5/28/25 - The Mo Egger Radio Show - Mo Egger

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 2 (00:03):
All right, that's us. What's up today afternoon on moegar.
This is ESPN fifteen thirty. Thank you for joining us.
Hopefully you're having like the greatest Wednesday afternoon ever. It
is nice to be back in our studio after yesterday's
show from Indianapolis. Show rundowns available on Twitter as we

(00:25):
speak at moegar. Thanks to our friends at Emory Federal
Credit Union, your credit union with heart since nineteen thirty nine.

Speaker 3 (00:35):
Go to Emery FCU dot org.

Speaker 2 (00:38):
By the way, August eighteenth, Emery Federal Credit Union golf outing.
Who wants to finish second to my force? Get info
and sign up now register EMORYFCU dot org. In thirty minutes,
Devin KERR MLS Season Pass AppleTV is gonna join us.
FC Cincinnati is hosting Dallas and the return of lou

(01:00):
Choe Acosta tonight. And as is the case, whenever a
player who used to be here or a coach who
used to be here who left under a cloud of
controversy comes back, the question becomes to boo or not
to boo. Maybe that'll be one of our poll questions.
We'll discuss Luca's return and the game tonightf CE Cincinnati

(01:21):
coming off a disappointing performance, although they did have twenty
eight shots on Sunday night.

Speaker 3 (01:26):
Devin's going to join us in just about thirty minutes.

Speaker 2 (01:29):
I have a bit of a slogan for the Reds,
a bit of a slogan for the Reds for at
least the next two months. And I can't speak for you.
I can only speak for me why I'm team Schamar
in the standoff, if you want to call it a
standoff between the Bengals and their twenty twenty five first

(01:52):
round draft choice, The Reds tonight go for a sweep.
So I get accused sometimes and sometimes very fairly soh
of putting a little bit too much stock into individual
baseball games. Reds win last night Ellie de la Cruz
with eight hundred and eighty seven feet worth of homers,
a very good start for Brady Singer, a second consecutive

(02:15):
game with a home run off the bat of Tyler
Stevenson and the Reds. I don't know if they're back.
I don't know if winning two straight games means they're back.
Be give them credit. They've bounced back. From the disappointment,
the resounding disappointment that was the Cub Series with back
to back wins against a good team or a decent
team on the road, and now tonight they give the

(02:37):
ball to Hunter Green. We all know what's happening this weekend.
So if you got annoyed with many of us calling
this past weekend's Red's Cub Series big, you're gonna get
more annoyed when we call this weekend's Red's Cub Series
big because they failed to gain ground in the Cubs
this past weekend head to head, So why don't they
maybe at least make up the ground they lost last

(02:58):
weekend this weekend? How about going to Chicago with a
little measure of momentum because you swept the Kansas City Royals.
No better person to give the baseball too than Hunter Green.
Hunter greens start on Friday was kind of weird because
the first three innings, man, he was awesome, and then

(03:19):
he gave up the home run in the fourth on
Friday against the Cubs and you could just tell he
was wheezing toward the finish line. He hadn't pitched in
a week and a half, and so, all right, more
than a week and a half, more than two weeks actually,
and so okay, he's not long for this game than
the bullpen did what, unfortunately the bullpen did. So what
you would hope is at the very least Friday's game

(03:40):
against the Cubs is the one that he used to
sort of get his legs underneath him, so to speak,
and get back in the swing of things, perhaps so
to speak, and be ready to go and give the
Reds a really good start tonight. You know, we talked
yesterday about the idea of the Reds being sellers at
the deadline, buyers the deadline.

Speaker 3 (04:01):
The deadline is two months away.

Speaker 2 (04:04):
There's something that I think this team needs to achieve
over the course of the next couple of months. We
are going to get to that. We spent a lot
of time, and I'm not guilty of it. It's the
fun part of being a baseball fan. We spent a
lot of time talking about the fringes of the roster
and who should be the fifth halfielder, and whether whether

(04:24):
or not the red should have.

Speaker 3 (04:25):
Jacob Herdubees or rhes Hines or Blake Donn.

Speaker 2 (04:32):
I separate Will Benson from that conversation because I'm a
Will Benson guy, or the merits of adding Garrett Hampson,
or the merits of keeping a third catcher, or which
of the last relievers should be sent to Louisville if
they're compelled to make a roster move. Look, man, at

(04:53):
some point, your stars got to play like stars. I
know this is not the first time I have talked
about this, and I know some when they hear this
think were calling players out. Ellie Dela Cruz is supposed
to be one of this team stars. The Cincinnati Reds,
with a whole lot of unprovens, with a whole lot
of question marks, with a decent amount of holes, need

(05:15):
their best players to be their best players, need their
best players to be among the best players in the sport.
Ellie Dela Cruz has been terrific recently, and I'm not
solely talking about last night, but recently at the plate,
he has looked really good his last five games and
ops over twelve hundred. The two homers last night vintage

(05:36):
Ellie Dela Cruz moonshots. Tyler Stevenson has started to hit
an ops of eight to fifty one over his last
nine games. Matt McClain's kind of a different story. But
Elie Dela Cruz and Tyler Stevenson were to me two guys.
If we were to list the most likely Reads players
to be National League All Stars, those guys were close
to the top of the list. In Ellie's case, probably

(05:57):
the very top. At some point. Your star has got
to play like stars, man, And you can say that
across sports, you know, like we can discuss, you know
how Al Golden is gonna make some of the pieces
on defense gonna work. The number one reason why the
Bengals will make the playoffs last next this coming season,
which I can't say, is gonna be the play of

(06:18):
Joe Burrow. Joe Burrow has to play like a star.
If not, none of this other stuff matters. None of
it matters. They're not championship contenders. Your star's gotta play
like stars. I watched a star play like one last night.
Tyrese Halibert put up a triple double without turning the
ball over despite the fact that he handles it all
the time and plays at a fast paced on a
fast paced team, and in a huge playoff game coming

(06:41):
off a loss, Indiana Star played like a star. The
Red Stars got to start playing like stars, and maybe
that has begun, perhaps it can continue with a Hunter
Green tonight and not calling players out like the Reds
aren't gonna win the National League Central Well because Garrett
Hampson got them there. And yeah, you do need depth,

(07:04):
and you do need to win in the margins, and
you do need twenty six guys who fill certain roles.
And it is absolutely worth discussing whether or not the
Reds should have ever carried three catchers, how much longer
that experiment should go, what they should do at the
roster when some other guys come back. But the dudes
who are supposed to be their best players should start
like playing, should start playing like them? Huh, should start

(07:27):
playing like their best players. Suddenly I have lost the
ability to speak. I need to start speaking like somebody
who speaks for a living. So hopefully that's happened. That,
to me is the big takeaway. And I put a
lot on Hunter Green starts. I put a lot on
I put a lot on these games over the course
of the next fifty or so because the Reds need

(07:48):
to achieve some degree of clarity as July thirty first
gets closer. If you don't want to read anymore, about
how they should sell or why they should sell. If
you don't want to even entertain and those discussions, well,
then we need this team to win a lot of
games in a short amount of time. These last two
days in Kansas City have been a good start. Hopefully

(08:10):
it continues tonight. I went to Indianapolis yesterday and went
to Game four Nicks Pacers, and Indianapolis was awesome. The
venue is that is I think it's of the ones
that I have been to. I think it's my second
favorite NBA arena behind Milwaukee Gamebridge Fieldhouse formerly Banker's Life

(08:35):
Arena formerly Conseko.

Speaker 3 (08:40):
Is an awesome place.

Speaker 2 (08:41):
It's a great place for a concert, it's a great
place for basketball. It was awesome for Game four of
the Eastern Conference Finals last night. And every time I go,
which isn't often, but every time I go to an
NBA playoff game, which you know, I go when the
Pacers are in it, and I go when they play
the Knicks and I can go, So that doesn't happen

(09:03):
all that often. But of the handful of times I've
had a chance to go, I did go see him
play the Heat one year in the playoffs, or if
the Jackets are in the playoffs in Columbus in the NHL,
and I try to get up to a game.

Speaker 3 (09:17):
Every time I go to one of those games.

Speaker 2 (09:20):
I walk away wishing that we had a franchise, a
major professional sports franchise that could compete in the playoffs
in the spring. There's just something different about it. The
scene and the vibe last night were awesome. I've had
maybe a half a dozen or so people ask me, well,

(09:42):
how are the fans last night? The ones that I
encountered were fine. I don't know what the big deal is. Look,
most of us are adults. I'm an adult. People I
sat in here were adults. We can live with somebody
else rooting for the other team. I did mention this.
There was some consternation over the shirt though, So if

(10:04):
you watch the game last night, most of the fans
were wearing a yellow shirt that they put on every
person's seat. They're need shirts, and to me, for what
you're paying for NBA playoff tickets, it's nice that they
kick in a twenty dollars t shirt. I did not
wear it because I'm not a Pacers fan.

Speaker 3 (10:21):
But I did. I decided to keep it.

Speaker 2 (10:25):
I kept it because you know, there's like one Pacers
fan in my life that I thought might like it.
Or my nephew is a big NBA fan. He doesn't
really have a favorite team. He roots for players, but
I thought he might like it. Or I don't know.
It could be one of the T shirts I wear
to the beach that I don't bring back, which I

(10:46):
do every year. Pack a bag full of shirts that
I'm not going to bring back makes for light packing
on the way back. I don't know, but nobody came
up to me last night to say, hey, sir, if
if you're not gonna wear that, do you mind if
I take it?

Speaker 3 (11:03):
Or hey, if you don't want that.

Speaker 2 (11:05):
T shirt, can I give you a couple bucks for it,
or any chance you'd be willing to part with the
T shirt? Nobody did that. I got a whole lot
of give me that shirt. Okay, that's kind of coming
in hot, bro, you're not gonna wear that given to
me from somebody already holding a shirt that they got

(11:27):
because they attended the game. I don't know that this
is exclusive to the Indiana Pacers fan base, which for
the most part, is enthusiastic and friendly and very knowledgeable
and look, the Pacers are gonna win this series, and
I hope they win the NBA title. I want Obi
tap And to win a title. I think it's cool
that a team that's close to here is good every year.

(11:49):
I wish that they wouldn't have been the Buzzsaw. They
have been offensively in this series for my neicks, but
I don't hate the Pacers.

Speaker 3 (11:57):
So they're gonna win this series.

Speaker 2 (11:59):
My guess is it ghost and if they do, I
hope they beat Okayse, who I think wraps up the
West tonight. But just as a life lesson, if somebody
has a T shirt that you want, maybe try a
method other than shaming them into giving it to you,
or bullying them into giving it to you, or demanding

(12:20):
they give it to you.

Speaker 3 (12:23):
Perhaps try a gentle approach.

Speaker 2 (12:25):
So I think I'm gonna put the shirt on eBay
because I've I've gotten some requests on social media.

Speaker 3 (12:30):
Nobody's really offered anything. People try to make a buck
off that shirt. We'll see anyway.

Speaker 2 (12:36):
If you're a Pacer saying congrats, your team's awesome to
watch legitimately, Like I said this before to Tony and
Austin before people lost their mind. When Kevin Durant went
to the Golden State Warriors and everybody could agree, like, man,
this team is awesome to watch.

Speaker 3 (12:52):
They were must watch TV.

Speaker 2 (12:54):
I knew non NBA fans who would watch the Warriors
because of how they passed the ball, how they shared it,
the way they play at offense, the shooting capability. In
many respects, I felt like that's how the game should
be played, and when it's played that way, it's really
fun to watch. The Pacers aren't quite that, but there

(13:14):
are reasonable facsimile and really fun to watch.

Speaker 3 (13:17):
Offensively.

Speaker 2 (13:18):
For all the criticisms of the modern NBA, many of
which are really valid, not so much that there are
too many threes being shot, but that offenses are all
pretty much the same, resulting in bad three point shots,
the Pacers take a lot of threes, but they run,
they space well, they share the ball.

Speaker 3 (13:38):
They have guys who move without the ball.

Speaker 2 (13:39):
They set screens, they can throw it into the post,
make you double that guy if so, They can punish
you from outside. They can execute better in the half
court I think than the metrics would indicate. And they
are awesome when the game is up and down, which
it was for most of the night last night. That
is a really fun team to watch, and so sometimes
you tip your cabin go. You know what, other teams

(14:01):
just better And for the one hundred and ninety seven
minutes those two teams have played, the Pacers have been
better for approximately one hundred and sixty of them.

Speaker 3 (14:10):
But you're not getting my T shirt.

Speaker 2 (14:12):
Five point three seven four nine fifteen thirty is our
phone number and eight six six seven oh two three
seven seven six at maleger on Twitter. Thanks to uh
not to uh to Delta Dental. Delta Dental is building healthy, smart,
vibrant communities for all. Good to Delta dentaloh dot com.
Devin Kurt MLS season pass on Lucho Acosta's return to

(14:32):
UH the West End of Cincinnati tonight coming up in
just about fifteen minutes. It's being asked often on social media,
who should bat second? Why don't the Reds have a
two hole hitter? A very simple answer to that question
next on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 4 (14:50):
Cincinnati's ESPN Natty make us the number one pre set
on your car radio and on the free new and
improved iHeartRadio ad Free never sounded so good.

Speaker 5 (14:59):
ESPN fifteen.

Speaker 2 (15:01):
You know, I've gotten like stadium giveaways before, and I
don't like carrying stuff around. And I've had folks come
to me and go, any chance I could buy that
off you? And the answer is no, here, go ahead
and take it, man. But you asked nicely give me
that shirt, bro. I would I would hope that that's

(15:25):
not how you go about things in real life when
you need stuff. Twenty four minutes after three o'clock, This
is ESPN fifteen thirty on oegor thank you for listening.
One other thing I neglected to mention later on in
the show, Solomon Wilcoss is going to join us. Coming
up at four h five, we'll get his thoughts on
the state of the Bengals post draft, post first few

(15:46):
waves of free agency, and heading into the real downtime
on the NFL calendar. Here in just a few weeks plus,
you're gonna hear a former agent on what the Bengals
are doing with Shamar Stewart and I don't know about you,
but I'm team Schamar in this one that coming up
in just a bit yesterday's show, if you missed it,

(16:08):
we did have, in addition to just the regular stuff
that I do. Paul Danner Junior joined us. James Rapine
joined us both on the Bengals. Jordan Bishell, the UC
baseball coach who's always really fun to talk to, he
joined us to preview the Bearcats trip to the NCAA
Tournament on Friday. And same for Brian Smiley, the Miami

(16:29):
University baseball coach. He joined us as well. The RedHawks
in the same regional as you see. Coach Smiley in
his second season, just like Jordan Bischell Wednesday MAC regular
season and conference tournament championship, and the RedHawks have the
tough task of playing Tennessee anyway. Coach Smiley, I just
called him Coach Smiley, like he's my coach. He joined

(16:51):
us as well. All of that stuff and so much
more available for free, by the way, on the iHeartRadio
app or my page at ESPN fifteenth podcasts of this
show or a service of Long Necks Sports Grill, so
a fair amount of discussion and good discussion online about

(17:11):
the Reds and the lack of productivity they're getting from
the number two spot in the batting order, which is
for some metrics, the worst in baseball, the worst in
baseball in the two hole. They've tried Matt McClain, Santiago
Espinal has gotten a lot of run recently in the
two hole. No matter who they tried, it has not worked.
This is, by the way, a very good piece today

(17:33):
Redreporter dot Com about this particular.

Speaker 3 (17:36):
Issue, and if you read that, you're going to see
something similar to what I'm about to talk about here,
which is the Reds two hole issue is to me
not so much a Terry Francona problem. It's not Terry
Francona miscasting certain players in the two spot. It's a
roster construction issue. The Reds don't have a two hole hitter.

Speaker 2 (18:01):
I think you could argue they don't have a three
hole hitter, like they are still not to the point
that I think, when you look at the roster is
currently constructed, that it's very easy to identify who should
hit where. I'm the first to admit that I de emphasize,

(18:25):
maybe more than some fans, the significance of batting order.
I've said this on this show for going on fifteen
years that to me, a batting order is like eating
at a buffet. If and I don't eat a buffet,
nothing is grosser to me than eating at a buffet.
But if you go to a buffet, you know it
doesn't matter. It's a bad buffet. It doesn't matter if

(18:48):
you eat the dessert first and the salad second, and
the entry third, entree third, or the entree first then
the salad, it doesn't matter. It's a bad meal. I
don't think the Reds have a bad team per se.
They're not a bad meal. But it's really hard to
define where most of these guys should be batting. And

(19:09):
if you agree, as many do, that the true, the
true best hitter on your team should be batting not third,
but second, I'm still not sure. You look at Elie
de la Cruz, who I think most would agree is
their best hitter, and see true number two hole guy.
In the absence of that, then who is it? When

(19:30):
I think of the better Reds teams, or at least
the better Reds offensive teams of my lifetime, I think
for the most part, it's been pretty easy to identify
who should hit where. In fact, we used to joke
about this in twenty twelve when the Reds won ninety
seven games and had a really good team. Now they
were a little deficient at the top of the order,
which is why the next year they went and got

(19:52):
Shinsu Chew. But like there was a significant amount of
hand ringing over the production they were getting at times
from like the seventh and eighth spots. And that's great.
Those are first world problems. If the biggest issue is
we're not getting a lot of production out of the
seventh or eighth spot, Now that's back when the picture bated.

Speaker 3 (20:10):
It's a little bit different. Now, then life is pretty.

Speaker 2 (20:13):
Good because you kind of knew what the top half
of the batting order should look like. Now, I always
argued that Joey Vado should hit higher than third, But
that's I think a little bit more of a philosophical question.
And that's neither here nor there, because well, it was
thirteen years ago when the season started. They thought Matt
McClain's going to be a tool hole hitter. That was

(20:35):
the plan, right or wrong. I think most of us
were on board with it. I certainly was that failed.
Matt McClain so far this year has had a disastrous season.
He's been moved down to ninth in the batting order.
Some have wondered if he should be demoted he was
supposed to be the two hole guy, but he was unproven.

(20:56):
It wasn't like Matt McClain had an extensive resume being
a great too hole hit hitter or a great hitter
anywhere eighty nine games two years ago. Well, in the
absence of that, whoever the two hole hitter was going
to be was probably not going to be as good
as what you imagined Matt McClain was going to be.
This is not to me so much a Terry Francona issue.

(21:16):
It's number one, a Matt McClain issue. Number two, a
roster construction issue, because who do you look at and
go that guy should be batting second. When that changes,
it's going to be a lot easier for Tito to
make out the lineup. U five point three seven, four nine,
fifteen thirty is our phone number. Phone calls coming up

(21:38):
a little bit later on, Solomon Willcott's in the four
o'clock hour.

Speaker 3 (21:41):
We've got some Bengal stuff we got to get to.

Speaker 2 (21:43):
Uh. We'll discuss Luco Acosta's return in terms of fan
reaction later on, But the game itself tonight, I think
is a pretty big one for FC Cincinnati. Devin Kerr
has the call MLS Season pass Apple TV.

Speaker 3 (21:54):
He joins us next on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 1 (21:58):
Station Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty Traffic.

Speaker 6 (22:03):
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(22:24):
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Speaker 5 (22:33):
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Speaker 3 (22:39):
Station FC Cincinnati.

Speaker 2 (22:42):
A very quick turnaround, second of three games in seven days,
coming off a very frustrating loss on Sunday Night against Atlanta.
The Orange and Blue hosting Dallas an old friend Lujo
Acosta twenty twenty three MLS MVP the match available Apple
TV MLA Season pass uh from the West End of Cincinnati,

(23:03):
Devin Kerr, match analyst MLS Season Pass on Apple TV,
on the call and kind enough to give us a
few minutes this afternoon.

Speaker 3 (23:10):
Devin, It's good to have you. Good afternoon. How are you.

Speaker 7 (23:13):
I'm doing well.

Speaker 8 (23:13):
Appreciate you having me back, and also appreciate this spectacular
weather that you brought to town. In my honor, it
means a lot.

Speaker 3 (23:21):
You know.

Speaker 2 (23:21):
We we uh, we do what we can to kind
of replicate the European soccer feel here. So we have
this you know, dark hazy cloud of myss that just
isn't gonna go away bang up.

Speaker 8 (23:31):
Yeah, you know, I lived down in Florida and it
was Uh, I was a little bit worried that I
was going to have to experience hurricane season early. And
while the winds certainly aren't replicated here, the moisture makes
me feel right at home.

Speaker 7 (23:42):
Muchos Gassia.

Speaker 2 (23:43):
Yeah, nice fall day here in late May. This is
gonna be a really interesting game tonight, if for no
other reason, and we can get to the tactics and
the matchup itself, but you get the return of Lucho Acosta.

Speaker 8 (23:54):
Yeah, you know, it's uh, it's always a fun one
when someone gets to play against their former team. There
were we'll say parameters at play putting it play like
that led to the departure of Lucco, and I'm sure
that the fan base behind that both poly negatively. Yeah,
I was talking about it, okay, he said, and I

(24:15):
thought it was very well spoken. He said, Listen, if
people want to praise him and clap their hands and
give him hugs, I totally get the MVP. The player field,
former captain, one of the best regular seasons we've ever seen,
but also a bit untidy in the way that he
left the city and that's going to leave his thing.
So if people bow him as well, I can totally
understand it. There's an emotional side for the players, not

(24:40):
just the fans, and so the players not because of
the return, because this Dallas team is struggling. They're trying
to find a form of what they want their game
model to be. Like, They've battled a ton of injury,
he's killoparts, suspension, We've seen a ton of ideas from them,

(25:01):
but it hasn't really replicated into any consistent results yet.
They are so one of the best road teams, so
the momentum there albeit.

Speaker 5 (25:10):
A lot of times.

Speaker 3 (25:11):
All right, So here's why I'm cheering tonight. Number one.
I think the body of work greater than how it ended.
Number two.

Speaker 2 (25:18):
It's not like they've missed him much. To me, if
you're happy with who you have, you're not so hurt
about the X and Evander and Kevin Denke in this
team this year. What happened on Sunday night, notwithstanding, has
made me not think all that much about Lujo Acosta.

Speaker 8 (25:33):
I blame you for that. I would actually add two
other names in.

Speaker 7 (25:38):
The way.

Speaker 8 (25:38):
They've given a bit more freedom, mostly out of necessity to.

Speaker 3 (25:43):
I'll tell you what with in the midfield.

Speaker 2 (25:46):
Say that again, because you kind of broke up on
me there when I when I asked that question.

Speaker 8 (25:50):
Yeah, Bud, sorry about that. I said that, you know,
I would. I would agree with you. I would also
had two more names, to be fair, certainly out of necessity,
have a within the midfield given a little bit more freedom,
especially since the return of Wolbodo and getting him into
advanced positions some of his late line runs, combination play
and the continued development of Dotto. I think Doto Valezuela

(26:13):
has done very well for himself and the opportunities given.
So you're spot on with Daca and Evander. But the
depth that this team has I said earlier going into
the Chicago game this year, to me, this is the
deepest of Ceasincinnati has ever been. And I know people
look at that idea of running away from teams, myself included,

(26:34):
but their ability to manage games, to always be the
dominant factor, homer away and to just win when necessary
was the main message by Pat Noon and instilled in
this team in twenty twenty two and has taken the
biggest stride since he's been here. Tactics or not, just
the ability to compete and find.

Speaker 7 (26:54):
A way to win.

Speaker 8 (26:55):
They've got the most one goal game win since twenty
twenty two. That speaks to character of the group, and
it's only gotten better as they've added new faces, as
they've added new tactics, and to me, the long term
ability of what the frontline could be the ceiling is
higher than when Luco was here. That's not a knock
on the player. There's just more emphasis on Luco in

(27:16):
that individualized situation. This is more about groupings going forward
and how do you create the most consistency within those pairings.

Speaker 2 (27:23):
It was a frustrating loss on Sunday, and then you
add on top of it the Nick Haglin situation, and
we'll talk about his absence to the team tonight here
in a second. But on one hand, I was kind
of encouraged by the attack. And We've talked about this
all year long, and I've asked a lot of your colleagues.
FC Cincinnati has won a lot of matches, They've won
a lot of low goal matches. They need more offense,

(27:46):
I thought, And you could tell me if I'm out
of my mind. On Sunday night, we saw some steps
in the right direction on a night where they had
twenty eight shots.

Speaker 8 (27:54):
At agree with you, you know it's I'm very much.
I try to be a glass half person. If you
look at the opening, I'll say fourteen minutes up until
the I mean the foul occurred in the ninth minute,
to be fair, but you know it took the Atlanta
could not touch the ball. And I would then say

(28:17):
that there's the two goals that are all due respect
to Atlanta, they're mistakes by Cincinnati. They weren't broken down.
They did it to themselves. I think Pat Neunon would
probably also admit that as well, and then the character
thing comes back. They were the better team in the
second half and they created a ton. So in moments
like that where you lose another very important piece, you

(28:39):
lose a game, I get it. It's annoying, but you're
still right there atop the Eastern Conference. You mentioned it
me coming on like that. They're battling this congestion right now.
Of three games in seven days. The only thing I'm
taken away out of that is, hey, guys, we made mistakes.
We didn't get beat and let's just not make those
mistakes again. They didn't get run off the field. This
is still one of the best teams in MLS, and
I'm thinking and positively and looking forward, including all of

(29:03):
the creation that you got on the attacking side.

Speaker 3 (29:05):
The Nick Haglin situation was scary.

Speaker 2 (29:07):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (29:08):
By all accounts.

Speaker 2 (29:09):
His recuperation is going well from a soccer perspective. You know,
if I hate to say this, if there's a guy
they have figured out a way to deal without playing,
it's Nick Haglin, just because of the injury history.

Speaker 3 (29:20):
But how do they account for his absence?

Speaker 8 (29:23):
I mean, he's been playing. It feels so bad for
Nick just coming back and he worked. He's everybody knows
he's a tremendous worker. And now what is going to
be too extended layoffs and adaptability for this team because
of the depth that I referenced earlier. You know, early
on this season, you guys will remember this that like
the depth was so low because teenage w act, because

(29:45):
Nick was returning, because Matt was out. It wasn't back
they dropped into a four because they have the depth
to be able to sustain game in game out with
a three back system, have the ability to do that now,
so go to see more rotation. But Miles and still
has the ability to get coverage today is getting healthy,

(30:07):
find that you can rotate Alvis Palin when necessary. You've
got to go be able to Flores that can give
you plenty of minutes as well. And the drop off
isn't what we saw in years of yore. I'm not
overly worried about when you look at Okay haggling Miles
and Matt. Yeah, that's that's the preferred pairing. But there
are good things to come out of it. There are
there's tactical flexibility that can come out of it as well.

(30:29):
And you know on a night like tonight, for instance,
And I'm just throwing a name out there to guess
if if Pat Noonan says, hey, I want to I
want to rotate here, and we're putting a little bit
more empathis weekend they can play alvissluso to tast and
also when it gets a little bit lazy defensively, you

(30:51):
can get in behind.

Speaker 5 (30:53):
That's just one isolate.

Speaker 3 (31:00):
Devin, I lost you. I kind of lost you there
toward the end.

Speaker 2 (31:03):
Nonetheless, I appreciate you joining us, enjoyed the nice crisp
autumn weather.

Speaker 3 (31:07):
Have a great call tonight. We'll do it again soon. Man,
thanks so much.

Speaker 8 (31:11):
Appreciate your apologies to the WiFi.

Speaker 3 (31:12):
Thank you.

Speaker 2 (31:13):
Such all good happens happens to the best of us.
Devin kurr MLS season pass. Apple TV has the game
tonight from the soccer venue on the West end of Cincinnati.

Speaker 3 (31:23):
Lucho Acosta makes his return.

Speaker 2 (31:25):
The game can be seen on Apple TV, and of course,
of course you can listen to it on ESPN and
fifteen thirty. There is nothing in this job. This is
an easy job. This has no hazards. Nobody here is
working all that hard. I sit here in a room
and talk into all microphone about things I enjoy. But

(31:46):
if there's one thing that causes me anxiety, it's when
we we get a guest on with a shaky phone
connection and just trying to find that sweet spot between
can I let this go or should we interrupt it.
I'm not sure I did the right thing there, But nonetheless,
there was Devin Kerr, and you heard about sixty five
percent of that conversation. It sounded like he was calling
us from Neptune. It is fourteen away from four o'clock.

(32:12):
By the way, like what I said there about Lucho Acosta,
and I will put this as a poll question here
in just a minute. I made to each their own
type person, don't tell other people how to behave If
you want to go to the game tonight in Boo
Lucho Acosta, by all means go in Boo Lucho Acosta.
I am not going to be there tonight. I wanted

(32:34):
to go to tonight's game, but sometimes they have to
make choices, and I chose to go to Indie last night,
and I don't want to divorce tonight, so I'm staying
and watching from home. I would not boo Lucho Acosta
for two reasons. One, the body of work. I think
the body of work is too good to allow the
messy Goodbye to overshadow it. I would applaud the body

(32:56):
of work. Also, how many times, if you're an FC
Cincinnati fan this season, have you thought that much about
Luco Acosta.

Speaker 3 (33:06):
I haven't.

Speaker 5 (33:08):
Now.

Speaker 2 (33:08):
It's not that they couldn't use a player of his caliber,
and we've talked a lot about them needing to score
more goals. But I'm pretty happy with the team they have.
And if you're happy with who you're with, you're not
really losing your mind about your X. Lucho Acosta is
FC Cincinnati's X. It is thirteen away from four o'clock.

(33:30):
Solomon Willcott's coming up in just about twenty minutes. Grab
a phone call or two, and you'll hear a former
NFL agent explain what the Bengals are doing with Shamar
Stewart in terms that I can finally understand that coming
up in a bit, plus, we have to talk a
little bit about the Ring of Honor on ESPN fifteen
thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 9 (33:51):
Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 6 (33:55):
Traffic from the UC Health Traffic Center at Uce healthy
old Fi comprehensive care. That's so personal it makes your
best tomorrow possible. That's boundless care for better outcomes. Expect more.
And you see health dot com northbound seventy one approaching
Stuart Road. It's an accident off onto the right shoulder.
Traffic moving slow from Norwood Lateral. Another accident on Bridgetown Road.

(34:19):
That is at dog Trot Road, and some slow traffic
northbound seventy five between Mitchell and Town. I'm at ezelic
with traffic.

Speaker 3 (34:27):
Where's Jennifer Lee Allen? Jennifer Ketchmark isn't doing our weather.

Speaker 2 (34:35):
I'm not interested. But now, Jennifer, you can just take
your head outside. Look it's cloudy out.

Speaker 3 (34:42):
Well, we can't go. We have no windows. This is true, Taren.

Speaker 2 (34:46):
If you think we have no windows, you should check
out that place I did the show from yesterday. Not
only are there no windows when you go outside, there's
nothing to look at that iHeart in Indianapolis very hospitable.
You talk about a radio station secluded those folks, those folks,
but they were very hospitable yesterday.

Speaker 3 (35:08):
We should take a phone call. It's a call in show, right, Yes,
hopefully our callers phone works a little bit better. Let's
hope are.

Speaker 2 (35:15):
The folks who have called the show today have a
better connection than Devin Kerr. Devin Kerr who works for
Apple TV. Hopefully his Apple phone wasn't the culprit there.

Speaker 3 (35:25):
Maybe it was us. I have no idea. It wouldn't
be the first time. PJ Street, what's up? You're on
ESPN fifteen thirty. What's up?

Speaker 5 (35:32):
Man?

Speaker 3 (35:32):
How are you?

Speaker 5 (35:33):
No?

Speaker 7 (35:34):
What's going on?

Speaker 5 (35:34):
How are you?

Speaker 3 (35:35):
I'm well, man.

Speaker 10 (35:37):
So I just wanted to chime in because I know
you and I and maybe one hundred other people in
the city or NBA fans. And I sent a message
you on AX a few weeks ago, and I said,
I'm looking forward to an old school seven game dog

(35:58):
fight between the Pager the Knicks. It doesn't look like
it's gonna happen.

Speaker 11 (36:05):
I don't.

Speaker 12 (36:06):
I don't like so I was hoping for it.

Speaker 10 (36:10):
But but what I really wanted to say was I've
been to Game Bridge, I believe, I believe four times now.
The first time I went and watched Lebron James when
he was with the Heat, well, actually, when I liked
Lebron James and that was amazing. I mean, that venue
was so great. And then I took my step son

(36:34):
last year to see Steph Curry because that that was
his favorite player, and that was that was amazing.

Speaker 5 (36:40):
That venue is so good. It's it really is.

Speaker 10 (36:46):
Even I went to the NCAA tournament for the I
think it was the second round last year to see
for new and even that, I mean, it's just that's
a great city and a great venue and everybody was
always very very cool. Yes, And I just you know,
listening to you. And I also I was at the
Deerfield District the year the Bucks one that it won

(37:08):
the title. That I agree with you that that was
that was the coolest NBA venue I have ever been to.
And I I've always longed for an NBA team Cincinnati.

Speaker 5 (37:21):
I wish, I wish it could happen.

Speaker 10 (37:24):
I just everything you said in your initial comments about
that game and in the series in the NBA, I
want to percent agree with.

Speaker 2 (37:31):
I've never talked to anybody who, you know, even casual
fan who just wanted to go check out the Pacers
for a regular season game, who didn't say great things
about the arena and cool things about the experience. It's
I've seen concerts there. You see has played there a
couple of times. I saw an NCAA tournament game that

(37:52):
they had the COVID rules in twenty twenty one, and
yet the environment was still cool. The game last night,
the Pacers games I've been to, I love it up there.

Speaker 3 (38:03):
I mean, I you know that that is.

Speaker 2 (38:04):
A great venue to go, and it's easy in, easy out,
it's colorful, it's vibrant, it's easy to navigate like it
really really is. It's first class. And then you add
to it the environment of an Eastern Conference finals game
that was, despite the fact that I was rooting for
the other side, very cool.

Speaker 10 (38:22):
No, And I wish everybody could experience an NBA playoff game.
This is, you know, as much as I love the NFL,
in the NFL playoffs and all that, the NBA playoffs,
it's it's something different, and I wish we could have
this year.

Speaker 3 (38:39):
Yeah, I do too. I wish. I wish we had
an arena that good.

Speaker 2 (38:43):
And I wish whether it was an NHL team or
an NBA team, if you've ever been to a city
where in April or May or even better June, their
team is still alive. I don't think there was anything
like it. I would take October two. I guess October
would be kind of But like you know, if you're
a weather geek like me and you love the springtime

(39:04):
and it's lighter out later and school's getting out, I
just think there's something special about it. And when you
fold a team that's playing in big games on a
national stage into the conversation, I just I get envious.

Speaker 3 (39:16):
I get envious the places. Look.

Speaker 2 (39:19):
I know a lot of people in India wish they
had a Major League baseball team. I know a lot
of folks in Columbus wish they had a major League
baseball team. I know there are folks who have NBA
and NHL teams in different parts of the country which
they had an NFL team. I'm glad we have those.
I'm thrilled. I will never part with them. But I
do go to those games when I have a chance,
and I do come back going. Man, I wish we

(39:40):
had a taste of that. But you know what, what
was an hour and a half drive away last night.

Speaker 3 (39:44):
It was a lot of fun.

Speaker 10 (39:46):
It's great and every time I've been there, I'm on
the same page, like you get up there at ninety minutes,
you see it, you're back at ninety minutes. You might
have you know, nine hours of your day, you know,
tapped into it. And it's just an easy, great experience.

Speaker 3 (40:01):
Sure is PJ. Good to hear from you, man, Thank you.

Speaker 12 (40:03):
All right, you too, Thanks mom.

Speaker 2 (40:05):
That is I've never talked to anybody who has been
to a game there who didn't.

Speaker 3 (40:10):
And you know, that arena is twenty five years old.

Speaker 2 (40:13):
I think of the first year was two thousand, because
I think the last one at Market Square was the
ninety nine Eastern Final the Knicks beat the Pacers, and
then the following year the Pacers beat the Knicks, and
I think that was the first year when they called
a Conseco fieldhouse.

Speaker 3 (40:27):
So it's twenty five years old.

Speaker 2 (40:28):
That's a great It's I've never talked to anybody who
has been to an event there who didn't love the
physical plant, where it's located, how.

Speaker 3 (40:38):
Easy and easy out it is.

Speaker 2 (40:40):
And for me last night, again, the results of the
game being what it was, no exception, and.

Speaker 3 (40:47):
Everybody seemed to be getting along.

Speaker 2 (40:51):
I know a lot of people made a big deal
about the Pacers fan in New York who had unfortunately
a huge bag of garbage thrown at him that was
obviously terrible, and some talked about the the moron who
stabbed the Knicks fan at an Indie bar in the
night of Game two. Fortunately we had nothing where I was,
at least nothing like that. We had civilized, normal adults

(41:12):
who were there to just have a good time and
root for their team and try to get the T
shirt off me, which I still have sitting in my kitchen.

Speaker 3 (41:19):
Five point three seven four nine, fifteen thirty is our
phone number.

Speaker 2 (41:23):
Solomon Willcott's on the Bengals, what they haven't done, what
they have done, and what they need to do in
the coming months. Next it's four o'clock on ESPN fifteen
thirty Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 3 (41:33):
Station built ESPN two in ESPNU. This is Jefford.

Speaker 5 (41:40):
This is Dave Lapplock, and you're listening to the Home
of the Bengals, ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 2 (41:44):
All right, six minutes afterfore minute late. This is ESPN
fifteen thirty on moegor. Thank you for listening. Hopefully you're
having an awesome Wednesday afternoon. Brandaman and Jones on baseball.
Later on in the hour, Solomon will come it says
with us, and we love having Sally on the show.
He is with us courtesy of Zimmer Bio met And

(42:05):
I'm not saying this just because he's here. I meant
to mention this yesterday and I didn't. So Bengals six
person draft class. The guy that I'm most excited about,
in large part because I watched him just run up
and down against UC and Lubbock last year's is Taj Brooks,
six rounder from Texas Tech. A terrific college career, all

(42:27):
time leading rusher Solomon in addition to his many other
duties as the host of the Believe In Bengals podcast,
and yesterday morning I listened to his interview with Taj
Brooks and I'm even more excited about him now than
I was when the Bengals drafted him. So that's a
good way to bring Sally. And it's good to have you, sir.

Speaker 5 (42:45):
How are you, mo, I'm doing great, and thanks for
having me. Appreciate you.

Speaker 3 (42:49):
I appreciate you doing this. You and I talk. You
were at the Super Bowl.

Speaker 2 (42:52):
We were starting to outline what the Bengals offseason needed
to look like. How many boxes, in your opinion have
they checked?

Speaker 5 (43:00):
Boy? They checked a lot of them, right. I do
think depth at the running back position was important. You
talked about Todds Brooks and he provides that another spark
to add with Chase Brown. But really our focus was
on the defense, needing to get another edge rusher opposite
of Trey Hendrickson. Many of us that anticipated Sam Hubbard

(43:22):
might be retiring, and it happened, So it really left
us concern. They needed to fill the ranks up front
on that defensive line. In the interior portion, you needed
more depth at the guard position and more competitive play
there in front of Joe Burrow and man, they checked
all those boxes. They did something free agency. They did
both at a few positions right deepen to taco and

(43:45):
offensive guard. I still think that the real key, the
biggest acquisition this offseason was the addition of Al Gode
the defensive coordinator, because if he can get productivity out
of Remember these high drafted defensive players that we've been
waiting to blossom, whether it's Cam Taeler Britt, whether it's

(44:07):
DJ Turner, whether it's Dax Heel or Jordan Battle, or
whether it's Chris Jenkins and McKinley Jackson. These guys are
young and talented players that now were just kind of
waiting for them to blossom. If it happens in twenty
twenty five, we're going to look back at those young players.
A's really the reason why I think a lot is

(44:28):
writing on their show.

Speaker 2 (44:29):
I do believe, and you can count me among those
who wouldn't have minded to see them add another dB.
At the same time, I think with each of those
individual players, including Gino Stone who comes back who did
not have a good first season in Cincinnati, and then
add to that all the guys the Bengals have invested
draft picks, and there's still a lot of upside there

(44:50):
and so this is more of a statement than a question.
I am really interested to see if if Al Golden
can get some of that upside on the field this year.

Speaker 5 (44:58):
And that's why his is so key, because these players,
a lot of resources have been spent, a lot of
draft picks has been used to acquire these players, and
for some of them, we've seen them perform, like we've
seen Cam Taylor Britt play and perform at a high level.
And now we're asking, oh, Al Goden, can you get
the best out of them, whether it's Gino Stone, whether

(45:21):
it's Jordan Battle, whether it's DJ Turner, and even now
Dax Hill moving inside hopingly hope to replace the Mike Hilton,
whether it's at the Nickel or Dine position. We know
these guys can play, we really do. Now it's time
for them to be consistently productive players where their performance

(45:42):
lead to winning football. On the defensive side.

Speaker 3 (45:46):
What did you make of the Shamar Stewart selection in
round one?

Speaker 5 (45:50):
Man? You know, initially I got to say the eyebrows
went up when I saw four, when I saw four
and a half backs next to his name. And you
know what I did where I even started to try
to criticize the pick or the player whateveryone should do?
You got and I have access to the tape. I
also have access to a database that gives me more

(46:12):
information than maybe what the average fan would get. And
I got to tell you everything that everything outside of
the sack total was very promising, even when I put
the tape on. The guy plays with a flat back,
He plays with energy and enthusiasm. He provides pressure from
a number of different positions to allow other people to

(46:34):
make plays. That's why the defensive front was so good.
At Texas A and M. And I went and found
another player that's comparable to Shamar Stewart had four and
a half sacks after three years coming out of LSU,
and that was Danil Hunter, who was drafted in the
third round, not the first round, the third round by
the Vikings. He's played most of his career for the

(46:55):
Vikings and for the Texans. He's going into his tenth year.
He has ninety nine and a half career sacks in
less than ten years of play. He's averaged ten sacks
a year over his career, and he came out of
college with just four and a half sacks, the same
total as Jamar Stewart has after three years at Texas
A and M. So let's not be deceived by a low

(47:17):
production and that vertical. You got to go look at
other numbers and he shows a big time in other areas.

Speaker 2 (47:23):
The great Solomon Wilcott's with this courtesy of zimmer Bio
met I want to watch Shamar Stewart line up with
Trey Hendrickson. What is your read on the situation between
the NFL's reigning sack leader and the Bengals.

Speaker 5 (47:36):
I gotta tell you, I think I gotta believe the
Bengals are smart because everyone I talked to you got
every scout. But I don't even need to have those
conversations to know that Trey Henderson is a great player.
I think the Bengals are wanting him to maybe be
something he's not, just to validate paying him right now

(47:58):
where he really should be paid. Production tells us everything,
And somebody can tell me, well, we're not paying for
past production, we pay for future production. Every everything in
a consumer driven society mo in terms of products, in
terms of consumer goods, in terms of human resourcing. It's

(48:20):
based on your past production. That's like telling a guy
coming out of Harvard, we're not paying you for your
Harvard degree, We're paying you for what you're gonna do
for us. Well, the Harvard degree tells us he's gonna
be able to come through. Am I right, Yes. It's
like the best predictor of future behavior is your past behavior.
You don't get data analytics, you don't get any any

(48:42):
understanding of how to predict future unless you use your
past performance, unless you use some of the things that
have been validated in the past. So you cannot sever
that from the contract negotiation. For Tray Hendrickson, I'm sorry,
We're gonna have to come up with a better line
or a better way of explaining that. But to just

(49:03):
say that on its faith, I think it leads the
team falling way short of understanding where they need to
be to reach a rightfully due agreement with Trey Henderson.

Speaker 2 (49:13):
Hope so would like to see this get resolve before
training camp kids here, because this team has dealt with
a lot of distractions over the course at the last
few summers. Solomon Wilcott's with us on behalf of zimmer Biomet.
You have been learning a lot about pickleball and joint
health with the folks at zimmer Biomet.

Speaker 3 (49:30):
Tell me more.

Speaker 5 (49:32):
Hey, look, pickleball is one of the fastest growing sports
in the country. It's allowing us old guys to still
get out there and compete at something and maintain our
health well. Zimmer Biomet is hoping to get people back
into the game, getting them back out on the court,
giving them their vitality back in life. They're the leaders
in joint replacement surgery. Just recently, I had to have

(49:54):
a joint replaced, and I'm gonna tell you right now,
my vitality is back. I can play golf again, play
pickleball again. You should go to pickleballknee dot com to
find out more. If you're living with joint pain, you
don't have to. I wasn't sleeping well at night, mo
I was. I had a lot of pain. There are
things that I couldn't do where I literally have lost

(50:16):
use of a limb until I had the joint replacement surgery.
I really should have done it sooner. Roughly half a
billion people globally dealing with some kind of arthritis some
kind of joint pain. Less than five percent do what
I did. They go get something done about it. Most
people decide to live in pain, they don't sleep well,
they're grumpy and grouchy. I'm no longer grumpy and grousey

(50:39):
because I went and took care of it, and so
I want you to go to the website as well
again pickleballknee dot com to find a doctor and find
solutions if you have any kind of joint health.

Speaker 2 (50:51):
Issue, pickleballknee dot com. I have a hard time believing
you would ever be grouchy. That's strange credibility. But everything
else man makes sense. Pickleballknee dot com, zimmer BioMed again,
Pickleballknee dot com.

Speaker 3 (51:05):
We love having you. Thank you as.

Speaker 5 (51:06):
Always, You're the best mode. Take care now.

Speaker 2 (51:09):
The Great Solomon Wilcotts, also host of the Believe In
Bengals podcast. I highly recommend the interview with my guy
Taj Brooks. It's very good and again thanks to the
folks at zimmer BioMed. It is sixteen minutes after four o'clock.
We are barring something totally unforeseen. Guest free, by the way,

(51:30):
Seth Walter ESPN FPI, which looks at the Bengals very favorably.
He is going to join us at four h five tomorrow.
No guess the rest of the way. Plenty of time
for you and I to engage in a friendly but
perhaps spirited discussion about sports and American life. Maybe not

(51:50):
that last part. This is ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 1 (51:53):
Station, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty Traffic.

Speaker 6 (52:00):
From the UC Health Traffic Center. At u see Health,
you'll find comprehensive care that's so personal it makes your
best tomorrow possible. That's boundless care for better outcomes. Expect
more at you seehealth dot com. New accident in over
on Sutton Avenue. That's at Waystside Avenue. Police are there
on scene. Westbound two seventy five down to one lane

(52:21):
four repairs in the Carrol Cropper Bridge traffic. There is
slowback from the Petersburg exit with a four minute delay
on that Ezelk with traffic this.

Speaker 4 (52:31):
Kwy, Cincinnati, make us the number one pre set on
your car radio and on the free new and improved
iHeartRadio AD Free never sounded so good.

Speaker 2 (52:39):
ESPN fifteen thirty, twenty minutes after four o'clock. This is
ESPN fifteen thirty Molega. Thank you for listening today. Brandonman
and Jones on baseball is just about thirty minutes away.
Reds and Royals tonight, Cincinnati looking for a sweep. Hunter
Green pitching tonight. Off tomorrow and we'll do it big

(52:59):
series again. He's the Cubs starts on Friday. They gotta
win this game.

Speaker 3 (53:02):
The night Man. You win your first two, you got
your ace going.

Speaker 2 (53:06):
Maybe Hunter Grand can't give him seven or eight tonight
because he's still working his way back, but perhaps go
a little bit deeper into the ballgame than he did
on Friday. I think the current question for a lot
of fans. And I understand it, man, because I asked
the same thing as who should be batting second? And
you know, I looked last night. I was at the

(53:26):
NBA game, but I looked online and I saw, you know,
folks kind of losing their mind over Santiago Espanau continuing
to bad second. This is a result of the failure
of one of their better players to perform like one
of their better players. And I know for a lot
of us, you know, it's easier to mock the manager,
get mad at the manager, and get mad at the
general manager, and you are certainly, I think, being reasonable

(53:50):
if you go, well, they should have had a better
team at a more complete roster that had more types
of guys that you could slide into or higher slots
in the batting order. But Matt McClain is supposed to
be this team's two hole hitter, and we heard it
all off season, right, well, he really is their biggest
addition from last year. And you know, he was really

(54:12):
their best player two years ago, which I agree with.
So I talk about it a lot, man, like your
stars got to play like stars, especially on this type
of team. You know, back back when in February and March,
when many of us were wondering, God, did the front
office do enough? The counter to that was, look at
the top of the roster. Those guys are gonna be great.

(54:34):
Ellie's gonna take a leap, And like Ellie is not
having a bad year, dude's on pace to hit more
than thirty homers, obviously on a hot stretch right now,
which is awesome. Maybe he is about to turn it on.
But on teams built like this, when the players who
are supposed to be the best aren't the best, there's
a problem. The two hole problem wouldn't be a problem

(54:56):
if if Matt McLain was good this year. This team
was built around Matt McLain being good this year. He
has let them down in further opportunities wherever they may come.
If he gets a chance to hit second again, it
would be cool if he would solve the two hole
issue on his own. That has not happened. I have

(55:18):
not yet thrown poll questions out there on social media.
I am going to play some audio a little bit
later on about the Shamar Stewart situation, which I just
I can't blame Shamar Stewart for what he's doing and
We've asked a lot of people, why are the Bengals
doing this? Why are these two sides apparently at odds?
And you're gonna hear a pretty good explanation here in

(55:39):
just a bit. But first, I don't want to make
folks wait any longer. Bob, You're on ESPN fifteen thirty. Bob,
good afternoon. How are you, Bob?

Speaker 13 (55:53):
Oh?

Speaker 3 (55:53):
Hey, hey, Bob? Did we wake you?

Speaker 7 (55:56):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (55:57):
You do? You're not.

Speaker 5 (56:00):
I'm sorry if you.

Speaker 3 (56:01):
Were taking a nap while you were on hold listening.

Speaker 2 (56:04):
To the show, yes, sir, I was. Well, there's the
there's the boost of confidence I was looking for. That's
that's exactly. There's there's the promo, there's the there is
the the commercial for the show that we were looking
to send everybody show.

Speaker 3 (56:19):
This show is so good at put you asleep.

Speaker 13 (56:22):
That goes the number four ranking.

Speaker 2 (56:23):
When you're on hold waiting to appear on it, you
may still fall asleep.

Speaker 3 (56:29):
That's how bad this show is.

Speaker 13 (56:33):
No no, no, no no, not true, not true. You
were just talking about the Bengals. I guess it put
me to sleep.

Speaker 2 (56:41):
Well beyond that one, what can you remember what was
on your mind before you fell asleep?

Speaker 13 (56:46):
Oh, yeah, I do.

Speaker 7 (56:47):
I do.

Speaker 13 (56:47):
Yeah, you know what, most for the first time and probably,
oh gosh, at least thirty years, I watched some of
an NBA playoff game and it was the same one
you attended. Yes, and I have a bit of trivia

(57:08):
for you.

Speaker 12 (57:09):
I'm going to give you.

Speaker 13 (57:10):
Some names and tell me if you can, if you can,
tell me what these guys have in common. Billy Keller,
Roger Brown, Bob Arnsen. But I'll stop there.

Speaker 3 (57:30):
What was the first name you mentioned.

Speaker 12 (57:34):
Bill Keller?

Speaker 3 (57:36):
Bill Keller.

Speaker 13 (57:38):
I think they called him Billy. Actually, they were all
part of the nineteen seventy two ABA champion Indiana.

Speaker 3 (57:47):
Pacers, coached by Slick Leonard.

Speaker 13 (57:52):
Yes, yes, they were her and they had a center
who was great Mel Daniels, and they strangely enough, one
of the names that I gave was Bob Arnson. Yeah,
Bob Arnson played for the Royals and he used to

(58:15):
own the Fort Thomas Pub. I don't know if it's still.

Speaker 3 (58:19):
I believe, I believe that is still the case.

Speaker 7 (58:24):
Yeah, is that true.

Speaker 3 (58:25):
I think so, at least it was as of two
years ago.

Speaker 5 (58:30):
Yeah.

Speaker 13 (58:31):
Well, and what I found very strange was that the
Knicks won the NBA championship that year.

Speaker 2 (58:37):
They won it in seventy three, so the Pacers also,
the Pacers also won the ABA title in seventy three,
and the Knicks won the NBA title in seventy three
as well. So those two teams.

Speaker 3 (58:49):
For those two teams, that is their last league championship.

Speaker 13 (58:53):
Yeah, it was. It was a seventy two seventy three season.

Speaker 2 (58:56):
Yeah, because they they played They played the Kentucky Colonels
in a great seven game series. George McGinnis was awesome.
Dan Issel played in that series. Artist Gilmore played in
the ABA at that time and was one of their
best players. But you can find it on YouTube if
you're a real basketball nerd. The Kentucky Carimelos versus Indiana

(59:19):
Pacers nineteen seventy three ABA Final.

Speaker 13 (59:23):
I watched some of it last night, did you long
a long? Yes? And what's really strange too, is the
Knicks actually had, at least for part of that season
two guys who played for the Royals, also Jerry Lucer
and a guy named Luther Rackley who played one game

(59:45):
for the Knicks that year.

Speaker 2 (59:48):
So Jerry Lucas retired the following season at the age
of I think just thirty three years old, but he
was a Cincinnati Royal and a terrific one, an All
Star multiple times before the Royals in the early seventies
became a disaster. And then I think he played for
the Warriors for a couple of years and was going
to get out. He goes to the Knicks and they

(01:00:10):
had all those guys who were a part of the
team that won the whole thing in nineteen seventy. And
the seventy team is romanticized, right because of Willis Reid
Game seven, they beat the Lakers Walt Frasier with one
of the great game sevens in the history of the
NBA Finals. The seventy three team is never talked about
beat the Lakers in five after losing Game one, But

(01:00:32):
Jerry Lucas was a really big part of that team
that had all those guys from the seventies, as was
Earl Monroe. And nobody ever talks about the Knicks' most
recent NBA championship team, And frankly, nobody really talks about
those great ABA teams the Pacers had in the early seventies.

Speaker 13 (01:00:49):
Mel you know what was so cool about the ABA
They had.

Speaker 3 (01:00:52):
A color ball and a slam dunk contest.

Speaker 13 (01:00:55):
Well, the Spirits of Saint Louis played for their final
two years, and do you know who their announcer was?

Speaker 3 (01:01:05):
Bob Costas?

Speaker 13 (01:01:07):
Yes, yeah, And I remember listening to the games. KMOX
used to have them, and and the first time I
ever heard Costas. There was a guy that used to
do sports back in that same time named Don Crickey,
and the two of those guys sounded so much alike

(01:01:30):
to me that for years and years I thought Don
Crickey had had done the games, and I found out
later that it was Bob Costas and that that was
his first job. I guess out of Syracuse.

Speaker 2 (01:01:43):
Marty Brennman was also an ABA announcer with Carolina.

Speaker 3 (01:01:48):
I guess, huh, Virginia Squires, I believe, Oh was it?

Speaker 13 (01:01:53):
Okay?

Speaker 12 (01:01:53):
Okay?

Speaker 3 (01:01:54):
I give you.

Speaker 2 (01:01:55):
I'll give you another good spirit to say you chances
are you know this? These are my two heroes in life.
If the two guys who owned the Spirits of Saint Louis,
you know this story right. So the NBA and the
ABA emerge emerged. The Kentucky Colonels were not invited, and
neither were the Spirits of Saint Louis. So those teams
had to sell off their players. So the Silner brothers

(01:02:17):
owned the Spirits of Saint Louis, and they negotiated a
deal that ended up being I think maybe the greatest
in the history of professional sports. The Virginia Squires folded,
the Kentucky Colonels folded. The owners of the Spirits of
Saint Louis negotiated a deal that gave them a percentage
of NBA TV revenue and perpetuity for the rest of

(01:02:41):
their lives. So you think about what happened to NBA
TV money when we got into the eighties, and then
you think about what happened to NBA TV money when
we got into the nineties with NBC and cable television,
And then you think about what happened to NBA TV
money in the two thousands. The owners of a team
that last played in the mid seventies got a chunk

(01:03:02):
of that money. For I think the one brother died
in the mid twenty tens. I believe the other is
still alive. They got a chunk of every subsequent NBA
TV deal, even though the team folded in the mid seventies.

Speaker 13 (01:03:18):
After two years. Yeah, yeah, well, yes, hey, we listen. Man,
it was it was good going down memory lane for you.
And I'm wide awake now, so very good. Thank you
for thank you for waking me up. Man, I appreciate it.

Speaker 3 (01:03:34):
I don't know, Bob, thank you.

Speaker 2 (01:03:36):
I don't know how many people we put to sleep
talking about the Pacers and Nicks of the early seventies,
but I enjoyed it.

Speaker 3 (01:03:42):
Nonethelast twenty nine away from five o'clock.

Speaker 2 (01:03:45):
And by the way, the book Loose Balls by Terry Pluto,
by the History of the ABA, top five sports book
of all time. Sports headlines next, and uh, I have
a question about an AFC North rival Bengals, obviously AOC
North rival coming up on ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 1 (01:04:06):
Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty Traffic.

Speaker 6 (01:04:11):
Health Traffic Center at you see Healthy, You'll find comprehensive
care that's so personal it makes your best tomorrow possible.
That's boundless care for better outcomes, expect more and you
see health dot com. No accidents around town at the moment,
but southbound two seventy five down to one lane. That
four repairs on the Carrol Cropper Bridge. Traffic moving slow

(01:04:32):
back from the US fifty and on eastbound two seventy
five slow traffic between Monstellar Road and seventy one on
that ezelic with traffic.

Speaker 3 (01:04:40):
This report is twenty two away from five o'clock. Sports.

Speaker 2 (01:04:47):
Headlines are a service of Kelsey chevrola home of lifetime
powertrain protection and guaranteed credit approval from their family to
yours for life kelseyshove dot com. By the way, if
you think it's bad that we had a guy waiting
on hold who fell asleep while waiting to go on
the air, and then that's that's not exactly confidence boosting.

Speaker 3 (01:05:06):
We had a dude who worked here once and it's probably.

Speaker 2 (01:05:09):
Been I don't know, eight or nine years, and he
was a producer, but I don't think he was attached
to any one show, and he fell out of favor
with a lot of people on the air because he
couldn't stop falling asleep while he was producing a show. Now,
rule number one and being a radio producer, which I
was for many years, is stay awake. It's really all

(01:05:31):
that we require. Like when I started, it was like,
can you stay awake?

Speaker 3 (01:05:36):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (01:05:36):
I think I can do that. Cool, Then you could
be a radio producer. This guy couldn't do it, and
I didn't work with him often. But one day I'm
doing my show and I'm like, I'm getting all worked
up about something and I'm fired up, and I'm I
think I'm doing a pretty good and I look over
there and the guy's like passed out.

Speaker 3 (01:05:57):
I sawing logs.

Speaker 2 (01:05:59):
Nothing helps the morale of a guy on the air
more than looking across the room, back when you could
look across the other room, other side of the glass
and see the guy who's supposed to be hanging on
every word nodding off Reds and Royals. Tonight, Cincinnati looking
for a sweep. Hunter Green pitches against Noah Cameron, who's
been really good in his three starts for Kansas City

(01:06:21):
seven forty. Tonight's first pitch seven hundred WLW. Has it
your starting lineup? Tonight, Get at your pencils. Friedol's in center,
Espinal's at third base. He's batting second. Elie de la
Cruz at short. Austin Hayes is dhing. Tyler Stevenson looking
for a third homer in consecutive days, three homers in

(01:06:42):
three days. Ah He is batting fifth, Spencer Steer at first.
Connor Joe is in right field, Matt mcclan is at
second base, and Garrett Hampson is batting night to left field.
The Reds have played really well the last two nights,
but when the season started, I don't think we were
all thinking that, you know what, the Reds are going
to go into the last week of the year and

(01:07:05):
play a game where the corner outfielders are Garrett Hampson
and Connor Joe.

Speaker 3 (01:07:11):
Florence. Y'all's at Gateway tonight the Bengals.

Speaker 2 (01:07:15):
We mentioned this last week, and maybe we weren't supposed to,
but the Bengals announced their Ring of Honor game is
going to be the game against the Jets, first time
the Ring of Honor game hasn't been a primetime game. Sunday,
October the twenty six Bengals Ring of Honor and ductees
Jim Breach, James Brooks, Chris collins Worth, Day faultered, Dave
lap Of, Max Montoya, Lamar Paris, Bob Trumpy and Reggie Williams.

(01:07:40):
FC Cincinnati tonight, second of three games in seven days.
The Orange and Blue trying to bounce back after losing
to Atlanta. Lucho Acosta is back the twenty twenty three
MLS MVP leading Dallas to the soccer venue in the
West End of Cincinnati, kickoff at seven to thirty pre
game at seven o'clock on ESPN.

Speaker 3 (01:07:59):
Fifteenth.

Speaker 2 (01:08:00):
NBA Tonight, Western Conference Finals Game five in Oklahoma City,
Thunder trying to close out the Wolves, up three to one.
NHL Eastern Conference Final, Florida, despite losing Game four, has
a three to one lead on Carolina heading into tonight's
Game five. I made a mistake. Neither the Thunder or

(01:08:23):
the Panthers have three.

Speaker 3 (01:08:25):
To one leads.

Speaker 2 (01:08:28):
They have commanding three one leads, as do the Indiana Pacers.
If the many required to Yeah, if you're up three
to one, you aren't just up three to one. You
are holding a commanding three one lead. In every sport.

(01:08:50):
Tito Francona's Cleveland Indians in twenty sixteen had a commanding
three to one lead but lost. Steph Curry's Golden State
Warriors and twenty sixteen the same year also a commanding
three one lead but lost. So you can have a
commanding three one lead and still lose. But you don't

(01:09:11):
merely have a three to one lead. It's always one
hundred percent of the time. Nobody ever has a commanding
to nothing lead. Nobody ever has a commanding to one lead.
Certainly can't have a commanding three two lead. But if
it's three to one commanding this audio went viral, Taran,

(01:09:32):
What is this? Is?

Speaker 3 (01:09:32):
Joy Taylor? What show is he?

Speaker 5 (01:09:34):
Is?

Speaker 2 (01:09:34):
She a part of on FS one Speak Speak And
on this show you got Keyshawn Johnson, friend of our show,
and Paul Pierce and they were talking about Aaron Rodgers.
And a lot of people have made fun of Joy
Taylor for talking about Aaron Rodgers and seemingly forgetting that
he has not yet at least signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Speaker 3 (01:09:56):
Go ahead and hit it.

Speaker 14 (01:09:58):
Why Why this is the Pittsburgh Steelers. They have six
little party, their coach by Hall of Fame Mike Thomas,
and we're sitting around talking about Aaron Rodgers. Is not
there on the first day of OTA's mandatory or not?
Where's your pride? Where's your dignity? Give you respect for

(01:10:19):
the game? Where's your respect for this organization? Where's this
organization's respect for the history that they.

Speaker 5 (01:10:24):
Have in this league?

Speaker 3 (01:10:25):
What are we talking about?

Speaker 9 (01:10:26):
He's never played there before. He doesn't know any of
these teammates. He doesn't know the streets.

Speaker 14 (01:10:31):
To get to the facility, he doesn't know that. He
doesn't know the doctors, he doesn't know the rehab crew,
he doesn't don't know anybody.

Speaker 9 (01:10:39):
Anybody doesn't know where.

Speaker 14 (01:10:40):
To get int smoothies, nothing like, why would you not
be there?

Speaker 3 (01:10:44):
If?

Speaker 14 (01:10:44):
Why am I supposed to take this seriously? It's not
about him not being at non mandatory OTAs for a
team that he's been with for twenty two years. Do
what you want to do? You have been You won
five games last year. The year before that, you didn't
play cacutory year before that, you missed the playoffs. What
are we talking about?

Speaker 3 (01:11:06):
That's a joy Taylor. Now.

Speaker 2 (01:11:09):
As a point of clarification that I probably don't need
to make here, Aaron Rodgers has not yet signed with
the Pittsburgh Steelers. He may feels like odds are he will,
he has expressed, and I find Aaron Rodgers to be
highly uninteresting, so I'm not exactly hanging on every word.

Speaker 3 (01:11:29):
But he has indicated that he's got.

Speaker 2 (01:11:30):
Some stuff going on in his life, and if so,
then he obviously should take his time. Uh, But he
is not he's dropped hints, but he is not yet
signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers, and so if you haven't
signed with the team, then you really, you know, don't
go to mini camp or OTAs.

Speaker 7 (01:11:50):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (01:11:50):
I guess he has done some throwing with DK Metcalf,
who obviously is now a Pittsburgh Steeler. So everybody's had
a good old laugh at Joy Taylor, and understandably so,
neither Keishawn Johnson or Paul Pierce felt the need to interject,
which is fine.

Speaker 3 (01:12:06):
I guess at least in that clip. Maybe they did later.
I don't know. I don't watch the show.

Speaker 2 (01:12:12):
I can't help but ask this, and look, Aaron Rodgers,
in my life as a football fan, is not the
greatest quarterback of all time, but he is the quarterback
who has made the most throws that have wowed me,
that have made my jaw drop, that have made me go,
holy crap.

Speaker 3 (01:12:29):
I can't believe he just did that.

Speaker 2 (01:12:30):
And I say that from the standpoint of I've not
watched every single Aaron Rodgers throw. Well, and I think
of all the great quarterbacks we've watched, and maybe you've
watched more than me, and maybe you've watched fewer. Aaron
Rodgers is the guy that I think has just with
his arm, done the most amount of cool things that
I can recall. So he's obviously a terrific player. He's

(01:12:52):
had an awesome career. He's going to be a first
ballot Hall of Famer. He's also going to be forty
two years old. Is maybe going to be joining a team,
the Pittsburgh Steelers that is often described as being a
great franchise with the Steelers, they really are. They're this

(01:13:12):
great model franchise now despite that, the Pittsburgh Steelers haven't
advanced in the postseason since let's see January of twenty seventeen,
which let's see current president wasn't in office, president before him,
not in office president before him. Who's the guy in
office now, wasn't That's the Obama administration. That's a long

(01:13:36):
damn time ago. It's the last time the Steelers advanced
in the postseason. Great franchise, though, model franchise, Rooney Family,
Mike Tomlin, Steeler's way, and you know, as a franchise,
they're certainly one of the most accomplished in the NFL,
one of the more recognizable brands in all of sports.

(01:13:57):
But for this revered franchise that is a model for
how other franchises should do business. Does this Aaron Rodgers
thing feel like it's kind of beneath them? Or maybe
the Pittsburgh Steelers aren't this well oiled machine, iconic franchise,

(01:14:21):
well run operation that we're all often convinced.

Speaker 3 (01:14:25):
It is.

Speaker 2 (01:14:28):
Like there's the Pittsburgh Steelers that you always hear about. Hey,
you know what this franchise, model franchise. I don't think
it's this desperate. Now. Look, Aaron Rodgers last year, statistically
with the New York Jets played fine. The Jets were
a train wreck. Aaron Rodgers brings a lot of baggage
with him. He made the Jets like either hire or

(01:14:49):
sign all of his buddies. I'm not sure they're going
to do that in Pittsburgh. The guy is going to
be forty two years old. You also have to put
up with Aaron Rodgers off the field act, which again
I find holly on it interesting. But to each their own.
If somebody's willing to give them a platform, then that's fine,
but it's late may. Their other options include Mason Rudolph.

(01:15:13):
It's gonna be the Mason Rudolph Shelf. It's not Aaron Rodgers.
I think everybody who follows the NFL knows how that's
likely to unfold. I just this doesn't seem something that's like,
it's something that's very Steelers. Ask if you buy into
the mythology, and some might say the propaganda that we
often hear about how great and well run the Steelers

(01:15:36):
are and their Rooney family. They you know, they do
things the right way. And again, Aaron Rodgers may sign
with Pittsburgh. They may win twelve games. They were a
playoff team last year with Russell Wilson. You know, Mike
Tomlins never had a losing season, and so maybe it's
a partnership that'll work, and they'll win a bunch of games,
and they'll beat the Bengals and they'll finally advance in
the postseason for the first time since the Barack Obama administration,

(01:15:59):
and all will be well and good. But for all
that I hear about the prestige of the Pittsburgh Steelers
and how enviable their operation is and how great Mike
Tomlin is, boy, this is the kind of thing that
sure seems beneath them. Or maybe all that stuff you
hear about the Pittsburgh Steelers is total bs, Bredaman and

(01:16:22):
Jones on baseball.

Speaker 1 (01:16:23):
Next Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty Traffic.

Speaker 6 (01:16:29):
From the UCE Health Traffic Center. At you See Health,
you'll find comprehensive care that's so personal it makes your
more at you see Health dot com. Westbound seventy four,
the left lane block from an accident between North Bend
and Ryebolt Road, delays building up just about six minutes

(01:16:50):
and through that area. Also got an accident northbound on
Red Bank Expressway at seventy one and slow traffic northbound
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Speaker 1 (01:17:03):
This is ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports station.

Speaker 3 (01:17:09):
What's up.

Speaker 2 (01:17:10):
It's the Ultra five clock Happy Sorry I just made
myself laugh. It's the mikelob Ultra five o'clock Happy Hour
on ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 3 (01:17:22):
I'm oegar. Thank you for listening today.

Speaker 2 (01:17:25):
Uh you know what I had last night at the
Knicks Pacers game. That's right, and I was called michelob Ultra.
It soothed the nerves, and it calmed me down and
eased my anxiety and provided some solace in the face
of an unstoppable Pacers offense. By the way, I cheered

(01:17:47):
so loud at that game, and I acted so crazy
that I'm now not going to be allowed to walk
in Mohler's graduation michelob Ultra Superior taste, superior light beer.
By the way, I just, you know, on social media,
on Twitter, provided I have time, because you know I

(01:18:08):
normally I'm very busy in here. I have a lot
of stuff going on. Sometimes I don't get to it.
I tweet out what's happening, you know, the next hour,
and I have sent in my time on social media,
and I'm a little bit embarrassed to embarrassed to admit this.
Over the last sixteen years, I have sent, according to Twitter,

(01:18:31):
over one hundred and twenty three thousand tweets. I don't
know if that's good or bad, But moments ago, I
just sent the first ever tweet that from my account
included the word weenie. So go check that out at
Molegger while you're there voting our poll questions. Thanks to

(01:18:53):
our friends at United Heartland Insurance, whether it's your home,
whether it's your car, your boat, your motorcycle, your business,
your commercial fleet, your life, whatever it is. United Heartland
Insurance is there three offices Cincinnati, Burlington, Hamilton. Go to
uhi ands dot com. The first one is about Luco Acosta. Now,

(01:19:15):
I applied this to John Caliperi's return to the University
of Kentucky. I am not a proponent of telling people
what to do. There are exceptions. If you're just gonna
be a disruption, if you're gonna be a liability, if
if you're gonna get in the way of somebody's good time,
if you're gonna be an absolute jerk, well then I
care if you're gonna put people in harm's way. But

(01:19:38):
by and large, I'm very much a live and let live.
You do you and I'll do me type of guy.
I don't really concern myself with the actions of others.
But if it's me tonight, I'm not booing Lucho Acosta
number one. I'm a body of work guy. I said
this as it relates to John Calipari when he came
back to Kentucky as the coach at Arkansas. If you

(01:19:59):
want to boo boo, I wouldn't boo? I look at
the body of work. Also, pretty damn happy with the
coach we have now. I'll apply similar logic to Lucho Acosta,
though obviously not a member of the team for as
long as cow was at UK. I always, when it
comes to situations like this, look at what the person
did while they were here. Lucho Acosta helped put FC

(01:20:21):
Cincinnati on the map as a legitimate Major League soccer franchise. Now,
he didn't act alone. Pat Noonan's had a lot to
do with that. Chris Albright's had a lot to do
with that. A lot of the players have had a
lot to do with that. Lucho Acosta had a lot
to do with that. Did you enjoy that Supporter Shield season?
Lucho Acosta was the best player on that team, in

(01:20:42):
the MVP of the league. Now, the way he left
was messy. The way he left a lot of people
didn't like how he handled it. I don't blame them.
I couldn't boom. Should FC Cincinnati fans boo Lucho Acosta?
Vote now? At Mullleger. The other one is about the
Bengals Ring of Honor, And we've got some stuff to
get to a little bit later on. And I even't

(01:21:02):
talked about Shamar Stewart today, even though I've wanted to.
I love the fact that the Bengals have a Ring
of Honor.

Speaker 3 (01:21:10):
I sat in.

Speaker 2 (01:21:11):
Front of a microphone for years and years and years,
and many of us in this building and in this
profession did the same complaining about the Bengals not having
a Ring of Honor, and so I'm glad they do.
And I think the discussions about who should be in
our fun I submitted my ballot. I voted for Dave
Lapham and Lamar Parrish. Dave Lapham is a no brainer.

(01:21:32):
The Bengals should have already put him in. They should
do it on their own and the absence of that
dude has been a part of the Bengals for the
better part of a half century. It's not Player of Honor,
it's Bengals Ring of Honor. It's not Bengals Ring of
Awesome players. Lap was a good player. I don't know
that his playing career would be deemed worthy of Ring

(01:21:54):
of Honor status. His contributions and representation of the franchise
most definitely deserve that recognition. They should have done it
last year, so I voted for him, and I voted
for Lamar Parish. And for me, it came down to
Bob Trump or Lamar Parrish because those are the two
guys who go back the longest with the team.

Speaker 3 (01:22:13):
It is tough for me.

Speaker 2 (01:22:15):
I voted for Lamar and Parish because I split hairs
and I looked at approximate value. Lamar Parish had more
than Bob Trumpy. It's a flawed metric, but I used
it nonetheless, any one of these nine guys could go in.

Speaker 3 (01:22:28):
I love Bob Trumpy. I revere Bob Trumpy.

Speaker 2 (01:22:32):
Some of my most valuable lessons in this business came
from Bob Trumpy. Some of my favorite days working behind
the scenes at the radio station came working with Bob Trumpy.
Like I love him, so I badly want him to
go in the Ring of Honor. But if I'm looking
at it objectively, which I think you have to kind
of do, I went Lamar, if it's Bob awesome, if
it's James Brooks awesome, what I want them to do.

(01:22:56):
I know him in the minority here, or at least
I think I'm in the minority here. So I've put
this on Twitter I say the Bengals should take the
nine players on the current ballot and induct one per
game this season, maybe take a year off afterward, and
then kind of restart the process a new in twenty
twenty seven. I'm sure many believe that is an absolutely

(01:23:21):
idiotic idea, So I ask you on Twitter, is it vote?

Speaker 3 (01:23:24):
Now? Let me just spend a few minutes on this.

Speaker 2 (01:23:27):
Okay, I'm glad the Bengals are doing the Ring of Honor,
But the more we do this with these players who
go back decades, the more it frustrates me that we're
now just getting around to this. So this is year
five of the Ring of Honor, they're going to induct
two per They have inducted off this ballot two per
year for the last couple of years. All nine guys

(01:23:47):
are deserving of at least consideration, But like, look at
this list, Okay, Jim Breach last played for the Bengals
in nineteen ninety two. David Fulcher as well, nineteen ninety
Those are the two players who played for the Bengals
most recently thirty.

Speaker 3 (01:24:06):
Three years ago.

Speaker 2 (01:24:08):
James Brooks nineteen ninety one, Chris Collinsworth nineteen eighty eight,
Dave Lapham last played for the Bengals more than forty
years ago nineteen eighty three, Max Montoya in nineteen eighty nine,
Reggie Williams nineteen eighty nine, Lamar Parrish and Bob Trump.
He last played for the Bengals the year I was born,

(01:24:32):
nineteen seventy seven. It is ludicrous and sad and idiotic
that we are debating the merits of players who played
decades ago. But the Bengals have forced us to do
that because of the fact that they went decades without

(01:24:54):
any sort of Ring of honor, hall of fame, et cetera.
It's like, everybody's gonna have their preferences and like, I
put my ballot on social media, and folks who are
like I voted for Max Montoya and James Brooks like fine,
I have no problem with it to each their own. Again,
for me, it was Lapham and Lamar Parrish. I had
a different criteria. That's the beauty of voting, right. We

(01:25:17):
all have our different criteria, whether it's voting for real
lifestyle or stuff like this.

Speaker 3 (01:25:23):
But what bothers me?

Speaker 2 (01:25:25):
And I hate to bring this up because the Bengals
Ring of Honor has been a good thing, and it's
allowed the team to formally celebrate Ken Anderson and boomeris
Ison and Corey Dylon and Willie Anderson and Chad Johnson
and Anthony Munnos.

Speaker 3 (01:25:38):
And it's great and the Ring of Honor game.

Speaker 2 (01:25:41):
The reason why this came up is they announced officially
today who's on the ballot, though I think season ticket
holders got they could start voting last week, and they
announced the Ring of Honor game is going to be
the game against the Jets on October twenty sixth.

Speaker 3 (01:25:57):
The reason why these debates, to me.

Speaker 2 (01:26:00):
The reason why I hate them, is because the bengals
unwillingness to have a Ring of Honor for decades has
forced us to debate the merits of players who, in
some instances played nearly five decades ago. Lamar Parrish last
played forty eight years ago.

Speaker 3 (01:26:28):
That shouldn't bother me the way it does. It does.

Speaker 2 (01:26:31):
They are forcing unnecessary debates about players who should have
been in decades ago. So the Bengals operated like a
normal franchise and put in a Ring of Honor. Let's
just say in the nineties, Lamar Parish would already be in.
Bob Trumpy would already be in chances are most of
these players, if not all, would already be in. Instead, we
have to debate the merits of players who played forever ago.

Speaker 3 (01:26:54):
That's not right.

Speaker 2 (01:26:57):
It's fun to have the discussions, it's fun to have
the debates, and you know we'll have them moving forward.
But the longer this goes with these guys, I hate
to say this, I hate to sound morbid. One of
these players may get in after they pass and that's

(01:27:18):
gonna suck. So you can't go back in the past.
You cannot go back in the past, and you can't say, well,
you know what we should have put in a ring
of honor in the nineties or when we built a
new stadium a quarter of a century ago, could have
done it. Then can't go back in the past. So
what we're gonna do is we're not gonna make our
fans debate between players that they maybe didn't see or

(01:27:40):
that have already waited long enough for some sort of
formal recognition by the team that they played for. It
is idiotic that we're debating Lamar Parrish versus James Brooks,
or Chris Collinsworth versus Bob Trumpy. The most recent player here.
The two of them who most recent we played, got

(01:28:01):
done playing for the Bengals when I was a freshman
in college as a long damn time ago. So let's
make this right. And they're not going to and that's fine,
And they have said we're gonna sort of rethink this
at the end of this year.

Speaker 3 (01:28:14):
And I'm sure that includes who to.

Speaker 2 (01:28:16):
Keep on the ballot, who to maybe go ahead and
put in the Ring of honor despite the wishes of
the voters, which is totally fine. Who to add to
the ballot from more modern teams, which former coaches may
appear on the ballot, or if they're even gonna lead
this up to a vote anyway. There are teams like
the Dallas Cowboys and others. There's no fan vote, there's

(01:28:39):
no season ticket holder vote, like the team just decides
this guy's going up. And by the way, there'd be
no problem with that either. But the fact that we're
having to debate the merits of players who played the
year I was born most recently, come on, you can't
go back in time, so you can rectify it now.
And they're not gonna do this, but they should, and

(01:29:00):
I know many will disagree, if not most, put all
nine in this year. Maybe take a year off and
then let's start fresh with more modern names five, one, three, seven, nine,
fifteen thirty Reds and Royals. Tonight, the Red star players
are maybe starting to perform like star players. Ellie Delacruz

(01:29:22):
last night, two homers, eight hundred and eighty seven feet
worth his last four or five games. He looks really
good at the play. Tyler Stevenson last eight or nine games,
looks really good at the plate. In ops eight to
fifty one over his last nine. Ellie Delacruz ops over
twelve his last five.

Speaker 3 (01:29:38):
Hunter Green pitches tonight. Hunter Green got his feet wet
on Friday.

Speaker 2 (01:29:42):
He was awesome early, not so awesome in the fourth inning,
left the game early. I think that was the plan.
You win the first two in Kansas City. This team
has got to start to make a move. Like we
did the topic yesterday. Phone calls are coming up. We
did the topic yesterday about you know, Gordon witten Meyer's
column in The Inquirer advocating that the Reds start to

(01:30:03):
be start to plan to be sellers at the deadline.
The mission statement for the next let's say fifty games,
achieve clarity on July twenty eighth. Please, for the love
of God, let's not be debating whether or not they're
buyers or sellers. You got two months or fifty three

(01:30:25):
games between now and the trade deadline. Let's make it
an even fifty over the next fifty games. Play so
damn well that it's not a question. Not only are
you not sellers, you are buyers. So how does that happen?
It really happens with this team playing like I don't know,
six hundred baseball over the next fifty games, that would

(01:30:48):
put him at ten games over five hundred. That's the goal,
that's the mission statement. Achieve clarity. A twenty five and
twenty five record doesn't do that. Going into the last
couple of days right before July, you know, six and
a half games out and a bunch of teams between
you and the last wild card spot, and a game
or two above five hundred or below five hundred, achieve clarity.

(01:31:14):
And they have bounced back nicely from that series against
the Cubs. They've won their last two. Brady Singer was
really good last night. Hundred green pitches. Tonight, get the sweep,
Go to Chicago, make up for what you couldn't do
last weekend. This weekend at Wrigleyfield five point three seven
four nine, fifteen thirty is our phone number eight six
six seven oh two three seven seven six. We have

(01:31:36):
lots of folks waiting. It's you and I next.

Speaker 1 (01:31:41):
Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty traffic from.

Speaker 6 (01:31:46):
The UC Health Traffic Center. At you See Health, you'll
find comprehensive care that's so personal it makes your best
tomorrow possible. That's boundless care for better outcomes. Expect more
at you see Health dot com. Westbound two five it's
an accident on the entrance remp from Springfield Pike. Police
and fire there on scene. Westbound seventy four what lane

(01:32:08):
blocked from an accident between North Bend and Rybolt Road.
Thirty minute delay for Montana Avenue on that ezek with traffic.

Speaker 3 (01:32:16):
This report is thank you for listening. I have monopolized
the airtime way too long.

Speaker 2 (01:32:22):
Now it's time to talk to other folks, starting with
John from Finley. John, you're on ESPN fifteenth and I
hope you're awake. Hi John, How are you?

Speaker 11 (01:32:32):
Yeah? White?

Speaker 5 (01:32:33):
Awake?

Speaker 11 (01:32:34):
Mos?

Speaker 3 (01:32:34):
Good?

Speaker 11 (01:32:34):
Although I will say I do give that guy a
little bit of slack because I am a type of
person that I do fall asleep very easily. But I
don't know if I've ever fallen asleep on hold on
a radio show, though that's a different one.

Speaker 3 (01:32:49):
I have fallen asleep on hold before.

Speaker 2 (01:32:51):
I will tell you that that has happened, but I
have not been waiting to go on a radio show.

Speaker 11 (01:32:57):
Hey, yesterday I was on, Yes Jay couldn't I couldn't
hang on. But you were talking about the buyer seller thing,
and then I guess, to be fair, that seems to
be more of a media talk show driven type of thing,
because honestly, as a fan, I mean, I don't have
any thoughts about being a buyer or seller dispoint. I mean,

(01:33:18):
they're they're right around five hundred. It's you've got about
sixty games into the season, so at this point, I mean,
and then also, you've had multiple players that's been in
and out of the lineup, and some performed better than others.
So I mean, I still think it's way way early
to even start thinking about some of those things. Now,

(01:33:39):
there's a few guys on the team that I could
see being be attractive as a trade prospect eventually, but
at this point, in time. I can't imagine you do
something like that.

Speaker 2 (01:33:53):
Uh No, But I think I think you could always plan.
And I think Nick Crawl and his staff for not
doing their if they're not planning for either scenario, Like,
what are we gonna do if we're a game out
of first place around July thirty first? What are potential targets?
What are we willing to give up? What kind of
salary can we take on? And then conversely, hey, look

(01:34:13):
if we're out of it, who can we get? What
can we get for some of the players we may
move on from? Are there some of these players we
want to keep and figure out a way to keep
long term? Like, I don't think it's too early to
start thinking about your potential strategies. I also think it's
never a bad time to think about maybe upgrading the
talent now.

Speaker 3 (01:34:33):
I talked about this yesterday.

Speaker 2 (01:34:34):
I don't know if the Rockies and Marlins and White
Sox and Orioles and pirates are going to be willing
to do business with you right now, because if I
woul them, I would wait for the market to sort
of materialize. But you don't have to wait till July
thirty first to get better you can do it now,
and so I would wonder if there's a deal out

(01:34:55):
there right now. But I do think, especially with this team,
given the fact that they have had a lot of
years where they've kind of been in no man's land
where it's been hard to argue they should.

Speaker 3 (01:35:07):
Go all in via trade or you know what, they
should sell off parts.

Speaker 2 (01:35:12):
I think with this particular team it's a little bit
more Germane. Also, I think the fact that we're having
the argument or having the discussion I should say that
they should maybe sell is indicative of this season not
going as planned and indicative of the plan that was
set forth way back to twenty twenty two at least

(01:35:33):
hitting a bit of a snag.

Speaker 5 (01:35:36):
Yeah.

Speaker 11 (01:35:36):
Yeah, And I mean, obviously there's a couple of guys
that's been missing in the piece here with in Carnassi
and Strand and Marte that you planned on them being
a bigger part of your equation right now that the
Reds are in a kind of an advantageous position because
a kind of a rarity for them is we've actually

(01:35:58):
got quite a bit of pitchy. I like Nick Martinez
is probably very very credible at basically at any Tilers
telling someone today about that, he said, the biggest thing
you worry about with Nick Martinez is his value probably
can't be much higher than right now. He's probably not
going to be in the picture moving forward. So at

(01:36:20):
what point do you pull the trigger on him? Because
the worst thing can happen now is if you hold
on to him for another month and he gets hurt,
then you don't have a leverage anymore.

Speaker 2 (01:36:29):
Yeah, look, I mean, you're right, the core of this
year's team is likely to going to stay intact.

Speaker 3 (01:36:37):
Now.

Speaker 2 (01:36:37):
You know, we'll see when Ces comes back how much
he produces and what that level of production says about
the Reds willingness to use him next year, have him
in a featured role or find someone to replace him.
Tyler Steven's going to be back, Obviously, L'll be back.
I would imagine Matt McClean is still going to be
a part of this team. All the pictures they have,
Lodolo Green, et cetera. And so when we talk about

(01:37:01):
like bet sellers, it's not trade away their best players.
But Nick Martinez can walk at the end of the
season if you're six and a half games at a
first place and where they are in the standings now
in two months, how do you not see what you
can get for him? Same for you know every year
every team needs relievers. Well, the Reds have Taylor Rogers,
they have Amelia Pegan, they have a Scott Barlow, who

(01:37:23):
are pitchers who are all due to be free agents
at the end of this season. So it's not like,
you know, we're not talking about buying or selling in
terms of hitting the reset button or starting a new rebuild.
We're talking about, all right, getting a jump start on
next year this year. I hope that's not the case.
I think you and Iron in the same boat there,
But I do think if you're Nick Krawl, you've at

(01:37:45):
least got to start to think about, all right, if
we haven't made significant ground in the standings, if we
are kind of where we are now in two months,
who are we going to move on from? What can
we get? What's the market going to look like? Oh
and by the way, are there players that are a
part of that core that other teams would be interested
in that we could trade to maybe add a piece

(01:38:07):
to what we want to do next year as well?
Like I think there's a lot of different options that
are on the table right now.

Speaker 11 (01:38:12):
Yeah, like a guy like Santiago Espanal, I think, I
mean his value could really be enhanced over the next
fifty to sixty games just because he's he play a
lot of positions. He gives you a quality of bat
every time. Now, probably before the season started, you probably

(01:38:33):
would have ever said that about him or thinking about
you you would be a valuable trade piece. But I
could see a contending team or team that's looking at
maybe a long playoff run.

Speaker 5 (01:38:42):
A guy like that is huge.

Speaker 3 (01:38:44):
No doubt.

Speaker 2 (01:38:45):
And I could also see the Reds saying, because Santiago
Espinal has one more year of arbitration, I could see
the Reds going, wait a minute, this guy can play
every position. He gives us a guy who can handle
the bat. We know what he is. Do we want
him starting one hundred and forty five games, by no stretch.
But on a team that's better constructed, is their room

(01:39:07):
for Santiago Espal next year? Absolutely, But those are the
things you have to start thinking about, even if it's
a little ways away from July thirty first. Absolutely, John Tanko,
appreciate the appreciate the phone call, like it's been a
very long time, very long time since I believe we

(01:39:31):
approach the trade deadline solely from the perspective of who
can they get, what can they do, and they need
to do it now to make a push toward the postseason.
They were not there two years ago, even though I
wanted them to be, and many of us did, really
didn't feel like they were there in twenty twenty one,
even though they hung in the playoff race for much

(01:39:51):
of the season. Over the next six to seven weeks,
make make it obvious.

Speaker 3 (01:39:58):
That gets up to the players, Make it obvious.

Speaker 2 (01:40:02):
Win thirty of your next fifty, be ten over five
hundred going into the last couple of days of July,
and make it abundantly clear what Nick Kral needs to do.
In the absence of that, the discussion will continue. And yes,
it's kind of a talk radio thing. I'll be the
first to admit that, But the Reds, I'm sure internally,

(01:40:22):
will be having those discussions as well. Sports headlines are
next on ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 9 (01:40:27):
Station Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 6 (01:40:32):
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Expect more at u seehealth dot com. Northbound seventy one.
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Speaker 3 (01:41:03):
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Kelsey chev dot com.

Speaker 2 (01:41:17):
Reds and Royals again Tonight, Cincinnati will send Ace Hunter
Green to the hill. Very good young pitcher Lefty Noah
Cameron starts for Kansas City. Seven forty is tonight's first pitch.
It is on seven hundred WLW and so are the
other pitches starting lineup tonight. Get out your scorecards one day.

(01:41:37):
I'm not gonna say that. Freedom and Center. Espinal's at third,
Dela Cruz at short Hayes is d aging. Stevenson is
catching Steer's playing first base. Connor Joe, who has two
first Names is in right field Betting seventh, Matt McLain
at second base, and Garrett Hampson is in left field.
Tonight Betting nine. Florence Yall's on the road against Gateway.
Bengals announced their Ring of Honor Game will take place Sunday,

(01:41:58):
October twenty sixth, when Cincinnati hosts the New York Jets.
FC Cincinnati hosting Luke, Joe Acosta and Dallas Tonight kick
off at seven point thirty at the Soccer Venue in
the West End of Cincinnati. Pregame at seven pm. NBA
Western Conference Finals Oklahoma City could advance to the franchise's

(01:42:19):
first NBA Finals since the Seattle SuperSonics in nineteen ninety six.
Up three games to one, game five tonight in OKC.
Here you go, SGA over forty and a half points
and assists. I you know, Oklahoma's up three to one,
Indiana's up three to one. Those are two Midwestern markets,

(01:42:43):
small markets. Sometimes I'm not sure what NBA fans wants.
You know, for years, it was when we have the
same team's women every year. Okay, Well now we have
a different NBA champ for the seventh consecutive year. Well,
we don't want all the big market teams. Okay, well
you typically don't, but you know, we have a pretty
good chance this year. You're gonna have Indianapolis and Oka
se uh yeah, but you know, I don't want these

(01:43:06):
super teams, which I thought was a stupid argument, but okay,
we pretty much changed the rules so you can have
super teams and we're gonna have these organically put together
rosters in OKC in Indianapolis and give you a series
in all likelihood between two teams that have been constructed,
quote the right way, that aren't from big markets. OKAC

(01:43:30):
has not won a title as the Thunder they did
as the Sonics back in the seventies, and Indiana hasn't
won an NBA championship.

Speaker 3 (01:43:37):
As an NBA franchise, And yet it's still not good.
I don't know. Every year, well we can't have this matchup?
Why not?

Speaker 2 (01:43:45):
Like, look, I hope to god the Knicks come back
and beat the Pacers in seven. I highly doubtful that
that's gonna happen. I think I'd be a fun series,
gonna be a fun series with a whole bunch of
new characters, like, hell yeah, let's do it. Also tonight
NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs Eastern Conference Final Panthers Hurricanes. Florida's

(01:44:09):
up three games to one, game five at Carolina tonight.
This was brought to my attention by Jeff from Virginia,
who calls this show all the time. And I am
a follower of Andrew Brant on social media and I
subscribe to his newsletter. I have not been a frequent
listener of his podcast, but Andrew Brandt is a former

(01:44:32):
Green Bay Packers executive, a former sports agent. Now he
has some sort of advisory post at the University of Louisville,
and on his podcast, he did spend some time today
talking about the standoff, if you will, between the Bengals
and first round draft choice Shamar Stewart.

Speaker 15 (01:44:49):
We've got the seventeenth overall pick, Shamar Stewart with this
Cincinnati Bengals not practicing in mini camp and on OTAs
because when you the Bengals in the new negotiations are
trying to insert clause that the Frankly, Schamar's agents are
not going for. They're basically putting in a default clause

(01:45:09):
that says if the player defaults, and a default could
be a breach like a discipline issue, a steroid or
drug test issue, a morals clause issue, getting in trouble,
being suspended, being fined. Whatever default is defined as you
can avoid future guarantees. In other words, you can if

(01:45:30):
this happens in year one, you can say, well, year's two, three,
four are not guaranteed. And that is something the Bengals
are trying to impost for their own precedent where they
can do it now going forward with all rookies and
maybe even more veterans. Jamar Stewart's agent is saying, no,
no serve because last year you didn't have the seventeenth pick.
You had the eighteenth pick, and he didn't have that,

(01:45:50):
and in past years played like Jamar Chase and t Higgins,
they didn't have that. So I understand the agent saying
we're not going to do that. There's no precedent for that,
and the Bengal's saying, we're trying to create the precedent.
So this is the one that could last a while. Basically,
it's all about language. So again, when we talk about
rookie contracts, people can say, oh, it's easy, the money's

(01:46:13):
already set. Well, that's the easy part. The hard part
is getting language the teams want and guarantees. We'll see,
So stay tuned on what happens in the second round
with guarantees and what happens with seventeenth overall pick samar
Stewart and his contract.

Speaker 3 (01:46:33):
That could go, and it could go for a while.

Speaker 2 (01:46:35):
Andrew Brant, Thank you, Taron, Business of Sports podcast. So
my first thought was, Okay, well, is there some sort
of red flag that they're concerned about, some sort of
issue that they believe is going to preclude Schamar Stuart
from honoring his contract. If the answer to that question
is yes, how did you not know that going in?

(01:46:57):
And assuming you did, why did you still take the
pl when you had a lot of other options, especially
at that position. Uh, I'm guessing that's not the case.
I'm guessing that Andrew is onto something here. Hey, they
want to establish a precedent, which I kind of get right.
I want to protect yourself, but uh uh huh, not me,

(01:47:19):
not if I'm fromar Stewart. Use somebody else to set
your president. Uh huh no, no, no, no, no, no, uh
find somebody next year, Find find somebody else down the road,
find somebody else on the team.

Speaker 3 (01:47:35):
You're not. You're not using me to set your new precedent.

Speaker 2 (01:47:38):
No, No, I want with the guy that you know
was drafted one pick later last year. God, I want
that deal, with the language of that deal, maybe not
the exact money. You Find somebody else to establish your president. Uh,
I'm here to play football. Give me the contract. Let's go.
This is I'm sorry, unnecessary by the Bengals. Holy unnecessary, man.

(01:48:06):
I can't blame Shamar Stewart or his agent at all.
Find somebody else to establish your new president with. Ain't
gonna be me, Marty, either blowing his nose or revving
an engine. You're on ESPN fifteen thirty high Marty.

Speaker 7 (01:48:24):
I'm not sleep but I'm a weed eater out there,
but I've turned it off. How you doing?

Speaker 3 (01:48:29):
What's up? I'm here? Are you there?

Speaker 7 (01:48:37):
I am sorry about that.

Speaker 3 (01:48:38):
That's okay.

Speaker 7 (01:48:39):
No, I just want to talk about Santiago espin all
for a second.

Speaker 5 (01:48:42):
Sure, Love the guy. Love the guy.

Speaker 7 (01:48:46):
Sometimes when I listen to your show, I feel like
the respect is not there that he honestly deserves. The
game last night was a perfect example of him in
the field and the plate in a done Just one
of your thoughts I feel like you need to be
in the lineup every game, to be quite honest. They

(01:49:07):
kind of give us that defense on the left side
that we need and the professional approach to the plate.

Speaker 2 (01:49:16):
Well, I like them, and I like utility guys, and
teams need players who can do a lot of different
things and that you can rely on. I don't know
that a really really good team would have Santiago Espinol
starting every day, And I certainly don't believe that a
really really good team would have Santiago Espanol batting in

(01:49:37):
the two hole every night. Now, if you have to
play him because of an injury or some set of circumstances,
you could certainly do worse. And if you are ranking
some of Nick Crawl's moves as they relate to players
from other teams, Santiago Espanol would be in the pro column.
That would be in the one where you went, that
was a good move and done out of necessity. And

(01:49:57):
you like guys who could do a lot of different things.
You like guys who are reliable with the glove that
you could play in the infield, in the outfield. You
like guys that are not a zero at the plate,
but you know the Milwaukee Brewers won the National League
Central over the last couple of years with Willia Domas
playing shortstop. They're not playing Santiago Espinall. I don't know

(01:50:21):
that Santiago Espinol is getting regular starts for the Chicago Cups.
That's not a Santiago Espinol problem. It's a roster construction problem.
It's maybe an injury problem. It's a lack of player
performance problem. But I don't know anybody who doesn't like him.
I just I think most of us wish he was
playing a little bit less because that meant the Reds
had better and healthier options available.

Speaker 7 (01:50:45):
I understand. I just think especially in a defensive on
a team that at times with Dela Cruz a Shore
a little suspected short and I feel like he's definitely
not great at marte at third. He did play better
defensive at the beginning of this year, but last year
I think there was some certainly some cause for concern.
Even in the game last night. I know you were

(01:51:06):
at the Pacers game you had mentioned, but there was
a situation where Friedel was up to play. I assume
Freedi get the first and espinal awesome at bat is
ball maybe eight picks and shot it to the right
side of the nfield that he was trying to do.
And that was the play that kind of caused that
commotion at first, where Freedil came all the way around
the score a big insurance rude. Yeah, And if you watch,

(01:51:28):
it almost feels like Spinal plung at that pitch that
was a foot off the plate, but it was in
a place that he knew he wanted to go with
the ball. And it's those little things that I did
a real kick out of watching him play. I really
really enjoy watching Santiago Spinal play. And I don't know,
I just feel like I got to kind of come
to his defense a little bit and sing his praises.

Speaker 3 (01:51:48):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:51:49):
No, look, if Santiago Espinall's on the team next year,
that's great. And uh, he's been a good pickup. And
you know, again, it's it's great to have guys who
come off your bench who can give you those sort
of at bats, who could give you you can put
anywhere in the field and know if the ball is
hit to him, he's gonna do the right thing. I
just think from an overall offensive profile perspective, ideally the

(01:52:13):
construction of the team would And by the way, Santiago
Santiago Espinal started forty games this year, so he's you know,
I mean, he's on pace to start what about one
hundred and twenty ball games, pretty good for a player
of his statum, and he played in fewer than that
last year.

Speaker 7 (01:52:29):
I don't have his numbers in front of him, but
what's he battened? You know, he's in.

Speaker 3 (01:52:33):
Seven ten points above his career.

Speaker 14 (01:52:36):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:52:36):
No, he gives a good at bat like you know
you if you look at his numbers, you go, that's
a good guy to bring off your bench. That's a
good guy to start once or twice a week at
a couple of different positions on a team that is
better constructed, that has more guys having better seasons, and
is healthier than the Reds are. But that's no, that's
not an indictment against Santiago Espinal. You can play for

(01:52:57):
a long time and help a lot of teams and
make a lot of money being that type of player.

Speaker 7 (01:53:05):
I understand, Marty.

Speaker 3 (01:53:08):
Get back to the weed whacken.

Speaker 7 (01:53:11):
I will if my boss is listening to That's what
I'm doing.

Speaker 3 (01:53:14):
All right, He's weed whacken right now, Marty, thank you
for the phone call. Look, I mean play.

Speaker 2 (01:53:18):
You know, good teams need subs, Good teams need super subs.
Some of the more popular players we've had around here
were guys who could play multiple positions and were I
hate to say this because I know what it sounds
like that were non zeros offensively, like you could really

(01:53:40):
help out. You know, the Reds the last time they
were really really good, had Wilson Valdez. Wilson Valdez was
not in Cincinnati what he had been in Philadelphia. But
in Philadelphia he was the guy that could play all
the infield positions. Once beat the Reds on a successful
suicide squeeze bunt, and I remember when the Reds got him.
I'm like, oh no, I don't want that guy playing

(01:54:02):
every day because that means that somebody who is supposed
to be better isn't where they're not healthy.

Speaker 3 (01:54:08):
But yeah, if I got that guy coming off my bench, like.

Speaker 2 (01:54:11):
There's always room for super subs, always room for super subs.
Utility players, pinch hitters, extraordinaries, and that's why you have
something like I want that guy to be a Red
for a while, but I also want him serving in
a role where the manager is struggling to find him

(01:54:31):
playing time because players at all the other positions he
can play are having better seasons. Uh Taren hawwey on time.
Two minutes, Mike, you can have him.

Speaker 12 (01:54:44):
Good afternoon, Hey mom, that was an interesting conversation we
had that gentleman earlier about the ABA. You know, the
most colorful NCAA Championship Final four I ever seen I
was in nineteen seventy four with there were three first

(01:55:05):
time final four teams in Mexico State. Saint Bonaventure with
Big Bob Lanier who actually blew his knee out in
the regional final and couldn't play in the final four,
and that school had an enrollment of three thousand students
at the time, and then Jacksonville Dolphins, who had been
an NAI eight team six years earlier. But what was

(01:55:27):
cool about it was they had big artist Gilmore, the
lefty seven to two with the big f ro and
then they had another seven footer named Pembrook Burrows. It
was seventh be tall and their coach was Joe Williams.
He wore a white double breasted suit coat with a
watermelon red shirt, baby blue pants, white shoes and it

(01:55:49):
glowed in the dark.

Speaker 3 (01:55:51):
So this is you said seventy four. I think this
is seventy or from seventy nineteen.

Speaker 12 (01:55:57):
Nineteen seventy and then UCLA with the best power forward
combination I think ever in the history of college basketball,
with Sidney Wicks and Curtis Row. But U c l
A went on to beat him. But you would have loved,
you liked interesting, you would have loved that. I gotta,
I gotta. I wanted to do some other stuff. I
think al d Row Goddess is the best NFL commentator

(01:56:18):
I've ever heard. He was on back in the seventies.
Aldro Goddess kick her and of course the best NBA
so dribble, dry, slam, dunk, all the mustards off the
I talk all that stuff. I got a couple of
quick Rookie of the Year questions for you.

Speaker 3 (01:56:32):
We got less than go ahead.

Speaker 5 (01:56:36):
Who are the.

Speaker 12 (01:56:36):
Only two rookies that also won the MVP? And this
is since late sixties?

Speaker 3 (01:56:45):
Are you talking NBA?

Speaker 2 (01:56:48):
No?

Speaker 12 (01:56:48):
No, I'm sorry, no, I'm sorry MLB.

Speaker 3 (01:56:51):
Mike Troud if I'm not mistaken. And Ichi Rosazuki.

Speaker 2 (01:56:57):
No no no no no no no no no no, no,
not Mike Trout because I think Cabrera beat him. In
twenty twelve, you won the triple crown each your row.
Fred Lynton seventy five for the Red Sox.

Speaker 12 (01:57:13):
Yes, yep.

Speaker 3 (01:57:14):
First first guy to hit a Grand Slam in the
All Star Game.

Speaker 2 (01:57:18):
Yeah.

Speaker 12 (01:57:19):
The only pitcher to win the Rookie of the Year
in MVP.

Speaker 3 (01:57:24):
Only Rookie of the Year and MVP is pitcher.

Speaker 2 (01:57:28):
I don't know, Fernando Fernando Alizuela in nineteen eighty one.

Speaker 3 (01:57:32):
You are correct, Mike, I gotta go man and.

Speaker 12 (01:57:35):
Then a Red Pat Zachary and Butch Metzger tied for
the MVP in seventy six. Okay, thanks well.

Speaker 2 (01:57:42):
Pat Zachary was Rookie of the Year. It was most
definitely not MVP. Traded to the Mets the next year.

Speaker 3 (01:57:47):
We have to go.

Speaker 2 (01:57:48):
Thanks to Tarran Bland for producing, Thanks to you for listening.
Have an unbelievable night. Don't forget since he three sixty
tomorrow at noon. We're back tomorrow at three oh five
on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 9 (01:58:04):
Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 6 (01:58:08):
Traffic from the UCE Health Traffic Center at U see Health.
more at u seehealth dot com. Right lane is blocked
off from a disabled vehicle westbound on sixth Street. That's
over near seventy one on northbound seventy one, an accident

(01:58:31):
on the entrance ramp from Fort Washington Way, and another
accident Paddock Road at Tennessee Avenue. I'm at Ezelich with traffic.

Speaker 10 (01:58:39):
This report is sponsored by Discover Guess what discovers accepted
at ninety nine percent of place?

Speaker 3 (01:58:45):
Does it take

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