8/29/25 - The Mo Egger Radio Show - Mo Egger

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

Speaker 2 (00:03):
All right, here we go, Happy Labor Day weekend, and
I've got to think that there's no better way to
start a three day holiday weekend than by sitting back
and relaxing while you enjoy a three hour sports talk
radio show. So thank you, thank you for doing that
with us. Hopefully you're having a great Friday afternoon. My

(00:25):
name is Mallegar. This is ESPN fifteen thirty. We have
a lot to get to. Show preview is available right
now on Twitter thanks to Emery Federal Credit Union, your
credit union with heart since nineteen thirty nine. Go to
EMORYFCU dot org and become a member in thirty minutes.
Dax McCarty from MLS Season Pass is going to join

(00:48):
us FC. Cincinnati has a huge game tomorrow against Philadelphia,
a team day trail by two in the Supporter Shield
and Eastern Conference standings. Tony Pike a little bit later
on season preview, reports Sam Lekira. In the last hour
of this show, Reds and Cardinals tonight so again. Full
show previous available on Twitter at moeger in Kansas City.

(01:09):
Last night, a lot of us wondered, Okay, how's this
gonna be different. How's this gonna be different from twenty
twenty four? Look, it's natural, even in this day and
age where there's so much more roster turnover from one
season to the next, it's natural to take what a
team does in the first game and compare it to
the previous year. In the previous year for the Bearcats

(01:30):
obviously unfolded poorly, especially the last five games. So what
was gonna be different this year? Well, one thing that
was gonna be different this year was the Bearcats were
gonna be able to have some explosive plays. They've remade
their wide receiver room. Brendan Soresby isn't gonna be his
gun shy. He's remade his body. This offense is gonna

(01:51):
be able to tap into things that it couldn't tap
into last year. They're speedy, they're more athletic, they have
more dudes on the outside. They're gonna be a to
stretch the field. They're gonna be able to test defenses.
They're gonna be able to open things up. That was
supposed to be one of the things different this year
from last year. Did last night look or feel different

(02:13):
from last year? Brendan Soorsby completed the game with sixty
nine passing yards. He may have played gutsy, he cleaned
this close to engineering a terrific comeback. He obviously was
a threat with his legs, but he had sixty nine
passing yards. The Bearcat's longest pass play last night went
for fourteen yards. At halftime, Brendan Soorsby had thrown for

(02:34):
twenty yards. His longest pass completion went for ten yards.
So last night's offense looked a lot like the twenty
twenty four offense, especially those last five games when they
had no deep threat. Now let's give credit words due,
which we don't often want to do in sports. Nebraska's
secondary was terrific. Nebraska's secondary kept UC's wide receiver from

(03:00):
getting open, and so a tip of the cap credit
where it's due. Tony and I were talking about this
the night before the game. We were in Kansas City
having a late night beverage and we were talking about,
all right, Cincinnati's wide receiver room has been remade, and
it sure feels like there's a lot of athleticism there,
and it sure feels like there's a lot of speed there.

(03:21):
But you know what, there's not a lot of experience.
Nobody in that group of wide receivers has more than
twenty five catches in a single season at the FBS
level of college football, and so that, combined with Nebraska's
secondary might mean that the sledding isn't as easy as
we would like for it to be in the passing game.

(03:44):
So the antidote to that could be Joe Royer. Joe Royer,
who had a nice first season at UC last year
broke the school's all time single season record for catches
by a tight end. Joe Royer, we were all excited
about coming back, a guy who here is to have
an NFL future. He's talked openly on this show about
needing to use this season to improve his draft stock.

(04:07):
He's a guy that could provide the answer to what
Nebraska might do to Cincinnati's speedy whiteouts. Right like, if
your wideouts can't get open, well, then surely your NFL
caliber tight end should be able to get open or
you should be able to utilize him as a weapon
enough to move the ball and eventually score points. Joe

(04:30):
Royer last night had three catches for eleven yards. That
was supposed to be different last year as good of
a season, as Joe had admit it. Man, you watched
the Bearcats last year, if you're a UC fan, there
were times where it felt like he disappeared last night
for whatever reason.

Speaker 3 (04:45):
Maybe he just can't get open.

Speaker 2 (04:47):
Maybe Nebraska focused on him in ways that allowed them
to take away Cincinnati's deep drats while focusing on the
tight end. Maybe it was on Brendan Soresby. Perhaps you
went it pinned on play calling. That is an asset
that the Bearcats have to be able to take advantage
of this season if the offense is gonna be any better.

(05:07):
We talked on this show yesterday about differences from last
year to this year. The middle eight has to be better,
and I think a little bit more specifically for me,
the last couple of minutes of the first half have
to be better. If you watch the Bearcats last season,
you often saw them make critical mistakes, sometimes on special teams,
oftentimes on special teams, sometimes on offense, sometimes on defense.

(05:30):
Sometimes there was sudden change, sometimes there was a last
second score, whatever it was, it felt like the Bearcats
last season often came undone because they had issues in
the last two minutes of the first half. That's something
that had to change. Last night, the end of the
first half looked like the end of so many first

(05:51):
halves in twenty twenty four. Last year's team had opportunities
to win games if they would have made just one
or two more plays, if they would have finished maybe
one more drive. Chad Brenda and I talked about this yesterday.
Can this year's team make that play? Can this year's

(06:13):
team complete that drive? Can this year's team, when the
game is hanging in the balance, make the play needed
to deliver a victory. The answer last year was often no.
The answer last night was obviously no. And so the
frustrating thing is this, And we could talk about where
the game was played, and we could talk about, you know,

(06:34):
what the Bearcats have on their schedule between now and
the end of the season, and some positives from last night.
I thought U See's defense played fine. It wasn't awesome
by any stretch, but on its heels for part of
the game, the defense last night played fine. They gave
up twenty points in what was effectively a road game,

(06:55):
and we could give credit to the opposition again Nebraska's
secondary Sometimes secondary play doesn't show up as much as
it should on TV. I can tell you from being
an arrowhead stadium. Last night, u see's wide receivers could
not get open. That might be a UC issue, but
it's certainly something you credit Nebraska for. But the overarching
theme I think is that the season opener for the

(07:17):
twenty twenty five Bearcats unfortunately felt and looked a lot
like so many games that the twenty twenty four Bearcats played.
I don't know if you're a Bearcat fan how that's
not insanely frustrating.

Speaker 3 (07:33):
So along with that, last year, the.

Speaker 2 (07:35):
Twenty twenty four team loses its last five games, has
all sorts of issues offensively, has all sorts of issues
on special teams, and to be fair, you see special
teams play last night was fine, in fact pretty damn encouraging.
But at the end of the day, the result is
the same and the way the offense performed was the same,
and so last year's team was deeply frustrating. Last year's

(07:58):
team made a lot of people think, you know what,
the direction the Bearcats are going in is not the
right one. They don't have the right guy, this program
is not a trending in the right direction. That's how
a lot of folks felt last year and understandably so
well when you see something that in many respects looks
and feels and has the same results as last year

(08:22):
than those feelings and those emotions and the analysis that
last year's team sort of stirred up is only going
to be repeated this year.

Speaker 3 (08:31):
We talked a lot for.

Speaker 2 (08:33):
Months about how last night was an opportunity for the
UC football program to with people paying attention, to make
people perk up, to make people start to think, you
know what, maybe this program is going in the right direction.
Maybe this team this season is worth paying attention to.
Maybe the worst of this move to the Big twelve

(08:54):
and the coaching change from fickle to sadderfield is behind us,
and now this team program's about to take off. I
believe you had more people paying attention to U see
football last night than paid attention for much of last season.
I think you had a lot of folks who are
paying attention last night going Okay, I'll give you this
game against Nebraska. Show me something here. It's another team

(09:17):
from another power for a conference. It's another team with
a coach in its third season. It's not a great team.
Nebraska last night didn't look like a team that's capable
of winning the Big Ten, making the college football Playoff.
There's certainly formidable. There's parts of that team that are
pretty damn impressive. I've talked already a bunch today about
the secondary, But all right, go ahead and win a game.

(09:40):
Show me you're different, show me the progress, show me
that offensively you could do things you couldn't do last year,
and show me you could close and win games when
one or two plays will ultimately decide the outcome. I
cannot imagine that a lot of those folks who are
given the Bearcats one chance last night walked away from

(10:01):
that experience watching them lose to Nebraska twenty to seventeen,
feeling like, you know what this is going to be
worth paying attention to. Moving forward fourteen minutes after three o'clock,
my found numbers five one, three, seven, four nine, fifteen
thirty eight six six seven oh two three seven, seven six.
I know for a lot of folks the main issue
was where the game was played, and we're gonna discuss this.

(10:22):
We're gonna discuss this because just a couple of different
points on this I have. I've I've resigned myself to
something that is just sort of basic reality in sports,
certainly intercollegiate sports, and really life overall. We'll get to
that coming up in a bit, and we'll also talk
about the play at the end of the game Brendan

(10:43):
Sorosby was picked off, which sealed the twenty to seventeen
Nebraska victory over Cincinnati. A lot of Bearcat football talk today.
We'll get you set for Reds and Cardinal. Sam Lequire
is going to join us. Sam is as optimistic a
person as I know when it comes to the Reds. Uh,
Cincinnati did have a good night last night because the
Mets loss, so the Reds game and a half game
on New York in the hunt for the last wildcard.

(11:05):
The Mets are here a week from tonight. The question
is where will the Reds be in relation to them
by the time they come here. Cardinals in town for
a three game series. Sam's gonna join us coming up
in the five o'clock hour. No major Bengals news today.
Tony is with me at three forty five, four forty five,
and five forty five for our final season preview reports.

(11:26):
As we get closer to the season, I am going
to tell him how many things, how many games I
think the Bengals win this year and I want his
thoughts on that coming up in just about thirty minutes.
Our phone lines are open five one, three, seven four nine,
fifteen thirty and eight six six seven oh two three
seven seven six. You can send a tweet at Moeger
thanks to Delta Dental. Delta Dental is building healthy, smart,

(11:46):
vibrant communities for all. Good to Delta Dental. Oh dot com.
If the game last night would have been played at
Nippert Stadium, would you see have won?

Speaker 4 (11:56):
Sure?

Speaker 2 (11:57):
Uh, but it wasn't played at Nippert Stadium last night,
and that's just a reflection of reality that we're going
to get to next.

Speaker 3 (12:03):
On ESPN fifteen.

Speaker 1 (12:04):
Thirty, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty traffic.

Speaker 5 (12:10):
From the UCE Health Traffic Center trusts the same team
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Count on. You see Health Orthopedics and Sports Medicine, no
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(12:31):
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Speaker 4 (12:40):
This report is sponsored by fab Tech Expo.

Speaker 2 (12:44):
Since I've stated certainly on social media that if the
game last night would have been played at Nibridge Stadium,
that UC would have won, maybe I think there's a
reasonable case that could be made for that crowd noise
was a factor. Cincinnati had a few pre snap penalties
on the offensive line. It was really loud, to tell

(13:05):
you how loud it was. And look, Nebraska's fan base
is enormous. We've talked for you know, months now about
what the composition of the crowd was going to be.
If you've ever been to a barricat home game, you know,
the UC marching band comes out and they played the
school's alma mater, and then typically they performed the national anthem.

(13:28):
Everybody was quiet during the national anthem, but prior to
that the school's alma mater, you couldn't even hear it.
The Nebraska fans were chanting go Big Red so loud
that with the marching band on the field, you could
not hear what they were playing. You literally at one
point could have convinced me, like, they're not even playing
I don't even playing any music right now, that's how

(13:49):
loud they were.

Speaker 3 (13:50):
So yeah, I mean, was it a factor?

Speaker 5 (13:52):
Sure?

Speaker 2 (13:53):
I kind of think the biggest reason why U see
loss was sixty nine passing yards Like that ain't gonna
cut it. Whether you want to put that on Brendan
sorosby the group of wide receivers, make it all about
Nebraska secondary talk about play calling and look, I mean,
to a degree, all right, guys aren't getting open. As
an offensive play caller, as a designer of plays, it's
your responsibility to figure out ways to use the passing

(14:16):
game and get guys open. And that did not happen
last night. Look, you probably don't need me to tell
you this, but maybe it's worth reminding. Financial considerations are
gonna win out over competitive considerations almost every single time.
There are reasons why conference realignment has cost us so

(14:38):
many great rivalries. There are reasons why we take NCAA
tournament games and start them after ten pm Eastern time
on a Sunday night. There are reasons why schools are
playing in conferences that geographically or competitively make no sense.

(15:00):
You know, what those reasons are. It's the millions of
dollars that are out there in college athletics, and so
I just I will be the first to admit in
an ideal world where competitiveness and the on field product
and winning and losing where the primary considerations in college

(15:21):
sports or professional sports. Yeah, man, Nebraska's got to come
to Nippert Stadium. Now, I don't believe they ever would
have come to Nippert Stadium once that game in twenty
twenty and Lincoln got banged. But sure, in an ideal world,
Nebraska's come in to Knippert Stadium, they sign a home
and home. One game's played that U see. The other

(15:43):
game is played in Lincoln. But in this world that
we're in, where we could talk revenue sharing and where
that money is going to go and what it's going
to pay for, that's a part of the conversation. But
I've just resigned myself to reality, and the reality is
competitive considerations, tradition, history, what might make most sense for

(16:08):
fans take a back seat to getting every single dollar,
especially now, especially when you've got to pay players. Like
there's much about college athletics that I still think is
awesome in fact, I laugh at the people who always
college football is being ruined.

Speaker 3 (16:26):
No it's not.

Speaker 2 (16:27):
College football is actually, in many respects never been better.
College basketball is being ruined.

Speaker 6 (16:33):
No not.

Speaker 2 (16:34):
College basketball is actually in a great place right now.
But yeah, there's a lot of stuff, Like in an
ideal world, you see, is not in the Big Twelve.
They're in a conference with a little bit more geographic
commonality involving schools that are easier for fans to travel to,
like the Big East. I get an ideal world, the
Big East never goes away, or at least it's like

(16:57):
it was back in the late two thousands.

Speaker 3 (16:59):
But it's not anymore. And so UC has had to
go to the Big Twelve.

Speaker 2 (17:03):
There's a lot of financial reasons why, and so we
just sort of accept it and go, you know what,
Now they're gonna have to travel across the country and
go play in places that aren't easy to get to
that fans really are gonna have a hard time getting to.
And they're gonna have to play a lot of games
at ten o'clock at night, late night games and weird travel,
and it's just they're gonna have to play more home

(17:24):
games at nine o'clock at night.

Speaker 3 (17:26):
Is it ideal though? Are there some advantages to it?

Speaker 2 (17:28):
Yes, it's cool watching Cincinnati and basketball play schools like Kansas.

Speaker 3 (17:33):
But is it ideal? Of course not.

Speaker 2 (17:36):
Is it ideal for I always use this example Rutgers
to be in the Big Ten, where now they're in
a conference where they've got schools three time zones away,
and in a conference that competitively they're never gonna matter
in football, doesn't make any competitive sense, doesn't make any
geographic sense. I'm sure it makes a whole lot of

(17:56):
financial sense. So when you just accept those those things,
watching UC take a home game and sell it to
the corn Huskers to move to Nebraska for four and
a half million dollars makes sense.

Speaker 3 (18:11):
And I can't get mad at it.

Speaker 2 (18:14):
Like I didn't walk away from that game at all
going they sold a victory to Nebraska. I looked at
it and said, in this era, especially if you're a
school with UC's athletic and financial profile, you're not saying
no to four point five million dollars.

Speaker 3 (18:32):
You can put this on John Cunningham if you want
to look.

Speaker 2 (18:34):
John Cunningham is in everybody's crossairs because of the lack
of success of his football and men's basketball coaches, and
those criticisms of his hires are going to be legitimate
and fair until those hires get their programs where everybody
wants them. But I would be willing to bet that
pretty much any athletics director, any athletics director at a

(18:58):
school like u SE who has offered a chance to
sell a home game, first to Indianapolis and they were
gonna get I think two point five mil, and then
to Kansas City for four point five mil. When you've
got a whole slew of financial considerations.

Speaker 3 (19:13):
Including paying players.

Speaker 2 (19:16):
There's not an athletics director who could be in that office,
pass present or make believe who would have said no
to four point five million dollars. You might not like
to hear that. I don't like to say it, but
it's one hundred percent true, and so like it's it's
just one of those things we've come to accept in

(19:37):
really college sports that what's best for you and I
maybe what's best for the athletes themselves is going to
take a back seat to raising every dollar possible. And frankly,
to me, selling a game to Nebraska to play in
Kansas City is a lot less offensive to me than
some of the conference realignment stuff that's happened in college sports.

(20:00):
It's the dissolution of rivalries that we've seen in college sports.
Like this bothers me, It almost doesn't bother me at all.
I wish they would have won a game, but it
almost doesn't bother me at all.

Speaker 6 (20:13):
Because I just.

Speaker 2 (20:14):
Understand, I understand the world we live in now. So
you could fire off your tweets about John Cunningham or
send him strongly worded emails, and that's again a lot
of the heat that's kind of being aimed at him.
I think he'd be the first to tell you he
has earned because his two major hires haven't yet delivered
the results we all want. But I think you could

(20:36):
take any athletics administrator and give them the same decision
that John Cunningham had to make about that game, and
they would have made the exact same one. Five point
three seven, four nine, fifteen thirty uh. More on this
coming up a little bit later on Sam Leakier in
the five o'clock hour on the Reds FC. Cincinnati has
a massive game tomorrow against Philadelphia. Dax McCarty MLS season

(20:57):
pass Apple TV joins us to talk about it.

Speaker 1 (21:00):
Next Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty. Traffic from the.

Speaker 5 (21:06):
UC Health Traffic Center. Trusts the same team for your
care that keeps the UC Bearcats on the field. Count
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Visit ucehealth dot com. A disabled vehicle has now been
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(21:27):
of twenty five minutes slow down back from Martin Luther
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Use caution. I'm at ezelic with traffic to.

Speaker 2 (21:38):
Sports headlines in just a few minutes, but I don't
want to make our guest way. FC Cincinnati and the
Philadelphia Union have often this year felt like they were
on a collision course. That collision happens tomorrow the Orange
and Blue, hosting Philadelphia. FC Cincinnati trails a Union by
two in the hunt for the Supporter Shield and for

(21:58):
the top spot in the Eastern Conference. It's a home
game for FC Cincinnati. It starts at seven thirty. You
could watch it on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV,
which is where you'll find MLS great. Dax McCarty, it's
awesome to have you, Dax.

Speaker 3 (22:10):
How are you.

Speaker 7 (22:12):
Doing great, guys, Thanks for having me excited for the
game this weekend.

Speaker 3 (22:15):
Yeah, this is this is going to be fun.

Speaker 2 (22:17):
And I think for me what's most interesting is, you know,
FC Cincinnati is coming off a loss that came at
the end of what for them was a very busy
transfer window. I'm kind of interested to see how their
additions impact the game tomorrow night.

Speaker 7 (22:30):
Yeah, I'm excited to see that as well. Obviously, with Brenner,
that's the big exciting one. He's the difference maker. He's
the one who has been at Cincinnati before and had success.
I really like the move for Pat Noonan and Chris Albright.
My one frustration I think with FC Cincinnati is that

(22:53):
with Evander he's been in MVP form the whole the
entire season. He's fantastic. He's a match winner. Kevin Denk
very similar. He's a match winner, but he's dealt with
injury issues. I don't think they've been able to find
that that third option, that third option you can rely on.
You can put him in the lineup and say he's
going to be a threat in a danger to score.
I love what Kai Kamara has brought to this team.

(23:15):
I think he's been excellent in terms of opening up
space for others and holding the ball up, but he
hasn't scored. He's a striker who has a scored and
that's got to be frustrating for him. I love Etchinike.
He provides pace, but he's probably a little bit more
dynamic on the wing. And then you have Dato Valezuela,
who also is a very good player. I think he
has five or six goals this year. But Brenner just

(23:35):
gives you a little bit something different. He gives you
that killer instinct and that quality in the final third.
I'm really excited to see how he gets reintegrated to
help sincey make this final season pushed.

Speaker 2 (23:46):
There have been so many moving parts to this season
since before it began. I know you're a huge Pat
Noonan fan. I'm not sure how you couldn't be. Does
this season here in Cincinnati represent his best coaching job?

Speaker 8 (24:01):
Oh that's a tough one. That's like picking your favorite kid, right. Uh,
he he's he's all you know.

Speaker 7 (24:07):
He's already won the Shield, and so I think anytime
you win a trophy, you have to consider that as
just an excellent coaching performance top to bottom, and then
excellent performance from the team.

Speaker 8 (24:20):
But I think with all of the.

Speaker 7 (24:23):
All of the things that Cincinnati had to navigate in
the offseason with the Lucho Acosta stuff, I think for
sure this is right up there with one of Pat
Noonan's best years as a head coach. He is a
guy who never he never gets too high and he
never gets too low. That's what I love about him.

Speaker 8 (24:40):
He's so balanced, he's so even keel.

Speaker 7 (24:44):
I would I played for a few managers like that,
and it just it just there was a there's a silent,
quiet confidence that comes along with playing for a manager
like that, and that shows through in the way that
FC Cincinnati plays. And listen, I would say they haven't
always got it perfect.

Speaker 6 (25:00):
This year.

Speaker 7 (25:00):
They've lost three home games in a row in all competitions.
And if you want to challenge for trophies and if
you want to win the Supporter Shield, well that that
can't happen. You have to make sure you take care
of your home games and then just see what you
can get on the road. So they've had a little
bit of a dip lately at FC Cincinnati. Obviously Evander
returning to Portland and having a masterclass performance. You know,

(25:21):
that was all just individual brilliance. But as it relates
to Pat Noonan, he's just had another great year.

Speaker 8 (25:26):
It's right up there with one of the best of them.

Speaker 7 (25:28):
I hope Cincinnati fans realize and understand how good they
have it after not so great of a start to
their MLS tenure.

Speaker 2 (25:35):
I think so, I think, And you could obviously fold
Chris Albright into the conversation because it is it has
felt like even when it seems like, you know what,
they're deficient on the back end, or are you know
the way the whole thing with Lucho Acosta went down,
it feels like the front office always has an answer.
And you know, we talk a lot about Pat noon
and I think you're exactly right. I think to me,

(25:56):
the mark of a great coach is one of the
marks of a great coach is at least when you
know one loss does a become two.

Speaker 3 (26:03):
This team has always moved on from.

Speaker 2 (26:04):
Adversity, but I think the way he and Chris kind
of handled all the stuff that was going on before
the season speaks to the commonality, the shared vision those
two have, and just how it feels like Chris Albright
has a plan for everything that goes wrong.

Speaker 8 (26:19):
Chris Albright has been fantastic.

Speaker 7 (26:20):
He is the guy behind the scenes that's pulling all
the strings and making sure that everything runs smoothly. Or
Pat Newton has a vision, Chris Albright executes that vision
and I love that about them. And I answered this
question on Saint Louis Radio the other day.

Speaker 8 (26:37):
They said, you know, how much do you value now in.

Speaker 7 (26:40):
A sporting director and maybe a head coach, MLS experience,
MLS know how And I said, quite frankly, guys, I
think we're trending in a direction that that's not going
to matter as much. But you have to take every
single individual situation on its own.

Speaker 8 (26:57):
And for FC Cincinnati specifically, a.

Speaker 7 (26:59):
Team that tried to go and hire foreign coaches, initially
they had a sporting director who didn't know the league. Initially,
I think it was the perfect decision for them to
go and say, hey, that's a really stable, successful club
in the Philadelphia Union, and we need to go and
figure out what they do so well and then we

(27:19):
need to copy that.

Speaker 8 (27:20):
And what did they do?

Speaker 7 (27:21):
They went and got a great coach that worked in
a successful team in Pat Noonan, and they got Chris Albright,
who had worked for one of the more successful front
offices in the Philadelphia Union. And for me, what I
look at is just sustainability. You have a sustainability with
Cincinnati now that four or five years ago I would
have never thought you could have gotten to just merely

(27:41):
because of the lack of results and the turnover with
the coaching staff.

Speaker 8 (27:45):
It was just too much to handle.

Speaker 7 (27:47):
So every situation is unique, and I think Cincinnati ownership
knocked it out of the park with those two.

Speaker 2 (27:53):
Dax McCarty MLS season pass joining us FC Cincinnati hosting
the Philadelphia Union. There was a stretch in the middle
of the season where it felt like Philadelphia was never
going to lose. If you're Pat Noonan and you're trying
to get three points and leapfrog them in the race
for the Supporter Shield, when you look at Philadelphia, what's
the first thing that gives you concern?

Speaker 7 (28:14):
Oh, guys, I got to say, this is my favorite
matchup of the MLS regular season up to this point.

Speaker 8 (28:21):
I mean, we're talking about two heavyweights here.

Speaker 7 (28:23):
Two teams that I absolutely think have the chops to
go on and not just win the Shield, but also
win MLS Cup.

Speaker 8 (28:31):
And if you remember.

Speaker 7 (28:31):
Back to early in the season, Philadelphia kicked the crap
out of Sinci. That was a big wake up call
for them. I believe it was a ty Baribo hat trick.
The one thing you have to do if you're Cincinnati
right from the get go is realize that every time
you play Philadelphia you are going to be in for
a fight. And Philly, that's their floor is making sure

(28:53):
that they run, that they tackle, and that they win
second balls. Cincinnati hasn't always been able to do that
very well. This year, they've kind of gotten bullied in
midfield at times. Wobado is a great player, but he's
had his injury issues. I think Brian and Nunga, one
of my former teammates, has filled in for him admirably.
But there are times where with Pavel Buca and Evander

(29:14):
getting into the attack that FC Cincinnati midfield gets overrun
at times. In Philly, they play a narrow formation, They've
got a ton of bodies in the middle of the field.
If you don't have bodies.

Speaker 8 (29:25):
In the middle of the field that can win duels.
You're already in trouble.

Speaker 7 (29:28):
But this Philly team has just as much attacking quality
now that FC Cincinnati has. So it's gonna be a
big test for Pat Noonan and FC Cincinnati, especially the
back line where you have really informed strikers to go
along with a really solid midfield.

Speaker 8 (29:42):
I absolutely love the matchup.

Speaker 7 (29:44):
I don't think there's a clear favorite here, just because
Cincinnati's home form makes me question if they're really going
to be able to go on and lift the shield.
This is kind of a statement of intent game, a
proverbial six pointer, if you will. I think if Cincinnati
doesn't take three points here, they don't go on to
win the Shield because Philly's already two points ahead, and
Cincinnati needs this game more than Philly does. It's gonna

(30:07):
be an absolute showdout. Its gonna be great, guys. I
can't wait.

Speaker 2 (30:09):
Yeah, I'm excited. It should be fun, Dax. I appreciate
the time, man, Thank you very much.

Speaker 8 (30:14):
Always a pleasure anytime, guys.

Speaker 2 (30:16):
You got it, You got it. That's Dax McCarty. MLS
Season pass Apple TVFC Cincinnati hosting Philadelphia. The match starts
at seven point thirty. Watch it all on Apple TV's
MLS Season Pass, and of course you can listen to
it on ESPN fifteen thirty. All right, we quickly here
have to do sports headlines. A not a not much
of a newsday for the Bengals, although Jabrill Peppers the

(30:40):
safety was cut by the New England Patriots, and you
know the Bengals could use another safety, so that might
be worth paying attention to Bengals and Browns. A week
from Sunday Live on ESPN fifteen thirty. A massive weekend
of college football got underway last night. It comes to
a head tomorrow at noon Ohio State versus top rank
Texas game. Is that twelve are are we still complaining

(31:02):
about the start time of Buckeye games when they're at
twelve o'clock?

Speaker 3 (31:05):
Is that still? Or like they won the title so
we're not complaining about anything.

Speaker 4 (31:08):
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (31:09):
Noon tomorrow, No, we're still We're still complaining. But you're
taking that sweet Fox money right of course.

Speaker 4 (31:14):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (31:15):
Okay, Noon tomorrow in Columbus, Kentucky takes on Toledo. That
game kicks at twelve forty five. Expectations not exactly massive
in Lexington these days. Twelve forty five tomorrow on ESPN
fifteen thirty. Also, twentieth Rae at Indiana will host Old
Dominion as soon as we're done tonight at six. It's
High School Football Tonight on ESPN fifteen thirty, and then

(31:35):
we've got the Saint X versus Centerville game following, and
then the postgame edition of High School Football tonight. After
that game, Reds and Cardinals first of a nine game
homestand for Cincinnati, beginning of a three game series. Zach
Lttel and Matthew Liberatore will be on the hill. He's
a left East six forty tonight seven hundred WLW Cincinnati

(31:56):
game a half game on the Mets last night, so
they're four back in New York times on Miami this evening.
And you just heard us talk to docks of Ccincinnati
battles Philadelphia tomorrow at the Soccer Venue in the West
End of Cincinnati at seven thirty, also on ESPN fifteen thirty.
All right, it's our final day of season preview reports
with Tony Pike.

Speaker 3 (32:15):
He joins us.

Speaker 1 (32:16):
Next Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty. Traffic from the.

Speaker 5 (32:23):
UC Health Traffic Center trusts the same team for your
on you see health Orthopedics and sports medicine no matter
the injury, visit ucehealth dot com. On westbound two seventy five.
It's an accident at Turkey Foot Road that's blocking off
the left the lane. A three minutes to laid back
from Madison Pike. Keep an eye up for debris on

(32:45):
the roadway westbound seventy four before North Bend and an
accident on ridge at Montgomery Road. I'm at Ezelik with traffic.

Speaker 4 (32:53):
This report is a sponsored is a season preview report
go to you by Comba Credit Union on your official
home of the Cincinnati Bengals ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 2 (33:05):
You know, Tony has joined us at three forty five,
four forty five and five forty five every day for
over a month, and today is the last day, and
so I'm getting a little emotional Tony.

Speaker 3 (33:16):
It's it's good to have you, but I'm kind of sad.

Speaker 9 (33:20):
It is emotion. Do you think you're more emotional now
or will you be more emotional tomorrow when Lee Corso
picks his final head gear?

Speaker 2 (33:27):
Well, Lee Corso has been a part of my life
since I was a kid, so probably Lee, but that
doesn't make this moment any less emotional.

Speaker 9 (33:35):
Okay, I'll take that.

Speaker 2 (33:37):
Jabrill Peppers has been released by the New England Patriots,
and the Internet wants the Bengals to sign him.

Speaker 3 (33:42):
Should they.

Speaker 9 (33:45):
If it's an upgrade?

Speaker 6 (33:46):
Yeah?

Speaker 9 (33:46):
Like I'm at the point with I think offensive guard, safety,
and even defensive line that if they went out and
signed someone, I would take it as an upgrade. And
I don't know what else Jabriel Peppers has in tank,
but what I do know is there is immense question
marks around the secondary and the safety position for the

(34:07):
Cincinnati Bengals. And much like we said with Noah Fant,
much like we said with Dalton Reisner, who are not
all pros at this point in their career, are the
Bengals better with them than without them? And I think
the answer to both of those is yes, if you
had a guy like Jabriel Peppers, I would say the
same thing.

Speaker 2 (34:24):
The Bengals will go into this season with an offensive
line that many believe is the best one that Joe
Burrow has played behind.

Speaker 3 (34:31):
That's fine.

Speaker 2 (34:32):
My question is can it actually be a good offensive
line because there's a difference.

Speaker 9 (34:37):
Yeah, I think that has yet to be determined, and
I think that a lot plays out to is it
Lucas Patrick for the long term, is it Dalton Reisner?
How does the guard position shake out? And let's not
be around it as well. Orlando Brown Junior has to
be better than what he was last year. He was
not good enough at times, and his Pro Football Focus
grade shows that Ted Carris needs to be better at

(34:59):
times in the play will help that as well. And
you've got to have a Marius Mems and Fairchild be
able to move to that next step. For fair Child
his rookie year, for MEM's year number two, there's a
lot of stuff you haven't seen that you just got
to react to on the fly. I think it's the
best Joe Burrow's head to this point, but it still
has a lot of question march around it.

Speaker 2 (35:20):
Yeah, I would agree with that wholeheartedly. Tony will chat
again coming up at four forty five. Thank you so much.

Speaker 9 (35:27):
I can't wait.

Speaker 3 (35:28):
I know me either.

Speaker 2 (35:28):
Tony Pike joins us one more day every hour three
forty five, four forty five, and five forty five, but
he and I will be together one week from this
coming Monday. The first Tony and Mo Football Show is
going to be at Twin Peaks in Westchester. The Tony

(35:49):
and Mo Football Show will be in its eleventh season.
Tony and I obviously Tony does since he three to
sixty and I do you know my little radio show here.
But on Mondays during football season, we we get together
at Twin Peaks and we hang out and we talked
about the game the day before, everything happening with the Bengals,
everything happening.

Speaker 3 (36:06):
In the NFL.

Speaker 2 (36:07):
We do some uc some college football, and Twin Peaks
is going into its sixth year being the host of
the Tony and Mo Football Show. And there's obviously two
here in the area. You've got Westchester and you've got Florence,
and we rotate. So the first two shows are going
to be in Westchester. The first show is going to
be September, the eighth we will be there. Twin Peaks

(36:27):
is absolutely awesome. They're such great hosts and we are
so excited to be back at Twin Peaks beginning a
week from Monday. The Tony and Mo Football Show is
always a blast. What was not a blast was watching
the Bearcats lose last night. More on the decision to
have the game played at Arrowhead Stadium, and the decision

(36:48):
to have Brendan Sorosby, which was probably Brendan Soarsby's throw deep.

Speaker 3 (36:52):
I'll make that make sense. Next on ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 4 (36:56):
Hey, listen is near ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati's sports station.

Speaker 2 (37:03):
That's right, that's.

Speaker 3 (37:05):
Right, Cincinnati Sports station.

Speaker 2 (37:08):
Damn it, what's up? This is ESPN fifteen thirty on Molegger.
Hopefully your Labor Day weekend is off to a great,
great start. I said great, great, but he actually talks Now,
I think we are the only people right now. Well,
I mean, let's this is the one Friday of the

(37:28):
year because you know, our friends at WEBN, they're a
little fireworks display on Sunday, Western and Southern WEBN fireworks,
which is all kidding aside, an unbelievable undertaking, and I
know how hard our colleagues work on it. But that
means like, this is the one Friday where you see
folks in the office here getting ready for Sunday night.

(37:49):
But beyond that, beyond those folks and beyond you know,
emergency personnel. I think we are the only people working
right now on a Friday before the Labor Day holiday
but that's okay because this is fun. This doesn't really work.
These aren't real jobs. I'm sitting in an air condition
room talking about sports. Unfortunately, I'm not talking about a

(38:09):
Bearcat victory yesterday. More on that than just a second.
I wanted to spend just a second. You know, Tony
mentioned Lee Corso. Tomorrow is Lee Corso's final broadcast. He's
gonna be on College Game Day. I was just reading
during the break. Obviously there's two major college football pregame
shows now, with College Game Day, which is an institution,

(38:31):
and Big Noon Kickoff, which is I don't watch on
a regular basis because I'm a huge game day guy.
That said, I think for nuts and bolts football talk,
Big Noon Kickoff at times can actually be a superior show.
They're gonna show on Fox's show. They're gonna show Lee
Corso's final headgear pick on ESPN. And I said to

(38:55):
Tony during since he three to sixty, like when he
signs off, I'll get emotional. First of all, like it's
like when Marty did his last game. It's like, all right,
the guy who's been doing reds game since before I
was born, suddenly isn't doing him anymore, like it's a
part of my life. And I've watched College Game Day
since I was in high school, really since before they
took it on the road on a weekly basis, and

(39:16):
soe Lee Corso as over the last fifteen years or
so has sort of been cast and very very understandably,
So is in a sort of the grandfather sweet you know,
old man. And I've always thought it's been very touching
watching specifically Kirk Kerbstreet, how he treats Lee Corso on

(39:37):
the set, how he's you know, sometimes you'll see him
holding his hand because Lee Corso's older. I went ninety
years old, had a stroke fifteen years ago, and I
think you could learn a lot about how to treat
people watching Kirk Kerbstreet and the rest of that cast
treat Lee Corso. But there was a time where he
was like this dude who was willing to be, you know,
the heel character and was like one of the few

(39:58):
analysts who had actually call out other coaches, and he
wasn't afraid to go on the road where College Game
Day was and pick the other team and sometimes dump
all over the other team. And so his last broadcast tomorrow,
more than anything I love you know, there are so
many different shows where people talk about football, and I
think this is maybe more of an NFL thing than

(40:20):
a college thing. But like sometimes when you watch the
NFL Draft, or when you watch NFL Draft coverage, meaning
the you know, the shows around the draft, it's like
the people on set are talking about international affairs like
national They have these grim expressions and they look really,
really serious, and it's like we're still talking about sports.

(40:44):
What I've always loved about leek orso, and he has
talked about this. He has leaned into the E in ESPN,
which is entertainment. And I listened to a podcast last
week where it was somebody was talking about how when
he got into broadcasting, when he got into television, he decided,
I want to be the Dick Vital of college football.

Speaker 3 (41:05):
And I'm a huge Dick Vital fan.

Speaker 2 (41:06):
I don't think anybody in the history of college basketball
has done more to promote and celebrate the sport than
Dick Vitale. But that is somebody who always leaned into
the fact that this is supposed to be entertainment and
this is supposed to be fun. And so I think
college football is now slightly less fun now that Lee
Corso is about to to do his last broadcast tomorrow

(41:28):
on ESPN.

Speaker 3 (41:32):
You see loses.

Speaker 2 (41:32):
Last night, Brendan Soresby threw a pass downfield at the
end of the game. I love aggressive play calling, and
I love aggressive play I love like I want to
see coaches go for two when they're down by one
in the last minute, and I want to see coaches
go forward on fourth down more often, and I like

(41:54):
it when coaches say screw it. I'm not going to
make a decision because I'm afraid of the post game questions.
I'm going to make a decision because I think it
gives our team the best chance of winning. So when
you want aggressiveness, either with your coaches or your quarterbacks,
there are gonna be times where maybe they're a little

(42:14):
bit too aggressive for your liking. Brendan Sorosby threw a
pass down field last night at the end of the
game that was unfortunately intercepted, and it sealed the game
for Nebraska, and it thwarted this last second comeback bid,
and it capped off what offensively was from a passing
excuse me, from a passing perspective, a pretty needless to

(42:37):
say frustrating night for the Bearcats. Brendan Sorosby's got to
throw a better ball there. Tony Pike is the quarterback
expert around here, but we were talking about that after
the game, and he talked about it today on Sincy
three to sixteen, Like, that's a ball that when you
throw it, there are three possible outcomes. Two are fine.
One outcome is obviously it's caught. The other is it's incomplete,

(43:06):
it cannot be intercepted. And the dB Malcolm Hertzog made
a great play, like a terrific play in the ball,
and you've got to give him credit. I feel like
Brendan Soresby kind of sold telegraph where the ball was
gonna go.

Speaker 3 (43:19):
The actual decision itself.

Speaker 2 (43:22):
I'll be honest with you, I didn't love Bearkatz had
just gotten a first down, they had some time, they
had the field goal in all likelihood in their back pocket.
I don't know that I loved them going for it there.
But if you're gonna be the guy the fan who
wants them to be aggressive, there are gonna be moments
where they're aggressive and okay, so be it. It happens,

(43:45):
it's just got to be a better throw. It's just
got to be a better ball. Brendan Soresby last night
was terrific with his legs. I put the struggles of
the passing game more on the receivers for not getting
open and more on the coaching staff to a degree
for not coming up with ways to get receivers open

(44:08):
than I do on Brendan Soresby. But from a passing perspective, look,
it just wasn't a very productive night. And so when
you're a quarterback who puts up sixty nine passing yards,
you're gonna have a fair amount of criticism aimed at you.
And Brendan Sorosby is a very likable kid. I've talked

(44:28):
about this on this show. He's come on this show
and he's talked about this like this is a dude.
When he was recruited to UC, he would instantly talk
to coaches and they would automatically talk about how this
is a guy who treats this like a job. He's
a total pro just has every leadership quality, understands the
work that has to be put in, has been proactive

(44:48):
and recruiting players from other programs to come to U. See,
there's a lot to like about him, and as a quarterback,
he certainly has had his moments, but there's kind of
a low ceiling there. So all right, in college football
in this day and age, you kind of get what
you could afford, you know. Matt Rule at Nebraska talked

(45:10):
about this a couple of years ago, and people on
the internet got big mad. Now people on the internet,
that's what they live for, reasons to be big mad,
But they got big mad at Matt Rule for kind
of explaining like, if we want better quarterback play, and
this is for they recruited Dylan Royola, here's what it's
gonna cost. I don't know what Brendan Sorosby makes. I'm
gonna guess it's on the lower range of FBS quarterbacks

(45:32):
or maybe middle of the pack. So if you want
somebody better, chances are you're gonna have to go pay him,
and you're gonna have to pay him a lot of money,
a whole lot of money. And if you're banging on
the table today going, look, this program is never gonna
take off until they have better quarterback play that they're
gonna have to go get and pay for. You can't
say that, And then in the next breath, complain that

(45:56):
they sold the home game to the Nebraska Cornhuskers to
move to Kansas City for four and a half million dollars.
Like this is a part of it now, man, and
you may celebrate it, as for the most part, I
do because I want the athletes to get paid I want.
I don't think there should be a cap. I believe

(46:18):
in free markets. I think everybody in the United States
of America ought to be able to go get every
time they can, including college athletes, and so I'm here
for this, but I also understand what it means somebody's
gonna come up with that money like that.

Speaker 3 (46:33):
You're gonna have to raise a lot of damn money.

Speaker 2 (46:35):
In order to pay for what we all want, which
is coaches fielding the best possible team with the best
possible players.

Speaker 3 (46:42):
When that's the reality we're in, You're.

Speaker 2 (46:45):
Not turning down four and a half million dollars to
play a football game in Kansas City.

Speaker 3 (46:52):
Now.

Speaker 2 (46:52):
What you want is a team that's better than the
one the Bearcats have.

Speaker 3 (46:57):
And by the way, maybe this uct ends up being
pretty good.

Speaker 2 (47:00):
I certainly talked to Bearcat fans today who are optimistic
about how they played, that they didn't pass it well
and still had a chance at the end, that they
showed some promise in the running game, that the defense
more than held its own, that the special teams appears
to be better. All fair and reasonable takeaways, by the way,
but you want the best possible team. The way to

(47:21):
get the best possible team is to be able to
afford it. The best way to afford the best possible
team is to take checks when they're handed to you
that have four point five million dollars in the little
box with the amount. So I don't know how you
kill them for moving the game to Kansas City. When
Nebraska come in a Nippert Stadium have been awesome, shore

(47:45):
they're not gonna and look man, yes they're in the
Big twelve, and yes, you see football is spent most
of the last i don't know, sixteen seventeen years being
a success, and they've played in the College Football Playoff
and all of that.

Speaker 3 (47:58):
It's it's it.

Speaker 2 (48:00):
It's still gonna be really hard to get big name programs,
name brand programs to come to Nippert Stadium and look, man,
maybe maybe that changes, maybe over the next few years
with the SEC moving to a nine game model where
they're going to guarantee every school is going to play
one power for opponent. Maybe maybe that gets a team

(48:26):
that people have heard of to come to the Nippert Stadium. Perhaps,
I don't know that I would. I don't know that
I would hold my breath. I mean, like, if you
look at just over the next couple of years, next year,
Boston College has come into Knippert Stadium.

Speaker 3 (48:42):
Now that's an ACC school.

Speaker 2 (48:45):
Boston College the first school you think about when the
ACC comes to mind. They go to Boston College in
twenty twenty seven, and then twenty eight and twenty nine
are home and home series with Boise State Boise State,
which got clobbered yesterday by USF ranked Boise State team
clabberd by USF.

Speaker 3 (49:04):
Boise State still plays in the Mountain West.

Speaker 2 (49:07):
And then you know, starting in twenty thirty there are
no future opponents, or at least powerful opponents on the schedule.
They have a road game at Army in twenty thirty one, which,
by the way, you should go to that because there's
no cooler setting in college football than Mikey Stadium. And
then the Nebraska game in twenty thirty three is going
to be in Lincoln. I think it's going to be
really hard to get like big name brand schools still

(49:28):
to come to Nippert Stadium. So you're gonna have to
either take checks to play one offs like they did
with Arkansas, like they did with Notre Dame, or come
up with something creative where maybe, yeah, there's a road
game and there's a neutral site game, and you take
a check to play the neutral site game.

Speaker 3 (49:47):
However it works, but.

Speaker 2 (49:50):
You can't on one hand, demand that they raise every
dollar possible to buy every good player possible and then
get mad at them when they go cool in the
day and age of revenue sharing, we're gonna take four
point five million dollars, Like, it doesn't work that way.
You may hate the era that we're in, but that's
not changing. You may think it's bad that the the

(50:14):
athletes are getting paid. I could not disagree more, but
that's not changing. So how do you pay them? Like,
if you could tell me another way that the school
could have raised four point five million dollars to help
fund the program and pay athletes, I'm all ears, Like,
if you're gonna say no to that, If you're gonna

(50:35):
say no, we're not We're not moving the game, and
we're not moving it, well, then you have to have
a plan B to make up for the four point
five million dollars you've turned down. I said this in
the first hour of the show. There is I don't
think an athletics director in the United States who either

(50:57):
at a school similar to UC or if you took
John Cunningham out and plopped him into his office at
U SEE would have said, nah, we're not taking four
point five million dollars.

Speaker 6 (51:10):
Again.

Speaker 3 (51:11):
Competitively, yeah, it stinks.

Speaker 2 (51:12):
Man. Would have been a hell of a lot of
fun to have Nebraska and Nipperts Stadium. In an ideal world,
that would have happened. We do not live in an
ideal world where a competitive uh concerns trump financial concerns.

Speaker 3 (51:27):
And so you could have watched Brendan.

Speaker 2 (51:29):
Soresby last night and thought, this program's not going to
take off until they have a better quarterback, a quarterback
who's better at throwing the ball downfield, and look, maybe
Brendan will improve, we'll see. I certainly did see him
do some really good things when I went and watched
him in fall camp. But if you're gonna say that,
then it's gonna cost a lot of damn money, which
means U SEE is not in a position to turn

(51:51):
down a lot of damn money. Nineteen after four five
point three, seven four nine, fifteen thirty gets in eight
sixty six, seven oh two three seven seven six one
more season pre you report with Tony Pike. Sam Lecuire
is going to join us in the five o'clock hour
the Reds and Cardinals tonight. Cincinnati just came off a
road trip where the back end was just disastrous. Elie

(52:12):
Dela Cruz in the second half has been a problem
both at the plate and in the field. Bullpenn's got
some overwork guys, and I feel like most or at
least many, believe that the season is circling down the drain.
We'll see if Sam can address any of those issues
coming up in about an hour on ESPN fifteen thirty
Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 1 (52:30):
Station, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty Traffic from.

Speaker 5 (52:36):
The UC Health Traffic Center. Trusts the same team for
your care that keeps the UC Bearcats on the field.
Count on you see Health Orthopedics in sports Medicine. No
matter the injury visit you seehealth dot Com. Cruz have
got eastbound US fifty closed off between seventy one and
four to seventy one. That as a motorcade makes through
the area southbound seventy five at Cooper Avenue, it's an

(52:59):
accident on the left shoulder and one more accident on
Ridge Avenue at Montgomery. I'm at eazelic with traffic. This
report a sponsored This.

Speaker 2 (53:08):
Is ESPN fifteen thirty. I just had to restart my
computer or I would have posted today's poll question. When
I do, it'll be thanks to United Heartland Insurance. Do
this after Labor Day weekend. See what you're paying for insurance,
whether it's car, home, boat, life, business, insurance, whatever it is.

(53:28):
See what you're paying and then reach out to the
folks at United Heartland Insurance and see if maybe they
could offer you something to cost less. Check out uhi
NS dot com UH five one three seven nine fifteen thirty. Bob,
you're on ESPN fifteen thirty. Bob, good afternoon. How are you?

Speaker 10 (53:47):
Oh? I'm doing great?

Speaker 9 (53:49):
Can I have ten seconds?

Speaker 6 (53:50):
Please?

Speaker 3 (53:51):
You can have more than ten seconds?

Speaker 6 (53:52):
Go ahead, Well let me start it.

Speaker 10 (54:00):
Did you book being all this.

Speaker 3 (54:05):
Come to you?

Speaker 7 (54:10):
All right?

Speaker 10 (54:11):
I'm I'm done. Did you know where I was going.

Speaker 2 (54:29):
No, no, I I been I didn't know when you
needed ten seconds.

Speaker 3 (54:33):
No, And then it made me laugh.

Speaker 10 (54:39):
Hey, I'll say this, I am. I am actually more
impressed than I have been in two or three years.
I thought they played pretty well, and they threw the
ball horribly, which you know is obvious and and and I,
like you would probably me more inclined to put that

(55:04):
more on the coaching staff and the receivers. But the
thing is, I don't know who the kid is from Wisconsin,
but I don't want I don't know why he only
ran the ball seven times in the game.

Speaker 3 (55:16):
Tyllie Walker.

Speaker 2 (55:17):
Yeah, he and Evan Pryor had to combine twelve carries.
I think part of it was they couldn't extend drive,
so they didn't get first downs. And on first down
you're going to run it more. But I would shrink
the running back rotation to those two guys. Last night
was not a ninety five degree night. Last night was
not a game played at a break neck pace. I
would have leaned on those two guys, especially Tywee Walker.

Speaker 3 (55:39):
A lot more.

Speaker 10 (55:41):
And I'll tell you, quite honestly, Soresbrey to me. Yeah,
he didn't throw the ball well last night. But man,
one of the tough kids runs hard. And you know what,
I got to be honest. Idea of the Scott Sanderfield
thing for me has has never been something that I
like or was in favor of or anything else. But

(56:03):
I'll say this, for the first time, I think since
they've been in the Big Twelve, they came on the
field and they did not look the least bit physically intimidated.
And I thought, I thought for it. You know, Nebraska
was always known as a physical team, and I'm sure

(56:25):
not quite as much as they used to be now.

Speaker 2 (56:27):
But.

Speaker 9 (56:29):
They they they gave it to them.

Speaker 10 (56:32):
I thought they played really well well.

Speaker 2 (56:34):
I do think that that is the best I think
that's the most ready to match another team's physicality that
they've looked since entering the Big Twelve.

Speaker 3 (56:44):
I'll agree with that.

Speaker 2 (56:45):
Now, there was a stretch in the second quarter where
it kind of felt like they were being pushed around
a little bit, especially without Dante Corleone in the game.
But yeah, look, they ran the ball effectively. That's good. Defensively,
I don't know that you could have asked for that
much more. They gave up two touchdowns and one was
on a short field. If you would have told me

(57:06):
going into last night that the Bearcats are going to
hold Nebraska in what is effectively a road game to
twenty points, I would have said, signed me up for that.
The one touchdown drive was twenty four yards after the
turnover late in the first half, and so that's certainly
something you could hang your hat on. I stopped short
of saying they played well because part of what they

(57:27):
were supposed to do was throw the ball a little
bit better. This year, they couldn't work in Joe Royer
the way they need to. They were only three of
ten on third down. They were minus two in turnovers. Obviously,
the one came at the end of the game. The
time of possession was too dramatically skewed in favor of Nebraska,
close to forty minutes to twenty. Did they do some
encouraging things, sure, and look, if they make the play

(57:50):
at the end of the game, we're overlooking a lot
of the things they didn't do well. But a hallmark
of this team over the last couple of years has
been that when they need to make the play, they
don't make it, and until that changes, nothing else really matters.

Speaker 10 (58:04):
My only argument was last night at all, MO was
I gotta believe that you could be more inventive and
somehow find a way to slip that number eighteen guy
into the game.

Speaker 3 (58:18):
Yeah, I mean they tried to end around at one point.

Speaker 2 (58:21):
I just it. Nebraska's secondary is awesome, and you see
these wide receivers, you might say, look, there's a little
bit of a learning curve here because of an experience,
a lack of Familion familiarity.

Speaker 3 (58:33):
I'll buy all that.

Speaker 2 (58:33):
It did not feel like there was anything done from
a creative perspective to get guys open, you know, the
Joe Royer thing. I thought Joe Royer had the chance
to have a huge game last night, and as much
as I like Joe, he was barely noticeable. And maybe
some of that's on him, but yeah, I think the
people in charge of designing the offense could have done

(58:56):
a better job of coming up with ways to offset
and a us to what Nebraska was doing.

Speaker 3 (59:01):
Bob, it's always a pleasure I get to run.

Speaker 10 (59:03):
Dude, you didn't get what I was trying to tell
you the way to slip number eighteen into the game, though.

Speaker 2 (59:12):
It did go over my head, Bob, I got home
at six o'clock this morning. So I'm operating a task
iks they should have would have been nice, would have
been would have been nice to get Travis into the
football game.

Speaker 6 (59:23):
Yes, four thirty.

Speaker 2 (59:28):
Uh, Brendanman and Jones on baseball is coming up? So
is Tony Pike Sports Headlines or next on ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 1 (59:38):
Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty. Traffic from the UC.

Speaker 5 (59:43):
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Speaker 2 (01:00:14):
First show on the iHeartRadio app.

Speaker 3 (01:00:18):
Why aren't we playing pretty young things?

Speaker 4 (01:00:24):
We know today? MO would have been Michael Jackson sixty
seven three.

Speaker 2 (01:00:26):
It would have been Michael Jackson sixty seven third. Today
found the instrumental version of pyt huh yep. Actually Michael
Jackson Thriller. The first record I ever had. My dad
bought it for me. Maybe my mom bought it for.

Speaker 3 (01:00:45):
Like nineteen eighty three or nineteen eighty four.

Speaker 2 (01:00:47):
First record I ever owned vinyl, And nowadays you get
these like, folks, oh, vinyl. It sounds so much better,
you know, it does with them. You know what, I
bet you my mom does. I had this record player
in my now see thumb just like showing my age here,
but I had this record player in my room and
I listened to that NonStop. And then I remember my

(01:01:10):
mom got so tired of hearing that one record that
she took me to the store and was like, just
buy anything, just one more record, And that ended up
being Off the Wall, which was another Michael Jackson record.

Speaker 3 (01:01:25):
All Right.

Speaker 2 (01:01:25):
Sports headlines are a service of Kelsey Chevrolet Home of
Lifetime powertrain protection and a guarantee credit approval from their
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pitch on seven hundred WLW. Your starting lineup tonight, Zach

(01:01:49):
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Jose Travino is catching and batting seventh Kee, Brian Hayes
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(01:02:10):
tonight and batting ninth.

Speaker 3 (01:02:12):
Red's come in to play tonight.

Speaker 2 (01:02:13):
Four games behind the Mets in the hunt for the
last Wildcards bout, New York takes on Miami tonight after
losing to them last night. College football tomorrow on ESPN
fifteen thirty. It's Kentucky season opener against Toledo, kickoff at
twelve forty five.

Speaker 3 (01:02:26):
Also in the area.

Speaker 2 (01:02:28):
Number one Texas, Number three Ohio State That game in
Columbus at noon twentieth rae Ed Indiannimal take on Old Dominion.
No Real Bengals news Today, Jabriel Peppers, the safety has
been cut by the New England Patriots twenty nine years old,
the somewhat well traveled Jabril Peppers, and you could certainly
make a case that the Bengals should be interested in him.

(01:02:50):
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(01:03:11):
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Cincinnati will start at seven point thirty and you'll hear
it after Kentucky Football on ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 3 (01:03:32):
I was on the air yesterday.

Speaker 2 (01:03:34):
I did not see this, and I didn't see the
text informing me of this until close to the very
end of our show. But in our business, there's a
lot of people who have been on air personalities, including me,
and then there are a handful of folks who could
be considered legends, and Gary Burbank is one of them,

(01:03:55):
and we found out yesterday that he passed away at the.

Speaker 3 (01:03:59):
Age of eighty five.

Speaker 2 (01:04:00):
I didn't really work closely with Gary at any point
during my time at the radio station I was working
on before I was on the air on other shows,
but certainly somebody I got a chance to spend time
with and got to know a little bit. And as
funny as he was on air, he was even funnier
off and he was extraordinarily kind. You probably have heard

(01:04:26):
me talk about this before. I at times get asked
about how I got in the business or why I
got in the business, and again showing my age. As
a little kid, all I wanted to do was be
on the radio. All I wanted to do when I
was a little bit older was just work at a
radio station. And one of those shows that made an

(01:04:47):
impression on me was Gary's show for two reasons. Number one,
we talked about this after the NFL Draft when Shador
Sanders was the quote victim of prank phone call, and
I said, I can't pile on somebody who makes prank
phone calls, because boy, as a kid, I made a
lot of prank phone calls. And one of the reasons

(01:05:10):
why I was on Gary Burbank show. He had these
characters who made funny phone calls, and so if you
were a radio dork, which I was and to a
degree still am, as you know at twelve, thirteen, fourteen
year old, fifteen year old. I'm sure I'm not alone
in saying that. At that time in my life when

(01:05:33):
I would listen to shows like Gary's and others, were
part of the bit was funny phone calls. Not mean,
not malicious, but just funny phone calls. With characters like
Gilbert Narley and Riley Gerton many others, we would make
prank phone calls. It sort of inspired us to, like,
you know, we could do that, and we did, and

(01:05:55):
it never as funny. But I used to also listen
to Sports or Consequence. I was trying to think last night,
when we were flying home from Kansas City, I called
Sports or Consequences three times, and I can't remember the
questions I asked Gary and the crew. I did not
stump them, but for the life of me, I cannot remember,

(01:06:18):
and I'm sure they were easy to answer questions. But
I loved listening to that part of Gary's show, because
to me, the best radio shows are the ones where
everybody just sounds like they're having a blast. And when
I'm ever asked about getting into this business, I always
talk about, like growing up and listening to a lot

(01:06:38):
of radio, it always just sounded so fun and it is,
but it always just sounded like the people on the
air were having a blast. And I to me, that
show was the pinnacle of that. It wasn't about the
sports questions. It was about like, here's Gary and god
knows who else in studio, and they just sound like
they're having so much fun. And I remember remember as

(01:07:00):
a listener, like before I started, you know, before I
actually got a job in radio, as a high school kid,
as a college kid, listening to that, thinking I want
to be a part of that. And I thought about
that often when I found out that.

Speaker 3 (01:07:16):
That Gary passed. It was a very nice man.

Speaker 2 (01:07:21):
And the reason I bring up Sports or Consequences is
I started working at the radio station nineteen as an
intern in nineteen ninety seven. Gary retired in two thousand
and seven, and so over you know, so many years,
you get to know him a little bit, say hello,
always friendly, always kind, always encouraging, and for the most

(01:07:43):
part we were here during different times to day.

Speaker 3 (01:07:45):
So I didn't spend a ton of time around him.

Speaker 2 (01:07:48):
But when he when he was going to retire, which
was two thousand and seven or two thousand and eight,
I don't remember the exact year, toward the end of
his time on the air, I saw him like in
the hallway and I had been thinking about this for
a long time for years. By then, our show on

(01:08:10):
our show, the one you know that I'm hosting now
was was finally on and I was finally like a
full time on air personality doing sports, which is what
I really wanted to do, and for for such a
long time I had thought, like, I just want to
ask Gary if I could sit in once on Sports
or Consequences. And so maybe two or three months before

(01:08:31):
he was going to retire. He retired at the end
of the year. It was in December, so it was
kind of late summer, early fall. Like I finally asked him, like, gare, like,
before you go, can I just once sit in on
that show? Sit in on that part of your show?
And he could not have been cooler. And it was
like the next day or later that week I was

(01:08:52):
in studio with the guys, and you know, he made
it sound like I was an a list guest instead
of just another dude working at the radio station and
was a blast. And so for me, it was like
this huge full circle moment. Here is this show that
I once called into, Here is this segment that I
once called into, and now I'm a very very tiny
part of it, at least for one day. And so

(01:09:12):
I've I've never forgotten that. Always thought it was so
kind of him to do. He could have said no,
he could have said go go shove it, go do
your own. He could not have been more welcoming. He's
a very nice man. And you know, it's doing this
job is if you're a talk show host. You take
calls and you argue with people and you give your opinion,

(01:09:33):
and it's not that hard to do. Quite frankly, some
make it look and sound very easy. I sometimes, oftentimes
make it look and sound hard. Gary didn't do a
talk show. He didn't do a sit there for three
hours and give opinions and debate with callers and interview experts.
He did a comedy show, which meant he had to
come up with fresh material every day, and he had

(01:09:55):
obviously a staff and writers and a lot of really
talented people. But the amount of like production, and the
amount of work and the amount of writing and the
amount of segments and the amount of characters he came
up with, even before I started working here, was awe
inspiring to me. You know, if you do a talk show,
you have to come up with a few topics, and

(01:10:16):
you know, all right here, I'm gonna prepare to interview
some guests and to do a new comedy show on
the radio every single day. And I'm be honest with you,
I'm not entirely sure that with sensibilities having changed, that
a show like that would would work the way it did,
because nobody wants to laugh at anything anymore.

Speaker 3 (01:10:34):
But it was.

Speaker 2 (01:10:35):
It's incredible the amount of work and time and effort
and energy and people manpower and just production that went
into that. And I think that's frankly sort of lost.
I think those sort of shows don't exist anymore. And
the amount of of just work that it took to
do one of those shows, much less five per week,

(01:10:56):
is really something. And when I finally started working here,
it was like, oh yeah, like that show is as
hard to execute as it sounds, but when it's executed well,
and it was almost every single day, it was such
a blast to listen to so our thoughts with Gary's family.
An absolute legend. Two time back to back Marconi Award
winner in the Radio Hall of Fame and in our

(01:11:19):
industry locally and beyond. An absolute legend. Tony Pike joins US.

Speaker 1 (01:11:25):
Next Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty traffic.

Speaker 5 (01:11:31):
From the UC Health Traffic Center trusts the same team
for your care that keeps the UC Bearcats on the field.
Count on you see health orthopedics in sports medicine, no
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(01:11:52):
this one is on the left shoulder. And one more
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Speaker 11 (01:12:04):
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Speaker 3 (01:12:21):
You know, the Mikelo.

Speaker 2 (01:12:22):
Ultra five o'clock Happy Hour is always awesome and always welcome,
but it's just a little bit more awesome and a
little bit more welcome when it's happening on the Friday
before a holiday weekend. And right now it's the Friday
before the holiday weekend, so it's the Mikeelob Ultra five
o'clock Happy Hour. And I can use an as cold

(01:12:45):
Mick Ultra, and I'll have one here shortly, Mick Ultra
Superior Taste Superior Life here no matter what you're doing,
if you're having people over, if you're having people over
for the Western and Southern WEBN fireworks, if you're headed
to the ballpark this weekend, if you're tailgating in Columbus
or Lexington, or I don't know anywhere else, Michelob Ultra

(01:13:05):
Superior Taste Superior Light Beer. Sam Lekuire is gonna join
us in just about fifteen minutes. Tony Pike as well,
and we're gonna have a guest, who's gonna tell us
about an awesome news spot and something that we'll be
involved in next Tuesday and Thursday that coming up in
just about thirty minutes. Poll question on Twitter. It's interesting
I have seen this. I've seen folks express a level

(01:13:29):
of optimism based on the fact that the Bearcats nearly
won the game last night. So my question for you
is two choices. U ses lost in Nebraska, Hey, they
almost won, or B they didn't win. Vote now at Moegger.
Let me acknowledge a couple of things here. Okay, Cincinnati's
defense last night held up very well, played very well.

(01:13:52):
There were stretches of time where I felt like they
went a little bit too far with resting Dante Corleone,
but that feels a little nitpicky. They gave up one
touchdown and then another on a very short field at
the end of the first half on a on a
night where they were basically playing a road game, Cincinnati's
defense was fine. Fine. I'm not sure how good Dylan

(01:14:16):
Royola is. You know, the dude gets talked about a lot,
and he made one handful of really nice throws last night.
I didn't walk away overly impressed.

Speaker 3 (01:14:24):
By him.

Speaker 2 (01:14:24):
I walked away feeling pretty good about the Bearcats on defense.
We'll acknowledge that, We'll acknowledge one of my big questions
about this team this year is can the special teams
play go from an absolute liability last year to a
weapon this year? Special teams play last night was good.
Looks like it could be an asset.

Speaker 3 (01:14:41):
We'll see.

Speaker 2 (01:14:42):
One game is not enough of a sample size for
anybody to make a conclusion, But that's good. Let's also
acknowledge this. Many went into the game last night concerned
that Nebraska's secondary was maybe gonna have its way with
a group of wideouts who are short on experience. And
Nebraska's secondary was awesome last night. Like they make the

(01:15:06):
play at the end of the game, they didn't let
Bearcat wideouts get open. So let's acknowledge those things. Let's
acknowledge the fact that Bearcats nearly came back and won
the game after being down by ten points. Let's acknowledge
that losing your opener doesn't mean you can't go on
to have a successful season. So we'll acknowledge those things.
But I think a lot of us and look, it's

(01:15:27):
just how it works in any season.

Speaker 3 (01:15:29):
Opener.

Speaker 2 (01:15:29):
In any sport, you're always going to compare what you're
watching to what you watched last year, and you go
into any season asking certain questions about the next season,
maybe based on things that didn't go right the year before.
And so you know, last year's team in the final
five games of the season offensively was defined by lack

(01:15:52):
of explosive plays, not throwing the ball downfield. It's why
there was so much excitement for overhauling the wide receiver room.
And so one of the things many of us wondered
coming into last night was, Okay, they were not explosive
last season, they didn't take shots downfield. Can another year
of experience for Brendan Soresby, combined with a remade wide

(01:16:16):
receiver room add up to an offense that is capable
of more explosion, more downfield throws, more chunk plays, more explosiveness,
more creativity. Well, last night the answer was no. Brendan
Soresby's longest pass play was for fourteen yards. At halftime,

(01:16:38):
he had twenty yards passing for the game. He finished
with sixty nine. Now you may put that on Brendan Soresby.
I think the quarterback is always at least somewhat complicit.
You may simply want to tip your hat to Nebraska's secondary,
and there's good reason to do that. But right now,
right now, they've got a group of wide receivers who

(01:16:58):
are not very experience, don't have a lot of experience
being productive at this level of college football, that last
night could not get open. Does that end up being
a one off? Does that end up being an outlier?
Does the benefit of time and more time to practice
with each other and more experience add up to a
unit that ends up being really good and capable of

(01:17:20):
putting up big numbers and explosive plays and helping Brendan
Soresby achieve a level of stardomit quarterback that he has
yet to achieve. Maybe, but we're not there yet. Where
we are is at a place where what we just
watched was not that dissimilar from what we watched last year.
An offense and a phone book, an offense that couldn't

(01:17:42):
take the top off of defenses, and offense that had
limitations because of it's built in limitations from an explosiveness standpoint.
All right, So we wondered that we wondered about explosive plays. Also,
Joe Royer is back. Do you not love Joe Royer?
Joe Royer, Tony Pike and I were in Kansas City

(01:18:05):
and on Wednesday night, we were enjoying a late night beverage.
The fact I was enjoying a Mick Ultra, and we
were talking about Joe Royer. And you know, Tony knows
a lot more about football scheme addicts than I do.
But I think our basic takeaway was, Okay, you could
at least hopefully hang your hat on your NFL caliber

(01:18:27):
tight end who's back in school in large part because
he wants to improve his draft stock. Guy who's been
in the offense for a year, has experience with Brendan
Sorosby experience in this offense. All right, So Nebraska's secondary
and ucs limitations at wide receiver could be a problem.

Speaker 3 (01:18:46):
The solution to.

Speaker 2 (01:18:47):
The problem is we're going to find a way to
exploit what we have at tight end. Joe Royer had
three catches for eleven yards. And as much as Joe
Royer last season had a nice year at you see, boy,
there were times when you watched the Bearcats last season
where you thought, okay, they're not beating teams over the
top but they're also not taking advantage of this guy.

(01:19:09):
They have a tight end. That was the theme last year.
It was a theme last night. End of the first
half last year. How many times did they stub their
toe or step on a rake or shoot themselves in
the foot or whatever metaphor you want to use. How
many times did they do it last year in the

(01:19:30):
final two minutes of the first half. Well, they did
those things in the final two minutes of the first
half last night. It helped cost them the game.

Speaker 3 (01:19:41):
By the way.

Speaker 2 (01:19:42):
That's a bigger factor than where the game was played.
And so you see where I'm going here, right, Just
these recurring themes, they don't they may not translate to
the Bowling Green game or to the Kansas game or
games they have in the Big twelve. And again, there's
room for improvement. That's the fun part about sports watching
teams get better. But I think most of us were
watching last night thinking, all right, let's see if this

(01:20:04):
program really has turned the page from last year. And
the way that you demonstrate you're doing that is by
doing things better than you did last year, or improving
upon the things showing improvement upon the things that you
did poorly.

Speaker 3 (01:20:18):
Last year.

Speaker 2 (01:20:21):
One thing that kind of defined last season and all
the close games they played in, or all the games
that felt like came down to a play or turned
on a play. Can the Bearcats make the play when
they need to? Can they put together the drive when
they need to. Look, I'll give them credit man for
coming back and putting themselves in a position to almost

(01:20:43):
win the game, But the Bearcats almost winning games has
also been a theme of the last couple of years.
Not making the play when they need to, not finishing
the game when it's there for the taking, not getting
that touchdown, not getting that drive, not getting that stop,
not making that one play. Last night in the fourth
quarter with less than a minute to go, they had

(01:21:04):
a chance to make a play instead Nebraska made it.
Also another example of something that we saw often last year.
And so for me at least, and maybe I'm in
the minority, I certainly am not going to give up
on the possibility that the Bearcats have a good season

(01:21:26):
this year. Teams do get better. I think it's a
better team than Scott Sadderfield had last year. I think
they have more talent. I like a lot of what
I saw from the defense last night. Special teams feels
like it can be better this season, but what cost
them the game and what was most striking about their
performance unfortunately felt like a continuation of last season. And

(01:21:49):
there isn't anybody who like how last season unfolded, how
it ended, how play it out, and last night's offense.
Last night's issues were unfortunately, very very very reminiscent of
what we watched in twenty twenty four. The twenty twenty

(01:22:10):
five season opener, to a large degree felt like a
continuation of twenty twenty four. That is very sobering, especially
when we talked about what kind of opportunity presented itself
for this program on that stage against that opponent last night.

(01:22:32):
Sixteen minutes after five o'clock, This is ESPN fifteen thirty
one Egger. Meanwhile, Reds are home for the first time
in what feels like forever, nine game homestand begins to night.
Cardinals in town for three. Red's got to make them
some ground against the Mets. Sam LeCure joins us talking
about the Reds and a number of different issues.

Speaker 1 (01:22:51):
Next Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty Traffic.

Speaker 5 (01:22:57):
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Speaker 2 (01:23:29):
Black for five. This is the Michelo Vultra five o'clock
happy hour on ESPN fifteen thirty. Moegger Redsen Cardinals tonight.
Sam Leck here is getting ready to go on TV
Fandal Sports Network. You are the most optimistic person I know.
I gotta be honest with you, man. Wednesday night in
Los Angeles, five to one loss, that kind of felt
like it sunk them to four and a half back.

(01:23:49):
They've obviously cred closer because the Mets lost last night,
but I think you have a lot of folks who
kind of felt like, all right, that's the season. Time
to move on. So as as a glass half full guy,
Why shouldn't folks put a bow in the twenty twenty
five red season.

Speaker 6 (01:24:04):
Because they have head to head I think that's it.
I know the schedule is tough, and everybody keeps kind
of referring to that, and I think that's skewed a
little bit. I mean, is it a tough schedule. Yes,
some of those numbers with the winning percentages, I mean
you're talking about Milwaukee and LA and Philly, you know,
teams like that that are way over five hundred. So
that kind of skews that total win percentage for the group.

(01:24:28):
You know that they're gonna face that's It's still a
tough schedule. So people should stay on board because there's
head to head with the people, all the people that
are directly in front of them, and there's nobody else
in front of them. They don't have to leap frog
anybody like they just have to beat the Mets, you know,
they have to play well enough. They don't have to
jump the Cardinals, they don't have to jump the Diamondbacks
to get to the top spot outside of the wild Cards.

(01:24:51):
So there's there's the easiest path is for them in
that regard.

Speaker 2 (01:24:57):
All right, that makes sense. They've got to start.

Speaker 6 (01:24:59):
I I mean, Rich, it's a reach. It's a reach
a little bit. Look, I'm not gonna lie you sit,
I'll optimistic, I am, but it's still a little bit
of a reach because I understand what's at stake and
what they have to accomplish over the past, you know,
or the next twenty seven or so games, when they
haven't shown the consistency of doing that.

Speaker 3 (01:25:17):
Right.

Speaker 2 (01:25:18):
So that's the thing for me, right, that's the reach. Yeah,
So for me, it's it's the math of it.

Speaker 7 (01:25:22):
Right.

Speaker 2 (01:25:22):
They don't have a winning streak longer than five games
all season long. Enough, if you win five straight, if
you win, you know, sweep the Cardinals, win your first
two next week, that'll make a dent. But you're asking
this team to win a lot of games in a
short amount of time when it's been a team that
all season long hasn't played well enough to go on
a six or seven game winning streak, which it kind
of feels like they're gonna need.

Speaker 6 (01:25:41):
To do they have to. I mean, they don't need
they have to or that or that is it? So,
I mean you're talking about probably, I mean you gotta win.
I think I think it is twenty seven. You gotta
win eighteen to twenty seven. I mean, you pretty much
have to win eighteen of twenty seven because then if
even the Mets go five one hundred, you still may

(01:26:01):
not make it up, right, So you, I mean you
have to do that. And that is basically what they
preach all year. What every team goes into each series
doing is trying to win the series. So if they
went two of every three, that's eighteen to twenty seven,
then you've I think the opportunity is there. But now
you need help.

Speaker 2 (01:26:19):
I usually get you onto talk pitching, and I love
talking pitching with you. And there are a handful of
pitchers we'll talk about, but I want to start with
Ellie Dela Cruz. The second half of the season, eleven
extra base hits, one home run at the plate, it
feels to me and yeah, and we we'll talk about
the defensive part of it as well. But but offensively,
like this team is built around him carrying such a

(01:26:42):
big load that in the second half he hasn't been
able to carry. When you watch him through the lens
of a pitcher, is he just becoming more easier to
pitch to for lack of a better way of putting it.

Speaker 6 (01:26:54):
Uh yeah, And I think and that's but that's his fault,
you know, He's he's made himself easier to pitch to.
It's not that he's getting pitched the better. They've just
they're just continuing to exploit his over aggressiveness because he's
chasing the extra base it he wants it. There was
a period, you know, for probably and he was still
poking some home runs and hitting some doubles, but it
was a lot of singles there kind of in May June,

(01:27:15):
you know, the average was up, the slinging percentage, you know.
I mean it was fine because if he hits the ball,
he's got a chance to get a double. But I
feel like he's just chasing Hi a little bit, and
I feel like they all are. I mean, I think
a lot of the struggles with them are.

Speaker 4 (01:27:29):
From trying too hard.

Speaker 6 (01:27:31):
And I mean, you can't fault him for it, and
you can't explain it to them to try less, because
that doesn't add up in your head, like you want
me to do better and try less. I don't get that.
I mean, that's a struggle for every player who's ever
played this game, and he's just chasing it a little
bit because he there was a while where everybody around
him was doing enough that he could just be a

(01:27:51):
piece of the lineup. And when they're not, he knows
he's the guy, and he's adding pressure on himself to
go out there and try to carry him and and
it's working in reverse. He's doing less. I mean, I'll
spill I'll spill one of the slates for you right now.
Already wrote him today and it's main guys. You know,
it's you've got to have your main guys step the

(01:28:13):
f up right now. I mean, you know period. You know,
when you're when you're on the big stage, when you're
in the playoffs, you have to have your star players
be stars. And right now it's star time. Maybe i'll
maybe I'll change it to that. I haven't main guys,
but you know, maybe it's star time.

Speaker 4 (01:28:29):
And they need to be that.

Speaker 6 (01:28:30):
You know, the hunter greens need to go out there
and dominate outings. The back into your bullpen needs to
shut them down. Your role players need to play their
roles and play it well. But your star players have
to be the star players.

Speaker 2 (01:28:42):
I can live with errors for my short stop. What
I don't like is when the ball is hit to him,
I literally hold my breath.

Speaker 3 (01:28:49):
I have no idea what's going to happen. He may
he may make a great throw.

Speaker 2 (01:28:53):
He may make the sort of acrobatic play that nobody
else can make. He may make a play that should
be very routine, look like gets almost impossible. When's that
gonna go away?

Speaker 6 (01:29:05):
I think I and I think it's similar to what
happens at the plate with guys like Ellie's so fast,
twitched like he had like it's he has to move
fast to be in rhythm. But when he's trying to
move too fast, when he's trying to hit the fast
ball and alls he's getting the sliders, he's ahead of everything,
so his hands are moving too fast when he's trying
to field the ball. And obviously Barry would be a
guy who could, you know, probably give you some more insight,

(01:29:27):
you know, to the mechanics of it. But he's just
moving too fast. And he doesn't have to move that fast.
You're here talking about slowing the game down, which Kebriyan
Hayes field of ground ball, it looks like he's in
slow motion. Yeah, and Ellie. Everything is real twitchy, it's fast.
You know, it's fast, and Ellie's fast and that's part
of his game. But there's still a sweet spot that
you've got to find both on your offensive game from

(01:29:49):
a tempo standpoint, and defensively, probably even more so, to
be in rhythm, to make the routine plays all the time,
because that's my third slate. Maybe you're hitting all the nails.
It's mistakes free. You have to play mistake free baseball.
Because when the Reds play clean baseball. It has been
rare this year where I've said, oh, they played a
clean game and got beat. It's pretty I mean, it's

(01:30:11):
gonna happen, obviously, but it's They're tough to beat if
they play gooseball. So they're not playing good baseball right now.
Guess what they're getting beat? You know, you messed well,
they're beating themselves often.

Speaker 3 (01:30:22):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (01:30:22):
No, and it's frustrating you often and you cannot be
doing that. And it just surprises me with Tito at
the Helm, that that's been the case.

Speaker 2 (01:30:30):
This late in the season though, this late in the season, right,
you know, two errors on one play the other night
in Los Angeles like this, I thought, Okay, April and May,
there's gonna be some of that and it's gonna be
smoothed out and it's gonna be corrected. And I just
there's still there's still some slop and this team's margin
for error is not wide enough for them to overcome
that slop.

Speaker 6 (01:30:52):
There's no question about it. And you look at and
I think that I bet you on the pregame show
before the first game of the year, I said, at
the end of this, we're gonna be looking at their
record at one run games because they're gonna play a
lot of close games, because they're not gonna go out
and blow you out. Now they have at times, but
that's been rare. They're gonna play a lot of tight
games to where you see the amount that Santion and

(01:31:12):
Barlow and uh Pegon are getting used. I mean, they're
up there in games pitched because it's every night they
need to be available because it's all a nail bier.
It's tied going into the ninth it's you know, one
run games either way, you know where you feel like, well, shit, man,
we got to put in Santion because we can't allow
them to stretch their lead to two runs because we
don't have the offense to make it up. So it's

(01:31:34):
it's hard work. So I can understand that they're exhausted
right now because they have to play hard every night
to be in these games. And they're all in hand,
so to speak, like they're not really getting blown out.
So there you always feel like there's an opportunity for
a bloop and a blast and they're back in it,
and that hadn't happened much.

Speaker 2 (01:31:53):
I you mentioned Barlow and Santion, who are you know,
they've they've each pitched in sixty five games, which is
tied for second in the sport and appearances and those guys, look,
they've They've had their their moments where they've you know,
coughed up games that sort of thing. But I think
for the most part, both those guys have been reliable
the formula for much of the summer, Santian and the
eighth Pagan and the ninth it worked. But over the

(01:32:16):
last five months, is there something that could have been
done in the dugout to ensure that they weren't leaning
on those guys as much as they have.

Speaker 6 (01:32:27):
In the dugout? No, I mean a score more runs, sure, right,
score more run, score more runs. I think, you know,
get get hits with the running the score position more often.
But from the dug No, I don't think so, because
that's that's kind of the answer, or having other guys
step up. And you've kind of seen Tito try to
implement you know, a Lion Richardson or you know, Ashcraft

(01:32:49):
has had moments like that, and I'm trying to think
of who else you know. I mean, they've tried, right,
I mean, because you see the upside, but they those
guys haven't gone out there and sees the opportunity each
time that they've gotten it. So Tito feels like his
hands are tied a little bit to where he can't
he knows the margin for er is so small and

(01:33:10):
he can't afford to go with kind of an unknown,
which is why the move to put in Olovie Marte
in the outfield is so it's stressful because he's I mean,
say what you want, he's gonna be a good outfielder
because he's athletic. But i mean, even the other day
in La the balls that blooped in front of him. Man,
you've shagged a lot of batting practice, and I feel
like I've got a pretty good shot to make those

(01:33:32):
plays myself, and I'm a hundred, you know, and it's
just but he's the only I can hit, you know,
so you have to keep him in the lineup. So like,
how do you manage those cars? Are can you sacrifice
offense or defense? Are you sacrificing both? You know what's
the answer. And you got to put your faith in
Tito because he's got two twenty thousand wins more than

(01:33:53):
I do in the big leagues.

Speaker 2 (01:33:56):
I think though, that speaks to what frustrates me and
a lot of Red fans right Like at the trade deadline,
Nick Krawl talks about we're gonna lean in the defense.
And then this past road trip, I'm watching Santiago Espanol,
who's an infielder by trade, though he had some mautfield
experience play right field, and Noelve Marte start for the
first time in center field. And I don't know how

(01:34:17):
you say we're leaning in the defense, and that's what
you do. And look, Nick Crawl's made some good additions.
Miguel Andrew har has been terrific. I understood the thinking
behind acquiring Zach Lttel. This isn't you know beat up
on Nick Krawl, but you know, you say one thing,
we're gonna lean in the defense, which you do with
keep Brian Hayes. And then in the outfield, I'm watching
guys who shouldn't be out there well.

Speaker 6 (01:34:40):
And again that is the right field is probably the
easiest position defensively to play. They're none of them are easy.
They're not because there's different reads off of the bat.
And you know, those bloot balls are full swings that
are getting caught off the end of the bat. They're
tough reads. You know, you see Mookie Betts take a
full swing on a ball and make contact and you

(01:35:02):
assume that it's hit right, so it's off the end
of the bat and it bleeds. But you have to
have him in the lineup somewhere. You know, you have
to have Martin in the lineup somewhere because otherwise they eat.
The infield defense has been better with behind in it.
It's just you're not gonna take Ellio da la Cruise
out of lineup. The team's built around him, Like, you're

(01:35:22):
not going to do that because you have to have
him in there too. Because that's what I'm saying, what
do you sacrifice like you have to try to find
a way to create offense because you can defend all
you want and lose to to one, you know, Or
you have Nouelbi in there, who's been your best hitter
for the past two months, and you have to have
him in there somewhere, and that's that's the spot. That's
the spot you got to put him in because he

(01:35:45):
has to he just has to be in there. So
it's again back to kind of the first question you ask.
There's a reach here when you're asking for my optimism
because pitching a defense wins ball games and their defense
hasn't been very good. Their pitching is, but their defense,
their pitch looks probably worse. Because we're only talking about
the plays that have been called errors. There's been a

(01:36:07):
lot of plays that should have been made that weren't,
you know, called airs.

Speaker 3 (01:36:11):
So it's yeah, it's.

Speaker 6 (01:36:14):
Tough, man. I I understand the whole conundrum with all
of it from both sides. You know, I understand more
of the fan perspective now than I ever have. But
I really understand what Tito's trying to go through.

Speaker 7 (01:36:24):
Two.

Speaker 6 (01:36:24):
He's trying to find lightning in a bottle because there
hasn't been a ton of lightning. And what frustrated me
probably most this season was not that they lost the
game on Wednesday and got swept whatever, it was just
the last four innings. I will never dog this team
unless I feel like they're dogging, and I felt for

(01:36:45):
the last four innings, even when they created some scoring opportunities,
there was none of that fire where TJ. Friedel gets
a hit and looks into the dugout and kind of
really headbutts Colin Kwgill like he does and kind of
yells in the dugout like let's go.

Speaker 4 (01:36:58):
Why not?

Speaker 6 (01:36:59):
It's a three run game, right? And I didn't see
any of that the last four innings of that game.
And that's that. That was the most frustrating thing probably
for me all season. It looked like they just felt
like they couldn't beat them and they kind of and
maybe that's not the case. And again I go back
to that road trip wore me out. I know it's tiring,

(01:37:19):
but damn man, Gavin Luck just got his World Series ring. Yeah,
and if you can and if you can't, fire up
to try to get in the playoffs, because they have
they're a problem with Hunter and Lodolo and Abbot at
the top three. They're a problem for teams. Nobody wants
to face those guys, right, and that gives the Reds
like a little bit of a leg up and they
start getting to the playoffs and all of a sudden

(01:37:41):
they're spoiler a little bit. Yeah, there's a new kind
of attitude that comes with that. So it's it's frustrating, man,
I get it, and let's not close the door just yet.

Speaker 3 (01:37:51):
But this is this is go time, which is slate
number one.

Speaker 6 (01:37:54):
I set them all dude.

Speaker 3 (01:37:57):
Alert. Wow, you you are the best.

Speaker 2 (01:38:00):
All right, Well you've got to go get dressed and
put makeup on and be on TV. So I appreciate
the time as always. Man, thank you so much.

Speaker 6 (01:38:07):
Say no fashion show, you got it, buy anytime.

Speaker 3 (01:38:10):
That's our guy, Sam LeCure.

Speaker 2 (01:38:11):
By the way, Sam's done a bunch of radio games
here recently, and he and Tommy thrall. This is no
knock on Chris Welsh or Jeff Brantley or anybody else,
but they're awesome together. I love having Sam lequre on
and we've had him on more this year than any
other year, so he can't complain. On social media that
we don't invite him often enough. Let's see, we're gonna
look ahead to what is going to be a really

(01:38:34):
fun night at what looks like an awesome new venue.

Speaker 1 (01:38:39):
Next on ESPN, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty. Traffic from the.

Speaker 5 (01:38:45):
UC Health Traffic Center Trusts the same team for your
on you see Health Orthopedics and Sports Medicine no matter
the injury, visit you seehealth dot com. It is now
the two left lanes blocked off from an accident eastbound
two seventy five between Princeton Pike and seventy five in Sharonville.
The lay times are down to fifteen minutes now back

(01:39:08):
from Springfield Pike and another accident on Glendale Milford Road
at Plainfield. I'm at ezelic with traffic this report.

Speaker 3 (01:39:16):
So this is pretty cool.

Speaker 2 (01:39:17):
We are getting said for a massive Labor Day weekend.
There's so much happening the start of college football. We
had UC last night. I'm joined here by Tory Meeker
from Bottled Lightning Hospitality and these folks oversee Oakley Greens,
which is where we do our show on Tuesdays, Covington Yard,
which if you haven't been to Covington Yard, what are
you doing? And now the Jungle pop up Bar, which

(01:39:40):
the opening was last night and unfortunately I couldn't be
there because I was in Kansas City. But this is
this is really really cool. We're going to be there
a couple of times next week. First of all, it's awesome.

Speaker 3 (01:39:50):
To have you.

Speaker 12 (01:39:51):
Thank you so much.

Speaker 3 (01:39:52):
Happy Labor Day weekend.

Speaker 2 (01:39:54):
Likewise, So the Jungle pop up Bar for those who
know a little bit about that area in Covington, where
is it?

Speaker 3 (01:40:02):
What is it?

Speaker 12 (01:40:03):
Sure?

Speaker 13 (01:40:03):
So it's actually the annexes the building right behind Covington Yard.
It's connected through the bar and there's like an alley
in the middle.

Speaker 4 (01:40:09):
Yeah.

Speaker 13 (01:40:10):
We actually opened it about a year ago, and everyone
knows Covining Yard is one of the best places to
watch football in the city. So we wanted to do
is kind of do a immersive experience pop up bar.

Speaker 12 (01:40:21):
So we turned the whole firehouse into a jungle.

Speaker 13 (01:40:23):
We hung vines from the ceilings, we did all this
really cool decor, made a giant field goal. It's basically
just like our love letter to Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 2 (01:40:32):
So a pop up bar for those of us not
in the industry. A pop up bar is like a
temporary bar.

Speaker 6 (01:40:37):
Yep.

Speaker 12 (01:40:38):
This one only runs for about two weeks.

Speaker 13 (01:40:39):
It goes from well yesterday and so September eleventh.

Speaker 2 (01:40:42):
Just sort of coincides with the start of the season exactly.

Speaker 13 (01:40:45):
We wanted to get everyone extra hyped about it, and
that way, we put a time limit on it so
that we had to come check it out right away.

Speaker 2 (01:40:51):
All right, so pop up bar, So this weekend, if
I want to stop by, let's say tonight, let's say tomorrow,
let's say for the fireworks on Sunday, right, what sort
of stuff is going to be happening.

Speaker 12 (01:40:59):
Yeah, for sure. We're actually just going to be open
to the public.

Speaker 13 (01:41:01):
We have our special cocktail menu, and then on Sunday.
It's actually a great thing because you can come down
after you get your seats for the fireworks, block your
spot up and then come hang out with us.

Speaker 12 (01:41:12):
It's only like a two block walk.

Speaker 6 (01:41:13):
That's perfect. Yeah, that's perfect.

Speaker 2 (01:41:15):
And it's obviously you got a college football weekend, right, Yes,
TV's watch game stuff like that.

Speaker 13 (01:41:19):
We have a giant twenty foot TV. You can sit
in the yard and watch it, or you can watch
it over.

Speaker 12 (01:41:22):
In the jungle.

Speaker 3 (01:41:23):
Oh man, that's absolutely perfect.

Speaker 6 (01:41:25):
All right.

Speaker 2 (01:41:25):
So I'm coming down on Tuesday, and then I'm going
to be back with my guy Tony Pike on Thursday.

Speaker 3 (01:41:30):
Let's talk about Tuesday.

Speaker 2 (01:41:31):
I'm going to talk about gambling for people who don't
know a lot about gambling.

Speaker 3 (01:41:35):
Yeah, I for scamble.

Speaker 13 (01:41:36):
Wedding, but like I just for some reason, some of
the words and the way the stats work, they just
don't stay in my head.

Speaker 12 (01:41:41):
So I could use a little help.

Speaker 3 (01:41:42):
You Know.

Speaker 2 (01:41:42):
What's interesting to me is I got into sports betting
because I loved hearing people talk about sports betting. Like
it was maybe two or three years before I made
a bet, but during that time, I loved listening to
people just talk about football specifically, but other sports as
well through that filter, right through that gambling filter. And
so we're gonna use some of that terminology on Tuesday

(01:42:02):
of next week, which is the second and make people
a little bit more familiar so they're perhaps if they
want to a little bit more willing to make a wager.

Speaker 13 (01:42:10):
Exactly hopefully ILL learn how to do something besides making
sane parleys that I'm never gonna win.

Speaker 3 (01:42:16):
We're going to talk about that. Those are so fun.

Speaker 6 (01:42:18):
There's soccer is buying.

Speaker 2 (01:42:19):
A lottery ticket, right. What you want to do is
you want to play a slow game. If you make
ten different wagers and six of them hit, you win.

Speaker 3 (01:42:26):
If you make a.

Speaker 2 (01:42:26):
Ten team barlay, if one of them loses, you lose.

Speaker 12 (01:42:29):
But that makes for a great Sunday. You're invested in
all the games.

Speaker 2 (01:42:32):
Oh, I know, trust me, I know, I know from experience.
So that's gonna be a lot of fun. That's gonna
be on Tuesday, and then Tony Pike is going to
join me on Thursday for the NFL opener Eagles Cowboys,
and we're gonna do like an unplugged broadcast.

Speaker 3 (01:42:47):
Can we just say what it is? It's our version
of like the Maning Cast.

Speaker 13 (01:42:50):
Heck yeah, I think I'm gonna get you guys some
laser pointers and we can like aim it at the
screen and just have a good time.

Speaker 3 (01:42:55):
That's that's what I me, pointing a laser pointer at
the screen.

Speaker 2 (01:42:59):
Hey, here's here's there's the safety coming down to you know,
stuff to run that has no waight coming for me,
But from Tony it's it's awesome. So that's gonna be
next Thursday. It's very awesome down there in that area.
What else is happening at the Jungle Pop Up Bar.

Speaker 13 (01:43:15):
We are actually hosting a comedy roast on the Wednesday
between so you're doing sports betting one I went on Tuesday.
Then we've got a comedy show on Wednesday, and then
the Manning Cast type thing on Thursday.

Speaker 6 (01:43:27):
Right, Yeah, I mean just every.

Speaker 12 (01:43:30):
Day there's some a little different.

Speaker 13 (01:43:31):
We have or doing a huge tailgate for the actual
game itself on the seventh. Okay, but light's going to
be there doing a football toss. I've got face painter
coming in. We can get your hooda on your face.
There you go, kids and adults invited. Yeah, we just
it's gonna be a great time. I'm so excited for football.

Speaker 2 (01:43:46):
That's on the seventh. Yes, sir, it's perfect. This is
gonna be awesome. Where can folks go to find out more?

Speaker 13 (01:43:51):
Absolutely, you can either go to our Instagram account at
Coming ten yard or our website and it's Coming ten
yard dot com slash Jungle.

Speaker 2 (01:43:57):
All right, Tory, thank you so much. We'll see you
at the Jungle Pop Up Bar on Tuesday night for
sports betting one oh one. Then back for the Tony
and Mo unplugged on Thursday Night. It's going to be
an absolute blast speaking to Tony the last season pre
to report next on ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 1 (01:44:17):
Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty. Traffic from the.

Speaker 5 (01:44:22):
UC Health Traffic Center trusts the same team for your
on u see Health Orthopedics and sports Medicine no matter
the injury, visit u seehealth dot com. It is now
the two left lanes blocked off from an accident eastbound
two seventy five between Princeton Pike and seventy five and Sharonville.
Delay times are down to fifteen minutes now back from

(01:44:45):
Springfield Pike and another accident on Glendale Milford Road at Plainfield.
I'm at ezelic with traffic.

Speaker 11 (01:44:52):
He's the season preview report. Look for you Bye, Skyline
Shimmy feeling good. It's Skyline Do Europe. It's the home
of the Cincinnati Bengals, ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 2 (01:45:05):
You know Tony has joined us at three forty five,
four forty five, and five forty five every day for
over a month, and today is the last day. And
so I'm getting a little emotional, Tony. It's it's good
to have you, but I'm kind of sad it is emotion.

Speaker 9 (01:45:21):
Do you think you're more emotional now or will you
be more emotional tomorrow when Lee Corso picks his final
head gear?

Speaker 2 (01:45:27):
Well, Lee Corso has been a part of my life
since I was a kid, so probably Lee.

Speaker 3 (01:45:31):
But that doesn't make this moment any less emotional.

Speaker 9 (01:45:35):
Okay, I'll take that.

Speaker 2 (01:45:37):
Jabrill Peppers has been released by the New England Patriots
and the Internet wants the Bengals to sign him.

Speaker 3 (01:45:42):
Should they.

Speaker 9 (01:45:45):
If it's an upgrade?

Speaker 6 (01:45:46):
Yeah?

Speaker 9 (01:45:46):
Like I'm at the point with I think offensive guard,
safety and even defensive line that if they went out
and signed someone, I would take it as an upgrade.
And I don't know what else Jabriel Peppers has the tank,
but what I do know is there is immense question
marks around the secondary and the safety position for the

(01:46:07):
Cincinnati Bengals. And much like we said with Noah Fan,
much like we said with Dalton Reisner, who are not
all pros at this point in their career, are the
Bengals better with them than without them? And I think
the answer to both of those is yes. If you
had a guy like Jabriel Peppers, I would say the
same thing.

Speaker 2 (01:46:24):
The Bengals will go into this season with an offensive
line that many believe is the best one that Joe
Burrow has played behind.

Speaker 3 (01:46:31):
That's fine.

Speaker 2 (01:46:32):
My question is can it actually be a good offensive
line because there's a difference.

Speaker 9 (01:46:37):
Yeah, I think that has yet to be determined, and
I think that a lot plays out to is it
Lucas Patrick for the long term, is it Dalton Reisner?
How does the guard position shake out? And let's not
be around it as well. Orlando Brown Junior has to
be better than what he was last year. He was
not good enough at times, and his Pro Football Focus
grade shows that Ted Carriss needs to be better at

(01:46:59):
times in the guard play will help that as well.
And you've got to have a Marius Mems and fair
Child be able to move to that next step for
Fairchild his rookie year, for Mems year number two. There's
a lot of stuff you haven't seen that you just
got to react to on the fly. I think it's
the best Joe Burrow's head to this point, but it
still has a lot of question mark around it.

Speaker 2 (01:47:20):
All right, Tony, thank you so much Monday, we have
the best of the Moegger Show, which, yes, we actually
found three hours worth of material that is incredible.

Speaker 3 (01:47:29):
We are looking forward to that.

Speaker 2 (01:47:33):
In the absence of that, don't forget we're broadcasting from
Oakley Greens on Tuesday. That's going to be a blast.
And so once you get past this whole three day
weekend thing, assuming you have one, make plans to join
us on Tuesday at Oakley Greens. Thanks to Tarren Bland
for producing, Thanks to you for listening. Have an awesome
and safe Labor Day weekend. This is ESPN fifteen thirty

(01:47:53):
Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 3 (01:48:10):
At Genesis Diamonds. We pay

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