2/3/26 - The Mo Egger Radio Show - Mo Egger

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Here's your chance to win one thousand dollars. Just entered
this nationwide keyword on our website. Dollar, that's dollar.

Speaker 2 (00:08):
Enter it.

Speaker 3 (00:08):
Now you've found Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Paul Danner Junior is here from The Athletic and the
Growler podcast on a lot of different Bengals and NFL stuff.
Later on, I did an interview with Jean's Territory. You'll
hear that. That's at five twenty. Juhanio Suarez spoke earlier
today Soda Nick Crawl. You'll hear both. There's a lot

(00:32):
of ground to cover. We're also taking a request and
a special guest a little bit later on, none more
special than Paul. Hi, Paul, what's up? How are we
doing with it? Wonderful? I love your energy level.

Speaker 4 (00:46):
You know, some people might think, hey, snowy, kind of
a lazy February day.

Speaker 2 (00:54):
You're here and you are like ready to do this.
I am. I appreciate that you always bring There is
no off season. Oh oh you were here in June. Yeah, right,
you know there's well you just don't come in correct, yes, ye, no,
you're here. You're all in when I'm here, When I'm here,
I am one hundred percent all in. There's no there's
no denying that. It's it's awesome to have you. What's

(01:15):
going on? Not too much.

Speaker 4 (01:17):
It's a very easy driving here. I imagine buses could
have also had a pretty easy drive.

Speaker 2 (01:23):
But who am I? Yeah, you're you're like me. You're
a parent who's wondering why your kid had to be
off school today. That's that's who you are, That's what
I am. I spent all day wondering, like, really, couldn't
have today, couldn't have gone into the snow flurries were
too much for a quick drop off and pick up
and seven hours of real good education that we didn't
have it all last week. We couldn't do that today?

(01:45):
Apparently not. No, I could have done without the four
thirty am call. I love that as much.

Speaker 4 (01:51):
I mean, so now, not only are are your kids home,
but you're going to do it on minimal sleep.

Speaker 2 (01:56):
Yeah. So I slept through that text. Yeah, and my
wife did and like wake me up when she left
for work. So I got up in seven thirty five,
saw the text and dropped the news to my kid,
no school today, and she was mildly excited. Yeah, she
was mildly excited.

Speaker 4 (02:12):
Would I would hope. So I'm excited. We have we
built this Bob slid track in our backyard. It's like
fit perfectly because my kids are really excited. They loved
Cool Runnings and they're very excited about the Jamaican Bob
Slid team. So they were back there working the Bob
Slid track, very happy that was there. We're gonna be
appointment viewing on the Jamaican Bob Slid team and they've
they have become experts on it.

Speaker 2 (02:31):
Wow. Yeah, I don't It's very weird, but I'm accepting
of it. I like it. There's a lot of ground
to cover that's specific to the Bengals, and we're also
we're gonna we're gonna deliver something to your wheelhouse a
little bit later on. All right, but can I start
with the Hall of Fame stuff?

Speaker 5 (02:48):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (02:48):
Because right so now Robert Kraft is not going to
get in. Bill Belichick is not going to get in,
and I don't really care that much. That's that's all
well and good. Is this good news for Ken Anderson? Yeah, Well,
we're down to three. Someone's gonna get in.

Speaker 4 (03:04):
Somebody's gonna get in, and so if it's the top
vote getter, is one of these three seniors, Yeah, that's
the guy. Now, the odds that all three clipped that
forty out of fifty number that you need to get
seem unlikely.

Speaker 2 (03:21):
So it's gonna be Roger Craig. The game is in
Santa Clara. He played for the forty nine ers, He's
got the forty nine ers machine behind him. It's gonna
be Roger Craig.

Speaker 4 (03:32):
I will say this, years of watching these votes cast
for potential Cincinnati Bengal Hall of Fame candidates, I wouldn't
be like, yeah, it's likely that it's Ken Anderson. We've
seen this show before. It's kind of fitting that it's
Bengals verse nine Ers. Yeah, and it feels like we've

(03:54):
seen how we know how they vote because it's largely
the same people again, which is what we keep saying,
So we know how they vote. It tends to certainly
always shift towards teams that won championships and getting like
their entire roster in and never anybody from.

Speaker 2 (04:11):
Teams that didn't win championships, and so knowing that it
sets up that way, but I don't know.

Speaker 4 (04:18):
Obviously, this year was different and had a lot of
people talking in different ways for it to even be
at this point where Belichick and Craft aren't in.

Speaker 2 (04:26):
So maybe that changed some things. But it's possible.

Speaker 4 (04:29):
It's better than better than already knowing that those guys
are in.

Speaker 2 (04:33):
Yeah, and you're like, well, that makes it really hard.
It's going to be Roger Greig. Not that Roger Craig
is not deserving. So's Elsie Green, no question, no question,
but it's it's gonna be. It's gonna be Roger Craig.
Probably what is the most You're not a Hall of
Fame voter, No, do you desire to be one day?

Speaker 4 (04:51):
I mean I would be very honored to do so.
I don't really, I mean I complain about the way
that it operates. I think for it to operate more efficiently,
there should be more voters. That's not about me being
one that is. I just think that it would operate
a lot better and have a lot more fairness if

(05:11):
you had more people or a rotating cast of people involved.
If that would involve me being a part of it,
I'd be honored to put a vote for it.

Speaker 2 (05:19):
The process itself. If you were in charge, what would
the process look like? More similar to baseball or you know,
you would do something. I think you could there.

Speaker 4 (05:30):
The problem is you have these fifty people and they've
mostly been the same for a long time. As if
the league doesn't now have so many people who are respected,
well sourced with different viewpoints on the game and what's important,
who have now covered the league through the primes and
entire careers of these guys that are being voted on,

(05:52):
who aren't a part of the process at all, lots
of them and most of the voters are. They've been
a rend doing this for twenty thirty year and so
that's just the nature of it. I think there is
a way to have an expanded collection of people, let's
say one hundred and fifty that are on a rotation.
It's a different combination of fifty every year, because the

(06:14):
politicking that happens.

Speaker 2 (06:16):
Is a problem.

Speaker 4 (06:17):
Okay, so if there's no way to politic because you
don't even know who the voting collection is or changes
or whatever, you get different viewpoints. So you're not getting
these saying no, this is the line of people that
are going to get in. We've got to go down that,
we've got to follow this protocol. No, you have a
collection of people. Whatever that number needs to be. I'd

(06:39):
like it to be larger than fifty fifty and they
cast a certain number of votes. You definitely the problem
separate the coaches and contributors and stuff, and I would
say in the similar manner you would handle the seniors,
which is a very challenging process where you'd have a
rotating group that's bigger, that comes up with who that

(06:59):
person is, and and that honestly kind of needs to
get back to being a rubber stamp situation or someone
a group of people that is different every year studies
that and puts that forward and that person just gets in.

Speaker 2 (07:11):
Right.

Speaker 4 (07:12):
It's just too hard. There's too many people out there.
But the general, the general thing, I think you just
need to widen the number and treat it more like baseball.
Check off who you think should get in and whoever
has the highest percentages that whatever you need to hit
or whatever, however many that are that are that number is,
that's who gets in, and it's cleaner that way.

Speaker 2 (07:30):
What I think baseball gets right is there's no there's
a maximum number of players you could check off on
a ballot ten, right, which is why you have some
weirdness where a voter might say, hey, this guy's an
obvious Hall of Famer, he was going to get in
any way, but I had ten other guys I wanted
to vote for. But beyond that, and beyond there being
a character clause, I think the voting's close to perfect.

Speaker 6 (07:52):
Right.

Speaker 2 (07:53):
Yeah. I think that there's and there's been an an
unrequired level of transparency. That's a part of the process.
We're like now, every baseball writer writes a good column
and I love reading them explaining their votes and their rationale,
and some I disagree with, some do change my mind,
but I think for the most part, the way they
do it is perfect. Is there a good reason as

(08:14):
to why football doesn't do something like that. There's no
maximum so you could have a class, well, there's no class.
You could have a year when nobody gets football. There's
maximums and minimums, which I don't love. But is there
a reason why they can't look at Baseball's model and
say let's do it that way.

Speaker 4 (08:31):
They feel like they like the setup that they have
and it's what it's been, and that's advantageous to the
people that are the ones making decision on what it
should look like. I mean they could come in and
who knows, maybe this Belichick and Craft thing does make
them blow the whole thing up and start over. Like
if there's anything that would do it, it would be this.
It's certainly brought this thing to light that we have
Bengals fans certainly have known for a long time as

(08:53):
a super flawed process. Is they can't have them, never
been able to get anybody in for the most part.
And so yeah, I you know, I don't know why
necessarily if there just haven't been enough of a push
or people think that it's working. Okay, but it's just
kind of just been accepted that this is what it is,

(09:13):
and everybody has to work through the current constraints.

Speaker 2 (09:16):
There's a guy who tracks Baseball Hall of Fame balloting
on his website, and so he has you have to
volunteer to do it. But you know, writers will submit
to him their ballots and he'll track them and you
can get a pretty good idea of who might get in,
what the vote total may look like. It's it's not
concrete because there are some voters who don't send in

(09:38):
their ballot. What's interesting about how this is unfolded with
Belichick and Craft. It's like it's being reported they didn't
get in with the Baseball Hall of Fame. There's an unveiling,
and there's still a shroud of mystery. Why is it
working out like this? We're like it's being reported by
like reputable journalists. Hey, here's who didn't get in. So

(09:58):
what's to stop somebody from sy saying, Hey, it's going
to be Kenny Anderson and we find out tomorrow when
the official announcement is supposed to be on Thursday.

Speaker 4 (10:05):
That's not That's the one thing that if you listen
to some of the conversations coming out from voters and
people inside of the Hall, that's where they're at. This
should not be getting out. This should not be known.
It is supposed to be an unveiling. Now is somebody
Obviously someone's leaking this for a reason. It would probably
benefit the Hall and the people that are actually get

(10:27):
in for this news to just be out of the
cycle by the time you get to the announcement, so
that it doesn't overshadow the people that are actually going
to get in when we learn about that on Thursday.
So I would understand the reason someone would want to
leak that those two guys aren't getting in to take
away from any controversy on that night and those people

(10:48):
that deserve the recognition. That has never been a thing before.
It has been a huge deal about people not knowing
and it being unveiled at this point in time at
the super Bowl, and it not being news that gets out.
So that's been what's different this year. And I think
that's gonna also cause some retribution after this is all

(11:10):
said and done and they figure out the ratifications of
this is because the way that that has gone down
has not sat well with anybody that's a voter.

Speaker 7 (11:18):
Or part of the hall.

Speaker 2 (11:18):
I know that much. All Right, we're gonna talk about
something that you can blame one of your peers at
the Athletic four. Okay, we're gonna talk about a couple
of columns pieces that you've written here. And I think
you unwittingly sent me a message in one of your pieces.
I did, yeah, and sometimes I just specifically reference yeah.

(11:38):
You didn't do that, you. I think. I don't think
it was unwittingly. I think you sent me a message. Okay,
message received. So we're gonna do it your way. Coming
up in about twenty minutes, Okay, it's seventeen minutes after
three o'clock. Paul Danner Junior. The latest edition of The
Growler podcast came out a short while ago. You could
also read Paul's work at the Athletic dot com and
follow him on at Paul Danner Jinia. By the way,

(12:01):
we're streaming this hour on Twitter. You could watch us. Oh,
that's really exciting. That's amazing. It really is. We've we've
been doing this on an experimental basis. It's really taken off.
You've had a lot of good reviews for it. Well,
you see you face, the way the terrence sets it up.
You could read comments in real time, and that's if
you're looking for a confidence boost. That's just that's what
you're looking for.

Speaker 4 (12:22):
I haven't loved my comments lately, so hopefully there's a
few good.

Speaker 2 (12:26):
Now you're gonna no, no, we're not gonna do that today. Someone,
I'm not gonna do that today. I come here to
hear the comments. Paul's here till four. We are here,
toll six. I'm Olegor. This is ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati
Sports Station.

Speaker 3 (12:40):
Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 8 (12:44):
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Trust the experts that you see health for innovative and
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seventy five after Sunday Road, there is an ax that's
off onto the left shoulder east found Ronald Reagan Highway.
There's an accident that is on the off ramp to
southbound seventy five. Looks like traffic can still pass through

(13:10):
south about seventy one roadwork on the right shoulder after
fight for on that ezelk with traffic.

Speaker 2 (13:15):
This report is sponsored by Being thirty on Moulwager. Paul
Danner Junior's here by the way during the break, if
you go to Twitter, a live view of downtown Cincinnati,
which looks like it's like in the Ural Mountains or
something like. You know, it looks like it's im Minsk.
It just looks gray and cold and miserable. But it's

(13:37):
not in here. So you could watch this hour of
our show. Paul's here on Twitter at Mullager. Paul covers
the Cincinnati Bengals for The Athletic. The Gentleman who covers
the Minnesota Vikings for the athletic is his name is
Alec Lewis. Yes, Aleck Lewis does a good job covering
the Vira job. Yeah, because I've been reading a lot

(13:59):
because they fired them who apparently took paternity leave, and
that's a whole big thing, and I man, that's just
I'm glad I don't have to talk about that. But
here is Alec on the Alec Lewis Show referencing Joe Burrow,
and of course you are gonna be required to comment
on this, Tarn, go ahead and play that audio.

Speaker 9 (14:19):
Odds of a Joe Burrow big name quarterback trade over
under ten percent possibility. I like putting a percentage on
it would be foolish on my part because it's it's
it's like when I used to cover baseball. You used
to say, like why, you know, what were the why
why didn't they trade that player?

Speaker 2 (14:36):
Well? What was available to trade? So it's like, you know, as.

Speaker 9 (14:40):
Much as the Viking I mean, I've said this on
the podcast before, if a player like Joe Burrow is
available via trade, I expect the Vikings to do everything
they possibly can to try to make that happen. It's
more a question of what is available, and how far
you know what's available and how far from a cost
perspective is it gonna take to to get to the

(15:04):
place at which it does become available.

Speaker 2 (15:09):
So Alex Lewis just said the Bengals are going to
trade Joe Burrow to the Vikings. No, that's what he said.

Speaker 4 (15:16):
I you know, I feel for Alec because he many
of us have fallen victim to the well you're asked
me about this last week, the dove Climban's the.

Speaker 2 (15:26):
Footballs in the world get a hold of that?

Speaker 7 (15:28):
And does I'm sure, Oh, I'm sure, and that is
just gorgeous fodder when in actuality he's just answering a
hypothetical question, essentially saying it's not gonna happen.

Speaker 2 (15:40):
But yes, if somehow it was it came to be.

Speaker 4 (15:45):
That Joe Burrow were available, obviously the Vikings would be
trying to put together whatever package.

Speaker 2 (15:50):
It would take.

Speaker 4 (15:52):
He is not, and I don't and I'm sure that
that is essentially the part that is not widely Uh.

Speaker 2 (16:00):
I read that Alec was saying that he is not available.
So the Bengals aren't gonna make Joe Burrow available. Everybody
has their price. Smile. I guess no, not in this case.
Not in this case, no, I do not. I could
you imagine? I mean, I'm just I'm trying to trying.

Speaker 4 (16:22):
Now you're making me wrap my brain around the idea
of this actually happening.

Speaker 2 (16:28):
Okay, here's my problem.

Speaker 4 (16:29):
Stupefying you would have to be to hear you thought
you thought the Duke Tobin press conference was an event
after the season ended. How about the one introducing that
they've traded Joe.

Speaker 2 (16:41):
Burrow randomly in the middle of twenty twenty six. So
if that were to happen, not only am I not
taking any days off, this will be a seven day
a week show. I might do a show in the
morning and this one there won't.

Speaker 10 (16:56):
Be enough time, and you just you just play calls
over and over again because they're all like ten minute
rants of people screaming it's it's it'd.

Speaker 2 (17:07):
Be it would be incredible. It is a fictional universe.
What's not a fictional universe is the Bengals and their
attempts to fix the pass rush, Hey, which you've written about.
I have multi part series, you know, you know I
have to now Tomorrow is part two. It's the Trey
hendrickson part what's that about a paragraph?

Speaker 11 (17:28):
It?

Speaker 4 (17:29):
No, it's actually I just looked at the final word
count ended up being eleven hundred words.

Speaker 2 (17:34):
Really. Yeah, So can I just flash ahead to the
very last passage of this piece, which is part one,
which is looking at options at edge. Yeah, and also
including like, you know, what Miles Murphy did, what Shamar
Stewart showed in what he didn't do. But we did
the mock offf season exercise last week, and this is

(17:56):
what I saw to accomplish. A four man rotation featuring
Murphy if you Stewart, a mid tier free agent and
an early round pick, makes for a potent combination of
potential answers with upside and the most realistic edge outcome
over the next three months. Yeah, sign me up.

Speaker 4 (18:11):
Yeah, it's kind of I mean, it's the one, it's
the path of least resistance, it's the one that makes
the most sense. It's where you can see the edge
group being pretty good. Because so much of this defense
and now year two of this rebuild is it just
has to be about finding stars out of the guys

(18:31):
that you draft or the guys that you have in house.
It's just too hard to go find and pay stars.
You're just only gonna find so many. Trey Hendrickson is
that you are lucky that turn into what he did,
and so that's the way to augment that is you're
gonna need Miles Murphy to take a step. Shamar Stewart's
gonna have to become a guy or you're gonna have

(18:51):
to hit at number ten like all of those with
but raising the floor of that group. And that's sort
of the theme at multiple positions. But specif typically with
the pass rush, bring in somebody who you know can
give you a consistent forty to fifty pressures and seven
to ten sacks or that that hits your system. The
way that you feel would be you know one that

(19:13):
would work. And there's men, there's names mentioned in there,
and I sort of pinpoint the group that they typically
go after, and so I think that's to me, that
is the most likely outcome. If you know, free agency
does weird things like the Orlando Brown year, where all
of a sudden, it's like Orlando Brown just called right
and things can happen and next thing you know, you're
doing something you didn't expect to. Maybe it could be

(19:36):
anything there, Maybe it's a trade, maybe it's whatever, But
for the most part, what feels the most likely that
makes sense for where they're at, where they view Miles.
The fact that they have to leave a runway with
for Shamar to grow is to bring in somebody who
you can be in some sort of either rotation or

(19:56):
take over the edge and Shamara works more inside or
whatever along that's or you can't block him, right, and
so that's going to be a part of this equation.
And so adding all those pieces and let them all
go into the mix and see what comes out feels
like where you can shake that box up and come
up with something pretty.

Speaker 2 (20:13):
Well well, And I know because I've done it. What
folks are going to pine for is ruben Bain to
be there. And so if if that were to happen,
if he's there and I can get him continued improvement
from Miles Murphy, some flash from Shamar Stewart, and then
exactly what I pay a mid tier free agent for

(20:35):
pass rush will be king. Yes, that will work. Yes.

Speaker 4 (20:39):
The bigger issue is and I and there's a lot
of I want people to check in on Part three,
which will not be as rosy as Part one because
The scarcity at defensive tackle is the other part of
this equation, and that's where they need it most. That's
where they've missed it for so long, and so finding
some way to get something out of that spot is

(21:02):
gonna be the hard part. So if you can find
some way for your edge acquisition to be able to
help you more inside, or maybe it is Shamar doing
more inside on third downs or whatever whatever that looks like,
you may need to have that group help the inside
group because it's a much harder path to project and
see when you talk about what's happening on the end.

Speaker 2 (21:23):
Two, I want to address something that came up in
your mail bag. Okay, was this the message to you? Yeah? Okay,
yeah there was a message right to question. No, okay.
I've submitted questions to you before they've not gotten answer.
You could just text me if you have a question.
That's not because I don't know how you get the
mail bag questions. And I like, I have this dream

(21:45):
of like you going sifting through them and you see
it and you you either see my name on it
or you know it's from me, But I don't leave
my name and leave some But you know that's a
kind of question I would ask Maurice uh Sports headlines
coming up, Paul Danner Junior, The Growler Podcast, and The
Athletic dot Com. It's three point thirty one on ESPN

(22:05):
fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 12 (22:08):
Not just talk, This is sports with soul, sweat and swagger.
Tony Pike, Sincy three sixty Tomorrow at twelve noon on
ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 8 (22:24):
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Trust the experts at you See Health for innovative and
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Schedule online at ucehealth dot com. East. Found on the
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ramp to southbound seventy five northbound seventy five after Sinday
Road accident on the left shoulder in southbound two seventy

(22:48):
five down to one lane that for repairs to the
Carrol Cropper Bridge on that ezelic with traffic.

Speaker 2 (22:54):
This report a sponsored minds Our service at Kelsey Chevrolet,
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family to yours for life Kelsey chev dot com Red's
formally reintroduced a Juhanio Flarees today. You'll hear some of
that in the five o'clock hour. One year deal option
for twenty twenty seven spring training begins this weekend. Bengals

(23:16):
News Troy Walters reportedly turns down the Chicago Bears. Cincinnati's
wide receivers coach was drawing some interest from Chicago for
their offensive coordinator vacancy. That was first reported by CBS Sports.
Domatow Peckel is apparently going to be the Steelers defensive
line coach. According to Zach Jackson, how about that that hurts? Yeah, man,

(23:38):
I love loved Domatah. Who doesn't I mean that one hurts? Yeah?

Speaker 4 (23:41):
Yeah, well, I mean I don't think that the current
job here was open, But no, yeah, you don't want
to see him in.

Speaker 2 (23:47):
Steel Jerry Montgomery, the new Scott Peters in what way
like Scott Peters unit took a big step forward, And hey,
he's a strike technique and he's got to work with
these guys. And then you know Jerrymunk, who you've written about.
There's gonna be some dudes. He's got to get more out.

Speaker 4 (24:03):
I made sure to make a point about him in
there because he does not get enough credit for certainly
what happened with Miles this past year, and he's kind
of has had a track record now where we've seen
guys take really big leaps under his wing.

Speaker 2 (24:18):
So I'll give him.

Speaker 4 (24:19):
He deserves more credit than most defensive line coaches get
or probably deserve.

Speaker 2 (24:25):
Gotcha. College basketball Tonight, Xavier is on the road against
number three Yukon. The Huskies won the first matchup. Tonight's
game is in Hardford at seven on seven hundred WLW.
Also tonight, the twenty third rank to Miami RedHawks put
their undefeated record on the line against Buffalo Bulls nearly
pulled off an upset over the RedHawks here about a

(24:46):
week and a half ago. That game will tip off
at six point thirty. Also tonight, dayton is looking to
avoid its first five game losing streak in twenty years
as the Flyers host Saint Bonaventure, Indiana looks for a
fourth consecutive victory. They're on the road tonight against the
USC Hockey This evening. The streaking Columbus Blue Jackets, winners
a five straight and nine out of ten, skate tonight

(25:08):
on the road against New Jersey. Paul Daanner Junior from
the Athletic and the Growlar podcast is here. You did
a mailbag, Yes, answered a question from Lynn T. Lynn Wrights.
Thanks for the mock off season sheet. Really helpful for
the free agent season and the draft. Fill in the blank.
The Bengals free agent season is a success because they

(25:30):
signed Blank. Your response, big fan of filling the blank
questions one of the best sports talk tropes. Okay, I'm game,
we can do fill in the blanks. You had to
do a say mo, I like doing filling the blank segments. Yeah,
that's all you.

Speaker 1 (25:47):
Had to do.

Speaker 2 (25:48):
Yeah, you don't have to send me these messages. I
read everything. I'm gonna get it. But I mean you could.
I gotta do a say love to do fill in
the blanks if you've got time for one.

Speaker 4 (25:56):
I mean, I just you know, I don't. I don't
want to tell you how to do your show. Well
everybody else us. Fine, Now does this mean that we're
about to do fill in the blank set? I got
some fill in the blanks. Let's go all right, Blank.

Speaker 2 (26:09):
There is the biggest contract extension priority. I would say
it starts with DJ Turner.

Speaker 4 (26:20):
I think he's the biggest priority because he has played
at the highest level. But I think because there's other
options with him, Dax Hill might make a little more
sense of getting done.

Speaker 2 (26:34):
But I think you're, yeah, they're starting with DJ, that's
the first guy top of the list. I think you
start with your best player.

Speaker 4 (26:41):
Now you know, they're gonna talk to Ya, They're gonna
talk to Chase Brown, They're gonna talk to Miles, They're
gonna talk to DJ and Dax and everybody, and there's
gonna be some combination. But I do you know, I
think you start with the guy who is the best player,
who will be the most expensive, and that's definitely DJ Turner.

Speaker 2 (26:58):
Miles Murphy will finish with blank sacks then signed a
deal for blank million dollars. Well, I'm gonna be the
Miles Murphy guy. Like I want to be the Miles
Murphy guy. Why, guy, I have it already because every
time I every time I say, like, man, Miles Murphy
toward the end of the year was really good, I

(27:20):
get laughed at. And I think what we saw at
the end of last season portends a breakout twenty twenty
six where we look at him and go Okay, he
could be like Carlos Dunlap two point zero.

Speaker 4 (27:33):
Moving to this, I will say this, and this was
in my story today. I remembered before the season doing
this and talking about this stat because there was like, look,
if you're going to be a premier edge, you got
to come through on money downs, like when it's third
and long, that's got to be you. And Trey Henderson

(27:54):
has lived there and and that's.

Speaker 2 (27:55):
Got to be where.

Speaker 4 (27:56):
And no one had been worse except for one per
literally the last two years combined, then Miles Murphy entering
this season. I remember pointing this out as the argument
against Miles Murphy, whereas there were a lot of reasons
maybe you could have you could believe, but then until
that changed, it was hard to believe. This year he

(28:16):
ends up in the top ten amongst all pass rushers
in pressure percentage on third and five or fourth and
five or more. I mean around names that everyone knows, yeh,
Will Anderson, Jeffrey Simmons, Jared Vers, Micah Parsons, Khalil Mack,
Miles Garrett, and in the middle of there is Miles Murphy.

(28:38):
That's who he was. That's not second half of the
season that's all season. It's pressure percentage. He's still got
to finish better, but that started to be what came
along at the end of the season.

Speaker 2 (28:48):
You saw the finish start to show up a little
bit more.

Speaker 4 (28:51):
But he was getting pressure in those downs where you
look for your edge to get pressure all year long.
And to me, that's when when you talk about underlying
stats and things that you can see that point to
sustainability over time. That's something you look at and being
surrounded by those names should tell you something because those
are guys that are going to continue to be guys.
And and if he continues to go in that direction, man,

(29:14):
you there's no reason you can't bet on him.

Speaker 2 (29:17):
He is not there yet, no, but you see direction.

Speaker 4 (29:21):
Because because you're like when we talk about well Trey
Hendrickson and he's not obviously not there yet. But when
you look at this type of stuff, another year development
where he finishes better and you get much more of
what you got that second half of the season. In
that regard, you can start to put up Hendrickson numbers
pretty quick, especially if your team that starts playing from

(29:42):
a head more often.

Speaker 2 (29:43):
Yeah, if if last year was Miles Murphy was what
we saw his rookie season, we would be giddy. Oh
you know. Yeah, So all right, it's come later than
we would have liked. That doesn't mean it can't still
be a part of what they're doing moving forward. When
we sit down in July and talk about things we
shall be excited about. He will be very close to

(30:04):
the top of the list. Yeah. And I would put
a double digit number on on the projection for next
year on sacks. Double.

Speaker 4 (30:10):
Of course, the last time I made a double digit
sack projection he got zero, So I can't you know,
maybe grain assault on that, but I think I do.
I do think you saw a legit. It was not fake,
It was not coincidental. It was not taking advantage of
you know, poor tackles or any of that. I think
it was a real sustainable leap and that will end

(30:34):
up with a lot.

Speaker 2 (30:35):
Of sacks next year. You're gonna fill in the blank
of a million of millions of dollars. You can look
up what those guys cost. Okay, Blank is the best
coach in the AFC North. That's a hard one. We've
been doing this one, right, I mean it's been a
fun one. I think everybody's because it's interesting.

Speaker 4 (30:52):
Well, I don't I disqualify Todd Monkin and Jesse Minter, Okay, don't.
I don't know how you could say that they're the best.
We've never even seen them do the job before. So
Mike McCarthy, I mean, he's had success, he's won games,
he's won super Bowl.

Speaker 2 (31:09):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (31:10):
And versus Zach Taylor, who's had success, he's won games,
he's been to a super Bowl, you'd probably give the
edge to Mike McCarthy.

Speaker 2 (31:19):
But you know, I don't know that it's a some
some large gap. U Haannio Suarez will hit blank home
runs in twenty twenty six. It's not so many U
thirty thirty seven? I had thirty six.

Speaker 4 (31:38):
Yeah, okay, it's fair to expect him to do what
he did last year. Uh, but it wouldn't be fun
if he did, you know. But yeah, I think I
think that's that's fair to see it in the in
the forty range.

Speaker 2 (31:52):
All right, this this might be this might be a thing.
Now let's do it.

Speaker 4 (31:56):
Yeah, maybe I will my next male, I'll point out
another sports talk trope that I enjoy in and so
that'll be my way of telling you again, just hinting
at other things I like to do.

Speaker 2 (32:07):
All right, Hang tight, I got more. It's not more
filling the blanks, but more things to discuss. It's quarter four.
Paul Danner Junior from The Athletic and the Growler podcast
on ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 3 (32:20):
Station, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 8 (32:26):
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Speaker 6 (32:29):
Trust of the experts at you see Health for innovative
and personalized heart care. They never miss a beat Your
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(32:50):
Reagan Highway. Accident on the off ramp. The southbound seventy five.
Southbound seventy five construction from Ronald Reagan Highway to Norwood
Lateral on at Eazelic with traffic.

Speaker 2 (33:00):
This report is but that's fine. Let's let's see if
we can get it to like an even ten before
we change that imaging. It's' ton away from four o'clock
this ESPNT fifteen thirty moagger. Another few minutes with Paul
Danner Junior from The Athletic and the Growler podcast. The
latest edition is out. You've made mention in your mailbag

(33:20):
this has been a really slow month, and so I've
I was a little surprised late last week that you
didn't have something ready to go about Nick Lache's Bengals song.
Oh okay, here we go, and so you know, here
we go. I mean, you know, I printed out here
in Cincinnati dot Com. Nick Lache urges Mike Brown to

(33:41):
sell Cincinnati Bengals a new song. Yeah, and you haven't
had a chance to write about it, yeah, because it's
not news. So what I thought we would do is,
while you're here, welcome in. The former lead singer of
ninety eight Degrees and the current host of Love Is Blind.
Cincinnati native Nick Lache is with us NET. Congratulations on

(34:03):
the new song. Obviously, you've hit a bit of a
breaking point here with the Bengals. What was the breaking
point for you?

Speaker 6 (34:10):
Man?

Speaker 13 (34:10):
Honestly, you know, I'm fifty two. I've been watching the
Bengals for probably forty five of those fifty two years,
so you know, I've seen a lot of very bad
football in my lifetime. And it gotten kind of used
to it and gotten kind of doub to it. But
I think this past season, just the the announcement that
they weren't making any kind of changes to what they
were doing or the way they were doing it, it

(34:33):
just it was my breaking point. You know, this this
idea that we're satisfied with failing here in the here out.
More importantly now is that we're in the peak of,
you know, or what should be the peak of.

Speaker 4 (34:45):
Joe Burrow's career.

Speaker 14 (34:46):
Right.

Speaker 13 (34:46):
I think we all can acknowledge he's the perfect quarterback
for this team. He's a special, special talent. He's an
Ohio kid, he understands Ohio. He's kind of the perfect
fit for the Bengals. And I think when he came
in and I, like a lot of people, thought, well,
this is going to be a chance for the Bengals
to redefine themselves. You know, we're not gonna be the
laughing stock anymore. We're gonna, you know, redefine who we are.

(35:09):
Went to that Super Bowl up here, were away, it's
gonna be a different thing. And now where we've found
ourselves back in this same kind of perpetual cycle. And
so it's just a shame to see that we're we're
going about business as usual with so much at stake
and it's not working, you know, and it just finally
I just couldn't. I couldn't take it anymore. So like
I had to say something. And then, you know, look,

(35:31):
you get to talk on the radio every day. I
get to sing. So that's you know, we do we uh,
we do we know best, and that's I had to
channel it all into a into a song.

Speaker 14 (35:38):
It was.

Speaker 13 (35:38):
It was strangely therapeutic.

Speaker 2 (35:40):
Oh well, Nick, thanks, thanks so much. I know you
have to get back to work. It's the masked singers
on the night or something or if I don't know anyway,
So Nick La Paul, I'm I'm sorry you're not going
to get a chance to ask a question, but there's
a direct quote from you that you could use to
write about Nick Lache's dissatisfaction with the Bengals resulting in
what I'm sure is going to be a song that
tops the charts.

Speaker 4 (36:00):
Yeah, obviously, I know, I appreciate that. I was still
confused what just happened?

Speaker 2 (36:06):
I did you? I mean, what is that? So first
of all, you know, we're streaming this hour on Twitter,
and so folks who happened to be watching got a
chance to see your face when that happened, and that
made it work it for me, that was that part
wasn't planned. This is gonna be like so I just
we just got done watching.

Speaker 4 (36:25):
There was this series called called Dirty Talk about talk
shows in the nineties that was on, and so I'm like,
I've really had like the old Ricky Lake and Jerry Springer,
Jenny Jones, I mean, which ended very badly, but it's
actually an excellent Jenny Jones.

Speaker 2 (36:44):
There was there was a death because of her show.
You had to go to trial. You should watch it. It's great,
sounds sounds fun.

Speaker 4 (36:51):
It actually was. Yeah, actually that not that part, but
lots of old Jerry. Anyway, I've had that on my mind.
And then You're like, I.

Speaker 2 (36:57):
Thought he was gonna walk in the door.

Speaker 4 (36:59):
I thought it was to be like Jerry and he
was gonna like throw a chair at me or something
like that. Austin's gonna come out of the bath Jerry.
I was ready for it. I mean, I had that
in my head and I'm like, what is happening here?
So all right, I believe in transparency. Yeah, so yesterday
my friend down the hall, John John Atkiss one O seven.

Speaker 2 (37:20):
Yes, do you want to have Nick Lache on? Like,
all right, sure, what's the most fun that I can
have with this? And then I'm like, well, Paul's here tomorrow.
And Paul doesn't dislike Nick Lache at least I don't
think you do. No, you dislike the fact that what
he says is treated like it's news, like it's big news.

(37:41):
And so he wrote a song last week urging Mike
Brown to sell the team and outlets treat it like
it's news, which, by the way, it is a new
song being released, you know, right right. I mean, when
when a famous artist releases a protest song out of
the blue, it it ends up being news. So and
uh and so I thought, what we'll do is is

(38:01):
I'll tape an interview with Nick and then I'll sort
of ambush Paul with it. I got the It was silent, unfortunately,
but I got the reaction that I was looking for. Yeah,
I was very confused.

Speaker 4 (38:13):
I'm just happy that this wasn't like an actual tech No,
that's that's that's great.

Speaker 2 (38:18):
Uh.

Speaker 4 (38:18):
I still would say that it's not really news. I
would still say that it's pretty clear. But you know what,
I got the number of texts that I got last
Friday and I hadn't seen it, and I was like,
I don't know what's happening, but Nick Lache has done
something and people really want me to know about it. Yeah,
so it's been there's there's been a lot of discussions,

(38:41):
like if there should be some sort of a disc
disc track that I should do on who they like?

Speaker 2 (38:46):
Got a microphone in front of you right now.

Speaker 4 (38:50):
No, I take some time to compose a song. I
guess I don't know, but my my diss again. I
have listened well as long as I could get into it.
I laughed about I could take about twenty seconds of
a song.

Speaker 2 (39:06):
I'm not a lot of ambiguity to it. That's what's
great about it.

Speaker 4 (39:10):
No, I think it would be better if like Mike
Brown did this track or something, if we could ever
make that happen.

Speaker 2 (39:15):
Do you think like the Brown family on Friday afternoon
quickly convene a meeting, of course, because.

Speaker 4 (39:22):
What are we gonna do about the Lache problem? Everyone
gather around Katie, Katie, we've got the worse Katie.

Speaker 2 (39:35):
No, it's not how this Anyway, I interviewed Nick and
there was a minute of it for you. What else
is on this Are you gonna like drop these in
on me periodic? I might, I might over the course
of the coming It'll be like the Michael Jordan thing
on NBC's NBA, where that's you know, he did one
big interview and they just keep dropping in snippets of
it during the pre That might be what we do

(39:56):
with the Nick Lache interview that I recorded at one
thirty this afternoon. I love it. I love it. I'm
happy for you. I'm happy for you. I got the
look on your face. I just can't believe priceless.

Speaker 4 (40:10):
It got dropped apparently last week around the tweet or
whatever I saw it was in the middle of the afternoon.
The fact that I didn't see a push alert until
nine o'clock actually was.

Speaker 2 (40:21):
The upset of the day. Really that it wasn't.

Speaker 4 (40:24):
I just I'm disappointed in those people because they're usually
much faster.

Speaker 2 (40:28):
I saw it. I was sitting in the back of
an uber on my way to an event and I
saw it, and I was trying to come up with
like a way to tweet you, and I'm like, you know,
it's Friday evening. I don't know that this will be
received in the spirit that I wish, So why don't
I wait till Tuesday and then yesterday when my colleagues like,

(40:48):
I can get Nick Lache on and I'm like, all right,
we can. We're cant have fun with that. Yeah, well,
I appreciate that.

Speaker 4 (40:56):
I'm honest, I'm glad you explained it because I was
very confused.

Speaker 2 (41:00):
Jim was like, so I legitimately was like, you know what,
can I get him at three forty five? Can I
just get him on live? And I'm like, nah, that's
not probably the best approach.

Speaker 4 (41:10):
Yeah, So there it is, well done. Thank you very much.
This has been We've learned so much.

Speaker 2 (41:14):
We have Paul Danner Junior read his work on the Bengals.
He's going through the pass Rush Part one today, yes,
part two tomorrow. Part three is Thursday. Correct. Wow, all day.
That's a little lot, man, unbelievable. It's incredible. Fill in
the space quite well. And the latest edition of the

(41:35):
Growler podcast came out earlier today. Watch that on YouTube
or listen to it. As we say, where you get
your podcast? We got auheneos where as to talk about
There's a question that was brought to me that I
think as fans we can't help but ask. I'll tell
you what that question is coming up at four oh five.
My name is Mowegor. Thank you so much for listening

(41:56):
to us. This is ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports Station.
You're one stop for ers.

Speaker 1 (42:03):
Just entered this nationwide keyword on our website. Friend, that's friend,
enter it now, Yes, on fifteen thirty.

Speaker 2 (42:13):
It's at for four. This is ESPN fifteen thirty. Now
we're gonna do something here, but we're not really supposed
to do. I'll tell you this in thirty minutes. Our guy, attorney,
Stuart W. Penrose from Manilo Law Group, is gonna tell
you what's gonna keep you if you want to sue

(42:33):
be a college basketball player, why you can or can't
do that, and more. But there's a lot of issues
to cover with Stuart. You're gonna hear a Uganio Souarez
and Nick Crawl in the five o'clock hour as well.
And I conducted an interview with Jene Sterotor, the former
NFL official who did a Super Bowl, college basketball official

(42:56):
and current rules analyst for CBS Sports It's a good
conversation and I think you'll enjoy it. You'll hear it
coming up at five point twenty. A Euhaneusuarez. We talked
a lot about him. Yesterday. I got a question from
a buddy of mine. I don't know if he would
want me to share his name, so I won't, But
the question was, if a Euhenio Suarez had never played

(43:20):
for the Reds, would the Reds have signed him this offseason?
And good for them for signing him because and I
beat this into the ground yesterday, he addresses a need,
right They needed pop, They needed a guy who can
hit home runs. Home runs are good. Auhaneo Soarez is
a one dimensional player. That's okay if you have a

(43:44):
glaring need for the one dimension he brings to the table,
and the Reds do. Heav a glaring need for the
one dimension that a Euhaneo Suarez brings to the table.
And you know, Nick Kral talked today about going to
ownership and you'll hear this in the five o'clock are
going to ownership and asking for a you know, the
freedom to go ahead and sign him, which would stretch

(44:06):
their payroll beyond what they had originally budgeted, and good
for them. We could debate the amount of credit you
want to give ownership for trying to win, like that's
let's be honest. If you want to throw a parade
for any team owner who decides, hey, let's try to win,
you're coming from a place where the standards are very,

(44:29):
very very very low. If the Reds were ever serious
about winning, legitimately serious about winning, it never should have
been a question. We need home runs. What's it going
to take to get them? Whatever it takes, we will pay,
especially if it doesn't involve trading prospects, especially if it
doesn't involve trading away from the strength of the team

(44:50):
starting pitching. The best thing about this trade, I should say,
the best thing about this acquisition of a Juhanio Suarez.
All it did is cost money. It didn't cost an arm,
it didn't cost a picture. That is great. So now,
if you want to say, let's give ownership credit for

(45:12):
extending the payroll this year, okay, kinda, but like, remember
twenty years ago, this was the ownership group that says
we're gonna bring championship baseball to Cincinnati. Okay, cool, Then
do things that help bring Championship Baseball to Cincinnati. If
you don't, you are going to get blamed. You are

(45:33):
going to get criticized if you do. All you're doing
is what you said you were gonna do. All you're
doing is what you should do if you're serious about winning.
But yes, they extended the payroll, so good for them. However,
and we're never gonna get an answer to this. But
I was asked this today by a friend of mine
who's loyal listener to this show, and he asked, what

(45:57):
I think is a good question, Ifie, you hedeous Are
had never played for the Reds, would they have signed him?
Be honest, be honest, It wouldn't surprise you if you
found out the answer was no. Like he is a
guy who had a very good run. Here hit forty

(46:20):
nine home runs in a season during a period of
time where the Reds weren't very good. He did what's
really hard to do on a bad team. It became
a fan favorite. Was a part of that team in
twenty twenty in the drive through season that played in
the postseason. It's part of the team in twenty twenty
one that flirted with a playoff spot. Like lots of

(46:42):
reasons to love euhanius Warez. But the thing that I
think you should love the most is the fact that
last season he hit forty nine home runs. You can't
help but wonder, and be honest, it would be sort
of the most Cincinnati Reds thing ever to want to
sign him, not mainly because of the forty nine home runs,

(47:04):
but because he used to play here and fans loved him.
Like you remember, back in early December, right the whole
Kyle Schwarber flirtation was what was said in the immediate
aftermath of their failed attempt to get Kyle Schwarber. It was, well,
you know, they thought they thought they would get a
significant boost in their ticket sales, and they thought they

(47:27):
could market him because he's from here. And it's like, yeah,
that's all well, and good guy hit fifty six home
runs last year. They need a guy who could hit
the ball out of the ballpark at a prodigious rate.
Kyle Schwarber can I don't care if he's from Middletown, Nebraska.
I don't care if the dude's never even been to Cincinnati,

(47:48):
do not care. Can he hit the ball over the wall,
That's all that matters, And then it felt like, well,
they weren't interested in anybody else who didn't have direct
ties to Cincinnati. Like legit, I've heard people say that
Pete Alonso wasn't a good fit. What huh? Because younger
actually plays a position most importantly can hit the ball

(48:12):
over the fence. Yeah, but he's not from here, and
uh he he might not sell any tickets. Euhanio Suarez
is obviously not from here, and his popularity is well earned.
And the main thing that matters to most of us
is can he give this team what it badly needed
last year? But would you be surprised? Would you be surprised?

(48:35):
Not from Nick Krawl's perspective, because I really think it's
fair to say that Nick Krawl just wants to build
the best possible team. I mean, you don't think Nick
Krawl would love to spend like one hundred million dollars
more in the club. Of course he does, like of
course he does. He's operating within the parameters that are
set forth by the people that he works for. But

(48:57):
would you be surprised put yourself in Nick Krawl' shoes?
All right, I gotta figure out a way to get
them to let me spend a little bit more money.
What do you think was more persuasive. Hey, we need
home runs. This guy hit forty nine of them last year,
So can I have some extra money to sign the dude?

(49:19):
Or are you Haneo Suarez is available? Remember him fans,
fans loved him, good vibes. Only remember him and Jim
day A. Haneo Suarez how to get people excited. I
can tell you this, if I were Nick Krawl, that

(49:39):
would have at least been in my back pocket, and
it might have been what I led with. I don't
know that that's the best statement about this club. Like,
I don't want to be that guy. I don't want
to rain on the parade or drop snow flurries that
cancel school on the parade. I don't want to pour
cold water over everybody's excitement. And at the end of

(50:02):
the day, all that matters is did they make the
team better? And I think they did. It's hard to
argue that they did not. But if you were Nick Krawl,
put yourself in his shoes. You've got to convince Bob
and Phil to give you some extra money to extend
the payroll, to go outside the original budget. What are

(50:23):
you leading with guy hit forty nine bombs Even if
he doesn't hit forty nine bombs in this ballpark playing DH,
if he doesn't get hurt, he'll hit thirty to thirty
five and that'll be a big plus. Like that's something
we didn't have last year. And we still think there's
a lot of life in that bad and we think
we have a good enough team that we're not going

(50:44):
to need him to play defense. And we think we
have a good enough team that will put up with
the strikeouts and not getting on base, But we need
somebody who can hit the ball out of the ballpark
and has advanced deep into the postseason and has the
temperament that we want, Like he's a great fit. Would
you lead with that? Or remember that guy who used
to be here and everybody really seemed to like, Well,

(51:06):
he's available, he's available, Maybe sell a ticket or two,
can send some fun tweets about him. I think I'd
lead with that, Bob, Phil, Could I have a little
bit more dough, a little bit more financial leeway to
go get that guy that everybody used to love before
we traded him away. It may not matter. All that

(51:31):
matters is he's here. I'm sure Terry Francona would tell you,
I don't care. I don't care what you had to
do to get him, as long as you got him.
And I could stick him in the middle of the order,
and I could offer some protection to Elie de la Cruz,
and I have a like a legit bat in the
middle of the order that when you're an opposing manager

(51:53):
or an opposing picture working your way through the lineup,
you've got that power potential there. That is all that mattered.
And there should be a little bit more excitement, maybe
a lot more excitement for this year's team based on
Sunday's news, and hell yeah, euhaneos Warez is an exceptionally

(52:13):
easy guy to root for. Often during that miserable twenty
twenty two season, I thought of him not so much
because of the production the Reds could have gotten. But
you know what, if we have to endure one hundred losses,
give me a couple of guys who have fun personalities
because that team didn't have that many. So hell yeah

(52:35):
on au Haaneosuarez. But the main thing to be all
hell yeah about is forty nine dingers and the possibility
that he hits let's just say forty this season, and
then you think about what that might mean if Sal
Stewart is as good as we hope, and if Elie
de la Cruz ends up making a significant leap in

(52:57):
part because he's got a little bit more protection, and
perhaps maybe the two whole production can be significantly better
because it was atrocious last year. Who cares why they
got him? I understand, I don't disagree, But wouldn't you
love to be able to exist, even if just for
a few minutes, in an alternate universe where a Eugenio Suarez,

(53:20):
instead of spending a huge chunk of his career in Cincinnati,
spent that time with the Chicago White Sox, or the
Pittsburgh Pirates of the Kansas City Royals, or anyone else.
Do you believe, and there's no way of proving the
answer is yes or no one of those hypotheticals, do

(53:40):
you believe if a Uhanius Wuarez had never wore a
Reds uniform that he would have been brought to Cincinnati
to play for a team that expanded its payroll in
order to get him. That might be a pollp question today.
We'll see five, three, seven, four, nine, fifteen thirty eight

(54:02):
six six seven oh two three seven seven six at
Moeger on Twitter. Thanks to Delta Dental. Delta Dental is
building healthy, smart, vibrant communities for all. Good to Delta Dental,
Oh dot Com. I said I was gonna do something
I shouldn't do, and I didn't do it, so we'll
do the opposite next.

Speaker 15 (54:24):
Cincinnati's esp WCKY Cincinnati and iHeartRadio Station Guaranteed Human ESPN
fifteen thirty I heard.

Speaker 2 (54:35):
Radio twenty three after four o'clock. This is ESPN fifteen thirty,
one hour from now, my conversation with Jean Stertor, who
was a lot of fun to chat with on Friday night.
If you missed yesterday show, we had Ron Harper on
the greatest Miami University basketball player of all time, five

(54:56):
time NBA Champion. He was awfully fun to talk to.
So was Jeff Carr from the Lockdown Reds podcast about
a Uhaneo Suarez. You could hear both of those and
so much more, including entire shows, all on the iHeartRadio app.
By the way, do me a favorite. When you go
to the iHeartRadio app, make sure you set us as
a preset podcasts of this show are a service of

(55:17):
Long Neck Sports Grill. If you haven't been to Long
Next yet, what are you waiting for? Been talking about
it for years? Long Neck Sports Grill Wilder hebren ed
Richwood an awesome place to watch a college basketball or
you can watch the Pro Bowl games tonight with Joe Burrow,
Joe Flacco, T Higgins, and Jamar Chase. Flag football or

(55:38):
a game that carries with its slightly more importance on
Sunday between New England and Seattle. Long Neck Sports Grill.
You think they'll walk away thinking, Man, I wish I
could play with a good defense like this. I just
don't want anybody who counts to get hurt. That's it.
That's it. Like I don't have that much. I would
have interest in flag football if I felt like the

(56:00):
players playing it were taking it seriously. I don't blame
them for not taking it seriously. But if you're not
gonna take it seriously, I'm not gonna watch. And so
isn't a flag football becoming a thing in MegaR household?
It is, and it's gonna be a thing in the Olympics,
like we my daughter and I. My daughter's afraid of
the ball, and I'm trying to like work that out

(56:21):
of her. She plays basketball and she's really good at
ball handling. She's really good at shooting. She's not like
great at catching a pass, which is a problem. And
then she likes to throw the football. But when I
throw it back it's still so we're working on it.
But she likes to catch it if she can. She
likes to throw it and then try to tackle me.

(56:44):
I just got a video sent to me for my
wife of her and her friend's sledding. Because it's no
school today because the flurries canceled school this morning. It's
really really snowy out. So maybe tomorrow no school again
and we could play football in the snow anyway. Our
our guy, our guy, Mike, Mike is on hold. Mike

(57:05):
is They put him on hold on three sixty and
never took his call. How rude, Hi, Mike.

Speaker 11 (57:11):
I'm well, thank you, thank you, Terren, appreciate you as well.

Speaker 3 (57:14):
Roll Tarrn didon do anything?

Speaker 2 (57:16):
Terrndon do anything, says three sixty took your call and
put you on hold. You've been on hold this entire time.
Don't think terr Tarren literally did nothing.

Speaker 11 (57:26):
I will never ever criticize tarn Bland. I don't care
if he kills somebody.

Speaker 2 (57:32):
Well, I do have limitations. If he does kill somebody,
I would have to ask what the justification was. But
beyond that, no, Arran is above any criticism.

Speaker 11 (57:44):
Yeah, he's my dude, that's my guy. I really wish
you and Taran were out on Radio Row this week.
I just I because listen, San Francisco is to hands down,
the most beautiful city in America. It's not even cook.

Speaker 2 (57:58):
Radio Row is the sad place on earth. It is
the saddest. So like it's it's fun, it's fun to
go out of town. It's fun to go to cities
you haven't been to. It's it's fun. If you can
go to Radio Row and the super Bowl, that is awesome.
As a Radio Row veteran, it is the saddest place

(58:19):
because like what you watch, like a lot of the
big shows you watch, you know Dan Patrick, or you
watch some of the ESPN shows, and they have like
these elaborate setups that are usually not really anywhere close
to Radio Row. What Radio Row is, it's a room
with a bunch of tables and a whole bunch of
like celess guests, former players pushing products that your audience

(58:43):
has no interest in. And it's it's folks doing their
local radio shows and they're so desperate for content that
like when a rep walks up to him and says, hey,
do you do you want to interview former Steelers quarterback
Mark Malone on behalf of like Salon Pause, people say
yes to that, right, And so there's like a listeners

(59:06):
walking through. It's like, hey, can we get Jerry Rice on? Nah,
he's a little bit too big for you, but I'll
tell you what. I'll give you a Oj McDuffie former
Dolphins running back Oj McDuffie on behalf of pringles you
want to talk to him? And hosts are like yeah, yes.
When we did Radio Row, we filtered out all of
that because I had no interest in talking to like

(59:27):
Walter Payton sod or like Damn Marino walked by. It's like,
Damn Marino would be cool. Could we talk to him? No,
but we could offer you former San Francisco forty nine
Ers lineman Harris Barton Again, I'm good man, I'm okay.
Radio Row is the saddest place on Earth. If the
Bengals ever go back to the Super Bowl. I do
not want to broadcast from Radio Row. I don't want

(59:48):
to broadcast next to an ice chest, but I don't
want to broadcast next to I don't want to broadcast
from Radio Row.

Speaker 11 (59:54):
Yeah, I had to bring up the ice chests and
Barney's beaner here.

Speaker 2 (59:57):
Yes, yes, outside out outside Barney's beatery. Even though my
accommodations there broadcasting next to the ice chest were a
little spartan, still better than Radio Row.

Speaker 11 (01:00:10):
Wow, that's anesome. Because today I was going around to
dial there was a guy from Saint Louis. I haven't
never heard him before. He was on Radio Row. Of
course he's from Saint Louis, so he's probably not got
a lot, but he had Kurt Warner on.

Speaker 2 (01:00:24):
Yeah.

Speaker 11 (01:00:24):
And then then the guy from Tampa. I slips down
the WDAE out of Tampa and that Tom Chris Nickey guy.
He had John Bruden on too, Yeah, which is really
kind of cool.

Speaker 2 (01:00:36):
So like that makes sense. We did Radio Row in
twenty eleven from Indy, and we said no to everybody.
We said yes to Kate Upton only because we kind
of conned her into being on for five minutes and
then ended up being a disaster because the person back
at the station who was supposed to be helping us record,
like went to go get a sandwich. We said yes

(01:00:57):
to Andy Dalton AJ Green because that mattered to our audience.
In twenty thirteen, we went we did it from New
York Marvin Jones and Connor Barwin because they matter to
our audience. But like you know, with all of them,
there's this dumb transactional part of it, where again you're
usually talking to people. It's like, hey, we could talk
to former Vikings quarterback Wade Wilson, who's going to be

(01:01:18):
talking with this on behalf of Levi's. Nobody wants to
hear those interviews. Nobody. And so that's what the Radio
Row experience is for ninety percent of people broadcasting from it.
And then the hosts who go on, they tell you
a bunch of inside stories about where they went to
dinner the night before and who they saw, and it's
just I believe Radio Row is the saddest place in America.

Speaker 11 (01:01:42):
Okay, okay, kind of like when you had Higgins and
Chase Brown on trying to sell bounty towels.

Speaker 2 (01:01:51):
Yeah, but you do that because it's it's Chase Brown
and T Higgins, and like I believe in setting that up. Going, Look,
you're gonna hear a one minute plug for Bounty Paper towels,
but we're gonna get eight minutes of football stuff like that.
But it's two people that my audience wants to hear from.
So you're willing to do the plug. But if it's like, hey,
we can get on former Colts backup quarterback Jim Sorgie,

(01:02:14):
who's going to be with us on behalf of PetSmart,
No the plug, buy a commercial and get a better
spokesperson than Jim Sorgie. And with that, Mike, I got
to run. Thanks very much.

Speaker 11 (01:02:26):
Oh wait, wait one second, one second, it's about you,
Hennios Flores.

Speaker 2 (01:02:30):
Very question.

Speaker 14 (01:02:30):
I looked.

Speaker 11 (01:02:31):
I looked up the data from the home runs that
he was hitting in Seattle, and here's the thing. Seattle
is the hardest park in the Major Leaps to hit
a home runs based on three things. The marine climate
what's called this slanted batter's eye, which I don't know
what that means, and cold air density that conspired a
dead and offense and magnified pitchers success. So T Mobile

(01:02:56):
consistently suppresses contact power and distance like no ballparks.

Speaker 2 (01:03:00):
So welcome you hang out, Welcome home, are you Haneo, Mike?
Thank you? As always saddest place on Earth? Radio Row.
I know that's real inside baseball, Like radio people go
because we get a chance to go, and like I
wouldn't say no if hadn't I not gone before. I
just don't think it's good content. And you just you

(01:03:21):
look around and it's like, why are you There's these
bad setups. There are card tables, it's totally unglamorous, food
bags all over the place, d list former football players
walking around. So if the Bengals ever go back to
the Super Bowl, I hope to god I can broadcast
from it. But in LA four years ago, I just said,

(01:03:44):
not Radio Row anywhere, but Radio Row. And so the
people that I work for said, cool, here's an ice
chest enjoy. What is to stop like anybody from suing
the NCAA so they could play college basketball? Our guy,
our legal expert, Stuart W. Penrose from Manila Law Group,
will answer questions for US next.

Speaker 3 (01:04:04):

Speaker 6 (01:04:07):
Traffic from the UC Health Traffic Center Trust of the
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They never miss a beat your heart shouldn't either. Schedule
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between Ronald Reagan Highway in Norwood lateral in southbound seventy
one after Fifer Road. It's construction off onto the right
shoulder on that eazelic with traffic.

Speaker 8 (01:04:38):
Sports station ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 2 (01:04:43):
So are we really going to have a guy who
has played in ten NBA games, not G league games
like National Basketball Association games. Is he going to be
allowed to come back and play high major Division one
men's college basketball. Well, if a guy by the name
of Amari Bailey gets his way, the answer is going

(01:05:05):
to be yes. He used to play at UCLA, declared
for the draft. It hasn't worked out, but he has
played in the NBA and now now he wants to
challenge the NCAA's eligibility rules, becoming the latest in a
long line of athletes who are doing this to come
back and play college hoops. So we have questions, and
when we have legal questions, we reach out to our

(01:05:27):
guy from Manila Law Group, Attorney Stewart W Penrose Stewart.
It's always awesome to have you get Afternoon, always great
to be on. Well, thanks for having me. I've asked
you this question before, you have covered it on this show,
but I feel like we have to ask it again.
Why is the ncuba's track record in court so bad?

Speaker 14 (01:05:45):
Because they're violating antitrust regulations and law in a lot
of ways, and that's why they keep losing in court.
Players right now, instead of fighting, the NCUBA and in
Indianapolis are filing for injunctions and their low go in
their local courts, and they tend to be winning. This
one seems like a bit of an exception here, though

(01:06:06):
no time will tell. I mean, all it takes is
one landmark case to swing things around. But you know,
courts aren't given the nc double an, you know, the
traditional defference that they used to, and you know they're
they're asking them the same questions of that they would
any other business. You know, hey, are your rules and
regulations good for competition or not? And and they're losing

(01:06:29):
quite a bit recently.

Speaker 2 (01:06:30):
So based on the track record recent and not so recent,
based on this being a different type of case than
the ones that you and I have already talked about
on this show, do you like this guy's chances of
winning the chance to come back and play college basketball?

Speaker 6 (01:06:46):
No?

Speaker 2 (01:06:47):
No, you never know how court's can roll.

Speaker 14 (01:06:50):
I mean, I'm not Pelsey, I'm not setting up any
event prediction market here for it. But this one feels
like the stretch. I mean, we've got the guy playing
for Alabama right now that's playing under a h under
a temporary injunction, who played in the in the G League.

Speaker 2 (01:07:08):
We're talking a guy here who.

Speaker 14 (01:07:09):
Actually played NBA games.

Speaker 11 (01:07:12):
You know, if if the.

Speaker 14 (01:07:13):
If the course allowed us to happen, they're essentially putting
a sledgehammer to the difference between pro and amateur athletics.

Speaker 2 (01:07:22):
And what is what what does that even mean anymore? What?

Speaker 14 (01:07:25):
What meaning? What relevance does that have to the n
C double A simply become a feeder league? Does advice
versa become a feeder league if things aren't working out
in the NBA, the NFL? What have you? This field?

Speaker 2 (01:07:38):
This feels very different. No, it does, but I can't
help but wonder if if this guy's case ends up
being successful. And it's I agree with you, you know
a lot more than me. You certainly don't need me,
uh to validate your opinion. But but if he is successful,
I guess I wonder what's to stop pretty much anybody,
anybody at any age, any level of experiences, any sport,

(01:08:02):
from saying I want to play college sports and if
your rules aren't gonna let me, I'm gonna sue and
I'm gonna win.

Speaker 14 (01:08:10):
Well, it's all a slippery slope, and that's the argument.
That's why you know the coaches in college basketball are
in a huff and puff over the Alabama player playing.
But this isn't a slope. This is the cliff here, mo.
You know, if they let this kid play and open
the floodgates for for professionals to come back, or does
it stop? Do you have Lebron jameson and up on
Ohio State when he retired from the NBA.

Speaker 11 (01:08:30):
You know who knows. But it's gonna be interesting. You
never know how a court's gonna go.

Speaker 14 (01:08:37):
But this one feels different the n C double if
still is allowed to have rules and regulations, this one
seems seems pretty clear cut. You know, you wait, you
played in the NBA, there's your amateur status. At that point,
they can still you know, force players to go to class.
They can still have a you know, exhausted players eligibility.
You know, it has to end at some point, and

(01:09:00):
you know, maybe this guy gets a short, temporary injunction.
Who knows, but it would be I would be very
surprised if he were to win this case in the
merits and this were to be a long term floodgate
that so opens up here and effectively kills the amateur
the amateur model.

Speaker 2 (01:09:19):
You and I whenever it's left at least, yeah, and
there's not much of a left. You and I talked
last week about the Alabama case Charles Bettiako, who is
playing for the Crimson Tide, and one of the things
I asked you about was the judge being an apparent
Alabama booster. He was he was asked to recuse himself
by the attorney representing the player. Uh, I don't think

(01:09:43):
I have that right. He was asked to recuse himself
by the n C double A. I think that's that's
how I should have put that anyway, So he has
the judge has since recused himself. What might that mean
for this case moving forward?

Speaker 14 (01:09:55):
Well, it would go to a different judge with the
net court system, and and that's what it would still
be in the local court system.

Speaker 11 (01:10:02):
There.

Speaker 14 (01:10:02):
They haven't asked her to be moved to federal court
at this At this point, it simply goes to a
different judge, whether that's judge as Alabama tized as an
Alabama booster.

Speaker 11 (01:10:13):
Who knows, they could be back at square.

Speaker 14 (01:10:14):
One for probably know, but a lot of these players
are filing in these local courts mode. You've got the
Tennessee player that's suing in a local court in Tennessee
shamblets from old myths suit to Mississippi courts, you know,
over his eligibility. You would think, I mean, those are
gonna be more favorable to the local player quite frankly.
You know the optics, you know, your your senses aren't

(01:10:37):
deceiving you there?

Speaker 2 (01:10:38):
Yeah? Uh. Stuart Attorney Stewart W. Penrose from the Manila
Law Group. You can learn more at Manila Lawgroup dot com.
Here's something I never thought we would be discussing on
this show, The Epstein Files. So a whole treasure trove
of files have been released by the Justice Department, and
among those connected to Jeffrey Epstein are a couple of

(01:10:58):
NFL owners Steve Tish, who's the Giants co owner and chairman,
Josh Harris who owns the Washington Commanders, and so many
are wondering like could the league hold these men accountable?
And what would that look like? Could it involve making
them sell their teams? Could it involve making them step

(01:11:19):
down from active roles, Could it involve suspension, fines, punishment.
Would the league have a legal leg to stand on
if they wanted to punish people who were connected to
Jeffrey Epstein.

Speaker 11 (01:11:30):
Well, there's a yes.

Speaker 14 (01:11:32):
But the NFL has punished owners in the past for
various things. You've had owners punished for getting a dui
or for other types of misconduct. Snyder was certainly published
punished by the NFL for at a period of time,
and you know es since he was kind of pushed
out the door. You had the NBA, you know, fort
Donald Sterling to eventually sell the Clippers for years of

(01:11:56):
racist allegations. Those were all done with what was some
level investigation. You know, can can they punish someone for
a time to st Yes, but there's got to be
more there. Just being in somebody's you know, phone book
or sharing emails with them does not necessarily mean that
they did anything wrong or unethical, much less if there

(01:12:16):
was any criminal conduct. There doesn't need to be criminal conduct,
but there's got to be some sort of accusations or
allegations or corroboration to even trigger an investigation here to see,
if you know, to see if something went on. There's
a lot of people that have been named in these
Epstein files, and you know, some of what I'm sure
you know they have done some very bad things, and
some of what I'm sure we're just you know, you know,

(01:12:38):
come in contact with him and in none of nefarious ways.

Speaker 11 (01:12:42):
And you know, was there that here or not?

Speaker 14 (01:12:44):
You know, we don't know, But you know, there's got
to be allegations. There's something to trigger investigation there before
you go from zero two one hundred. So could they
punish if there's that, Absolutely, But there's got to be something,
And just being in a in a phone, blog or
an email is not itself enough.

Speaker 2 (01:13:01):
Yeah, And you know, I think of sports leagues, and
I think of owners, and I think how there are
at times accused and rightfully so, of protecting their own
and so, I I don't know. I wonder how much
that might be in play here. Perhaps that's not so
much of a legal question, but maybe more of a

(01:13:22):
moral one. Awesome stuff as always, Well, we'll talk next week.

Speaker 11 (01:13:26):
Thanks.

Speaker 2 (01:13:27):
That's our legal expert, attorney Stuart W. Penrose from the
Manilo Law Group. You can learn more at Manilolawgroup dot com.
It's fourteen minutes away from five o'clock five one, three, seven, four, nine,
fifteen thirty. It is and will continue to be my
sincere hope that on this show, which is one hundred

(01:13:48):
percent about fun and games, we never have to talk
about the Epstein Files. I'll let my friends down the
hall either talk about that or go out of their
way to not talk about that. They can know what
I mean. It's thirteen away from five o'clock. I will
take the bait offered by the dude who covers the
vikings about Joe Burrow coming up on ESPN fifteen thirty

(01:14:10):
Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 3 (01:14:11):
Station, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 6 (01:14:16):
Traffic from the UCE Health Traffic Center, Trust of the
experts at you see Health for innovative and personalized heart care.
They never miss a beat or heart shouldn't either. Schedule
online at ucehealth dot com. Northbound seventy one after Fight
for Road, there's a new accident in that one off
onto the right shoulder. Southbound seventy one after Fight for Road.

(01:14:37):
The right shoulder blocked off that due to midday construction
in southbound two seventy five. One lane open on the
Carrol Cropper Bridge. I'm at Ezelic with traffic.

Speaker 2 (01:14:47):
This report is the NHL. They're in New Jersey tonight
take on the Devils. Jackets have won five straight and
nine out of ten. Also at the Radio State the
other day, a box showed up addressed to me. There
was no return address on that, and there are a

(01:15:11):
pair of Columbus Blue Jackets size elevens, which is my
size slides. I have no idea who sent them to me,
no remote idea who's and they're they're from like the
NHL shop like fanatics, So whoever sent me the Columbus
Blue Jackets branded slides, thank you, Thank you so much.

(01:15:35):
I've asked people in my life like did you randomly?
I'm an extraordinarily casual Blue Jackets fan, although I have
decided I'm going to be like the uber into the
Olympics guy this year, and thus uber into Olympic Hockey guy,
because Olympic hockey is really fun and we got a
taste of it with the Four Nations tournament last year,

(01:15:56):
which was heightened by the geopolitical nonsense that's almost a
part of our daily lives. But I'm gonna be super
into it. But I am a very very casual Blue
Jackets fan someone and I've asked people in my life like,
did you randomly decide to send to work a pair
of Columbus Blue Jackets slides shower shoes. I'm not a

(01:16:22):
big like sandals shower shoes slides guy because I don't
think anybody wants to look at my feet, but I'll
wear them around the pool, so whoever, and they got
my size right, So whoever sent them to me, thank you.
This is the second time this has happened, maybe I

(01:16:44):
don't know, maybe ten years ago. I wrote a blog
post about it back when I used to do blogs.
Someone sent me two ud hats and that was an
anonymous note and it said I think it was like,
take that butter off your head and wear these. I
don't really know what that means. Really nice Dayton hats,

(01:17:05):
and they there was like a packing slip or something.
They had come from the ud bookstore. Really nice hats,
but whoever wrote the note did not sign them. There
was no return address. And there have been times like
working here where I've been like in our mail area
which doubles as the kitchen in this setup, and I'll

(01:17:27):
see packages and I'm like, I don't know if I
was Scott Sloan if I would open that, or I
don't know if I was Lance McCallister or if I
would open that. I've yet to get one of those.
But yeah, I got some blue jackets, So thank you
whoever sent it. I don't know what I did to
deserve to get them, but thanks I'll wear them. I

(01:17:51):
don't know how you knew what my shoe size is,
but I'm a little bit creeped out by that, but thanks.

Speaker 11 (01:17:59):
Ah.

Speaker 2 (01:18:00):
Some of the things really quickly here you'll hear are
Uhaneo Suarez and Nick kra coming up right around five
point forty. A few headlines that we did not get
to get to because we had our guys Stewart on.
Troy Waltz is the Bengals wide receivers coach has told
the Bears no in their quest for an offensive coordinator.
Domotaw peco is going to be the Steelers defensive line coach, which, look,

(01:18:21):
dude wants to be a coach in the NFL. That
position isn't open with the Bengals, so go do what
you gotta do. Domata College troops. Tonight, Xavier is on
the road against Yukon. Had the awesome the Musketeers did
come from behind win on Saturday over to Paul with
the Philip borvichin in shot to win the game. Significantly
tougher task tonight in Hartford. The Muskies lost by twenty

(01:18:45):
three the last time they took on Dan Hurley's team.
That game is tonight on seven hundred WLW. Miami looks
to stay unbeaten. They play a Buffalo Bulls team that
basically had them beaten in the first game at Mallett
or some call it Millet Hall. We'll see if the
RedHawks can get a road win over that team after

(01:19:07):
beating them in overtime in the first tilt that game
tonight in Buffalo, I jotted down six thirties tip off.
I guess that's accurate. Dayton's home tonight for Saint Bonaventure.
The Bonnie's haven't won at UD Arena in ten years.
It's been twenty years since the Flyers had a five
game losing streak. Something's got to give tonight at U
the Arena. And also this evening, Indiana's on the road

(01:19:30):
against USC. Very good interview, I believe, with Jeane Sterator
coming up at five point twenty on ESPN fifteen thirty
Cincinnati Sports Station. Down load to see if you qualify.

Speaker 1 (01:19:41):
Not all customers, Now here's your chance to win one
thousand dollars. Just entered this nationwide keyword on our website.

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Enter it now you've found Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 2 (01:19:56):
I'm gonna take the bait. I'm gonna do it. I'm
gonna take the bait in just a second. And sometimes
there is a world that you try to imagine that
you simply cannot. I will make that make sense here
in just a bit. You'll hear a u Haano Suarez
and Nick Krawl from earlier today both spoke, Look, man,

(01:20:19):
we were talking last hour. If if Gino didn't play
for the Reds back in the day. It's fair to
wonder if they ever would have re signed him, but
who cares. This season is not that unlike last year.
The limitations on the Reds offense last season were mainly
a byproduct of Elie Dela Cruz not having a great year,

(01:20:40):
the two hole production being terrible, and some other guys
they were expecting to contribute not doing much of anything.
Like this time last year, it was Matt McClain is back,
cool etch it in Stone playing second, batting second, and
that's what they did, and Matt McLain had a bad
year last year. Austin and Tony have talked about this

(01:21:02):
a lot. One of these storylines for this season is
how long is the leash? Last year, it felt like
the leash was really, really, really really long for Matt McLain,
and then you got to a point where he was
hitting eight. If he was hitting ninth, it no longer
made sense for him to bat second. Maybe that's going
to be noel ve Marte this year. We will see,
but a Juhanio Suarez is back, and he gives them

(01:21:24):
a dimension that it goes without saying they've badly needed. Yes,
he is a one dimensional player. But it's cool because
that one dimension they needed. But they need a lot
of stuff to go right from guys who were here
last year, Like I think of Noel ve Marte, who
might be batting second now. Noelve Marte. I thought last

(01:21:44):
season was an awesome story because he could not have
been deeper in the doghouse during spring training. Remember early
March last year, they sent him to minor league camp,
not even really giving him a chance to make the team,
and by the end of the season he was indispensable,
made arguably the single most important defensive play of the

(01:22:08):
entire season that last home game against the Pirates before
they went to Milwaukee and won two out of three.
It is still fair to wonder, defensively, if you're putting
a premium on defense, could you do better than a
converted third baseman playing right field. The Reds believe in him,
he's got to deliver a payoff for their I don't

(01:22:30):
want to say patience, but for them showing faith in him,
which means a full month offensively, a full season offensively,
I should say, and don't make them regret putting a
third basement in right field, like not like a third
baseman who had played some right field like a dude
who had done nothing but basically play third base. And

(01:22:52):
now we're sticking him in the outfield during a playoff push.
They're showing a lot of faith in him. Will will
will he will he reward them for that is? Is
Matt McClain gonna have this sort of season the Reds
were expecting last year, Like we're talking put up or
shut up for a lot of guys, so to speak,

(01:23:13):
because with McClain, you go, man, in twenty twenty three,
he was so good. All right, that was three years ago.
If we're going into twenty twenty seven talking about what
he was in twenty twenty three, uh huh, ain't gonna work.
Matt McClain has to get us to stop talking about
Matt McLean even if he's not batting second, playing second.

(01:23:34):
This feels like it should be the Elie Dela Cruz
leap year. Now you might have said, well, last year
was supposed to be okay, little bit of a little
bit of a pass because he was dealing with levels
of physical discomfort that the Reds let him play through
last season. So this year, say no to him. By

(01:23:55):
the way, early sign they will not playing in the
World Baseball Classic. That is good. I wish he was
playing in the World Baseball Classic because World Baseball Classic
is a cool event and it would be cooler if
Ellie was in it. But his top priority is the Reds.
They have the right to tell him no because he
had an injury last year. They've told him no. That

(01:24:15):
needs to continue. But dude is going to clear two
thousand Big League plate appearances this year. This team still
still is built around Ellie Delacruz. They may have made
Ellie Delacruz better by putting a guy behind him who
could hit forty bombs, but that only really works if

(01:24:37):
Ellie takes advantage of the better protection. Can't put up
numbers like last season and take advantage of the protection
they're giving him. And to a large degree, the Sal
Stewart thing has to really take off this year because
this is the ideal set of circumstances. A Uhaneosuarez said's

(01:24:59):
forty home runs and then he's almost expendable. Now if
he hits forty home runs, maybe the Reds go. Dude, Gino,
you're happy here? Do you want to take a chance
on free agency? Want to try to hit forty more
here this year. Who knows, but it's a mutual option,
so Gino can say no at the end of the season.
What would be awesome? And I know this is putting

(01:25:20):
a lot on Sal Stewart. If sal Stewart hits thirty
to thirty five this year, not like he didn't show
some pop when he came up in September last season,
that's that would be a major boost to this year's team.
Can you imagine? Imagine this world? Ellie hits thirty doable,
Sal hits thirty conceivable, Gino hits forty conceivable might be

(01:25:47):
a little ambitious, but there's ae hundred home runs from
three guys. Divide him up however you want. There's that
world is not that hard to imagine. But yes, excitement
for Gino. Everyone loves him. How do you not? But

(01:26:07):
this really only takes off if dudes who were here
last year are better, are healthier, play a full season,
and don't do what Matt McClain did last year. Don't
do what Christian and Karnasi and Strand did last year.
Talk about a disappointment and nothing against the guy, But
last year in February, folks were wondering like, could that

(01:26:29):
be the power source? Could that be the guy that
hits thirty? Dude was demoted by July fourth and then
never heard from again. When's the last time you even
said the name Christian and karnasion Strand. So the success
of this year's team still mostly hinges on dudes who
were here last year. That's a pretty obvious statement. More
guys who were here last year than ginos Warez. Hopefully

(01:26:53):
euhanios Warez being in the middle of the order makes
it easier for some of these guys to be better
than they were last season. Twelve after five o'clock, Kara,
do you have the Vikings beat writer talking about Joe
Burrow and the clip that has made its way through
the Bengals universe so to speak? Yes, go ahead play
that audio for me.

Speaker 9 (01:27:11):
Odds of a Joe Burrow big name quarterback trade over
under ten percent possibility? I like putting a percentage on
it would be foolish on my part because it's it's
It's like when I used to cover baseball, used to say,
like why, you know, what were the why why didn't
they trade that player? Well, what was available to trade?
So it's like, you know, as much as the Viking.

Speaker 2 (01:27:33):
I mean, I've said this on the podcast before.

Speaker 9 (01:27:36):
If a player like Joe Burrow is available via trade,
I expect the Vikings to do everything they possibly can
to try to make that happen.

Speaker 2 (01:27:45):
It's more a question of.

Speaker 9 (01:27:46):
What is available, and how far you know what's available,
and how far from a cost perspective is it going
to take to get to the place at which it
does become available.

Speaker 2 (01:28:02):
This should be the only time we ever address this.
I will because it's made the rounds and my job
is to spend time on what seems to be on
people's mind, and this online at least, has been on
people's mind. The Bengals aren't making Joe Burrow available, and
if you believe I'm wrong about that, just ask why

(01:28:25):
the Bengals would make Joe Burrow available. Joe Burrow is
responsible for the greatest four year stretch arguably in the
history of the franchise twenty eleven through twenty fifteen. Would
have something to say about that. He is solely responsible,

(01:28:45):
not solely, but mainly responsible, more than anybody else for
the Cincinnati Bengals going from completely irrelevant and folks not
caring anymore to a total re brand, playing for a
championship to mattering to being relevant, to selling a whole
lot of tickets. He is in his prime. He's under

(01:29:09):
contract for four more seasons, four more years. He is
under contract. They're not in a position to rebuild. They're
in a division that just swapped out coaches all three
other teams. They've got an offense that doesn't need really
anything beyond a bit player here and there. He's in

(01:29:34):
an AFC which has not felt this wide open since
Joe Burrow became a pro. On what planet would it
make any sense, even if you believe the Bengals thinking
is warped, on what planet would it make any sense
for them to make their meal ticket available? I mean,

(01:29:57):
just say that out loud. On what plan it would
it make any sense for them to make their meal
ticket available?

Speaker 6 (01:30:04):
Uh?

Speaker 2 (01:30:04):
Alec lewis Bengals, not the Bengals. The Vikings beat writer
for the Athletic is the guy you just heard there,
and he handled that well and responsibly, and people have
taken it and maybe done some irresponsible things. He's not
saying the Vikings are gonna get Joe Burrow, Sorry, Terry.
He's not saying that Joe Burrow is going to be
made available? Is just of course, which team wouldn't be
interested in Joe Burrow if he was available? You have

(01:30:25):
like twenty five teams trying to push each other out
of the way, and at the answer as well. You know,
the twenty seven draft class gonna be a lot of quarterbacks.
Stop stop understanding the somewhat crapshooting nature of the draft.
Understanding that, boy, even some dudes who look like they
were can't miss prospects, you simply don't know. You have

(01:30:47):
a known variable at the most important position in all
of sports, and that known variable is one of the
best at what he does. You're you're going to trade
that so you can draft to lesser known variable. Chances
are is not as good to replace him. Come on,
where is the world where they make Joe Burrow available?

(01:31:11):
Until there's reason to believe that that world exists, we
don't ever have to talk about this again. Sixteen minutes
after five o'clock at Moeger on Twitter thanks to Delta Dental,
you'll hear Souarez and Crawl coming up in just about
twenty five minutes. Good interview with a guy who's officiated
a super Bowl on a bunch of NCAA tournament games

(01:31:33):
and you watch on TV every week Gene's Territory.

Speaker 3 (01:31:35):
Next Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 8 (01:31:40):
Traffic from the UCE Health Traffic Center.

Speaker 6 (01:31:43):
Trust to the experts at you See Health for innovative
and personalized heartcare. They never miss a beat Your heart
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one at Deerfield Road, the right lane blocked off from
an accident. A little bit of slow traffic gathering from
fight for southbound seventy one after Fifer shoulder blocked off

(01:32:04):
due to construction. Southbound two seventy five. Only one lane
open at the Indiana Kentucky line. I'm at EAZELK with traffic.

Speaker 4 (01:32:12):
This report is sponsored by Driveway dempster Ron Harper yesterday.

Speaker 2 (01:32:16):
Go listen to it right now. We wait till six
o'clock on the iHeartRadio app. Or wait till after six
o'clock because the euhanius Hoaraz and Nicrawl are going to
be on the Red Hot Stove League deln Mahme. Let's see.
This was on Friday. I was invited in the folks
at Elder High School. Always kind enough to invite me
to their annual sports tag and the featured guest. The

(01:32:38):
speaker this year was Jean's Territor, who's obviously the NFL
rules analyst for CBS. Longtime NFL official worked at Super
Bowl as last game was the Super Bowl, the Philly
Special Super Bowl where Philly beat New England. Longtime men's
college basketball official officiated lots of NCAA tournament games. He
was the featured speaker. He was awesome, and Gene was

(01:33:02):
nice enough to make himself available for an interview, and
the folks at Elder High School were kind enough to
give me a room to kind of go into the
back and sit down with him and make it happen.
And so I'm deeply appreciative of both. I through no
work of mine. This is more a reflection of the guest.
I think this is a good conversation. I think you'll
enjoy it. Here's my conversation with Jean's Territor. I want

(01:33:26):
you to tell me what a typical regular season Sunday
game day is like for the rules analysts. Pull back
the curtain for me. Yeah, Well, in the NFL, I
can tell you it's a little unique.

Speaker 16 (01:33:36):
In my position, and I think with Dean Blandio Mike
Prayer on the Fox side, they live in that same
area that I do. One o'clock window on CBS five
NFL games going on at the same time. So picture
three different televisions that are attributed to each.

Speaker 2 (01:33:51):
Game, lined up on a big wall in a room.
So you're looking at.

Speaker 16 (01:33:55):
About eighteen to twenty one forty five inch screens stacked
on top of each other, and you're trying to navigate
the games or seeing snaps. I have officials, retired officials,
college officials in the studio working watching each an individual game.
But truthfully, that one o'clock window with multiple games is
trying to watch as many snaps as you can as

(01:34:16):
they may go off differently than the previous game, to
digest plays and then inevitably it happens.

Speaker 2 (01:34:24):
Right, Gene, there's a review in Cleveland, So.

Speaker 16 (01:34:27):
Immediately leave the huge wall of twenty one screens turned
to the studio to the other three major screens, which
is an EVS screen that I manipulate with an operator
to be relooking at the player rewinding it naturally, the
broadcast live feed, and then a feed that actually faces
the referee who's probably in a review at that time,
so for television's sake, you're not speaking over and you

(01:34:49):
time things correctly, and then really you probably have fifteen
to twenty seconds to try to dissect hopefully a couple
of replays, get ready to go on air. Remember what
city you're in, Know what announcers are on the game,
if you're really on a roll, both players involved in
the play, get their names right, Digest all of those

(01:35:09):
things in that first ten seconds while you're watching two
or three replays, and then hope to be able to
digest enough by that point to get into the game live,
be brought into that game, and then maybe speak to
a replay or two prior to the referee making his announcement.

Speaker 2 (01:35:26):
What is it like? And I'm sure this has happened,
though not that frequently. There's two replay issues at the
same time at two separate games. Yeah, it's happened. It
happens a little more frequently than you may believe.

Speaker 16 (01:35:38):
But in the event that that occurs, you don't get
told while you're on live TV doing the first one,
usually that hey, there's another review in the other game,
but you can feel it, so you may hear from
a producer either on location or my producer in REF studio,
or there's a beautiful card that goes right up in
front of your face that says, wrap this one up

(01:35:59):
as quick as you can.

Speaker 2 (01:36:00):
So then you try to cut out of that.

Speaker 16 (01:36:02):
And then you literally morph into that next game as
quickly as possible to doing all the things I just
prefaced prior to that, and then hoping that you can
get in to be at least some element of, you know,
of making the production a little better.

Speaker 2 (01:36:16):
You in your role. You've got to be critical at times.
You've got to be critical of men. You know, men
you've worked with. You ever hear back from them? Yeah,
and you know what, not really and and I don't.

Speaker 16 (01:36:26):
I mean, I know that how the social world works,
right because Sterotor agrees with the refs all the time.
He's a stamp for the NFL, and whatever they say
he agrees with. That's really not the case. I would
tell you I've never done the raw percentages. I bet
it's an eighty twenty, you know, eighty percent of the
time I'm watching the plays. I may not agree that
it was really a quality kind of file for past interference, right,

(01:36:48):
But by the book, it's pass interference, so you live
in that world as well.

Speaker 2 (01:36:52):
Hey, Geno, is that passive aference?

Speaker 11 (01:36:54):
Yeah?

Speaker 16 (01:36:55):
It is?

Speaker 2 (01:36:56):
Uh? Is it something that you want called every play?

Speaker 13 (01:36:58):
Not?

Speaker 16 (01:36:58):
Probably not, But that's not your role all the time
to do those. And I'll say this, just from being
an official for so long, we've been criticized our whole
lives from multiple places, right, I mean, coaches, ex officials,
now analysts. A great official when they make mistakes, you
own it. There are different opinions on plays. But when

(01:37:20):
you miss one and miss one and look, it happens.
And I've had it happen many times in basketball where
you're work in one of the March Madness games and
you just see a hit on the arm and the
official missed it. If ball falls three feet short, hey,
let's bring in gene yes, gene yes, Guys, he missed it.
If he had the luxury to look at it two
more times like I did, or his angle was a
little better, I think there'd be a different decision on

(01:37:42):
the play. I mean, I think there's something to be
said for being transparent. You want to be credible, you
want to offer insight, hopefully, but when it's a miss,
it's a miss, and I think good officials understand.

Speaker 2 (01:37:53):
That where your role, I think his most beneficial is
not so much they got it right, they got it wrong. Kid.
Whether it's in men's college basketball or in the NFL,
I like it when a rule is explained and I
think it helps the viewer. Is there in the NFL
in football? Is there a rule that you believe fans

(01:38:13):
misunderstand or misinterpret more than the others.

Speaker 16 (01:38:16):
I think the most difficult thing we're all challenged with
no pun intended right now in the NFL is the
subjectivity of when does it catch in?

Speaker 2 (01:38:24):
What is a catch?

Speaker 16 (01:38:25):
What is in a catch right, which ironically has paralleled
my career since Calvin Johnson's play through, Des Bryant's play through,
Zach Ertz's playing the Super Bowl, which was my last game,
all of them had catches, And even in the last
couple of weeks here, as we've watched and enjoyed the
NFL postseason interception catch, no catch, those types of plays
continue to fall through. I think analysts, me personally and

(01:38:50):
my collective peers in these positions, the NFL needs to do.

Speaker 2 (01:38:54):
A little better job maybe in explaining some of that nuances.

Speaker 16 (01:38:58):
When does the possession of a foot pass become a
legitimate catch and why as an upright receiver who possesses
a football different than a player who possesses a football in.

Speaker 2 (01:39:10):
The air and when he lands on the ground starts
to fall.

Speaker 16 (01:39:13):
And then I think, really from the officiating side of it,
which I think is another conversation that needs to be
taken place. And along with television, technology continues to grow
and get better. We continue to have now two hundred
frames a second instead of thirty two when I was
a kid. Sometimes we're slowing these down so far that
reality becomes distorted, and I think there's that window where

(01:39:36):
we can all see freeze frames of all this was done,
or they slowed it down so much it appeared he
just had possession, when if you go back and watch
it in real time, it wasn't even an eighth of
a second, right, So I think there's something that needs
to be done there. Not for credibility's sake as much
because I understand it. It's the conveying of it, not
convincing the public about it, but maybe educating in a

(01:40:00):
little more way. And that's digestible, right. The saying always
has been if ninety nine people in the bar are
looking at the play and tell you it's this, that
it should be that. Okay, So whatever you do when
you're framing or your analysis, it should still come out
to that answer.

Speaker 2 (01:40:16):
That's the hope, And there's some challenges in that. You
mentioned your last game was the Philly Special super Bowl, right,
so this week is the Super Bowl. I've talked with
players and coaches about what it's like to be in
that game. They'll say it's just another football game once
it starts, but the week leading up to it as
an official, is there anything different than you know, hey,
it's Week nineteen Bengals at Browns. Yeah.

Speaker 16 (01:40:38):
The shock that in my case with the big Italian
family funding twenty two tickets for the NFL and then
realizing I had to work in an entire basketball season
to pay for the tickets. But I just knock from
my family along with their hotels and travel. Once that
shock settled down. Now, listen and I appreciate what they say,
and I think, sometimes, yes, it is just week nineteen,

(01:40:59):
but that does happen. At least it didn't happen for
me until we kicked the ball off. When the ball
kicked off. We were back into the rhythms of what
it meant to referee, produce, manage, and navigate through a
three hour NFL football game. That doesn't change pretty much
for the sake of the game and the essence of

(01:41:19):
what you do.

Speaker 2 (01:41:20):
But I think you would be wrong to tell.

Speaker 16 (01:41:22):
Yourself that it was just another game the week before
when your crew got to that city that we all
love to see.

Speaker 2 (01:41:29):
As this next week's coming.

Speaker 16 (01:41:31):
Up now Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, they're not normal Wednesdays
through Saturday.

Speaker 2 (01:41:37):
Don't pretend they are.

Speaker 16 (01:41:39):
I always decided that it was best to let the
crew know that feeling when we got to the super
Bowl city that no, this isn't normal for these next
three days. But within that moment, we still have to
go through the processes that we were doing on Wednesday, Thursday,
Friday when we were home zooming, doing our player team
tendencies or individual matchups, break down the playlist, the football

(01:42:02):
of what we were about to see, but also embracing
the fact that look at your human one hundred and
forty plus million people are going to watch this football game, right.
I know at CBS we've been really fortunate. We broke
the record for most viewership in a Thanksgiving game. This year,
we had the most viewership for the Christmas Game, most
viewership just last week for the AFC Championship. That's fifty million,

(01:42:25):
the Super Bowls three times.

Speaker 2 (01:42:26):
That.

Speaker 16 (01:42:26):
You have to embrace the fact that if I do
make a mistake in this game, there are one hundred
and fifty million people that do care right as opposed
to maybe a different week.

Speaker 2 (01:42:36):
And I don't think that's a bad thing.

Speaker 16 (01:42:38):
I think that's just enhancing your level of awareness about
what you're about to go into. It humbles you, but
it also prepares you. So I don't think that you
shy away from that and deny that.

Speaker 2 (01:42:47):
I have a few more. You've been awesome with your time.
I hear people when they talk about the state of
NFL officiating, and I think largely the concerns are overblown.
But when people express hey, officiating needs to be better,
go two solution as always make them full time employees.
And my response to that is always like, all right,
what's the job security? Right? If I missed a call them,

(01:43:07):
I have out of a gig. So from your perspective,
when you hear hey, make them full time employees. What
do you say in response?

Speaker 16 (01:43:13):
I was an NFL official for fifteen years of my life,
and as an NFL referee for thirteen of those years,
I spent twenty to thirty hours a week preparing for
next Sunday's game.

Speaker 2 (01:43:22):
I can't prepare any more. Full time or part time.
That's what I did. I also did referee for call
these basketball games during those weeks. That doesn't mean I
wasn't preparing.

Speaker 16 (01:43:30):
It just meant that I was in a hotel somewhere
at noon getting ready for Michigan State playing Indiana, and
for three hours of that six hours prior to the
basketball game, I was breaking film down. NFL officials collectively
are putting that amount of time in every week through
their zooms, through their preparations, through their study habits. You
also can't get better at officiating unless you are seeing

(01:43:53):
live action.

Speaker 2 (01:43:54):
The NFL doesn't play all year round.

Speaker 16 (01:43:57):
It's not like basketball where we can have full content
tacked camps that simulate gameplay somewhat like we can in
the basketball space where it kind of does navigate for
ten months. I'm not a proponent of the full time either,
because if you think about it, it would limit the
amount of people that would go into it. When would
you have to declare that you want to be an

(01:44:17):
NFL ref right at twenty six, three years out of college,
you got married at thirty, you're working major college football,
aspiring to be and then they come calling, and now
you have to give up the job that has the
benefits and all of that, and as you said, the
job of security.

Speaker 2 (01:44:32):
So I don't think that's the answer. I think there's
a look, you got to get better.

Speaker 16 (01:44:39):
You got to make sure that you have a good
foundation of a lot of major college football experience. I
would think in most cases understanding there's always the exception.
But just like the players, ninety percent of our players
come from the Power five conferences, ninety percent of our
officials should probably come out of that same space. I
hear all the time they should be younger, they should
be able to run better. Don't ever forget that in

(01:45:01):
this business, experience is the most valuable.

Speaker 2 (01:45:04):
Tool you can ever have.

Speaker 16 (01:45:05):
A young official getting in the NFL, and my humble opinion,
should probably be in their late thirties. That means that
they started too in their mid twenties and they went
through the small college space into the major college space,
build a foundation of experience and a lot of in
game experience only to get to the platform at that
next level, which quite frankly, I worked five.

Speaker 2 (01:45:27):
Years in the Big East.

Speaker 16 (01:45:27):
Through the Big East is heyday with Michael Vick Miami's resurgence.
I thought I was prepped, and I was, I think,
but I wasn't prepped for what I saw that next Sunday.
That next year, what they did on Sundays looked like
a different sport in some ways than what I just realized.
I had worked for five years of major college So
I think there's a lot to that. The scrutiny they're under,
the technology, you're under the replays, assisting them and being

(01:45:50):
a safety net on plays that maybe aren't forcing them
to work at their craft at a higher level.

Speaker 2 (01:45:56):
Those are conversations for the future as a college basketball fan,
and I'm lucky I sit up close working Cincinnati broadcast.
But I love to watch the interplay between the coaches
and the officials. It's got to be more fun than
the NFL guys, right, because there's more officials, there's more space.
I think an NFL head coach just has a little
bit more going on, so it walk me through maybe

(01:46:17):
the differences in working the college basketball coaches in the NFL.

Speaker 16 (01:46:20):
I can look when people say, do you miss it collectively? No,
I don't, because, as you know, traveling travel, you never
miss sleep deprivation.

Speaker 2 (01:46:30):
You never miss your.

Speaker 16 (01:46:32):
Body aging and not being able to keep up with
the next wave of young athletes.

Speaker 2 (01:46:35):
You don't miss. What I miss is what you just said.

Speaker 16 (01:46:39):
It's the in real game time, high intensity, high pressure
management of personalities that are acting out of character with
a high intensity level for the right reasons, not always
diffusing it, but navigating it and managing not just that
coach in that specific instance, but a lot of times
players in real time. Look, when you get to the

(01:47:00):
levels of UC basketball or NFL football, there's no fist
bumping that goes on with res because they got to
play right.

Speaker 2 (01:47:05):
You're supposed to get to play right.

Speaker 16 (01:47:07):
The fun begins when you got to play right and
the coach is treating you like you missed the biggest
player in the world and you got it right, Like,
how do you navigate that? That to me was the
art of the game. That's what I missed, That's what
I loved. That's what I will never never not love
about what I did. The difference in basketball, and you're right,
the proximities are so tight they can get to you

(01:47:28):
much quicker.

Speaker 2 (01:47:29):
In hoops, they were wild and knew they had a little.

Speaker 16 (01:47:33):
More leniency sometimes in college basketball than the NBA too,
But in the NFL there was a lot of that
happening with the players. So there's a lot happening on
that field that you don't get to see, but basketball
is that closer proximity. I always mastered the art of
putting my hand over my mouth when I had that conversation,
for protection for what may come out of my mouth,

(01:47:56):
and also for any good lip readers, which I am
now because I'm a little at a heart of hearing
at this point of my life. But I always protected
myself in that regard.

Speaker 2 (01:48:04):
But man, being at uc uh Mix said some things
to me that I don't know that I would allow
to happen if we were just in a regular setting
like this. But on the court it was not only acceptable.

Speaker 16 (01:48:18):
Uh, you knew it was coming, so it was a
great thing, and that we all knew that we all
knew the playing field we were.

Speaker 2 (01:48:24):
On, so it was no surprise. I would always get
a kick out of with him specifically, but others the
three officials come out or by shaking hands or three
minutes later it's you know you're getting dawcust one more
because I've always wanted to ask somebody who's officiated to
the highest level of this question.

Speaker 16 (01:48:39):
It's a simple one. Is there a such thing as
a make could call no? And there can't be because
you go down the rabbit hole. Two wrongs never make
a right. The only way you handle a miss which happened,
they're going to continue to happen.

Speaker 2 (01:48:54):
It's an imperfect world. You own the miss.

Speaker 16 (01:48:57):
If you feel really good about where you are in
your credit relationship, you get to that coach and you
let him or her know I kicked this one. Okay,
I can't go back, but we're not going to live
in that space anymore. If you go down the rabbit hole,
like man, we called a nickel dimer on this end
of the court, we need to match it over there.
You're playing with such fire right now that the game

(01:49:19):
and yourself runs into a much different difficulty.

Speaker 2 (01:49:23):
If life were that way, we would be in a
much better space.

Speaker 16 (01:49:27):
Right.

Speaker 2 (01:49:27):
I'm wrong, I'm sorry, but it has to end.

Speaker 16 (01:49:31):
Right at that point, and as a ref you hope
that confronting that can put an end. I will also
tell you full transparency, it wasn't the best answer.

Speaker 2 (01:49:41):
Always for the coach.

Speaker 16 (01:49:42):
And three minutes later he still told you about to
play you miss. Five minutes before, even though he promised
that he wouldn't, he still did.

Speaker 2 (01:49:49):
And that was okay too. All Right, there you go.
Jean's territor CBS Sports, NFL and college football rules analysts
more of the NFL than college, but you do occasionally
him on a college broadcast. And I only know that
because on Friday he told me, thanks to the folks
at Elder High School for helping to make that happen.
You'll hear a uhaneos Juarez and Nick Crawl next Cincinnati's

(01:50:15):
ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 6 (01:50:18):
Traffic from the UCE Health Traffic Center. Trust of the
experts at you See Health for Innovative and Personalized Heart Care,
they never miss a beat your heart shouldn't either. Schedule
online at ucehealth dot com. Northbound seventy one at Deerfield Road,
it is an accident that one blocking off the right lane.
A little bit of slow traffic back from Fife for

(01:50:38):
road not seeing any substantial delays though in southbound seventy
five more construction work between Ronald Reagan Highway and the
Norwood Lateral on that ezelic with traffic.

Speaker 2 (01:50:48):
This report, the man thought Jeans Territory was awesome. I
know a lot of folks don't like the rules analysts.
I had sort of mixed feelings on the position itself,
and he does bat a thousand as a rules analyst,
but I thought he was pretty insightful as to how
the job works, the officiating stuff. We'll put the interview
on the iHeartRadio at Raneo Suarez was reintroduced today coming

(01:51:14):
back to Cincinnati, a place where he became a fan favorite.
Was an all star, put together some very good seasons
in forty nine home runs in a season. That's how
many he hit last year with the Diamondbacks and the Mariners.
He's back in Cincinnati and he's excited to come back
to a Reds team that's built. He believes to make
a deep playoff run.

Speaker 17 (01:51:35):
I've been good right now. We look when I see
the LINEO, we look very good. I can't wait to
put ative everything together. And I faced this guy the
last couple of years and I see how how good
they've been. They've been the stuff, the pitching stuff being great,
and the offense has been there. I know they can speed.

(01:51:56):
They played, they they they fast on the basin, they
got a really good different and you know they they
looking they're looking for something like like I am, and
and they might be looking for for something different on me.
And I'm here now to help the team, to help
the line on now to be superhero, not to be
a superhero, but be my my best version and put

(01:52:19):
everything on the field, do my best, try to help
the team win games.

Speaker 2 (01:52:22):
That's more important to me. So one of the storylines is,
you know, add pop right hit the ball out of
the ballpark, but also give Ellie Dela Cruz an element
of protection that he didn't have last year. Here's Gino
on how he believes he can help Elie specifically whatever
he needs from me.

Speaker 5 (01:52:41):
I was there.

Speaker 17 (01:52:42):
You know he has a talent, he knows what he
can do on the field, right and and you know, I, uh,
whatever he needed for me, I will help them. I
know how how good he is and I and and
he might be helped me too a lot. And uh,
like I say, I'm here to help the team win games,
and uh and be the best version of the Cincinnati Reds.

(01:53:05):
And and that cost to to be one of the
guys who helped those junk kids, uh be better not
only on the field, but off the field, you know,
a bit more strong mentally, because it's not just about physical,
it's more about mentally. You got to be strong here
and and and and that gonna help you be your
best version on the field. So I think whatever Eli

(01:53:28):
need to me already had, I already had tech from him.
And it's very happy. It's very good to have it.
And uh, I'll be there for him, for him, and
not only for him, for everybody on the on the
on this team.

Speaker 15 (01:53:40):
Uh are you?

Speaker 2 (01:53:40):
Hene As Lorez talking earlier today with the assembled local
baseball media. Meanwhile, Nick Crawl also talked today the president
of baseball operations for the Reds. Here he is being
asked about extending the budget to sign Geno. I guess,
did you guys have to extend your budget? Does this
all fall into what you guys had in mind of
spending in the off season when it started?

Speaker 5 (01:54:02):
No, I mean this is this is more. We we
went to uh, we we went to ownership last week
and we talked to Bob and Phil and you know,
we said this is probably where it's going to go
and what we're going to need that would be above
and beyond our budget, and they they approved it, and
you know that it was you know, we're excited to
be able to do that and go get it.

Speaker 2 (01:54:24):
We talked yesterday about the off season and how would
you grade it? How would you assess it? Would you
would you give it a an A? I give it
a be. I'd give it a be. I think in
an A would would have just involved more with the offense,
but the greatest higher for me than it would have
been had they acquired the equivalent of euhaneos Marez via trade.

(01:54:48):
Haven't given up a picture, which is good. Does Nick
Craw believe the off season was a success. Yeah.

Speaker 5 (01:54:55):
I think we did did a lot of things that
we wanted to do.

Speaker 2 (01:54:58):
I wanted to accomplish.

Speaker 5 (01:54:59):
Obviously, you're always trying to get better and no matter
what you're doing, so you're always looking for a way
in an angle to figure out how to improve your club.

Speaker 2 (01:55:06):
There you go. By the way, yesterday, if you missed
Jeff Carr on the show, he was terrific. Reacting almost
instantly to the Uhanio Suarez news, I'm like, I keep
hitting on this because I think it's so important. Right
as fans, it's fun to obsess over trades, and sometimes
it's easier to wrap your brain around whether or not
a trade is good versus whether or not a free

(01:55:27):
agent signing is good. Who among us hasn't kicked around
hypothetical trades the very best part of this entire off season.
Maybe the Reds aren't considered favorites in the NL Central
They shouldn't be. Maybe it is hard to imagine them
winning ninety five games and charging into the postseason as

(01:55:48):
the favorite in the National League. Very very fair. But
what I love most, and I think what we should
all love most about the Reds offseason is they have
added without subtracting. Now, there are players from last year's
team who aren't here anymore, but they have added to
this year's team without subtracting from what is easily their

(01:56:11):
greatest strength. By the way, somebody asked me in the
elevator today, like, well, can they clear some payroll now
by getting rid of Brady Singer. Brady Singer is not
the staff ace and if he is, something's gone very
very poorly. Brady Singer in the month of August last year.
If not for him, this team sinks. And if they

(01:56:33):
sink in August, they're not playing for anything in September.
I'm actually I judge starting rotations by you know, the
middle parts, the back end. A lot of teams have
staff aces. How many teams have a guy like Brady
Singer on the back end? The Reds do. That's good.
Tomorrow on the show, our friend Evan Cohen from on

(01:56:54):
sportsman Like on ESPN Radio is going to join us.
So is Rick Broering talking Xavier and Nku Besball. The
Muskies in hard for tonight to take on Connecticut. Anything
you might have missed go fine on the iHeartRadio app.
Thanks to Long Next Sports Grill, don't forget Tony Pike.
Sincy three sixty is at noon tomorrow. We return at
three oh five. Our thanks to you for listening and

(01:57:15):
to Tarren Bland for producing. Have an awesome night. We'll
talk to you tomorrow. This is ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati
Sports Station.

Speaker 3 (01:57:25):

Speaker 6 (01:57:29):
Traffic from the UC Health Traffic Center, Trust of the
experts at you See Health for innovative and personalized heart care.
They never miss a beat Your heart shouldn't either. Schedule
online at ucehealth dot com. There is a new accident
in It's on Third and Walnut southbound four to seventy
one at Grand Avenue. It the disabled vehicle off on

(01:57:50):
to the right shoulder southbound seventy one after fight for road.
Your right shoulder blocked off from repairs and maintenance. That's
a daytime project. I'm at Ezell with traffic.

Speaker 2 (01:58:01):
This report is

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