6/26/24 - The Mo Egger Show w/ Chad Brendel

Reds vs Pirates instant reaction

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Sinnati Sports Station ESPN fifteen thirty,and away we go. It is the
Mo Eggar Show right here in Cincinnati'sESPN fifteen thirty. I am not Moegar.

(00:22):
I am Chad Brendle filling in whileMo fills in for Lance tonight.
As always, thank you for choosingme, even the ones that just hear

(00:45):
this song hit and change the channel. I appreciate you too. I guess
let's get going. I here's thething, you guys know this. When
I'm infrom O, I like tokeep things light. I like to have

(01:06):
fun. I like to laugh.Sports is not that serious. There's a
lot to talk about, and there'sa way to do it that isn't angry
all the time, even though oneof you know, my favorite Cincinnati radio
programs of all time was The TwoAngry Guys. That's just not my personality.

(01:30):
But the Cincinnati Reds are making ithard. Let's be honest. This
is a team that I'll put itpretty simply, it's not fun to watch.
Remember last year about this time,they were just coming off a twelve
game winning streak, and we talkedabout how fun they were to watch,

(01:53):
how exciting the brand of baseball wasthat they were playing, that the vision
was being realized as this next wave, this next generation of stars was among
us getting that first major league seasonunder their belts. They were aggressive,

(02:17):
they weren't sloppy. Sure, therewere a couple of mistakes here and there,
but it was a team that playedfundamentally sound baseball. It was a
team that was enjoyable. It wasa team that had some depth in the
lineup. It was a team thatcaptivated you. This team is essentially none

(02:46):
of those things. Essentially none ofthose things. They have a medical and
training staff that if you own thisteam, how can you watch what happens

(03:07):
on a regular basis with this rosterand medical issues and not look to start
over and not look to revamp everythingfrom top to bottom. I mean,
just this week, Christian and Karnaciand Strand who was hit in April,

(03:31):
late April April twenty first, Ithink hit on the hand. He goes
on the injured list. They clearhim to return on June eighth, and
yesterday they announced it he's having surgery. Nicolodolo, your most consistent, effective

(03:57):
starting pitcher, has a on histhrowing hand. They run him out there
for seventy seven pitches over the weekend. They brag about it, essentially that
Lodolo through seventy seven pitches with ablister. Look how awesome Nick Lodolo is

(04:18):
to be able to do that.Yesterday injured list yesterday. Hunter Green throws
up on the mound in the firstinning. They leave him out there to
get pummeled. Pummeled. It waseight to nothing before the red Scoter run.

(04:48):
I don't understand the base running.There's a fine line between being aggressive
and being sloppy. They crossed thatline a long time go. They recently
lost a one run game where twoguys were thrown out at the plate and
another guy was picked off a secondbase. The guy picked off a second

(05:12):
base was Elie de la Cruz,the fastest man in baseball. How on
God's green Earth is he getting pickedoff of second base? It doesn't make
any sense. And then you havethe roster construction issues. They ran out

(05:39):
of lineup today that, in myopinion, in my estimation, has four
major League baseball quality starters, onedecent bench guy, one guy that a

(06:00):
lot of other people are a lothigher on than me, and then three
guys that shouldn't be in the MajorLeagues India, Da, La Cruz,
Tier Stevenson. That's your top four. That's serviceable. It's pretty good,
right. Nick Martini, who multipletimes has been proven not to be good

(06:20):
enough to play consistently in Major Leaguebaseball, he is the quintessential four A
player. You don't know what fourA is. That's that land where a
guy is probably too good to playin Triple A, doesn't need to be
in Triple A anymore, but notgood enough to make it in the majors.

(06:41):
Espinal a serviceable, reliable backup benchenfielder. He has been starting all
season. Stuart Fairchild at best isyour fifth is a fifth outfielder. Because
of the way this roster is constructed. He spent the first two months of
the season playing essentially every day,where he hits ninety four coming into today's

(07:04):
game against right handers. Does hehave a place on the bench as a
good glove in the outfield, uh, and a guy that can situationally hit
lefties. Sure, I would contendthat he is another four A guy.
He's twenty eight years old. Hehas not found a home to stick regularly
in Major League Baseball. There shouldbe should be somebody in the minor leagues

(07:32):
under the twenty five and under thatcan play that role, they don't have
it. So that's why he's here. Soto Jordan, who are those guys?
When did they get here? Nobusiness being on a roster of a
team that's contending or wants to contend, or tells their fan base that they're

(07:56):
going to be a contender. Andnow all of a sudden, I told
you guys it's gonna happen two weeksago. The pitching is is is wearing
a little thin. You send gramAsscraft down to the minors, You replace
him essentially with bullpen days. Oncea week. Ashcraft is back. He

(08:24):
gave up five six runs today.Nick Lidola is now an injured list.
Where's the depth we heard about fromthe starting pitching? Remember that in spring
training all they've got eight nine guysthat can start at the major league level.
Nope, they sure don't. Andit's goes so much farther beyond that.

(08:54):
Fundamentally they are bad. They don'tturn double plays, they don't execute
taking an extra base at near therate that they did last year. Like
that was one of the most funparts about last year's team. Wasn't it
how often they went from first tothird, how aggressive they were putting pressure

(09:16):
on the opposing defense. Now theseguys are getting thrown out by three steps,
the balls just waiting there for him. It's not the defense is atrocious.
The fielding, the ability to makesimple plays is lacking. It almost

(09:39):
burned them today. India takes aground ball, throws it to day La
Cruz at second. Ellie has tocome almost all the way off the bag
just to make the force out atsecond, and because of how bad the
toss was, he couldn't get theout at first. No double play.

(10:01):
The little stuff has become gargantuan forthis team, and they are not fun
to watch. They're not interesting.They are not good that they fail both
of Moegger's tests. Be good,be interesting. They're neither. This is

(10:22):
not a team that warrants three hoursa day for six months out of the
year. They have not earned yourtime. I have to watch. I
don't have a choice, especially itload management summer. I'm in here a

(10:46):
lot, so I have to watch. I have to have an opinion.
Somebody on talkbacks on since he threesixties say they saw the home run in
the first inning, they turned itoff man. That would be delightful.
Sometimes I would love nothing more thanthat option. It's like watching what's happening

(11:07):
right now. They're losing six toone going into the ninth inning. They're
gonna lose another series when this gameis complete and they lose, because they
will. They lost fourteen of seventeenthrough May into June. Then they won
seven in a row, and everybodythought, oh, back on track,

(11:31):
all right, back on track.Today will be the tenth loss in fifteen
games since that seven game winning streak. In the two stretches sandwiching the seven
game winning streak, they lost fourteenof seventeen and it will be after today
ten of fifteen. That's eight winsand twenty four losses. If you add

(11:58):
in the seventh game winning streak,it is still nine games under five hundred
since the start of May. It'sinfuriating to watch this team play. What's

(12:22):
the answer. I don't know ifthere is an answer. Would I fire
David Bell? Yeah, I'd trysomething new. I would, because you
have a team that plays sloppy,lazy. The effort's not there. If
this team, look, you knowthis town, If this team was hustling

(12:43):
and playing hard and playing smart andjust coming up short. Meet a lot
of people that would still have theirback. That is not what's happening.
It is a team that is playingthe exact opposite of how you want to

(13:03):
see your team play, especially whenyou've got a young roster. So I
don't think there is any saving them. McLean's not coming back this year.
I'm convinced of that. We're notgoing to see now Christian and Canasi and

(13:31):
Strand is out for the rest ofthe year, not for three months July,
August, September. Noelbie Marte shouldbe coming back. But I think
Tony's baby could strike that kid outget him out right now. I think
Walker could take them out, takethe bump and get Marte out. Given

(13:56):
what he's shown in his rehab assignment. It's just not good enough, and
in fact, it borders on bad. So what I fired David Bell?
Yeah, do I think it's gonnachange much? I don't know. I

(14:18):
mean, you hear the fire andbrimstone thing all the time. You need
to need to get a coach inhere with some fire and brimstone and a
light of fire under these guys rearends. Sure, maybe it's got to
be better than whatever they're doing now. Whatever they're doing now, it's really
hard to watch. We'll talk aboutother stuff along the way too, but

(14:43):
I'm just I'm I'm out a breakingpoint for the summer. July is almost
here, fourth of July, nextweek, get through the weekend. Summer
is you know, Summer is infull swing and this Reds team ain't contending

(15:07):
for nothing. What's your answer,I'm I'm here for solutions. I'm here
for suggestions. I'm here for somebodyto call in and say, Chad,
I think this is what gets thisthis franchise back on track. Ultimately,
it's gonna take a lot of convincingfive one, three, seven, fifteen

(15:31):
thirty, let's take a break place. Notan from Just Baseball coming up at
three point thirty. George Vogel,gorgeous George joining us in the five o'clock
hour. It's just me and yououtside of that more after this, since
not E's ESPN fifteen thirty, I'msteal steal what is one d steal snip

(15:54):
with Di I not guess Who's guesswho? Back eraaled as Chapman is back
in Great American Ballpark, as hejust struck out Ali Da La Cruz.
On three pitches, he dots aone hundred and two mile an hour fastball
low and away to send Elie tothe bench. Terrence says, Chapman just

(16:22):
doesn't look right in black and gold. I said, no one looks good
in black and gold, and Terrencesaid, he does me a snoop.
Yeah, do it snow. Imean you do very striking resemblance to the
do O DOUBLEG. I'm not gonnalie. I'm gonna need more stuff to
keep me happy today, Arran,because I'm frustrated, and you know I

(16:48):
have. I have. I've spenta week since returning from Orlando, spent
a week rehabbing my voice. Ithink I'm in a pretty good place.
It's a lot better than it waslast Thursday. Correct. I'm trying not
to get agitated today and come inhere Friday with no voice again, but

(17:11):
it's not promising. I'm frustrated.I know I have to continue to watch
this for another three plus months.Really one most Bengals kicking yeah in Bearcats.
Well, that part is true.The other part that is true is

(17:32):
generally once training camp starts, MOdoesn't take any days off like load management
is over, so I'm doomed toat least another month of this before I
can just stop paying attention. Andthen you know, higher ground starts for
the Bearcats and they get into footballseason and then what should be an exciting
basketball season. I can't wait Friday, Terrance Tomorrow, the Big Twelve is

(17:57):
releasing the conference home and away opponents, and I can't wait to talk about
that on Friday because it'll give usa little something different. I do think
there's going to be a couple veryvery high profile games at Fifth third Arena

(18:18):
this coming season, which essentially tarnThere's five top ten teams in the Big
Twelve, so there's a good chancethere's gonna be multiple top ten teams visiting
fifth third Arena this coming season.Can't wait to talk about that on Friday,
and then you know, the waythe Big East stuff goes, Xavier

(18:40):
will host two time defending national championKHN with Danny Hurley back in tow So
there's gonna be some great basketball thiswinter played in Cincinnati. I'm excited about
that. Some great basketball played thissummer too. Smith League is awesome.
Smith Leagu's awesome, and is wasit? They just announced their matchups today,

(19:04):
Cincinnati hosting at Fifth Third Arena theNasty Natty Squad and then zip them
up. The Xavier team will bein that bracket as well, so you
know we'll be there for that.That'll be exciting. Not I won't get
shout out to the Kingdom leaue theyhoop at Princeton. Yeah, Jared Cumberlin
hoops out there. So yeah,I don't think they're in CUAA certified yet,

(19:26):
which the Smith League had that theywere working through that for a little
while. It's not an easy certificationto get, but in order to have
the college players play in your league, you have to be NCAA certified,
right, So I think they're stillworking on that. But let's take a
break. Klay s Noden from JustBaseball. When we return, I'm gonna

(19:47):
have Clay try to talk me offthe ledge. I don't think he's gonna
more into this. Cincinaty's ESPN fifteenthirty and fifteen thirty. Yeah, you
know what it is? Yellow andyellow, Yeah, Taren, Today's not
today, Taren Bland. Yeah,welcome back. Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

(20:18):
Talent sor the views expressed by theproducer of this program are not shared by
anyone outside of ESPN fifteen thirty,including the vocal talent on air. See
the problem is Teraran, it doesn'teven really bother me that much. It

(20:44):
would. I'm so mad at thisfranchise that the Pittsburgh doesn't even matter.
You know the problem, you knowthe real problem. Pittsburgh is farther along
in this process than the Reds are. Hunter Green in the Nicklodola would be
number four starters for Pittsburgh right now. And Pittsburgh is more sound top to

(21:07):
bottom across their roster than Cincinnati.That's just God's honest truth. All right,
let's get to our guest. I'mgoing to ask maybe the impossible of
our guy, Klay Snowden from JustBaseball. Clay, I am on the

(21:30):
ledge. I have a toe overthe ledge. Can you talk me off
the ledge? Or are you gettingto the point where I'm nearing that.
I don't see how this season issalvageable. Tarn and I are in a
car, are going ninety five headedright at you on the ledge. Actually,
we're all going down with the shipsucks. It's not me. I'm

(21:55):
fine and here's the thing, Chad. You know, every time we talk,
we always have to say, oh, injury, suspension this, and
preface it. And that is fairbut and it's it's fair, but also
like that doesn't mean that you justget to sit out the rest of the
season and pout like you can stillbe upset about the results. And you
look at the lineup today and youknow, Jake Frayley's out and oh Candelario's

(22:19):
out, and you know there's justguys that are just not major leaguers on
this roster, and it's it's kindof been a theme for thirty years.
Yeah, yeah, thirty years.It's been a theme at at times,
and it is it does feel differentin terms of just a kind of a
breaking point. And you know,we we don't have to recap every single

(22:41):
year or anything, but the Reds, you know, built a roster at
one point a few years back withlike Mustakas and stuff, and there was
a reason to be excited going intothat season. You know, there's something
there. At least they tore itdown and twenty twenty four, this is
going to be the year. Wehave these young players who looked great last
year, all of those rookies loregreat last year, perfect storm of events.

(23:04):
Here we are at the end ofJune feeling hopeless. We somehow always
get back to the same feeling,don't we We do. And the thing
I think that's frustrating Clay is,look, if you paid attention to the
baseball experts in the offseason, theytold you loud and clear, even without
the injuries, that the Reds probablywere gonna be about as good as they

(23:27):
were last year, maybe a littlebit worse just that year two for so
many guys, and that year twohas always been maybe the most difficult in
baseball. We seem to see guyshave more success in their rookie years and
then struggle in year two than likea league like you know, the NBA,
Like rookies don't have a great dealof success in the NBA in year

(23:49):
one, and then year two yousee a jump. The NFL very similar
and baseball it feels like rookies aregood in year one and then they have
a little bit of a step backas the league adjusts to them and they
go through that second grind. SoI think some of that was was understandable,
and the injuries they stink, butI'm tired of that as an excuse.

(24:11):
Like, you're a major league franchise, you should not be crippled by
two or three injuries. And that'sessentially what has happened to this team.
My problem, Clay, is they'resloppy there. They look un inspired that
they do not look like a youngteam with enthusiasm that we saw a year

(24:34):
ago. It looks like a completelydifferent mentality, vibe approach. I don't
know what you want to call it, but it's not fun baseball to watch.
When you are watching your kids playsports, there's always a kid on
the team who sucks, but thatkid does one hundred and ten percent.

(24:55):
You're never mad at them, right, they're trying their best. Like I
know, it sounds elementary, butwe have to break it down to that.
Right now, this team, andI tweeted it yesterday, I know
it's little league to pull the guywho doesn't hustle, to pull the guy
who makes the bonehead mistake, andit's you know, these are professionals,
these are adults. They're making littleleague mistakes, right, you need to

(25:18):
be treated like little leaguers. Tome it and you know I'm I always
say the manager has the least amountof impact of any quote unquote head coach.
Okay, let's just get that outof the way. At some point
we have to look at this andsay, what, what like does this
fall on David Bell rather that's fairor not. And I understand he does

(25:38):
not have the best players. He'snot the one batting. I've said that
a million times, But doesn't itkind of feel like it's time for a
little bit of a shakeup of likethe vibe or the clubhouse or whatnot.
It's been what five years of It'snot like he has this track record of

(25:59):
like all right here there times he'sdone all these things that we like and
this was impressive, and yeah,there's also negatives like there's just not a
ton that I look at with DavidBell and say, yeah, actually the
Reds would be a lot different,you know, he'd go on and do
great things and whatnot. It doesfeel like this team is making mistakes that
are lazy, unfocused and ultimately costingthem a game. And the margins are

(26:25):
already slim and when you beat yourselfover the head like they have the margins
just strength and they can't afford todo that. No, and I think
that's where the David Bell conversation getsinteresting. I've said this for a couple
of months now when I've been onthe air here. If I woke up
tomorrow and the story breaks that theReds have fired David Bell, my reaction

(26:45):
would be Okay, yeah, LikeI wouldn't. I wouldn't. I wouldn't
be gung ho that he was gone. I wouldn't. I wouldn't, you
know, be upset that we wouldn'tsee him anymore. I just look,
got it, I go, Okay, what is what has been the great
success of David Bell's managerial career?What two seasons were they eked over five

(27:07):
hundred? Yeah? And that's thething to me is I feel the same
way, like I just don't evenhave much emotion towards him in any way.
And it kind of feels like whenyou talk when anyone talks about David
Bell, or when you're around DavidBell, you like you hear him not
around it, but hear him inthe interviews whatnot. Like emotion in him
are not tied together unless it's himgoing out to yell as an umpire,

(27:30):
you know, five times a year. I don't know what it is.
And it's hard to say because we'renot in the clubhouse seeing it, but
at some point, like messaging getsold, especially when you keep losing.
How often do we see in sportsthe whatever you want to call it,
coach lose their job even when itwasn't necessarily their fault. That's just sometimes

(27:52):
needed, right, And I knowhe got his extension and that's all great,
and like trust the process. It'sat some point some thing has to
change though. You can't just keepdoing the exact same thing. And maybe
he is just the fall guy andthat's fine. I'm okay with it.
Yeah, somebody has to be.It's not going to be any of the

(28:12):
players. But they're gonna fire Ellie, designate for assignment Ellie and uh Hunter
Green. They're not doing that.It doesn't make sense to me when you
have, you know, a mistakelike Jake Frayley made yesterday where he just
kind of tosses the ball and like, yeah, I get it. Two

(28:34):
games, Yeah, yeah, youplay one hundred and sixty two games,
like you're not going to be onehundred percent mentally sharp at every single moment.
And I'm not even saying they needto be like you have to send
a message like this. It's allabout feel, doesn't it feel like the
Reds need a message sentence kind Andthat's an opportunity to just I mean,

(28:55):
pull him from the game. LikeI know a lot of people would disagree
with that or whatnot. Like it'snot like we're pulling Ellie here and you're
gonna potentially lose. You're pulling JakeFrayley as one home run and has really
underperformed in nine eyes on the season. There's plenty of reason to believe he
can bounce back, just because ofthe past and how you know, productive

(29:15):
he's been in the past compared tonow, and some injuries and whatnot.
But at some point, like justkeep relying on the this is gonna happen.
This will level out. Like Ijust think it's time for a message.
Whatever that message will be. Idon't know if we'll even even see
one, but I'll tell you whatI would have been happier with David Bell

(29:37):
if he would have pulled Jake Frayleyor you bench a player. You know,
there's there's punishment to stupidity and whatwe're gonna get, you know,
at the top of the hour,Tarn I'll get to the postgame audio and
it'll be David Bell saying, Ithink we're close. I think these guys
are going out there and they're tryinghard and just you know, a pitch
here, a pitch there just notgoing our way. Yeah, you got

(30:00):
four hits today, one run,four hits. Like, how many games
does it feel like they've been underfive hits? Almost all? Like they
have? They have two games aweek where they swing the bats and then
four or five games a week wherethey have five or less hits. Yeah,
and that that speaks on the Okay, this seam just doesn't have enough

(30:22):
talent, and we know that,we know that that. That's a different
conversation than it's all the manager's fault. But like, but like we're kind
of getting that here is it's timefor something to shake up a little bit,
regardless of what that is. AndI don't know if it's a trade.
I don't know if it's a changeof manager or something, but this
season has just gone completely south.And I mean every day you have one

(30:47):
less game to fix it. Everysingle day. Yeah, And you know
two weeks ago when the Reds wonseven in a row, it was here's
the moment now. I wrote anarticle saying like, this is the time
to kind of ride momentum. Theywere playing two first place teams that week.
They did okay there, and justevery day we can't say, all

(31:08):
right, here's the next time orhere's the next opportunity, and that the
NL has been super weak this yearand the Reds are just not able to
capitalize. And I just don't thinkthat they have the horses in the stable.
They're in last place in a weakdivision that you know, and it's
not going to get better. SaintLouis is coming to town, who's playing

(31:29):
good baseball right now, and thenthe Yankees after that. Yeah, I
mean we are starting to look atthe typical you know, Midsummer holiday of
the trade deadline and who can go. And that's even mysterier discussion because there's
really not much is out there totrade. It's kind of just a stay

(31:53):
pad or you know, if youwant to get creative and try to bring
in talent that can help you infuture years. I think that's a good
message to send as an organization.I don't know if they'll do it,
like you know, history doesn't reallytell us that they will, but Chad,
like, how would you feel ifthe Reds acquired a good major leaguer

(32:14):
who not not paying some star,but a good piece that has multiple years
of control? Would wouldn't you alittle bit more? It would change something?
Right? And I got my questionis so Clay, who would who
do they have that would make movethat needle to make a trade like that.
You know, you can dip intothe prospect prospect pool and and pull

(32:37):
pull some strings there they have theI will say you've probably noticed around Twitter
there's less tweeting about prospect videos.And it's not just because Ellie graduated and
Marte McLean is so on. Thereain't much there right now. This system's
not performing up to the preseason standardthat we thought. You know, a

(33:00):
lot of the top prospects are youknow, Edwin Arroyo is injured, Others
are underperforming. Connor Phillips just sentback to Arizona as a hey, buddy,
every single thing has gone wrong.Let's just see if you can.
Yeah, just hit the reset.They unplugged him, They took him out
in the machine and get like alike a Nintendo cartridge, and they put

(33:24):
him back in. Yeah. Right, so right now it's to me,
it's it's just a last season.It just is what it is. It
does not mean next year is awful. It does not mean this team has
no hope going forward. I thinkif you really unpack it all and look

(33:46):
at it, and it's fair,if you look at it in a fair
way and say, hey, threehundred and sixty five days ago, these
players weren't even on the roster,or they just came up then they were
all good. And how many ofthose players are currently on the active roster
one allie two steer, Yeah,I mean it's few, it's few.

(34:07):
So I think there's still hope forthe future. I just think it's a
complete perfect storm of the season.I'm not saying the team's going to the
World Series and next year, butyou know you're what you are not is
the Toronto Blue Jays a team sittingthere thinking we built up, we had
our five year window, and nowwe're looking at in the face with no

(34:28):
success and now we have to tradeour best players. Reds are far far
from that, all right. Unfortunately, I gotta let you go because I'm
out of time. We didn't evenget to the medical and training staff,
and how far I'd like to firethem into the sun. I'm glad we
didn't get there because I feel theopposite way. Okay, well, then

(34:50):
maybe that would have been a productiveconversation other than these guys stink and it's
a lost season and we'll see themin February. Clay, Well, talk
soon. Thanks again, brother,telling where to find you on Twitter.
Clay underscore snow on Just Baseball dotcom as well. All right, appreciate
you, brother, Thanks man,We'll talk soon. Thanks. Here you

(35:12):
go, Clay didn't talk me offthe ledge. I'm still ready to jump.
Take a break. You know what'llfix it when we come back.
We'll listen to David Bell and more. Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty. Hey There,
what's for dinner tonight? Take OutESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati's Sports Station

(35:51):
Hour Number two, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteenthirty, The Moeggar Show. I am
not Moeger. Chad Frendall in FROMOfor the day. Thank you for choosing
me. You can find Mode tonightsix to nine down the dial at seven

(36:15):
hundred wl W. Well here fromDavid Bell. I don't know why,
but we will. He's not goingto say anything that whatever he says is
probably gonna make me mad. Ihaven't heard it yet, but we'll get
to in a second. But youknow what I want to do first,

(36:35):
I want to talk to Mike.Mike brings some joy to my life.
How are you my friend? Well, we're jumping together, bro, so
I am bringing you up. Well, crap, I'm with you all the
way. I wish that could say, Chad, Chad, Chad, you
all washed up for a reasons,X, Y and Z, but I

(37:00):
can't come up with one cowboy.All right, talk y'all. What First
of all, how are you andthe fam and the girls doing. We're
doing good, but you know,still volleyball summer, got club tryouts coming
up, and then school tryouts comingup, and then school season coming up.
So a lot of a lot ofbear cat stuff and then uh,

(37:22):
volleyball dad. So it has becomea a passion of mine, Mike brother
with the teenagers and stuffycause it'll flyby like nothing. As you know,
she wants to have boys over,Mike. Yeah, hey, Karen might

(37:42):
be up for babysitting. I don'tknow. Yeah, she hasn't. She
hasn't quite grasped the cardinal rule ofhaving boys over. One I have to
meet him first, yeah, absolutely, And two I have to like him.
So if I don't. If Imeet him and I don't like him,
he's not coming over. I mean, you might see him on the
street and guarz a nice looking youngman or it seems like a respect and

(38:06):
then start talking to him, andwhen he starts opening that possible, you
go. Appearances can be deceiving,right, Jed. I also remember what
it was like to be a teenageboy, and I was really only interested
in one thing and it wasn't companionship, Mike. No, it didn't have
a thing to do with companionship.And boy, those were the good days.

(38:29):
You go home with some thoughts inmind and hopes for the next day
that you're going to get in themdoors sooner or later, right, right,
Like you know when when when you'rea parent, it's like this.
When you have a boy, youhave to worry about one. When you're
a girl, dad, you gotto worry about all of them. Yeah,
very well. Put see you mademe left. Well, I'm going

(38:51):
into hospice in about ten days,damn it, Mike, pretty much done.
I think I don't know I'm stillkeep fighting. Yeah, and I
got a hindoo doctor. I'm goingto be so I'm going all out now,
holistic, you name it. I'mgoing to find some some gloomer here.
So anyway, well, this mightmake you, This might make you

(39:14):
feel better, Mike. Okay,my mom lasted three years in hospice.
Oh that the she lasted so longthat the nurses, the hospice nurses would
schedule schedule their lunch breaks at mymom's house and they would come to my
mom's house and my mom would makethem lunch and they would sit and watch
soap operas. Uh, she wastheir patient for so long. They're making

(39:37):
that that's hilarious. Yeah, I'mnot not hilarious. The heartwarming story.
So thank you, Chip, Igot you very much. I got you.
You got me Okay, Red realquick. Oh, I think Caruso
was a good pick up for Okac. That's a valuable little ballplayer. I
got the Lakers rue the day theygot rid of little Alex. Yeah.

(39:58):
He can play all around, right, Yeah he can. He can really
defend. Yeah, I think hemay be all defensive team. He ain't
Michael Cooper, but he's nice,you know. But He's one of those
guys that has the secret. Heknows how to move laterally. If you
can move laterally, if you've gotsome toughness and you can move side to
side, you can be a greatdefender at any level. Yep. You

(40:22):
know see technicalities that I overlook youallude to. And that's why I'm serious
when I said I learned older thanyou. But see that's just that you
keep an open mind. You canlearn a whole bunch, but you gotta
do not think you know everything.See that. I'll give you a story
on that. Mike. Uh,when I when I first started really getting

(40:45):
into this and and you know,started like this was gonna be my career
path. I started going to practices, Uh, Mick Cronin practices and sitting
next to Hap Cronin and have legendarybasketball mind and and also legendary baseball mind,
and you learn real fast. Youdon't know a damn thing about like

(41:08):
you know how to watch the ball, and you know how to like,
Okay, this guy can score,this guy can pass. But in terms
of the fine points, the finerpoints of basketball, I learned more from
sitting there with hep for it wasabout eight or nine years that I was
really welcomed into practice with Mick andreally got a chance to like start absorbing.

(41:31):
And I thought I knew the game, Like I thought I was pretty
good at basketball in terms of likeunderstanding what was happening. I didn't know
a damn thing, Mike, LikeI was starting from absolute scratch. And
now I feel like I can watchthe game from a different lens because I
sat there and listened and I andI absorbed that knowledge. And that's,

(41:52):
you know, That's been the keyto success is you know what you know,
but there's all whole lot of stuffyou don't know that people that have
been doing it a long time havehave learned that that you still and I'm
to this day, I'm still everytime I watch a practice, I'm lucky
enough to be at a practice,I'm trying to learn something. Yeah,

(42:13):
and they're willing to impart that informationto you. A lot of people aren't
aren't going to do that, youknow, just because they look down at
you or what have you. ButI'll tell you, the lateral thing is
interesting. I'm really up what Iwanted to say, but you spur that
in me. The lateral movement reallykind of helps diminish across over stuff like
that, right, sure, Imean that's it's just it's able to being

(42:36):
able to stay in front, andnot especially with as good as as guys
are with the ball. You haveto be able to stay on balance.
And the only way you can reallystay on balance defensively is to move well
laterally. The running and jumping,you know, the vertical stuff helps.
But you know, I look back. The guy that always stood out to
me that was so good at itwas air and Craft that played at Ohio

(43:00):
State. He was not the mostyou know, imposing athlete. He was
not a great vertical athlete, butif you watched his feet and his hips
on defense, he was so peskybecause you never were able to get the
edge on him. You never wereable to turn the corner. And if
you can keep you know, NBAlevel scorers, the elite of the elite,

(43:22):
if you can keep them from turningthe corner, you can be a
great defender as long as you understandthat that's your superpower, that that's your
your strength. And a guy likeCaruso plays exactly into that. He makes
sure far more often than not thatyou are not getting your hips even with
his hips, you are not gettingpast him. You know, it's an

(43:45):
old football phrase that kind of appliesto what we're talking about in basketball.
If they're even, they're leaving.If they get hip to hip with you,
you know, an elite scoring guard, you're cooked, You're toast.
And Caruso does a great job notallowing that. And I let me ask
you this question. And one ofmy favorite modern day UC players, Gary

(44:06):
Clark, who was a great rebounder. Was he good at that? Sad?
Yeah, Gary was not, anda lot of it with Gary,
he had an injury while he wasat U, see like a lower leg
injury that never really allowed him tobe as explosive as he should have been.
But he understood positioning, He understoodhow well to move laterally. Another
one Jared Cumberland. Jared Cumberland didnot have the look and feel of a

(44:30):
great defender, but he became anadequate defender because of his anticipation, because
of his strength, because of hisability to move. He was able to
stay one step ahead of guys.So you know that that that's it's not
exactly the lateral quickness that we're talkingabout, but you know, there's more
than one way to skin a cat. Gary did it a lot with anticipation,

(44:53):
great timing, great understanding of whatthe offense was trying to do.
Gary was insanely smart. So whenyou watched film, Gary was able to
absorb that and understand, Okay,they're putting me in this action, they're
putting me in this ball screen,or they're putting me in this this play
where they're trying to get the ballto their guy. I'm going to be

(45:15):
a step ahead of that process.So Gary, some of it was lateral,
some of it was very mental withGary as well. Awesome, can
I can I do a couple ofquick ribs? Sure? Okay, thanks
and thanks for that. Yeah,n that's the best part. Okay.
Forts. Look, everybody has injuries. I don't want to hear any injuries

(45:36):
stuff. I'm done with it.I'm over it. Everybody's hurt. It's
it's a it's one hundred and sixtytwo game season. Guys get hurt.
That's what happens. You better beready for it. That your job is
a damn organization. Yep, wegot the time to time MVP candidate.
Now we did with Mookie breaks hishands, They've they've they've won more games
than they were winning when Mookie wasin. So look at the Braves.

(45:59):
Yeah, yeah, they're playing great. Yeah they are. And sometimes it's
funny how that works. Sometimes you'llsee teams do that, and I'm not
sure that's probably a big long discussionyou could get into. And uh,
you know, Cruise Ellie's I'm justI mean, the guy is a flash

(46:22):
and he's fun and I recognize allhis raw talents moment on all sort of
ship. But uh, but he'she the batting aerages go right around the
uugher too forties. It's up overtwo fifty today, it was up over
two fifties. Might might have dippedback under in his last at bat.

(46:42):
Yeah, so, but I'm stillnot solved on on his long term thing.
But that's the way it is witha lot of young guys, you
know. I mean Jonathan India.Look, he was Rookie of the Year
and he's turned out to be aworkable, solid player. But but great
bell Most of these guys Rookie ofthe year. Bellinger was in a he
was a Rookie of Year better thanthe MVP the next year, but then
he went right down the tank asyou know, and I think the leagu's

(47:07):
kind of caught up to these guysnow, and people don't believe that's true,
but it does happen. The leaguegets more time to study these guys'
habits and they take advantage of whereverthey are offense or defense. Right.
Yeah, I do think Ellie isjust so his physical talent is so supreme

(47:28):
to to pretty much everybody in theworld in any sport, that he is
always going to be a little bitahead of that curve than most and he's
going to have when he heats up, his hot streaks are going to be
incredible. The key for Ellie isgoing to be when he cools off,
maintaining a level and not dropping offthe map. You know, you can't

(47:52):
be two weeks of you know,you're the best player in baseball and then
three or four weeks of you strikeout forty three percent of the time.
I think that's where it's. It'sthe little stuff like that for Ellie.
When the when the that when thethe peaks hit, he's incredible. He's

(48:13):
got to limit the valleys. Thethe bottom of the hill has to come
up, and if he can dothat, then he's gonna be one of
the better players in baseball just juston physical gifts alone. I'm higher on
Ellie than a lot just because Ithink he does seem like he has the
right approach. He works hard,he plays with a smile. You don't

(48:38):
really ever see him get too downon himself, and I think that helps
long term through the growth process.But look, you're you're talking about other
guys Steer. Steer has had thoseepic peaks and valleys where he's scorching hot
for two weeks and then you youdon't hear from him for a month.
They've got to find less of thatin Carnascio and strand back and look at

(49:00):
the beginning of the season. Hewas dreadful for most of when he was
healthy through April. So that's someof the things that I worry about with
this organization, Mike is guess what, they have not produced a lot of
young hitting talent. The guys thathave come up through this system have not
developed by and large, very veryfew of them have. And I went

(49:22):
through it last week. The numberof guys that have made All Star Games
that were Reds like homegrown talent.It's Jay Bruce and Todd Frazier basically for
the last twenty years. And Iguess you can include Phillips because he was
kind of a cast off. Butthey just do not do a good job
developing hitters. Man. It's beena long, long term issue, and

(49:45):
mont Aus has been, in myopinion, pedestrian at best. Yeah,
but I think that's they just neededa veteran to be in the middle of
that rotation, not at the topof it. I don't want him pitching
Game three of a playoffs. No, well, there's good news on that,
Mike. They're not making the playoffs, so don't have to worry about

(50:06):
it. No, I'm I'm withyou. And one last quitch the NBA.
I told mon Tony just from womenout here, you heard a lot
about the Reddick issue with the Lakersbecause of where you live, right and
and Lebron loves this guy to death. He really has a fondness morn.
I don't know where it comes from. I'm not sure the idiosyncrasies of it,

(50:28):
but he liked him and then thehurly thing went down. But I
think Reddick, don't you think heshould have went for about an eight year
contract number one based on their keepingcoaches about two and a half years for
the last seven coaches, and numberthree the coverage bear and it's going to
take him a wile to build anew team. When when when when when
the Lebron's older deteriorating and when adgets hurt, they set him up.

(50:52):
They set him up for failure.Four year deal. I mean, I
think Danny balk because it was asix year deal and he thought he was
going to need more than that.I think they are selling people short because
they know, like what they haveto do is not ah, not for
the feint of heart. And unfortunately, I what the last four or five

(51:13):
coaches have gotten three years's That's aboutwhat I see for JJ. Unfortunately,
even though I think he's got achance to be a really good uh NBA
coach, not the first three tonightoff the cup and then I'm out of
here. The two French guys andprobably read Shepherd, Okay, thank you,
all right, thanks Mike, appreciateyour brother. We'll get to David

(51:37):
Bell eventually. We got more phonecalls. I'm more interested in talking to
you guys than I am hearing fromDavid Bell. So sometime before we get
out of here at six o'clock,we'll hear from David Bell. But the
phone lines are open five one,three, seven, four, nine,
fifteen thirty. Call and talk tome so I don't have to listen to
David Bell more. After this,Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati's es went

(51:59):
pics. Such an underrated one,Terran, No, my block, such
a good one, Well done,sir, well done, my day.

(52:22):
And that one, it's one ofthose ones in the car that just kind
of like when it pops up,puts a smile on your face. He
said you were down, So I'mtrying to think of record that can sure
you a little bit. It's notthat I'm down. I'm just frustrated.
It's not I'm not mad, Terran, I'm disappointed something like that. Let's

(52:46):
keep going to the phones. Ifyou guys will call all the way from
now until six o'clock, I willtalk to you. Terran has worked very
hard on getting me the David Bellaudio. I want him to be mad
at me because I just I didn'thave time to play it. Let's go
to Mike uh and Covington. Mike, what's up, Hey, what's going

(53:08):
on? Guys? Hey? Firstoff, I just want to say,
uh, you know, prayers toMike. You know I've been been hearing
that guy every time you hear thatwe be growby ye boys. You know
it's Mike talking. He just Ijust heard, Uh he's hospital. That's
just that's just sad me completely.But kind of my question is kind of

(53:30):
a two part questions. So thenew kickoffs, uh, nobody can move
until they catch the ball, right, So my question is, you know
back in the old days, uh, you know, you wanted to grow
fast runners so they could try tobe down there as soon as the guy

(53:52):
topped the ball to tackling. Well, our team's gonna ask to like,
uh, They're gonna have to rethinkthat process because all of a sudden,
now you don't need those real fastrunners. You need like, uh,
like a husky end because it's gonnabe and you know what I mean,

(54:13):
no I do that that it's gonnabe interesting. You know that they've they've
gone to a lot of hybrid typebodies in the NFL. Uh, you
know, safety linebacker hybrid types.You know guys that guys that can that
can move at six two sixty threebut but still have some considerable size I
think those guys are gonna be ata premium. But what you have to

(54:36):
remember, punting is not changing,so you're still gonna need those gunners for
the punt game to get down there. But but you're right like that that
that need on the outside to havethose guys burning down the field, it's
not going to be there. Soyou will kind of I think see maybe
not in year one, but asthis thing evolves, you'll see the way

(54:59):
that that is defended kind of evolveand rosters evolve as as a result,
because look, I think there's gonnabe a good number of big returns early.
Yeah, I agree early. Imean, I think teams will figure
it out eventually, they always do. But early in the season, man,
you're gonna you're gonna see a touchdownand then a team's gonna pop a

(55:22):
seventy yard return and and start atthe twenty five yard line, uh,
going into score. So it isgonna be interesting to watch to watch evolve,
Mike. I'm I'm fascinated to seewhat type like you would think,
like the tight end, tight body, the the that six six five,

(55:42):
six y five or so two hundredand forty, two hundred and fifty pounds.
But if you get some of theseshifty backs back there that can make
people miss in space, Like,are those guys gonna be too big?
Rodas made his start on special teams. Yeah, it'll be fascinating. Appreciate
it. No, thank you.It's a good call. It didn't involve

(56:06):
the Reds. I like it.Market Louisville. What's going on, Mark,
Well, I'm going to go backto the Reds. Although I could
talk Bungles if you would lost Idid. We'll talk some Reds. Just
because I don't want to do itdoesn't mean I won't, Okay, I
appreciate that. All right. Well, it's time to start placing the blame
where the blame needs to replace andownership. Of course, since they bought

(56:32):
this team, it has been ina slow but steady decline every single year.
And the two years that they thinkthey had did something good was COVID
year, which was ridiculous. Everyteam with the bad news bearers made the
playoffs. And last year they wereeighty what eighty two and eighty And they

(56:53):
think that was a good year.That was a good year because the year
before was so bad. It wasn'tanything great. Last year, and it's
hard to feel sorry for the ownershipof this team. They made sixty million
dollars off their payroll from last yearbefore the bats and balls arrived in Arizona

(57:14):
this year. Now, it's truethey reinvested thirty million of those dollars,
but they wasted their money once again. Terrible free agent signings one after another.
You can defend Montez all you want, but he's terrible and he's not
worth the money. And then fourteenstarts he's I think he's pitched one decent

(57:35):
game and I'm not even talking aboutthe Colorado Rocky game. I could have
pitched against some uh and the otherguy, Candelaria one for most of the
season, hits like Mickey Mantle fortwo and a half weeks, and I
know he's injured, but he's notgoing to keep up that pace, and
he's going to finish the season somewherearound to twenty five or two thirty with

(57:58):
eighteen to twenty two home runs andcertainly not worth the money. And that's
the next problem. Back to backterrible general managers. Terrible free agent signings
by both of these general managers.The last two general managers they have and
We can go through one and everyone of their signings, but you can't
name one really good signing have made. Who You're gonna say Castellana, the

(58:22):
guy Philadelphia, Now that's one.Yeah, okay, were you gonna say
who was the other one? Imean the Sunny Grade trade was really good.
They ended up not keeping him,but I think that was that was
Williams and not Crawl. Yes,well Williams didn't do much. But I'll
say this about Castlana. He hadnice numbers, but they were kind of

(58:45):
misconstrued and he owes all those numbers. Devado, who had a terrific year
that behind him and he hasn't hada year like that's with the Reds or
Philly since he's left. They lethim hit in front of hard Or for
a while and he still didn't hitvery well, so he wasn't anything great.
Well, to be fair, Mark, you're moving the goalpost a lot.

(59:07):
No if you if you continue movingthe goal posts on everybody, nobody's
any good. And I get it, you're frustrated, and I'm frustrated.
I think Ellie Cruz. I thinkCruz, who has absolutely hurt this team
terrible, is really good and Ithink he has to be in there and
he has to play no matter what. But then again, if they're going

(59:28):
to play him and uh, youknow, I want to get to David
Bell in a minute. But ifthey're going to play Cruise, you know
he should be in there. Howcan they play Benson as much as they
are. I don't know the reasoningbehind this. I look the guy.
The guy couldn't hit you right now, Mark and right I understand that.
I don't know why he's I don'tknow why they keep running him out.

(59:51):
I don't know why they keep runninghim out. If anybody needed a mystery,
like two weeks stay on the injuredlist or a trip down to Louisville,
right now, it's Will Benson.I think he's struck out seventeen times
in his last thirty one played appearances. That is unfathomable for what a guy
that is supposed to be a majorleague hitter. But he's not. The

(01:00:13):
problem. The problem is is behindhim. He could give you a shot
in left field over Benson. Anybodycan strike out the way he's striking out.
And that leads to the third andmost problem. Obvious problem is David
Bell. He doesn't adjust he doesn'tmake changes. And by the way,

(01:00:34):
don't even waste your time playing hispress conference tonight. It was terrible and
all he did was talk about howgood who's a pitcher today, ash Ascraft,
how wonderful he was uns. Thisorganization is in terrible shape. There's
no shot at making all the playoffpositions are pretty much sewed up, if

(01:00:55):
you want to be honest, exceptfor one, and the Reds aren't going
to get at it. And I'mreally disappointed. So I'll get off here,
and I want to express my sympathyabout Joe burrell season ending injury.
I know it probably won't happen untilGame four or five, but I thought
i'd do it early. You arealways the glass half full, guy,

(01:01:17):
aren't you. Mark? No,Hey, if you want to let me,
if you want to give me twomore minutes and let me do some
Bengals talk here, I will doit. Can I have two minutes?
Two minutes and then we got togo. I'm already running way later.
There's why you're wrong. Everybody onthis station and the other one are wrong
about the bunk dunk Bengals. Justbecause Joe Burrow's back. They were last

(01:01:38):
place when he got injured last year. They're not going to jump up over
Pittsburgh, who has the best defenseand the best coach in two halfway decent
quarterbacks. This year, They're notgoing to jump over the Browns because the
Browns have just as good as achance of their quarterback coming back and being
as good as Burrell and as healthy. That's a ridiculous and they can't beat

(01:02:00):
Baltimore no matter who plays for him. So I think about another month it
will be start time to retalk aboutthe twenty twenty five Rids. All right,
thanks Mark, thanks for taking acall. I have a good one.
You heard that laugh at the end, right, Tarn, Yes,
he knew he was being ridiculous.I do that all the time, say

(01:02:22):
something ridiculous and start chuckling at theend, because not even I believe it.
Deshaun Watson has every chance to beas good as Joe Burrow. Come
on, Mark, the Steelers sayingthey're always going to be a pain,
you know, you know what itis, the Ravens. That's a tough
nut to crack right now. Butyou know who else is injured all the

(01:02:44):
time, just as much, ifnot more than Joe Burrow Lamar Jackson.
We're just not talking about it becausehe didn't get hurt last year. Phone
lines are still open. Entertain me, keep me from playing this. David
Bell press conference. Mark already saidit stunk, but I never mind.
I won't make the analogy I wantedto make more after this since that easy

(01:03:08):
is V fifteen thirty Cincinnati's ESPN fifteenthirty traffic from the UC Health Trap.
I like, I gave you guysthe option. I told you if you
call in, can you give mesomething to talk about. We will not

(01:03:30):
listen to David Bell. They werelistening to pocking scar face. We can't
listen to Pocking's car face. Ifyou like, you got three and a
half minutes of it, I'm allright, well then fine. Here's two
Pockin's car face or it's David Bell. One of the two. I'll leave
it up to Tearn Well. Iwould play it. That's what the that's

(01:03:57):
what the beat is for. Icalled your bluff. I called your bluff.
Here's David Bell. After today's lossthe tenth and fifteen games, it
was great to have him back,great to have him back on the mound.
Today came out strong, especially earlyfirst inning was really good. Fell

(01:04:17):
behind a little at and that ledto the runs. Was able to throw
some good change up change ups.I think he threw about ten of them,
most most of them in the zone. So some good signs and he's
going to continue to get opportunity herein our rotation. What was more Teeth
doing today was really exact, guys. Yeah, you know we didn't have

(01:04:43):
many hits. John continued to swingthe bat well Ortiz ninety seven sink cut
slider and made it tough on ustoday. At this point, obviously you
think, of course, you seehow you you don't say yeah, and

(01:05:05):
just the way we always do.You know, nothing changes with this team
will continue to to Nothing changes withthis team, tarn It could write that
down. We always do and butnothing will change from our players as far
as how we approach every single daytrying to get better. And that might
be the problem. Nothing changing everythingwe possibly can to to get through this

(01:05:29):
quick. You know, we fillover still write in this and we got
a long way to go and andwe have a lot of opportunity ahead or
yeah, he has tendon, uhthe hamstring tend and night tendon hamstring tendon
tendonitis, So day to day hecould potentially be back in there tomorrow.

(01:05:56):
Jake Fairley is still the cat areathat uh, we're just being a little
cautious with with uh where it's locatedso it doesn't turn into like a a
muscle screen or or pool in thecalf area. He's done for the year.
Yeah, is something with ground whichthe way things were going around another

(01:06:16):
start out for La then something happensand there's just just chin reaction that seems
like every time you figure out onething, you know, you know what
today you know how to chase out, there's always something that Yeah, and
you know the other way to lookat it, Graham went did every everything

(01:06:38):
right as far as getting himself backhere, and he definitely wasn't hoping for
another start there. And you knowhe he was ready, he was prepared
today and uh of course he neverwanted to leave. But yeah, I
mean he he can also take whathe did today even though it wasn't in
triple A and and built on thator something just this week you want to

(01:07:13):
Yeah, I mean we're we're nodifferent. We're no different. We have
a lot of a lot to begrateful for. A lot to be positive
about that. We will continue tofocus on that, and you know,
the areas that we need to improveon, will continue to work on that.
But uh, I'll this group forsure. And like I said,

(01:07:33):
we got a long way to go. So I told you he's infuriating.
I told you it was going tomake me mad. Own it. We're
not playing well. We need toplay better, not we're close. Things
are going to turn no own it. You want to know why people are

(01:07:54):
pissed because you act like nothing's wrong. Have you watched this team play for
almost two months now, They've hadone good week out of eight, they
lost fourteen of seventeen. Now they'velost ten of fifteen, eight and twenty

(01:08:16):
four. Everything's not fine. We'regonna take a break. Brennan and Jones
on Baseball after this Cincinnati's ESPN fifteenthirty. Here we go, Hour number

(01:08:36):
three, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.I'm Chad Brendall in for Moegar, in
for Lance tonight on seven HUNDREDL.I appreciate everybody that's been along for the
ride. Thank you for choosing me. Sorry I had to do that to

(01:09:02):
you at the end of the lasthour. But you know, I warned
you, either we can I cantalk to you, or we can listen
to David Bell. All listening toDavid Bell did was maybe make me more
angry, and it's genuinely one ofthe main frustrations with this organization. You

(01:09:26):
know, what I've loved about theCincinnati Bearcats offseason in football is that there
was accountability. There has been throughoutthis entire offseason. A team that has

(01:09:47):
talked about last year wasn't good enough, that we didn't do what was necessary
to withhold and uphold the standards ofwhat has become the Cincinnati football program,
and that we are going to worktirelessly to be better to make sure that
it doesn't happen again. Accountability.Right now, we are in a stretch

(01:10:15):
from the beginning of May where theReds lost fourteen of seventeen games, and
then they had a week where theyplayed the Cubs and the Rockies and they
swept that week. They had agood week. No taken away from that.
I'm not Mark from Louisville. I'mnot going to move the goalposts,
love you, Mark, but theyfollowed that up. They've now lost ten

(01:10:43):
of their last fifteen so even withEven with that seven game winning streak included,
they are fifteen and twenty four overtheir last thirty nine games, nine

(01:11:09):
games under five hundred since the startof May, and David Bell is out
here gushing about Graham Ashcraft. Wasit good to see Graham Ashcraft back on

(01:11:30):
the mound? Sure? In fiveand a third innings, he gave up
six runs on nine hits. That'snot That's not when a manager just sits
and heaps praise on a player.Six runs, five and a third innings,

(01:11:55):
nine hits, two walks, onewalk, sarry a pair of home
runs. We can't be serious withthis. It's it's maddening and it and

(01:12:20):
it makes me sad because it meansI've got to watch bad baseball the rest
of this summer. I don't thinkthere's any turning around from this, not
not without substantial change. And otherthan manager, I don't know what substantial

(01:12:40):
change is out there, which iskind of why it. It doesn't matter
if you fire David Bell or not. Guess what the Cavalry is not coming
back from injury. And yeah,maybe you get Edwin Arroyo back, it's
pretty clear. I don't think you'regoing to see a healthy TJ. Friedel

(01:13:02):
all this year. You might gethim back in fits and starts and have
him back for a couple of weeks, but it's clear his body is not
one hundred percent and if you keepplaying him, injuries are going to continue
to appear. Matt McLean's not comingback, Christian and Karnosi and Strand is
not coming back this year. There'sno help on the horizon. This team

(01:13:30):
is who it is, and ourteam's playing uninspired, sloppy, disinteresting baseball.
We have George Vogel coming up atfive point thirty. I'm excited to
talk to George. I'm always excitedto talk to George. He is one

(01:13:50):
of my favorite people in the sportsworld, in the city of Cincinnati,
throughout my entire life. Andy doesa podcast on the Bearcat Journal Network on
two today Night's called George and theJungle. You can find it at the
Bearcat Journal dot com YouTube channel everyTuesday at nine pm. So we'll get
with George in a little bit.But a six to one loss today,

(01:14:15):
the reds Now embark on a roadtrip that includes four in Saint Louis and
three in the Bronx against the Yankees. I'm sure it's going to go swimmingly.
Well. I do have another footballtopic I want to get to as
we roll through our two. Butwe do have a phone call, and
I don't like to keep you guyson hold. And I know things I'm
supposed to do and not supposed todo based on the proverbial radio calendar the

(01:14:41):
clock, but I don't care.So we're going to talk to Phil Phil
once to know is a football seasonyet? Phil? The good news is
next week is fourth of July andthen we're almost there, so not yet,
but it's closed. What's going on? Yeah, I'll take questions.
I never thought I would ask atthe beginning of the spring training for one

(01:15:03):
thousand Alex like like like so muchukness in the hope that we found out
that this team, this organization wasn'tnearly a talent rich and as deep as
we thought it was it was,it was improperly rated going into the season,
and just what and the veterans thatthey acquired and added nothing to the

(01:15:25):
team. So I mean, herewe are, like, look, we're
gonna be sellers at the deadline.Who there's no who is gonna buy anything
that the Reds have to sell billproblem. That's the I mean, that's
the thing, like, because like, you're gonna have to give me something,
Mike Dick Ricky Williams asked for Lade la Cruz. You're not.

(01:15:51):
I'll listen to Spencer Steer, butit's gotta be good. I'll listen to
Fernando Cruz because he's a reliever.He's a good reliever. But who knows
if best Splitter is gonna be likesplip finger is gonna be as good next
year as it is this year?Right, But I mean, there's just
there's not enough talent in this organization. And I think it's I think it's

(01:16:15):
eye opening to US fans because Ithink that this organization was talent starved for
so long and we had no ideahow bad it really was until now.
And now we're like, wow,like it was so bare going into last
year and surely made a lot ofmoves and they got a lot of talent,

(01:16:36):
but we're finding out that a lotof guys had their peak year last
year. Pete will Benson is twentytwenty three. You know, I feel
bad for what Jake Frailey is goingthrough. But Jake Frailey twenty twenty three,
not getting younger like h and Imean, I don't blame injury on

(01:17:00):
David Bell, but I do blamethe absolute lack of progress in fundamental filding
and base running from last year tothis year. I don't mind getting caught
stealing, but getting picked off that'sover and over and over. I don't
mind being aggressive. I mind guysgetting thrown out by seven steps where the

(01:17:23):
catcher has the time to catch theball and drink a glass of lemonade before
the guy gets to the plate.That's happened far too often this year.
I'd fire the contact play into thesun. And I mean picked up at
second, at second, multiple onthe fastest guy in the league. It's

(01:17:45):
just not paying attention. I understandthat you just don't have the depth to
just bench people and go, youknow what, sit here and learn how
to play the game, because,you know what, they're not going to
learn how to play the game fromwhoever we're bringing from the bench. There's
a reason they're there. They're notgonna get any better astruption that way.
It's just it's it's gonna take along time to get where we want to

(01:18:06):
go. It's justice. And andI'm just not sure. I don't know
if the Castellini's are up for thator they're not. They're not serious about
winning a World Series. They're serious. They're serious enough about not being terrible,
because they learned if you're terrible,people stop coming to games, and

(01:18:29):
you do lose, Uh, youdon't. You don't end up going in
the red, but you lose alot of uh, you know, wiggle
room in the in the margins financiallyif nobody comes to the games. So
they have learned losing one hundred games, we don't want to do that.
But winning one hundred games, they'renot they're not interested in that, I

(01:18:51):
don't think unless it happens, youknow, accidentally lightning in a bottle,
like almost like last year. Yeah, yeah, and the like and and
acted as if they had reinvented thegame of like like Tony LaRusso was working
for the franchise, they invented thegame of baseball. Hey, there's no

(01:19:14):
reason for profanity here. We don't, we don't. We don't have to
take it that seriously, man,we're just talking sport. With the dump
button. When I said his name, he should have Adam have blessed doubled
Ay himself. Don't get me started, but I mean, I mean that's
the thing. This organization has tobe introspective to a point that there have

(01:19:36):
been unwilling to be and look athey, maybe the problem is us because
they aren't because I you know,I have no problem with injuries, but
how many players have been misdiagnosed rightand mistreated this year and all of a
sudden, oh yeah, they're goingfor the year, Like, I mean,
why do we not talk more aboutMatt McLean. Matt McClain had an

(01:19:59):
oblique strain at the end of lastyear and he's out for two months last
year and the entire following season.Yeah, I think my own high school
football coach is down there putting spittingdirt on everybody's eye. You'll be buying
getting back out there and playing andhis freaking like, oh, I swear

(01:20:20):
to God it's him. Because Imean, it doesn't make it doesn't make
medical sense. It devis all logicthat you have these professional people and they
can't get it right. Like theycleared injuries, They cleared Christian and Carnassio
and Strand June eighth, they clearedhim to return to baseball activities, and

(01:20:42):
now he's having surgery and he's donefor the year. Nicolodolo last year didn't
make any sense at all. Whatwas he doing pitching was a blister on
his finger seventy seven pitches. TheReds bragged about it essentially in their in
their social media. What was HunterGreen doing on the mound yesterday? Pugan
discuts out, So okay, iflike I don't mind that part, like

(01:21:08):
you know, sometimes your stomach getsupset, whatever, But to leave him
out there to just get abused whenit was clear through two innings that you
were getting nothing from Hunter Green andthen just eh, get suck it up,
kid, go get your head bashedin. We gotta we gotta save

(01:21:29):
the bullpen to give up five runsanother day. No, you know why
they have to save the bullpen becausethey have one bullpen day a week now,
because they don't have enough starting pitching. You know what, here's the
thing. You know what I learnedthis a long time ago. Zero minus
zero zero, Yeah right it is. Did you got did you got players

(01:21:49):
on this team that a ruping youin? But give me a roster of
triple A double A All Stars.We have enough of that, and it's
not good enough either. Oh Iknow, but but I mean, Tiff,
they ran four minor league guys outthere today and got four hits.
That's that's true. Uh, it'sTiff. But to your point, to

(01:22:14):
your point, you run young guysout there, you expect them to play
hard, to be as fundamentally soundas humanly possible, to not fall asleep
on the bases, to not rolla grounder to home plate from two hundred
feet with the winning run on thirdor the go ahead run on third,
and then blame it on the thirdbaseman. I was in my way?

(01:22:36):
Oh how many times has Stuart Fairchildhad an absolute brain cramp this year?
And you're just like, well,like, yeah, you play a great
defensive center field and you and youRob Holme runs. But my man,
like, by this point, atthis point in your career, you should
be able with your eyes closed andknow where home plate is. He's twenty

(01:22:57):
eight, do you know that,Stuart Fairchow's twenty eight? Like, yeah,
he should know, he should knowwhere home this he does. He
doesn't need to see it where itis. I mean, he looks like
he's twenty two to twenty three.I think that fools people. He is
twenty eight. He's closer to farcloser to the end of his career than
the beginning. I sat on Twitterover the weekend that they're not it's Stuart

(01:23:20):
Fairchild is playing as much as hehas played. The Reds are not a
serious franchise when it comes to beinga championship franchise because Stuart Fairchild is not
on a championship roster. And Itook a lot of heat on Twitter about
how good Stuart Fairchild is. Whatare we doing? What are we doing?

(01:23:44):
Stuart Fairchild's the guy you're gonna likewe draw the line. It's Stuart
Fairchild. The people in this fanbase have been so accustomed to watching these
guys get run out there that theyfind one. Okay, Stuart Fairchild is
pretty good against left handed pitching,and he can and he plays a good
defensive center field even though he's gota bad arm. Okay, does those

(01:24:05):
two things while he's hitting ninety fouragainst righties four coming into today? I
just don't I don't get it.The fascination. Well again, but you
said it yourself. It's like thestandards beIN so low for soll Nick Martini

(01:24:25):
is a totally acceptable player. WillBenson. They keep running out there every
day. If you're serious about winning, those cannot be three of your five
outfielders. Can't get people in thistown dump on Ellie de la Cruz every
time, even though if you lookat his production metrics, he's top ten
and a lot and a lot ofthem, And it's like, uh,

(01:24:48):
oh uh, you know, maybeyou know what, Maybe we're getting the
baseball we deserve as fans. Thatmight be a valid one. Maybe we're
getting the baseball. The weed istheir We're not the baseball term we thought,
demand better, demand better. I'mtired of watching this crap. They
ran out five minor leaguers today.That's acceptable. Everybody's just okay with that.

(01:25:15):
They had five minor leaguers. Essentially, I guess Espinal four and a
half minor leaguers. I'll count espinallas a quality bench reserve that should never
have to play as much as he'splaying right now. But he's the one
veteran that at least like, like, if you want the ball in contact,
I don't hate watching him play.Yeah, it's like he's at least

(01:25:39):
he shows up to work. Yeah, man, it's only these guys like
what it's bad baseball, Phil,bad baseball? All right, I got
I gotta take a break. Appreciateit, man, Yeah, Phil and
I are on the same page.I totally went long. Surprise, surprise,

(01:26:00):
Just take a break. Cincinnati's ESPNthirteenth, Cincinnati's ESPN Hi must have
a hundred feet deep bot here freethroat man, damn call of helping the
lamps, tell them flee broke noTI the cross he walking around like t

(01:26:23):
know what's up with the aggressive tearantrying to where Now that you've had time
to digest this, where does wheredoes this go? Given the events of
the past what two three weeks sinceit's been released? Where does this go?
On your disc track rankings? Hall time? I go is the

(01:26:44):
top five? No? Not topfive? No not top five, top
ten, like somewhere in my aboutsixteen range. I think it might be
up getting up close to five.The way that everything has played out,
like to pop up and playing itsix times in a row, and like
he elevated it even more than likethe level of the song, I think

(01:27:04):
it'll be remembered differently in hip hophistory. Because of the events after that.
I just think it's it's it's gonnabe remembered to hip hop because he
killed Drake Well, Drake's ted.Possibly we might never hear from Drake again,
but I think it's gonna be rememberbecause we haven't had a This song,

(01:27:24):
like I said, be a numberone record, right and possibly by
the winter Grammy. I've just seenhim got nominated for a Grammy. El
it will be nominated for Grammy.It's I think it's gonna win. So
yeah, if this song win aGrammy, I think that's then it's top
five. I still do you seeCube did a live performance of of no

(01:27:45):
Va Selene recently and kind of waslike, look like these boys, these
boys nice. I'm not gonna lie, but I took down a whole crew
like I took down Easy, Itook down Dre, I took down Yella
like it was funny. He's like, I still got love for those guys
now, like everything's passed. Butlike when I put this out, ain't

(01:28:08):
nobody. Ain't nobody had done whatI had done it imagine social media was
around doing that, oh man,or for hit them up. There's a
new TikTok trend of like people doinguh just like us, and then like
turning their back to the camera andturning around and doing hit them up to
the same beat as just like us. Like, look, you kids think

(01:28:30):
that's a banger, right, thisis a banger NBA draft tonight, you
Uh, it kind of uninspiring,Like it's a bad draft to begin with.
This is a terrible draft, honestly, I mean it's not good.
Hopefully, hopefully over the next coupleof years there's gonna be some star power
injected back into this thing, becauseI do think, you know, with

(01:28:51):
with Boozer and the kid going toDuke like that, there's uh, there's
enough in these next couple classes thatI think it'll it'll live in it back
up. But like I am justnot I don't even know if I'm gonna
have it on, Like I've gota podcast to dude tonight, Like I
don't even really care about the draft. I'll be working. I'll catch the

(01:29:13):
high lights, see where everybody went, then to do my research from there.
All right, let's take a break. George Vogel. When we come
back, George is gonna George isa David Bell guy. I'm gonna have
George talk me into to why DavidBell should should stick around. Although he
wavered last night, he wavered lastnight, terran I sensed weakness more after

(01:29:36):
this. Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty,Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati's sports station.

(01:30:00):
There we go, since Atti's espIN fifteen thirty. We can't find
George. I just texted him.Thanks, he said, try again by
danger. All to do with youwish that it could be a little bit

(01:30:35):
more up front. There we go. We got him, all right,
Georgie, Hey, I'm here now, there we go. We got him.
It's the host of the George andthe Jungle podcast. The co host
of the George and the Jungle podcastTuesday nights, nine o'clock. YouTube,

(01:30:57):
dot com slash Bearcat Journal. Youcan find it and all your favorite podcast
apps on the Bearcat Journal Network.That's that's how you always dreamed of being,
uh introduced, right, the podcastsfor Bearcat Journals. That sounds great
to me and I usually get andHall of Famer. How about that?

(01:31:19):
The professional journalist of Cincinnati Sports WingHall of Fame. You are in the
inductory class, the introductory class.That's a that's a star studded list.
Yeah, they got quite a classgoing in you and then yeah, KB

(01:31:39):
from from Local twelve. Yeah,how about that Wayne box Miller. Yep,
I heard from him. We chattedtoday. I mean your big time.
I always tease you. Yeah,I think you started on TV when
I was I still was in diapers. No, I probably did. A

(01:32:00):
lot of people remind me of that. And you know, if you listen
to the podcast, you will hearsome great stories from back in those days.
Oh yeah, a lot of stuffwas happening back then. You know
what was happening back then, George, It didn't get it didn't get out
in about either because in social media. You know what else was happening back
then. A lot of good Redsbaseball happened back then. Yeah, it

(01:32:24):
did that. It was very fortunate, you know, late eighties, early
nineties, even up through ninety five, ninety nineteen was a lot of fun.
Then things kind of you know,went south for a decade or so
or two and a half, andthey've they've been dead about the past decade.

(01:32:45):
George. I'm just frustrated it morethan anything. More than anything,
it's just not fun baseball to watchlike that's what we were promised with this
young group going to play an exciting, fun brand of baseball. It is
sloppy, it is undisciplined. Itlooks uninspired far more often than not.

(01:33:10):
And then you know, you haveDavid Bell talking today about how great Graham
Ashcraft was after going five and athird and giving up six earned runs on
nine hits. We've lost our way. We've lost our way. It was
not a good performance, that's fordarn sure. And it's you know,
very disappointing for the Reds. I'msure Graham's very disappointed, just like Hunter

(01:33:30):
Green had to be disappointed last nightand the outing he had that kind of
you know, you hope he's notreverting back, and I don't know what's
going on. I mean, you'rebanking on you know, Ashcraft, Green,
Lodolo, those guys taking that nextstep. But you know, it's
it happened a little bit for HunterGraham early hasn't been right all year from

(01:33:55):
what his promise was for the previousseason and a half. And then you
know Lodolo can't stay healthy, right, and that's you know, that's supposed
to be. You know, throwan Abbot and that's the meat of their
future as far as the pitching staff, and they you know, it's not
happening. It's not working, andthey certainly should have. I guess,

(01:34:17):
you know, hindsight's twenty twenty.He gone out and got them another hammer
as a starter as opposed to relyingon these guys taking that step. Well,
they made that choice right, likethey could have. They could have
outbid Saint Louis for Sonny Gray.They had a history with Sonny Gray,
Sonny Gray liked working with Derek Johnson. Like they could have made that decision

(01:34:39):
to bring in a Sonny Gray,a top of the rotation guy, but
instead, Frankie Montas, I wassurprised they didn't. I was surprised.
Yeah, I thought that was ano brainer. And look, I wouldn't
have had a problem, but theydidn't get you know, not my money.
But the payroll is such that theyshould have plenty of room to at

(01:35:00):
both of those guys and Sonny.Sure, but I'm guessing if you're looking
at it, you're thinking we havefour, right, we have the four
guys that you just mentioned, weneed one and then they thought that they
had some depth behind them Brandon Williamsonand a couple others that that hasn't really
materialized as they had hoped. ButI just you go out and you you

(01:35:25):
make marginal improvements to the roster fora lot of money, like they spent
a lot of money on like guysat the back of the baseball card said,
Okay, they're going to be asolid middle to bottom of the roster
veteran like they didn't bring anybody inthat you thought and that now Candelario has
performed lately like a top of theroster type guy, but that's not saying

(01:35:47):
much with as bad as his offensehas been, right, they didn't go
out and do anything that really solidifiedthis is a team serious about winning championships.
And I guess George, that's thequot should I have to ask from
Afar. You've distanced yourself a littlebit now with retirement, which I think
can help perspective because you're not you'renot in that locker room every day.

(01:36:11):
You get to watch from a distanceand kind of observe a little bit more.
Is this a franchise that's actually seriousabout winning? In your eyes?
Like really winning, not going fivehundred, like winning a World Series.
No, no, it's not.And they they should have gotten somebody,

(01:36:33):
you know, for for a corneroutfield position that's got some pop and all
that. And sure they've had injuries, but again, you can't always count
on these guys that haven't proven itat the major league level, and I
feel like that's kind of what theydid. You know, they did bring
in Martinez the help of pitching staff, but the starting you know, they

(01:36:55):
thought he could be their spot starter, and that turned out to be a
disaster. He's been fine out ofa bullpen, but you know, every
time he took the mound as astarter, it was a disaster. So
yeah, they could have done afew more things, and they still,
in my opinion, have a prettybig window here to take advantage of it.
And you know they're going to needto take advantage of it. I

(01:37:17):
mean, I still would like tosee them. You know, you don't
want to mortgage some of these guysyou're going to bank on in the future.
You don't want to send them packingin a deadline trade. But I
think they should still stay aggressive thereand and look to make a move.
I mean, they're not out ofthis thing. They can still scratch their
way into it. But based onwhat I've seen in the first couple of

(01:37:39):
months, I'm not hopeful anything goodis going to happen this year. You
like David Bell. You have knownDavid Bell for a long long time.
You are a David Bell guy,very partial. I know, it's hard
for me to rip on him.He is quite the player's manager comes off
that way, you know, outsidelooking at a lot of people don't like

(01:38:02):
that, you know, they wantsomeone. I think there's a place for
it on a veteran team, andI would I would like to think he
does that behind closed doors, butI don't know that. I don't know
that, but that's what seems tobe needed a little bit here. There

(01:38:23):
certainly needs to be some of that. And he talks about holding guys a
cannibal, but is that really happening. They're still out there every day,
right, like we haven't seen anybodyjust you know, like, remember was
it two years ago when Bodo startedoff horribly and finally they just sat him
for two days, three days,and then he came back and he got

(01:38:45):
right a little bit, Like wehaven't seen any of that. Some of
that I understand, but the rosteris what it is like the injury thing.
I understand why people talk about it, but this is a sport where
you play one hundred and sixty twogames, you play every day for six
months. Guys are going to getdinged up. If you are not prepared

(01:39:08):
to deal with some ebb and flowof injuries, you're not handling business the
way it should be handled in ayou know, in this sport, because
guys are going to be out fora couple of weeks here and there right
and I quite honestly, it doesn'tseem like there's a whole lot of help
at the Triple A level right now, not more than just you know,

(01:39:30):
your general probably you know, belowvalue replacements is all you can find there.
And that's why it's it's kind ofinteresting to see how, you know,
they juggle, bringing these guys andsending them back, and it's like
they're trying to mix and match andfind somebody that will help up up here

(01:39:50):
at this level, but it justdoesn't seem to be happening. They're trying
to find lightning in a bottle withone of these guys, and none of
the bottles have a wick. No, there's no lightning in there. There's
no lightning there, and that's youknow, that's why it's important that you
know, La keeps hitting the wayhe's been hitting lately, and you know,

(01:40:13):
everybody plays up to the level they'resupposed to. But they've got a
lot of guys underperforming right now.You know. I know, you know,
nobody tried harder than Will Benson,but man, he has been somewhat
of a train wreck this year.Well's that to me? That is the
organization is doing Will Benson a diskservice, like he needs to find find you

(01:40:34):
know, Oh, he's got acash strain and we're gonna put him on
the IL for for ten days andthen we're gonna send him down to the
minors for ten days for a rehabassignment and we're gonna work with him to
get him back or just send himstraight down. He's got options, but
to run him out there to strikeout seventeen times in thirty one at bats,

(01:40:56):
I don't understand why you do thatto a guy that has as the
type of talent he does. Yeah, they definitely need to let him go
down there and try to find himselfand get back to you know where he
got to last year. After itwas kind of the same scenario, right,
I mean he came back and wasgreat, Yeah, exactly, And

(01:41:18):
and so you're right, I mean, I you know, a strong case
can be made for doing that.And the only thing that makes me maybe
begin to understand the hesitancy is thatis they've just got nobody to replace the
role they like him in. Butit's not working. I mean, you

(01:41:39):
got to do something. And sometimesand they're not the only team that does
it. Sometimes these teams twiddle aroundtill it's you know, almost too late,
and that doesn't do anybody anyhood.No, I just there's there is
a giant hole in his swing thatmajor league pitching has figured out. I
mean today there was four or fivepitches right down Broadway that he just he

(01:42:02):
can't hit. It's it's mind bogglingfor a guy that has as much talent
as he does that some of theholes that he goes into. But and
I was fearful of that coming intothe season, that they had a lot
of guys like him that were youngthat kind of caught some fire last year
played really well. Well. Guesswhat the other teams are looking at that

(01:42:26):
and figuring out how to pitch thesedudes, and I figured there would be
some adjustments that had to be madeon the Reds behalf. They're young hitters
coming back this season and and doingwhat they did last year, and I
think a lot of them have runinto that, to be honest. Yeah,
I've got about a minute left beforewe got to get out of here.
I just want to know if theyfired David Bell tomorrow and they're not

(01:42:48):
gonna, but if they did,would you be okay with it? Would
you? Would you understand that it'syou know, right now, it's just
not working. You know, assomeone who saw Tony get fired after like
forty years, right, he said, yeah, I would get it,
But no, I understand. Look, it's a results driven business. So
yes, I would be okay withit because you know, I'm not seeing

(01:43:12):
the progress and the results. Butyou know, as a guy who's you
know, known David Bell since hewas a high school player of Moler and
knew his father fairly well back inthe day, I hope that doesn't happen.
But if I'm the guy signing thechecks, I'd have to think about
it. Gotta go. Moegger isback tomorrow. I'll be back in Friday.

(01:43:34):
Thanks Georgia. You can find himon Tuesday nights nine o'clock on the
Bearcat Journal YouTube. Thanks Terarn,We'll see you next time. And I'm
listening to the radio. I'm listeningto the sad bell sing about it he
got I just want my something thattoo. When you go on it gets

(01:44:01):
bidy. Who don't act as ifyou didn't talk? No, let me
play with her. I'm working late, I said, I'll soon be home.
All about the girl was home home. Let me tell you what she's
crying for. Why Because I'm flying, super flying. Nay, I'm flying.

(01:44:26):
You know he's super fly, butme, I'm super duper and I'm
super duper flying fly. Whether you