3/10/26 - The Mo Egger Radio Show - Mo Egger

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You found Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 2 (00:05):
That's up. It's a five that for three. This is
ESPN fifteen thirty on Molegger. Thanks for listening. My thanks
to Chad Brendo for pinch hitting yesterday as well as
last Thursday and Friday. It is awesome to be back.
And holy hell, do we have a billion things to discuss.
Paul Danner Junior is here. It's day two of NFL
legal tampering. The Bengals have done stuff. What else may

(00:27):
they do? We will discuss with Paul also a little
bit later on well, we'll tackle the Hunter Green situation
where he's gonna miss fifteen seventeen thirty. I don't know.
Hunter Green's hurt again having surgery, although it's not Tommy
John surgery, so that's good. We've got that to discuss.
We're actually gonna steal. We're gonna steal from since e

(00:48):
three to sixty. Since Tony and Austin are off tomorrow
and maybe off the rest of the week depending on
what happens with UK. We'll go to good Year and
chat with our guy Charlie Goldsmith coming up in the
five o'clock hour. We're gonna go to Seattle as well.
We've got our sports lawyer on Attorney Stewart W. Penrose,
on a whole bunch of different topics, and I feel
like this happens every year. We've got the Bearcats in

(01:09):
the Big twelve tournament while we're on the air, and
so Tarn wants to stream the entire show live on
Twitter so you can enjoy the spectacle of me living
and dying through a uc Utah game, which Paul Daanner
Junior gets to be a part of. He is here
in studio. Show previews also available on Twitter at Moeger
Thanks to shareff Facts Credit Union, Paul covered the Bengals
for the Athletic as well as the Growler podcast. They

(01:32):
are doing live reaction episodes every single night this week,
or at least four nights this week with a free
agency unfolding. You could watch last night's featuring Paul and
Jay Morrison and Charlie Goldsmith and Mark Shalafu on YouTube.
Also get It where you get your podcast. Paul has
been very busy, but still awesome to have him in studio.
How's it going?

Speaker 3 (01:52):
One of my favorite days Every year, at least once
I get to watch you watch a game while doing this.
Show like this typically works out where I get one,
and I always I always love it because I can
always know when I need to go ahead and take
control of this. I just wait totally turned towards the TV,
and I can see the investment. I'm like, all right,

(02:13):
I'll take the next four minutes. Well, we'll see how
that goes. I will tell you this.

Speaker 2 (02:18):
I flew back yesterday and the plane hits the ground,
and I had been asleep. And the first thing that
happens is I look at the woman next to me,
and I sheepishly just kind of make that look as
if to say, I know I was snoring, yea, and
you know I was snoring. Thank you for not waking
me up. My apologies. Then I look at my phone.
I get duped by the fake Jordan Schultz. Okay, happens whatever.

(02:39):
Sometimes we all get got. And then I see, like,
you could not have bought me a better presence. We're
going to replace Geno Stone, perhaps my least favorite Bengals
player of all time, with Brian Cook not only one
of my favorite all time U SEE players, but a
guy known for doing exactly what Geno Stone couldn't do. Frankly,

(03:02):
the Bengals don't have to do anything else. Now I'm
good here.

Speaker 3 (03:05):
Yeah, No, they delivered the ideal Moegger gift.

Speaker 2 (03:09):
Yes, I'll say.

Speaker 3 (03:11):
I mean when we were doing stuff in the run up,
I feel like we do this a lot where we'll
talk about what's your favorite fit, what do you want?
And we'll do a lot of that what would you do?
Whereas you know, I think that my feeling is I
always try to do a better job of saying what
will they do? And those things aren't normally the same.

Speaker 2 (03:32):
They kind of were here, like when we were talking
in the run up about what would be your favorite fits?

Speaker 3 (03:38):
What are the things that you want them to do?
What should they be doing? Cook and Boye Mafe were
at the top of those lists in all of our
conversations that we had, and in fact, one of the
only reasons I pushed Cook down my list was I
didn't think they would want to go all the way
up to that number at a position they've never valued before,
and here they are valuing this position.

Speaker 2 (04:01):
How about that? Yeah? Right?

Speaker 3 (04:03):
And so I think when you combine those two things
together and specifically what Cook brings, which is look, finally
just say, all right, shouldn't let Jesse Bates watch right?
We can finally have got that one, Like all right, yeah,
a three year band aid experiment.

Speaker 2 (04:17):
It needs to end.

Speaker 3 (04:19):
You need to make a real investment at this position
and find a guy who can do the things that
you needed to do and specifically play in the post
and when he comes downhill not miss the tackle.

Speaker 4 (04:29):
Yep.

Speaker 3 (04:29):
And I talked about this last night on the show,
but you know, in his four years in the NFL,
Brian Cook has twenty two missed tackles and last year
Gino Stone had twenty three missed tackles.

Speaker 2 (04:44):
It's unbelievable.

Speaker 3 (04:45):
I mean, you are truly going from a top five
tackling safety, or from a top bottom five to a
top five tackling safety and putting him next to Jordan Battle,
who got exponentially better at that as the year went along.
I think you how can you not love that moves?
It's exactly what they need.

Speaker 2 (05:05):
What's interesting is we did the mock draft mock free
agent draft last week, and I mentioned Kobe Bryant because
I'm thinking of the V word versatility. I think Kobe's
a little bit more of a versatile player. And there's
an argument that can be made for versatility at every position,
hell in every sport. But I could certainly understand looking
at a certain thing, right, a certain bringing the guy

(05:27):
to the ground has got the ball like a certain thing.
And so my very first thought with Brian Cook was
my biggest pet peeve with this defense has been the
explosives and the inability to make tackles. Okay, well at
this one position where it's been a major red flag,
a major issue that's been rectified with one signing, and
they paid for it. They didn't try to go bargain basement.

(05:48):
They didn't go, you know what, Brian cooks, maybe a
little bit too pricey for us, Let's find a cheaper version.
They went and got the guy who's available at that
position where the guy before him couldn't do this one thing.
The new guy doesn't sign me up.

Speaker 3 (06:02):
Yeah, And the type of player where you have the
highest percentage chance of hitting in free agency, which is
the guy coming off of his rookie contract who's played
at a good level. I mean, you hear a lot
about the confidence that he was playing with in Kansas
City last year and plugging him into a place that
and I don't want to play up the like hometown

(06:23):
thing that's.

Speaker 2 (06:23):
Very much overrated.

Speaker 3 (06:25):
Sure, but there's a cool factor to that for him,
for a desire to want to play well here and
an understanding of you know, he's going to be you know,
we talk with we'll talk more about Mafe, but like
the expansion of a role can bring out so much
more in somebody. I think with Cook giving him a
little bit of leadership of hey, we're paying you to

(06:47):
be a guy, we want you to be the biggest
version of yourself here is an expansion of who he
can even be as a football player. And he was
great the last two years, last year specifically, so for
that fact, this really felt to.

Speaker 2 (07:02):
Me like a.

Speaker 3 (07:06):
Calculated execution of a very specific plan. You saw the
things that they felt like they were their issues, and
at that position, boom, they found the.

Speaker 2 (07:16):
Perfect answer for that.

Speaker 3 (07:18):
You knew what they needed to do and to get
some pass rush and with a lot of other moves
they could make in the process. And we can talk
about a very interesting yesterday for them. They pinpointed their
the players that were in the bucket for them and
Mafe being at the top of that and again another
player who got the parallels to hendrickson twenty one signing

(07:42):
just going on can do all those things.

Speaker 2 (07:44):
But it felt purposeful.

Speaker 3 (07:46):
It felt like something they had planned, and it felt
like they went out and they executed that plan and
they did both of those things with a lot of
pivot points happening in front of them.

Speaker 2 (07:56):
Yeah, it felt like, here's what we want. We're not
going to be deterred, We're not going to talk ourselves
out of things. And I forget if it was Jay
or Charlie who last night mentioned like they get accused
of times by not being very good at multitasking, most
famously last year with while we're too busy with Jason
Higgins to really do anything else, so they're in on
Franklin Myers and they don't get him, which okay, And

(08:20):
I think the way people expect this franchise to operate
is or they were so in on him that then
they got caught with their pants down with other guys
that did not happen. That's a step in the right direction.

Speaker 3 (08:30):
Yeah, No, I mean to not only yes, to be
able to be able to multitask is part of it,
and just to be able to have a focus, like,
let's look to say we're not going to devalue the
safety position. We're not going to say, oh that's man,
twenty million is probably too high here to just say, look,

(08:51):
it's not you need to fix the position. Yeah, you
need to do this and be and understand that you
need to be willing to be a little uncomfortable to
fix your football team.

Speaker 5 (09:01):
Right.

Speaker 2 (09:01):
We we talked.

Speaker 3 (09:02):
A lot about that in the twenty twenty yeah free
agency period, where it was like, no, you don't want
to have to overpay for DJ Reader.

Speaker 2 (09:11):
You don't want to have to pay that's where you're at.

Speaker 3 (09:15):
You just had a historically bad defense that badly needs
starting level players.

Speaker 2 (09:20):
You are if you have to overpay for that, fine.

Speaker 3 (09:23):
It's the reason that you focus so much on getting
good value in other areas so when you need to
go spend the money you can, you know, I mean,
let's just take let's take Ted Carris for example, who's
whose contract looks wildly uh low compared to what this
center market has to become. He's got four million in
cash coming to him next year. Well, you're getting great

(09:44):
value here. You got you use that elsewhere, you're getting
value in picks that maybe your guys that are starting
to hit or whatever, well you use that elsewhere. They
have the money.

Speaker 2 (09:54):
That's just it.

Speaker 3 (09:55):
It's like you have the money, you have the ability
to spend fix your problems. Don't get obsessed with value
and position. Maybe it's too high, and it's an easy
thing for us to sit here and say, but we've
seen that show before here, and so to come out
here in a big day for this organization in twenty
twenty six and hit those two, you know, i'd call

(10:16):
them at least doubles. We'll see, Yeah, hit those man,
it's a good sign for where they now can go.

Speaker 2 (10:25):
I think with Mafe, I could hear the alternative, which
would have been, well, you know, we did draft Shamar
Stewart and we believe in them, and we you know,
Miles Murphy came on at the end of last year,
and those things can be true. But those things do
not preclude you from going and getting somebody like this
who just you wrote about this leading up to free
agency that he fits the Trey Hendrickson mold right where

(10:47):
you kind of look at the row of numbers and
you go, okay, need some context there because of who
he's playing behind in Seattle. But there's just knowing this franchise,
it would have been unsurprising to sort of hear, well,
you know, they could have gotten Boy, but here's what
it would have cost. And so you know what, we're
gonna lean in on Shamar and Miles Murphy and then
go get bargain basement guy safety. Same thing. Well, it's

(11:08):
it is safety, and it's just not a premium position
like fit man. You sucked at that position last year
and pass rush is king, so you have to go
after it. And they did both. Yeah, they did both
on the same day. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (11:20):
I like the biggest reason that I like the Mafe
signing is I just feel like, you can really this
is them betting on their own evaluation. And I know
some people are listening being like, don't do that, but
I disagree. I think too often they don't listen to

(11:41):
their people enough on trust the evaluation and be willing
to pay for it. And if you're not gonna like
you know, if you're sitting there and your people are
saying this guy can be a guy the same way
they thought Hendrickson could be a guy, the same way
that they said him over laws in the same way
with other guys that they have bet on in free whatever.

(12:02):
Just you gotta trust something at some point, and I
think with Mafe you can absolutely see that, and you
can see the expansion of a role being something bigger here,
and to be willing to trust that and go for
it and not say, let's hang on to the idea
of Shamar Stewart and and and go down that road,

(12:24):
or like you said, like the half hearted insurance policy.
Maybe it's like, well, we'll draft somebody else too, and
they'll be in a rotation. But we're gonna Chamar's gonna
take that stack. He's gonna be the guy. No, put
somebody in front of him and make Shamar doing something awesome.
And if he does that, yeah, then then you're where
Seattle was right, which is where you want to be. Anyway.

(12:48):
You know, you gotta start building those waves. There's nothing
wrong with that, and so you you love the domino
effect of putting that guy in front. Now, we still
have major issues that we're going to be talking through.
Were for the millionth year in a row, going to
be talking about where does the pass rush from the
interior come from? And I think we should dip into

(13:10):
the JFM versus MAFAE decision point that they ended up
yesterday because I feel like they were at that spot
they were in on JFM, they were you know, his
number ended up being very similar to what mafees ended up, right,
and MAFAE, I think is we talked about this last night.
The better player probably you, but you can more easily

(13:35):
find another answer at edge and there's just not another
answer at defensive tackle.

Speaker 2 (13:39):
I feel like that's now Could they have gotten him?
I don't know.

Speaker 3 (13:42):
He seemed pretty dead set on going to Tennessee and
playing with Jeffy Simmons aswad again, and like that's sing
to be a thing, But like if there was a
chance to go over the top of that to make
at that position, that's an interesting spot to be in
because it's just so much harder to fill that, and
they've been trying to fill that, and it just would
be much easier to who knows, maybe it is Reuben

(14:03):
Bain or whoever comes in on.

Speaker 2 (14:05):
The other side of the draft.

Speaker 3 (14:06):
That decision point to pivot off of that, not going
to try to go any further with that and move
to MAFE, I think is one that will probably look
back on especially if they can't still can't find those
answers at defensive tackle.

Speaker 2 (14:21):
Paul Danner Jenior, you guys are live tonight eight o'clock
live reaction to anything that may happen between that and
see my wish is for something to happen between now
and four o'clock that we could react instantly to. Maybe
that'll happen tonight, who knows, watch that on YouTube this evening,
though hopefully that won't be like you see falling down
five early on It's Utah. See, we're already this event

(14:43):
has not yet started yet. On my computer, it says
eighteen twenty to go in the first half. You know,
you can't like that. Neither team has scored. And I've
seen the turnover banner twice, so you know there's one
hundred green reds disconnect and there's one hundred green and
disconnect with as relates to the game app that I'm
supposed to watch this thing on in the computer and
I don't know, we'll figure it out during the break.
So what you're saying is I'm probably gonna have to

(15:05):
take control of the next segment in all likelihood. Yes,
Paul Danner Junior is here. Till four o'clock. We are
jammed between now and six. We'll get to the hundred
green stuff a little bit later on as well. On
ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 1 (15:19):
Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty traffic.

Speaker 6 (15:23):
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Also northbound seventy five, A disabled semi blocking the right
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with traffic.

Speaker 2 (15:42):
This report is sponsored by the Our American Stories for three.
This is ESPN fifteen thirty Moelegger Paul Danner Juniors here
from The Athletic and the Growler podcast in studio at
Stay two of a legal tamper. Yes, So we found
out about the the two signings a little bit less
than twenty four hours ago. If we get to six

(16:02):
o'clock tonight and nothing else has happened, is that when
the impatience that was starting to settle in about two
o'clock yesterday comes back.

Speaker 3 (16:11):
Yeah, because you know something that everyone has been talking
about that we've been talking about as sort of the thing.
One of the things before this started that you were
most interested to see was okay, but what's their view
of linebacker going to be? And I think we have
felt like they were at.

Speaker 2 (16:31):
Least they have expressed a desire to add a veteran
in there. But we've now seen a lot of the
linebackers come off of the board. I mean, using your
thing from last week as a guide, I've got more
names crossed off than I do names available, no doubt,
but the top two are still available.

Speaker 3 (16:50):
Yes, And so I think there is a lot more
heat across the league on Caden Ellis right now then
there is on Leoshanal. So if that, you know, one
price is going up and I don't think the other
one is at this point, so that probably that's probably

(17:10):
more likely, But that's in the they're working on. They're
working on that position certainly, but that to me, it's
not the only one. Yeah, I mean, I think that's
the one that's in focus. And I do think that
that list has been paired down channel We've just said it.
He just feels like the perfect fit. So if they
can find a way to get that done. I think

(17:31):
that's that feels like you'll feel so good to me.
That's the one that I think if you hit that,
you check that box and you bring in him, it
feels like, Okay, you did it. Like there's other things.
The rest of it is, you're always going to have
a rest of it that is putting pieces together that
you need to find a couple of diamonds in the

(17:52):
rough or bargain players.

Speaker 2 (17:53):
That's always going to be a part of this. But
the big.

Speaker 3 (17:56):
Boxes you needed to check that you probably needed to
spend on. That's the last one that I have unchecked.
And he is the perfect guy for it, and it
would be a top of the list then at all
three of the big ones on defense, I would say,
if you could do that, And so if that's to me,
one thing that hangs out there, and I'm sure if
they pick somebody else, you could talk yourself into whoever

(18:17):
that is.

Speaker 2 (18:18):
But I don't I don't see. I mean, I see
a pretty big drop off after him.

Speaker 3 (18:22):
Yeah, I was gonna say n Ellis, especially if Ellis
becomes expensive.

Speaker 2 (18:26):
Bobby Wagner hasn't signed yet anywhere.

Speaker 3 (18:28):
No, the next thing is that you're asking Bobby Wagner
to do are gonna be very different. I mean, you're
there's got me, green law, got let go. Uh there's
again there's directions you could go. But in terms of
boy that feels right for what they're trying to be,
he seems like the most obvious one. I I don't

(18:48):
think we talk enough about Corner. Jalen Davis is nice
and that was a fun story, but it is that
the opening day starter. There's no there's no three or four,
you know, beyond your your top two and then I
guess Davis. I think Corner is something and there's some
good vets that are out there. I love the idea

(19:10):
of bringing back Cheeto, and I know that's a like, well,
you've seen him before. You know he's a good leader
and will be a good mentor, and he played well
last year when he had an opportunity. So if he
would be willing to come in and be part of that, yeah,
I mean, you you like something there, and there's a couple
of guys in that mold out there that you would
that you would look at. I'd like to see that

(19:31):
be one of their you know, second third wave attacking
points is to just because you know, I go back
to remember asking Luanna Rumo at like multiple mile posts
of an off season, like vet corner now no corner
now no, the corner now no, And it just never

(19:52):
came right. Whether that was his decision or front office
is to be determined, but like, you don't want it
to go that way where where it's like, oh, they're
going to rely on a rookie to be the third
or like get a vet in, get a vet in there.
Don't be relying specifically on the draft to add that
spot like you. If you do, then you should be

(20:13):
doing it to supplement but that and then you know,
we'll see what happens with defensive tackle. There's just it's
just so thin.

Speaker 2 (20:20):
They're not fixing anything a defensive tackle, and free agency
they're adding depth, they're getting dudes, they're not fixing their
issue at that position.

Speaker 3 (20:30):
And nobody available now is better than BJ Hill, right
and that's where it's at. Okay, Like, if if you
put BJ Hill into this market right now, he would
be the first to go m HM. And BJ was
fine last year and you're hoping that he's got one
more year in him and that it was injury stuff.

(20:50):
But it's you know the it's still that's a but a,
it's a word. It's a concerning vet. But it's where
you're at. And a lot of teams are in these spots,
but they're in that spot. This really it feels like
it ends with a first.

Speaker 2 (21:01):
Round draft pick.

Speaker 3 (21:03):
And whether that's oh, did they overdraft Peter Woods, I
don't know. It might be the same conversation of did
they overpay Boye Mafe? If you filled the spot, it
might not it might be worth it because it's been
so hard to fill that spot if.

Speaker 2 (21:17):
You really believe in the guy or whatever.

Speaker 3 (21:20):
And it feels like this ends with a pick, a
first or second round pick that's in the mix with
them there because there's not a ton of options otherwise.

Speaker 2 (21:32):
So it was interesting you guys last night and I
watched it this morning. You started to talk about like, well,
you do these things on defense, could you then use
the tenth overall pick on offense? Yeah? Could you then
really lean into best player available? And I keep coming
back to wait a minute, if we all agree this
class of defensive tackles a free agents isn't very good,
then you have to take a defensive tackle, but.

Speaker 3 (21:53):
Not necessarily at ten I mean, I think when you
hear a lot about this draft, you hear a lot
about this middle day too, defensive tackle group being a
deep one where there's there's a lot to light there.
We've heard that before and I don't always hit, so
there's I think you could see it ending up. I

(22:13):
think at ten you're still I think you are open
and well again, I think that they'll do a couple
more things that will make it feel even more open.
I'm open to that, but positional value will matter, and
defensive tackle scarcity will be part of that conversation, specifically
depending on what their internal evaluation of a guy like

(22:36):
Peter Woods is, which, as we're learning now, is all
over the map. With teams everybody that I talk to,
the one thing they say when I ask about him
is man, I hear a lot of different stuff in
terms of where they have him from very high to
maybe not in the first round, and so which makes
me think he's gonna go very high because it only

(22:58):
takes one so you don't need census for a guy
to go high. But that said, that's gonna be a
big part of that conversation when we do get to
the draft, and I think that was. That's been emphasized
now because they didn't end up really landing any of
the major free agent players, not that there were a
lot of them.

Speaker 2 (23:18):
This isn't going well so far in Kansas City. Don't
just let it go. Just take a breath. It's early
two for eight from the field, three turnovers. It's not
a good start. The Bearcats trail thirteen to six. Just look,
they're just trying to get their legs under you know. Yeah,
that high Kansas City altitude, it's hard.

Speaker 3 (23:35):
You know, that's being on the road. You got to adjust.
You got this led court you got you never played
on that before. You got a Probably maybe they need
new shoes.

Speaker 2 (23:43):
It could be almost anything. I don't know. It is
early twelve and a half to go. The Bearcats are
now down. No, they're down thirteen to six. Sports Headlines
More with Paul Danner Junior from the Athletic dot Com
and The Growler Podcast Live reaction show tonight at eight o'clock.
Watch that on you Tube. You can catch last night's
episode on YouTube as well as wherever you get your podcast.

(24:06):
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since three sixty, there's no shortage of things to talk about,
whether it's the Bengals search for a quarterback, the Bearcats
search for supremacy, or the Red search for offense. Listen
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Speaker 1 (24:26):
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Speaker 2 (25:01):
This report is spot Chevrolet home of lifetime powertrain protection
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kelseyschev dot com. Day two of the NFL's legal tampering period.
No hard Bengals news today. Meanwhile, we do have hard
Reds news, and it's not great. Hunter Green's gonna have
bone chips removed from his elbow. It's not maybe as

(25:22):
bad of a news item as perhaps we feared. It's
not season ending surgery, but he is going to be
expected to make his season debut in July. Meanwhile, Brandon
Williams going to get the ball today for the Reds
as they take on the iraqis a talking stick. First
pitch of that one coming up at four to five
Big Twelve Tournament first round in Kansas City. Approaching the
midway point of the first half, Utah leads Cincinnati by

(25:45):
a score of fifteen to nine. Earlier in that event,
Arizona State knocked off Baylor eighty three to seventy nine.
There are some other teams playing today that if you're
a Bearcat fan you're keeping an eye on. One of
them is Stanford playing in the ACC Tournament. The Cardinal
Trail hit fifty nine to fifty six with just under
four minutes to go. SMU plays against Syracuse later today,

(26:06):
and Virginia Tech will take on Wake Forest. SMU and
vod Tech, along with Stanford, would be fellow double team
bubble teams, not double teams bubble teams, and the Blue
Jackets played tonight against Tampa Bay twenty away from four o'clock.
Paul Danner Junior from The Athletic and the Growler podcast
is here. Who's going to be the backup quarterback? It's

(26:30):
a good question. I have an idea.

Speaker 3 (26:32):
Okay, So I feel like I've come up with something
right and we have to dip into another sport to execute.

Speaker 2 (26:38):
Okay, but Hunter Green, Nope, no, no Premier League Okay, okay, okay. So,
Zach Taylor and Clint Kubiak are friends.

Speaker 3 (26:49):
They go all the way back to like a closet
at Texas A and m as grad assistants together, longtime friends.
Clint Kubiak would not like Fernando Mendoza to be the
arder immediately for the Raiders. Sure, he would like him
to be be able to sit for a little bit.
The Bengals would like to have Joe Flacco available to
them if they need him. This is a loan situation.

(27:11):
The Bengals signed Joe Flacco, loan him to the Raiders
and just say you could have Joe Flacco until we
need him. Okay, So, and then they can have whoever
their third quarterback is.

Speaker 2 (27:24):
Technically the backup quarterback here taking reps. Okay, but Flacco
is available so they don't have to worry about like
a trade or so maybe and there's a deferral of
costs for however long he stays in one place first
the other.

Speaker 3 (27:38):
He plays for the Raiders until if you know, knock
on the wood there. If something were to happen and
he were needed in Cincinnati, it's over. Flaco's back to Cincinnati.
He's a Bengal again.

Speaker 2 (27:50):
We know he can just step in and play. Is
this allowed? I do not believe? So it needs to be,
And why can't we just sort of skirt around some rules.

Speaker 3 (28:02):
And make this it maybe just call it a trade.
But you promise to trade us to him under the table,
you know, scribble on a napkin agreement, promise to trade
him to us if we need him. But you can
have him and just have a little gentleman's agreement there.
And that way Flacco gets to go play. He wants
to play. He keeps his arm fresh, keeps his bike.

(28:26):
He's in it right. And then if he does happen
to be needed for a couple of weeks or you know, whatever,
comes back, Cincinnati starts throwing at Jamar and t again
and drinks his coffee and eats by himself.

Speaker 2 (28:38):
I love this idea. Now. The thing is, though, in life,
people do break promises. Hey we'll give him back to you,
no problem, cantel like he's playing well, or there's a
hiccup in Mendoza's development behind the scenes, and then it's like, hey,
we need Joe flaccoback. Yeah. Yeah. I feel like tom

(29:00):
Brady's to stand up that. Yeah and Tom Brady, tom
Brady's gonna the most competitive human being of all time
is gonna be like, stand God, no problem at all. Here,
have Joe Flacco back. No, you got it. We promised
if there were I mean, look, if we I think
that the NFL should start allowing this.

Speaker 3 (29:18):
Oh yes, let's interesting, let's put it in writing. I
just feel like this is a good way to solve.

Speaker 2 (29:26):
Two teams problems at once. Why can't you do that?
I I love the idea. I'm not a CBA expert.
That's as close as I have to a good backup
quarterback solution, is what I'm saying. Okay, in the absence
of that, what do we got? There's there's not a
ton of great options.

Speaker 3 (29:47):
I mean, you know, it's not out of the question
that Flacco is back here because the starting jobs are limited.
Although I do look at the Raiders and and that
does seem like that he would be a good bridge
option for them, But there's others that will be competing
for those jobs. So it's not out of the question
that Flacco looks and doesn't see any jobs that he's

(30:08):
really even competing for, especially now that Tua has kind
of landed in Atlanta and it looks like Kyler's going
to be the guy in Minnesota. And does he want
to go play for the Browns right? Maybe? I guess
he probably does. He has gone there before, but you
know what happens there. Kirk Cousins is out there, Aaron

(30:29):
Rodgers potentially coming back to the Steelers, which you've always
said he could complete the s nor circle over there.
So the jobs are limited, they're getting more limited, so
it's not impossible that he could still just he could
end up being the answer, but it's going to be,
you know, a career backup type or one of these

(30:51):
discarded former starters that that could be around, but there's
not It's on a long list.

Speaker 2 (30:56):
I don't want to do this, but I feel like
we have to, so I'm just give you the little
visual we're we're gonna talk about Trey. Oh there is okay, smiling.
I thought, what do you what? I really thought you
were gonna do. You're going to know how hard this is.

Speaker 3 (31:11):
I really thought you were going to turn your computer
towards me and show me a picture of Andy Dalton,
because I was going to be like, yes.

Speaker 2 (31:16):
Yeah, we did that last week, I know.

Speaker 3 (31:17):
But then then instead I get the picture of Trey
looking back at me.

Speaker 2 (31:20):
Yeah what yeah, okay, let's do it. Best free agent available.
Doesn't seem like he's getting what he's looking for. No, stop,
huh no, what are you saying? Trey Hendrickson hasn't agreed
to terms with a team yet. No, okay, it's not happening.
What do you mean. No, I don't want him back.
No no, no, no, no, no, no no no, like the

(31:41):
Bengals got it right. Yes, that's that's where I'm going
with it.

Speaker 3 (31:45):
I thought you were No no, no, not even me.

Speaker 2 (31:49):
No, Like I've got new toys to play with. Okay,
Brian Cook will allow me to make fun of Gino's
Stone for the next four years. I'm good time, I
have something. I am fine, sweating. Yeah, no, no, no,
I don't want Trey back, but look, man, the best
free agent available, right, the guy that the Bengals had
no twenty twenty six plans for. Now we can go

(32:11):
back and say they should have traded him, and accurately so.
But you talk about like being pseudo vindicated, here, it's
the Bengals as it relates to Trey Hendrickson, because it
feels like the entire league is like, yeah, man, we're
not giving you what the Bengals wouldn't give you either.

Speaker 3 (32:26):
I would argue this has been the most vindicating twenty
four hours of pr for the Bengals front office in years,
between one the activity that they had yesterday and how
they did go after a free agency while everyone was
yelling him about you know, they're not going to do
anything and they're dumb and cheap and all that stuff
that's been being yelled, and then the rest of the

(32:49):
league and sort of the public now having a broader
view of the disconnect between the negotiation with Trey Hendrickson
right and value there. Now, I do think that discussion
has changed this year compared to what it was in
previous I mean, injury another year older, but yeah, this

(33:14):
is This is the I think been their point is
that we've been trying to get a longer deal done
with Trey.

Speaker 2 (33:20):
You know, this was what they were.

Speaker 3 (33:21):
Saying at least, and they didn't see his value the
same way he does. And now the rest of the
league is saying we don't see his value the same
way he does.

Speaker 2 (33:31):
And out.

Speaker 3 (33:32):
I don't want to come across as I mean whatever,
as a Trey hater here on this, but like the
league understands when they just when you're you're just out
to get sacks and you're not doing much, you're not
a well rounded player. They see where it hurts the

(33:54):
team when all it is is sacks and there's nothing
really happening in the run game and there it in
whatever's all the other stuff that happens, right, Like they
see that and they know that, and there's the age
factor is so huge in this, Like they're just not
gonna key, especially when there's an injury involved now that

(34:16):
you're counting on somebody coming back from there's it's the
league is too smart to think that you're gonna pull
the wool over their eyes and just yell seventeen and
a half sacks like they're just that's just not how
it operates. Trey is a really good player.

Speaker 2 (34:32):
He is exceptional at rushing the passer, exceptional, and that is.

Speaker 3 (34:38):
A skill worth paying. But there are a lot of
other variables that take you from getting paid off a
lot to getting paid the top of the market. And
I think there's you know, where that conversation is landing
in between him and what was the Bengals and now
is the rest of the league.

Speaker 2 (34:57):
We'll see, We'll see where it ends up. But obviously
there's gonna be some kind of a compromise, and I
don't think that the league is gonna come to work.
I mean, my take on this all along was having
full appreciation for what Trey did. It was going to
be if and when he hits the open market, we're
going to know instantly whether or not the Bengals kind
of got this right right, and we do. He'll play

(35:20):
in the NFL, He'll get paid handsomely. I oh, you
play as well. But like, I only bring it up
because I feel like this thing that I think a
lot of folks were waiting to pounce on the Bengals
for getting wrong. I agree they should have traded him
a year ago. Right now, all signs are indicating that
they got it right. Now. Here's what I predict is
going to happen. He's gonna sign with a team, and

(35:42):
probably I don't know, what would you think, maybe in
the ballpark of twenty five mil a year, in that
roughness somewhere, Probably he'll sign that contract. The league year
starts tomorrow and he'll sign that deal, and then he'll
hold out in June and just hey, I need more money.
Yeah this is not enough. Literally just signed the contract. Yeah,

(36:05):
but I'm gonna need I don't know. I'm just I
don't know. Talk to my wife, thought about it a lot.
So Yeah, I got my golf shirt on. I don't
know if I'm gonna come to practice, and and then
and then another host in another city is gonna get
a chance to have as much fun with Trey as
I have a minute each. Your thoughts on what the
Ravens have done where they trade two first round picks

(36:26):
for Max Crosby and then like everybody else leaves and
they screw up this Tyler Lindenbaum situation.

Speaker 3 (36:31):
I don't know that they I mean, if they screwed
up the Linderbaum situation, I mean I don't think anybody
was gonna pay him that much money. When they signed Crosby,
I thought, if I'm the Ravens, my first thought isn't
how awesome is this for our defense?

Speaker 2 (36:45):
It's what does this mean for our offensive line?

Speaker 3 (36:47):
They already had to worry about that, and now it
basically crossed off having linderbomb back. They're just they already
were gonna kind of have to be building their their
trenches back up, specifically their offensive line, and they weren't
going to be able to spend. They now took a
first round pick to help fill that off the board
as well, and that just gets a lot more difficult.

(37:08):
And it goes to show one that things are I
don't know if they're changing or or a sense of desperation,
which I don't. I guess despiration is the wrong word
because it's a new coach, but like a sense of
something very different happening in Baltimore to do something that
they've literally never done. They've never traded a first round
pick for a veteran player, and they just traded to how.

Speaker 2 (37:30):
The Steelers had a good tampering period. Who's their quarterback? Correct? Like?
I can't. I'm sorry it doesn't matter. It just it
feels like it's like talking about how good the Browns
defense is.

Speaker 7 (37:43):
Cool.

Speaker 2 (37:44):
It feels like this Steelers free agency is the same
as the last six. Yeah, we're saying this early, but
it's the question for going back to Ben's last couple
of years, is who you got behind sennes still another quarterback?
Right And until they fix that, we can say whatever
you want to about the rearranging the pieces and oh
they oh they have Michael Pittman. Now like that's great, Like, I,

(38:06):
who's your quarterback? I just can't.

Speaker 3 (38:09):
I can't care as much about the rest of it
if that's still the same problem.

Speaker 2 (38:12):
But the Browns very quiet. I mean, we know who
their quarterbacks are. We know who their quarterbacks are. But
I think the conjecture coming out of Cleveland has been
that this is not going to be a very note
for a franchise that has made a lot of noise
this week for years, not a ton of noise coming
from Cleveland. And if I'm a Browns fan, I don't
know that upsets me all that much.

Speaker 3 (38:34):
Yeah, No, I mean they can do whatever they want.
This this screams.

Speaker 2 (38:40):
We're here for the twenty twenty seven draft and to
try to get our quarterback there all right tonight at
eight o'clock, Yes, eight to nine, eight to nine, we
will be there, you guys reacting to now, what if
nothing happens between now and we've got a.

Speaker 3 (38:52):
Lot that we got a lot to talk about that
we didn't totally dive into from yesterday. And there's still
some more topics I think we've got. We're gonna do
a little bit more you.

Speaker 2 (39:01):
On the show, you know, just flushed out that Joe
Flacco scenario.

Speaker 3 (39:06):
Is that it's on the list because we did. I
wanted to get to that last night, but we were,
you know, busy talking about we have.

Speaker 2 (39:12):
Been signing and then holding out as a more likely
I think there's a pretty good chance that we can
trot out the trays of our Lives graphic one last
time tonight to talk about him. That will be a topic.

Speaker 3 (39:22):
And plus we the chats rolling, so we just kind
of whenever we run out of things, we just kind
of turned to the question. So if people want to
come in and ask them questions, just drop on it
and send them to us.

Speaker 2 (39:31):
All right, So you have that tonight, tomorrow and Thursday,
last Night's is available if you want to watch it,
and we'll talk to you next week. I asked you.
I'm off next Tuesday, so can we talk to you
on Monday. I'd love to talk to you on Monday.
It sounds great start the week.

Speaker 3 (39:46):
Yeah, I'll have you know what you'll have ye mock draft.

Speaker 2 (39:51):
I don't know if you have time for this.

Speaker 3 (39:53):
They they outlawed the use of the dot os on us.
Really athletic, Yes, really, And I like to think I
played a role in this with my zero point five Shenanigans.

Speaker 2 (40:03):
Sew up at the New York Times. Right, I'm the
only one that was properly using the decimal system to
make it mean something, and now it's been taken away.
So we'll see if I can if I can get
it back. Bearcats are on a ten to run here.
They've pulled within a point five minutes to go eighteen
to seventeen in favor of the utes you were so

(40:23):
downs a second ago. They're about to take the lead here. Sure,
beat Utah win tomorrow, shock Arizona. Then you can watch
them in Dayton. Fine by me. Yeah. Paul Danner Junior
The Athletic dot Com read his work on the Bengals
and again the Live Growler podcast tonight. The show starts
at eight o'clock goes till nine tonight, Tomorrow and Thursday. Paul,

(40:45):
thank you as always appreciate it. It is a six
away from four o'clock. We'll get to the Hunter Green scenario,
which has sort of taken on a Trey Hendrickson bene
off its own. Next on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 1 (40:59):
Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty Traffic.

Speaker 6 (41:03):
From the UC Health Traffic Center. The new uc Ohsher
Wellness Suite is a home for transformative whole person well
being backed by Science. Register for classes now visit u
seehealth dot com. Groathbound seventy five at Paddock Road. A
disabled semi now cleared away from the right lane. That's
a fifteen minute delay. Still go back from Mitchell In

(41:24):
southbound fourth seventy one disabled vehicle on the entrance ramp
from Grand Avenue. Police are partially blocking off that ramp
on that Ezelic with traffic well.

Speaker 8 (41:34):
Free Agency is basically Black Friday for billionaires, except everyone's
been fighting over a tackle instead of a TV. Keep
it here for the latest signings by the Orange and Black.
ESPN fifteen thirty, the official home of the Cincinnati.

Speaker 2 (41:50):
There you go, it's four oh four. This is ESPN
fifteen thirty. Moeger. Thanks for listening today, Thanks for watching work.
But because Tarn wants to see if we can get
some sort of outburst from me watching the uc game,
we are. We're broadcasting this on Twitter. Bearcats are on
a run now. It's twenty seven to twenty Utah. I

(42:13):
thought Utah called a time out. We have a twenty
three seconds to go. The Bearcats are now up by
nine points. Cincinnati on a twelve zip run after a
slow start. Cincinnati trying to advance to tomorrow, the second
round of the Big Twelve Tournament, they would take on UCF.
First things first, got to take care of business against Utah,
and after a slow start, the Cats are up by

(42:35):
nine points. After what I thought was a thoroughly disappointing
performance on Saturday against TCU. It was disappointing, not so
much that they lost the game. I'm not sure there's
any large shame in losing at TCU, even when your
season is hanging in the balance. I think relative to
how the Bearcats had played the previous three or four weeks.

(42:55):
The performance itself was highly discouraging, sloppy, tons of turnovers,
not a lot of focus. Today started slow, but the
Cats will take a nine point lead into the locker
room after Keishaan Tillery misses a shot to end the
first half twenty nine to twenty, Cincinnati on top over Utah.
There are, and I mentioned this before, a handful of

(43:17):
teams playing either today or tonight, who if you're a
Bearcat fan, you're hoping can help out, because I think
the prevailing sentiment is, well, if Cincinnati wins tonight or
today and then wins again tomorrow against a UCF team
that I think at this moment is a tournament team,
and then they stun Arizona on a third game in

(43:42):
three days, when Arizona's got the double buy that they're
in and maybe that's the case. UCF game is interesting
because UCF and the net is fifty one and fifty
one in the net, which means that's a Q two
game tomorrow. Now, it's not what you are at the time,
it's what you end up being. The Arizona game clearly

(44:02):
a Q one game. The Utah game they're playing right now,
a Q three games, so they're not gonna get a
ton of credit, but you could still use some help
from the teams around you. One of those teams is Stanford.
Stanford just lost to a bad Pittsburgh team in the
opening round of the ACC tournament, so some help today.
You could use some help from Wake Forest over Virginia Tech.

(44:24):
You could use some help from Syracuse taking on SMU.
You could use some help from Gonzaga taking on Santa
Clara in the final of the West Coast Conference tournament
after a thrilling, if that's the right word. Santa Clara
went over mal Saint Mary's last night. So all those
games to pay attention to, plus Indiana tomorrow against either

(44:48):
Penn State or Northwestern Auburn tomorrow against Mississippi State. The
bottom line, though, is the Bearcats have to do some
work in Kansas City, and that's starts with beating Utah.
Right now, the Bearcats do have a nine point lead
at halftime. We will try to go to Kansas City

(45:08):
and chat with our friend Scott Springer if he has time.
He's got his job to do. By the way, I
made a mistake. I mentioned Santa Clara's win over Mount
Saint Mary's. They beat Saint Mary's, and there's a marked
difference between the two. My mistake, not the first, not
the last. Meanwhile, on top of all the Bengal stuff,
which we'll get to in greater detail a little bit

(45:30):
later on, we've got the Hunter Green situation. So Hunter
Green is scheduled to have a scope on his elbow
tomorrow and what they're gonna do is remove bone chips
and loose bodies. This is a fourteen to sixteen week
timeline for his return, which would set him up to
return to the mound sometime in July. Our guy, Charlie Goldsmith,

(45:55):
who is just cranking out an unbelievable amount of content
in goodyear, both Reds and Bengals related, writes today about
the Hunter Green timeline. And I don't want to give
away all of Charlie's work, but you know, he writes
about Hunter feeling discomfort in his elbow toward the end
of twenty twenty five, which is something that we found
out about last week. Hunter at times pitched really well

(46:17):
in spite of that discomfort, but it was there. Terry Francono,
when asked about it today, said, quote, he never told
me any of that. So Hunter Green never told his
manager that he was dealing with elbow discomfort. He continues, quote,
I know he has mentioned it to a Derek Johnson.
He was always telling me that he was good. I

(46:39):
like the way he was pitching the trainers. We're never
going to send somebody out there if they shouldn't pitch
or play. Ever, so the season ends, and as Charlie
outlines here, Hunter then met with doctor Neil Ellatratsch, who
he met with this weekend, met with yesterday, I guess
in Los Angeles in late October. They tell get the

(47:00):
PRP injection and apparently that helped. But then right before
the start of spring training, there's more discomfort. And he
made a spring training debut. It did not go all
that well. And Nick Crawl says, well, you could tell
because he didn't throw a splitter at all. He was
having trouble pulling his slider. So there's a couple of

(47:21):
things here that you cannot help. But ask one is
why didn't Hunter get the procedure that he's having done
tomorrow done in October? And man, this dude that he
talked to, this doctor Neil Ella trash. This guy's renown,
like this guy is a great reputation. I'm not a doctor.

(47:42):
We are getting one on the show tomorrow. But the
platelet rich projection or platelet rich plasma injection, I should say,
strikes me as different from the procedure they're going to
do tomorrow, which I don't know. I don't know. It

(48:02):
seems to me like the better course of action would
have been to go and go ahead and have the
scope done, go ahead and have the procedure that he's
having done tomorrow done. If you do that in October,
well then Hunter Green is good to go, at least
by opening day, probably for the start of spring training.
So number one, like, why did you just get that?

(48:23):
And I'm asking here and I'm not qualified, barely qualified
for the job that I have much less to tell
a doctor, here's what you should have done with a
prized elbow. But you can't help but wonder, right, if
ultimately this required this procedure, why didn't you have the
procedure done when it wouldn't have cost you any time
at all, or maybe just a little bit of time. Instead,

(48:45):
it's gonna cost Hunter Green like maybe half the season
and perhaps even more. Also, here man last year, it
felt like there was a disconnect between Hunter Green and
the Reds as it related to his return from a
groin injury, and maybe you felt like Hunter Green deserves
some internal criticism for how he was handling the injury,

(49:09):
and maybe you feel like a lot of the stuff
that was being sort of leaked to reporters was a
little bit unfair. Regardless of whose fault you think it was,
it felt like there was a disconnect between Hunter Green
and the team. That disconnect still feels like it's ongoing. Now.
Does that disconnect have to be something that dooms Hunter's

(49:32):
career or his relationship with the team, Not necessarily, but
it certainly feels like the disconnect from last year wasn't
completely addressed or fixed, because it still feels like there's
a disconnect today between Hunter and the Reds as it
relates to maybe him telling them last year in October,

(49:53):
last year in September I should say, Hey, my elbow's
hurting me, or him telling them like, hey, here's where
things are now that the season is over, and let's
be aggressive in taking a look at it and maybe
having a procedure so that I don't have to miss
any time in twenty twenty six. It feels like there's
a disconnect. When is that going to be fixed? Is

(50:14):
it going to be fixed? And as long as it's
not fixed, is it helpful to have one of the
faces of your franchise not on the same page as
the people who run the franchise? Fair questions? From a
peer baseball perspective, there's also this, and this might be
what matters most to you right now. The Reds have

(50:35):
really good starting pitching depth. And when you have a
competition for the fifth spot in your rotation that involves
Chase Burns and Rhet Louder and Brandon Williamson, that's pretty
good place. It's pretty good place to be. We talked
about that when spring training started. If the competition for
the fifth spot in your rotation is one of your
bigger issues you have to sort through during spring training,

(50:56):
and it involves not some random re treads, not some
guys to be good, but you know, high end arms
that are valued young pitchers. That's pretty good. But for
the purposes of trying to win big this year, which
is what the Reds should be trying to do, say
what you want about depth. Chase Burns has pitched in
exactly forty three and one third big league innings. Rat

(51:19):
Lauder has pitched in exactly thirty and two thirds big
league innings, none of them last year. Brandon Williamson since
the start of the twenty twenty four season, fourteen and
one third big league innings. The strength of this team
is supposed to be at starting staff. And yes, the

(51:41):
strength of the starting staff is the collective the depth.
There's a lot of teams, a ton of them that
if they lost the guy who is supposed to be
their staff, Ace would like to have some of those
guys I just mentioned. But Number one, yes they're deep,
but they're not deep on experience. We've seen really good pitchers,

(52:01):
including guys who are in the rotation right now, go
through growing pains while they're going through their first one
hundred or so Big league ginnings. Number Two, man like
the strength of the team, even if the offense is better,
which most of us expect it to be, the strength
of the team is supposed to be the starting pitching.
The starting pitching isn't as strong if you don't have

(52:24):
Hunter Green. And even if you bake in and I
think most of us have Even if you bake in
the likelihood or at least the possibility that there's going
to be an injury somewhere. Boy, it's a little foreboding
when already more than two weeks before opening day, you've
got a guy that your acknowledging is going to miss

(52:47):
at least I don't know, anywhere from fifteen to seventeen starts. Also,
by the way, and you hate to do this. Hunter Green,
as talented as he is, Like, there's just there's now
such an extensive injury history that you either wonder, okay,
is he really going to come back on time? Or

(53:07):
once he does come back, what's gonna happen next? Like this,
this is what happens when you deal with an accumulation
of injuries. By the way, last year, the Reds and
Hunter Green did not appear to be on the same
page when it came to how he worked at his return.
Are we going to have a similar thing this year
where maybe the Reds do believe this guy could pitch

(53:29):
in July, but Hunter's actually not ready to pitch until September. Like,
there's obviously so many more questions than answers here, but
it does feel like there's a disconnect between the two,
and yeah, man, the Red staff may be deep, there
may be a lot of talent there, but you're already

(53:51):
tapping into that depth in the middle of March, like
you're you're You're all ready not at full strength in
the area of your team that's supposed to be the strongest.
And we're not two weeks out of opening Day. So

(54:14):
if the Reds strong suit isn't as strong as it
needs to be, can the Reds as a club realize
their complete potential? I think most of us would agree.
The idea isn't to simply sneak into the postseason. It's
not to you know, barely get in. Tito has talked
about this on a few different occasions over the course

(54:35):
of the last couple of weeks. The idea is to
challenge for a division title, go into the postseason with
a head of steam, play in October, with the ability
to set your rotation, not have an overly tax bullpen,
not barely sneak in. Can they as a team accomplish that?
If already in March we're talking about the starting staff,

(54:59):
these wrong suit of the team being compromised, maybe the
answer for you is yes. Maybe the answer for you
is no, but it's it's a big question right now.
I get it might sound like fifteen to seventeen starts,
but we're already talking about having to tap into reserves

(55:21):
in March. And again, man like Chase Burns is uber
talented and I think we all agree he's got a
really bright future. And Brandon Williamson in twenty twenty three
certainly showed some flashes and rhet louder when he got
called up to two years ago at the end of
the season, did a lot of really encouraging things. But

(55:42):
you're asking a lot of guys who have very little experience.
And if we're going to cling to the idea that
Hunter Green is gonna come back sometime in July, okay,
are we sure? And I hate to sound that skeptical,
We all do, like you hate to be skeptical. Hunter's
a good guy in a terrific pitcher, But just last

(56:02):
year there seemed to be again I keep using the
word disconnect, a disconnect between Hunter and the Reds as
it related to his return, as it related to his health,
as it related to his treatment, as it related to
his rehab. Are we sure we're not going to see
those same things Now, I don't know about you, man,
but I think you bet on those things because it

(56:24):
feels like the relationship between the team and the player
is not what it should be. Why wasn't that fixed
this offseason? And why wasn't Hunter Green's elbow fixed this offseason?
Nineteen minutes after four o'clock, we will get one of
our experts, doctor Jonathan Slaughter from Ortho Sinsey, on this topic. Tomorrow.

(56:44):
We are looking forward to that. We'll go to Goodyear
and talk to Charlie Goldsmith coming up at five oh five.
Most definitely looking forward to that. Twenty nine to twenty Cincinnati,
on top of Utah's they get set to start the
second half in the Big twelve Tournament. We'll talk sports
and the law coming up with our guy from the
Manila Law Group, Stuart W. Penrose. That is going to

(57:06):
be a to four to thirty five. Bengals had a
really good day yesterday. We'll get to what they did
do and what they now should do next on ESPN
fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports Nation.

Speaker 9 (57:17):
Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen WCKY Cincinnati, and iHeartRadio Station Guaranteed Human
ESPN fifteen thirty I Heard Radio.

Speaker 2 (57:29):
Under seventeen to go cats by eight thirty four to
twenty six in Kansas City now thirty four to twenty eight.
I don't know how many paint points Utah has, but
it feels like too many. We have pull questions on
Twitter at Moegar thanks to United Heartland Insurance. I actually
posed this late last night, so it's it's gotten a
ton of votes, but you can vote now. Yesterday was

(57:52):
legal tampering day one for the Bengals, and today day two,
not a ton has happened so far, though it was
about this time yesterday, maybe a little bit earlier, we
found out about the two big signings they had made.
Uh So I just I asked you to encapsulate day
one a transformative success, be encouraging, start ce me or

(58:13):
d major disappointment. I think I think most of us
would agree, and on Twitter most of us do over
eighty percent encouraging. Start vote now at Moegger really quick
here and we'll take a phone call or two. The
Trey Hendrickson thing, which, let's be honest, as much fun

(58:35):
as we've had with Trey, it's gotten exhausting. He hasn't
signed with anybody yet. That doesn't mean that he won't.
It doesn't mean that he won't get what he's looking for.
Perhaps he does, but you can't help. But you can't help.
But at least wonder did the league's impression of Trey
or opinion of Trey match what the Bengals opinion of

(58:55):
Tray was, which was a little bit of a one
trick pony whose best seasons are probably behind him. Still
a good player, still a guy who could help you win,
but not somebody that's worth the kind of coin that
Trey is looking for. Concerns about age, concerns about injury.
It was always going to be fascinating to see. Did

(59:18):
Trey sign almost instantly? Were teams just pushing each other
out of the way to give him top dollar? And
if so, you know what would that say about the
Bengals Right now? It feels like for all the criticism
the Bengals have taken, and by the way, they deserve
it for not trading them last year. But a lot
of people looked at the Bengals and said they're off base,
they're being too cheap, they don't recognize how good this

(59:40):
guy is. They're not rewarding him that they've not evaluated
him correctly. Right now, it feels like the rest of
the NFL is evaluating Trey Hendricks in the same way
the Bengals have. That could change based on what he
gets when he signs who he signs with, But right
now it feels like the league's opinion of the Bengals matches.
I should say the league's opinion of Trey matches the

(01:00:01):
Bengals opinion of Trey, which is we like him, like
to have him, not going to get him specifically what
he's looking for because of his age, of the kind
of player he is, not so much the caliber of
player he is, but the kind of player he is.
Questions about injury. You know, this is sort of a

(01:00:22):
vindicating day for the Cincinnati Bengals. We'll see, maybe things
change and it's no longer a vindicating day. Kind of
feels like it is, though. Jim in Centerville, you're on
ESPN fifteen thirty. Jim, good afternoon. How are you.

Speaker 10 (01:00:35):
I'm good, mo, Thanks for taking my call. I agree
with you on the Trey Hendricks sing same thing. I
think he's just a he's a pastor, are a specialist.
He's not Miles, you know, Garrett or whoever But anyways,
I called because I have a couple of theories and
company you think I'm wrong here when it comes to

(01:00:57):
Hunter Green, I don't think you particularly wants to play baseball.
I mean, if you think about it, he had this
elbow thing nagging him the end of last year. You're right,
he should have had it scoped out in the off season.
But then there goes all his off season plans. You know,
he's not going to be able to jet ski or

(01:01:18):
do all of the you know, fun things that he
wants to do this offseason if he's got to you know,
rehab that so why not wait till the season starts
well and then get the surgery?

Speaker 2 (01:01:29):
Then? Yeah, I hate to say this, but I feel
like when things get weird, it feels like you expand
the possibilities of possible scenarios or outcomes. And I intensely
hate to conclude that someone doesn't love their sport or
their craft. But when you've been accused of slow playing

(01:01:51):
an injury, as Hunter Green was behind the scenes last year,
and there's something like this, you could understand why somebody
would at least wonder is this guy is all in
on his career? As you would like for him to
be and as the Reds need him to be. I
don't love going there, but I can understand why one would.

Speaker 10 (01:02:10):
Yeah, we're calling him a bargain with what with what
we've signed him for. He's you know, yeah, he plays
ten games a year. He pitches you know, hardly at all,
I would say, And you know, I think it was
Nick Crawl that said, you know, hey, we're going to
look at this as a as a trade deadline edition.
Oh to me, you should be looking at it as
a trade deadline opportunity to trade him and get rid

(01:02:34):
of this. But yeah, that's that's how Nick Carawl looks.

Speaker 2 (01:02:36):
At Well, you know, trust me, one of my favorite
tropes is hurt guy coming back is going to be
our best trade deadline acquisition. That that was faulty with
Hunter Green himself three years ago. I would find a
tremendous amount of fault in that now. But like, there
are going to be folks who say, like yourself, like
we'll trade him, And the thing is, like, is market value.

(01:02:57):
He had an injury last year, He's never gone through
a big league season healthy. Yes, financially he is a bargain,
but like, if you're gonna trade for Hunter Green. You're
gonna want to see him pitch, You're gonna want to
see what he can do. You're gonna know how healthy
he is. And unfortunately, right now, the questions outweigh the answers.
Now a team might say, look, he's tremendously talented, he's
cost control. You can get him for the next three years.

(01:03:19):
You don't owe him anymore than he's actually owed, Like
there is something to that, But I don't know, Like
there's there's a little bit of damage goods to Hunter Green,
which I would imagine would hurt his trade value. And
I don't want to just give him away. I want
to get something back in return, and I feel like
the ability to do that is compromised with all the
health issues and all the weirdness that have sort of

(01:03:39):
dominated the Hunter Green conversation for a while.

Speaker 11 (01:03:41):
Now.

Speaker 10 (01:03:43):
Well, I don't think he's a bargain. I think he's
fleecing us, and for a team that doesn't have money
to waste. Unfortunately, we may have put our you know,
all of our chips on the wrong pony there. I mean,
I don't know. I think that I think that he
doesn't if he cared that much, and we've all had

(01:04:07):
nagging injuries.

Speaker 5 (01:04:09):
He cared that much.

Speaker 10 (01:04:09):
He knew, he knew that his elbow is going to
start flaming up again when he started pitching. He throws
on her mile an hour. Yeah, so if there's clean
up that needs to be done, get it done the
off season.

Speaker 2 (01:04:20):
Yeah, I mean, that's that's I appreciate, Jim, thanks for
the phone call. Man. I appreciate and love the fact
that the dude pitched through the pain in September and
often pitched well. They don't get to the postseason without him,
and I do usually side with hey, athlete knows his body.
I just I don't understand Number one. I don't understand

(01:04:40):
why there seems to be a communication gap between Hunter
and the team, which kind of revealed itself last year.
Number two. And we're gonna get our doctor from Orthosincio
with us tomorrow and he may shed some light on this.
I don't understand how you don't opt for the procedure
when the season ended last year, or even like not

(01:05:02):
have him pitch in spring training games because his arm
was sore right before spring training started. It just I
don't know, man, I don't love arriving at the conclusion
that the guy doesn't love his sport. I think that's
a little bit much. But when you combine the belief
that was out there among people in the organization that
he slowed played his return from injury last year, and

(01:05:23):
then you have this year where it just you could
wonder like, did he just not want to have the
surgery during the offseason, because I hate to say that
he wanted to go jet skiing or something. There's just
there's NonStop weirdness and it feels like there's a disconnect.
There's also a lot of injuries. Are our sports legal
expert to attorney Stewart Wedy Penrose from the Manila Lag

(01:05:45):
Group is.

Speaker 1 (01:05:45):
Next Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty traffic.

Speaker 6 (01:05:51):
From the uc Health Traffic Center. The new uc oh
Sure Wellness Suite is a home for transformative whole person
well being backed by Science Register for classes now visit
you seehealth dot com. Westbound two seventy five approaching five
Mile Road, there's an accident. Northbound seventy one traffic running
slow between Smith Edwards and Ronald Rerake and Highway ten

(01:06:13):
minute delay and southbound seventy five construction work between Ronaldrake
and Highway and nor with lateral five minute delay from
Shepherd Lane. I'm at Ezelic with traffic.

Speaker 2 (01:06:23):
Two minutes after five o'clock. No, twenty two minutes away
from five o'clock. It's my first day back from vacation.
Ken expect me to know how to read a clock.
This is ESPN fifteen thirty. We are a few minutes
late because well, I don't know how to read a clock.
On Tuesdays at this time we talk sports and the
law with our legal expert, attorney Steuart W. Penrose from

(01:06:43):
the Manila lag Group. Is always insightful, always teaches us
something and I've got questions. Maybe you do as well.
It's awesome to have you steared as always. How are
you I'm doing great, Mom. How about yourself? I'm doing well.
I want to start with this big meeting at the
White House last week, which was I guess it was
done in order to find solutions on how to fix

(01:07:05):
college sports, and the President of the United States says
he's going to issue an executive order that fixes college
sports and addresses things like collectives and NIL and player
movement and player compensation, all of this stuff. He also
acknowledged that it might not stand a legal challenge. So
that's what I want to ask you. If there's a

(01:07:25):
plan at the executive level of the federal government to
fix college sports, what are the legal hurdles that such
a plan would fix?

Speaker 7 (01:07:34):
Sure who It's similar to what we've been talking about
all these links is anti trust law and all the
different state laws that government nil in each state. And
it's like they're trying to coach a thousand teams at once.
I can understand his perspective and what he's trying to do,
but to really get teeth in it, it would need
some sort of congressional approval Congress for me to come

(01:07:56):
to come together. Just a president's executive order alone doesn't
create an anti trust exemption, and it seems that that's
what his angle is ultimately here, is to try to
get some anti trust exemption to protect the nc DOUBLEA,
allow the NCUBA to have a better framework to keep
a hold and to try to bring us out of
the Wild West era. But without congressional approval, it can

(01:08:18):
be very difficult. MO And like I said, anti trust exemptions,
anti trust laws, and state laws really stand in the way.
And you know, President Trump certainly seemed very cognitiant of that.

Speaker 2 (01:08:29):
Speaking of anti trust, which is a topic that, as
you mentioned, you and I talk about a lot. So
the Department of Justice and Live Nation have settled an
anti trust dispute that I think has had a lot
more to do with concert tickets, the prices of them,
the accessibility of them, than anything else. What can the
impact be on sports fans of this case?

Speaker 7 (01:08:50):
Sure, well, first off, hold the phone on that. They
have an agreement in place, but the judge has to
sid the court has to sign off on it. And
apparently a lot of the states that are invol aren't
immediately signing onto this right now, so it's still fluid.
But if the settling goes through, what it can do
is open up the markets for college sports fans. Live

(01:09:11):
Nation we think of Live Nation, we think of live music,
but they own Ticketmaster and ticket Masters, you know, obviously
is the biggest platform out there are for sports as well.
So if this goes through, it could bring more, you know,
more platforms into the market to sell to sports fans,
and more options for schools and teams to partner with

(01:09:33):
and and not be so exclusive to Ticketmaster. And it'll
help with schemes as well too. It creates more competition
to be more competitive on fees. You know, you go,
you buy one hundred dollars ticket to a football game
and you get twenty five dollars and fees on that.
Nobody like that. So hopefully this will hopefully this will
help with that.

Speaker 2 (01:09:49):
What could be a reason why a judge would not sign.

Speaker 7 (01:09:52):
Off on this, Well, we'll have to see how the
framework goes and if all the party is getting getting
agreement here all the states and whatnot, but they need
their time to weigh in. He's going to factor in
and all that. He was upset because the trial had
already started and they had apparently had a framework in
place over the weekend and didn't notify him until Sunday night,

(01:10:14):
So he wasn't very happy about that. Does that mean
it's going to make the settlement? No, But you know,
you never want to kick off a judge.

Speaker 2 (01:10:21):
Yeah, number one. Yeah, rule number one for lawyers and
common folk a like. Attorney Steward W. Penrose from the
Manila Law Group joins us to talk about the sports,
about sports and the law on Tuesdays. So we have
one of the fixers in this large betting scheme that
you had like twenty six people who have been charged

(01:10:42):
in wire fraud and bribery chargers and the genesis of
this is huge bets on rig college basketball games. This guy,
Jalen Smith, has appeared in federal court. He has pledged guilty,
and so this is like the first domino to fall.
I guess my question is what does his outcome mean
for the other people, specifically the college basketball players involved.

Speaker 7 (01:11:06):
Well, like you said, it's the first domino to fall.
So certainly the government through him as has amount and
through other resources as well, has amount of evidence to
go on here. Clearly he had some level, must have
had some level of cooperation to take a plea this early.
It will help the domino's fall, Let's put it that way.

(01:11:27):
As far as the athletes themselves, you know, we'll have
to see how that plays out, mo. I mean those
that are implicated, I mean, certainly from an nc double
A perspective, Yeah, you certainly think that's theme of their
NCAA careers. At a minimum, what they say from a
criminal standpoint remains to be seen based upon their level
of involvement, what they face. As far as Senden team

(01:11:47):
for those that involve criminally. You know, time will tell
you know, a judge is going to be more likely
to give some leeway to a college kid than he
has a a bigger man up on the totem pole.
In such a scheme, the players are, the players are
almost are essentially the ponds and something like this.

Speaker 2 (01:12:06):
Yeah, no, I think that's that's obviously well put. Attorney
Stuart W. Penrose from the Manila Lag Group. Awesome stuff.
As always, man, thank you so much. He's the absolute best.
He's our legal expert from the Manilo Lag Group. Stuart W.
Penrose joins us every single Tuesday. All right. The Bearcats
are up by ten eleven seventeen to go first round

(01:12:28):
game and the Big Twelve Tournament. Sports headlines are a
service of Kelsey Chevrolet Home of Lifetime powertrain protection, guaranteed
credit approval from their family to yours for life, kelseyshev
dot Com. It's now forty eight to thirty nine in
favor of Cincinnati eleven and change to go. Winner will
take on UCF tomorrow. Earlier today, in the Big Twelve Tournament,

(01:12:50):
Arizona State knocked off Baylor. For what it's worth, Pittsburgh
beat SMU at the Buzzer and the ACC Tournament. SMU
one of those teams that needed to win this week.
We'll see how that may or may not impact the Bearcats.
Quiet day so far for the Bengals in free agency.
We'll see if that changes between now and six o'clock.

(01:13:10):
Reds are taken on the Colorado Rockies today, on the
day that we found out Hunter Green's gonna have surgery
to remove chips from his elbow. He is now expected
to make his season debut in July. Good news is
it's not Tommy John surgery. It's not regarded as season
ending surgery. Bad news is still gonna miss roughly half
the season. Reds are playing the Rockies today. PJ Higgins

(01:13:31):
with a home run. Cincinnati on top road team today
three to nothing. Brandon Williamson on the hill for Cincinnati,
pitched a scoreless first inning for the Red Legs. By
the way, College Basketball Horizon League Tournament title game tonight,
right State after beating NKU last night, it takes on
Detroit Mercy for the conference championship, and the Columbus Blue

(01:13:52):
Jackets play on the road tonight against Tampa Bay. You
are caught up twelve point game. Right now, Cincinnati lead
Utah fifty one to thirty nine. We'll jump back into
what the Bengals did and still need to do. Coming
up on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 1 (01:14:08):
Station, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty Traffic.

Speaker 6 (01:14:15):
Traffic Center. The new uc Ohscher Wellness Suite is a
home for transformative whole person well being backed by Science.
Register for classes now visit u seehealth dot com. Northbound
seventy five. There's an accident before Mitchell. Also a disabled
vehicle blocking off the left lane eastbound Ronald Reagan Highway
before Ridge Road. Looking at a five to ten minute

(01:14:38):
delay southbound seventy five traffic slope from Western Avenue to
Fort Washington Way. I'm at ezelic with traffic.

Speaker 2 (01:14:45):
This report is sponsored by Bradford. Lost two consecutive games,
Cats up twelve seven forty four to go fifty nine
to forty seven. Cincinnati. Cincinnati has not been as sloppy
as they were against TCU. The Meericats only have six
turnovers so far, two in the second half. You see
is shooting sixty three percent here in the second half,

(01:15:07):
and they have been uh, they've been much much more
efficient today than they were on a Saturday, four of
seven from behind the arc in the second half forty
two point one percent four uh the game. It would
be delightful though, if they can make a free throw

(01:15:28):
UH three for ten from the stripe today, which has
helped keep Utah at least kind of in it. It's
fifty nine to forty seven in favor of the Bearcats.
Winner will take on UCF tomorrow five point three seven
four nine, fifteen thirty. We'll try to grab some more
phone calls coming up in the next hour. It's been

(01:15:51):
a little bit more than twenty four hours since we
found out that the Bengals have signed or are going
to sign. I guess I should say two pretty good
free agents. One of them is Brian Cook. And like
the Brian Cook thing. Yes, I'm a Bearcat fan. Maybe
you're you're a huge Bearcat fan. He's a mount healthy guy,
He's a UC guy like that stuff is fun. That's

(01:16:15):
not why any of us wanted Brian Cook. Wanted Brian
Cook because he could tackle. Put it as simple as that.
Wanted Brian Cook because he's good at the one thing
that the guy he's replacing was bad. At like when
I think when most of us think of Gino Stone

(01:16:36):
more than anything, it's bad tackling poor angles. Brian Cook's
game represents the antithesis of that. That's a good signing.
Then there's boy A Mafe. I'm not the only person
to say this kind of fits that. Trey Hendrickson twenty
twenty one profile not a star, certainly not a star

(01:16:59):
in Seattle's defense log jam behind some guys. Scheme change
this year maybe didn't necessarily play to his strengths twenty
seven years old. Tons of upside pass rush is king.
There's lots to like about these two moves. Number one
is they did some very unbengalsy sort of stuff like

(01:17:24):
you could hear it now. As it relates to safety, well,
it's safety well positional value. It's not a premium position.
So we're only going to go so far to sign
a safety. We're not gonna pay Brian Cook the kind
of money that he's looking for. Instead, it was essentially,
as Danner said in the first hour of the show

(01:17:46):
and acknowledgment that they got it wrong with Jesse Bates,
and so now we're gonna pay for a safety who
can do but we haven't gotten any safety to do
since Jesse Bates left. Need a guy who can prevent
explosive plays from how happening. Brian Cook can help doing that.
By the way, I also think it's not insignificant they
signed two Super Bowl champions like that. It's been a

(01:18:09):
while since this team won Ken hurt to have a
couple of guys who have rings that ain't bad, but
they also like you could also hear it as it
relates to edge rusher. Well, you know, Miles Murphy came
on toward the end of last season, and we did
invest a first round pick in Shamar Stewart and we
still do like him despite the fact that his rookie

(01:18:30):
year went sideways, and they still may. But those things
did not preclude them from attacking edge rusher early in
free agency. Like look, man, you can beat up on
Duke Tobin for a lot of things. God knows I have.
There have been a lot of reasons to be frustrated,
but what they said they were going to do they did.

(01:18:51):
Now your eyes turned to what's next, and they need
a linebacker. Leo Shanal is still out there. I think
he has been the guy that most have kind of
pined for understanding what they're looking for. Somebody who's versatile,
Somebody who can get after the passer, Somebody who's good
at impacting the ron d somebody who's good at spying

(01:19:12):
the quarterback. Like just versatile linebacker can do a little
bit of everything. Swiss army knife, so to speak. Kay
Nellis is still out there. I know. When Dana and I,
along with Jay Morrison did our mock draft of free agents,
we talked extensively about him one of the better linebackers
at getting after the quarterback. The question is, if not

(01:19:36):
either of those guys, then what do you do at
that position? But if over the next I don't know.
A few hours and I have not seen as I've
been in here doing the show and paying attention to
the Bearcat game, I haven't seen if either guy is
signed with a team yet or agreed to terms with
the team yet. But if you could get through today
having addressed edge, safety and line backer, oh boy, like

(01:20:02):
that's a really, really good start. The entirety of the
offseason involves the draft, but those three plus the Riisner signing,
which was a layout like it's it's a good start.
And as much as anything. On top of the caliber
of players they have acquired, there's just been something unbangally
about how they've gone about this, and that is as

(01:20:25):
encouraging as anything. Sixty one fifty two, we'll talk with
Charlie Goldsmith about Hunter Green and more. Next.

Speaker 8 (01:20:33):
The NFL Free agency is basically Black Friday for billionaires,
except everyone's fighting over a tackle instead of a TV.
Keep it here for the latest signings by the Orange
and Black. ESPN fifteen thirty, the official home of the
Cincinnati Vangals.

Speaker 2 (01:20:50):
All right, Bearcats are making this more difficult than it
needs to be. They're up five under four media timeout
in Kansas City, sixty three fifty eight to three, eight
to go. I'm living and dying with this game. I'm
gonna give you a very quick backstory here, not take
up too much of his time because he's busy. He's
in Goodyear covering the Reds. I'm stealing Charlie Goldsmith today.

(01:21:13):
And when I say I'm stealing him, he's always on
with Tony and Austin and so like you know, they
they've got their folks that they have on, and we
have our folks that we have on. And I've told
Charlie this before. I'm jealous because Charlie is awesome at
what he does. He has I'm just I'm gonna point
this out. If you subscribe to his newsletter, you know
this Charlie's chalkboard. Between yesterday, shortly after twelve o'clock in today,

(01:21:40):
he's cranked out six pieces on Hunter Green, who we're
going to talk about, on what the Bengals have done
so far in free agency, what the Bengals still may
do in free agency. He's written about the Bullpen. He's
written about Ellie Dela Cruz six pieces. There are people
who cover other teams like you're lucky if you get
like three pieces during the week. So subscribe to his newsletter.
Tony and Austin are off tomorrow because the UK basketball,

(01:22:02):
and if the Wildcats keep winning, they'll be off on Thursday.
They'll be off on Friday. And I said to myself,
you know what, screw it. Charlie's they're not going to
have time to have him on this week. He wrote
the Hunter Green piece I want to talk about, We're
getting Charlie on. And so Charlie, it's awesome to have you.
Good afternoon, Thank you for doing this. How's good year,
It's great.

Speaker 11 (01:22:21):
I'm watching the fair Casts game right along with you
right now.

Speaker 2 (01:22:23):
All right, Well, if I get mad and say things
I shouldn't say and we have to bleep the segment,
my apologies in advance. It's it's awesome to have you.
Is there a disconnect between Hunter Green and the Reds.

Speaker 11 (01:22:39):
It's something that I know is a really important question.
So if there's something I've spent a lot of time
working on, I think the best way to say is
that is for anything that Bred or Hunter would act.
What I've been on both is that there's nothing in

(01:23:00):
here the.

Speaker 2 (01:23:01):
Hunt Charlie, I gotta, I gotta, I got a rotten
connection and what you're saying is important. So let's let
me see if we could reset here. Is there a
disconnect between the Reds and Hunter Green.

Speaker 11 (01:23:11):
It's an important question. It's something I've spent and I
think the best way can stay there's nothing on each side,
and I've checked on either side led to any sort
of action. The Hunter leading the rotation, Hunter not being
by with the Reds, and he pitches for that's the

(01:23:32):
most important thing to me, that Hunters, the guy who's
gone through his own process medically in the you know,
including this time getting the injection for Ela Trosh's recommendation.
Hunter is not the guy in the clubhouse that's the
I mean, he's not Brent Suitor, you know, he's not
Joey Vadu in the middle of the clubhouse that everyone gravitation.
He's a huge part of kind of the friendship group

(01:23:54):
that is the rotation. So for all those concerns, there
have been freezing for me to ask the questions. But
I don't see any action coming from it.

Speaker 2 (01:24:04):
All right, Hank Tight, what we're gonna do is we're
gonna I'm gonna call you back. I'm gonna try to
get a better connection. That was better. But Terren, see
if you can get Charlie back on something that isn't
being interrupted nearly as much. Charlie Goldsmith has written about
the Hunter Green situation at his Chalkboard newsletter, which Charlie's
Chalkboard at Substack is free and it's awesome, and it's

(01:24:25):
in depth and if you love the Reds and Bengals,
Charlie's coverage is extraordinarily in depth and comprehensive. You heard
Charlie talk about slow playing an injury and I think
what we wonder now is like, is that going to
be happening here as it relates to what he's dealing
with right now at the moment. By the way, it
says sixty eight to sixty one in favor of Cincinnati,

(01:24:47):
two thirteen to go, Bearcat's up seven. Utah has called
a time out with the basketball trailing by seven points.
Tarran is efforting Charlie Goldsmith back with We're going to
go to Seattle and learn about boy A Mafe coming
up in just about twelve minutes. All right, Charlie, let
me hear you. How do you sound now?

Speaker 11 (01:25:09):
Their cats are up seven with seventeen on the screen
and watching all right?

Speaker 2 (01:25:13):
Amazing? So you talk about last year the you know,
there were the the insinuations that maybe Hunter wasn't doing
everything the Reds wanted to when it came to the
injury that that kept him out for a couple of months.
So like, now is there an assumption that he's gonna
slow play it again, that he's not necessarily going to
be on the same page of the Reds, Like, how
do we expect now this injury situation to play out?

(01:25:34):
After what he and the team went through with each
other last year.

Speaker 11 (01:25:38):
This is a much different injury situation than anything he's
dealt with with UH, Tommy John he had when prospect
and that's what good This dropped elbow spelling in twenty
four and one graine string last year and the hip
slash sitting in twenty three, like those were tougher in

(01:26:01):
to the bottom up for one hundred even feel like
he knew exactly this is what it was. This is
an injury where he knows exactly what it is. You
get a procedure and for Gry understand there's a set timeline.
And I don't get the sense that the Reds want
Hunter to rush back, but obviously you know.

Speaker 12 (01:26:17):
Timeline is clearer than it was last year.

Speaker 11 (01:26:19):
But this injury does feel different way that maybe is
the more positive in that regard. UH.

Speaker 2 (01:26:24):
Does it feel like this is something that he just
should have had done when last year came to a conclusion.

Speaker 11 (01:26:30):
That's a really good question. I don't want to say
for sure, but there's who in my recommendation process, and
that's a consistent theme and trend throughout his career, and
it's been different than what other pitchers have gone through

(01:26:52):
in the Reds organization. But he had something going wrong
and he dealt with it with an X and maybe
he would be in a different place of different decision.
But then and his teammate then dealing with them.

Speaker 2 (01:27:08):
You talk about Hunter and his team and the Reds
have their team, like does there need to be And
this kind of gets back to the original question, does
does there need to be more collaboration between the two
when it comes to Hunter's health.

Speaker 11 (01:27:23):
That's tough, you know, it's tough. That's a tough one
to answer. It's a tough thing to tell a guy. Hey,
I know you have this docu, this team that you
worked and the Reds obviously have have guys they Trusteds well,
the Reds trust Delatros. Delatros is a great has a
great reputation as well. But the million dollar question here

(01:27:45):
is why Hunter just didn't have the over and something's
gonna have to answer.

Speaker 2 (01:27:53):
There was there was conjecture about a possible Hunter of
Green trade this past offseason. Well this may not during
the season, but seven months from now, eight months from now,
kind of revitalize that conjecture.

Speaker 11 (01:28:08):
I don't think so well. I was getting at the
end of my connection and my service was for the
fact that I don't see anything here having a tangible
impact on super emphathy. But with hunting the Reds and
him wanting to Red and Red wanting him leaving their rota,
you know, if there had to get a superstar center
fielder with seven years of team control, you know, no

(01:28:30):
one's untradeable, but the Reds value Hunter and that's been
a consistent team. Hasn't changed when out of second considering
this injury.

Speaker 2 (01:28:38):
Is there more a sense of exasperation with Hunter or
relief that the procedure will not have to be a
season ender.

Speaker 7 (01:28:47):
I don't know they've ever been frustrated.

Speaker 11 (01:28:57):
It's kind of just some very matter of fact tone
today in a way where it had been vaguer in
the past with him. So again, I feel like this
year is better than its specific year.

Speaker 2 (01:29:12):
Charlie, will let you watch the end of this Bearcat game.
I think you have like two or three more newsletters.
You got a podcast with Paul and Jay tonight, so
I know you have a lot going on. We appreciate
you jumping on on short notice. Thanks both, You're the best.
Charlie Goldsmith. Subscribe to his newsletter. It's ad substack, Charlie's chalkboard,
Charlie calling us from the moon apparently, which I tried.

(01:29:36):
I tried to make it work. I tried. I know,
like the no fault to Charlie's it happens, it's it's
happened with me, It's happened to all of us. You
get a bad connection, we steal like Tony and Austin's guy,
and what we get, that's what we get. That's karma.
We steal Tony and Austin's guy and he joins us
on a bad connection and we called him pseudo last minute.

(01:29:56):
We could have made him do it on Zoo. There
is I know, there's nothing as a listener that's more
makes you more uncomfortable than hearing somebody talk to someone
on the phone who has a bad connection. There's nothing
as a host that makes me more uncomfortable. As Utah
hits a corner three to make it a three point
game or four point game, I guess was that not
a corner three? Was it? I'm complaining about Charlie's cell

(01:30:22):
phone connection and trying to watch this game. Utah is nine.
Now they are gonna foul. Celestian's gonna go to the
free throw line, twenty nine seconds to go. You see
up four anyway, we appreciate, Charlie. The cell phone connection
like that's it is the it is the like you
can you could work your your face off to get
a great guest. You can be so excited and at

(01:30:43):
the cell phone connection stinks. In this day and age
where we are doing some technologically insane things. It feels
like about one out of every ten phone calls, whether
it's a guest or you know, somebody calling the show,
we still struggle with. But we appreciate next time do
zoom or teams or one of those things. Celestie makes

(01:31:05):
the first free throw. It's now seventy seven to sixty,
seventy one to sixty six, and it's now seventy two
to sixty six, Cincinnati with a six point lead, twenty
nine seconds to go. All right, So, lots of questions
about Hunter Green, and it's the biggest one is why
didn't you have the procedure at the end of the season.
Why didn't you get cut on at the end of

(01:31:26):
the year when you just went through a whole month
dealing with discomfort. Could this scenario they're dealing with right
now have been avoided. I'm not gonna definitively say the
answer is yes, but it's a question you have to ask,
and as Charlie said, there, it's one that at some
point I believe Hunter Green is gonna have to answer.
Cincinnati is going to the lineup six fourteen point six

(01:31:47):
seconds to go. I could taste the second round. All right,
Bengals got an edge. We'll learn about him. We'll go
to Seattle chat with one of the best sports talk
radio hosts in our business. Hopefully as a good cell
phone connection. Join is next on ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 1 (01:32:03):
Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 2 (01:32:07):
Traffic from the UC Health Traffic Center.

Speaker 6 (01:32:10):
The new uc Ohcher Wellness Suite is a home for
transformative whole person well being backed by Science. Register for
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(01:32:33):
accident on the off ramp to seventy four. Traffic still
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Speaker 2 (01:32:40):
This report is sponsored by star Utah. Will try to
get some Wes Miller for you before six o'clock Mulager,
ESPN fifteen thirty. So, of the two guys the Bengals
have agreed to terms with, the bigger mystery is the
guy from Seattle, boy A Mafe, who many have compared
to Trey Hendrickson from back in two thousand twenty one.

(01:33:00):
I thought we'd get on somebody who's watched like every
snap of his pro career, Dave Softy Maler from ninety
three to three kjar in Seattle, right before he goes
on the air, kind enough to join us, Softy? What's
up this, Mike?

Speaker 12 (01:33:13):
God?

Speaker 5 (01:33:13):
Is this working? Did I just hear you say that
people are comparing Boye Mafe to Trey.

Speaker 2 (01:33:17):
Hendrick No, no, no, no, no, see from this, from
this perspective, From this perspective, God, from this perspective.

Speaker 5 (01:33:26):
No, I haven't laughed that hard in a week.

Speaker 2 (01:33:29):
Oh, trust me, I got I got a lot of
Bengals takes I can throw you. So when the Bengals
sign Trey Hendrickson, there was this kind of unknown factor.
Right you looked at the numbers might not have been
totally overwhelmed, but they were banking on upside. They were
banking on somebody who, in a different set of circumstances
might be able to explode. Now, is Boye Mafe going
to lead the league in sacks? Probably not. Is he
gonna have a bunch of holdouts? God? I hope not.

(01:33:51):
But I do think there's comparisons based on what Trey
was in twenty twenty one where it looks like there's
a lot of upside, but we're still asking questions because
it feels like there's still a lot of unknowns.

Speaker 5 (01:34:02):
Yeah, I just look, I'll just say this first of all, great, dude,
boy a really really good guy. Not going to be
a problem, you know. I mean all of us have
had issues with athletes making news for the wrong reasons,
and I don't think Boye is going to come anywhere
near that. Dude. So you're getting a really good, community,
team minded guy. That's number one. Number two. I will

(01:34:26):
tell you this, and I kid you not. This is
a true story. There was a point in time about
halfway through this last Seahawks season, maybe call that week
nine to ten, whatever, where I turned to Dick Fane,
who I do the radio show with here in Seattle,
and I asked him, Dick, does boy A Mafey still
play here? It's like, is he on the roster? Like

(01:34:47):
what is going on with boy A Mafey? Because boy
A Mafey was a guy that we actually thought was
going to maybe have a little bit of a step.
In twenty twenty five under Mike McDonald he had nine
sacks and twenty three he had six and twenty four
and then kind of went away. But then we kind
of realized if you watch Mike McDonald's defense, they played

(01:35:08):
kind of that hybrid three four, right. So guys like
Leonard Williams Chennanawoe sue, if you have a star like
Byron Murphy, obviously he's gonna get his sacks. He's gonna
eat a little bit in the stat sheet. But for
the most part, the edge is about set in the edge,
and that's what Boye Mafey was doing a lot of
here in Seattle. So in some ways you kind of

(01:35:30):
wonder if he might be better off in a system
like Cincinnati. For as good as Mike McDonald's defense has been,
and it is unbelievable, marvelous defense, the scheme is amazing.
I do wonder if Boye Mafey is gonna flourish somewhere
else besides playing here in Seattle, in the shadow of
guys like Byron Murphy, Leonard Williams, Chennanawoe, Sue and even

(01:35:53):
some guys in the secondary like Devin Witherspoon in a
linebacker like Ernest Jones. But I'll admit that I was
very surprised, man, when the number came out, twenty million
dollars a year. I was like, Wow, there's no part
of me back in October or November that thought that
boy mafe deserved twenty million dollars a year.

Speaker 2 (01:36:11):
When the confetti cleared from the Super Bowl parade, did
you guys assume he was? He was gone? He taught?
Was he already being talked about in the past tense?

Speaker 5 (01:36:20):
Yeah, because what happens is, and you guys know this,
when you play for a Super Bowl or you win
a Super Bowl, everybody's resume looks a little better, right.
I mean, It's like when the Hawks won it in
twenty thirteen, all of a sudden, the Lions came in
and thought that Golden Tate was the Bee's knees. You know,
the Dolphins with guys like Byron Maxwell, and all of
a sudden, they're all getting overpaid. And that's kind of

(01:36:42):
what's going on right now. I mean, look, you know,
Kenny Walker got fifteen million a year from Kansas City
based on six games, right, Like, there was nobody in
mid December before they played the Rams on Thursday night
that thought that Kenny Walker was gonna get fifteen million
dollars a year. So once the Hawks won, everybody who
was a free agent, Kobe Bryant, Josh Job, Kenny Walker,

(01:37:05):
Rashid she Head, dude, Mo Rashid she Heat didn't even
have two hundred yards receiving in the nine games he
was here in Seattle, and he just got seventeen million
dollars based on what the guy can do on special teams.
So yeah, I think the Hawks they got six or
seven major free agents, and we figured maybe they'll get one,

(01:37:26):
maybe two of them.

Speaker 2 (01:37:26):
Back when he was on the field, right because it
felt like, as you kind of outlined the story of
his twenty twenty five was just wasn't on the field
nearly enough. When he was on the field last year,
how good was he?

Speaker 5 (01:37:37):
I just was kind of a supplemental complimentary guy. I mean,
this is a team that has a lot of stars
on it, right, I mean most of those stars were
created by Mike McDonald, Leonard Williams, Devin Witherspoon, Ernest Jones,
Byron Murphy players like that. I mean there's no first team,
real consensus all pro guy. Although big cat Leonard Williams
was a first team guy, but outside of him, weren't

(01:38:00):
chuck full of you know, all pros. This is not
the twenty thirteen lob right with Bobby Wagner, Richard Sherman,
Earl Thomas, and Cam Shancer. The star of the show
here in Seattle is the scheme, it really is. I
mean it's like they had a stretch where they lost
three or four guys due to injury starters and the
defense still kicked ass and still was, you know, taking
people down. So Boya Mafe was never a part of

(01:38:22):
that group, right, That was the real reason, from a
personnel perspective, why these guys were doing well. He was
always a complimentary guy that It was kind of like
a good baseball umpire man. Nobody really noticed him, to
be honest with you, you know, I wish I can
come on the air and tell you more about the
kind of player he is and how impactful he was.
Every now and then he'll he'll, you know, bat a

(01:38:43):
pass down every now and then he'll, you know, take
up a couple of blockers and open up a blitzing
lane for a guy like Devin Witherspoon, for example. He
saw a lot of that in the Super Bowl, by
the way, go back and watch that game. But that's
what he was here in Seattle. He was never a
primary guy. He was never again that they would get
after the quarterback with. He was never a guy that
could count on for a consistent pass rush. He was

(01:39:05):
always a guy that would do things to set up
other players to make plays. And I'm wondering, Cincinnati has
to see the speed. Obviously, guys fast got some speed,
and they got to look at him as more than
just a complimentary guy, because otherwise there's no way they're
giving him twenty millions unless they're stupid.

Speaker 2 (01:39:22):
Well that may be the case. I mean, I spent
my entire life wondering why the Bengals do so many
stupid things. But I certainly believe they see the speed
on the upside. By the way, I appreciate you saying
to me when you major comparison to the Seahawks and
here's what all the players that win? He said, Oh,
you know this, Actually I have no idea. I want
to be in your shoes one day, so I know,
I don't know, but thanks thanks for playing along and

(01:39:44):
pretending that I will.

Speaker 5 (01:39:45):
You know what it's like. You know what it's like
to participate in a super Bowl. That's why I said
playing one or with one? You know, look, I mean
there's a lot of people who's face side rubbing the
dirt in this business and you're not one of them.
But you know what, you also have a world series,
my friend, and we have noise view what that's all.

Speaker 2 (01:40:00):
I was in the eighth grade, so it almost doesn't count, right, Yeah,
that's fair, that's fair. William got a you Hainio Suarez
from you. That's you know, that's kind of more excited
about him.

Speaker 5 (01:40:09):
Oh, I was five and a half when the Sonics
won the NBA title. All right, So the Seahawks winning
in twenty thirteen was really my first championship. And yeah,
getting Geno back, man, I mean, hey, good for you guys.
I mean, Gino is a phenomenal guy. But they just
needed to get something more consistent at third base, and
they've got obviously Brendan Donovan as you know, coming in
from the from the Cardinals to take Geno's spot. But

(01:40:31):
that a home running hit in Game five, Man, that
grand slam to right field. Uh, you know, I wish
it meant more. I wish it meant you know, a
trip to the World Series. But at the time we
thought that grand slam to right field in Game five
may have been the biggest hit in Mariner history, and
it certainly is one of them. But uh never was
able to materialize into something bigger and better because the
Ems went to Toronto and fell apart for two.

Speaker 2 (01:40:52):
And now your players are fighting against each other on
the World Baseball class and so it's free of it.

Speaker 5 (01:40:57):
Yeah, you know what, that thattle thing got overblown, but big.

Speaker 2 (01:41:01):
Time by the way South for yeah, man, we'll see.
I know you got a show to do, man, Thanks
so much, all right anytime, guys. Yeah, one of the
absolute best. Dave Salty Maler for Softy Maller from Kjar
in Seattle. I've appeared in his show before. He has
never appeared on my by the way, great great phone connection.
Great phone connection there in Seattle. Five thirty sports headlines.

(01:41:25):
Maybe here from West Miller, Maybe here from you five one, three, seven,
four nine, fifteen thirty. Lot's going on. We'll update you
with everything next on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 1 (01:41:38):
Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty Traffic.

Speaker 6 (01:41:42):
From the UC Health Traffic Center. The new uc oh
Sure Wellness Suite is a home for transformative whole person
well being backed by Science Register for classes. Now visit
you seehealth dot com. Seventy five southbound. It's an accident
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remain open to traffic northbound seventy five before Mitchell accident

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blocking the right lane and eastbound two seventy five in Ohio.
Accident on the left shoulder at seventy one. I'm at
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Speaker 2 (01:42:12):
Lines are a service at Kelsey Cheval, a home of
lifetime powertrain protection and guaranteed credit approval from their family
to yours for life Kelsey chev dot com. We'll start
with the red stuff. Hunter Green's gonna have bone chips
removed from his elbow, which will keep him out of
action until July. At least that's the expectation. This and
the aftermath of finding out last week that he was

(01:42:34):
dealing with elbow discomfort. Hunter's teammates are playing today at
Talking Stick against the Rockies. Three good innings from Brandon Williamson,
struck out three, did not give up a run, only
one hit. Cincinnati, on top of the Rockies, has seven
to nothing to score. Will Benson his fourth home run
of the spring, his third that's actually left the park. TJ.
Friedel went deep his first of the spring. PJ Higgins

(01:42:55):
also hit a home run. Tell you what, Both JJ
Bleda and Will Benson have had quality springs, and Nathaniel
Lowe's production this year in spring has been encouraging as well.
Those are good things. The Hunter Green development not so much.
No major Bengals injury news today in the aftermath to

(01:43:16):
finding out what they did yesterday. They need a linebacker.
Get one of the linebackers signed leoshanal You signed those
three dudes on top of what other complimentary pieces they
acquire in free agency, which they're not going to solve
their defensive tackle problem in free agency. I agree with

(01:43:38):
what Danner talked about in the first hour, Like, third
corner is still a need. Shoudobi a Woozy as a
third corner I think would be awesome. That's still a need.
And it's like one of the reasons why I thought
Kobe Bryant might make a little bit more sense than
Brian Cook was if you're leaning into versatility, He's a

(01:43:58):
guy you can put in the slot. He's got corner experience.
With Brian Cook, you are getting a safety, you are
getting a tackle. The dude in play center field safety
thrilled with it. But they could still use some help
at corner. We will see, we will see. If you
miss Danner in the first hour, We'll have a podcast
as soon as the show is over on the iHeartRadio.
At College Hoops, uc wins in the opening round of

(01:44:21):
the Big twelve Tournament, knocking off Utah game that was
maybe a little bit more uncomfortable than it needed to be,
but they do survive in advance seventy three to sixty six.
The final score Cincinnati got to fourteen from Mustafa cham
eleven from Bob and Meller. Bearcats will play UCF roughly
at three o'clock in the second round. I think the

(01:44:43):
prevailing sentiment is one that at least I agree with
that they've got to win three games. I would find it.
I would be stunned if they made it and only
one two. There's seemingly no chance that just winning ones enough.
Today was a Q three game right now in the

(01:45:04):
net UCF is a Q two game because they're fifty
one in the net top fifty neutral sites. A Q
one game. I'd be really surprised if they only won
two and found their way in. But they did get
some help. Stanford lost game, had a great ending against

(01:45:25):
Pittsburgh today, and so it feels like the Cardinal are
effectively eliminated. Our guy Hunter sands on the NKY bracket guy,
as Stanford is out for good with that loss today.
The final score in that game was sixty four to
sixty three. Could also use an SMU loss. SMU is

(01:45:46):
playing against Syracuse in the ACC Tournament. That game, the
Mustangs have a forty three to forty lead with just
over seventeen minutes to go. I'm looking at our guy
Hunter Sandsum's later latest projection. He had Stanford as an

(01:46:08):
eleven seed right now, so very much clearly on the bubble.
Another bubble team that is an action in the ACC
Tournament tonight is Virginia Tech. They will take on Wake Forest.
By the way, I didn't mention this. The other game
earlier today in the Big Twelve Tournament, Arizona State in
what felt like a possible swan song for Bobby Hurley.

(01:46:29):
They won today, so he's gonna get at least one
more game. Arizona State knocked off Baylor eighty three to
seventy nine. The Sun Devil's advance to take on Iowa
State tomorrow. Tonight. Wright State has a chance to win
the Horizon League Tournament with a game against Detroit. That
game in Indianapolis. A game last night against NKU, for
about thirty minutes was terrific, and there was a stretch

(01:46:53):
kind of late in the first half where it felt
like the Norse, I don't want to say had a
chance to pull away, but it felt like they had
a chance to build a little bit of a cushion.
They were playing very well, and obviously Wright State over
the last ten minutes ran away and kind of hid
a weird season for the Norse. And obviously what NKU
does in relation to the NCAA tournament is defined by

(01:47:16):
what they do in Indy, and they won that great
game against Oakland in Round one, survived with a sixty
point outburst in the second half against Green Bay on Sunday,
But a little bit of a weird year. It felt
like every time they were about to get going, they
would stop, for lack of a better way of putting it.
Hockey Tonight, the Blue Jackets skate against Tampa Bay. The

(01:47:39):
college basketball tomorrow, there's a ton of local games Tomorrow.
Kentucky is going to take on LSU, which will bump
since E three sixty for a day and maybe even
for two, and maybe even for three based on how
long the Wildcats keep going. Xavier plays tomorrow in the
Big East Tournament, obviously UC and UCF at three o'clock,
and then later on this week, starting on Thursday at

(01:48:00):
eleven am Miami. And I was not here yesterday the
Miami Ohio U game. And I say this, I'm not
a hyperbolegue guy. I don't say things I genuinely don't believe.
And what has been an awesome season of college basketball games.
And say what you want about the other issues that

(01:48:21):
swirl around the sport, with the stakes, with the setting,
with the caliber of the game Miami and OU on
Friday Night is the best college basketball game I've watched
this year, and that's I'm rooting for the RedHawks to
get to the tournament. I'll root for them once they
get there. What Travis Steel has done has been really

(01:48:44):
fun to watch. It's cool watching Miami get a ton
of attention nationally. I think just given the the entirety
of that game, the crowd, which I'm not sure what
the breakdown of the crowd was, it did feel like
there were a fair amount of Miami fans there, but
I know what that would have meant for folks who
love Ou to derail Miami's perfect season. To the way

(01:49:08):
the game was played, to the sense of, oh no,
what happens if they don't get in to some of
the high level plays in that game, to just the
the drama down the stretch. That's best college basketball game
I've watched all season long. And it was in Arizona
with buddies on a spring training trip talking about that

(01:49:31):
game on Saturday, and we were discussing what the fallout
would have been had Miami lost, and discussing the fact
that it certainly does feel like even if they stubbed
their toe in the MAC Tournament, that they're going to
have their name called. Now, you certainly would advise against
losing on Thursday in Round one of the Mid American Tournament.
But that game was that game was something. That game

(01:49:54):
was something, and one of the things we were discussing
was what it had to have been like to be
standing at the free throw line knowing that an undefeated
season is on the line against that crowd. And Peter
Souter made those two free throws, and he has been
terrific all season long. Twelve seconds to go in ot

(01:50:18):
and you've got to make those free throws, and if
you don't, it's possibly an undefeated season up in smoke,
and then a whole lot of uncertainty about your NCAA tournament.
For fortunes, he makes them. Oh you misses the shot,
Miami wins. Just a great game, a great, great, great game.

(01:50:40):
And congratulations to A. Travis Steele for what he has
done with that program. It is been really really fun
to watch. All Right, we can talk to other folks.
We have been super super busy today. Doug and Anderson,
You're on ESPN fifteen thirty. Doug, good afternoon. How are you.

Speaker 12 (01:50:56):
Oh'm fantastic motion outside on this beautiful day, smoking a
little cigar after work, having a little sip sip, and
listening to you as usual.

Speaker 2 (01:51:05):
You cannot beat that, except for the listening to me. Barbara.

Speaker 12 (01:51:07):
Go ahead, I have a quick one for you. I
want to put something on your radar. So everybody, I'm
I'm a fan of the Miami Hurricanes since nineteen eighty three.
I lived Cincinnati, Ohio. I'm also a very very big
Bearcat fan. I just have two teams.

Speaker 2 (01:51:24):
That's cool.

Speaker 12 (01:51:26):
I lived down there for nine years, so became a
fan in the early eighties when they won the first
national championship. Anyway, I've watched every game this year and
everybody is overlooking a keen Mesador. I'm telling you. The
dude is six three, two eighty. He has more sacks
and more tackles than Bain. He is a stud.

Speaker 5 (01:51:48):
He is a.

Speaker 12 (01:51:49):
Stud, and he if he's in the draft, the Bengals
gotta get him.

Speaker 2 (01:51:54):
Yeah, I think right now. I looked at and I
don't have this in front of me. It might have
been Dave brew Bugler from the Athletic who had him.
I believe is the fourth best edge in the class.
So I don't know if anybody nationally is overlooking him.
I think the fascination with Bain, like, let's be honest,
more folks watch Miami in the national title game than
watched any other Hurricanes game, and Ruben Bain was here

(01:52:17):
at least, and Ruben Bain was awesome in that game,
and so there is some recency bias. But uh, yeah,
you're right. I mean, we'll see where he is on
the Bengals board. It kind of feels like, with what
happened with Bain's arms, there's a pretty decent chance he's
there at ten. And if they have him ranked higher
than Mesidor, then they're going to take Baine. But you know,

(01:52:37):
we'll see what they've done in the draft or in
free agency how that informs what they've done in the draft.
But I would like to think that the Bengals are
not overlooking the guy that is regarded by some evaluators
as the fourth or fifth best edge rusher.

Speaker 12 (01:52:51):
Yeah. Well, I mean Bain got all the national attention,
Like every game I watched, especially the nationally televised game,
it was baying Bain Bain. And then meanwhile, Mesador's over
there getting as many pressures as many sacks. And you know,
I said to my son, who we watched games with
all the time, he looks like Shrey Hendrickson, except for

(01:53:12):
he also makes a lot of cackles.

Speaker 2 (01:53:13):
Yeah. Yeah, and by the way, he did have two
sacks in the National title game.

Speaker 12 (01:53:19):
Yes, he's a dude, man, He's just he's a low
key guy. He's just under the radar. But I'm telling
you that guy is going to be somebody who's great
at Dresher.

Speaker 2 (01:53:28):
We've got him on the radar. Doug enjoyed the cigar man,
thanks so much.

Speaker 12 (01:53:31):
Thank you man.

Speaker 2 (01:53:32):
All Right, this is really cool of him to do
because he has stuff to do for his employer, but
he's kind enough to join us from Kansas City, where
the Bearcats have advanced in the Big Twelve tournament. Scott
Springer from The Inquirer and Cincinnati dot Com Scott, that
was a little bit uncomfortable towards the end, but I
never completely felt like the game was that much in doubt.

(01:53:52):
What was the vibe in case, Yeah, kind of the same.

Speaker 13 (01:53:56):
You know, Terrence Brown goes nuts there towards the end.
But you're saying and you know, maybe finally you see
hits a free throw here late and they made enough
late they sent a ten out of eighteen, so they
didn't make one more free throw than they did three pointer.
But yeah, they at one point they were like one
out of six from the stripe and it was an
awful day free thir shooting. And then the game starts,

(01:54:18):
you know, fifteen to six, you're going, okay, does somebody
make a coffee run here?

Speaker 11 (01:54:23):
What's going on?

Speaker 13 (01:54:25):
And then they kick it.

Speaker 5 (01:54:26):
In gear and they look like the bearcatch, so go.

Speaker 13 (01:54:28):
It should have been thirty one twenty a half because
Keishanntillery shot the ball too early on the very last shot,
otherwise had a layup.

Speaker 2 (01:54:36):
But yeah, game of runs.

Speaker 13 (01:54:38):
Give you talk credit that you know they're not good
record wise, they probably in another league, are halfway decent
in the middle of it. But welcome to the Big twelve.

Speaker 2 (01:54:46):
It's crazy.

Speaker 13 (01:54:47):
And now you get u see f again tomorrow who
you split with, and Misstapha Chum gets to play his
old guys again and Jesse James probably looking forward to
that game, and so you're allowed to play another day.
See what happens because you certainly don't know.

Speaker 2 (01:55:03):
Is there a sense that they have to win three
in Kansas City to have a chance on selection someday?

Speaker 5 (01:55:08):
I have heard that.

Speaker 2 (01:55:09):
I don't know.

Speaker 13 (01:55:10):
Well, I mean, let's face it, if you be the
Arizona which would be your third game, how can you
not be in at that point?

Speaker 2 (01:55:17):
That's a shoe win for me.

Speaker 13 (01:55:20):
You turn some heads if you win tomorrow and then
maybe play Arizona. Okay, but I'm not on the selecting
committee and nor would they ever consider to have me on one.
But yeah, they still have work to do. You know,
just beating Utah, I was not really impressing anyone nationwide.
It's just the fact that you've survived a game. Now,

(01:55:41):
you go back a couple of years ago here they
played a not so good West Virginia team and it
was kind of nip and tuck after they had blown
them out in the regular season, and it was kind
of a shootout game one the previous thing. But then
the next game, you know, they had Kansas. They won
that one by twenty.

Speaker 2 (01:55:57):
They led Baylor.

Speaker 13 (01:55:58):
In the following game in the quarterfinal at the half,
so you know, this one's out of the system hopefully
and maybe they can get things in beer for UCF,
and UCF's kind of like, you see, you don't know.

Speaker 2 (01:56:10):
Which UCF team you're going to get.

Speaker 13 (01:56:12):
They can they're either world beaters or they just look
like your average, you know, middle to back team.

Speaker 2 (01:56:18):
Yeah. I think that was the thing for me coming
into today because for three weeks they look like one
of the best teams in the country, and then they
looked like they couldn't complete a pass against TCU, And
now I'm back to wondering, game in a game out,
who's going to show up?

Speaker 13 (01:56:31):
Yeah, yeah, I understand. I was at the TCU game
and it was really taken aback by all the turnovers
and and you know, I even asked Jamie Dixon. I said,
did you just give a blueprint to duc And he goes, well,
it was our blueprint. And you know, I thought Utah
played pretty decent defense on them. But in the end,
you get double doubles from Bobba Miller in the Sapa Chong,

(01:56:53):
and I think you're going to win most of those
games if those two have double doubles. And Miller, you know,
to me, he still passes up on a lot of shots.
He's a great passer, but there's so many times I
see him get the ball inside and then they flipped
it back outside, and I know it's it's math.

Speaker 2 (01:57:10):
Three is more than two.

Speaker 13 (01:57:11):
But sometimes he got a six eleven seven foot guy in.

Speaker 2 (01:57:14):
There for a bank shot. It's like, why wouldn't you
take that? I know you have a lot to do.
Thank you for squeezing us in. If the same opportunity
presents itself tomorrow, we will not say no.

Speaker 5 (01:57:25):
All right, We'll see what happens.

Speaker 2 (01:57:27):
Yeah, I understand that, says Scott Springer, covering the Bearcats
in Kansas City for The Inquirer and Cincinnati dot Com.
I don't know how long this is, but Wes Miller
just got done chatting with the media in Kansas City.
Here is the head coach of the Bearcats talking with
reporters in the aftermath of his team's opening round win.

Speaker 4 (01:57:45):
Yeah, listen, we think we tied for seventh in the league,
but lost to tie breaker with a couple other teams.
So the way I look at it, we get to
play today on the first day like that was.

Speaker 2 (01:57:57):
I take it.

Speaker 4 (01:57:58):
It's just blessing and I have a lot of respect
for Utah. You look, we played them. It feels like
a month ago now, But when you were doing the scout,
they were in every game, like they had so many
opportunities to win games.

Speaker 2 (01:58:13):
They were in every game, and.

Speaker 4 (01:58:15):
We had to play really well at home at the
end to come back and win. And I thought we
did a nice job after we got the jitters out.

Speaker 2 (01:58:22):
We stayed in it with our defense in the first half.

Speaker 4 (01:58:25):
Then we started rebounding and running and it was a
little bit of a lid on it early, but our
defense kept us in it, and I thought we played
well there for a while. And give give a we
push out a double figure lead, but give credit to
them for making a run. They haven't they haven't been
able to get buried all year, like you know they're
going to kind of come back and fight, and so

(01:58:48):
they made a nice run. It feels like Terrence Brown
made every mid range shot during that run, so give
him some credit. But I thought our guys at the
under four time out did a nice job of like regrouping, executing,
and then finding the way to get some stops some
of the blocks at the basket lead.

Speaker 2 (01:59:04):
We're big fource coach.

Speaker 9 (01:59:06):
You've talked all year about how important you're bid and
ch is when you look at that twelve oh run
to close the first half.

Speaker 11 (01:59:11):
How crucial was the play of Key Shawn, Shawn and
Sincere at both ends of the court.

Speaker 2 (01:59:16):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:59:16):
I actually said that to the team in the locker
room just now that I thought our bench was the
catalyst star success tonight that run in the first half,
and they had some really good minutes there in the
second half in a run as well. So complete team
effort and our bench was extremely important to us winning
this game.

Speaker 2 (01:59:36):
Wes Miller chatting with the assembled media in Kansas City
UC and UCF tomorrow at three o'clock. We have been
busy today. My thanks to Tarren Bland for producing. My
thanks to you for listening. We are back tomorrow at
three oh five more on the Bengals and whatever may happen.
We'll also chat with our guy, doctor Jonathan Slaughter about

(01:59:58):
Hunter Green and so much more. Are we to Kentucky? Oh,
that's right, we're on. Yeah late, I forgot. There's so
many moving parts. That's right, the UK Games at twelve thirty.
I'm guessing we'll get on the air.

Speaker 5 (02:00:12):
Tara.

Speaker 2 (02:00:12):
Let's have a contest. Let's see who comes closest. Now,
you can rig this because you produced the show. What
time will our music hit for us to go on
the air tomorrow. I'm gonna say about three forty five,
all right, I'll say three thirty nine, So we're both
gonna be close. They're not going to do a ninety
minute post game show tomorrow, right, So we'll be on

(02:00:34):
roughly at three thirty, reacting to the Kentucky game, reacting
to the Bearcat game, setting up the Xavier game, the
latest one, Hunter Green, and maybe the Bengals will sign
somebody else, I certainly hope. So anything you aams go
find on the iHeartRadio app or Paul Danner Junior conversations
on there. Right now, have a great night, Thank you

(02:00:56):
for listening. We'll talk to you tomorrow at three thirty
nine on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 1 (02:01:06):
Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 2 (02:01:10):
Traffic from the uc Health Traffic Center.

Speaker 6 (02:01:13):
The new uc Ohchure Wellness Suite is a home for
transformative whole person well being backed by Science. Register for
classes now, visit usehealth dot com. Westbound two seventy five
in accident cleared out at seventy four, there's still about
a five minute delay back from Blue Rock Road. Also
still a crash on southbound seventy five. It's on the

(02:01:34):
off ramp to seventy four. Emergency crews over there on
scene on that ezelic with traffic.

Speaker 2 (02:01:41):
This report is spawned

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