6/6/24 - The Mo Egger Radio Show

Reds are are on a roll, Plus Dan Hurley to the Los Angeles Lakers?

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
No one covers the Bengals like ESPNfifteen thirty, Cincinnati's sports station. All
Right, here we go. Goodafternoon. My name is Moegger, and
this is ESPN fifteen thirty. Thankyou for listening, and I hope to
having an awesome Thursday afternoon. We'rebroadcasting everywhere on the iHeartRadio app for free.

(00:24):
Just open en look for ESPN fifteenthirty and you're good. We're good.
The Reds are good. The LALakers might be really good if Dan
Hurley goes there to be their headcoach. I am in love with that
story. By the way. We'llget to that a little bit later on,
because it's a great college basketball topic. This has been the greatest college

(00:47):
basketball offseason of my lifetime, andit might be continuing. Sign me up
for it, Sign me up forit. I have a bit of a
Bengals hot take. We have noreal Bengals news today, right, There's
been no Joe Burrow panic today.There have been no Jamar Chay's developments,
no T Higgins developments. But Istill have a bit of a Bengals hot

(01:11):
take. And I have a questionabout sports television shows. I just posted
the show preview video on Twitter atMoeger Thanks to our friends at Emory Federal
Credit Union, your credit union withHart since nineteen thirty nine. Go to
EMORYFCU dot org. I mentioned thisbriefly yesterday and I actually got a note

(01:33):
about it. Somebody wondering if youhave a lot of like old personal documents,
you don't want to just throw themin your garbage. You don't want
to get your identity stolen. Youdon't want to do that. Emory Federal
Credit Union at each one of theirbranches on Saturday is having a shred event
where you take your documents and freeof charge, they will shred them for
you, whether you remember which youshould be or not. You can learn

(01:53):
more about that at EMORYFCU dot org. Reds and Cubs. Tonight, Graham
Ashcraft has been and to triple aEmilio Pegana's back. I want to start
with yesterday, Tarren, do youhave you said you were gonna have this
for me? Two outs in theninth inning, right after we go off
the air, two outs in theninth inning, Reds down by a run.
They have battled back. They weredown four nothing, they were down

(02:15):
seven to four. They go intothe ninth inning down seven to six,
guy on base, two outs ongetaway day, and Spencer Steer does this
tying run at second, two outs, ninth inning, nothing and one on
Steer, the one swinging up drivehammered deep left field, way back there.

(02:35):
It is gone out of here toleft. Spencer Steer puts the Reds
on top with a two run blast. Yeah. Oh my goodness, that
is incredible. It's like shrieking inthe back run two out, home run
for Spencer Steers. Yeah, andthe Reds are up eight to seven.

(02:58):
Tommy Thrawl Reds Radio Network seven hundredWLW with expert analysis provided by Jeff Brnantley.
The Reds were not done. Theywould get other guys on bass,
Jonathan India with a grand Slam,and the Reds pull away beat the Rockies,
they sweep Colorado, they end theroad trip five and one. They
come home to play the Cubs tonight. That was my favorite Reds win of

(03:20):
the season. Let's be honest,there aren't a ton to choose from,
and part because well, they've lostmore games than they've won, in part
because it's still somewhat early in theseason. That was my favorite win.
Of the year. Look, ifyou're a baseball fan, you've seen games
like that before. What We've seengames like that from the Reds. We've

(03:40):
seen games like that from teams theReds play. It's getaway day. It's
a day game. It's getaway day. The road trip. It's not the
you know, some interminably long roadtrip, but still road trip. Last
day of the road trip, it'sgetaway day. There's no off day.
The next day, the other teamscores four runs early. You know,

(04:08):
there are a lot of times whena team in that situation, you don't
want to say they stop trying,but it feels like they just kind of
pack it in, like you know, you know what that game looks like.
We've seen that game played before.Last day of the road trip,

(04:30):
last day of the series. It'salready been a winning road trip. It's
already been a winning series. Teamfalls behind early for nothing, and you
know what, we've won a coupleof games out here already. We've had
a good road trip. You know, we got a game tomorrow night,
we got a long plane ride.Let's just get out of here. We

(04:53):
have seen if you're a baseball fan, I don't care if you're a Reds
fan or not. If you're abaseball fan, you know what that game
looks like. And not that theReds can really afford to let any game
just get away because they're trying todig out of a pretty big hole.
And not that in Denver, afour to nothing lead is hard to overcome.

(05:14):
It's not insurmountable. In Noball Parkis a four nothing first inning deficit
insurmountable, right, But but still, man, you you know, you
know what that looks like. I'vebeen to that game. I've been to
that game, a gabp where theother team kind of puts it in cruise
control. They fall behind early,let's just get the hell out of here

(05:36):
and get on the plane. TheReds did not do that yesterday. They
battle back. And I know thissounds kind of hokey, man, but
I just I'm sitting here yesterday instudio, the game is on TV.
They fall behind four nothing early,and I'm thinking to myself, this might
end up being a really quick gamebecause the Reds basically say, efit.
We've already won a couple of games. This has been a good road trip.

(06:00):
You know, we will still wontwo out of three let's get out
of here. We have a gametomorrow night, we don't have the post
road trip off day, the Cubsare coming to town, we have a
tough week next week with the Guardiansand Brewers on the schedule. Let's just
get out of here. And insteadthey did the exact opposite. I'm not
here to tell you that you shouldlove this team because they show such great

(06:24):
mental and intestinal fortitude. Man,there was something about that game yesterday that
was uber gratifying because they didn't justpack it in. They battle back with
the two to two run Homers.They get through a game where Graham Ashcraft
was not great. Now he's beensent to Triple A. We'll talk about
the ripple effects from that and whatit means moving forward, both for him

(06:44):
and the team. But you know, they fall behind by three runs in
the later innings and still still comeaway and win the ball game and win
it going away. And five andone road trip just sounds better than four
and two. And had they goneto Colorado and lost that game yesterday but
won the first two, we'd stillsay, well, they want another series,
that's what you want to do.But now you come home, your

(07:06):
starting rotation is kind of reset.You put Ashcraft in the rearview mirror,
you can kind of reset things nowwith some off days, Brandon Williamson is
perhaps in the verge of coming back, and they sweep the series. They
go five and one on the roadtrip, and it does feel like they
come home to play against a verymediocre Cubs team with a measure of momentum

(07:28):
that maybe they wouldn't have had hadthey not won the game yesterday. And
we could debate whether or not momentumis real, but just emotionally, as
a fan, aren't you at leasta little bit more charged up about tonight,
maybe about this series, perhaps aboutthe rest of the season in front
of us, more so than youwould have been had they lost the game
for one yesterday That was my favoritevictory of the season. Again, I'm

(07:53):
sitting here yesterday afternoon thinking, huhboy, okay, this just and it's
not again, it's not. Thefording is an impossible deficit to overcome,
especially in that ballpark, and really, with the way this team is hitting
right now, you did, Iguess kind of expect them to make a
little bit of a charge, ButI've watched teams kind of just pack it

(08:13):
in. The Reds did not packit in yesterday. You know, the
first couple of months of the seasonhave been frustrating. Injuries, lack of
performance, poor offense. They've lostmore than they have won. But I
talked about this a little bit,and I think you agreed, I think
most agreed that this team, asfrustrating as they might have been a couple

(08:37):
of weeks ago, was still notworth giving up on because of the starting
pitching. Now yesterday, notwithstanding whichthey have addressed because Graham's been sent to
Louisville, but still, the startingpitching, even when this team was really
struggling, been pretty good, betterthan league average, certainly not the liability

(09:00):
that the starting pitching was last season, And up until yesterday, the starting
pitching had been really, really good. The backbone of this little run the
Reds have gone on here for thelast couple of weeks has been the starting
pitching. And it's weird that whatwas true a couple of weeks ago is
true now. The reason why youhave to at least account for the possibility

(09:22):
that the Reds could still make thisan interesting summer is the starting pitching.
And you know, maybe that getsamplified because suddenly a lot of guys are
hitting and it's a red hot teamoffensively, and they took advantage of Colorado
and they took advantage of the Cubs, and what they're pitching isn't right now.
And some guys that were really strugglinginvariably they were going to bounce back

(09:43):
and start to put up better numbers. But the constant in the bad and
in the good has been the startingpitching's all right. And it's why it's
why I still hold out hope.Maybe the word is an optimism, but
it's why I still hope. Wecan discuss which players are gonna come back

(10:03):
in the makeup of the schedule.And it's really easy right now, but
it's gonna be tough next week,but then it's gonna be easy again.
And what's Noel ve Marte gonna bringto the table, And are they gonna
get Matt McClain back this season?And what's Christian and carnassion Strand's timeline looking
like right now? The one thingthat's kind of a constant is the Reds
are getting good starting pitching. TheReds are getting good starting pitching, and

(10:24):
they're gonna have an option in BrandonWilliamson that allows them to take a guy
like Graham Ashcraft, who they thinkthe world of, and send him to
trip AA. This team has achance. You might not bet an amount
of money that matters to you onthem winning the division or getting to the

(10:46):
postseason, but you cannot rule themout. And there are a lot of
reasons why you cannot rule them out, not the least of which is they
were never gonna hit two oh threeas a team, which is what they
were just a couple of weeks ago. But when they were bad, the
starting pitching was fine. Now they'regood, the starting pitching is you might
argue more than fine. And thereason why that gives me hope is I

(11:11):
still expect that part of the teamto only get better as long as guys
stay healthy. If you disagree withthat, I'm all ears five point three
seven four nine, fifteen thirty.I'm not here to tell you they're gonna
win ninety games. I'm not hereto tell you they're gonna win more than
they lose and finish with a recordas good as last year. But I

(11:31):
still believe this could be a reallyinteresting team, a really interesting summer.
A really fun summer. And Istill think that despite all the downs of
the first nine to ten weeks ofthe season, it's still a distinct possibility
that this team is playing really,really meaningful baseball in the final weeks of

(11:54):
the season. And if they're doingthat, Niah, they still have a
chance to play in October. Andthe main reason why is the starting pitching.
Nobody wanted to hear that three weeksago. Are you okay with me
saying it now? My phone numberwe'd love to hear from you today is
five one, three, seven,four nine, fifteen thirty and eight sixty

(12:15):
six, seven oh two three sevenseven six. We might have a massive,
massive college basketball story which could verymuch directly impact one area program.
You know, I'm talking about DanHurley. The Lakers are targeting him.
I love this story for a thousanddifferent reasons. I love this story for
a thousand different reasons, which we'regonna get to coming up in just a

(12:37):
bit. There is a phone callthat I really hope Nick Krawl makes and
I've been thinking a lot about widereceivers. I've been thinking a lot about
Jamar Chase. If you're a Bengalsfan, you have as well, I
think Bengal's in a really good positionhere for one simple reason. We'll get
to that when we come back onESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports Station.

(12:58):
So funny four minutes three o'clock.This is ESPN fifteen thirty. I appreciate
you listening. You can send mea tweet thanks to deltall. I mean,
you could send me a tweet thanksto yourself. But our Twitter feed
is a service of Delta Dental,which is building healthy, smart, vibrant
communities for all. Good to Deltadentaloh dot com. College basketball's greatest offseason

(13:22):
may continue. Graham Ashcraft season isgoing to continue at Triple Aye. By
the way, I was opposed toEllie Dela Cruz, who got called to
the big leagues a year ago today, made his major league debut a year
ago. Today, had a goodgame yesterday. Ellie Deela Cruz called up
a year ago. Sarah Langs,the outstanding researcher for ESPN, points out

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on social media that Ellie Dela Cruzhas sixty seven career stolen bases and fifty
seven extra base hits. He isthe only player in the last one hundred
and twenty four years with more thansixty five I've stolen bases and more than
fifty extra base hits within one yearof his first game in the majors.
That from the Elias Sports Bureau.Now, Ellie has had his struggles,

(14:11):
and when he has had his struggles, you'll find the chorus of people,
It's not a majority, who saywell, he should go to Triple A
and no, no, he shouldn't. Know. Graham Ashcraft, though,
is going to Triple A, andI'm on board with that. I have
been asked, well, moll,what's the difference. It's pretty obvious,
isn't it. What else should god? If Elie de la Cruz isn't on

(14:33):
the big league club, what doyou got who's playing short stop? This
is a team that has already hadits depth tested where they have had to
give the likes of Mike Ford andConnor Capel and Nick Martini's significant playing time.

(14:54):
I'm not including Herdebes in that becauseI think Herdibes could play. I
also like the name herdb Bees,and I heard him on the Gym Day
podcast and he seems like a veryeasy guy to root for. But like
you, if your response to anyof his struggles and he is playing.
I mean his play at shortstop yesterdayin the hole where it wasn't totally Jeter
esque because he put more on thethrow, but what a magnificent play at

(15:18):
shortstop. And he has swung thebat a little bit better over the last
couple of games. Hopefully that continues. But if the response to every struggle
is going to be send him toTriple A, boy, this La de
la Cruz experience is going to beexhausting. Now with Graham Ashcraft, he
has been sent to Triple A,and it makes sense. What's the difference.

(15:39):
Well, the difference is the Redshave options. Brandon Williamson has thrown
the ball well in his rehab assignments. The Reds have off days so they
can skip a turn in the rotation. They've got an option in Nick Martinez.
They've won two bullpen games this yearagainst the La Dodgers, like they've

(16:00):
got some they want to stretch outkeep they view and understandably so, Graham
Ashcraft is a starting pitcher, sothey want him to continue to start.
But he's not one of the fivebest options to start games at the major
league level for the Reds right now. But they do want him to continue
to start, and so the naturalstep is send him to the minor leagues.

(16:22):
He continues to start, Hopefully hegets some stuff fixed and comes back
and is an effective member of acontending team. Sending Ellie de la Cruz
down? What else you got?I'm certainly not of the belief that you
know, no players should be immunefrom being sent down. There's a long

(16:47):
list of players who ended up havingvery good careers who at some point or
another got sent down. But yougot to provide me a better alternative,
Like, you can't just send himdown to send him down, send him
down for what, send him downfor who? Send him down? And
replace him with what? And maybethe conversation's different if the Reds have all
their main guys, which they don'twith Graham Ashcraft. His demotion coincides with

(17:11):
Brandon Williamson by all accounts being ready, It coincides with off days, It
coincides with Nick Martinez doing a verygood job of eating up effectively a lot
of innings when the Reds have hadto use a bullpen game like there are
there are other options. There areno other options right now for Elie de
la Cruz. And by the way, he has played better recently. I

(17:32):
don't think they've ever seriously entertained demotinghim. But there's your difference. Like
when we talk about trading somebody,Okay, what's the alternative for the player
they're going to trade away? Arewe talking about demoting somebody? There has
to be okay, it can't justbe well anybody, not when you're trying
to win. There's no one elseto play shortstop for this team on a

(17:57):
consistent enough basis that would make youbelieve there are a better option than Ellie
de la Cruz. There are otheroptions, and right now probably better options
than Graham Ashcraft. I don't thinkthis really needs to be explained, but
I did it anyway. Your phonecalls are welcome At five point three seven
four nine, fifteen thirty and eightsixty six seven oh two three seven seven

(18:19):
six, we'll take a look atlocal sports headlines. By the way,
we are broadcasting today from the ESPNfifteen thirty studios, powered by Greater Cincinnati's
roofing and exterior restoration Expertsmadewell restoration dotcom. Make sure your home is ready
for severe weather or severe weather,not servere weather, severe weather with a

(18:40):
Madewell pre inspection Madewell Restoration dot com. Uh I kind of talked a little
bit yesterday about the bubble bursting withwide receivers and the market getting to a
point where you're gonna have a lotof teams that go, yeah, we're
not paying that. That's probably notgonna happened with the Bengals and Jamar Chase,

(19:02):
but what if it did? ThatComing up here in just a bit.
But first, I love this DanHurley story. I hope he is
the coach of the Lakers for abunch of different reasons. We'll get to
that next on ESPN fifteen thirty CincinnatiSports Station Cincinnati, a ESPN fifteen to
thirty Cincinnati's sports station. Now whenvoice is promos like that guy. Sports

(19:26):
headlines are a service of Kelsey Chevrolet, Home of a lifetime powertrain protection and
guaranteed credit approval from their family toyours for life kelseyshev dot Com. Reds
are home tonight, first to fouragainst the Cubs, the beginning of a
six game homestand remember tonight's first pitchis seven to ten. Up until now,

(19:47):
all the weeknight home games have beenat six point forty. But now
the school is out. A school'sout everywhere, right. My daughter's been
out of school for a couple ofweeks. School is out, so the
games are a little bit later.Seven ten to on seven hundred, WLW
Hunter Green and RDY Javier Assad areyour pitchers red starting lineup. Let's hope
it's made well thanks to Madewell restoration. Friedel and center t. J.

(20:10):
Friedel had the two run homer anda great catch in center field yesterday.
Elie's playing shortstop, batting second.Candelario at third, steer coming off the
big two run homer in the ninthinning. Yesterday's playing first base, betting
fourth. Jake Freley is dhing.Tyler Stevenson behind the plate, Jacob Herdabies
in left field batting seventh, Indiaplaying second base, hitting eighth, Will

(20:30):
Benson in right field, bats ninth. Graham Ashcraft is being shipped off to
Triple A Louisville and taking his placeon the roster up from the injured list.
Emilio Pagan Florence, y'all tonight onthe road again, Schomberg and Tonight
on ESPN fifteen thirty, we haveGame one of the NBA Finals, tarn,
I like the MAVs. Are youwith me to win the series or

(20:52):
game one? Uh? I kindof like Boston to win Game one.
I think the number is a littlebit hefty, but I like Dallas to
win the series. Yeah, I'mwith you Dallas, and seven to win
it on Boston's home landed on Boston'sfloor. All right, I got MAVs
in six. Game one tonight onESPN fifteen thirty thanks to ESPN Radio,
Covered starts at eight o'clock. Thebig NBA story, Frankly, I think

(21:17):
it is dramatically overshadowed covered to theNBA Finals, which, to be fair,
the finals have been set for likea month. Not a lot new
to say about the NBA Finals,but the big story because it's a huge
NBA story, but it's also ahuge college basketball story. According to Adrian
Woshanowski of ESPN, the Lakers aretargeting Yukon men's basketball coach Dan Hurley as

(21:41):
the franchise's next coach, and theyare preparing what Woes says will be a
massive, long term contract to bringthe head coach of the two time defending
national champions to Southern California to coachTerren's Lakers. I think this is a
fascinating story for a lot of differentreasons. There's the NBA part of this,

(22:02):
which we could spend some time ona little bit later on. There's
also the college basketball and there's theoverall college sports part of this as well.
I don't totally disagree with what Hembois. Hembo from The Greeny Show
tweeted this morning that you have thedefending national champion in college football with a
new coach, and the defending nationalchampion in college basketball if Hurley goes to

(22:26):
La Yukon would have a new coach, And he said, you know,
that's not coincidental. And look,we've we're just in a different landscape of
college sports. I like the differentand changing landscape of college sports. I
understand there probably needs to be moreregulation of the current climate, the current

(22:47):
landscape of college sports, but Ilike this. And look, this has
happened, whether you like it ornot, whether I like it or not,
and I like it. The NBAfor however many years, I think
we've certainly seen this amplified over thelast eight or nine years, which is
the massive amount of player movement,you know, certainly, if you go

(23:10):
back eight nine years ago in theNBA, the salary cap took a big
jump. There was all sorts ofplayer movement. We're in a very player
empowered era in that league, specifically, where it's a player's league. The
players control of the league, thecoaches, they're not accessories by any stretch.
They matter, they're important, butit's a players league. Players wield

(23:32):
more power in professional basketball than maybeever. In fact, there's no maybe
about it. Well, you couldsay the same thing about college basketball.
Now. I like this. Ilike the fact the players got the juice.
I like it when the labor haspower. So you know, we
hear from people who are mad atthe transfer portal and they're pissed off at
nil, and I love it.I like it when the players got the

(23:57):
power. But what this is doneis it has more than ever before,
blurred the line between college and professionalbasketball. So you know, if you're
Dan Hurley, you could coach professionalbasketball in college and succeed because he's a
great coach, and exist in thistime where players have more power than ever,

(24:22):
or you could just go coach professionalbasketball and make more money when players
have more power than ever, Likeas a coach, I think the difference
between the two and there are inherentdifferences, and one you're coaching mainly adults
and the other you're coaching adults butalso more kids. How you build rosters
it's different. There's a draft.I mean, there are differences, but

(24:47):
there aren't as many differences as thereused to be. You know, people
will say, well, college sports, they've been professionalized, and I understand
where that comes from. Well,you know, if you're coaching a professionalized
version of college sports, then suddenlymaking the jump to actual professional sports doesn't
seem to be as big of aleap. And by the way, the

(25:10):
misnomer that college coaches can't succeed inthe NBA is exactly that. It's a
misnomer. Brad Stevens was went fromButler to the Boston Celtics and had success.
Billy Donovan was a game away fromthe NBA Finals with the Oklahoma City
Thunder and I think would have beatenthe Cleveland Cavaliers. In twenty sixteen.
Quinn Snyder was a college coach hada terrific run at Utah. Rick Patino

(25:34):
was a college coach eons ago andwent to the New York Knicks and won
a division was a two seed,So I think that is a huge misnomer.
What I love about this, though, more than anything, is the
college basketball aspect of this. Firstof all, locally, if you're a
Xavier fan, well you know itis as good as the Big East is.
It really has felt like, certainlymore so this year than the year

(25:56):
before. But it has felt likerecently since Dan Hurley got Yukon going like
there's a big, big gap betweenYukon and everybody else in the Big East.
And that's acknowledging how good Marquette hasbeen and how good Creton has been,
and how good, at least twoyears ago Xavier was, and it
just it has felt like Connecticut's beenin this island onto themselves, even more

(26:18):
so than Villanova was when they werewinning national titles. Well, if we're
taking away a guy that many wouldsay is the best coach in the sport
away from that program, it's goodfor everybody else in the league. It's
good for Sean Miller, it's goodfor Greg McDermott, it's good for Shaka
Smart, it's good for Rick Patinoat Saint John's, and so obviously there's
an impact on that, But morethan anything, for me, this has

(26:41):
been a great offseason. What Ilove about this era we're in in college
sports is we get an offseason wherethere's stuff that happens. Like, as
a college basketball fan, the seasonended two months ago. There's been an
almost NonStop churn of activity, whichgets us talking about the sport, gets
us talking about teams, gets ustalking about roster construction, gets us talking

(27:04):
about how this player from this program, who's moving to this program, how
he's going to fit. It's freeagency. I love it, But the
reality is the transactional part of someof these sports leagues drives the conversation.
I think the baseball winter meetings area lot of fun. There are people
who talk more about baseball then thanduring the season. I'd apply that to

(27:27):
the NBA. I think there's anapplication of that to the NFL discussion.
So in college basketball, we havean off season now and it comes quick,
and coaches don't like it. Ithink they're paid to adapt, and
those who don't want to can godo something else. But like I've been
paying attention usually for most of mylife, the college basketball season would end,

(27:52):
and if you chose to really diveinto the weeds of recruiting. Okay,
you could do that, but beyonda player or two transferring and getting
a waiver, there wasn't a lotof offseason activity that you could really wrap
your brain around. Now it's beentwo months of almost NonStop activity. It's
been great. If Dan Hurley leaves, we're going to kick into gear another

(28:18):
coaching cycle. The defending two timedefending national champions could have a coaching vacancy,
and so how do they fill itand with who a June offseason storyline?
And if they take from another program, now there's gonna be difficulties for
these programs. And by the way, the portal is closed, and so

(28:38):
then there are good conversations about,well, if yucon has to change coaches
because Hurley leaves, should those playersbe allowed to enter another portal? Right
now? The answer is no,Like we're gonna have good college basketball conversations
if Dan Hurley leaves, We're gonnahave good college basketball conversations for months.

(29:00):
He's a fan of the sport.I don't understand these people who they love
college basketball, but they hate theway the offseason plays out. Now,
why so you preferred it when yoursport just went away for half the year.
Not me, Man, I likethese conversations. I like taking UC's
team with known quantities of players whowere on the team last year and then

(29:22):
trying to figure in how they canintegrate the players who have come from other
places, and looking at Xavier's teamwith all the players they've brought from other
places and figuring out how Sean canintegrate them all and what the strengths and
weaknesses of that team might be.And you could obviously do that with so
many programs around the country, Kentucky, you could, like, we get
a chance to see if Mark wiseWarwick, if his game translates to a

(29:45):
higher level. Like I love thisand I love talking about it, And
these aren't conversations we're having without collegebasketball being structured as it is right now.
If we could add to it thissummer late in the process, a
whole series of dominoes that will fallaround the sport that amplify the off season

(30:11):
conversations about college basketball, I amone thousand percent here for it. Like,
if you are a college basketball fan, this is great, and it
might be great because maybe Ucon's notthe superpower of this coming season, although
it looks like they're gonna have agreat collection of players, and who knows,
maybe Dan Hurley decides to stay incollege for whatever reason. And if

(30:33):
that's the case, that's the case. Like I've watched ESPN all day today
since about eight o'clock this morning,I'm seeing college basketball voices and analysts I'm
typically not seeing in June. Soyeah, it's very much an NBA story,
very much an NBA story. Bythe way, I'm watching Dan Hurley
right now footage of him screaming ata referee. I think it's fascinating to
see how his sideline demeanor would changeif he's coaching the LA Lakers. I

(31:00):
love this story. I say thisall the time. I need good or
I need interesting. This is extremelyinteresting, and it's extremely interesting from an
NBA perspective. The defending national champion, two time defending national champion having to
change coaches in the middle of thesummer. Are you kidding me? Is
one of the coolest and most funstories to talk about in a while.

(31:25):
I am rooting like hell for itto happen. And by the way,
how those dominoes fall around the sport. There are a lot of athletic directors
who I'm sure today have to bethinking about, Okay, how might this
impact my program? I love it. In college sports we get off seasons,
like legitimate off seasons, with stuffto talk about. If you love

(31:48):
the sport, how do you outlike that? Five point three seven,
four nine, fifteen thirty, twelveminutes away from four o'clock. More on
the Reds, including a phone callthat I need Nick Crawl to make.
I need to make this phone callthat coming up in uh just a bit,
and uh, I think the Bengalsare holding some interesting cards. We'll

(32:12):
get to that a little bit lateron on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Day.
He starts on Saturday. You lasked, I had an answer. It
is seven away from four o'clock,Taron. Uh, so you got an
email from Mike, our most frequentcaller. He is on hold. Is

(32:32):
there a friction between you guys?No, they are good. Mike.
Is Mike mad at me? Don'tthink so? Mike? Everything all right?
Mike is he there? He sentTaron an email mad about the fact
that we always take his call towardthe end of the show, putting back

(32:54):
on hold. I think I haveto do it. Oh, you have
to do it? Is the phonein here broken? All right? Go
ahead and try right Mike? Mmm, you know we're actually going to him
somewhat early in the broadcast today,and he's not he's not ready. This
could be like the the second Mikeythere. All right, Well look we

(33:17):
tried, tried. No, itwas me, it was you. Was
your fault? Yes me? Well, well we'll give Mike a reprieve.
I'm in a different studio today,so that you are. Why why are
you in a different studio? Igot lazy. I didn't feel like moving.
Okay, that's thanks for keeping meabreast. Where where? What are

(33:46):
you? Are you in the buildingtoday? I am in the building.
Yes, okay, I'm one roomover. Okay, gotcha? Very good?
Is Mikey there now? Yeah?I don't know what happened. My
apologize. I think that was Ithink that was Terran's fault. Are you
and Arran? You guys got beefwith each other? Is everything? Okay?
I've never had a beef with Terror. If there is one, I'd

(34:08):
be shocked. You you got beefwith me? Oh? Okay, no,
no, I got my tube outof my stomach today my feeding tube.
So I'm a happy dude. Ohthat's very good news. That's very
good news. So now you canyou can eat normally. No, but

(34:28):
I'll tell you it sucks. Walkingaround for a month with a tube in
your gut doesn't sound pleasant. Butthat doesn't sound so what they can you?
Are you stuck in the hospital fora while. What's gonna happen?
No? No, no, I'mstraight now. I had a colon oscype
yesterday. They took the tube outyesterday. Okay, uh so things are
looking promising. But once this sucker, the big she gets a hold of

(34:51):
you, man, it's you know, you can be good for a long
time, and then the bastard comesback. That's I know you're fighting a
tough battle. We do appreciate it, and glad, glad things have taken
a turn for the better. Yeah. I didn't even want to bring it
up anyway. Anyway. Yeah,I hope here, and I wasn't aware

(35:12):
of just making sure. Hey,I totally did. I think it's fascinating
the Hurley thing too. But I'mconvinced JJ is Lebron is Lebron's do well,
there's Lebron says what goes well.But there's a part of me.
There's a part of me that wonders, like, if you're the Lakers,

(35:35):
do you let it know, letit be known that you're going after Dan
Hurley in an effort to get JJReddick to bring down his asking price.
That's very possible, like if Reddickis if Reddick is their first choice,
and by all accounts he was theguy that they were fascinated with, and
you want him to come down onwhat he's asking for financially, it makes

(35:55):
sense to float an even more intriguingidea, more freaking possibility, like paying
Dan Hurley the kind of coin that'sbeing reported they may pay him. You
wonder if Dan would have danced prettysharp, so you wonder if he'd have
picked up on that boy ahead oftime. But still, I guess,
like Keith told his player, couldbe a pool, not to listen,

(36:15):
be a pool. Yeah, Imean he is. He has made it
known. You know, in theaftermath of Yukon winning the national title,
when there was speculation about Kentucky's interestin him and whether, excuse me,
whether or not it would be reciprocated, he talked openly about you know I
haven't and I'm paraphrasing him here,but he expressed interest in one day coaching

(36:37):
in the NBA. And not thatI have heard this, but I did
hear a commentator say this morning thathe has made it known like if he
jumps to the NBA, it's notto go coach the Charlotte Hornets or the
New Orleans Pelicans. He would loveto coach the Knicks or the Lakers.
Well, the next job is lockedup, LA's got an opening, and
apparently there's interest. Now. Idon't have the history in front of me,

(37:00):
and it's not coming to mind.But the success of college guys who
did well in the in the NCAAand go to the NBA. Watino would
be a good example. And theguy at that was at Butler that Stevens
had success. Yeah, Quinn Snyderrecently had success with the Utah Jazz.

(37:22):
Billy Donovan did well in Oklahoma Cityafter winning consecutive national titles at Florida.
And there have been coaches who haveflamed out. The ones who have flamed
out have typically gone to bad teamsor you know, they they they missed
on a draft pick. I don'tI hate painting with a broad brush that

(37:42):
college coaches can't work in the NBA. I don't believe that. I mean,
Billy Donovan worked out and Oka seebecause he got a chance to coach
Kevin Durant and now he's coaching theChicago Bulls and he's not coaching Kevin Durant.
But we have some college coaches jumpedto the NBA and have had success.
Yeah, it's better than them.Remember the old turnstile. It was
like Jean Shoe and Doug Low andthese guys. But Lenny won one.

(38:10):
Lenny se yes, sir, thatwas the hell of a team with Jack
Sickma. That was a good team. Washington Bullets, Yep, they did.
And Washington had to be the localkid from UK Kevin Greedy and the
hell of the player. Hey,regarding this new thing, I know you

(38:32):
got to go tonight. Uh,I'm with you. Well, I hate
the Celtis. I mean, Ithink from the Lakers States and Karen,
if you don't help to hate theCeltics comes along with you. But uh,
I just Boston's got a superior bestman, and you start bringing guys

(38:57):
like Reggie White can play. Ithink if you were if it to me.
It's If you want to make theseries about who has the best duo,
it's Dallas. If you want tomake the series about who has the
best seven to eight, it's Boston. Mike. We appreciated you so much
that we blew past the top ofthe hour just for you to celebrate you
getting that tube out of your stomach. Okay, yes, thanks, moll,

(39:20):
I appreciate it. Right there yougo. There's there's our our Mike.
I appreciate the phone call. Man, it's we're late. We're not
going to get the Sports center,and I'm sorry we got to go.
Thank you. It's four o'clock,YESPN tarn It's okay. The studio move
now you're going to hang up onMike there because I can't do it because
you're in a different studio. It'sfour o'clock on ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati
Sports Station. This report is sponsoredfifteen thirty. That's the name of the

(39:45):
radio station. Lady. Thank you, good afternoon, lowegor ESPN fifteen thirty.
Thanks for listening. Hopefully you're havingthe greatest Thursday of your life.
Life I said, I almost said, it's the nic Ultra Happy Hour.
Which why can't it be Why doesit just have to be the last hour
of the show. Can't we haveone? Now? I think they paid

(40:07):
for make a fair point. Terrycatching on Brennanvan to Jones on baseball a
little bit later on in just aboutforty five minutes, the Reds are good
now. A great road trip theyand by the way, like the there's
I guess there's always built in skepticismwith the Reds because of its history.

(40:30):
We talked a lot this week aboutbuilt in skepticism and and paranoia. Look,
man, you've got to take careof business against bad teams. You've
you've got to wipe the floor.You gotta beat teams that are struggling,
you gotta beat teams that are hurt, and you gotta beat teams that are
bad. And the Reds did thatwith the Colorado Rockies. They did it

(40:52):
earlier this year with the La Angels. They did it earlier this year with
the Chicago White Sox. I'm really, I'm really kind of curious as to
how next week is gonna unfold.Now, first things first, four with
the Cubs. By the way,if you weren't with us before and don't
know Graham Ashcraft has been shipped toLouisville, and Amelio Pegan is back off
the injured list, which his staywas not as long as you might have

(41:15):
originally feared. It ended up turningout okay. So they got the Cubs
for for this weekend, and youdon't want to get too far ahead of
yourself, but next week they playa really good Cleveland team for two games
here, and then they go toMilwaukee and play the Brewers, and the
Brewers have kind of opened up somedistance between themselves and everybody in the division.

(41:36):
And that's despite getting swept by thePhillies. Right now, it does
feel like it's the Brewers and theneverybody else, a bunch of teams that,
quite frankly, are hard to distinguishfrom one another. The first thing
the Reds have to do is separatefrom that pack of teams that includes the
Pirates and the Cubs and the Cardinalsand the Reds, and then maybe they
could set their sights on the MilwaukeeBrewers. But you've you've got to take

(42:00):
care of business against bad teams.It's a very obvious statement. It's not
the most earth shattering take ever,but seasons are are often determined by who
who plays best against the really badteams, and the Reds have played pretty
well against really, really really badteams. They've also played really well this
year against the Phillies and Dodgers.Now, can they in the very large

(42:22):
middle of really all of baseball,but I guess specifically the National League,
can they take care of business againstteams that they're kind of lumped in with.
Hopefully the answer is yes. Weare a little bit less than two
months away from the trade deadline,and what we hope happens is that the

(42:45):
Reds spend this June doing what theydid last June, which was they go
on a roll and play themselves intocontention, and then if they do,
we'll talk about the trade deadline fromthe standpoint of what can the Reds do
to bolster their chances? I thinkbolster is only a word we use in

(43:08):
sports to improve their chances of gettingto the playoffs and winning once we're there
at the trade deadline. We didthis for weeks last year, and I
think sometimes we oversimplify the deadline,where we make all trades out to seem
like it's a deal between a teamthat's not in it and then giving up

(43:34):
a veteran player whose contract is aboutto expire in exchange for a prospect,
a top prospect from a team that'sin it. It's why we separate teams
into buyers and sellers. If youthink of most trade deadline deals, probably
what comes to mind is team that'swinning gives up a younger piece, and

(44:00):
that piece goes to a losing teamin exchange for a player who's been around
for a while but isn't part ofthat losing team's long term plans. In
reality, there are lots of differenttypes of trades. One type of trade
that I would like to see theReds be involved in is adding a piece
who could help you this year,but who you also control for a while.

(44:23):
You know, if you remember whenChristian Yelich was traded by the Miami
Marlins to the Milwaukee Brewers and ultimatelycontended for an MVP award, then had
a couple of down seasons, butthat was a player that they had for
years. He can help them inthe short term, which he did,
and then he was going to beunder team control for years because he had

(44:43):
a contract. And so I wasthinking about this today reading Mlbtrade Rumors dot
Com. They reference a piece byJeff Passen of ESPN, who did kind
of a look around the league tokind of assess where right now in early
June, every team is when itcomes to the trade deadline, and the
Chicago White Sox are awful. AndJeff mentions that the White Sox are open

(45:07):
for business and have been since beforethe season. They traded Dylan Ceas to
the San Diego Padres. San Diegois reportedly interested in Garrett Crochet, who's
a lefty and a good one.And so the piece that Passing writes the
blurb about the White Sox mentions thatnot only have they already moved on from

(45:29):
Dylan Ceas, not only are theyhaving conversations about Garrett Crochet, but they
are open offers. And one ofthe players they're open offers on is Luise
Robert Jr. And by the way, for what it's worth, yes he
pronounces his name Robert. Luise RobertJr. Is just now coming off the
injured list. He hasn't played.He's played two games this week. He

(45:52):
hadn't played in a game since earlyApril. He was a guy who last
year was an All Star in theshortened seats. In twenty twenty, he
was second in the American League Rookieof the Year voting. Last year,
he really exploded, hit thirty eighthome runs. He was a Silver Slugger
Award winner. He got MVP votes. He's just twenty six years old.

(46:15):
He also is under team control forthe twenty twenty four and twenty twenty five
seasons. Now there are team optionsfor twenty six and twenty seven on his
current deal that he signed a fewyears ago with the Chicago White Sox.
I don't know what it would taketo pray Luis Robert away from the Chicago

(46:35):
White Sox, but this is thesort of player that I prefer when we
talk about possible trades, not evenclose to out of his prime. He's
not even twenty seven years old.Yet you are trading for him if you
do for this season and next andbeyond, and uh, he's gonna cost

(46:55):
a lot. What specifically would hecost? Probably a whole lot. But
I would at least like to think, and I say this more out of
hope than anything else, that withthe White Sox A being beyond bad and

(47:16):
B making it known that they're opento offers for players like this that Nick
Crawl and Brad Meter have made thecall, perhaps a preliminary one, perhaps
one that ended with them dissatisfied withtheir chances of pulling off a trade.

(47:37):
But this is the sort of playerwe did it last year. It was
well buy versus sell. Well,if you buy, you're buying a piece
that only helps you for the nextcouple of months. Trade deadline deals are
allowed to involve players that you getfor more than just the rest of that
season. The Reds made a deallast year for Sam Mall, Well they
got Sam Mall for more than justtwenty twenty four. You're allowed to trade

(47:58):
for players that you for more thanone year. Now, the longer you
get them for is probably going todrive up the asking price. But this
dude compared to the guys the Redshave in the outfield right now, and
I think like this takes us toa place where the conversations may be a
little bit different. But it's oneof the more interesting things I think about
the Reds moving forward. We havea long list of guys we want the

(48:22):
Reds to keep right Like, youdon't They're not trading Ladla Cruz and you
don't want them to trade Hunter Green, and you don't want them to trade
Matt McLean. And there's a longlist of guys right, How large is
the list of players that are untouchablefor lack of a better term, where

(48:43):
does the list begin with guys youare willing to give up? And whether
it's for a guy like Luis Robertor anybody else, how far would you
be willing to go this year tolegitimately give your team a chance to win
this season again or ways away fromthe deadline. The Reds have to continue

(49:04):
to play well. They've got to, you know, legitimately I think have
the sort of chance to win andthey've they've got to play well enough that
it puts the front office in aposition where they have to at least consider
adding to the team. They didn'twant to really do it last year.
But how long will it be beforeNick Crawl and Brad Meeder are legitimately willing

(49:27):
to tap into the surplus or tradeaway guys that you really might not want
to trade away. It was interesting, you know, last summer we did
this and time and again we wouldmention the possibility of trading a young pitcher
or someone in the farm system.Or a young position player. And I
remember one day doing this, likein late July, going Okay, I've

(49:47):
got a huge piece of paper herewith a list of guys that it feels
like nobody wants to trade. AndI'm like, all right, you know
what about Noelve Marte Nupe don't wantto give him up? What about Cees?
Nope, don't want to give himupp? Okay, well what about
Chase Petty And Nope, don't wantto give him up? Red Louder that
really wasn't an option last year.But what about I don't want to give
him up? Okay? What aboutNickolodolo? I know he's heard what I

(50:10):
mean. It was like, anytime you would mention, well, what
about trading this guy? The answerwas no. At what point? And
I'm asking this somewhat rhetorically, atwhat point do you go? You know
what, We're going to have tobite the bullet here and make a deal
and be willing to give up assetsthat are hard to part with. I

(50:32):
don't know that we're there this year. First of all, the team has
to vault into contention, and thatmeans that the product that the Reds put
on the field has to be betterregardless of anybody you want to trade for
than it's been over the first coupleof months. They've got to continue to
play better and as a team putthemselves in a position that it makes sense
to add and make sense to goget a piece that can help you really

(50:53):
go for it. But are weif the Reds are in mid July next
season at the same place they werelast year. I know some are gonna
mention, well, you could getguys who are hurt, and it's like
making a great deadline deal. Ihate that narrative. But are we going
to do the same thing we didlast year? Or at the mere mention

(51:13):
of any number of players being dealtwe say no? And it was really
interesting to me last year because Iwas critical and will still be critical of
the Reds for not for not beinga little bit more aggressive of the trade
deadline last year. But you willfind folks who were mad at the Reds
for not making a trade, butwho then would say no if you mentioned

(51:34):
any number of guys the Reds couldtrade. You can't do both. If
you want them to make a trade, you got to be willing to give
up something. You got to bewilling to let the Reds give up something
to get something of meaningful value.I'm willing to do that, like I'm
willing to do that because I wantto accelerate the process. I also am
okay with looking for players who aremore than just two month rentals, which

(51:59):
is why a guy like Louise Robertis interesting to me because he's more than
just a two month rental. Butthat guy's going to cost a lot.
Maybe it's not Louise Robert, butare you Are we willing to really pay
a lot? And what was interestingabout the conversation last year is it didn't
feel like a lot of folks werereally that willing to pay a lot.

(52:19):
What a lot looks like specifically,I don't know. But there is going
to be a point in the evolutionof this franchise where it's going to make
sense for them to deal from asurplus. Reds have maybe a small surplus
of starting pitchers and they still havea lot of infielders. When are we
going to get to a point wherewe're all comfortable with them dealing from that
surplus? And could a guy likeLuise Robert and his availability, could that

(52:44):
be the player that compels us towant to see them deal from that surplus
nineteen after four, Uh, Brandonmanand Jones on baseball coming up in just
a few minutes. More on theDan Hurley then Hurley thing is awesome.
I want to watch that dude goafter fans and officials in the NBA the
way he did in college. Like, sign me the hell up for that.

(53:07):
I want to watch him coach LebronJames. There's another misnomer about college
coaches going to the NBA, whichwe're gonna dispel. But a few minutes
on wide receivers, because I've thoughtabout this a lot over the last day
or so. Then the field toyou, like, there are a lot
of wide receivers. Should we keepthat in mind? More on that next

(53:29):
ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station,Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty. It's NBC's coverage,
so it's not our coverage, whichmeans we don't get to go.
I'm with you, I'm kind ofwishing the Olympics is over already, so
we stopped airing now. Yeah,the Olympics start in late July. If
I'm not mistaken, are you abig Olympics guy? I am? I

(53:52):
am too. They're they're consumed alot different than when I was a kid,
because everything sort of happens now duringthe day, so it's not like,
you know, I'm old enough toremember when you know, at eight
o'clock at night, NBC or beforethat, ABC would come on and it
was, you know, three anda half hours of Olympic coverage and he
didn't know what had happened or andnow it all sort of takes place during

(54:15):
the day. But I do.I love the Summer Olympics. I usually
have very little interest, with theexception of hockey in the Winter Olympics.
Same I just I don't care aboutspeed skating or skiing figure skating that much.
The hockey I like, but likethe Summer Olympics. Now, I

(54:36):
think there are way too many swimmingevents, but sign me up for that.
What Olympic sport is. Some mightbe surprised you're interested in. I
mean, I know you're a bighandball guy. Team handball is awesome.
The United States is bad at teamhandball three on three basketball because I think
there's some interesting pairings and they're notwashed up players like the Big Three.

(55:00):
I like track and field events.It's fun to watch like the one meters
spring. I like track and field. I'm not watching a marathon, but
I like track and field events.I like diving. I like diving because
there's inherent danger that someone's going tobang their head on the diving board.
What do we have now? Youknow we were talking yesterday about Jamar Chase.

(55:21):
We talk almost every day about JamarChase and t Higgins, And my
guess is Paul Danner Junior nailed iton this show on Tuesday when he said
that his guess is Jamar signs hiscontract at the end of this coming season,
and I think that's where the smartmoney would be. The Bengals.

(55:45):
I don't know that they're gonna viewJamar as much as they have stated publicly
he is in their long term plans. I don't know if they view him
as worthy of breaking their policy whenit comes to not signing non quarterback to
extensions when they still have more thanone year remaining on their current deal.

(56:06):
I do think the conversation about widereceiver contracts is really fascinating because we have
seen the explosion in wide receiver salariesand I do think we're gonna get to
a point where the bubble bursts alittle bit, and you have teams that
are just gonna say, uh ah, we're good. I've been thinking about
this a lot. I looked atand trust me, I'm not studying twenty

(56:30):
twenty five mock drafts that intently,and I take all of them with a
grain of salt. But I lookedat like four of them today. Every
single one of them had a minimumof five wide receivers going in round one.
And there's something about that, likeif in any business there is a

(56:54):
really huge collection of people with elitetalent at this certain thing, and business
has older people who do this certainthing and who are going to cost more,
Well, guess what you're gonna getto a point where the business goes,
We're going to tap into this youngcollection of talent, and that means

(57:17):
we're going to be a little bitless willing to hang on to our old
or more expensive talent. That isa clumsy way of talking about how awesome
college and high school and youth footballis at producing wide receiver talent. I
mean, just if you follow collegefootball, if you watch college football,

(57:40):
doesn't it feel like every single Saturdayyou're watching dudes who play wide receiver.
First of all, college offenses area lot more past friendly than they ever
have been, and to a degreemore pass friendly than even some NFL teams.
We see, like you know,offenses that are a little bit more
creative, and I mean, justyou watch college football. Watch spend a

(58:02):
Saturday watching college football this fall andjust watch wide receiver. It's ridiculous the
talent we have at that position.We have fewer higher end athletes who have
a choice between running back and widereceiver, who are going to choose to
play running back just because we seewhat's happened to that position. At the
professional level, we have the proliferationof seven on seven football, which is

(58:24):
all about throwing and catching. Likeyouth football and college football have become awesome
at producing wide receiver talent, thereis an enormous flood of young dudes who
feel like they either are ready toenter the NFL or are entering the NFL.

(58:44):
Every single year, we've had fiveand a half wide receivers go in
the first round every single year thisdecade. It was three and a half
per first round ten years ago.So like with the Bengals, Yeah they're
going to sign you, Chase andI want them to sign Jamar Chase.
And there's a lot of reasons whythey should sign Jamar Chase, and they'll

(59:05):
say goodbye to Tea Higgins. Butman, regardless of what team you are,
if you're thinking about what, especiallythe Bengals, who have, for
all of their falses a franchise alwaysbeen pretty good. I mean, for
basically my entire life, the Bengalshave always had a good wide receiver.
I mean, even when they werebad in the nineties, Oh was that
good wide receiver? My entire life, I can't think of many years where
you're like, man, wide receiveris a huge need. So I've got

(59:28):
a franchise that is historically awesome atgetting a wide receiver. I have a
sport that just institutionally has never beenbetter at producing wide receiver talent. And
I've got an a lister playing quarterback. So you know, you'll toss and
turn and we'll continue to beat theTea and Jamar the thing to death.
Let's say both guys were to leave. Like, let's just say for the

(59:52):
sake of example, both dudes theydon't get Tea done, and for whatever
reason they don't get Jamar done.The Bengal's gonna suddenly sink into the abyss.
Hey, they've got Joe Burrow,B. They have a good track
record of identifying wide receiver talent.C got a good wide receiver coach d.
The poll of talent coming into theleague every year on an annual basis

(01:00:16):
has never been more plentiful. Like, they're gonna try to replace T Higgins
and with Jermaine Burton, maybe they'vealready started on that path. But next
year, when in all likelihood THiggins is not a Bengal anymore, You're
gonna be able to take advantage ofwhat college football provides. That's like that

(01:00:37):
pipeline is just now just now startingto open the way it has opened in
recent years. It ain't closing anytimesoon. College offenses are only gonna throw
more. They're only going to bemore creative. They're only gonna emphasize wide
receiver more. High school offenses arethrowing more. There's more seven on seven

(01:00:57):
football than ever the moneies there atwide receiver. Like you know, so
I just the more I think aboutthis, Yeah, I want them to
sign Jamar Chase. If it's gonnamake Joe Burrow happy, that's cool,
But oh my god, what arethey gonna do without Jamar? And T
probably draft the guy. The draftsin recent years have provided teams talent beyond

(01:01:21):
the first round. Pokin'akua, youknow, just Tyreek Hill, I'm Nree
Saint Brown, T Higgins. Andif there's one thing, if you're worried
about your team at that position,it's also why you should draft a wide
receiver every year because every single yearit feels like there's a billion of them.
Take one. You're probably gonna hiton it more often than not,

(01:01:45):
especially if you're a team that hasa good track record with wide receivers,
which the Bengals do. I'm notsaying don't sign Jamar. I am saying
that. Keep in mind that there'snever been more good ones entering the league.
No one year might have a deeperclass than the other, but there
haven't been many draft classes over thelast nine or ten years where you hear

(01:02:05):
draft experts talk about how shallow thepool is a wide receiver. I mean,
for all the talk of boy it'sa great class of tackles, still
a billion widers. I mean,like I just I don't recall that many
years where oh my God, thisclass of wide receivers is terrible. No,
it's there's always enough, and there'salways dudes that get taken later in

(01:02:30):
the draft that end up making animmediate impact, by the way, including
t Higgins. It was a Daytwo guy, top of Day two,
first pick of Day two. Butstill so I think we have to keep
that in mind as these conversations keepgoing that it has it is. I
don't think in the history of footballthere's ever been more really really good talented

(01:02:51):
people playing wide receiver. I don'tfollow high school football particularly closely, but
I talked to college coaches who are, like, Dude, the talent at
the high school level at that positionnow compared to ten fifteen years ago,
Are you kidding me? It's ridiculous. Watch college football on a given Saturday,

(01:03:13):
and I'm like the worst when itcomes to being able to watch a
guy and tell you that guy's afourth round talent or that guy I just
I watched that sport every single weekand go, dude, like, it's
like a thousand guys who could playin the NFL. And every year the
draft comes around and there's a billionwide receivers taken. I don't know man
like. It's just if you're ifyou're if you're in a position where we're

(01:03:37):
going to have to replace one herevery soon. It's not like replacing somebody
at a different position. Wide receiverseems pretty easy, and you've got to
consider that when you talk about maybepaying a guy more money than anybody's ever
made to play a wide receiver,you just do you have to consider it
with Jamar Chase doesn't mean you don'twant Jamar, doesn't mean you don't want

(01:03:57):
Tea. You've got to consider itwith t in the Bengal already have.
But I think that's something you couldtake some solace in the fact that it's
never been It's never been easier tofind dudes who play that position at the
lowest levels of football, and it'snever been easier to find dudes who play
that position in college football. Andthe good news is the Bengals are great
at getting wide receivers, complimentary guysstars. In my lifetime, I can't

(01:04:21):
think of many years where they haven'thad at least one good wide receiver,
and usually more than one. Myguess is that continues. Oh and by
the way, they've never had aguy like Joe Burrow. It's twenty four
from five o'clock. Brendiman and Joneson Baseball fifteen minutes away on ESPN fifteen
thirty Cincinnati Sports Station of Kelsey Chevrolet, home of lifetime power train protection and

(01:04:45):
guaranteed credit approval from their family toyours for life, kelseyshev dot Comrade start
a homestand tonight sixth gamer gamer Isaid first of four against the Cubs tonight
at GABP. Tonight's first pitch sevento ten. It's not six forty.
It's seven to ten tonight, Soyou have an extra thirty minutes to go
drink at the grail or buy moreexpensive beers inside the ballpark. I don't

(01:05:10):
know what's up to you. HunterGreen and Javier Asad are tonight's pitchers.
Your starting lineup tonight. Hopefully it'smade well thanks to our friends at Madewell
Restoration, Freedom and Center. ElliottShort Candelario is playing third base, Steer
at first base and is betting Forth. Jake Fretley is DH and Tyler Stevenson
behind the plate. Jacob herd Obeseis in left field. He is hitting

(01:05:33):
seventh, India at second and WillBenson in right field. Let's see Hunter
Green on the hill tonight for Cincinnati. Graham Ashcraft has been optioned to triple
A. He pitched yesterday. Heis I think fair to say he has
been the weak link in the startingrotation and there are other options including possibly,

(01:05:54):
quite possibly Brandon Williamson. But first, Emilio Pagan has been brought up
off the injured list. Florence playtonight at Schomberg. The Cincinnati Bengals are
going to have two joint practices duringtraining camp. One is going to be
with the Chicago Bears. This willbe at the Bears facility on Thursday,

(01:06:14):
August fifteenth, This two days beforethe Bengals and Bears play at Soldier Field
on the seventeenth. And then theBengals will have a joint practice in Cincinnati
with the Colts. That'll be onTuesday, August the twentieth. That in
advance of the third preseason game,which will be played at the venue formerly
known as Paul Brown Stadium. Andif you're thinking, god's that I'm going
to go to that, well,Bengals season ticket members and wait list members

(01:06:39):
will have exclusive access to the Coltsjoint practice. Members will receive more information
via email on June seventeenth about howto claim free tickets to the joint practice
when the full training camp schedule isreleased. There you go, This point
was made, and I want togive proper credit where it's due from the

(01:07:00):
athletic and I will admit to notbeing extraordinarily familiar with her work. But
Jordan rod Reek, I am probablysaying that incorrectly, but I did stumble
upon this tweet, and I thinkit's a good point where she writes can't
speak specifically to the Bengals thoughts,but joint practices will be a big training
ground for the new kickoff, andteams are smart to schedule multiple partners try

(01:07:23):
ideas with actual contact, but withoutputting them on tape as in preseason games.
I think that is a good point. It's one of the most interesting
things the NFL has done, inmy opinion, in quite a while,
the kickoff, for my money,has been a non play, like the
extra point has been more of aplay since they move the distance back because

(01:07:45):
there are more misses, the extrapoint is worth watching kickoffs. In recent
years, despite attempts to change itand alter it, the kickoff has been
something that I'm willing to miss ifI'm at a game now actually early as
we see how teams try to tryto exploit roles and try to strategically handle

(01:08:06):
this being an actual football play rightnow, and are some of are some
teams going to use their better playerson kickoffs? I think this is really
interesting and I do think there's alot of validity to this from this standpoint.
Better to try it and in contactsituations when you're going up against another

(01:08:27):
team, but you're not really puttinganything on tape if you want to try
some stuff, versus doing something likethat in a preseason game, which obviously
everybody has access to. So prettyinteresting stuff. Red's win again yesterday,
they come back with some momentum.Not much has changed even though the team
is winning. We'll get to thatcoming up at five oh five on ESPN

(01:08:49):
fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports Station.Anything you might a miss, go get
on the iHeartRadio app are Our podcastus are available there, and we're also
on our page at ESPN fifteen tothirty dot com. They are a service
of Longneck Sports Grill with three locationsin Northern Kentucky, Wilder, Heburn and

(01:09:09):
Ridgewood. You were all set foryour weekend. No better place to post
up on the patio and have acold one than Longneck Sports Grill, Stay
long, come often, as theysay Brendanman and Jones on Baseball's Next Cincinnati's
ESPN fifteen thirty. Traffic from theuc Health Traffic Center. The University of

(01:09:30):
Cincinnati Cancer Center is the region's firstand only provider of specialized primary care services
for cancer patients and survivors called fiveone, three, five eight five uc
CC be aware of disabled vehicle that'sblocking the right lane and causing some hold
up on westbound Norwood Lateral at PaddockRoad, and you can expect a ten
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(01:09:56):
I'm Nicole with traffic. This reportis spawning. No one covers the
Bengals like ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati's sportsstation. Yeah, sure, there you
go, five both on ESPN fifteenthirty. I'm Oleger, Thank you for
listening. Hopefully your Thursday is goinggreat. Ours is going great. It's

(01:10:16):
been a good week for the Reds. They're home tonight. It feels weird.
They had a road trip and yesterdaythey're bouncing right into a home stand
and starts tonight. Oftentimes, maybeeven most of the time. Hell,
I don't know, but it feelslike oftentimes there's a day off of between
it. No, there's a gametonight, which is good. Hunter Green
gets the ball for Cincinnati, comingoff that start against the Cubs where I

(01:10:42):
kind of wiped it away, butyou know, his struggles maybe because of
weather, throwing strikes on Saturday inthe second inning. Notwithstanding, he was
still able to get through it.The starting pitching for this team has been
good. We'll get to that injust second. Five o'clock Happy hours of
service of our buddies at michelob Ultra. One of those sounds incredible right now.
If you're going to the ballpark tonight, grab am at culture. It's

(01:11:05):
great for the ballpark. It's greatwhen you're watching the game or listening to
the game, or pre gaming orpost gaming. Nicolobaltra is great any time.
Anytime. I say more on whatI think is a fascinating story that
touches both college and pro basketball herein just a second, and I have
a question about sports on television thatwe'll get to momentarily. But first,

(01:11:28):
yesterday was my favorite Reds win ofthe year, not that there are a
ton to choose from a dramatic comefrom behind dual comebacks, if you will,
because they were down four zip andseven to four, a dramatic victory

(01:11:48):
that they snatched away from the jawsof defeat with their comeback in the ninth
inning last night. Spencer Steer ofthe two run homer. Reds were down
four to nothing in that game,down seven to four in that game.
They get the victory. They beatthe Colorado Rockies three straight. They sweep
them. They go five and oneon the road trip. This team is
playing well. They're playing well inthe field. Many players have chipped in

(01:12:14):
offensively. They've got a bunch ofdudes who are raking right now. Ellie
Dela Cruz has turned things around atleast just a little bit, and maybe
yesterday notwithstanding, they're getting really goodstarting pitching. That was the case when
they were struggling. It's the caseright now. We'll get to that in

(01:12:35):
a second. But yesterday I loved. If you're a baseball fan, I
don't care if you're a Reds fanor a fan of anybody else. You
know sometimes what it could look like, especially for the road team, in
a game like yesterday, it's getawayDay, it's the last day of a

(01:12:55):
road trip. They've already banked twowins in the series, they've already had
a winning road trip. There's nooff day. The next day, they're
coming home to play a game.They fall behind by four runs early.
Not that any team should pack itin, not that the Reds can afford

(01:13:16):
to pack it in, and notthat four runs in any ballpark is an
insurmountable deficit, and it's even lessinsurmountable when you're playing in Colorado. But
still, we've all seen games likethat get away Day, early deficit,
Let's get the hell on the plane, let's get out of here. And

(01:13:40):
instead they get the two to tworun homers. They tie the game,
they still fall behind, they stillfigure out a way to win. Jonathan
India with the Grand Slam and theninth inning to put the cherry on the
Sunday and the Reds win the ballgame, they sweep the series. They come
home to play the Chicago Cubs.We talked about this last week that this
was going to be a week Ibelieved at least and maybe you disagree,

(01:14:01):
and that's okay. That this weekwas going to go a long way toward
determining whether or not this team couldreally jump back into the race. Now
this week is not over. Youcan't lose three out of four to the
Cubs and still live off the fumesof sweeping the Colorado Rockies. But you
don't. We keep doing it right. Last year, at this time,
it was a year ago today,La de la Cruz made his big league

(01:14:24):
debut. This team took off thistime last year. And so if you
have lived off those comparisons last yearto this year for the first two plunts
months of the season, they onlywork if this team takes off when last
year's team took off. So far, so good. I loved yesterday's win.

(01:14:45):
And what I like more than anythingis that they're getting good starting pitching,
like part of why I think theycan jump back in. And I'm
not here to tell you the Redsare going to be a playoff team.
It's gonna take a lot. They'restill digging out from a hell of a
hole here, man, they are, and they still have guys who are

(01:15:06):
hurt, and they've got imperfections anda whole slew of questions surrounding them.
But three weeks ago, you knowyou got accused to be in a homer
if you said this, and Iknow this because I got accused of being
a homer. I felt like thisteam was worth not giving up on because

(01:15:29):
the starting pitching was going in theright direction. It wasn't elite, it
wasn't league best, but it wasacross the board better than league average,
and more often than not, whoeverthe starting pitcher was was giving the Reds
a chance in the game. Thatthey were pitching unfortunately, decent starts and

(01:15:54):
in some cases good starts were beingtorpedoed by the fact that this team went
for a stretch that was almost historicallybad where nobody was hitting. But my
take at the time, and Ithink most agreed with this, I think
you probably agreed with this. Ifthe pitching can stay what it was at

(01:16:20):
some point offensively, there was goingto be a turnaround. They were not.
Remember at one point as a teamthey were hitting like two two or
two oh three that that wasn't likelyto remain the case, and it was
kind of a matter of when werethey going to hit, and not so
much if they were going to hit. But by the time they were hitting,
if number one they could still bewithin arm's length of a playoff spot
and number two of the starting pitchingwas still good, then this team did

(01:16:43):
have a chance to take off.Well, some things have changed, Namely,
guys are hitting now right, SpencerSteer's swinging a good bad and Jamber
Candelarry over the last month has beenpretty good. And Elie de la Cruz
has had his ups and downs,but right now it feels like he's on
an uptick. And it's been ratethat they've had TJ. Friedel come back
offensively, they're better. The startingpitching has even gotten a little bit better

(01:17:05):
itself. They're getting more consistency yesterday. Notwithstanding, by the way, if
you don't know, Graham Ashcraft hasbeen sent to Triple A, and so
I think three weeks ago you couldhave made the assertion, you know what,
this team is not worth giving upon yet because the starting pitching is
okay, and that's an area ofthe team like today is June sixth,

(01:17:29):
would it be surprising if June sixth, twenty twenty five, a year from
now, would it be surprising ifHunter Green and Nicolodolo, and I'll even
I will use Andrew Abbot. Wewon't fold Graham Ashcraft into the conversation right
now, but let's say, AndrewAbbot, would it be that surprising if

(01:17:50):
a year from now that trio ofstarting pitchers was considered to be among the
league's best, not the league's best, but among the league's best. I
don't think that would be that surprising. That's not that far fetched, right,
Like, because we expect those guysindividually to keep getting better, to
keep improving, to keep building upontheir experience. Now they've got to stay

(01:18:13):
healthy. And you're being fair ifyou kind of are sitting on your hands
when it comes to Nick Lodolo inhis health because he's had so many lower
body issues. But from a performanceand from a talent perspective, if I
said we're gonna flash ahead and ayear from now that trio of pitchers is
going to be considered to be amongthe league's best, that's plausible. And

(01:18:35):
if I said a year from nowand a Graham Asscraft, in spite of
all of his struggles this year,which I think are relative, like I
think he's been mediocre. I don'tthink he's been terrible. I think he's
being kind of squeezed out because theReds have other options, which is good,
which is what you want to have. But if I said a year
from now, Graham Ashcraft is gonnahave a reputation for being a really reliable,

(01:18:59):
consistence, darting pitcher, that wouldhave made sense. And you know,
it would would make sense if Isaid, by now, Brandon Williamson
maybe has done the same thing.And by the way, there's still some
dudes on the com like, that'sthe foundation of this team. And so
now you could look at the cluband go, god, you know what,
the starting pitching is still good.And again it ain't great, but
it's it's good. That's an areaof the team where you would can you

(01:19:23):
would you would think that the trendupward will continue. Oh and by the
way, knock on wood, theywill get healthier, guys will hit better,
maybe they'll acquire a bat. Maybesome of the players that are are
coming back come back sooner than wewould maybe think, like Cees or dare

(01:19:45):
I say, maybe even like MattMcClain. I still believe this. I
said this when this team was twentyand thirty. I'll say it today,
when they're playing well and they're stillnot really at five hundred. I think
this is somewhere between a seventy nineand eighty four win team. That might
sound like a cop, it's whatI said in March. I believe that
now. I think they're going tobe somewhere in that range. But I
also don't think they're worth giving upon. And I again, I'm not

(01:20:09):
doing to say that I told youso. I say it because I think
this one part of the team hasgotten so much better than it was last
year, and it is such animportant part of what they're doing and has
so much upside that the frustrations ofthe first two months being what they were,
there was always a chance that theywould jump into this thing, jump

(01:20:30):
into contention. They haven't done ityet, but I think there's reason to
feel like they will. Now.This all blows up. If there's a
bunch of injuries to the starting rotation. This all blows up. If some
of these guys end up not pitchingvery well, It all goes away if
those things happened. But last season, this team contended in spite of the

(01:20:53):
starting pitching. The starting pitching onthis team was a weakness. Now it's
a strength. The starting pitching withthe composition of the staff they had last
year being a weakness felt like aa byproduct of poor health because everybody got
hurt, b a byproduct of inexperience. Right now, they're healthier. Right

(01:21:19):
now, they're more experienced, andthe entire time, there's been a ton
of upside. When you have that, you're worth not giving up on.
I can't speak for you, youcan chime in at five point three,
seven, four, nine, fifteenthirty. Uh, I felt like this

(01:21:41):
team was worth not giving up onthree weeks ago. I feel that today
this will change if they go inthe dumper over the course of the next
week and a half, because theythey they've got to use this month to
get to five hundred and then hopefullyclear five hundred, put that in the
rear mirror, and then really engagein the race and get close to the

(01:22:02):
deadline, and hopefully the front officecan do something to make the team better.
And they do have to get healthier. But all of that, if
it does happen, will happen aroundI think a starting pitching staff that is
probably only going to perform better asthe season unfolds and is only going to
perform better as the seasons unfold.The reason why it feels like to me

(01:22:29):
at least the arrow is pointed upwhen it comes to the overall trajectory of
this franchise is because they have areally good foundation of starting pitching. And
by the way, that isn't justthe guys who are at the big league
level. You could tell me,uh, if you disagree five point three
seven four nine, fifteen thirty eightsixty six, seven oh two three seven

(01:22:53):
seven six, you could send mea tweet. Thanks. The Delta Dental
at Moegger Delta Dental is building healthy, smart, vibrant communities for all.
Good to dental oh dot com.Meanwhile, the big sports story today it
touches college basketball and it touches theBig East because LA Lakers by according to
our friend, our friend, accordingto Adrian washonhawsk gave ESPN, LA Lakers

(01:23:15):
are targeting Dan Hurley. Dan Hurleycoaches the two time defending national champion Yukon
Huskies, who are in the BigEast in an absolute college basketball powerhouse,
and it could ignite a chain ofevents in college basketball that couldn't make the
off season a lot of fun ifyou're a fan of the sport, and
give you a lot of nervous momentsif you're a fan of a team that

(01:23:35):
may lose its coach, including obviouslyYukon. We'll spend some more time on
that a little bit later on nineteenafter five o'clock. I am glad you're
here today. Thank you so muchfor listening to your phone calls hopefully are
coming up on ESPN fifteen thirty,Cincinnati Sports Station after five o'clock. This
is ESPN fifteen thirty on Moleger aerosOlympics are a month and a half away,

(01:24:00):
five thirty. I've gabbled long enough. We should talk to people on
the phone, right Taran, amI? Am I capable? Am I
able to put phone calls on theair? Or does that have to be
your chore? New studios? Ihave Today's Macho Today. It's your chore
to put the phone calls on theair. So whould you like? All
right? Let's uh, let's talkto Joe and Hyland Heights. Joe,
thanks for hanging on. You're onESPN fifteen thirty. What's going on?

(01:24:23):
Hey, I'll be brief. Ijust wanted to say Tarn mow Tony Austin.
You guys are I've been listening inpert since what I've been listening for
a long time. You guys doa fabulous job. Hope you guys never

(01:24:45):
help you guys never leave. Ido too, because if I leave it,
it means someone's told me to leave. That's very kind of you.
Thank you so much. No,no, no, I just I gave
it my first talk back Lance weekand I said, listen, I don't
know if the Reds are going towin or even make the playoffs, but

(01:25:08):
they're not going to hit two twentyfor the rest of the year. And
this starting staff and most of therelieving staff they're I mean, this is
the best we've seen in a while. So hopefully Benson and all these guys

(01:25:29):
start to start to hit to theiraverage. But I'm looking forward to the
rest of the year. They're atleast exciting. I hate to say that
a team that is below average isexciting, but they're fun to watch.

(01:25:53):
Yeah, they are. I meanthey when they are playing well and when
they are getting the hitting that you'relooking for, and they can get guys
on base the way they force theissue on the bases, the way they're
willing to take the extra base,which they're among the best in baseball at
doing that, their willingness to run, which is obviously led by Ellie Dayla
Cruz, and look they you know, the two teams that have stolen the

(01:26:14):
most bases also have the most pickoffs. That's the Washington Nationals and the Cincinnati
Reds. And so they put themselvesin hot water a little bit more than
you would like. But yeah,I mean they when they are getting average
hitting, the rest of how theyplay offensively can be very effective. And
they've got some guys on the mound. You know. We talk about how
they've exploded a little bit offensively recently, but if you go back to that
Dodger series, they won low scoregames, right, they won three to

(01:26:40):
one, they won four to one. They won a game against the Cardinals
three to one. They have foundways in recent weeks they're hitting better,
but in some cases they've hit justenough for the starting pitching and the bullpend
to carry it. And I thinkthat will continue all season long as the
hitting hopefully does improve, and Ihope, well hopefully we get a little

(01:27:02):
bit better about making share that westeel when it's appropriate, and we don't
try to be too aggressive because Ithink that sometimes hurts the team. But
yeah, yeah, if they canjust get I mean two fifty to sixty

(01:27:24):
cheesel, I mean this, thisteam could really be impressive. But well,
we'll see if that happened. Hey, Hey, thanks guys. I
appreciate your time. Thank you forthis. Love you guys. That's very
very nice of you, and Ihope, I hope you call us again.
Thank you so much. Yeah,man, I mean, if you

(01:27:45):
look at I don't know, aroundthe sport, and we can include teams
in the National League Central if youI'm trying to figure out the best to
do this. Teams that are ina similar position to where the Reds are,
which is not where they want tobe. Few games below five hundred,

(01:28:09):
trying to figure out if they're goingto be in it, maybe,
trying to figure out if they're goingto buy or sell, trying to figure
out if what they're doing is goingto work long term, trying to figure
out if they can re enter therace. I think there are a lot
of Baseball front office executives, andI'm sure there are a lot of managers
that would love to say that overthe final with the Reds have played sixty

(01:28:31):
two games, that over the finalone hundred games or so of the season,
that they can play the rest ofthe season with Hunter Green, Graham
as well, not Graham Ashcraft,I guess, but Hunter Green, Nicolodolo,
Andrew Abbott and and throw Frankie Montasinto the mix. Throw will Branda

(01:28:51):
Williams into the mix, assuming he'sgoing to join the rotation here very soon.
Like there's that's a really good buildingblock. And it was a good
building block three four weeks ago whenthe team was really struggling. It's a
good building block now again. Likeif you said to me mo wager and
amount of money that matters to you, will the Reds make the playoffs or

(01:29:14):
miss, I'll be honest with you, I'd probably say miss. The math
is kind of hard. I'm notsure how much this team is gonna hit.
I thought they were a seventy nineto eighty three, eighty four win
team before the season began. Nothinghas happened over the first sixty two games
to dissuade me from that. Istill think the math is really really uphill
to get to more than eighty fivewins. But I do feel like there's

(01:29:38):
something there that a lot of teamsin the Reds boat would really like to
have. Now, you know,there are teams that have starting pitchers,
individuals starting pitchers who are better thananybody the Reds have right now. And
there's like the Pirates with Paul Skenes, who's the talk of the sport right
now, which is awesome, rightI think it's I think it's fun when
a team like that, which hasbeen down for a long time, has

(01:30:00):
dude that's generating a lot of excitementand I want to watch them pitch at
GABP. But I think if youwent around the sport, just like the
nationally there are right now four teamsin the National League that have a winning
record, well six are going tomake the playoffs. And so I think
if you went around the sport andsaid, all right, you know,
the Washington Nationals or the Cardinals,or the Padres or the Giants, would

(01:30:26):
would you like to have Hunter Green, Nicolodolo and Andrew Abbott with their current
trajectory which is pointed upward? Wouldyou like to have those guys the rest
of the season. They're all goingto say yes, and then yeh to
it. Some of the other pitcherstoo, and add to it some of
the successes they've had in the bullpen. I wish Alexis Diaz was a little
bit less cringe worthy of the ninthinning, but there is something there,

(01:30:49):
and I think the starting pitching isonly going to get better. The first
thing that had to happen was thoseguys had to establish healthier and with the
exception of the bump of the roadwith Nicolodolo, knock on wood. So
far that's happened. I say,knock on wood, and I'm the guy
who doesn't believe in Jenson's Uh,so far that's happened. Now they've accumulated

(01:31:11):
experience, build upon it, andI think that part of the team is
only going to get better. Fivepoint three seven four nine fifteen thirty is
our phone number, by the way, we h I like it when you
start your call by just talking abouthow awesome the station is. UH A
few Dan Hurley thoughts some more phonecalls coming up. PSPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati
Sports Station Cincinnati's the service of KelseyChevrolet, home of lifetime powertrain protection and

(01:31:38):
guaranteed credit approval from their family toyours for life, kelseyshev dot Com,
Reds and Cubs tonight first of fourA GABP Hunter Green and Javier Assad on
the hill seven ten tonight on aseven hundred WLW. You know we can
do now is hope that the startinglineup tonight has made well from David Bell,
which rhymes thanks for at Madewell restoration, yours starting line at this evening.

(01:32:02):
Friedel is in center. Elie DellaCruz, who made his big league
debut against the Dodgers one year agotonight, is playing shortstop and batting second.
Candelario at third, steers at first. Freely is dhing Tyler Stevenson catches
in bat sixth, herdibieson left,India at second base, Will Benson in
right field, batting ninth. GrahamAshcraft option to triple A Louisville. He

(01:32:28):
hasn't been terrible. He also reallyhas just been a just another guy.
Can we go with that? Ithink so. Emilio Pagans back Florence on
the road tonight against Schomberg. Bengalsare gonna have two joint practices against two
different teams, one of them againstthe Bears in suburban Chicago before they play
the Bears in the preseason, andthen one here against or with the Indianapolis

(01:32:55):
Colts. That'll be on August thetwentieth. They play the Colts in a
pre season game here August the twentysecond. If you're a season ticket member
or on the wait list, you'llhave exclusive access to the Colts joint practice.
There you go. NBA Finals Gameone tonight, Celtics hosting the MAVs.
The game is on ESPN fifteen thirtythanks to ESPN Radio. Pregame coverage

(01:33:16):
starts at eight o'clock. I've gotthe MAVs and six. That story has
been in basketball circles, overshadowed bythe wooj bomb from this morning. Dan
Hurley, the coach of the twotime defending champion Yukon Huskies. Dan Hurley
is being sought after being targeted beingwooed in conversations with the LA Lakers for

(01:33:44):
their head coaching vacancy. I thinkthis is exceptionally interesting for a lot of
different reasons. I'm a fan ofboth. I'm more of a college basketball
fan than a pro basketball fan,but I love basketball, and from a
pro basketball perspective, seeing the integrationof somebody who is renowned for his strategic
abilities and preparation and having that meshwith Lebron James and the LA Lakers in

(01:34:10):
the half of the league that isuber competitive. That's just interesting seeing of
a franchise that has become well knownfor just cycling through coaches. They've had
tarn Is at now seventh since Lebrongot to LA. The next coach will
be the seventh. There's just beena NonStop coaching churn since Phil Jackson left

(01:34:31):
the second time. Seeing if theycan find some degree of steadiness that allows
a coach like Dan Hurley to putforth a program is interesting. Seeing how
it would work out post Lebron James, because he's going to be forty years
old here very soon. That isis interesting. Many are going to use
this and kind of talk about how, well, look, you know,
college basketball is changing and so thepros are so much more attractive. I

(01:34:56):
understand that point of view. Imean, look we have here, and
I I really like the direction thecollege sports are going, with the exception
of the conference realignment. I certainlyunderstand there's the need for at least some
regulation. I can certainly understand theangst that comes with uncertainty regarding what college
sports are going to look like movingforward. But when it comes to the

(01:35:17):
players getting paid in the transfer portal, I am as all and as anybody
you'll ever hear, but we haveprofessionalized college sports. That's okay with me.
But I can absolutely understand the perspectivethat says, well, wait a
minute, I can coach professional collegebasketball, which has never been controlled more
by the players, or I cango coach professional NBA basketball, which has

(01:35:44):
never been more controlled by the players. Oh and I don't have to fundraise.
Oh and I don't have to doa whole lot of non basketball stuff
like I understand that I do.This has been a weird psych when it
comes to college football and college basketball, with coaches leaving. Jim Harball left

(01:36:05):
for the NFL, Nick Saban hasretired. Dan Hurley might jump to the
NBA, might go coach the Lakers. Change is hard, man. I'm
all about the changes in college sports. But change is hard, and change
is always going to leave some inany field out. It's always going to

(01:36:30):
compel some to leave. I've usedthis example before. Our business since I
started here has changed dramatically in somecases, for the better. In some
cases, I would argue not somuch. I wish we had more people
working in radio. But you know, when I first got into radio,

(01:36:50):
a radio host was a radio hostand weren't blogging, they weren't tweeting,
they weren't on social media. Nowyou got to do that stuff. Yeah
to the method of distribution has changed, how we execute shows have changed.
We're not as caller centric. Peopleare less likely to call talk shows than
they were twenty five years ago.You know, we have to change how

(01:37:15):
we promote ourselves. Nobody, veryfew of us anymore, are just radio
hosts. There's an Internet presence,there's a social media presence. There's an
immediacy that is at times required.I never thought there'd be a video component
in radio. We make videos everysingle day and probably should make more.
But all right, you're gonna havesome folks who are like radio lifers,

(01:37:40):
and I've watched it happen, whojust go, you know what, this
ain't for me, and that's okay. You know, Nick Saban has basically
said this era of college football ain'tfor me. Doesn't mean he's a bad
guy, doesn't mean anything other thanhe looked at this and go, I've
got my money, I've got mylegacy. This ain't for me. That's
okay, And maybe that's how DanHurley looks at it. There are still

(01:38:03):
gonna be lots of people who wantto coach college basketball programs with the money
involved. The jumping off point tocollege basketball could be at certain programs.
The volume of jobs we're not gonnabe We're not gonna be hemorrhaging coaches.
Oh my god, who's going tocoach these programs? Someone will look.

(01:38:26):
If you're a Xavier fan, you'rerooting like hell for this, aren't you.
If you're a Saint John's fan,you're rooting like hell for this,
aren't you. By the way,you know, there's a part of it.
I watched Dan Hurley. He coacheshard man like I watch two different
things on his practices. There's abit of a bit of a belief that,
like, you can't coach hard inthe NBA. Greg Papovich doesn't coach
hard. Eric Spolster doesn't coach hard, heat culture, heat culture. Tom

(01:38:50):
Thibodeau doesn't coach hard like Nick Nursedoesn't coach hard like. Sometimes you hear
those things from people who don't payattention to the league. I pay attention
to that league. There's like coacheswho are getting after it. Now,
we don't have these maniacs on thesideline, but we really don't have them

(01:39:11):
in college basketball. And I wouldbe willing to bet that Dan Hurley,
who is animated and if you arerooting for the team that he is coaching
against, can be annoying. Ibet you he's a smart enough guy.
He'll know he has to tone itdown just a little bit. But can
you coach hard in that league?Ah? Yeah, I udoka that dude
doesn't coach hard. Also, Ithink great players want to be coach hard.

(01:39:38):
You know, the line between collegebasketball and professional basketball has never been
more blurred. It exists, butit's it's never been more blurred. And
so if this happens, and Ihope it does because I'm a fan of
interesting, that is an interesting storyline, I'm also a fan of college basketball,
which means we get a a front, top of mind, front page

(01:40:04):
topic, a story that's gonna takeus into the part of the year which
is normally a graveyard in college basketball. We're gonna get a whole new coaching
cycle, Like hell yeah, thishas been my favorite college basketball offseason of
all time because of the player movement. And yeah, it's more player centric

(01:40:25):
than ever before. So yeah,dude, I could totally understand a coach
is like, wait a minute,I'm coaching in college basketball the players have
more power than ever or I cango coach in the NBA where the players
have a lot of power. Okay, Well, especially if I'm Dan Hurley
and I've conquered college basketball, whynot jump to the Lakers? Se Wow,

(01:40:48):
tarn Hm Tarren Blant said that.I mean, by the way,
you talk about like a gig whereyou walk into an insane amount of pressure.
It's not just Dan Hurley, thethree coaches prior to you each one
national titles. You're in the BigEast where you do have to coach against

(01:41:09):
Sean Miller and Rick Patino and GregMcDermott and Shaka Smart and Thad Mada.
You're juxtaposed against the women's program.The following is massive. By the way,
if you ever go to the EastCoast, Yukon basketball is covered like
an NBA team. I've seen this, and it's a little bit different because

(01:41:32):
just media companies have changed, butI've seen this at both the Sinta Center
and at the Shoemaker Center. Thenumber of people traveling with Yukon basketball.
It's covered in that part of thecountry like an NBA team, Like you
think, well, the pressure ofthe Lakers. Aside from Kentucky basketball right
now, there might not be aprogram that is under more screen. It

(01:41:56):
is basically the East Coast, thenortheast part of the country's college basket ball
program. They're covered in New York, They're covered in Boston, They're covered
by every newspaper in the state.They have a massive horde of people who
travel with that team. But yeah, we're gonna get We're gonna get like
a coaching cycle. Sign sign meup, Sign me up. And I

(01:42:17):
mean you talk about like a thethe the media scrutiny won't be a problem
for Dan Hurley, but the mediascrutiny. You walk into that situation previous
three coaches of one national titles.You're in an uber competitive league. The
Yukon women's program's going nowhere. PaigeBeckers is coming back. Now, You're
gonna walk into a really good teambecause Hurley's had a great transfer portal season.

(01:42:41):
But you talk about massive shoes tofill consecutive national titles. You're coaching
against bohemos in the Big East,tons of scrutiny, women's program lurking in.
You're in the shadow in some respectsof the women's program. Like that's
it's a good gig. It's notan easy gig. But yeah, man,
I love this story and I'm hopinghe succeeds. He's a Bengals fan.

(01:43:06):
Why wouldn't we rift for Dan Hurleyto succeed? And there are more
college coaches who have made that leapto the NBA who have had success that
I think some would make you realize. So this is an interesting story.
It has Like I've had ESPN onall day. They're just now talking about
the NBA Finals. Game one istonight. That story and it's the Lakers,
which I get it. It's it'sdifferent if it's you know, I

(01:43:30):
don't know, the Detroit Pistons,that's one thing, or the Charlotte Hornets.
It's the Lakers. But that's justreally a fascinating story and I hope
it happens. It is thirteen awayfrom six o'clock. This is ESPN fifteen
thirty Cincinnati Sports Station. Possible forthe Lakers possible head coach for the Lakers,
Dan Hurley JJ Reddick Game one thenight tomorrow on the show, Sam

(01:43:58):
Lukire is going to be with usat Reach. Sam Lequre is such a
good dude. This is what hegets for giving us a hard time about
when we would only call him onceor twice a year. Now we call
him like once a month. Andso we reached out to Sam. Tarn
reached out to Sam. Sam's gonnabe on our show. He is joining
us even though he is on vacation. I guess he's not working the series

(01:44:19):
this weekend. Sam is on vacationand yet kind enough to join us.
Excuse me to talk about the Redsand hopefully another good Hunter Green start tonight
and excuse me so much more.I'm all choked up, Sam LeCure and
so much more. Three twenty tomorrow. Our show starts at three oh five.
We look forward to having Sam.Anything you miss on this show you

(01:44:43):
can find on the iHeartRadio app.You could also find on the podcast page
of ESPN fifteen thirty dot com.Podcasts of this show are a service of
Long Neck Sports Grill. You hearus talk all the time about Long Neck
Sports Grill and there are three locationsin othern Kentucky. But you know,
if you're interested in bringing a longNeck sports grill to your neck of the

(01:45:05):
woods, if you get to longNext Sportsgrill Franchise dot com, they're looking
to expand. If you have theresources to put one on the west side
of Cincinnati, I would be verygrateful. So go to long Next Sports
Grill Franchise dot com quickly. Didyou see the story about, uh,
the Packers that Eagles aren't allowed towear green in Brazil? No? Yeah,

(01:45:28):
there's Josh Jacobs is on Chris Long'spodcast and apparently they send out a
memo that they aren't allowed to weargreen because of a possible gang over in
Brazil. So the Philadelphia Eagles,their primary color is green. The Green
Bay Packers their primary color is isalso green. They can't wear green.
Yeah, so they're just gonna wearwhat. One team's gonna wear white,

(01:45:50):
one team's gonna wear black. Wedon't I'm not sure. The Packers and
Eagles two teams that prominently feature green. What if you're one of the fans
of the team. Yeah, soyou're an Eagles fan, you've got green
gear. You're a Packers fan,You've got green gear. You're not gonna
be able to wear it. Howabout this? Don't put a game in
Brazil. Don't put a game ina part of the world where the teams

(01:46:12):
can't wear their uniforms because of gangs. How about that? Yeah, we
have to go back at it tomorrowat three oh five on ESPN. Thanks
to Tarran for producing, Thanks toyou for listening. This is ESPN fifteen
thirty Cincinnati Sports Station. This reportis sponsored