4/8/25 - The Mo Egger Radio Show - Mo Egger

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

Speaker 2 (00:02):
Sure have what's up? It's four minutes after three o'clock.
This is ESPN fifteen thirty on Oeger. Thank you for
joining us. I hope you're having like the greatest Tuesday
of all time. We have a lot of ground to
cover today. Paul Danner Juniors here in studio, The Atletic,
The Growler Podcast. We're gonna go to Augusta. Will Grimmer,

(00:23):
my favorite professional golfer, is gonna tell us who to
bet on this weekend. Scott Sadderfield is gonna be on
the show at the five o'clock hour. The the UC
version of the Spring Game, which is more just an
open practice more than anything else, is Saturday. Scott's gonna
join us at five thirty five. Full show rundown on
Twitter at moegar. Thanks to Emery Federal Credit Union your

(00:46):
credit Union with heart since at nineteen thirty nine. Go
to EMERYFCU dot org. We have last night's titled Tilt
to discuss. We have Hunter Green's awesomeness to discuss whether
or not he wins the Syngerward this year. We have
to spend some time on that last night all joking
aside was a pressure filled pressure packs start for Hunter Green,

(01:07):
and he absolutely delivered. He has been awesome over the
course of the last calendar year. He has been awesome
over the course of his last twelve starts to the
tune of like a one to one o e er
and uh boy, it would be a shame if he
doesn't get a chance to pitch in October. We're going
to spend some time on that. But first, our guy,
Paul Danner Junior's with us. Look like you had notes, now,

(01:28):
look at notes on your phone.

Speaker 3 (01:30):
I was trying to look up a Hunter Green's high
school football career so that I could properly transition in.
He did play some high school football, according to the
Internet on my very rudimentary search that I just did.
Gave it up relatively early. Yeah, because I think the
right call. It appears baseball was going to work out.
Baseball things working out all right. But maybe there's some
traits that we can talk about with him, you know,

(01:52):
as we get into you know what tomorrow is though.
Have you have you prepared everyone that plans to print
I'm ready? Have you let them know?

Speaker 4 (01:59):
Yes?

Speaker 3 (01:59):
You checked on a printer the toner situation. It's ready
the cartridges, it's well, I don't know, you may want to,
you may want to get it ready because the Beast
does come out tomorrow at six am.

Speaker 2 (02:10):
I set aside my own ream of paper, right, I
did this, my own ream of paper to put in,
hit print, then go to lunch, and then come back
and the thing will be done and all my coworkers
will be met at me because I've printed the Beast.

Speaker 3 (02:24):
Yes, can't wait, can't wait for that, And it's there's
They've also we've added in a full like mini website
that's basically on top of the normal PDF that you
will print and keep here, that you can go into
that's a little more interactive as well.

Speaker 2 (02:39):
So extra extra on the Beast tomorrow.

Speaker 3 (02:42):
It's really it's the official like, okay, it's here now,
everybody buckle up.

Speaker 2 (02:47):
Here we go. Well, when I was a kid, uh
and sports talk radio kind of launched in Cincinnati on
a full time basis when I was in high school,
and I remember listening to Jerry Jones the Drugstore List,
and I remember, like, you know, listening and I had
something to write down, like I get to mail away
for this drugstore List done, by this pharmacist from Marymont

(03:08):
who sounds like a draft expert when he's on with
Lance McAllister or whoever. And it was eight bucks, and
I would like, all right, well I have eight dollars.
I can send him eight dollars. Well, no, it's got
to be a credit card. And then I have to
add could I use the credit card? And then and
then later on, when I was in college, I subscribed
to Mel Kuiper's newsletter, and this is like the latest
and best and most improved version of both of those.

(03:29):
The Dan Bruglar Beast.

Speaker 3 (03:31):
Yeah, I mean there's a lot out there, as people know,
like there's no shortage of draft content, yes, but when
it comes to truly like as legitimate as it gets,
as well sourced as it gets truly in contact with
every scout, every team, I mean the nuggets that you
get just reading through like the twenty third ranked running

(03:53):
backs bio about why he failed his chemistry class, like
that stuff. The depth that he goes to it is is,
you know, we the athletic were full of all of
these people. A lot of us came up in newspapers,
were very much like proud to be sort of hard
charging journalists. We are all so jealous to see somebody
have a project that is just the epitome of reporting

(04:15):
in every way, shape and form that Dane puts out
and it's uh, it's it gets its due every year.
It gets the love every year, and it deserves it
because it's it's one of the best things that comes
out of our entire organization.

Speaker 2 (04:27):
You always podcast with them, and we're always lucky enough
to get them on the show, which tearing that's a
reminder to get Dan Bruger on the show. I enjoy
talking with him about the process of putting the Guide
together more than I actually enjoy talking about the draft
with them. Yeah, no, I I agree. I always just
say what's your what's your favorite.

Speaker 3 (04:44):
Obscure nugget, you know, and and he's probably has about
one hundred of them that he could go to. But
I write a story off of it every year, just
on stuff Bengals related, sort of connections that you that
you find in terms of how it to affect their draft,
and it's not hard to do when you really start
diving into it.

Speaker 2 (05:00):
I'm gonna give you my sort of very basic, almost
remedial dumb GUYE draft take as it relates to the Bengals. Okay,
actually two of them. Here's number one. If the Bengals
win a Super Bowl with Joe Burrow as quarterback, this
draft will be a huge reason why. And if they don't,
this draft will be a huge reason why. This is

(05:20):
a pivotal draft for a thousand different reasons. If they
screw this up, the window is gonna shut without a title.
If they get this right, Joe Burrow is going to
lead us to a parade.

Speaker 3 (05:30):
I think that's probably a little it's probably too general.
I mean, I don't I think that this year, I
more so than any I think this year will be
affected by what happens here where that's not always the case, right,
you know, you can you can usually speak more of oh,

(05:53):
the next in the window in the next three to
four years. I think like this year is the one
that's going to be most effect because they have more
time to fix some of the ailments going down the line,
and you can, you know, you can figure out ways
to reform it. But they have found themselves in this
spot where like this draft needs to produce help this year,
and it can.

Speaker 2 (06:14):
It sets up to be able to do so. And
if they do it right, and no one.

Speaker 3 (06:17):
Now I'm not saying a clean sweep of six for
six hit picks and two home runs, and you know,
no one's saying that.

Speaker 2 (06:25):
But if they just if they get.

Speaker 3 (06:26):
I need four doubles, they I think that's probably asking
a lot.

Speaker 2 (06:31):
I mean four doubles a lot. Doubles are hard to get.

Speaker 3 (06:35):
I mean if maybe by the by the time you
get to January, you've got a couple of doubles in
a single I mean, some of the best drafts, you're
getting three really good players out of them, right, and
they will, they would take that today and and run
to the season, especially if it's at certain positions. But
I don't, you know, I just think they they really
need to hit in a couple of spots more so

(06:57):
than they normally do. It's and that's an uncomfortable place
to be in as you sit here on April eighth,
But that's.

Speaker 2 (07:03):
Where they're at. But I say four doubles because they've
whifted free agency and because they've whifted previous drafts. The
jury is still out about last year. There's a lot
of encouraging signs that point to last year's draft being
a success. But like I put a lot on this
draft for the reasons you just articulated, but I kind
of feel like they need more than the normal load.
You're right, a typical draft if there's three good players,

(07:26):
a couple of guys that you signed to a second contract.
Successful haul. But when you have you did you the
athletic did the city by city sort of team needs
post free agency? Yours red light The Bengals team needs
pre free agency. I got it right here. Change hard
to pin down just one need. And you go through
a defensive tackle, linebacker, long term replacement at safety, pretty much, backup,

(07:49):
swing tackle, pretty much everybody but receiver. Well, and that's
the case. You you might not need four all pro guys,
but you need a lot of dudes who can step
in and help instantly.

Speaker 3 (07:59):
Not only do they need something out of this class,
they need more out of previous class. Like it's like
it's the combination of both. They just need more and
it eventually like you find yourself here organizationally at some
points in time, and a lot of times it's when
you're spending a lot of money at the top end
of your balance sheet and they're they're doing that where

(08:20):
you do have to say all right, young guys gotta
do it, go get them, and that's okay, Like I
don't have a huge problem with that. At a certain point,
you're you're gonna be defined by whether you're young guys
become something, and if they do, that ends up being
the heartbeat of teams that make runs. That happens all
the time, and those teams tend to get kicked a

(08:41):
little bit in the offseason because they let flashy name
veterans that you know go that gets signed for expensive
contracts afterward, and it turns out the young player that
has the path cleared for their opportunity ends up being
better than that older player ever really was, and everybody
benefits in the long run. I think you see that
happen all the time. One that stands out to me

(09:03):
the Bills last year. They got kicked last offseason for
Stefan Diggs and them most they're hitting a restart button
for Josh Allen and and what happened. They maybe had
their best team because all of these young players came
in and they sort of started growing together, and Josh
Allen obviously played great, but it can be like that,
and they're obviously banking on that it has to be

(09:25):
like that some years. That doesn't change the pressure on
this year, but I do think that's that is where
they're at. This is one of those years that you're
gonna come into camp and you're gonna say there's a
lot of hope out here. And that doesn't necessarily mean
that it's the wrong plan, but it's the one that
they're gonna be playing in twenty twenty five.

Speaker 2 (09:48):
Two doubles and two singles. There you go. I think
that's fair. Two doubles and two singles.

Speaker 3 (09:53):
Yeah, one of them's a bunt single, but he gets on,
Oh okay.

Speaker 2 (09:58):
Well I'm not pro bunt, but I mean they need
any four guys who reach base. I'll take two doubles,
a single, and an intentional walk, like I need four
players who can come in this year and make an
instant impact. I don't do mock drafts, as you well know,
you've done one full one point zero that counts, one

(10:18):
that counts. But when I've looked at the draft order,
I just find myself trying to find teams that will
trade with them because I look at let's see, you
can make a case they need defensive tackle, defensive end, linebacker, safety, guard,
swing tackle. They say, you can never have enough corners. Golly,
gen could use another running back. I'm like, well, I
need more picks. I need more picks. So you wrote

(10:42):
about how the Bengals view of the draft in their
offseason doesn't necessarily mesh with the public consensus, right, but
I think there would be a lot of public support
for the idea of trading down. Do you think the
Bengals view it the same way?

Speaker 3 (10:58):
Yeah, I mean I think you at the makeup of
this first round, there's a pretty good chance all the
blue chip prospects on their board are gone. I mean,
that's the nature of what this is. It's not a
great year for blue chip right now. Then there's a
lot of guys that are the same, and there's a
lot of guys that maybe they feel like really would

(11:18):
fit them, somebody that you know, Charlie and I spent
a lot of time on Monday's pod talking about safety
and linebacker, which is a very much looking like an
immediate need that's kind of gone up the pecking order
when you start talking to them. And a guy like
Malachi Starks, who just seems like a man, a great
fit and all character team a does everything. Team leader,

(11:40):
the type of person you can rely on and trust
in the back of your of your defense man that
feels like exactly what they need.

Speaker 2 (11:46):
You don't need to take.

Speaker 3 (11:48):
Them necessarily at seventeen, mate, maybe you could have a
better chance of getting them at twenty two and twenty three,
and maybe there's four or five. There's probably four or
five guys like that that you feel like, even throw
Derek Harmon in that mix. Throw a lot of guys
that feel like, well, you wouldn't take them there, but
they'd be good fits for the Bengals and you could
move back they need more picks. You know, this feels
like one where they would love to The problem is

(12:09):
who's coming up?

Speaker 4 (12:10):
Right?

Speaker 3 (12:11):
And you run into what are they coming up for?
Is is it Shador does? Does He's I don't know
that Shador is gonna make it past New Orleans at nine.
I don't if Shador Sanders is there in the middle rounds.
I am disconnecting every cable television, every subscription service. I'm
not gonna be able to withstand the shouting.

Speaker 2 (12:29):
Well it is there, you know? Is there a run?

Speaker 3 (12:32):
Is there a run that's gonna happen at a position,
whether it's edge rushers. A lot of teams with similar
needs are right around the Bengals range, but the Bengals
kind of at the front of that.

Speaker 2 (12:43):
The Bengals seattle.

Speaker 3 (12:44):
There's a few teams that have similar needs, or maybe
a team from behind them would want to get in
at the front of that run and the Bengals co movement.
There's always maybe some kind of a way. Now, historically,
we know the Bengals are probably gonna stick pick and
that's kind of been their mo They'll see somebody they'll like,
they'll select him. This would be a year that you

(13:08):
would think that they would certainly be maybe more interested
than normal than moving back because of the needs, because
of you know this missing the seventh round pick, but
certainly in round two something that they have been predisposed
to do a bunch move back in round two to
add a you know, a fourth round pick, where you know,
when you look at their needs on the defensive line

(13:30):
and the makeup of this draft where there's all of
these defensive linemen, your value really can show up in
round three and four. We're just by the sheer numbers
of it. There's just a lot of teams that they're
not going to take two and three of these guys,
so they these guys just kind of get a little
pushback board and maybe they get somebody with a late

(13:50):
second round grade in round four. Well, adding a fourth
round pick can be more valuable, and the Begels might realize, like,
we can't ask for much because not a lot of
teams me trying to come up. Well, if that's what
if you're gonna move back a few in the first
round and you have all the players kind of the
same and you add a four that might be more
valuable to you that fourth round pick than normal too.
So maybe that if that's all it takes. If that's

(14:12):
maybe that's where the connection comes. I think they need
to be finding creative ways to add picks. There's no
question about it. When you think about the needs and
you think about where they're at. It needed to have
more swings at this thing, There's no doubt about it.
Moving back trading is the most obvious way they would
love to. I just really have a hard time figuring

(14:33):
out who's coming up. That's really my struggle with it.
Paul Danner Jr.

Speaker 2 (14:36):
The Growler Podcast latest episode was was that Ryan Wilson. Yep,
me and Charlie and then Ryan Wilson was in that
as well. Very good. I want to spend a few
minutes on what you and Ryan talked about the Athletic
dot Com and by the way, part of the Growler
podcast network, really tapping into the excitement and fervor for
the first ten or so games of the Red season,
your new baseball podcast I got. I gotta tell.

Speaker 3 (14:59):
You, you know what, though, Brian and Charlie have have
certainly helped me process this, sure, you know. And that's
what I appreciate is like a true view of what's
going on. And sometimes it has been a true view
that has been a little harsh. But I feel like
it's about knowledge. Knowledge is power model sure right, And
I feel like I have a good understanding of what's
happening now and that helps me be a little more

(15:22):
comfortable with the sadness.

Speaker 2 (15:23):
I'm not gonna lie to you. As good as those
two are, I can help you understand what's going on.
They can't hit we I mean, I get it. Yeah,
you know. I don't want to take anything away from
what those.

Speaker 3 (15:35):
Maybe they need to up it from from one hundred
dollar bills to like three hundred dollars.

Speaker 2 (15:40):
If anytime somebody doesn't good inflation, you know, dollars doesn't
go as far as it goes to. All right, twenty
minutes after three o'clock. Paul's here for the entire three
o'clock hour on the draft, which is now sixteen days away.
It's twenty minutes after three o'clock. This is ESPN fifteen
thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 5 (15:56):
Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty. Traffic from the UC Health Traffic Center.
April is Donate Life month. Register to become an organ
donor or explore Living Donation at UCHealth dot com. Slash transplant.
A little bit of good news for you this afternoon.
Miami River Road has now reopened as floodwaters have receded

(16:18):
between Cooper Avenue and Wildflowered Dried how woneber. You will
want to keep in mind that North Bend Road is
blocked off both directions for police activity. That's between Westwood
Northern Boulevard and Ridgewood Avenue. I'm at Exelich with traffic.

Speaker 3 (16:32):
This report is sponsored by Rapid Radios Rapid.

Speaker 2 (16:36):
Paul Tanner Juniors with us. I'm o Edward. This is
esp in fifteen thirty. We are going to get into
the Reds. Last night's Hunter Green led victory in San Francisco,
some master stuff later on in scott Sanderfield in the
last hour too. You you had Ryan Wilson from CBS
Sports Yeah on your podcast. Yeah, and I like this.

(16:57):
That conversation made me think more about the secondary on
this team and how I don't think we have talked
about it nearly enough.

Speaker 3 (17:05):
Yeah, That's that's been That's been a theme coming out
of last week at Palm Beach. And not not corner
I think. I mean, I think we've talked about this
is what they're doing. Like, I don't. I don't see.
I would be really surprised if one of six picks
was a corner, even the sixth round, even the six round,
even the sixth round pick.

Speaker 2 (17:25):
I don't.

Speaker 3 (17:26):
I think that they've got enough of young guys, They've
got enough guys that maybe project as potentially backup corners
in the league.

Speaker 2 (17:33):
To add more to that, I don't think they need that.

Speaker 3 (17:36):
I I think safety has quickly, you know, I think
when you can listen to them talk about the plan
and we'll listen to them, maybe not quite talk about Genostone.

Speaker 2 (17:48):
You know, or when they do, it's always with a hedge.
Yeah right, there's there's talking about Las Vegas raider Geno Stone, yeah. Ques.

Speaker 3 (17:59):
You know, it's like Justin Simmons is still out there
and there's other options, but I think it just screams, Look,
we like some of these safeties, and we like the
idea of drafting over Ginostone or you know, Nicky man
Wari from South Carolina, Malekai Starks from Georgia. It's it's
very scarce at the top of this draft. Xavier Wats,

(18:21):
obviously Notre Dame is the ultimate. Trust in Al. If
you're gonna say if Al says this is the key,
you go with it. He knows him better than anybody
else in the entire country. So maybe at forty nine
you say Xavier Watts is the guy, and you're planning
on him basically starting you know, over Genostone, or maybe
there's a situation where you're like, we're gonna play a
lot of three safety and Emon Warry could be the

(18:43):
drop down in the box kind of you know, sub
package linebacker, versatile piece that can kind of do a
ton of stuff and be a playmaker that they need
an elite athlete.

Speaker 2 (18:52):
Cool, right, you're here for all of it, but they
need more.

Speaker 3 (18:55):
They need so much more there and it just doesn't
feel like there's this big buy And then like running
Gino's stone back out there, and then you look at
the makeup of this draft like you're not getting anybody
to change that opinion on what's happening at safety. Outside
of those three guys, really everybody else will go in
round three or have a big have a question mark
for one reason or another that you have to talk

(19:19):
yourself into, and so you end up spending a lot
of time thinking like, well, maybe that's a big part
of their plan, like maybe that is it. Maybe they
feel like between those three they'll be able to do it,
but they obviously need more there, you know. And that's
with them being very bullish on Jordan Battle as the
other guy, which sounds solid. So yeah, I think that

(19:41):
feels like a pretty significant priority and one that you
can put those three names and if you see them
come off the board, it's gonna.

Speaker 2 (19:50):
Be news inside the Bengals draft room. So you mentioned
Corner and have you ever like planned on doing something
four months out? And sounds like a good idea, and
then the more you think about it, you're like, I
don't know, man, Right, So a few months ago we
were talking about like the off season and what they
had in front of them on defense and it needed

(20:11):
an overhaul. But if there was an area of the
team that you thought you might be comfortable kind of
running it back with a bunch of guys, that would
be at corner. And I felt that way pretty strongly
two and a half months ago. I don't know, man,
I don't know, man. You know, I still kind of
feel that way, but not like I did back in January.

Speaker 3 (20:33):
I don't know, dude, I know, I know, but it's
it's it's the ultimate when you get when you get
there and you're like, uh, you're at the front door
of the party, yeah, and you're like, maybe we shouldn't
have come, right, Maybe maybe this would maybe we should
Maybe I don't want to be in this room, you know,
like really bad things could happen.

Speaker 2 (20:52):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (20:52):
I think that's the case. I also think that's the
case at defensive line. I think that's the case at linebacker.
I don't see a position on defense that that's not
the case. Where you're like, I don't know, man, and
I think that's again, but it goes back to it.
There's just lots of hope out there. Yes, there's lots
of hope and projection, and that's an uncomfortable place to

(21:14):
be in when you don't have proof of concept.

Speaker 2 (21:15):
But would you be surprised, I think you would be.
You'd be surprised if the draft comes and goes and
there's not a defensive tackle. I wouldn't be stunned.

Speaker 3 (21:26):
I think there will be one, but I wouldn't be
floored if there wasn't.

Speaker 2 (21:31):
I have edge.

Speaker 3 (21:32):
I think they're going to be looking more in the
edge area than they are going to be necessarily in
defensive tackle. I mean they're both sure. I mean you
wrote that, I think that.

Speaker 2 (21:43):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (21:43):
I mean there's there's always going to be room to
add a premier player. But in terms of if they
went by and didn't add you can hear the conversation,
right well, Miss Slayton and BJ Hill. We believe in
Jenkins and Jackson and and you can hear that. You
can hear and there's like a where were the snap
gonna come from? They could obviously add another one, but
they re signed BJ Hill, they have Chris Jenkins. At

(22:06):
a certain point, they have to believe in Chris Jenkins
and bj Hill as their rotation, and they need pass rush.
They don't need another They have Slayton and McKinley Jackson.
They don't need another big run stopper type, a third
big guy like that. Right that's certainly not with a
premium pick as much for right now, you would take
it if you felt like it something fell to you.
But when that's the case, you're like, are they they're

(22:27):
not gonna go over extend themselves, And when you only
when you have a certain amount of picks, you're like, well,
edge feels more like the spot that can add a
player today at any level in terms of first round
to sixth round, and that's a much bigger priority than

(22:48):
defensive tackle does as much right now.

Speaker 2 (22:50):
But the point being, there are a lot of areas
where they're gonna run it back with some guys who
were here. Yeah, and they might do that at edge,
but if they didn't take a guy, you'd be surprised.
Line by, you'd be surprised if they didn't take a
guy safety. I think we'd be surprised if they didn't
take a guy corner or just sort of accepting that
they're not They're not.

Speaker 3 (23:07):
Yeah, I mean I don't see it, and I don't
and I understand it.

Speaker 2 (23:12):
It's it's I understand it. But man, if I'm watching
them get cooked in September, we're all gonna go, you know,
shouldn't we have seen this coming? Like I I think
there's upside there. I think we all agree there's upside.
There's a lot of guys they drafted early, like there's
there's there's some upside there. But the collective downside to
that group, what are you gonna do? No, you can't.

Speaker 3 (23:34):
I mean, what are they gonna do? They need new
blood everywhere? Okay, and they have. They have a collection
of guys there MO that have had and not just
flashes like solid runs are good play, almost all of
them where you felt like you can see it, and
they're young, and they're athletic, and and they they've just

(23:56):
had these weird fits and starts, and so you feel like,
all right, that is so much of where Al Golden
has to step in and be able to find it
with these guys. And when you have all of these
other spots where you had don't have guys that have
even had that right or you have no one right
in terms of safety and linebacker really and where you're
talking about Okay, well we don't even have flashes here.

(24:18):
We don't even have anything that you can really hang
your hat on. I think they feel like they have
more that they can hang their hat on. At corner.
Then probably then dessert then's deserved because they kind of
because in comparison to other spots, It's true, I'm I'm
not totally at the I don't want to go in
this party position.

Speaker 2 (24:40):
I'm not either like I'm but I'm you're at the door.
You're at the door like I'm in the driveway, and
look at my wife going, you know, there's we can
do something else.

Speaker 3 (24:48):
Yeah, I'm doing I'm doing the face as I hit
the doorbell or like knock on the door or whatever
I'm doing.

Speaker 2 (24:55):
They're like, there we go. I could envision a scenario
where at that position it works because of the combination
of upside the individual players and Al Golden coaching them up.
I could see that happening, but I could also see
it backfiring. Yeah, and if that does, then none of

(25:15):
this other stuff matters all that much.

Speaker 3 (25:17):
I have a harder time seeing it come together on
the defensive line in terms of pass rush though, like
like if we're talking and I have a hard thing
stand right now, yeah, Like if you don't add another body,
you're just I've been a big proponent of Miles Murphy.
But if you're not adding another body, if you're not

(25:39):
adding more juice somewhere, then you're in a lot of trouble.
And that's before we mentioned the guy who were trying
to get through a show, not talking about right now
in his situation, and so like I just I just
am saying I look at that, and that feels more
makes me more uneasy, that makes me want to go home.
I'm not going to the party, like I'm in the
car turned around. I never showed up, Yes, I never.

Speaker 2 (26:03):
I never.

Speaker 3 (26:03):
I went out, I picked up some food and I
turned around and went home like that was it. I'm
not I'm not going. And I feel the same way
about linebacker, like I in the same way about safety.
With with that where and so I think it's it's
comparative whereas I feel I feel like you can see it.

Speaker 2 (26:20):
I can see it. I'm going into the party with
the corners right now, and I'm okay with it. I'm
going into the party, but like I have on my
radar something else I want to go do. Well, yeah,
you got it out. Yeah, I've got it out, like
i've oh yeah, uh, you know, sitter sitters having a problem.
So like I'm I'm I'm my hands on the eject button.

Speaker 3 (26:41):
Yeah, you've gone over the signals with with you know,
your significant other at the door, You're like, okay, when
I rub my nose like this, it's time to go.
So if we see Al Golden in week four looking
at Zach Taylor doing the nose, moya, we were in
a problem spot.

Speaker 2 (26:57):
Yeah. Like I'm to the point where like I'm at
the party, but I'm keeping my wife close by because
you can't separate because then it's hard to gather and go.
Yeah you're going. It's harder to do the Irish goodbye.
Everybody might yes four, I don't want to do an
Irish goodbye with these corners.

Speaker 3 (27:12):
If this blows up, there might be a lot of
people saying goodbye for the party.

Speaker 2 (27:16):
Twenty five away from four o'clock, well done sports headlines,
I do have to ask about Trey Hendrickson. Oh, I
thought we were gonna do it. I thought we're gonna
make it to the ad. We're gonna try. Okay, I'll
give you a choice. Do you want to talk about
the Bengals and Trey Hendrickson or the Bengals maybe moving
to Chicago. I'll take Chicago. Chicago.

Speaker 6 (27:37):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (27:38):
Are the Bengals going to move to Chicago because Mike
Florio said they should. We'll do that. And a few
other traff related items next to ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati
Sports Station.

Speaker 5 (27:49):
Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty Traffic.

Speaker 7 (27:53):
From the UC help Traffic Center. April is Donate Life month.
Register to become an organ donor or living donation at
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good news for you this afternoon. North Bend Road has
now reopened from earlier police activity that was between Westwood
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(28:15):
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five down to one Laneyar the Kentucky Indiana state line.
I'm at Exelik with traffic.

Speaker 2 (28:25):
This report is spot of Kelsey Chevrolet, home of Lifetime
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Yorks for life at Kelseysheve dot Com, Reds and Giants
again tonight Cincinnati looking for a second straight win Nicolodola
against them All against Land and Roope nine tonight on
a seven hundred WYLWO starting lineup out. Yet, meanwhile, U

(28:49):
sees Tyler Betsy and Arrington Page are set to no
longer be you sees Tyler Betsy and Arrington Page because
both have announced they're entering the transfer portal. Betsy is
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the University of Cincinnati hockey. Tonight, the Blue Jackets skate
at home against Ottawa on Fox Sports thirteen sixty. Paul

(29:09):
Danner Juniors here for another twenty minutes or so. From
The Athletic and the Growler podcast. When will they cut
Jermaine Pratt? I don't know.

Speaker 3 (29:19):
I would assume that the draft is very much affecting this, right, Yeah,
I mean I think you reach to the point where, uh,
Charlie and I talked about this on Monday about where
you know, it takes like a ten part parlay, you know,
for something to happen. It's kind of happened with Joe
Mixon a couple of years ago, where it looked like

(29:40):
there's he's probably not going to be back or whatever
it was, and all of a sudden, like all the
legs that the parlay start to hit, and then all
of a sudden, Joe Mixon is back, right and this
feels like right now on the on the ten leg
parlay with your main Pratt, the first six legs hit,
and you're like, you're looking at the heads, You're looking
at the cash out, and I'm or You're like, well,

(30:02):
maybe you have to cast this out. Maybe this ends
up where it ends up, because if things fall poorly
for them in the draft and they don't feel like
they get any answer, it's not like there's just a
bunch of starting linebacker level players sitting out there, they're
not And so maybe you come back to the table
and you say, your Maine buddy, we always loved you.

(30:27):
Would you come play hard here for us? Maybe should
we can we talk about it? Is this something that
you can we talk about? I feel like you're close
to getting to that conversation. I think they're they're kind
of hoping that the draft gets them a place where
at least they could say, we feel like by the
guy that we took, whether it's in round two or

(30:48):
round three or whatever, by week eight could should be
the answer. Orren Burks could get us to week eight,
you know, uh, and and and that can.

Speaker 2 (30:59):
Or maybe maybe sooner.

Speaker 3 (31:00):
But you know, if you don't feel like you can
even say that, if you didn't even get that, then
you got to start saying, Okay, that's a couple more
legs at the parlay that have hit, and you've got
to start to have that conversation again. I don't think
that's what anybody had in mind here or anybody wants.
I still don't think he's back, but you do have

(31:21):
to realistically start to reassess your options depending on what
happens at that position in a couple weeks.

Speaker 2 (31:27):
When he tries to tackle people, he looks like my
daughter trying to tire her. Shoot. It was not the best.
It was not the best. You need to put the
film on.

Speaker 3 (31:38):
He actually, you know, he did a I didn't think
I'd see anybody that did such a good Nick Vigil
impression ever.

Speaker 2 (31:45):
Again, who did the running with arms extended move?

Speaker 3 (31:49):
You know where it's just like not really running like
a normal person, but just running with arms extended and
then just kind of quitting the vigil. The vigil We've
seen everybody, everybody that's a Bengals fan knows the vigil,
and so there was a lot of that happening. You know,
there's a lot of like, it's just better if we

(32:10):
just find.

Speaker 2 (32:11):
You has had his moments here, Yeah, and maybe one
of the biggest, Yeah, one of the biggest defensive plays
in the history of the franchise. I am more than
willing to shake hands and go mistackle some hard.

Speaker 3 (32:24):
It's really hard to come back from. We're gonna go
a different direction in January too. Can I get your
full effort here?

Speaker 2 (32:35):
Uh? Next in the next season?

Speaker 3 (32:36):
Like that's a that's a really hard move with a
new coordinator and trying to have a new energy to
your entire defense and flush everything that was the last
two years in terms of all the bad results. That's
a really hard refresh. So I think it's the it's
not what they want to do.

Speaker 2 (32:53):
You could like always sell people on the idea that
he was only the second most unreliable guy named Jermaine
on the on the team last year.

Speaker 3 (33:02):
It's true, right, Yeah, that's true. He was able to
get on the field. He showed he did show up
for practices in Slan Burton's on a quiet all season
that we know of. Yeah, that's that's for the best problem.
You can't make noise hasn't had a practice to show
up at you exactly.

Speaker 2 (33:19):
You know, I prove it every weekend. You can't be
late to your living room.

Speaker 8 (33:23):
Man, like.

Speaker 2 (33:25):
Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk says the Bengals should
move to Chicago. Your thoughts.

Speaker 3 (33:30):
Mike Florio loves this, like this, Mike Florio loves to
do this to Bengals face like it's it's like, it's
just a joy now I have I can see. I
have this vision of Mike Florio sitting at his desk
thinking about this and probably talks to an agent and
somebody else and they talk themselves into this like ten

(33:51):
Domino scenario, right, and then they say I probably shouldn't
write it. He's like, but that video, so why don't
we just ride it?

Speaker 4 (34:03):
Right?

Speaker 3 (34:04):
Do you know what the relocation fee was the last
time that a l nine fingers about seven hundred million
was a number. So there you go. How's that for
an answer? The Bengals are not paying seven a relocation fee.

Speaker 2 (34:21):
Just get the people, the taxpayers at the new city
to pay for right.

Speaker 3 (34:25):
They're having a hard enough time getting that thing taken
care of just for one team, okay. You think they're
gonna be like okay, and the relocation fee on top
of this, okay, And you also you're gonna have to
negotiate with the Brown family on top of it all
while doing it like no, no, no, this is not
about this. This was never about that, and it's already

(34:48):
become about something different than it was really about. When
we talked to Katie last week in pomp Peach.

Speaker 2 (34:54):
I feel like that got aggregated poorly, poorly, and you
and I talked about it and we had fun with it,
and I joked about you moving with the Bengals if
they moved, and then the possibility of them moving to
your hometown of Mason. But as many here have pointed out,
she stayed at a preference to stay in town. Yes,
and pretty emphatically so yeah, and to the best of

(35:16):
my knowledge, without prompt like she was asked about the
stadium situation, but unprompted, within that answer said we want
to stay downtown.

Speaker 3 (35:23):
Now I asked specifically about is that an option for
you guys to move to another county, and she said,
we like downtown. We want to be downtown. I this
is where our focus is, and this is we think
this is a good spot. It's where we want to be,
it's what we want to do. And then everything else

(35:45):
was like, of course, yeah, we would have that option.

Speaker 2 (35:47):
Sure to move and legal. That's that's correct.

Speaker 3 (35:51):
She's stating the facts of the situation. Those are options.
Their focus and I one hundred percent believe this between
now and June thirtieth is getting this done and staying downtown.
Then if that doesn't happen, if they start looking at
other options, the other outside counties would be something that
they could have as options. I do not, in at

(36:12):
all believe that leaving the Cincinnati market is even an option.
And so that is I mean, that's just the bear
was poked, and I think Florio loves this stuff, and
so he he's going to.

Speaker 2 (36:25):
Push it out there and and do that stuff. I
don't that's not well. And like and I read Pro
Football Talk and I have for twenty years. I mean,
I can respect the niche that he has carved out,
but people took that and lost their mind, and I'm like,
why would you even read that?

Speaker 4 (36:42):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (36:43):
Would why are you even entertaining this? Well, like, what
what good is? You are feeding the beast? If you
do that, you are giving him what he wants if
you if you respond, if you get starred up and
and again. I read his website, and I think there's
a lot of good stuff on there, but that in particular,
I saw the headline and said, that is not worth
my time, right, that is not worth my energy, and

(37:05):
it's not worth anybody else's energy.

Speaker 3 (37:06):
But I did just get six minutes of radio out
of it. Yeah, exactly. I mean I get where it
comes from. It's it's directly from the San Diego situation
in LA. I mean it's it's San Diego, smaller market,
wasn't as much interest in doing the stadium. Move them
right up there, join them with the rams built so far.
Then you have New York Chicago and LA could withstand it,
could could take that. I get it. It's just that's

(37:29):
not this is not the answer here, you know, it's
it's not.

Speaker 2 (37:33):
The answer here. Chicago Bengals.

Speaker 3 (37:35):
Sure, whatever, I'm not I'm not I'm not even going
I'm entertaining this any farther.

Speaker 2 (37:42):
Maybe I do want to talk about treehn No, I
want to play. I want to fling it back to
the draft here really quick before we go, because what's
interesting to me is you and I talked about Bengals
draft possibilities for twenty five minutes and I'm not sure
either one of his broached guard.

Speaker 3 (37:57):
Well, just because we were spending so much time on
the defense. I think it's priority one and it's not guard.
It is gu It is is better offensive lineman. Yes,
right now. I think position flex is a big part
of you know that. To me, that becomes the selling
point of using number seventeen overall on it is if

(38:18):
you get somebody who can be something today and something
else tomorrow, tackle tomorrow, or maybe even a guard center
whatever you know, like Grey's abel Get has been brought
up recently North Dakota State. He could be a center guard.
He's a multi position type. Yeah, exactly. He could get
to show you that I've studied. Congratulations the Beast comes

(38:39):
out tomorrow. You can read more, But I you know
he is. That's that's kind of an example of how
someone vaults into the seventeen conversation versus the forty nine
overall conversation.

Speaker 2 (38:53):
They have to hit this early.

Speaker 3 (38:54):
It's it is what they are spending so much time
trying to make sure they get this right. They know
they just can't blow this one. They have in the past,
they have for a decade plus. You went over the
line last week twenty eleven, the last time they drafted
a player and they gave him a second contract in
the offensive line. They have to get this one right.
There are opportunities to do so. There's plenty of players

(39:16):
to choose from that could help them, that could start
Day one in both the first and second round. It
is a focus, and so I think to me, I
would maybe even put it as priority one. I think
I did in my piece having as priority one because
of you know, they still don't have a swing tackle either,
and just adding more good players, particularly if they have

(39:38):
versatility to cover their bases. I mean, let's talk about
last year at tackle. Okay, Orlando Brown has not had
an injury history, but he did last year, right, and
he fought through stuff, and he's a bigger guy, and
that can be a Marius Mims knocking him coming out
the injury stuff that was in his past. He didn't
play all of last year, he had his injury issues himself.

(39:58):
You better make sure you in good shape at back
tackle when you had the what happened both last year
and and and in the case of MEM's longer on
in his career, and obviously the holes at guard. So
those stand out as one player with the ability to
really do both and impact both can go a long
way to sustaining this season. And so they they recognize that,

(40:21):
I you know, I wouldn't be I wouldn't be surprised
if it's the only offensive position they end up taking
this draft, they'll be running back probably late. I think
round five running back feels like the most the thing
I would bet the most amount of money on is
round five running back literally trying to do the Chase
Brown button again. But outside of that, you know, this
is the one. I mean, this is this is where

(40:42):
it's at.

Speaker 2 (40:43):
We we did basically an hour and we didn't talk
about Trey Hendrickson, And unless he does something kind of
dopey in the days leading up to the draft, we
might get through the rest of April without talking about
Trey Hendrickson. Not betting on that of him not doing
something dope. It just feels like something dopey. No, I'm
not saying him. You just feel like something dope has
been happening. This all is gonna happen. There's always something

(41:06):
dopey happening in the Hendrickson situation. So I'm not I'm
not counting. Do me a favor. If something does happen
and you have to write about it, will you include
the word dopey? Yes, Oka the latest dopey turn.

Speaker 3 (41:19):
And it's not always the Bengal's fault or tra Henderson's
fault the media. This thing is no dopey. This whole
thing is dopey. This whole thing is dopey. No, I
think I'm you know, we'll see, we'll see where it goes.
I just I just hope that it goes away soon.

Speaker 2 (41:34):
Well, for fifty four minutes on this show, it did.
Thank you very much. I've never been happier.

Speaker 4 (41:39):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (41:39):
The Growler Podcast the Athletic dot Com, And while you're there,
make sure you look out for the Beast Dan Burglar's
twenty twenty five Draft guide, which is essential if you're
at all into the draft. And we'll see you next week.
Looking forward to it Paul Danner Junior six away from
four o'clock. How about my guy Hunter Green last night
next to ESPN fifteen to thirty.

Speaker 1 (41:59):
Since now ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 7 (42:03):
Traffic from the UC Health Traffic Center. April is Donate
Life month. Register to become an organ donor or explore
living Donation at uchelp dot com slash transplant. A little
bit of good news for you this afternoon. North Bend
Road has now reopened from earlier police activity that was
between Westwood Northern Boulevard and Ridgewood Avenue. There is an

(42:25):
accident on Grossback Avenue that is at Hamilton and westbound
two seventy five down to one lane yar the Kentucky
Indiana state line. I'm at Ezelik with traffic. This report
is sponsored by True Grain.

Speaker 2 (42:38):
We're back in the Miller's yard who now use True Grain.
The alon started looking like a golf course and PJ
to iHeart.

Speaker 5 (42:45):
ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 2 (42:48):
What's up. It's four oh five. This is ESPN fifteen thirty.
My name is Mullager. Thank you very much for listening.
Hopefully you're having the greatest Tuesday afternoon every Scott Saddafield
is going to be on the show at five thirty five.
We are looking forward to that, and we do have
a UCGM Corey Evans on Thursday. Thursday, I said Thursday,

(43:13):
which looking forward to that as well. Will Grimmer professional
golfer Mary mont Grad, Ohio State Alum US Open qualifier
on multiple occasions. You know, for years we've gotten on
people to talk about upcoming golf majors, and you know,

(43:34):
we want to know who we should bet on. And
I thought to myself a few months ago, why don't
we just get Will on, like somebody who's played with
some of these guys and played at a very high level.
So we're gonna do that with Will Grimmer coming up
in just about thirty minutes. Friend of the show, I
might even say fan of the show. I don't know

(43:54):
how many of those there are, but he is a
fan of the show. So he is going to join us.
You know what, I'm a fan of. You know who
I'm a fan of. You know where I'm going next? Right,
Hunter Green? And I could do the whole I told
you so thing, but like you know, I've already been
proven right about that. Hunter Green was an All Star
last year. Hunter Green was one of the best pitchers
in the National League. And you know, I know there

(44:16):
were some folks who early last season Hunter had some struggles.
And you know, we did that whole thing. We do
it in sports stock radio, where we buy or sell
imaginary stock in athletes. Right now, my Hunter Green stock
is the only stock I owned that's worth anything. Also,
I'm glad I kept it. I'm glad I bought others.
I was right about Hunter Green. By the way, so

(44:38):
was the entire baseball world. A handful of folks who
got impatient with Hunter last year. Now they sold their stock.
Last night was Hunter Green's greatest start as a Red. Yes,
it was only the eleventh game of the season, but
the Reds went into last night with a record of
three and seven. They were going up against a good
pitcher and Logan Web. They were shorthanded. They essentially had

(45:03):
two guys on the bench who were healthy enough to
play in the field. Blake Dunn was batting second last night.
This is a below average offensive team. They just got
walloped to Milwaukee, lose three out of four, crushed in
the last game. They don't score really any runs last

(45:24):
night until late Every inning is a high leverage inning,
there's no bench to speak of, and Hunter Green was awesome.
He didn't strike out a thousand guys, but he went
to the ninth inning with eighty five pitches right like,
incredibly efficient early in his career. That was one of

(45:46):
the gripes. He's got to be more pitch efficient. Heck,
on opening day, right that fourth inning where he throws
twenty eight pitches not very efficient. He doesn't pitch the
sixth and the domino effect is ian Jebau has to
pitch the ninth inning like it might not have been
in the middle of September in a pennant race that
might not been a do or die game in October.
But a staff ace, a bonafide staff as, not staff

(46:11):
as by default, a bonafide staff as does what Hunter
did last night, and not with his team scoring nine
runs for him, although that would be nice. But when
the rest of the circumstances are bad, we find out
before the game, Jake Fraley's not available, Matt McClain doesn't
start again, Spencer Steers got one arm, can't play defense.

(46:34):
The team's offense as is is pretty much putrid. The
margin for error is non existent. If Hunter Green gives
up two runs in the third inning. It feels like
the Reds are gonna lose that game. Logan Web is
really good. That's a really good San Francisco team. And
yes it's just game eleven. But when you've started three

(46:55):
and seven, you can only dig so big of a
hole before you can't come out like we do this
every single year, right, got to avoid the slow start. Okay,
well you can turn around three and seven, but can
you turn around six and fourteen? Can you turn around
I don't know, uh, four and sixteen? Like, at some
point you gotta start winning baseball games. Hunter Green won

(47:18):
him that baseball game last night. That was I think
his most important and greatest start as a member of
the Cincinnati Reds. I have seen him look more dominant,
we have seen him strike out more guys. I don't
think we've seen him do anything close to what he
did last night. He had a lot of really good starts.
By the way, Hunter Green's last twelve starts, you know

(47:40):
what opposing hitters are batting against him? One thirty three.
That goes back to last year. You know what his
eer is over his last twelve starts goes back to
last year. One point one to zero. Those are maybe
not the best metrics to highlight how good or how
ineffective or how effective a pitcher is, but I think
you get it by the way he doesn't give up

(48:04):
home runs. He's got a really good strikeout to walk ratio.
And last night, with every inning a high leverage inning,
with every San Francisco batter having a chance to blow
the game open by giving the Giants one run or
maybe two, Hunter Green was awesome last night and he

(48:24):
protected the lead. Here he is after the game with
Jim Day on the FanDuel Sports Network.

Speaker 9 (48:29):
Terry Francona just had some words with you. Care to
share what he said to you.

Speaker 10 (48:33):
Man just said it's fun to watch.

Speaker 4 (48:35):
You know.

Speaker 10 (48:35):
He didn't want to come out there. I didn't want
to come out obviously. You know, I'm uber competitive. I
dream of games like today. I know it's not gonna
be the last time, but I'm so glad man that
we came through and the boys we fought all the
way to the end. Obviously it's been a tough stretch,
but you know, we're resilient and we got the right
guys to pull off a game like today.

Speaker 9 (48:57):
The emotions of a game, and particularly a Harry like that,
when that ball is laced there up of santy on,
what's going through your mind?

Speaker 4 (49:04):
Oh?

Speaker 10 (49:04):
Man, it's it's scary. You know, you're like, oh, but
you know I saw hert was right there. He was
ready to you know, to catch that ball, and obviously
he came through and we got to win.

Speaker 2 (49:13):
Man, it's exciting. What were the keys to your efficiency tonight?

Speaker 10 (49:17):
Man, getting ahead, pound on the zone, trusting Trevy back there.
He's fantastic and you know, does his homework and it's
someone you can just really trust and go compete. You
don't have to worry about much. So he was a big,
big key. Obviously, I had a lot of defensive plays
behind me, guys in the right position, so everything was
firing on all some of this.

Speaker 9 (49:36):
Tonight You had a twenty minute half inning when when
you put two on the board there, How are we
able to keep your mindset and stay warm?

Speaker 4 (49:43):
Yeah?

Speaker 10 (49:44):
Yeah, just saying focus and it was mind over matter
at that point. Getting later in the game, so just
making sure I can slow the game down and make
my pitches, you know, not overpower and not trying to
do too much. I got a little bit out of
my body here towards the end, but all in all,
I was able to stand in that same groove.

Speaker 2 (49:58):
Going back to the beginning of the game. What did
they tell you about your glove?

Speaker 6 (50:02):
They just.

Speaker 10 (50:04):
Try and be politically correct here. But I don't agree
with it. You know, I'm definitely gonna talk to MLB
about it. They said that they didn't like some of
the logos on my glove. I've pitched with that's those
same gloves for the last two years, so for it
to be something new, you know, I don't agree with that.
But you know, obviously it didn't take me off my game.
I still went out there and competed.

Speaker 2 (50:24):
That's my guy, Hunter Green, Jim Day FanDuel Sports Network.
I don't know what the deal was with the glove.
I guess Jeff Brantley said on the TV broadcast that
there was some shininess with the Nike logo on it
that could have been distracting. I have no idea. Here's
what I do know. That was the most important start
he has made as a member of the Cincinnati Reds.
It was his greatest start. It sounds like I'm being

(50:46):
hyperbolic for the sape of being hyperbolic. I'm not part
of it is. You know, he hasn't pitching a lot
of really big games. He hasn't pitching the postseason the end.
He hasn't really really pitching the Pennant race yet, like
and even when he has, he hasn't been all that good.
Right last night, If the Reds are going to turn
this around, circle last night is a potential turning point.

(51:06):
Sounds weird to say on April eighth, right, but they
did dig themselves a three and seven hole. This team
is not hitting right now. They are opting to play shorthanded.
They're hemorrhaging guys who could play in the field. They're
using dudes at the bottom of the roster who don't
really look like big league caliber players. Nothing against Blake Dunn,
who got a big hit last night, and nothing against

(51:28):
Jacob Hurdabus, who made a really nice play to end
the ball game last night. But this roster feels incomplete.
You can only lose so many games before you put
yourself in a position that you can't get out of.
They needed the staff as to come up big last
night on a night where they really weren't scoring, on
a night where the other team had a really good
starter on the mound on a night where your starter

(51:49):
couldn't afford a bad inning. Hunter Green was awesome. By
the way, he continues to be one of Baseball's best bargains.
Hunter Green is the eighth eighty second highest paid pitcher
in the sport. You can beat on the Reds for
a lot of different things, but one thing they did
right was go ahead and guarantee his salary for the

(52:11):
rest of the years of team control. Buy out one
more free agency year, give him a chance to maybe
still hit free agency when he's in his prime, and
turn him into if we think he can develop at
the rate that we think he can develop, uh, then
he's going to turn out to be one of Baseball's
biggest bargains. The eighty second highest paid pitcher in baseball.
By the way, next year he's doing a two million

(52:32):
dollar raise. That was really really smart. He is really
really good. He is also a guy that you cannot
deprive of baseball's biggest stage. We talk about this with
Elie Dela Cruz. You can maybe add Matt McClain to it,
perhaps in Nickoldolo, hopefully others. Hunter Green is a terrific pitcher.

(52:53):
One of the best in baseball, only getting better still
just twenty five years old. That guy deserves a chance
to pitch in October. Do not deprive him of the
chance to pitch in October. This is a missive for
the rest of his teammates. It's also a message to
the front office, like we spend a lot of time

(53:16):
talking about what the Reds need to do with the roster,
what they haven't done with the roster, what they have
done with the roster. They haven't sat around and done nothing,
not by any stretch. Gavin lux was not on last
year's team. Austin Hayes was not on last year's team.
So far he hasn't been on this year's team either.
Brady Singer was not on last year's team. Taylor Rogers

(53:38):
was not on last year's team. Jose Travino was not
on last year's team. By the way, great bunt last
night by Jose Travino not a good night for people
like me who don't like bunts, even though that bunt
really didn't increase their chances of scoring. Nonetheless, Jose Travino
has been a nice pickup, so they didn't sit and

(54:00):
do nothing. But this franchise's brand is it won't go
to the end of the earth to be the best
in the world at what they do. This offseason, while
Nick Crawl, I think did some really good work, still
felt incomplete. This week, we're reading Gordon Wittmeyer's piece in
The Inquirer about how well you know the Rats might

(54:22):
not be able to go get a bat at the
deadline if nobody goes to the games, and if the
team performs poorly, nobody's going to be going to the games.
BS hogwash. Go get Hunter Green the help he needs.
Go get Ellie Delacruz the help he needs. Go get
the players that you have watched rise through your system

(54:42):
that are worth building around. Go give them the help
they need. There was a clip that went viral. We
all know how good Paul Skiens is of the Pirates,
right the Yankees, I guess we're in Pittsburgh. Michael kay
is their TV guy, also very good radio talk show host,
and he went on a little bit of a diet
try the win viral where he kind of called out
the Pirates for wasting Paul Skeins. Now, the Pirates, frankly,

(55:05):
what they have done with that roster is far more
unforgivable than anything the Reds have done with this year's roster.
Red's opening they pay roll about thirty million dollars more
than the Pirates. But the point remains, like, you have
a guy like that, a generational talent, an absolute dude,
an absolute stud help him, Help that guy get to October.
Help that guy pitch on the sport's biggest stage. I'll

(55:27):
apply the same thing to Hunter Green. You know, we
do this with the Bengals, right, organizational malpractice That Joe
Burrow had an MVP caliber season and didn't get a
chance to play in the playoffs. And if they don't
win a Super Bowl while Joe Burrow is in his
prime and having great years, that is absolute organizational malpractice.
I'll say something similar about Hunter Green. If that guy's

(55:49):
time in Cincinnati comes to an end and he hasn't
stood on a mound in October in a Reds uniform,
that will go down as one of the most catastrophic
failures in the history of this organization. I'm not hot
takey you know that about me? Like, and you could
say this about Ellie and others. They've got dudes, They've
got guys worth building around. This is why criticism is

(56:11):
more valid than at any point over the last ten
years when it comes to this front office, because they've
done the work to build a core worth building around,
and you could argue there's no bigger or more important
part of that core than Hunter Green. Obviously, Ellie Dela
Cruz would have something to say about that. You've got
a twenty five year old staff as who is only

(56:31):
getting better, who is now moving into his prime, hasn't
yet made one hundred big league starts, will be an
All Star this year, will get cy Young votes, this year,
hopefully stays healthy. But you want to bet against Hunter Green,
I'll take that wager. If you're not gonna go to
the end of the earth to win while you have him,

(56:52):
then what's the point. What's the point of having Hunter Green?
What's the point of drafting Hunter Green? And again, you
could apply this converse to others. This young man deserves
to pitch in October. I hope it's in a Red's uniform.
The good news is he's under team control forever. I
guess some will start the conversation about extending him beyond

(57:12):
twenty twenty nine. Maybe that can happen. Maybe it can't.
I'm more interested in whether they win with him. Everything
you've come to learn about that dude, Hunter Green, is
there anything that would tell you that winning doesn't really
matter to him? Get this guy to October. That's the
easiest way to retain him. It's the easiest way to
retain Elie de la Cruz. Let those players play on

(57:32):
the sport's biggest stage. Give him a chance, give them
what they need. Support them the way Hunter Green supported
his franchise last night. Playing shorthanded, bad offense, good starting
pitcher on the mound for the other team. You're in
the middle of a spiral, You've lost seven out of
ten to start the season, and that dude put the

(57:53):
team on his back last night. That is a guy
you built around. That is a guy you don't waste.
Twenty minutes after four o'clock, U five point three seven
four nine fifteen thirty is our phone number? Eight sixty
six seven oh two three seven seven six Will Grimmer
helps us win money on the Masters that coming up

(58:13):
in just about fifteen minutes. One or two other things
from the game last night. I tried to not steal
topics from the guys who came before me the Austin
Elmore and Tony Pike. I'm I'm, I'm I'm gonna do
it though, because Tony was making the case along with Austin,
Eli Delacrucia, Matt lead Off. This is very simple for
me because I understand simple math. I don't understand complicated math,

(58:37):
but I understand simple math. We're gonna do a simple
math equation next on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 5 (58:44):
Station Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty. Traffic from the UC Help
Traffic Center. April is Donate Life month. Register to become
an organ donor or explore living donation at ucehelp dot com.
Slash transplant. Still got that accident on Grossbeck Road over
at Hamilton Avenue. Traffic is running slow northbound on seventy

(59:07):
one seventy five between two seventy five and the Brent
Spence Bridge. An eight minute delayed there and a nine
minute delay northbound seventy one between Smith Edwards and Ronald
Reagan Highway on that he sound like with traffic this report.

Speaker 2 (59:21):
He spoluntary basketball game last night was awesome. I was
rooting for Houston Florida wins come back from down twelve
in the second half. That Gators team is really impressive
if you watch them, especially in the SEC tournament when
they were just blowing past people. I think a lot
of folks, myself included, wonder are they going to be
able to win a grinded out kind of game. Well,

(59:41):
the answer last night was yes. Look, I love aesthetically
pleasing basketball, whether it's at the professional level or the
collegiate level. But I don't think you need high shooting
percentages or a ton of points for a game to
be really good. For me, for a game to be
really good, it's it's got to be it's got to
be entertaining an I have to capture my attention. It

(01:00:01):
can't just be if it's low scoring. Is it bad offense?
Is it bad shooting? Is it unimaginative offense? Is it
standing around doing nothing, wasting twenty seven seconds off the
shot clock? And then you know Jack and the three.
That's bad basketball. What I saw last night was awesome defense,
really good defense. Florida's defense on the final play of
the game was incredible. It's one of the best defensive

(01:00:23):
stops in the history of the sport. But to me,
the cool thing about Florida was they approve they can
win in multiple ways. Now, the game last night, I
love how it was officiated the first half, and I
think if you were being reasonable, you thought, all right,
they're gonna tighten the whistle a little bit in the
second half, not to the extent they did. I have

(01:00:44):
not seen two diametrically different halves when it comes to
the officiating. I think of my life watching college basketball.
The tournament itself, I think was awesome this year. I've
beat that topic to death. Congrats to Florida. I was
rooting for Houston. But I do think like great defense, tough,

(01:01:07):
hard nosed defense can be that's good basketball, you know.
I mean, there's a difference between good basketball that doesn't
involve high scoring or huge high shooting percentages and really
bad basketball because the offenses are just bad. I thought

(01:01:30):
the score and the shooting percentages were primarily a function
of how the two teams defended last night. And now
it's onto the next transfer portal is open. Two more
UC players hitting it today, Betsy and Arranton Page. I'm
not sure either is a surprise. Paul questions on this
show are a service of United Heartland Insurance. I talk

(01:01:50):
about United Heartland Insurance every single day. By the way,
if you own a business, you've got to ensure your
commercial fleet. United Heartland Insurance can help. Good to uh
dot com. Two questions. I tabled my Bengals question perhaps
until tomorrow. Would you rather have Ellie Delacruz come to
the plate seven hundred and thirty eight times during the

(01:02:11):
season or six hundred and thirty six times during the season.
Tony and Austin were making the point that Ellie should
be batting leadoff. I know, especially for people in my generation,
that when you think of the team's best hitter, you
think of him batting third, even though more runs are
driven in from the four spot. But you think of

(01:02:33):
the best hitter hitting third, the best hitter should bat first.
It's simple math. Leadoff hitter for the Reds last year
came to the plate seven hundred and thirty eight times.
Last year. Third place batter came to the plate six
hundred thirty six times last year. I want my best
hitter coming up seven hundred thirty eight times, not six

(01:02:53):
hundred thirty six. Ellie should be batting leadoff. The other
ones waslast night's game a good basketball game? Vote now
eighty one point six percent early voting say yes. By
the way, ninety four point six percent of you say yes,
you'd rather have Ellie hit seven hundred and thirty eight
times as opposed to six hundred and thirty six. Why

(01:03:14):
anybody would not want their better, their best hitter to
come to the plate as many times as possible doesn't
make any sense to me, especially when he can run,
and we know Ellie can run. Uh five point three
seven four nine, fifteen thirty, your phone calls are coming up,
Scott Sanderfield in one hour, let's make some money on
the Masters. We'll go to Georgia. Will Grimmer was out
Augusta yesterday, which got rained out. I know he's in Georgia.

(01:03:37):
I don't know if he's still at Augusta, but he's
gonna help us make some money on the Masters. Next
on ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 5 (01:03:45):

Speaker 7 (01:03:49):
Traffic from the UC Help Traffic Center. April is Donate
Life Month. Register to become an organ donor or explore
Living Donation at uchelp dot com. Slash transplant on the
Ohio side westbound two seventy five's got the right lane
blocked off? From an accident at I seventy five eastbound
two seventy five at eleven in Road. In accident there

(01:04:10):
that's off onto the right shoulder and southbound Madison Pike.
Another accident between Old Madison Pike and Rolling Hills. Dribe
I'm Mediezalik with traffic this rebound.

Speaker 1 (01:04:21):

Speaker 2 (01:04:23):
Sports headlines are a service at Kelsey chev La, home
of lifetime powertrain protection and guarantee credit approval from their
family the Yours for Life kelseyshev dot Com, Reds and
Giants again tonight with Nicolodolo and Landon Roupe on Mail
nine forty five. This evening on seven hundred WLW Tyler,
Betsy and Arrington Page hitting the transfer portal, becoming the

(01:04:45):
fourth and fifth members of last year's UC team to
put their name in. Betsy says he is leaving open
the possibility that he returns to UC and the Columbus
Blue Jacket skate and play hockey tonight against Ottawa. That
game could be heard on Fox Sports thirteen sixty, a
tradition unlike any other. The Masters this weekend starting on

(01:05:07):
Thursday at AUGUSTA and you know We've done this the
last couple of years. We've had folks to come on
and maybe help us pick a winner, help us make
a wager on the Masters, and we appreciate everybody who
has done that. But you know, I was taken a
lesson from my guy, Will Grimmer, like a guy who's

(01:05:29):
played in a major before, multiple multiple US Opens and
at low fifty nine, which is his place downtown, which
is you know, book a lesson with Will, which we're
going to talk about. And when I'm doing this, I'm like,
why don't we just get Will on the show? A
professional golfer from Marymont, from Ohio State who qualified for
a US Open when he was fourteen. Why don't we

(01:05:50):
get him on? And unless he's playing in a major,
maybe he could break down the major for us. And
so Will said yes, and he's here. Where are you?

Speaker 4 (01:06:01):
Oh? How are you?

Speaker 2 (01:06:02):
I'm good man? Where are you at right now?

Speaker 4 (01:06:04):
I am down?

Speaker 11 (01:06:05):
I am down near Sea Island right now. Just finished
up a practice round for the second biggest professional golf
term in Georgia this week, a g Pro Tour.

Speaker 4 (01:06:13):
So there you go.

Speaker 11 (01:06:14):
The minor leagues of professional golf.

Speaker 2 (01:06:18):
Well, I'm going to be paying just as close attention
to that as I am. What's happening in Augusta.

Speaker 11 (01:06:24):
That's right, that's right, yea, But yeah, looks looking forward
to watching another another great Masters this week. It's going
to be unfortunately bad weather uster. I was down in
august yesterday. I was not able to go into the property,
which was which was a shame. But it's going to
be a great Master's this week.

Speaker 4 (01:06:39):
No question.

Speaker 2 (01:06:40):
All right. So the weather was bad yesterday. I don't
know what the forecast has in store for Augusta through
the tournament. But when we think about who we're going
to pick to win this thing, how should we factor
the weather in?

Speaker 11 (01:06:55):
So it's going to get windy, it's going to be cooler,
so the ball is not going to be going as far.
I think this brings a lot more people into the mix.
They're talking about, Uh, you know, it's gonna get pretty
firm because of the wind drying it out. Uh there's
a chance of rain maybe Thursday Friday, but from what
I'm hearing, it's gonna be pretty good, pretty windy conditions,

(01:07:16):
very gusty, and so I am really looking to the
elite ball strikers, the elite iron players, to be our
contenders for this week.

Speaker 2 (01:07:24):
All right, I want to bet on Roy McElroy. Why
shouldn't I?

Speaker 11 (01:07:30):
So here here's my thoughts in t sent on Roy
is he's having a tremendous season. He's had some great
seasons the last couple of years. But you know, to
put this in you know, to our Cincinnai listeners, to
put this in Bengals terms, this is like the Bengals
having to listen to all training camp that they don't
start hot in September, right, and they start go into
they start bad, and they have to continue to listen

(01:07:53):
to the media. And so I think Rory, you know,
I would love to see Rory win a Green jacket.
But my biggest concern for him is he just has
to listen to the media. Everybody tell him, you know
that this is the one this is the only major
that he still has to check the box on. This
is the only place that he hasn't won of the
four uh and you know, he hasn't won a major
since ty fourteen. Obviously, we all know about the heartbreak
he had us up them last year. And you know, again,

(01:08:15):
he's playing great golf. Statistically, He's he's doing all the
right things, and I think it's more of a mental
game for him at this point. I'd like his chances
to contend, but you know, whether he's going to be
there on Sunday or not is kind of to be determined.
So low cush to the wind.

Speaker 2 (01:08:29):
On Rory, all right, very good, You've almost talked me
out of it. If I don't want to bite it,
bet On Rory, where should I Where should I be looking?

Speaker 11 (01:08:37):
So here's the thing. I think our odds on favorite,
obviously for good reason of Sky shuffer. You know, he's
playing the best golf of anybody in the world over
the last you know, two years here, and you know,
even though he hasn't won yet this year, I think
I crack up with the fact that we're almost panicking
about Sky of the fact he hasn't won an April
were only four months in the year, kind of highlights
just how dominant he's been. And really, I don't think
we've seen as dominant of a stretch of golf from

(01:08:58):
a player since since Tiger, probably back in his his peak,
you know, the early mid two thousands. So he's certainly
and not on Davor I like Scotty Xander, you know
the kind of a player I'm circling, even though he
hasn't one here a little bit is Calin Mori Kala.
Statistically he's in the top ten of strokes gained approach
and off the t and again when you're not give

(01:09:20):
a ball strik.

Speaker 4 (01:09:21):
I forget who I.

Speaker 11 (01:09:21):
Saw this from, but you know, you look at like
recent Masters winners and there's something like there's some category
basically if you're in the top ten of off the
bat and strips which basically to inform blisters on strokes game.
That's basically saying to the average PJ Tour player, how
many strokes on average are you gaining in a category
such as ty shots. You know you can proximate the
hole in your approach shots, and so you know they've

(01:09:42):
got the metrics not to measure all this stuff. And
so Scotty and Colin and I think Shane Lowry is
what I heard, are like the three players inside that
top ten metric. And so you know, again with with
windy conditions. You know another really young players that I
love is Love the gaberg Love Big Graduat from Texas
Tech a couple of years ago. Kad Flash on the
scenes already one I think two or three times, and

(01:10:03):
one at Tory Pines this winter at the Genesis as
it's just a tremendous ball trick.

Speaker 2 (01:10:09):
I think he.

Speaker 11 (01:10:09):
Finished runner up last year, just got you or maybe third,
but he was in contention all week and it was
his first Master, So I think now that he's got
a full year of experience, but just one of the
best golf thinks on the PJ Tour, one of the
best nine players. I think he's got the mental gumption
to certainly be be a force to be recommend this
week for sure.

Speaker 2 (01:10:26):
All Right, you just talked about a lot of guys
that I think are among the favorites. If I'm looking
lower on the list and trying to find someone who
might be considered a long shot, is their name that
jumps off the page.

Speaker 11 (01:10:39):
Absolutely, I got three guys here, and this gets back
to my own put. So not a lot of not
a lot of people are familiar with guys like Substraca
and JJ Spahd unless you know you're kind of a
golf sicko like myself. But JJ Spond and Substraca are
both inside the top five on Strip Skames PGA Tour
this year. As well as FedEx couples they both won
earlier this season. Uh, and they're a tremendous iron players

(01:11:01):
and they've got good short teams and so again those
are not household, uh you know names that the average
fan that's kind of you know, coming out of the
woodworks for the Masters this week or maybe familiar with.
But they are tremendous players. They've been playing incredibly consistent golf.
And again, if you're if you're looking for, you know,
if you're in an office pool or you're looking for
kind of a a dark horse pick that's you know,
more of a value play with with higher odds, uh stuff,

(01:11:23):
And and and JJ Spond I think are our tremendous picks.
And then another guy that I really kind of like
to round out that category is Menou the mid Wu
has been featured on on Full Swing on Netflix. I
think he's a character young guy, Australian, really really funny,
got a huge personality. There's kind of a rampant saying
around tour about him. Let let him cook, Let me cook.

(01:11:45):
They call him Chef Lou and uh, he's just I
highly encourage anyone to uh go go find him on YouTube.
Kind of look at him up on Instagram. He's he's
incredibly entertaining, he's incredibly engaging with the fans, and he
just got his first PJ Tour win two weeks ago
in was it Houston?

Speaker 4 (01:12:05):
Yeah?

Speaker 11 (01:12:05):
He won or no the week before. Yeah, yeah, so
he just recent recent tour winner. Incredibly talented And I
really like those three guys as kind of you know,
sneaky guys with a little bit higher odds, but at
the end of the day, have been performing incredibly consistent,
really well on the PGA Tour, and I think are
plays to have some success.

Speaker 2 (01:12:25):
Will Grimmers with us from Georgia. The Masters begins on Thursday.
There are a lot of folks who they like the
instant payoff, and so they might they might play day
one and try to find somebody who's going to have
the lead after the first round. Is there is there
a certain strategy that I should use. Is there a

(01:12:46):
player that you might go, you know what, that guy's
good for eighteen but you may want to stay away
for seventy two. That kind of thing.

Speaker 4 (01:12:54):
Yeah, a little bit.

Speaker 11 (01:12:55):
But the the only issue is tea times I think
are coming out, I would pay attention.

Speaker 4 (01:13:01):
That's where you.

Speaker 11 (01:13:01):
Almost have to look a little bit at the forecast, right,
like if if you were to get one of your
household names, let's maybe save teen off you know, early Thursday,
where I know that the wind's going to be a
little bit lower. Right anytime you get afternoon tea times,
especially knowing that we have some higher forecasts that wins,
you know, watch for guys in the morning wave where
where the winds are a little bit calmer, especially because

(01:13:22):
overall you're not gonna be going with a lot of
rain this week, and so you know rain is going
to kind of outweigh wind when when rain gets technic,
but when you got a relatively calm forecast or in
terms of precipitation, but you've got some wind if you
if you get one of your big name guys that
you like and you see them off at eight o'clock
versus maybe a guy that's off.

Speaker 4 (01:13:41):
At one o'clock.

Speaker 11 (01:13:42):
Now, keep in mind over seventy two holes, you know,
everyone plays one one round in the morning, one round
in the afternoon Thursday, Friday, and then obviously with the cut,
then you're going off based off of score, you know,
with the with the lowest finishers going out last, and
your highest guy's going out first on the weekend. So
once you get to the weekend, that's a little bit
of a different strategy. But if you kind of any

(01:14:03):
one of those guys I listed, I would skew towards
maybe someone in one of the earlier waves if you're
going for something on Thursday, something on Friday. But certainly
you know a Bryson, a Scottie, And again they're obviously
heavily favorede guys, but you know there's a reason they're
heavily favorite.

Speaker 2 (01:14:20):
That makes makes a lot of sense. All right. If
I've got somebody in my audience who goes, you know what,
I want to play like Mo because Moe got a
lesson from Will Grimmer a loss let Law fifty nine.
Where do people do?

Speaker 11 (01:14:35):
Yeah, So check me out on Instagram Willie g Underscore
Loft fifty nine and I have a link to my
lesson booking site on there. I'm heavily active on social media.
You can also find me on Twitter at Grimmer twelve
Underscore will and I have my link on there as well.

(01:14:56):
But you know, seriously, you know, look me up on
social media. I'm happy to, you know, help anyone that's
uh that's looking to improve their golf game and and
and have more fun. And it's been fun yeah for me,
you know, doing a blend of playing and teaching and
and you know, continuing to compete as well as trying
to help people. And uh, you know, it's it's been
a lot of fun to be uh in both the

(01:15:19):
ends of it. And I think that you know, taking
my competitive experience has being able to really kind of
help me help other people improve, which has been a
lot of fun.

Speaker 2 (01:15:26):
Yeah, you know, it can be it can be intimidating,
I think to call up a stranger and ask for
golf lessons, and so I cannot encourage you if you
want to work on your game and get some insights
from a pro, from a touring pro, My guy, Will Grimmer.
His facility is kind of just off of would that
be a good way to describe it, Just off of
downtown there on Dalton. Yeah.

Speaker 11 (01:15:48):
Yeah, it's right next to Union terminal, uh, in an
old warehouse. It's Uh. I kind of joke with people
when they show up to the first lesson if you
think you're at the wrong place. Here at the right place,
and uh, it's it's a fun little spot once once
you ge upstairs, if you're in the different world. So
uh yeah, I'd love to would love to work with
anyone that wants to come on down and uh no,
I appreciate it, and hopefully you know, you improve a

(01:16:09):
little bit when you came in.

Speaker 2 (01:16:11):
I did. The problem is I haven't had a chance
to play, and so I might need a refresher on
the lesson so I could put it on the course
because since I came in to see you, we've had
nothing but bad weather, so I haven't had a chance
to go play. So I need to come in for
just another lesson and then I'll go out and play
and I'll be able to tell you if if you know,
what I learned actually was was useful, but if it's not,

(01:16:34):
that's going to be more of a reflection of the
pupil and not so much the teacher.

Speaker 11 (01:16:40):
Well we will, we will, certainly, we'll get you in
for the team up. You got to get that mons
oriety all tuned up.

Speaker 2 (01:16:45):
Yeah, that's right, I go see my guy Will Grimmer
Law fifty nine. Good luck this weekend, and we appreciate
the time as always. Man, thanks so much, Hey, thank
you bo This week that is one of the that
is one of the best dudes you will ever meet.
Go see him legitimately Law fifty nine. There Uh downtown,
it's an a warehouse. It's uh, it's laid back, and

(01:17:05):
you're going to learn from a dude who is like
playing professional golf right now. That is my guy, Will Grimmer,
Pride of Marymont, Pride of Ohio State and playing this
weekend and the second biggest golf tournament happening in Georgia
this weekend. Twelve away from five o'clock. I got a
question on Twitter. We're going to answer about Hunter Green
and Ellie de la Cruz. We have to get to

(01:17:27):
that and uh much much more. Five point three seven
four nine, fifteen thirty is our phone number. Your phone
calls are coming up. Brendanman and Jones on Baseball's Next
on ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 5 (01:17:39):
Station, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty. Traffic from the UC Health
Traffic Center. April is Donate Life Month. Register to become
an organ donor, or explore living donation at ucehelp dot com.
Slash transplant southbound two seventy five approaching State Route twenty eight,
getting reports of an accident. There expect some delays. White

(01:18:02):
Lane remains blocked from a crash on westbound two seventy
five at seventy five Dorchester Avenue and accident at Highland
Avenue and Martin Luther King an accident at Vernon Place
on that he sound like with traffic this week?

Speaker 1 (01:18:15):
I'm fifteen.

Speaker 2 (01:18:17):
Oh, who guess what day is? Dudeesday? It's not Taco
Tuesday though, not a I mean it might be, but
I'm I'm not going home after I leave you. I'm

(01:18:37):
going out for burgers some buddies of mine. No tacos
on the menu, so it's not Yeah, burger Tuesday, going
out for burgers at a restaurant that I'm not being
paid to mension, So it's not Taco Tuesday. Not if
they have tacos on the menu at this place, I
will I will maybe order one, but I'm getting a burger.

(01:18:58):
Getting a burger and a cold Speaking of cold ones,
it's the michelob Ultra five o'clock Happy Hour thanks to
goodness one of zsund right now thanks to ice cold
michelob Ultra Superior Taste Superior Life beer, perfect for folks
who love active living, and if you don't love active living,
you'll also enjoy a nice cold michelob Ultra. I could

(01:19:19):
go for one right now. Scott Saderfield is going to
join us in just about thirty minutes. The Spring Showcase
at UC is on Saturday, and we are getting set
for year three of the Scott Saderfield era at UC,
and I think everybody would agree it's got to be
better than years one and two that coming up in
just about thirty minutes. And I was talking with Paul

(01:19:40):
Danner Junior before about what I think is the least
talked about Bengals off season storyline, that as we get
closer to the season, we should actually start to talk
about a little bit more. I'm being accused of being

(01:20:01):
overboard in my praise of Hunter Green. I just I
like the guy. I'm biased. He's one of the most
impressive athletes I've ever talked to. I like things in
sports that live up to the hype. Like I'm a
Lebron James fan. I could not care less about any
goat topic, but I like Lebron James. I think for

(01:20:23):
two major reasons, actually three. One is he has the
longest prime in the history of sports. I think that's
pretty much inarguable number two for somebody who grew up
in very abnormal circumstances a child star. He's always struck
me as kind of a normal guy. In this day
and age where everybody gets taken down for something. There's

(01:20:46):
never been a real scandal. He's never embarrassed his family,
like he hasn't done everything right. He could be kind
of dramatic. Lebron the GM isn't great, but more than anything,
if you remember Lebron James in high if you remember
the coverage of Lebron James in high school, my thought
at the time was, there is no way in hell

(01:21:08):
that this kid could live up to the hype. Not
because he's not great. He obviously was, but I don't
think anybody has ever entered the NBA with as much
hype as what accompanied Lebron James. And not only did
he meet the hype, he exceeded it. And it's also inarguable.

(01:21:29):
I love things. I love athletes that match the hype
and exceed it. I don't know that Hunter Green has
exceeded it yet. He has not made eighty big league starts.
But this was the cover of Sports Illustrated This was
somebody who was talked about when he was seventeen years
old as being one of the faces of baseball. He
was being talked about as a generational talent. Many wondered,

(01:21:52):
is he better suited to play the outfield and take
advantage of his hitting talents. He might not have matched
the hype. Yet dude is on his way, and so
you know, there's that. And if you look at the
recent history of this franchise, and there have been some
exceptions in recent years, Johnny Cuato came through the system.

(01:22:15):
Johnny Cuato is one of my five favorite all time Reds.
Luis Castillo was not drafted by the Reds, but Louis
Castillo is a really solid starting pitcher. For a long time,
it felt like he came through the system. But over
the last forty years, the Reds have done a very
bad job of getting pictures through their system and having
them have sustain long term success. Hunter Green might change that.

(01:22:38):
There are other really good starting pitchers. Nico Lodolo I
think has a limitless potential he throws tonight. Andrew Abbott
has a chance to be really good if you look
in the system. Chase Burns has a chance to be awesome.
Ret Louder has a chance to be really good, Chase
Petty has a chance to contribute. Like there's a wealth
of pitching, but Hunter Green's the one who is there now.

(01:23:01):
He's not checked every box. He's He's gotta get through
a full season uninterrupted without an injury. But that's that
guy looks, acts and pitches like a staff a's and
I would argue last night was the biggest and most
important game he has pitched in a Reds uniform. Not

(01:23:21):
because I'm trying to hot take you or because I'm
trying to go viral with something that's gonna like get noticed.
I did not care about that. What I care about
is the Reds were three and seven last night. Going
into last night's game, they played shorthanded again. Spencer Steer
can't play the field because he's got one arm. Matt
McClain was scratched again last night. Jake Fraley was scratched

(01:23:45):
last night. They had two position players who you could
put in on defense. Their two hole hitter was Blake done.
They don't have Austin Hayes, they don't have Tyler Stevenson.
They have a well below league average offense, they've dug
themselves a whole, not a hole that's impossible for them
to dig out of. They faced a really good starting
pitcher last night who was on his game. Every pitch

(01:24:08):
Hunter Green threw was a high leverage pitch. Every inning
that he pitched was a high leverage inning. You don't
want to say must win. You don't want to say
the eleventh game of the season is a must win.
But if you're gonna turn things around from a three
to seven start, it helps to start winning a lot
of games. Who knows if they'll win tonight or if
last night will prove to be a turning point. But

(01:24:30):
that was a big, big start last night, And it
was a big start because of all those things I
just outlined, But it was an impressive start because of
the small margin for error that Hunter Green pitched with
last night. By the way, I love Terry Francona bringing
him out for the ninth inning and he stayed with
him as long as he could. Why Because Hunter Green's
their best pitcher and nothing against Tony Santion or anybody

(01:24:51):
else in that bullpen. Hunter Green approaching one hundred pitches
is better than any option out of that group of relievers,
especially when he's pitching the way he did last night.
He is there, he has arrived. He is a bona fide,
legitimate top of the rotation dude. When you have one
of those guys, you cannot waste him. I'm gonna bang

(01:25:12):
this drum until things change the Reds brand, and you
may not like it is. They don't exactly take advantage
of having elite talent. They wasted Joey Vado's career. I
have no problem saying that they did. Dude was here
for nearly two decades, never won a playoff game. That
ain't Joey Vado's fault. Do not do the same with
Hunter Green, Elie de la Cruz, Moutt, McLain, Nicoldolo, etc.

(01:25:35):
I start the conversation with Hunter Green because maybe I'm biased,
because I think he's the guy who is most there,
most established, easily top of the rotation dude. That guy
deserves to pitch in October. Last night was not October.
Last night felt like a big game. He won it
four them. Other stuff had to happen. Blake Dunn had
a big hit, Jacob Hurdebiz made a really nice play

(01:25:58):
in left field. Hunter Green on that game for him
last night. That's what staff aces do, and very infrequently
over the last thirty years have they had a bona
fide staff ace like that. They've got one. Now, get
that guy to a mound in October, thirteen minutes after

(01:26:18):
five o'clock, waiting patiently, is Scott, Scott, you're on ESPN
fifteen thirty. What's up?

Speaker 8 (01:26:24):
No?

Speaker 2 (01:26:24):
How you doing? Great? Man? What's going on?

Speaker 8 (01:26:27):
I have to I finally got around to paying attention
to the first game of a series with the home
team being a dog. Parlayed six of them yesterday, and
it came through.

Speaker 2 (01:26:45):
The home dog strategy, introduced to us by Mike from
Los Angeles, is as good a baseball betting strategy as
anybody has ever come up with.

Speaker 8 (01:26:56):
I took three home dogs. I took the Reds, and
I took the Mariners who were coming back from a
series and a losing spin, and yeah, and parlay them
together and hit. I was sweating the Reds and the
Marlin Mariners. But yeah, it came through.

Speaker 2 (01:27:18):
Now, when when when did you do this with the
Reds yesterday? Well, they weren't at home yesterday.

Speaker 8 (01:27:24):
No, no, sorry, it wasn't a full on but they
were a.

Speaker 2 (01:27:30):
Dog, right, Okay, all right, So the basic the basic
premise of the strategy is teams playing home series rarely
get swept, right, And so what you're basically betting on
is the likely outcome occurring, which is they don't get swept.
So the strategy for the uninitiated is, if a team
is at home and it's underdog in game one, you

(01:27:53):
bet on them. If you win, you're good. Right, there's
a reason why that team is an underdog. If you lose,
you bet on them the next day. If you win
that one, you're good. If you lose, you bet on
them the third day, and again you're betting against the sweep.
And most three game series do not end in sweeps.
That is correct.

Speaker 8 (01:28:11):
And it was the Tigers, the Pirates, and the Nationals
all were the home dog or the home dog first
game of the series. So the other three were just
more hunches than anything.

Speaker 2 (01:28:26):
So I understand, well, you can't go you can't go
wrong betting against Hunter Green. I thought the under was
in play last night under six and a half, and
that worked out well for yours, truly. Yeah, it's very
very nice.

Speaker 8 (01:28:37):
Well, the odds were eighty one hundred on those four teams.

Speaker 2 (01:28:44):
All right, good day for you. Nice Monday, Nice Monday
for Scott.

Speaker 8 (01:28:50):
Nice Monday.

Speaker 4 (01:28:50):
That's right, that's right.

Speaker 8 (01:28:53):
And I'm still using their money, so.

Speaker 2 (01:28:56):
It's it's all good, good man, I like it. All right, well, Demo,
all right, Scott, good to hear from you. I appreciate it.
If you would like to update us on your gambling winnings,
go ahead, five point three seven nine fifteen thirty. Uh hey,
while he's on hold, Mike, we just said we paid

(01:29:16):
homage to the home Dog strategy. How's that?

Speaker 4 (01:29:19):
I thought that was wonderful. Put a big smile on
my face. Thank you, though.

Speaker 2 (01:29:23):
Well, that's what we're here for, Mike.

Speaker 4 (01:29:25):
I got that from the old Italian guy. He used
to be a racketeer in Detroit named Nto Jacaloni.

Speaker 2 (01:29:32):
Are you making that? Are you making up the fact
that you know a racketeer named Vito Jackaloni.

Speaker 4 (01:29:38):
No, I met him when I was in jail years ago. Yeah,
I was in jail years ago. I got busted on
tax fraud and I had to go spend a year
at a federal prison camp. When I was like, I
don't know, twenty eight years old.

Speaker 2 (01:29:52):
Wait, a minute. Now, you've called this show on a
frequent basis. Now, for a couple of years, you've never
divulged to us that you spent time in the camp.

Speaker 4 (01:30:01):
No, it's not something I'm proud of. But now that
I'm old and my mortality is coming.

Speaker 2 (01:30:06):
So you didn't pay your taxes and you got a
year in the year in the clink.

Speaker 4 (01:30:11):
Yeah, yeah, I paid them, but I didn't pay what
they thought I should.

Speaker 2 (01:30:14):
So your taxes and they sent you to jail in
your twenties. And where was the Where was the prison
that you were sent to?

Speaker 4 (01:30:22):
Ashland, Kentucky Prison. Yeah, they have two facilities there. One
you're behind the wire they call it, and the other
is the camp where there's no fences. You can walk
away whenever you want, and they don't really care because
if you do, they'll end up catching you and you'll
come back and do another year for an escape charge.

(01:30:42):
It was it's a federal offense. Now, he was my bunkie,
so he was what God only knows.

Speaker 2 (01:30:55):
You asked them, you're bunking with the guy, and you
never said, well, you know, what are you doing time
for it? It never occurred to you to wis in jail.

Speaker 4 (01:31:02):
Well, a lot of guys. That's isn't that the first.

Speaker 2 (01:31:05):
Thing you would want to know if you were in prison?
All right, if now, God willing, I'll never spend any
time in.

Speaker 4 (01:31:09):
Prison unless you want to get your butt kicked.

Speaker 2 (01:31:13):
But I mean in the course of but you were
there for a year, in the course of conversation, right,
you never said to this guy who you're shacking up
with in jail, hey, why are you here? It never
occurred occurred to ask, Well.

Speaker 4 (01:31:25):
After I had been you know, there was two bunks
and we had these little cubes like they didn't have a.

Speaker 11 (01:31:32):
Door on him or nothing.

Speaker 4 (01:31:33):
It was like a dorm, you know, it was in
college or something. And I was on the top bunk.
He was on the bottom because he had a woulden't
like on the knee down a minute.

Speaker 2 (01:31:41):
And so you you you were you were in jail
and your cell mate was a was he a bookie?

Speaker 4 (01:31:49):
Well he was a racketeer, so he was.

Speaker 2 (01:31:51):
So he was in jail for racketeering. So you answered
the question. He was in jail for racketeering. So you're
you were in jail for not paying your taxes. You'relmate.
Your cellmate was a guy who was convicted of racketeering
who had a wooden leg.

Speaker 4 (01:32:07):
Yeah, he was a Detroit mafia guy for years and
years and years. Nicest guy you'd ever wanted me. He'd
been in and out of prison for years, like a
lot of mafia guys are now.

Speaker 2 (01:32:16):
I don't want to trivialize anybody who's had to go
through amputation, but I would imagine having a wooden leg
would compromise your ability to be a good racketeer.

Speaker 4 (01:32:26):
Uh, I don't know, mo, I didn't get hit. You know,
he would share things with me, like the home dog stright.
He would share stories with me, but some stuff it
was you have you get to know him. Don't ask
him because you're going to piss him off and then
he ain't going to talk to you. All right.

Speaker 2 (01:32:45):
Do you still keep in contact with this guy?

Speaker 4 (01:32:48):
Well he passed. He passed quite a few years ago,
but fifteen twenty, Yeah I did. I wrote him letters
off and on and he was just a really sweetheart
of a man. He really was, well, not that much.

Speaker 2 (01:33:01):
Of a sweetheart. He was in jail for racketeering.

Speaker 4 (01:33:05):
Yeah, Well, you know, it doesn't mean he was a
really awful guy.

Speaker 2 (01:33:09):
Well, because he didn't racketeer you. All right, Well, here's
the thing. I just occupied all our time talking about
your time in jail.

Speaker 4 (01:33:15):
So I have to go, okay, well I appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (01:33:19):
Yep. It's twenty minutes after five o'clock. We're going to
answer a question about Ellie Dela Cruz, Hunter Green and
postseason awards.

Speaker 1 (01:33:30):
Next Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 7 (01:33:35):
living donation at ucehelp dot com. Slash Transplant police are
now on scene of an accident on westbound two seventy
five at I seventy five. That's got the right lane
blocked off Dorchester Avenue. It's an accident at Highland Avenue.

(01:33:57):
Still got that crash. Martin Luther King Drive at Vernon
in some slow traffic sumbound seventy five between Shepherd Lane
and town On that he sound like with traffic.

Speaker 2 (01:34:06):
This report a sponsored and what we just had to
do here based on talking to Mike was we had
to add a pole question thanks to United Heartland Insurance.
And so I'm gonna work backward here. The first two
poll questions we've had up for a while that the
one that I just added was if you were in prison,
would you ask your cellmate what they were doing time for?

(01:34:28):
And very very early voting, sixty three percent of you
say yes. I don't know what the etiquette is when
you go to prison. I hope to god I never
find out. But I have had a roommate before I had,
you know, my my freshman roommate at ud Mark Helsley.
I think like the second question was what's your major?
I get was like, where are you from? What's your major?

(01:34:51):
I would imagine prison would be the same way. You
would ask where are you from? And what did you do?

Speaker 4 (01:34:57):
Like?

Speaker 2 (01:34:57):
What did you do? Would be the prison version of
what your mate? I mean, I remember like it was yeah,
thirty years ago, Hey where are you from? Okay, Fremont, Ohio?
What do you? What do you? What are you study in?
Pre med? You know, I'm a calm major, so I'm
gonna have a lot more free time than you, like
if you were in If you were in prison, it
would be where were you where'd you used to live?

(01:35:20):
Where are you from? And then what did you do
to get time?

Speaker 6 (01:35:25):
Uh?

Speaker 2 (01:35:26):
Have something good? Yeah, I mean, you know, and what
would you lie about that?

Speaker 3 (01:35:30):
Though?

Speaker 2 (01:35:31):
Would you? And you know if you're in if you're
in prison for tax evasion, chances are your cellmate didn't
murder someone. There are different prisons. How could you live
with somebody in a jail cell and not have it
like burn your curiosity? Why is this person here? Wouldn't
that be like the third thing you talked about. Oh,
by the way, I'm here because I didn't pay my taxes? Uh?

(01:35:53):
The other two pow up questions Number one, would you
like Elie de la Cruz to bat seven hundred and
thirty eight times during a season or six hundred and
thirty six times during a season? Because on this radio
station we have made the case that Ellie should bat
lead off, and the Red's leadoff hitter came to the
plate seven hundred and thirty eight times last year, the
Red's third place hitter six thirty six, and was last

(01:36:14):
night's NCAA Tournament title tilt a good basketball game. Eighty
three percent of you say yes vote now. Thanks to
United Heartland Insurance. We got a pole question, not a
po We got a question on Twitter from somebody who
I've had a chance to meet and get to know
a little bit via social media. Carlos Guavera, who was
with the Reds Farm System for a while and listens

(01:36:36):
to this show and he loves the Padres and the Reds,
and he asked, what's more likely Ellie top three and
MVP voting or Hunter Green top three in Say Young voting.
It's a good question. My guess is Hunter Green for

(01:36:57):
two reasons. One is I feel like the gap between
Hunter Green where he was last year, which was eighth
in the cy Young voting and the top three is

(01:37:20):
smaller than the gap between Ellie Dela Cruz and the
top three in NL MVP voting. Now show Hee O
Tani won it unanimously, Francisco Lindor pretty much gathered all
the second place votes, and then it wasn't Marcelo Zuna,

(01:37:41):
it was a Catel Marte finished third in the MVP voting.
I feel like Hunter is closer to looking like and
pitching like an cy Young candidate than Ellie is being
an MVP. I hope both are top three hell I
help both win it. I also feel like there haven't

(01:38:03):
been that many cy Young Award winners from losing teams.
I want to say Matt Harvey was the last, But
I feel like you're always gonna have voters who view
MVP through the lens of did your team win? Now,
Ellie finished eighth last year on a team that didn't
come close, but if you looked at everybody who finished

(01:38:26):
above him, they were all on winning teams. Like everybody
who finished in the top seven was on a winning team.
Bryce Harper, William Contreras, Marcelo Zuna, Marte Lindor Otani. Even
Chris Sale got MVP votes, finished just ahead of Ellie
Dela Cruz. I feel like cy young voters are a

(01:38:48):
little bit more likely to give you their vote even
if your team wasn't very good. Then an MVP voter
would give you their vote even if your team wasn't
very good. So I will say, Hunter Green, you know
what that we're gonna make That's gonna be our pole
question tomorrow. Carlos, thank you, Well, we're actually counter programming

(01:39:13):
the Reds tomorrow. We'll make that a pole question anyway.
See the part of the work we like them when
the work is kind of done for us in advance.
Would either Elie Dela Cruz or Hunter Green if they
were in jail, ask their cellmate what they did time for.
That's also a pole question we can ask. Maybe we

(01:39:35):
could ask that question of Scott's Saderfield if we start
the Scott Saderfield interview by me asking him, Hey, if
you were in the can, would you ask your cellmate
what they did time for? What do you think his
reaction will be? I don't think I'm gonna ask that question,
but I will ask him questions about his football team.
Next on ESPN fifteen.

Speaker 1 (01:39:51):
Thirty, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 7 (01:39:55):
Traffic from the UC Health Traffic Center. April is donating
Living Donation at uchelp dot com. Slash transplant southbound two
seventy five after Milford Parkway.

Speaker 2 (01:40:09):
It's an accident off on to the right shoulder.

Speaker 7 (01:40:12):
Another accident on the right shoulder on eastbound two seventy
five at Lebanon Road. Traffic moving slow northbound seventy one
between Dana and Ronald Reagan Highway right now. If you're
going through there, expect a ten minute delay. I'm at
e Zundlick with traffic.

Speaker 2 (01:40:26):
Sports Headlines are a service of Kelsey Chevrolet home of
lifetime powertrain protection and guaranteed credit approval from their family
to yours for life at Kelseycheve dot com. Nick Lodolo
gets the ball tonight against Land and Roup ninety five,
tonight's first pitch Reds and Giants middle game of three.
Here at on seven hundred WLW, you can add Dylan

(01:40:50):
Mitchell's name to the list of UC players who have
put their name in the transfer portal. Mitchell the latest.
We also found out today that Tyler Betsy and Aaronton
Page are putting their names in the portal. Betsy has
announced he is leaving open his option to return to
the University of Cincinnati. Of all the guys who have
put their name in the portal, so Skillings and Page

(01:41:13):
and Betsy and Ravon Griffith and Josh Reed and now
Dylan Mitchell. Of those players, of those six, I think
most of us would say, who are UC fans? Most
of us would say that Mitchell is the guy that
we wanted to come back the most. Like there was

(01:41:38):
there were things to like about his game that I
feel like you could have built around and expanded upon.
So that's that one's a little bit more difficult to
swallow quickly. Here you know, Dan Skillings hit the portal.
Dan Skillings had a really disappointing year. I think there
have been folks who expressed surprise at the schools that

(01:42:00):
have shown interest. Florida is one of them, Alabama's one
of them, Baylor a whole bunch of others, like high
major schools that were in the NCAA tournament, and it's like, well,
why would they want this guy? Like, I think Dan
was kind of miscast on this year's team, where he
was viewed as the guy who could do a little
bit of everything, and because of that, this indispensable, you know,

(01:42:20):
arguably maybe their best player. That's what he was supposed
to be. I think Dan Skillings, if you're asking him
to be like the second guy off the bench or
the first guy off the bench, can really help a
high major team. He's got to be more engaged. I
think he has to take his craft a little bit
more seriously, quite frankly. But you know, again, like what
are you recruiting him for? Is is Florida recruiting him

(01:42:40):
the now defending national champion? Are they interested in him
being their best player?

Speaker 3 (01:42:44):
No?

Speaker 2 (01:42:44):
On last year's UC team. I think most of us
thought he had a chance to be their best player,
and when he wasn't, there was nobody to fill that void.
But like, how's he going to be cast? Is he
a part a guy who comes off the bench, maybe
a starter that they're not leaning on nearly as much.
We'll see this isn't great. Matt McClain has been put

(01:43:07):
on the ten day injured list retro to four or five,
which was three days ago, with a slight left hamstring strain,
so originally scratched on Friday, he ended up pinch hitting
and then didn't play on Saturday, Sunday and Monday, meaning
they played these last three games shorthanded. Matt McClain is
dealt with shoulder and oblique injuries and now a hamstring,

(01:43:27):
and whether it's fair or not, he is going to
wear the injury prone label. It's unfortunate and it's maybe
not fair, but that's just how it works when you've
suffered so many different injuries. The first two were season enders,
last year's he didn't even start the season. Hopefully this
is something mild, but it's another injury that this team

(01:43:48):
is having to deal with. It's further further another test
of their depth, and it's something else that Matt McClain
has to deal with. Carson Spiers has been sent to Louisville,
which I don't think is that surprising, given the fact
that Andrew Abbott is expected to come back here and
make his turn of the rotation. Will Benson is back

(01:44:10):
and Noelve Marte is back, and I'm not giving up
on Noelve Marte, and this does sort of feel like
maybe the last chance for Will Benson, but I think
based on his play in Louisville he has earned it.
And based on the fact that the Reds are simply
not hitting, you had to look for other answers, and

(01:44:30):
Will provides an answer. Perhaps maybe Noelve as well. By
the way, I played Noelve Martin instead of jam or Candelaria.
Right now. All of that, by the way, part of
the Postman Law injury report, which is delivered by Postman
Law if you're injured, Postman delivered or delivers a couple
of other things really quick. Terry Franconi yesterday said that

(01:44:51):
Tyler Stevenson came out of his MRI quote really excited,
and so they are going to ramp things up regarding
his baseball activities. Andrew Abbott is going to throw a
bullpen session today in Louisville, with the expectation he'll make
the start when his turn of the rotation comes up.
Alexis Diaz is set to pitch at least two more

(01:45:14):
games for Louisville. They want him to pitch on consecutive days.
And Austin Hayes is going to report to Louisville and
hopefully get into game action starting on April to tenth.
He has started hitting in a cage and throwing, obviously
dealing with that left calf string. But the big news
is Matt McClain goes on the injured list. And unfortunately
that is and is not the first time I've uttered

(01:45:36):
that sentence. Check out our friends at Postman Law. If
you're injured, call eight four to four Postman. That's eight
four four Postman. Thank you very much. It's going to
be a big day on Saturday at the University of Cincinnati.
A lot going on. You've got a baseball game. Jordan

(01:46:00):
team is really good and really fun to watch. It's
Bearcats at the ballpark night at GABP. Lots of stuff
happening around the open practice at Nippert Stadium activations, as
they say in the events business, autographs from some of
the top players and get a chance to watch Scott
Saderfield's team. They're not going to do a spring game.
It's an open practice, but a lot of eleven on

(01:46:21):
eleven stuff there at Nippert Stadium, and so hopefully the
weather holds out, will have a good day on Saturday.
You see the head coach of the Bearcats joins as
Scott Saderfield, you have gone through most of your spring practices.
What have you learned so far about your team?

Speaker 6 (01:46:36):
Yeah, we have, we we've you know, we're we're over
the halfway point now and you've got to finish strong
these these next uh these last.

Speaker 4 (01:46:43):
Few weeks here.

Speaker 6 (01:46:44):
And you know, I think for us, you know, we
we felt like we had, you know, a bunch of
guys that were coming back off a team last year
that obviously started strong, did not finish as well. But
we're able to bring back a lot of good players
and we've been able to continue to develop those guys
and and and watch them get better and better each
and every practice. But also, you know, bringing in fourteen
transfers into winter Portal along with twelve high school players.

(01:47:07):
He's really a great chance for us to least see
what those guys can do and and I think we've
learned a lot about those guys over this period of time,
which has been great. A couple of guys that have
stood out. I think tyleee Walker running back they came
in was that Wisconsin last year had eight hundred and
sixty four yards last year and ten touchdowns. He's really
done some great things. He's kind of picked up where
Corey Conner left off last fall, which has been great

(01:47:30):
to see. Along with the other guys in the running
back room, they've really improved their game as well. I
probably one of the biggest groups that we've added the
most was that wide receiver and bringing in a bunch
of guys at that position, and it's been really good
to see. You know, Cyrus Allen's been a guy who's
competed at a high level throughout spring practice. Jeff Calwells
kind of stood out of him. He's a guy that's

(01:47:51):
six foot five, you know, has one of the biggest
verticals on our team. He can go get the ball
and so been great to watch him play. Coming from
a small a school at Lyndon would not mean if
you've probably heard of that, but I think he's got
he'll be a name that that Bearcat fans will will
certainly want to know as we head into the season
next year. And also I think in the secondary, we've

(01:48:12):
we've added some you know, three safeties. We had a
Matthew McDoom at corner. I think those those that position
there is certainly one that that were certainly we think
have increased the talent pool.

Speaker 2 (01:48:23):
A year ago, at this time, you were working in
a new quarterback in Brendan Soresby, and you know, anymore,
it's a luxury to have the same QB from one
year to the next. You enjoyed that luxury. How much
does the team benefit from having the same QB and
how much does Brendan Soreersby benefit from that continuity.

Speaker 6 (01:48:41):
Yeah, I mean I think it's big, certainly to have
a returning quarterback. You know, this time last year, we're
trying to teach Brendan just you know, some of our
basic plays and get through spring practice. He's trying to
earn the respect for his teammates. And I think throughout
the course of his this past year and him being
here you know, he's worked really really hard to try
to continue to get better and better and better. He's

(01:49:02):
playing with great poise right now, obviously understands what we're
trying to do offensively. You know, the game has slowed
down in his mind. I think he certainly has always
had the talent. You know, we've seen that last year,
you know, highlighted by the Texas Tech game, where he
had four hundred and seventy eight total yards, which is
the most by any Big twelve quarterback, and also played
really well in the first half of the season. You know,

(01:49:22):
of course we beat Arizona State, a team that ended
up winning the Big Twelve last year, and you know,
didn't didn't play as well in the last half of
the season, and I think certainly decision making came into
that and just trying to do too much at times,
and I think for him just slowing down and playing
with great pois this spring, I mean, you really can
see how he has advanced his game and certainly hope,

(01:49:43):
you know, hopefully he'll go out there and have a
great season for us this year. We all know and
in football, man, if the quarterbacks playing well, you got
a great chance to go win a lot of.

Speaker 2 (01:49:50):
Games with with the the added experience of Brendan and
then the added players you've brought in. What are some
things you could do offensively this coming season that maybe
couldn't do as much of last year.

Speaker 6 (01:50:03):
Well, I think the big thing for us is we
were not able to push the ball down the field,
and that's one thing that we wanted to go out
and try to go get some speed at wide receiver
and guys that can stretch the field, and I certainly
Jeff Carwell can do that. I mentioned Cyrus, you know,
and then you know Caleb I think is another guy
who can stretch the field. I mean, so, you know,
you bringing back Tony Johnson, who had six touchdowns for

(01:50:24):
us last year receiver, you know, and now you know,
adding these other guys to the mix, I think we'll
certainly helped open up the offense a lot more. We
still were able to run the ball last year, you
know very well. I do think we'll continue to be
able to do that with the running backs that we have.
Certainly our quarterback position can run the ball, but being
able to stretch the field and push the ball down
the field and get some big plays in the passing game.

(01:50:45):
He's got to be critical for us in order to
score enough points. You know, in this league, man, there's
a lot of great offenses that score a lot of
points and you got to be able to keep up
with them.

Speaker 2 (01:50:53):
Maybe a month or so ago, I had a chance
to talk with Joe Royer, and obviously he's back. He's
a guy who had he put his name in the draft,
certainly would have had his name called in a couple
of weeks. But in talking with him, he you know,
told me, I've there are a lot of areas where
I can improve. There are parts of my games that
I need to tap into a little bit more. So

(01:51:13):
how do you expand upon his role? He had a
very good first year at UC last year. What can
he do more of this coming season?

Speaker 4 (01:51:21):
Yeah?

Speaker 6 (01:51:21):
I mean he broke the record for guesses. I mean, so,
you know, hopefully we'll be able to match that, if
not do a little bit more. I think I do
think you know what I just mentioned, if we're able
to have pushed the ball down the field and and
create you know, some more vertical passing game, I think
that's gonna help Joe and and underneath coverages, you know,
he gets more one on one routes. I think certainly
for him to be a you know, more crisp route runner,

(01:51:44):
to be able to to get in and out of
breaks in a better clip, I think will certainly help him.
And and you know, I think he's very comfortent in
our offense now as well, you know, compared to them
you know when he first got here. So I mean,
he certainly has great talent. You mentioned he could have
could have been a pretty high draft pick last year.
We wanted to come back to continue to develop, you know,
love being around our guys in the locker room. So

(01:52:06):
you know, I think for him, he brings some great
experience back for us, you know, as a first team
all Big twelve you know player, And I think he
will continue his role, you know, to to really help
our offense get first downs and touchdowns. And I think
and certainly you know, obviously got to stay healthy, could
have even a better year.

Speaker 2 (01:52:23):
In what ways does your defense improve just by not
having to install a new scheme during the spring, Yeah.

Speaker 6 (01:52:30):
I mean that's a huge me. It's the first time
in five years we've got the same defensive coordinators, so
you know, we're able to pick up and with our
defense as from the end of the season with a
lot of the guys that were turning he particularly in
the front seven, our defensive line with Corleon and and
a lot of those linebackers that are back that had
really good year for us last year. I think, you know,
we're able to to really fully understand what we're trying

(01:52:53):
to do offensively, and then, like I mentioned, we brought
some you know, several dbs in that one of the
things we were not good at. Whenever we tried to
play the man, we're getting beat down the field and
in the vertical passing game. We got to do a
much better job with that. And I feel like we're
able to do that with Midoom out at corner, you know,
and I think, you know, we move Logan from safety
out in the corner as well. I think that'll help

(01:53:13):
we have more depth at corner now. So I do
think we're able to play a little bit better in
the vertical passing game. That will certainly help our defense
to create more pressure and then to get after offenses.

Speaker 2 (01:53:24):
You know, you mentioned a lot of kids who have
joined the program directly from high school, and we we
don't talk about them nearly as much as we used
to because of kids coming in from other college football
programs and the transfer portals. Has developing young players right
out of high school changed because of just the nature
of the sport and how it's changed.

Speaker 6 (01:53:44):
Yeah, I mean, I think it's certainly it is different,
There's no question about it. We still want to be
able to go into the high school ranks and get
those players. If you signed twenty two players, you know,
two years ago, we just signed twenty high school guys
this year. You know, we played a ton of freshmen
last year, the most fresh and that's played here and
I think in maybe device five years combined. So we
feel like all the guys that got so much so

(01:54:06):
much playing time last year as freshmen there, they're so
much better now they have that experience under their belt,
you know, and hopefully, you know, now they're sophomores. You know,
a year in the system, and you know, a guy
like Simi and Coleman who was a freshman All American
with thirty two tackles last year, had an incredible year,
and I think he'll have it even a better year
this year. I mean, And so just getting those homegrown guys. Man,

(01:54:26):
And the other thing is, you know, I feel like,
as a freshman, you know, you to me, you want
to play those guys a little bit anyway, because you know,
if guys are unhappy now, I feel like these guys
are jumping into portal. But but you know, we had
a bunch of our freshmen. They're all coming back, and
they all, you know, love what we're doing in the program,
and so they know they have an opportunity to play
and play at a high level. So I do think
it has changed the game a lot with with the

(01:54:48):
way that so many teams are going out to portal
guys and kind of leaving those high school guys to
kind of, you know, maybe go to smaller programs and
try to fend for themselves. But I think for us,
you know, we still want to continue to build throughout
the high school ranks.

Speaker 2 (01:55:00):
The portal reopens for the spring a couple of days
after Saturday's open practice. Do you do you have a
to do list? Do you have one or two positions
that you want to address more specifically than others? How's
that going to work?

Speaker 11 (01:55:15):
Yeah?

Speaker 6 (01:55:15):
You know, I think we're fortunately, we're we're you know,
about where we need to be. I think potentially an
offensive tackle is something that we're looking at for sure,
potentially a defensive lineman maybe uh and maybe a linebacker,
you know. So so for us, the good thing is
we don't have to go out and get ten or
twelve players. I think we're we're pretty close to where

(01:55:35):
we need to be talent wise. You also always look at,
you know, chemistry on a football team and a culture
on a football team, and you look when you're thinking
about this many guys and so you know, you certainly
don't want to have to go out here and rebuild
your team at this point. So I think for us,
you know, maybe two or three guys and that's to
be it, and then go out and have a great summer.
You know, there's a lot still going on in college

(01:55:56):
football right now, really in college athletics with the house
case that has coming down, you know, so over the
next week or two, we'll get up some more clarity
on that as well.

Speaker 2 (01:56:04):
I was I was going to ask you, somewhat jokingly,
could you explain the house case to me? Because I
tried to follow it yesterday and I was totally lost.

Speaker 6 (01:56:11):
Yeah, I'm you know, I'm just gonna let it wait wait,
they put it all out there there's a lot going
on with that. There's there's so many layers with that,
you know, and as far as you know, the government's concerned,
and you know, you're getting to got a judge involved,
and you have all these athletic departments trying to figure
out and for us planning what what are we going
to do? I mean, we talk about roster limits, like
you know, they're talking about throwing a number a round

(01:56:32):
of one five. Well I saw yesterday that they push
that back and table that a little bit, so I
you know, we don't know. We're just kind of sit
back and waiting and and let's see what happens. But
hopefully for the better, I do know we need to
get some guardrails around what's happening right now and particularly
h you know, men's basketball and football. So hopefully, hopefully
we'll be able to get some clarity on.

Speaker 2 (01:56:51):
That twelve to two open practice. There will be some
eleven on eleven's autographs with some of the top players.
You see baseball game at three o'clock, by the way,
so you can make a full day on campus and
you're gonna have a couple of guys chucking out the
first pitch on Saturday at Great American Ballpark, which should
be a lot of fun as well.

Speaker 6 (01:57:07):
Yeah, it should be a great day for us, you know,
go out there and watch us, you know, play a
little bit, will scrimmis, you know, have some great scrimmage
reps on Saturday. And then of course our UC baseball
team is having a really good season as well. Would
be a great time to go check those guys out.
And of course obviously trying to pull the red through
on Saturday evening. And yeah, I'll be interesting to see
if Joe Roy or Dante can throw the ball across

(01:57:29):
the place for the first fit, so that.

Speaker 2 (01:57:30):
That'll be interesting. H We'll see what happens. H. I
appreciate the time as always. We'll do it again, man,
thanks so much. Yep, all right, that's it, Thank you all.
You got it. Thank you so much, Scott Saturdayfield. By
the way, Dante Carleon is going to join us at
some point tomorrow as well, noon to to the Spring
Showcase open practice at Nippers Stadium, full day of activities
at UC again. Matt McClain on the injured list. It

(01:57:54):
it feels like there's a one hundred per chance every
time you hear something like, Oh, it's it's just it's
it's not that big of a deal. It's just something
he's dealing with. Hopefully it's just a day to day thing.
The dude ends up on the interlist and they continue
to play shorthand my guy Will bentson his back and
rooting for him. We are done shows over, got to
go back at it tomorrow, Joe Goodberry among our guests.

(01:58:15):
Have a great night. Thank you for listening. Thanks to A.
Tarren Bland for producing. This is ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 1 (01:58:22):
Station Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 7 (01:58:32):
Life Month. Register to become an organ donor or explore
living donation at ucehelp dot com. Slash transplant southbound seventy
one after Norwood Lateral right lane blocked off from an accident.
Traffic there stop and go from Ronald Reagan Highway up
to a twenty minute delay. Another accident blocking off the

(01:58:54):
right lane westbound on Ronald Reagan Highway. That is before
Gal Bred a twenty minute delay back from Lanefield Road
on that He's und like with traffic.

Speaker 2 (01:59:03):
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