4/19/24 - The Mo Egger Show

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
ESPN fifteen thirty. There you go, good after though, as ESPN fifteen
thirty, four minutes after three o'clock. Hopefully you're having an awesome Friday afternoon.
Hopefully your weekend is off to aterrific start. We have a block
going on today. We are loaded. In just about fifteen minutes. Sam
Lkira is gonna join us. TheReds are nine and nine. They have

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played eighteen games. That is isthat one ninth of the way through the
season. Officially one ninth of theway through the season. There has been
some good, there's been some notso good. One of the things that
was really good was Nickolodolo last Saturday. He pitches tonight Reds and Angels.
Sam, we have a lot totalk about with him. He has been

(00:41):
I think pretty on point in someof the things that I have seen him
say about Hunter Green and look,we're all waiting for Hunter Green to take
this major step forward. There aremoments when you watch Hunter Green and you're
like, boom, that's it.There it is. And there's moments where
you watch Hunter Green and you wantto punch yourself in the face. I
want more of the want more ofthe moments where I go there it is,
and fewer moments where I want topunch myself in the face. Sam's

(01:03):
gonna talk about Hunter and so muchmore coming up in just about fifteen minutes
later on Pat Brennan's on This showat four twenty, Pat's gonna talk f
C Cincinnati with us. FC Cincinnatiis mired. Do you say mired when
it's a two game losing streak?They've lost consecutive games, which is something
that did not happen last year.Watching them is weird because I hold them

(01:27):
up perhaps unfairly FC Cincinnati against theteam I watched a season ago, and
this team pales in comparison. Ithink they're asking Lucho Acosta to do a
little bit too much. We'll getPat's thoughts on that. But also he
and I are gonna go head tohead because he loves the Philadelphia seventy six

(01:47):
ers. I love the Knicks.They play against each other, and we
always have fun with Pat and hisPhiladelphia sports fandom, and so his appearance
to talk f C Cincinnati will giveme a chance to probably write a check
that I'm not gonna I want tocash in two weeks and talk about the
Knicks and the Sixers, And lateron in the show, we're scheduled to
be joined by Pat Kelsey, Cincinnatianelder high school Roger Bacon and now the

(02:10):
men's head basketball coach at the Universityof Louisville. Pat joined us in the
aftermath of his Charleston team getting tothe NCAA Tournament for a second consecutive here,
and Pat's going to join us rightaround five twenty five point thirty somewhere
in that ballpark. Full show previewavailable right now on x at Mullegger.
Our show preview videos are a serviceof Emery Federal Credit Union. Emery Federal

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Credit Union is your credit union withheart since nineteen thirty nine. Good Emory
FCU dot org. We also,a little bit later on are going to
revisit one of the seminal moments intelevision sports history. That a little bit
later on, and I do wantto expand on some something we talked about
yesterday as it relates to Ellie dela Cruz and Hunter Green with the Reds

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tonight an off day yesterday, Angelsin town, first of three against them.
Nickolodolo is going to pitch you thinkabout all the different things that have
changed with the Reds in the lasttwelve months. You know, a year
ago, at this time, ayear ago, last in April last year,
if I would have said that wewould be talking about the twenty twenty

(03:22):
four Reds through the prism of winningthe National League Central and we would be
talking about them improving upon having aneighty two win output last year, you
would have said, there's no way. A year ago at this time,
Stuart Fairchild was often batting third.And since then guys like Matt McClain have

(03:43):
come up, and Ellie de laCruz has come up, and Spencer Steer
has I think pretty firmly established himselfas a big leaguer, and Christian and
Crnassi on Strand has come up,and the Reds have a nice collection of
players that are worth building around.And yet here we are a year later,
Stuart Fairchild, for our second consecutivegame, is batting leadoff. But

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also, you know, one ofthe big themes of last April and one
of the big themes of spring trainingtwenty twenty three was the Big Three.
Right, the Reds are gonna goas far as the Big three will allow.
And if you think about it.If I would have said back in
March of last year that the twentytwenty three Reds are gonna win eighty two

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games, they're gonna be in firstplace as late as August, and they're
not gonna be eliminated from postseason contentionuntil the final Saturday of the season,
you would have said, well,the only way that happens is if Graham
Ashcraft, Hunter Green, and Nicolodolo, the big three take major steps forward

(04:48):
individually and obviously collectively, which meansthey stay healthy and they're better, more
reliable, more consistent than those guyswere their rookie seasons. What is re
remarkable about last year is they hada good season. They had a season
that energized the city and got peopleto fall in love with baseball again and

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got people talking about this team aroundthe country. They had a good season
last year, right, a surprisinglygood season last year, and it occurred
without Nicolodolo doing pretty much anything,Graham Ashcraft not doing as much as we
would have liked, and Hunter Greennot doing a ton at all. And
yet here we are a year later. Now Nicolodolo is going to pitch tonight.

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He threw last Saturday against the WhiteSox, and he was awesome.
Something I'm gonna ask Sam about inabout ten minutes. I go back to
their first year twenty twenty two.We saw moments of brilliance from Hunter,
We saw moments of brilliance from GrahamAshcraft, and we saw moments of brilliance
from Nickolodolo. I thought when Nicolodolawas at his best, his best was

(05:56):
better than the best of anybody else. Well, see if Sam agrees that
when we chat with him in justa few minutes last Saturday, he was
at his best five plus ten strikeouts, gave up just one hit Reds when
the ball game. Very encouraging performance. Can't wait to see what he has
tonight for an encore. But itis. It is kind of interesting,
right You think of all the additionsfrom last year. You think of how

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the roster has changed. You thinkof a year ago. At this time,
the Reds were giving a lot ofthat bats to Kevin Newman, Will
Myers was still here and Stuart Fairchildwas batting third. And here we are
a year later. Well, StuartFairchild is still batting third. Not entirely
sure I understand why I'm not entirelysure why they don't give Bubba Thompson a

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chance to play against a lefty tonight, But I guess that's neither here nor
there. But as much as thingshave changed, as much as the expectations
have changed, as much as thelevel of interest has changed, as much
as it feels like many have movedpast comments by ownership or the nasty tone
that the twenty twenty two season tookon, we're still sort of right back

(07:11):
where we were a year ago,wondering if the Big three can take a
big step forward. And you know, maybe the expectations for this year are
different, but we said it ayear ago that it's hard to imagine the
Reds being really good and really competitivein twenty twenty three if the Big Three
doesn't help make that happen. Herewe are a year later. We're saying

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the same thing. Here we area year later, waiting for that group
of three pitchers to take collectively amajor step forward. And the cool thing
is to think about what this seasonlooks like, which is still very very
young. It's still just the middleof April. The fun thing to think
about is what this team could accomplishif suddenly the light bulb does come on

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for Hunter Green on a consistent basis, and suddenly they get more reliability from
Graham Ashcraft and Nicolodolo. Well,if he could just stay healthy and keep
getting better, that would be abig bonus as well. As much as
things have changed for this franchise,as much as things have changed in terms
of expectation, the most important thingis still the same, the big Three.

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Like some would say, well,the big three, it's Ellie and
it's McLain, and it's a cees. And obviously Matt McClain is not playing
right now, and there's certainly somevalidity to this team getting to where we
all wanted to go and three ofthose guys that I just mentioned being a
big part of it. Obviously notso much Matt McClain for the short term.

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But the big three is still HunterGreen, Nicolodolo, Graham Ashcraft.
Even with the acquisition of Frankie Montas, even with the addition of Andrew Abbott
to the mix, Andrew Abbott hasdone some really good things. I thought
he threw the ball really well onWednesday. I still feel like, you
know, Andrew Abbott, there's almosta sense of kind of knowing what he

(09:05):
is, which is not completely fairor completely on base. I'm still wondering
that about the Big Three, whichis where we were a year ago.
Part of that's good because there's alot of upside. Part of that's frustrating
because we're still saying and wondering thesame things we were about a year ago.
It's fourteen minutes after three o'clock.My name is Mellwegar. By the

(09:28):
way, I don't know when we'regonna do this today, but I guess
we are obligated to do this.We gave away Aerosmith tickets every day this
week. Now we were gonna giveaway two pair. Yesterday we gave away
one and then we went to giveaway the other and because we ran out

(09:48):
of ideas, we decided to playa game of well, guess the foot.
We played guess the foot yesterday andnobody could guess the foot. And
so Sam Mukuire is going to bewith us in a few minutes. We're
gonna have a conversation with him.We have a lot of like sports talkie
stuff to get to Pat Brennan lateron. Uh, but we we we

(10:09):
have an obligation to give away thesetickets, And so I don't know when
we're gonna to get to those ofyou who want to chime in, but
I will tell you that we stillhave the link on the website ESPN fifteen
to thirty dot com, and wealso I have a tweeted at a link
if if you go to today's showpreview and you look at what's coming up
this hour, there's a link there. And the way we play guest the

(10:31):
Foot is very very simple. Youjust click on it, look at the
foot, call us, tell uswhose foot you think it is. We
had probably, I don't know,close to twenty contestants. We did it
toward the end of the show yesterday, which might have been a miscalculation,
but we didn't have a winner.And uh, we said we were going
to give away these tickets this week, and this is the last day of

(10:52):
the week. I'm not coming intowork tomorrow to give away Aerosmith tickets.
So uh five one, three,seven, four, nine, fifteen thirty
eight six six seven two three sevenseven six. If you want to go
ahead and get in line now,you are more than welcome. But at
some point today we've got to revealwhose foot it is and give away some
Aerosmith tickets, so that is comingup as well. Also, Pat Kelsey's

(11:16):
scheduled to be on the show inthe five o'clock hour. We have a
lot of ground to cover. Wehave a lot of ground to cover with
Sam LeCure. He joins us nexton ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station,
twenty minutes after three o'clock ESPN fifteenthirty on Mowager. By the way,
we we have some folks lined upall ready to hopefully end this two day

(11:37):
long game of Guess the Foot.Just to reiterate where you can find it
if you're not on Twitter slash X, God love you, but we we
have it on my website esp Ihave to have internet access ESPN fifteen thirty
dot com. It's on my page. I think if you just go to
ESPN fifteen thirty dot com slash mo, you'll see there's a picture of like

(11:58):
a cartoon foot and it says guessthe foot twin Aerosmith tickets and click on
that and then look at the footand then call us and tell us whose
foot you think it is. We'llget to some of our contestants coming up
here in just a bit also PatBrandon one hour from now on FC Cincinnati

(12:18):
and another team wearing orange and blue. But first, Sam Liquire is with
this big part of Red's TV andradio Valley Sports Tonight, Red's Live before
the Reds take on the Los AngelesAngels. They've played not They've played eighteen
games, they've won nine, they'velost nine. There's been some good,
there's been some bad. In youropinion, what has been the most pleasant
development? I think that the factthat they're nine and nine and there's more,

(12:45):
you know, I there. Obviouslythey're a little shorthanded without TJ McClain,
but I mean the guys that areout there, you know, the
Will Benson, the Stuart Fairs,like their the depth has shown itself and
there's guys who aren't playing well thatare gonna that are gonna play better.
So I guess the what I likethe most is that they're hanging in there

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and they have played well. Iguess, I mean they've played well.
You know what I mean. Imean, they've played well. Sure,
they're just I can see more.I can see that there's you know,
with some of the rotational stuff,like you know, they've been okay.
I mean, I thought, Ithink Andrew Ravit's been great. Obviously,
it's a nice top nic Leodolo back, but you know, there's some of

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these little bumps in the road thatare not they're not crazy blow ups.
I guess, you know, towhere it just looks like the world's ending.
But I can just see so muchmore potential in what they're doing.
So I think, I guess shortanswer long that there's there's a room to
grow. Yeah, I mean they'vethey have found a way to get through

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it. You could see the potentialthey have survived without McLean, freedom,
et cetera. Those guys aren't comingback anytime soon, but they've Yeah,
they've Yeah. Sure, you know, Candelaria is not playing well, Incarnacian
Strand had right in the middle ofthe order not really playing well. So

(14:11):
there's I just feel like there's somuch more upside for a lot of these
guys. So yes, and thenI'll interrupt you again in the mint of
side. Yeah, sure, Ithink there's more upside. I want to
ask about Lodolo. I think onething that that maybe revealed itself in the
Seattle series and has been a bitof a problem, But I don't think
is going to last all season long? Is the bullpen? So that this
this group of relievers is averaging nearlyfive walks per nine innings. I think

(14:33):
that corrects itself, doesn't it,im Well, I sure hope so,
because I mean it was just soevident in that series. I mean I
think they was nineteen or twenty walksover the three games, something like that.
And I mean I get to anoffense that while the past potential,
you know, was not was notclicking. I mean, you're they're not

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that nobody is that good an offensewithout getting six walks a game, you
know. I mean, just itfeels now whether they were gonna win the
games or not, because Seattle throughthe ball. I mean, they got
some studs of that road station didn'teven see Luis Castillo and those three guys
were amazing. But so I don'tknow if they have won the games anyway,
But it just it's it's ugly baseballto go out there walk and just

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kind of drags the life out ofeverybody out there. You know, either
position players are staying out there kickingdirt because you know, and then don't
have momentum when they're going into fortheir offensive ending. Yes, I think
it corrects itself. I think Imean the guy that's really kind of that
I'm worried about, and not thathe's kind of the focal piece of the

(15:41):
bullpen like Buck Farmer a little bit, because he can be kind of kind
of a lynch pin down there andthrow multiple innings, are come in and
dominate for an inning, and hejust doesn't look sharp. He looks like
the ball's kind of flat out ofhis hand. And then I mean,
Lucas Simms is always going to walkpeople, but she he's stop. I

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mean, your stuff's that good,like you know what I mean, it's
like just be like so cocky abouthow good your stuff is that you just
throw strike after strike capter strike.And that's some of the problems with being
max effort is that it's hard toget to your release point at the same
time all the time, you know. So he's just moving in and out
a release point because he's powering uphis body all the way up to one

(16:27):
hundred and five percent, you know, when if he's operating at you know,
ninety to ninety five percent, whichyeah, that's gonna take some of
your bilo off, but not necessarilybecause then you're being more efficient with your
action. I mean, I'll takeit back to golf since that was the
last time where we did this,and you know, think about when you

(16:47):
just take that nice and easy swingand square up the club face, the
ball goes just as far as ifyou you know, try to juice it
out there three hundred and fifty yards. I feel like taking a nice easy
stroke with your you know, withyour pitch, You're just everything's just working
more efficiently together so you can domore while kind of actually trying less.

(17:11):
So yeah, something to get backto the walks. It's just you know,
finding a comfortable maximum. That's whatI always will tell kids when I'm
talking to them, you know,high school, whatever, anybody. You
know. I've talked to you guysabout this in the big leagues. You
know, right when I got doneplaying and you know, felt like I
still had some skin in the game. What's your comfortable maximum? How hard

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can you throw effect and hit whereyour spot is? Is that ninety percent?
Is that a one hundred percent?Guys can do it, you know,
to locate the ball at a maxeffort. But what percentage of max
is your maximum to be? Ableto consistently land strikes, and so I
think that's some of what these guysare still trying to figure out. And
I think, like I said,Lucas is always going to walk people because

(17:55):
that's just his style, and whenhe's on, he's about as tough to
hit as anybody. But but Ilike the bullpen and I think they're key
just because they've got such diversity downthere as far as multiple guys who can
throw multiple innings from multiple armed anglesand right and left handed, you know.
So they've got such a really nicemix down there, and I think

(18:17):
they're going to be important. We'llsee how the starting rotation continue to go.
Hunter is still not for a while, I don't think going to figure
out how to throw six innings consistently, But I mean the rest of the
guys can do it, you know, and especially with Lodola, who I'm
pretty pumped up to see. Yeah, And I want to ask you about
some of the starters in the bullpen. You hear people talk all the time

(18:37):
about specific roles. Do relievers needspecified roles? I think maybe in the
yester year, I think that waskind of important because it was I mean,
it was real defined at that time, right, I mean for us,
it was going to be you know, Sean Marshall, Jonathan Boxton in
a role as Chapman, or youknow Bill Braiden, Massive Francisco Cordero.

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You know, like so you knew. I think those guys wanted to know
so they could kind of prepare theirmind and body as best they could to
throw that inning, you know,because I was, you know, from
pitch one, I was kind ofready to go. But as I moved
into a more defined role, whichis going to be around the six seventh
maybe slide into some eighth inning,about what inning would I start doing all

(19:26):
my warm up stuff to get mybody prepared so I would needed twenty throws
to be ready to go in thegame type deal. I think that is
obviously changed. You know, guysare kind of moving all over the map
a little bit, and nobody wantsto define a closer. But I think
it's I mean, the Reds haveone, you know, but a lot

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of there said, oh, we'lluse other people on that spot too,
and so the uncertainty of it,I don't know. I can't speak to
it because I mean, I guessmy whole career was uncertain, but I
I don't think that they needed tofind I like the idea of it because
it's what I grew up with,you know, seeing guys who you know,

(20:07):
knew they had or any but Ican't speak to if it effects to
them. It didn't affect me becauseI was just happy to have a jersey,
you know. But I'm sure thatas the games evolved and these guys
are moving around in different spots,it's just become more than norm you know.
It's kind of the expectation to alwaysbe ready, which you know,

(20:29):
I think I think should make iteasier because you can always turn it off.
It's hard to turn it on.Yeah, No, that's that's well
put. We we talked about NickLodolo, who's gonna throw tonight, his
his outing last Saturday against Chicago.You could not have asked for anything more.
I go back to two years agoand tell me if this is an
off base assessment. I thought whenwe watched Hunter Green, Gram Ashcraft and

(20:52):
Nick Lodolo in twenty twenty two thatNick's best was better than anybody else's best.
Now we saw Hunter Green dude somereally good things. We saw Graham
Ashcraft do some really good things.But I felt like that year when Nick
Ladola was at the top of hisgame, he was the most impressive of
the three. Is that is thatfair? Unfair? Off Base assessed that
for him. Well, it's probablyoff base because I completely agree with it

(21:18):
on pretty off base. So Imean, I'm kind of after I got
to know them and watch them alittle bit, and you're right once if
all three at the very top oftheir game, based on what you want,
I feel like I've been saying sincepretty early that Nick, if I
had to win one game game onestarter in the playoffs, blah blah blah,

(21:42):
he's my pick and has been justhe has got more experienced than those
are the guys who went to amajor college program. He's gotten just he's
such a unique style. I mean, there anytime I see somebody, the
first thing I'm trying to think ofas a comparable who does that remind me

(22:02):
of? Who? Oh? What'she look like? You know, kind
of right handed guys that throw ninetysix miles an hour diamond does, left
handed guys that those sliders are ChrisSaale and Nickoldolo, Like, that's who
he reminds me of. And theyfill up the strike zone and they and
they throw change ups and they havefeel to ease in a breaking ball at

(22:25):
seventy six for strike one and thenthe burry one at eighty two, the
same pitch that they're throwing at differentspeed. Like there's a feel for pitching.
There's the uniqueness of the arm angleand the lankiness. There's the curve
ball, which is I mean,you just don't see a lot that look
like that. So I because again, and it's nothing against the other two

(22:48):
guys, because I think, youknow, Grahams ahead, you know,
Hunters the fartest behind because he justhadn't pitched as many innings as anybody.
But yeah, Nick, for meis the guy who he'll be starting opening
days, you know, for thenext several years running. In my opinion,
I think, So, I thinkyou are completely off base, and

(23:10):
I couldn't agree more. That makesme Yeah, I was going to say,
if you're if you if you're startingto think like me, but you
may want to think about choices.Oh boy, yeah, you ought to
go play golf together. That'd benow, now sign me up for that.
So so Hunter Green Tuesday night,right, he makes some great pitches

(23:34):
to get out of the third andfourth inning, but he still only pitches
four innings, now only one run, so he minimizes the damage. There's
something to be said about that,but ninety eight pitches four innings. We
just it was the proverbial mixed bag. It was quintessential Hunter. I see
flashes of really goodness and then thesemoments that just frustrate. I know,

(23:55):
we're look, he made his fiftiethbig league start, so we're still very
early in this, but I justfeel like, you know, two years
ago, on a given start,I had no idea what Hunter Green was
gonna do. And I still feelthat way, and that's frustrating to me.
It is, well, well,I guess I agree with that,
but there's a little caveat to that, and I don't even I didn't think

(24:17):
I know what that word means.But I do kind of feel like I
know when I'm gonna get out aHunter and I don't love it. I
hate to say that, because Ido see those flashes that you talk about
and what he could be, butit's going to take work to get there
because he throws ninety eight pitches andstrikes out eight. Because there's when I

(24:41):
kind of talked about Nick and thatfeel for letting off the gas at times,
you know, throwing a ninety onemile on our fastball when he has
ninety six just to get in thecount, and it's a it's the same
pitch, but it's different, likeyou don't have to do anything different,
but try a little bit less.It's gonna get off the barrel. They're
gonna be a fraction of a secondearly, which is a big deal when

(25:06):
you're talking about er point zero fourseconds. It takes the hitter's reaction time
he doesn't see the ball in thefirst place, so a fraction of a
second is a big deal in thisso disrupting timing. And if Hunter only
really has a fast ball and sliderright now, they have a fifty chance
to guess right. So the fileit's the file balls kill him because he's

(25:29):
making good pitches that they normally shouldn'tbe able to get aheld of, but
they the timing is too close togetherthat they're not off of anything. They're
not on it necessarily, but they'renot off of it based on timing.
So he's making good, close pitchesand getting to three to two every batter,
and they file off two balls,and so it's an eight pitch a

(25:52):
bat every hitter. That's how youthrow ninety eight pitches and poortants by being
really good and predictable. If hehad if he had the Frankie Montas mix,
you've got more room for air.And I know Frankie didn't throw the
ball well up in Seattle either,but you know he might throw the pitch

(26:15):
over here that's not quite as good. And he missed location, but it
was his fourth pitch, which meansthey have a twenty five percent chance of
guessing right on it. So hemisses the barrel or they swing and miss
because it's not one or the other. What thought? What say you?
Well, you know you're an interestingperspective, or you don't like about what?

(26:37):
No? It is No, no, it encapsulates my frustration. It's
just, yeah, I it's onething to watch a guy throw a whole
bunch of pitches and he's getting hisbrains beaten in, or he's given up
a thousand runs, or he's notcompetitive. There are like even if you
go back to his first start,he walks the first batter of the game

(27:00):
and then the next six outs.He looked as locked in as I've ever
seen him. But then the likethe wheels don't fall off suddenly, it's
just like, all of a sudden, he's done after four and a third,
and you're like, God, theguy who just twenty five minutes ago
was mowing through the order is donealready. Yeah, Like, it's just
it's one of the weirdest It's oneof the weirdest things I've ever watched.
It is. And so I was, you know, when they started talking

(27:21):
to spring training about him learning andthose other pitches, and I was like,
man, he just needs to finetune these, you know, cause
he can get by And I diduse that term get by and say thrive.
He can get by with the fastballslider because their power, right.
And then so kind of after thislast start, when I was kind of

(27:42):
dissecting a postgame and get a littlepissed off, I decided I was I
was wrong, Like he does needto implement these other pitches for that reason
they might not be which number one, the split has a chance to be
quality, but if you're mixing init just gives them a little bit more
room per air, and it mightbe you hope it is earlier in the

(28:06):
count. He gets somebody to swinginghis fastball, but it's but it's the
splitter, and he hits a groundball a second second base versus two pitch
out rather than an eight pitch strikeout. You know, you just something,
which is why I say the thingabout like, let I know you got
one hundred, bro, throw aninety three mile an hour fastball that might

(28:26):
have a little bit of movement toit, and get them off out in
front of it, off the barrela little bit, and get your ground
ball early in the count. Andthat's comfortable maximum. That's being able to
make that throw for a strike andget them out early. And then they've
seen ninety three, they've seen yourslider and they used to. They still

(28:47):
haven't even your O two and theystill haven't seen the one hundred you're about
to blow by them. So you'veeffectively turned two pitches or one pitch into
two. And if you do thatwith your kind of turn your slider into
that, I know he's calling ita curveball. Whatever, throw your break
slower breaking ball early to get intothe count, and then your power put

(29:08):
away one later in the count.So it's two pitches in one and that
it broadens your your repertoire right therewithout even without even including a split or
something. So it's just the nuanceof pitching, which he hasn't learned because
he just hasn't pitched a ton.And I, you know, I mean,
I I almost feel like I'd liketo go down there and slap him

(29:30):
the back of the head and tellhim that. But you know, I
don't have the rapport with him.I don't have like he doesn't he knows
I did it, but does hetrust me? Can he put that into
effect? If I could throw onehundred, would I throw a ninety three
mile an hour fastball that might getit out of the park? And to
be like I can throw one hundred, why did I do that? So
I get that part of it too, but he is kind of it is

(29:52):
frustrating if you can't you can't tellit is you. You you sound you're
putting it in a more articulate way, but you I feel the frustration.
I share the frustration. I justagain, there are these moments where you're
like, that's it, that's theguy, and then there are these moments
where it's like, Buddy, Ineed the light bulb to come on and

(30:15):
we all want it to happen now, and it just it hasn't happened.
I know you have to go putit like a nice sport code on to
be on TV. Man's thank youas always, just I just I just
looked at what time was like,Man, I gotta I'm gonna finish.
I'm gonna finish my show here andI gotta give to it. I'll let
you get to it. Man.Thank you as always. I appreciate yep.

(30:36):
Right there you go. Sam LeCure, always awesome, always insightful,
and uh always lengthy. So we'reway late, twenty one away from four
o'clock. This is ESPN fifteen thirtyCincinnati Sports station. No one covers the
Bengals like ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati'ssports station. Completely jobbed up the clock,

(30:56):
I gotta tell you. The sportsheadlines are a service of Kelsey Chevrolet,
Home of lifetime powertrain protection and guaranteedcredit approval from their family to yours
for life, kelseyshev dot Com,Reds, and Angels. Tonight, first
of three at gab P. NickLodolo, who was terrific in his first
start last Saturday against Chicago against theWhite Sox will pitch against lefty Tyler Anderson

(31:18):
six forty tonight on seven hundred.Wlw's starting line at this evening. You
won't like it. Indya is leadingoff. He is lost at the plate
right now. He is leading offplaying second base, Steers at first,
Stuart Fairchild is batting third yet againin centerfield, Tyler Stevenson behind the plate,
Nick martiniz dhing Ellie's in short Freilianright Espinall's at third base, and

(31:40):
Will Benson in centerfield batting ninth.Reds have claimed infielder Levon's Soto off waivers
from the Baltimore Ravens or Baltimore Ravensand the Baltimore Orioles, and they have
optioned him to Louisville. And theyhave placed tj Antone on the sixty day
injuredless Bill Tobin passes away at theage of eighty three. He had worked
in scouting with the Bengals for nearlytwenty years. The father of Duke Tobin,

(32:01):
Bill Tobin was also the general managerof the Bears from eighty seven through
ninety two, the GM of theColts from ninety four through ninety six,
and the director of player personnel forthe Detroit Lions in their early two thousands.
Xavier's des Claude perhaps no longer goingto be Xavier's des claude. He
is entering the transfer portal bet OrBearcats Musketeers are getting I am awful right

(32:25):
now, Musketeer is going to getRyan Conwell from Indiana State, a good
player averaged over sixteen and a halfpoints a game for the Sycamores this year.
He announced on his social media thathe is coming to Cincinnati to play
for Sean Miller and FC Cincinnati onthe road tomorrow against Atlanta. The game
live on ESPN fifteen thirty. We'lltalk about the Orange and Blue with our
buddy Pat Brennan coming up at fourto twenty, and the next time we

(32:49):
do some sports headlines, we'll seeif I can make even more than two
mistakes. We do have folks waitingon hold, Terran, Is that correct?
We have folks who want to playguess the foot? Are we ready?
We do? All right? Doyou have to play any sort of
sounder, any any sort of openof course? Okay, go ahead,
all right, nobody's guessing yet,so it's time for you to try again
to Guess the Foot. You know, these shows we do are meticulously planned

(33:19):
it. I did not want toplay Guess the Foot today. For those
of you who hate this game,and there's a handful of you, it
wasn't my plan to play Guess theFoot. But we played it yesterday and
nobody won the tickets. We're givingaway tickets to go see Aerosmith. Aerosmith
is coming to the Heritage Bank Centeron October seventeenth, and so, because
nobody won it yesterday and we havean obligation to give away the tickets,

(33:42):
we have to play until we havea winner. This is the first time
in Guess the Foot history that we'vehad to carry over from one day to
the next. So we do havesome folks waiting five point three seven,
four nine, fifteen thirty in theamount of time we have this hour,
we'll try to see if maybe wecan find someone who knows who's what is
on my website ESPN fifteen thirty dotcom. Patrick, you're with us?

(34:05):
Can you can you guess the foot? Yes? So I was the one
yesterday that talked about Cuato. I'mgonna say with your hint, it's Jason
LaRue. Do Jason LaRue tad.Yes, yes, congratulations to Patrick.
Patrick, will put you on hold, please don't go anywhere. Yes,
it's how about that the first guest. So for those of you who weren't,

(34:29):
we're not with us yesterday. Whatwere you doing? Somebody guessed Patrick
did Johnny Cuato? And I said, there's a connection between Johnny Quato and
the person whose foot this is.And that connection is if you remember the
Big Cardinals Reds fight in twenty tenwhere Brandon Phillips and Yati Ramalina got into
it. If you remember that fight, Johnny Quato was pressed up against the

(34:53):
net behind home plate and for mymoney, understandably so started kicking. I
don't know about you, but ifI'm backed up against something and I got
like, you know, grown menpushing me up against something, I'm gonna
kick or do whatever I can toget myself out of it. Well,
unfortunately, in the process of kickingpeople out of it, he kicked Jason

(35:15):
LaRue, who ended up with aconcussion and that was it. Weeks later
he was still dealing with concussion symptomsand that's unfortunate and had to retire,
and he was toward the end ofhis career. Anyway, had a good
career, spent many years with theReds, good defensive catcher. So there's
the connection Johnny Quato and Jason LaRue. But yes, the foot belongs to
Jason LaRue, and the tickets togo see Aerosmith belong to Patrick. We

(35:39):
thank him, We thank everybody whoplayed, We thank everybody who won Aerosmith
tickets this week. They are availableright now at Ticketmaster. You could also
go buy them at the Heritage BankCenter box office. There you go,
all right, it's nine minutes awayfrom four o'clock. Our numbers are five

(36:00):
in three seven four nine, fifteenthirty and eight six six seven oh two
three seven seven six. Yesterday Idid a segment where I discussed how neither
Elie de la Cruz or Hunter Greencan live up to the hype. And
that's okay. Uh. When Iwas putting that segment on social media today,

(36:24):
I was reading a column about rightnow maybe the most talked about star
in sports, and that column mademe think about the two players that I
talked about yesterday. So guess whatI'm gonna talk about him again? Coming
up at four oh five on ESPNfifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports station. Pack your

(36:44):
bags and this is ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports Station. Thank you Fortuno,
ESPN fifteen thirty, Thank you somuch for joining us. Hopefully you're
having a great start to you weekend, or if your weekend hasn't started,
hopefully you're you're having a good endto your work week, or if you're

(37:06):
working over the weekend, hope you'rehaving a nice afternoon. We have a
lot to get to this hour.Brennan and Jones on baseball coming up.
Pat Brennan's going to be on thisshow from The Inquirer and Cincinnati dot Com.
I don't know that we have hadPat on since right before the FC
Cincinnati season started. They have hita little bit of a lull, and

(37:30):
you know, whether whether it's fairor not, at least until a certain
point of the season, they're gonnabe consistently compared to last year's team,
and they have had moments where they'velooked the part the last couple of games,
and really in some of the gamesin which they've gotten points, that
hasn't been the case. And sowe'll talk about the Orange and Blue who

(37:52):
hit the road to take on Atlantaon the road tomorrow and try to break
a two game losing streak. PatBrennan joins us, coming up in just
about fifteen minutes. We also Pathas been a terrific friend to our show.
He is whenever we have asked himto come on since he was on
the beat covering FC Cincinnati, healways says yes. He's always terrific,

(38:15):
He's always insightful. He always letsus goof around with him. Basically,
we judge radio guests by one truemetric. Can we goof around with you?
Can we make fun of you?Will you give it back to me?
And if the answers are yes,We're gonna invite you more than you
care to come on. And Pat'salways a lot of fun. We do

(38:36):
like to at times poke fun ofhis Philadelphia sports fandom, and sometimes you
know, I mean, I doit out of jealousy, and sometimes we
do it just because it's, well, it's fun. Pat is a big
Philadelphia seventy six ers fan, andI'm a big New York Knicks fan.
And so the next couple of weeks, Game one is tomorrow night. The

(38:58):
next couple of weeks could test ourfriendship and might even impact his willingness to
appear on this show, so we'llwork through that coming up in just a
few minutes. Also, I wantto revisit one of the greatest moments in
television sports history, which I thoughtabout when I saw some news coming from
pay Corp Stadium this morning. TheReds tonight are for the second consecutive game

(39:27):
using a starting lineup that has StuartFairchild batting third. Now, I look
at who they have in the lineuptonight, and I am going to assume
that jam Or Candelario and Christian andKarnasi on Strand are still sick. I
don't know what other reason there wouldbe for those guys together to not be
in the lineup, or at leastone of them to not be in the

(39:47):
lineup. They weren't in the lineupon Wednesday. Everybody in the team has
been dealing with this bog or whateverit is that has permeated its way through
the team. But in the startingline up tonight, no Candelario, no
cees. This on top of theguys the Reds don't already have, and
so for the second consecutive game wehave Stewart Fairchild batting third. I just

(40:10):
I look at this I'm usually verywilling to give the manager, and it's
not just the manager. Stuart Fairchildis batting third because more than one person
with the Reds wants him to batthird. I say this all the time,
probably a little bit too much.The starting lineup is the result of
a collaborative effort. The manager mightwrite the name on the lineup card.

(40:36):
He most definitely has an opinion.He may have final say. What you
are looking at when you look atthe batting order is the result of a
lot of people chiming in with input. But you look at it. I
mean, in an ideal world,is Stewart Fairchild even playing? Of course
he isn't. Their depth is beingtested. TJ. Reed's still not here.

(41:00):
He's the guy you would want incenter field on an everyday basis.
Stuart Fairchild, by the way,didn't do himself any favors. He kind
of got sideways on some balls incenter field on Wednesday afternoon. In an
ideal world, I don't know thatJonathan India is batting leadoff. He talked
about something that frankly, is alittle bit more egregious to me than Stuart

(41:22):
Fairchild batting third. If we're justgoing by the way they have looked and
what they haven't done at the platerecently. More egregious than anything else is
Jonathan India leading off. Let's behonest. In an ideal world, Matt
McLain is playing second base and JonathanIndia is doing something else. In an
ideal world, Nick Martini is notdhing. He's not playing on a regular

(41:45):
basis. In an ideal world,Santiago Espinal is not playing third base.
I mean, you look at tonight'slineup, and granted it's game number nineteen
and you always have to make adjustmentsto account for injury and ellen this,
but you look at that lineup tonight, it's easy to laugh at it.
But man, there's a lot ofdudes who, if we all had our

(42:10):
way, wouldn't be playing well.If they are going to play, you
know, at some point, somebody'sgoing to be stuck in the batting order
in a place you don't want themto be. I do think it's kind
of interesting that Elie de la Cruzis batting sixth, and you know,
maybe maybe they're they're trying to notput put too much on him. I

(42:31):
I don't know, but he hasput up pretty good numbers this year.
He batted second often during spring training. He is he is still viewed very
much as the face of this franchise. I think everybody still projects him at
some point soon, maybe even thisyear, to be an All Star.

(42:54):
And behind the likes of Stu Fairchildand Nick mar Teeny, Ellie de la
Cruz is batting sixth. Jake Frayley, who's having a good season, is
batting seventh. Now you could say, well, Freyley could provide some protection
to Ellie de la Cruz. Whycan't that happen as a three to four
hitter, or a two to threehitter, or a four or five hitter.

(43:15):
I don't know, but you knowI said this at the top of
the show. The more things havechanged, the more they stayed the same.
I had totally forgotten this. Butearly last season Stu Fairchild batted third
seven times. I think each ofthose seven games were in April, maybe
one or two were in May,but none of them came after. You

(43:36):
know, all the guys the Redscalled up finally got here. And yet
here we are a year later,and we're back to Stuart Fairchild batting third.
Nicoladolo on the Mountain tonight for Cincinnati, trying to build upon his outstanding
start on Saturday of last week againstthe White Sox. Yesterday I talked a

(43:58):
little bit about living up to thehype Ellie de la Cruz and Hunter Green.
And you will hear some say thatright now, more so with Hunter
than Ellie, because Ellie has playedpretty well well. They're they're over hyped,
they're flops, They're not living upto the hype. I am a
big believer in not having to accountfor outsiders expectations. So like Jay Bruce.

(44:22):
Jay Bruce came to Cincinnati right afterMemorial Day two thousand and eight,
and and and if you don't remember, and for those of you who do,
his arrival in Cincinnati, that wasa huge deal. I with the
exception of some of the guys theycalled up last year, I can't really
recall anybody whose arrival was met withthe fervor and the excitement and and and

(44:45):
the the just buzz that that JayBruce's was. It was. It was
unbelievable. You know, Joey Vadocame up the previous September, It was
I want to say, a nonevent, but people didn't make a big
deal about it. There were otherguys who got called up during that stretch
and when they did it wasn't thatbig of a deal. Jay Bruce was
accompanied by a ton of hype andin the short term, remember his first

(45:07):
game he had four hits. Ithink within his first week. He had
a walk off homer I leave ona Saturday afternoon against the Atlanta Braves and
it was really cool. Well,Jay Bruce never lived up to that hype,
but he had a really good career, made the All Star Team a
couple of times, and was acentral figure to a moderately successful stretch in

(45:29):
Red's history where they won the divisiona couple of times. He obviously had
the home run that clinched the divisionin twenty ten, had some really good
seasons, really good seasons, youwould say, was a quality Red and
Jay Bruce will probably be in theRed's Hall of Fame one day. And
they don't accomplish what they did inthe regular season without Jay having the production

(45:50):
that he had for those teams.But did he live up to the hype?
No? No, no, notreally? Is that really his fault?
Does that mean he wasn't valuable tothe team? Does that mean he
had a bad career, of coursenot so. Ellie de la Cruz has
been talked about as somebody who canmaybe be the best player in the game.

(46:13):
The odds of him achieving that,and it's a subjective title, but
the odds of him achieving that arenot great. They're not. It doesn't
mean that he can't be a terrificplayer. We used to talk about Joey
Vado all the time, like livingup to the contract. Then I used
to ask, like, what doesthat look like? And for me,
the answer was, I just wanthim to be a key contributor to a

(46:36):
winning team. I don't look atit through the lens of statistics, don't
look at it through the lens ofwhere they are among league leaders. Want
them to be a contributing member ofa winning team. That's what I want
from Ellie de la Cruz and HunterGreen. Living up to the hype is
at times really hard. The wholeCaitlin Clark thing now right now maybe the

(46:58):
most talked about st a in Americansports. What she's being asked to do
with the w NBA team, thedraft, that herd, the Indiana fever.
I mean, she's being asked toinject interest into that franchise, win
multiple championships, carry a league,be the face of the league, help
drive up salaries for the players inthat league, make it more visible than

(47:22):
it's ever been. She might helpthe Indiana Fever win championships. She might
she might increase their profile, andin the state of Indiana and in the
city of Indianapolis, she might makeAll Star teams. She might win MVPs.
I don't know that she is capable. I don't know that anybody is
capable of doing the things she's goingto be asked to do. It's hard

(47:45):
to live up to the hype whenthe hype is outsized. If you don't,
that doesn't mean you're a failure.La de la Cruz and Hunter Green
will not be failures, but they'reprobably not going to live up to the
hype. Brennan always lives up tothe hype. He joins us next before
ESPY remember some of the sports andnot j Justinvan also Brennan and Jones on

(48:13):
baseball this hour. FC Cincinnati ison the road tomorrow against Atlanta, trying
to snap a two game losing streak, the first in nearly two years.
Pat Brennan covers FC Cincinnati for TheCincinnati Inquirer. You can read him at
Cincinnati dot com and follow him onx at P Brennan E and Q.
It is good to have you asalways, Pat, How are you well.

(48:37):
Normally I'd say it's a place tojoin you, but current circumstances might
dictate that I feel a little bitdifferently towards you going into this particular weekend.
But generally I'm well, and Ihope, I hope you're okay.
I'm I'm doing great. I'm excited. But you know, before we talk
about the things that might make thisyour last appearance on this show, let's

(49:00):
let's talk about the soccer team.And then you know, uh, does
this team ask Luco to do toomuch? Potentially especially in crunch time?
You know, like you said atC Cincinnati has been Uh it's on a
losing streak in the regular season forthe first time in almost two years.

(49:23):
And I think, you know,there were enough instances last year where Luco
would you know, just outright bailthis team out or do something incredibly special
that I do wonder sometimes if there'sa little hint of you know, sometimes
when when they're passing the ball aroundthe opponent's penalty area. It looks like

(49:47):
a game of hot potato. Theyall want to give it to Luco and
kind of like here, you know, m VP, you figure it out,
which is kind of what you wantyour m VP to you know,
he can. I I agree withthat sentiment. I do feel like sometimes
there's an air of hey, Luco, bail us out. I don't know

(50:08):
if they're asking him to do itexplicitly, but in one sense or another,
I think the sentiment you're describing thatmight be starting to creep in a
little bit. With this EFT Cincinnatiteam. You know, it would remind
me of like a like a JalenBrunson. But hold that thought. Uh
so this is going to be thethird consecutive game without Roman Celentano. Now

(50:30):
there are me who go, youknow, okay, fine, he's he's
got to stop the ball when itcomes his way from from from going into
the goal, right and and yeah, yeah, that's obviously a big part
of it. But my favorite thingto watch, And this might make me
a nerd, maybe it speaks tomy advancement, my my continued advancement in

(50:51):
in enjoying this sport. I loveto watch the goalkeeper and specifically, you
know, over the last couple ofyears, Roman communicate with you know,
the guys that he's that he's playingwith, with the defenders, and it
looks like he's you know, helooks like a quarterback calling plays. For
lack of a better way of puttingit, how much from that standpoint has
he been missed beyond just stopping theball from hitting the back of the net.

(51:14):
You know, I think he reallyhas been missed. And well,
that's a great thing to watch,by the way, because it's not like
a game of baseball like we'd seedown at GAVP tonight, you know,
where it's static and the main pointof conflict or action is the pitcher,
the batter, the catcher and theumpire and it's all kind of lined up
perfectly for you. There's a lotgoing on in soccer. You could pick

(51:36):
any number of places on the fieldto pay attention to something. I encourage
people to do that. And yourobservations of Roman are very apt. They
have missed him. He is thequarterback of the defense. And because FC
Cincinnati likes to defend in modern soccer, you really defend with all eleven players

(51:57):
you know, your first defender issometimes Aaron Upenza, who's supposed to be
all the way up at the topscoring goals, but you know, he's
really captaining everyone to a large degree, and I think they have missed him.
I have written a lot about thestrength of FC Cincinnati's goalkeeping department.
They have a wonderful They have areally, really talented goalkeeping coach, one

(52:17):
of the best in North America inPaul Rodgers. But you know, there's
a big drop off from Roman,and I don't think it's heresy to state
that, you know, publicly,Evan Laurew started two games ago for FC
Cincinnati. He's kind of their thirdstringer, and the second stringer, Alec
Can he was dealing with It wasa little too soon for him to come

(52:42):
back for that game because he himselfhad an offseason procedure on his wrist,
so the timing was off, sothey start the third stringer. People really
felt great about that because Evan Laurew, the third stringer, is quite a
character and he's well left amongst someof the hardcore fans. But there was
a late reaction play that he couldn'tget down to the ball to save it.
And that's why the Red Bulls wonthat game to start this skid.

(53:04):
You know, maybe we're talking andthinking about f C Cincinnati a little bit
differently if that save is made andf C Cincinnati ekes out a draw or
maybe you know, the just wedon't know how the game plays out.
If that save gets made and RomanCell and Tana would have made that save,
so and then you know, youcould certainly argue that with Alec cam
who started last week against Montreal,some of the timing was off just because

(53:27):
he hadn't started a game since adead rubber game after they had clinched the
regular season championship last October. So, yeah, they missed Roman. It's
a it's a big loss. Thisthis could I could I could see this
stretching until he gets his timing back. I could see this stretching out to
be a four week, month longthing where they don't have him, and

(53:49):
they could look back at the atthe end of the season and say,
hey, that was a that wasa crucial period for us and we really
missed Roman. So, uh,the sooner he gets back in net,
the better. It's it's never easywhen you're without a key guy like a
like like a Julius Randall. Butbut hold on to that thought. So
you you wrote about, you know, the two game losing skid, and

(54:09):
and you know, Pat Noonan hasI don't want to say he's downplayed it,
but you don't get the sense,at least publicly, that he's he's
panicking or that he's you know,things that his team is is not as
good as perhaps he thought coming intothe season. He's looking for answers.
If you are Pat noon and you'retrying to get this thing back on track,
and you've got a list of stuffthat you're trying to correct in training,

(54:30):
what's at the top of it maybemaybe confidence with some of the attacking
players because they're just not seeing theball go in the back of the net
right now. That's really the thingof it. They've defended really well,
even though they've given up four goalsover the last two games. That's a
that's a little bit much for thisFC Cincinnati team as we've come to know

(54:52):
them over the last two years orso. You know, they've given up
seven seven goals over eight regular seasongames. That's a pretty good return.
So and those guys don't have anymargin for error because this team isn't scoring.
It really just comes down to onegoal game isn't gonna be enough every

(55:13):
week. Even though f C Cincinnatiwas great at eking out one goal wins
a year ago. The reality isthat living that way with those thin margins
is going to come back to biteyou eventually. And I think you just
you know whether it's it's uh Lucowho the kind of the underlying numbers say
he's still producing or putting other guysin a position to hammer the ball home,

(55:37):
and he You're You're getting what youneed out of your captain. But
you have some guys who are kindof chronically underperforming at this point. They're
they're just not delivering the goals.Guys like Corey Baird who they brought in
in the offseason, Aaron Bupenza,who had a very busy offseason for kind
of some of the wrong reasons,and you worry about that with him.
But yeah, this this team needsconfidence in front of goal. And right

(56:00):
now you have a player and YuYakubo who has basically been a spot starter
since pat Noon and came to FCCincinnati and kind of a Swiss army knife
for this team. He's a greatplayer to have around because you can put
him all over the place and heknows exactly what the responsibilities are for every
position. But he's your leading scorerright now, and that's just not what

(56:22):
this is supposed to look like atall. I mean at all. Mo
you like the production you're getting fromhim, you're gonna need everyone to chip
him with goals at some point.But it's just not supposed to play out
this way for FC Cincinnati, andif it continues like this, it won't
be a successful season. So Aaronbu Penza has got to get going.
Corey Barrett's gotta get going. We'reabout a quarter to the way through the

(56:45):
season now, so it's not there'senough of a sample size to show,
like, you know, there couldbe some bigger problems here. But I
think if this team can kind offigure itself out in the attacking third of
the field, and maybe if thebook isn't out on them like some people
are saying, how to defend them, you know they can be okay with

(57:07):
this group of players they have rightnow. And we'll see. There's still
you know, three quarters of aseason left, so it's very early and
this is a long winding season alot for Pat Noonan to figure out.
But you trust because he was lastyear's MLS Coach of the Year, like
cut Tom Thibodeau, two time NBACoach of the Year as a team in

(57:30):
the playoffs, in the playoffs thisyear, as the year beloved seventy six
Ers get set to a square off. Can you believe Pat? Thirty five
years since our team's met in thepostseason, you might remember that the Nick
swept that series back in nineteen eightynine. Do you think the odds are
good for a repeat of that threeand a half decades later. I don't

(57:54):
know, Mom, what do youthink. I don't think so at all.
Oh, I don't think so atall. Yeah, I honestly,
honestly, man, I'd love tojoke with you. I think this is.
This is I actually feel for it. This this first round matchup sucks
for the Knicks. It sucks.Yes, you're getting I mean, look

(58:15):
you are. I do subscribe tothe the Bill Parcells. You are what
your record says you are, andthe Sixers are what the record says they
are. But you know, itmight it's one of the rare cases where
they aren't they are more than theforty seven wins they had in the regular
season, only because they played somuch of the year without Joe Ellenbiid,
who's I think obviously the most importantplayer in this series, for better or

(58:36):
for worse for the team I rootfor. And yeah, I think they
were thirty two and eight with himon the floor this year. That's crazy,
you know. So you've got atwo seed versus a seven seed on
paper, but this is really thesixers are more of a probably fair in
fairness, a a three four seed. So for the Knicks to get that

(58:58):
in the first round, that like, this is one of those first round
series where like both teams are essentiallyeliminated no matter what the outcome is.
You know, I could see itbeing like that where the Knicks are just
I think the Knicks will win andseven, but this is going to be
like a bruising first round series,and that's a shame for what has been

(59:22):
a pretty and I like the Knicks. We talked about it. I think
in the winter, you know,it's a villain. It's a Villanova alumni
club essentially, And even though I'mnot a big Villanova guy as most people,
some people in Philly aren't because they'remore out in the suburbs. And
you know, and the Zigger teamsI covered here in Cincinnati were consistently frustrated

(59:45):
by a lot of those Villanova guysJosh Hart jailing. You know, I
like, if I were, Ilike the there's really good odds on the
Sixers right now. If you're ayou know, inclined to lay a wager
on sporting matters, I don't know. Well, look, this has just

(01:00:06):
been me talking. What do youthink You've been talking Smack the whole show.
So no, I well, inall honesty, there's there's a reason
why so many of us were conflicted. For those who don't know that the
Knicks win their last game of theseason, which that combined with a Milwaukee
loss, means they're the two seed. Yeah, which yeah, yeah,
and guarantee they would play Philadelphia,but put them in a position where they

(01:00:29):
would play a seventy six Ers teamthat if emb plays most of the season,
they're probably the two, or ifthey lose, they're the three.
But you know, okay, ifyou get to the second round, then
you're not going to have home court. And I admit to being conflicted.
Those of us who love this particularKnicks team have loved its competitiveness, and
so you can't ask, yeah,you know this team, you love their
competitiveness, and then you want themto lay down in Game eighty two.

(01:00:51):
That doesn't work. The idea isto get to the finals, right,
and so it's not to win yourfirst round series. It's to get to
the finals. But yeah, Imean for a two seed, you're playing
a Philly team that you know,again, if MB plays most of the
season and I'm not talking about youknow, days that he takes off or
whatever, but just plays most ofthe season and doesn't get hurt, they're

(01:01:12):
probably very comfortably the two seed andtalked about as the one team that could
beat Boston. So it is atough draw. I think we're gonna know
very early tomorrow because I didn't lovewhat I saw from Embiid the other night.
He didn't look like this physical conditionwas great, but he still made
some plays in the fourth quarter.He had the weird three point play.
Yeah, they did what they didoffensively because they because Miami double teamed him,

(01:01:37):
which the Knicks are gonna have todo at times in this series.
I just feel like if with threedays between games we get a better sense
of his physical conditioning for the betterthat I think that's scary. He's the
best player in the league went healthy, and if he's healthy, he's the
best player in this series. Ifhe's compromised, then I mean, it's
such an oversimplification. If it's JOELMBIclose to one hundred per send for the

(01:02:00):
majority of the games in this series, Philly wins. And if it's something
shy of that, then I likethe next chances. Yeah, I don't
know what kind of time we haveleft here, MO, but I think
I think Joelle is is compromised.He did tweak the knee after he got
back from you know, the longperiod away from the team. Because of

(01:02:20):
the knee, he tweaked it prettyquickly after he got back, and he
you know, the fourth quarter thatthat playing game against Miami the other night
is really interesting because he did takeit over and score eleven points in the
fourth quarter. You know, Buteventually he he stands up and he's counted
for his presence in the game andthe Sixers get to win. But that

(01:02:42):
was after three quarters of being prettyanonymous. And again, you know,
if you're someone who likes to,you know, make a wager, back
up your your fanaticism with with youknow, cold heart Cash not saying I
am you know that he was notin. It was not peak Joel Embiid
until the fourth quarter. So Idon't know. It's a it's a it's

(01:03:07):
a really tough series. I thinkI think the knicks are deeper. Joel
has to be healthy, like yousaid, uh, and I think we'll
know early what the situation is.I think I think that. I yeah,
I still think Nixon seven, butthat's going to be they will.
The winner of this series will lookworse for the wear. I think we

(01:03:30):
could probably agree on that one.All right, we'll enjoy it. I'm
sure if my team wins, I'llbother you and if not, I might
go home. No, we couldmake it interesting too offline. We could
make it interesting offline, though,but we I'm in done, you know,
we we we share. So it'sthat's what I was thinking. Okay,

(01:03:54):
well, we'll like it. We'llsee all right, buddy, we're
on the same run, the samepa. Thank you as always. Enjoy
the game's arm man, Thanks somuch, you too, have fun with
it. Bye, Mike. That'sour guy Pat Brannan covering FC Cincinnati and
a Sixers fanatic. Thank you forindulging us with some NBA talk because I
love having pat On. He loveshis Sixers. I love my Knicks.

(01:04:16):
But you know we gave you theFC Cincinnati stuff too. We are as
we always are, late twenty threefrom five o'clock. Do we have time,
Tarin when we come back to talkabout one of my favorite moments in
TV sports history. Yes, allright, we're gonna do that next On
ESPN fifteen thirty set Lives for theService of Kelsea Chevro Light, home of
lifetime power train protection and guarantee creditapproval from their family to yours for life,

(01:04:40):
Kelsey chev dot Comrades and Angels.Tonight's Nick Lodola will throw for Cincinnati.
Tyler Anderson, a lefty for theHalo's six forty tonight on seven hundred
WLW starting line up this evening,India's leading off at second, Steers playing
first, Fairchild is batting third incenter field, Stevenson behind the plate,
Martini, dhing Eli's at short Freileyand right espinall at third base, Will

(01:05:01):
Benson in right field. Tonight,Red's claimed infielder Lavon Soto off waivers from
the Orioles send him to Louisville.They have made room for him on the
forty man roster by placing tj Antoneon the sixty day injured list. Ian
Jabou has been returned from a rehabassignment with renewed forearmed discomfort retroactive to April

(01:05:23):
the sixteenth, set back for him. Xavier's Das Claude entering the transfer portal
Indiana States. Ryan Conwell is transferringto Xavier. He averaged over sixteen and
a half points a game for avery good Sycamore's team last season. Tomorrow
night on ESPN fifteen thirty, it'sFC Cincinnati on the road against Atlanta.

(01:05:45):
The original plan today was Duke Tobinwas going to speak about the draft his
annual pre draft press conference. Thatgot shelved because unfortunately his dad, Bill
passed away, and so we sendour best to a duke and his family.
Bill Tobin was worked for the Bengalsfor close to twenty years in the
scouting department twousand and three through twentytwenty two. He had a long and

(01:06:12):
pretty colorful NFL career. He wasthe general manager of the Chicago Bears from
nineteen eighty seven through nineteen ninety two. He was the GM of the Colts
from ninety four through ninety six,and he was also at one point in
the early two thousands for a coupleof years, the player personnel director for
the Detroit Lions, and that precededhim coming to Cincinnati and working for the
Bengals. He was eighty three yearsold he passed away, and so you

(01:06:35):
know, first of all, youcould certainly understand why Duke didn't talk with
the media today, and when hedoes, that'll be fine. Duke Tobin.
Bill Tobin, on top of hisNFL career, which was long and
colorful and i'll say successful, heis responsible for what I think is the

(01:06:56):
most iconic moment in the history ofthe NFL Draft on television. So this
happened thirty years ago. Bill Tobinwas the GM of the Colts. And
you know, there are certain thingsyou watch on TV and they just stand
out to you. So that theNFL Draft, you probably know, used
to not be a Thursday, FridaySaturday event. It was like all day

(01:07:18):
Saturday, and then I think itwas all day on Saturday back then.
And then they got it to acouple of days on Saturday and Sunday,
but I'll never forget this. Nineteenninety four. So I'm a junior in
high school and I'm like throwing myselfinto the draft, and I'm doing all

(01:07:39):
the geeky draft stuff that like highschool kids do when they're really into football
and sports television and all that stuff. And mel Kiper's on TV and he's
dumping all over what the Colts aredoing with the draft, which that year
they had the number two overall pickand then number seven overall pick. And

(01:08:00):
we have the audio, so thisis like two minutes long. Anybody who
watched this remembers it and remembers howweird and awkward it was and how,
thirty years later, is still probablythe most famous television draft moment ever.
Tarn go ahead and hit it.I mean, here's the team that needed

(01:08:21):
a franchise quarterback. There were twoout there. They have a chance at
two. They don't take her.They end up coming back into the picture
to get Trent Dilfer. They takean outside linebacker, not even a true
outside linebacker. Somebody has to learncoverage in trev Alberts. But to pass
up at Trent Dilfer when all youhave is Jim Harball, give me a
break. That's why the culture pickingsecond every year in the draft, not

(01:08:43):
battling for the super Bowl like otherclubs in the national football level. After
who in the hell is mel Kiper? In a way? I mean,
here's a guy that criticizes everybody,whoever they take. He's got the answers
to who you should take and whoyou shouldn't take. In my knowledge of
him, he's never ever put ona jocks draft. He's never been a
coach, he's never been a scout, he's never been an administrator, and
all of a sudden he's an expert. He's in our papers two days ago

(01:09:05):
telling us who we have to take. We don't have to take anybody that
Mel Kuiper says we have to take. Mel Kuiper has no more credentials to
do what he's doing than my neighbor. And my neighbor's a postman. And
he doesn't even have season take usto the NFL. What do you want
to cover first, our players orthat jerk in Baltimore. Well, let

(01:09:27):
me tell you a little bit.I mean, the people in this room,
mel Kuiper lives in Baltimore, andI found all this out about the
last three days. He lives inBaltimore. He tried to hang around the
practices up there, I think whenTeddy was a coach earlier. And this
didn't come from Teddy. This camefrom another guy. But he always wanted
to work in the NFL. Hehas no credentials to work in the NFL.
He always just hung around. Nobodyever hired him. He's never been

(01:09:49):
hired by anyone. When the Coltsmoved here, he was very, very
upset. So every chance that melKiper gets to shoot at the Colts in
Indianapolis, he's going to do it. He reaches out to everyone. I
got a sister in Burlington Junction,Missouri, and when we took William Perry
back in eighty four or eighty five, I talked to her two days later

(01:10:10):
and she said, why do youtake the fat kid? And I said,
you just have to believe me.He was the best available. And
he was the best available. ButI mean, melk Piper gets to your
sister, he gets to you,So there you go. That's Bill Tobin
And the first part of that wason TV during the Draft, and it's
Chris Mortensen, who just passed awaya few weeks ago, interviewing Bill Tobin.

(01:10:33):
And as he's interviewing them, theESPN cameras are showing mel Kiper,
who's being dumped on by Bill Tobin. It was one of the most awkward
things I've ever watched on TV.It also really sort of helped popularize the
draft and helped turn it into thecultural event that it is today. And

(01:10:55):
by the way, Bill Tobin thatyear with the second overall pick, they
took Marshall Falk. That kind ofworked out. They took trev Alberts instead
of Trent Dilford. Trev Alberts provedto not be able to play. Trent
Dilfer was okay, won a SuperBowl with the Baltimore Ravens because he was
on a team that had a reallygood defense. But that's neither here nor
there. Those of us who werewatching April of nineteen ninety four will always

(01:11:20):
remember who the hell is mel Kiper? From Bill Tobin defending his drafting as
the GM of the Indianapolis Colts.Bill Tobin passed away today at the age
of eighty three. Brendanman and Joneson Baseball next Get ready the Iheartspring Up
ESPN fifteen thirty goods or ESPN fifteenthirty. Thanks so much for joining us.

(01:11:47):
Hopefully your weekend is off to anunbelievable start. I got a wait
for you to get the weekend offto a good start from ice Cold michelob
Ultritz the Nick Ultra five o'clock HappyHour on ESPN fifteen thirty. No better
way to start a weekend. Alot happening. We have been busy today.
Reds are getting set to take onthe Angels at GABP with a starting

(01:12:09):
lineup that has made Twitter mad andI get it. We're gonna get to
that coming up in just a second. We also have a couple of poll
questions we have to address on Twitterslash x at maleger and supposed to be
joined by Pat Kelsey here in abit. Obviously, Cincinnati's own has taken
over the men's basketball program at theUniversity of Louisville. We'll start with the

(01:12:35):
Reds. This team is well,they're dealing with injury, and they're dealing
with illness, and they're dealing witha situation in which tonight's starting lineup for
a second consecutive evening. Stuart Fairchildis batting third. There are questions about
some of the lefties in the lineuptonight. There's also fair questions about Bubba

(01:12:57):
Thompson not being able to crack thestart lineup against the lefty when the Reds
are using some guys that in anideal world, they're not really using.
No Cees again tonight, No jamOr Candelario again tonight. David Bell has
talked extensively, including just about fortyfive minutes or so ago, about the
number of illnesses kind of working itsway through the team, whether it's the

(01:13:19):
flu, whatever it is, ithas, it's made an impact and these
are reasons, they're not excuses.But Ces didn't play the last game against
Seattle, Candelario has missed time.Both guys out of commission tonight, at
least not in the starting lineup.Puts the onus on pitching right Like Nick

(01:13:39):
Lodolo is pitching tonight. He wasterrific in that first game that he came
back and pitched against the White Soxlast week. By the way, for
what it's worth, Andrew Abbott Ithought looked really good on Wednesday. He
gave up the two homers, butyou can't have any issue with what he
did six innings, two runs.At some point, the expectation, I

(01:14:01):
think still is that Reds starting pitchingbecomes a strength, like a bona fide
strength, and enough of a strengththat it could carry the team when it's
not at its best, when it'snot at its healthiest. I've used the
word reliability a lot. I've talkedabout Hunter Green needing to be more reliable,

(01:14:25):
and Graham Ashcraft to Nick Lodolo,You've got to be able to count
on these guys. That means health. It also means performance, and it
means some degree of consistency with performance, and those aren't really things we've seen
by and large from the Reds asa staff. So but you know,
last year, the Reds got towhere they got a limited place eighty two

(01:14:46):
wins outside of the playoffs, butthey remained in contention, and they hung
in there until the second to lastday of the season very much in spite
of their starting pitching. Starting pitchingwas a weakness last year, or one
of the worst staffs statistically in theentire sport. They didn't make it any
better at the trade deadline, Alot of promise, a lot of upside.

(01:15:09):
But the reality is, if youare looking at reasons why the Reds
were on the outside looking in aftersuch a fun summer, the main reason
would be starting pitching. If you'relooking at the one thing that last year's
team had to overcome on its wayto eighty two wins and a surprising finish
in the overall National League standings,you would say the starting pitching, the
offense last year was good enough toovercome it. The bullpen last year was

(01:15:33):
for the most part, good enoughto overcome it. Dare I say,
yes, David Bell was good enoughlast year for the team to be able
to overcome it's bad starting pitching.Well, we're getting to the point,
obviously still very early in the seasonwhere I think you could say it's time
for the starting pitching to hold upits end of the bargain. And where

(01:15:54):
that becomes most important is when you'renot at your healthiest or you're without key
guys on offense, so you don'thave the starting lineup that you would typically
be looking for. So okay,you're playing without Cees and you're playing without
Candelario, and you're not gonna haveMatt McLain forever, and you're not gonna
have Noelve Marte for another sixty twogames, and you're without TJ. Friedl

(01:16:18):
for the time being, and you'rebeing forced to thrust into larger roles guys
like Stuart Fairchild and Nick Martini andSantiago Espinal. I can't help, But
wonder is there a better option thanSantiago Espinal out there? I mean,
it's not that I'm disappointed by him, but he has offensively at least been

(01:16:38):
what we thought he was going tobe. You think about where we were
back in spring training. You're talkingabout who was going to play third base
for this team, and it wasgonna be Marte, and then when we
saw that he's not gonna be ableto help the team for eighty games,
it's gonna be Candelario, and tonightit's Santiago Espinal. When that's the case,
when you're shorthanded, when you areoperating from kind of a deficial in

(01:17:00):
place, offensively, it's up tothe starting pitching to kind of carry things.
It's up to the starting pitching tobe able to kind of make up
for what you might not be ableto do offensively. So it's a lot
to put on a young staff.It's a lot to put on a guy
like Nicolodolo who's making just his secondstart of the season and what start number
six since the beginning of last year. But at some point, if the

(01:17:24):
Reds are going to accomplish in theshort term and in the long term what
we want them to accomplish, thestarting pitching has to go from a weakness
last year to maybe an accessory sofar this season, to something that can
carry the team, to something that'sthe strength, to something that can enable
them to still win games when they'rewithout so many key guys. And right

(01:17:46):
now we know life for the Redsmeans you're not playing with McLain or with
Freedol or with Marte, but nowyou're not playing without two other guys.
And maybe that continues through the weekend. I don't know. If the starting
pitching takes a major step forward thisyear, that means it puts the Reds

(01:18:08):
in a position where they could stillwin even when they're without key guys.
We'll see if that happens starting tonight. Reds and Angels. By the way,
a bit of a setback for IanJabo returned from rehab. He is
dealing, unfortunately with more forearmed discomfort. He is a guy who pitched in
a billion games last year. Ithink he was second in the National League

(01:18:31):
in appearances. How huge of ablow is that, I don't know.
I do know that the Reds countedon him often last year, and it's
going to be a while before theycan count on him again. We have
been heavy on the Reds today,coming off the three game series sweep at
the hands of the Seattle Mariners.Lots of good NFL draft stuff this week.

(01:18:54):
We had Joe Goodbarry on the showon Wednesday. We had our buddy
Dame Brugler from the Fater he waswith us on Tuesday, and Paul Daanner
Junior as well. If you missedany of those conversations really heavy on the
draft, you can find them onthe iHeartRadio app or also my page at
ESPN fifteen thirty dot com. We'regonna be really heavy into the draft next

(01:19:16):
week, as you might understand.Broadcasting from Long Neck Sports grill In Wilder,
I got a poll question and we'rehaving fun with these at Moegger.
The second pole question is in referenceto an exchange I had with somebody who
hosts I'm not gonna mention what itis, what the podcast is, but

(01:19:38):
that I had with somebody who hostsa very good NFL draft podcast. We'll
get to that in just a second. Maybe the most bizarre story though,
right now in baseball involves that offormer Major leaguer Hensley Mulens, who is
the hitting coach for the Colorado Rockies. Federal Aviation Administration and United Airlines are

(01:20:03):
investigating an incident involving Rockies. Involvingthe Colorado Rockies during a chartered flight to
Toronto, reading from the Associated Press. In a since deleted video posted to
social media, Rockies hitting coach HensleyMullins is seen sitting in a pilot's seat
in the cockpit while the plane isin fight. In flight, Mullins wrote

(01:20:26):
in a caption on Instagram, quote, had some fun in the cockpit on
our flight from Denver to Toronto,thanks to the captain and the first officer
of our United charter that allowed methis great experience. Now you're not allowed
to do this. United Airlines says, quote, we're deeply disturbed by what
we see in that video, whichappears to show an unauthorized person in the

(01:20:48):
flight deck at cruise altitude while theautopilot was engaged. It's a clear violation
of our safety and operational policies.We have reported the incident to the FAA
and have withheld the pilots from servicewhile we conduct an investigation. The Rockies
tell the Denver Post that the teamhas no comment. Now. I don't

(01:21:09):
know what's going to become of thepilots. I don't know what's going to
become of the flight crew, butnothing should happen to Hensley mw Ones.
Show me somebody that if you saidto them you could sit in the cockpit
during flight, is gonna say no? Like I remember being a little kid,

(01:21:31):
and you know, as a realyoung kid, i'd fly back and
forth between here and New Jersey wheremy dad was, and I'd fly by
myself. I'm not even sure that'sallowed anymore, but before the flight,
they'd always walk the kid flying byhimself up to the cockpit and that was
the coolest thing ever. As anadult, if you told me I could

(01:21:56):
go visit the cockpit, especially nowwith the technology they have and airplanes,
who's saying who is saying no tothat? It might not be allowed.
It might be illegal. Is thereanybody saying no to that? So that's
my pole questions, one of thetwo. If you could sit in the
cockpit of a plane while it's inthe air, you would right so far
early voting eighty four point three percentof you say yes. Who would say

(01:22:18):
no to that? It's not allowed? But nothing should happen to Hensley mwins
Now. He might be a badhitting coach and maybe the Rockies are looking
for a reason to fire him,but he should not lose his job because
of this. The other pole questionis and I I was listening this morning
to a I'm not gonna mention itbecause I just don't want to start anything.

(01:22:44):
I was listening to a really goodNFL Draft podcast and it was so
good. I actually had the hostof the podcast. I have his phone
number, So when I got donelistening to the podcast, I thought,
I'm gonna do something nice here.So I sent this person a text telling

(01:23:09):
them how much I enjoyed the podcastand this person's work overall. And I
wasn't really asking for anything. Iwas thinking, God, you know,
I can maybe get this person onthe air. But I didn't really have
any ulterior motives. I was justsending a nice note. You know,
I know from doing what I dofor a living, sometimes it's nice to

(01:23:30):
hear from people, Hey, Ienjoyed that segment, or man, that
show is really good. There arevery few reasons to ever say such things
to me, but it's nice whenyou hear those things. Then I try
to reciprocate and say something nice back. So I did that this morning,
and after about five minutes, Iheard my phone ding and I pulled it
out of my pocket and I gota reply from this podcast host and all

(01:23:55):
it said was thanks, Taran.I'll ask you. Should I feel at
least a little offended? No?No, no, just just a quick
thanks. That's it. Thanks,That's all we're doing here. I send
you a nice note out of theblue, telling you how good your podcast

(01:24:17):
is, and all I get isa thanks. So I sort of feel
like this person told me to poundsand. I sort of feel like this
person told me to kiss off,so to speak. So my question is
this person basically told me to awas I put it on social media?
F off and fifty five percent nowtearing for what it's worth. After I

(01:24:40):
listened to the podcast and after Igot the text, message back. I
shared it with my wife and shetold me like, oh, who are
you? I shut up? Theperson wrote you back. People are busy,
so she's on your side. Shedoesn't think I should be offended.
I feel offended that this podcast hostall they can do, like to me,
that is, there are two sortof te replies that you send to

(01:25:00):
people that are basically like throwing upa middle finger at someone. If you
ever reply kay, like someone tellsyou something and you don't even have the
energy to write back okay, youare basically telling them you hate them.
That or the just thanks. AndI'm not talking about like you know,
somebody you talk with every day theyask you to do something and you go,

(01:25:21):
yeah, no problem, and they'dwrite thanks. That's one thing,
but like this out of the blue. The last time I had texted this
person was twenty twenty one, somaybe they had no idea who it was.
But you send a nice text andall they can do is write back
thanks. Fifty five percent of thosevoting say I was basically told to kiss

(01:25:43):
off. Vote now at Moager ourPole questions. Thanks to our buddies at
United Heartland Insurance, they will nevertell you to kiss off local insurance leaders
you can count on. They've gotoffices in Cincinnati, Northern Kentucky, Hamilton,
and they have a website. Howabout that? U H I N
S. So what if you'd havenever gotten a reply at all? I

(01:26:04):
think that would have been told youto kiss off, like no reply whatsoever.
Yes, that'd have been the clear. Let me ask you a questions
as somebody who admittedly admittedly now isnot at times the most prompt about a
response. What is the time likehow what is the allowed amount of time

(01:26:26):
that you are allowed to send atext back a reply without it being rude?
Is it twenty four hours? Yes? And depending who, depend on
who it is? Sure? Likesometimes I'll get I'll get texts during the
show and I just don't have time. I like, we're busy here,

(01:26:48):
and then I the show ends,and then there's sometimes one or two things
to do, and then I drivehome and I am not a text and
driver, and so then I getat home and then it's you know,
my daughter, my wife, andso I don't I don't reply until sometimes
later at night or sometimes the nextday, and I I feel bad,

(01:27:09):
but you know, you like youwrite me a text at you know,
four twelve in the afternoon, Ican't stop the radio show to send you
one back, and during the breaks, you know, we're busy doing stuff.
I would have almost go ahead.I'm not a text three. Yeah,
I just I would have been okaywith no response more than just thanks,

(01:27:34):
Like I didn't just write hey,great podcast, Like I went into
like detail, like I wanted thisperson to know I had listened to this
episode. I mean, pretty outof the blue. Admittedly not somebody that
I would say we're buddies with.Obviously I haven't texted him in a couple
of years. But like, youknow, here's what I liked about the

(01:27:55):
podcast. Uh, here's what mademe laugh, Here's what made me change
my mind. Here's what I wasthinking. Like, I probably a good
paragraph law and I'm not a bigparagraph texter, like I believe in brevity.
But somebody does that and you justwrite back thanks, Like I'm done
with this, dude, I n'tfollowed this podcast. I'm not gonna listen
anymore, certainly won't have him onthe air. Wow, you're really heard

(01:28:20):
about this? I am. I'mI don't know what the rules of text
etiquette are, but just you knowagain, like if somebody like my my
yesterday, I sent a quick textto my wife before I left the house
and it was just, uh,can you take the laundry from the washing

(01:28:42):
machine and put it in the dryerwhen you get home? And she wrote,
no problem, and I wrote backthanks. But that's like my wife
and I text every day. That'sone thing. Here's this person out of
the blue complimenting you on your work, and you know someone in a similar
our business, and all you cando is right back thanks. But like

(01:29:02):
you said, like you said earlier, though you haven't texted this person in
three years, maybe he doesn't knowwho it is. Maybe just thought like
some random fan that got his numberor something. Where are you when someone
texts you and you don't know whoit is? Do you play along and
just pretend like you know who itis? If I don't know the number,
I'm not. I'm not responding back, you're not responding at all.

(01:29:24):
If you call, if you callmy phone and I don't have your number
saved to my phone, I'm notanswering. Same with text, I can
kind of go multiple ways here.I've done the thing where I'll just like
oh yeah, and I'll pretend likeI know who it is, and I
have a few of those ongoing conversations, and then there's the like I'll look
up the phone number online and it'llbe there and it's like, oh,

(01:29:45):
yeah, I know who that personis. I did get one text about
a month ago, and it wasactually while we were on the air,
and it was somebody who texted textingme something about what we were doing on
the air, and I would Ididn't even respond. I looked it up,
had no idea, I didn't recognizeit, and there was no like
text history. Oftentimes I'll get textfrom people but like I've texted with them

(01:30:11):
before, but I just didn't savethe number, and I can look at
the previous conversation and go, yeah, that's who that is, and then
I'll try to save it. ButI mean again, like you write somebody
a nice note thanks. I'm nota very sensitive person, Tarran, I'm
hard to offend. That offended me. We are really vote now at Moegar
thanks to our friends at United HeartlandInsurance. It's twenty three minutes after five

(01:30:36):
o'clock on Moeger five o'clock Happy Hourservice of mic Ultra. This is ESPN
fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports Station.It is twenty nine minutes after five o'clock
ESPN fifteen thirty on Moegar. Whenwe last chatted with Pat Kelsey, he
was getting ready to coach his Charlestonteam in the NCAA Tournament, And about

(01:30:59):
a week or so after that,he is announced as the new head basketball
coach at the University of Louisville.And we said out loud that day,
well, we've we've had him onat Winthrop, We've had him on at
Charleston, We've got to get himon now at Louisville and lo and behold,
here he is. What's going on? Hey, Mo, It's an
honor to be here, man,excited to be here in the hallowed halls
of Elder High School as well.Yeah, not bad. Is this the
first moment you've had a chance tolike sit down over to on an airplane

(01:31:25):
or in my car? That's that'sabout it. But yeah, it's been
uh, it's been a whirlwind,but yeah, but great. How do
you even beyond World one? Howdo you even begin to describe what the
last three weeks have been? Like? Yeah, you know, somebody people
talk about all the time about drinkingout of a like you're drinking out of
a fire hose with a straw.So there's a little bit of that,

(01:31:46):
but what what what I think rightnow, the way we're going about is
like we're chewing on we're eating thefire hose. You know, I'm not
worrying about sipping out of a straw. So my staff's doing an unbelievable job
and you know, implementing our culture, roster management, talent acquisition, getting
a roster set here over the nextmonth or so, and love where things
are at. Yeah, so's it'sroster construction, talent acquisition that it would

(01:32:10):
seem to me to take priority.But you got to assemble a staff.
You got the players who are incumbents, Like, how do you how do
you even divide your time? Yeah, you know, initially, one of
the first things we did was obviouslytake time to meet with all the individuals
on the current team. Then youknow, obviously get our staff in.
Lucky for me, I have thebest staff in the country, the staff

(01:32:31):
that I had at the College ofCharleston. I wouldn't trade for the Boston
Celtics or you know, the LALakers. So the majority of those guys
came. There's some different positions thatsome guys have been put in, hired
a few from the outside, butthat was an easy decision. You know.
Those guys were a big, big, big part of the success that
we had. Somebody told me along time ago in business that you don't

(01:32:53):
have to be the smartest one inthe room, but you better have the
smartest room. And the guys thatwe went to war with last several years
at Charleston helped build one of thebest mid major programs in the country.
And those guys got well deserved promotionsto come to Louisville and excite to build
a championship program. So the portalis reality for every coach men's women's got

(01:33:16):
You've got to navigate it. It'swhat strike me is a little bit more
difficult when you're changing schools. Justkind of walk me through the process of
you look in the portal, there'sa player, we're interested, let's get
them on campus. How's that work? Yeah, you know, it's it's
different. For years and years andyears, recruiting was a multi year process
many times. Right, you startbuilding, you still do right, you

(01:33:40):
build cultivate relationships with young players,and as they work their way up,
you know, you watch them inthe spring, you watch them in the
summer, you get them on campusfor unofficial visits, and then you know,
you eventually close them sign them.But now, in the portal world,
a three year process sometimes come downcomes down to a three day process
or a three week process us.So obviously it's very important to comb through

(01:34:03):
the enormous amount of names in dataand figure out who fits. First of
all, from a metrics standpoint.You know, I'm a big baseball guy.
I love Moneyball, not the movie, the book. I read the
book way before the movie. Andwe've done a really good job, I
believe, you know, during ourtime for the last twelve years since I've

(01:34:24):
been a head coach of even beforethe transfer, portal transfers were still a
reality, and because of how numberstranslate at the college level versus high school,
you have that wealth of data andif they hit certain metrics, that
moves them on to the next phaseof the evaluation process. Obviously, you
have to find out what makes themwho they are, what makes them tick,

(01:34:45):
the intangibles, So you have themeasurables and you have the immeasurables.
We love guys with great toughness,competitiveness, basketball IQ. They make people
around them better. They have adaptability, which is it's fourth and three play
breaks down, can you get thefirst down? And you got to make
a lot of calls on that,but you got to do it quickly because
at the same time that same prospectsbeing hit by twenty five, thirty,
forty fifty other schools. Obviously,get them to campus, have a great

(01:35:10):
visit and try to close in thein the nil world, observers from the
outside and maybe some from the insidewill say, well, what players want
to know is what am I goingto make? And maybe that's the case,
maybe it's not beyond that. What'sthe first thing they ask you?
Well, you know, the firstthing you want to do is let them
know who you are as a person, right, and you know that.

(01:35:33):
They obviously want to know style ofplay, right. They want to know
how you're going to develop them.They want to know how you're going to
use them. They want to knowthe construction of your roster, who you
have you know, where do yousee me fit? You know those type
things. Coaches can't negotiate numbers,you know, they're not allowed to talk

(01:35:53):
to a prospect and start talking aboutnumbers. You're allowed to tell them certain
things. You're allowed to tell themwhat nil deals your current guys have.
Right, But there's you know,there's there's other individuals and collectives and things
like that that can talk to theathlete about those type of things. But
it's obviously moved toward more of aprofessional sports model. I'm a firm believer

(01:36:15):
that you know, it's still there'sstill purity in college of basketball. There's
still nineteen twenty twenty one, twentytwo year old kids that are in the
formative years of their life, andyou can help move the needle in their
heart to make them better people,better professionals, better fathers, better husbands.
That'll that'll never change, you knowwith me. But there's no question
that an il in the transfer portalhave created a seismic shift in our industry.

(01:36:39):
And if you're not willing to adaptand run to it, you're gonna
get run over. This is oneof the premier jobs in college basketball.
And I've said, just living herein Cincinnati, I think it's always fun
when Louisville's good, because I thinkthere are very few metropolitan areas where college
basketball is number one, clear cutnumber one, And to me that that
describes the city of Louisville. Sojust kind of take me through grasping the

(01:37:04):
enormity of the job. It's ajob with such immense responsibility. You have
a lot of work to do,you have a lot of people who are
invested in your success. And notthat those things weren't the case in your
other stops, but it is abigger deal in Louisville and at the University
of Louisville. So what's taking onall that? Like, Yeah, you

(01:37:26):
want to be somewhere where it reallyreally matters, right, I mean the
places that I've been throughout my career, basketball was the deal, right,
So at Xavier basketball is the deal. And fan base there is passionate fan
base at Louisville's passionate. You're right, they're probably one of the most passionate
fan bases in all of college basketball. You mentioned the metropolitan area of Louisville.

(01:37:47):
There's one point two million people inmetropolitan Louisville, and you're right,
it's the biggest in the entire country. Did not have a major professional sports
team. The major professional sports teamis the University of Louisville, and guess
what in the state to Kentucky,they're extremely knowledgeable in the game. So
you got one point two million assistantcoaches out there, right and that,
and that's good. You know,you don't want to be somewhere where it

(01:38:10):
doesn't matter you in any job.You want to connect with with the alums.
Louisville's got a sizeable I know Peytonseem is going to be on your
staff, which is really cool.Above and beyond the portal and reaching out
and assembling of staff. What hasit been like in terms of your outreach
to all those former Cardinals? Yeah, care so much about the program.
Yeah, there's a lot of them, and it's a it's it's an crazy

(01:38:33):
impressive list. I mean, you'retalking three national championships, right, Seventy
seven draft picks, twenty four firstround draft picks. So well, I
knew there was a lot. Iknow the specifics now because I make sure
I tell recruits that I think bringingPeyton on board is a big deal.

(01:38:57):
I met him the first day Igot on campus. He walked in.
It's amazing, Like he doesn't looklike the most decorated player in the history
of the program. I mean,he's little, he's taller me, which
isn't isn't hard to do, butkind of just carries himself as an unassuming
guy and could have been nicer forhim, like, hold on, you're
Peyton Siva, you know, twentythirteen national champion, and he's beloved right

(01:39:18):
not only in the fan base andin the community, but unbelievably respected,
as you can imagine within basketball alumnias well. I get you on usually
in March when you've won a conferencetournament, and we talk about what's next,
and then we you know, wespend a few minutes on the Reds.
And as I was thinking about thisthis morning, I'm like, man,

(01:39:39):
coach has probably not watched one inning. We've played eighteen games. It's
like, is that pretty close?Pretty close? Before that's it. Before
I left Charleston, I think OpeningDay had happened, and maybe one other
game. I didn't get the watchopening Day because it's in the afternoon and
I was working at Charleston trying toget guys out of the portal. But
I remember watching a couple of winnings. I checked the score every night,

(01:40:00):
and it they'll come a time whenlife will settle down a little bit and
I'll be able to, you know, drink a cold beer in the back
porch, and and and uh andand turn on turn on the game or
turn on the radio broadcast. Allright, well, we're rooting for you.
It's awesome that you're closer to home. Great that you get a chance
to spend a few hours on theWest side of Cincinnati tonight. There's nothing
like it. This is home.Being back here is unbelievably special to me,

(01:40:23):
one of the most special nights inmy life. You've you've joined me
after you make the tournament at Winthropand at Charleston. So if you win
the ACC tournament or if you makeit as an at large that week,
it's mark mark it down. Allright. We're gonna make it happen in
my blood, my purple blood.And did you really get rid of all
your blue stuff? Purple tonight?Purple tonight red when I boil the parking

(01:40:45):
lot. Good stuff. Coach,congrats on the gig, rooting for you.
Always appreciate your generosity with us.Thanks Moe, good seeing you,
buddy. Appreciate it. Head coachat the University of Louisville, back in
town for the annual Elder Sports Tag. We are way late. It's twenty
away from six o'clock on ESPN fifteenthirty Cincinnati Sports Station, Cincinnati's e it

(01:41:10):
all right, it's a quarter tosix. This is ESPN fifteen thirty on
mo Edgar five point three seven fournine fifteen thirty. Is our phone number
E six sixty seven oh two threeseven seven six works as well. Uh,
we have a few minutes, Mike, you can have some of them.
How are you? I'm fine,Ma, How are you doing?

(01:41:30):
You know, I'm doing alright.What's going on? You know what?
And you know who? MBD remindsme of Bill Walton. This guy is
Joel Bill Hurt. Yeah, inthe terms of being having trouble with his
feet and his knees. Mb it'sgoing to be the same thing Bill Walton
did. He's never going to bethe player he could have been last year.

(01:41:53):
He shouldn't have been the MVP.It's just everybody's shipping the joke for
getting MVP. But he shouldn't havehad the MVP last year and he ain't
gonna get it this year. Obviously. I don't know how your knicks you're
gonna beat the Celtics. I mean, you're four and one against you in
the regular season. I don't thinkanybody's going to beat the Celtics. I
don't think anybody in the league isgoing to beat the Celtics. I think

(01:42:15):
I think Denver can be because Ithink with the Joker, when the heats
on, the Joker steps up,and they got the best starting five in
the NBA. Possibly, uh.I feel like on the perimeter, Boston
can do some things and do somethings in transition that I would pick them

(01:42:39):
in a seven game series against Denver. But I do think Denver's coming out
of the West, and I don'tyou know, I love my beloved Nicks.
I don't think they can beat Idon't think there's anybody in the East
that could beat Boston four times.Oh I wish they could. I just
don't realistically see it. But forthe next brother, just because I I've

(01:43:02):
never liked this Celtics because I,you know, was a Lakers fan forever.
But the look by the way,but by the way, for what
it's worth, not that I thinkanybody cares. I would have voted for
MB to be the MVP last year. I mean he he led, he
led the league in scoring. Uhhe. I would have voted MB to

(01:43:25):
be the MVP last season and nomajor, no major issue with the Joker
winning it again. But but myvote would have gone to m B last
year. Yeah, it's interesting.I don't know if people get tired,
like with guys who parentally win it, just get tired of it, because
sometimes I think that's a motivation.I'm not saying that in your case,
but you know, you know thatI think it happens. I mean,

(01:43:47):
I think a lot of people havetalked about how in the nineties, you
know, Jordan should have been theMVP of the league every single year,
but because there was a voter fatiguewith him, we decided Carl Malone was
more of a Carmelo was a terrificplayer. But I do think that's I
think that's a factor in the NBAmore than it is other sports, where
you will just have people who decide, well, you know what, I'm

(01:44:09):
tired of voting for player X.I mean, legitimately, over the last
twenty years, how many times shouldhave Lebron James been the league's MVP?
Right? Yeah? Yeah, Imean think about it over the last over
the last twenty years. Lebron James, who some would say is the greatest
player of all time, He's wonit four times. It's been over a

(01:44:30):
decade since he won it. Heplayed in the league for nearly a decade
before he finally did win it.Now, are you going to tell me
that Lebron James, who is inhis twentieth NBA season, has only been
the league's most truly the most valuableplayer in the entire league four times.
It's ridiculous to suggest that, ButI think you have people who just look
at him and go, well,he's won four I'm not going to vote

(01:44:53):
for him again, and I thinkthat's a really lazy, short sighted way
of doing things. Now I dotoo, because Kareem, I think,
got it six times. And I'mnot saying Kareem is a better player,
although he did have that skybook.No, I agree with you one hundred
percent. Can I switch to theReds for a moment, of course,
I'm worried about this matchup tonight becauseI checked out Anderson's record against the Reds

(01:45:19):
over the last couple of years whenhe was with the Dodgers. I don't
know if the I guess it included, well, they didn't play the Angels
last year, did they? Ordid they? Everybody plays everybody now,
Okay, I still have trouble gettingused to that, even though I do
my home dog every day. ButI worry tonight because we keep talking about

(01:45:44):
this line up. Everybody's obsessed withthe lineup. But it all depends on
whether Nick Gadolo does the job tonight. Because ty Anderson is probably going to
do the job on the other side. And the Reds are hitting two thirty
six against left handers. The Angelsaren't love to sixty four. I think
this poses to be a really interestinggame tonight, mom, with these two

(01:46:05):
lefties. Yeah, I mean,it's hard to expect Lodola to be any
better than he was or as goodas he was against Chicago. For what
it's worth, if you want touse previous results, Tyler Anderson did pitch
against the Reds last season. Itwas a game in which sho heey O
Tani started and went an inning anda third and then Anderson came in and

(01:46:26):
went four and two thirds. Hegave up a homer, four unearned runs.
His defense failed him, and Elide la Cruz took him deep and
maybe that happens again tonight. Butno, they haven't been good against lefties,
and I think they stand a chanceto be even less good against lefties,
if you will. With some ofthe guys who are not not available
tonight, they're starting a bunch oflefties that you would ordinarily wonder should those

(01:46:48):
guys be in the lineup. Yeah, and I've been meaning to ask you
this for a long time. Iknow you got to go. Was there
did the Reds have to give onehundred at fifteen million dollars a front?
Or is that not a front?Or was that straightening out on his contract?

(01:47:08):
If you know it? Well,what they did, they really did.
They gave him one more year thanhe was already under team control four
So all they basically did was guaranteehis contract. All they basically did was
set in place what he is goingto be making Hunter Green is under team

(01:47:29):
control for years. What they didis they said, all right, here's
a player who's under team control.Instead of his salary not being known,
now we're going to guarantee it andeverybody's gonna know what he makes. He
got a signing bonus, but Imean, he's Hunter Green this year is
making three million next year, sixmillion in twenty six. He's going to
make eight milteen in twenty twenty seven, he's going to make fifteen million.

(01:47:55):
In twenty twenty eight, he's goingto make sixteen million. None of those
figures today, in particular, thefifteen or the sixteen mil would this year
make him among the top thirty,top thirty highest paid pitchers in the sport.
They really extended him one year.And yeah, his money is guaranteed.

(01:48:15):
But let's say that Hunter Green turnsinto the staff face that we all
hope he does, and then he'sarbitration eligible and his money isn't guaranteed.
I could promise you he would makemore money than he's guaranteed to make.
Right now, we are done,got to go. Thanks to Tarren Bland
for producing, Thanks to you forlistening. Have a great night. Talk
to you Monday. This is ESPNfifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports Station. They're

(01:48:45):
modern day con artists.