5/15/24 - The Mo Egger Show

Happy Schedule Release Day!

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
This is Dave Laplock and you're listeningto the Home of the Bengals, ESPN

(00:03):
fifteen thirty. What's up, Getout, Brunona Moweger. This is ESPN
fifteen thirty. Thank you so muchfor joining us. Hopefully you're having I'm
gonna be honest with you, ithas felt like Thursday all day, and
I think the reason is because theschedule release. I don't know this.

(00:23):
I haven't looked this up. Idon't know this as a fact, but
I know the schedule release last yearwas on a Thursday. I know that
it feels like every year it's ona Thursday. Maybe that's something that I
have totally made up. But anyway, it's a Wednesday, and hopefully you're
having an awesome one. A coupleof things really quick. It is the
schedule release. We got a showtonight at Bad Tom Smith Brewing. It's

(00:46):
gonna be an absolute blast, andwe hope you're there with us tonight from
seven until ten o'clock. You gotLance, you got Me, you got
Austin, you got Tony. Whatelse do you need? You got cold
beer, great food, awesome people. It's gonna be a really good time
tonight. As we find out whatthe schedule will reveal for the Bengals,
there's already some things we know.There's already some things that we could piece

(01:08):
together based on what we know aboutwhat other teams are going to be doing.
But we get the entire slate tonight. I've said this on a bunch
of different occasions. I love thisnight and like it's it's easy to roll
your eyes and go, God,you're making a big deal. And I
used to do this and then Idecided, you know what, I'm not
gonna be the guy who hates everything, but it's easy to do the whole

(01:30):
Like, God, Okay, youalready know who they're gonna play, You
already know where the games are gonnabe. There's something about the schedule,
and the schedule in and of itselfcan provide some challenges, whether it be
because there's a relatively high number ofgames and a tight compact amount of time,
or just a gauntlet of really toughteams that you play consecutively. There's

(01:53):
always where the buye is going tobe. If you're among those who like
to make a road trip, youcan make those plans starting this evening.
It's one of those nights that Ithink just fills people with anticipation. It's
not unlike Selection Sunday. Selection Sundayis my favorite night on the sports calendar.
Nobody loses that night. Now,there are some teams that get excluded,

(02:13):
but that's their fault, and sotonight is one of those nights.
I'm really excited. I'm glad wedo a schedule lease show and looking forward
to being a part of it asfar as this show is concerned. From
three to six on ESPN fifteen thirty. Full show preview available on my x
feed at moegar. Thanks to ourbuddies at Emory Federal Credit Union, your
credit union with Hart since nineteen thirtynine, go to EMORYFCU dot org.

(02:37):
I will tell you Danny Higginbotham isgonna join us in just about twenty five
minutes. He's got the game tonightFC Cincinnati and Atlanta for Apple TV and
FCC is obviously on a roll fourstraight wins, the big win on Saturday,
but a quick turnaround with a Wednesdaytilt tonight, which you could hear
live on ESPN fifteen thirty. Dannyjoins us at three thirty three. Ken

(03:00):
Anderson about an hour from now.I gotta I gotta finish my tweet for
the hour here three pm hour onTwitter at Moegger. Forget the noise.
The Reds need to win today.Yes, without Jonathan India. He's been
scratch from today. Jonathan India hasbeen scratched. What happened to Jonathan India?
We're not sure. Our friend Charliegoes With just tweeted five minutes five

(03:20):
minutes ago he has been scratched fromtoday's life. Wow. So all I
was gonna do here was send mytweet for what's coming up for the hour
and says Jonathan India has been scratchedfrom today's lineup. All right. On
top of all this, Nicolodolo,who was going to pitch against the Dodgers
tomorrow, is being placed on theinjured list with what the Reds are calling
a right I'm sorry, a leftgroindstring, left groinstring. He is a

(03:46):
guy who when he is at hisbest, and I say this having watched
Hunter Green recently, and Hunter's beenfine and he was good last night.
But Nickolodolo, I think at hisbest is the best of the big three.
And then we could fold Andrew Abbotinto it, and even even if
you want Frankie Montas into it.I don't know if this is load management.

(04:09):
I don't know if this is we'regonna bide some time here by putting
him on the injured list and havingNick Martinez make up a starter or two
so we could use more of Nicolodololate in the season. I don't know
if this is a legitimate it's alegitimate injury, I'm sure. I don't
know if this is a significant injurythat's gonna require a long stint on the
injured list. I don't know.I don't know what's up with Jonathan India.

(04:30):
Here's why I can tell you Redsneed to win a game today.
I like, I know there's achunk of fans, not just Reds fans,
baseball fans who don't like it whenyou place a lot of importance on
a game in May. But letme come on, man, let's be
honest. First of all, lastnight was terrific. Hunter Green. Unter
Green has been really good. It'sbeen really good over his last five starts.

(04:53):
Three times he's gotten through the seventhinning, including last night. His
previous who starts had some issues withcontrol, but didn't pitch terribly. He's
been more pitch efficient. He fellbehind early last night and then was pretty
much in control for the rest ofthe game. And the Reds win the

(05:14):
ball game. They get some offense, they get some add on runs,
they get a big home run byWill Benson, But the headline was Hunter
Green and the Reds win a baseballgame last night, And so that's great.
You gotta win series, man.And again, I know there's there's
a great reluctance to place any amountof importance or any amount of significance on

(05:39):
a game or a series in May. We all want to take comfort in
there being a lot of time onthe schedule, man, I get it.
There's one hundred and twenty two gamesto go. But the Reds are
going to Los Angeles after the gametoday to play a Dodgers team that is
insanely good, insanely good twenty nineand fifteen. They lead the planet in

(06:00):
run differential. They're running away withthe National League West. They're great at
home, they're great on the road. They come here Memorial Day weekend.
Reds are about to play the LaDodgers a bunch. They're not playing them
today. They're playing a very atleast for this year. Okay, Arizona
Diamondbacks team, we can discuss Eliede la Cruz not playing and Tyler Stevenson

(06:24):
not being in the lineup, andJonathan India and what's up with Nicko Lodolo.
They gotta win today's game, manLike, at some point, you
gotta stop winning one or two gamesa week, and you gotta win consecutive
games, and you gotta win series, and you have to insulate yourself against
what could happen when you play agreat team like the La Dodgers. Nothing
else matters, Like the Lodolo thing, we will discuss. It's not good.

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It's not good when you have tostart load managing a pitcher in May,
and it's certainly not good if we'retalking about a significant injury here.
But win today's game, I mean, legitimately, when today's baseball game,
and the rest of the other stuffI'll sift through later, regardless of who's
in the starting lineup. I knowI am dramatically oversimplifying this when today's baseball

(07:15):
game? Is it too much toask? They've not won six consecutive series,
They've lost five consecutive series they playedperhaps I think the best team in
the sport in their building this weekend. Injuries are mounting. When today's baseball
game. That's it now for thatto happen, Andrew Abbot's gonna have to

(07:36):
pitch well. The starting pitching forthis team has been fine when today's baseball
game. When today's baseball game,and all right, let's discuss Lodolo and
what the plan might be with himand when it makes sense to rest guys
and just I mean, this teamneeds them with the game today. Just

(07:58):
cannot put it in any more plainlanguage. If we are going to legitimately
discuss this team as contenders and nota team hanging on the fringes, not
a team that's a good week awayfrom being in contention, not a team
that's well they would be in contentionif not for all the injuries. If
we're gonna legitimately talk about the Redsthis summer being a factor, mattering,

(08:20):
being relevant, you gotta win agame like today, man, You gotta
win a series like this one.You can't just lose every single series,
and you have to insulate yourself againstwhat may happen when you go to Los
Angeles. If you get bludgeoned.Win today's baseball game. I know it
sounds annoying. No, I amtalking about this like I'm ten years old.

(08:41):
There's no real nuance that matters rightnow. You're eighteen and twenty four.
You found a way to win yesterday. They're going to win sixty to
seventy games this year. If they'regonna win more, they're gonna have to
win them consecutively. They're gonna haveto win series. They're gonna have to
beat teams that aren't playing their best. Aside from when Arizona came here last
week, over the last couple ofweeks, really all season long, Arizona

(09:03):
hasn't been playing its best. Wintoday's baseball game. Don't have Jonathan India.
Fine, uh, Nico Lodola goeson the angel list, Fine,
we're sitting Eli Dee La Cruz,Okay, fuck win today's game, David
Bell, win today's game. Thisclub, win today's game because the other

(09:24):
stuff just fades into the background.If we get to early June in there,
I don't know, ten, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen games
under five hundred. With the winlast night, they're now just six games
under five hundred, But we cannotkeep doing the it's early, it's early,
don't and it's kind of getting late. And I know I sound like

(09:46):
a guy who watched them lose lastnight they won, which to me only
amplifies the importance of today's game.Get to win a series. And if
you do, and you did itwith the lineup that David Bell and the
people that put the lineup together withhim have put on the lineup card.
Fine, if you don't, it'sit's only going to create more angering angst
and disappointment and frustration and make peoplewonder even further if this regime knows what

(10:11):
it's doing, and if this regimecan take the success, if you want
to call it success of last yearand make it even more this season.
Win the game today, Take twoout of three in a series novel concept
man, Go to Los Angeles witha measure of momentum, Go to Los
Angeles with a chance to If youif you split it, you finished with

(10:35):
a five hundred road trip. Whowouldn't have signed up for that? Win
today's game sixteen after three, ournumbers are five point three, seven four
nine, fifteen thirty eight sixty sixseven oh two, three, seven,
seven six at Moegger on X thanksto our friends at Delta Dental. Delta

(10:56):
Dental is building healthy and smart andI bring communities for all good adulta dentaloh
dot com. Your phone calls arewelcome. With Danny Hickobotham coming up in
just about thirty minutes. Schedule Releasestonight legitimately one of my favorite nights in
sports. Like, if you don'tlike Schedule Release Night tonight, that's okay,
that's fine. Don't be that guy. Let us have our fun,

(11:20):
right, really, three hoos inthe schedule, Yeah, okay, don't
participate, It's okay. Sports arefun. Schedule Release Night's fun. This
show is fun. The NFL isputting games on Netflix because they know that
I know what you know. Huh. I'll try my best to make that

(11:43):
make sense. Next on ESPN fifteenthirty Cincinnati Sports Station, Cincinnati's ESPN twenty
three after three o'clock. This isESPN fifteen thirty. We are broadcasting from
the ESPN fifteen to thirty studios,powered Byater Cincinnati's roofing and exterior restoration Expertsmadewell

(12:03):
Restoration dot com. You know wehad severe weather last week. You want
to make sure your house is readyfor severe weather anytime a year, you
can get a made well pre inspection. Go to Madewell Restoration dot com and
those folks will will help you out. Danny Hick about them on FC Cincinnati.
He's got the game tonight for AppleTV coming up in just about ten
minutes, the Orange and Blue lookingfor a second win this season over Atlanta.

(12:28):
If you missed it, Nico Lodolo, By the way, Hunter Green
was really good last night. I'vebeen the guy who's asked for Hunter to
pitch deeper into games and pitch moreefficiently. And you know some have noted
his velocity is down. He lookslike a guy who is figuring out how
to pitch. He's not a finishedproduct. I would not yet say he's
become the reliable pitcher we're looking forhim to be, But relative to what

(12:52):
we were saying about him four orfive weeks ago, I think you have
to be very pleased with the progresswith this team this year. It feels
like whenever there's good news, boyjust lurking right around the corner is something
bad. And so the Nicolodolo thingmay not be a big deal, maybe
a huge deal, but I mean, I think we can all agree it's

(13:13):
less than ideal when you got aguy like that, who I think has
pitched better than his overall statistics wouldindicate. It's already may for a guy
who's had a whole lot of lowerbody injuries. We're already dealing with a
groin issue, and if it's atits most benign, we're dealing with load

(13:35):
management. And I get it.I get load management when it comes to
a young starting pitcher. But ifthis is something that the Reds are going
to have to do all season long, that is going to be yet another
obstacle for them to clear in aseason where their goal is to get to

(13:56):
the postseason. The Jonathan India thing, and I'm sort of going by what's
being put out here on Twitter,the Jonathan India thing. I've not seen
a reason why he was scratched fromthe starting lineup. Reds and Diamondbacks coming
up a little bit later on threepoint forty first pitch. We will update
you on what's happening with that gameas the afternoon unfolds. Also, the

(14:18):
schedule gets released tonight. The bigstory in the NFL is Netflix is going
to stream a couple of Christmas games, good ones too, Pittsburgh, Kansas
City, Houston, and Baltimore.Good games, good games like legitimate playoff
contention teams and so it's another streamingservice. The NFL has already put a

(14:43):
playoff game on Peacock. They havea Thursday Night package on Amazon. Ah,
obviously are there's all the other waysyou consume the NFL. ESPN is
something you gotta pay for. Andyou know, for instance, of the
Bengals are on Amazon, and ifthey have Thursday night games this year,
they're on Amazon, but they're gonnabe put on a local over the year

(15:05):
broadcast channel. So you know,everybody in the local market's gonna get a
chance to watch their team, evenif they don't have the streaming service.
But it's it's created, i think, a fresh new round of it.
Like there's a big, big,big part of me as somebody who loves
a lot of different sports. It'sreally hard and really expensive. It's one

(15:26):
thing if you just love the NFLand you're like, all right, fine
for a few months, I'll suckit up and get Amazon and I'll get
Petecock and all right fine, Netflixand ESPN Plus. But if you love
a lot of sports and you wantto watch your favorite team, there are
now so many different things you haveto get. If you're a UC basketball

(15:46):
fan, you pretty much have nochoice but to subscribe to ESPN Plus.
If you're an FC Cincinnati fan,you have pretty much no choice if you
want to watch the games, butto subscribe to MLS Season Pass, And
and if you're a Rets fan intown, well then you have pretty much
no choice if you want to watchyour team play to subscribe to a service

(16:07):
that carries bally sports. Ohio likeit. It's really tough. It spreads
people thin, forces some people insome cases to make pretty tough decisions.
I only have room for so manysubscriptions in my life. But the NFL
is doing this for one basic reason, because it's the NFL, and they
know you and I are going toconsume the product. They put a regular

(16:30):
season game on Peacock. I thinkthat was what Bill's Chargers late in the
year, and then they put apostseason game on Peacock, which was Kansas
City and Miami when it was frigidcold in case on a Saturday night was
on Peacock. Now I'll be honestwith you. I went out and found
a place that carried the game onPeacock because the Bearcats were playing that night,

(16:53):
and I wanted to go out andwatch UC play at Baylor and be
able to watch the football game.And so I didn't at a Peacock subscription,
but two point six million people did. The majority of those folks are
still Peacock subscribers. What's gonna happenon Christmas Day? Two really good NFL

(17:14):
games are on on Christmas Day whenlike there's nothing else open, there's nothing
else to go out and do.You're either home or you're stuck at home.
And those are different things with familyon Christmas, and it's chief stealers
Ravens Texans. You mean to tellme if you're gathered with families, someone's
not gonna go Yeah, anybody theygot a Netflix, got a Netflix log

(17:41):
anybody have a Netflix log in?Well, how about we just subscribe and
when the subscription is bought, it'sprobably gonna stay active for a while.
The NFL does this because they can. I'll love being in a position where
I can defend the NFL. ButI'm looking on social media today and there's
a whole new round of like man, is the NFL getting too big for
its own good? No? Howmany people are going to pay attention to

(18:06):
the schedule release tonight, full slateof MLB games, couple of NBA playoff
games, The Stanley Cup Playoffs arehappening right now, Major League Soccer,
the NFL will own tonight. TheNFL knows you're going to subscribe to Netflix.
The NFL knows you're going to subscribeto Amazon. They know that a

(18:29):
lot of people are going to subscribeto Peacock. It's Dan Lebtchard always talks
about how the NFL is basically crack. We can't give it up. I
have no idea what my Christmas plansare now. I do subscribe to Netflix.
My daughter loves it. But regardlessof where I am, wait a
minute, Ravens, Texans chief Steelers, I'm not missing those games. And

(18:49):
the NFL knows I'm not missing thosegames. Until there's no longer a demand
for their product, and there's anoverwhelming demand for their product, They're just
going to find more ways to milkus. Netflix and Peacock and Amazon are
probably just the tip of the iceberg. So is Apple TV. Danny hing

(19:10):
about Them's calling the game for AppleTV tonight FC Cincinnati and Atlanta. He
joins us next Cincinnati's ESPN and fifteenthirty Cincinnati Sports station. All right,
let's get right to this because ourguest has to get to TQOL STADIUMFC Cincinnati
is a home tonight for a tiltagainst Atlanta. The Orange and Blue coming

(19:30):
off an emotional victory on Saturday inColumbus against the Crew and the Hell is
Real Darby, they play an Atlantateam that they beat to start this current
four game winning streak. I knowyou're busy, Danny hick about them the
match tonight for Apple TV MLS Seasonpass. First of all, as always,
welcome to Cincinnati. I know youhave a lot going on. I
appreciate the time. How are you. I'm very well, Thank you so

(19:53):
thank you for having me on.Everything is everything is good here. This
team is playing better. The gameagainst Atlanta a few weeks ago seem to
jump start them, and now herethey are second behind Miami and the table
in the Eastern Conference. You sawFC Cincinnati a lot last year. Whenever
you have a season like that,the inevitable comparisons are going to persist all

(20:14):
year long, good or bad.It feels like they're starting to look at
least a little bit like last yearssquad, certainly from the defensive side,
and then the way Lujo Acosta isplaying. How do you compare what you're
seeing from this team now to whatyou saw a year ago. I think
it's just it's a team that's evolving. I've been fortunate enough of this season.
I think this will be the thirdor fourth time I've covered Cincinnati.

(20:36):
Saw I had them at home inthe first game of the season, had
them at New England, and thenI did the reverse fixture the Atlanta game.
And you know, Cincinnati have lostsome key players in the offseason,
you know, the likes of Baal, the lights of Vadskens in particular.
Going forward, and what then happensis when you bring new players in,
the new players have to with thatto the players that are at the team

(20:59):
and obviously the identity of the team, but the players that are currently already
in the squad have to adapt tothe new players as well. And I
think that's what we've started to see, slowly but surely. And going back
to obviously they've won the last fourgames it became more evident in the Atlanta
game away from home that they werestarting to get to know each other,
starting to understand each other. Andthe one thing which always stood out for

(21:19):
me and I know Pat Noonon quitewell, you know, considering a friend.
It was something that you looked throughoutthe start this season. Defensively has
never been a huge issue, andthey weren't doing bad in the league.
So all of a sudden, peopleare like, well, they're not scoring
goals, and I was like,well, wait till they do start scoring
goals, then they have the potentialto be in my opinion, with the

(21:41):
players that they've brought in, theyhave the potential to be better than last
season. I think the players thatthey've brought in in very very good signings,
very clever signings. Look at Oriano'sstarting to find his feat and how
you look at Booka starting to findhis feet. Yedlin Obviously he's out at
the moment, but he was agreat signing. Miles Robinson. All of
a sudden, these new pieces thatyou're bringing into the team, there's an

(22:03):
argument to say that that some ofthem are better than what they had last
season. And when that all gelsis it's starting to do now. Then,
like I say, I think,you know, I think they can
get to get to that next level. I don't think there's there's any reason
why they can't. I think they'vegot a great manager, they've got a
great infrastructure, a great set ofleaders within the team, some special individual

(22:25):
talents that can create something from nothing. So if I was an FC Cincinnatic
and I think I'd be very veryexcited among with what they have. Yeah,
no question to mention Miles Robinson,He's worked really well with Matt Miaska.
Let's talk about Luco Acosta. Inany sport, when when you see
repeated greatness and you see someone whojust timing again comes up big and huge
moments, you kind of run,you kind of run out of ways to

(22:48):
describe them, to talk about them. So with a player like Lucho Acosta,
from your perspective, when you're askedto talk about him, where do
you even begin cool It's a veryvery difficult one and constantly adapting. What
I love about a Costa is thathe's he's been playing with different players this
season. We've seen for a largemajority of this you know, first third

(23:10):
of the season. If you wantto call it that he's played with bed
as a center forward Kubo, whowe know isn't a natural center ford,
but it's done an unbelievable job.But a Costa still keeps providing, he
still keeps scoring. And I thinkone of the things that stood out to
me against Columbus at the weekend,which I thought was an incredible performance.
I've very rarely seen a Columbus teamget dominated at home, you know,

(23:34):
that was that was their first defeatI think in over a year at home
in m A less regular season.It was an incredible performance. But I
think what we saw was Kelsey,who came off the bench obviously scored,
scored in the game as well.They seems to be that instant understanding with
himself an a Costa, and Ithink from a Costa's side of things,
the reason it's so easy to havethat instant understanding of a play like Kelsey's

(23:57):
because he reminds me very much ofVasquez as in terms of that focal point,
that physical presence and all of asudden now where I think a lot
of times this season a Costa iswhen he's picked the ball up, he's
been facing his own goal, andhe's had his back towards the opposition goal.
Now that they have the ability togo a little bit longer if they

(24:18):
want to. Now they have thisplayer that can link play up. We'se
this physical focal presence in Kelsey.All of a sudden, a cost is
now going to start picking the ballup more when he's faith in the opposition
goal. And I think that's goingto take him onto an even greater level.
And I just I love everything aboutCostume. And one thing I would
say is that is not mentioned verymuch when you talk about number ten his

(24:38):
work ethic. He is the firstone to press, He's the first one
to set everything off and then therest of the players will join in.
So at times, yes, wetalk about how good he is on the
ball, but for me, offthe ball, the way that he starts
that press, that collective press,you know, that's that's such a bonus
when you have a number ten that'sprepared to do that. Danny Higginbotham has
the match tonight. Have seasons andthat hosting Atlanta United at TQL seven point

(25:03):
thirty on Apple TV part of MLSSeason Pass. You know, you talked
about some of the newcomers. Andone thing that has sort of stood out
to me since the season started.Yedlin comes to Cincinnati and then you watch
and it feels like he's been hereforever. Same with Kevin Kelsey. How
Like it's easy to say, Okay, well they've they've got such a great
culture that players can assimilate themselves andfit right in, but that it is

(25:26):
a lot easier said than done.Right it is, but I think what
you have to do then is givea lot of credit to people behind the
scenes, because it's okay signing agood player, but you want to make
sure that you sign a good playthat adds to the already wonderful dressing room
that you've got. And I thinkI would add to that with Mile Robinson
as well. You know Yedling onand off the pitch, he's been He's

(25:48):
been magnificent for R's career. Butwhen you speak to anybody now that follows
Cincinnati, you're associated with Cincinnati.The first thing that they will says that
he's great on the pitch, buthe's great off the pitch. And I
think when you have because obviously Iknew Pattern Nowton from when he was at
Philadelphi Union. And Philadelphi Union wasall about the collective. It was all
about having a strong dressing room,plays that were willing to work hard for

(26:12):
each other. It wasn't about theindividual. And he's brought those characteristics with
him now to FC Cincinnati, andwhat I think the club has done very
well the majority of the time isbrought in plays that are going to buy
into that collective. So therefore you'realready bringing plays in that you know are
good players, but you're bringing playersthat you know are going to settle in

(26:33):
quickly because they like that dressing roomenvironment. And then that makes life so
much easier for everybody. And whenyou have the senior professionals that you've got,
when you have the experience that you'vegot within the team, it enables
new plays that are coming into settlinga lot faster. One more because I
know you got to get to aTQL stadium. Let's talk about the Atlanta
club they played tonight. Obviously sawthem a month ago, a little bit

(26:56):
less than a month ago. Thiswas a club that played really well throughout
the month of March. Since then, at least an MLS play, it's
been the exact opposite. What's changed. Oh, that's a good question.
I was. I was there atthe weekend and I covered them against DC
United when they lost the game threetoo. I think there's there's a part

(27:17):
of there's a part of the teamthat I think is trying to evolve because
when they're when they're at their best, they are so pleased on the either
way that they dominate the ball,the way that they can go forward,
the way they create opportunities and chances, and I think a lot of teams
now have been sitting back against themand frustrating them. So I think Atlanta
are just trying to find their rhythm, trying to find a way to actually
be able to get the better ofopposition teams that sit back. But at

(27:40):
times when that happens, you canbecome too desperate so you can dominate the
ball, dominate the ball, youbecome very expansive, and then you can
get caught out in the in theturnover of possession, and that's one of
the things that's happened with Atlanta recently. I think the biggest concern really for
Atlanta at the moment is that youlook at their away from the right hasn't
been good for a long time,but their home form has been sensational.

(28:03):
They've lost their last three games athome. Now they played their next two
games obviously this evening since NATI.Then I think they go to Nashville.
It's two tough games. And Idon't think there's any doubt when you look
at this Atlantic squad, it's asquad that is there. It's got some
very very good, talented players andthey shouldn't be where they are in the
league. So with that comes pressure. But what they have to make sure

(28:25):
we're guns all up in age isthat pressure doesn't turn to desperation, and
I think at times at the weekendagainst DC United, they became desperate,
and that's what they can't afford todo at the moment because they're having this
this little bit of a run.I think that a lot of the players
aren't used to because they're used towinning, or they're used to winning a
lot at home. So therefore youdon't go six, seven, eight games

(28:47):
without winning the game. So it'snew to a lot of the players.
So it's accepting that and then thinkingabout, okay, how can we get
out of that? And there aren'tmany more difficult places to go the season
tonight to try and turn that around. So it's going to be as you've
got to get to work. Icannot thank you enough for your time.
Have a great call tonight, enjoythe game should be fun. Hopefully we
can do it again as the seasonunravels. Man, thanks so much.

(29:11):
Take you got it the great DannyHickobotham Tonight MLS season pass Apple TV.
I said, unravels. We wantedto unfold, not unravel. Maybe it's
unraveling for the Reds. By theway, that Jonathan India scratches because he's
got a migraine, migraine headache.And as somebody who's had a migraine before,
I couldn't play baseball if I hada migraine. So Red's and d

(29:33):
Backs tonight. Uh, Nico Lodolawas supposed to pitch tomorrow, he's been
put on the IL with a groinissue and now India is going to miss
today's game with a migraine. Wewill update you all afternoon. Reds win
last night with a starting lineup thatincluded Mike Ford, Connor Capele, and
Jacob herd Abeese. Well we gotConnor, we got Jacob. We we

(29:56):
got Ford, we got the BigThree. See if they can make it
to in a row Andrew Rabbit onthe hill, fourteen away from four o'clock.
Our numbers are five one, three, seven four nine, fifteen thirty
and eight sixty six, seven ohtwo three seven seven six. This is
ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports station. They're more identic that Brandon Spinner dude

(30:22):
doing the weather Channel nine. Hedoes. I didn't know this until like
a week ago. He's a forecaster, he's a meteorologists. They don't they
don't like it when you call himweather guys. And you know, I
don't blame them. If I hada media or a lot, if I
was a meteorologist, if I wasa scientist, if I was someone who

(30:45):
took the required courses necessary to studyweather meteorology, if I put myself through
that schooling, which let's be honest, is different than getting a mostly useless
electronics media degree. Like anybody coulddo talk radio, not everybody can be
a meteorologist. I would want tobe referred to as a meteorologist. I

(31:07):
wouldn't want to be called the weatherguy. So I don't know if Brandon
is particular about that, title,But anyway, he does a YouTube show
where he reviews bourbon's. So acouple of things need to happen. One,
I need to be on his showwhere we talk about bourbon. Now

(31:27):
he's capable of talking about it inways that I'm not qualified. I'm barely
qualified to talk about baseball and footballand basketball. Or number two, Brandon
can come here, he can bringsome bourbon with him and we can devote
like an hour of our show toBrandon. We could talk about weather and

(31:48):
he could talk about bourbon. Youlike that idea. I don't think I've
ever met Brandon Spinner in my life. He does a nice job. I
was watching during the for Natic activitywe had last week. He was doing
a killer job with Steve Raleigh onChannel nine and they were doing a great
job of keeping people safe. Andso I was interested in knowing more about

(32:12):
Brandon Spinner because there I was watchinghim and he was wearing like an old
school three P suit, and I'mlike this, this dude seems like pretty
good meteorologist, good television personality.Let's learn more about him. And then
when I did my internet stalking,I discovered he does a show about bourbon.
Which is awesome. There's a lotof great meteorologists in this town.

(32:38):
They have other interests. Jennifer Ketchmarkrides dirt bikes. That's kind of cool.
Not a big dirt bike guy,but that's kind of cool. This
guy does a show about bourbon andlike bourbons that I've never heard of.
So we gotta we gotta find away to partner with Brandon Spinner and drink.

(33:01):
I just want to drink burd whetherit's on his show, my show.
I'm always looking for someone that willdrink bourbon with me. Rads and
d Backs are nodded at zero.In the top of the second inning,
Brandon Fought is throwing for the dBacks and Andrew Abbott for Cincinnati. Jaymer

(33:22):
Candelario is yelling at an umpire.We will update you as the afternoon unfolds,
or as I said to our lastguest Danny Hick about them unravels.
What else do we have? KennyAnderson's going to be on the show.
Should be in the Hall of Fame. He's not in the Hall of Fame,
but he is going to be onthe show in about ten minutes.
He is part of an awesome eventand I mean with this event. You

(33:47):
know, Ken Anderson does so muchfor the Ken Anderson Alliance, and he's
developed a great partnership with Ted Carris, and so they have an event coming
up and we're gonna discuss and dosome football with him. Coming up at
four five. It's five minutes awayfrom four. This is ESPN fifteen thirty,
Cincinnati Sports Station. Yeah, noone covers the Bengals like ESPN fifteen

(34:09):
thirty, Cincinnati's sports station. That'sa fact. What's up four minutes at
before? This is ESPN fifteen thirtyon Moegor. Thank you so much for
joining us. Hopefully you're having awonderful Wednesday. It's always wonderful when we
have our next guest, always kindenough to give us a few minutes whenever

(34:31):
we asked, and more important,a guy who just continues to do wonderful
things. And I love this partnershipKen Anderson, who obviously is a Cincinnati
staple, a Cincinnati icon, andnot just for what he has done on
the football field, but his hiswork with his alliance, Ken Anderson Alliance.

(34:52):
And the really cool thing about watchingTed Carris over the last couple of
years is this is a guy whohas completely and totally wrapped his arms around
this community. Walter Payton NFL Manof the Year nominee and above and beyond
his play on the field, somebodywho I think very much sort of falls
in line with so many of thegreat athletes we've had in this town.

(35:12):
And it's shown such a great willingnessto help causes and and and so this
is great. The Ken and Tedwith Friends event is going to be happening
at the hard Rock Casino. Thisis on the fourteenth, so it's on
a Friday night. It's going tobe a blast. Ken's going to be
there, Ted's going to be there. Other luminaries are going to be there.

(35:32):
Instead of me telling you about them, let's bring in Ken Anderson.
What's going on? Not much?Thanks for having me on today, mo.
I really appreciate it. I appreciateyou doing this. I appreciate this
event. Let me start though tonight'sschedule release night. When you were a
player, how did you find outwho you were playing? And when?
I don't know, maybe it wasin the newspaper the next day, you

(35:52):
know, I don't know. Itcertainly was a televis you know, and
you know I think everyone that cameout, you know, I think I'm
like most of you, look,okay, who am I playing late in
the year, and where you know, are we going to Miami or are
we going to Minnesota? You know, those were kind of big things.
And that was before Minnesota had adome. So where am I going to

(36:13):
be out outdoors in December? Andor where am I going to be south
or in a dome. There weren'tmany domes back when I played. I
mean it was the Astrodome. Yeah, I guess that was that was about
it. I mean the Silver Domeplayed up there once. Oh yeah,
yes, yes, yeah, that'strue. In fact, I played in
the first game in it. Itwas a preseason game and the roof wasn't

(36:37):
done. You know, it wasa canvas roof, and they only had
patches of it done, and soit hung down below the level of the
roof because no one wants full by. They inflated somehow and it had rained
and rated caught in those patches ofthe canvas there were there. If the
wind would whip up all of asudden, you're on the field, it's
like buckets of water are coming downon you. So that's a much better

(37:00):
memory than the other time that Iwas up there. Yeah, I hear
that when when you were coaching inthe league, did how the schedule sort
of played out do anything in termsof impacting how you prepared for a season?
I don't think really, you know, I mean we you know,
all the time I was coaching,we were going to play our players a

(37:21):
little bit more than they do nowin the preseason, and you wanted to
get your work done, and andtraining camp was a little longer, there
were more practices involved with it.You know, we got a few more
snaps I think in training camp doyou get ready for it? So,
you know, we never did,no matter where I was that we never
did show a lot in the preseason. Yeah, and it's changed dramatically now

(37:42):
three preseason games no more to aday's I do wonder from a coaching perspective,
especially getting young quarterbacks ready, howyou balance you know, making sure
we don't do something irresponsible and protectour best assets and their health with at
the same time having teams ready tohit the ground running week one. I
think a lot of teams, includingquite frankly with the Bengals, have struggle

(38:02):
with that. Well, Yeah,and you know, as a coach,
you know, one of the thingsthat I'm always worried about is how many
repetitions are we getting on each ofthe things that we're installing. You know,
I would keep track of that,and you know which quarterback had them,
and and you know, you justthere's just not that many snaps and
practices anymore. You know, there'syou know, only one of days and

(38:25):
the walkthroughs literally have to be walkthroughsnow and and you know, I'm all
for player safety, and you know, and it's a tough grind to play
in the NFL now, and it'sjust different in training camps and how you
have to approach it. Yeah,and from a Bengals perspective, look,
there's there's so much continuity, right, but there is a new offensive coordinator.

(38:46):
So kind of walk me through thatrelationship from the standpoint of somebody who
has served in both roles. You'vebeen the quarterback, you've been the UC
and even if Dan Pitcher is notthe primary play caller, he still has
such a huge role in how thisoffense is is going to work. And
so it kind of walked me throughthe process of there being some change on
the offensive side of the ball,just in terms of how you install the

(39:07):
offense and get ready get ready fora season. From that standpoint, you
know, I think from the installationsstandpoint, it's going to be very similar
and there's there's no terminology that's goingto change. There will be new things,
there always is. After the coachis studying the film, you know,
and want to add things, wantto take out things, steal some

(39:28):
ideas that they've seen on film fromother things, so you want to you
know, work on those things.But I think one of the big advantage
of it is that the Dan hasbeen the quarterback coach, so you know,
the quarterbacks, especially you know,especially Joe, are very familiar with
him. The rest of the guysand the team are familiar with him,
and you know, he's very qualifiedto do what he does. So I

(39:50):
think it's going to be a real, real smooth transition. Yeah, I
would agree. The great Ken Andersonis with us all right. This event
on the fourteenth, which is aFriday, It's it's obviously just slightly less
than a month away, so youhave a little bit of time. The
Ken and Ted with Friends event,which is going to be at the hard
Rock Casino first of all, andyou and I talked a little bit about
this a few months ago, watchingTed Carris not just perform on the field

(40:14):
and be such a big part ofthis team, but just the way that
he is so ingrained himself in thecommunity, wrapped his arm around the community,
become a fan favorite. Not somuch through his play though that's obviously
significant, but his willingness to engageis the way he demonstrates his care and
concern for this community has been reallysomething to watch. So take me through

(40:35):
how you guys started a relationship andthen ultimately how it's going to come to
a head in some respects. OnJune fourteenth, Well, you know,
when I really originally started our foundation, the whole goal was to provide housing
for adults with disabilities. We didthat to help our nephew out and you
know, you know, things kindof changed over the time with it,
and we focused more on adult dayservices on our gate j out is getting

(40:59):
out of the community, our jobtraining, our job placement, and you
know it was it was tough toget the live done financially, and you
know I heard about what Ted wasdoing. Of course, everyone knows about
his Cincy hats, and we kindof made a connection and we talked about
what he was doing in Indianapolis withhis village of Ricci, and actually,

(41:20):
on my trip up one time tomy hometown of the Taba, I went
by to see what they were doing. And you know, their first project
was they took an old barracks atthe Fort Benjamin Harrison in Indianapolis, where
I spent a couple of months ofmy basic actually was my advanced individual training
when I was on my six monthsactive duty for the Army Reserve in nineteen

(41:42):
seventy two. And you know,they converted it into apartments and condos for
adults with disabilities and had done itaround Indianapolis, and so I think it
was I wanted to put a caseof beer in Ted's lock and put a
note and call me, and wegot together and kind of talked about it.
And you know, he loves Cincinnati. He came here and he settled

(42:02):
down here. They had just hadtheir first child here, going to make
this his home, and he wantedto kind of get involved to do the
same thing here in Cincinnati. Sowe've kind of parted up to see if
we can't get that done, allright, so along those lines, the
event at hard Rock Casino. Now, this is awesome. You got yourself,
you got Ted, you got Boomerasizon, you got Zach Taylor, you

(42:24):
get Marty Brennaman to be the MC. That's a pretty damn good list.
Well, I know, and itought to be a lot of fun.
I mean, who knows a quarterbackbetter than his center? And so maybe
we you know, if maybe weget Ted to open up a little bit,
give us some insight into Joe.And I'm excited to hear, you

(42:44):
know, Zach talk about the preseasonand you know, getting off you know,
of course, I think I heardtoday on the radio. I think
was it your show or was itTony Pike before you? But you know,
the Bengals record was six and fivein November, and the Kansas City
Chiefs is not much different. Andyou know, we had a little hiccup

(43:05):
last year when Joe got hurt,but two years before that were in the
AFC Championship Game and then the SuperBowl, so you know, those kind
of things. How he wants toapproach the preseason and you know, Boomer,
you know, I don't think we'repaying for this. I think we
should he's out of a job nowafter twenty two years. Yes, I
feel bad about that, but youknow I feel worse. You know,

(43:27):
I want to ask him, Imean, how did it feel when you
just ran me out of the league? You know, you know, there's
a lot of things I think wecan get solved with this. I mean,
maybe we could make a man,you know, kind of tough.
You know, he kind of comesin and you know, and Boomer,
I think he would admit was alittle brash in his younger days, but
over the years, especially started whenhe came back for the second time with

(43:50):
the Bengals and I was the playcaller when we made the switch and put
him in. And I think thelast five games of the year, we
went four and one and we wereaveraging forty points a game. That was
one of the most fun times I'veever had coaching. And you know,
after that, We've always stayed ina close relationship and whenever I've asked him
to do something, he's always beenright there. And I really appreciate his

(44:13):
friendship. All night. So outlinefor folks who are interested, the night
of the fourteenth, what's going tohappen? Well at six o'clock sixty seven
is drink, so you're you knowto get in it. When you get
in and buy your ticket, itincludes dinner and drinks. Seven to eight
is dinner, and then we'll startthe program at eight and then after that

(44:34):
we've got a great live auction.Listen to this stuff. We've got two
floor seats, two floor tickets forthe Taylor Swift concert when she comes to
Indianapolis. Now these are on thefloor. We've got two orchestra seats for
all the openings of the Broadway seriesat the Aaronoff Center. We have an

(44:57):
original seatback from Riverfront signed by allthe m vps that played in there.
Can you name them in both sports? Yes, Morgan Larkin, yourself,
Boomer Rose, Bench and Foster,George George Foster, Yes, and George

(45:21):
Foster right, that's the seven.They've all signed that. So we've got
a local artist did a great paintingof Boomer and Joe and I and we've
had that put on canvas and allthree of us will have signed that,
and that'll be one of our auctionitems. And you know, my wife

(45:43):
found this old time radio that's redand so we'll have Marty sign that and
this one belongs to the Reds,So I mean, and then you know,
how would you like to catch apass from boom erright? I think
for the right price, we getto autograph ball from us and Boomer can
throw your pass. I can throwyou one. Zach which the quarterback,
he can throw you one. Idon't know if Ted's a long snapper and

(46:05):
not those two. So it's gonnabe a fun night, all right.
It's the fourteenth, a Friday night, hard rock casino. Where can people
find more information? If you goto Ken Anderson Alliance dot org uh and
you go up to fundraising and youclick on that, it'll take you down
to the events that we have.You can go to the part we're talking

(46:28):
about the dinner and you can clickon there and you can buy tickets.
Should be an awesome experience, greatcause, awesome to have you on.
As always, anything we can doto help let us know. Okay,
you gotta thank you, partner forhelping me out anytime. The Great Ken
Anderson. The event is going tobe again on Friday, June the fourteenth
at the Hard Rock Casino Ken Anderson, Boomera Size, and Ted Carris,

(46:49):
Zach Taylor, and your Master ofCeremonies, Marty Brenneman Kenanderson Alliance dot org.
You cannot beat that. It issixteen minutes after four. We should
take some phone calls. I havegiven you almost nothing to respond to,
but five point three seven, fournine, fifteen thirty. Uh, if
if you want to grab it,I'll uh, I'll make a bit of
an admission coming up in just abit and we'll talk. We're gonna discuss

(47:15):
some of the recent Reds injury news. We're gonna do Nicolodolo I think tomorrow
because uh, his issues have beenlower body in nature. And we've got
someone all with us today, doctorMark u Haas from Ortho Sinsey, who's
going to talk about, you know, the latest TJ. Friedel injury and
Joe Burrow's wrist and his continued progressionfrom that injury, and so much more

(47:37):
of that coming up at four thirtythree. Also Brendanman and Jones on Baseball
on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports StationSooth and sign up for our contest we
have. We're nine days away,right, nine nine days away from announcing
the winner of this year's Mow YourLong Contest. The mow your long contest.

(47:58):
If you're among the uninitiated. Wehave been doing this now, I
think for twelve years. It's thebest. It is the single best contest
in radio, in all of radio, because we give away two awesome prizes.
Now, you could win a brandnew lawnmower from Backslid Tractor, brand
new, not something used, notsomething that like you have to dust off

(48:20):
or put a new wheel on.No, no, no, no,
it's brand new, brand new lawnmower, perfect for you know, cutting your
lawn. And but that's a coolprize. Like if I said you want
a brand new lawnmower, you'd belike, man, that's the coolest thing
that's happened to me in quite awhile. But that's not all because the
winner will also get tickets to everyRiverbend show in twenty twenty four, all

(48:43):
of them, every single show seasontickets. That's a cool prize. Well,
how awesome is it? When youmeshed the two and the best part
about this? Or you might arguethe worst part about this? I would
side with the ladder. If youwin, I deliver the stuff to your
house. You don't have to comehere and pick it up. You don't

(49:05):
have to go make a bunch ofdifferent stops. No, you chill out
at home and we work out withyou. When I'll drop off the lawnmower,
I'll drop off the tickets. Ialways offer to cut your grass.
Nobody ever takes me up on thatoffer, which is fine. You're welcome
to like grill as a steak ifyou want. If you win, well
whatever it is, you cannot winif you don't sign up. So you
can go to the contest page ofESPN fifteen thirty dot com. I've got

(49:28):
links on social media. You canalso go to my website ESPN fifteen thirty
dot com slash mo. It isthe mo your long contest and we appreciate
our friends at Backsla Tractor and RiverbendMusic Center. One nothing Dbacks as Arizona
bats in the bottom of the thirdinning, Mike, it's in the fourth.

(49:50):
Is that why there's a four withan arrow pointing down next to the
four? Hi, Mike, goBrandon, Thanks Mom, Brandon fucked.
If I'm not mistaken, had apretty good postseason last year. Uh,
I don't have the numbers in frontof me, but respectable picture very much

(50:13):
so. Uh yeah, but youknow he he he hasn't faced the like
of Jacob hurdubes multiple times or ConnorCaple multiple times. You should have bet
a stand up, you know,you really you probably would have been when
he was. When he was mowingdown the Dodgers and Phillies last year in

(50:35):
the postseason. There was no Jacobhurd abest in those lineups. Mike,
No, put it. No,I can't get my words done. Most
is that's probably a better thing too. Uh. But anyway, was the
joker unbelievable last night? Incredible?Did he make a statement? Incredible?

(50:57):
Incredible, so much fun to watch. Rudy Gobert had no end for him.
It was awesome. But Mo,and I've brought this up before the
thing. I get to go.But the guy just looks doesn't look like
a basketball player. I mean heI thought Bill Lamberd didn't look like a
basketball player. This guy really don'tlook like a basketball player. And it
just blows my mind. How goodhe how his feet are. Yeah,

(51:22):
he's he's very skilled. I meanI don't know that he he doesn't look
like he doesn't look like what youwould expect a star in the NBA to
look like, right, But Idon't think he's unathletic. He's not fat.
He's six eleven, what, twoninety two eighty two ninety. I
mean he's he's built, he's thick, but he's not chubby. He's not

(51:45):
out of shape, he's not fat, He's not unathletic. Bill Lamberd couldn't
play. Nikola Jokic can play.Yeah, yeah, well Lamberd could play,
but mostly what pushing people around andgetting cheap out. But you know,
mo, I really think I disagree. I think the Knicks are going

(52:08):
to win this series and then they'llhave some time to rest because I think
I don't know what the regular seasonhad to head was with Boston, but
well, I think Boston beat themquite a few times. But I just
it just feels like it's their year. No, it does. To get
to that final. Now, Idon't know about after that, but I
think they can beat Boston, Ireally do. I don't think they can

(52:30):
beat them four times. I'll beI'll be, I'll be completely and totally
honestly, I don't think they canbeat them four times. Boston won four
of the five head to head meetings, so I think the Knicks have to
win game six because they get theyget for Game six what they haven't gotten
in this series yet, which isan extra day of rest. And so

(52:52):
that's to the advantage of the teamthat has been, you know, compromised
by health. It maybe gives thema day to get in Nobe back Alex
Burks off the bench last night wasa bit of a revelation, not because
he shot the ball well, butbecause he didn't get destroyed defensively. I
thought Deuce McBride took Tyrese Haliburton outof the game, but I don't want

(53:15):
to. With as shorthanded as theKnicks are, you don't want to lose
Friday and then you gotta come back. Game seven is scheduled for Sunday afternoon,
and yes it would be at MSG. I think if you're if you're
Tom Thibodeau, you gotta throw everybullet you can to try to win on
Friday, because it's gonna be reallyhard for the quick turnaround to then win

(53:37):
a do or die game on Sunday. I think if they win Friday.
If they win Friday, they obviouslywin the series. I think they have
a better chance of winning Friday thanthey do of losing and then winning Game
seven at home because of the turnaround, And are the Reds the most snake
bitting team you've ever seen with injurythough? I mean, this is getting
ridiculous. I mean absolutely. Idon't know if they're the most snack bitten,

(54:02):
but this is pretty remarkable. Imean, it's it's it's pretty remarkable
what they're dealing with. Look,I mean, you can criticize this team
for a lot of different things.It's nobody's fault that today they have Mike
Ford, who a week and ahalf ago wasn't in the big leagues,
Connor Caple and Jacob Herdabies in thestarting lineup and consecutive days like that.

(54:25):
That's not what we talked about backin February, that that that wasn't the
plan here. It's been a trulyremarkable run of of of bad luck.
And it's a reason. It's notan excuse. I don't believe in making
injuries an excuse, but it's it'sit's a major reason that you can't ignore,
and it severely ties the hands ofthe manager and everybody else. And

(54:46):
I still say you were right,they should have gotten somehow, some way.
If you've proven veteran hitters, andso the farm didn't run dry.
I mean, I hate to berepetitive, but we run the farm.
And then I look at the Dodgers. You know, the guy played you'll
give me a minute. The guytold me today goes not. All you
do is bye team, goodbye everything. You don't have any And I'm looking

(55:09):
at the twenty twenty roster when theywhen the Dodgers won the World Series,
I mean, Chris Taylor, CodyBellinger, Justin Turner and Matt Max Munsey,
they got up the trash heap andSeeger and all these guys were home
grown. And so why did youI guess it's because of show hey right
and bets that people and Freeman.But I mean they those guys weren't on

(55:32):
the team they when they won theWorld Series. So why do people keep
thinking that I don't get it becauseit's too lazy to actually do the work.
And I mean, the the realityis that that is a franchise that
over the last ten to fifteen yearshas done a marvelous job of cranking out

(55:52):
really good players. Now they supplementthem with players they acquire from outside,
like Mookie Betts. And I'll likeshow Hey O Tani, but Will Smith,
Clayton kershaw Tony Gonsolin, Michael Bush, I mean I A Walker,
Bueller, Gavin Lux and then youknow, go on down the road to

(56:12):
players who are no longer with theorganization, like Corey Seeger, like Jock
Peterson for that matter. They haveconsistent Bellinger, They've consistently cranked out quality
big league players. That's that's notsimply taking advantage of your financial advantages,
which are significant. That's being reallygood at at identifying, acquiring and developing

(56:35):
quality ballplayers. And it's been awhile since the Reds have been able to
consistently, on a year in andyear out basis, be able to do
that. Mike, I got arun, man, Thank you. Thanks.
It is twenty eight away from fiveo'clock. Let's let's dive into this
TJ. Friedle thing. Let's spenda few minutes on how much hope we
should have for Matt McClain and talkabout the next step for Joe Burrow.

(56:57):
Uh, we'll do that when wecome back. Chat with one of the
many experts at Ortho Cincio on ESPNfifteen to thirty, Cincinnati Sports Station,
Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty traffic from theUC Health Track. It is twenty one
away from five o'clock sports headlines.A service of Kelsey Chevrolet home of lifetime
power train protection and guaranteed credit approvalfrom their family the Yours for Life kelseyshev

(57:22):
dot Com. San Diago Espinal hasjust gone deep for the Reds, who
are batting in the top of thefifth inning and they are now tied with
the Diamondbacks at one apiece. Thesecond home run of the season four our
guy Santiago so far. Andrew Abbottis pitched okay today four innings, gave
up a homer. Other than that, no major damage. One to one

(57:44):
Reds Dbacks getaway day for Cincinnati.In the top of the fifth, Nick
Lidolo to the ten day il witha left groin strain. Jonathan India scratch
from today's game with a migraine.NFL schedule release, there's a handful of
things that we know. We knowthe Bengals are not going to play on
Christmas. We know they're not goingto play an international game, and we

(58:06):
know they're not going to play onThanksgiving. We know they're going to play
the Chiefs week two. There's awhole bunch of other leaks out there.
We'll have the entire schedule tonight onthe schedule release show on seven hundred WLW
from Bad Tom Smith Brewing. Imean, while FC Cincinnati is back at
home tonight against Atlanta. A gamestarts at seven thirty. You can hear

(58:28):
it live on ESPN fifteen thirty withpregame coverage Tommy g starting at seven pm.
Just a quick a quick note onwhat we're about to do here.
I mentioned the Nicolodolo groin injury.We're going to do something I think with
one of the Ortho Sinsey experts onthat tomorrow. Maybe somebody specializes, somebody

(58:51):
who specializes in lower body injuries,leg injuries, maybe groin injuries, that
sort of thing. So we're notgoing to talk Nick Lodolo today. We
do have a lot to discuss withdoctor Mark Juhas from Ortho Sincy. We
love Orthos since they have specialists andlocations all across the Try State. They've
got walkin orthopedic urgent care during theweek from nine a m. To nine

(59:13):
pm and on Saturdays from nine amto one pm. You can learn more
at Orthosinc. Dot com, Orthosinc. Dot com, orthos ci NCY dot
com. You never need an appointment. Doctor Juhas is with us. Let's
start by talking about TJ. Friedel, who gets hit on the thumb on
Sunday, stays in the game,then he comes out the initial X two
X rays were inconclusive. He wasin a lot of pain on Monday.

(59:37):
They do US scan, it tellsus there's a break. We're awaiting the
CT results before we can really figureout what the timeline is going to be.
Let's start with this. Give mesome reasons why the initial X rays
could be negative or inconclusive. Well, once again, thanks for having me,
MO, and I know it's challenging, especially in these baseball injuries.

(59:59):
There's been a lot of hand intrees recently, and especially for this particular
athlete having just come off of aprevious injury. I think to answer your
question about, uh, you know, why would an initial X ray not
show a fracture? You know,sometimes you know the fracture is aligned well.
So a break in the bone canbe aligned so well that it doesn't

(01:00:20):
actually show up on the initial Xray. We call that. One may
call it a hairline fracture. Welike to call it a non displaced fracture.
Those can show up sometimes with otherforms of imaging, such as like
a CT scan. We get aCAT scan that kind of gives us a
three D view of the bone andthe joint, and that gives us at
a better look at things. Sometimeswe'll just get X rays a week later

(01:00:42):
because it will actually show a signof a healing bone. So there are
there are definitely reasons that a breakmay not show up right away, and
that's usually the case. It's usuallya good one, meaning it's not shifted
and not broken in a in away that's that's very obvious. Unfortunately,
with the reds and even with TJ. Friedel, we've heard this year about
risk fractures and hand fractures. Thisis a thumb fracture. As far as

(01:01:04):
fractured fractures go, How does aninjury like this compared to let's say,
a fractured hand or a fractured wrist. Yeah, so a fracture or a
break in any of the bones inthe hand, they do come in different
varieties, and even in the thumb. If this were you know, and
it seems to be an injury,more of the tip of the thumb or
kind of out towards the tip.Those injuries tend the heel a little more

(01:01:25):
straightforward. But it really depends onwhere it is even in relation to the
joint, the things that allow ourthumb to move. If it's in the
joint or closer to that cartilage,then sometimes those need a little bit more
time to heal. Sometimes we paycloser attention to those breaks alignment wise,
because it's important that they heal injust the right position. So so that

(01:01:47):
that's kind of the variety of thebreaks in the thumb. But even compared
to hand and wrist, even thethumb, if it's at the base or
at the tip, even that changeshow we approach it. Sometimes we still
sort of waiting to find out whatthe possible timeline could be for his return
as they await results of the CTscan that they're doing. But what sort
of time frame could we be talkingabout here. Yeah, again, it

(01:02:08):
depends on where it's at and inrelation to where it is near the joints.
This is something that may be protectedsometimes with as little as as pain
wall out within a few weeks andyou know, maybe wearing some bracing or
splinting and sometimes these can take evenup to six weeks or even longer to
go, so there is a prettybroad timeline until we know a little bit

(01:02:30):
more information. I would think.Let's talk about Matt McClain. So it's
obviously going to be a while beforewe see him, but they do seem
to be the Reds do at leastthey do seem to be holding out hope
that he's going to be able toplay at some point this season, maybe
even in August. Light baseball activitiesfor Mac can can start here within the
next couple of weeks if things progressthe way they have. The recent reports

(01:02:52):
after Matt met with a surgeon wasthat there are no real concerns right now,
so they're still hoping for mid August. Let's talk about the next steps
for Matt. What are they goingto involve and so that's really encouraging,
and that's you know, the importantpart is the communication between the surgeon and
the medical staff and the team thatis around him so much helping him the

(01:03:13):
train Usually you know, next stepsin terms of you know, baseball activities
or just progressing with therapy with shoulderinjuries, we need to make sure movement
is good and smooth and you know, feeling no pain when when we move.
That's kind of the first step,just with day to day activities.
Then you know, some strengthening willoccur, and I think it's really important
for any athlete to have strengthening aroundthe shoulder, So stabilizing some of those

(01:03:37):
muscles around your scalpula, core stabilizingexercises, things that will make you strong
to kind of offload and make surethat everything else is moving smoothly as inside
the shoulder continues to heal. Sothose are probably the next steps. And
then you know with baseball activities,you know, this being a non throwing
shoulder, it's obviously hitting without pain. Being as predictable, you know,

(01:04:02):
putting being put in predictable situations becauseonce you're in the game, it can
be unpredictable. So you want everythingto kind of go in a checklist to
be you know, in the predictablemoments, not having pain, progressing strengthening,
so that when the time comes thateverything the athlete feels comfortable being in
an unpredictable situation. When we getto the real heart of the summer and

(01:04:25):
we're talking about the possibility of himcoming back and his return maybe getting closer.
What will ultimately determine whether or nothe could play, And does I
mean should we hold out real hopethat yeah, he might be able to
play as soon as August. Yeah, I think I think so. It
kind of alludes to what I said, is is it really comes down to
there's there's obviously a checklist, There'sgoing to be a lot of people that

(01:04:47):
will be analyzing video and making surethat his swing and everything else is comfortable.
Communication is very important between he andthe training staff, and that that's
really the most important thing in everyapp Every injury is a little bit different
every recovery in that term. Butto think that's a realistic timeline, I
mean, it certainly seems that way, and it was one of those things

(01:05:09):
that I'm sure they're they're sort oftaking it on a week to week and
then a month to month basis,and it sounds encouraging us far though,
for sure, no question about that. Let's talk about somebody else who has
given us some encouraging news, andthat's Joe Burrow. We got a chance
to watch him throw last week.Now, he's not participated in any sort
of contract contact drill yet, he'snot been cleared for that. He's been
throwing since early April. He wasactually asked, are you dealing with any

(01:05:32):
discomfort? He chose really not toanswer that question. Let me let me
start with that, does it makesense that with where he is right now
and his recovery and his return,that he could still be dealing with some
residual discomfort after a workout? Ithink I think it's it's a question that
is difficult to answer because people evendefine discomfort in different ways. And when

(01:05:53):
you're when you're talking about throwing afootball or a baseball, and that throwing
motion, how specific it is withthe movie, may not feel quite right
for the athlete, especially at thehighest level that you can get, and
it's hard to maybe maybe you know, communicate that there may be certain things
that that feel not as normal rightat first. And I'm not speaking for

(01:06:15):
him or anyone else, but thatthat is you know, what can happen
often, especially with like we said, it's fine of movements of these little
bones in the wrist and the feedbackthat that is required, and how how
detailed these athletes are, then youknow, it takes time to get to
the point where yeah, it feelsquote unquote normal. Again, Yeah,
what do you need to see beforeyou say, okay, Joe, you

(01:06:36):
can go out there and let itfly during contact drills. Well, I
mean there's there's, of course atimeline we expect as surgeons to say they're
biologically there should be healing. Welook at we examine the athlete, We
look at motion, all these thesetests we do in the clinic. We
look at X rays. They mayeven get more imaging to see how things
are looking. But once we getpast that, it really comes down to

(01:07:00):
feedback from from the athlete to sayit feels good. We know that the
risk is low if they're that therewould be a re injury or have anything
because we feel things are healed andso you know, those are the main
things we look at to say,hey, let's let's go and it's it's
time to do with you know whatyou feel comfortable doing. So outstanding insight

(01:07:20):
as always, cannot thank you enough. We'll do it again soon, man,
thanks so much, thanks a lotmoo for having me today. You
got it. There's our guy,doctor Mark Uhas from Orthos. Since he
say it every week. Great thinkabout the folks at Orthos Sincy as.
They have specialists and locations across thetri State, including walking orthopedic urgent care
during the week from nine a tonine p and on Saturday's nine a to

(01:07:43):
one p at Edgewood and Anderson Anderson'swhere I took my daughter when she broke
her foot. They were awesome toher. They will be awesome to you
whenever you have an urgent orthopedic injury. No appointment. It's cheaper than an
ER, it's easier than an rin the care is top notch Orthosinc.
Dot com. That's Ortho c INCY dot com. UH one one,

(01:08:06):
reds and d backs. We wehave more Hoody in the Blowfish tickets.
We're gonna give away uh this thisgame, this one. In fact,
I'm not even gonna look for twocontestants five thirty three. You want to
go see Hooty and the Blowfish,I'll ask for one because if you can't
get these questions about NFL mascots,you don't deserve to go see Hoody in
the Blowfish five point three, sevenfour, nine, fifteen thirty. We're

(01:08:30):
guest free. We don't have anymore we have uh, we're guests free
for a while. Okay, verygood. We'll spend some time on the
Bengals schedule and uh the NFL puttinggames on Netflix, updates on the Reds,
talk a little FC Cincinnati and more. We have a lot to get
to between now and six. OnESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports Station.
Hi, my name's Moeger. Thisis ESPN fifteen thirty. Thank you for

(01:08:59):
listening. Is this game going tobe over before our show ends? They're
in the top of the seventh inning. It's like jam Or Candelario just hit
a double. It's one one Redsand d Backs, top of the seventh
This bad boy. I love thepitch clock. I love this era that
we're in where the games move fastand fast moving games. Like I never

(01:09:23):
complained about long games, but ifthe games move and they're not as long,
I think that's a win for everybody. This thing started an hour and
twenty seven minutes ago. They're inthe top of the seventh inning. Now
it is a tie game, sothe chances do exist for extra innings when
we have to play you know,magic runner baseball, which remains just completely

(01:09:45):
stupid. But maybe the Reds willwin this game, and maybe they want.
It's one one top seven good goodstuff from Andrew Abbit. I was
listening to Brendaman and Jones on baseballtoday. It was about baseball, which
was nice and a good breakdown ofthe Reds pitching. Andrew Abbott today with
a very good start Hunter Green lastnight was terrific. I mean, I
don't want to say I've been abig Hunter Green critic. I've just I

(01:10:10):
think it's interesting when people shudder atthings that I think we should all agree
with. And one of my thingswith Hunter Green has been, and I
think for the overwhelming majority of Retsfans, one of the things has been
just pitch efficiency, consistency, reliability, go deeper into games. And it

(01:10:30):
has been remarkable to me at timeswhen just I can only speak for myself,
when I have said something like,gee, it would be better if
Hunter Green would pitch deeper into games, people get mad at that. Well,
he's pitched deeper into games recently.Three of his last five starts.
He's gone seven his last five starts. His era is two five to five.

(01:10:50):
He threw well last night. Hemight not have been overpowering. It
does feel like he's trying to dialback the velocity just a little bit and
doing more pitching. And it's greatto have the one hundred and two mile
an hour fastball in your back pocket, but he's got to develop and trust
other pitches and it felt like watchinghim last night. It has felt like

(01:11:13):
watching him over his last five starts. We're starting to get more of that.
He's progressing, he's getting better.He's not where he wants to be,
where you want him to be,where I want him to be,
where the Reds want him to be, but he is getting better and last
night he was a major reason whythe Reds won. Reds did get retired
in the top of the seventh inning, so it's one one Reds and Dbacks.
As they head to the bottom ofthe seventh inning, they're stretching in

(01:11:36):
Phoenix. By the way, fiveo'clock Happy Hour service off of michelob Ultra,
It's schedule release night. There's nobetter way to celebrate the not the
beginning of the football season because we'restill a ways away, but just that
that mile post, Like I Ilove the schedule coming out because it just

(01:11:59):
I you know, it sounds stupidand hokey, it just it makes things
feel real and you could start tolook at certain stretches that you fear in
certain stretches where the schedule is maybea little bit more forgiving. I try
to go to one road game ayear, and so one of my favorite
things to do is look at theschedule and figure out which road game I

(01:12:20):
can go to. I love lookingat the schedule and figuring out how many
week night games there are because thatimpacts our show in a very positive way.
I love broadcasting from the Holy Grailbefore games with Tony and Ken Brew,
and so it's fun to think about, all, right, well,
here's how this weekend's gonna unfold.Obviously, me having a role on UC

(01:12:42):
football broadcast that there's that's always abig, big, big thing with my
weekend. And so how do theBengals? How do the Bengals fit in
with that? And so I justI think tonight's a really fun night.
If it's not your jam, thenit's not your jam. But even if
it's not your jam, you canenjoy michelob Ultra. How's that one of
those sounds amazing right now? Acouple of other reds, odds and ends.

(01:13:04):
Nick Lodolo goes on the injured listwith a groin Strain read a piece
Mark Sheldonreds dot Com where Nick isinsisting that he doesn't think this is going
to be that big of a deal. I think at this point, especially
if you root for the Reds,you are taking those assurances with very large

(01:13:25):
grains of salt. I hope NickLodolo is accurate in sort of outlining a
very short time frame here. Inthe short term, the Reds are going
to have to turn to Nick Martineztomorrow night, Lodola was scheduled to pitch
against the Dodgers. Also, forwhat it's worth, Jonathan India misses today's
game, or at least we'll scratchon the starting lineup with a migraine.

(01:13:50):
We have a poll question. Itis Reds related. It's thanks to our
friends at United Heartland Insurance. LetUnited Heartland and and save you mow money,
whether it's your personal business, insurance, life, insurance, you name
it. They can help seriously.Check these guys out. They have offices

(01:14:10):
in Hamilton, one in Cincinnati,one in Northern Kentucky. Go to uhis
dot com. These folks are gonnasave you, as we say, mow
money. United Heartland Insurance. Theysponsor our poll questions, Go vote now,
we'll get to the results. It'sbased on the Big Three, the
Reds new Big Three of Connor Caple, Jacob Herdubes and Mike Ford, the

(01:14:32):
current Big three for the Reds whoare undefeated at least as of right now,
when that trio of superstars are inthe lineup together. I was talking
about this in the three o'clock hour. We're in a different age when it
comes to sports consumption, movie consumption, entertainment consumption, and so it feels

(01:15:00):
like on a almost a monthly basis, if you're a sports fan, there's
something else that goes to a streamingservice. So the NFL is putting a
couple of games on Netflix on ChristmasDay, and they're big games. Chiefs
Steelers has a chance to be reallybig, Ravens Texans has a chance to

(01:15:20):
be really big. Like, ifI'm running Netflix and I want the NFL,
I want really good games. Thoseare fun, interesting games. I
gotta be honest with you. Asa Bengals fan, I'm relieved the Bengals
aren't playing on Christmas. Like tome, it's just it's it's hard and
it's not like the NBA, whichthe NBA is so early in its season.

(01:15:43):
The NBA has played on Christmas forever. I just I like football in
sports as the background music to theholiday. I'm kind of okay with not
having it be the centerpiece of theholiday, but I am. I did
think it was cool they had threeChristmas Day games last year. But anyway,
Netflix is going to have these twowhat look like you have a chance
to be really big games. Andwhenever there's something like this, the NFL

(01:16:08):
is put a game, a regularseason game on Peacock, a playoff game
on Peacock. Obviously, Thursday Nightfootball is on Amazon. Uh. And
and this if you're a fan ofthe NFL, it's it's a tough it's
a tough pill to swallow. Ifyou want Sunday ticket, you got to
subscribe to YouTube, and then youhave to pay even more for Sunday ticket.

(01:16:29):
Uh, it's tough. Like it'sit's it's tough. And then if
if you want to do all thisand still go to a game or two,
or or be a season ticket holder, it's it's even more money,
right, It's it's it's hard.The streaming thing, in particular, Austin
was talking about this a little bitwith Tony Pike today and he sent a
tweet out and it really did kindof make me think, at what point,

(01:16:56):
if this point does exist, doesthe NFL get, as they say,
a little bit too big for itsbreitches where folks are legitimately going to
turn away. I don't think it'sgonna happen with a pair of games on
Netflix. Chances are you and Iare going to watch the games on Netflix.

(01:17:18):
I happen to subscribe to Netflix,but even the ones that were on
Peacock, I don't subscribe. Bothtimes NFL games were on Peacock, I
was out and so I was ableto watch the game at a place that
had Peacock. But had I notbeen playoff game, I probably would have
subscribed to Peacock for a night orfor a week and then canceled it.

(01:17:38):
By the way, two point sixmillion people subscribe to Peacock for the playoff
game, I'm willing to bet youthat the majority of them kept their Peacock
subscriptions going and still have them tothis day, and might have had good
reason, maybe like they like toshow or something else's on Peacock. And
by the way, their soccer onPeacock. There's Big Ten basketball and football
on Peacock, and so there's morethan obviously just the NFL. But what's

(01:18:02):
gonna happen on Christmas is I'm gonnado the same thing you're gonna do,
which is either buy a Netflix subscription, which I already do have one,
but would buy a Netflix subscription temporarily, or if I'm with people, see
if somebody can log in and watchthe two games. The NFL knows we're
going to do this. We're addicted, We're We've never been more addicted to

(01:18:27):
this sport, and I count myselfamong those who are addicted. But some
will say, like, at somepoint the NFL is going to get a
little bit too big, a littlebit too big, that it's going to
start to turn people away. Andmaybe that's going to be the case.
I don't know what would have tohappen to make people turn away. Like

(01:18:48):
we dealt with the thing six sevenyears ago in the aftermath of Colin Kaepernick
kneeling for the national anthem, whereyou had folks who would say, I'm
done with the NFL. Nobody keptthat promise, nobody, I mean,
he might have kept it for awhile nobody kept that promise. I'm never

(01:19:09):
gonna watch the NFL again. Okay, yeah, sure didn't watch the Super
Bowl, did ja? So likelegitimate people turning away, I don't think
it can happen. I don't thinkit's going to happen at any point in
my lifetime. It's not gonna happenwith the eighteenth game. It's not gonna
happen when sometime in my lifetime wehave twenty games. It's not gonna happen

(01:19:30):
when they put games on Netflix.It's not gonna happen when they put games
on a streaming service that probably hasn'teven been launched yet. And so as
long as that is the case,and as long as people aren't gonna turn
away, you're just gonna get moreof this. The NFL does this because
they know they can, because theyknow you and I are gonna chase the

(01:19:50):
product no matter what. It's nota criticism, not a criticism of a
consumer. It's not a criticism ofthe National Football League. It's just it's
how it is. I will Iwill never forget, as somebody who has
never subscribed to Peacock, the weekthat we saw the Chiefs were gonna play

(01:20:12):
the Dolphins in that frigid wild cardgame. As that week is unfolding,
I'm like, yeah, you knowwhat, if I don't go out Bearcats
played that night, If I don'tgo out and find a place that has
peacock, I'm probably gonna pay thefive bucks because I want to see that
game. It's a whole lot ofpeople like me, and the NFL knows
it. There is such there isno demand. There is no product,

(01:20:35):
service, entertainment, vehicle, sport, whatever it is. There is nothing
in this country in greater demand thanNational Football League games. Nothing. There's
nothing that I could think of,No movie, no television show, nothing,
not even Taylor Swift tickets in higherdemand by more people than NFL football.

(01:21:00):
Until that changes, the NFL isjust going to keep tapping into new
revenue streams and you and I aregoing to suck it up and consume the
product wherever they're tapping into those revenuestreams. And by the way, if
you root for a good team,like think about it. The Chiefs,
I mean, the Chiefs are thetwo time defending Super Bowl champions. They

(01:21:24):
are the most prestigious, I guessright now team in the league, the
most high profile team in the league, six straight AFC championship games, the
biggest, most transcendent stars might notlike hearing me say that, but I
think those things are true. Theyhad a playoff game put on Peacock,

(01:21:44):
They're having a Christmas game put onNetflix, like they're they're If you root
for a good team, you're justgonna have to figure out how to pay
for all the different ways to consumetheir games. Now it's worth mentioning.
So the games on Netflix, theyinvolve Houston, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Kansas

(01:22:09):
City. The games will be onTV in those local markets. You know
how it works here where like ifthe Bengals are on Prime on Thursday,
still one of the local TV stationsgets it. But they're not. They're
not putting the Carolina Panthers on Netflix. They're they're they're they're not they're not
putting the They're not putting the WashingtonCommanders on every conceivable streaming service. They're

(01:22:34):
they're they're gonna put the premier teamin the league, which like it or
not right now is the can't sayJeeves, And so it's tough. You're
in a position where you want yourteam to be as good as possible.
But the better it is, themore in demand they're gonna be, and
the more they can milk that team, which could happen with the Bengals.
Twenty minutes after five o'clock, we'regiving away Hoody and the Blowfish tickets coming

(01:22:58):
up in just about ten minutes tosell celebrate a schedule release night. We're
gonna test your knowledge of NFL mascots. We'll do that coming up at five
thirty three on ESPN fifteen thirty CincinnatiSports Station. Cincinnati's get a victory against
uh I'm not a fifth consecutive victoryagainst Atlanta. They're looking for a fifth
consecutive victory period. Tonight's opponent isAtlanta. The game starts at seven thirty

(01:23:25):
pregame at seven o'clock. I havenot seen an updated weather forecast. When's
when's bourbon? Brandon Spinner gonna doanother forecast? Can we get them on
to talk bourbon with us? Iwould? I'm saying this, I have
never met Brandon Spinner in my life. If you like bourbon, I found
the It's a YouTube. It's likeWhiskey Weather because he's a weather man.

(01:23:48):
He likes whiskey I watched like fourof those videos this morning. Good stuff.
What'll be doing now to talk topeople on the phone, Randon Spinner
tell him he can send us acheck for the plug for his YouTube show
where he talks about Bourbon MATC.Go ahead, You're on ESPN fifteen thirty.

(01:24:09):
What's up? Hey? Well,I was just I agree with you.
The machine is going to continue onthe machine being the NFL. But
people will make personal decisions. Andyou mentioned it, but most of the
games are on local TV. Ifyou're a Bengals fan, and crazy fans
are gonna, you know, subscribeto whatever they need to subscribe to get

(01:24:30):
what they want. And you know, I went twenty years without ESPN,
but I still would see the Crosstownshoot out if I needed to, if
I going to a bar. Youpeople will do what they need to do
to see what they need to see. If they if they don't subscribe to
Netflix, they'll go to a bar, like you said, or something like
that. You know, I reallydon't think. I mean, what could

(01:24:51):
happen is something like like Big TimeBoxing, where you know, pay per
view kind of killed it, ornow you can't even see a boxing match
without pay per View and HBO andstuff like that. So there's a possibility
that it could happen today, butit's not going to happen in the NFL
anytime soon, No, And Ipeople will just keep plowing on. Yeah,
And I think what happens is it'llcome at the expense of other sports

(01:25:15):
that they don't necessarily love as much. Right, Like, I mean again,
if you want to follow, ifyou want to watch the Reds on
a daily basis, you've got tosubscribe to a service that carries Valley Sports,
Ohio. And maybe that'll change inthe coming years. I know people
who have said, look, Ican live without the baseball, I can't
live without soccer, which is beingstreamed on Peacock and other streaming services or

(01:25:40):
the NFL. And you're right,like local games are still going to be
carried on on over the year television. But folks still want to see those
big games, right, Folks stillwant to see the games that matter the
most. I think people are stillgoing to show out money, Like Christmas
is. Christmas is different because notmany bars are open. Some are.
I guess maybe more will open.I kind of hope not. I sort

(01:26:00):
of feel like should be closed onChristmas. Give people a chance to spend
it with their families. But thereare gonna be a lot of folks.
Now, Okay, at home,I can't do anything. I want to
see the Texans play the Ravens.I want to see the Chiefs and Steelers.
Those are games that probably will beof consequence. And the same people
who are complaining about it in Maywill pay to watch those games in December.

(01:26:21):
Yes they will. Matt, goodto hear from you. Just think
about it from a Kansas City perspective. Kansas City is going to have a
game on Black Friday. They're goingto have a game on Christmas. Right,
I mean, I completely and totallyunderstand it. We have a game

(01:26:41):
on Black Friday. They're gonna havea game on Christmas. They had a
game on Peacock in the playoffs lastyear. Like if the Bengals turn into
the Kansas City Chiefs and play insix straight AFC Championship games and win three
Super Bowls in five years, gamesare gonna be on every conceivable streaming service,

(01:27:02):
including some of the NFL doesn't yethave games on it's schedule. Release
night. We know who the Bengalsare gonna play, but do you know
the mascots of those teams? Wewere we were gonna give away Hoody and
the Blowfish tickets. We need acontestant. Five to one, three seven
four, nine, fifteen thirty uheight six six seven oh two three seven

(01:27:25):
seven six. We're gonna test yourknowledge of the mascots of Bengals twenty twenty
four opponents. That's right. Thiscould not be easier. I this might
be the easiest dumb trivia game we'veever done. Five one, three,
seven, four, nine, fifteenthirty. You can go see Hoody and
the Blowfish if you win. Oursilly NFL Mascot contest show is June seventh,

(01:27:47):
that Riverbane Music Center. Good luck, and hopefully we have a contest
to play next to ESPN fifteen thirtyCincinnati Sports Station. Alright, it's it's
time to give away Hoody and theBlowfish tickets. First, I'll tell you
the Reds will lose him two toone in the top of the ninth Inningy,
but Mike Ford's up. He isthe subject of one of the subjects

(01:28:08):
of our poll question on Twitter rightnow thanks to United Heartland Insurance. Now
the post on that one. We'llupdate you on that. By the way,
I'm my Netflix. The internet knowswhat you're talking about, so I
don't. I don't follow Netflix onsocial media, but I talked about Netflix

(01:28:30):
carrying the NFL and so that Iwent to Twitter during the previous break,
and there's in the for you columnNetflix where I guess they're gonna make Happy
Gilmore two. There is a zeropoint zero percent chance that's going to be
good. There's a one hundred percentchance I'm going to watch it, even
though Adam Sandler's still with us,the guy who played Shooter mcgalvin is still

(01:28:54):
with us, and Julie Bowen thankfullyis still with us. Everybody else not
with us. Zero points zero percentchance that movie's good, but I will
watch it. All right, it'stime to give away these hooting and the
Blowfish tickets, tarn Are you excited? Oh yeah, okay? At twenty
twenty four NFL schedule comes out tonight. We know who the Bengals are going

(01:29:15):
to play, We know where they'regoing to play, the teams they're going
to play. We don't know whenthose games are going to be now some
of them we do, like,we know they're going to play the Chiefs
there are reports out of New Yorkthat the Bengals are going to play in
primetime against the Giants in New Jerseyon Sunday night in October. But the
big reveal is tonight at eight o'clock. So what we're going to do is

(01:29:40):
test one person's knowledge of and theseare among teams the Bengals play, the
mascots of Bengals opponents. Dylan,are you excited to play this game?
Yes, sir, I am youa Hooty and the Blowfish fan. It's
kind of I'm mainly trying to getthe tickets from a dad. Okay,

(01:30:00):
I understand that is your dad betweenthe ages of forty two and forty eight.
Yes, actually sixty four, ohsixty four okay, Because if you
are a man between the ages offorty two and forty eight, it's mandatory
that you like Hoody and the Blowfish. You understand that, right, I
guess I do. Now, allright, very good? This is Are
you a big NFL fan? Yeah, I'm a big Bengals fan? Very

(01:30:24):
good? Are you excited for theupcoming season? Yes, I am.
Well, what we're gonna do,Dylan, is we're gonna ask you five
questions about NFL mascots, and ifyou get three of them correct, you're
gonna go see Hoody and the Blowfish. Are you excited? Yes? I
am, Dylan. As you know, the Bengals are scheduled to play the

(01:30:45):
Carolina Panthers in Charlotte. Well,thank you Taren for the music. The
name of the Panthers mascot is Igive you three choices, A sir per
b Pete the Panther or C Carolinacat Uh sir per a tarn Do we
have a yes, the the nameof the mascot of the Carolina Panthers is

(01:31:11):
sir per. Very good, Dylan, you are one for one. Go
Dylan. As you know, theBengals are gonna play the Steelers twice.
They have a mascot too. Ishis name a Isaac Iron be Steely mcbeam
or a sorry, let me dothat again. Let me let me read
that again. By the way,the Reds just lost the Steelers mascot.

(01:31:31):
Is it a Isaac iron be Steelymcbeam or see alleghany owl. Let's go
with McBean. Is it Steely mcbeam. Yes, it's Steely mcbeam. Thank
you very much. There you go. Steely mc kind of looks like Bill
Kawer Steely mcbheam, we are twofor two, Dylan, I am starting

(01:31:56):
to feel good about your chancells yourbutton, guy, I hate it it
when my button gets stuck. Allright, Dylan, here we go the
Dallas Cowboys. Bengals go to Dallasthis year. Doesn't look like it's gonna
be on Thanksgiving, but the Bengalsgo to Dallas this year to play the
Cowboys played him in Dallas two yearsago. A name of the Cowboys mascot
is uh A Billy B Kenny orc rowdy? Uh? Is it rowdy?

(01:32:24):
Tarren? See? Yes? Howabout that? Dylan? Here you
go. You and your dad havea blast at that Hooty and the Blowfish
concert. Okay, alrighty, thankyou sir. You're very welcome. Hang
tight, we'll get you what youneed to know, Darren. Do you
wanna do you wanna guess the othertwo questions that went unasked? Uh to
Dylan? Sure, the commander's mascotis a major Tuddy B, major hoggy

(01:32:47):
or B? What's not? Iscrewed this up? Is it a major
Tuddy B, major Hoggy or Cmajor Tom? Let's go Tuddy it's major
Tuddy. Correct. I'm here ringFreddy Coleman in my ears. By the
way. I love Freddy Coleman,but I don't want to hear in my
ears. Uh. The mascot ofthe Patriots Tarman Beangals playing Patriots this year

(01:33:10):
maskot of the Patriots is a patPatriot, B Paul Patriot or C Pete
Patriot? Pete? No, it'spat pat pat Patriot. Highly interesting.
The Reds. The Reds lost toone. You and I've been in here
doing a show. You've been producingthe show, but you have the greater
ability to watch the game while you'reproducing the show. Did you Were you

(01:33:34):
watching closely? Uh? No,I was trying to make sure my button
get dingy stuf. I understand whenyour bun gets stuck, it just ruins
everything. My question was, didElie de Lacruz pinch hit? He didn't
start. He did pinch it forLuke Manley. All right, So they
lose two to one another one runloss. That's one in ten now eighth

(01:33:54):
though, Yeah, I get it. Look Malely can't hit, So that's
fine. I mean, I don'tI don't blame him for doing that at
Uh? Correct me? If I'mwrong, there now one in is it
one in nine or one in ten? In one run games one team,
Yeah, it doesn't matter. Redsare now eighteen and twenty five. But
the good news is the schedule getsa lot easier as they head to Los

(01:34:15):
Angeles to play the Dodgers. We'llpreview tonight's FC Cincinnati tilt with Danny Higgobotham,
Who's going to call that match next. He Reds lost in spite of
Andrew Rabbit, who pitched very welltoday. Hopefully FC Cincinnati can win five
straight. They play Atlanta to nightDigging. Danny Higgobotham has the tilt tonight
for Apple TV MLS Season Pass.You called the Orange and Blue a lot

(01:34:38):
last year. They're starting to playlike they did last year. Compare the
two for me twenty twenty four fC Cincinnati in twenty twenty four f C
Cincinnati. I think it's just it'sa team that's evolving. I've been fortuned
this season. I think this willbe the third or fourth time I've covered
Cincinnati saw. I had them athome in the first game of the season,

(01:34:58):
had them at New England, andthen I did the reverse fixture the
Atlanta game, and you know,since and I have lost some key players
in the off season, you know, the likes of bad are the likes
of VADs Cans in particular going forward. And what then happens is when you
bring new players in, the newplayers have to with that to the players
that are at the team and obviouslythe identity of the team, but the

(01:35:20):
players that are currently already in thesquad have to adapt to the new players
as well. And I think that'swhat we've started to see slowly but surely,
and going back to obviously they've wonthe last four games, it became
more evident in the Atlanta game awayfrom home that they were starting to get
to know each other, starting tounderstand each other. And the one thing
which always stood out for me andI know Pat noon and quite well,

(01:35:42):
you know, considering a friend,it was something that you looked throughout the
start this season. Defensively has neverbeen a huge issue, and they weren't
doing bad in the league. Soall of a sudden, people are like,
well, they're not scoring goals,and I was like, well,
wait till they do start scoring those, then they have the potential to be
in my opinion, with the playsthat they've brought in, they have the

(01:36:02):
potential to be better than last season. I think the players that they've brought
in in very very good signings,very clever signings. Look at Oriano's starting
to find his feet. Now youlook at Buka starting to find his feet.
Yedlin obviously he's out of the moment, but he was a great signing.
Miles Robinson. All of a sudden, these new pieces that you're bringing

(01:36:23):
into the team, there's an argumentto say that that some of them are
better than what they had last season. And when that all gels is it's
starting to do now then, likeI say, I think, you know,
I think they can get to getto that next level. I don't
think there's any reason why they can't. I think they've got great manager,
they've got a great infrastructure, agreat set of leaders within the team,

(01:36:44):
some special individual talents that can createsomething from nothing. So if I was
an SEC Cincinnati fan, I thinkI'd be very very excited them on with
what's ahead. Yeah, no questionto mention Miles Robinson. He's worked really
well with Matt Mioska. Let's talkabout Lucho Wacosta in any sport, when
when you see heated greatness and yousee someone who just time and again comes
up big and huge moments, youkind of run, you kind of run

(01:37:06):
out of ways to describe them,to talk about them. So with a
player like Lucho Acosta from your perspective, when you're asked to talk about him,
where do you even begin cool It'sa very very difficult one and it's
constantly adapting. What I love abouta Costa is that he's he's been playing
with different players this season. We'veseen for a large majority of this you

(01:37:29):
know, first third of the season, if you want to call it,
that he's played with Bead as acenter forward Kubo, who we know isn't
a natural center forward, but it'sdone an unbelievable job. But a Costa
still keeps providing, he still keepsscoring. And I think one of the
things that stood out to me againstColumbus at the weekend, which I thought
was an incredible performance. I've veryrarely seen a Columbus team get dominated at

(01:37:54):
home. You know, that wasthat was their first defeat I think in
over a year at home in mthe last regular season. Is an incredible
performance. But I think what wesaw was Kelsey, who came off the
bench obviously scored, scored in thegame as well. There seems to be
that instant understanding with himself on aCosta, And I think from a Costa's
side of things, the reason it'sso easy to have that instant understanding of

(01:38:16):
a play like Kelsey is because hereminds me very much of Vasquez as in
terms of that focal point, thatphysical presence and all of a sudden,
Now where I think a lot oftimes this season a Costa is when he's
picked the ball up, he's beenfacing his own goal and he's had his
back towards the opposition goal. Nowthat they have the ability to go a
little bit longer if they want to. Now they have this player that can

(01:38:39):
link play, who's this physical focalpresence in Kelsey, all of a sudden,
A cost is now going to startpicking the ball up more when he's
faith in the opposition goal. AndI think that's going to take him onto
an even greater level. And Ijust I love everything about Costing And one
thing I would say is that isnot mentioned very much when you talk about
number ten his work ethic. Heis the first one to press, he's

(01:39:00):
the first one to set up itto off and then the rest of the
players will join in. So attimes, yes, we talk about how
good he is on the ball,but for me, off the ball,
the way that he starts that press, that collective press, you know,
that's that's such a bonus when youhave a number ten that's prepared to do
that. Janny Higginbosam has the matchtonight, FC Cincinnati hosting Atlanta United at

(01:39:21):
TQL seven point thirty on Apple TV, part of MLS Season Pass. You
know, you talked about some ofthe newcomers and one thing that has sort
of stood out to me since theseason started. Yedlin comes to Cincinnati and
then you're watch and it feels likehe's been here forever. Same with Kevin
Kelsey. How Like it's easy tosay, okay, well, they've they've
got such a great culture that playerscan assimilate themselves and fit right in,

(01:39:44):
but that it is a lot easiersaid than done. Right, it is,
but I think what you have todo then is give a lot of
credit to people behind the scenes,because it's okay signing a good player,
but you want to make sure thatyou sign a good play that adds to
the already wonderful dress room that you'vegot. And I think I would add
to that with Mile Robinson as well. You know Yed laying on and off

(01:40:06):
the pitch, he's been, He'sbeen magnificent for I's career. But when
you speak to anybody now that followsCincinnati, are associated with Cincinnati, the
first thing that they will say isthat he's great on the pitch, but
he's great off the pitch. AndI think when you have because obviously I
knew patter Noon from when he wasat Philadelphi Union, and Philadelphi Union was
all about the collective. It wasall about having a strong dressing room players

(01:40:30):
that were willing to work hard foreach other. It wasn't about the individual.
And he's brought those characteristics with himnow to see Cincinnati and what I
think the club has done very well. The majority of the time is brought
in players that are going to buyinto that collective. So therefore you're already
bringing plays in that you know aregood players, but you're bringing players that

(01:40:51):
you know are going to settle inquickly because they like that dressing room environment.
And then that makes life so mucheasier for everybody. And when you
have to see new professionals that you'vegot, when you have the experience that
you've got within within the team,enables new players that are coming into settling
a lot faster, one more becauseI know you've got to get to a
TQL stadium. Let's talk about theAtlanta club. They played tonight. Obviously

(01:41:14):
saw them a month ago, alittle bit less than a month ago.
This was a club that played reallywell throughout the month of March. Since
then, at least an MLS play, it's been the exact opposite. What's
changed? Oh, that's a goodquestion. I was. I was out
of the weekend and I covered themagainst DC United when they lost the game
three too. I think there's there'sa part of there's a part of the

(01:41:36):
team that I think is trying toevolve because when they're when they're at their
best, they are so pleased onthe either way that they dominate the ball,
the way that they can go forward, the way they create opportunities and
chances, and I think a lotof teams now been sitting back against them
and frustrating them. So I thinkAtlanta just trying to find their rhythm,
trying to find a way to actuallybe able to get the better of opposition

(01:41:59):
teams that back. But at timeswhen that happens, you can become too
desperate so you can dominate the ball, dominate the ball, you become very
expansive, and then you can getcaught out in the turnover possession, and
that's one of the things that's happenedwith Atlanta recently. I think the biggest
concern really for Atlanta at the momentis that you look at their away from
the roy PM hasn't been good fora long time, but their home form

(01:42:21):
has been sensational. They've lost theirlast three games at home. Now they
play their next two games, obviouslythis evening Cincinnati, then I think they
go to Nashville. It's two toughgames, and I don't think there's any
doubt when you look at this Atlantasquad, it's a squad that is that
it's got some very very good,talented players and they shouldn't be where they
are in the league. So withthat comes pressure. But what they have

(01:42:44):
to make sure with guns all upin age is that pressure doesn't turn to
desperation. And I think at timesat the weekend against DC United, they
became desperate and that's what they can'tafford to do at the moment because they're
having this little bit of a run. I think that a lot of the
players aren't used to because they usedto win in or they used to win
in a lot at home. Sotherefore you don't go six seven, eight

(01:43:06):
games about winning the game. Soit's new to a lot of the players.
So it's accepting that and then thinkingabout, Okay, how can we
get out of that? And therearen't many more difficult places to go the
f season tonight to try and turnthat around. So it's going to be
a very very tough game for Atlantathis eason. You've got to get to
work. I cannot thank you enoughfor your time. Have a great call
tonight, Enjoy the game. Shouldbe fun. Hopefully we can do it

(01:43:28):
again as the season unravels. Man, Thanks so much. Danny Hickabotham calling
the match to night for Apple TV. We have the game on ESPN fifteen
thirty tonight. Pregame is just aboutan hour away and the game will start
at seven point thirty. So whatyou could do is just go back and
forth because you got the soccer tilttonight. FC Cincinnati is playing well.

(01:43:49):
And meanwhile you could also check outme and Austin and Tony and Lance McAllister.
We're going to be broadcasting. Theshow was supposed to start at seven
o'clock. The Reds game was veryvery quick today, So I'm gonna leave
here and then like jump right onthe air with Lance and TONI. It's
the schedule release Spectacular. Join usthe night bad Tom Smith Brewing. It's

(01:44:11):
gonna be a lot of fun.We hope to see you there. Have
a great night. Talk to youtomorrow at three oh five on ESPN fifteen
thirty Cincinnati Sportstation. This is fifteenthirty w c cab A Natty, the
fifty thousand Orange and Black home ofthe Cincinnati called Cincinnati's es. Blent fifteen

(01:44:32):
thirty Sports. I'm Christine leci Astro'spitcher Ronald Blanco suspended ten games by Major
League Baseball for having a foreign substanceon his glove last night. He denied
using an illegal substance. He willnot appeal, so the suspension starts tonight
on the brink of elimination in thesecond round NBA Playoff series against the Celtics.

(01:44:55):
Looks like the Cavaliers will be withoutthe injured Donovan Mitchell and Jared Allen
for Game five tonight, neither expectedto play. Tnt NBA analyst Greg Anthony
about Mitchell and Allen, we stilldon't know. That's more likely he does
not play. Find it hard tofind a scenario or formula where they're going
to have a chance to extend thisvery But hey, listen, that's why

(01:45:17):
we play the game, right,and you just never know. Greg Anthony
on Carlin versus Joe thunder Mavericks.Game five tonight, nine Eastern ESPN Radio
series is two to two second roundStanley Cup Playoffs. Injured Stars winger Rokay
Hints won't play in the potential clincheragainst the Avalanche night Game five, eight
Eastern ESPN. Netflix announced it willair two games on Christmas Day this season,

(01:45:40):
Sealers Chiefs and Ravens Texans. TheESPN Radio is presented by Progressive Insurance.
At Progressive, they're making things eveneasier. They'll help you bundle your
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