7/29/25 - The Mo Egger Radio Show - Mo Egger

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

Speaker 2 (00:02):
Yes, what's up? Five minutes after three o'clock. This is
ESPN fifteen thirty. I'm Moegar. Thanks for listening, and I
hope we had like the most awesome Tuesday of all time.
Show previews available on Twitter at Mullegar at Moullegar, I said,
so go watch it now. Let's say. Paul Danner Junior's

(00:24):
here with us in studio covering the Bengals, covering training
camp every day. There is no training camp practice today.
I didn't know if I should feel good or bad
that I got emails from folks this morning wondering, Hey,
no training camp show today, no training camp, no training
camp show. We are back at the toni Emo Training
Camp show tomorrow at ten o'clock. So Paul's here, Paul

(00:45):
Danner Junior covering camp Fortheathletic dot com, as well as
the Growler podcast daily training camp updates on his YouTube channel.
Paul's with us because it's Tuesday. How is it going?
It's going great, It's going great. Kudos to you guys
on the show. All great review is really yes, I
hear great things.

Speaker 3 (01:02):
You do?

Speaker 2 (01:02):
Love it? I do really. I'm not just saying it
because I'm sitting here. I hear great days. No name
one person who's like, yeah, here's a good review of
the Tony and Moe training camp.

Speaker 4 (01:11):
I don't need to name names. I don't need I'm
not here to name names. I don't want to out
people who are who like it. But I'll say this, like,
it's a tough that's a tough gig to try to
do live. I mean, there's a lot of the time
there's not a lot going on, so you're kind of
you're kind of having to do two or three different
things at once, and occasionally you get something interesting that

(01:34):
happens you could, you know, jump off on a tangent
about and that you gotta be ready for that. I
just I think it's a hard, hard show to do there,
and you guys have been doing a great job.

Speaker 2 (01:42):
That's very kind of you to say it's been a
little bit of a challenge. It's been fun though, because
it's like I always say, I love doing the Draft show.
I love Draft Night, like I love hosting that show
because it's one of the few you do where what
you were talking about is happening in real time and
I also so like sort of describing for people what's

(02:03):
going on, and the training camp show kind of combines both.
You're talking about the team and you're prepared with topics.
At the same time, you're telling people what's going on,
or at least highlighting things that you think would be
of interest to the general audience and setting the scene
for folks who aren't there. So, yeah, it's different, it's fun.

Speaker 4 (02:19):
I like that you mentioned today on my show that
look you check on who's the first person out? Al
Golden has been consistently the first one out there. Hey
there it is energy, right, an energy guy, first one out, detailed, prepared,
all those things. There it is. He looks intense and
focused and hot.

Speaker 2 (02:41):
He does.

Speaker 4 (02:43):
He's sweating profusely by the end, like all of us are.
But he's been out there for a while. I gotta
say he is thus far start. I hate doing this,
but it's There was a lot of ways that we
could be describing the defense through the first five practices,
and I described them as very competitive, with a unit

(03:08):
that might end up the best offense in football, that
had nothing but continuity coming in, and I have been
that has been to me the surprise storyline of camp,
not that it's going to continue, not that they're great,
not there aren't still individual issues, but they could have
come out and you would have not been surprised in
the least if they were just getting beat up by

(03:28):
this offense, specifically early in camp, because of the continuity.
On the other side, they're not. They're winning, they're playing well.
They're showing that they have a lot of I don't
confidence in themselves, which is saying something considering how much
that lacked last year. You're feeling that young energy that
I think that they're trying to build around now Golden

(03:50):
and it must be him coming out early that's setting
it up.

Speaker 2 (03:53):
Yeah, I mean he's he's not just out there, he's
like doing lamps around the field. I mean he is.
He is bringing the heat at thirty in the morning
as we're getting ready to go on at ten. Well,
it's work. So we're looking forward to seeing him out
in the field tomorrow. We've spent loads of time in
the run of the training camp talking about, you know,
the emphasis to getting off to a faster start. They've

(04:15):
moved camp to the morning, added dimension of physicality. It
feels to me and Tony and I have talked about
this because he has been there in recent years. It
feels like the practices just have run slightly longer than
in recent years. As somebody as a season grizzled veteran
of covering Bengals training camp who has a larger palette
to compare this year too, What are the main differences

(04:39):
in your from your perspective.

Speaker 4 (04:43):
I do think that there's a little more intensity and
competitiveness early on. That tends to be something that builds
when you get into pads coming on and some of
the more serious stuff. But or you know, the the
field drills where it's truly just offense defense calling place.

(05:04):
I think you felt that a little bit more since
day one here now in terms of physicality, this is
I mean, you know, yeah, this is like baseball compared
to what was happening before with Marvin Lewis and like
it really crossed the league. Yeah previously. I mean, this
is more of what modern NFL practices are. But you're

(05:24):
you're seeing them find ways to not necessarily you know,
I even was asking you about it yesterday. There's there
was never really any consideration of more live tackling drills.
They're not trying to do that. They're gonna focus on
fundamentals of that, and but the it wasn't about that
in terms of physicality. It was about building competitiveness and

(05:46):
that kind of bringing out more of the physicality that way,
and that guys are just more into every drill, into
every from the very beginning. I mentioned this to you
even back in OTAs in a mini camp, about how
you could just sense a little extra competitiveness out there
than there has been in previous years, which we have
very openly and rightfully made fun of them for the

(06:07):
country club nature of the off season program. You felt
a little more competitiveness there. I think they've built more
competitiveness in here. I think that has come across early
in camp as a little more intense environment, not that
it wasn't in the past, but it does feel a
bit ratcheted up that well.

Speaker 2 (06:23):
What's interesting when you say that, I mean I remember
you asking me prior to training camp in twenty twenty
two and you said to me like, does this feel
just a little bit too casual? And that has stuck
with me for years. Yeah, the sense and the feel
has been casual, and typically my eyes in the ears
have been you and you know Tony does those live

(06:44):
reports with this, and there's always been this real casual feel.
What I have seen being down there for four of
the five practices doesn't feel casual.

Speaker 4 (06:52):
No, it feels very business like. Well, I think there's
a couple of aspects to this one. You get what
you emphasize, and they have not shied away from emphasizing
the need for it to not feel casual immediately the
entire offseason, in every meeting. I mean, there's a reason

(07:15):
why it looks and feels like this. That's because this
is what they've been talking about for so long that
it has to start with more urgency. It has to
have that, and that's been led by Burrow who's been
open about that too. That's the one that really resonates
with people. And the other side of it is their
main guys are out there, Trey Hendrickson, notwithstanding, they're out
there setting the tone. We talk about this all the time, right,

(07:40):
but we don't talk about it enough when they're not
out there. Just the setting the tone. Jamar Chase first
one in the drill, working harder than anybody. T Higgins
doing what he does. Like when these guys are out
there setting the tone leading the way you see them.
They're there early, they're there late. Whatever it is that
they're doing the way they do their business, they have
invested people that do it the right way. Well, they

(08:02):
need to be there setting that tone that everyone sees.
And I think that adds to it. With them there
and the emphasis that was placed on it, I think
it has created an environment where that you feel that
urgency more so in past years where it was like,
let's just get healthy to the opener and let's go
let our guys eat. Yeah, and that's just that they
I think there's a recognition they can't just do that anymore.

Speaker 2 (08:24):
Also, for all the talk of distractions, and I guess
one of them is gone because Shamar Stewart is there,
we'll talk about that. They don't look distracted by Trey
Hendrickson not being there. No, I think it's a lot
easier to not be distracted when he's not there. Yeah,
so maybe this is good. I don't think it's terrible.
I mean it's better than him being there. Unsigned Jamar

(08:45):
was a distraction last year.

Speaker 4 (08:46):
Now maybe to the average player on the team, but no,
but we're asking about it, we're talking about it, we're
tweeting about it. We're just amplifying the conversation all the time, right,
which is our fault, I'm sure, but you know that's
but that is what it is. When it's around, you
see it, the guys see it. There's Jamar, he's unhappy.
I don't know, Trey's unhappy in Florida somewhere right And

(09:08):
I think it's a lot easier to be going about
your business and seeing it when it's like it's almost
like he's just hurt right now and he's inside in
the locker room getting worked on. I mean, it's just
a lot easier to avoid that, and so I don't
I don't think he is much of a distraction. I
also don't have much concern about it getting done. Yeah,
you know what I mean, Like it just feels inevitable

(09:31):
is the wrong word, but it really feels like this
is this is just kind of gradually moving in the
right direction where it ends up and everybody's happy, so
there's no freaking out about it.

Speaker 2 (09:42):
I've had visions in my head of us doing the
show from down there, and you know, our our little
table has been just in the back corner of the
end zone. And maybe Trey stopping by, like with you
guys that appearing on the air with us as his
teammates are practicing. I think that would be a lot
of fun for all parties involved. Yeah, you'd have company.

Speaker 4 (10:04):
I would be pulling my stool up and sitting down
right next to you and making sure my recorder was
in front of whatever he was saying you to your microphone.
I'm I'm sure about that. Yeah, but you never know.
It could end up that place. But it doesn't doesn't
feel that way right now.

Speaker 2 (10:18):
Trey Hendrickson is not here, but but Shamar Stewart has
been at practice the last couple of days, and we
have to spend some time on that. Also, you wrote
about Zach moss I did and uh, it's it's it's
rare that there are paragraphs in a story that make
me go, huh, the Zach mass story did. And you're
writing about the injuries he dealt with while playing last year,

(10:41):
and we have to spend some time on that. Paul
Danner Junior on x at Paul Danner Jr. The Athletic
dot Com. The Growler Podcast is the latest edition out.
It is out the one that I was a part
of you were you were a part of it. Yes,
you were great. I did I did a little. I
had to do some editing. I might have been okay,
you were fined the iHeartMedia Wi Fi not so much

(11:04):
troublesome troubles My editing fingers fixed it all like it
never was a problem. Much appreciated. Sixteen minutes after three o'clock.
He's Paul al Mo. This is ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati
Sports Station.

Speaker 5 (11:15):
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Speaker 2 (11:51):
This report is sponsored invite. This is ESPN fifteen thirty. Moeagger,
Paul Tayner juniors here from The Athletic and the Growler
podcast covering Bengals training camp, which resumes tomorrow. How surprised
were you on Friday to find out that the Shamar
Stewart thing was done. I mean, it's felt like it

(12:14):
was going to be in our lives to the end
of time. So I guess slightly. The timing was not
super you know, Friday night, Friday night, off day tomorrow.
He was unnecessary, right, But it's kind this whole thing
is kind of it's kind of was a fitting way. Yes,
one last kick to the gut on this thing, but

(12:34):
either way, it was like, I don't know, at some
point they'll come to their senses, and it sounds like
they did, so I guess there's some surprise there, but
it had to happen. It had to happen. Yeah, how
far behind when he took the field on Sunday for
his first NFL practice was he?

Speaker 4 (12:55):
I mean, you know we're over there watching him go
through the the standard little individual drills that they do beforehand.
I mean, after every single rep of no matter how
simple the thing he was doing, he would have a
coaching point, right, and it'd be like, no, do this no,
do this. You went that way, and make sure you
take this way. I mean it was trial by fire.

(13:17):
I mean he was in early that morning, as thirty
as early as you can come in that morning, and
getting the extra meetings in and everything else, and he recognized,
I mean, that's that's what it's going to be. I mean,
the mental reps only took you so far. You got
to get out there and do it. Now he's out
there to do it. There was no question that he

(13:38):
was swimming and trying to just understand. Mean, at one
point he walked out and there was kind of a
had to ask somebody, where do I go.

Speaker 3 (13:46):
On?

Speaker 4 (13:46):
You guys are on that field, defensive linner back there.
I mean, that's it's as simple as that. But then yeah,
the next day, when you put him in a place
where you're on the football field, now go do something, right,
he went and did things. Yeah, so it's a little
easier then. It probably easier for him to rush the
quarterback than figure out where the defensive line practices.

Speaker 2 (14:08):
And so he went out there.

Speaker 4 (14:09):
I thought that was more stunning than him signing on
Friday or whatever any of that stuff was. That he
was immediately out there immediately being impactful because I think
you felt like it was good to take more time.
Not that I mean again, there's no tackling everything, but
I mean there he was making plays.

Speaker 2 (14:25):
You could see kind of the speed and the size
and the length and all of that stuff. It was
a real pleasant surprise because of how the week started. Right,
the week started with the Bengals taking shots at his agent,
and it kind of feeling like, all right, let's settle
in here. This is going to be a while. And
then by week's end we're good and he's missed three
training camp practices and yeah he was. He missed a
lot of stuff not being there and a full participant

(14:47):
for mini camp and OTAs and stuff. But I think
relative to what a lot of us were fearing where
I mean, Tony and I were talking about it from
training camp, where it's like, at what point do you
go even if he shows up now it's a wash,
we didn't come close to that. No, you know what
I just can't get over.

Speaker 4 (15:03):
The dumbest part of this whole thing is the practice
waiver in the off season program.

Speaker 2 (15:06):
Correct, like that was the problem.

Speaker 4 (15:08):
Yeah, I wouldn't have a problem with him fighting for
this and missing a couple of training camp practices or whatever,
sign the practice waiver to justipate like every other human
being in the draft does, like Demitrius Knight.

Speaker 2 (15:20):
Just do that some.

Speaker 4 (15:22):
Good will and maybe you get a little bit more
of what you want and fight your fight at this point,
Like that's to me, that was always the thing, like
what are you doing? It looks like you don't want
to be here, don't care about being here when you're
not doing the easiest thing, which is signing the practice waiver.
Have an issue with the language and whatever, but like,
do the off season program and then fight your fight

(15:43):
when it comes to this time of yearing and then
get that. That would have happened, Yeah, no one would.
I don't even know how much people nationally would even
be talking about it. They wouldn't even recognize it because
oh he's the last guy signed. But instead it becomes
this huge thing which was just silly, Which is the
silliness to me of all of it.

Speaker 2 (16:01):
First ballot ESPN fifteen thirty Ring of Honor inductee, We're
gonna up on the wall. We're gonna, we're gonna, we're
gonna come up with a way to put him up
here somehow to honor the summer of Shamar. It's been awesome.
It's been awesome. I can't thank him enough. Next year,
in the first round of the draft, if there's two
guys on the board and one guy is represented by
Zach Hiller and the other is not to the Bengals,

(16:22):
just cross off the guy who's represented by Zach Hiller.

Speaker 4 (16:25):
I know who, I know who You're circling on your boy? Yeah, Hi,
there's a chance. I feel like there's a chance. It's like,
but how how long does that list get? It's like, okay,
get a okay, killer and we got on the line,
like at a certain point.

Speaker 2 (16:42):
Maybe it's not the agents all the time.

Speaker 4 (16:43):
Yeah, you know, but I do understand that, yes, that
I would think they would probably think twice before.

Speaker 2 (16:49):
They go to I mean, like, like Shamar said, no
hard feelings, and I believe them, Like, all right, I'm signed,
I'm gonna get paid. I got something out of the standoff,
you know, half million dollars earlier than I was going
to get it. Time to start my NFL career. Fine.
I can understand Zach Hiller going, yeah, man, like okay,
you know, next we'll talk to you next year, we'll
see what happened. I didn't.

Speaker 4 (17:11):
I didn't love the no regrets comment from schamar In
that again, I think he's a young kid and he's
just kind of is a lot going on over top
of his head that he's just like what the heck man?
But I will say it's it's a perfect opportunity to
be like. I wish it wouldn't have gotten as ugly
as it did, but I but we had to fight

(17:34):
for what we had to fight for. Like that's an
easy instead it's no regrets. I want to pit bowl,
you know, as my dog. And that's fine. You know,
that's fine. Everybody handles it their own way. I think
that would have been a good chance to go a
little bit further. But nobody cares what he said about
I'm all football now. I want to play football. I

(17:54):
want to be here. Yeah that's all. That's more than enough.
Nobody cares about the rest of it. But I'm sure
that might have resonated a little bit more if he
had a little regret.

Speaker 2 (18:03):
Four things that mattered from Week one. One of the
four Jermaine Burton, see you did is this are you
setting this up for? After the breaker? Am I supposed
to respond to this? Now? That was a little vague.
Have we got two minutes? Okay, what are you doing?
What I had said to you months ago was like,
there's gonna be a point where you start to write
and this This wasn't a full on Jermaine Burton piece,

(18:24):
but it was a list. There are four things that
mattered I did. So this is what made me happy
to read this. First of all, Jermaine Burton's not making
news for doing the wrong thing. Secondly, what you're far
more trained. I saw match what I was watching while
we were down there, which was Jermaine Burton looking the
part of a quality NFL wide receiver, developing trust with

(18:45):
his quarterback.

Speaker 4 (18:46):
Yeah, in my notes multiple times each day for making
some kind of a play, and I'm not seeking out
just literally writing, oh nice play by who was that?

Speaker 2 (18:54):
Eighty one? Okay?

Speaker 4 (18:56):
The back shoulder the early practice, one of the early
practices of maybe day two, Burrow throwing a back shoulder
to Burton that he comes down with the ultimate trust
throw for him, the ultimate thing of got to believe
in you that you're gonna be there, and that shows
that you're coming a long way with your quarterback with
this quarterback, I should say, he went to him and

(19:18):
he caught it and he came down with it. Next thing,
you know, you see him making a few plays. He
had three on the three on my sheet one day,
winning one on one battles, going and making a play
you know, in the ends on a fifty to fifty ball.

Speaker 2 (19:30):
That stuff. That stuff matters.

Speaker 4 (19:31):
He's not there yet, right like I think, I think
they'd still like to see more detail. But again, all
he can do is be there and be consistent. And
he's going to get a lot of opportunity in the
preseason to prove that he can go out there and
do it all on the fly and be ready for that.
And he's he's earned that opportunity right now, and so

(19:53):
we'll see what he does with it.

Speaker 2 (19:54):
Yeah, next Thursday, he's going to be on the field
a lot some capacity, and he's gonna have a chance
to somewhat significantly shift the narrative about him.

Speaker 4 (20:04):
Let's hope between now and then it doesn't end up
where we're sitting there and it's it's five minutes ago
in the fourth quarter and.

Speaker 2 (20:11):
He isn't in yet. But that'll tell us all we
need to know you, I know wants to relive that again.
That'll tell us everything we need to know, is that,
like you know, ten o'clock, Jermaine Burton is just trotting
out onto the field for the first time in Philadelphia.
Week from Thursday, follow the snaps, we have to talk
about a player at the Bengals didn't sign and a
guy who is back who played last year with a

(20:32):
broken neck. It is three point thirty. He's Paul Danner
Junior on my legger. This is ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati
Sports Station.

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SINCY three sixty with Tony Pike.

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If we want to move on for doctor Keith Goring
and Austin Elmore.

Speaker 2 (20:46):
I think you should continue. Let me keep going.

Speaker 5 (20:48):
Though SINCY three sixty tomorrow which twelve noons on ESPN
fifteen thirty.

Speaker 1 (20:54):
Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

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(21:51):
took up tonight in San Diego. Hunter Green's going to
pitch tonight four innings scheduled for the Louisville Bats as
he attempts to come back from that groin injury. Florence
y'all's at Windy City tonight. Bengal's not practicing today. They're
back in the practice field tomorrow morning at ten am.
It is open to the public and we'll have the
Ae dorn Window, Tony and Moe training camp show all throughout.

(22:14):
Paul Danner Junior is here for another few minutes. The
Noah fan thing came and went. Didn't sign his heads.
That ship is sailed. No, no possibility.

Speaker 4 (22:25):
I think when Noah came in, the conversation was what
do you want to do? And he wanted to do
a little tour. He wanted to have a better feel
for his options and literally go to each place. Yeah,
so he's in Miami now, went to New Orleans, was
here first. But I think the Bengals loved what happened
when he was here. I think they were really interested. Okay,

(22:45):
I think they felt like he was going to be
a fit. It's just a matter of okay, when he
comes back to figure it all out where he lands
on where he wants to go and you know, if
it's a money thing, if it's a football fit thing,
he got to figure that out. But I think he
just wanted to gather it all first and then come back.
But I felt like the Bengals felt like they had

(23:07):
a chance and liked the idea of it.

Speaker 2 (23:09):
How concerning is the Lucas Patrick injury? Not much?

Speaker 4 (23:13):
Yeah, I mean I think you know, he's been around.
It's not like I think it'd be different, the same
way we talked about Shamar Stewart versus Trey Henkerson, Like
it's it's different if you if this happened a dyl unfairchild,
I'd be really concerned if you did to miss a
week or two. Right, he needs all of these reps.
Lucas Patrick has been in this league. Right, he knows
what he's doing. He went through the whole offseason program

(23:34):
starting where he's gone through the call, has developed a
lot of that chemistry. He shouldn't have any problem. It's
just a matter of you don't want to linger, uh,
just get fully healed. But I don't think you're worried
about the mental side of it. With somebody like that,
he can, he can step in and play. That's kind
of the reason he's here.

Speaker 2 (23:49):
Zach Moss is currently on the non football injury list.
He wrote extensively about Zach who broke his neck last year. Yeah,
in three places in his C six.

Speaker 4 (24:00):
Play football ever again, it's healed. Yeah, broken neck, broken neck,
I mean yeah, and it was. I mean he basically
feels like he played through some version of it for
eight weeks last year because he said, you know, they
they didn't they got work done after he played against
the Eagles and couldn't feel three of his fingers. Uh huh,
and he's like, okay, something before that, he just thought

(24:22):
his neck was sore and that was really all and so.
But he said he traced that back to all the
way the week one. So he feels like, looking back
on it, that he played for eight weeks essentially probably
a broken neck, but not knowing that. They didn't really
get it totally diagnosed until after he went through the
game where he couldn't feel things, and then they did
all the work and they see it on that Friday
where they were stunn.

Speaker 2 (24:42):
He's like, everyone was stunned. I was stunned. Doctors were stunned.
Everybody was stunned to find out that was the case.

Speaker 4 (24:47):
This is like football in every way. This is the
brutality of football. It's not just the physical, it's the
mental aspect of having to know you broke your neck. Yeah,
and now you got to go step up into the
A gap again? Like that is hard. I I don't
you know, I've been you know, I talked to Zach
about this, Zach Moss about this, and Justin Hill running

(25:09):
back coach, and a few other people, and every time
I talked to him, I said, yeah, I am not
wired like anybody here the moment something like that happened.
I have a He has a wife, a two year old,
and a two month old at home in Utah right now.
It's the first time he's ever gone to camp without
his wife or his family with him, and he came
back here leaving them knowing I'm gonna go still try

(25:31):
to play football after what happened last year. Like to me,
that is that's you have to be wired differently to
play that game. You have to be wired differently to
think that way and make that decision. But he's nowhere
near in a place I don't think physically in terms
of his conditioning or you know, I don't know. I
think mentally. He sounds like he's trying to work some

(25:52):
through some things when you talk to him a little bit.
But he wants to play. He says, I'm here. I
wouldn't have left my family behind if I didn't want
to play. The question is canny and I don't know.
It certainly feels like he's got a long way to
go to get to that point where you can say, yeah, Zach,
Zach Moss can play well.

Speaker 2 (26:12):
The entire time I read your piece, I'm like screaming
at it, going, Zach, just go walk away. It's okay.
Your kids.

Speaker 4 (26:17):
Man, he's made over nine million dollars as a pro.
He's got a great family at home, and he has,
you know, done an incredible job of setting them up
for life.

Speaker 2 (26:29):
It's okay.

Speaker 4 (26:30):
But that's hard, Like you know, when you are defined
by something, ye to have to to be forced to
walk away from it, that is hard. I've always been
fascinated by how players walk away because it's never easy.

Speaker 2 (26:44):
It rarely ever goes well. It always has.

Speaker 4 (26:48):
People saying what are you doing in some way that
it's being handled. It's so hard when that's your life.
You're a football player. People know me as a football player,
and him people know me as the tough football player.

Speaker 2 (27:01):
That's Zach. I want to know, is the dad?

Speaker 3 (27:03):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (27:03):
I feel the.

Speaker 4 (27:04):
Same way, and that's why I must have asked him
three times in that interview, are you want to play?

Speaker 2 (27:10):
Though? Like you want to you wanna play?

Speaker 4 (27:12):
And he kept saying yeah, I want to play, and
and you know, I guess Kudo's tom on that, but
I feel like that would scare me so much. I
can't imagine how hard that is to deal with the
idea of going back out there again. But we'll, you know,
we'll see what's happening. For now, he's just doing conditioning
on the side.

Speaker 2 (27:29):
Yeah, obviously we're all rooting for him, but there's a
part of me that wishes the person who cleared him
just went, yeah, look, man, not cleared. Sorry, I'm taking
it out of your hands. Yeah, but he is, and
I hope. Look, the bones are healed if that's the
doctor's job.

Speaker 4 (27:44):
The doctor's job is not to say now, a psychiatrist
or whoever you know.

Speaker 2 (27:48):
I mean, I don't mean that joke.

Speaker 4 (27:49):
I mean, they would be the ones to say, I
don't think you're there yet. But in terms of in
terms of the bones are healed, you are.

Speaker 2 (27:57):
You do not have.

Speaker 4 (28:00):
Neck right, right, That's that's the current diagnosis. And so
he's here trying to get the rest of it back together.

Speaker 2 (28:08):
Man, it's hard. It's it's a good read. It's an
emotional one, and you could I could feel for him. Yeah,
and we're all rooting for him for obvious reasons, But man,
I don't know, dude.

Speaker 4 (28:20):
Yeah, I mean, in so many ways, it does feel
that way like it's it it's it feels in some
ways like he's just fighting to hang on to something,
the idea that it will click and it'll and he'll
be able to get back into shape and be able
to be the same guy again. But that that just,
you know, you can tell, it just feels a long
way off right now.

Speaker 2 (28:39):
All right, Well, read that piece at the Athletic dot
Com Paul Danner Junior. Listen to the Growler podcast. Typically
we have you for an hour, but we have training
camp reports from Tony pie.

Speaker 4 (28:50):
Is Tony under a tent down there right now. He's
down there at the stadium, Yeah, under a tent. Al
Golden's there, Al Golden's walking laps.

Speaker 2 (28:58):
They're working on the field right now and getting things
ready for ten o'clock tomorrow. But you know, our training
camp coverage has no bounds, So just because there's no
training camp today doesn't mean we're not giving you the
latest from training camp. Always exhaustive. I appreciate it. It's
very very thorough.

Speaker 4 (29:15):
Tony is is just crushing it. He is, I mean unbelievable.
I mean because to not only do that, but then
to go right into Sincy three sixty. Yeah, and keep
it rolling to bait. I mean that's a lot of
that's a lot of talk about training. He's there starting
at ten am. Yeah, does the show with me till noon.
I get a little bit of a break, like I
can recharge my batteries, get something to you know. My

(29:36):
guy's there till three and then has to do live
training camp reports on two different radio stations between three
and six.

Speaker 2 (29:44):
Man's a machine, an absolute machine, no question. But it
gives you a little bit of a respite so you
can leave now. I mean, you're more than walking to
stick around.

Speaker 4 (29:52):
I mean I maybe I will. I mean I am
an ice Cubes chair. That is the chair that ice
Cubes had. I tell you I didn't want to sit
in at me, not knowing that ice Cube had sat
in it already. I don't feel like I'm worthy now
that I know that it's been blessed by royalty.

Speaker 2 (30:06):
I told you before you sat down, that seats for
two people, yourself and for ice Cube. And that's and
that's pretty much it. Ice Cube was in here in studio.
Was awesome.

Speaker 4 (30:16):
The only time I've ever been referenced as is an
equal in any way to ice.

Speaker 2 (30:20):
Ice Cube was in the building, took pictures with people.
But he was here on a Friday, and you know
our building, a lot of folks like to work from
home on Friday. So it was great coming in yesterday.
And folks, we didn't tell me ice Cube was coming, Like,
I don't know. Maybe if you were here on a Friday,
happens on you would come to work. You would know
that ice Cube is here. Yeah, not my responsibility to

(30:42):
tell you. So you know what, come to work, good
things can happen. Paul, Thanks very much. Paul Danner, Junior
at the Athletic dot com. In the Growlar podcast, Tony
Pike with a live training camp report even though there's
no training camp today.

Speaker 1 (30:54):
Next Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 6 (31:00):
From the UC Health Traffic Center. U See Help's Weight
Loss Center offers surgical and medical obesity care and expertise.
Call five one three nine three nine two two sixty three.
That's nine three, nine two two sixty three. Eastbound two
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off from a disabled vehicle. Also on eastbound two seventy

(31:21):
five after Loveland Madeira, the right lane block from an
accident westbound Highway one twenty nine. It's an accident after
Hampshire Drive. I'm at ezelic with traffic.

Speaker 7 (31:32):
In fifteen thirty with the latest from Bengals training Camp,
brought you by Camber Credit Union on your official home
of the Cincinnati Bengals, ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 2 (31:44):
There is no Bengals training camp practice today, but we
are not gonna let that get in the way of
us bringing you the best possible coverage of Bengals training camp.
He is standing by our guy, Tony Pike, one half
of the Tony and Moe Training Camp show. Tony Afternoon.
How are you?

Speaker 8 (32:02):
What's going on? Mel?

Speaker 2 (32:03):
How are you? I? I'm doing well. So no practice
to talk about today, but you know, over the first
five practices there's been a common theme that wasn't a
common theme last year, and that common theme has been
that Jamar Chase has been on the field catching passes
from Joe Burrow. So let's talk about something that you
and I have discussed often in recent years, and that's

(32:24):
moving Jamar around, which Dan Pitcher, the offensive coordinator, did
a decent amount of last year. My question for you
is how much more can you expand upon that expanded
usage of Jamar Chase that we saw a year ago.

Speaker 8 (32:37):
This season, I think you have to uno us every
possibility because what Jamar Chase did last year was obviously historic,
but it also draws a ton of attention. There are
defensive coordinators, there are advanced scouting departments that spend their
entire offseason figure out, Okay, here's how we're going to
try to slow these guys down. Here's how we're going
to try to attack this Bengals offense and put it great.

(33:00):
At the beginning of camp that he was asked what
do you want to work on? He said everything, because
the second you don't work on everything, someone is working harder.
They're going to pass you up. And that's how this
hierarchy goes. So I liked the limited snaps that Jamar
Chase took next to Joe Burrow in the backfield because
there's not a true way that a defender can get
to him that way. If you think of wide receivers

(33:22):
and if they're split out or if they're in the slot,
you can come up and you could play bump and run.
You can get help over the top, you could double
team if you throw him in the backfield off of
a motion. There's really no way that a team can
slow him down getting that start five to seven yards
before the line of scrimmage. And if that's the case,
I don't know how you slow him down if it's
not on the get off or not doubling him off

(33:43):
the line of scrimmage. So I do think him in
the backfield along with the normal stuff motions, line him
up to the boundary to the field inside, things like that.
But I think there's more to unlock in using him
out of the backfield because you can go right, you
could go left, you could go up the middle. There
there are more options that it frees up his release
and does create more confusion for the defense.

Speaker 2 (34:05):
And to a large degree, I guess we can have
the same conversation about how they use Chase Brown.

Speaker 8 (34:10):
Yeah, I mean Chase Brown. Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated
road after watching practice on Sunday that Chase Brown dedicated
a bunch of his off season to the passing game.
They think of how many years and conversations we had
no about Joe Mixon of man, if he could just
figure out how to be on the field for a
three down back, but in third down situations he would
trot off p Ryan would come in pretty much tip

(34:33):
the hand that a pass was coming. Chase Brown said
that his off season was spent pass protection, being a
better route runner, being a better pass catcher, all those
things that allow him to play every down. Now, yes,
he still has to come off the field, he still
has to get rest, but the ability of him on
a third and six to stay in the game, and

(34:56):
maybe you can trick someone with a draw, maybe you
use him out of the backfield on a check. Maybe
he's an integral part of a pass protection pickup that
allows Jamar Chase or t Higgins to get open down
the field. I think the mindset of Chase Brown in saying, yeah,
I know why I'm not in the running game. I
need to dedicate some time in the passing game, I
think is a great step forward and something that as

(35:18):
good as Joe Mixon was for years, we just didn't
have in Cincinnati with him.

Speaker 2 (35:21):
This offense enjoys great continuity. Right, it's Zach Taylor seventh season,
it's Joe Burrows six, it's Jamar Chase's fifth, it's T
higgins sixth season, it's Dan Pitcher's second. How much can
he in this offense benefit from that added continuity.

Speaker 8 (35:37):
I think a ton. And again you talk about the
distractions that aren't there on the offensive side of the ball.
No one is dealing with an injury that they suffered,
no one is rehabbing an injury that they suffered at
the end of last year, and no one is going
through a contract dispute. So even as dam Pitcher took
on year number one, we rave about the job he's

(35:58):
done with that group. Well, guess what, there still wasn't
There still wasn't a training camp for him to get
fully comfortable. Now they can use these camp practices. They
know the basics, they know the core of the offense,
but they can get creative. They can throw more of
a playbook together and throw it off a wall in
training camp and see what works. How does Jamar like this?

(36:18):
How does t like this? How does Joe like this?
When all of them are available and you're coming into
year two, you're much more comfortable throwing these ideas out there.
And I think you, I know, it's hard to even
think with how good they were last year. I think
you can see the offense take a big step forward
this year because of all.

Speaker 2 (36:34):
That, Tony, I can't wait to chat again coming up
in four forty five. Thank you as always. Thanks Mel,
that's our guy, Tony Pike coming to us on the
Ray Saint Claire Roofing hotline. Ray Saint Claire Roofing, one
of the sponsors of the Tonian Mode Training Camp show,
was just presented by Ae dorn Window. We are back
at it tomorrow at ten o'clock ten am as the

(36:57):
Bengals go through another training camp practice. And don't forget
the first preseason game is in nine days Bengals and
Eagles at seven thirty on Thursday, August the seventh. You'll
hear that live on ESPN fifteen thirty. I'm Aeger. This
is ESPN fifteen thirty, five minutes away from four o'clock.
We are going to be guest free for a while.

(37:19):
We've got more on the Bengals coming up. Reds lose
last night, a tough one to the LA Dodgers, a
game in which Chase Burns continued to show you why
pretty much everybody in the sport believes this dude has
an absolute, has absolute unlimited potential ten strikeouts last night,
I think I would have liked and I thought this

(37:40):
as the at bat was unfolding. It's easy to say,
given the result, given what this team is trying to accomplish,
given the fact that offensively they went dormant in the
middle innings, I think I'd like to see how last
night's game would have gone down had Chase Burns not
been on the mound for a third confrontation against show

(38:02):
Heyo Tani. Now, show Heyo Tani is arguably the brightest
star in the sport, and he did what he's gonna
do against a lot of pitchers. But they have really
thrown Chase Burns to the Wolves, and for the most part,
he has passed all the tests with flying colors. They
really threw him to the Wolves facing a show Heyotani
with the game hanging in the balance in the fifth

(38:23):
inning last night. I also would have liked to have
seen how the ninth inning it would have unfolded. At
Matt McClain taken strike one after taking two pitches for
balls one and two with the bases loaded and two
outs in the bottom of the ninth inning. Now he's
swung in a pitch that was a strike, obviously grounded
out to shortstop ended the ball game. Matt McClain has

(38:44):
been really, really good now for a couple of weeks,
and there's a lot of hitters who in that hitters
count situation basses loaded down three would have swung at
that pitch. But I belind you if I told you,
I wasn't thinking about how that that at bat may
have unfold had he not swung. Meanwhile, we're getting closer
and closer to the Reds trade deadline. We have to

(39:06):
discuss and what if, what if this team does what
many do not think it can do, What if they
do play in October. I'll expand upon that coming up
on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 7 (39:19):
Station, Cincinnati's sports station, ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 2 (39:23):
All right, that's US five after four. This is ESPN
fifteen thirty. I'm Oleger. Thanks so much for listening. Hopefully
you're having an awesome that I say awesome, awesome Tuesday afternoon.
Thanks to our guy, Paul Danner Junior from The Athletic
in the Gralar podcast. More from Tony Pike coming up

(39:46):
in just about forty minutes. We'll get you set for
Reds and Dodgers Cincinnati losing last night, Nicolodolo, who's been
great recently, gets the ball against Tyler Glass. Now a
game not just a game to the Dodgers lost a
game in the standings. Padres won a wild one over
the Mets last night, So the deficit in the hunt

(40:07):
for the last wildcard spot is now too. Meanwhile, we
are getting closer and closer to the trade deadline, which
is going to be on Thursday. A couple of things
worth mentioning. You know, one name that we have kind
of talked about a lot here is Stephen Kwan, and
I think he leapt into everybody's leapt into the conversation

(40:27):
for everybody a few weeks ago when Jeff Passen mentioned
him as a possible fit for Cincinnati, and the prevailing
sentiment all along involving him, and he's a guy that
you wouldn't have to rent, you'd get him for a
couple of years. But the prevailing thought has been that
the Guardians, because they have him beyond this year, are
not likely to move him. There's a report today on

(40:50):
MLB dot com that suggests that the Guardians are maybe
a little bit more willing to talk with other teams
about Stephen Kuan than they had per perhaps previously led on.
That doesn't necessarily mean that it's likely that he's going
to be traded, it certainly feels like the most likely
outcome is he is still a member of the Cleveland
Guardians on the night of July thirty first, But I've

(41:12):
read both out of Cleveland and on MLB dot com
today that the Guardians are a little bit more willing
to engage with teams about him, but obviously the asking
price would be a little bit high. Buster only today
rites for ESPN dot com that the Reds are eyeing
a Uhaneo Suarez. They are among the teams that have

(41:34):
been in contact with the Diamondbacks about a Uhaneo Suarez. Now,
it's worth mentioning that he got plunked last night in
the game against the Tigers, hurt his finger. They did
x rays, they were negative. They were going to do
some more tests starting today. He is not in the
lineup tonight for Arizona's game against Detroit. By the way,

(41:57):
Euheneo Suarez, remember he started his big league career, but
the Reds got him from the Tigers, and a few
weeks ago Euaniu Suarez was asked about maybe coming back
to Cincinnati, which is obviously the team that he really
you know, arrived on the map with and had a
lot of success here, and he said a lot of
great things about coming to Cincinnati. He has also recently

(42:18):
this week said a lot of really good things about
going back to where everything started, that obviously being Detroit,
and the Tigers have a really really good team this year.
Right now, I think everybody is wanting to see where
this thing, whether Euan A. Suarez goes with the injury,
the medicals, and maybe what the backup plan would be.
Speaking of backup plans, the other thing that Buster Only

(42:41):
wrote is that while the Reds have been in contact
with the diamond Back with the Diamondbacks about Suarez, if
Arizona finds a deal elsewhere elsewhere, easy for me to
say that they have a backup plan that they could
pivot to. Well, Geo or Schella of the A's should

(43:04):
still be in Oakland. A's Isaiah Isaiah Kiner fileffa who
spent some years with the New York Yankees and is
now with the Pittsburgh Pirates, or any one of the
Mets infielders who could be there for the taking because
they've got a slight surplus Brent Batty, Louis angel Acunya

(43:26):
and Mark Vianto's obviously the Uhaneos Lorez is the biggest
name out there. He's having the best season of anybody
that would be on that list of players that I
just mentioned. But we will see. This is you know,
when we talk about like buying and selling, we make

(43:46):
it black and white. We as fans, make it black
and white. Are they buyers or are they sellers? Are
they contending or are they not? I think it's hard
to argue that the Reds are not in contention right now,
there are two games out of the last wildcard. I
think it's hard to argue they shouldn't be buyers. And
by the way, you should always be looking to make
your team better standing pat rarely makes any sense. Now

(44:07):
that doesn't always mean there's going to be the right
deal for you. But when we talk about these things
in black and white terms, it's are they buyers or
are they sellers? Here's what we don't know. We don't
know how much pressure is on Nick Krawl to do
everything he can to put a winner together this year.
Like you know, we talk a lot about like the

(44:29):
well Red's ownership's not gonna sign off on taking on
extra salary, which, by the way, that is mentioned on
MLB dot com today. Uh, And you know, we don't
we don't know if the Reds ownership is is going
to be you know, okay with just standing pat and
letting things play out with the team as currently constructed.
And we also don't know how much is how much

(44:52):
is Nick Kral going to be judged by whether or
not the Reds make the postseason, Like there's there's some
some nuanced to this that we don't know. We you
and I may have a list of players we don't
want the Reds to part with. We might have a
list of untouchables. We might have a list of players
that we really don't want to see play for other teams.

(45:15):
We don't know what that list looks like. At GABP,
we have suspicions. You know, sometimes it's pretty obvious, right
like a couple of years ago, you could not have
pried Ellie de la Cruz off the Reds hands. And
maybe that's true right now with a guy like Sal Stewart,
who certainly feels like he's really damn close to playing
in a Red's uniform here pretty soon, But we don't know.

(45:39):
I think the other thing we don't know here is,
like the Reds, they are acutely aware of what is
said about them, what is read about them, of what
public sentiment is being aimed at them. They're acutely aware
of how many tickets they're selling. Like they they're at times,

(46:01):
maybe to a fault, a very pr conscious organization, sometimes
to a fault. I mean, we've heard in the past
that they have been reluctant to trade away players even
though they knew they had to trade them, because they
were worried about what the pr hit was going to be.

(46:24):
Pretty famously, and I once wrote about this for The
Athletic Bob Castellini would not let Dick Williams move on
from Billy Hamilton because Billy Hamilton's a fan favorite. Now,
the counter to that was, yeah, but nobody's going to
the games. So if he's a fan favorite, how can
he really be a fan favorite if he's not selling tickets.
It's like saying, so like a this menu item is

(46:46):
really popular, yet is does everybody order it? Actually nobody does.
At the All Star Game in twenty fifteen, ten years ago,
and again like the dynamic of how the Reds are
run is a little bit different than maybe ten years ago.
But remember the reluctance to make trades prior to the
All Star Game, even though the Reds that season where atrocious,

(47:08):
because why, well, we don't want to ruin the All
Star Game. We don't want to make fans mad before
the All Star Game. It's like, I don't know, man,
I think most fans will understand why you hit the
eject button and start to rebuild. So they've always been,
and again, sometimes to a fault, very aware of what
public sentiment is and what the public's temperature is regarding

(47:33):
whatever direction they're going in. And so I think it's
it's fair to wonder this, is there a little bit
more heat on Nick Krawl from ownership to go and
do something even if what they do isn't something that
they really want to do. Does that make sense? Right?

Speaker 9 (47:57):
Like?

Speaker 2 (47:57):
Does does public pressure to prove yes, we are willing
to go to the end of the earth to get
to the postseason this year, and yes we are willing
to sacrifice some of our future to benefit the here
and now. Does that compel them to give up maybe
a little bit more than they would like. You know what,

(48:19):
we've got to make this trade here because yes, it
might make our baseball team better, But we do have
to send a message. We do have to send a message.
We've got to send a message that we are really
willing to go for it, that we think this fan
base is deserving and it needs to have its patients
paid off. And so, you know what, here's a package

(48:39):
of players that we ordinarily might not be willing to
part with, but we do. Now. We're gonna part with
them now because we know we've got to send a message.
We know how what we did two years ago, we
know how that went over, and so we've got to
do something this year. I don't know the answer to that.
It's part of why it's hard at times to talk
about these, you know, buying and selling in purely black

(49:03):
and white terms. Does the pressure to do something at
the deadline and make a statement about the willingness to
win now, does that compel them to acquire a player
that from a pure baseball perspective, they might not really want.
You know, you've seen it before, Like you know, a

(49:25):
team acquires a player, makes a trade, signs a guy
in free agency, And it's like, well, they've they've got
to show their fans they're doing something. And I'll be
honest with you, I'm not, for me, at least, not
that interested in that. I'm not interested in you got
to do something to show you're doing something. You got
to do something just for the sake of doing something.
Does the pressure to send a message and rebrand the

(49:49):
organization as from one that is not willing to do
everything it can to win to one that's a little
bit more willing to do everything it can to win.
Does that pressure compel them to me make a trade
simply to make a trade. I don't know that the
answers are yes or no, but these are questions that
we don't necessarily have the answers too. And so this

(50:13):
is a really fascinating time. It's a really fascinating time
because of where the Reds are in the standings. It's
a really fascinating time because of just what the market
is right Like, there's there's a lot of teams in
the hunt for it feels like a small number of guys.
Do the Red show a willingness to engage in the

(50:34):
sort of bidding war that maybe they weren't willing to
two years ago. And are they motivated solely by the
possibility that they make their team better this year, or
are they slightly motivated by the need to prove to everybody, yes,
we'll do what we can to try to win. I
don't know. I don't know. It's part of what makes
them so interesting. But are they also so motivated to

(50:59):
show that they're willing to make a trade that if
they don't get the one or two guys that are
perhaps worth at least slightly overpaying for, that they still
go make a trade, even if the player they're trading
for isn't someone who necessarily moves the meter. I don't know.
I don't know. I think I know what I could
tell you a regarding fans sentiment if they don't make

(51:21):
a deal, Like if and I'm not here on Thursday
or Friday this week going out of town, but like
the day or two after the trade deadline, if they
have done nothing and they are still in, you know,
pretty close proximity to the last wildcard spot. I think
we know. I think we know what the temperature is
going to be of the fan base. I think we
know what's going to be said, we know it's going

(51:42):
to be tweeted, we know it's going to be written.
It's not going to be very pretty, and so I
do kind of wonder. I think two years ago, two
years ago, you could argue that that team they had
two seasons ago was not really worth adding to the deadline.
I would disagree, disagreed, then, would disagree now. But I

(52:03):
think two years ago they were to a degree riding
this wave of goodwill and happiness that had been built
up over the two months that really started when they
called up Elie de la Cruz and I remember the
trade deadline. I talked about it extensively. They had a
lot of fans who were like, we're good. I still

(52:24):
get to watch this young core. They didn't disrupt it.
If they make the postseason great, If they don't, it's okay.
I think that has changed. I think if you're a
Nick Krawl and if you're a Phil Castellini, if you're
the Castellini family, you know there's gonna be some pushback
coming your way if you don't make a deal, and

(52:45):
maybe that pushback is going to be off base. Maybe
that pushback is something you feel like you and your
team can weather. But I do wonder if there's just
a little bit more pressure to do something anything, or
do something and go and get somebody who really matters,
but overpay for them because of outside pressure to make

(53:08):
the team better. Well see, because I think that goodwill
from two summers ago isn't quite as there. I think,
and maybe you feel this way to a degree, I
do as well. I think there's a lot of us
kind of looking at the Reds going all right, it's
put up a shut up time. Let's see if you're
really willing to go for it. Let's see if you're

(53:28):
really willing to go and make that move that could
take this team, which has found a way to hang
in there all season long, and give it a better
chance to win. I also, I think it's going to
be interesting we talk about fans sentiment, what about inside
the clubhouse? Like Emilio Pegana is on a couple of
occasions talked extensively about like we want to put the
front office in a position where they've got to do something.

(53:51):
You know, the team two years ago, there weren't many
veteran voices on it. It was young, a lot of
guys trying to establish themselves. Now like, you've got some
guys who've been around for a while, uh, Jose Travino
and Gavin Lux and you know, Austin Hayes and even
some of those players from two seasons ago. The clock
is kind of ticking on them. Melio Pagan has been
in this game now for a while. I think, you know,

(54:14):
two years ago, really the only guy who was really
willing to ever speak his mind about anything was Jonathan India,
And so I don't know, you know, you heard two
years ago when they they didn't make a trade, it
was well that the team is actually pretty happy that
they didn't trade for anybody. They didn't want to break
up the chemistry here. I'm not sure the same I'm
not sure the same feeling is going to exist throughout

(54:36):
that clubhouse if July thirty first comes and goes, Thursday
comes and goes, and they haven't done anything. And so
it's a fair question, like how much pressure is there
from outsiders on the Reds to do something at the deadline,
how much pressure is there inside the Reds clubhouse for
Nick Crawl to do something at the deadline, and how

(54:58):
does that affect and inform what they do? Twenty one
minutes after four o'clock. U five point three seven four
nine fifteen thirty is our number eight six six seven
oh two three seven seven six Brandanman and Jones on
Baseball's coming up in just about thirty minutes. Also, uh,
one of the best books I've read in quite a while.
We're gonna have the author on. It's about Caitlin Clark.

(55:20):
That is coming up at five thirty five. We're also
gonna remember one of the uh. If you're my age
and a big baseball fan, one of the more significant
figures of our youth. Plus what if the Reds end
up playing in October? And a few more thoughts on
the Bengals as well on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.

(55:44):
This is ESPN fifteen thirty. Anything you may have missed
or may miss down the road on this show you
can find on the iHeartRadio app by the way, including
the Tony and Mode Training Camp show, which returns tomorrow.
Podcasts of this show are a service of Law Next
Sports Grill. There's no real Bengals news today. It appears

(56:05):
that Trey Hendrickson and the Bengals according to a Jeremy Fowler,
and we'll play some of this audio for you a
little bit later on. Now we kind of wait, right,
I mean, it's still late July. There's still a lot
of time, but it does feel like the Bengals have
made their offer and are perhaps not willing to budge.
You'll hear Terry Francona on last night's game, Chase Burns,

(56:30):
for the most part, was terrific. The Reds offense last
night was not. We have to imagine the scenario where
the Reds are playing in October. And I was thinking
about me at nine years old last night, and I'll
explain why. After sports headlines on ESPN fifteen.

Speaker 5 (56:46):
Thirty Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty Traffic from.

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(57:20):
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Sports headlines are a service of Kelsey Chevrolet, Home of
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Reds and Dodgers, Second of three Tonight at GABP Nicoldololadolo
is having a sneaky, very good season. He gets the

(57:48):
ball tonight for Cincinnati against Tyler Glass now seven to ten.
Tonight's first pitch on seven hundred WLW Would you like
a starting lineup? Even if you're saying no, I'm going
to give it to you because this show is so
full service, we even give you stuff you don't want.
Luxon left, McLain at second, Ella Dela Cruz is playing shortstop.

(58:11):
Hayes is dhing tonight Frankley's and right Spencer Steer plays
first base. Noel fe Martes at third, batting seventh, Benson's
in centerfield tonight, hitting eighth, and Jose Travino is catching
and batting ninth. Read's coming to play tonight, two games
out of the last wildcard spot, trailing the Padres by two.
San Diego hooks up at home tonight with the New
York Mets, and Hunter Green's going to pitch tonight rehabs

(58:33):
start for Louisville. This is not going to be his
only rehab start for the Bats, at least that's the
plan right now. He is supposed to pitch though four
innings tonight. Florence on the road against Windy City, and
the Bengals have today off. Training camp resumes tomorrow at
ten am. Tomorrow's workout is open to the public. We'll
have the AE, Door and Window Tony and Mo Football

(58:54):
show from ten to noon tomorrow. I've been thinking about
this a lot because we've had a lot of hot weather,
and I've talked on occasion on this show about like,
like I love hot weather. I love hot weather because
it's not cold weather. And the older I get, the
less tolerance I have for cold weather. So I like
it really hot. And I, you know, I say this

(59:14):
acknowledging like I don't have to work outside in it.
I have a radio job where I sit in an
air conditioned building, in an air conditioned room, and I'm
not out in the elements. But I like hot weather.
I'm not you know, elderly or you know, I don't
I hydrate well, and so I'm not at risk of

(59:36):
heat stroke like others in the population might be. But
I've been thinking about this law because I listen to
people complain about the hot weather, and I get it,
but I really like it. I like it really hot outside.
And I think the reason why is I associate hot
weather with being a kid in the summertime, and the

(59:57):
best times in my life were spent in the summer
time as a kid at my grandparents' house in Taylor Mill,
where I couldn't be outside enough in the morning, and
you know, i'd play catch with my grandfather and then
you know, once he kind of got tired of the heat.

(01:00:17):
As a young nine ten, eight, nine ten eleven year old,
just baseball fanatic, I'd be outside playing baseball, sometimes with
the neighborhood kids, sometimes just in the yard or the
driveway by myself, and I would like I would throw
a tennis ball against the garage door and pretend like

(01:00:41):
I would say, like today we're gonna we're gonna go
up against the Houston Astros, and so it's gonna be
like Denny Walling and Glenn Davis and Jose Cruz and
Kevin Bass and Dicky Thon. You know, today, I'm gonna
I'm gonna mow down the Philadelphia Phillies and it's gonna
be Mike Schmid, Steve Jelts, Milt Thompson, Glenn Wilson, Von Hayes,

(01:01:03):
Darren Dalton, right. And So I would do this in
the hot weather all morning long as just this baseball fanatic.
But whatever I was doing, at about two o'clock in
the afternoon, I would go inside. And if you're roughly
my age, I think you know what this was like.
You would go inside. Cable TV at this point was

(01:01:27):
pretty widespread, and the Chicago Cubs were on TV. It
felt like every single day. Now, obviously they only played
eighty one home games, so they did play a lot
of games at night when they were on the road.
But this is for the most part pre lights at
Wrigley Field. Wrigley Field got lights in August of nineteen
eighty eight, and even when they did get lights, for

(01:01:48):
a number of years they still played primarily day games.
And so as a little kid at two twenty, every
day the Chicago Cubs would play on WGN would felt
like every afternoon and I was a Cubs fan, but
I was a baseball fanatic, and it was so cool
because the Cubs would play and you would see everybody.
And back then, you know, the Reds were not on

(01:02:09):
TV all that much, and they were in the National
League West and they were on Channel five, and so
usually when they were on TV, they were on when
they were playing on the West Coast, so you had
to stay up late. They were never on when they
played at home. So you'd watch the Cubs every afternoon,
and then the Cubs would play and Steve Stone would

(01:02:29):
do the tenth inning show, and then you might go
back outside in the heat and then come in for
dinner and then sit down to watch the Atlanta Braves
at like seven forty every night. And this is what
I did. This is what so many of us in
the in the eighties, and I guess even the early
nineties did you watch two baseball games to day, the
Cubs at two twenty the break. Sometimes the Braves would

(01:02:49):
play these goofy, like five forty games because they wanted
to air like Gone with the Wind on TBS or something,
And so you'd watch these two games every day and
it was awesome, and the Cubs had some teams. The
Braves had horrible teams. But it's what so many of
us did, and it's why, like I have a saft
spot in my heart for those two franchises because I
watched them so much as a kid. But anyway, I'd

(01:03:11):
watch the Cubs every day, and as a little kid,
I'd watch and I'd go, God, one day, I want
to go to Wrigley Field. And so as an adult,
I go to Wrigley Field every year, and usually to
see the Reds ideally to see the Reds, but if
that doesn't work out, I still go to Wrigley Field
because it's just one of those places that as a kid,
I thought, like I want to go to. And you

(01:03:31):
would watch these Cubs teams with Harry Carey and with
Steve Stone, and I would usually root against the Cubs.
But if you watch every day for a number of years,
you kind of grow a fondness for some of the
individual players. And so like the Cubs had Bob Dernier,
who just he looked like he would be the worst

(01:03:52):
person to ever sit next to because of how he
chewed his gum. And they had Ron, Say the penguin,
who had obviously had so many awesome years with the
LA Dodgers. I think just got a statue at Dodger
Stadium last week, and they had the Sarge Gary Matthews,
and they had Sean Dunstan who had like the most
awesome arm at shortstop. But the best player on the

(01:04:12):
team was Ryan Samberg, who was the MVP in nineteen
eighty four gold Glove winner I think won ten goal gloves,
nine All Star appearances, and just this model of consistency,
and you could tell as a kid like was easily
the most popular Cup number twenty three second base and

(01:04:34):
just never made a mistake in the field, always had
good at bats, always put up really good numbers. One year,
had nineteen triples to lead the National League. Had thirteen
triples at Wrigley Field, which if you know anything about
that ballpark, is almost impossible. And so Ryan Samberg passed
away last night after a battle with prostate cancer, a

(01:04:55):
beloved Chicago Cup and I couldn't help last night but
start to think about what it was like to be nine,
ten or eleven years old and every day playing baseball
outside in the heat, and then coming into two twenty
to watch the Cubs and Ryan Samberg was the best player,

(01:05:18):
and so he passed away at the age of sixty five.
And I know, you know, if you're younger than me,
this doesn't make a lot of sense. I think if
you are my age and like most of my friends
are in my age group, we still to this day
talk about, like maybe you'd watch the Cubs at two
twenty and it was Ryan Samberg and Leon Durham and
Jody Davis, and then you'd watch the Braves at seven

(01:05:39):
ten or seven forty and it was Dale Murphy and
like that's it, because those Braves teams were terrible. Those
have always been, like, you know, just some of the
players I really liked as a kid. And I think
all the time about summertime in the hot weather and
being a baseball nut and how cool it was as

(01:05:59):
a kid to watch the Cubs every day at two
twenty just because it was baseball, not because it was
the Cubs, just because it was baseball on TV during
the day, And like every kid watched that game. Every
kid watched that game at two twenty. And then we
meet up and hang out outside and then we go
in and you know, watch the Braves. Some people had
WWR so you could watch the New York Mets, and

(01:06:20):
so I was really sad. And what I saw on Instagram,
I think it was last week that Ryan Sandberg's health
had taken a turn for the worst, and he was
referenced on Sunday during the Hall of Fame induction ceremony.
Because you had a sense that maybe the end was near,
and it came last night, and I just as one
of those like celebrity desks. We talked about it last

(01:06:40):
week with hult Cogan. That was a fixture of my youth.
But I didn't love pro wrestling the way I loved
baseball when I was a kid. And if you were
a kid in the eighties and you loved baseball, you
watched the Chicago Cubs on WGN every day at two
twenty and when you did, the best player on the
field every single year was Ryan Samberg. And whether you

(01:07:01):
were a Cubs fan or a Reds fan, or a
fan of anybody else, and you were watching those games
every day, by extension, you became a fan of Ryan Samberg.
And I was as a kid, and so I was
sad and to see them pass. Tony Pike's training camp
update is.

Speaker 5 (01:07:18):
Next Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty traffic from.

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(01:07:46):
the left shoulder that's between Springfield Pike and Winton Road.
Traffic is slowed back from I seventy five and Sharonville
a six minute delay. I'm at ezelic with traffic.

Speaker 2 (01:07:56):
This we play. What's going on in baseball?

Speaker 3 (01:08:00):
TJ.

Speaker 2 (01:08:00):
Friedel's on the paternity list. Re Signs is up from
Louisville to replace him. What's going on in Bengals training camp?
Tony Pike is with us? The answer is nothing, nothing
happening today, but Tony is still giving us his thoughts
on the Bengals even if there's no practice today. Tony,
how we doing I'm great, Mo.

Speaker 3 (01:08:19):
How are you?

Speaker 2 (01:08:19):
I'm doing really well. So Al Golden is tasked with
fixing this defense, and he's doing it with all the
same suspects were in the secondary last year. Let's talk
about one of them, Gino Stone. A year ago at
this time, so many of us were excited to see
about Geno Stone, see what he could do after his
time in Baltimore, where every year they gave him more

(01:08:40):
to do and every year he did more. He didn't
do much last year. Why did it go wrong for
Geno Stone last season?

Speaker 8 (01:08:48):
For whatever reason, he just didn't fit in the system
that Louie and Arubo had. I mean to me, it's
not coincidence mode that so many players have talked about
Al Golden's system and simplifying the offense, allowing them or
defense and allowing them to play faster. And I think
there's a lot to that. When you don't have the
star power, you need to make sure that you got

(01:09:08):
guys playing confident and you got guys playing fast. And
I think if you talk about Geno Stone, we all
talk about the fact that he played better at the
end of the year. I just think he had a
better understanding of what they were trying to do towards
the end of the year because there was a learning
curve there. So I think I'll Golden simplifying things. And
I think there's a point to this of days like today,
mo training camp goes so fast and so many times

(01:09:29):
you just can get behind. And the biggest thing in
football is confidence and playing fast, and when you are
mentally unsure of what you're doing, those things take the hit.
Everyone at this level physically is gifted. Everyone can make
the plays, but when your confidence starts lacking or you're
unsure of what you're supposed to be doing, that's where
the doubts or the misplays can creep in. So a

(01:09:51):
day like today, while you're not out there practicing, you're
still working the playbook, you're still taking the mental load
in as much as possible because you need to make
sure that the me matching what you're being asked to
do on the field. And to this point it sounds
like for Gino Stone and a lot of other defenders
they've done a good job of that.

Speaker 2 (01:10:06):
I think one of the things a lot of us
wonder about that position, and hopefully we don't have to
find the answers, but what happens if something happens at
Genostone this year?

Speaker 8 (01:10:16):
Yeah, I mean, it's one of the positions I think,
to me, There's two major that stand out. One is
the offensive line and two is the secondary, where you
have to say, there wasn't a ton done in the offseason.
What is a contingency plan that's in place. I don't
know that answer at guard, and I don't know the
answer at safety when you already came in and you
ask a guy in genostone to take a pay cut,

(01:10:36):
and now he's a guy you're going to rely on
for seventeen ideal games in the regular season at the
playoffs to play a big role. So I don't know
what that plan is yet. I don't know if that's
on the roster. I don't know if it's currently on
the roster somewhere else. But it has to be something
that is in the minds at least of the Bengals
personnel in that organization department to have a plan in
place for if ideally not going to happen, but if

(01:10:58):
that comes to fruition, yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:11:00):
No question about it. Tony will chat again coming up
at five forty five. Thanks so much, Tony Pike with
the latest from Bengals training camp. Every hour three forty five,
four forty five and five forty five on the Ray
Saint Clair Roofing Hotline, Tony Back with Me tomorrow at
the Airport Painted Body Broadcast Area on the A E.

(01:11:21):
Door and Window. Tony and Mo Football Show, which is
also brought to you in part by Oakley Greens and
TOF five one three five one three t o pH
Brennanman and Jones on baseball is next out here.

Speaker 5 (01:11:34):
Tesser fam who found Cincinnati's ESPN Fifteen's right.

Speaker 2 (01:11:38):
It is michelob Ultra five o'clock Happy Hour on ESPN
fifteen thirty on Moegger. If you're going to the ballpark
tonight enjoying ice cold mic Ultra, If if you've had
the few days that I've had, you could really use
an ice cold mic Ultra. That is that is that
is a topic for uh, that's a topic for a

(01:11:58):
different conversation. But mike Ultra sounds amazing right now, doesn't it.
Superior taste, superior light beer, hopefully a superior hour of
sports talk excitement. I read very quickly because it's a
quick read. I read the book that Christine Brennan wrote.
Christine is one of the most accomplished and most well

(01:12:21):
known sports writers in the United States of America. And
she wrote a book about Caitlin Clark and it's actually terrific.
And I read it on the recommendation of a listener,
and I emailed with this guy and said, good read,
enjoyed it. He said, you should get Christine on your show.
And then when I found out that Christine was going

(01:12:43):
to be in Cincinnati was like an hour after I
read that email. So she is in town to sign
the book tomorrow, and she's going to join us for
a different type of conversation than I think we normally
have on this show. At five point thirty five, plus
another check in with Tony Pike on the Bengals, don't
forget tomorrow morning to ten o'clock. By the way, I
probably did not do a good enough job of kind

(01:13:04):
of outlining what the Tony and Mode training camp show
schedule was going to be like. So we started last Wednesday.
We did a show Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. The Bengals practice
those days. We did a show yesterday. It was abbreviated
because of the weather. And let me make one other
clarification here. The show ended early yesterday because the Bengals
had to clear the field. Like I mentioned, we were

(01:13:25):
kicked out we didn't do anything wrong and the Bengals
didn't do anything wrong. It was we've got to clear
this field because of lightning and thunder, and it's up
to us to have a contingency plan, which we did.
But anyway, no practice today, So no Tonyan Mode training
camp show. You can't do a show from training camp
if there is no training camp. So I guess on

(01:13:45):
one level, we could have tried to sneak in and
set up our table and set up our tent and
do a show, but that would be trespassing and I
don't believe in trespassing. So no show today. So the
Bengals have a practice tomorrow at ten it's open to
the public. We will be there. They have a practice
on Thursday that's open to the public. I'll be on

(01:14:06):
a boat, but Tony will be doing that one. And
then we have a couple more over the next couple
of weeks, and I got to do a better job
of sort of outlining when those shows are. The good
news is we have one tomorrow ten o'clock from Bengals
training camp. That practice is obviously open to the public
and we are looking forward to that. The AE Door
and Window Tony and Mo training Camp show. Thanks to

(01:14:26):
a door and window, they sell the best and service
the rest. And thanks to Adam Weber for his support
of our show and his support of the Bengals all
these many years. We'll grab a phone call or to
here in just a bit, Red's and Dodgers tonight. No
TJ Friedel he's on the paternity list. Reese Hines is up,
Will Benson's playing center field tonight. Reds will hopefully get

(01:14:49):
a really good start from Nikoladolo and maybe the Bats
will wake up. Took him a little bit too long
last night. They mount a rally in the ninth thinning.
Here is Terry Francona, the soon to be Hall of
Fame manager of the Reds who is managed in three
World Series, talking after last night's loss. He gets a
good impressions.

Speaker 9 (01:15:09):
I thought he was terrific. I mean, he he didn't
back down. You know, he yanked a couple pitches, which
can happen. You know, he didn't feel his position the
way he he you know, he just made a mistake,
but unfortunately that didn't cost us. But he challenged them
and there's some pretty good hitters in a line up.

(01:15:30):
He did okay. I thought he was good, real good
teams so far. One of the most impressive things when
you said he is simply not back down went against.

Speaker 3 (01:15:41):
These good teams.

Speaker 9 (01:15:42):
No, I agree with everything's saying. I mean, we're trying
to we're trying to build for the future with him
and win now with him, and I think the kids
doing a really good job.

Speaker 2 (01:15:52):
I really do.

Speaker 9 (01:15:54):
I think his future is so bright because there's gonna
be things that he does better. But in the meantime,
we'll take him. Does he really hosts Tino the game through.

Speaker 7 (01:16:06):
That lurd.

Speaker 9 (01:16:08):
Well, like he threw Freeman a change up tonight and
got a first pitch out on it, which is huge,
not even a real good change up, but it something different.
He just he he needs innings, you know, and we
certainly have to keep an eye on that also. But
for his development, like everything he sees, we kind of
asked him just keep learning, learn fast.

Speaker 2 (01:16:30):
Yeah. So that's Terry Francona talking about Chase Burns. Chase
Burns had a good start last night's truck out ten.
I will be the first to admit that with one
out in the fifth and runners on the corners. As
watching the game, with my wife and daughter, and I go,
this is kind of playing with fire, and look, man,
he needs innings and he needs to learn, and this

(01:16:50):
bullpen has done a lot and had Chase Burns retired.
Show Hey, o Tani, you know Terry Francona looks like
a genius. But I mean, come on, von honest with me.
You're watching it last night, first and third, it's fifth inning. No,
you don't want to turn the game over to the
bullpen in the fifth, but I'm going, God, this is
the third time. Show Heyo, Tani's up. I don't know

(01:17:11):
if I like this. He hits the double the center.
Main story of the game last night beyond Chase Burns
striking out ten and you heard the question in there
they have thrown him to the Wolves against really good teams.
The main story of the game last night was the
fact that the Reds offense was basically non existent, and
Yoshinobu Yamamoto had a lot more to do with that

(01:17:32):
than anything else. So hopefully they can get back tonight.
We talked about the trade deadline, and we're gonna stop
talking about it here soon because it's almost here. Reports
are that the Reds are continuing to show interest in
a Uhaneo Suarez, but they've got some backup plans. Gonna
be honest with you, some of those stated backup plans
don't do a lot for most of us. We'll see.

(01:17:56):
I think it's fun to think about the Reds in
the postseason. Now you might not. The Reds making the
postseason is likely, even if they get help with the
trade deadline, and I'll acknowledge that as currently constructed, I'll
maintain what I have maintained all season long. I think
this is about an eighty three win team, and right

(01:18:19):
now their current pace is eighty four and a half.
Eighty four and a half will push it up to
eighty five. Decent chance, that's not enough. I think the
starting pitching is good enough. I don't think the offense
is currently constructed is good enough. By the way, Hunter
Green is going to pitch the night for Louisville. I
do think though, a couple of things about the Reds

(01:18:41):
in the postseason. I think there's something kind of dangerous
about a team with good pitching and a manager who
knows how to navigate the postseason and keep his team loose,
that at that point has already had a successful year, Like,
that's the most fun and I think dangerous kind of

(01:19:01):
postseason team, the sixth seed that's not going to be
playing at home. That you know what, this is gravy.
We've made it good starting pitching to keep you in
games and a manager who I think is going to
know how to navigate the postseason. Like that's that's not insignificant.
Give me, give me that. But like we talk all

(01:19:23):
the time. We used to talk about this all the
time as it related to the Bengals, and I think
we've moved on, but it's become something we discuss often
about the Reds, the normalization of losing, and unfortunately, that's
kind of what's happened in this town over the course
of many, many decades. For the better part of the

(01:19:44):
last let's just say this century, which we're basically a
quarter of the way through, the Reds have done an
overwhelming amount of losing versus winning. We can recite the
stats if you want. Right this century, they've won two
division championships. They've made the postseason four times. They've made

(01:20:05):
the postseason during a full year three times. The ballpark
day play, in which is over two decades old, has
never housed a playoff game won by the home team.
They haven't won a postseason series since nineteen ninety five.
Like we all know the facts. When that, when that
becomes who you are, I think losing as just a

(01:20:26):
way of life kind of settles in. I think it
seems into the fan base a little bit, like you
will find people among us, probably folks listening to me
right now, who will tell you, like, yeah, you know what,
eighty four wins is a good year. No, it's not
a good year. Is you win enough games to make
the postseason? And most years, winning eighty four games is

(01:20:47):
not going to get you to the playoffs. I know
it got the Diamondbacks to the playoffs two years ago.
Simply playing meaningful baseball in September is not something that
we're supposed to nod along with hitting the over, and
just hitting the over doesn't represent success. But when you
have accepted or normalized losing as a fan, you stop

(01:21:12):
talking about winning the World Series, and you stop talking
about winning ninety five games, and you almost settle for
these things that don't matter nearly as much. The easiest
way to unnormalize losing is to get a load of
this win like win something that matters. Now, you might argue, well,

(01:21:33):
winning the third wild card doesn't matter all that much. Well,
it's a positive step in the right direction and could
maybe maybe change the standard a little bit for this
franchise moving forward. Now, this isn't so much a fan
thing as much as it's a Cincinnati Reds thing. I

(01:21:54):
thought one of the cool things about hiring Terry Francona was,
here's somebody who has won championships. Where the standard is championships,
it's not let's play some meaningful baseball games in September.
I think a franchise that has for three decades normalized losing,
getting to the postseason with the core of guys that

(01:22:14):
you feel like you want to move forward with has
tremendous value. Tremendous value. There's the basics of guys getting
a taste of postseason experience, which there's no downside to that.
There's the possibility at least that you could actually advance
in the postseason and scrape off the plate the thirty

(01:22:36):
year drought of not advancing in the playoffs. But I
also think it sort of recalibrates expectations for the franchise
moving forward, which I think the Cincinnati Reds could greatly
benefit from. Look, it's no longer going to be good
enough to play meaningful baseball in September. Once you've played
in October, it's no longer going to be good enough

(01:22:58):
to kind of be in the hunt. If you've eventually
emerged from the hunt and you're playing in the playoffs,
do you want to get to a point where, look,
it's championships or bust or we actually talk about championships, Well,
take the first step this year. Like I think, just
as a fan and maybe the Reds as an organization,

(01:23:19):
the players, maybe those folks don't feel this way I do.
I used to do this with the Bengals all the time.
I sat here every day in twenty thirteen, fourteen, and
fifteen when the Bengals had some really good teams. That
team in thirteen is underrated, that team in fifteen was
really good. The team in twenty fourteen I thought Marvin
Lewis frankly should have been Coach of the Year. But

(01:23:40):
it was so frustrating that all we would do was
talk about winning a playoff game. You remember those years,
it was never can the Bengals get to the Super Bowl?
Can the Bengals, Like Hoyst to Lombardi, it was can
they win a playoff game? In twenty twenty one that changed,
No longer win a playoff game, It's when's Joe Burrow

(01:24:02):
going to win a title? But when losing becomes the norm,
your expectations are low, your standards are low. I think
it would be awesome for this franchise if the standards
could be raised just by appearing in the postseason. And
you know, if they go and they lose two consecutive
games in a best of three series, that's okay, not

(01:24:23):
gonna fold the franchise because of it, not gonna fire
a bunch of people. I think it's kind of important
when you're a franchise that has been defined by losing,
to break through and have some kind of meaningful success,
And when your sport is as watered down as baseball
right now, meaningful success bare minimum is make the playoffs.

(01:24:47):
I think there's great benefits to it. I also don't
think this team is a pushover. If they got there
now when you have good starting pitching, Dude, Baseball the
way it works, the randomness We've watched the Reds this
year to advance in the postseason, you have to win
a best two out of three series. Now, if you're
a wild card team, you're gonna have to do it
playing exclusively on the road. You're gonna have to go

(01:25:09):
in the road and play a three game series, which
you've done all year long. Might have a Hunter Green,
should have a Nick Ladolo, perhaps an Andrew Abbott experienced manager. Yes,
low ceiling offensive team, I'll grant you that. But a
team playing with house money, a Hall of Fame manager
and a good pitching rotation is not a team that

(01:25:32):
I would take lightly in the postseason. So I think
that would be a lot of fun. But if you
really want to unnormalize losing, you gotta take the step.
It's better to take it now, because the earlier they do,
the earlier we start talking about different standards and higher expectations.

(01:25:54):
As a fan, we could use that. This franchise could
badly use that. Nineteen minutes after five o'clock, phone calls
are coming up on ESPN fifteen.

Speaker 5 (01:26:01):
Thirty Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty. Traffic from the UC Health
Traffic Center.

Speaker 6 (01:26:10):
U See Help's Weight Loss center offers surgical and medical
obesity care and expertise call five one three nine three
two sixty three southbound seventy five at Cooper Avenue. The
right lane blocked from an accident up to a ten
minute delay from Glendale Milford Road westbound two to seventy

(01:26:30):
five accident off on the left shoulder between Springfield Pike
and Winton Road. Looking at a five minute delay from
seventy five in Sharonville. I'm at ezelic with traffic.

Speaker 2 (01:26:39):
This report is sponsored B twenty five after five. This
is ESPN fifteen thirty. Moeger, Thank you for listening today.
Let's probably a phone caller too. I went late that
next to that last segment, so we don't have a
ton of time, but time we have belongs to Scott
in Liberty Township High. Scott, you're on ESPN fifteen thirty.
Hey mohied Man, I'm doing wonderful yourself?

Speaker 10 (01:27:02):
Oh doing great? Thanks?

Speaker 5 (01:27:03):
Uh.

Speaker 10 (01:27:03):
So I went to the game last night and outside
of all the Dodger fans, it was I mean, good night,
and uh Phil Castellini came and sat down in front
of us for a couple of innings. He had some
friends apparently that we're right down in front of us,
so uh, he got got to believe. And I just,
you know, I said, hey, Peel, we're gonna make this

(01:27:25):
team better this week. And he goes, well, he's gonna try.
And I'm like, you know, and I'm assuming he's talking
about Nick Crawl at this point. I'm like, I'm like,
you know, I could try. Yeah, I said this team
out here deserves some help.

Speaker 4 (01:27:44):
And he just kind of was like, yeah, I know.

Speaker 3 (01:27:46):
You know.

Speaker 2 (01:27:46):
It was one of those like whatever.

Speaker 10 (01:27:50):
I'm like, all right, I mean I guess that you know, hopefully.

Speaker 2 (01:27:54):
It's inspiring, isn't it the mind that's not the mindset?

Speaker 10 (01:27:58):
But man, it's sure. Sure seemed like, yeah, we're gonna
give it a try, but ye know, who knows, not
sure if we're gonna be able to do anything.

Speaker 2 (01:28:07):
Well, what I what I will hopefully defer to here
is that Phil is not in on the the granular
level discussions about who the Reds uh may be in
the market to get and what they're willing to give
up and that sort of thing. But yeah, sure, the
essentially the guy running the club, you would you would
like to you would like to feel a little bit

(01:28:28):
better about what he said.

Speaker 10 (01:28:30):
Yeah, no doubt I thought it was. It was funny.
I laughed about it. If it wasn't, if it wasn't
so comical, would be hurtful. But you know, hopefully they
do something. I mean they got I can say I
get a bullpit arm and and a bat. But you know,
we've been talking about him getting a bat for what

(01:28:50):
two years now, and they still haven't done it.

Speaker 2 (01:28:53):
Yeah, I think to a degree, Scott, thanks very much.
As always, I think to a degree. What's kind of
frustrating is on July twenty ninth, we're having the conversations
we knew we would be having on February twenty eighth,
or that we knew we would be having on opening Day.
Hopefully this team can stay in the race. Hopefully they

(01:29:13):
can get the bat we know they're gonna need. Taylor
Ward's been mentioned by the way Taylor words from Dayton,
which I didn't know until this morning.

Speaker 9 (01:29:23):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (01:29:23):
And a guy that some have called the best fit
and a guy who is und a free agent until
twenty twenty seven. Tony Pike training camp up day coming
up in fifteen minutes. One of the most acclaimed and
well known sports writers in the United States has written
a very good book on one of the biggest stars
in sports. She'll join us next.

Speaker 5 (01:29:44):
Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty. Traffic from the UC Health Traffic Center.

Speaker 6 (01:29:51):
You see Help's weight loss center offers surgical and medical
obesity care and expertise. Call five one three nine, two
sixty three. That's nice. Two sixty three southbound seventy five
at Cooper Avenue. The right lane blocked off from an
accident right now a ten minute delay back from Glendale.
Milford wrote as a result, two seventy five down to

(01:30:13):
one lane in each direction that due to ongoing repairs
on the Carrol Cropper Bridge, expect delays on that ezelic
with traffic.

Speaker 2 (01:30:20):
This report is sponsored by Staples. Bobby Volunteer with some
easy tread on seven hundred WLW. Nicoladolo is on the
hill against Tyler Glass. Now TJ. Friedel on the paternity list,
so he's not going to be playing tonight. Reese hinds
up from Louisville. Hunter Green is pitching for Louisville tonight.
Schedule to throw four innings is part of the rehab assignment.

(01:30:41):
Trying to come back from that groin injury. They have
made it known and I don't think this is a
surprise to anybody. The plan is for Hunter to pitch
a couple of games for the Bats, so hopefully a
step in the right direction. Tonight Bengals training camp. No
practice today, back out of tomorrow morning at ten workouts
open to the public. Tony and I have the Ay
Door and Window Tony and Mo Training camp show tomorrow

(01:31:02):
at ten am. Tony joins us in about fifteen minutes
or so with his final training camp report of the day.
I got this book on the recommendation of a listener
on her game, which is it's a biography of Caitlin Clark,
but it also does a deep dive into other issues
title nine Women's Sports, How They're covered so much more.

(01:31:26):
Jake was the guy who gave me the recommendation and
said you should get the author on Christine Brennan. And
as soon as I thought that's a good idea, I
found out she's actually in Cincinnati. She is appearing tomorrow
night signing her book at the Murcantil Library on Walnuts.
Starts at five am, reception at five. You don't need
to pay for tickets. It's a free event, but you
do have to register. Go to Murcantilllibrary dot com. The

(01:31:48):
name of the book is on her game. I didn't
know this until I just said high off air, Christine,
you're in town. You're actually a Reds fan.

Speaker 3 (01:31:57):
Hey Mo, thanks for having me. Well, I grew up
in Toledo, so at that other end of I seventy
five from all of you wonderful folks in Cincinnati and
the surrounding area, and we did look north mostly for
the Tigers Michigan football. I know, not Ohio stays, but
I went to Northwestern, so I'm totally you know, now

(01:32:17):
it's all purple for me at Northwestern. But seventy five
seventy six, I mean, I'm certainly following the Reds all
the way through. But as a girl growing up in Toledo,
I could get your signal in Toledo in my bedroom
and I can picture. In fact, I still own our
family home in the suburbs of Toledo in Ottawa Hills.
I own that house and I was there a week

(01:32:37):
and a half ago for my book tour, and I
sat in that desk. At that desk, I would listen
to the radio transistor radio or pug in whatever, and
I'd listen to Marty Brenneman and those incredible teams seventy
five of course, that World Series and seventy five amazing,
seventy six steamrolling the Yankees in the World Series. But
all those summer nights, Johnny Bench, obviously, Tony Perez, you know,

(01:33:02):
Sparky Anderson, on and on and on, it goes Davy
Conception on, you know, I mean, everyone incredible, So that
that was a huge part of my childhood. And I'm
so honored to be talking to you and be on
your air.

Speaker 2 (01:33:15):
Well, it's awesome to have you, and welcome to Cincinnati.
Let's talk about Caitlin Clark specifically, because look, this is
not a WNBA town. There's obviously a lot of folks
listening to this conversation who are just like me who
started paying closer attention to the women's college game because
of Caitlyn Clark. And I've told this before. When Iowa

(01:33:37):
plays Yukon in the Final Four in twenty twenty four,
I met an establishment with buddies of mine in the
sort of place that you would never imagine women's basketball
being on much less every patron watching while the Reds
are playing, not even paying attention to the baseball, instead
watching this game between these two titans of college hoops. Obviously,

(01:33:59):
I wall one that night Caitlyn Clark got the best
of Page Becker's and there have been other mile posts
along the way, but I remember that night going, wow,
this isn't the women's game that I grew up watching,
and quite frankly for the most part, not watching.

Speaker 3 (01:34:13):
Right. Well, you and millions of other people, right, and
especially men, which is great, right, I mean guys who
didn't care. You know, it was just it was and
not because you're bad people, but you already were fans
of so many other sports. And now we're shoeharning, you know,
the WNBA and in the late nineties, mid to late nineties,
and you know, obviously it was a small, niche kind

(01:34:35):
of sport and that's what it was. And then Caitlin
Clark comes along, and it truly is Caitlyn Clark. And
in the book, I give all the statistics and talk
about her, and I'll said logo threes jumping off the page.

Speaker 2 (01:34:46):
Mo.

Speaker 3 (01:34:46):
You know, she's quoted, she answered forty to fifty of
my questions. She's terrific, better than you'd hope for in person,
takes everything on. As I say in the book twenty
two going on forty or fifty, just a mature gets
racial questions thrown in, her political questions, handles them beautifully
better than an athlete twice her age. You know. So

(01:35:06):
that's that's Kaitlyn Clark. But here's here's what it was.
And I at least I in my opinion, and I
go into this and on her game quite a bit.
The idea. She's a basketball player, obviously, but she's also
an entertainer, right, she's the high wire act when she's
chucking it from the parking lot and it's going in
right when those passes, those beautiful passes, when it's the

(01:35:28):
run and gun offense. So she's just sprinting. She goes,
I love sprinting. I sprint around my house, I sprint
in my living room, sprint, sprint, sprint. She's very funny too,
and she talked, But it's Kaitlyn Clark, you know, sprinting,
eyes up those beautiful passes. Just you know again logo threes,
you know, next county over, she's hitting it. How can

(01:35:48):
you not? You can't take your eyes off her. And
and that's that's women, that's sports fans as w NBA
fans for years, but it's also all the new fans,
millions and millions of new fans you and many people
listening to us right now. I've met these wonderful people.
I've been in Iowa, book, my book tour, Indiana, Ohio,
even DC Merrily. Everyone loves Caitlin Clark, and especially men

(01:36:10):
love to tell me how much they love it there
with their daughters like you watching it is it is, really,
it has taken hold. And again Gatelyn Clark isn't just
one of our most famous athletes. In my opinion, she's
one of the most famous people in the country. That's
how big a deal she is. And in sess an

(01:36:30):
organic matter, not forced on us, but rising out of
Iowa Big ten network right seeing her on TV, people
falling in love with her game, with her team and
the way she plays. And again that is right now.
Of course she's injured, but it's certainly carried over last year,
the year I chronicle that first amazing season with the
Indiana Fever.

Speaker 2 (01:36:51):
Well, you know from where I said, and you've obviously
spent a lot of time whether she just from where
I watch, has always struck me as strikingly normal, you know,
for for somebody who has, you know, maybe not grown
up in the public eye from the standpoint of being
you know, eight nine years old, but you know, going
through a really important time in her life, really carrying
a sport to a large degree on her shoulders. She

(01:37:13):
is always to me, come off, as I've always said
this about Lebron James, like weirdly normal. Is that a
good way of putting it? Yeah?

Speaker 3 (01:37:20):
Oh, absolutely, yeah. And you know, obviously Lebron James another Ohioan, right,
and and the way he covered him and I remember
that first year, his rookie year. I mean anything could
have gone wrong, right, I mean, a young man out
of high school, and he had the most amazing adults
around him. I mean it was brilliant. Whoever was in
charge of that. The woman I talked to was this

(01:37:42):
financial person. Boy, the guidance, the help, you know. I mean,
the bit worst thing Lebron's ever done is say that
he was taking his talents to southeach right, Yeah, I
mean right, what could have gone wrong for any athlete?
I mean I've covered all these tennis players figure skaters,
you know, too much, too soon, right, no leadership, no guidance,

(01:38:04):
no one around, and boom they get into trouble or
things go, you know, haywire again. Lebron, for sure, Kaitlyn
Clark is certainly different in the sense she went to college,
had those four years of college. Of course, has a degree,
super smart, and I think Lebron isn't he is, but
it didn't come out of just high school the way
Lebron did, so you've got you know, But Kaitlyn Clark

(01:38:24):
is even her size. I mean, she's six feet tall.
I'm like five eleven and a half. So we look at,
you know, each other, basically eyed eye. She's not imposing, right.
You know, some of the wonderful players in the WNBA
or women's volleyball players whatever, you know, they're six four,
six five, great, fabulous.

Speaker 6 (01:38:43):
I mean, we love that.

Speaker 3 (01:38:44):
But but Kitlyn Clark looks kind of like every person, right,
She's kind of her body, her build, and it's so
I think that even makes it more interesting. It's kind
of a mixt of of earnestness and effortlessness. As I
say in the book. You know that's that the way
she's like a kid like, you know, just run, go, go,
And then it's also fluid and beautiful and also so approachable.

(01:39:09):
I mean those autographs, that is real. I watched her.
There's some pictures in the book. You know she she
wants to sign for every girl and every boy, and
that's a key statement. She's a role model for girls
and boys. I covered Tiger Woods the length of his career.
Tiger didn't want to sign autographs. Great golfer, Probably what
a delight for me to cover him. Couldn't care less

(01:39:29):
about autographs, kept his head down, didn't look at the kids.
Caitlin and Tiger on that front completely opposite one hundred
and eighty degrees mo in terms of Caitlyn wanting to
spend more time. I've watched a kid, a boy, actually
she missed him, no fault of hers, just a lot
of arms and hands and little kids pressed together before
a game and the kid had a jersey and she

(01:39:51):
didn't sign it and he started crying. By ten year
old boy, Well, she goes all the way to the
end of line. Now she's working her way back, and
she had no idea and then she saw him signed,
and literally the emotion from such sadness from this boy
to such joy as I watched, and again she didn't know.
She just got him and finally signed and moved on.

(01:40:12):
What a delight. I'm sure she saw his tears, but
she had no idea what had happened. But that's Caitlyn Clark.
She she cares so much about being a role model.
I don't know that there's a more publicly appreciative person
in this country and what she's been given the role
she has, the difficulty, how hard it can be sometimes
and she just nails it every time on the court,

(01:40:35):
off the court, spending time with kids, wanting to give
back her foundation, her charity. Wow, I mean again, you
know she is and she's twenty three years old doing
all of this. It's truly amazing.

Speaker 2 (01:40:48):
Christine Brennan is with us tomorrow night Mrcantile Library on
Walnut Street. Reception at five, conversation at five thirty about
on her game, her bio of Kaitlyn Clark, which is
a book that's a out Kaitlyn Clark. But there's also
a lot of other things that Christine writes about and
we're going to discuss some of them. You know what
you just said about Kaitlyn Clark. I didn't get a

(01:41:08):
chance to watch her in person in college, but I
did watch Paige Becker's because Connecticut played Xavier. And what
drew me to her was some of the same stuff. Right.
She came out after the game they won by forty
five points or whatever it was, and I watched her
take pictures and sign autogram and I just watching from
afar and it's like, I think that kid gets it.
So she's now with the Dallas Wings. Kaitlin Clark is

(01:41:30):
with the Indiana Fever, just up the road from us.
And so as a Newish fan of the WNBA, I've
got an eight year old daughter loves basketball. We're gonna
like this league. I feel weirdly stiff armed by it,
like I feel weirdly not entirely embraced. Can you make
that make sense for me?

Speaker 3 (01:41:50):
Well? I try in the book, and I deal with
all of it. This is it, by the way, an
unauthorized biography, which sounds ominous, but it's not. It's not.
It's what you want me as a journalist, all these
years of covering sports, I give you my best stuff.
I give you behind the scenes reporting, I give you know,
there's breaking news in the book, the Olympic snub. That's

(01:42:10):
a chapter title. I broke that story last year. What
a disastrous decision to not put her on the Olympic team.
I have new reporting news in there that people wouldn't
necessarily wouldn't know until the book. You know I did that.
I continue to follow the story and absolutely throughout the book,
I have anecdotes reported. It's my journalism.

Speaker 6 (01:42:30):
It's you know, no.

Speaker 3 (01:42:31):
Holds barred, you know about what the WNBA has and
hasn't done. They I will say it this way, and
I say this in the book. I'm totally unprepared for
the moment, utterly unprepared for the greatest thing to ever
happen to it Daylan Clark either not believing it could

(01:42:51):
happen to them because they've gotten short shripp for years
from the male dominated sports media and never got covered
the way that we would have been great if Maya
Moore was a household name, or if Chryl Swoops. I mean,
they were names and sports, but not people talking about
them in the produce section at the grocery store the
way they are about Caitlin Clark, or planning their evenings

(01:43:11):
around her schedule the way they did around Tiger's tea time,
you know, in golf, when he was at the Masters
or what have you. You know, that's where you transcend
a sport. And here it was an anecdote, I can
tell you that's in the book. The day after, Camerine
Clark announces that she is going pro and that means,
of course, everyone knows she'll be drafted by the Indiana Fever,
which is a perfect spot for her. As you know

(01:43:33):
everyone knows in Cincinnati, Indy, you know, just the perfect town,
a big but not too big, love of sports, civic pride,
She loves her boyfriend's there, she loves Indiana, six hour
drive from Iowa City, I mean, made in heaven, the
best place to have her go. So I make a
phone call to a WNBA official I've known for a while,

(01:43:54):
and I said, do you realize how big a deal
this is? And this person said back to me, yeah,
this is probably the biggest thing to happen to the
WNBA since Maya Moore. And I said, what I mean?
Maya Moore's great person or a fabulous person. Four time
WNBA champ deserved to be a household name around the country.

(01:44:15):
But she is not Miamore could not sell out the
Minnesota Links, you know, Target Center, she could not. She
could not sell out arenas, right, I mean, Caitlin sells
out everywhere. Page Becker sadly cannot even sell out eight
thousand seat Dallas Arena. So Page is a great basketball player,
She's not an entertainer. Caitlyn takes it to a whole
new level, obviously, And I'm not denigrating Page. I'm just

(01:44:36):
saying this is the amazing fact about Caitlin Clark. She
has turned the Indiana fever into the equivalent of a
Maleman's pro sports team, you know, with that same kind
of love and coverage which we've seen. So the WNBA,
going back to that mayamor a little moment, had no idea.
I mean, how can you be watching the lines, which,

(01:44:56):
of course we know we're in big ten country, you know,
in Ohio obviously, and where it isn't big ten country
anymore now coast, but traditional big ten at Ohio State.
People lined up for hours in January and February in
the cold Marya University of Maryland, my alma man, a
northwestern smaller arena, people lined up again fifth games in

(01:45:16):
the winter in the cold, like it's a Taylor Swift
concert or band say, or you know, or springteen, and
they're all lined up in these huge arenas for the
barnstorming act of a basketball player who happens to be
a woman. We have never been able to say that before,
ever in our lives, and the WNBA utterly unprepared. You've

(01:45:39):
got a seventy four percent black league and you've got
a white superstar. You and I are living in the
United States of America, as are all your listeners. We
know we are a polarized society. You also have this
set against the backdrop of an election, a presidential election, right,
we know that there are going to be issues and
thoughts and concerns, especially with a majority black league and

(01:46:01):
a white woman. If I know that, and if you
know that, and your listeners know that, how on earth
was the WNBA not prepared for the moment? And by that,
I mean it's not me. In the book, I have
the great doctor Harry Edwards, black man, civil rights leader, sociologists,
one of the great smart people on this subject in
our country. I quote doctor Harry Edwards talking about these words,

(01:46:24):
and he literally says the WNBA failed the players. Harry
Edwards loves Caitlin Clark. He says, what you do when
you've got a moment like this, Not because these are
damsels in distress. No, they're great athletes there, college graduates,
but they've never had anything like this happen before, and
they're going to watch the spotlight come on a white
woman in a black sport, right, abdominated black sport. Obviously

(01:46:46):
not obviously not entirely clearly. So be smart is what
Harry Edwards is saying. Have seminars, have zooms, talk to players,
have them be able to talk about their get prepared
for the moment. The WNBA MO did none of them.
So as a white woman, I know what I know
and I know what I don't know. And as a
journalist the same. So I have these tremendous voices, black

(01:47:09):
and white talking about the failure of the WNBA to
meet the moment, and we're seeing it even now. That
was why, you know, my book goes all the way
to April, so it's really current, really fresh. You relive Iowa,
you relive all the negative and the controversies, and of
course all the Caitlin Clark magic and the season last
year with the fever, but this year it's almost worse.

(01:47:30):
They apparently have learned nothing about the meaning of Caitlin Clark.
And the best stat I can give you, so she's
been injured for the first time since sophomore year of
high school, which is so unfortunate and obviously so disheartening
to see her in this position. But when she miss
those first five games with that injury earlier this season,

(01:47:51):
she was She disappeared for five games, so did more
than half of the television audience of the WNBA. That's
just the fever the WNBA. More than half that is
off a cliff that is absolutely devastating to the financial
future of the WNBA. It's one person. We wish it
were more, but it is her facts. Funny thing about facts, mo,

(01:48:13):
facts are facts and data is data. And people get
mad when I talk about this. Some of these people
out there whatever, well get angry. But these are the facts.
This is how important this one person is. And the
spotlight shining on her shines on all these other players,
most of them black women, who deserved attention, never got
it and are finally getting that attention because of Caitlin Clark.

(01:48:38):
And yet you see them trying to steamroll like Marina
Maybray freight train run into her. What is going on
the lack of leadership? Kathy Engelbert. I like her personally.
I wish her well. She's the commissioner of the WNBA.
The lack of leadership here is extraordinary. Now going into
a second season of the WNBA not understanding the magnitude

(01:48:59):
of this moment. Not because Caitlyn can't dish it out.
She doesn't need you or me. She's not a victim.
But you've got to be smart, right. Jordan rules Tiger
rising tide lifts all boats. The men's golfers figure that
out really quickly. No social media, so that would have
been different with Tiger. But here it's like it's a struggle,
like they want to keep the small things small and

(01:49:22):
they should be embracing you. As Gino Rama said, delusional fans.
I said back to Geno. First of all, aren't all
fans by definition delusional in some ways? But secondly, would
the NFL be saying no, we don't want certain fans.
What leak says that?

Speaker 2 (01:49:38):
Right?

Speaker 3 (01:49:38):
But yet Gino Arima called it fans delusional, as if
he didn't want people potentially like you, and millions of
men and their daughters and women and their daughters and sons.
You don't want them in a league. When have we
ever heard of that except with this? And I do
explore as I said all of that in the book.

Speaker 2 (01:49:56):
Yeah, the best way I could put it is I
don't feel wealth. Everybody is welcome though. Tomorrow night mrcantail
Library on Walnut Street, which is a wonderful place. Christine Brennan,
the great USA Today columnist, and her book. She'll be
talking about it tomorrow on her game about Kaitlin Clark.
It's a free event. Got to register go to mrcantail

(01:50:16):
library dot com. Reception at five, conversation at five thirty
and should be a great event. It's a great read.
Cannot thank you enough for doing this, good conversation, appreciate it,
Thank you.

Speaker 3 (01:50:28):
Well well, thank you, and you know, especially if any
girls in uniform want to show up tomorrow, we'll do
pictures or something. I would love that. And moms and dad,
this book is for everyone and kids can read it
as well. So thank you, Moe, thanks for all you
do for Cincinnati sports. And I'll just say it, go Red, huh.

Speaker 2 (01:50:46):
Yeah, there you go. Love it. Christine, thank you, Thank
you very much.

Speaker 3 (01:50:51):
Mo.

Speaker 2 (01:50:51):
That's one of the most acclaimed sports writers in the
United States. Christine Brennan again. Her book on Kaitlin Clark
is terrific. It's called On Her Game, and she'll be
signing it, talking about it, taking questions, posing for photos
at the Amercantile Library on Walnut Street tomorrow. Receptions at
five o'clock. Conversation starts at five thirty, and you could register.

(01:51:13):
The event is free, but you could register at mrcantile
library dot com. The latest on the Bengals from Tony
Pike his training camp report. We'll talk Jamar Chase next
on ESPN fifteen.

Speaker 1 (01:51:24):
Thirty Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty. Traffic from the.

Speaker 6 (01:51:30):
UC Health Traffic Center U See Help's Weight Loss Center
offers surgical and medical obesity care and expertise. Call five
one three nine three nine two two sixty three. That's
nine three, nine two two sixty three eastbound two seventy five.
It's an accident before Turkey Foot Road that's off on
the right shoulder. Police are there on scene. Eastbound observatory.

(01:51:52):
Another accident between Madison Road and Barry Avenue and on
Buttermilk Pike accident near seventy one seventy five. I'm at
Ezella with traffic.

Speaker 7 (01:52:01):
Fifteen thirty with the ladist from Bengals training Camp Brook
you by Skyline Jillie feeling good.

Speaker 1 (01:52:09):
It's Skyline time.

Speaker 7 (01:52:10):
On Europe, official home of the Cincinnati Bengals, hes top
In fifteen thirty.

Speaker 2 (01:52:16):
All right, one more second with our guy, Tony Pikes,
who joins me tomorrow for the eighty dorn Window Tony
Imo Training Camp show starting at ten am on ESPN.
Fifteen thirty. Tony Jamar Chase is practicing Day one, was
on the field with Joe Burrow. What's interesting to me
is they moved him around last year. Can they spend
time this summer working on moving him around even more?

Speaker 8 (01:52:38):
I think you have to uneath every possibility because what
Jamar ches did last year was obviously historic, but it
also draws a ton of attention. There are defensive coordinators,
there are advanced scouting departments that spend their entire offseason
figure out Okay, here's how we're going to try to
slow these guys down. Here's how we're going to try
to attack this Bengals offense, and Joe Burrow put a

(01:52:59):
great being in a camp that he was asked, what
do you want to work on? He said everything, because
the second you don't work on everything, someone is working harder,
they're going to pass you up. And that's how this
hierarchy goes. So I like the limited snaps that Jamar
Chase took next to Joe Burrow in the backfield because
there's not a true way that a defender can get
to him that way. If you think of wide receivers

(01:53:21):
and if they're split out or if they're in the slot,
you can come up and you could play bump and run,
you can get help over the top, you could double team.
If you throw him in the backfield off of a motion,
there's really no way that a team can slow him
down getting that start five to seven yards before the
line of scrimmage. And if that's the case, I don't
know how you slow him down if it's not on

(01:53:41):
the get off or not doubling him off the line
of scrimmage. So I do think him in the backfield,
along with the normal stuff motions lock him up to
the boundary to the field inside things like that, But
I think there's more to unlock in using him out
of the backfield, because you can go right, you could
go left, you could go up the middle. There are
more opts say that it frees up his release and

(01:54:02):
does create more confusion for the defense.

Speaker 2 (01:54:04):
Tony, thank you very much. The A Dorn Window, Tony
and Moe Training Camp Show continues tomorrow ten am right
here on ESPN fifteen thirty. Our guy Robert Wintrub, who
is one of the absolute best every year contributes to
the FTN Preseason Football Almanac. He is among our guest
tomorrow at five oh five, we'll have Red's Dodgers covered

(01:54:24):
for you and so much more. Have an awesome night,
and thank you for listening. Thanks to Tarren Bland for producing.
This has been the michelob Ultra five o'clock Happy Hour
on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station

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