, but situational hitting,
hitting with runners in scoring position, doing the little things.
I think, you know, with how dynamic this offense is,
we can create a lot of pressure and a lot
of chaos. So I think we just really need to

(15:10):
lean into the weapons.

Speaker 6 (15:11):
That we have.

Speaker 3 (15:12):
I have felt watching this team and so many young players,
and this this isn't about any one individual hitter, but
there there have been times watching just as a fan
where I thought to myself, Man, I wish some of
these guys were better with two strikes. And I've always
heard the key to being a great hitter is you
got to be able to hit with two strikes.

Speaker 1 (15:28):
What's the key to being able to do that?

Speaker 5 (15:30):
Yeah, I think you can't be scared, you know, hitting
with two strikes. You know, there's definitely that fear factor.
And you know, I think it's haven't hadn't been a hitter.
I think it's again going back to what I mentioned earlier,
it's about how you got there. You know, did you
did you take that that pitch early that you probably
should have put forward or you know, put into play,
or did you chase early? Now that thoughts in your

(15:50):
head where you know, those negative, negative thoughts are creeping in,
like oh, don't chase, don't do that again, or you know,
you're thinking of all the weapons where you know, I
think the more we can simplify and you know, I
think what is batting average you probably know better than
I do, batting average or two strikes, you know, one
eighty or something like that, you know, and I know
batting average isn't a great indicator, but still, you know

(16:11):
that's that's real.

Speaker 6 (16:11):
Guys like hits.

Speaker 5 (16:12):
So you know, I think the more we can focus on,
you know, early in the count and and and hunting
our pitches and then again being okay, you know, some
strikeouts are going to be okay. You know, nobody's on
base or runner on first. We don't want to be
ending ending innings, you know, hitting into double plays, but
we get traffic, you know, we might have to open
up our strike zone a little.

Speaker 6 (16:31):
Bit to create that chaos.

Speaker 3 (16:33):
Is there something about you know, I mean, you know,
Great American Ballpark. It's a hitter friendly park, right, And
so I got to think, especially for a young guy,
I'm moving into a hitter friendly park, maybe maybe I'm
a little bit more prone to try to hit the
ball out of the ballpark. Do you have conversations with
players specific to the ballpark they're going to be playing
their home games in.

Speaker 6 (16:51):
Yes and no.

Speaker 5 (16:52):
You know, I think that that's kind of the thing
having havn't been a Red and then you know, kind
of coming back to a Red. You know, I played
played played for two different teams and then coach as well.
Now that, like you know, the mottos don't leave Cincinnati without.

Speaker 6 (17:07):
A home run.

Speaker 5 (17:08):
I don't want that. I don't want that to be
a limitter to us. You know, we're gonna play, you know,
eighty one games on the road as well. We're gonna
play in some big ballparks. So it's not that you know,
we're gonna play one style of baseball when we're at home,
and we're gonna play another style of baseball on the road.
So you know, I like the home run just as
much as anybody, but I think we need to focus on,
you know, being being a more dynamic offense and not

(17:31):
just relying on the pre run home run. It's how
can we put up runs consistently regardless of where we're playing.

Speaker 3 (17:36):
Chris Vhlake is the Reds Director of hitting and major
league hitting coach, that the job title is different. Derek
Johnson's had this on the pitching side of things now
for a while. So there's the major league hitting coach
part of this, where you're working with players day in
and day out. What does being the director of hitting.

Speaker 5 (17:53):
Involved, you know there there's you know, the priority is
the major league team. Obviously for me, I'm going to
be in the trench. I'm being the doug out with them.
You know, I think the title comes with more just
creating alignment, you know, putting the processes together, you know,
being involved with the minor leagues, but also trusting the
people that you have there. You know, we've we've done
a good job developing, you know internally with with the

(18:15):
staff that we have. So I think it's just there
to be be a support for these guys, but mainly
just you know, bringing the things that I value and
how do we how do we scale that through the
minor league. So we're looking at things the same way,
and we're we're developing players that you know, I want
to coach. And then Tito trusts.

Speaker 3 (18:33):
You talk about hiring a staff. You have two assistant
hitting coaches. These are roles that are still, I think,
relatively new. You know, I'm old enough to remember when
there was a hitting coach and and that was it.
So give us an idea of what the people who
work directly for you are going to be doing.

Speaker 5 (18:48):
Yeah, so to two guys have Alex Pliaz, he's been
in the organization, he did play in the big leagues
for a little bit with with San Diego. He's been
the triple A hitting coach the last couple of years.
Really excited. You know, when I was a player here,
I knew him. Never got to play for him, but
but you know, knew him in the organization, and you

(19:10):
know he's bilingual. He's somebody that that knows the ins
and outs with all these guys, and somebody that's really
going to be, you know, a champion for me in
the dugout with building these relationships and being being aligned
to being the voice you know that that is going
to continue to push these messages forward. And then my
other assistant is Will Remillard. I worked with him with
the Cubs. I actually coached him in the minor leagues

(19:32):
there and then worked with him during the COVID season
out at the alternate site. He was the assistant director
of hitting with the Chicago Cubs, so got him away
from there and brought him on board. He's super smart
with he was a catcher in the minor league, super
smart with the analytical side, grindy type guy. So he's

(19:54):
really going to be somebody that's going to help push,
you know, the processes forward, create the environments in the
cage form me while by Alex and I are in
the dugout.

Speaker 3 (20:03):
Your boss is obviously somebody who has such is held
in such high regard in and around the sport. He's
going to be a Hall of Fame manager one day.
What's the best part about working for Terry Francona.

Speaker 5 (20:15):
I think it's the trust, you know, for me being
a first year hitting coach. You know, I was an
assistant in Chicago before I got hired by Tito in Cleveland. So,
you know, just for someone to trust me number one,
being a first year guy in the big leagues, to
just you know, let me do my job. Communicate with
him just how he keeps it loose in the relationships
that he builds, not only with the staff but the players,

(20:38):
you know. And then I think, just watching him, just
how loose he keeps it. And then you see around
that fifth inning time when the bulleten starts me starting
to get cranked up, the switch flips for him and
he's already thought.

Speaker 6 (20:49):
Through all these moves.

Speaker 5 (20:50):
He's two innings ahead, and it's like, you know, he's
just he's the puppet master in there. So it's been
awesome to watch, you know, just sitting behind him in
the dugouts. I'm super excited to what he's gonna bring
to to Sint Maattie, and and ready to get going here.

Speaker 3 (21:04):
Uh, for those of us who remember your time as
a player, you you got into coaching, I think, not
immediately after you finished as a player, But but walk
us through the journey from deciding all right, I've done
my time as a player, reached the big leagues. Uh,
played for a number of seasons then and then I'm
going to get into coaching.

Speaker 1 (21:22):
What was that journey like?

Speaker 5 (21:24):
Yeah, to be honest, I thought when when my tour
was over, I was I was done. So played, played,
played ten ten years and then went back to school
at you See Santa Barbara to finish my degree. Coached
as a volunteer at you See Santa Barbara. Just I
think mainly to ease my my transition away from the game,

(21:45):
or I thought away from the game. We we actually
went to the World Series that year, so it was
a it was a great experience for me there and
then that was it for coaching, and I went to
work at a sports science company up in the Bay
Area in San Francisco. Learned learned about biomechanics, learned about
force play, but wasn't really satisfied being in an office,

(22:06):
so went to spring training. Actually on behalf of the
company was meeting with a couple of different teams, and
the Cubs offered me a minor league hitting coach position.
So jumped into that, went to a short season, you know,
the Puppy League, and went went went there to Eugene,
Oregon coach there. Following year, got jumped up to Triple A,

(22:30):
and then the two years following that, I got promoted
to be the minor league hitting coordinator, So did that
for two years, and then two thousand and twenty twenty
one was the major league assistant with the Cubs, twenty
two to twenty four major league head with Cleveland, and

(22:50):
then with Tito coming back back back in Cincinnati. So
kind of full circle with my whole career in coaching
development there.

Speaker 3 (22:58):
It's a cool journey you mentioned and some of the
sports science stuff, and you know, there there was a
day and age maybe even when you were coming up
where you know, a hitting instructor would say we'll get
in the cage and I'll watch your swing. And now
there's there's so much more info, there's so much more data.
How how do you plan on integrating some of the
more modern methods of teaching and evaluating with some of
the more old school stuff.

Speaker 5 (23:20):
Yeah, you know, that's a good question. You know, I
think it's one of those things where me personally, I
think experience matters. You know, there's guys that have been
doing this job a lot longer than I have that
can see things.

Speaker 4 (23:32):
You know.

Speaker 5 (23:33):
Now now it's just validating right now, they have names
for things, or they can attach numbers to things. So
you know, I think it's a balance of both. You know,
you're going to see something with your eyes, you're going
to see something with your gut, You're gonna you're gonna
have a feel, you're gonna have.

Speaker 6 (23:46):
A pulse because you're with these guys.

Speaker 5 (23:48):
But then to be able to validate or look under
the hood, I think is super important. You know, knowing
the player and this is why, you know, when I
get the question about what's my hitting philosophy, I say
it's to not have one. I'm going to coach the
player to what the player needs. So if somebody wants
to talk in you know, quote unquo quote old school
and we can use those terms, I can coach you

(24:09):
that way.

Speaker 6 (24:09):
If we want to.

Speaker 5 (24:10):
Talk about analytics and we want to talk about biomechanics,
I can talk to you that way. So you know,
I think that that's something. And fortunately, when I got
into coaching, I think this was kind of just happened naturally.
But I was in that kind of transition time as
I was cycling out of baseball and then going into
my coaching career was like I had to learn all
these technologies, so you know, fortunately had the playing background,

(24:33):
but also first in these things that you know, I
feel like I can speak multiple languages depending on you
know who who am I I'm addressing.

Speaker 1 (24:40):
All Right, You've been awesome with your time.

Speaker 3 (24:42):
I've got to bring this up, and I know you
know this is coming. So I have in my basement
one of my prize possessions is a Reds jersey. It
and in twenty ten, which was the year you got
to call it up, the Reds played in the Civil
Rights Game and the uniforms were cool, and and I
have one of the jerseys. I have one of the
jerseys they made in the event that somebody got called

(25:04):
up at the last minute. And it's everybody that comes
to my house season and they ask about it. And
so the story attached to it was you hit your
first big league homer. I believe, if I'm not mistaken,
in your first big league's start, you'd been up, had
gotten a couple of games. Your first big league starter
of Friday night in late August against the Cubs, you
hit your first big league homer. Now I would love
to say that I caught it. The reality is my

(25:27):
wife at the time got up to get a snow
cone and it hit her chair and I just happened
to pick it up. And you know, we're in left
field and a guy comes up to me and says, hey,
that's chrispah Lake's first big league homer. Can I have
the ball? And I said, yeah, sure, here it is,
take it and no big deal. And then I didn't
you know, they said do you want anything? And I'm like, no,
can just leave me alone? Just give him his ball? Awesome, great,

(25:49):
I'm going to lose that thing, right, So they gave
me some word, filtered down to the clubhouse and somebody said, well, here,
send him this.

Speaker 1 (25:56):
And so I have the jerseys. So what I want
to know is how's our ball doing.

Speaker 6 (26:01):
The ball's great. It's not my parents house in.

Speaker 5 (26:05):
Their like room with all of mine, my siblings, you know,
memorabilia and stuff like that. So that's great to hear
you have my jersey, because I think that's probably one
of two of people that actually have my jersey.

Speaker 3 (26:19):
I do have it and it hangs proudly in my
basement and it was very, very nice. But when I
followed your career since then, and you know, I mean
you you didn't hit a thousand home runs or anything
like that, so I always thought like, well, you know,
if he doesn't hit a lot of home runs, then
then I will have had one of just a few.
But you had a good big league career, a good
coaching career. You're back in Cincinnati, and uh, your name

(26:42):
comes up all the time because people see that jersey
and they're like, well, where'd you get that? How how'd
you get it? And it's always your your first big
league homer. So it's cool to get a chance I can.

Speaker 5 (26:49):
Read you, well, thank you for giving me or allowing
me to have that ball back. I appreciate it, and
I know my mom appreciates it, so thank you again.

Speaker 3 (27:00):
That I just wanted to make just ago fifteen years.
I just wanted to make sure like you didn't take
it and lose it or something. Then I would have felt,
you know, kind of bad.

Speaker 6 (27:08):
All right, good, No, no, not at all. It's it's displayed.
There wasn't that many of them, so you know it's
up there.

Speaker 1 (27:16):
Awesome.

Speaker 3 (27:16):
Well, congratulations on the job. Enjoy the rest of what's
left of the off season, and look forward to catching
up during the season.

Speaker 1 (27:24):
Thanks so much, Chris.

Speaker 6 (27:26):
Look forward to it.

Speaker 1 (27:26):
Thanks again, you got it, Chris Vilake.

Speaker 3 (27:29):
That was that was good. It's uh we're way late
twenty four, way from four o'clock. By the way, the
Reds Caravan continues tonight at the Roberts Center in Wilmington.
Free event, open to the public starting at six thirty.
So go check that out if you're in the greater
Wilmington area, or even if you're not. Sports Headlines and
Rick browing in like eight minutes, I blew past blue,

(27:51):
past the break tear in my apologies. This is ESPN
fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 7 (27:57):
ESPN fifteen to thirty Cincinnati Spoil Station.

Speaker 3 (28:01):
Sports Headlines are a service of Kelsey Chevrolet, home of
lifetime power train protection and guaranteed credit approval from their
family to yours for life kelseyshev dot com. They have
not hired The Bengals have not yet hired Al Golden.
We do have an Al Golden related poll question on
x I have three pole questions today at Mulgar thanks
to United Heartland Insurance.

Speaker 1 (28:22):
Go to uh i NS dot com.

Speaker 3 (28:24):
College basketball tonight, Xavier's on the road, a second consecutive
road game for the Musketeers, A second consecutive road game
where they try.

Speaker 1 (28:30):
To avenge a home defeat.

Speaker 3 (28:31):
Tonight, EXU battle Saint John's at Madison Square Garden. Also
this evening, Indiana is at Northwestern. Meanwhile, hockey hockey tonight
at the highest level of sport, the Columbus Blue Jackets
take on Toronto.

Speaker 1 (28:50):
There you go.

Speaker 8 (28:51):
I thought the Cyclones played the home game tonight, but
apparently I was missed and we're going a Cyclones sweatshirt hoodie.
Thought they had a game tonight. The amaze they have
a right of a road game tonight. Does it? Does
it matter?

Speaker 1 (29:07):
I suppose not.

Speaker 3 (29:09):
It is seventeen away from four o'clock. How are we
doing with Rick Browing?

Speaker 9 (29:13):
Arran?

Speaker 3 (29:13):
Is Rick standing by? I see line seven is gray?
I would suggest a phone call is being made. Should
I take a break? Should I hem in hall? Should
we talk to Rick? We'll do Rick now, very good?
Rick Browing Musketeer Report dot Com, NKU Radio broadcast, on
the Darren Horn Show, on the NKU Coaches Show, on

(29:36):
the Skinny Podcast, and the King of Facebook. He's with
us every Wednesday.

Speaker 9 (29:42):
Hi, Rick, What was I talking to Arran for too long?
What happened?

Speaker 1 (29:46):
I have no idea. No, maybe you were.

Speaker 3 (29:49):
Maybe you and Tarren were catching up and it's fine,
what are you guys talking about?

Speaker 9 (29:52):
We always have a good time chatting.

Speaker 3 (29:54):
Could you not have a good time chatting with Arran?
I get anything you'd like to share with the class?

Speaker 9 (30:00):
And we were I mean, as you would expect, we're
talking about the weather, and we've never looked more forward
to forty one degrees as the joke that we were talking.

Speaker 1 (30:07):
About going to be downright tropical, no question about that.

Speaker 3 (30:10):
What was more impressive what Ryan Conwell did against Villanova
or what his teammates did without him contributing offensively against Marquette.

Speaker 9 (30:19):
Without a doubt, the performance against Marquette. I mean, I
just did not see a way that this team could
win at Marquette, first of all, but then you factor
in Ryan Conwell didn't show up, didn't make a three
pointer in that game. You know, he really struggled from
the outside and just couldn't get himself going going over
eight and then the team as a whole goes two

(30:40):
for seventeen from three point range in that game. If
you would have told me that, I would have thought
Zavier would have gotten run out of the gym. So
for them to go to Marquette and find a way
to hold a team in their gym to fifty seven points,
that's just it's hard for me to wrap my brain
around it still, and I've watched the game multiple times
at this point.

Speaker 3 (30:59):
Well, what they did against Marquette, there's how they played
as a team defensively against Eric Dixon, who had and
we talked about it last week, kind of a quiet
eighteen points.

Speaker 1 (31:09):
They have been better.

Speaker 3 (31:10):
They've been better on the glass, They're trending in the
right direction defensively. Is what they're doing sustainable?

Speaker 9 (31:17):
Well, I think tonight will probably tell us a lot
about that. Saint John's is the most difficult matchup for
them in the conference. And now, granted, the problem against
Saint John's is more taking care of their athleticism on
the offensive glass or for Indager's kates the defensive glass.
They cannot give up second chance points like they did
in the first matchup, where they're outscored twenty two to

(31:38):
two in second chance points and out rebounded fifty to
thirty for the game. That's a big concern against Saint John's.
It's not as much first shot defense against them, but
I think, you know, the performance against Marquette says a
lot about how their defense has improved. They found some
funky ways to do it against Marquette. They were switching everything,
and they did something very interesting by putting Daveon McKnight

(32:00):
point guard on Ben Gold Marquette center because he's more
of a pick and hop player, and also because it
allowed them to get then switch the ball screens for
Marquette's star guard Cam Jones, and allowed Davion McKnight to
end up guarding him after they set the screen. So
they did some interesting things in that game, some game
plan stuff that Sean Miller and his staff deserve a
lot of credit for. We'll see if they're they're able

(32:23):
to do that when maybe they don't have as tricky
of a game plan, so to speak. But you got
to give them a lot of credit for it, that's
for sure.

Speaker 1 (32:30):
Yeah, no question about that.

Speaker 3 (32:32):
I know they'll play U Can't at Home on Saturday,
and so you know, we get a chance to watch
Dan Hurley's History Onics on the sideline, which is always
a lot of fun. If they can get this one
on the road tonight, could Xavier fans start to at
least entertain the possibility of making the NCAA.

Speaker 9 (32:50):
Tournament without a doubt. I mean, mo I was as
negative about that as anyone two weeks ago, when you
know they're losing that game to Saint John's and even
for that, the loss to Georgetown, I said, at this point,
it's hard to imagine this team is going to win
enough games and be consistent enough, especially away from the
Cinta Center, to rack up enough wins to put themselves

(33:12):
in position for that large bit, especially considering they didn't
really do anything of note in their non conference schedule.
But now this Marquette win at Marquette, it gives you
a quad one win on the road against a team
that was highly ranked. And you can talk about how
the selection committee changes from year to year, and with that,
the selection criteria changes a bit from year to year.

(33:34):
But one thing they've been pretty consistent with is they
over reward teams for quad one wins on the road.
And so for Zager to go get that win at Marquette,
I think you're looking at them needing to finish something
like eight and four probably down the stretch now, and
they are only expected to lose three of those final
twelve games according to Ken Palm right now, so they've

(33:57):
put themselves in position that if they win one of
the next two games, the quad one games against Saint
John's or Yukon, then they even have a little bit
of wiggle rooms the rest.

Speaker 6 (34:05):
Of the way.

Speaker 9 (34:06):
They can afford to maybe lose a game that you
wouldn't want them to lose and still have a chance
in that that large bit. They're going to be on
the bubble for sure. But yeah, another win out of
these next two would really go a long way towards
that conversation.

Speaker 3 (34:17):
Xavier and Saint John's tonight from Madison Square Garden. Rick
will have it covered for Musketeerreport dot Com. The NKU
Norris lose again, this time to write state on Saturday.
They get a lot of time between games.

Speaker 1 (34:29):
What is? What is? Where? Do you where?

Speaker 3 (34:31):
Does can't even spit this out? Where do Darren Horne
and the staff even begin with getting this thing turned around?

Speaker 9 (34:38):
Yeah, that's a good question. I think they're probably happening
to look hard at that this week as they have
a little more time off. But I it won It
starts with Trey Robinson and Sam Vince and your best
two players. You have to get them going consistently and
on the same night. They haven't had many nights where
that's been the case this year. The other thing, and
this one's a little bit more interesting thing because just

(35:01):
within the last week we've seen a huge development there
Dan Gerrezker at their point guard that they brought in
from the Division two ranks. They tried to start him
at point guard earlier this season. We've talked about him
throughout this year already, mo he hasn't been playing much lately,
and in the Cleveland State game last week, they benched
him on Wednesday, didn't play a single minute in that game.
Then you turn around on Saturday, he plays twenty six

(35:23):
minutes against Wright State, and in my opinion was it
was the most solid he had played throughout the season
in terms of not turning the ball over, not being
out of position defensively, which is the reasons they've felt
like they haven't been able to play him. And I
do think when he was in the game, their offense
moved at a different pace and looked like it flowed
a little bit more freely. It also allowed Sam Vincent

(35:45):
to get off the ball for a little bit and
took a little bit of pressure off of him. So honestly,
if you're looking for a spark, I think Dan Grezker
might be the one guy that you haven't gotten really
anything out of so far this season that could still
give you some real upside.

Speaker 3 (36:00):
All right, now, I mentioned you've kind of become the
king of Facebook. There there's a Facebook. There's a topic
you covered on Facebook that I wanted to talk about.

Speaker 1 (36:08):
Can we do that?

Speaker 6 (36:09):
Let's do it?

Speaker 3 (36:10):
All right, So the NCAA has they've taken the secret
part away from the secret scrimmages. Teams can play now
two exhibitions against D one teams if they want to
do you think most programs will take advantage of that
and play two public, regular season looking exhibition games.

Speaker 9 (36:29):
I think they will, mo And here's why, because I
think they're going to feel some pressure from other schools
that are doing it and doing it for ANIL reasons
or just doing it for publicity reasons. But we know
how this goes. When when other teams or when your
school feels like another team is gaining an edge in

(36:49):
some way, whether that be in public opinion or a
real competitive advantage, financial advantage, whatever it may be, you're
going to want to copy and do the same thing.
We see it time and time again. I think, yeah,
you're going to see schools schedule some big time games
for financial reasons, and then you're going to still see
maybe some some cool games set up where like you know,

(37:11):
maybe Kentucky will still schedule one of the in state schools,
but instead of it being Kentucky Wesleyan, maybe now we'll
see them schedule an Eastern Kentucky or a Northern Kentucky
or someone like that for a preseason game. I think
this rule is nothing but a good thing.

Speaker 1 (37:25):
For fans, So I agree with you.

Speaker 3 (37:27):
At the same time, like so, Xavier and Dayton played
this year in a preseason game and it was terrific,
and the initiative that the money went to is beyond noble.
Like that is awesome and I hope it continues, and
I loved it, But there's a part of me that's like, well,
you couldn't. You can't blame in the regular season, Like, Okay, cool,

(37:48):
you're playing a game, it doesn't count.

Speaker 1 (37:49):
It's neat to see him on the floor, and it's awesome.

Speaker 3 (37:50):
They're raising money, that's great, But like I just I
fear that there's gonna be more of those like, oh yeah,
we're gonna play, We're gonna have these games that everybody
wants to see.

Speaker 1 (37:59):
But they don't count.

Speaker 3 (38:00):
So there's sort of an empty feeling as a fan
about games like that.

Speaker 9 (38:05):
Now that's a real concern. But my thing on that
would be, what would you rather have the game between
Xavier and Dayton not happen at all? Because that's the
reality the situation. They're never going to play another regular
season game until something significantly changes between their current situations,
or you get the opportunity to go up there and
root against your former rival one more time in a

(38:26):
preseason setting. And I mean, I'm sure Dayton and Xavier
fans enjoyed that moment for what it was.

Speaker 6 (38:32):
I don't know.

Speaker 9 (38:33):
I mean, most of those games I don't think you're
going to get during the regular season, So it's an
opportunity to see something. It's the diet version of them,
if you will, And it's not ideal, but I think
it's better than nothing.

Speaker 3 (38:43):
But as does anybody have bragging rights when their team
wins an exhibition game. That's what this is all about. Like,
if the Bengals beat the Detroit Lions, My buddy who's
a Lions fan in a game in August. I'm not like, oh,
and I get it. It's a lot of you know,
future truck drivers playing in that game. Guys aren't going
to be in the NFL. College basketball is kind of different,
but it's about the bragging rights. I can't get bragging
rights for a game that doesn't count.

Speaker 9 (39:05):
Well, it is about the bragging rights in that stings,
but it's also, let's be honest, it's about people going
out with their friends, drinking for an afternoon and having
a good time together. And I think a lot of
people still get to do that on those those preseason games.
So again it's not ideal. But in the case of
like the example you brought up, Xavier and Dayton, you're
not going to get that game either way, so it's

(39:25):
better than not ever seeing them play.

Speaker 3 (39:27):
I have a topic that I want you to write
about on Facebook. Let's do it, all right, So college
basketball coaches, since COVID, the dress code has been relaxed.

Speaker 1 (39:36):
And I, as somebody on this topic, right.

Speaker 3 (39:38):
As somebody who hates getting dressed up, I'm here for it.
I cannot stand wearing a tie. I and now, like
some coaches still get like Mick Cronin last night, I
was watching his team play against Wisconsin has on a
suit that's worth more than my car. Like some coaches
still do it. But for the most part, coaches are
dressing down. Some look terrible dressed down, like some guy.

(39:59):
Some some of these coaches are meant to put on
a suit because they look like they're wearing pajamas on
the sideline. So I want you to write something that's
sort of focused on the happy medium and maybe which
coaches should go back to wearing suits and which head
coaches should maybe put take the suit off and put
on some basketball wear.

Speaker 1 (40:17):
Does that make sense, Well, I'll gladly do it.

Speaker 9 (40:20):
I don't know that you're going to like what I
have to say. They're just based on what you've said
that's so far, because we have some different defendions. I
will say to your point about there's some coaches who
shouldn't wear the app leisure, I would say there are
also some coaches who shouldn't be.

Speaker 6 (40:32):
Wearing the suits.

Speaker 10 (40:33):
They look terrible on that as well.

Speaker 9 (40:34):
They can't dress themselves at all.

Speaker 3 (40:35):
No no doubt about it. It's like like I looked,
I mean, I look terrible no matter what. But like
I look out of place in the suit. I mean
I don't look good wearing jeans and a hoodie, but
I look really stupid wearing a suit. I would be
one of those coaches where he's like, do forget about it,
don't worry about take it back to men's wearhouse. I
know coaches aren't shopping at men's wearhouse and put on
a pair of golf pants and a pullover and you're good.

Speaker 1 (40:58):
I think that would be me.

Speaker 3 (40:59):
But I see some of these coaches they're not exactly
pulling that look off well either.

Speaker 9 (41:04):
You know who I was shocked that went back to
the jacket. Look, you know he's not wearing a tie,
he's wearing jacket and pants. Is Chris Mack at Charleston?

Speaker 3 (41:11):
He has me.

Speaker 9 (41:12):
I thought he was one hundred percent and a half
leisure guy.

Speaker 3 (41:15):
Yeah. I had him pegged for that as well.

Speaker 1 (41:18):
Well.

Speaker 9 (41:18):
So now it isn't tall and somewhat fit like Mark
Pope and Chris Mack. I think you go at leisure
one hundred percent. That's made for you.

Speaker 1 (41:25):
Yeah. I couldn't agree more.

Speaker 3 (41:26):
Well, you know again, now you have something right about
and we can talk about it in further detail next week.

Speaker 6 (41:32):
All right, I appreciate it, but thank you, Rick.

Speaker 1 (41:33):
Browing Musketeer Report dot Com. Thank you as always.

Speaker 3 (41:38):
It's twenty two minutes after No, it's not four minutes
away from four. I saw January twenty second and twenty two.
I have screwed up this hour, tearing my apologies. This
is ESPN fifteen.

Speaker 7 (41:49):
Thirty, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty traffic.

Speaker 1 (41:55):
Ready for some football?

Speaker 6 (41:57):
Hi?

Speaker 9 (41:57):
This is Dan Horne, joined Dave Lapham and me forever
replay of every game on the official home of the Bengals,
ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 3 (42:04):
All right, there you go. It's four minutes now, five
minutes after four o'clock. I can read a clock. I
have tried to read the clock twice today. I'm successful.
I've been successful one time. My name's Moegar. This is
ESPN fifteen thirty. Thank you so much for listening and
spending part of your afternoon with us. Al Golden Have

(42:29):
they hired him yet? Have they hired Al Golden? Paul
Danner Junior and I yesterday on the show had a
good conversation about Al Golden. I didn't really need convincing
like The convincing for me is going to come when
I see the Bengals play defense this year. I'm open
minded about this, but Paul is all in on this.
He's all in on Al Golden, and you can find

(42:51):
out why if you listened to his segment yesterday on
the iHeartRadio app or the podcast page of an ESPN
fifteen thirty. Al Golden has primarily spent his career coaching
in college, including obviously most recently at Notre Dame, where
he was the DC under Marcus Freeman and coordinated a

(43:12):
defense that ended up being part of a national runner
up team. He obviously has worked in the NFL as well.
I think for a lot of folks, including people inside
the front offices of NFL teams, there has been maybe
stigma is not the right word, but will use it anyway,
a stigma attached to college coaches all those college schemes,

(43:35):
they don't know how to implement pro schemes, and maybe
that's a little bit more of an offensive thing. Or yeah,
they're recruiting kids and working with teenagers, but now in
the NFL you're going to be working with men. And
I'm sure there are some coaches who are really good
at doing that in college who maybe wouldn't be so
good at doing it in the NFL, and vice versa.

(43:58):
But the line between in college football has never been
more blurred. You hear it all the time, right college
sports are kind of becoming like pro sports. You may
hate it, you may like it. I like it, but
that's reality. Like the difference between college football and pro football,

(44:21):
which I think for much of those two entities respective histories,
has been pretty stark, pretty obvious, pretty big. I think
there's never been less of a difference. At the college level.
You are dealing with younger people. Obviously you're dealing with kids,

(44:43):
but you're dealing with people who are being treated like
pro athletes, and you're dealing with whatever issues may come
with dealing with working with and trying to get a
lot out of pro athletes. It's a harder job, maybe
than it used to be, but it's a more similar
job than what you have in the NFL. And yes,
in the NFL, you are coaching in many cases adults,

(45:06):
adults from a maturity standpoint, adults maybe from a work
ethics standpoint, people who have a lot more football experience
under their belt, and so you know, you could ask
adults to do a lot more, You could ask more
experience people to do a lot more. But the line
between pro and college football has never existed less than

(45:27):
it does right now.

Speaker 1 (45:28):
So the whole like you watch if you watch a
lot of college football.

Speaker 3 (45:31):
On a Saturday, if you watch the college Wall Playoff,
you're not watching defenses that are unlike anything you're seeing
in the NFL college playbooks and college defenses. And I've
talked with coaches about this, they will acknowledge, like what,
we have to put a lot more time into other stuff,
and we are dealing with less experienced players, and so

(45:51):
we can't implement the volume of schemes. We can't have
as many plays, we can't have as many concepts as
you might have in the NFL because we are dealing
with kids, and because there are pretty severe restrictions on
how much we can be on the practice field and
how much we can meet. And you know, let's face it,
I've got to go recruit, I've got to go do this.

(46:14):
The kids have academic responsibilities, and so, you know, maybe
things are dumbed down a little bit. But all I
heard about the Bengals defensively this past season was how
they got better the more simple Louwen or Rumo's.

Speaker 1 (46:27):
Defense has got.

Speaker 3 (46:29):
So I get a guy who has familiarity with the organization,
who has coached in college, mainly with some NFL experience,
but the line between the two entities has never been
blurred more. And I got a team where dumbing it
down worked. So what I'm telling Al Golden, yes the
personnel will change is look, man, no need to reinvent

(46:50):
the wheel. Let's put in some really effective college games,
adjust them for life in the NFL, and have you
deal with professional athletes at the professional level instead of
dealing with professional athletes at the college level. I certainly
believe this could work. I believe it's going to work
more based on what the Bengals do from a personnel perspective,
and I'm sure Al will have his opinions included in

(47:12):
the decision making as to what they do on that
side of the football. But if the Bengals are better defensively,
this is no knock on Al Golden or any other
defensive coordinator they would hire. I think their improvement is
going to be based more on who they get than
who's coaching them.

Speaker 1 (47:30):
This defense needs an overhaul. This defense needs difference makers.

Speaker 3 (47:34):
This defense needs players who opposing offensive coordinators have to
spend a lot of time worrying about. Regardless of who
the defensive coordinator would have been for the Bengals last year,
they don't have enough of those guys. But I'm very
open minded about this, and it certainly feels like a
strong likelihood, if not an inevitability.

Speaker 1 (47:53):
We will see.

Speaker 3 (47:55):
And I also think there's something about you know, lou
Anarumo lost his job because he wasn't good or didn't
get a lot of very good results from players fresh
out of college. You know, let's face it, what the
Bengals have tried to do on defense is replace older
players with younger dudes, draft picks.

Speaker 1 (48:13):
Guys right out of college. Okay, cool, Then.

Speaker 3 (48:17):
It makes sense to me at least to bring in
somebody who has come from college and achieved success with
young players.

Speaker 1 (48:26):
Awesome.

Speaker 3 (48:27):
So do I think the Bengals have completely remade their
franchise by hiring Al Golden if that's specifically what they do?

Speaker 2 (48:35):
No?

Speaker 1 (48:35):
But am I on board with this? Yeah? Yeah, I
think I am.

Speaker 3 (48:40):
This is something I'm going to play for you that
I do not want to agree with, and some of
what you hear here I don't agree with. But the
basic premise, I hate to say, I'm kind of nodding
along with this is from yesterday's The Herd with Colin Cowherd.

Speaker 11 (49:04):
And the Aaron Rodgers and the Peyton Mannings and the
Lamar Jackson's, and I would even throw in Matt Stafford.
They're just too damn towented not to break through. The
one quarterback I worry about is Joe Burrow because Joe
Burrow has one of the porest owners, if not the
porest owner. They had to sell the naming rights to
the stadium to pay for his contract. The general manager

(49:26):
in Cincinnati, it's run by the Brown family. He's virtually powerless.
They're the opposite of the Eagles. They take no big swings,
no big risks. It's like the Eagles and the Bengals
are using two separate salary caps and banks. Joe Burrow's
the guy I worry about. I mean, because every great
quarterback outside of Dan Marino, and Dan got to one.

(49:49):
But outside of Dan, they all break through.

Speaker 1 (49:52):
They all get one.

Speaker 3 (49:54):
So that's Colin kwend that we was talking about was
you know, there's a level of quarterback that you assume
no matter what, no matter what's going on around them,
no matter how many playoff failures they have, they will
break through and get one.

Speaker 1 (50:04):
And I think for the most part that's true.

Speaker 3 (50:07):
There aren't There really haven't been that many quote upper echelon,
upper tier highly accomplished statistically quarterbacks who didn't break through
and at least get to a Super Bowl and eventually
win one. Matt Ryan at least got to one. Philip
Rivers never got to one. But man, for the most part,
over the last twenty five thirty years, every great QB

(50:30):
has broken through and gotten one. And for much of
Joe Burrow's time in Cincinnati, I have been willing to
put my money on they will get one.

Speaker 1 (50:41):
Now.

Speaker 3 (50:41):
A lot of what you heard there I don't necessarily
agree with. They've taken some swings. Trey Hendrickson was a swing.
I don't recall anybody nodding along thinking, yeah, we got
Trey Hendrickson. Orlando Brown was a swing. They were criticized
in some circles for overpaying him. They took some swings
on the defense in twenty and twenty one, large part
because they had to, and they had the money like

(51:02):
they've They've taken some swings. And by the way, the
whole well, they had to sell the naming rights to
pay for their quarterback. That only stood out because they
were the only NFL team with except for lambeau Field,
that hadn't sold the naming rights. There's a lot of
owners who would have been in a simil those similar
situation looking for a way to pay the quarterback had
they not sold their had they not sold their naming
rights for some reason, I can't say naming rights.

Speaker 1 (51:24):
So a lot of that I don't agree with.

Speaker 3 (51:27):
I think Duke Tobin has a little bit more juice
than he is being given credit for. But but the
premise of that, I gotta be honest with you, I
do worry about. I asked this Paul question today, one
of three on X at Moegger. If you had to
wager an amount of money that matters on whether or

(51:48):
not Joe Burrow will win a Super Bowl with the Bengals,
where are you putting your money? Fifty seven point three
percent say yes, let's admit it. After they lost the
Super Bowl after the two twenty one season, most of
us would have said absolutely, it's gonna happen. Maybe the
same number would have said, yes, absolutely, it's gonna happen

(52:09):
after they lost to the Chiefs one year later. But
after these last two years, it's not that they haven't
gotten back. It's not so much that they haven't gotten
to the postseason. It's that what it looks like the
Bengals tried to do in twenty twenty four was Joe
figure it out right, like put everything on Joe, ask

(52:29):
him to do so much. Like I say, which one
about the Ravens. I look at Lamar Jackson. There have
been times where Lamar was in Baltimore where I have
thought and said, on this show man, they're asking him
to do so much, and I think in recent years
they've taken some pressure off of him. They have a
very well run organization with a good track record with

(52:50):
Joe Burrow and the Bengals. I'm still obviously one thousand
percent thrilled that Joe is the quarterback of the team.
But the common refrain this season was, holy crap, they're
asking him to do everything that's not gonna work. The

(53:12):
ceiling is low. If that ends up being the case,
we saw it play out this year. Joe Burrow had
an MVP caliber season. He was awesome, like he was awesome,
one of the best quarterback seasons you will ever see.
They had to win their final five games to finish
with a winning record. So perhaps they've learned their lesson.

(53:32):
Perhaps they'll have a very productive offseason. And I've said
this a bunch of times. I don't think it's far
fetched to suggest that with a good offseason, this team
is playing one year from right now in the Final
Four with a chance to go to the Super Bowl.

Speaker 1 (53:48):
But until I see it, I fear there.

Speaker 3 (53:50):
Are going to be way too many years where Joe
is asked to do more than he's capable of doing.
Joe Burrow is superhuman. He was not capable of lifting
the Bengals to a championship in a year where they
had a bad defense and a shaky offensive line. Let's
be honest, all of Jackson. For all of Zach Taylor's attributes,

(54:12):
he is not considered a coach who gives the Bengals
an extreme advantage in one particular area. There's going to
be skepticism about him until they break through in this town.
Theirs skepticism about Zach Taylor. Recent personnel moves have not worked.
The most important one they've made over the last five
years was made for them when they sucked so hard

(54:34):
in twenty nineteen that they drafted number one overall and
the relatively obvious pick was Joe Burrow. So yeah, I
worry more than I have. I would still put my
money on them winning one because I think he's going
to be here for a long time, and big picture,
I'm not betting against Burrow, and there is some heart
instead of head there too. But I'm more skeptical that

(54:55):
i've ever been. And it's not just because they've missed
the playoffs the last couple the years. It's been because
I've watched Joe do unbelievable things and the team not
be good enough. And I've talked a lot about how
they've asked him to do way too much, way more
than any quarterback is capable of doing, and that's not sustainable.

(55:16):
Until that changes, my skepticism will remain. And what you
just heard from a national radio host will be fair
criticism or at least a fair concern, even if some
of the observations are a little off base. Eighteen minutes
after four o'clock, your phone calls are coming up. We
hope at least five point three seven four nine fifteen thirty.

(55:37):
I have a question. Last night we found out who
who else is going to be in the Class of
twenty twenty five this summer in Cooperstown. Ichiro Suzuki, C C. Sabathia,
and Billy Wagner, all three very deserving. I have no
idea why it took Billy Wagner ten tries, but awesome
he's in. So is Ichi Row, who, for my money,
was a no doubt Hall of Famer. Most would agree,

(55:58):
except for the one voter who didn't vote for and
CC Sabbathia. For my money as well, I do have
a question about how we consume of specifically in Baseball
Hall of Fame voting results coming up.

Speaker 1 (56:10):
In just about fifteen minutes.

Speaker 3 (56:12):
But first, it's January the twenty second, and we're already
wondering what about the Bearcats?

Speaker 1 (56:19):
Next? On ESPN fifteen.

Speaker 7 (56:21):
Thirty Cincinnati's ESPN.

Speaker 3 (56:25):
Before this is ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 1 (56:29):
We I mentioned our poll questions. We actually have three.

Speaker 3 (56:31):
We'll update them here in just a bit and a
few minutes. On Baseball Hall of Fame voting as well,
we started the show by talking about the Bearcats in
the game last night, which was so deeply frustrating that
to me felt like a pivot point. It felt like
an opportunity to kind of go, you know what, those
four games we lost to start Big.

Speaker 1 (56:51):
Twelve play not who we are. Now we're going to
take off. We got this.

Speaker 3 (56:57):
I hate to say check a box, but we've we've
added something to our resume that we didn't have before
a Q one win.

Speaker 1 (57:02):
We beat a good team.

Speaker 3 (57:03):
Now we go on the road and have a measure
of momentum before they take on BYU on Saturday and
Utah on Tuesday, and instead still looking for a Q
one win, another home loss, and now consecutive road games.
And you know, we've We've done this with a lot
of teams around here. Where a team gets off to
a rough start, or you hit a point in the

(57:24):
season where it feels like things are starting to slip
away and someone will say, why he come on, there's
plenty of time, or dude, look at the schedule.

Speaker 1 (57:35):
Look at the schedule.

Speaker 3 (57:36):
It eases up if the first thing you say about
what's left of your team season is something about how
much time is left on it. On the schedule or
who's on the schedule. I assume your team's not very good. Look,
we did this with the Reds all season. Well, they're
getting ready to go to a stretch. Look they're go
to play the Pirates a bunch. Okay, fine, tell me

(57:57):
what about this team I should believe in? And that's
the approach that I take with UC basketball right now.
They've played, they've played eighteen games. Eighteen games a very
fair sample size. What do you hang your hat on.
What's the team's calling card, what's the one thing you

(58:19):
know they're gonna do if in multiple games in the
Big twelve? Where say which one? About them? Offensively? Their
defense has been porous, including last night. Toughness factor not
there last night. Like offensively, based on how they have
played against Big twelve teams and against name brand teams,
what they did last night offensively was an outlier. It

(58:40):
may prove not to be one. And maybe they're going
in the right direction and trending toward being a good
offensive team, But like, what do you count on? And
I think if there's been one observation that I've heard
from a lot of fans this season, it's been either
I'm not sure what they're trying to do offensively, or
I'm not sure who the goat who guy is, or

(59:02):
I'm not sure what I'm supposed to count on, Like
we're still wondering those things. That comes back to the
I word. We use it all the time in sports identity.
They have to finish they have thirteen Big twelve or
thirteen games left. Let's just say we're using five hundred
and Big twelve play as kind of a baseline goal.

(59:23):
Get to this and they're in. And by the way,
I do think if they finish five hundred of the
Big twelve, they're going to be an NCAA tournament team. Well,
they're gonna have to go eight and five. And you
might be going, Okay, that's doable. Let's just starting on Saturday,
and that's fine, but that it has to be doable
for reasons that go beyond some of the teams on

(59:45):
the schedule not being great. What are they going to
do over these next thirteen games? What do they bring
to the table over these next thirteen games that you
know you can count on. What's their identity and you
can apply that to the team. And I hate to
say this because I really really like Wes Miller. But

(01:00:06):
you know, year one, you know, we were all trying
to figure out what's the goal here, what's a reasonable,
reasonably successful season this year? And it was, you know,
by the end of the year, I'd like I have
a good idea of what a good Wes Miller coach
team looks like. Here's what they can hang their hat on.
Here's what this is going to look like when they
get better players. And here we are, year four, We're

(01:00:27):
still wondering what is this supposed to look like? What's
the identity supposed to be the identity of the individual team,
but the identity of the program as well. It's frustrating
to still be asking that. It's frustrating that they've played
these many games, eighteen games, and we're still wondering, like
what what can they count on? What can they hang

(01:00:50):
their hat on? And I don't like to do the
thing where we talk about previous coaches who were here.
But you know, Tony and Austin brought up Mick Cronin
to me and certainly had his detractors, and Mick certainly
had a number of things that you could criticize very fairly.
But I knew what the identity of the program was
even before the team got good. I remember talking about that, like,

(01:01:15):
I know what the identity is, but the players have
to match the identity. Now we know what the identity
is supposed to be. They're gonna play defense, and they're
gonna rebound, and there's gonna be toughness and offensively, they're
gonna play a certain style. Cool. Now, go get better players,
and they eventually did a bunch of really good players,
all league type guys. I think the players are largely there.

(01:01:41):
I don't know what the identity is. I don't know
what I'm supposed to count on moving forward.

Speaker 6 (01:01:48):
Now.

Speaker 3 (01:01:48):
There have been times where I've thought, God, they're really
good defensively, But in a couple of Big twelve games,
I think they've lost mainly because of their defense, including
last night, I'm still not sure, as proficient as they
were on the offensive end last night, who's the guy
that I'm supposed to say, here's what this guy's gonna

(01:02:09):
give them in a tough game that really matters statistically.
Who Like we're still wondering those things, And it feels
like these last few years for a lot of good
that Wes Miller has done We're still wondering stuff like that,
who's going to give them, what, how are they gonna play?
What's this supposed to look like? What's the identity? Until

(01:02:32):
we get answers to those questions, Uh, oh, we've got
the breaking news sounds.

Speaker 1 (01:02:37):
What do you got for me?

Speaker 5 (01:02:38):
Tarn According to one Pete them over, oh gap al outbreak,
how gonna expect it to become the Baker's movie.

Speaker 3 (01:02:43):
Defensive coordinator Pete Dammil the breaking news Al Golden, to
the surprise of No One, said to be the Bengals
new defensive coordinator. Do you think we get a press
release from the Bengals and a news conference tomorrow, like
a press press release today, news difference tomorrow or press
release tomorrow, news conference tomorrow or press release tomorrow, news

(01:03:05):
conference on Friday?

Speaker 1 (01:03:06):
I think everything.

Speaker 6 (01:03:07):
I think everything is on Friday.

Speaker 3 (01:03:08):
I think everything's gonna be on Friday. Yes, and there
you go, Al Golden, according to Pete Tamill, gonna be
the Bengals new defensive coordinator. But while we're still wondering
those things about the Bearcats, that the program is not
where so many of us want it to be. This
might sound like an overreaction to one loss last night,
and again, like you know, college basketball teams lose games.

(01:03:31):
If I'm a Kentucky fan and I watched the game
on Saturday against Alabama, I'm worried about my team's defense
against really good teams, and all right, you know, it's
tough to lose at home. But I go, you know what,
we're good. Our team's good offensively, we can still hang
with we can hang with Alabama, who's really good. Like,

(01:03:51):
we're fine. It sucks to lose. You hate to lose
at home. We're good because they had played so well
for so long. They're okay. The unfortunate thing about last
night's game was its importance was heightened because of the
losses leading up to it, and the loss gets amplified
because of so many other losses like it. They haven't

(01:04:15):
won a Q one game at home since before COVID.
That's a lot of missed opportunities. By the way, you know,
folks always talk about the energy at those games, and
it was it was weird last night. If you were there,
you could tell me if you had the same vibe.
It felt like a crowd that didn't expect their team

(01:04:37):
to win. It felt like a crowd that hoped their
team would win, but had had the rug pulled out
from underneath it so many times in big games at
home like that that they expected to lose. That's also
not a great place to be. It's not a great
place to be as a fan for sure. Away from

(01:05:01):
five o'clock, Al Golden new defensive coordinator, to the surprise
of No. One sports headlines and a question about Baseball
Hall of Fame voting. Next ESPN fifteen thirty Saint steph
Lay home of lifetime powertrain protection and guaranteed credit approval
from their family yours for life, kelseyshev dot com. Pete

(01:05:21):
Thammel of ESPN reports that Al Golden has informed Notre
Dame of his decision to become the Bengals new defensive coordinator.
Congratulations to Al and all parties involved. This felt like
an inevitability now for a while. Meanwhile, college basketball tonight,
Xavier's on the road at the home of the next
take on Saint John's XU is one three straight, looking

(01:05:42):
for a second consecutive road victory. Tip off from the
world's most famous arena Tonight at seven o'clock on seven
hundred WLW Indiana's on the road at Northwestern Columbus Bluejackets
on the road against Toronto.

Speaker 1 (01:05:56):
And congratulations to A.

Speaker 3 (01:05:57):
Chaz Sharp, the Cincinnati Cyclones defenseman named to the twenty
twenty five Midseason All Star Team. He'll represent the Cyclones
as a member of the Western Conference team in his
first season as a pro. Congrats to Chaz, who leads
the Cyclones in goals as a defenseman. By the way,

(01:06:18):
if you're a big Ohio state family, have something coming
up for you in ten minutes that I think you're
gonna be interested in. The Baseball Hall of Fame class
of twenty twenty five was rounded out last night. Ichiro
Suzuki goes in. I don't know how you could look
at his candidacy and vote no, which if you don't

(01:06:40):
for him, you're you're effectively voting no. There are Hall
of famers, and there are obvious Hall of famers. He
was the obvious Hall of famer. C. C. Sabbathia goes
in on his first try on the ballot, And yesterday
I gave nine players I would have voted for had
I had a vote. C. C.

Speaker 1 (01:06:58):
Sabbathia was one of them.

Speaker 3 (01:07:00):
Billy Wagner as well, historically great left handed relief pitcher
goes in on his last try, all three deserving. There
are others I would have voted in. Some did better.
It feels like a matter of time for Andrew Jones
and Carlos Beltran. I would have voted for Chase Utley.
I would have voted for Jimmy Rollins. I would have

(01:07:20):
voted for Manny Ramirez. I would have voted for Alex Rodriguez,
and I think I probably also would have voted for
Bobby I'll bring you, but I don't have a vote,
and that's neither here nor there. Let me ask you something,
when did we start to become obsessed with whether or
not a player went in unanimously? So three hundred and

(01:07:42):
thirty nine votes were cast, Three ninety three checked off
hi Ro Suzuki.

Speaker 1 (01:07:50):
One didn't.

Speaker 3 (01:07:50):
Now I'm less interested in who that person is and
more interested in the explanation.

Speaker 1 (01:07:57):
I said this yesterday in the show.

Speaker 3 (01:07:59):
This is one of my favorite times a year because
I love columns from baseball writers who explain why they
did or didn't vote for certain people. They're thoughtful, they're
usually really well explained. Sometimes I still don't agree, But
I love perspectives, like in real life voting, and we
don't do politics on this show. But if I'm in

(01:08:19):
a conversation about why someone voted for a certain candidate,
I'm often interested in why Sometimes they voted for the
same candidate I voted for. Sometimes because I'm an adult
and I can talk to people who voted for the
other candidate, I'm interested in why. I think those things
are interesting. But I'm sorry, man, As as much as

(01:08:41):
I would have voted for each row, and as much
as I'm interested in hearing from the person who didn't
vote for eachier row, because not because I want to
stone them or take away their vote, it's it's just
it's so different from everybody else. Why not Was it
because you knew he was going to get in and
there were ten other people you wanted to voted wanted
to vote for. Is it because you don't feel like

(01:09:02):
anybody should go in on the first ballot? Like what
was the reasoning? I would love to know that, and
we're probably not going to know it, And that's okay.
There's no obligation by the writers to release their ballots,
many do, and I do appreciate the transparency. But okay,
each year Road didn't go in unanimously. Guess what neither

(01:09:25):
did Hank Aaron or Ted Williams or Tom Seaver or
Johnny Bench or Joe Morgan or Willie Mays or Ricky
Henderson or Cal Ripken or Tony Gwinn or Stan Musual
or Mickey Mantle or Babe Ruth Like, I started getting

(01:09:46):
really into Baseball Hall of Fame voting in the in
the eighties because that's when I kind of came up
as a baseball fan, right And I remember when Johnny
Bench went in nineteen eighty nine because it occurred against
the backdrop of Pete Rose's gambling scandal with baseball, and
you know, honestly, it sort of took the attention away
from that, which Johnny I think is resentful of to
this day. That's a different topic. I don't remember caring

(01:10:10):
what percentage of votes he got. I remember thinking, Johnny
Bench is in the Hall of Fame, that's cool. The
next year Joe Morgan went in, I don't remember anybody
obsessing over what percentage of votes that he got. Some
didn't vote for him. Now, in both men's cases, is
it baffling to me that somebody would look at Johnny Bench.

Speaker 1 (01:10:30):
And go, nah, yes.

Speaker 3 (01:10:33):
Is it befuddling to me that somebody would look at
Joe Morgan's candidacy and say, yeah, I'm just not doing it.

Speaker 1 (01:10:39):
Yes, but who cares?

Speaker 3 (01:10:41):
They made it so like every story that I read
this morning, the athletics headline was not about each year
Row becoming the first Japanese born player to go into
the Hall of Fame, or about getting surprised on MLB
Network by Ken Griffy Jr. Or what he did statistically.
It was about, well he in, but not unanimously. When

(01:11:02):
did we start caring about this? You know, King Griffy
Junior went in a number of years ago. Was that
twenty fifteen, I believe? And my take was inevitable but
awesome And if you're my age before King Griffy Junior

(01:11:23):
played for the Reds, like that was it was the
one thing we could all agree on.

Speaker 1 (01:11:26):
We were huge King Griffy Junior fans.

Speaker 3 (01:11:28):
And right when baseball started appearing on cable TV all
the time, King Griffy Junior gets called up and we
could watch Mariners games and like, show me a dude,
who was who's my age? And I'll show you somebody
who loved King Griffy Junior. I don't care where you lived,
but he was from here and he played here, and
it's awesome, and I remember talking about it on the air,

(01:11:49):
and all anybody wanted to focus on were who were
the three people who didn't vote for him?

Speaker 1 (01:11:54):
I don't know who cares.

Speaker 3 (01:12:00):
I mean, like, if you pay attention to how American
life works, we can't find people who agree on the obvious.
There are three hundred and ninety four voters. If I
got three hundred and ninety four people outside right now
and said, is it cold as it sits right now?
It's currently four degrees outside, I bet you I could

(01:12:23):
find someone who's like, no, it's not that bad. Like
we can't agree on facts in this country, like stuff
that actually happened.

Speaker 1 (01:12:32):
We can't agree on facts.

Speaker 3 (01:12:34):
We're gonna get three hundred and ninety four people to
look at each year own go yeah, Hall of Famer.
I just I have a hard time with this, And
not that he doesn't deserve to go in of course
he does, first ballot, obvious Hall of Famer, I wouldn't
have to think about it, but I just I'm curious
because I don't know the answer. A. Why are we
so obsessed with everybody voting for these guys unanimous voting?

(01:13:00):
Why are we obsessed with it? If the guy gets in,
who cares? When did this start? And is there anybody
like me? And for the most part, I hope the
answer is no. Who says, all right, man? If Dave
Winfield isn't a unanimous Hall of Famer, If Mike Schmidt's
not a unanimous Hall of Famer, if Nolan Ryan's not

(01:13:22):
a unanimous Hall of Famer, if Stam Usual is not
a unanimous Hall of Famer.

Speaker 1 (01:13:26):
Well then you know what, no big deal off each
e Ro's not either. When did we become obsessed with this?

Speaker 3 (01:13:34):
Because we've taken something that I think should be a
celebration and we've made it, just like everything else, a
source of people's misdirected anger. And I don't get it,
Like you could have lost your mind last night watching
each e Ro's highlights on YouTube, or you could have
spent all your energy wondering can we get our pitchforks

(01:13:57):
out so we can get angry at the person who
didn't vote for each Ero?

Speaker 10 (01:13:59):
I know?

Speaker 3 (01:14:00):
Or I would rather direct my energy When did this start? Legitimately,
when did this start? Five one, three, seven, four nine,
fifteen thirty is our phone number. There were a handful
of people who looked at Tom Seaver and said nah.
And Greg Maddox and said nah. And Randy Johnson had

(01:14:21):
said nah, and Chipper Jones and said nah. Derek Jeeter
and said nah. Like, Okay, those are legends.

Speaker 6 (01:14:30):
So is each row.

Speaker 3 (01:14:32):
We don't think any less of those legends. I don't
think any less of each row. They're Hall of Famers,
they're in. That's all that should matter. I got something cool.
If you're an Ohio State fan.

Speaker 7 (01:14:44):
Next Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty traffic.

Speaker 12 (01:14:50):
From the UC Health Traffic Center at UCE help, you'll
find comprehensive care that's so personal it makes your best
tomorrow possible. That's bound the care for better outcomes. Expect
more at UCHealth dot com. An accident has now been
cleared westbound Fort Washington Way that's over near US fifty.
A least in tow trucks are on the scene of

(01:15:12):
an accident westbound Norwood Lateral between Rutting and Paddock Road
that's got the right lane and the ramp lane blocked.

Speaker 2 (01:15:19):
Off.

Speaker 12 (01:15:20):
I'm at Ezelek with traffic. This report is Sponsory Bombing five.

Speaker 3 (01:15:24):
This is ESPN fifteen thirty on Moegor. Thank you for
listening today. If you're an Ohio State football fan still
basking in the glow of the national championship victory on
Monday night, We've got something I think you're really going
to enjoy. You've heard us chat with the folks at
Nico's Sports before. When the Bengals made the Super Bowl
a couple of years ago, we talked about the commemorative

(01:15:44):
balls they made.

Speaker 1 (01:15:45):
I've got one of those.

Speaker 3 (01:15:47):
Commemorating their Super Bowl appearance in my home office, and
they the same year they made one for uc and
the College Football Playoff. I've got one of those in
my home office as well. These products are awesome. They've
got a ball to commemorate. There's only ten thousand of
these out there to commemorate Ohio State's national championship. If
you're a Buckeye fan, you're gonna want one of these
here to tell us more. As our friend Bob Iback,

(01:16:08):
I know you're I know that somebody here has done
well when you're on the show, so it's good to
have you, Bob, what's going on?

Speaker 6 (01:16:14):
Hey Moe.

Speaker 2 (01:16:14):
It's always a pleasure to we go way way back.
I think back to when I when I was the
Chicago Cubs PR director and always have love coming to Cincinnati.
I was thinking about when I was coming on your
show today. I know, I think when we did a
project with you with Joe Burrow and tied in with
the Super Bowl, and when I was reading about somebody
breaking into his house and taking some of the memorabilia

(01:16:36):
that he had there. I just hope nobody card off
one of those footballs that we just said them. That's
the first thing across my mind. I said, Uh, oh,
I hear you.

Speaker 1 (01:16:47):
I hear you. Well, I mean they are a hot commodity.

Speaker 3 (01:16:50):
Let's talk about what you've got for Ohio State fans
this go around, because these are pretty cool.

Speaker 2 (01:16:54):
Yeah, they really are. And you're limited, like you mentioned,
only ten thousand. We're well over gosh, probably forty percent
already sold out. We've only been doing it two days,
but it's a full sized football, officially licensed. Only ten
thousand made. A portion of the proceeds will go to
Extra Yard for Teachers, which has been the official charity

(01:17:14):
since twenty fifteen of the college football Playoffs. I love
working with these guys because we all have school teachers
in our background that we've helped. Moneys from this program
will also benefit teachers right there in the Cincinnati area.
The footballs are priced at one hundred and twenty nine
dollars and ninety five cents each. You'll get a numbered
certificate of authenticity. And before I give out that phone

(01:17:38):
number website, I want to point out two distinct things
about this football which I think makes it special. One,
everything on the ball, all the panels, the statistics, the
logos are embossed. It's like having something engraved into the ball,
and it won't fade later on from the sun or
anything else. These footballs will remain pristine looking for years

(01:18:01):
to come, and I think that makes it really really
something of the quality you'll really enjoy when you get this. Now,
you'll get a number certificate of authenticity. On the top panel,
we'll have a recap of the twenty four regular season
with scores opponents. We've got the playoffs schedule listed on there,
right next to a beautiful Ohio State helmet and the

(01:18:24):
CFP official logo. Then the panel right below that has
Buckeye Football facts, OSU logo, championship history, and then we've
got on the third panel the Roseball game logo, the
Cotton Bowl logo. So you get all out on this football. Again,
it's very limited. Here's the two ways you can go
ahead and get this eight hundred three four five two

(01:18:49):
eight six eight. That's one eight hundred three four five
twenty eight sixty eight and MOA. I encourage people to
go to the website. You'll see a theory, you can
order it nicosports dot com, nik coosports dot com, nikcosports
dot com. And finally, when you go there, you can

(01:19:09):
download a gift flier and print it out. Maybe you
want to give it out for a Valentie's Day gift
or upcoming Mother's Day, Father's Day. You'll have that up
in your hands and these footballs will be set to
you in about six to eight weeks. Takes a little
longer because of the embossing process. Every football is handmade.

Speaker 3 (01:19:29):
Yeah, they are their slick. I mentioned I've got some
similar products from other teams, and I'm telling you, if
you're an Ohio State fan, you are really going to
enjoy these Nicossports dot com and again the number, and
you can tell me if I've got this wrong, Bob.

Speaker 1 (01:19:44):
Eight hundred three four five twenty eight sixty eight.

Speaker 2 (01:19:48):
That is perfect.

Speaker 6 (01:19:49):
That's perfect, yep.

Speaker 2 (01:19:50):
And I would urge people don't delay, because you know,
with ten thousand, that is a very limited number. And
I know some people that I've already talked to or
ordered it are getting extra ones because they want to
go out there and maybe get a guy, you know,
maybe run into Will Howard sometime and get him the
sign or or the coach or they only increase.

Speaker 6 (01:20:12):
The value of these things.

Speaker 2 (01:20:13):
I've got one guy called me up yesterday.

Speaker 6 (01:20:15):
I'm ordered twenty five.

Speaker 1 (01:20:17):
Wow.

Speaker 3 (01:20:17):
Oh yeah, wow. I might know who that was, all right.
Eight hundred three four five twenty eight sixty eight. Nikosports
dot com. If you're an Ohio State fan, these are
really really cool looking. They're full size, plenty of room
for autographs, the logos look beautiful, and you're really going
to enjoy having this in your office or your man
cave or anything like that. So again eight hundred three

(01:20:39):
four five twenty eight sixty eight or Nico Sports dot com. Bob,
It's always good to have you. And as I said,
when I hear your voice. I know a team in
the area has won something, so hopefully we chat again soon.

Speaker 2 (01:20:53):
Well, no, I've always in Joe our relationship, and hear
you talk on the air when I come to Cincinnati
and elswise and enjoy it and be safe, stay warm.
And all I'm doing is counting my days to spring training,
because you know, I have to tell you before we leave.
My son is the assistant my son is the assistant
general manager of the Tampa Bay Ray. So I go

(01:21:14):
down to the month of March. I go down to
Florida and poor Charlotte where they train, so I get
away from the cold weather. But I got to suffer
like everybody else until then.

Speaker 3 (01:21:23):
Yeah, we're on the same page. Let me know if
he ever needs help in spring training. I'll be as
erin boy or something. Okay, you got it, all right,
good stuff, I'm gonna have you, man, Thank you.

Speaker 6 (01:21:35):
All right?

Speaker 3 (01:21:35):
Be good now, Buy Buckeyes fans good at nicco sports
dot com.

Speaker 1 (01:21:38):
It's five o'clock on ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 13 (01:21:41):
It doesn't matter if you're working a nationwide keyword on
our website.

Speaker 1 (01:21:44):
Cash that's cash.

Speaker 3 (01:21:46):
Enter it now, all right, cash, baby, It's five after five,
exactly five after five. This is ESPN fifteen thirty one
mo leedor thank you for listening today. Al Golden is
the guide. It is of absolutely no one. Pete Damill
had it about thirty minutes ago. ESPN dot Com. Paul

(01:22:08):
Dayner junior, our buddy who is big. He calls this
a really good hire, a really good higher. By the way,
like I put a lot of stock into what people
like Paul say. Quickly he makes it. He puts it
on his Twitter feed, x feed, whatever you want to
call it. The Bengals are making it official. Al Golden
is the new defensive coordinator. He will sign tomorrow. Paul
adds that the Bengals are also adding former Patriots d

(01:22:30):
line coach Jerry Montgomery to the same role in Cincinnati.

Speaker 1 (01:22:34):
So there you go.

Speaker 3 (01:22:35):
We had Paul on the show yesterday because it's Tuesday,
and we have him on the show every Tuesday. He
called this a great hire. And you know this is
I think if you have listened to this show at
any point over the last fourteen years or so since
Paul started covering the Bengals, you know the regard that
I hold him in both personally and professionally, as well

(01:22:56):
sourced and as informed as anybody who covers this team,
and there are a lot of great people who cover
this team. I put a lot of stock in what
he says. It doesn't mean that he gets it right
one hundred percent of the time, because none of us do.
But you know, he was covering the team when Al
Golden was coaching linebackers. Here by the way, linebacker play

(01:23:16):
for the Bengals, pretty much my entire life has been deficient.
It was not when Al Golden was coaching those guys.
So you've got to take that into consideration. Look, the
Bengals like familiarity, and I've seen some folks have talked about, well,
it was the process was a little bit too short sighted.
And I will admit to you this. I'm the cast

(01:23:38):
a wide net guy. You know, when the Reds had
a managerial vacancy and everybody defers to like their favorite
former Reds player, my take is always like, why don't
you cast a wide net? Why don't you talk to
a lot of people? And I would have had no
issue at all had the Bengals talked to a whole
bunch of different defensive coordinator candidates at the same time,

(01:24:03):
they do like familiarity. They're not the only team, They're
not the only organization that has a preference for familiarity.
And if you have seen someone's work firsthand, and you
trust their work firsthand, and you enjoy the working relationship
you have with them and their work with you firsthand
has given you a degree of confidence that they can

(01:24:25):
take on a larger role in your team. I'm not sure.
I have a huge issue with basically making him the
guy from the outset. I think you're wasting Did you
want them to interview a bunch of people for the
sake of interviewing them? Did you want them to take
on a bunch of interviews for guys they really weren't
going to hire because they had their mindset on al

(01:24:46):
Golden Like, we do this sometimes, and I also, and
I know no one wants to hear this. I will
also kind of defer to Zach Taylor here a little
bit because I think he and they have had pretty
good assistant coaches, like lou An Aroma was a good
assistant coach here and in a certain type of role

(01:25:10):
that he was in in twenty one and twenty two,
he achieved terrific results. Things got different with the team.
The results were different. It cost Lou his job, but
it wasn't that long ago. Lou Narumo was thought to
be like a good candidate to be a head coach.
Bengals had him. Brian Callahan's a head coach. I don't

(01:25:31):
know for how much longer because the Titans seem like
they're a mess. But Brian Callahan thought was thought highly
enough of that a team wanted to hire him as
the head coach, and the Titans weren't the only team
to talked to Brian Callahan. I'm kind of I'm kind
of giving Zach a little bit of the benefit of
the doubt here. And you know, we talked about this
a little bit before. You've got an established working relationship

(01:25:56):
with someone, a guy who did a good job at
Notre Dame. The line between college and pro football has
never been more blurred. Coaching in college has never been
more like coaching in the pros. Is this guaranteed to work?
Of course not? Do I think it can? Absolutely? And

(01:26:18):
am I all right with this? I can't speak for
you or anybody else. You could tell me you feel differently.
I'm on board with this. And I think if you're
a Bengals fan, you should at least be open minded
about it, and frankly, who won't be. But let's be honest,
the success of the Bengals on defense, the defensive coordinator
will get a lot of credit if they're much better.

(01:26:40):
The success of the defense in twenty twenty five is
going to be based on the work they do on
the roster and less who they hire to be the DC.
Can they find players who can get after the quarterback?
Can they find players who can cover? Can they find
players who can make tackles in space? Can they find

(01:27:04):
players who know the right angles to make? Can they
find replacements for guys that most of us are willing
to say goodbye to, like Sam Hubbard or Geno Stone
or Jermaine Pratt. Now along with this, can Al Golden
get more out of a guy like Miles Murphy who
has been a disappointment. Can he finally find the right

(01:27:25):
role for Dax Hill. That's to me gonna be one
of the interesting things. Right, we tried Dax at safety,
didn't work. We've tried Dax at corner. Never really got
an idea of whether or not it would work because
he got hurt. But like, what does Al Golden think
about Dax Hill? Where does he want to play him?
And can they get good results out of him? But
the success of this defense, I think is going to

(01:27:45):
have a lot more to do with who they get.

Speaker 1 (01:27:48):
Than who they hired. But who they hired is significant.

Speaker 3 (01:27:54):
There was probably gonna be no realistic defensive coordinator higher
Like if the season ended and you thought, you know what,
next year's Bengals team is gonna go seven and ten
or ten and seven, whatever you thought.

Speaker 1 (01:28:07):
Then have you changed your mind now?

Speaker 3 (01:28:10):
I mean there's no one who thought, you know, two
weeks ago, well, the twenty twenty five Bengals are gonna
go ten and seven. Who today is like, you know what?
Screw that seven and ten. At best, they went with familiar.
I know folks get tired of that with the Bengals,
but they went with familiar. They went with someone they know.
By the way, there's a track record in Bengals history

(01:28:30):
of doing something like this. Hugh Jackson worked for the Bengals,
then he left, then he came back. He was the
team's offensive coordinator, and it was awesome. They hired someone
they had worked with. It's not an apples to apples comparison.
Hugh kind of bounced around the league a little bit.
Was the coach of the Raiders for five minutes. But

(01:28:53):
remember that, like they it was time to move on
from Jay Gruden. And then Jay did that for everybody
by going to coach the Redskins, which is what they
were at the time, and they needed two new coordinators.
They promoted from within when Mike Zimmer left and they
hired Paul Gunthern.

Speaker 1 (01:29:07):
By the way, that worked.

Speaker 3 (01:29:08):
Twenty fifteen, they had the league's second best defense in
points allowed per game, and then they went and got
somebody and Hugh Jackson. By the way, Hugh played that
into being the coach of the Browns, which ended up
being a disaster, But in the role they hired him
to be in, he was pretty damn good. Twenty fifteen
offense was great. They hired him based on an established

(01:29:30):
working relationship. So the familiarity thing, because it's the Bengals.
You could roll your eyes and again I'm the cast
a wide net guy, but they have hired coaches before
that got the gig, at least in part because there
was familiarity. If you remember, Hugh came back in twenty thirteen,

(01:29:51):
they actually had him working on defense. He was like
assistant DB's coach or something, and then Gruden left and
it just it made sense. All right, Hugh's gonna be
the offsive coordinator, so you know, NFL teams higher because
of familiarity. We'll see if it works out. I don't
have any issue with this. I do think understanding what
they're looking for here. We need a coach who can

(01:30:11):
get more out of young players. All right, Al Golden
just got a lot out of young players in college football.

Speaker 1 (01:30:21):
Terrific.

Speaker 3 (01:30:23):
I am one hundred percent on board with this. Well,
I'm not going to say one hundred percent. This is fine.

Speaker 1 (01:30:31):
This is this is fine. It's it's not the biggest name,
it's it's not the sexiest higher. If this process started
and that's.

Speaker 3 (01:30:37):
What you were looking for, yeah, you're probably gonna be disappointed.
This to me is fine. Go make the roster better more,
Go go find some help for for the spots they
have to fill around. Trey Hendrickson, Your thoughts are welcome
five point three seven four nine fifteen thirty and eight

(01:30:59):
sixty six seven zero two three seven seven six started
the show by talking about the Bearcats last night.

Speaker 1 (01:31:08):
That is.

Speaker 3 (01:31:11):
I think the most disappointing loss you can have, right
because coming into last night, what was the problem with
U SEE was offense. And it wasn't just the point totals,
though they weren't very good. It wasn't just the shooting
percentages so the offensive efficiency rating. It was really just

(01:31:31):
kind of how it looked disjointed, clunky, out of sorts
direction lists. I've heard some version of each of those
from people who have watched the Bearcats play in recent weeks,
and I've agreed with all of them. Last night, for
much of the game, the Bearcats were the exact opposite

(01:31:51):
of those things. It wasn't clunky, it was fluid, it
wasn't disjointed. It was well put together and organized. The
ball moved, players moved, They got good shots, They got
a lot of good two point shots. They weren't so
good from behind the arc. But if you watched that
team last night, I knew nothing about them, knew nothing

(01:32:12):
about the previous five or six games, knew nothing about
what they were statistically offensively, you would think pretty good
offensive team. The one thing they don't do well they
did pretty well, wasn't awesome gotta be better from three
in the modern game, but they shot fifty two percent
for the night. At one point they were around sixty
one or sixty two percent late in the first half.

(01:32:34):
That might have been what they were at halftime. In fact,
they were sixty percent at halftime. Offensively good. They lose
by ten points. Like the one thing that we have
talked about them not being good at, they were good
at and they still frankly didn't come close to winning.
A deeply frustrating night for that reason, A deeply frustrating

(01:32:56):
night because game seven of the conference and game eighteen
on the overall schedule felt like must wins. We did
this with the Bengals all year long. Don't put yourself
in a position where you're playing must win games in October.
I think the Bearcats played a must win game last
night because I think you've got to have a winning
record at home to have any prayer of making the

(01:33:19):
NCAA Tournament. They may still have a winning record at home,
but in order to do so, they can only lose
one more time inside Fifth Third Arena. There was an
added emphasis on a game played on January the twenty first.
They didn't Now they have to go on the road
for two and it is starting to feel and maybe

(01:33:39):
I'm singing a different tune on Monday. If they went
on Saturday night, like the season is beginning to slip away,
you will know this program is back. And get mad
at me for saying this. If you're a Bearcat fan,
you will know this program is back. Not when they're
ranked in the AP Top twenty five pole, not when

(01:34:02):
you see them on bracketology, not when people are writing
about their uniforms.

Speaker 1 (01:34:08):
All that stuff is great. I'm here for all that stuff.

Speaker 3 (01:34:10):
You will know the program is back when it's winning
big games at home. They haven't won a Q one
game at home since before COVID John Brannon's first season.
You might use that as a reason to yell and
scream that Wes Miller should be fired. You may use
that to yell and scream that we overrated this team

(01:34:33):
before the season.

Speaker 1 (01:34:35):
But whatever it is, that is a fact. Oh to ten.

Speaker 3 (01:34:40):
Over the last five seasons, really over the last four years,
Oh and ten no Q one wins last night was
a chance for one. You're not going to win all
of them. You got to win some of them. That
doesn't even mention the ones on neutral sites and on
the road. I emphasize winning at home. In tough leagues,
You've got to win at home because it's really, really,

(01:35:03):
really really hard to have to build a resume by
stacking road wins.

Speaker 1 (01:35:08):
This program is.

Speaker 3 (01:35:09):
Back when it starts winning games like last Nights by
the Way against a good team, well coach team. I
don't think anybody looks at Texas Tech and says eventual
Big Twelve champ or possible Final four team, good team,
really well coached, offensively, very efficient, but like if you're
really back, really back, and you're really in January, a

(01:35:33):
team that we should talk about getting to the NCAA tournament.
On a night where you isssued fifty two percent, you're
supposed to win the game. Instead, defensively, bad on the glass,
bad toughness, not existent, some key players, bad nights, and
a good offensive effort wasted, and a twelve and six

(01:35:54):
overall record. With two and five, the mark in the
Big Twelve is the season over not by any stretch.
But now there's an added importance on winning on the
road and in the Big Twelve that's really hard to do.
Deeply frustrating. Last night nineteen minutes after five o'clock, your
phone calls are coming up.

Speaker 1 (01:36:14):
My name is Maulagar.

Speaker 3 (01:36:15):
This is ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 1 (01:36:20):
Cincinnati's after five o'clock. This is ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 3 (01:36:23):
And I mentioned before that daner was all in or
now gold and you'll hear what he had to say
yesterday if you missed it or if you want to
hear it again coming up in ten minutes. And we've
got to talk about Dan Hurley as well, because I
believe something. I believe something about college basketball coaches and
baseball managers that I think you're going to agree with

(01:36:44):
as well. But first, you know, I don't want to
monopolize the airtime. Okay, I don't want to keep it
out of myself. Let's talk to other folks, starting with Ron.

Speaker 1 (01:36:53):
Ron.

Speaker 3 (01:36:53):
You're on ESPN fifteen thirty. Good afternoon, How are you good, mo?

Speaker 1 (01:36:58):
How are you doing?

Speaker 14 (01:36:59):
My friends?

Speaker 1 (01:37:00):
And what's up?

Speaker 3 (01:37:01):
Well, we knew.

Speaker 14 (01:37:02):
It'd be al golden, but I got to thinking about
what you were saying, and as usual, you were correct.
Role don't bring yourself you were. I look at it
and I got to thinking, and it's going to be
more about who we bring in because you look, if
you go back to when you and I were children,
the Chicago Bears, if they didn't have Richard Dent, William Perry,

(01:37:24):
Dan Hampton, McMichael singletary, would Buddy Ryan be a good
defensive coordinator?

Speaker 10 (01:37:30):
Probably not.

Speaker 2 (01:37:31):
So.

Speaker 14 (01:37:32):
I mean, you look, we're gonna have to really beep
up this defense. Now. Obviously we're not gonna have studs
like that on here, but we're gonna have to do something.
As we know we've said last week when I called
numerous times Trey Hendrickson just can't do it himself.

Speaker 3 (01:37:46):
Yeah, they need difference makers, they need playmakers, they need
guys you have to game plan around. And that sounds easy.
Every team could use those guys. But as I watched
the season unfold the way it did, especially in the
middle of it, when they couldn't stop anybody, I didn't think, God,
Lou and Rumo's scheme is not right or it's outdated,

(01:38:07):
or he's not doing enough. I thought they don't have
enough guys. Now, well, you might say, well, well Lou's
got to figure out a way to get more out
of younger players, and that's why they made the change.
And I was certainly on board with that. But but
they need a pretty significant defensive overhaul, and they need
some pretty significant steps forward from guys who were on
the team this past season.

Speaker 14 (01:38:28):
Yeah, no doubt though, But uh, I agree with you
about the younger talent. We gotta get something out of
Miles Murphy. We got to, you know, get more out
of the guys that we have, but to rely on
them only, I think you know we're gonna have to
get some veterans in there too to help. Now. We
tried that with the secondary and I don't even know

(01:38:49):
because I've read things already. I mean, you think Gino
Stone's won and done.

Speaker 3 (01:38:55):
I think Al Golden might be better equipped to answer
that question, because I I think you could go either
way with that, Like if Gino Stone was cut loose,
I don't think anybody would shed a tear. At the
same time, it's not like he's old. He's just twenty
six years old. He did play better at the end
of the season, and he's not that far removed from
being called by many of us and a sending player.

(01:39:17):
And so on one hand, you might go, you know what,
he's stunk last year, let's just move on on the
other you might go, you know what, maybe it wasn't
a good fit with Lou. Maybe in a with a
different coordinator who simplifies things a little bit, they can
build on what Gino was able to do at the
end of the season last year. What gives me pause
is what we heard about his deficiency in Baltimore being

(01:39:40):
was his deficiency here not a good tackler? What hell,
safety's got to be good tacklers. And so my first
inclination is to move on. But I could understand why
they would say we brought him in for a reason
it didn't work out. Paired with a different defensive coordinator
and maybe put in a secondary that's little bit better

(01:40:00):
equipped than last year's was we feel like Gino can
have a better second season in Cincinnati.

Speaker 14 (01:40:05):
Yeah, And I think that it's nothing else. I would
thought that maybe Jermaine Pratt would be gone, but I
think Al Golden and Jermaine Pratt got along pretty well,
So I would think that Jermaine Pratt what might be
safe Now?

Speaker 1 (01:40:18):
Maybe you know, I don't know.

Speaker 3 (01:40:20):
Something else we talked about with Paul yesterday. Another one
where you can make the case. Look, Jermaine had his
best success with Al Golden coaching him. At the same time,
there were all the miss tackles last season, and you know,
Jermaine publicly sort of shot down the idea that tackles
were being missed. Ron you and I watched those games.
He was guilty evident And look, I mean, Jermaine Pratt

(01:40:41):
has done some good things in a Bengals uniform. Can
you do better? I guess that's what I would ask
about Geno Stone as well, like I can I find
better than Jermaine Pratt?

Speaker 1 (01:40:50):
Like Jermaine Pratt as a linebacker.

Speaker 3 (01:40:54):
Is another team's offensive coordinator sitting down, going, man, we
can't let Jermaine Pratts grew up our game plan.

Speaker 14 (01:41:01):
No, there's only one guy, Like we said, we keep
saying and harping on it, there's only one guy the
other team's afraid of, and that's Trey Hendrick.

Speaker 3 (01:41:09):
So not only would Jermaine Pratt, and I guess you
could apply this to Genostone is well, can I find
players who are as good with more upside who cost
less money?

Speaker 1 (01:41:16):
And I think in both cases the answer is yes.

Speaker 14 (01:41:19):
Oh, I would agree, And that's the same thing with
Sheldon Rank and good God, when we get rid of already.

Speaker 1 (01:41:24):
He'll be gone.

Speaker 3 (01:41:25):
I think there's a zero percent chance of Sheldon Rankins
playing for the Bengals next year.

Speaker 1 (01:41:29):
Ron I gotta run man. Thank you, I take care
about it.

Speaker 3 (01:41:32):
You and I I mean I you know you. You
hire Al Golden because you are interested in what he
says about these players and how he evaluates them. Like Genostone,
I think is interesting. I was really excited about them
signing him and it did not work out. Is he
a guy that you go, you know what, at the
end of the season, they grab something, they bottled it,
and we're gonna try to run it back with him

(01:41:53):
and get more out of him.

Speaker 1 (01:41:55):
Okay, fine.

Speaker 3 (01:41:55):
At the same time, if the player that I watch
for most of the season has cut that cool too.

Speaker 1 (01:42:01):
The reality, though, is the need they need help.

Speaker 3 (01:42:04):
They need help from the outside, and they have to
get instant, instant contributions from players they draft on defense,
and they've got a fine guys from outside and free
agency who can help. And they need players who are
part of this team last season to do more like
Miles Murphy like if he's here, excuse me, Joseph Osaigh,
like Cam Taylor Britt, like Jordan battle a like DJ Turner,

(01:42:26):
like Dax Hill. Health is going to be a reason
why you're getting more from some of those players, but
they need more. That was a defense that last season
had one good player. That sounds harsh. If that's the case.
I don't care who the defensive coordinator is next season,
but it's going to be Al Golden. Twenty nine away
from six, we'll get to a two guys named Steve

(01:42:47):
on Hold and Mike and you five point three seven
four nine, fifteen thirty. I do want to play the
Paul Danner Junior audio on Al Golden and uh we'll
talk about Dan Hurley too on ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 7 (01:43:00):
Cincinnati's two and thirty Cincinnati Sports Station, Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 1 (01:43:06):
Why should you say that? Twice?

Speaker 3 (01:43:08):
Sports headlines are a service of Kelsey Chevrolet Home of Lifetime,
Howard Trained Protection and guarantee credit approval from their family
to yours for life, Kelsey chev dot Com. Al Golden
is going to be the Bengals defensive coordinator. Bengals will
make an official he'll sign tomorrow. This according to our
friend Paul Danner Junior. Al Golden was a Notre Dames

(01:43:30):
defensive coordinator the last couple of years. Cincinnati also reportedly
adding defensive line coach Jerry Montgomery. He was the Patriots
defensive line coach. He'll serve in the same role here.
That Also, according to Paul, congratulations to all parties involved,
Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn is going to go be
the head coach of the Jets, the team for who

(01:43:50):
he played for. Homi played for, which he played which
Aaron Glenn used to play for the Jets. Now he's
the coach. What else do we have? Oh, Trey Brown,
Bengals senior personnel executive, is going to be in for
a second interview with the Jets for their GM job.
So they hire the coach and then they're gonna hire
the GM. College basketball tonight, Xavier is at Madison Square Garden,

(01:44:14):
home of NBA MVP Jalen Brunson, to take on Saint
John's tip off tonight at seven on seven hundred w
l W. Also this evening, Indiana battles Northwestern Blue Jackets
on the road tonight against the Toronto Maple Leafs. I
mentioned this and I figured, you know what, instead of
mentioning it, play the damn audio, let's do that. So

(01:44:34):
mentioned Danner on the show yesterday us talking about Al Golden,
and he starts, you'll hear this. This is about four
minutes long. He starts by talking about those who took
issue with the process that made it feel like an
inevitability that Golden was going to be the guy.

Speaker 1 (01:44:50):
You'll hear me in here as well. Ignore my meanderings.

Speaker 3 (01:44:54):
But the heart of this, I think you're gonna hear
from Paul, somebody who's really on board with this. I
put a lot of stock into what Paul says. Here's
the uh that segment four minutes long from yesterday.

Speaker 13 (01:45:06):
The other part of this is and I don't want
it to feel like I'm sitting here like defending it.
I'm just don't there's anything to depend I'm a little
curious at some of the uproar that I've seen about this.
I feel like this is a really good hire, all.

Speaker 1 (01:45:20):
Right, So you're getting different feedback than I I see.
I see negativity out.

Speaker 3 (01:45:26):
I mean I think I saw some folks last night
who were having fun with it. I mean, Pike and
I were texting back and forth turned the game last night,
going boy, you know, I hope he doesn't bring that
defense with him, but it was tongue in cheek, like
I haven't detected the same amount of pushback I get. Like,
there's you know, when the job first came open, there's
a lot of people who their brains danced with visions

(01:45:48):
of Robert Sala, Right, Okay, like, so that's splashy, that's
a big name. Like I understand that, But okay, once
you kind of got beyond that and you looked at
Al Golden's credentials, and you know, my my take was, Hey,
if I'm looking for a guy who can work with
and communicate with and get the most out of younger players,
a dude who's coaching college football is a pretty good

(01:46:08):
place to start, right. And there's familiarity, which you may
roll your eyes at that, But the Bengals aren't the
only team that likes familiar No, NFL teams aren't the
only companies that like familiar. So I I don't gather
that people feel like, oh my god, the trajectory of
the franchise has been changed because of Al Golden.

Speaker 1 (01:46:27):
The response that I have gathered has been kind of.

Speaker 3 (01:46:29):
A yeah, okay, fine, yeah, now draft better players, yeah right,
and and develop them better yeah right?

Speaker 13 (01:46:35):
And that's and that's part of what he's he's tasked
with to There's a couple of things also, you know,
he's obviously some of the biggest moments in his career
have come on the collegiate level, notably, but also if
you take just the last you know, eight years or
whatever of his career, there's a couple other examples that
I that I want to kind of point out and

(01:46:58):
take this as just I don't want to be able
to over exaggerate that I'm saying this is going to
be this person, but I think you see this the
college to pro thing. Mike o'donald right now, he was
a linebackers coach and in this working his way up
in Baltimore, goes to Michigan to coordinate their defense for
a year, comes back, does such a great job at Baltimore,

(01:47:21):
used to head to coach to the Seahawks, right translating
college to pro making that thing work. Halfley Jeff Haffley
goes from Boston College right four years leading Boston College,
but previously was you know, on lower levels in the
NFL as well, goes takes the college the things he
did in college, brings it to the NFL, they go

(01:47:43):
from twenty second in points per drive to six.

Speaker 1 (01:47:46):
You know, the I don't.

Speaker 13 (01:47:47):
I think there's a lot of times there's a like,
can you can you really pull from the college game
and what's that what's that going to be like? What's
that change going to be like? I think as much
as those two games have merged, both financially in the
issues you deal with off the field with players, yeah,
and also on the field and the way that the

(01:48:07):
schemes I think are much more similar. I think the
transitions of coaches in major roles from the college to
the NFL is much more similar.

Speaker 1 (01:48:17):
And you've seen some of these.

Speaker 13 (01:48:18):
Success stories play out in recent years, and some that
are pretty close to the Bengals there, I mean Lafleur was,
Zach Taylor obviously very very close and with the Ravens,
you know, seeing everything that they've been able to do,
and I I just think for that fact, I think
it's really easy to see the success that he had
at Notre Dame translating to the NFL, even though yes,

(01:48:41):
it's different in different ways. In so many ways, it's
much more similar than it ever has.

Speaker 3 (01:48:46):
But I think what hurts al Golden from a perception
perspective is when he was coaching at Miami and a Temple,
he dressed on the sideline like a drafting teacher.

Speaker 1 (01:48:55):
Yeah.

Speaker 13 (01:48:55):
Look, I mean I am fuliced. We need more. Bring
back Yeah, bring back ties. Let's go bring it. Have
the tie hanging down.

Speaker 1 (01:49:06):
I think bring it.

Speaker 3 (01:49:07):
Back, and I think like his name sounds like I'm
trying to figure out, like Al Golden sounds like a
place where you get dents taken out of your car.
So there's me offering absolutely nothing other than silliness. But
Paul with some real good nuts and bolts analysis of
the Bengals.

Speaker 1 (01:49:20):
Hiring Al Golden.

Speaker 3 (01:49:21):
Go get the rest of that conversation on the iHeartRadio app.
You can get it on my page at ESPN fifteen
thirty dot com. All right, very good, congratulations to Al Golden,
Bengals defensive coordinator. Let's see here we have time, Steve,
thank you for your patient. You're on ESPN fifteen thirty.
Good afternoon. How you doing.

Speaker 10 (01:49:45):
Bring in there, man, I'm I had turned the game
off last night with about five minutes left.

Speaker 6 (01:49:52):
I just.

Speaker 10 (01:49:54):
I've never seen like we just don't have that.

Speaker 3 (01:49:59):
Guy.

Speaker 10 (01:50:00):
Go give me go, give me a bucket, you know,
and like the body language ergon page it's like you
you want it more playing time, but your body language
tells me you don't care.

Speaker 6 (01:50:18):
But I don't know.

Speaker 10 (01:50:20):
It's so frustrating. I mean there's I mean, he just
I get so mad that I actually have to turn
the game golf because it's like last night, right the
free throw, Dana Thomas comes to the line.

Speaker 6 (01:50:37):
To cut to five.

Speaker 10 (01:50:38):
Missus, missus the one that's the type of stuff that
you those teams find a way to win. Do you
make those two? It changes all the whole the whole game.
I mean, you're putting more pressure. Now it's on Texas Tech.
You Now you gotta go down and score. Like it's
it's the small things. It's the detailed things. It's the hustles,

(01:51:02):
it's the I mean, how many times did they miss
a three pointer? And then you know, we have two
guys right next to Texas Tech guy and he just
he gets three bout. It's like, I mean, we can
sit here and we can talk about West, right, we
can talk about it, and we can talk about it.
We can talk about it, but I mean, how many
times did Digital James he was wide open a handful

(01:51:23):
of times for a three.

Speaker 3 (01:51:25):
Short on him.

Speaker 10 (01:51:25):
It's like we can put it on the West, that's fine.
But you guys, guys that they're just missing shots and
they're big shots. It's not like it's they're down by
twenty and like it's a close game and you're missing
these shots. And it's like, guys, like that's what that's
what you have to do in the big twelve to

(01:51:46):
win games. You have to hit those big shots. You
have to those are your opportunities. And you know, for me,
Asis Bendego does absolutely nothing for for that team. He
doesn't rebound. Honestly, you know, where are you going to
find that guy? Just give me a rebound. That's all

(01:52:09):
you're out there for.

Speaker 6 (01:52:10):
Give me a rebound.

Speaker 10 (01:52:11):
And it's like it's insane. It's not that fair kind
of basketball either, you know. And I don't know what
you know. I know you go to all the games
and you're you're helping comment, but how do you like,
how do you sit there and just like not want to.

Speaker 9 (01:52:26):
Just like flip a table like I was.

Speaker 10 (01:52:30):
I have an eight year old in a seven and
eleven year old, and I was sitting there with my
eight year old. He plays basketball, and my eight year
old goes, damn.

Speaker 1 (01:52:37):
He doesn't even really you know, he.

Speaker 10 (01:52:39):
Plays basketball eight but he sits there and he says, damn,
what's that guy doing?

Speaker 1 (01:52:44):
Like I don't know.

Speaker 10 (01:52:46):
It's like, oh, I don't know.

Speaker 9 (01:52:48):
It's so frustrating.

Speaker 3 (01:52:51):
I hear it in your voice, and I can relate
to and feel everything you said, and I can't disagree
with any of it that I think. That's the thing, like,
it's not it's no one thing like it's it's easy
to say, well, Dan Skillings was bad last night. Okay, fine,
Well you know what a player should be allowed to
have a bad game, Pick them up. Pick them up
by playing good team defense. They didn't do it last night.

(01:53:12):
When they did defend well, they didn't get rebounds, they
were out toughed. You know, you mentioned disease bandego. You
know he's had some some games where he's grabbed a
lot of rebounds. I still see way too many instances
where somebody steps in front of him or he gets
shoved off the block, and uh, he didn't have a
block shot last night. There are times where I wonder

(01:53:32):
where the rim protection is. They use them in the
pick and roll and teams really don't respect it, so
they say, go ahead and throw it to him because
we don't think that guy can score. Like, there's you
and I could spend the next twenty minutes and talk
about a lot of different issues.

Speaker 1 (01:53:47):
And that's that's the thing. It's not just one thing.

Speaker 3 (01:53:51):
It's they had defensive breakdowns since they got out toughed
on the glass. It's there are players you can't count on.
It's they're not deep enough. It's they're not a good
shooting team. It's well, the offense doesn't work, but then
when it does work, they're.

Speaker 1 (01:54:04):
Still missing outside shots.

Speaker 3 (01:54:06):
Like it's it's so many different things, and that, to
me is what's frustrating. If it was one thing, you
can fix one thing, you could address one thing. You
can play this guy and not this guy, or you
cannot run this play and run this stuff.

Speaker 1 (01:54:19):
It's so many.

Speaker 3 (01:54:20):
Different things that I don't even know if you're Wes
Miller and the staff to get this team to play
consistently well against good teams, I don't even know where you.

Speaker 10 (01:54:29):
Begin, right, And I got one more thing. I'll let
you go. Sure, you know, like we talk about Dan Skillings, Okay, dude,
you're you're six foot eight man like in your A
lot of times you're playing against guys that are smaller
than you, so you know, like a lot of these
guys want to play, you know, to the back, like

(01:54:50):
you know what's their back or not against the basket.
It's like, you're not you're not shooting well, right, Go
find a way to to use your length in and
use your size against guys that are smaller in you
find a way to post somebody. It's absolutely mind boggling
when you've got advantages and it's like you don't know

(01:55:11):
what you're doing. Like is these players they think that
they have to be this certain way to make the NBA,
and it's like, no, right now, you're in college. Find
ways to be better in college and stop worrying about
the NBA and what you.

Speaker 9 (01:55:25):
Think you're gonna do.

Speaker 10 (01:55:27):
It's insane. It drives me absolutely insane.

Speaker 3 (01:55:31):
You've got to be able to affect the game when
you're not scoring. You got to be able to affect
the game and help your team when offensively you're not
able to contribute all that much. And Dan didn't do
that last night. He didn't rebound it. He hasn't rebounded
it well, now for a month. Defensively, unfortunately, he's not
doing anything to stand out. I'm not entirely convinced he's

(01:55:51):
one hundred percent. Just watching him move, there's just not
a ton of consistent explosiveness. But I think at the
beginning of the season, and if we were to say,
all right, here's the guy who's gonna go get him
a bucket when they need it, it'll be Dan, and
that player has not shown up unfortunately in quite a while, Steve, I,
I can relate to everything you said. Man, I'm sorry,

(01:56:13):
I don't have any answers. No, it's it's massively frustrating.
It's it's massively frustrating. And you know, I've been told, well,
you're you were you overrated this team, and I'm guilty, Fine,
I did.

Speaker 1 (01:56:28):
I The thing is like, I think.

Speaker 3 (01:56:31):
This team should be better than it is. I thought
it was a better collection of parts than it has
proven to be to this point. And again, to me,
the most frustrating types of losses are the ones where
you're like, hey, this one thing that we're not good
at we were good at and then all the other
stuff fell apart as well, and that eighteen games of

(01:56:51):
the season.

Speaker 1 (01:56:52):
I don't know.

Speaker 3 (01:56:53):
I don't know what I'm supposed like. They're gonna go
play two road games this week. Winnabout road games? B
Yu is not great? You tall is not great? Winnable
road games? Who can I count on? Who can I
count on?

Speaker 1 (01:57:05):
On the road?

Speaker 3 (01:57:06):
Four minutes to go Saturday night, four minutes to go?
Tie game? Who am I counting on? Four minutes to
go down for? Who am I counting on? Terrence counting
on me?

Speaker 1 (01:57:17):
To shut up?

Speaker 3 (01:57:17):
Because the music is playing, because the show is over?
Tot looking to hold Dan Hurley ittle Friday. Here's my
basic Dan Hurley take. It's fun as how watching adults
throw temper tantrums. That's why I like David Bell. Guy
was good for a couple of temper tantrums a year.
It's as adults like, we can't do that in our

(01:57:39):
everyday lives, But it's fun to watch college basketball coaches
and baseball managers throw temper tantrums. Tomorrow, Brad Mehtter, the
Reds GM is going to be with us handful of
Reds players in studio, and I believe either Tommy Thrawl
or Jeff Branley, I have no idea, but heavy on
the Reds and some al Golden stuff too.

Speaker 1 (01:57:58):
Have a great night. Thank you for listen some thing.
Thanks to A. Tarren Bland for producing.

Speaker 3 (01:58:02):
And we'll talk to you tomorrow at three zero five
on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 7 (01:58:07):
Station Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty. Traffic from the UC Health
Traffic Center. At UC help, you'll find comprehensive care that's

(01:58:29):
so personal it makes your best tomorrow possible. That's boundless
care for better outcomes. Expect more at UCHealth dot com.
Westbound two seventy five. It's an accident approaching Hamilton Avenue.
Traffic slow from Springfield Pike at twenty five minute delay.
Eastbound Columbia Parkway. It's construction between Red Bank and Waterson Road.

(01:58:50):
That is a fifty minute delay. I'm at ezalk with traffic.

Speaker 1 (01:58:55):
This report is sponsored by Rapid Radio. Rapid Radios are
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