2/4/26 - The Mo Egger Radio Show - Mo Egger

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
To win one thousand dollars. Just entered this nationwide keyword
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Speaker 2 (00:09):
I just posted a video on Twitter at Molegar and yeah, man,
for the most part, I still call it Twitter. I'm sorry,
And I do this every day thanks to Share Effacts
Credit Union. We preview the show for the folks on
social media and it's like, hey, click on the link
and listen, or it sort of goes through what we're

(00:30):
going to talk about today and so go check it
out at Moegar. But on the video, I show you
what I referenced. Yesterday, somebody sent me some Columbus blue
jacket slides. I don't know if I got them an error.
I don't know if somebody is messing with me. They're
my size. I've asked almost everybody I know did you

(00:51):
send me these? And nobody is owning up to it.
There's no note in there. So if you recognize, if
you recognize the slides that I'm holding up in the
video at Moeger and you're like, oh, yeah, I send
moa gift, well there you go. And you know, I
want to say thank you to whoever you are, so
thank you. For watching in advance. My name is Moegor.

(01:14):
This is ESPN fifteen thirty. Thank you for listening. We
will hear Mick cronin lobby for a college basketball salary
cap that I would be willing to bet deep down
inside he doesn't want, and I fear this is gonna happen.
Miami's gonna win all their games they survive last night,
and then if they don't win the MAC Tournament be

(01:37):
on the outside looking in when the NCAA Tournament bracket
is drawn up. Maybe I'm wrong, Hopefully it's a mood point,
but we're gonna spend time on that. Rick Brooring a
little bit later on this hour three forty five on
Xavier and NKU basketball. The Muskies last night drilled by
yukon NKU takes on Green Bay this evening. Let's start
with Joe Burrow. Joe Burrow is a part of the

(01:59):
Pro Bowl Games flag football event last night that does
not need to be fixed. And I say that having
acknowledged I didn't watch it. I've seen highlights. I don't
know that that event necessarily needs to be fixed, even
if it doesn't do anything for me. But Joe Burrow
did participate and he was asked how he's doing. You're

(02:21):
gonna hear Joe Burrow on ESPN last night answer a
question about his happiness in Cincinnati. Tarn Go ahead and
play that audio. Sometimes you don't realize what you have
till you miss it. It's true, It's very true. Uh.

Speaker 3 (02:36):
You know, I've been injured quite a bit in my career,
and so I gained some perspective on this whole thing.
And when the league asked me to do it, it
was a little habitant at first, but then they convinced me,
and I'm.

Speaker 4 (02:49):
Glad I did it.

Speaker 2 (02:50):
A lot of people say, you know, you're big fans.
Is Joe Burrow happy and since in that team? Honestly, yeah,
I am. I think.

Speaker 3 (02:58):
Uh, you know, everybody has bad name, right, everybody has
bad days. Sometimes they fall on press conference days. So
you know that's how it goes. Sometimes.

Speaker 2 (03:07):
There you go. Joe Burrow with ESPN's John Sutcliffe during
the TV broadcast of the Pro Bowl Games Flag football
thingy last night, which the AFC lost to the NFC.
I did notice that the NFC's trophy for winning the
Pro Bowl Flag Football game thingy is bigger than if
you win, like the NFC title or the AFC title.

(03:31):
So Joe says he's happy, So I guess we're good here, right,
we're good here, Joe says he's happy, tells John Sutcliffe,
I'm happy. So we're good here for now, Like there's
there are the two words he didn't say, And look, man,
I know we're all exhausted from weeks of Joe Burrow's psychoanalysis.

(03:56):
We got to a point at the end of the
season where it's like, do we have to continue doing
these Joe Burrow press conferences where we just parsed through
every word. It. It was fatiguing, it was at times pointless,
but the general theme is a legitimate one. You got
a quarterback who his prime so far is not being

(04:20):
taken advantage of. Some of his best individual efforts have
not been capitalized on. We've discussed the themes now for
quite a while, and toward the end of the season,
we were watching a guy in these limited press settings
who seem to be either at a crossroads or dealing

(04:44):
with something, or you know, maybe just not having a
very good day. But when that's the case and you
play quarterback for this franchise in particular, It's only natural
that folks are going to wonder. We're going to wonder
is everything cool? And if everything is not cool, what's

(05:06):
that going to mean moving forward? So all that said,
Joe Burrow sounds happy. Joe hasn't asked for a trade
that we know of. Joe hasn't threatened retirement, at least
not that we know of. Joe hasn't expressed any displeasure
publicly with what the Bengals have and haven't done so

(05:29):
far this offseason. And so the odds would be like
minus one million of Joe Burrow playing for the Bengals
in twenty twenty six. You will find sports books, frankly
not very reputable ones that have odds on where Joe
is going to play in twenty twenty six. You are

(05:50):
burning your money if you bet on anybody but the
Cincinnati Bengals that said, do we really want to do
this in a year, and like that's it is one
of the storylines to the season. They have missed the
playoffs three consecutive years. They've wasted a large chunk of

(06:12):
Joe Burrow's prime. Joe has to watch Sam Darnold play
in a Super Bowl. Now, Sam is not the quarterback
of the AFC team. But still, he's got to watch
Drake May, who was like in high school when Joe
Burrow started his NFL career. He's gotta watch Drake May

(06:32):
play in a Super Bowl. And meanwhile, Joe is playing
flag football with Jamar and T and a whole bunch
of other dudes. So he's happy.

Speaker 5 (06:44):
I believe him.

Speaker 2 (06:45):
He says he's happy. Do we want to be in
a position where he has to be asked that question
a year from now? Ideally a year from now. Of course,
he's not playing in the Pro Bowl flag football games thingy.
He's prepared to play in a super Bowl. He's preparing
to go win a championship. And you know, if you're

(07:07):
preparing to win a championship, you're not playing in a
flag football event thingy. But while you may take some comfort,
and I'm sure I'm sure most Bengals fans do, you
may take some comfort in what he says, and you know,
he is not the first time that he has said
the right things. I don't think any of us even

(07:29):
want to begin to entertain what the answers are going
to be if the not winning continues. Look at the
end of the day, this is really about two different things.
It's winning championships. Can the Bengals win a championship while
they have Joe Burrow? And if the answer is no,
then the whole Joe Burrow experience, perhaps through no faults

(07:52):
of his own, is going to feel underwhelming. But whatever
it ends, you know, between well and then, I'm sure
the Bengals are going to come to him and go,
hey man, either let's extend our contract, or let's restructure it,
or let's come up with a way that it basically
guarantees that you play for the Bengals, if not for

(08:13):
your entire career, for all of your prime seasons. When
those conversations are set to begin, I'm gonna imagine that
you don't want those conversations to begin against the backdrop
of Joe Burrow's most recent postseason appearance being at the
end of the twenty twenty two season. So, yes, Joe

(08:36):
says he's happy. Yes, I think we should believe him.
But more than anything, the answer to that question is
gonna matter a lot more if it's asked in January
of next year and the Bengals are on the outside
looking in. Maybe on the outside looking into the Super Bowl,

(08:58):
but more specifically, I believe on the outside looking into
the playoffs. Fourteen minutes after three o'clock. Thank you for
joining us today on Moeger five one, three, seven, four
nine fifteen thirty is our number eight sixty six seven
oh two three seven seven six works as well at
Moeger on Twitter. Thanks to Delta Dental. Delta Dental is

(09:19):
building healthy, smart, vibrant communities for all. Go to Delta
dentaloh dot com. Will human beings look past the metrics
when it comes to the Miami RedHawks. We'll dive into
that next on ESPN fifteen.

Speaker 6 (09:33):
Thirty Cincinnati's es.

Speaker 1 (09:37):
WCKY Cincinnati and iHeartRadio station Garanteed Human ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 2 (09:45):
I heard radio Miami won again last night. They survive
in Buffalo against Buffalo to hang on now twenty three
and oh this is ESPN fifteen thirty. It got hearing
down the stretch. Red Hawks had a six point lead

(10:06):
with about one thirty to go. Miss some free throws
allowed Buffalo to nearly pull off a comeback. Ryan Sables
contested three as the buzzer sounded, was short and Miami
escapes with a victory. The Red Hawks are twenty three
and oh and they are going to get the ESPN

(10:27):
treatment a week from Friday when they host Ohio University.
And we've obviously spent a lot of time this week
talking about the Red Hawks. Ron Harper was on this
show on Monday, the Miami Great to talk about m
U hoops, and that was was really cool and it's
it's it is. It's been fun to watch Miami fans
and Miami grads get excited about a program that for

(10:49):
most of this century has been dormant. It feels now
though like the goal the goal is is almost to
go undefeated, and obviously would be awesome if that happened,
But the goal is to win the MAC regular season
championship and then go to the NCAA Tournament. But they
are going to be fascinating, and I don't think anybody

(11:12):
wants this to be the case because ideally, regardless of
what happens between now and the end of the regular season,
Miami wins the MAC Tournament and they get the Mid
American Conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, making this
discussion moot. That's the idea here. Ideally they win all

(11:34):
their games, go undefeated, win the MAC Tournament, and it's
not a question about whether or not they're going to
make it with an unblemished regular season record. The question
is how are they seeded, where are they going, who
are they going to play? And can they advance. That said,
it's only natural, uh for fans and people who cover

(11:58):
college basketball wonder what if the opposite happens. What if
they win all their games? What if they actually run
the table in the MAC They have eight games to go,
finish the regular season unbeaten, and then lose in the
Mid American Conference Tournament championship game. CBS Sports dot Com

(12:21):
Today has a piece that kind of dives into this,
and I invite you to go read it, and the
point is made there like, well, you know, who they
played would matter. Akron could conceivably end up being a
quad one win on a neutral floor in the MAC
Tournament title game, and so could also be a quad

(12:41):
one loss and maybe one that the committee goes, Okay,
you know it's a narrow loss, their first one against
maybe the second best team in the MAC. I'm sure
it's gonna be viewed a little bit differently than if
they lose to you know, a team that's not quite
as good that found its way in the tournament title
game or a loss earlier in the mac tournament. I

(13:05):
think it's like a case study where you don't wonder
if like the human beings, And that's the fun of this,
and at times it's the frustrating part of this. Will
there'd be human beings on the committee that simply go,
you know what, Yes, the schedule was bad. And Travis

(13:27):
Steele would be the first to admit, through very little
faults of his or the people who run his program
along with him, the schedule is bad. Tried to play people.
But you don't get rewarded for scheduling intent. You get
judged on the schedule you play. Their non conference schedule
was one of the worst in all of college basketball.
The overall scheduling profile isn't great. But will you have

(13:50):
human beings on the committee that go, we recognize that,
we understand that this is not a team that went
twenty nine in two. This is not a team that
finished with just one loss. They literally beat in the
regular season every team in front of them, by the
way three of their games. If you look at like

(14:13):
Warren Nolan dot com or I believe Ken Palm as well.
You'll only see twenty victories because they played like a
Division III school and I think a couple of NIA schools,
and those don't count when it comes to your NCAA
tournament metrics. But are you gonna have people on the
committee that say, simply, look, yeah, there are regular season

(14:36):
conference champions that end up not making it because they
lost in their conference tournament, but they weren't undefeated regular
season conference champions, not just undefeated in their league, but
undefeated against everybody who played them, And so you know
what we're putting him in. Or are the human beings

(15:00):
on the committee gonna do what frankly they're supposed to
do and use all the data available, and if they do,
and I hate to say this, and I hope this
ends up not being something that anyone is confronted with.
The MAC Tournament title game, I believe, is on the
Saturday night before Selection Sunday, ideally, regardless of how the

(15:24):
rest of the regular season unfolds, Travis Steele and his
guys wake up on Selection Sunday morning knowing Miami is
gonna pop up on the screen on CBS, knowing it
but like, I would rather watch a team that finished
undefeated and get rewarded for it than a team that

(15:45):
lost fifteen games. Texas last year was among the last
four him they had to play and date and played Xavier.
The Longhorns lost fifteen games last season. North Carolina lost
thirteen games last season. These are before the NCAA T
Now those are schools from power leagues, the SEC and

(16:05):
the ACC respectively. Also among the last four end Xavier
with ten losses in San Diego State with nine. San
Diego State's NET ranking was fifty eight. Miami's right now
is fifty two. I would rather watch a team that
navigated the entire four plus months of regular season college basketball.

(16:28):
Had to go on the road, had to play in
opposing gyms, had to find ways to fight through the
dog days of the season, had to get through some
teams that came adam hard, like Buffalo last night, like
Kent State two weeks ago. How like UMass in the
game that I went to last week and found a

(16:49):
way to overcome every challenge and they won every game.
It's not like they went twenty seven to two. They
won every game and then had to slip up in
the MAC Tournament title game. I would rather watch the
team that finished the regular season undefeated, because I would
want that to be rewarded, and I just think those
teams are more deserving than a team that might have

(17:10):
played a tougher schedule, might have played in a better league,
but lost as many as fifteen times. You and I
both know the tournament committee, the people in it don't
look at it that way, and they're told to not
look at that way. They're told to look at metrics.
They're told to look at the wins in the Q

(17:31):
one column Miami has none. They're told to look at
the strength of schedule. They're told to contextualize Miami's possible
undefeated season versus I don't know a nine or ten
or eleven or twelve or thirteen lost season from a
school in a bigger, more powerful, frankly better league. So

(17:54):
my guess is and A, I hope they go undefeated,
and B I hope it's a move point because they
win the MAC Tournament title. My guess is, unless you
have people on the committee that just say, blanket, you
know what, they won all their regular season games they're
in committee members are going to apply the appropriate metrics

(18:19):
and leave Miami on the outside looking in. Could be
dead wrong about that, certainly would not be the first time.
But this is one of the This is like the
biggest question right now in college basketball about the on
court product and what may or may not happen with
the twenty twenty six NCAA Tournament. Usually. Usually, and I

(18:39):
say this without having done the research, I need to
fully back this up, but it feels like usually, if
there's a compelling reason to take a high major over
a mid major, the high major is going to get
the bid. Usually. Again, I'm sure there are instances that
you could throw at me and say, actually, the opposite

(19:00):
happened here. I'm just guessing again, hopefully it's a mood point.
If it's not a mood point, I hope I'm wrong.
And look, they still have to do it. Like it's
we just got to February. There's a month of regular
season games to go. Miami should be favored in all
the games they have on their schedule, but to do

(19:22):
what they've done and then add to it finishing the
rest of the season without a loss is not going
to be easy. But if the question of the moment
in college basketball is well. An undefeated team from the
MAC that loses in the conference tournament title game, will
that team be excluded from the NCAA Tournament. I think
the answer is probably yes, even if I don't like

(19:46):
that answer. Twenty nine away from four o'clock sports headlines
Rick Boring in fifteen minutes on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 7 (19:53):
Station, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty traffic.

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Do you see Health Traffic Center trusted the experts that
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at ucehealth dot com. Some good news this afternoon. West
Eighth now reopened from earlier police activity that was between
Rosemont and swear Avenue. Also, an accident now cleared away

(20:22):
on Martin Luther King Drive at Reading Road and Westwood
Northern Boulevard is still a crash at North Bend. I'm
at ezelic with traffic. This report he sponsored.

Speaker 6 (20:32):
At East Sports Station. This is ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 2 (20:37):
Sports headlines are service and Kelsey chevrolete home of lifetime
powertrain protection and guaranteed credit approval from their family New
Yours for Life kelseyshow dot com. Beyond there being a
bunch of NBA trades, some of which make no sense.
It's pretty slow, pretty light news day. Not a ton

(20:58):
going on. No real big Red's news, no real big
Bengals news. We've got some area college basketball tonight, including
the NKU Norse are home for green Bay. Doug Gottlieb's
a Green Bay team is in town NKU, trying to
break a four game losing streak. They've lost five out
a six. Tip Off at NKU tonight at seven o'clock.

(21:20):
Pregame coverage at six point thirty. You'll hear that game
on Fox Sports thirteen sixty. Tonight. ESPN fifteen thirty has
UK hoops as the Wildcats, coming off their big victory
over Arkansas over the weekend, have a home game tonight
against some Oklahoma team that has won just once in
the SEC. Tip Off of that game is tonight at

(21:41):
nine o'clock. Pregame coverage on ESPN fifteen thirty starts at
seven thirty. Hockey tonight, these Cyclones are on the road
against Kalamazoo. I think between now and the end of
the season, the Cyclones play Kalamazoo like eleven times. It
feels like they play the Kalamazoo k Wings about forty

(22:01):
times a year, and the Fort Wayne Commets about twenty
times a year, and the Toledo Walleye the other. And
that's it. That's all the teams they play. Also more
hockey tonight. The Blue Jackets winners of six straight and
ten out of eleven. A coaching change that worked for
a team that's always changing coaches. The Blue Jackets skate

(22:25):
tonight against Chicago. I'm gonna wear my my new Columbus
blue jacket slides that some anonymous person sent to me
while I watch the game tonight, twenty two away from
four o'clock. The biggest sports story in the United States
of America right now, I guess, beyond a bunch of
NBA trades happening, including Anthony Davis being traded by the

(22:46):
MAVs to the Washington Wizards, is that the Washington Post,
the venerable Washington Post, Democracy dies in darkness. The Washington
Post is ending its section. Washington Post is owned by
that Jeff Bezos dude who owns Amazon, and they're getting

(23:07):
rid of their sports section. I have two questions about this.
I'm actually a subscriber to The Washington Post, not anymore,
because I think it's a big, good paper, lots of
really quality writing. I've been an online subscriber for six
years now and canceled it last week because you had
heard that this was going to happen. Look, media companies

(23:34):
have layoffs all the time. Our companies had them. Media
landscape is changing. Newspaper business is changing. What I never understand,
especially you know on social this is more of a
social media thing. I never understand why people see news
like this and they're happy, first of all, if you're

(23:54):
a sports fan. And by the way, other parts of
that paper got shuttered as well, I guess there's less coverage.
Sports fans always want as much coverage as possible, need
more coverage, need more attention. Why then, would anybody like
something that reduces coverage. Also, and I'm biased because I

(24:15):
love sports more than almost anything else, the best form
of entertainment. I read sports news in the morning before
I read anything else, Like I love sports. The Washington
Post is a publication that has leaned heavily into politics.

(24:36):
Politics are hot right now. Politics are and this is
not a political statement, but politics are always amplified when
the current president inhabits the White House. What happens when
he doesn't anymore in a few years. Like, the thing
about a sports section is it's always, to a degree,
been an anchor of a publication like that. That's not me,

(24:58):
with no newspaper experience speaking, that's like anybody who knows
anything about that business, right, Like, that's always been an
anchor that sells. And yet interest in certain teams come
and go. Sure, there are fewer people reading about the
Washington Commanders right now than we're a year ago when
they were playing in an NFC title game. I just

(25:20):
I don't want to get too deep into the weeds,
because there's a very good chance nobody outside of me cares.
But for the life of me, I never understand why
anybody celebrates someone's job loss. And I never understand why
anybody would like something that reduces their ability to read
about their teams. And I don't understand the business model

(25:41):
of not investing in sports and leaning into politics when
I'm not sure the climate is going to be as
amplified in a few years as it is right now,
and you might have more people than coming to the
paper for sports. That's all I'll say, I save some money,
but because I got rid of my subscription, UH eighteen

(26:03):
away from UH four o'clock five point three seven four
nine fifteen thirty is our number. Xavier got crushed last
night by yukon. This time of year, if you're a
college basketball fan, we love checking like bracketology, and I
often feel like an ESPN does this, and the Athletic

(26:23):
does this as well, and I'm sure other publications where
they will do bubble Watch right. And it's a look
per conference at teams that are locks locks to make it,
and teams that should be in based on their current resume,
and then teams that have a good chance of getting
in but have some work to do, and then teams

(26:45):
that are long shots where they're probably not going to
make it, but you're not going to totally discount their chances.
If you look at bubble Watch on ESPN today, you
will see neither of the UC Bearcats or Xavier Musketeers.

Speaker 9 (26:59):
Men.

Speaker 2 (27:03):
That's pretty damn sobering. Uh, ex you crushed last night
in Hartford by yukon NKU plays tonight, Rick Brooring on
the Muskies and the Norris.

Speaker 7 (27:13):
Next Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty traffic.

Speaker 8 (27:19):
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. An accident has now been
cleared away on Westwood Northern Boulevard. It was over at
North Bend Road, southbound seventy one seventy five at Kyle's Lane,

(27:40):
right center lane blocked off from a disabled truck in
northbound seventy five. Slow traffic from Mitchell to Paddock on
that ezelic with traffic.

Speaker 2 (27:50):
Twelve from A four. This is ESPN fifteen thirty Moegar.
I'm told you're gonna hear Jamar Jason T. Higgins recruiting
players to play defense for the ban in the next hour.
That is coming up. Also Evan Cohen from ESPN Radio
in the five o'clock hour, five thirty five, to be specific,
Rick Browing is here. Actually that's not true. I think

(28:11):
it's gonna be five to twenty. Mean, the five o'clock hour.
Rick Browing is here. You'll hear Rick on the call
tonight as NK you get set to host Green Bay
and you can get his coverage. Of a Xavier basketball
at Musketeer report dot com. Hi, Rick, Hey, mo, what's
up the Xavier game last night? Now, my basic analysis

(28:32):
is Yukon is one of the best two or three
teams in the country and Xavier is not, and so
the possibility for a game like last night's unfolding is
is pretty is pretty significant. And that's my analysis. I
bring you on to offer deeper analysis. What do you
got for me?

Speaker 5 (28:52):
I got a nice I think he kind of nailed
it pretty spot on there. Boston Elmore and Tony Pike
had me on yesterday and Austin was telling me that
he had a feeling Xavier was going to win, and
they asked me to tell them what it would take
for that to happen, and I said a natural disaster.
So yeah, I think that's about right. Xavier has no

(29:13):
chance of beating Yukon this year. Yukon would beat them
ten out of ten times. Not only are they superior
at every position on the floor, but they also are
a terrible matchup for Xavier. Like they the type of
stuff that they run and they do on both ends
of the floor take Xavier out of what they want
to do on both ends of the floor, and so
it just really makes for a disasters matchup. I mean,

(29:33):
they won the two games against the Musketeers by what
like an average of twenty seven points in those two games.
So I think we have enough evidence to say that
it's just not a good matchup.

Speaker 2 (29:45):
It's a night where you kind of understand that's what's
going to happen when you complay Xavier. It makes the
games they let get out of way stick out more
of my opinion, Yeah.

Speaker 5 (29:55):
I think so. But it also, in my opinion, is
a little bit of a sobering reminder about like, hey,
you know some of those games where you know, they
give up a sixteen point second half lead to Saint
John's at home, and you think, well, they should have
won that one. How'd they give it away? Maybe they're
doing a hell of a job to get to that
point where they had a sixteen point win, because base
on what I'm seeing in the game, like last nights,

(30:16):
their talent does not stack up to the top teams
in the conference. So you know, it's it's I mean,
you could really read it multiple different ways, but a
game like last night's is just so the talent discrepancy
is so glaring to me when those team two teams
match up, and it's honestly exactly what I expected from
Xavier before they started this season. I mean, I know,

(30:37):
we go back to your preview show we had with us,
and you looked at me and said, you think Xavier
is gonna lose twenty games this year? That's insane. But
that's really where it came from. Is just they don't
have the talent that we're used to seeing in this conference,
and that Xavier.

Speaker 2 (30:53):
I have an idea, though, here's here's a possible quick fix,
and tell me how you feel about this. What you
do is you find some guys who like got to
the NBA but aren't in the NBA anymore, get them
lawyers and get him to sue the NCAA so they
can get temporary injunctions to come play for the Musketeers.

Speaker 5 (31:10):
Here's the problem with that. Are any of those dudes
any good?

Speaker 2 (31:14):
Like?

Speaker 10 (31:14):
Is anybody doing anything with those guys?

Speaker 5 (31:16):
Hear it about it happening and everyone gets so mad.
Are those guys doing anything?

Speaker 10 (31:19):
No?

Speaker 5 (31:19):
Like, I think there's one, maybe one that's had some success,
but other than that, like all these guys stake they're
not an NBA teams for a reason. They're losers, you know, Like,
I mean, that's that's the problem with it, And they're
not They're not about the things that you need them
to be about to fit into your team and win
at a high level in college basketball. I don't think
like a lot of these teams are missing a one off,

(31:41):
almost NBA type talent that couldn't cut it because he
didn't have the work ethic or culture to succeed in
the pros.

Speaker 2 (31:49):
It's funny you say that because I saw James Naji
for Baylor play against UC last week, right, and I
don't think he did anything in the game. He played
seven or eight minutes. Maybe he grabbed a rebound, like
in less I said to you, James Nagy is on
the floor, you would know. And I'm going, all right, like,
I understand why people don't like this. I don't like this,

(32:11):
but is this really worth making a fuss over the
fact that this guy's playing college ball for a team
that's not going anywhere and he's having zero impact on
the floor.

Speaker 5 (32:21):
Well, and you know, the mo I don't blame the fans.
The fans should be upset about it. That loser behavior
guys coming back to do that as loser behavior, and
the coaches who are bringing them back is loser behavior.
What I can't understand is what are these coaches doing
this for. It's not worth it, and also you're just
outing yourself as a guy who wants to skirt the
rules that you know. I understand that guys are being

(32:43):
being paid now and the sport is different than it's
ever been, but they have clearly the NCAA has clearly
come out and said that what they're doing with these
former professionals that have that have played for NBA teams
or have signed NBA contracts or have been drafted and
are now trying to come back, and they're getting legal
injunctions in court. Ju I said, we do not approve
of this. This is going against everything we're asking you

(33:04):
guys to do. You're blatantly cheating at this point and
just using the courts to do so. I mean, at
what point do we start blaming the adults and the
presidents of the universities and the coaches like that's the
ones that I don't understand. Why are you doing all
of this? You're destroying the sport to get guys like
James Naji Elible eligible.

Speaker 2 (33:22):
Why Yeah, yeah, I just I watched him and went like,
I don't see the fuss. I don't see the reason
for the fuss. Like, all right, he's playing for a
bad Baylor team and he's not helping, and so so
this is worth alienating yourself for. This is worth undoing
decades of of of NCAA rules. Say what you want
about him, this is worth undoing all that for it

(33:45):
doesn't make much sense what has happened to the Nkau Norse.

Speaker 5 (33:49):
And it's a good question, I think right now the
big concern is where are they at from a health perspective.
I mean, you're talking about that last game at Oakland.
You're down four of your top seven once Kel Robinson
sprained his ankle in that game, and now I don't
know where he's at going forward. So you're already dealing
with l J. Wells and Ethan Elliott and Donovan Rocoton

(34:10):
on a Harry out. Now you throw Kel Robinson into
that mix as an injured player, and it's like, you know,
some of these guys are going to start coming back
at maybe as soon as tonight, but where are they
going to be? They're not one hundred percent right now.
I know that based on what we've seen in shoot
arounds and practices and those guys trying to work.

Speaker 2 (34:25):
Their way back.

Speaker 5 (34:26):
So that's the most frustrating and the most difficult part
of all this is you can look at the schedule
and see a path for them to have success down
the stretch.

Speaker 10 (34:35):
Here.

Speaker 5 (34:35):
They've got a little bit of a lighter schedule compared
to some of the other teams that around them, and
the standings, the more difficult games that they have to
play are at home instead.

Speaker 2 (34:43):
Of on the road.

Speaker 5 (34:44):
So the path is there for them to do what
they typically do under Darren Horn, which in the month
of February they win about seventy three percent of their
games during Darren Horn's tenure. The question is are they
going to be healthy enough to pull that off this year?

Speaker 2 (34:56):
Can a fully healthy NKU team win the Horizon League Tournament?

Speaker 5 (35:01):
I think they can now. To be clear, Right State
deserves to be called the best team in the conference,
There's no doubt about that, and Oakland would clearly have
an argument that they're better than NKU since they've beaten
them twice. That being said, Right State was the only
team that I've seen play MKU this year that looked
like they soundly beat the Norse and that you wouldn't
feel like, oh MK, you's got a pretty good chance

(35:22):
in a rematch. Now that's not to say the Right
States invincible and they'd have no chance against them, But
in my mind, I still think there aren't many teams
that have four guys that can go out and give
you twenty plus points on any given night like NKU has.
Now cal Robinson's not healthy that changes that a little bit,
and obviously he's been a shooting slump as well, but
even still, three guys being able to give you those

(35:44):
types of scoring performances is a lot of firepower when
you get in the Horizon League one game winner takes
all scenario. I don't think a lot of teams want
to see NKU if they have a little bit a
bit of momentum. The problem is for the Norse fans
that you got to find the momentum first.

Speaker 2 (35:58):
Have a great call to I thank you as always,
thank well. That's our man. Rick Boring, Musketeer Report dot Com,
NKU Radio Denorse hosting Green Bay Tonight pregame at six
thirty on Fox Sports thirteen sixty, Speaking of college basketball,
Mick Cronin says college basketball needs a salary cap. I
don't believe he believes that.

Speaker 1 (36:17):
Next chance to win one thousand dollars just entered this
nationwide keyword on our website.

Speaker 6 (36:27):
Money that's money.

Speaker 2 (36:29):
Enter it now. So the Pole Bowl flag football game
was last night. The evolution of this event has has
gone from them attempting to play football, or the NFL
attempting to stage a football game that the players didn't
really care about, to now they play flag football. And

(36:51):
I will be abundantly transparent with you. I really didn't
watch last night. Watching a guy a bunch of NFL
players half heartedly played flag football doesn't do it for me.
There's college basketball and NBA games going on right now.
So I caught some highlights played the Joe Burrow audio before.

(37:15):
I think though, after an event like that, it triggers
everybody's almost built in impulse to talk about how an
event like that can be fixed. Some things are unfixable.
For the entirety of my life. The Pro Bowl has
not been fixable for one simple reason. You can't make
the players care. It's the opposite of tanking. No why

(37:39):
tanking's really hard. We talk about it all the time
in the NFL and in Major League Baseball. In the NBA,
tanking tanking's really really hard because the players care too much.
The most glaring example here is December twenty second, twenty nineteen,
when most of us wanted the Bengals to lose to
the My Dolphins so it would ensure they could pick

(38:02):
Joe Burrow with the first overall selection in the twenty
twenty draft, and the players nearly screwed it up because
they care too much. I'm a big Knicks fan. About
three weeks ago, i watched them lose to the Sacramento Kings.
An organization that is invested in not winning. But the
players play hard. Players don't go players don't try to

(38:23):
lose games. It's hard. The Pro Bowl is the total
opposite end of that. You can't make them care. So
you could design an event that's a little bit more
football centric. You can design an event that's not at
all football centric. You can do a lot of different
You cannot make the players care about it. You cannot

(38:45):
make NFL players care enough to want to be in it.
Like we've had a good laugh at the fact that
Shadora Sanders and Joe Flacco ended up participating in the
Pro Bowl flag football game thingy. But like that illustrates
how little anybody better wants to actually participate in that

(39:08):
shy of making it so financially worth their while that
they had no choice but to appear. You're never gonna
make them care. So like, you can choose to watch it.
And if you watched it and had a blast awesome, great,
If that was entertaining for you last night, far be
it from me to tell you that you should have
watched or done something else. But I don't know. And

(39:31):
by the way, I don't agree with what Mike Florio
wrote on ProFootball talk dot com that it's time to
get rid of the Pro Bowl. Like if if there
are fans who still feel value in watching it, don't
get rid of it. If the NFL can still make
money off of it, don't get rid of it. The
NFL doesn't do things that aren't profitable. I'm sure the
Pro Bowl made someone some money last night. If it

(39:56):
made your money because you gambled on it, we might
have to have a different discover and off to the side.
But it also is all star games. I just we
should just take them for what they are. Baseball's the best.
It's the one that best replicates the regular season product.
Does it have its own issues, Yes, I don't know
that fixing it or applying any more fixes is going

(40:18):
to make the game matter as much as we make
it out to have mattered fifty years ago. The NBA
All Star Game is a train wreck that's probably never changing.
The Pro Bowl, when they were still playing a football game,
was a train wreck and you didn't want any of
your team's guys to play in it. What they do
now is mindless entertainment. By the way, mindless entertainment is awesome.

(40:44):
I make a living in mindless entertainment. But let it
just be that mindless entertainment that folks looking for an
escape from the real world dive into for ninety minutes
or two hours on a Tuesday night, And uh, let
it be that. So there you go. There's the big fix,

(41:04):
the Pro Bowl. It's no point in fixing the unfixable.
You cannot create an event that will compel NFL players,
the best ones to want to be a part of it,
and you can't make the ones who are a part
of it care enough to do more than those players
did on the field last night. All right, I did

(41:24):
it the obligatory four minute Pro Bowl segment in sports
talk radio. You are welcome. Didn't even have to fly
to radio row for us to do it. A little
bit later on this hour, you are going to hear
from my new now former favorite football coach. I said
that incorrectly, my new favorite now former college football coach.

(41:50):
That coming up here in just about twenty minutes, and
I I'll say this, we have a chance for a
must watch college basketball game in just about a month,
A chance for a must watch college basketball game before
we get to the NCAA Tournament. I'll tell you what
it could be coming up in just about ten minutes.

(42:12):
Speaking of college basketball, it is not a UCLA basketball
game without a press conference where Mick Cronin makes news
for saying something. And I'm a mc cronin fan, like
I root for UCLA to have success because of Mick.

(42:32):
I appreciate what he was able to accomplish here. I
deeply appreciate the fact that when he was the head
coach here, uc basketball had an identity. So I like
make and I root for him. But the dude is
not shy about complaining about things that he perceives as

(42:52):
slights or things that have gone against tim or his program.
He complaining about the time zones that UCLA has had
to travel as members of the Big Ten, which, dude,
you're in the Big Ten, what do you expect? Last night, though,
he did some complaining on behalf of a coach that
he beat. So UCLA in Los Angeles last night destroyed Rutgers.

(43:15):
Rutgers is back to being bad nine and fourteen, two
and ten in the Big Ten, a program that does
not belong in the Big Ten. Like competitively speaking, UCLA
can belong in the Big Ten, at least in basketball,
Rutgers has had no place in the Big Ten. So
after UCLA hammered the Scarlet Knights last night, Mick Cronin

(43:38):
made the case for a salary cap to help schools
like the one that he just beat. Tarn play that audio.

Speaker 9 (43:44):
You know, I give Rutgers credit. They got a lot
of young kids. You know, there's halves and have nots
in the money world. And coach Pikeel's a great coach,
he really is. It's just, you know, it's a shame
we don't have a salary cap and everybody was playing
even But this is baseball, not the NFL, this is MLB, So.

Speaker 2 (44:11):
He wants a salary cap. And as the anti salary
cap guy, there's some validity to a more level playing
field when it comes to player compensation. That said, to
college coaches or even college fans really want a level
playing field. What's interesting is, you know, you hear coaches

(44:35):
in men's college basketball, I'm sure in women's college basketball
and in football talk about we gotta have a salary cap,
right we we We can't have it tilted so that
a hand a handful of schools can pay their players
so much more than all these other schools. And again
there's maybe some validity to that. Uh, but has there

(44:55):
ever truly been a desire for a level playing field
in college basketball? Like if you said to Mick, okay, cool,
we're gonna have a salary cap for the players. But also,
your recruiting budget is going to be the same as
you see Irvines, cool with that, or your your your

(45:16):
travel budget is going to be the same as Loyola Merrymount,
so you your team might not be able to charter everywhere.
This has always been what's been funny to me, and
before college sports changed in some cases for the better,
in some cases for the much much much worse. But

(45:38):
you'd hear people talk about like, well, you know, there
needs to be you know, salary caps and stuff like that.
And we don't like the big market teams. We don't
like the teams that have advantages in pro sports. Yet
the most popular pro teams are Ohio State, Alabama, Kentucky,
et cetera, schools with big budgets. And you say to
those fans like, all right, you want the small market
baseball team to to play on a level playing field

(45:59):
as you know the Yankees and Dodgers. But what about
in college sports? Hell I remember saying that to an
Ohio State fan, like, wouldn't you love to see what
the Buckeyes could do if we said they could spend
the same on recruiting as Miami University. Oh I don't
want that. So I hear like, well, we have to
level things out. There's never been a desire by anybody.

(46:22):
There's never been a desire for things to be leveled
out in sports until the players start getting there, started
getting their chunk again. Man, if it's like, let's let's
see if we can find a way to collectively bargain
with college athletes, and good luck with that, and we
come up with a way to kind of, you know,

(46:43):
even things up a little bit from from the standpoint
of what the players are getting and what schools can
spend on a roster. I'm here for that. But it's
been interesting that up until now, I've never heard coaches,
you know, claim that there has to truly be a
level playing field. In fact, far from it. It's usually been, Hey,
we need a charter, so we have an advantage over

(47:05):
the schools or trying to be and we need more facilities,
and we need better arenas, and we need more resources
at artists bolls, and we need people to pay for them.
So we have the things that our competitors don't like.
If we if we truly want a level playing field,
then let's let's make a level playing field.

Speaker 11 (47:23):
Right.

Speaker 2 (47:24):
Let's then let's really see who the great coaches are.
And by the way, my guesses Mick would be one
of them. But let's really see who the great coaches are.
Let's really see who's the best at, you know, building
a roster and coaching players and developing them. If we
say Not only is the field going to be leveled
when it comes to player salary, but the field's going
to be level when it comes to all the other

(47:46):
stuff the college programs want to invest money in. Let's
see how things would go if, for instance, Ohio State
and Cincinnati had the same recruiting budget. My guess is
nobody wants that. My guess is Mick would not want
to operate with the same recruiting budget as Pepperdine. The

(48:07):
portion of the show where I have named a bunch
of schools from California is over. Quarter after four. Phone
calls are coming up at five point three, seven, four, nine,
fifteen thirty. I think we have a chance for a
must watch college basketball game. I'll tell you what that
college basketball game could involve next on ESPN fifteen.

Speaker 6 (48:24):
Thirty Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 8 (48:29):
Traffic from the UC Health Traffic Center trusts of the
experts that you see health for innovative and personalized heart care.
They never missed a beat Your heart shouldn't either. Schedule
online at ucehealth dot com. The right center lane still
blocked off from a disabled truck that's on southbound seventy
one to seventy five at Kyle's Lane, a twenty five

(48:50):
minute delay as a result. Back from Fort Washington, Way
East found two seventy five at their Springfield Pike its
debris in the center lane. I'm at Ezelek with track.

Speaker 2 (49:00):
This report is sponsored by Yesterday. First of all, what
was so important? Secondly, Paul as always was awesome. Third,
you can listen to it. We record everything. What we
do is we run a tape recorder and then we
take the cassette tape and we dub it over to
the Internet and we put all the audio on the

(49:20):
iHeartRadio app, so you could hear Paul Danner Jr. Talking
about a whole slew of Bengals offseason issues and some
Hall of Fame voting stuff as well. We also had
on the show yesterday Jean Steroturs, CBS, NFL and college
basketball rules analyst, longtime NFL official, longtime men's college basketball official,

(49:42):
and really enjoy talking with him. He was pretty insightful.
I think like if you could ever get like a
bunch of umps and officials, and I've listened to a
couple of podcasts with former Big league umpires and the
stories they tell are pretty awesome. I could have talked
with Jane for another twenty minutes. Nonetheless, we talked for
like sixteen seventeen minutes And if you missed the interview,

(50:03):
it is also available on the iHeartRadio app, So go
listen to what podcasts of this show are. As always
a service of our friends at Longneck Sports Grill. If
you are thinking I'm going to go out and watch
the big game on Sunday, long Necks has you covered
with a million four KTVs, a million beers, and a

(50:24):
million menu options, literally a million of all three. So
check out Longnecks and Wilder, Heburn and Richwood. We were
talking earlier about the Miami RedHawks eight games to go.
If you go to the website Kenpalm dot com, they
are from an analytics standpoint, predicted to win all eight games.
Their next game is a road game against Marshall. Ken

(50:46):
Palm gives the RedHawks a sixty percent chance of winning
every other game eighty six percent. Oh you sixty five percent,
You mass and you mass played them last week and
played them really tough. Terrence Bowling, Green Falcons seventy three percent,
Michigan seventy Western Michigan eighty two percent, Toledo seventy eight percent,
owe you the regular season finale. That game will be

(51:07):
in Athens sixty nine percent. So now will Miami win
all of those games? They can win seven of eight.
That's a great run. And they finished the regular season
with one loss. But imagine this, right they let's say
they pull it off. They pull it off and finished
thirty one to zero, They go to Cleveland, they get

(51:30):
to the championship game of the MAC Tournament. I think
that's a must watch college basketball game. You know, you've
got a team that is not just playing for at
NCAA tournament bid. You've got a team playing for an
undefeated season. Certainly not the first stands out. Kentucky in

(51:51):
twenty fifteen got too famously the Final Four without losing
a game, but still uk could have afforded a slip up.
They could have lost in the SEC turn. They were
not only gonna make the nca Tournamenty're gonna be a
one seed. You might have this dynamic where Miami still
needs to win. Certainly would need to win to solidify
a bit, because even if they did get in despite

(52:13):
losing in the MAC Tournament title game, they'd go to
bed and Miami fans would go to bed on Saturday
night nervous about their team's chances of having its name
pop up on the screen on selection Sunday. So you
would have the dynamic of trying to polish off an
undefeated regular season, but also trying to ensure that the
previous four months weren't wasted. And yeah, there's always mid

(52:35):
major leagues where teams are playing for a bid, including
some teams that have had really good seasons. How many
of them went undefeated. I think that becomes a must
watch college basketball game. We'll see twenty four after four o'clock,
thanks to those who have waited patiently. Uh five point three, seven,
four nine, fifteen thirty. Bill, go ahead, you're on ESPN

(52:57):
fifteen thirty. Hi, Bill, How are you good, sir?

Speaker 11 (53:00):
How you doing today?

Speaker 2 (53:01):
I have Bill, never been better in my life. How
about yourself?

Speaker 11 (53:05):
I'm getting better good. Got a question for you on
this Pro Bowl game?

Speaker 5 (53:09):
Yeah, I like it in the old days, back in.

Speaker 11 (53:13):
The sixties and seventies when they played okay this flag football.
I don't like for the men. I'm thinking, what do
you think about this idea? Your rookie and your second
year players? Play in the.

Speaker 2 (53:30):
Pro Bowl, like play a real football game.

Speaker 5 (53:35):
Yes, sir, play football.

Speaker 2 (53:38):
It'll it'll it'll resemble what the Pro Bowl was like
before they went to flag football.

Speaker 11 (53:44):
How do you how do you think that is true?

Speaker 2 (53:47):
Because I watched what became of the Pro Bowl before
it went to flag football.

Speaker 11 (53:53):
Right, You don't think it would be better for the
football game with players that want to hit and play
and aren't extra money for the first year players?

Speaker 2 (54:06):
No, not to No, no, I think you would have
players who either decided I don't want to play in
that or I'll play in it. But I'm not going
to take it that seriously because I have an NFL
team that I'm under contract for. I think every first
or second year player has one goal in mind, and
that's get to the second contract. Anything that gets in

(54:28):
the way of me getting my second contract, I'd have
no interest in getting injured in the Pro Bowl could
conceivably impact my ability to get that second contract. So
the risk reward is is just not in favor of
getting players to want to do that.

Speaker 11 (54:44):
So there's no way we can get back to the
days where we play real football.

Speaker 2 (54:49):
In the Pro Bowl. No, yeah, no.

Speaker 11 (54:52):
No, I'm getting a little sick and tired of the
new coming up, all these new.

Speaker 2 (54:58):
Roads with with the problem defense.

Speaker 11 (55:02):
With the Pro Bowl in the regular season, where the
defense can't hit nobody anymore.

Speaker 2 (55:08):
Do you watch regular season NFL games? Oh, yes, you
don't see players getting hit.

Speaker 11 (55:16):
I see more defensive players getting penalized on hits that
was allowed back in the seventies and sixties.

Speaker 2 (55:24):
Yeah, that certainly does happen, no question that we we've
we've changed, We've changed a lot of the things that
players can do. You don't see a level of violence
that remains when you watch regular season NFL games.

Speaker 11 (55:38):
Not like it was back then, No, sir, not back
my days.

Speaker 2 (55:42):
Yeah no, so so don't. So you want to you
want to go back to to allowing things that would
increase the likelihood of injury to players you love watching.

Speaker 11 (55:54):
Not injuries. I just want to see hard.

Speaker 2 (55:56):
Hitting, and you don't see hard hit when you watch
NFL games.

Speaker 11 (56:03):
I do sometimes, but I think the defense back sometimes
you don't.

Speaker 2 (56:09):
You don't. You don't see like dozens worth of like
collisions when you watch an NFL game in the regular season.

Speaker 4 (56:16):
Yes, I do, Yes, I do.

Speaker 10 (56:18):
Yeah, I do that.

Speaker 11 (56:19):
But back in the day, you could see a little
bit more physical game. On the defensive side. I think
they're taking the defense step away from the defensive players
on how they can hit, tackle and stuff.

Speaker 2 (56:35):
Yeah, well, I think as it relates to how they
hit the quarterback, it's undeniable that that the game has changed.
One might say it's evolved, and quarterbacks are the biggest stars,
and the league is trying to protect its biggest stars.
But you often do hear people say, well, they've they've
gotten rid of the hitting from the game. And I

(56:55):
watch this sport every week and I see more violence
in an NFL game that I do pretty much anywhere else,
and we love it. But I think now it's it's
it's more, it's better legislated, it's better regulated. We've gotten
some things out of the game that really have proven
to not, you know, be needed. So I don't have

(57:16):
any issue with how the game is played. And I'm
I don't know how old you are, Bill, but when
I when I was a kid in the late eighties,
the Pro Bowl would be on ABC or CBS from
Hawaii and I would watch it and I would say, like,
this stinks. So for forty years people have complained about
the Pro Bowl. It's that's not going to change. There's

(57:39):
nothing they could do to make the players care about
that event, and as long as they don't, the event
is probably going to leave a lot to be desired. Nonetheless, Bill,
I loved hearing from you. Thank you for the phone call.
Have a great day, and I hope we hear from
you again. Okay, thank you, sirving much.

Speaker 10 (57:56):
I just.

Speaker 2 (57:59):
You know, in the sixties, I don't know what players
in the Pro Bowl were getting for winning the game.
Whatever money players would get for being on the winning
team in a flag football game or a Pro Bowl
football game, the way we were doing it four or
five years ago is not going to be worth it.
Just you don't have to watch it, like I didn't

(58:21):
watch I didn't watch it because it you know again,
I went to a basketball game last night, but it's
no stakes. Football does no interest for me. Flag football
doesn't really interest me. I'm not sure i'd be that
into flag football was in the Olympics, to be honest
with you. Uh so, But there's there's no there's no

(58:41):
way of fixing that event. You can't make players care
about something that intrinsically they're not going to care. About
five point three seven four nine fifteen thirty is our
phone number. Evan Cohen from ESPN Radio from San Francisco
in just about an hour on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 7 (58:59):
Station, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty Traffic.

Speaker 8 (59:04):
From the UC Health Traffic Center. Trust of the experts
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(59:26):
on scene, and the center lane blocked from another disabled
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Speaker 2 (59:35):
This retadlines are a service with Kelse Chevrolet Home of
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family to yours for life kelseyshev dot com. Tonight on ESPN.
No Tonight on Fox Boards thirteen sixty we have NKU
basketball Norris and Green Bay Tonight. MKU trying to snap

(59:56):
a four game losing streak tip off at seven pregame
of six thirty Fox Sports thirteen sixty. Tonight on ESPN
fifteen thirty, we have a UK hoops as the Wildcats
take on Oklahoma. That game will tip off at nine pm.
Pregame coverage on ESPN fifteen thirty begins at seven thirty.
Hockey Tonight, the Cyclones are at Kalamazoo, which is the

(01:00:19):
fun city. James Rapine had his wedding just outside Kalamazoo.
I stayed in Kalamazoo only time in my life I've
ever been to Kalamazoo. Lots of breweries in Kalamazoo, lots
of fun to be had in Kalamazoo. Don't know that
I'd want to go there in February. Fortunately, James's wedding
was in June. Also, hockey tonight, the Blue Jackets look

(01:00:42):
for a seventh consecutive victory as they take on the
Chicago Blackhawks. I retweeted this here I encourage you, if
you don't mind, go read. And I'm sure there are
others on the Bengals beat who have written about this,
but the first that I noticed was Kelsey. Kelsey obviously
does an awesome job covering the Bengals for Cincinnati dot Com.

(01:01:05):
You've heard Jay Morrison on this show. Jay Covers the Bengals.
Has covered the Bengals for years for a few different outlets,
but currently Bengals Talk dot Com. And right at the
end of the football season, he lost his wife and
this was not expected. She went in for a medical
procedure and Jay has made all of this public shortly
before Christmas, and the procedure, needless to say, did not

(01:01:27):
go well. So he lost his wife. And Jay is
tweeted about this, not that extensively because, as you might understand,
he's had a lot more to deal with than what's
going on on social media, but he tweeted a video
of the honor walk because his wife was an organ
donor and I did not know that this was something

(01:01:48):
that happened. But when you donate your organs and you
are I'm trying to think of the best clinical way
to put this, but you're you're essentially on life support
and you're not conscious anymore. I guess they walk you
through the hospital and everybody who works there lines the

(01:02:09):
hallways and you get a hero send off. Jay tweeted
out that video and staged a celebration of his wife's
life this past weekend, and the tab was picked up
by Zach Taylor and Brian Callahan, and I want you
to go read Kelsey's story, and we talk about Zach,

(01:02:29):
needless to say a lot. Zach actually attended the celebration
of life, which is awesome, attended with his kids, and
Kelsey writes about all this, and and so just go
read it. And whatever you feel about Zach Taylor as
a head coach, and god knows I have my criticisms,

(01:02:51):
here is an example of him stepping up in a
situation that matters a hell of a lot more than
whatever he does on the sideline of a football game.
So good for Zach and good for Brian Callahan. And
I hope that hope that brought some level of comfort
and even joy to Jay and his family that Zach
and Brian stepped up. And so go read Kelsey's Go

(01:03:14):
read somebody who writes for a sports section that hasn't
been shuttered at cincia dot com, and Tipothy cap to
a Zach Taylor and Brian Callahan, and of course to
Jay and his family. I know Jay has basically taken
the last month or so off work and cannot wait
to him coming back and reading him and listening to

(01:03:36):
him and being on podcasts with him whenever he deems
that appropriate. But I wanted to make mention of that
because when people like that do really good things, it
should be it should be publicized. Twenty away from five o'clock, Mike,
go ahead, you're on ESPN fifteen thirty. My good afternoon.
How are you?

Speaker 10 (01:03:57):
Oh fine? You always catch me off guard. Thank you
most christiating. And to mister Morris and his family and
deceased wife. My heart goes out to him big time.
It puts forts in a perspective where exactly where it belongs. Unimportant, entertaining,

(01:04:21):
but unimportant, which is why, which which is why I
love them. Yeah, exactly, Yeah, that's exactly right, because you
don't have to think a whole lot. Well, you can
if you want.

Speaker 2 (01:04:36):
I usually don't, and this show reflects as much.

Speaker 10 (01:04:40):
So I wouldn't say that if you put your heart
and soul in your brainer. Okay, three things, if you
don't mind, my friend. Last night, I did not watch
the flag football game, had no desire to watch it,
but luckily on Fox Sports one they had the one
hundre your fiftieth Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, which is

(01:05:04):
the super Bowl of dog shows and has been for
one hundred and fifty years.

Speaker 2 (01:05:08):
How was it.

Speaker 10 (01:05:10):
Awesome? It's always awesome. Twenty five hundred dogs broke down
into seven groups. They take the winners of the seven
groups and judge those seven dogs to be the best
in show. Madison Square Garden, two knights in a row, packed,

(01:05:32):
standing room only, no seats. It's this way every year.

Speaker 2 (01:05:38):
Can you can you bet on that event?

Speaker 10 (01:05:42):
I never looked into that that. No, you wouldn't want
to do that. Mo, don't don't do that. Don't do that.

Speaker 2 (01:05:48):
Well, that's the only way. That's the only way I'm
going to be compelled to watch a dog shows if
I can make wagers on it.

Speaker 10 (01:05:54):
See, you don't like dogs.

Speaker 2 (01:05:55):
I love dogs. I love dog We own a dog,
Bella Bella the Frenchton. We named her Ginos. I just
don't There's a lot of things I love to cook.
I don't necessarily want to watch somebody cook like I.
Just because I don't want to watch a dog show
doesn't mean I love dogs.

Speaker 10 (01:06:12):
Okay, cool, Well you know I love watching it.

Speaker 2 (01:06:15):
Yeah, that's cool. That's awesome to each their own.

Speaker 10 (01:06:19):
Two hundred and fifty different breeds worldwide. Yeah, they have
evolved over eight or nine thousand years, the oldest being
of Saluki, which is the fight hound, which is a
hound dog.

Speaker 2 (01:06:31):
By the way, I lied, I do. I did watch
this one old woman cook these these smash burgers on
TV when I was visiting a friend of mine's mom
and I went home that night and I made those
smash burgers. So I do now watch this old lady
cook because I could find her shows on Max and
on YouTube, and I've copied her recipes, so that's not

(01:06:53):
I didn't. I wasn't completely transparent. I will watch this
old lady cook. But I don't really want to watch
a dog show.

Speaker 10 (01:07:00):
One of my favorite shows on TV is Diner, Drivings
and Dies with guy Ti Eric.

Speaker 2 (01:07:04):
That's a good show. But like I like to watch
that too because I like to see how these restaurant
owners make their food. So yeah, I actually do now
like to watch people cook.

Speaker 10 (01:07:14):
And he goes to Cincinnati off and on quite a lot.

Speaker 2 (01:07:17):
He's been here, Jeff Ruby.

Speaker 12 (01:07:19):
Yeah, anyway, the dog that won was Adobe Doberman Pincher,
was only the fifth time in one hundred and fifty
years at the Doberman won.

Speaker 10 (01:07:30):
The second place prize was a Cumberland Retriever, which is kind.

Speaker 2 (01:07:36):
Of a what do the dogs get for winning nothing?

Speaker 10 (01:07:42):
The dogs getting nothing.

Speaker 2 (01:07:43):
The dogs get nothing.

Speaker 10 (01:07:45):
There is no monetary game from this. But here's the kick.

Speaker 2 (01:07:49):
I think that's BS. I think that's BS. When my
dog does something, she gets a treat.

Speaker 10 (01:07:56):
Well, they give him a gigantic trophy, which is much
more impress than.

Speaker 2 (01:08:00):
The super You think a dog would rather have a
trophy or a treat.

Speaker 10 (01:08:04):
Well, they get in't treats. The whole time. They're showing
them to keep their attention, why they're running around the
ring and stuff stuff. But what happens is where the
money is, my friend, is in the stud fees. Yeah,
the dogs that place first, second, and third, and the
puppy piece from the females. And I'm talking huge money.

Speaker 2 (01:08:26):
So from like breeding the dogs, that's where the money is.

Speaker 10 (01:08:30):
That's where the money is.

Speaker 2 (01:08:32):
Do they ever show that on TV?

Speaker 10 (01:08:35):
Not that I know, God, you're such a free market
free anyway, okay, because I don't.

Speaker 2 (01:08:43):
Want to watch a dog show. Well, I don't even
know what that. I don't even know what those two
things have to do with each other.

Speaker 10 (01:08:47):
Worried about how much money you can make?

Speaker 2 (01:08:49):
Yes, yes, What will compel me to watch an event
that I ordinarily have no interest in would be if
you said, mo, you could lay money on this dog
to win the dog show at plus three sixty, Then
I'm in. Then I'm in. Well beyond that, it's just
a bunch of stuffy, rich people parading around their dogs.

Speaker 10 (01:09:10):
Well, they might do that, but here's the problem with
if you could wager on it.

Speaker 4 (01:09:13):
Yeah, they have judge.

Speaker 10 (01:09:15):
They have judges for each one of these groups, and
each group may have a couple hundred dogs in it.

Speaker 2 (01:09:20):
You could wager on UFC fights. There are judges on
UFC fights, right.

Speaker 10 (01:09:25):
Yeah, but it's so subject. Yeah, well that's true, but
it's subject. I don't know. I guess it's just a
heritage thing that they've elected not to get the money involved.
But okay, I'm move on now. I'm sorry, I'm boring everybody.
But here's a really cool thing. My friend, yeah, yesterday.
I've never been to a Super Bowl in my life. No,

(01:09:46):
never even entertained going to one because I thought it
was too expensive or whatever. It's not cheap So yesterday
at our CLC, which is called the Community Living Center,
which is my hospice facility in La Jolla, California, in
North San Diego County, there's two guys walk in and

(01:10:08):
I looked at this one guy and I thought, that
dude looks like Cookin and the Coop and a couple
of my other veterans. Some of them are kind of
out of the cover of them. But and then I
and then the other guy, I thought, well, I know
who that is. It was Matt Stanford. These guys showed
up from the RAMS and they had went to two

(01:10:31):
other VA hospice facilities in southern California with tickets for
purple heart victims that are in the hospice to go
to the super Bowl and see how all expenses paid.
We leave tomorrow. They're driving us up there in the van.

(01:10:52):
They're going to put us up in a hotel. I
don't know where, although I know the Bay area really well,
but I can't get around like I could because of
the wheelchair and stuff. But anyway, we're going to get
to go to the super Bowl and they're paying for it.
And I guess it's handicapped seating because my one veteran buddy.
He said, well, wonder what our seats are? I said, deep,
scut up, who cares where the seats are. We're going

(01:11:15):
to the damn super I've never been losing seventy three
years old.

Speaker 2 (01:11:18):
Well that's awesome, that's cool to sound. Now here's my question,
and I have to ask for for your buddy's sake,
could he sell his ticket and make some money off
of it? No, okay, off, this is not for reason.
So you get to go to the super Bowl.

Speaker 10 (01:11:36):
Yeah, well you could sell your ticket, but we'll send
Ford or one of the defensive linemen down the beach
to a pole.

Speaker 2 (01:11:42):
So so Matt, Stafford and pookin the couas show up
and they inform you that you get to go to
Santa Clara for the Super Bowl.

Speaker 10 (01:11:50):
Yeah, because there's twenty five guys here, but there's only
four of us that have purple hearts. Now.

Speaker 2 (01:11:57):
Now, so this is what I want to know next.
Because I knew you served h I didn't know you
were a purple heart recipient. What did you receive a
purple heart for? If you don't mind me astime?

Speaker 10 (01:12:10):
The first time was I caught up at nineteen years old,
on the may Cong Delta by the Cambodian border, taking
a bunch of jar heads, which.

Speaker 2 (01:12:19):
Oh, okay, gotcha, okay.

Speaker 10 (01:12:21):
Yeah, yeah. I caught a piece of shrapnel in the
top of my head. I didn't have my helmet on
it because it's so hot there a lot of times
I shouldn't wear their helmets on our little boat that
we would take a platoon of marines up there and
then we would leave. But it was heavily fortified little
boat about twenty feet long, called a TVR for twall

(01:12:45):
boat Riverine, that's what it seems, right, And so we
went up there and I caught a piece of shrapnel
on the top of my head and it knocked me out.
I don't even remember any of it. At one hundred
and twenty two stitches and the top of my head
to corn and put in my head or I would
have bled out in five minutes or less. Staved my life.

(01:13:07):
So that's what I got. My first purple heart, or
in the second purple heart was for a saving when
I went back after that, for trying to save one
of my buddies. So wow, way I got two of them.

Speaker 2 (01:13:22):
Well, that's awesome, that's so so I mean, first of all,
that's incredible and you have my utmost respect for receiving
those two purple hearts and the heroic acts involved that
allowed you to get those purple hearts. So you get
a chance to go to the super Bowl on that
So that's now. Here's my other question. Would you rather

(01:13:44):
go to the super Bowl or the Westminster Kennel Club
dog Show?

Speaker 10 (01:13:50):
He's such as smart ass, it's.

Speaker 2 (01:13:52):
A fair question. You spend ten minutes talking about the
dog show.

Speaker 10 (01:13:56):
No, I do love the dog show, but no, it
closed this with the super Bowl. No, I'll go to
the super Bowl. Thank you so much.

Speaker 2 (01:14:03):
That's awesome. Well, I hope you have a great time.
That's that's that's cool as hell. Man. It's well deserved
and I hope you have a blast. And I can't wait.
I'm sure you will call us next week to tell
us about your super Bowl experience.

Speaker 10 (01:14:17):
Are you Are you working Friday?

Speaker 2 (01:14:19):
Working Friday?

Speaker 10 (01:14:20):
Yes, I'll call you because they told us they're gonna
take us to a radio row and watch it and
I didn't comment on your comments.

Speaker 2 (01:14:31):
So you'll be at radio Row in San Francisco on Friday.

Speaker 10 (01:14:37):
Yeah, just sitting in the corner somewhere with two other disabled.

Speaker 2 (01:14:41):
At the at the game itself. Are they gonna like
honor you during during a time out or something.

Speaker 10 (01:14:48):
Oh, they haven't said anything like that. They did say though,
that on Saturday, we're going to some kind of a
they're gonna take us to some kind of a super
Bowl party. But I don't know what the content.

Speaker 2 (01:15:00):
This sounds like the weekend of a lifetime. This is unbelievable.

Speaker 10 (01:15:03):
Actually started crying last night. I was so yeah, grate, yeah,
because I had no idea. But this is Christmas reincarnated.

Speaker 2 (01:15:12):
This is this is out of the blue, This is
incredibly Well, so you're gonna call us from from Radio
Row on Friday.

Speaker 10 (01:15:21):
My hotel room or where we're not.

Speaker 2 (01:15:25):
I'd rather hear from you from Radio Row.

Speaker 10 (01:15:28):
Okay, Okay, it's kind of like a Kroger thing.

Speaker 2 (01:15:30):
Yeah, we'll probably put you up to doing some stuff,
but yes, we'd like to hear from you from Radio Row.

Speaker 10 (01:15:37):
Okay on Friday.

Speaker 2 (01:15:39):
Just like the time you called us from like a
like a baseball game and I tried to get you
to buy people beer, we might make you do something similar.

Speaker 10 (01:15:47):
Okay, Well, thank you so much. I just wanted to
share that.

Speaker 2 (01:15:50):
That's awesome, Mike. That's what's well deserved. And uh and
and and it's it's really cool and and I'm I'm
happy for you. Congratulations. It's neat that you'll get a
chance to experience. And it's only a fraction of what
you do for your heroism and your service to the country.
So I mean that from the bottom of my heart.
Thank you for letting me mess with you a little bit.

(01:16:11):
And we'll talk to you from radio row.

Speaker 10 (01:16:14):
Okay, well, thanks and have a good night.

Speaker 2 (01:16:17):
I will do that. It's eight away from five o'clock.
Congratulations to Mike. That is awesome. This is ESPN fifteen
thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 7 (01:16:27):
Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty Traffic.

Speaker 8 (01:16:31):
From the UC Health Traffic Center. Trusts of the experts
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seventy five at twelve, the center lane blocked off from
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Speaker 1 (01:17:04):
Now here's your chance to win one thousand dollars. Just
entered this nationwide keyward on our website. Happy, that's happy,
enter it.

Speaker 2 (01:17:13):
Now, no idea, Mike one two purple hearts. That's cool. Hey.
In thirty minutes, we'll chat with ESPN radios Evan Cohen.
You're gonna hear Joe Flocco on what his twenty twenty
six may have in store. Coming up in twenty minutes,
and as we say in the business, I teased this

(01:17:34):
last hour and I didn't get a chance to get
to it. But you are gonna hear from my new
favorite now former college football coach that's coming up in
just about fifteen minutes. And just a few you'll hear
Jamar Chason T. Higgins, who I guess are gonna do
a podcast with each other. You'll hear them make their
pitch for defensive players to come to the Bengals. There's

(01:17:55):
a lot to get to between now and six o'clock.
NKU basketball. Coming up at thirty tonight is the Norse
host Green Bay. You know quickly on the college basketball
You know, we were talking about this with Rick Brooring.
Xavier got destroyed last night by Yukon and it was
a team that is one of the very best two

(01:18:16):
or three in the country that has one loss, and
it came to Arizona, the unanimous number one team in
the country. Xavier didn't play well, but even if they
played great, they stood very little chance of beating the Huskies.
And it's not that unlike watching Cincinnati versus Arizona, where
you knew the Bearcats we're gonna have to play perfect,

(01:18:36):
and even if they did, they still faced a very
uphill battle. And you could apply that to the Houston
game this past Saturday as well. I mentioned before that
if you look at ESPN's Bubble Watch, when they break
down each conference into you know, locks to get in,
teams that should be in, teams that still have some
work to do, and teams that are long shots. I

(01:18:58):
legitimately think, in the first time ever, for the first
time reading that column, I saw neither uc or Xavier.
I may be wrong about that, I don't think I
am like last night as a Xavier illustration of something
we've said about UC. Now the two programs are in
different places because Xavier's head coaches in year one, UC's

(01:19:21):
head coaches in year five, Xavier's head coach, I think
everybody is saying, like, dude, just get through the season
and then then we'll start to really judge you on results.
With Wes Miller, it's year five. It doesn't look like
they're gonna come close to making the tournament. That's the
tangible proof that anybody cares about as to whether or

(01:19:42):
not the program is headed in the right direction. But
I'll talk about this from a UC perspective because I
am a Bearcat fan, but I think it applies to
the Musketeers as well. Xavier's made the NCAA tournament recently,
made it last year obviously, then Sean Miller left for
the team that he beat in the end tournament, Texas
and played in the Sweet sixteen a couple of seasons ago.

(01:20:05):
You see, hasn't made the tournament obviously since twenty nineteen.
But the way the conversation has shifted about I think
the Bearcats more than Xavier, but I'll apply it to
both is just got to make the tournament. What's it
gonna take to make the tournament? And at the end
of the day, in college basketball, whether you like UC, Xavier, Kentucky, Miami,

(01:20:27):
that's the quest. You're gonna make the tournament. And it's
like if you made the tournament, all right, at least
got a shot to advance. You make the tournament, it's
hard to say that the season was a total failure.
I agree with that, but I I I aspire for more.
Like there was a time from a UC perspective where

(01:20:48):
making the tournament wasn't good enough. So like I watch
games against Arizona or Houston through that lens, how do
they get to be that again? And apples to apples
with Xavier just because of the the timelines involved with
the two respective coaches. But it's like when can Xavier

(01:21:09):
be that? Like when? When? When can they be what
Yukon is? You might go, well, that's really aspirational. Yukon's
a second ranked team in a country. Like Dan Hurley
won recently back to back national champions national championships. I
should say, like those are brethren in your league. If

(01:21:29):
you can't compare yourself or aspire to be what the
best teams in your league are, you shouldn't be in
that league. And so like last night, it kind of
reminded you of you're a Xavier fan. I think not
so much of you know how sobering it was to
lose to Yukon, but it's like it shouldn't have lost
to Creighton and Saint John's and Seaton Hall. In the

(01:21:51):
game they led by eleven and a halftime, and if
you win at least a couple of those, it's a
little bit easier to take a beating against the Huskies.
And I would say the same about the Bearcats. But
like you watch those games, I think through the lens
of when are these programs going to be like those programs?
Joe Burrow says he's happy said it on the Pro

(01:22:15):
Bowl Flag Football telecast last night. Here's that on ESPN.
Sometimes you don't realize what you have till you miss it. No,
that's true, It's very true.

Speaker 10 (01:22:25):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (01:22:26):
You know, I've been injured quite a bit in my career,
and so I gained some perspective on this whole thing.
And when the league asked me to do it, it
was a little has to do at first, but then
they convinced me, and I'm.

Speaker 2 (01:22:39):
Glad I did it. A lot of people say, you know,
you're big fans. Is Joe Burrow happy since in that team? Honestly, yeah,
I am. I think.

Speaker 3 (01:22:48):
Uh, you know, everybody has bad days, right, everybody has
bad days. Sometimes they fall on press conference days, so
you know, that's how it goes sometimes.

Speaker 2 (01:22:57):
All right, there you go, had a sense of humor
about it. He says he's happy, So all is good
for now. Let's revisit this in a year. Let's revisit
this in January. Hopefully we don't have to the time
for Joe Burrow's psychoanalysis has come and gone, and it
was fatiguing at the end of the year, like sifting
through every syllable of every public statement was exhausting and

(01:23:21):
non productive. And so he's happy. And you know, if
you're going to wager money on where Joe Burrow is
going to play on twenty twenty six, I have no
idea why you would bet on anybody but the Cincinnati Bengals.
But if that question has to be asked in a year,
forget what the answer is. If the question has to

(01:23:42):
be asked in a year, something will have gone terribly wrong.
And if we have to ask the question in a year,
then you should at least prepare yourself, I think for
a slightly different answer, maybe an entirely different answer. So
right now, well, yep, he's happy. Cool? What if what

(01:24:05):
if twenty twenty six looks, feels, sounds and plays out
like twenty twenty five or twenty twenty four or twenty
twenty three. You do not want to tempt fee. So yes,
he's happy. That's fine. The question is will we be
asking the same question in ten months or eleven months

(01:24:27):
or twelve months? Taren? What is this from this? T? Higgins?
It from Kay Adams. Kel We like Kay Adams. Kay
Adams had Jamar Chas and T. Higgins on from San
Francisco Radio. Row saddest place on earth. But if Kay
Adams is there, it's a little bit less sad. Here
are Jamar and t pitching a prospective defensive players coming

(01:24:48):
to Cincinnati. Jamar, if you could pick one person all
this campaigning yesterday with free agents, who would you pick
to add to the Bengals that you saw yesterday in
the Pro Bowl Game? Me, tee, who you want to get?

Speaker 10 (01:25:02):
Oh?

Speaker 2 (01:25:02):
I don't know. If he is a free agent? Ye,
Jeffrey Simmons. You want Simmons? I like him? Tell me more.
He's just a dog up there front man. You know,
just just watch him over the season. He just made
so many players, you know, with run stopping, you know,
getting sacks on the qbs and stuff like that. I
feel like we can t Higgins answer what's yours?

Speaker 13 (01:25:22):
That's a good answer too. Honestly, that's not a bad one.
I want to go with you boy from Vegas though.

Speaker 14 (01:25:34):
Max Maxsby, Oh my gosh, I like Frosby.

Speaker 2 (01:25:39):
Come on to the Bengals, man, I want to. I
thought I want him to go to Chicago, but I
e think Cincy. I could see him in Sincy.

Speaker 6 (01:25:46):
I could too get a ring.

Speaker 11 (01:25:48):
He's a dog.

Speaker 2 (01:25:48):
I like Max Crosby. I heard one of your first
guests on the top, all right. I like Jeffrey Simmons
and Max Crosby too. Neither players are free agents. That
that's not tampering right now. Max Crosby's I think it's
a fair bet that he's played his last game with
the Raiders. But it had to trade him, which would

(01:26:10):
be cool. Jeffrey Simmons is under contract for a couple
of years. Umber kid number ten for Max Crosby. That
ain't happening. No, no, would love Max Crosby. Both players
currently under contracts. Hopefully neither Jamar or Ti get ding

(01:26:30):
for tampering, which I don't think they will. I don't
think that's how it works. Oh know, there were a
lot more players who did that yesterday. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. No,
it's nobody. It's everybody's having fun with it. So good
for them, Good for them, Good for them. Evan Cohen
from ESPN is in San Francisco. You hear his show
weekday mornings from six to ten. He is going to

(01:26:50):
join us coming up in just about twenty minutes. Joe
Flacco made the rounds today, and you will hear from
my new now former favorite screwed that up again, my
new favorite, now former college football coach. I should have
written that out. This is ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 7 (01:27:07):
Station, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

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Twenty minutes after five o'clock. I'm allegar. You're listening to
ESPN fifteen thirty and thank you, seriously, thank you all right,
my new favorite now former college football coach. In just
a second, Joe Flacco was in the the Pro Bowl
flag football game last night. Looked like he was having

(01:28:06):
a lot of fun watching the highlights. Is Joe gonna
come back? Is he gonna be Joe Burrow's backup? Where's
he going to go? Is he gonna play for somebody else?
Will somebody give him a starting gig? Does he want
to come back to Cincinnati? Here is Joe Flacco on
Pro Football Talk Live earlier today.

Speaker 14 (01:28:23):
I don't really think about it at this point, Like
I don't want to just sign up with anybody. I
don't want to just play football or be on the
sideline for the sake of saying I'm out there.

Speaker 5 (01:28:33):
So you want to be in a spot that you're
more about being in a spot where you might play
rather than being on.

Speaker 2 (01:28:37):
A good team and be in a backup or something.

Speaker 14 (01:28:39):
Listen, there's lots of things that go into it, Okay,
and listen, like I love Cincinnati, Yeah, I like the
idea of going back to Cincinnati, but at the same time,
you are resigning yourself to something there. So like, so
there's a world where that where I could see that happening.
But you know, you gotta see what's out there. You
gotta just kind of if things come or when they come,

(01:29:02):
you have to just kind of weigh those those options
and make a decision. And you know, I hope I'm
in a position to make a decision.

Speaker 2 (01:29:09):
There's a Joe Flacco on Pro Football Talk Live. I
think it's fair to wonder a couple of different things. One,
what will the market be for Joe Flacco? Because there
clearly can't be anybody who for a quarterback at this
stage in his career. And I probably don't even have
to say this is like, yes, that's going to be
our franchise quarterback. That's the guy we're moving forward with.

(01:29:33):
There surely are going to be teams who are looking
for a bridge guy, somebody to play in the short
term while they either figure out what they're doing long term,
or play a rookie, play a guy they draft this
year maybe, or a team that you know, at some
point during camp there's an injury and they're desperate and

(01:29:54):
we need a guy, and Joe Flacco's proven to be
a quick study, and so you know, on that level,
maybe it behoo Joe Flacco to kind of wait things
out and see where things are this summer. Right. Hey, look,
I can always go back to Cincinnati. Maybe I can
always sign with a team, you know, with not much
time left in camp, because I know how to pick
up an offense quickly. I've had to do it multiple

(01:30:14):
times and it's worked. Or maybe there are teams that go, look, man,
cool story in Cincinnati last year, but you are on
the other side of forty. Can't be that much gas
left in the tank looking for somebody who's a little
bit more close to their physical peak like I have.
I don't think any of us have any real idea.
I do not think you could blame Joe Flacco for

(01:30:38):
not wanting to sign the first thing put in front
of him. If the Bengals put a contract in front
of him, like could you blame him? Let me see
what else is out there?

Speaker 10 (01:30:49):
Now?

Speaker 2 (01:30:50):
The Bengals surely would love Joe Flacco back. I would imagine,
though I think it would be okay to do some
due diligence with where to who the backup QB is?
Is there somebody as good but maybe younger? And if
Joe Flacco tells you, I'd rather not sign the first
thing in front of me, I'd rather see what happens. Okay,

(01:31:14):
but are are you? Are you gonna wait on Joe
Flacco and not go sign somebody else. I'm asking these
things kind of rhetorically because I don't know that any
of us know the answers. But this is sort of
fascinating if you think about it. Right, Sure, Joe Flacco
still thinks he could play. Sure the Bengals would love

(01:31:35):
to have him back in the role that he was
in obviously this past season. You could understand why the
Bengals would want him to sign asap. You could understand
why Joe Flacco is like, yeah, I'm not gonna sign instantly. You,
I would imagine then would understand why the Bengals would go, look,
love to have you, but uh, we got to kind

(01:31:56):
of get moving here on our team. And we can't
wait for you to figure out out what the market's
going to be, because maybe the market evolves for a
guy like Joe Flacco slowly. We will see twenty five
minutes after five o'clock on ESPN fifteen thirty one, Moeger
follow on Twitter at Moeger Thanks to Delta Dental. Delta

(01:32:19):
Dental building healthy, smart Viran communities for all good at
Delta dentaloh dot com. I saw this on a social
media We hear a lot of college coaches complaining about
the landscape, and you know how difficult it is for
them to do their jobs relative to what it was

(01:32:40):
like just a few years ago. Some coaches leave. Some
coaches decide this isn't for me. Tony Bennett at Virginia
National Championship winning coach to a degree, Jay Wright, maybe
Nick Saban, A whole lot of coaches will tell you
what the problem is. I appreciate the ones who are like,

(01:33:00):
you know what, this ain't for me, So I'm leaving.
So I present to you now. Former Montana head football
coach Bobby Holck, the dealing with.

Speaker 15 (01:33:12):
Agents and the transient nature of this, and the lack
of forward thinking by young people, which it's never been
a strong suit for centuries for young people, but now
when they've got adults pushing them and pulling them in

(01:33:34):
different directions, and I just I kind of got tired
of all that dealing with agents and.

Speaker 2 (01:33:41):
The transient nature of it.

Speaker 15 (01:33:42):
So I mean this, this wasn't like I don't know
if you said, did you just say straw that broke
the Campbell's back?

Speaker 2 (01:33:48):
There was nothing like that. This is this has been residual.
The I appreciate the heck out of that. I appreciate
instead of NonStop complaining and not offering any real solo
or NonStop complaining and uh continuing to cash a check
and I don't know how much that guy made at Montana,

(01:34:10):
I appreciate somebody who's like, you know what, this just
isn't for me. And by the way, not every change
is for everybody. And the business that I work in.
You know, when when no longer doing a talk show
was enough and you had to have an internet presence
and be on social media and maybe change how you

(01:34:30):
had to do your show to adapt to modern sensibilities.
There were a lot of awesome, awesome on air poke
on air people who simply said, you know what, had
a good run, this, what it's turning into is not
for me. That's always going to happen when there's a
seismic change in any business. I appreciate somebody like that

(01:34:51):
is like, you know what, I'm out, I'm done. It's
for somebody else, it ain't for me. Instead of constantly
telling us how hard their jobs are and never changing.
Good for him. It's my new favorite. Twenty eight for five.
Evan Cohen is one of my favorite hosts. You hear
his show every morning on ESPN fifteen thirty, broadcasting this

(01:35:11):
week from San Francisco. He'll join us next.

Speaker 6 (01:35:16):
S Natti's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 8 (01:35:19):
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(01:35:42):
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onto the right shoulder. I'm at Eazelic with traffic, Cincinnati
Sports Station, Sports Station.

Speaker 6 (01:35:56):
This is ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 2 (01:35:58):
Do you hear Evan Cohen? Evan Cohen every weekday morning
from six to ten, one of the hosts of unsportsmanlike
excuse me, with Michelle Smallman and and Chris Canty. Chris
is in New York while Evan and Michelle are in
San Francisco broadcasting from the super Bowl. So that's like
three am local time. What time you got to get up?

Speaker 10 (01:36:22):
Mo?

Speaker 4 (01:36:22):
I am up at one fifteen. We got an uber
over to the hotel to the Radio Row area at
one forty am. And then you know, doing all show prep,
hair makeup for TV, which I need a lot of,
beginning at two am and then on the air at
three am. And yet Michelle and I are here. Can't
he just had a baby? Well, his wife did. That

(01:36:44):
would be weird if he did. But his wife had
a baby, and so he's back in New York with
his young son.

Speaker 2 (01:36:49):
I don't know who should thank who more? Us for
you guys, you know, giving this Bengals content nearly every morning,
or the Bengals for giving you an endless treasure trove
stuff to talk about this football season.

Speaker 4 (01:37:02):
You know, Mo, It's interesting because we have we have
become I don't want to say a Bengals show because
that would be like I don't want to mislead the audi,
the great audience in Cincy. But we talk about the
Bengals a lot. Yeah, Joe Burrow has become, as you know,
a lightning rod for us because of the fact that,
you know, I think initially, if I'm going to be real,

(01:37:24):
initially it was our takes and analysis around our assumptions
of Burrow slash the Bengals, Right, I'm not saying that
they were out of line, but it was more of like,
here's what we think and here's what we think could
be going on. Can't He obviously knows this stuff inside
and now because he played. But over the last year,
I think it's been they have given us tangible audio

(01:37:46):
to work off of, to become a hot topic almost
on a regular basis, and especially the quarterback at times.
And I know you spent a ton of time on
this alluding to the idea of hypothetical possible retire or
moving on from Cincy.

Speaker 2 (01:38:02):
Yeah, which, like we've gone we've gone this route down
this road before, right, We've done this with Carson Palmer.
And so you know, folks get mad at us, and frankly,
like I'll hear it from from listeners of your show here,
who are like, why why are they trying to why
are they trying to create a Joe Burrow Bengals divorce?
And my take is, like, what would make Joe Burrow

(01:38:23):
any different from the endless list of players who have
sought their way out of Cincinnati?

Speaker 10 (01:38:29):
That's right.

Speaker 4 (01:38:29):
And you know what's funny is Kanty, to his credit,
doesn't just do it about Burrow. If you notice, and
I know you have, almost every time that he has
brought up Burrow, he has brought up Ken Anderson, He's
brought up Boomer, He's brought up obviously Carson Palmer and
all of the other Cincinnati quarterbacks that were almost champions

(01:38:51):
right and almost there or wanted to leave at some
point or another, or asked out and had a forced
retirement as a way of getting to another franchise. So
he's not doing it and we're not doing it out
of nowhere. Unfortunately, there is a history of this, like,
if you look at it, Cincinnati QB drama is in
a way a a kin to Green Bay QUB lineage,

(01:39:16):
Like Oh, one's going to hand off to the other
in green Bay, where in Cincinnati one's going to act
out after another.

Speaker 2 (01:39:22):
Yeah. Look, Boomer ended poorly, Carson ended poorly, Joe Burrow.
Who knows how it's going to end. But if it
continues to go the way it has, I don't know
why people suddenly assume like he'll be the exception, it'll
be any different. History, if you use it as a guide,
would suggest that that's not going to be the case.
I hear all the time though, from folks here who

(01:39:43):
ask me this. And you know, we've had him on
and he's been great to us. But it sounds at
times like when it comes to the Bengals, you and
Michelle are the voice of reason and Chris Canty hates
the Bengals. People say that to me, What would you
say to that?

Speaker 4 (01:39:57):
Yeah, I don't think he hates the Bengals at all.
I think what he hates is organizations not supporting players
who do right by the organization and who he believes
should be supported. I think it's I think it's just
that I think like what he gets bothered by is
the idea of how can Joe Burrow, Tamar Chase, et

(01:40:19):
cetera do more for the Bengals and why do they
put them through this?

Speaker 10 (01:40:23):
This Rigamaroor?

Speaker 4 (01:40:24):
Why did that? And I understand that Shamar Stewart, you know,
wasn't exactly a home run, but the idea of going
through all of that. Trey Henderson, same thing. I think,
just very simply, you're talking about a guy in Kanty
that played eleven years in the NFL, he won a
Super Bowl, and he believes that those that contribute to

(01:40:45):
a team in a positive way should be rewarded.

Speaker 2 (01:40:49):
Evan Cohen with us on sportsman Like Weekday Mornings on
ESPN Radio ESPN fifteen thirty Evan and Michelle broadcasting from
San Francisco.

Speaker 10 (01:40:59):
A quick question off of that.

Speaker 4 (01:41:01):
Thought, Yeah, I triggedgar a thought. There's one era that
we did not just bring up in a weird way. God,
this is a weird question. In a weird way. Was
the Marvin Lewis Andy Dalton era underrated?

Speaker 2 (01:41:17):
Yes, including in real time because you know, unfortunately, what
hovered over Marvin and Andy's era are a lot of
things that they had nothing to do with. Right, they
hadn't won a playoff game since nineteen ninety and so
we never talked about that duo. We never talked about
those teams in championship. In championship terms, it was always
can they win one playoff game? And then once they

(01:41:39):
started to get to the postseason year after year after year,
we got to a point where we took for granted
that success, all the while never really talking about them
in legitimate championship terms. And I look back on that
stretch with a great amount of fondness, Like, look, I
was here for the nineties. I grew up here in
the nineties watching the Bengals be totally irrelevant. Rvind and

(01:42:00):
Andy almost every year were relevant, and I thought in
real time that was underrated.

Speaker 4 (01:42:06):
Yeah, because in a way, look at the Seahawks, right,
not not to just tie it to the Super Bowl.
I think they're the most underrated franchise in the NFL.
And if you look at the last you know, twenty
plus years, they had three iterations of a Super Bowl team.
Coaching quarterback Combo Home grind haffle Back, Carol Wilson and
now obviously McDonald and Darnold. But for the most part,
they're pretty good every year. Like they never were embarrassingly bad.

(01:42:28):
And obviously the Bengals have had bad years, but for
the most part in that time with Marvin Lewis and
Andy Dalton, they were like pretty good every year. They
didn't want playoff games, but.

Speaker 10 (01:42:36):
They were just pretty good every year.

Speaker 4 (01:42:37):
And there's a lot of teams that have been stinky
and they weren't that.

Speaker 2 (01:42:42):
I think that's the first interview we've done where somebody
has used the word stinky. I need you to elaborate
on something for me. Okay, Yeah, So this morning I
dropped my daughter off at school at like quarter after eight,
and I'm listening and you're talking about your kids come
home from school and you come empty their backpack. And
my daughter, who's in the third grade, says to me,

(01:43:04):
you're not going to make me do that? Are you
so elaborate on that for me?

Speaker 10 (01:43:08):
What is that like?

Speaker 2 (01:43:09):
Kids come home and you say empty your backpack?

Speaker 11 (01:43:12):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (01:43:12):
I think mo, the way you're saying and the way
maybe I presented is sounds a little bit more intense
than it was meant to be. It was more of
like like it was like that they're going through like
the police department. That's not what it is. What I'm
saying is I have a twelve year old and a
nine year old. You have what an eight year old?

Speaker 2 (01:43:33):
Eight and a half? Now, yes, yeah, So what I'm.

Speaker 4 (01:43:37):
Saying is I don't believe any kid voluntarily will do
their homework on their own. And if you have a
kid that had that is and she's able to do that,
then you are.

Speaker 10 (01:43:45):
The parent of the year.

Speaker 4 (01:43:46):
I am not, obviously, and I'm not blaming my wife,
that's not me. But the reality is I always think
if I say, hey, just empty out your bag, a
couple of things happen. Number One, I learned in that
moment if they have homework that night, because there'll be
works that are empty. I also will see what gross
food somehow ended up in the lunch box in the bag.

Speaker 10 (01:44:05):
And as people who are.

Speaker 4 (01:44:07):
Not parents may not realize this, and you know this,
they all have devices now, so now I want to
make sure, Okay, so you don't go to school with
a dead laptop for tomorrow, let's charge that thing up.
So this is more of just me trying to get
them into the habit of me being able to help them.
By me being able to help, I mean my wife's
being able to help because I'm an app with homework
or whatever it is and making sure we know if

(01:44:28):
they have it. Is that that bad?

Speaker 10 (01:44:30):
No, you know me, maybe.

Speaker 2 (01:44:31):
It's not bad at all. But like now I'm listening.
My daughter's in the car. She's listening, and she's wondering
if that's what life is going to be like, And
the answer is now moving forward. Probably yes, even though
I'm not there when she comes home because I work
in the afternoons. But nonetheless, yes, that might.

Speaker 4 (01:44:45):
Be an interesting So now I have scared your daughter.
Your daughter has never met me, and your daughter is
now afraid of you because of me.

Speaker 2 (01:44:54):
Well, she listens with me every day, so like you're right,
but now I'm this scared, and I told her I'm
gonna talk to Evan today and I'm gonna get an
answer and then things may change for you when it
comes to your backpack. So you know, we'll see. So
we're gonna have a conversation to me.

Speaker 4 (01:45:11):
You know, do you know every day? Be honest, do
you know if your daughter has homework every day.

Speaker 2 (01:45:18):
I do only because the teacher emails us like, which
is something I thank god. I didn't have that when
I was a kid. My teacher sending a note home
every day going, yeah, here's the homework. It's got to
be done by this time. So if I ask my
daughter about homework, I can go back to the email
and say, yeah, it says here, you've got this to do.

Speaker 10 (01:45:36):
Ah.

Speaker 4 (01:45:37):
Yeah, I failed with that. They may be doing that
and I'm gonnaware, so that's not a good thing.

Speaker 2 (01:45:42):
We'll see. Enjoy the West Coast, Enjoy Sunday. Can't thank
you enough. Always love having you, and we'll talk soon. Man,
thanks so much.

Speaker 4 (01:45:50):
Well, you're the best.

Speaker 2 (01:45:50):
Thank you so much, Evan Cohen. Tomorrow Morning Unsportsmanlike with
Michelle Smallman and Chris Canty, starting at six am from
San Francisco on ESPN fifteen thirty. Rick Brooring on the
Muskies and the Nors.

Speaker 6 (01:46:02):
Next Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 8 (01:46:07):
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(01:46:31):
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Speaker 2 (01:46:43):
We're just a little bit away from the pregame show
NKU and Green Bay tonight. Jim Kelchin, Rick Boring on
the call, Norris trying to break a four game losing streak.
Rick Bororing is with us. Let's talk about the Musketeers first.
Rick runs Musketeer Report dot Com. Here's my basic analysis
of last night's game. Yukon is one of the has
two or three teams in the country, Xavier is not,

(01:47:03):
and so a game like last night, while maybe not inevitable,
it is what usually is going to happen when those
two teams play. I bring you on to give me
deeper analysis than that. Go ahead.

Speaker 5 (01:47:14):
I gotta be honest, I think he kind of nailed
it pretty spot on there. Austin Elmore and Tony Pike
had me on yesterday and they Austin was telling me
that he had a feeling Xavier was going to win,
and they asked me to tell them what it would
take for that to happen, and I said a natural disaster. So, yeah,
I think that's about right. Zavier has no chance of

(01:47:34):
beating Yukon this year. Yukon would beat them ten out
of ten times. Not only are they superior at every
position on the floor, but they also are a terrible
matchup for Xavier. Like they're just type of stuff that
they run and they do on both ends of the floor,
take Xavier out of what they want to do on
both ends of the floor, and so it just really
makes for a disasters matchup. I mean, they won the

(01:47:55):
two games against the Musketeers by what like an average
of twenty seven points games. So I think we have
enough evidence to say that it's just not a good matchup.

Speaker 2 (01:48:05):
It's a night where you kind of understand that's what's
gonna happen when you complay Xavier. It makes the games
they let get out of way stick out more in.

Speaker 5 (01:48:13):
My opinion, Yeah, I think so. But it also, in
my opinion, is a little bit of a sobering reminder
about like, hey, you know some of those games where
you know, they give up a sixteen point second half
lead to Saint John's and at home, and you think, well,
they should have won that one. How'd they give it away?
Maybe they're doing a hell of a job to get
to that point where they had a sixteen point win,

(01:48:34):
because base on what I'm seeing in the game like
last nights, their talent does not stack up to the
top teams in the conference. So you know, it's it's
I mean, you could really read it multiple different ways,
but a game like last night's is just so the
talent discrepancy is so glaring to me when those team
two teams match up, and it's honestly exactly what I

(01:48:54):
expected from Xavier before they started this season. I mean,
I know, we go back to your preview show we
had with us and you looked at me and said,
you think Xavier's gonna lose twenty games this year? That's
that's insane. But that's really where it came from, is
just they don't have the talent that we're used to
seeing in this conference, and that Xavier.

Speaker 2 (01:49:14):
I have an idea, though, here's here's a possible quick
fix and tell me how you feel about this. What
you do is you find some guys who like got
to the NBA but aren't in the NBA anymore, get
them lawyers and get them to sue the NCAA so
they can get temporary injunctions to come play for the Musketeers.

Speaker 5 (01:49:31):
Here's the problem with that. Are any of those dudes
any good? Like, is anybody doing anything with those guy?
I hear it about it happening and everyone gets so mad.
Are those guys doing anything?

Speaker 8 (01:49:40):
No?

Speaker 5 (01:49:40):
Like, I think there's one, maybe one that's had some success, but.

Speaker 2 (01:49:43):
Other than that, like, all these guys stink.

Speaker 5 (01:49:46):
They're not an NBA teams for a reason. They're losers,
you know, Like, I mean, that's that's the problem with it,
And they're not They're not about the things that you
need them to be about to fit into your team
and win at a high level in college basketball. I
don't think like a lot of these teams are missing
a one off, almost NBA type talent that couldn't cut
it because he didn't have the work, ethic or culture

(01:50:08):
to succeed in the pros.

Speaker 2 (01:50:10):
It's funny you say that because I saw James Nagy
for Baylor play against UC last week, right, and I
don't think he did anything in the game. He played
seven or eight minutes. Maybe he grabbed a rebound. Like
unless I said to you, James Nagy is on the floor,
you would know. And I'm going all right, Like, I
understand why people don't like this. I don't like this,

(01:50:32):
but is this really worth making a fuss over the
fact that this guy's playing college ball for a team
that's not going anywhere and he's having zero impact on
the floor.

Speaker 5 (01:50:42):
Well, you know, the mo I don't blame the fans.
The fans should be upset about it. That loser behavior.
Guys coming back to do that as loser behavior, and
the coaches who are bringing them back is loser behavior.
What I can't understand is what are these coaches doing
this for. It's not worth it. And also you're just
outing yourself as a guy who who wants to skirt
the rules that you know. I understand that guys are

(01:51:03):
being being paid now and the sport is different than
it's ever been, but they have clearly, the NCBAA has
clearly come out and said that what they're doing with
these former professionals that have that have played for NBA teams,
or have signed NBA contracts, or have been drafted and
are now trying to come back, and they're getting legal
injunctions in courts. Atala said, we do not approve of this.
This is going against everything we're asking you guys to do.

(01:51:26):
You're blatantly cheating at this point and just using the
courts to do so. I mean, at what point do
we start blaming the adults and the presidents of the
universities and the coaches, Like that's the one that I
don't understand.

Speaker 2 (01:51:38):
Why are you doing all of this?

Speaker 5 (01:51:39):
You're destroying the sport to get guys like James Nazi
elible eligible?

Speaker 4 (01:51:43):
Why?

Speaker 2 (01:51:44):
Yeah, yeah, I just I watched him and went like,
I don't see the fuss. I don't see the reason
for the fuss. Like, all right, he's playing for a
bad Baylor team and he's not helping and so so
this is worth alienating yourself for. This is worth undoing
decades of NCAA rules. Say what you want about him,
This is worth undoing all that for it doesn't make

(01:52:06):
much sense what has happened to the Nkau Norse.

Speaker 5 (01:52:10):
And it's a good question. I think right now, the
big concern is where are they at from a health perspective.
I mean, you're talking about that last game at Oakland.
You're down four of your top seven once Kel Robinson
sprained his ankle in that game, and now I don't
know where he's at going forward. So you're already dealing
with l J Wells and Ethan Elliott and Donovan Rocoton

(01:52:31):
on a harrial. Now you throw Kel Robinson into that
mix as an injured player, and it's like, you know,
some of these guys are going to start coming back
at maybe as soon as tonight, but where are they
going to be? They're not one hundred percent right now.
I know that based on what we've seen in shoot
arounds and practices and those guys trying.

Speaker 2 (01:52:46):
To work their way back.

Speaker 5 (01:52:47):
So that's that's the most frustrating and the most difficult
part of all this is you can look at the
schedule and see a path for them to have success
down the stretch. Here. They've got a little bit of
a lighter schedule compared to some of the other teams
that around them in the standings. The more difficult games
that they have to play are at home instead of
on the road. So the path is there for them
to do what they typically do under Darren Horn, which

(01:53:09):
in the month of February they win about seventy three
percent of their games during Darren Horn's tenure. The question
is are they going to be healthy enough to pull
that off this year?

Speaker 2 (01:53:17):
Can a fully healthy NKU team win the Horizon League Tournament?

Speaker 5 (01:53:22):
I think they can now. To be clear, Right State
deserves to be called the best team in the conference,
There's no doubt about that. And Oakland would clearly have
an argument that they're better than NKU since they've beaten
them twice. That being said, Wright State was the only
team that I've seen playing KU this year that looked
like they soundly beat the Norse and that you wouldn't
feel like, oh, I MK, you's got a pretty good

(01:53:42):
chance in a rematch. Now that's not to say the
Right States invincible and they have no chance against them,
But in my mind, I still think there aren't many
teams that have four guys that can go out and
give you twenty plus points on any given night like
NKU has. Now. Cal Robinson's not healthy that changes that
a little bit, and obviously he's been a shooting slump
as well, but even still three guys being able to

(01:54:04):
give you those types of scoring performances. It's a lot
of firepower when you get in the Horizon League one
game winner takes all scenario. I don't think a lot
of teams want to see NKU if they have a
little bit of a bit of momentum. The problem is
for the Norse fans that you gotta find the momentum first.

Speaker 2 (01:54:19):
Have a great call tonight, Thank you as always, Thanks
boll Rick Brooring Musketeer Report dot Com tomorrow, Chad Brenda
on the Bearcats U SEE plays West Virginia tomorrow, and
a whole bunch more. We are done. Show is over,
got to go. Thanks to Tarren Bland for producing. Thanks
to you for listening. Have an awesome night. This is
ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports station. You're one stop for advertising.

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