7/9/26 - The Mo Egger Radio Show - Mo Egger

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

Speaker 2 (00:04):
Damn straight, what's up?

Speaker 3 (00:06):
Five after three? This is ESPN fifteen thirty. I'm Moweger.
Thank you for listening today. I hope you're having an
awesome Thursday afternoon. My thanks to Chad Brendle for pinch
hitting yesterday. Yesterday, And I know no one cares about this,
but just for the record, yesterday was not a vacation day.

(00:26):
I had a professional commitment that the people that I
work for asked me to make and it took place.

Speaker 2 (00:36):
During this show, So you know, I get a will
give you a heart. I don't know why.

Speaker 3 (00:40):
I don't know why anybody gives anyone a hard time
for taking their allotted vacation days that they have earned and.

Speaker 2 (00:47):
That are part of their employment agreement.

Speaker 3 (00:49):
And I'll just say this if you I don't know
how many vacation days you get. I've worked for this
company for twenty nine years, so I get a few.
I don't know how many vacation days you get, But
however many you get, it take them all, use them, all,
all of them. Every single day I've done. There's very
little things I could like boast of during my time

(01:09):
working for this company. But every single year that I've
worked here, I've taken every vacation day given to me
because that's what you should do. So you know, I
make a big we make fun of load management weekend,
and yeah, I take.

Speaker 2 (01:21):
A lot of time off during the summer. You know why,
because I just grind away.

Speaker 3 (01:25):
During basketball and football season. Anyway, My thanks to ched Brendel.
I don't know why I got into that. My thanks
to a Jed Brendel for filling in yesterday. There was
a lot to get to yesterday and I got a
chance to hear most of the show and enjoyed it.
We've got a lot to work through today. We are
going to spend some time on the Soresby thing because
it has taken a little bit of a different twist,
and I think there's a distinction that we have to

(01:47):
make for some some people will do that a little
bit later on show preview is available if you want
to watch it, which why don't you? At Moager Thanks
to a Share Facts Credit Union, there are tons of
memory membership benefits. Share Facts Credit Union tons of branches
all across the tri State. Learn about the benefits of
membership and become a member just like me. Got a

(02:08):
share facts dot org to learn more. Last night was fun.
This Red season, at least beyond the first couple of weeks,
has not been fun the last two plus months. If
you're a Reds fan, I think you would agree have
not been fun. But on national television, to watch them
cruise to a win last night, to watch them win

(02:30):
a laugher, to watch him take advantage of what the
Phillies put on the mound, to see Sal Stewart and
Elie Delacruz star, to see Noelve Marte have a big night.
To see Chase Burns pitch and find a way to
keep his control issues from dooming the start and dooming
the team. Were a lot of fun. Would be a

(02:53):
lot more fun if it was a win that didn't
push their record to forty two and forty nine, but
a fun win nonetheless. And there's there's still so much
to like about Sal Stewart, and there's still so much
to love about Ellie Dela Cruz, and there's you know,

(03:16):
I'm more skeptical that others when it comes to Noelve Marte,
But when he has a big game like that, you
start to think big things for Noelve Marte was fun
to see himin a game and fun to see HM
win a game as handily as they did in front
of about twelve different broadcasters that ESPN had working last night.
It does not distract from the fact that right now
it feels like we are in the middle of a

(03:37):
countdown to a teardown. And maybe the Reds can change
that between now and the end of the month, but
they've got their work cutout for him. Another home game
tonight against Philadelphia than the Cubs this weekend long road
trip after the All Star break. The clock is ticking,
time is dwindling, and barring a complete and total plot twist,
total change of the trajectory of the season, the next

(04:00):
few weeks are gonna feel like a countdown to a teardown. Now,
you might go tear down this tear down a team
that's seven under five hundred, tear down a last place team. Yes,
tear it down and start fresh and start another rebuild
and give Nick Krawl, I guess, another opportunity to find

(04:21):
ways to achieve results that have been unattainable for this
organization for a very long time. I want you to
pretend that your Phil Castellini, like do it right now.
Whatever you're doing. Pretend you're Phil Castellini. You're sitting in
Phil Castellini's desk. Your Phil Castellini, by the way, not

(04:43):
a bad place to be, right. A bad day for
Phil Castellini is probably better than a good day for
most folks, you know, maybe even you. So pretend you're
Phil Castellini and you meet regularly with Nick Krawl and
you're just sort of a asking where things stand as
we approach the All Star break. We have crossed the

(05:03):
midway point of the season, and fans are angry. I'm
not sure there's complete and total apathy they had. I
went to the game on Tuesday. They had more than
thirty one thousand people at the ballpark, which great, awesome, fine, whatever,
But there are some fans who have become apathetic. And
I think there's a real sense of hopelessness and despair
out there because it feels like the Reds are on

(05:25):
this just you know, NonStop hamster wheel cycle of mediocrity,
not winning and sameness for lack of a better way
of putting it. And so you're Phil and Nick Caral's
standing in front of you, or maybe he's sitting across
from you. You give him a chance to sit down, and
you have to be like saying to him, like, all right, man,

(05:49):
you've had a chance to be at the top of
the flow chart for a baseball operations department. This is
year number six, and you've had a chance to be
the guy in charge now for a while. You've had
a chance to essentially build a team from the ground up,
you know, starting with what they did in twenty twenty one,
in twenty twenty two, trading away a bunch of players,

(06:11):
and you've had the benefit of us drafting early. And
we've we've let you like we've let you spend our money.
We've we've let you say goodbye to Mike Mustakas even
though we still had to pay him. And we've let
you say goodbye to Jamer Candelario, even though we had
to continue to pay him. And yet, you know, six years,
this is all we have to show for it, like

(06:31):
a team that's seven hundred five hundred fan anger, fan apathy.
We've we've given you a chance to go and find
a new manager, and you went and got like the
best available guy in Terry Francona. So you've got a
Hall of Fame manager. You've had a lot of time.
You've had a lot of time, and this is this
is this is what we get for all your work.

(06:53):
This is what you've achieved. Why why should I allow
you to continue in your capacity? Aren't you asking that?
If you're Phil Castellini. By the way, I saw this today,
I admit I am not a subscriber to Baseball America
because I can only subscribe to so many things. But

(07:13):
I do know that Baseball America's farm system rankings came
out this week. They may have come out today. I
saw this written about on redleg nation dot com. Baseball
America ranks. Our farm system is twenty fifth, And I say, oh,
I'm pretending I'm Phil Castellini. So I'm going, hey, man,
just like we're forty two and forty nine, you do
have some very good players worth building around. You know,

(07:35):
You've you've got Sal Stewart, You've got Elie Dela Cruz,
and well, Chase Burns is on your team right now.
And you know you've you've got that core of guys
that we thought we're gonna build around in twenty twenty three.
Some of those guys are still here. Some of those
guys are still here and not performing. But you've had
six years. Our major league team is forty two and
forty nine. We got a Hall of Fame manager that

(07:57):
hasn't changed our fortunes. We are nineteen games under five
hundred in our last four hundred and eighty seven games,
which is three full seasons plus last night. And now
our farm system is ranked twenty fifth by Baseball America.
Now those are subjective rankings, and the farm system is
not totally barren by any stretch of the imagination. And

(08:19):
for what it's worth, you will find some who have
ranked the Reds farm system fifteenth, Kyler McDaniel of ESPN
are seventeenth, Keith Law of the Athletic. That's a ranking
that goes back to February. But nobody viewsed it as
one of the best. Nobody views it as one of
the most filled with prospects. It's like, Nick, what is

(08:40):
going right? What have you done right? What have you
done that is a success? What can you hang your
hat on? And I don't know that he would have
an answer that would satisfy me. I don't know that
he would have an answer that would make me feel
like this is something that we should keep going with

(09:01):
I mean, I'll put it on you. You're Phil Castellini.
You're looking at Nick Crawl. You've made this guy the
baseball ops guy, or your family made this guy the
baseball ops guy. After the twenty twenty season, which feels
like forever ago. Man like forever Ago, look at it.
Who was on the twenty twenty Reds versuses on it?

Speaker 4 (09:20):
Now?

Speaker 3 (09:20):
There's been almost entire roster turnover, Like, Nick, what are
we good? I've asked this question a bunch, Nick, what
are we good at? As an organization? What are we
doing well? We're not winning at the major league level.
Our farm system seems to have holes, and that might
be putting it mildly. We have no real organizational identity.

(09:43):
We haven't gotten nearly as much as we needed to
for the guys that we did trade away, and.

Speaker 2 (09:50):
You've made me eat.

Speaker 3 (09:51):
The contracts of players who are no longer here that
we're still paying for. There's a large, large swath of
fans who belie it might make sense to do the
exact same thing with Key Brian Hayes, Like Nick, you're
spending my money, I'm not getting any results. I'm giving
you time, and I'm not getting any results. I'm looking
for an area where your baseball operations department is successful

(10:15):
and I can't find one. I don't know, dude, if
that's If that's Nick Crawl sitting across from my desk,
we're not really having a conversation about what he's going
to be doing next with my team.

Speaker 2 (10:29):
How about you?

Speaker 3 (10:30):
Five point three seven four nine fifteen thirty is our
phone number? Eight six six seven oh two three seven
seven six works as well, and you can also tweet
me anytime at Moeger thanks to Delta Dental. Delta Dental
is building healthy and smart and vibrant communities for all
good adulta dentaloh dot com. The inevitable has happened at

(10:53):
the University of Cincinnati. We'll get to that next on
ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 5 (11:00):
Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty Traffic.

Speaker 6 (11:05):
From the UC Health Traffic AH Heart Radio.

Speaker 3 (11:08):
You know, anything you may miss on this show, even
if it's when I'm not on, you can go find
on the iHeartRadio app, which is a service of long
neck sports Grill and I don't know about you. Cold
one sounds pretty good for me, and sitting outside not
a bad night to sit outside. It's not like oppressively hot.

(11:29):
It's nice and pleasant, and so if the rain stays away.
Great place to post up outdoors. They've got a great
beer selection, they've got awesome wings, they've got a great menu.
Long Neck Sports Grill has three locations excuse excuse me,
each one of them in northern Kentucky. You got Wilder,
you got hebren you got Richwood. Long Neck Sports Grill.
More on the Reds coming up a little bit later on. Also,

(11:50):
NKU has a new director of Athletics. Will chat with
him in the five o'clock hour. Wise money sports as well.
There is lots to get to between now and six.
And maybe something happened earlier today that might be the
first time it's ever happened in the history of this show.
We will get to that in just a bit. We
found out yesterday morning it has been reported, at least

(12:14):
from an official, credible source, that the NCAA had sent
a notice of inquiry to the University of Cincinnati over
the Brendan Sorosby situation. And I know Chad talked about
this yesterday and he's made this distinction and it's worth

(12:35):
making again there's a difference between an inquiry and an allegation.
Ask your human resources director or wherever you work if
they understand the difference, and if so, they'll outline it
for you. And if they don't understand the difference, then
chances are you have a bad HR director. Inquiry means

(12:56):
ask means we're asking questions, and Sherman, we've all asked
the same questions about Brendan, Soresby and UC. When this
story first went down in April we first found out
about it, It's the very first thing most of us
wanted to know, like, all right, hope Brendon is okay,
solves his addiction issues, probably should never play college football again.

(13:18):
But here in Cincinnati, at least among those of us
who love UC sports, it's what we cared about most.
Is this going to negatively impact UC? And the only
way it does is if we find out that somebody
at UC knew that Brendan was breaking NCAA rules, and
if they did, well, that's probably going to mean the
end of their career, and it's probably going to mean

(13:39):
the heavy hand of the NCUBA is going to come
down on the school. In the athletics department, there was
always going to be. I mean, it would be shocking
to me, like beyond shocking, maybe the most shocking development
ever if this whole thing unfolds and we find out
the NCUBLEA didn't ask people at U see what they.

Speaker 2 (13:58):
Knew when they knew it, who knew? To what extent
did they know?

Speaker 3 (14:02):
Like of course, so I look on social media, and
of course this is a social media thing. I saw
a lot of like wooooo, here we go, John Cunningham,
and it's like, not really, now that could change. If
there's a notice of allegation, then then it's a problem.
Then it's oh time, and it's oh time for a

(14:23):
lot of folks at you See. So this step to me,
if it wasn't taken was it was always going to
be a shock. I have maintained all along, I'm going
to take the people that you see at their word,
and I know I'll have it thrown back and Homer, No,

(14:43):
I'm going to take them at their word because I
can't tell you how many times I've talked with folks
at you See who are adamant, without reservation, without hesitation,
that the folks there did nothing wrong, broke no rule,
covered up no wrongdoing, and I'm going to believe them

(15:05):
until I have compelling reasons not to. You know, we
brought this up a couple of weeks ago, Brendan Soresby's
agent pointing the finger at u SEE. And my response
then is similar to what it is here. Show me proof,
Show me evidence, Show me something concrete that suggests that
somebody at u SE did something that rises to the

(15:27):
level of an NCAA violation. If that happens, if we
see it, of course those folks that you see and
the athletics department itself should be held accountable. I don't
care where your rooting allegiances are. I think that's a
statement we would all agree with. If there is an

(15:48):
official finding that folks at you see knew that Brendan
Soorsby was breaking NCUBA rules, there should be punishment levied
against the school and the folks involved. Their careers are
probably over. And that's one of the reasons why I'm
going to believe what you see says, because I cannot

(16:10):
believe and I could be proven wrong about this, but
I cannot believe that anybody working in college athletics would
sacrifice their entire career to protect Brendan Soorsby. That's no
knock on Brendan the player, But come on, this is gambling.

(16:31):
This is probably the thing right now that the NCAA
cares about most. You're going to jeopardize your ability to
ever be hired again, maybe ever work in football again,
maybe ever work in sports again, certainly ever work in
college athletics again, because you're because you're trying to protect

(16:57):
and shield Brendan Soresby. I just it is implausible to
me that that would happen. If I am proven wrong.
Number one will not be the first time. Number two
we'll be happy to admit it. Number three will be
among the many who says that, well, those folks should
be held accountable. And now the school faces NCAA punishments,

(17:20):
and they're deserving of those punishments. But until I see evidence,
to strong evidence to suggest that UC did something wrong,
or until someone you know comes out and says, yeah,
I'm the person that you see who knew what Brendan
was doing and he was breaking NCAA rules, and I
knew he was doing it, and I tried to cover
it up. And here's the position that I've been in.

(17:41):
And okay, fine, that's something else. Everything to this point, though,
has been fingerpointing, hearsay, conjecture, speculation, very little of it.
I don't think any of it actually has been evidence based.
So I know, Oh, there are folks specifically in Texas

(18:02):
but elsewhere who desperately want this to end with UC
in trouble with the nc doablea, maybe to pass the blame,
maybe to get the heat off of them, whatever. But
the NCAA notice of inquiry was always going to come.
I think all of us expected, like, yeah, the NCAA
is going to want to know, like, hey, we've got

(18:23):
this high profile case involving a guy who admits to gambling.
His college career is over because he gambled. He spent
two seasons here, Like what did you guys know? Were
you aware? And by the way, for what it's worth,
and it might be nothing, But there's a difference between
knowing that Brendan Soresby was wagering on things like horse
racing or UFC fighting or car racing and betting on

(18:47):
stuff like basketball and baseball and doing things that violate
NCAA rules.

Speaker 2 (18:53):
But I just I have refused to.

Speaker 3 (18:55):
Believe all along, and I guess we're going to know
at some point soon. I have refused to believe all
along that folks working in college athletics are going to
sacrifice their entire career, probably make themselves not hirable again
because they're trying to protect and cover up for Brendan Sooresby.

Speaker 2 (19:19):
I just I'd be shocked. We will see.

Speaker 3 (19:24):
This step was always going to happen. The step that
many are hoping happens, that I certainly hope doesn't happen,
and that I don't think will happen, is the letter
of allegation, the notice of allegation. And there's a distinction
between asking questions and making allegations. Your wife or your
spouse may ask questions about what you were doing last night,

(19:48):
or what you did last weekend, it's something else entirely
If they make allegations based on what you did last weekend,
it's entirely different. The questions were always going to come.
I still don't believe the allegations will If I am
wrong about that, I'll be the very very first and
I will go out of my way to do this

(20:09):
to admit that I am. But I just I put
myself in the shoes of people in positions that you
see who have a lot to lose, and I cannot
imagine they will lose all of it. For Brendan Sooresby
twenty nine minutes after three o'clock, that's pretty busy college
sports day. We'll get to all of that. In terms
of news, we've got some breaking U see basketball news.
Red's getting set to play tonight. A cool event coming

(20:30):
to the Lender Center. Sports headlines are Next three thirty,
ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 5 (20:36):
Station, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 7 (20:40):
Traffic from the uc Health Traffic Center at the uc
Health Backneck and Spine Center, spine Kira is never one
size fits all, from nonsurgical treatments to the most complex cases.
They've mastered what's best for you. Learn more at ucehealth
dot com. Still an accident southbound seventy five after Tylersville
Roade right two lanes are blocked off, about a fifteen

(21:02):
minute delay from State Route sixty three in Monroe, southbound
seventy one seventy five. Another accident that's on the off
ramp to Buttermilk Pike.

Speaker 8 (21:10):
I'm at e Zelik with True ESPN fifteen thirty Sporns
headlines are a service at Kelsey Chevrolet, home of lifetime
powertrain protection and guarantee credit approval from I'm there, family
to yours for life, Chelsea chev dot Com, Reds and
Phillies rubber match tonight at GABP Brady Singer versus heyesus

(21:30):
Lozardos seven to ten.

Speaker 2 (21:32):
The rare.

Speaker 3 (21:33):
I'm assuming it's because of the postgame concert last night.
The rare getaway day night game here in Cincinnati. You're
starting lineup for this evening for the Reds Elliott short
Salad third.

Speaker 2 (21:45):
We're going We're going first name basis.

Speaker 3 (21:47):
Apparently JJ is playing left field and hitting third, Spencer's
at first, a uhaneos dhing Tyler is catching. I'm not
gonna do this bit every time we do the lineup.
Noah is playing right field, Edwins at second, and TJ.
Friedel's in center field and batting ninth. Seven to ten

(22:07):
tonight Red's Phil's seven hundred w l W. A full
slate of day games today include the Pirates trailing the
Braves six to five. That game is in the bottom
of the six seventh inning. I sound on shore because
sometimes it takes a long time from my computer screen

(22:28):
to refresh. All the other stuff is happening outside the division.
If you care go find the scores yourself. Florence y'all
is taking on the Washington wild Things tonight.

Speaker 2 (22:36):
This this is cool.

Speaker 3 (22:38):
And I will say the part that I know you're
gonna spit at me as soon as I read this,
because I agree. I wish this was a regular season event.
But the care Source Invitational is gonna take place at
the Lindner Family Tennis Center. It's gonna involve a double

(22:59):
header men's college basketball doubleheader. You see an Ohio State,
Xavier and Dayton. Care Source Invitationals are in their fourth year.
We've talked effusively and extensively on this show about the
work that care Source does supporting mental health awareness, with
a focus on the foundational message it's okay to not

(23:21):
be okay. They're going to transform the Lindner Tennis Center
center court the Cincinnati Open takes place, and they're gonna
transfer into a basketball arena and very cool. Now, Yes,
of course, if Xavier and Dayton are gonna play, it's
more fun if that's a regular season game. And if

(23:41):
you see an Ohio State are gonna play, it's more
fun if it's a regular season game, even though when
they've played recently, you See has lost regular season games
with the Buckeyes but beat them two years ago in
a preseason game. And this era of college basketball is
awesome for a lot of different reasons, not the least
of which is we get we get preseason games. We

(24:02):
get preseason games, and they're often on television and their
name brands against name brands, and it helps prepare teams
for the season and to get a clear idea of
what they are. And it's just it's good. But sure, man,
it's hard to not hear about an event like this
and wonder like, couldn't they get together in games that count?
But nonetheless they do, and it's pretty cool. Keegan Nickoson,

(24:25):
who has been busy today, reports that you See in
Minnesota have agreed to a home and home men's basketball
series starting this coming season. I'm reading Keegan's piece and
I do not see whether the first game will be
in Cincinnati or Minneapolis, but nonetheless, you See and Minnesota
home and home series also MJ. Collins among a whole

(24:47):
class of college athletes who have been given an extra
year of eligibility thanks to a preliminary injunction granted by
Hamilton County Judge Chris Wagner. I'm reading from Keegan's piece
of Bearcat Journal dot com.

Speaker 4 (25:00):
MJ.

Speaker 3 (25:00):
Collins from Utah State, along with Colby King, among the
athletes involved in this case. So MJ is going to
be able to play for the Bearcats this coming season.
Averaged seventeen per for the Aggies last year as that
team's leading scorer. A big, big development for UC basketball.
On what has been a big news day for UC

(25:20):
basketball today, twenty one minutes away from four o'clock, this
is ESPN fifteen thirty. My name is Moegar five win,
three seven, four nine, fifteen thirty. By the way, really quick.
So the Brendan Sowersby thing has been the biggest story
in college basketball or college football, i should say, for
a while, and from the perspective of it being a
college football story, it will peter out now that we've

(25:42):
had big twelve media day and Brendan is targeting the
twenty twenty seven NFL draft, and if it gets drafted,
that's fine. The Kerk Creasa story Kerk Cresa, who played
college basketball at UC last year Kentucky. A couple of
years ago, also played at Arizona, played at West Virginia.
Is being indicted by the by the FEDS for fraud.

(26:05):
Easy for me to say, indicted by the FEDS for fraud.
And it's an interesting and somewhat convoluted story. And if
you want to go read about it, if you have
internet access, it's not going to be that hard to
find a place that is reporting on kerk Reesa. So,
like the Soresby thing comes up, and you'll find in

(26:25):
certain corners of the internet like man Bad look for U.
See they had Brendan Sorosby, and they had kerk Crisa.
Let's just make this clear. And this applies to UC,
it applies to Kentucky, it applies to the other schools.
The schools themselves, the athletic departments themselves, the teams themselves,

(26:47):
didn't do something wrong. Every time a player representing one
of those schools does something wrong, Kerkresa may be ruled innocent,
he may be a quit did, he may serve jail time.

Speaker 2 (27:02):
I have no idea.

Speaker 3 (27:04):
But because Kirk Crisa perhaps did what he did and
played college basketball at four different schools, it doesn't mean
that any of the four different schools did anything wrong.
I don't know that I have to point that out,
but looking at certain places where I get correspondence from

(27:25):
people kind of felt like it does. Keep Brian Hayes
had a good night last night for the Louisville Bats
in his return from his back issue. The keep Brian
Hayes question, I don't think has the answer that everybody likes.
And I think there's a very basic, fundamental reason why.

(27:46):
And we'll get to that next on ESPN fifteen thirty
Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 5 (27:50):
Station Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty Traffic from the UC.

Speaker 6 (27:56):
Health to Traffic.

Speaker 3 (27:58):
Keep Brian Hayes had a home run for Louisville last night,
which has a lot of folks excited.

Speaker 2 (28:06):
But good for him.

Speaker 3 (28:07):
Man, if he comes back in the hits, I guess
that that doesn't hurt. Many have said, well, you know,
what are they gonna do with them. They're gonna cut
him loose, They're gonna eat a salary, gonna say goodbye
to him. It's a good piece on this, by the way,
at Redreporter dot com. You know key Brian Hayes when
they traded for him, and I know there were folks
who disagreed then and may disagree now. Trading for Key

(28:29):
Brian Hayes didn't make any sense. The team needed a
bat last year. They instead acquired a guy who's not
a good hitter.

Speaker 2 (28:38):
Elite is a third baseman.

Speaker 3 (28:41):
We beat this into the ground before the season and
early in the season. I think great field, no hit
doesn't really play at third base because it's not shortstop.
But some will disagree, but I do think Sal Stewart
and a Uhaneo Suarez have been fine ish at third base.
Maybe defensive metrics will say something different. I don't know,

(29:02):
but the move at the time to trade for Key
Brian Hayes didn't make any sense, especially when you considered
he wasn't a rental he was a guy that you
had for the next four years. He was a guy
who's had back issues. He's also a guy who's gonna
be twenty nine years old like that. When they did it,
I was on the air. I think that day pretty sure.
I was the deadline comes and goes at four o'clock,

(29:24):
and they went and they got me Gahl and uhrr,
and he was helpful down the stretch. But I remember
wondering out loud, like how does this make sense? They
need offense? Key Brian Hayes isn't a good hitter, And yeah, man,
you want guys who are very good defensively at every position,
but you got to hit a little bit. It's a
position typically associated with offense. Like, really, kee Brian Hayes,

(29:48):
I would be really stunned if at the end of
his rehab stint they cut him loose and eat the salary.
Number one, And I asked him before put yourself in
the shoes of Phil Castellini. Nick Crawl has already come
to you and said, hey, we got to cut guys loose,
even while we still owe them millions of dollars. Did

(30:11):
it with Mike mustakas, did it with jam Or Candelario.
From a baseball perspective, those were the right things to do.
But if you own the team, there's only going to
be so many instances where the GM, the head of
baseball operations, comes to you and says, pay this guy
to not play for us, Like there's you're only gonna
do that so many times. So that's number one. Number two.

(30:34):
When the Reds acquired Key Brian Hayes, did they know
he wasn't a good hitter. Now, you could maybe accuse
the Reds of not not making many sound baseball decisions,
or not having all the information they need, or being
downright stupid.

Speaker 2 (30:51):
But I would.

Speaker 3 (30:51):
Imagine, even if you believe those things, that they knew.
They have access to Baseball Reference, they have access to
MLB DOC. They have played in games where Keith Brian
Hayes has been on the other team. They knew he
was a bad hitter. So this year, in the last

(31:12):
two months of last season before he got hurt, this
year have been confirmation of something they already not suspected
but new. There was mounds of evidence to suggest this
was not just an average hitter, not just a below
average hitter, but one of the worst offensive performers in
the game. What has happened since he has been one

(31:34):
of the worst offensive performers in the game. Now you
would argue, perhaps that he has taken those struggles this
year to extreme levels. Some will argue his numbers, his
surface numbers, aren't as as bad as the underlying metrics
would suggest they should be, or they're worse than the
underlying metrics would suggest they should be, that he's been

(31:58):
a victim of bad luck, okay, fine, But since he
has been here offensively, he has essentially confirmed what they
had to know, which was he's not a good offensive player.
He's also been very good with the glove. He's been
as good as advertised. He's been so good that whenever

(32:19):
key Brian Hayes makes a play in the field, I
instantly go to social media to see people go overboard
and how awesome the play was. But I he's if
he is what they knew he was, why would they
let him go? What do they think he was before

(32:39):
they traded for him? A guy with a great glove,
a guy with a shaky back, and a guy with
a bad bat.

Speaker 2 (32:47):
Over the last twelve months, nearly twelve months, what has
he been?

Speaker 3 (32:51):
Guy with a great glove, guy with a shaky back,
guy with a bad bat.

Speaker 2 (32:57):
I don't know, man.

Speaker 3 (32:58):
I mean, if if a player is what you knew
he was before you got him, I would imagine that
you're not going to cut him loose and then eat
the you know whatever it is twenty eight to thirty
million dollars, you still ow the guy could be dead
wrong about this, But I don't know, especially given the

(33:21):
fact that it feels like if they do make trades
that it's going to be because they're selling, and it's
fair to wonder can they get something for a Euhenio Suarez?
Can they get something for Nathaniel Lowe? If you don't
have those two guys, well, number one, there's room on
the team for Key Brian Hayes. Number two, an option
at first and an option at third go away. One

(33:42):
of the options. The guy at first isn't going to
be there to push, Soal Stewart over to third base.
Euhenius Lorez is going to be here to take reps
at third base when he's not dhing, which this is
going to open up room for Key Brian Hayes and
maybe a room for Key Brian Hayes to put up
or shut up to the degree that if he shuts up,
if he doesn't put up, you're gonna trade him or

(34:03):
not trade him because probably can't get anything for him,
but you're gonna cut loose and eat his salary. But
if the idea is he's healthy and he's back, so
we're gonna cut him loose and eat the remainder of
his salary, I would be on board with that. I
would imagine you would be on board with that. But
if you're holding out hope that that's what they do,

(34:26):
I don't know. I'd kind of tap the brakes because
I don't think he's been that sharp a departure from
what they thought they were getting when they traded for him.
Bad offensive player has him out of disfavor with you
and I, But being a bad offensive player did not
preclude the Reds from trading for him and assuming a
lot of money to pay him. So if we're holding

(34:53):
out hope that the break is gonna come and go
and his his time in Louisville is is gonna reach
its limit, and then they've got to make a decision,
and uh, then they decide to cut him loose and
pay the remainder of his salary for the rest of
the decade. Okay, fine, But understanding what Key Brian Hayes
is also requires an understanding of the kind of player

(35:15):
the Reds were getting when they made the deal for him.
If he has been what you knew he was before
he got here, you really can't express that much dissatisfaction
with him. Jam Or Candelario, they thought was going to
be a far better hitter than he was, and statistically
he didn't come close. They acquired key Brian Hayes knowing

(35:38):
he couldn't hit, So they're going to cut him loose
and eat all of that money because he is confirmed
with we already suspected and what the Reds already knew that. Uh,
I find that hard to believe. I find that hard
to believe. Five point three seven fifteen thirty is our
phone numbers. Still have to come up with a poll

(36:00):
question for Twitter at Moeger thanks to United Heartland Insurance,
the place to find out what you're paying for insurance
and see if you can pay a lot less. Go
to you hi ns dot com, Red's and Phillies tonight,
a lot more on them, Plus something with the Bengals
that I don't think has happened in the nineteen years

(36:21):
of this show, and it's a really it's a really
good thing for the Bengals. It's a really good thing
for you and I as Bengals fans. It's maybe not
such a good thing as a talk show host. We'll
spend some time on that. More on Brendan Soresby as well,
plus Wise Money Sports on a few different things, including
the possibility of a baseball lockout, which unfortunately looms over

(36:44):
the second half of this season. It'll loom over the
All Star Game next week. Say what you want about
the Reds on the field. The Reds Community Fund does
awesome work making baseball available and accessible to kids who
ordinarily might not have access to the sport. There is
a very important event coming up tonight that will benefit
the Reds Community Fund, and we will talk about it

(37:05):
next coming up on four o'clock. My name is Mogar.
This is ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 5 (37:12):
This is ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 3 (37:17):
All right, there you go, three minutes out for four
is ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 2 (37:21):
Moeger.

Speaker 3 (37:21):
Thanks for listening today. Hopefully you're having an auestome Thursday.
Brennanman and Jones on baseball later on this hour. If
you're watching the Reds game tonight, it's a telecast unlike
the others you'll watch during the season because tonight's telethon
night Red's Community Fund Telethon on Red's TV, Reds and
Phillies tonight at seven to ten. The telecast will begin

(37:44):
at six o'clock. It is your opportunity to help raise
money for the baseball, softball education and community building initiatives
of the Reds Community Fund, my favorite Tri state charitable organization.
The executive director law time friend Charlie Frank, who's with us? Now,
how are you, sir?

Speaker 4 (38:04):
I'm doing well. Mo? How you doing?

Speaker 2 (38:06):
I'm doing well? Tell us on night. Does that mean
you have to wear makeup?

Speaker 4 (38:12):
No, it wouldn't help, trust me.

Speaker 2 (38:14):
But yeah, not at all.

Speaker 4 (38:15):
We're going to be hustling all around the ballparker. We're
going to be trying to for the last few years
actually take it not just over the year on red TV,
but have some impact on the iHeartMedia Empire down the
dial on seven hundred, and also really make an effort
to tell our stories in the ballpark. That was something
that we missed for the first decade of doing this.

Speaker 2 (38:37):
So the vignettes that.

Speaker 4 (38:38):
You'll see in that expanded pregame show will also run
pregame here at the ballpark, and you'll see a lot
of our kids and coaches throughout the night doing different things,
and our strength and conditioning coach at the academy will
even be singing the anthems. So, yeah, we have overthought
this a little bit.

Speaker 3 (38:54):
I like it and what I like about this is
and you and I talk periodically throughout the year about
different fundraising events or different things that people can can
get involved in and how they can help raise money.
But I love it when you tell the stories. I
love it when we hear the stories of not just
the kids that the RCF is impacting now, but the
positive impact that the RCF has had on folks who

(39:17):
are adults now and the role that baseball played in
their lives.

Speaker 2 (39:19):
And so I think tonight is a really cool.

Speaker 3 (39:23):
Night for some of those stories to be told on television,
on radio, and inside the ballpark.

Speaker 4 (39:28):
Yeah, I really hope. So. I mean, the fundraising is
vitally important for us. It's one of our biggest revenue
events of the year. But to your point, Mo, this
is a unique opportunity. How many nonprofits have a chance
to weave their stories into, you know, a live sports telecast.
It's it's an incredible privilege and we've learned a lot

(39:49):
over the years. I can tell you the first time
we did this back in two thousand and eight, we
used we added a game to the telecast schedule. There
was no TV commercial inventory every break with another community
fund coach or kid or story and by the end
of the game, I hated the community. It was just
way too much. So we've really learned that, you know,

(40:12):
people are tuning in to watch baseball, to watch the Reds,
they want to learn a little bit about us. We
need to be really choiceful and intentional about the stories
we tell, and we got to blend it into the
best of our ability. We've got a great production team
on Reds TV, led by Josh Hall, who's you know,
been producing red games for a long time. And you
know from Jim Day and John Sadak, Barry Larkin, Brian

(40:34):
Keas and Fluff Family Cure. We're lucky. We've got a
great crew to help us reinforce the message throughout the game.

Speaker 3 (40:40):
All right, So it'll start on Red's TV at six o'clock.
The ballgame tonight at seven ten at Great American Ballpark.
And you know, I years ago, when I was in college, Charlie,
I answered phones for a Channel sixteen telethon at the
University of Date. I did this because a part of
a student group that I was involved, and we had
to go.

Speaker 2 (40:59):
And I sh'll leave you.

Speaker 3 (41:01):
Yeah, you show up a Channel sixteen answer phones and
I remember I got on TV and I tried to
cram donuts in my face and my roommates could see it.
But if folks would call in and make pledges and
we would send them like an umbrella or a tote bag,
you guys are doing much better than umbrellas and tote bags.

Speaker 4 (41:18):
Yeah, we've you know, we've benchmarked you know, the teams
that have really utilized these uh you know, these dedicated
telecasts better than the others. And what we learned was
most of them are tying it into some sort of
you know, gift package and apparel bundle. And we've been
doing that now for about a decade. I would say
this year's is about as good as.

Speaker 2 (41:39):
We've ever done.

Speaker 4 (41:40):
This red Seemed hockey hoodie.

Speaker 2 (41:43):
Yes, may not be.

Speaker 4 (41:44):
Right for July weather, as I was just telling Karen,
but it is. It is super cool. I'm hearing from
tons of people today, and you know, these one online
We typically you know, we'll start promoting it online about
two days in advance. We have already sold let's see
over close to three hundred of these things, and we
got about fifteen hundred packages to sell in order for

(42:07):
us to make budget. That's typically what we do each year,
and they are already moving quickly because again I think
this hoodie is so cool. And we got the Joe
Morgan bobblehead that has the spring, you know, with his elbow,
so we can do the little chicken wing you know
that Joe did, of course before every pitch. And it's
a fifty year anniversary if Joe went in the second

(42:29):
of you know, two back to back MVP awards for
the world champion Big Red Machine team, So we love
honoring Joe as a part of this package. There's also
a hat. There is a Red Community Fund T shirt.
The hat is really cool. I mean it's this is
for one hundred and twenty five dollars to help the
Community Fund. We really believe that fans will enjoy getting
this back as a way for us to say thank you.

(42:49):
And if you double down for two point fifty, you
get that same package with an authenticated autograph baseball and
a display case. And you know you can pick from
a list that includes Led Chase Burns, Hunter Green Cells
do it while supply Flaft, So not a bad way
to assist the Community Fund even more.

Speaker 3 (43:09):
Yeah, and I posted a photo of the All Star
Bundle the hockey jersey is awesome. So this is all
for the Reds community fund the telethon tonight, and I
linked to this. I linked to it because I sent
a post about the event tonight. You also have some
like experience auctions that are up for grabs tonight.

Speaker 2 (43:28):
Tell me about them.

Speaker 4 (43:30):
Yeah, you know, we've been toying with this idea for
a while. Our Red's authentics team uses the MLB auction site.
They do a phenomenal job and we're grateful for their efforts.
First time that we're doing this, and we figured we'd
make it a part of the telethon. You can find
information about the three experiences if you go to Reds
dot com slash Telethon. You can also buy packages there

(43:51):
if you won't be watching or listening or at the
game tonight, but these three items that you reference mo.
One of them is a one hour catch lesson with
Platinum Glove winners and great guy Jose Travino. And then
there's also an hour long hitting lesson if you're eighteen
or under at least a person getting the hitting lesson,

(44:13):
it'll be with a Reds player and with red coaches.
And then we also have a behind the scenes day
with the broadcast team, not just the Jim Day on
the TV side, but also Tommy Stral Jeff Brantley on
the radio side. You'll get some behind the scenes access
there before the game and during the game, both in
the broadcast booths on TV and radio with the Reds.

(44:34):
So some really cool items. If you want to look
at those directly, you can go to Reds dot com
slash RCF Auction Singular, but you can also find it
on our telephone page.

Speaker 3 (44:45):
So I'm not I'm long since past the age of eighteen.
I can't take the hitting lesson.

Speaker 4 (44:52):
We could probably figure something out, but that you know,
talking about makeup, it may require some creativity. Well we'll
see you're worth it.

Speaker 3 (45:00):
Well, well, you know I can use lessons on a
lot of different things. So tonight at six o'clock Red's
TV and then different components of this inside the ballpark
and on radio.

Speaker 2 (45:12):
What else do we need to know?

Speaker 4 (45:15):
Well, you know, I want to let you know something
cool that happened at the Academy on Monday and Sunday
this past week. Hoti Travino, who I mentioned with being
generous with that hitting lesson, He works with a travel
team out of his home hometown of Corpus Christi, Texas,
and he and he and Will Benson, Will works with

(45:38):
a similar group out of his hometown in Atlanta. They
had planned for a while for their teams to come
up to Cincinnati get a tour of the ballpark, comes
to a couple of games. They ended up playing three
games at the Youth Academy over two days. Hunter Green
came up and worked with all the kids over about
you know, three hours. Monday morning, Matt McLean came up.
We never had anything like this. I mean, you know,

(46:02):
to watch the work, the familiarity, the time that they
spend with these kids. The stands were packed because both
groups traveled. Will's mom and dad were Will's mom was
running the scoreboard and did a pretty pretty good job.
I mean, it's just one of these unique moments that
you know, that we get to experience at our Youth

(46:23):
County because we have such a connected clubhouse, because this
organization really believes in the work that's being done in
the community, and you know, tonight we're gonna be able
to share stories like that. We're gonna be able to
share the story of our field dedication back in April
and South Ripley, Indiana, the first big major field renovation
that we've done in Southeast Indiana. We'll be telling the

(46:44):
story of our Little Sluggers program, which is Coach Pitch
t Ball eight U nine. You. It is so fun
to see these kids and coaches. We're in the game
the right way, not rush through it, really try to
appreciate the game in a way that's hard to teach today.
And of course so many of our RBI kids and
leaders and our scholars are going to be on the

(47:04):
field part of a parade today. There's so much community fun. Again,
I hope it's done in a tasteful way so that
if you're watching the game, listening, attending the game, that
it's something that you enjoy that doesn't overwhelm. But we
couldn't do this without the support of Red fans, and
we're grateful for everyone taking a look at this telethon
page and hopefully enjoying These items are available tonight.

Speaker 3 (47:25):
You guys do awesome stuff, and I know this is
a huge night for the Reds Community Fund, so enjoy it.
Best of luck and thank you as always, well.

Speaker 4 (47:34):
Thank you, We really appreciate all your support.

Speaker 3 (47:36):
You got it man, Thanks so much. That's Charlie Frank,
the executive director of the Reds Community Fund. I posted
a link on Twitter to the RCF Community Fund telethon
which is happening tonight, and was able to get my
hands on some of the all Star bundle items. The
hockey jersey is awesome. I've never owned a hockey jersey before.

(47:57):
Hockey jersey is awesome. To be a part of the
radio broadcast on seven hundred WLW, part of Reds TV,
and if you're going to the ballpark tonight, they will
fold in some of the initiatives during the ballpark experience
Reds and Phillies with hopefully Cincinnati getting a series victory
after winning last night. Fourteen minutes after four o'clock, This

(48:17):
is ESPN fifteen thirty on Moegar five point three seven
four nine fifteen thirty is our number eight six six
seven zero two three seven seven six an off season
unlike any other in Cincinnati.

Speaker 5 (48:29):
Next Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty Traffic.

Speaker 3 (48:37):
This is ESPN fifteen thirty Moegar Wise Money Sports. In
just about twenty minutes, Brendaman and Jones on Baseball and
about thirty five the new ad at NKU is going
to join us in one hour. Phills and Reds tonight
at GABP. More on them and that coming up here

(48:57):
in just a bit. By the way we are looking
at it across the room here, we are twenty twenty
days away, less than three weeks away from the Bengals
first training camp practice, which means we are three weeks
just under three weeks away from our first training camp broadcast,

(49:19):
twenty days away our first training camp broadcast, which is
something we started doing last year. It is an absolute blast.
I'll just really quick. For years, for years and years
and years and years, Bengals would practice in the afternoon
and I'd be here doing a show. And we've, you know,
for years, Tony Pike has been doing training camp updates

(49:41):
for us. And I'm not a big fomo guy in life.
I don't get fomo. I don't really believe in jealousy.
I don't believe in it. That doesn't mean I'm never jealous,
but I would sit here many afternoons and go, dude,
I want to be down there. I'm going to be
broadcasting from that training Camp's fun. Training camps a lot
of fun. And we worked it out with the Bengals

(50:03):
last year to do live broadcasts from training camp, except
they moved the practices to the morning. So I'm thinking, great,
I can go to the practices now, but I can't
broadcast from them.

Speaker 2 (50:12):
And then we figured we could.

Speaker 3 (50:14):
Broadcast in the morning, and so we bumped off for
a couple of hours the ESPN Radio programming and did
shows from training camp and it was awesome. And then
when they would practice in the afternoon, I would be
down there and just something I've always wanted to do.
And I think you can gleam some things from watching
practices and being around that you could apply to, you know,

(50:36):
talking about the team during the season. So I am
I can't wait for the season to start. I don't
want to wish summer away, but can't wait for the
season to start. And professionally, it is a thrill beyond
believe to get a chance to broadcast from training camp
and it's something I hope we can do for years.

Speaker 2 (50:52):
Bengals owe me. The Bengals owe me like, not just a.

Speaker 3 (50:58):
Great season, but an intro one and one that there's
just filled with stuff because for the last two months
there hasn't been anything and that is a credit to them.
Today is the first day, maybe since I started hosting
this show.

Speaker 2 (51:18):
Today is the first day.

Speaker 3 (51:20):
One of the first things I sit down is I
in the morning, I'll just sit down and jot down
four or five ideas. There are four or five things
I know I want to discuss no matter what, and
then you know, begin the mediculous process of preparing for
the show and planning it out and all that sort
of stuff. Today was the first day that I didn't
even try to come up with a Bengals topic. And

(51:43):
that's not to say that there aren't things that are
aren't on your mind or aren't on my mind, but
like there's there's no there there. And this is a
statement about how awesome this offseason has been.

Speaker 2 (51:57):
I did this last week. We were talking about.

Speaker 3 (52:01):
I think it was Seth Walder great at the Bengals
off season moves A C. I disagree. I would go
with a minus. It's only getting a minus because of
what they haven't done at linebacker the off season as
a whole. A plus, A plus because off seasons aren't
just about transactions. Off seasons are about, you know, guys
returning from injury, how their rehab is going players who

(52:24):
are using the off season to campaign for a trade
or a new contract and you know, using whatever means
necessary to get it, doing things that kind of get
in the way of planning for the season or getting
ready for the season. There's been none of that. There's
been no major off field issue, knock on wood. There's
been no controversy. Like the most controversial thing this offseason

(52:47):
might be when we find out who's making the Ring
of Honor, and that's really not going to be that controversial.
It's going to be something that is hopefully done to
celebrate two guys, hopefully among the older players who get in.

Speaker 2 (53:00):
There's been nothing.

Speaker 3 (53:02):
And professionally, you know, Trey Hendrickson and Shamar Stewart last
year made.

Speaker 2 (53:08):
The job very very very very easy.

Speaker 3 (53:10):
It ain't like I'm sitting here digging ditches, but it
made the job very very very very very easy. I
like it, quite frankly when we could do shows where
we can mix in a little bit of everything. I
don't love it when it's three hours on the Reds
or three hours on the Bengals, although sometimes they are
and have to be. They've had to be here recently
because there's just been no meat on the bone, and

(53:31):
that's usually offseason meat on the bone. Once you get
past free agency in the draft, the meat on the
bone is sometimes not always sometimes bad stuff like a
player being upset, a player holding out, a player being
a distraction, a player grandstanding, a player giving quotes that

(53:53):
don't help the team but fuel a show like mine
like Shamar Stewart last year during Mini Caamp.

Speaker 2 (54:00):
Nothing. I even toyed with doing.

Speaker 3 (54:05):
A bit had the Reds lost last night, I was
gonna do a social media video where I pleaded for
a Bengals player to ask for a trade for purely
selfish reasons.

Speaker 2 (54:14):
No, as a fan, none of us want that. But
as a talk show.

Speaker 3 (54:19):
Host, hell, yes, as somebody, and I'm willing to admit
this whose livelihood thrives on controversy, Yes, sign me up.
Nothing there, which leads us to the ultimate lack of
excuse for Zach Taylor. I have, and maybe much much

(54:39):
more than most, maybe much more than you. I've been
willing to cut Zach Taylor some slack the last couple
of years because I feel like his job during training
camp has been really hard and maybe a little bit
less so last year because Trey did show up early ish,
and Schamar showed up early ish after a weekd first

(55:00):
few months as a professional football player. But the last
couple of years there's been just things hovering over the
preseason and things hovering over the run up to the
season that Zach Taylor has had to answer for that
are really shouldn't fall under his umbrella, Like contracts, like
players asking for trades this year, none of it.

Speaker 2 (55:24):
None of it.

Speaker 3 (55:27):
We've talked a little bit about Zach Taylor in Hot Seeds.
Zach Taylor has been set up for success, maybe unlike
any coach in the history of this team. Seriously, certainly
set up for success more than at any point during
his tenure. Now, that doesn't mean the Bengals have a
you know, completely whole free roster. It doesn't mean that
there aren't legitimate questions about, you know, some of the

(55:48):
things that may unfold during training Campbell though, I don't
think it's that hard to figure out who's going to
be on the fifty three man roster. But there's like
just nothing there getting in the way of him getting
the team ready for the season. And that could change, obviously,
maybe somebody does something that's unforeseen and pops off about

(56:10):
their lack of a deal. Obviously, there are some guys
we're going to talk about the merits of getting something
done with them. We all know what that list of
players looks like, we all know who's on it. But
we did a lot in free agency. Obviously, the Dexter
Lawrence thing was a game changer. In the offseason, there
was the draft, there was a schedule release, and really
since the schedule lease, you know, aside from Joe Burrow

(56:32):
expressing his you know, just I think excitement and the
fact that he's re energized and telling us all about it,
beyond that, there's not been a lot there and as
a fan, exceptionally refreshing. As a talk show host, makes
the job a little bit more difficult if you're the
coach of the team, dude, you can't ask for anything more.

(56:55):
But it does enhance the pressure on you to deliver
this season because stuff created by players and issues that
should be kind of the domain of the front office
haven't been on your radar, haven't been on your plate
at all. It's got to be refreshing. It does, I think,
amplify the pressure on the head coach of the Cincinnati

(57:17):
Bengals twenty nine minutes after four o'clock. There are a
few business lessons we can learn from stuff happening right
now in sports. We'll get to all of them. Wise
Money Sports is next on ESPN fifteen.

Speaker 5 (57:30):
Thirty Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty Traffic from.

Speaker 6 (57:36):
The UC Health Traffic Center, and.

Speaker 3 (57:38):
It's a Kelsey Chevrolet home of lifetime powertrain protection and
guarantee credit approval from their family to yours for life,
Kelsey Chew dot Com, Reds and Phillies the rubber match
of the three game series tonight at GABP. By the way,
Terry Francona just told reporters that Chase Burns, who was
not good last night, call it what it is. It's

(58:00):
been awesome this year. We love Chase Burns. And I
asked this all the time. How good is your good?
How bad is your bad? If that's Chase Burns is bad,
sign me up for that. He will be available to
pitch Tuesday in the All Star Game. Reds are giving
him maximum resc going into and coming out of the break.
Reading from Mike Petrellia on social media.

Speaker 2 (58:23):
TJ.

Speaker 3 (58:23):
Friedel gets the start in centerfield mat McClain is not
in the lineup in centerfield against a lefty due to
having a sore calf. TJ is feeling sore from banging
his shoulder into the center field while wile making that
awesome catch last night, but good enough to go tonight.
Your starting lineup for this evening? Are you ready stand by?
I will have a lot of tabs open. I'm looking

(58:45):
at my computer. I currently have looks like twenty different
tabs open, but I found the right one. By the way,
it's Brady Singer versus Hesus Lezardo Dela Cruz. Stuart Bladet,
who's in left steers at first, whereas DH Stevenson behind
the dish, Marte and Wright Arroyo at second. Freedol in
centerfield seven to ten. Tonight's first pitch seven hundred at

(59:09):
WLW Florence Yaw's take on the Washington Wild Things. Tonight
you see at Ohio State and Xavier and Dayton will
play in the first ever outdoor college basketball experience in Cincinnati.
It's the care Source Invitational Wednesday, October the seventh, two
exhibition games UCSU, XU and UD. The event raises awareness

(59:33):
and funds for mental health and suicide prevention. Keithan Nickison
has been busy today Bearcat Journal dot com. He reports
UC in Minnesota set to play a home and home
men's basketball series starting this upcoming season.

Speaker 4 (59:46):
MJ.

Speaker 3 (59:46):
Collins gonna play for the Bearcats this year. Preliminary injunction
by a judge here in Cincinnati gives him and other
student athletes the chance to play college sports this year.

Speaker 2 (59:57):
So MJ.

Speaker 3 (59:57):
Collins, who led Utah State in school, is going to
play for his coach at Utah State at UC.

Speaker 2 (01:00:04):
That's good.

Speaker 3 (01:00:05):
France and Morocco are playing in the quarterfinals of the
World Cup right now in Foxborough. That game is scoreless
in the thirty fifth minute. We normally do this on Wednesdays,
but I wasn't here yesterday, so we're doing it on Thursday.
Wise Money Sports with the experts from Omego Wealth Private Capital.
We talk sports and business and it is impossible to

(01:00:27):
talk about sports without talking about sports and business. Brad
Johansson is here. Want to start by talking about your
favorite subject, the World Cup, because you know, we all
watched this whole Balligan controversy unfold and at the root
of it, for me, I think was the frustration over
a lack of transparency by FIFA, the governing organization that

(01:00:48):
puts on the World Cup, And I would imagine you
would agree. But in business and in life, transparency is
pretty damn important.

Speaker 1 (01:00:58):
I am with you on that. And what are the rules?
Doesn't everybody just want to know what are the rules?
So what are the rules? When the red card came out,
it's a guy who looks at video and he goes,
you know what, this is worth a red card? And
everybody commentating goes, this is not worth believe this is

(01:01:19):
worth a red card? Okay, so how do you determine
what that is? Do you believe that we have more
definition on flagrant fouls in the NBA than we do
any type of foul in soccer from what I've watched.

Speaker 2 (01:01:37):
Like, yes, it's hard.

Speaker 1 (01:01:39):
So the thing is you don't know what the rules are,
so it's given. Then you go back and by all indications,
the US government got involved in saying we were going
to do an appeal on this red card, and by
doing that, without understanding explanation, they go all right, we're

(01:01:59):
revoking red card. You're good to play. Yeah, there's no rules,
no rules, no transparency, And I think there's a major
problem within soccer that you can play the game there's
no rules on the time. It's in his head as
to how long the game's going to go, how much
extra time you have.

Speaker 2 (01:02:20):
Whether this is.

Speaker 1 (01:02:23):
Indicative of a yellow card or a red card, and
how we're going to adjudicate that after we're done with
the whole thing's it's silly. If you don't have rules,
you're not transparent about what you are and you don't
explain your actions. How are you supposed to trust the
way that it goes? And I have the same issues

(01:02:45):
in finance.

Speaker 2 (01:02:47):
If you're investing, you gotta know the rules.

Speaker 1 (01:02:49):
You have to know the rules, but understand that the
rules are going to change again because we have the government,
and the government likes to change the rules whenever they
want to. So you play with the rules that you
have now.

Speaker 3 (01:03:02):
And that's why you align yourself with an expert like
yourself who knows the rules, because.

Speaker 1 (01:03:08):
He knows the rules and understands that the rules are
going to change. And here's what I do.

Speaker 2 (01:03:14):
I like to.

Speaker 1 (01:03:14):
Align myself with people who are smarter than me and
make sure that because we don't have all the answers.
But you always know where to find all the answers.

Speaker 3 (01:03:24):
I also like to align myself with people who are
smarter than me, and that takes absolutely no effort.

Speaker 2 (01:03:30):
I want to ask you about this story. Is weird
to me?

Speaker 3 (01:03:32):
This Matt Miller, guy ESPN rising star, NFL draft analyst,
involved in this awful car accident. His family puts up
a go fund me, and then a lot of folks
on social media respond to it and go, well, this
is the guy that took money from me when I
played his fantasy football league. It's a long, convoluted story,
but my first thought when I saw this was, I
don't know, man, if I'm going to give somebody money,

(01:03:54):
I want to make sure I know A where the
money is going. And b definitively how I get what
I'm owed If I'm owed.

Speaker 2 (01:03:59):
Something, no question. And yet over and over people do this.

Speaker 1 (01:04:08):
You want to go Bernie made off, and Bernie ends
up creating an infrastructure of well known people, and it's just, Oh,
I got a guy. You want to give him some money?
How much did you give him?

Speaker 2 (01:04:24):
Oh?

Speaker 1 (01:04:24):
I gave him several million? Really, what do you know
about him? Good guy?

Speaker 2 (01:04:30):
All right? Put me down for three million.

Speaker 1 (01:04:34):
It's silly, but people will do this, and I think
you need to ask advisors. Shoot, I mean you're now
saying this with me because here I am in wealth
management and I'm the guy on TV. There's that guy
on TV, there's that guy on the radio, and how
much do I trust that guy with my money? I'll

(01:04:55):
go back to what I just said. You align yourself
with people who are smarter than you and understand stand that.
As I told you, I think there's a lot of
hypocrisy in the journalism business now, which is.

Speaker 2 (01:05:06):
Why partly I walked away.

Speaker 1 (01:05:09):
And you have to understand that if you're going to
be in this business, you're really not allowed.

Speaker 2 (01:05:16):
Oobs, I made a million dollar mistake.

Speaker 1 (01:05:19):
You have to understand what the rules are, have to
be licensed, have to understand how that works, and make
sure that you double.

Speaker 2 (01:05:26):
Triple check what you're going to do.

Speaker 3 (01:05:28):
Triple check. Yes, speaking of money on the line. So
we've talked about this a little bit. We're gonna have
a lockout in baseball and hold it.

Speaker 2 (01:05:35):
Yeah, you're definitive on this.

Speaker 3 (01:05:37):
We're going to have a lockout. I didn't say we're
gonna miss games, but we're gonna.

Speaker 2 (01:05:40):
Have a lockout. Why do you say that?

Speaker 3 (01:05:42):
Because the two sides could not seem farther apart, and I.

Speaker 2 (01:05:48):
Dude, we've seen how many of these things have we seen?

Speaker 1 (01:05:51):
They've never been farther apart, And twelve hours later, Oh
my gosh, we've come up with I mean, you're convinced
we're gonna have a lockout.

Speaker 3 (01:05:58):
I'm convinced we will have a lockout. I'm not in
highly convinced we're going to see games get missed. I mean,
we had a lockout in twenty twenty two, they played
the full season, So I mean there's a difference between
a lockout and a shortened season or canceled to.

Speaker 2 (01:06:11):
Do you think we'll have a shortened season?

Speaker 3 (01:06:13):
I think there's obviously a really good chance because I
think there's a different resolve among owners than we've seen
in the past, because I feel like now they're all
angry at the Dodgers, and.

Speaker 2 (01:06:21):
I also feel like I feel like, yes they are.

Speaker 3 (01:06:24):
You have compared to ninety four ninety five, four ninety five,
you had baseball owners people who own baseball teams, and
that's completely different Game four, and now you have baseball
owners who own like casinos, hotels, huge portfolios, so they're
a little bit more willing to withstand some baseball losses
because they're yes, So I do think we're headed.

Speaker 2 (01:06:45):
To a lockout.

Speaker 1 (01:06:45):
Okay, I'm sorry, I digressed and I stopped you in
the middle of your point.

Speaker 3 (01:06:49):
So what's interesting to me, and I've talked about this
a bunch, is all right, if you're the owners, you're
trying to gain a salary cap, and if you're the players,
you don't want the salary cap. We all know what
the major issue is, and so they're going to dig
in and try to get it for maybe some sort
of long term benefit.

Speaker 2 (01:07:04):
But the short term cost I think is immense.

Speaker 1 (01:07:08):
I think the short term cost is immense more on
it's certainly on players who are simply trying to survive.
And I know that sounds silly in the major leagues,
but there are a lot of guys who are still
trying to survive. In the major leagues, you have stars
who have massive contracts. But then beyond that, you have

(01:07:29):
the fans situation where we've already talked about how hard
it is in markets like Cincinnati to sell out games
throughout the season. So you are now offending fans and
the ninety four situation. I remember and I still know
people when you talk stubborn, I will never watch baseball

(01:07:55):
again after this, and there are some who have.

Speaker 2 (01:07:57):
Stood by that.

Speaker 1 (01:07:59):
I think you are hurting the product because of how
hard it is. And you and I have talked about
is one hundred and sixty two games too many? Have
we figured out whether or not we can condense and
still make the money that we want to make. Yeah,
you're gonna have a very long term consequence if you

(01:08:19):
do this, because the average Joe in the middle of
this economic situation says, I'm not paying you anymore to
go watch your product.

Speaker 2 (01:08:28):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:08:29):
One more to ask you about the Big twelve. Okay,
so they've struck this deal with Monster Energy. Twenty million dollars.

Speaker 2 (01:08:36):
We're gonna have.

Speaker 3 (01:08:37):
Jersey patches, which I hate, but whatever. We have them
in pro sports twenty million dollars. I hate them, but anyway, fine,
twenty million dollars. Sixteen schools. And if you see what
Monster is gonna get, they're gonna get logos on the jerseys,
logos on the fields. They're gonna have patches on basketball
jerseys both men and women. They're gonna have an on

(01:08:58):
field logo for all the football program talking about forty
eight different programs men's basketball, women's basketball, and football, twenty
million dollars doesn't It's a lot of money cheap, but
it doesn't seem like a lot of money relative to
what Monster.

Speaker 2 (01:09:12):
Is going to get. Yeah, cheap.

Speaker 1 (01:09:14):
You spend forty years getting to a number you want
to build your retirement. Some people spend even longer than that,
and then you sell yourself short. This may be a
sell yourself short kind of moment because this is really
valuable real estate. Now here's here's part of my question.

(01:09:36):
If you're if you're spending twenty million on the Big twelve,
and I'm going to ask you, how secure do you
think the Big twelve is as a viable entity for
the long term of a conference?

Speaker 2 (01:09:51):
Define long term?

Speaker 1 (01:09:53):
Well, I'm glad you come back with that, because now
you make me think in ten years, do we have
the Big twelve?

Speaker 2 (01:10:04):
Very good question. I don't know. I don't feel good.
I don't think so. I don't feel good about saying
definitively yes.

Speaker 1 (01:10:10):
So if we have talked about another segments that dukes
and notre dames can do their own thing and say
screw the conference or screw the network. I'm going to
do my own deal because that's my power. Does the

(01:10:32):
Big twelve have enough power to say I want more
than twenty million? And obviously they didn't feel like they
had a product that they could sell for more than
twenty million. And you're right, it's a big number, but
in today's sports world, a small number, which says to me,
I'm not convinced we're going to stay together long enough.

Speaker 3 (01:10:53):
It's a good way of putting it. It's less than
two million dollars per school. I mean again, it's a
lot of money, but it's not a lot to.

Speaker 1 (01:11:01):
Believe in yourself. A product's worth what people will pay
for it, right, And so do you believe that the
Big twelve said I want thirty million, and monsters said, oh,
I'll forget it. Twenty million and that's it because that's
what they're getting. Is that enough to build a product

(01:11:21):
that you believe is going to last?

Speaker 2 (01:11:22):
I don't know the answer to that.

Speaker 1 (01:11:23):
Oh, Megawealth private capital. You need your vitals checked. We
always talk about it. Are you healthy? Many of you
have advisors already? Is it worth a second opinion? How
about a fifteen minute vital call check your volatility, income taxes,
asset preservation, legacy planning. You can get us at five
one three, six, five seven one zero seven to two

(01:11:46):
or OW Private Capital dot com.

Speaker 3 (01:11:50):
All right, good stuff, Brad Johansson Omegawealth Private Capital, ow
Private Capital dot Com. We have the new ad at
NKU is going to join us five twenty and man
something else. I'd have to ask Nick Crawl if you
work for me? That coming up at five oh five
on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 5 (01:12:09):
Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty. Traffic from the.

Speaker 7 (01:12:14):
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surgical treatments to the most complex cases. They've mastered what's
best for you? Learn more at UCHealth dot com. Northbound
seventy five at Western Avenue, the right lanes blocked due
to an accident. You're looking at a five minute to

(01:12:35):
lay back from seventh. Another crash northbound seventy one. This
at Fort Washington Way that's off on the left shoulder
with slow.

Speaker 6 (01:12:43):
Traffic in the area. I'm at Ezelic with traffic.

Speaker 2 (01:12:46):
This report is no one covers the Bengals. In telling me,
one covers the Bengals. Last car stations.

Speaker 3 (01:12:53):
How you doing, maleger ESPN fifteen thirty, Good afternoon, Thanks
thanks for listening today. Hopefully we're having like the greatest
Thursday afternoon of all time, the greatest Thursday afternoon of
all time. A World Cup game on in here. Look,
this is not something I would have said sixteen years ago,

(01:13:19):
which would have been the first time the World Cup
was happening while we had a show. I am watching
a World Cup game in studio France and Morocco. The
United States played Morocco in a friendly at the Soccer
Venue on the West End of Cincinnati a few years ago,
and the fans from and of Morocco were awesome.

Speaker 2 (01:13:38):
So I am. I'm rooting for them for what it's worth.

Speaker 3 (01:13:42):
Mike Odam is the new director of athletics at Northern
Kentucky University. He is going to join us in just
about fifteen minutes. We are looking forward to that. Red's
in Phillies tonight after the five home run Barrage, after
a night where Chase Burns was not good but they
still win. Big night for salth Stewart, big night for

(01:14:03):
Ellie Delacruz, I almost forgot Ellie Delacruz's name, And a
big night for Noelve Marte. Hopefully the Rats can take
the rubber match tonight. We will see. Oh and by
the way, keep Brian Hayes with a big night for
Louisville last night as he inches closer to returning. And
I know we're also excited for that. I've We've talked

(01:14:23):
a lot about all the different issues the Reds have,
and they have a bunch, and the trade deadline is
inching closer, and last night's victory doesn't do anything to
I think make anybody feel any better about the fact
that here we are in mid July and it feels
like we're engaged in a countdown to a teardown or

(01:14:44):
a countdown to the start of a rebuild. And many
of us, I'm far from the only one, many of
us have focused on Nick Crawl and his job performance
and his job security, how much he should have, whether
or not it's time to move on, and I'm I'm
just looking for things the Reds as an organization, baseball wise,

(01:15:06):
and I need to make sure I clarify that baseball wise,
I'm looking for something. They're good at here they are
nineteen games under five hundred. I had a social media
post early yesterday morning because three years ago, yesterday, the
Reds reached their high water mark of the twenty twenty
three season ten games over five hundred, two game lead

(01:15:29):
in the division. Excuse me. They won a game that
night that sent them to fifty to forty. Going into
last night's game, the Reds since that date had played
four hundred and eighty six regular season games, which, if
you divide that by one sixty two is three. That's
three full season since then going into last night in

(01:15:52):
that stretch, twenty under five hundred, one playoff appearance, no
playoff wins. It's a staggering failure. It is a staggering failure,
and I think more than anything for you and I,
what it has created is this sense of hopelessness, helplessness that,
ok fine, do another rebuild, Okay, fine, have a selloff, Okay, fine,

(01:16:15):
tell us to keep waiting.

Speaker 1 (01:16:17):
But I don't.

Speaker 3 (01:16:18):
I don't trust you anymore. And maybe you decide, you
know what, I'm not waiting anymore.

Speaker 2 (01:16:23):
I'm out. I'm done.

Speaker 3 (01:16:25):
There is a real sense of helplessness and hopelessness among
so many of us, isn't there?

Speaker 2 (01:16:31):
But when you ask what are the Reds good at?

Speaker 3 (01:16:33):
Organizationally, and I've beaten this drum now for weeks, I
haven't gotten the answer, because there is none. They're not
good at anything baseball wise. They're not really, really, really
good at roster building. They're not great at fleecing other
teams for trades, not that you make a trade with
the idea to fleece the team. They're certainly not great
at player development and drafting. They're not great at turning

(01:16:55):
over consistently hidden gems to find guys who could be
a long term, short term part of the solution.

Speaker 2 (01:17:00):
Like what are they good at?

Speaker 3 (01:17:00):
Are they good at having a farm system that's just
chalk full of big leaguers? What are they good at?
And when you do that, you're asking Nick Crawl what
are you good at? And I don't know how much
his job is in jeopardy, but I would be willing
to bet that they will let him go before they
let Tito Francona go. Now, some wonder if Tito isn't

(01:17:21):
just gonna say screw it, I'm out. Maybe he does
that there's a lockout, they start the season late, and
he's like, dude, I'm going to Cooperstown. I don't need this,
and he moves on. Maybe dude's going to be seventy
years old. Perhaps that happens, but I would be willing
to bet that if ownership decides we got to let
somebody go, it ain't gonna be the manager. Chances are

(01:17:41):
then it's going to be the guy in charge of
the baseball ops. I've asked her to pretend you're Phil Castellini,
and I think this is a good way of phrasing
it right.

Speaker 2 (01:17:49):
Like you could.

Speaker 3 (01:17:50):
You could throw a lot of different criticisms of Phil Castellini.
Many of them will stick. The Castellini family has had
the controlling ownership shares of this franchise for twenty and
they have achieved almost nothing baseball wise. But he does
own the club. They're not selling the club anytime soon.
Nick Krawl does work for him. He was installed six

(01:18:11):
seasons ago as president of baseball Operations. He oversees the
entire thing. And if you're Phil Castellini, you're watching a
team that's seven hundred five hundred, You're watching a team
that's in last place. You're hearing and reading about him
maybe signing off on a fire sale. You're listening to
fair debates, and I think the debates are good, and

(01:18:32):
I can see both sides of it, quite frankly, fair
debates about whether or not Ellie Dela Cruz should be untouchable.
You are watching this core that you thought you had
in place in twenty twenty three become smaller and now
is in jeopardy of being torn apart a little bit.
Nick Lidola was a part of that corps. He may
be dealt. Hunter Green was a part of that corps

(01:18:53):
this offseason. I don't think it's impossible to believe that
he's going to be dealt.

Speaker 2 (01:18:57):
Who knows.

Speaker 3 (01:19:00):
And I've got Nick Crawl in my office and I'm
asking him the same question like my guy, like why
are we winning? The answer from Nick might be, well,
you don't give me enough to win. And then I
would say, well, how about when you wasted my money
with Jamer Candelario or Mike Mustakas. And I know he
Nick Krawl wasn't in charge of signing Mike Mustakus, but

(01:19:20):
he was in place when they said, hey, we got
to eat the rest of his salary. Hell, Nick Krawl
may want Phil Castilini to eat the rest of Kee
Brian Hayes's salary, and okay, cool, but like, here's another guy,
I'm gonna pay hey to not play?

Speaker 2 (01:19:32):
Like, how many of those do you get? Nick?

Speaker 3 (01:19:34):
Why isn't this working? You were you were put in
charge of a rebuild and thus given a very long
rope that came with the start of the rebuild. You
were given the opportunity to build the team from basically scratch.
This is the results of your work seven hunder five
hundred going into the final weekend of July, or the
final weekend before the All Star break.

Speaker 2 (01:19:55):
Really so okay?

Speaker 3 (01:19:58):
I would sit across from him, and I would imagine
you would too, and go, how's our minor league system?

Speaker 4 (01:20:06):
Now?

Speaker 3 (01:20:06):
Nick Krawl would be better equipped to answer that than me,
or you would probably Phil Castellini, But I would ask, okay,
our major league teams not very good?

Speaker 2 (01:20:14):
How is our farm system?

Speaker 3 (01:20:18):
And then right before Nick Kral answered, I would go,
because I'm reading today USA Today, Baseball America, not USA Today.
Baseball America ranks all the farm systems.

Speaker 2 (01:20:30):
This week.

Speaker 3 (01:20:30):
This is out today. The Reds ranked twenty fifth. This
is subjective and it doesn't mean there aren't good players
in the farm system. They have a terrific catcher who's
going to be in the futures game, Alfredo Dunio, and
he may be the starting catcher, the primary catcher next year.

Speaker 2 (01:20:50):
But twenty fifth, Nick, twenty fifth. Others will say it's
a little bit better.

Speaker 3 (01:20:55):
Keith law I think HadAM in seventeen prior to the season,
Kylie Daniel fifteenth. Nobody has them elite, by the way,
for what it's worth, I'd be looking at Nick Krawl going,
we can't beat the Milwaukee Brewers, right, We can't beat
them head to head. God knows, we can never finish
ahead of them in the standings. But I'm looking at
Baseball America number one farm system in the sport Milwaukee Brewers.

(01:21:17):
We're twenty fifth, one twenty five with all the other
teams in the middle. Nick like, okay, cool, we're not
good this year, but what's in the pipeline doesn't seem
to be all that good. Then I would pull up
redleg Nation dot com, our buddy Doug Gray, who writes
a piece about this. Now, I will admit to you,
I do not subscribe to Baseball America.

Speaker 2 (01:21:39):
It's a paid article.

Speaker 3 (01:21:40):
I can't give you the background because I don't have
a subscription, but I do read Red's Minor Leagues dot Com,
where Doug Gray writes about how bear the cupboard is
among pitchers, how the farm system just there's not a

(01:22:01):
lot of there there when it comes to the arms,
and like Nick, like, Okay, we're not good this year.
That's fine. But my guy, if we're not good up here,
we better be good down there. We're not good at either.
So not only can I help, but ask what are
we good at? When it comes to major league roster construction?

(01:22:25):
You're gonna have to do a lot of talking to
convince me that what we have in the pipeline is
better or gonna accelerate our rebuild or put us in
a position to win next year. When I'm reading how
Barren and how Barren, how bad our farm system is, Nick,
what are you good at? What are you good at?

(01:22:47):
The major league results have been limited. You've had a
chance to install a Hall of Fame manager. You've got
a corps of guys that are quite good. Two of
them are all stars, one of them could be. You're
in your six season overseeing baseball operations, You've had a
chance to rebuild the roster however you want. We've given

(01:23:07):
you a chance to spend some money on some guys
that we've had to pay to not play for us anymore.

Speaker 2 (01:23:14):
And now I'm reading about how bad our farm system is. Nick?
What as a baseball organization are we good at? Nick?

Speaker 3 (01:23:21):
You're in charge of the baseball operations, so I can't
help but ask what are you good at? Baseball America
might have it wrong, Baseball America might be off base,
Their evaluators may stink fine, whatever, But I can't find
anybody who thinks they have a great farm system. I
look at the major league standings. I know we don't

(01:23:42):
have a good major league team, Nick, Why should I
allow you to see us through whatever's next? Like we're
making the we're doing the debate about buying and selling
and who are they going to move on from? And
do you make Ellie Deller Cruise untouchable?

Speaker 4 (01:24:01):
Woo?

Speaker 3 (01:24:02):
Nick? Crawl's gonna have a say in how those decisions
are made and what they do with the players they
move on from. I don't know, Man, not great you
should feel about that? Twenty fifth best farm system. Look,
you're not always gonna rank number one, and when you
lose highly touted prospects to the big leagues, you're gonna

(01:24:24):
come down a couple of pegs. We get that there
was a time when the Reds' farm system was ranked
very high because you know, Hunter Green was in it
and Ellie Dela Cruz was in it, and those guys
got promoted. But here's the reality, man, Okay, if the
Reds aren't going to do what they've set out to do,
which is build teams without being major players in free agency,
though there was a pursuit of Kyle Schwarber, which I

(01:24:45):
listened to them talk about it the twelve broadcasters they
had on ESPN last night for about fifteen minutes per inning.
If we're going to do what we set out to do,
which has built something sustainable and maybe not re signed
guys to second contracts, maybe trade them away before they
even approach free agency, not be the first to jump

(01:25:07):
into the free agency waters. If we're going to do that,
then we need a minor league system that is every
single year.

Speaker 2 (01:25:13):
One of the best in baseball.

Speaker 3 (01:25:15):
Right now, according to a highly respected publication, it's ranked
twenty fifth, Nick, what are you and your staff good at?
According to Baseball America, not overseeing a good farm system.
Mike Odam will oversee NKU athletics. He's the new ad.

Speaker 2 (01:25:36):
He'll join us next.

Speaker 5 (01:25:38):
Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty traffic from Sleger.

Speaker 3 (01:25:44):
This is ESPN fifteen thirty. Thank you so much for
listening today. Earlier this afternoon, Northern Kentucky University formally introduced
the new Director of Athletics at NKU Mike Odam, who
comes to NKU from Creighton University, where he most recently
served as Deputy Athletic Director for External Operations and now

(01:26:05):
is in charge of NORSE Athletics and on what I'm
sure has been a very busy afternoon for him, kind
enough to give us a few minutes. Congratulations, Welcome to
the greater Cincinnati, Northern Kentucky area. Thank you so much
for joining us, Mike.

Speaker 2 (01:26:18):
How are you.

Speaker 4 (01:26:20):
I'm doing great, mo, Thank you for having me and
for the warm welcome. And yeah, look forward to meeting
you and everybody in town.

Speaker 3 (01:26:27):
Looking forward to it. What about this opportunity to you
was most enticing?

Speaker 4 (01:26:33):
Well, there were a handful of things. First of all,
certainly the vision and momentum of our president, Katie Short Thompson.
She is passionate about this place, and as I started
to look into it, certainly the alignment and the opportunity
to do some great things with her was a big
part of it. Certainly the mission of Northern Kentucky to

(01:26:55):
build student success. You know, we're in this industry to
help student athletes, to help them get their you know, degrees,
but also help them compete and win championships.

Speaker 2 (01:27:05):
So all of that that part.

Speaker 4 (01:27:08):
You know, in the classroom competitively and in the community
to help Northern Kentucky, and just the opportunity to grow
Norse athletics across the region was something I was excited about.
And then lastly, but certainly not least, I've got some
friends that lived in the area and and that some
additional friends that live in the area now uh, and

(01:27:30):
this we thought this would be a great place for
our family. So when you look at these types of
opportunities across the country, you vote that all of the
right stars aligned and the boxes are checked and all
that stuff, and this one did for us. And it's
fortunate and fortunate to be here and and extremely grateful
for the confidence and belief in me to help Norse

(01:27:50):
Athletics moving.

Speaker 3 (01:27:51):
Forward from the moment when the opportunity first appeared on
your radar until you accepted the position. Give me an
idea of some of the things you learned about in
nk you during the process.

Speaker 4 (01:28:02):
Well, I'll tell you a story. So I was in
town for the Big East Baseball tournament there at Prasco
Park in late May, and we had a rain day.
I don't know if you remember a Memorial weekend. It
was a lot of rain and stuff. So we took
a ride. My six year old was with me, my
dad was with me, and I said, Hey, we're going

(01:28:23):
to go down to Northern Kentucky's campus and let's just
drive around. You know, the jobs open, you know it
kind of interested and I've heard great things about it
and stuff like that. So I first drove around campus
and I was like, man, there are some really good
things already in place, great facilities, you know, truest Arena,
the soccer stadium, baseball, they were building tennis at the
time and that's nearing completion, so just a lot of

(01:28:46):
So I saw it with my two eyes, like there's
really good potential here to build something special.

Speaker 3 (01:28:54):
Give me an idea of what the top couple of
to do list items are in your list.

Speaker 4 (01:29:02):
I think it's too one. I'd say there's three buckets, right.
There's the internal bucket of working with our coaches of
student athletes and getting getting to know everybody. So that's
kind of on the internal side, you know, being a
part of this position, is serving on our president's cabinet
and so being a valuable member of the cabinet, and

(01:29:26):
being a campus partner with various initiatives. And I'd say
the third thing and one that I feel like matches
my skill set and experiences really well, is getting out
in the community and getting to know our lums and
our fans, and you know, telling the story of our
student athletes and are giving the vision of the department
and trying to get folks to come to come back

(01:29:48):
and come see us and support our great student athletes
and talented student athletes. So I think those three pieces,
a little bit of internal, a little bit on campus,
and a little bit in the community. You know, those
three things going to be vital to our success.

Speaker 3 (01:30:02):
From from from your perspective as somebody who has been
involved in college athletics since you were a student, because
you were a basketball manager if not mistaken correct at
NC State under herb Centric Yeah right.

Speaker 4 (01:30:13):
Yeahs and made a lot of Gator.

Speaker 3 (01:30:17):
So so I mean you've you've made a you know,
you've you've had a carved down a living in college
athletics going back to when you were in school. This
is an incredibly weird time in college athletics for all
of us who love it and care about it, and
there's lots of challenges facing schools, athletics, directors, coaches, athletes,

(01:30:37):
people who care about college sports. People you know, lament
that college sports are broken. I don't ever go that far.
I think that's overstated. But from your perspective, where do
things need to go in the coming years?

Speaker 4 (01:30:52):
You know, it's it, There's there's a lot that's a
very very big, open ending question. You know. I think
for us at Northern Kentucky, we want to figure out
and I think you've got to I as the as
the leader of the department, need to certainly keep my
finger on the pulse of what's going on. You know,
our commissioners here today from the Horizon League. I think

(01:31:14):
she's going to be a great resource for uh, for
me and for us as you know, we navigate all
of the changes and i'll call them curve balls that
have come the way of college athletics the last couple
of years. But we've got to be able to be
nimble and and you know, continue to be creative and
how this thing evolves. I would say overall, and maybe

(01:31:38):
this is a cliche answer, but I want us to
be the best version of Northern Kentucky that we can
be within the landscape and the changes that are happening.
And it'll be my job to kind of figure out
what that looks like. So I hope I answered your
question there, but I think it'll be on me to
certainly help God guide the courses as this world changes

(01:31:59):
so so fast.

Speaker 2 (01:32:01):
Yeah, what I mean, No, it's it's a good answer.

Speaker 3 (01:32:03):
What has it been like from your perspective of, you know,
a college athletics lifer, having watched what what college sports
looked like when you were at a student at a
at NC State compared to what it is right now?
What has it been like watching us go from what
it used to be to what we have today?

Speaker 4 (01:32:23):
You know, I certainly, I certainly think there are are
issues but I also think if you sit and dwell
on the issues, you're going to get left behind.

Speaker 2 (01:32:33):
You know, you need to.

Speaker 4 (01:32:34):
Figure out what the issues are and how you can
fix them, and how you can be creative to uh
do what's best for your institution. You know, at at
at Creighton, we we had to we have had to
continue to adjust. We've had to continue to look for
new revenues, which which will be a big part of

(01:32:55):
what what you know, we're charged with here and I'll
be charged with here and and so you've got to
continue to evolve and be ready to evolve. So I
think that you know, I think before COVID, maybe college
athletics operated where things would change maybe like every two
to five years, and now it seems like it's every
two months. And so you just got to be you

(01:33:18):
got to you got to have a plan for the
plan sometimes and that's not always easy. So but I
also will go back to and especially at a place
at Northern Kentucky, the main thing is still the main thing,
and that's our student athletes and our coaches, and how
can we prepare our student athletes to be great in
the classroom, competitively and in the community and somebody asked

(01:33:40):
me today, like, hey, what's your dream here? My dream
would be for for our teams to hoist a trophy.
But then in May when the student athletes, you know,
when when the semester's over, they all go and get
their diplomas. So that's still the main thing, which is
which is to provide an education that can help change
the lives of young people.

Speaker 3 (01:34:00):
And I feel like in the discourse that that gets lost,
and you know, being around in student athletes, I'm always taken.
I'm always impressed by the fact that so many of
them still have the rise on that prize, right Like,
I'm I can make money as a student athlete, that's
that's great. I have opportunities, you know that are maybe
different and better than those that came before me. But

(01:34:22):
at the end of the day, I want to use
college to put myself in the position to do something
even bigger and better. And the best way to do
that is in the classroom. And I feel like that
that's still that gets lost more than ever before in
the discourse.

Speaker 4 (01:34:35):
No question and the you know, it's the the saying
of you know, a four year investment for the next
forty forty years of your life still holds true, still
rings true. And I still think at the very core
of college athletics that can still be one of the
main points. And I think for us here at Northern
Kentucky that'll be you know, that that matters, and you know,

(01:34:58):
I'm excited to to keep that the main thing.

Speaker 2 (01:35:02):
Mike Gotami is with us.

Speaker 3 (01:35:03):
He is the new vice president and director of Athletics
at NKU, coming to Highland Heights from Creighton University.

Speaker 2 (01:35:11):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (01:35:12):
During the process, do you get to know coaches as
you're interviewing? Is this something obviously you want to get
to know them more, But have you had a chance
to get to know some of the people that will
be working for you in the run up to you
actually getting hired.

Speaker 4 (01:35:25):
I did not, and and and and do not. So
I'm still I've met everybody today. I met a handful.
I met all the head coaches when I was here
on my interview, But but today was really the first
day where it's like, all right, hey, let's uh, let's
talk next week or let's you know, text me when
you have a minute. Uh, Like, now's the time where

(01:35:46):
I guess those relationships will begin. Certainly, the folks on
the search committee and some of the folks this week
that have helped with all the logistics that come in
here to UH to campus and my family coming to campus.
So we're starting to starting to get to other folks
a little bit. But I'm looking forward to getting to
know all our coaches and I told them today in
the press conference, in our meeting that we had like
I'm here for them. I'm here to serve them and

(01:36:08):
try to help tee them up to do the best
they can when they get you know, between the lines.
That's kind of what I'm here for.

Speaker 3 (01:36:16):
Makes sense to me. Can't thank you enough for doing this.
I'm sure it's been a crazy last few days. Lot
going on, but again, welcome to the area. Looking forward
to meeting in person, and thanks for joining us today.

Speaker 2 (01:36:29):
You got it.

Speaker 4 (01:36:30):
Thank you for the time and look forward to meeting
you and having you out here on campus and go north.

Speaker 2 (01:36:36):
I'll be there. I'll be there, Mike, Thanks so much.

Speaker 4 (01:36:39):
All right, thank you.

Speaker 3 (01:36:40):
Mike Odam is the new director of Athletics at Northern
Kentucky University, formally introduced today twenty seven away from six o'clock.
Sports headlines are next on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 5 (01:36:53):
Station Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty, Traffic.

Speaker 7 (01:36:59):
From the DUC help traffic, Suns and Addies Sports Station
ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 2 (01:37:07):
Sports headlines are a service of.

Speaker 3 (01:37:11):
Kelsey Chevalet, home of lifetime powertrain protection and guarantee credit
approval from their family to yours.

Speaker 2 (01:37:18):
For life, Kelsey chev dot Com.

Speaker 3 (01:37:21):
Reds and Phillies. Tonight at GAVP the rare getaway Day
night game. I'm guessing it's because they had the John
Party concert last night after the game, which I'm sure
was a lot of fun.

Speaker 2 (01:37:35):
John Party's pretty good tonight.

Speaker 3 (01:37:38):
Brady Singer, who was really good last August, will pitch
against Haes who's Lozardos. Seven to ten is tonight's first pitch.
The game is on seven hundred WLW, and here is
the Red starting lineup. Get Ready Elliott short Sal Stewart's
playing third, JJ b Ledez in left field, Spencer Steers

(01:37:58):
at first base, he heneosrez is dhing Tyler Stevenson catches
he bat sixth Noelve Martes in right field, Edwin Arroyo
is playing second base, and TJ. Friedel, who was a
little bit banged up on that really nice running catch
he made last night. Nonetheless, still in the lineup, he
is playing center field and batting ninth.

Speaker 2 (01:38:21):
The Florence Yaws take on the Washington wild Things tonight.

Speaker 3 (01:38:24):
There's my sports headlines the World Cup right now, quarterfinal.
France a two to nothing lead over Morocco. They are
in the seventy seventh minute. Game is being played in Foxborough.
Lots of college basketball news. By the way, credit to
our friend Rick Browing, who, to the best of my knowledge,
had this days ago on musketeer report dot com. Xavier, Dayton,

(01:38:48):
Ohio State, and Xavier are gonna play in a exhibition
doubleheader at the Lindner Tennis Center.

Speaker 2 (01:38:54):
I tried.

Speaker 3 (01:38:55):
They're gonna play at the Lender Tennis Center. It's the
care Source Invitational. So there have been a handful of
exhibition games involving these schools. Cincinnati has played Ohio State,
Xavier and Dayton have played against each other, and obviously
that the pairings here are a little bit limited because
you see and UD play a regular season game against
each other.

Speaker 2 (01:39:12):
You see in Xavier obviously play a regular season game
against each other.

Speaker 3 (01:39:15):
So it'll be Cincinnati versus Ohio State, UDI and Xavier
That is going to be on Wednesday, October the seventh.
They will transform the Lindner Tennis Center into a basketball arena.
According to our friend Keegan Nicholson of Bearkat Journal, UC
and Minnesota are gonna play home and home series beginning
this year. The story I read from a Kegan did

(01:39:35):
not indicate whether or not the first game will be
in Cincinnati or Minneapolis, but a big twelve slash Big ten.

Speaker 2 (01:39:42):
Home and home in the offing.

Speaker 3 (01:39:44):
Also, this course, excuse me, this course course court case.
You know, knowing the English language and how to speak
it is typically a prerequisite to be a broadcaster. This case,
which we talked about a week and a half ago
with our buddy attorney Stewart W. Penrose, held in Cincinnati,

(01:40:04):
in which a bunch of college basketball players sued to
get an extra year of eligibility. A judge, Chris Wagner
in Hamilton County Court granted a preliminary injunction to a
class of college athletes. I'm reading here from Rickstorybercat Journal
dot com. Among the players, Mjcollins and Colby King will
benefit from this preliminary injunction to be able to play. MJ.

(01:40:25):
Collins led Jared Calhoun's Utah State team in scoring last year.
I've also read that Philip Borovichenen, who played e Xavier
last year, was among the players involved in this suit.
I don't know if he will play for the Musketeers
next year, but apparently he gets an extra year of eligibility.

Speaker 2 (01:40:42):
There. There are your local sports headlines.

Speaker 3 (01:40:49):
Among the things that happened last night, Key Brian Hayes
had a good night for the Louisville Bats. He had
a double, he had a homer, and that's good for
Kee Brian Hayes. A lot of folks have wondered, like
Key Brian Hayes will come back, and then what's gonna happen?
And chances are, my guess is what's gonna happen is,

(01:41:11):
assuming he's healthy, they're gonna move on from Euhaneo Suarez
and maybe Nathaniel Lowe and third base is gonna open
up to be Key Brian Hayes is and the trade
deadline is still a little bit more than a month away.
But Euhaneo Suarez plays a lot of third base. When

(01:41:33):
Noel Veey, I'm sorry, when Nathaniel Lowe plays first base.
They have Sal Stewart play third Both have had their
moments in the field, Sal more than Auhanio. But obviously
if you don't have Suarez and you don't have Low,
there's more of a need for somebody else to play
third base, and Key Brian Hayes's only position is third base,

(01:41:54):
although you know, you never know if Tito and Nick
Crawl are going to put their heads together and decide
to have him play center field, because they're always looking
for people to play center field. And so my guess
is keep Brian Hayes gets two months to show that
some of the bad luck narratives that kind of followed

(01:42:16):
him before he got hurt or went on the injured
list are are going to turn into him having some
success at the plate. When they acquired him, I'm sure
they thought that there's something that their coaches, chrispha Lake
and the hitting coach could do with him to get
more out of him as a hitter, and then maybe
you have to make a decision on him by the
end of the year. I do think for those who

(01:42:38):
have looked at Key Brian Hayes through the lens of well,
he's going to come back, and they have other guys
who could play third base, and he's a bad hitter,
and so they're going to cut him loose and just
eat his salary. That doesn't seem to me, at least
in the short term, to be likely. Could it happen
at some point, sure, but let's be honest. What we

(01:43:00):
know about Key Brian Hayes now is the same thing
we knew about him when they traded for him.

Speaker 2 (01:43:06):
Now.

Speaker 3 (01:43:07):
I guess there were two schools of thought when the
Reds traded for him. My school of thought was, this
doesn't make any sense. Why are they adding a guy
with a bad back, who's not a good hitter, who
they're on the hook for for the next four years,
especially at the time the Reds needed offense. And then
there was the school of thought that said, hey, lean
into defense, lean into defense, and just take whatever you're

(01:43:28):
getting from him offensively. Okay, fine, that's how the Reds
looked at it. That's how the Reds looked at it.
They knew he was a bad hitter. They have access
to Baseball Reference, they played against him, they know it is.
His overall shortcomings are he is not a good hitter.
He has been statistically one of the worst hitters in
baseball for quite a while. That was true when they

(01:43:51):
traded for him. That has been confirmed since he's been
a red last two months of last season and up
until he got hurt this year. It doesn't seem likely.
It doesn't seem likely that if you trade for a
guy knowing what he is, and then he gets here

(01:44:12):
and he is what you knew he was, that you
suddenly after less than a year, reverse course and just
move on from him and just eat his salary. Would
they like to trade him?

Speaker 2 (01:44:24):
Maybe?

Speaker 3 (01:44:25):
I'm guessing the answer is yes. Would they like for
a better offensive option at third base to emerge? Of
course they would. I'd be willing to bet they were
really hoping A they would stay in contention and b
that while keep Brian Hayes was out, somebody just killed
it defensively and raked at third base. That hasn't happened.

(01:44:48):
But you're really gonna cut a guy loose and eat
the remainder of his salary if all he has done
is confirm what you already knew about him, And that,
to me is the frustrating part. You made an acquisition
for a guy who is woefully deficient in one area
of the game woefully, and so the fact that he
hasn't hit, and frankly, the fact that he's entered on

(01:45:09):
the EIL with a back issue, those are not surprising.
And trust me, man, I'm among them. I'm probably just
like you. I would love it if they just moved on,
because I want them to move on from bad players
and key Brian Hayes is a bad offensive player for
all of his talents in the field, But I just
don't think it's all that likely that if you knew

(01:45:31):
he can't hit, and he's not hit, and you knew
he was great defensively and he has been wonderful on defense,
and you knew he had a bad back and he
still has a bad back, that within a year of
him being exactly what you knew he was going to be,
that you suddenly let him go with years left on
his contract and money to owe him that you have
to pay. We will see twelve minutes away from six o'clock.

(01:45:55):
This is ESPN fifteen to thirty Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 5 (01:45:57):
Station Cincinnati's ESPN in fifteen thirty traffic.

Speaker 6 (01:46:02):
From the UC Health Traffics Center.

Speaker 2 (01:46:04):
The final of a three game series.

Speaker 3 (01:46:06):
Earlier today, it was the Pirates doubled up by the
Braves in Pittsburgh ten to five. Mets beat the Royals
seven to three New York. The Yankees hammered the Rays
ten to four of that game in Saint Petersburg. Cubs
lost in Baltimore three to two, Cleveland five to two
winners over the Twins. Boston beat the White Sox in
Chicago by a score of two to one. Elsewhere, tonight,

(01:46:26):
Tigers are home for the A's Seattle's at Miami.

Speaker 2 (01:46:30):
By the way, speaking of the A's, I finished a book.

Speaker 3 (01:46:32):
I think it was written five years ago, the Biography
of Ricky Henderson by Howard Bryant. I finished it this morning.
That is a that's a top ten all time baseball book. Elsewhere,
the Brewers are in Saint Louis, Angels take on the
Rangers in Arlington. Padres hosting the Diamondbacks, and the Colorado

(01:46:53):
Rockies visited San Francisco at Oracle Park. You talk about
a season that has spiraled out of control the San
France Go Giants, and there were some pretty lofty hopes
for them eighteen under five hundred. As we get set
for play tonight, Hey, the dude asked what's happening in baseball?

(01:47:13):
I told him what's happening in baseball. So Bryce Harper
is just announced here in Cincinnati that he is going
to participate in his team's home ballpark in this year's
home run Derby Witch. I wish Ellie Dela Cruz would
have been an All Star so he could have participated
in it, because he sounded like he was open to
the idea. Perhaps next year, maybe still in a Reds uniform.

(01:47:34):
And you know what I say, hopefully so, because there
surely have to be other ways to improve upon that
twenty fifth best farm system according to Baseball America. Music
means the show is over. I don't make the rules
tearing us tomorrow. Oh boy, oh goodie. The Baseball Draft

(01:47:54):
is his weekend, So more players we can get excited
about playing for the Reds in four years. We have
an expert on to talk about that and so much more.
Anything you may have missgo finding the iHeartRadio app podcast
of this show service of Long Neck's Sports Grill. We
will talk to you tomorrow at three oh five. My
thanks to Tarren Bland for producing, and of course my

(01:48:14):
thanks to you for listening. Have an unbelievable night, and
we'll talk to you tomorrow. This is ESPN fifteen thirty
Cincinnati Sports station,

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