3/14/25 - The Mo Egger Radio Show

We have progress with the Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins situation. Plus some bad news to report out of Goodyear and of course collge hoops

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
N fifteen thirty Heart Radio.

Speaker 2 (00:05):
What's up. It's five after three. This is ESPN fifteen thirty.
I'm lager. Thank you for joining us. I hope two
things right now. One, your weekend is off to a
great start. And number two that however you're listening to us,
you're enjoying the outdoors, because I guess you're not going

(00:28):
to be able to do that tomorrow. I guess we're
getting storms. I don't know.

Speaker 3 (00:33):
There's a lot going on today.

Speaker 2 (00:34):
It's Friday of champ Week and tons of college basketball
today and tonight locally, you got Kentucky playing tonight after
their thriller that ended right around one o'clock in the morning.
Things to otay Otega. Sorry, I'm laughing at something that

(00:57):
has absolutely nothing to do with that. Kentucky and Alabama tonight,
which has awesome potential the late game in Nashville. If
Kentucky could win the SEC tournament, it is one of
the greatest and that's a huge f I mean, it
goes without saying it would be I think one of
the greatest conference tournament wins ever because of the strength

(01:19):
of that league, because of what they had to do
last night to survive in that game against Oklahoma. Miami
plays tonight in the semifinals of the MAC Tournament that
is in Cleveland, and you've got Dayton playing tonight like
kind of one of the last teams this week to
take the floor in the A ten Tournament. We'll get
to that a little bit later on. I am obligated.

(01:42):
I am obligated every single day, and my bosses haven't
told me this, but I well, it's kind of implied.
I guess that every day I have to do topics
on either Jamar, Chase t Higgins or Trey Hendrickson. And
so today we're going to spin the wheel and we'll
see which one of those three. We talk about that

(02:02):
coming up in just a bit. FC Cincinnati and Action
this weekend. Kindred d Saint Aubyn from MLS s's and
pass on Apple TV is going to join us at
four thirty five. Entire show Rundown available now on Twitter
at Moeger Thanks to Emery Federal Credit Union. Yes I'm
a member, you should be too. Your credit union with

(02:24):
hard since nineteen thirty nine. Go to EMORYFCU dot org.
There's funny stuff happening in the building today. I got
to start with this, and I hate to do this.
I hate to do this because you know, we found
out that Tyler Stevenson was scratched from a Cactus League

(02:45):
game on Wednesday with he was dealing with some soreness, right,
he was dealing with some soreness in his back. And
not that nobody talked about this, but it was sort
of a note that came out of Goodyear and felt
like most people sort of acknowledged it and then moved
on to other stuff. And not that I'm brighter than anybody,

(03:08):
because I'm not. Not that I'm more filled with worry
than anybody, because I'm not. But I saw that and
I think I paused maybe more than some because I'm like,
wait a minute, Tyler Stephenson's really important to this team.
He's really good. That's a good catcher, that's a good player.
I think Tyler Stevenson, if he's not hurt and he

(03:28):
plays an entire you know, three and a half months
to start the season, I think there is a better
than average chance he's a National League All Star. He's
very important to this team's offense. And so I saw
that yesterday. And part of it is, you know, the
position that he plays it being as demanding it as
it is. It's the area and the body that we're
talking about here, it's his importance to the team. It's

(03:52):
to a degree at least his injury history, which is
not insignificant. And I said yesterday this was the story
of spring training. This was the story of spring training. Well,
the story has advanced, and unfortunately, Tyler Stevenson is going
to start the season on the injured list with a
low grade internal oblique strain on his left side. And

(04:19):
as has been pointed out by more than a few
and having done this now for a while, oblique injuries
seemed to be kind of tricky when it comes to
pinpointing what the timeline is likely to be. Now, Terry
Francona told reporters that the expectation of Stevenson's downtime is

(04:42):
quote on the lower side of the typical range, in
part because they feel like they got out in front
of this. They have been pretty cautious that this wasn't
the thing that he played through and made worse that
you know, there was initial discomfort and the team got
out in front of it and decided to do something
about it. Get the MRI and now you know, there's

(05:03):
a somewhat clear path that they feel like he is
gonna take. We'll see, we'll see. We're certainly hoping for
the best, but for me, at least to a degree, worse,
fears realized. Not that Tyler Stevenson is doomed for the season,

(05:24):
not that he can't have a great year, not that
he's gonna miss a lot of time, but the season's
going to begin without a guy who I think has
earned the title of quote, one of their best players.

Speaker 3 (05:38):
So there's a few things here.

Speaker 2 (05:39):
There's a few things here that trouble me, and I
think if you're a Reds fan that you should, at
least I don't know, pay attention to. Maybe that's the
wrong way to put it, but number one is and again,
I've done this long enough where it feels like oblique
issues never go away quietly. You know, we've talked about
this with relation to Matt McLean, who has dealt with
oblique issues. I remember going back way talking about these

(06:02):
issues and relating them to Johnny Quato. Remember the year
I think it was twenty thirteen where Johnny made all
of eleven starts. Now, again, every person is different, obviously,
Johnny was a pitcher, Tyler is a catcher. But it
just felt like that oblique thing never went away. And
there's I think a fear that this is gonna be
something that's recurring, just because I think we all know

(06:24):
that following sports, there's a long list of guys who
have dealt with oblique issues. Easy for me to say
oblique issues, and it just it feels like they don't
go away. Hopefully they do, but I think that has
to be in the back of your mind. But there's
also this, like, this team's biggest question. I think it's
biggest question is are they going to hit enough. I

(06:49):
think the Reds have a chance to have really good
starting pitching and maybe really really good starting pitching depending
on health. I think they got some decent depth. They've
got a bona fide ace at the top of the rotation.
Nick Martinez is reliable. I think Brady Singer is reliable.
There's a lot of upside for guys like Nick Lodolo

(07:09):
and if he makes the rotation, Graham Ashcraft and Andrew Abbott.
But I think even if you acknowledge they've got to
get better defensively and yeah, they've got to run the
bases a little bit more cleanly. The biggest question for
this team is I think are they going to hit enough?
As we spent time this offseason debating what the Reds
should do and at times wondering what the Reds would do,

(07:34):
most of those conversations were focused on hitting, finding hitters
getting better offensively.

Speaker 4 (07:43):
Well.

Speaker 2 (07:43):
Tyler Stevenson was second on your team in OPS last year,
second on your team. We've talked a lot about what
this team needs to accomplish against left handed pitching. There's
a reason why they acquired Austin Hayes. Two of their
better hitters against lefties are Spencer Steve and Tyler Stevenson.
Right now, there is at least uncertainty with Spencer Steer

(08:08):
and there's more than uncertainty with Tyler Stevenson. Two of
your top four hitters in OPS last year are currently hurt.
And so there was that start with that. Start with
take Tyler Stevenson away from the Reds. Their offensive potential
seems to be compromised. And then you take Spencer Steer

(08:29):
off the Reds along with Tyler Stevenson, and their offensive
potential seems to be compromised. Then you add to it
the fact that, yes, they acquired Austin Hayes, but it's
not like the red spent a lot of time this
summer or this offseason, I should say, going out of
their way to make the offense better. And so what

(08:49):
I wonder is, maybe just for a couple of weeks,
maybe in the short term, how does this impact the
Red's offense?

Speaker 3 (08:58):
Start there?

Speaker 2 (09:02):
Now, they did acquire Jose Travino this offseason and made
a good trade. I think they got a guy who
is a more than dependable backup catcher, has been an
All Star, has been a goal Glove winner, has been
a Platinum Glove winner, younger than Luke Mayley. Like, that's good.
That's a good backup catcher. And you know, I think
you can make an argument, and a good one, that

(09:22):
he's better defensively than Tyler Stevenson. Is Tyler Stevenson's good
at calling a game?

Speaker 3 (09:26):
I think?

Speaker 2 (09:27):
But I think if we were to look at the
depth chart at catcher for the Reds, Tyler is not
the best guy behind the plate. So you know, you
don't worry so much about this from that standpoint, although
you know there is a trickle down effect. So now
Austin wins is going to have to do more, which
is I don't think when anybody really wanted, but more

(09:47):
than anything. And this is more emotional than it is logical.
I will admit this. Go back to a year ago,
Go back to a year ago. It was it's kind
of right around this time, you know, two weeks a
little bit less than two weeks before opening day where
there started to be this steady stream of bad injury

(10:09):
news and it put a damper on the start of
the season. It did, And not that we saw what
was coming, but there was a sense. I remember talking
about it in an opening day at Smoke Justice with Austin
and TONI about how like boy, the last two weeks
and good year, the last two weeks in Arizona, just
one piece of bad news after the other. And is

(10:30):
their depth going to be tested? Yes, well they pass
the test. It turns out the answer was no. It
already looks like their depth is going to be tested.
Are they better equipped for that test this year than
last year? And if you're a Reds fan, are you
now in the mode that I am in, which is
just now get everybody else healthy and get the guys

(10:54):
who matter most the twenty six. Get them to GABP
on March twenty seventh, and uh and hopefully they can
avoid having to deal with something like what Tyler Stevenson
is dealing with. But and you could tell me if
you disagree, five point three seven, four, nine, fifteen thirty
is wide open today.

Speaker 3 (11:14):
This is.

Speaker 2 (11:16):
It doesn't do him the season by any stretch. It
doesn't mean the Reds are gonna get off to a
terrible start. It doesn't mean that Tyler Stevenson is not
going to have a terrific year. But this is he's
one of their better players. Like I said this earlier
in the week, I think I think a lot of
folks forget like Tyler Stevenson had a really nice season
last year, really nice season last year. And you know,

(11:38):
for a while we were wondering should he play first base?
Should he dh uh? You know that sort of thing.
Could he stay healthy? Because for a couple of years
he couldn't. What he has done is he has established
himself as the team's every day catcher. He has the
last couple of years been able to stay healthy, caught
more games than anybody in baseball last season.

Speaker 3 (12:01):
He's now gonna.

Speaker 2 (12:02):
Be absent from the team to start the season, and
it's an o bleak and he is a catcher, and
that's not a great combo. And there is a recent
track record of some late spring training injuries just killing
this team early and the Reds not being able to recover.
I don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves,

(12:23):
but this is it's a tough plot. I put a
to you that way. Five point three seven, four nine,
fifteen thirty.

Speaker 5 (12:30):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (12:31):
We we have a lot of ground to cover.

Speaker 2 (12:35):
I've talked a lot about Trey Hendrickson this week, and
the reason why is, and I go back to something
that I talked a little bit about back in December.
The Trey Hendrickson dynamic is the most interesting.

Speaker 3 (12:47):
Now. The t Higgins thing.

Speaker 2 (12:49):
Is too, because I put myself in t Higgins shoes
and all right, fine, you gave me a twenty percent
pay raise. That's cool. I'm gonna have a great year
and go hit free agency next year and then then
we'll see what happens. But the Trey Hendrickson thing, I
want Trey to play for the Bengals in twenty twenty five.

(13:12):
And I'm not that concerned about twenty twenty six. We
are gonna play a game. We're gonna play a game.
We played it a year ago, or at least I
played it, played it with t Higgins not coming up
in just about thirty minutes at Moegger on Twitter. Thanks
to Delta Dental. Delta Dental is building healthy, smart, vibrant

(13:33):
communities for all.

Speaker 3 (13:34):
Good to Delta Dental. Oh dot com.

Speaker 2 (13:37):
We hear, we hear a lot of people talk about
how we want to see the Bengals be aggressive, and
even the Duke Tobin has said, yeah, we want to
be aggressive. There is a chance to be aggressive right
now with one player. And it's not Trey Hendrickson, it's
not Jamar Chase, and it's not t Higgins. We'll tell
you who it is next on ESPN fifteen.

Speaker 1 (13:57):
Thirty Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 6 (14:05):
Traffic from the uc Health Traffic Center. When it comes
to stroke, every second counts. That's why the u see
Health Comprehensive Stroke Center is the clear choice for rapid
life saving treatment. Learn more at UCHealth dot com. There's
an overturned vehicle at Third Street at Walnut. Police are
there on scene. Traffic is slow northbound seventy five from

(14:26):
Mitchell to Paddock rode a six minute delay, and eastbound
two seventy five down to one lane after US fifty
two for construction. I'm at ezelic with traffic.

Speaker 3 (14:37):
It's uh, you're not being pulled over.

Speaker 2 (14:40):
There's no ambulance.

Speaker 3 (14:41):
You're good. It's just our music.

Speaker 2 (14:43):
The name of the song is Fireman. I love sirens. Well,
the sirens are fine. I just I will I will
tell you, I will tell you this. Then this is
a little inside radio sort of thing here. Okay, tarn
Years ago, and I don't remember what it was. Years ago,
I was starting at in radio and I was producing

(15:06):
a show and I played a siren sound effect, and
I was told don't play sirens on the radio because
people panic and think it's a like somebody pulling them
over or something. So when we do it, I just
feel like we can get away with it because I
will inform the audience you're not being pulled over. The
funny thing would be is if I said that somebody

(15:27):
actually was being pulled over. But I just I'm doing
it as a service to the audience to make sure
that they know.

Speaker 3 (15:34):
It's cool.

Speaker 2 (15:34):
You're good, You're fine. No, no, no reason to panic.
You're not being pulled over. Everything's okay, everything's fine. Just relax.
A year ago, hardly twenty five after three o'clock, this
is ESPN fifteen thirty. By the way, I'm just gonna
I'll pull back the curtain here really quick. That segment
I just did right there. In all the years I've

(15:56):
been doing this show, I've never had to go to
the bathroom more than I had to during that segment.
So now I almost feel like restarting the show. Xavier,
yesterday a tough, disappointing loss to Marquette. Tony and I
were just talking about, you know, the moment in that
game where it felt like it it shifted dramatically. And look,
you know, teams have their lead go from nine to

(16:19):
two quickly all the time now. Xavier, at one point
yesterday in that game against Marquette, early in the second half,
had a fourteen point lead, but you could we're watching
it on TV here, thanks to Peacock, we're watching it
on TV here. And when Sean Miller took Ryan Conwell
and Zach Freemantle out of the game, you could just
you could feel it as the lead went from nine

(16:39):
to two, very very quickly. That went from a game
that felt like it was very much in Xavier's control
to one that at best was going to be a
fifty to fifty game the Musketeers could not get stops late.
I do subscribe to the belief that if the bracket
were drawn up today, Xavier would be in. I think
they'd play in Dayton. I think if Xavier's an NCAA

(17:01):
tournament team, they're going to be playing next Tuesday or Wednesday.
But I also do subscribe to the belief that there's
gonna be a lot of results between now and then
that if they don't necessarily go Xavier's way, is going
to punt them from the field to sixty eight. Gonna
be watching closely, the Duke Carolina game, Gonna be watching closely.
Boise State, New Mexico going to be watching closely, a

(17:22):
game that's going to get started here in about twenty minutes.
Tennessee and Texas gonna be watching. And it's the fun
part of this week. But if you're a fan of
a team like where Xavier is right now, it's a
very agonizing, very agonizing thing. We had on with us yesterday.
Our buddy the Nky Bracket Guy. If you miss that,
go get it on the iHeartRadio app. Also talked with

(17:43):
Paul Frishner from the Sean Miller Podcast and from the
Big East, Mister College Basketball, The Rebound Rundown, tons of jobs.
He was at Madison Square Garden yesterday. If you missed
our chat, go get that on the iHeartRadio app. Great
place to watch college basketball this weekend. Sponsors our podcasts
Long Neck Sports Grill if you're a Northern Kentucky, if
you're a UK fan, if you're a Louisville fan. Both

(18:07):
Kentucky and Louisville winning in weirdly similar ways yesterday, both
with buckets essentially at the Horn.

Speaker 3 (18:15):
You can go watch both tonight.

Speaker 2 (18:16):
Why old are Hebrin and Richwood at any one of
the three Northern Kentucky Long Necks locations. The Bengals this week.
You know, Tony said, somebody said to him, it seems
like you do the same show every single day, And
I don't believe that to be true about since he
three sixty, and I don't think that's true about what

(18:38):
we've done here. I mean, look, this is a very
big year for the Cincinnati Bengals. And whatever they do
this offseason, you know, I mean this coming this coming September,
they they they go into a year that I think
is immensely important for this team. I think, as you

(18:58):
and I talk about right now, we still I still
believe if they get through the next few months and
are productive as it relates to their roster, they can
compete for a title next year. I will acknowledge man,
that you know, this week in free agency, this week
in the offseason is a tiny, tiny speck compared to
the overall big picture of the off season. But I

(19:20):
don't know, man. I think if you're a Bengals fan,
and if I would have said to you a week
ago on Friday the seventh, if I would have outlined
for you that here's what the Bengals are going to do,
and it looks like or if it looked like what
the Bengals actually have done, you would have said, well,
that's not it, that's underwhelming, that's not going to work.

Speaker 3 (19:40):
And yet here we are.

Speaker 2 (19:42):
None of the big picture things that have been talked
about so much locally and nationally have been resolved.

Speaker 3 (19:47):
And you know, maybe that's okay.

Speaker 2 (19:50):
And while they have added players from outside, it does
really feel like they're doubling down, especially on defense on
a unit that just wasn't very good last year, and
they've done nothing to address their offensive line from outside.

Speaker 3 (20:03):
Now.

Speaker 2 (20:03):
One name that you have heard as a possibility to
come to Cincinnati is Tevin Jenkins. Tevin Jenkins is twenty
seven years old. He is a guard. He has played
his entire career with the Chicago Bears. A good player now,
a player who's not without his wards because he has

(20:25):
an extensive injury history, but looks the part at a
good year in Chicago last year, mostly stayed healthy, has
played both guard positions, has played tackle before in this league.

Speaker 3 (20:42):
That's a guy you've heard about.

Speaker 2 (20:45):
I'm reading today that he's got a meeting set up
with the Seattle Seahawks on Monday. He may choose no
matter what to take that meeting with the Seattle Seahawks.

Speaker 3 (20:55):
But for a week that has been defined by.

Speaker 2 (21:00):
Passiveness or passivity, I'm not sure what the right word
is for a week that has been defined by the
Bengals not being aggressive, I think that's fair.

Speaker 3 (21:09):
I think that's accurate.

Speaker 2 (21:10):
Right, Like, you may be okay with what the Bengals
have done, but you wouldn't call it aggressive. And you
may be pissed at what the Bengals have done, you
certainly wouldn't call what they've done aggressive.

Speaker 3 (21:21):
Wouldn't it be nice? Wouldn't it be refreshing?

Speaker 2 (21:26):
Given the fact that we have read about Tevin Jenkins,
possibly not even possibly, we have read about the Bengals
targeting Tevin Jenkins. If they went out of their way
to do what they could to keep him from meeting
with the Seattle Seahawks on Monday, that doesn't mean you

(21:47):
hand him a blank piece of paper or a blank check,
or ask him what he wants and you give it
to him. But it means you're aggressive. It's like not
letting somebody test driving a car. Are off the lot
once they've test driven it, right, you're aggressive. Aggressiveness is
not a word that has often been used to define

(22:09):
or describe the Cincinnati Bengals. It's certainly not a word
that you would use to describe or define this week.
How about, for once, with the list of options at
that position, whittling and I don't think they're going to
do this. How about for once you go out of
your way to keep the dude from going to the

(22:29):
team that you don't want him to sign with and
so instead he signs with you.

Speaker 3 (22:36):
That's aggressive.

Speaker 2 (22:39):
You want to you want to get some goodwill going
this weekend. You want to get people to stop talking
about what you haven't done. Go do something like that.
My guess is they won't. Five point three seven four nine,
fifteen thirty. Uh Man, there is a lot of stuff

(22:59):
make fun of few things. USA today had a very
lame list of all the current ballparks. I'll tell you
why it was laying GABP was runked twenty six, which
we can discuss. I think the ranking is not the
fault of the Reds. It's not even the fault of
the ballpark. How things would be instantly different and better.

(23:21):
Next on ESPN fifteen.

Speaker 1 (23:22):
Thirty, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty Traffic from.

Speaker 6 (23:29):
The UC Health Traffic Center. When it comes to stroke,
every second counts. That's why the UCE Health Comprehensive Stroke
Center is the clear choice for rapid life saving treatment.
Learn more at UCHealth dot com. It is an accident
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(23:50):
and westbound two seventy five down to one lane four
construction on the Carrol Cropper Bridge. That's got slow traffic
from the Petersburg exit. I'm at Ezelek with traffic.

Speaker 2 (24:00):
Lines are a service at Kelsey cheval at home of
lifetime power train protection and guaranteed credit approval from their
family to yours for life at Kelsey chev dot com.
Tyler Stevenson is going to start the season on the
injured list. The Reds catcher is dealing with what is
being called a quote low raid low raid. I can't

(24:21):
read low grade internal oblique strain, so he is likely
to start the season on the injured list. Not good
for Tyler Stevenson. Reds are playing to today. No, they're
not playing a doubleheader. It's split squad action. One Reds
team will be a talking stick to take on the Diamondbacks.
Chase Petty will start that game for Cincinnati. The other
Red squad will be in Glendale to take on the

(24:43):
White Sox. Graham Ashcraft will start that game. Both games
get underway at four five. Bengals made it official Joseph
Osaig is back on a one year contract. We'll hear
from him coming up in just a bit college basketball. Tonight,
Kentucky stayed alone after blowing the lead late. They win
on a great play. Many have compared it to Tias

(25:06):
Edney UCLA nineteen ninety five. Otega oh Way the second
time this year he beats Oklahoma with the last second shot.
Did it with the baseline runner a weird angle. I
didn't think that shot was going to go based on
the angle that he took.

Speaker 3 (25:20):
They win.

Speaker 2 (25:21):
They advanced to take on Alabama tonight, the final game
in Nashville. Hopefully tonight's last night's game tipped off, I
think right before eleven o'clock. Tonight's scheduled tip time is
nine thirty. It's not going to start at nine to thirty,
but pregame coverage on ESPN fifteen thirty will begin at
eight pm. Winner of that one will play either Missouri
or Florida. Miami is in the semifinals of the MAC Tournament.

(25:44):
The RedHawks will take on kent State tonight. Miami won
both games this year against the Golden Flashes. That game
is scheduled to start at seven to thirty. That is
the second semi final in Cleveland. The first will pit
Toledo versus Akron. The Zips lost just one game in
conference play this year. In the A ten Tournament, Dayton
takes on Saint Joe's. Our guy, the nk Y bracket guy,

(26:09):
who was on our show yesterday, the official bracketologist of
the Mullegger Show, has Dayton among his first for out
first for out that according to our guy, Hunter Sansom,
seventy second. Also tonight, winner of that game between Dayton

(26:30):
and Saint Joe's will take on George Washington or Mason
tomorrow and another winner of a thriller after blowing the
lead themselves, Louisville beat Stanford. It's still weird to see
Stanford in the ACC. The Cardinals advance to take on
Clemson tonight at nine thirty. The winner will battle the
winner of the game between North Carolina and Duke. If

(26:53):
you're a Xavier fan, you are monitoring a few different
games this weekend. You're watching You're watching the American Athletic
Conference Tournament.

Speaker 3 (27:03):
The AAC is a one bid league.

Speaker 2 (27:05):
Penny Hardaway's team was awesome this year, and nobody else
remotely close to the NCAA tournament. So Memphis did hang
on to beat Wichita State what was a pretty good
game eighty three to eighty. So if you're a Xavier fan,
you're just you're hoping Memphis steam rolls everybody. They'll take
on either Two Lane or Florida Atlantic in the semifinals tomorrow,

(27:25):
and then if they advance to the final, it's North
Texas or Tulsa or UAB or ECU. So you're rooting
for Memphis. Obviously, still two games to go in that
tournament for the Tigers, but a Memphis loss today would
have been a troubling development for the Musketeers. You're watching
closely tonight. Duke versus North Carolina obviously, you know, one

(27:47):
of the great rivalries in the sport, a game itself
that has had the shine come off of it because
of the injury suffered to suffered by Cooper Flag yesterday.
And you know, just as a college basketball fan, you
hope he's okay and can play in the tournament. But
we'll see he obviously wasn't the only Duke player who
got injured in that game, because Malik Brown also got hurt,

(28:09):
and so we'll see what Duke puts on the floor.
A lot of Kanka Nipple tonight, but North Carolina very
much on the bubble. You're watching New Mexico versus Boise State.
Boise State very much on the bubble. You're watching a
game that is going to get underway here in just
a few minutes, between Texas and Tennessee. Our guy, the

(28:30):
Nky Brackett Guy has Texas right now. Is team number
sixty nine you're watching. You see San Diego and you
see Irvine.

Speaker 3 (28:39):
Now I wonder this.

Speaker 2 (28:44):
I wonder if there's a world where both those schools
obviously play in the Big West, if those schools together
get to the Big West Tournament title game, if both
can get in. I wonder the same thing about the
Atlantic Ten, where VCU is the top seed there. I
know he's got Dayton among his first four out I

(29:05):
wonder if VCU, which did win their game today over
Saint Bonaventure. I wonder if if the Rams got to
the final on Sunday, if they could still get in
as an at large, especially if they lost to for instance, Dayton.

Speaker 3 (29:19):
We will see, but a lot of nervous moments.

Speaker 2 (29:23):
I mentioned our guy, Nky Bracket Guy, and he joined
us shortly after the game yesterday Xavier losing to Marquette,
and as of yesterday afternoon, which was this was a
right round five thirty yesterday. He thought the Musketeers were
in but acknowledged that there's a lot that's gonna happen
between yesterday at that time and Sunday at six o'clock.

(29:49):
And I guess we'll have that audio for you coming
up here just a bit. Anything else, we have sports
headline whist Cyclones played tonight against Toledo. At seven thirty,
I heard Tony and Austin talking about this list. USA
Today ranked ranking MLB stadiums from one to twenty eight.

(30:10):
Now twenty eight because the Rays stadium situation is a
mess because of what happened to the dome they play
in during the hurricane last October, and the A's are
going to play in a minor league ballpark in Sacramento,
where we hope they lose every game. So one through
twenty eight, and the Inquirer picked this up and it

(30:30):
was published on Cincinnati dot com, which is where I
think a lot of people saw it. Great American Ballpark
was ranked twenty sixth. There are two reasons why I
have absolutely no use for this set of rankings. Now.
It's not because I love Great American ballpark, although I do.
I love it because you love your home and I'd

(30:52):
go see the Reds play anywhere as many times as
I could. But I like great American ballpark. Are there
some things about it that are a little bit underwhelming?
Shore I think over the last ten or so years
they've made a lot of upgrades. I think it's a
good place to watch a game. I've never gathered that
for out of town fans. It's like one of those
destinations they have to go to, you know, like a
lot of people say, man, like you, but you've got

(31:13):
to get to Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh's ballpark is awesome, and by
the way, I agree, it's, aside from Wrigley Field, my
favorite park. But I have also never heard anybody like say,
like god, this is a dump. I try to go
to as many Reds games as possible because it's it's
my favorite thing to do. And you meet folks from
out of town who come to see their team play,
and none of them say it's a bad park. Some

(31:34):
are maybe slightly underwhelmed. Some everybody seems to like it.
Maybe a handful of people love it. But I have
no use for this ranking for two reasons. Number one.
This wasn't done by fans. This was done by eight
USA Today Network reporters and editors. This wasn't done by

(32:00):
anybody who's gonna go get a beer at the ballpark.
This was done by reporters not really interested. For a
reporter or a ballpark is a workplace, many never actually
leave the press box. The press box is not somewhere
where fans are gonna go. So I would be more

(32:23):
interested in a ranking that was compiled by input from fans.
Number two, it's just a ranking one through twenty eight.
Now they do link to a similar survey they did
last year, and when you looked at each ballpark there
was a little blurb, but not an extensive rundown as

(32:45):
to the pros or cons. So, if you're gonna do
a ranking like this, give me reasons. Why give me
pros and cons. I think there's one basic reason why
gabp lax and rankings like this. It's if you go
to if you go to a lot of stadiums. And
I was counting when I was listening to Austin and
Tony talk about this. I've been lucky enough of the

(33:07):
ballparks that are in existence right now, I've been to
seventeen of them, and then I've been to a bunch
that are you know, no longer around, like Riverfront Stadium,
like Veteran Stadium, Three Rivers, the Old Bush Stadium. But
of the ones that are up now, I've been to seventeen,
will go twenty eight. Seventeen of the twenty eight, and

(33:28):
the ones that to me get the highest ratings, the
one that most people love, the ones that I've enjoyed
from an esthetics point of view more than the others
are the ones that when you look out and let's
face it, most seats are you know, in the infield,
so you're looking out toward the outfield. There's some sort

(33:51):
of vista. There's a city scape. So like if you
go to a Pittsburgh which is an awesome part, and
you look out and I know, nobody here is supposed
to say anything about Pittsburgh, but you get the bridges
and the Pittsburgh skyline and it's really pretty. Now, I've
never been to panc Park in Pittsburgh when it's been

(34:11):
really full that the Pirates, for the most part, for
the last twenty or so years, have not been very good,
and so whenever i've gone, you know, they just haven't
been that many people in the ballpark. But whenever I
have been lucky enough to go, and it's been a
few years, what makes it is the physical plan of
the park itself, but also the city scape in the
background just looks really really cool. I have not been

(34:31):
to San Diego's ballpark, pet Goo, but whenever the Reds
play there or wherever I'm watching the game on TV
that's being done from Petco Park and they show the
angle from behind home plate, it looks out at downtown
San Diego, and that's really really cool. I've been lucky
enough to go to the current Bush Stadium in Saint Louis,

(34:52):
which I really like. And again in Cincinnati. No one's
supposed to say anything nice about Bush Stadium, But if
you're in most of the and you look out toward
the outfield, in the foreground is the ballpark village and
in the background is downtown Saint Louis and the iconic
Saint Louis Arch and that's really really cool. Same thing
if you go to Minneapolis, which I've been inside of.

(35:14):
I went to a wedding in Minneapolis fifteen years ago.
The twins were not at home, and yet, because I'm
a nerd, I go up to the ticket window and ask, like,
is there anybody who could show a guy from Cincinnati around?
And a guy was nice enough to show me around.
We go in and it's really cool. When you see
a Twins game on TV. It looks out right at

(35:35):
downtown Minneapolis, which Target Field is right there in Minneapolis.
Even ballparks where there's no city scape, you know, if
you go to Dodger Stadium. I love Dodgers Stadium. I
had never gone, and I went in twenty eighteen. UC
was playing UCLA at the Rose Bowl to start the season,
and the Dodgers were home, and I went to three
games and I crossed that off my bucket list. But

(35:57):
you look out and there's the mountains in the background,
and it's beautiful. And so I think part of what
makes some of these parks so appealing is not so
much the ballpark, it's what's beyond the ballpark with your view.

Speaker 3 (36:11):
With respect to.

Speaker 2 (36:11):
Your view, if you sit in the infield at GABP,
if you sit in like the upper deck and you're
looking out looking out toward the outfield number one, there
is that boat in center field and I got to
be honest with you. I've never loved the boat. I've
been on the boat, but I've never loved the boat
number two. And please don't take this wrong. If you

(36:32):
live in or are from Newport, which Newport's a great place,
there's a decent chance I'm going to be in Newport tonight.
I like Newport, like Newport on the levee. But when
you're at a ball game, you're staring out toward Newport,
and you've been to other parks where you're staring out
towards some sort of cityscape, the view kind of pales

(36:54):
by comparison, And so I know this obviously cannot happen.
But here's my guess. If you took Great American Ballpark right,
and you physically picked it up, and you put it
across the river, either in Newport or Covington, and you

(37:16):
situated it to the degree that if you're sitting behind
home plate, or you're sitting in the infield and you're
staring out toward the outfield, if instead of a river
and off in the distance, Newport, which again for all
of Newport's qualities, and I am as pro Newport as anybody,
you will ever meet. It's not like there's a Newport's skyline, right,

(37:37):
It's not like there's a Newport city scape. If instead
of that, you're looking toward downtown Cincinnati, the exact same
ballpark would rate much much higher. The ballpark itself is fine.
Concourses are nice, they're wide open, they're clean. The ballpark
itself is colorful. I would get rid of the boat,
but that's just me. But if you're looking out towards

(37:59):
the outfield and out and beyond, compared to other ballparks,
it does leave a little bit to be desired. It's
not ugly, it's not like there's a bunch of chop
shops in the background, not a landfill. But compared to
some of the other parks, where you're looking at a
city skyline, it just looks different. And I think much
of what makes some of those other ballparks so appealing

(38:21):
as when you are in them, you are looking at
a city scape, and for the most part, city scapes
look really really cool.

Speaker 3 (38:27):
So there it is.

Speaker 2 (38:28):
That's why I think Great American Ballpark ranks reasonably low. Again,
I've never heard, I've never talked to somebody who has
visited from out of town who has been like, dude,
this place sucks. This place is a dump, Like everybody
likes it. Again, it's not a destination, but it's I
remember when it was opened and I went. You remember
they had two exhibition games before they played the first

(38:49):
real game because they needed some dress rehearsals. And I
remember going with my dad and I remember him and
I looking at each other like hm. But it's grown
on me over the last twenty two years. I love
going and I do think whatever criticisms you want to
lob at the cast of leanings for how they've run
the ball club, I think the upgrades they've made in
the stadium have have made the place more appealing. But

(39:10):
they're dealing with, you know, what they walked into. They
they're dealing with what they inherited. I think it's it's
neither a retro or uber modern, but that's okay. I
think it's a fine place to watch a game. I've
never thought, God, this place is awful. But I do
think if you like, just moved it across the river,
and I'm not saying the Red should play in Kentucky

(39:32):
and twisted it around and you're looking at downtown Cincinnati,
suddenly the rankings for the ballpark itself would and the
way people view the ballpark and the way people talked
about its aesthetics would change dramatically. All right, I hope
I didn't make everybody a Newport mad. It is sixth
away from four o'clock. We are way late. Your phone
calls are coming up, and I want to I want

(39:53):
to ask you to take a look at a picture
online for me. Next on ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 1 (39:58):
Cincinnati's esp P fifteen thirty.

Speaker 6 (40:02):
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(40:23):
from an accident between Mostellar and eleven in road and
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Speaker 1 (40:34):
This report is sponsored by Triple This is ESPN fifteen thirty,
Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 2 (40:41):
All right, there you go, four o four.

Speaker 3 (40:43):
This excuse me is ESPN fifteen thirty on mo Leger.

Speaker 2 (40:47):
I hope you're having a awesome, awesome, awesome, I said
Friday FMM. And hopefully the next hour of this show
makes us forget about the last hour we just listened to.
Hey Tom, not Tom Pellisero. Sometimes I sometimes I screw
up my NFL insiders.

Speaker 3 (41:07):
By the way, this hour off to a great start.

Speaker 2 (41:10):
Ian Rapaport rap sheet NFL media is Ian Rapaport, the
guy who got into the fight with the other NFL
insider at Starbucks during the combine?

Speaker 3 (41:20):
Is that who that was? Anyway?

Speaker 2 (41:23):
Ian Rapaport five minutes ago put on his Twitter feed
and I'll read it verbatim. Are you ready? The Bengals
have made significant progress on massive contract extensions with Star
wide receivers Jamar Chase and t Higgins, and both could
be finalized in the coming days, sources tell me. And

(41:45):
Tom Pelisaro, see I was right. I'm Tom Pelisaro's name
in there. He continues. There is work to be done,
but Joe Burrow's wish is close to coming true.

Speaker 3 (41:57):
So that's Ian Rappaport. He says.

Speaker 2 (41:58):
The Bengals have made signific again progress. Now, a couple
of things about this. I got folks waiting on hold,
and I want to get to them because I think
it'll make people wait on a Friday afternoon. But anyway,
Number one is number one. Okay, whenever there's been any
sort of news or anything out there regarding Jamar or
t we then have to wait for the cryptic post
on social media. I think Jamar's go to is Instagram

(42:22):
and Tea's go to is Twitter. So Taren, I'm gonna
put you in charge between now and six o'clock monitoring
to see if there are any vague social media posts
by either Jamar Chase or T Higgins. That's number one.
Number two is good, good, good good. I mean, like,
all right, fine, that doesn't change two things. The first

(42:46):
thing it doesn't change is the Bengals still have to,
you know, be better elsewhere. Jamar Chase is under contract
right now for the Bengals for twenty twenty five, and
T Higgins has an obligation to the Bengals for twenty
twenty five, So you know, to a large degree, that
doesn't really change this year. Also, as much as you

(43:06):
might go, okay, great, they got this done. You cannot
help but wonder what would the contracts for both players
look like, assuming that this is moving in the direction
to the point that we are going to talk about
both getting done, what will those contracts look like compared
to what they would have looked like had they gotten

(43:27):
done a while ago. You know, remember t Higgins, That
extension is something we have been talking about for three
years now. So if at any point of the course
of the previous three years they get a deal with
t Higgins done, what would that deal have look like?
And no one's ever going to know for sure, but
it's something we're going to talk about. So uh that

(43:49):
I guess would be your Bengals news item of the day,
plus the fact that they had Joseph Osai speak and
we'll have some of that for you here in just
a bit. Five point three seven, four nine fifteen already
is our phone number. If you didn't hear Tyler Stevenson's
going to miss time, he's got an oblique issue. The

(44:09):
exact verbiage is low grade internal oblique strain. Reds are
playing two games today. You'll hear Terry Francona on that
topic coming up in just about twenty five minutes. First,
I appreciate everybody's patience. Nick, You're on ESPN fifteen thirty.
Good afternoon, Nick. How are you good, afternoon? Mo?

Speaker 7 (44:30):
I'm great. Hey. Listen, my buddies and I all grew
up in the Cincinnati area and they're scattered about the
country now, but we get together once the summer and
we meet in different cities to watch baseball game. Yurely,
we watched the red Sometimes we don't get to see
the Reds, depending on our schedules and their schedule. Sure,

(44:51):
and if that happens, we just hit up a new
ballpark and drink a hell of a lot of beer.

Speaker 3 (44:56):
It sounds like the kind of weekend go ahead.

Speaker 8 (44:58):
It's yeah, fantastic.

Speaker 7 (45:01):
But anyway, we have been to all all thirty active
ball well I guess now twenty eight, but right, all
the active ballparks. And you know, I saw that list
the other day and I thought that this is this
is kind of strange. And I agree that Great American
Ballpark can be a little underwhelming it as compared to
other ones. But I agree with you. I think a

(45:23):
lot of the charm of some of these other ballparks
are because they open up to some sort of skyline
or mountains or whatever.

Speaker 8 (45:33):
The case might be.

Speaker 7 (45:35):
But what what I thought was interesting, if you sit
in the infield of Great American Ballpark, You're right, you
don't get as much of a view if you if
you sit and we went out to Oracle Park a
few years back and saw the Reds, which if you
haven't been there.

Speaker 4 (45:48):
That's, oh my god, that's a fantastic ballpark.

Speaker 7 (45:50):
But if you sit in the infield at Oracle Park
you can't see much either because it opens up to
the water right and they put Oracle they put Oracle
Park in number or two on the list. So I
was like, I couldn't figure out. I'm like, well, why,
you know, why is this ballpark so much higher? But
the view is relatively the same from the infield. Now,
if you go up to the top of Oracle Park,

(46:10):
you see you know, mountains and the bay and all that,
and but with Great America and if you go up
to the top, you still get a pretty decent view.
So I don't I do agree with you? Then I
think if if we open up to a different you know,
city scape or mountains or or whatever, we'd see see
those rankings go higher. But I just thought that was

(46:31):
an interesting parallel between those two ballparks.

Speaker 2 (46:33):
I've never been to San Francisco, and it's it's on
like there are I'm going to ask you about these
here in a second, but it's one of three that
I really really really want to go to. I've never
been to San Francisco, but when I watch Giants games
on TV, what looks cool to me is not so
much the fact that you just look out and see
nothing but water, but there's boats right there trying to
catch balls, and so I think there's there's like atmosphere

(46:56):
to the view beyond the wall. Is that would that
be a fair way of putting it?

Speaker 7 (47:00):
Yes, that's that's accurate. There are boats that come right up,
just like PNC, that come right up to the outfield.

Speaker 2 (47:05):
Yeah, and the park feels well and again I've only
seen it on TV, but it feels like especially when
it's full, which you know earlier this decade when the
Giants kept winning World Series, it was full all the time.
It felt big but intimate. Is that a fair way
to put it?

Speaker 7 (47:20):
That's accurate as well?

Speaker 2 (47:21):
Yes, Yeah, looks cool. All right, I want to go
to Washington. I want to go to San Francisco, and
I want to go to Colorado. Which one of those
should I prioritize.

Speaker 7 (47:30):
I would definitely prioritize San Francisco, second Corps in Colorado,
and then Washington was Okay, the issue with Washington, we
saw it. We went opening year the new ballpark to
see the Reds and there was absolutely nothing to do.
They In fact, they even had a makeshift bar in

(47:52):
the outfield and just put up some courthole boards. So
now my understanding is that there's a whole ballpark Vale
similar to Saint Louis. Uh So I kind of need
to go back and experience that again. So I guess
that's not really fair to place at third, But but yeah,
do yourself a favor and get out to see Oracle.
It's fantastic.

Speaker 2 (48:11):
Yeah, San Francisco is an expensive place, but I want
to go there. Which of the twenty eight that are
around now are your favorites?

Speaker 7 (48:21):
My My number one would still be Camden Yards. It's
just it's so retro and and the backdrop of that
is amazing, And then Oracle would be second, and then
third would would Honestly, I'd still like progressive field. I
replace that at third, but all all all of those ballparks, though,

(48:41):
have you right something to look out at? And I
know I'm kind of dating myself here, but do you
remember when Jim Tarbell wanted to do Broadway Commons? I do,
and the the the way that would have been situated
would have looked out towards our skyline, and I thought
that would have been really really cool.

Speaker 2 (48:57):
Yeah, I remember, I remember that fight very very well.
What is your least favorite?

Speaker 7 (49:05):
My least favorite is or was, I should say Oakland
Alameda College team or whatever they call it now. We
went out there, uh the year before the pandemic because
we we saw the Reds out there in the Bay
when they did their little Bay Area tour and we
we couldn't even get condiments. In fact, I have a
I have a picture. I have a picture on my

(49:27):
phone that literally says condiments with a sign and there's
nothing there. So a combination of no condiments, the site
lines being awful, having a weight in massive lines for beer,
and the fact that we had to park in the
median of the freeway just to get a parking space

(49:47):
that that immediately put it down at the bottom of
my list.

Speaker 2 (49:50):
All right, Well, the a's aren't there anymore, and I
wasn't gonna go anyway, but good, No, I appreciate it
to spend. And you would put G A, B P.
What middle of the pack? Lower tier?

Speaker 3 (49:59):
What would you it?

Speaker 7 (50:01):
Probably right around right around fifteen to sixteen?

Speaker 2 (50:05):
All right, yeah, that sounds about right again, Like I
understand why people are maybe a little bit underwhelmed. I
just it's fine, it's fine, it's okay, it's good. It's
good place.

Speaker 3 (50:14):
They've made it better.

Speaker 2 (50:15):
Right, Yeah, absolutely, well, I appreciate the perspective. I'm putting
San Francisco at the top of the list, and I
might have to sell it Kenney to make that happen,
but we'll try. Nick, Thank you, Yes, absolutely, thanks both.
Following up on the Ian Rappaport tweet, Diana Roussini, whom

(50:36):
we mentioned yesterday from the Athletic NFL Insider So she
reports the Bengals are very motivated to extend their Superstar
wide receivers. Significant progress has been made with both t
Higgins and Jamar Chase, the latter of whom received his
first offer from the team during the Combine Ladder is

(51:01):
second former is first, so ladder would be Jamar Chase right,
expected duo to receive over seventy million dollars per year combined.
That's not necessarily groundbreaking stuff there. I think we would
expect that number to maybe go above seventy five million dollars.
But it seems like we're inching toward a resolution as

(51:24):
at least as it relates to those two guys. How
about that? How about that? I would feel bad for
the beat writers, not that anybody feels bad for people
who cover football for a living, but it's four fifteen
on Friday afternoon. Now. Those folks have created a lot

(51:48):
of content, right, They've created content about you know, TJ.
Slayton and samaj Peron and Orrin Burks, plus the players
that have been brought in. They've had to field questions
from anger Bengals fans. They've been producing podcasts and they've
they've gotten a They've worked hard this week. They might
maybe have been covering as much as maybe a lot

(52:09):
of us would have liked, but they're getting toward the
end of the week. And granted you cover an NFL team,
it could be a seven day a week job, but
it's Friday afternoon and maybe a chance to all right,
take a breath, relax. No, no, no, no, no, maybe
maybe a Friday afternoon news dump. We will see uh
quickly before the break. Dave, You're on ESPN fifteen thirty.

(52:31):
What's up.

Speaker 8 (52:34):
How you doing today?

Speaker 3 (52:35):
I'm good, man, you, I'm good.

Speaker 8 (52:38):
I've just come home from the golf course day or
down here in Florida. So all good, not a bad day,
so hey, not bad, not bad. Hey. So I've been
a lifelong Cincinnati sports fan, grew up in the city.
Now I live down here in Florida. But yeah, I
go back to and I know you've been in the
city a long time and probably go back to I'm

(53:00):
not sure how old you are, but I'm sure you
remember the nineties Super Bowl, you know, eighty eight Super Bowl, Bloomer,
all those guys. Yes, all right, perfect, So Mike Brown
basically took over the team at that point. I mean,
Paul Brown passed away ninety one ninety two, so Mike

(53:23):
was probably calling the shots at that point.

Speaker 2 (53:25):
Would you agree Mike's role with the team goes back
many many years before his dad passed.

Speaker 8 (53:30):
Yes, right, right, But I mean, as far as who's
calling the shots at that point, Mike was really kind
of really starting to call the shots for the most part.
So we talked about Mike not wanting to win championships,
and I'm in that camp. I'm in the camp and
this guy could care less about winning championship. He may

(53:51):
have liked winning winning games, but he could care less
about winning championships. And if you look over the franchises
that win championships, they get to a certain level and they,
you know, go out and they'll find players to put
them over the top. Look at San Francisco back back
in the day. They went out and got Dion Sanders

(54:12):
because they couldn't beat Mike Laarvan and the Cowboys. So
they go get Dion, they beat them Cowboys, then turn
around and they get d On because they couldn't beat
San Francisco without them. So they these franchises, or you
have a franchise quarterback, and they franchises keep building on
what they have because they want to win championships. I
don't see that with Mike. I don't see that with

(54:33):
this organization. I haven't seen it in my lifetime. Who
you know every time, and you could argue we've had
possibly two franchise quarterbacks. I mean Carson could have been
a franchise quarterback. I think he might have, and I
think he was. We have Joe and you could argue
that Boomer was probably a franchise quarterback at one time.

(54:56):
And every time you would get to a point where
they were at that level of God, we need seed
this player, this player to get us over that hump.
He gets. Boomer walks, Max Montoya walks. You know, they
let TJ. Howson john to walk. They let this guy walk,
They let you know, Willie Anderson walk. Then you know,

(55:18):
even in Darian Dalton's time, you know, you let Marvin
Jones and some Marvin Senhard snow walk. He let whit walk,
you know. And so that's not a commitment to winning championships.
And that's that's the problem I have with Mike Brown
and the family.

Speaker 2 (55:36):
Well, I think to a degree, there are separate issues
because there's a commitment to winning a championship or commitment
to winning championships and letting players walk, players are going
to leave. You know, for every player you just mentioned,
I would say, well, Geno Watkins got three contracts. Heck,
Andrew Whitworth got three contracts. AJ Green got multiple contracts.
Joe Burrow just got a massive contract, Chad Johnson got

(55:57):
multiple contracts. Rudy Johnson got a contract, Willie Anderson and
Levi Jones got contracts. Like players are going to leave,
if you can't replace them, then it doesn't matter. And
so like the example that I always come back to
is Whitworth leaving, which obviously predates this coach, this quarterback,
it predates this era. When Andrew Whitworth left, I understood

(56:19):
what they were trying to do. They looked at a
player who was in his mid thirties and beat against
him playing at an extremely high level.

Speaker 3 (56:25):
Now, good for Andrew Whitworth.

Speaker 2 (56:27):
He continued to play at a great level in LA,
solidified his Hall of Fame case, and unfortunately at the
Bengals expense, he won a ring. But what the Bengals
did I understood. The problem is the plan to replace him,
which they set in place a year more than two
I'm sorry, almost two years before he left, didn't work.
If you remember the twenty fifteen draft, they took tackles

(56:51):
with each of their first two picks. It didn't take
a genius to see what they were trying to do.
They took those players trying to get what they could
out of them the short term, but knowing one of
them was going to replace Andrew Whitworth one day. Well,
if Andrew leaves and Cedric obway he ends up playing
at a decent level. Everybody credits the Bengals for getting

(57:12):
good tackle play at a fraction of the cost of
Andrew Whitworth. Unfortunately, Cedric gob Bwoy, He's stunk by many accounts,
didn't even like football, had injury issues. And Andrew Whitworth
keeps playing at a high level, and so the Bengals
look like buffoons. So players are going to leave. But
there is a lack of aggressiveness that has defined this

(57:33):
franchise day for our entire lives, and frankly that that
predates Paul Brown's passing. Would they like to win championships? Yes?
Do they want to win championships? Yes, they want to
do it their way, and their way does not mesh
with aggression, does not mesh with aggressiveness, does not mesh

(57:56):
with seemingly going to the end of the earth to
whatever it is you can to win a championship. I
until until we see a sustained period of evidence to
suggest otherwise people like you and me are going to
feel exactly that.

Speaker 8 (58:16):
Oh yeah, no, I and I agree. Their players are
going to leave and and and I agree with what
you're saying. And they they are going to do it
the way they want to do it. And you know,
me down here in Florida, and you know, I'm in
the golf business, so I have the you know, fortunate
enough running into you know, some celebrities and this and

(58:38):
that and all that stuff. And I ran into a
former Bengal legend, you know, two time Heisman Trophy winner.
I won't say any names.

Speaker 2 (58:47):
I wonder who that is.

Speaker 8 (58:50):
Hey, I want to do that is. Anyway, we got
to talking and and I said to him, and he
said to me, he said, look, he says, Paul told
me this one time. He says, this is a family
run business, and we're gonna run it like a family
run business. And that's you know that that's kind of
what they want to do. That and that comes up

(59:11):
I think them in a hole. It's just very frustrating.
You know, you sit here and you see, I mean,
this team could win multiple super Bowls with the guy
that we've got playing quarterback. Yes, and it just frustrating
is all get out to sit here and and then
not to mention we've got to worry about the other
team that plays down the river, and that the mess

(59:32):
that we deal with them.

Speaker 2 (59:33):
Yeah, I think I think what I think, what I think,
don't get me started with that. I think what amplifies
the frustration is exactly what you just said. They have
the most important thing in sports. They have been given
a gift in Joe Burrow.

Speaker 9 (59:48):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (59:49):
I think, no knock on Boomer, Ken Anderson, Andy Dalton,
Carson Palmer or anybody who came before him. They have
a quarterback who you could legitimately claim is the best
in the league, who is the best at his position,
in in in in playing it right. And when you
have that and and and he's in his prime, you

(01:00:10):
you have such an opportunity to do something special and
it gets to be. It's It's one thing if you
if you're passive when Andy Daltons are guy, and you
don't have a legitimate chance of winning the whole thing
because of who your quarterback is and what his limitations are.
I don't like it, but but I get. But when
you have what Joe Burrow is, when you have the

(01:00:32):
most important thing in sports.

Speaker 3 (01:00:34):
When you have.

Speaker 2 (01:00:35):
The the the gift that so many other teams would
would have spent decades searching for, and you have it
and you can't take advantage of it, and you seem
unwilling to take advantage of it as a fan, that
is really really frustrating.

Speaker 3 (01:00:52):
And you know, I said this on the show.

Speaker 2 (01:00:54):
I think yesterday, if if we're talking about the Bengals
being on the outside looking in in a year and
Joe Burrow has had another excellent season and they're still
not playing in the playoffs or still not close to
winning championships, then you know, I think history has a
good chance of repeating itself, or a quarterback decides, you
know what.

Speaker 3 (01:01:12):
Long term, this isn't for me.

Speaker 8 (01:01:15):
Oh, I agree, I think we're closer to I think
today we're closer to the Carson Palmer outcome than we
were six months ago. And that's the scary and most
frustrating part. And that was another comment that me and
this gentleman had conversation wise, and his comment to me was,
if that happens, they might as well just sell the

(01:01:36):
team because nobody's going to show up.

Speaker 5 (01:01:37):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:01:38):
I mean, if you squander Dave, have a great weekend.
Thank you for the phone call. If you squandered Joe Burrow,
the long term repercussions are going to be massive. I
don't think it's a lack of desire to win a championship.
I think it's stayed. I think at times they've been
very outmoded and outdated and slow to evolve and adapt.
I think that's a very fair criticism. I think they

(01:01:58):
have their way of doing things, and their way of
doing things cannot be defined as aggressive, and now is
a period of time that I think demands aggressiveness. It's
twenty five after four. I'm aggressive and screwing up the clock.
This is ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 1 (01:02:15):
Station, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty Traffic.

Speaker 6 (01:02:21):
From the UC Health Traffic Center. When it comes to stroke,
every second count soil. That's why the UCE Health Comprehensive
Stroke Center is the clear choice for rapid life saving treatment.
Learn more at UCHealth dot com. East found two seventy
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(01:02:42):
Pike suthbound seventy five traffic stuff and go between Hopple
Street and Fort Washington Way at twenty three minute delay.
That eask with traffic.

Speaker 2 (01:02:52):
Now all the big national people are tweeting about Jamar.

Speaker 3 (01:02:56):
Chase Adam Schefter.

Speaker 2 (01:02:57):
The expectation around the league is the Jamar Chay new deal,
if and when it gets done well average somewhere in
the range of forty point one to forty one million
per year, topping Miles Garrett and ready for it, making
him the highest paid non quarterback in the NFL, as
the Bengal said he would. He followed. That was a

(01:03:17):
follow up to a tweet that he sent about twenty
five minutes or so ago, where he wrote, the Bengals
are actively working to get both wide receivers signed as
soon as possible. Adam Schefter ESPN dot Com. It's twenty
nine away from five o'clock. Kindred d. St Aubin on
FC Cincinnati versus Charlotte.

Speaker 1 (01:03:35):
Next Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 6 (01:03:40):
Traffic from the uc Health Traffic Center. When it comes
to stroke, every second counts. That's why the UCE Health
Comprehensive Stroke Center is the clear choice for rapid life
saving treatment. Learn more at UCHealth dot com East found
two seventy five. It's an accident on the right shoulder
between Mostellar and eleven Road, Elbaron Avenue and accident at

(01:04:02):
Mount Echo Park Drive southout two seventy five down to
one lane four construction on the Carrol Cropper Bridge at
Ezelek with traffic.

Speaker 2 (01:04:11):
This reporting spanks the N fifteen thirty movement as it
relates to Jamar Chase and T Higgins and Terry Francona
on Tyler Stevenson coming up in just a few busy
weekend FC Cincinnati talking about busy Tomorrow night FC Cincinnati
on the road against Charlotte. This will be if you
take the start of the MLS season and the four

(01:04:33):
matches they played in the CONCACAFF Champions Cup. Tomorrow will
be the eighth match in twenty four days for FC
Cincinnati seven thirty Tomorrow night, Apple TV MLS Season Pass,
and then tomorrow they get into the normal cadence of
the season and they're basically going to have a game
every weekend for a long stretch of time, which I'm

(01:04:56):
sure it's gonna come as a relief to a lot
of the players. Certainly, Pat Noonan is they can maybe
get into a rhythm as we get into the heart
of MLS play. On the call tomorrow for Apple TV
is somebody we have had on the show before, first
time this season. On the call tomorrow night, Kendred d
Saint Aubin is kind enough to give us a few
minutes to talk about a game between a pair of
Queens Cities.

Speaker 3 (01:05:16):
It's good to have you, Kendrick. How are you.

Speaker 7 (01:05:18):
I'm great.

Speaker 10 (01:05:19):
How are you doing.

Speaker 2 (01:05:19):
I'm doing well. That's where I start. I'm kind of
curious and I would imagine you are to a degree
as well, to see what FC Cincinnati has in the
tank tomorrow night.

Speaker 10 (01:05:29):
Yeah, it's a tricky one, isn't it, Because you'd like
to think they're going to bounce back from that loss.
I think they're incredibly disappointed with the performance and the
goals that gave up at Seagress the other night. But
at the same time, I mean, Patt Newton told us
just yesterday on our call that it was an exhausting
travel day. They got home, they had a minute drig
group and then they were on the road traveling to
hear and you said it eight games in twenty four

(01:05:52):
to twenty five days, it's been exhausting scheduled. Plus in
the first round, remember they went to Hunduras. So I'd
like to say that it's going to be this bounce
back game for them and they're going to be feeling good,
looking to redeem themselves. But what do they have left
in the tank mentally and physically? That could be another one.

Speaker 2 (01:06:06):
Yeah, to be fair, I wondered that with their last
MLS tilt against Toronto, and I thought they answered the
bell pretty well.

Speaker 10 (01:06:15):
Yeah, I agree, and even just responding from the disappointing
loss at Philadelphia. I know they had a Concast Champions
Cup game in between there at home, which was good
they got a draw, but they felt good about bouncing
back from that loss at Philadelphia at place that I'm
sure Pat Noonan, even though the coaching changes happened over
there with Jim Curtin, never wants to go back there
and get beat like that. But yes, against Toronto, I

(01:06:36):
thought they answered the bell. They got the goals they
needed to, they got the defense they needed to, they
got the shutout, the clean sheet. So I think from
an all around performance considering their schedule, he felt really
good about what they did at home against Toronto, and
again you said it, this is a game a week
now they can get in this canance cadence of you know,
getting back in the swing of just regular season play,

(01:06:57):
and you're probably right in a sense that it's going
to feel like a compared to what they've been dealing with.

Speaker 2 (01:07:02):
I'm sort of curious because you know, as you know,
the preseason for this team was was weird. You know,
I mean that you have players who don't show up. Yeah,
you have the whole situation with Lucho Acosta. Then they
acquire almost immediately a vander FC Cincinnati under Pat Noonan
has been really good at handling chaos. They've been really
good at handling players coming and going, and that's just

(01:07:25):
sort of an inherent part of this sport and a
big part of this league. I am interested in watching
as the next few weeks unfold. And this is more
of a comment that it is a question I guess
with with with the benefit of getting into a rhythm
here where they're going to play every weekend and not
be traveling as much and only in one competition at
least until Midsummer, I am kind of curious as to

(01:07:45):
how things start to blend with the benefit of a
little extra training time between matches.

Speaker 10 (01:07:51):
I agree, and I think that's the key piece. I mean,
Pat Noonan also knows that the fan base there is incredible,
So you're preaching patience to a group that you know
wants to see results right away. And to be fair,
their new DPS and Dank and Evander have produced results
in gold Contributions, but it's about consistency and getting them
on the field together. I mean the fact that Orizono,

(01:08:12):
Evander and Dank really started a match together for the
first time just the other night against Key Grace. I
think that tells you all you need to know. And
the expectations are high for those guys. So I still
believe Pat Newton when he says that Danka could be
in the Golden Boot conversation come the end of the year,
but he's going to need everybody to step up. They're
going to need contributions from everybody. They're still waiting for
Matt Miaska to get healthy, so what does that do

(01:08:34):
for your back line, which then strengthens your midfield. He
talked about Buca the other day and just said, hey,
look what do I need from him? He's got to
get used to playing without Acosta, and what that means
is he's used to Luciano Acosta demanding the ball all
the time. Well, now Buka gets to be that guy
where he can have more of the ball and control
some of the offense going forward when and if Evander

(01:08:55):
is in the game or around him. So I think
a lot of it is just figuring out their new roles.
I think this front line is going to be something
to be reckoned with. You've talked to any other coach.
We talked to Dean Smith. They're frightened by Orizono, they're
frightened by Evander and dan K. Everybody knows what these
guys are capable of, but it's going to take a
little time.

Speaker 2 (01:09:13):
You talk about Dank, right, because the season starts and
we're all excited and curious to see how they're going
to work Evander into the fold and all the the
built in comparisons, comparisons between him and Lucho Acosta, and
it was it was almost like a lot of folks
forgot that they acquired dan K and then their their
first match in the Champions Cup, it was like, oh, yeah,
there's how good this guy can be.

Speaker 10 (01:09:35):
Right, And then Evander steps on the field and it's like, oh, yeah,
that's right, we got a new number ten. You know,
a new number ten in town.

Speaker 7 (01:09:42):
Who's Luciano Acosta.

Speaker 10 (01:09:43):
Who's that MVP guy from last year?

Speaker 8 (01:09:45):
You know?

Speaker 10 (01:09:46):
So, yes, I think and Dank's work great. I think
is something also that has been noticed amongst the staff
and amongst his fellow teammates. And it's going to take
a little time, I know, learning to play with each other.
But he's going to be so good in and around
the box. His back to goal, you know, his quick
turns with the fall at his foot is finishing. Also
his one twos. He loves to get his teammates involved.

(01:10:08):
So I think it's going to be a bonus and
just a great teammate all around. And yes, Pat neun
And and company has learned to sort of deal with some
headaches and some off the field issues. But don't get
me wrong, I'm sure they'll be happy not to have
to deal.

Speaker 3 (01:10:20):
With them this year, hopefully as Charlotte's team.

Speaker 5 (01:10:23):
For me, well, they're going to be good.

Speaker 10 (01:10:26):
I mean, I'll tell you what. They go on the
road and get a draw Seattle, a performance in which
Dean Smith was not happy about. But they still got
a result, and they got the point on the road,
and Seattle's not an easy place to play, and you're
going across the country there, and then they find a
way to get a win. And then you go and
you play on the road at Miami, which they are
disappointed about. The wind came at home against Atlanta, which
we all know the attacking prowess of Atlanta. Everybody's talking

(01:10:48):
about how much money they've spent. And then they go
on the road and they end up losing at Miami
to a ten man in Miami who just packed it
in the second half when they were down a man.
But I think this Charlotte team same thing. They have
some pieces from an attacking perspective that they're excited about.
They are dealing with much the same thing at Cincinnati.
How do you get Wilfred Zaha, how do you get
Patrick Ajuman to play together? How you get them to

(01:11:11):
be cohesive unit? How do you get your wingers involved?
Who's going to play on the outside. So I think
it's gonna be a really fun game. It's two Eastern
Conference teams that know every point counts. Even though we're
just a few games into the season. You can't start
throwing games away now, you got to start focusing on
you know, what does the end result look like? But yeah,
it's a marathon, not a sprint. And I like the

(01:11:32):
Charlotte team.

Speaker 3 (01:11:32):
Yeah, gonna be gonna be fun.

Speaker 2 (01:11:34):
Tomorrow night, an opportunity for three points on the road.
Then it's almost going to be feel like spring break
for FC Cincinnati with a full week between games. Tomorrow night,
seven thirty, MLS Season Pass Apple TV. Kindre have a
great call.

Speaker 3 (01:11:45):
Thank you so much, awesome, thank you.

Speaker 2 (01:11:48):
Most definitely, thank you. Kindred and d Saint all been
MLS Season Pass Apple TV seven thirty Tomorrow night. That match,
of course can be heard depending on when UK plays.
If UK plays tomorrow, either on ESPN fifteen thirty or
Fox Sports thirteen sixty. All right, there's a lot to

(01:12:08):
get caught up on. Let me quickly run through some
sports headlines. Thanks to Kelsey Chevrolet, so multiple national media reporters,
people who cover the NFL nationally are reporting that progress
is being made between the Bengals and Jamar Chase and
T Higgins. I've seen this from Tom Pelsero, Ian Rappaport,

(01:12:28):
Diana Russini. Now Adam Schefter Diana Wright's significant progress has
been made with both t Higgins and Jamar. Chase expect
the duo to receive over forty million dollars. Schefter reports
he expects, if and when the deal gets done, Jamar
to make between forty point one and forty one million dollars,
which would make him highest paid non quarterback in the NFL. Meanwhile,

(01:12:50):
Bengals made it official Joseph Osai back on a one
year contract. Meanwhile, not great news for the Reds and
Tyler Stevenson. He is going to start the season on
the injured list because he is dealing with a low
grade internal oblique string. I said, low grade internal oblique string.

(01:13:11):
This the result of an MRI that he underwent yesterday. Meanwhile,
the Rads are playing split squad games today. By the way,
just see that they got like twelve runs in the
ninth inning Yesterday. Is today they're playing the White Sox.
That game is in Glendale, and Chicago leads that game
by a score of three to one. Elie de la Cruz,

(01:13:32):
Matt McClain, TJ Fried Ol, Gavin Lux among the Reds
in that one. Graham Ashcraft did not have a good start.
He has not had a great spring statistically. Gave up
three runs, did not get out of the first inning.
Jacob Hurdabees has just stolen home and so it's a
three to two Chicago in that one. In the other game,

(01:13:53):
Chase Petty starting for Cincinnati. They're playing the Diamondbacks a
talking stick top of the third inning and it's one
nothing Arizona. There Jamer Candelario, Austin Hayes ces among the
Reds in that one. Meanwhile, Tonight in the SEC Tournament,
Kentucky is taking on Alabama. That game is scheduled to
start at nine to thirty. Pre game coverage on ESPN

(01:14:15):
fifteen thirty at eight, Miami taking on Kent State in
the semifinals of the MAC Tournament. The winner will take
on either Torledo Toledo or Akron Travis Steeles team. It's
got a chance that they got blown out by Akron.
Akron lost one game this year. First Things First got
to beat Kent State. Miami beat them twice during the

(01:14:35):
regular season. Dayton takes on Saint Joe's tonight in the
Atlantic Ten Tournament. That game starts at seven thirty. Winner
will play either George Washington or George Mason, a battle
of George's and Louisville takes on Clemson in the second
semifinal of the ACC Tournament. That game tonight will tip
off at nine to thirty. Among games you're paying attention to,

(01:14:57):
if you're a Xavier fan, texts at halftime trails Tennessee.
And if you're a Musketeer fan, chances are you know
you're rooting for Tennessee. You've All's up three at halftime
forty one, two thirty eight. You need the one bid
leagues to go to conference regular season champions. Memphis won.
It's AAC quarterfinal game over Wichita. Stay today, eighty three

(01:15:17):
two thirty one. Other game of interest, Mick Cronin's team
is getting destroyed by Wisconsin one and a half minutes
to go in the Big Ten Tournament eighty six to
sixty two. All right, you'll hear Terry Francona on Tyler
Stevenson next on ESPN fifteen.

Speaker 1 (01:15:32):
Thirty, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 6 (01:15:37):
Traffic from the UC Health Traffic Center. When it comes
to stroke, every second counts. That's why the UCE Health
Comprehensive Stroke Center is the clear choice for rapid life
saving treatment. Learn more at UCHealth dot com. Northbound seventy
five after ezerd Charles drive left center lane block from
a disabled vehicle right now a five minute delay from

(01:15:58):
Fort Washington Way East found two seventy five after seventy
one exident on the left shoulder el baron an exitent
at Mount Echo Park Drive. I'm at Ezelic with traffic.

Speaker 3 (01:16:09):
Nixon Warriors tomorrow.

Speaker 2 (01:16:12):
It is eight away from five o'clock. More on the Bengals,
there does seem to be some movement. By the way,
I think we could all reach the same conclusion here.
Diyna Russini, Tom pellisero Ian Rappaport, Adam Schefter all reporting Bengals,
and Jamar and T are close. Jamar and T have
the same agent, so clearly this is coming from the agent,
which I think would suggest, yes, there is there is

(01:16:35):
something seriously brewing here. We will see something brewing. Unfortunately,
with Tyler Stevenson, the Reds catcher is going to start
the season on the injured list. He is dealing with
an oblique injury. The exact verbiage low grade internal oblique strain.
Terry Francona was asked about this before today's Reds White

(01:16:55):
Sox game. Here's his conversation about Tyler with Jim Day.

Speaker 11 (01:16:59):
This camp has been relatively injury free, and unfortunately the
injury bug strikes. It's Tyler Stevenson. What kind of update
can you give to us?

Speaker 12 (01:17:07):
Well, you know, I think our training staff and Tyler
did a really good job because he was feeling something,
but he said, he goes. I think I'm okay, and Sean,
our trainer, said let's go get this thing imaged. So
it came back and he's got a low grade oblique.
And we haven't put a timetable on the reason being

(01:17:27):
it's gonna heal when it heals, and people heal differently.
You can bet these guys are gonna do everything in
their power to come back the minute they can. That's
how they're built, that's why they're here. But I just
think it's unfair when you start putting timetables when we
just don't know.

Speaker 11 (01:17:47):
I know there's no timetable, but we are closing in
an opening. Dad would say, I think that's it's a
long shot. I don't think that's realistic. I think that's
being very fair, But I just want to make sure
that people need understand these guys. It's not like he's
going to be sitting around. You know, he's dying to play,
and I mean it's just that's the way guys are.
We're going to see the value of going out and

(01:18:09):
getting a backup catcher that you believe. I mean, you
got Jose Travino because in case this happens, you need
a guy that can catch every day if needed, and
those are hard to find.

Speaker 12 (01:18:21):
Jim, we during the winter meetings, Nick and Brad, they
were grinding because we didn't want to just find a
backup catcher. We needed to find a catcher where if
something happens to your catcher, you've got a guy that
can catch, not once or twice a week, because those
guys are out there and made a trade for Jose,

(01:18:41):
and thank goodness we did.

Speaker 2 (01:18:44):
Terry Francona with Jim Day Red's Radio network talking about
Tyler Stevenson and I did two things. They're acknowledged it's
a long shot that Tyler is ready for the season.
The good news is opening day is just under two
weeks away, so there is some time for this two heel.

Speaker 3 (01:18:58):
If the idea is for the to heal on its.

Speaker 2 (01:19:01):
Own that is that is good.

Speaker 3 (01:19:04):
I think.

Speaker 2 (01:19:05):
Unfortunately, the Jose Travino signing is a good or trade
is a good one. Fernando Cruz as unhittable as he
was early last season. I like that deal. And Jose
Travino is is a better defensive catcher than Tyler Stevenson,
he is not a better hitter. And this team's biggest
question mark, I think is its offense. Tyler Stephenson was

(01:19:27):
one of their top two hitters last season. I hope
he's not one of their top two hitters this year
because that means Matt McLean is even better than he
was two years ago. And maybe Christian and Karnacion Strainan
hits thirty five home runs, But that's that's one that
definitely hurts. And you know, if you followed this game,
and if you have followed sports long enough, you know

(01:19:49):
you know how weird it can be sometimes when an
athlete is dealing with an oblique injury and how they
just seem to not necessarily go away. This is going
to be worth paying attention to all year long. Good
news is there's a couple of weeks. Bad news is
this is right around the time last year where things
started to fall apart from a depth perspective, We'll see
if the Reds can can pass the depth test, because

(01:20:13):
right now, arguably two of their top four hitters from
last year's team are dealing with injury uncertainty, with both
Tyler Stevenson and Spencer Steer in that conversation a couple
of minutes away from five o'clock, the Latest on Jamar,
the Latest on Tea, the subsequent questions, and we we

(01:20:33):
still have to play our Trey Hendrickson game. It's coming
up on five o'clock on ESPN fifteen thirty. Thanks for
calling discussion. What's up? Good at kon I Mowegar. This
is ESPN fifteen thirty. Thank you for listening today. I
hope your weekend is off to an unreal start. Unreal start,

(01:20:53):
I said, by the way, by the they, by the way,
not only have I lost the ability to speak clearly
and annunciate words, don't forget as we're sort of ensconced
in college basketball this weekend. We are broadcasting Thursday morning,
Day one, not counting the first four Day one of

(01:21:16):
the tournament, which obviously locally the first four could be huge.
I mean, Xavier I think if Xavier is in NCAA tournament,
they're in Dayton. I think of Ohio State's NCAA tournament team,
which I don't think the Buckeyes are. They're in Dayton.

Speaker 3 (01:21:28):
Indiana could be in Date.

Speaker 2 (01:21:29):
But anyway, never mind that Thursday morning, before the tournament
actually really begins. We'll beat the Holy Grail from ten
to noon, and we hope to see you there. Hope
to see you there. Already thinking ahead, lots of moving
parts today. Let's begin with what is unfolding right now,
and we'll see if we get any hard news or
anything official between now and when we're done at six o'clock.

(01:21:53):
But a number of national NFL reporters, including the likes
of Timeanna Russini and Tom Pellasero, and Ian Rappaport and
Adam Schefter, are putting out on social media tweets like
the following this from Diana Russini. The Bengals have been
very motivated to extend their Superstar wide receivers. Significant progress

(01:22:17):
has been made with both t Higgins and Jamar Chase
expect the duo to receive over seventy million dollars per
year combined. That is, Diana Russini of the Athletic Adam
Schefter reports Bengals are actively working to give both wide

(01:22:37):
receiver signed as soon as possible. The expectation around the
league is Jamar's new deal, if and when it gets done,
we'll average somewhere in the range of forty point one
million dollars to forty one million per year, topping Miles Garrett,
making him the highest paid non quarterback in the NFL,
as the Bengals said he would be. I don't think
it takes a genius to arrive at the conclusion that

(01:22:58):
this is being this new wo is being dumped to
these guys or to these people by the agent. For
both Jamar, Chase, and t Higgins. The verbiage that all
four reporters have gone with is similar, and so would
suggest to me the Bengals are an organization that doesn't
leak a lot of stuff like this. So obviously there

(01:23:19):
are some tea's to get crossed, and some eyes to
get dotted, and all these things that can happen. But
I think if we could assume that this is being
leaked by the agent, I think we could then assume
that the agent wouldn't be leaking this if there wasn't
some legitimate smoke here. So on one level, a big
sigh of relief, right, Like, let's just talk about you

(01:23:41):
and I as fans for a second.

Speaker 3 (01:23:43):
How tired are you of this?

Speaker 2 (01:23:46):
Right?

Speaker 3 (01:23:47):
I'm a talk show host, so.

Speaker 2 (01:23:50):
You know, for me, just what I do professionally, there
is a big, big part that it's like this has
given me so much, This has given me so many segments,
and I think often has been a really interesting story.
I mean, it's you know, it's it's the fact that
they waited on Jamar, that the training camp thing unfolded
the way it did. It's the season that he had.
It's that the t dynamic added to Jamar. It's what

(01:24:13):
Joe Burrow has had to say. It's the fact that
the Bengals were kind of out on Tea long term
and then Joe Burrow pulled him back in. There's the
Trey Hendrickson dynamic. There's the Germaine Burton dynamic. There's just
the dynamic of like a guy like Ta who would
ordinarily be the top wide receiver in free agency, is
not even the top wide receiver on his team. And

(01:24:34):
so there's there's been lots of different interesting. If you're
a talk show host, you're always looking for angles. You're
you're always looking for different angles to the same story.
This story, Jamar and t and their long term future
with the Bengals, from that perspective, has had a billion
different angles. But let's be honest, all of us at

(01:24:56):
some point have had Jamar Chase fatigue, and T Higgins fatigue.
I asked the Paul question a few weeks ago on
Twitter thanks to United at Heartland Insurance, do you have
T Higgins fatigue? And eighty nine percent said yes. So
there is that end of it where it's like we
could just stop talking about this. Not that we're ever

(01:25:18):
really gonna stop talking about those players, because they're terrific
players and they're central to what the Bengals are gonna
be doing, but there's gonna be that relief that forget
it just being done, forget it all right, you know,
moving forward for basically the rest of the decade. If
this gets done and it feels like it's closer than
it was this morning, we can just stop talking about it.

(01:25:41):
Like I was even thinking to myself during the break, like, man,
if this gets done, then what are we gonna talk about?
Not that there won't be tons of things to discuss.
So there's that part of it. I think you can,
you know, take some solace in the fact that this
will not be something that leaks into the training camp,

(01:26:02):
or leaks into the preseason, or becomes a thing once
the season begins. That will be nice, that'd be kind
of cool. I think also there's this, if you have
followed this team for any amount of time, there aren't many,
if any situations like this. I think it was pretty

(01:26:25):
apparent the direction the Bengals planned on going in. As
it relates to t Higgins, they franchised tagged him last
year after spending a lot of time not getting a
deal done with him. They took a wide receiver from
a high major school pretty early in the draft last season.

(01:26:50):
Once they franchise tagged him, I don't believe they really
negotiated with him. Tea was being talked about not just
by chuckleheads like me, but by informed people who are
really close to the team as somebody who it's an
inevitability will play for the Bengals in twenty twenty four,

(01:27:12):
and then he's bouncing. They're not going to tag him,
They're not going to sign him, even with Joe Burrows
saying the stuff that he was saying. When the Bengals
beat the Broncos, the big takeaway was that could have
been t Higgins's final game at the venue originally known
as Paul Brown Stadium in a Bengals uniform. What a moment.

(01:27:34):
The walk off touchdown grab right, And we talked about
like there being a player whose popularity exceeding T Higgins
is almost non existent, right, like we talked about Tea
for a very long time, not in the past tense,
but just we talked about him not being here as
if that was a certainty. And then Joe Burrow, almost

(01:27:58):
out of nowhere, changed the conversation. After the Bengals beat
the Cowboys on December ninth, and I remember the next day,
I guess it was two days later. The game was
on Monday. Talking with Paul Danner Junior, and I said, like,
all right, where do you put the odds of T
Higgins coming back? And at the time he said fifty
five percent. And I said, where would you have put

(01:28:21):
it prior to last night or prior to Monday night?
And he said, you know, ten percent, five percent something
like that. Paraphrasing Paul Here point being it went from
something that was like not even worth talking about Tea's
not coming back to suddenly it became the talking point,
the topic of the final month of the season, in
addition to obviously the Bengals trying to make the playoffs.

(01:28:42):
It turned into the topic of the offseason once we
got to the off season. Now he's obviously been franchise tag,
so he's going to play for the Bengals this year,
even if contract negotiations fall apart. I do not think
they're going to trade him. But let's just say this
gets done. Let's just say they get a deal done

(01:29:02):
with T Higgins. Maybe the average annual value of the
contract is like twenty eight million dollars. I don't know.
This will have been something that I can't recall anything
like it in the history of the Cincinnati Bengals, where
the Bengals are going in this direction over here, and
yet they have to pivot quickly to this direction over here,

(01:29:26):
probably because of one person, the guy who wears number nine,
Like that's I can't recall. Maybe your memory is better
than mine, or maybe there's just not an instance that
I'm thinking of. I can't recall anything like this. You know,

(01:29:46):
they once tried to trade aj mccaeron to the Cleveland
Browns and somehow that got screwed up, so suddenly, you know,
the McCarran was back with the Bengals. That's not even
close to comparable. Like, I, honest to God, can't recall
anything like this. Not that there haven't been players that
you thought might leave that did stay. T Higgins was gone,

(01:30:08):
Like you couldn't find anybody when the season started last year.
You're like, you know what, you know, maybe by the
end of the year they figured it out. Like he
was gone, and now he is close, according to reports,
to signing a contract extension. It certainly illustrates the power

(01:30:29):
of Joe Burrow, you might argue, and I think you
could successfully that it illustrates the flexibility of the Bengals,
although one might say Joe Burrow made him be flexible regardless,
correct me if I'm wrong. I think this is almost unprecedented.

(01:30:49):
It's a major win for Joe Burrow. I would argue
it's a win for the Bengals because they're keeping one
of their few really good players. That's if you if
you wondered how much flex, how much sway, how much
pole is Joe gonna have with the Cincinnati Bengals as

(01:31:11):
the face of the franchise. Nobody has ever done this,
and I'm let's let's not get to ahead of ourselves.
There has been nothing official that says the T Higgins
and Jamar Chase have signed their contract, So you know
that that, to me is kind of the most interesting
part of this. Then there's the other two, and again,

(01:31:32):
let's not get too far ahead of ourselves. But you
can't help but wonder, like, just Jamar Chase specifically here,
the difference in money between the contract that Jamar would
have signed maybe last summer and the contract that he
is set to sign here, and what the Bengals could
have done with that money. But also, like the Jamar
Chase thing gets done, the T Higgins thing gets done.

(01:31:53):
I don't know how they're gonna announce it. I don't
know if there's gonna be like a public celebration at
Fountain Square. I don't know. But there's gonna be relief,
and there's gonna be excitement, and I'll share in all
those things. But Jamar Chase and T Higgins were on
the Bengals last season and they went nine to eight.
Neither guy plays defense, neither guy plays on the offensive line,
and so you know, that's that's a nice win, and

(01:32:16):
it's gonna get a lot of headlines, and those are stars.
And I think most of us are on board with
both guys getting contracts. I think most of us understand
you can, you can pay those players and make the
rest of your team better. The question is will they
and so far that really hasn't happened. Both things can

(01:32:36):
be true. It's encouraging to see they're getting close with
Jamar and with T Higgins. It's discouraging that as of
right now, they haven't fixed their biggest deficiencies. Jamar Chase
and T Higgins made up a strength they haven't addressed
from outside their biggest deficiencies. Now, along with this is
the Trey Hendrickson thing. I think Trey Hendrickson is a

(01:33:01):
necessity for the twenty twenty five Bengals, a necessity. And
while we could talk about the the benefits and some
of the risks in signing Jamar and te long term,
I'm worried about twenty twenty five. I remember a year
ago when we were discussing the t Higgins contract, and

(01:33:22):
I said, look, tag him. If you're not gonna sign them,
tag him and keep him, and let's win a title
this year. And I did this exercise where I said,
let's pretend it's the day after the Super Bowl and
the Bengals have just won the whole thing, and t
Higgins was a reason why. But now he's gonna be
a free agent. We're gonna be okay, right, I'm gonna
do the same thing with Trey Hendrickson. I would to

(01:33:42):
win the Super Bowl this year. I understand why the
Bengals are kind of balking on Trey's asking price. I
understand why they're apparently asking for a lot in a trade.
I am, I am. I know I'm in the minority.
I am making Trey Hendrickson. I'm not making him. I'm
asking him to live up to the contract that he signed.
We're gonna go ahead and we'll negotiate, we'll talk, and

(01:34:04):
you know, maybe I'll still be open to pulling the
trigger on a deal. But I'm not just giving you away.
But I want Trey Hendrickson on the Bengals in twenty
twenty five, mostly because a he's really good be what
he's really good at. The Bengals don't have anybody else
proven who could do what he does. And see they
have an addressed pass rusher so far. So if we're

(01:34:26):
gonna double down on last year's defense, which the Bengals
so far are with a different defensive coordinator, how can
I double down on last year's defense without Trey Hendrickson. Now,
some are gonna say stuff like, well, they're holding Trey
Hendrickson hostage. No they're not. No, No, no they're not.
They're being unfair to him. No they're not. Look, man,

(01:34:47):
I hate to sound like the old fashioned guy. I
hate to sound like the old guy. Trey Hendrickson less
than two years ago signed a contract extension that put
one more year left on his deal. I put on
social media at Moeger on Twitter. If you look at
the rundown for the five o'clock hour, I included a

(01:35:09):
picture of Trey Hendrickson. He has in front of him
a piece of paper that is his contract extension. The
picture was taken in summer of twenty twenty three. The
picture is of him signing his contract extension. He has
a pen in his right hand. He's wearing a cool
Bengals pullover. He's pretty cleanly shaven. He's got what looks

(01:35:32):
like an unforced, huge smile on his face. And by
the way, you and I would be smiling if you
were about to sign for another year where you were
going to make sixteen million dollars. Look at the picture.
Go to Twitter at Moeger. Look at the picture. You
will see no one putting a gun to his head.
You will see no one looking like they're coercing him.

(01:35:54):
It doesn't look like Dave locked the room shut. You
will see like no one struggling with his arm to
make him sign it against his will. He doesn't look angry,
he doesn't look sad, he doesn't look unhappy. He doesn't
look like he's being forced to do anything. Dude, sign

(01:36:16):
the contract, and good for him and all of us
as Bengals fans. I think we're pretty happy. Like, did
they get another year? Trey Hendrickson awesome, great Guy's been
a terrific player, but he knew the risks that came
with that. Look. Man, I could hit free agency at
the end of the twenty twenty four season. This was

(01:36:37):
prior to twenty twenty three, so I got two years left.
I could hit free agency. Excuse me, I could hit
free agency. And if I do in twenty twenty four,
god knows what kind of money I'm gonna make. Who
knows what kind of long term deal I can get. Now, understandably,
he took the security of one more year, but he

(01:37:01):
and his agent did that on their own volition. They
did that willingly, and so I'm sorry. And this is
no knock on Trey, who's a terrific player and by
all accounts, a really good dude. And I'm the guy
that wants him to play for the team this year.
And by the way, if they did sign him long term,
you can't be angry at a team for keeping its
best players. I would wonder in two years, are you

(01:37:25):
going to get the production from this past year? Fair question,
especially for a player of his age. But like this
whole thing where you can't ask a player to play
out the rest of his contract when he only has
a year left. I've been a sports fan for a
very long time. That kind of seems like a new thing. Oh,
you can't ask him to play out his last year?
Why it's a contract he signed. Again, this is not

(01:37:51):
a criticism of Trey, I just signed the contract. I guess,
do it, man, But I do believe a large degree, like,
you agree to something, live up to your end. Trey's
end was we're gonna sign you to a contract. There's
gonna be an expiration date. It's the end of the
twenty twenty five season. Sorry, man, Like I guess maybe

(01:38:15):
that's a really outdated, old fashioned way of looking at things.
He signed that willingly, so we can disagree and when
God knows. There's a lot of different opinions out there
about Trey, and many would say, like, dude, pay a
guy like this, don't let him walk, And there's a
lot of validity to that. But if their position, if

(01:38:37):
their evaluation of him is, you know what, because of
his age, because we don't want to pay for past production,
We're just not willing to go where where he wants
us to go. By the way they want him on
the team in twenty twenty five. Like if Trey said
I'll play for the same amount of money in twenty
twenty six in twenty twenty seven that I'm making this year,
I mean, the Bengals would draft that contract and get

(01:38:59):
that written as quickly as possible. It's nothing.

Speaker 3 (01:39:01):
They don't want them on the team.

Speaker 2 (01:39:02):
They don't want them on the team for extreme high
end money. And so if there's an ability to come
to agreement on a new deal, and the answer is
all right, he's going to have to play out the
last year. That's okay. And the reason why it's okay
is because Trey signed up for that possibility. And as

(01:39:24):
I look at this picture, he did so with a great,
big old smile on his face. So sorry, man, Trey's
not being held hostage. Trey's not being done at disservice.
Trey's being asked to do what he signed to do
and what he is still being paid handsomely to do.
We will see twenty three minutes after five o'clock. Your

(01:39:45):
phone calls are coming up five one, three, seven, four, nine,
fifteen thirty. By the way, if you're a Xavier fan,
the good news is under ten minutes to goo. Tennessee
is up fourteen on Texas. The Longhorns very very very
much a bubble team. You need schools who won the
regular season championships of one bid leagues to win their

(01:40:06):
conference tournaments. Memphis won today. They advance to the AAC semifinal,
they need to win two more. By the way, Cooper
Flag is not going to play tonight for Duke North
Carolina and Duke in the ACC semifinal. That very much
feels as it does for Texas. Very much feels like

(01:40:28):
a win and in situation for the tar Heels despite
the Blue Devils being shorthanded. So there you go. We'll
keep you up to date with all of that. Five three,
fifteen thirty. We also have a pole question for you.
By the way, Milik Browns Austin not going to play

(01:40:48):
for Duke. We'll have a pole question for you that's
kind of tournament related as well. On ESPN fifteen thirty
Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 1 (01:40:54):
Station Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty from.

Speaker 6 (01:41:00):
The uc Health Traffic Center. When it comes to stroke,
every second counts. That's why the UCE Health Comprehensive Stroke
Center is the clear choice for rapid life saving treatment.
Learn more at UCHealth dot com. One exit in around
town at the moment, that is on Elborn Avenue at
Mount Echo Park. Drive West found two seventy five down

(01:41:21):
to one lane four construction that on the Carrol Cropper Bridge.
As a result, you're going to find a ten minute
to laid back from the Petersburg exit. AMEDI zeleek with traffic.

Speaker 2 (01:41:31):
All right, five thirty. What we are way late here,
aren't we? This is ESPN fifteen thirty. Let's get back
to It's Friday. Yeah, let's get back on time. I
do have a poll question I'll tell you about very quickly.
It's thanks to our friends at United Heartland Insurance has
not related to a t Higgins or Jamar Chaser, Trey
Hendrickson or the Bengals. So Twitter, which is officially x X,

(01:41:55):
announced a an NCAA tournament Bracket Challenge, which which everybody
except us has one where What what they're looking for
is is if somebody can put together a perfect bracket
pick every game correctly in the NCAA tournament. And if
anybody does this, the grand prize is a trip to
Mars on Space X, which is that space spaceship. I

(01:42:20):
guess that Elon musk owns. Let me tell you something.
You talk about somebody who has gone out of his
way to distance himself from anything related to that dude.
That's me.

Speaker 3 (01:42:32):
Uh, I want to know?

Speaker 2 (01:42:33):
This? Is that a good prize? A trip to Mars?
Like if you want a trip to Mars. Would you
be excited that you could also take a quarter of
a million dollars, which I would take easily. Terry, you
want to go to Mars, I'll pass. Yeah, me too.
I'm good. I'm I'm we haven't been to Mars yet?

Speaker 3 (01:42:54):
Correct?

Speaker 2 (01:42:55):
No, yeah, Mar. I think he's like robust to Mars,
but you sound like space capsules to Mars. I don't
think we've had a man or a woman walk on
the Moon. When's the last time a man or a
woman walked on the moon. It' went like the seventies.
I don't believe that has happened. So I'm good. I'll
let somebody else. Can you gift it to someone? Can

(01:43:16):
you like if you win it? Can you be like, hey, man,
I won this prize. I can't make it, but hey, here,
redeem this and you get to go to Mars on SpaceX.

Speaker 3 (01:43:26):
Like, I'm good.

Speaker 2 (01:43:28):
You you pick a perfect bracket, which is almost mathematically impossible,
and they send you to a faraway planet. I'm all right.
According to Google, it takes somewhere between seven and nine
months to get to Mars. It takes seven and nine
months to So first of all, you got to do
all the training and prep to get ready to go
into space for that long amount of time. Secondly, you

(01:43:50):
put yourself at the mercy of SpaceX which third then
once you leave, you're gone for seven seven to nine.
And what do you do when you get to Mars?
Like if you said, hey, if you pick a perfect bracket,
we send you to Saint Thomas. I know what I'm
gonna do when I get there. When you get to Mars,
what are you gonna do? Take a selfie? Then hit

(01:44:11):
right back, Yeah, hey great, I'm hey. You can't call anybody, right,
so you get the picture and then you go back
and like, yeah, that was a waste of time. Like
I'm a bit of a space nerd, you know. You
I think Katie Perry, I think is going to space
now for some reason. So we we effectively have commercial
space travel.

Speaker 3 (01:44:31):
No interest.

Speaker 2 (01:44:32):
There's just there's a lot of things that can go
wrong for the sake of what Like there's inherent risk
in getting in an airplane. That's been a big topic now,
but like you have to fly places like there's you know,
if you want to if you want to go somewhere
that's hundreds of miles away, you know, you sort of
bite the bullet asume the risk, you know, get that
the risk is relatively very very very very very very

(01:44:53):
very very small. And there's also, you know, decades and
decades and decades of successful plane flights that have gone
off with that hitch that make the odds dramatically in
your favor of getting to where you got to go safely.
Despite recent events where there's been a lot of aviation incidents,
there's not enough instances where people have gone to Mars

(01:45:16):
for me to feel like, yeah, that'll that'll work out well.
So I don't know how you enter this thing. I
would take the quarter mill easily, but I want to
know if that's a good prize. Vote now at Moweger
we'll update the results, sports headlines and phone calls, I promise.

Speaker 1 (01:45:30):
Next Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 6 (01:45:35):
Traffic from the uc Health Traffic Center. When it comes
to stroke, every second count. So that's why the u
SEE Health Comprehensive Stroke Center is the clear choice for
rapid life saving treatment. Learn more at ucehealth dot com.
On Elboron Avenue, it's an accident between Mount Echo Park
Drive and Mount Hope Avenue southbound seventy five is stop

(01:45:56):
and go traffic from hoppele Street down toward Fort Washington. Wait,
that's a twenty minute delay in northbound seventy one slow
traffic from Smith Edwards to Ronald Reagan Highway on that
Ezelk with traffic.

Speaker 1 (01:46:09):
Cincinnati's sports station ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 2 (01:46:13):
All sports headlines the news.

Speaker 3 (01:46:15):
This isn't good. Jordan Wuenttmeyer reports.

Speaker 2 (01:46:18):
So we found out today Tyler Stevenson is probably going
to start the season on the injured list because he
has a low grade internal oblique strain. Host A Travino
is the backup. He had to leave a game early
today because he took a foul tip off his hand.
Put them all in bubble wrap and get him to Cincinnati.

(01:46:40):
What are the we we We've been monitoring college basketball games,
all the Bengals news. The Reds are playing. It's almost
it's almost too much for one singular man to handle.
The Reds are playing two games, split squad action, if
you will. In the first game, it's not the first game.
In one game, they're playing the light Sox. That game

(01:47:01):
is in Glendale. It's six to two Chicago Cincinnati, and
that one sent Graham Ashcraft to the mound and he
wasn't very good. I'm trying to I'm trying to find
the box score. MLB dot COM's a Graham Ashcraft two
and two thirds gave up three runs, including a homer.
As anybody of consequence done anything with the bat. Sal

(01:47:22):
Stewart has a couple of hits. In the other game,
the Reds and Diamondbacks are tied at one. Chase Petty
started that game for Cincinnati. That was the game that
Travigna was playing in, and Petty went three innings, gave
up a run walk for struck out two. A bunch
of national NFL reporters are reporting that things are getting heated,

(01:47:46):
things are getting close, things are coming together. Progress has
been made. There's motivation Bengals Jamar Chase t Higgins to
get a deal done. Maybe something seems And by the way,
we and I think Tarn for doing this. Tarren charts
the topics and the segments we do on this show,
and I asked him to do this a few breaks ago.

(01:48:08):
As of right now, and this could obviously change the
Jamar Chase and t Higgins contract situations we have done
two thousand and four, I'm sorry two thousand, two thousand,
seven hundred and forty one radio segments on the contract
situations of Jamar Chase and t Higgins. So I want
to thank all parties involved. College basketball Tonight SEC Tournament

(01:48:31):
Kentucky versus Alabama in Nashville. Tip Off time is scheduled
for nine thirty. You and I both know that game's
not going to tip off at nine thirty, but pregame
coverage on ESPN fifteen thirty will start at eight o'clock.
Right now, Tennessee leads Texas seventy five to sixty three.
I don't just mention that because it's an SEC Tournament game,

(01:48:52):
but if you're a Xavier fan, you're paying attention to
teams on the bubble. Texas very much on the bubble,
very much in jeopardy of losing down by twelve to
Tennessee with under four to go. The MAC Tournament semifinals
are tonight in Cleveland, Miami. We'll take on ken State
right now, first half seven to go. Akron a five
point lead over Toledo thirty five to two thirty. The

(01:49:14):
Atlantic ten Tournament is the quarterfinal round is underway dayton
plays tonight. This tournament's in Washington VCU and Loyola, both
winners earlier. Today, Dayton battle Saint Joe's winner will play
at George either Washington or Mason. Washington leads Mason thirty
four to twenty nine. Louisville plays in the ACC Tournament tonight.
What else do we have? Hockey downtown Tonight? Cyclones play Toledo.

(01:49:37):
By the way, Dayton fans, that game will be on Peacock. Peacock. Yeah,
Peacock tonight. But I got I got a log in.
I'm also barring, barring something unforeseen. I'm gonna go to
an establishment, have a cold one, and watch the ballgame
and turn my phone off. I have permission, I know,

(01:50:03):
don't then I do not need permission. But my plan
is to watch that game at an establishment that I
know has peacock. I will tell you, all right, how
much time do we have? We have three people waiting
on hold? How much time do we have? About eight minutes?

Speaker 3 (01:50:16):
Eight minutes?

Speaker 2 (01:50:16):
All right, so let's eight times three there, everybody gets
like two and a half. All right, Ian, you're on
ESPN fifteen thirty, Thanks for hanging on. How are you.

Speaker 9 (01:50:25):
Hey?

Speaker 2 (01:50:26):
Man?

Speaker 8 (01:50:26):
All right?

Speaker 3 (01:50:27):
This is quick?

Speaker 5 (01:50:28):
Two things? Yeah, all right, since the Jamar and that
deal looks like it's going to be getting done, that's great.

Speaker 8 (01:50:37):
But we need to guard.

Speaker 5 (01:50:38):
So since Joe's done campaigning, we need to get like
one of those Peta specialties to climb the rafters and
like put.

Speaker 8 (01:50:47):
Up a sign that says keep Joe up.

Speaker 5 (01:50:49):
Right or something like that, or maybe or maybe get
a boat and like, you know, a big flag and
then just.

Speaker 8 (01:50:56):
Drive back and forth past Paul Brown.

Speaker 5 (01:50:58):
Stadium all night.

Speaker 3 (01:51:00):
They need a.

Speaker 5 (01:51:03):
Seriously, how many guards.

Speaker 9 (01:51:05):
Are left that are out there?

Speaker 8 (01:51:09):
You know?

Speaker 5 (01:51:10):
And then I got one other red thing that's real quick.

Speaker 3 (01:51:14):
Well the.

Speaker 2 (01:51:17):
Name that right now is is garnering the most attention
as Tevin Jenkins who played for the Bears.

Speaker 5 (01:51:24):
Okay, that's still floating in the air.

Speaker 3 (01:51:26):
It's still he is.

Speaker 2 (01:51:27):
He is set to visit the Seattle Seahawks on Monday.
My thing would be, well, be aggressive and compel him
with an offer that makes him go, yeah, you know what,
I'm good. I don't need to go to Seattle. I
don't need I don't need to take that. I don't
need to take that meeting. By the way, Makai Beckton

(01:51:49):
is still out there. I know our friend Kelsey Conway
reported that, Uh, there's no real interest there, which is
interesting because there was last offseason. Brandon Shurf is still
out there. He's a little bit more on the older range,
but the drop off is significant from those three players
at guard. I think Will Hernandez, who played for the
Cardinals last year, he's still out there. I think he's

(01:52:11):
twenty nine to thirty years old. But the pool of
players at that position is dwindling as it is an
edge rusher, which they obviously haven't addressed either.

Speaker 3 (01:52:23):
All right, last thing, Yes.

Speaker 5 (01:52:25):
The catcher man, isn't he pretty tall? I mean it's
for a catcher. I just think that with something like
that and what you see with someone like Matt McClain
and he's kind of a shorter guy and they tried
to bring him back and being a lower back and
being a catcher like, dude, they really should wait and

(01:52:47):
take it easy till, like I would say, May fifteenth
at the earliest. I you got all those games all
that time, why not play at team?

Speaker 2 (01:52:56):
Yeah, well, I think they will. Tyler Stevenson is six
foot four. You know what I would what I would
wonder is can can he Is there a point that
he could get to where he could DH and not
make it worse, and then still get better and then

(01:53:17):
eventually get behind the plate. I don't know how bad
the Jose Travino thing is, but finding out that your
backup catcher had to leave the game on the same
day that you found out your starting catcher is going
to start the season on the injured list is less
than ideal. Ian, have a great weekend, man.

Speaker 3 (01:53:29):
Thanks so much.

Speaker 2 (01:53:30):
Yeah, all right, thank you, Willie. You're on ESPN fifteen thirty.
What's up?

Speaker 9 (01:53:36):
Hey mo, Hey Taren, how are you guys doing my call?

Speaker 3 (01:53:39):
No problem?

Speaker 2 (01:53:40):
What's up? So?

Speaker 9 (01:53:42):
I've got a couple of things. Bengals little reds. So
if he wants thirty million dollars a year, then he
needs to play every.

Speaker 2 (01:53:55):
Game of the season.

Speaker 9 (01:53:56):
He has not done that, and my correct.

Speaker 2 (01:54:01):
His injury history is extensive. He missed five games last season.
He missed what was the number three two years ago? Yeah,
I missed five two years ago. Yeah. So he's uh right,
he has not played every game in a season since
twenty twenty.

Speaker 9 (01:54:16):
Then he should not be asking for top dollar money
and he should be happy with the tag he's got
and let him play and then let him go next year.

Speaker 8 (01:54:26):
Whichever.

Speaker 2 (01:54:26):
Yeah, that's easy. That's easy for you to say. But
I mean, if if you were t Higgins, you understand
that that's out there, You understand that there are there
there's a hesitation, there's been a hesitation to give you
what you're looking for because of the injury history. But
that's going to keep you from trying to get every
dollar you can.

Speaker 9 (01:54:44):
Oh, I agree with that totally.

Speaker 3 (01:54:45):
You try for it.

Speaker 9 (01:54:47):
But I can understand why the Bengals may be a
little hissenting on it. Why everybody else is like saying, hey,
pay him, pay him, pay him, But you know what,
play all the games.

Speaker 2 (01:54:57):
Yeah, there's a reason why Jamar Chase gonna make much
more than t Higgins. One. Jamar has just been a
more productive player. But one of the reasons why he's
been that much more productive is you can count on
him physically a little bit more. There's no question what
else Totally agreeable.

Speaker 9 (01:55:13):
Now, as far as the Reds go. I went to
the bank and put a personal more loan, a mortgage
on my house and put one thousand dollars down on
the over for the seventy eight and a half win victory.

Speaker 3 (01:55:30):
Did you really do that?

Speaker 9 (01:55:31):
And to win and to win the division.

Speaker 2 (01:55:34):
So you put one thousand dollars on the Reds to
win the.

Speaker 9 (01:55:36):
Division and the over of the win total.

Speaker 2 (01:55:41):
Well, those are and a half. Those are two separate bets.
I like their chances of hitting the over.

Speaker 9 (01:55:46):
Well, I split it. I split it five hundred and
five hundred.

Speaker 3 (01:55:49):
What odds did you get to win the National League Central?

Speaker 1 (01:55:53):
Uh?

Speaker 8 (01:55:54):
It was like plus seven fifty.

Speaker 3 (01:55:57):
Last I saw was plus six'. Ten it's good.

Speaker 2 (01:55:59):
Value it's good value BECAUSE i agree, NOW i certainly
can be led down a path where The reds win ninety,
games AND i could be led down a path where
The reds lose ninety. GAMES i wonder if this team's gonna,
hit AND i wonder more if they're gonna hit if
you don't Have Tyler stevenson And Spencer Steer. EARLY i
think they're starting pitching will be really. GOOD i think

(01:56:20):
their bullpen has a chance to be an. Asset my
guess is they do defend a little bit. Better the
question is do they. Hit but this, DIVISION i think
everybody considers an, understandably so The Chicago cubs the, Favorite
BUT i don't think anybody possesses the capability to run
away with. IT i have made the same, wagers ALTHOUGH
i haven't made quite the same level of. Investment will

(01:56:40):
you have a great?

Speaker 3 (01:56:41):
Weekend all?

Speaker 2 (01:56:43):
Right thank, You, moman you very. MUCH i appreciate. It all, Right,
mike why down the week for? Us what's on your?

Speaker 3 (01:56:48):
Mind oh.

Speaker 4 (01:56:53):
You were talking about stadiums or earlier and prive me a.
Question you may get. THREE i don't know if you'll get.
Four the four OLDEST mlv. Stadiums the first three.

Speaker 2 (01:57:07):
Are, Easier, Benway, Dodger, wrigley And Kansas.

Speaker 3 (01:57:13):
City, nope BIG, A big BIG. A And anaheim open
in fifty.

Speaker 4 (01:57:18):
Nine not, positive But i'm virtually sure it's the fourth
oldest stadium, anyway which is kind of. Cool my favorite
stadiums would Be, oracle of, Course dodger, stadiums just because
of the history and a. Mistake and it was an

(01:57:39):
interesting point you brought. Up but it was really good
mo of your view from the stands to what's beyond the.
Stadium that was so. INSIGHTFUL i, mean it just blew my.
Mind that was so, Cool and you are so fricking.
Rape SO i GOT i Got, Oracle CHAVEZEVIN i Got,
TechCo i GOT, TNC i Got, SEATTLE i Got, milwaukee

(01:58:04):
and THEN i got.

Speaker 8 (01:58:05):
Minute.

Speaker 2 (01:58:05):
Mate i've Been i've not been a minute, made BUT
i appreciate the. List.

Speaker 3 (01:58:12):
MIKE i hope you have a good. Weekend we'll talk
to you next. Week i'm.

Speaker 2 (01:58:14):
Sure, okay, okay, buddy we have to go going to
get a cold one oh with, you maybe more than?

Speaker 3 (01:58:23):
One Uh First Loves.

Speaker 2 (01:58:26):
Company we're done shows over back at It monday at
three oh. Five have an awesome. Weekend thank you for.
Listening thanks To tarin for. Producing this IS espn fifteen
Thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 1 (01:58:41):
CINCINNATI'S espn fifteen Thirty traffic from the.

Speaker 6 (01:58:46):
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Counts that's why the U See Health Comprehensive Stroke center
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From Burlington pike on northbound seventy. Five it's an accident
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