February 4, 2026 • 10 mins
ESPN Radio's Evan Cohen joined us from San Francisco to talk about Joe Burrow and our kids' backpacks.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This Cincinnati sports station, sports station. This is ESPN fifteen thirty.
Do you hear Evan Cohen?
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Evan Cohen every weekday morning from six to ten, one
of the hosts of unsportsmanlike excuse me, with Michelle Smallman
and and Chris Canty. Chris is in New York while
Evan and Michelle are in San Francisco broadcasting from the
Super Bowl. So that's like three am local time. What
time you got to get up?
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Mo? I am up at one fifteen. We got an
uber over to the hotel to the radio Row area
at one forty am. And then you know, doing all
show prep, hair makeup for TV, which I need a
lot of, beginning at two am, and then on the
air at three am. And yet Michelle and I are here,
can't he just had a baby? Well his wife did.
(00:52):
That would be weird if he did. But his wife
had a baby, and so he's back in New York
with his young son.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
I don't know who should say and who more us
for you guys, you know, giving us Bengals content nearly
every morning, or the Bengals for giving you an endless
treasure trove of stuff to talk about this football season.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
You know, Mo, it's interesting because we have we have
become I don't want to say a Bengals show, because
that would be like, I don't want to mislead the audi,
the great audience in Cincy. But we talk about the
Bengals a lot.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
YEA.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
Joe Burrow has become, as you know, a lightning rod
for us because of the fact that, you know, I
think initially, if I'm going to be real, initially it
was our takes and analysis around our assumptions of Burrow
slash the Bengals. Right, I'm not saying that they were
out of line, but it was more of like, here's
what we think and here's what we think could be
(01:46):
going on. Can't He obviously knows this stuff inside and
now because he played. But over the last year, I
think it's been they have given us tangible audio to
work off of, to become a hot topic almost on
a regular basis, and especially the quarterback at times. And
I know you spent a ton of time on this
alluding to the idea of hypothetical possible retirements or moving
(02:09):
on from Cincy.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
Yeah, which like we've gone, we've gone this route down
this road before, right, We've done this with Carson Palmer,
and so you know, folks get mad at us, and frankly, like,
I'll hear it from from listeners of your show here,
who are like, why why are they trying to why
are they trying to create a Joe Burrow Bengals divorce?
And my take is, like, what would make Joe Burrow
(02:32):
any different from the endless list of players who have
sought their way out of Cincinnati?
Speaker 3 (02:37):
That's right. And you know what's funny is Kanty, to
his credit, doesn't just do it about Burrow. If you notice,
and I know you have, almost every time that he
has brought up Burrow, he has brought up Ken Anderson,
He's brought up Boomer, He's brought up obviously Carson Palmer
and all of the other Cincinnati quarterbacks that were almost
(02:59):
champions right and almost there or wanted to leave at
some point or another or asked out and had a
forced retirement as a way of getting to another franchise.
So he's not doing it and we're not doing it
out of nowhere. Unfortunately, there is a history of this,
Like if you look at it, Cincinnati QB drama is
in a way a a kin to Green Bay qub
(03:23):
lineage like, oh, one's going to hand off to the
other in Green Bay, where in Cincinnati one's going to
ask out after another.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
Look, Boomer ended poorly, Carson ended poorly, Joe Burrow, who knows.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
How it's going to end.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
But if it continues to go the way it has,
I don't know why people suddenly assume like he'll be
the exception, it'll be any different. History, if you use
it as a guide, would suggest that that's not going
to be the case. I hear all the time though,
from folks here who ask me this, And you know,
we've had him on and he's been great to us.
But it sounds at times like when it comes to
(03:58):
the Bengals, you and Michelle are voice of reason and
Chris Canty hates the Bengals.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
People say that to me, What would you say to that?
Speaker 3 (04:05):
Yeah, I don't think he hates the Bengals at all.
I think what he hates is organizations not supporting players
who do right by the organization and who he believes
should be supported. I think it's I think it's just
that I think like what he gets bothered by is
the idea of how can Joe Burrow, Tamar Chase, et cetera.
(04:28):
Do more for the Bengals and why do they put
them through this? This Rigamaroor? Why did that? And I
understand that Shamar Stewart, you know, wasn't exactly a home run,
but the idea of going through all of that, Trey Henderson,
same thing, I think, just very simply, you're talking about
a guy in Kanty that played eleven years in the NFL,
(04:50):
he won a Super Bowl, and he believes that those
that contribute to a team in a positive way should
be rewarded.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
Evan Cohen with us on sportsman Like Weekday Mornings on
ESPN Radio ESPN fifteen thirty. Evan and Michelle broadcasting from
San Francisco.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
We've been paying.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
Thought. Yeah, I Triggar thought, there's one era that we
did not just bring up in a weird way. God,
this is a weird question, in a weird way. Was
the Marvin Lewis Andy Dalton era underrated?
Speaker 2 (05:25):
Yes, including in real time because you know, unfortunately what
hovered over Marvin and Andy's era are a lot.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
Of things that they had nothing to do with.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
Right, they hadn't won a playoff game since nineteen ninety
and so we we never talked about that duo. We
never talked about those teams in championship. In championship terms,
it was always can they win one playoff game? And
then once they started to get to the postseason year
after year after year, we got to a point where
we took for granted that success while all the while
never really talking about them in legitimate championship terms. And
(05:58):
I look back on that stretch with a great amount
of fondness, Like, look, I was here for the nineties.
I grew up here in the nineties watching the Bengals
be totally irrelevant. Marvin and Andy almost every year were relevant,
and I thought in real time that was underrated.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
Yeah, because in a way, look at the Seahawks, right,
not not to just tie it to the Super Bowl.
I think you're the most underrated franchise in the NFL.
And if you look at the last you know, twenty
plus years, they had three iterations of a Super Bowl team.
Coaching quarterback Combo home Grind haffle back, Carol Wilson, and
now obviously McDonald and Darnold. But for the most part,
they're pretty good every year, like they never were embarrassingly
(06:36):
bad and Obviously the Bengals have had bad years, but
for the most part in that time with Marvin Lewis
and Andy Dalton, they were like pretty good every year.
They didn't want playoff games, but they were just pretty
good every year. And there's a lot of teams that
have been stinky and they weren't that.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
I think that's the first interview we've done where somebody
has used the word stinky.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
I need you to elaborate on something for me.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
Okay, Yeah, So this morning I dropped my daughter off
at school at like a quarter after eight, and I'm
listening and you're talking about your kids come home from
school and you make them empty their backpack. And my daughter,
who's in the third grade, says to me, you're not
going to make me do that?
Speaker 1 (07:14):
Are you so elaborate on that for me? What is
that like? Kids come home and you say empty your backpack?
Speaker 2 (07:20):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (07:21):
I think, Mo, the way you're saying and the way
maybe I presented it sounds a little bit more intense
than it was meant to be. It was more of
like like it was like that they're going through like
the police department. That's not what it is. What I'm
saying is I have a twelve year old and a
nine year old. You have what an eight year old?
Speaker 1 (07:41):
Eight and a half?
Speaker 3 (07:41):
Now, yes, yeah, So what I'm saying is I don't
believe any kid voluntarily will do their homework on their own.
And if you have a kid that had that is,
and she's able to do that, then you are the
parent of the year. I am not, obviously, and I'm
not blaming my wife. That's not me. But the reality
is I always think if I say, hey, just empty
out your bag, a couple of things happen. Number One,
(08:04):
I learned in that moment if they have homework that night,
because there'll be worksheets that are empty. I also will
see what gross food somehow ended up in the lunch
box in the bag. And as people who are not
parents may not realize this, and you know this, they
all have devices now, so now I want to make sure, Okay,
so you don't go to school with a dead laptop
for tomorrow. Let's charge that thing up. So this is
(08:27):
more of just me trying to get them into the
habit of me being able to help them. By me
being able to help, I mean my wife's being able
to help because I'm an f with homework or whatever
it is, and making sure we know if they have it,
is that that bad?
Speaker 1 (08:38):
No, you know me, maybe it's not bad at all.
But like now I'm listening. My daughter's in the car.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
She's listening, and she's wondering if that's what life is
going to be like? And the answer is now moving forward?
Probably yes, even though I'm not there when she comes
home because I work in the afternoons.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
But nonetheless that might be a sign.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
Interesting. So now I have scared your daughter. Your daughter
has never met me, and You're daughter is now afraid
of you because of me.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
Well, she listens with me every day, so like you're right.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
But now I'm this scary old time.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
And I told her I'm going to talk to Evan
today and I'm gonna get an answer and then things
may change for you when it comes to your backpack.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
So you know, we'll see. So we're gonna have a
conversation to me.
Speaker 3 (09:20):
You know, do you know every day? Be honest, do
you know if your daughter has homework every day?
Speaker 2 (09:26):
I do only because the teacher emails us like, which
is something I thank god I didn't have that when
I was a kid. My teacher is sending a note
home every day going, yeah, here's the homework. It's got
to be done by this time. So if I ask
my daughter about homework, I can go back to the
email and say, yeah, it says here, you've got this
to do.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
Ah. Yeah, I failed with that. They may be doing
that and I'm unaware, so that's not a good thing.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
We'll see.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
Enjoy the West Coast, Enjoy Sunday. Can't thank you enough.
Always love having you and we'll talk soon. Man, thanks
so much.
Speaker 3 (09:58):
Well, you're the best.
Speaker 1 (09:59):
Thank you so much, Eavan Cohen.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
Tomorrow Morning Unsportsmanlike with Michelle Smallman and Chris Canty starting
at six am from San Francisco on ESPN fifteen thirty.
Rick Brewing on the Muskies and the Norse next
This Cincinnati sports station, sports station. This is ESPN fifteen thirty.
Do you hear Evan Cohen?
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Evan Cohen every weekday morning from six to ten, one
of the hosts of unsportsmanlike excuse me, with Michelle Smallman
and and Chris Canty. Chris is in New York while
Evan and Michelle are in San Francisco broadcasting from the
Super Bowl. So that's like three am local time. What
time you got to get up?
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Mo? I am up at one fifteen. We got an
uber over to the hotel to the radio Row area
at one forty am. And then you know, doing all
show prep, hair makeup for TV, which I need a
lot of, beginning at two am, and then on the
air at three am. And yet Michelle and I are here,
can't he just had a baby? Well his wife did.
(00:52):
That would be weird if he did. But his wife
had a baby, and so he's back in New York
with his young son.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
I don't know who should say and who more us
for you guys, you know, giving us Bengals content nearly
every morning, or the Bengals for giving you an endless
treasure trove of stuff to talk about this football season.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
You know, Mo, it's interesting because we have we have
become I don't want to say a Bengals show, because
that would be like, I don't want to mislead the audi,
the great audience in Cincy. But we talk about the
Bengals a lot.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
YEA.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
Joe Burrow has become, as you know, a lightning rod
for us because of the fact that, you know, I
think initially, if I'm going to be real, initially it
was our takes and analysis around our assumptions of Burrow
slash the Bengals. Right, I'm not saying that they were
out of line, but it was more of like, here's
what we think and here's what we think could be
(01:46):
going on. Can't He obviously knows this stuff inside and
now because he played. But over the last year, I
think it's been they have given us tangible audio to
work off of, to become a hot topic almost on
a regular basis, and especially the quarterback at times. And
I know you spent a ton of time on this
alluding to the idea of hypothetical possible retirements or moving
(02:09):
on from Cincy.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
Yeah, which like we've gone, we've gone this route down
this road before, right, We've done this with Carson Palmer,
and so you know, folks get mad at us, and frankly, like,
I'll hear it from from listeners of your show here,
who are like, why why are they trying to why
are they trying to create a Joe Burrow Bengals divorce?
And my take is, like, what would make Joe Burrow
(02:32):
any different from the endless list of players who have
sought their way out of Cincinnati?
Speaker 3 (02:37):
That's right. And you know what's funny is Kanty, to
his credit, doesn't just do it about Burrow. If you notice,
and I know you have, almost every time that he
has brought up Burrow, he has brought up Ken Anderson,
He's brought up Boomer, He's brought up obviously Carson Palmer
and all of the other Cincinnati quarterbacks that were almost
(02:59):
champions right and almost there or wanted to leave at
some point or another or asked out and had a
forced retirement as a way of getting to another franchise.
So he's not doing it and we're not doing it
out of nowhere. Unfortunately, there is a history of this,
Like if you look at it, Cincinnati QB drama is
in a way a a kin to Green Bay qub
(03:23):
lineage like, oh, one's going to hand off to the
other in Green Bay, where in Cincinnati one's going to
ask out after another.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
Look, Boomer ended poorly, Carson ended poorly, Joe Burrow, who knows.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
How it's going to end.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
But if it continues to go the way it has,
I don't know why people suddenly assume like he'll be
the exception, it'll be any different. History, if you use
it as a guide, would suggest that that's not going
to be the case. I hear all the time though,
from folks here who ask me this, And you know,
we've had him on and he's been great to us.
But it sounds at times like when it comes to
(03:58):
the Bengals, you and Michelle are voice of reason and
Chris Canty hates the Bengals.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
People say that to me, What would you say to that?
Speaker 3 (04:05):
Yeah, I don't think he hates the Bengals at all.
I think what he hates is organizations not supporting players
who do right by the organization and who he believes
should be supported. I think it's I think it's just
that I think like what he gets bothered by is
the idea of how can Joe Burrow, Tamar Chase, et cetera.
(04:28):
Do more for the Bengals and why do they put
them through this? This Rigamaroor? Why did that? And I
understand that Shamar Stewart, you know, wasn't exactly a home run,
but the idea of going through all of that, Trey Henderson,
same thing, I think, just very simply, you're talking about
a guy in Kanty that played eleven years in the NFL,
(04:50):
he won a Super Bowl, and he believes that those
that contribute to a team in a positive way should
be rewarded.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
Evan Cohen with us on sportsman Like Weekday Mornings on
ESPN Radio ESPN fifteen thirty. Evan and Michelle broadcasting from
San Francisco.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
We've been paying.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
Thought. Yeah, I Triggar thought, there's one era that we
did not just bring up in a weird way. God,
this is a weird question, in a weird way. Was
the Marvin Lewis Andy Dalton era underrated?
Speaker 2 (05:25):
Yes, including in real time because you know, unfortunately what
hovered over Marvin and Andy's era are a lot.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
Of things that they had nothing to do with.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
Right, they hadn't won a playoff game since nineteen ninety
and so we we never talked about that duo. We
never talked about those teams in championship. In championship terms,
it was always can they win one playoff game? And
then once they started to get to the postseason year
after year after year, we got to a point where
we took for granted that success while all the while
never really talking about them in legitimate championship terms. And
(05:58):
I look back on that stretch with a great amount
of fondness, Like, look, I was here for the nineties.
I grew up here in the nineties watching the Bengals
be totally irrelevant. Marvin and Andy almost every year were relevant,
and I thought in real time that was underrated.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
Yeah, because in a way, look at the Seahawks, right,
not not to just tie it to the Super Bowl.
I think you're the most underrated franchise in the NFL.
And if you look at the last you know, twenty
plus years, they had three iterations of a Super Bowl team.
Coaching quarterback Combo home Grind haffle back, Carol Wilson, and
now obviously McDonald and Darnold. But for the most part,
they're pretty good every year, like they never were embarrassingly
(06:36):
bad and Obviously the Bengals have had bad years, but
for the most part in that time with Marvin Lewis
and Andy Dalton, they were like pretty good every year.
They didn't want playoff games, but they were just pretty
good every year. And there's a lot of teams that
have been stinky and they weren't that.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
I think that's the first interview we've done where somebody
has used the word stinky.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
I need you to elaborate on something for me.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
Okay, Yeah, So this morning I dropped my daughter off
at school at like a quarter after eight, and I'm
listening and you're talking about your kids come home from
school and you make them empty their backpack. And my daughter,
who's in the third grade, says to me, you're not
going to make me do that?
Speaker 1 (07:14):
Are you so elaborate on that for me? What is
that like? Kids come home and you say empty your backpack?
Speaker 2 (07:20):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (07:21):
I think, Mo, the way you're saying and the way
maybe I presented it sounds a little bit more intense
than it was meant to be. It was more of
like like it was like that they're going through like
the police department. That's not what it is. What I'm
saying is I have a twelve year old and a
nine year old. You have what an eight year old?
Speaker 1 (07:41):
Eight and a half?
Speaker 3 (07:41):
Now, yes, yeah, So what I'm saying is I don't
believe any kid voluntarily will do their homework on their own.
And if you have a kid that had that is,
and she's able to do that, then you are the
parent of the year. I am not, obviously, and I'm
not blaming my wife. That's not me. But the reality
is I always think if I say, hey, just empty
out your bag, a couple of things happen. Number One,
(08:04):
I learned in that moment if they have homework that night,
because there'll be worksheets that are empty. I also will
see what gross food somehow ended up in the lunch
box in the bag. And as people who are not
parents may not realize this, and you know this, they
all have devices now, so now I want to make sure, Okay,
so you don't go to school with a dead laptop
for tomorrow. Let's charge that thing up. So this is
(08:27):
more of just me trying to get them into the
habit of me being able to help them. By me
being able to help, I mean my wife's being able
to help because I'm an f with homework or whatever
it is, and making sure we know if they have it,
is that that bad?
Speaker 1 (08:38):
No, you know me, maybe it's not bad at all.
But like now I'm listening. My daughter's in the car.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
She's listening, and she's wondering if that's what life is
going to be like? And the answer is now moving forward?
Probably yes, even though I'm not there when she comes
home because I work in the afternoons.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
But nonetheless that might be a sign.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
Interesting. So now I have scared your daughter. Your daughter
has never met me, and You're daughter is now afraid
of you because of me.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
Well, she listens with me every day, so like you're right.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
But now I'm this scary old time.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
And I told her I'm going to talk to Evan
today and I'm gonna get an answer and then things
may change for you when it comes to your backpack.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
So you know, we'll see. So we're gonna have a
conversation to me.
Speaker 3 (09:20):
You know, do you know every day? Be honest, do
you know if your daughter has homework every day?
Speaker 2 (09:26):
I do only because the teacher emails us like, which
is something I thank god I didn't have that when
I was a kid. My teacher is sending a note
home every day going, yeah, here's the homework. It's got
to be done by this time. So if I ask
my daughter about homework, I can go back to the
email and say, yeah, it says here, you've got this
to do.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
Ah. Yeah, I failed with that. They may be doing
that and I'm unaware, so that's not a good thing.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
We'll see.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
Enjoy the West Coast, Enjoy Sunday. Can't thank you enough.
Always love having you and we'll talk soon. Man, thanks
so much.
Speaker 3 (09:58):
Well, you're the best.
Speaker 1 (09:59):
Thank you so much, Eavan Cohen.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
Tomorrow Morning Unsportsmanlike with Michelle Smallman and Chris Canty starting
at six am from San Francisco on ESPN fifteen thirty.
Rick Brewing on the Muskies and the Norse next
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