8/8/24 - The Mo Egger Radio Show

What I Want to see from the Bengals first Preseason game and we have some bad news out of Bengals Training Camp. David Abbott needs to stop complaining about how bad the Umps are and just pitch and Chad Brendel on the Bearcats.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Are you ready for some footballs?

Speaker 2 (00:03):
The Orange and Black kick off their preseason schedule against
Tampa Bay.

Speaker 3 (00:07):
What incredible catch, Pie.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
It's the Bengals and Buccaneers in a pigskin season preview.

Speaker 1 (00:14):
The second effort get the tangles, the touchdown.

Speaker 2 (00:17):
If Zach Taylor's men proof they're ready for a super
Bowl bound season call from Dan Ord and Dave Laff.
Coverage starts Saturday at three on ESPN fifteen thirty, the
aficial home of the Bengals.

Speaker 1 (00:32):
So no fights today, I guess a little bit more
of a peaceful workout down there. They're practicing inside the stadium,
getting sat for Saturday night, the preseason opener. Pike is
going to join us coming up at three forty five.
I'm a legger. This is ESPN fifteen thirty. Appreciate you
joining us. Show preview video just posted on x thanks

(00:52):
to Emery Federal Credit Union, your credit Union with heart
since nineteen thirty nine. That's eighty five years, eighty five years.
Go check that out at Moegar reds lose last night,
which we'll get to it a bit. Also later on
Chad Brendel's on the show for twenty because it's Thursday
and every Thursday during you see football and basketball season.

(01:13):
Chad joins us and Bearkats are a few days into
the camp higher ground portion of training camp, and so
Chad's gonna kind of tell us how things have been
going coming up in just about an hour and fifteen minutes.
We cannot wait for that, at least I can. Boy
Tony and Austin were wedding. My appetite man for college football.

(01:36):
Jason Williams of The Inquirer wrote a piece responding to
an email or college football is just not the same.
It's not and that's okay. We're gonna spend some time
on that coming up here in just a bit. Andrew
Abbott got squeezed last night. I think if you watch
the game the home played umpire, it was not a

(01:57):
good night for umpiring around baseball last night. And that
wasn't just limited to the Reds Marlins game, but Andrew
Abbott was victimized by some bad umpiring. Dude, figure it out,
like this is a part of pitching. This is as
much a part of pitching as anything else. Dude, figure
it out. You cannot let as much as it sucks,

(02:20):
as much as it's going to be frustrating when you
have a good pitch that gets wasted because the umpire
calls it a ball, as much as it stings to
give up walks because in part you get squeezed. The
great ones overcome the great ones. Figure it out now.
I don't know if Andrew Abbot's ever going to be great.
I do think he has a chance to be pretty good.

(02:40):
He has often been pretty good over the course of
his first what fifteen fourteen fifteen months as as a
big leaguer. But like he gives up the Grand Slam
last night, suddenly the game is kind of out of control.
They crawl back in on the TJ. Friedol Grand Slam
and obviously had a chance to tire when the game
and the ninth inning, but left the bases loaded with
jam Er Candelario making the last out. But Andrew Abbott

(03:03):
after the game was complaining about the homeplay at umpiring,
and I understand his complaints, but my guy, like, you
got to figure out how to not let that ruin
your inning, ruin your outing and screw up the game
for the team. And he couldn't do that. Last night,
Hunter Green pitches Tonight Red's and Marlins six ' ten
this evening. Look, they're fifty five and fifty nine, and

(03:24):
so they've been playing the Marlins, who are awful, and
they should win this series. If Hunter Green pitches anywhere
close to as well as he has pitched for the
last couple of months, they should win this series. Tony
just asked me about fifteen minutes ago, why can't this
team string it together. They've played nearly three quarters of
the season. They're just they're not good enough. This is

(03:48):
very black and white, not necessarily groundbreaking analysis by any
stretch of the imagination. This is who they are. They're
not a team that makes you feel like they can
go on any sort of run because they haven't gone
on one all season long, maybe with the exception of
that seven game winning streak which they then instantly gave back.

(04:09):
So you know, yeah, I think after they won those
first two games in Miami, there were a lot of
us going, well, you know what, if they can against
this really bad Marlins team, sweet this series, and then
you know, if you can win the series against Milwaukee,
maybe then it's worth checking back in the standings. I
don't know, man, I'm not anticipating any sort of real run.

(04:33):
This team to get to eighty five wins is going
to have to go thirty and eighteen the rest of
the way, thirty and eighteen the rest of the way.
This team as currently constructed, despite having good starting pitching,
is there anything that would make you believe this team
is capable of doing that? So a frustrating loss last night,
I guess, and look, I got my hopes up at

(04:57):
the ninth inning, just like everybody else. And maybe the
conversation today is differ and if they cap off the comeback,
but they did not. The Bengals had a practice yesterday
that was some would say marred by fights. I don't
think it was marred. I think it was highlighted by fights. Now,
it's very easy to take the default position that when

(05:20):
a team in training camp has a practice like yesterday's,
that it shows that this team has an edge. By
the way, if you have followed what's been happening around
the NFL and you arrive at the conclusion that teams
have an edge if they get into training camp fights,
then you're probably at a place where you believe that
every team in the NFL has an edge. But I

(05:42):
do think there's something about this year's Bengals team that
that can apply to. I don't know that we need
to see training camp fights. I don't know that those
things are necessarily reflective of a team that has an edge.
But like Ted Carris, who was involved in one of
the skirmishes with Logan Wilson yesterday, talked about how last
year left such a bad taste in everybody's mouth. And

(06:06):
you know, Joe Burrow has talked publicly about kind of
feeling like, yeah, because I barely played last year, or
at least I barely played, well, I've kind of been forgotten.
And by the way, not that these things are worth
losing our minds over, but the NFL Network Top one
hundred rankings that had Joe Burrow thirty ninth would sort
of reflect the fact that Joe Burrow is maybe a

(06:28):
little bit forgotten, at least relative to where he was
a year ago and the year before that. So here's
what I want to see on Saturday night. We on
a granular level, there's lots of stuff like I really
am excited to watch Marius Mims. I think offensive line
depth is really worth focusing on. That's going to be

(06:49):
a big, big point of emphasis at least for me,
not just on Saturday, but as the preseason unfolds. I
think defensively, you just want to walk away from the
feeling that you know what lat year's issues are mostly
behind them. I don't know that one preseason game is
going to make you feel like you know what, this
defense is going to do a one to eighty from
last year. But let's start to see those seeds get planted.

(07:12):
I'm interested in watching how the Bengals handle the new
kickoff rule. I'm interested in how things unfold with the
punting battle because it feels like it's been a while
since the Bengals had a reliable punter. I'm interested in
the continued blending of the way the Bengals ran the
offense late last season with Jake Browning with how Joe
Burrow likes to play, and maybe we see some of

(07:33):
that on Saturday as well. But man, more than anything,
I know this sounds cliche and maybe a little bit hokey.
I'd like for the Bengals on Saturday Night to send
a little bit of a message with the offense specifically,
and put together a good, clean, crisp, efficient drive that

(08:00):
ends with points to just remind everybody, you better hope
Joe Burrow is not healthy this year. Look, there's one
thing we can say with complete and total certainty, because
this has been fact. When Joe Burrow is healthy and

(08:20):
gets through a full season, the Bengals win the division.
When Joe Burrow is healthy and gets through a full season,
the Bengals make the AFC Championship Game. Now, I get it.
Joe Burrow playing every game and Joe being healthy and
not dealing with any sort of physical issue doesn't guarantee anything.
Certainly doesn't guarantee anything for a team that's playing in

(08:43):
the best division in football. But I'd like for Saturday
Night to be used as a device that can remind people, Hey,
if you forgot about this guy, if you forgot about
this team, here's a reminder of what they can do. Now.
They're gonna play on Saturday, and there's gonna be a

(09:04):
lot of starters playing, and there's gonna be some some
starters who aren't playing. For what it's worth, no t
Higgins at practice today. He by all accounts, was awesome yesterday.
And no Jamar Chase for like the four hundred and
seventeenth consecutive day, which is obviously no surprise, so Jamar
is obviously not gonna play in the game on Saturday.
But like I'd like for as hokey and as stupid

(09:28):
as it sounds, I'd like for the return of the
Jedi and the Empire says, or the Emperor says, now
witness the firepower of this fully armed and operational battle station.
I'd like for the Bengals on Saturday to say something
similar with their offense. And maybe that's not the best

(09:49):
way to put it, but I'm just thinking about that
driving around today, Like I just i'd like to I'm
not here on Monday, but I'd like to walk away
from Saturday thinking, like, boy, you know what if I
was one of those fans of one of those other teams,
and maybe I've been sleeping on the Bengals, or maybe
I've been a little bit skeptical. Oh yeah, there's a
reminder of what that number nine cat can do. And

(10:12):
it's just a preseason game, and so you take anything
they do, good or bad with a grain of salt.
But like, if they're gonna play on Saturday, if they're
gonna use the franchise, if they're gonna use most of
the main guys, then then make something of it. You know,
if you remember Joe Burrow's second season, he played in

(10:33):
a preseason game and he handed the ball off twice
and he threw a screen pass to Jamar Chase that
he dropped. And that's when Jamar was being talked about
a lot for his drops during training camp in the preseason.
Which all of that feels like a lifetime ago. But
it's like Burrow was just out there, so maybe fans
could see him, so Zach could say that he played
him on Saturday. Give me a good, clean, crisp, well

(10:56):
put together, well executed, well designed and productive. A couple
of drives or just one drive, so that if nothing else,
those who kind of have forgotten, and those who have
I don't know, seem to not remember what the Bengals are.
When number nine is healthy, give them something to think about,

(11:19):
and that something could be. Uh, you better hope this
guy's not healthy, because when he is healthy, this is
what it looks like. And when it looks like that,
we win the AFC North. That's what I'm looking for.
Our phone numbers are five point three, seven four nine,
fifteen thirty and eight sixty six seven two three seven

(11:39):
seven six. You can hit me up on x thanks
to Delta Dental. Delta Dental is building healthy, smart, vibrant
communities for all. Go to Delta dentaloh dot com. At Moegar,
where we had three pole questions yesterday, I think we're
gonna have just one today. Tony Pike joins us in
just about thirty minutes. He is at Bengals practice, which

(11:59):
is I'm not open to the public today. They have
moved it inside the stadium, a bit of a dress
rehearsal for the team on the new turf before they
play on Saturday night against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. I
always ask how good is you're good? How bad as
you're bad? One football analyst reminded us of how bad

(12:20):
the Bengals bad is. We'll get to that next On
ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station. Speaking of the Olympics,
Steph Curry made five freese in the first quarter, has
seventeen points. Unfortunately, Serbia is carving the US defense up,
shooting nearly sixty five percent in the first quarter, and

(12:41):
the United States trails at the end of one thirty
one to twenty three. The semifinal match semifinal match semifinal
game win, it will take on France in the gold
medal tilt on Saturday. Will will keep you updated all afternoon.
Long more on the Reds Chad Brenda in an hour
on the Bearcats. Tony Pike coming up from inside Paul
Brown Stadium with the Bengals are holding a workout today, Tara,

(13:06):
did you get the Twitter video that I sent you? Yes?
All right, very good play this audio. This is Warren Sharp.
Warren Sharp is regarded as one of the better, more knowledgeable, sharper,
more nuanced NFL analysts there is Here is Warren earlier
today talking about the Bengals.

Speaker 4 (13:26):
Last year, the Cincinnati Bengals played eleven games versus teams
that made the playoffs. That was the most of any
team in the NFL since two thousand. They also played
fourteen game versus teams that finished above five hundred. That's
tied for the most of any team in the NFL
since two thousand. Their starting quarterback, Joe Burrow was healthy
for only five games. They went four and one in
those five games. It means he was not healthy or

(13:47):
missed twelve out of seventeen games, and despite his injury,
Despite the fact that they played such a brutal schedule,
this team won nine games and almost made the playoffs,
So what to expect this year? A far easier schedule
is when related to the other teams in the AFC North.

Speaker 1 (14:03):
Much easier.

Speaker 4 (14:03):
However, schedule makers screw the Cincinnati Bengals. They have a
very difficult schedule from a rest perspective. They're one of
the few teams that has to play three games in
ten days late in the season. They also play three
short week road games, which are always difficult, and they
play five games versus teams that have over a week
to prepare for them. Tough schedule from a rest perspective,

(14:24):
much easier from an opponent perspective.

Speaker 1 (14:27):
It's a pretty interesting dynamic. Warren Sharp on his social
media feed, he has a good thread about the Bengals today.
It's going to be interesting to see the Bengals have
these two stretches where they play a lot of games
in a very condensed, tight window, and then they have
this large stretch right there in the middle of the
season where they play like one game and what feels

(14:47):
like almost a month. I always am a fan of
asking this, like how good you're good, How bad you're bad?
Like that is one of the central questions about Red
starting pitching right now. How good you're good, How you're bad?
Hunter Green's good is really good? Nicko Lodolo's good needs
to be better, but I think we still think it
could be really good. How bad you're bad? How bad?

(15:11):
How bad are your bad starts? Are they awful? Do
they pitch your team out of the game or are
you still competitive? How good you're good? How bad you're bad?
In this window, in this era, if you will that,
you might argue was kind of closing at the end
of this season that started in twenty twenty one. Joe

(15:31):
burrow second year. Last season was the Bengals worst and
if it could go wrong, it did. And they had
all the Joe Burrow injury issues obviously, but they had
a defense that was a train wreck. Worst in the
NFL at giving up explosive plays. They were bad against
the run. They didn't have a consistent pass rush beyond

(15:55):
Trey excuse me, Trey Hendrickson. They had a significant drop
off in their linebacker played from the previous years. They
were not very good on special teams. They were a
very unexplosive running team. Joe Burrow missed a lot of time.
Even when he did play early in the season, he
wasn't that good. The offensive line was league average. They

(16:20):
played in the toughest division in the sport and they
went nine and eight. Like, if nothing else, that should
give you reason to feel encouraged. We love talking about
over unders and futures and stuff like that, and I've
been asked this often, Moh, you're going over under the
Bengals win total. Some have it at ten and a half.

(16:43):
You'll find it at eleven and a half. I'll do
the ten and a half. I'll go over. Gotta win
two more games. Now, the rest component is significant, and
how the games are placed on the schedule and the
two different stretches where they play three games and eleven
days is not insignificant. But it's also mathematically an easier

(17:05):
schedule than last year. And yes, they do still play
in the AFC North. Bengals went one in five in
the AFC North. Last year. They finished nine and eight.
How bad you're bad? Last year? It was bad. It
couldn't have gone worse in many respects. The starting quarterback
the face of the franchise. There a guy who the

(17:27):
year before, was an MVP finalist, started the season and
played terribly because he wasn't one hundred percent, and then
didn't play basically the last two months. He essentially had
four good games. The run game was not very explosive,
the offensive line play was okay at best, the defense

(17:50):
was at times a disaster. They won more than they lost.
So if you assume some of that stuff gets wrecked,
and maybe you don't want to assume that Joe Burrow
is going to stay healthy, if you at least hope
that he does with an easier schedule, at least just
in terms of the teams based on their records from

(18:11):
last year. If last year was as bad as it
could get, and most of the stuff that went wrong
last year doesn't go wrong this year. This is why
you cannot convince me that if Joe plays sixteen games
seventeen games, you cannot convince me they're not going to
be a playoff team, because they merely were last year.

(18:34):
They went into Kansas City Week seventeen on New Year's
Eve with like a legitimate chance to make the postseason.
So as I look ahead to this year and I go, okay,
if half of that stuff that goes bad at least
doesn't go bad this year. They're not winning eleven times
even in this division. They're not coming off a five

(18:55):
win year. They're not coming off a six win year.
They're not coming off a year where they didn't sniff
the postseason, coming off a year where they fell short,
and where if it could go poorly, it did. If
if nothing else, that should make you feel pretty good
about what this team could be if Joe stays healthy.
Twenty eight after five o'clock, twenty eight after three o'clock,

(19:17):
five point three, seven four nine, fifteen thirty is our
phone number. Lines are open eight sixty six seven oh
two three seven seven six. Zach Taylor talked today. We'll
hear from him at four thirty five and five thirty five.
Brenda's going to join us at four twenty on UC
Football and Tony Pike from inside the venue originally known
as Paul Brown Stadium, coming up at three forty five.

(19:40):
Sports Headlines and uh, I'm gonna help out. I'm gonna
help out a local sports columnists coming up on ESPN,
fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station Cincinnati and fifteen thirty Sports Headlines,
a service of Kelsey Chevrolet home of lifetime power train
protest and guaranteed credit approval from their family to yours

(20:03):
for life, Kelsey chev dot com. Bengals practicing inside the
stadium today, which is where they'll be hosting the Tampa
Bay Buccaneers on Saturday night. Bengals Bucks coverage starts at three,
kickoff at seven pm here on ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 3 (20:18):
No.

Speaker 1 (20:18):
T Higgins at Bengals practice today, and yes, if you're wondering,
Jamar Chase sitting out as well. Meanwhile, Reds and Marlins
tonight final of a finale I should say have a
four game series. Cy Young Award candidate Hunter Green will
throw for Cincinnati against righty Kyle Tyler six ' ten games,
starting a half hour earlier than the first three in

(20:40):
Miami tonight six ' ten on seven hundred WLW. Starting
lineup tonight hopefully made well thanks to Madewell Restoration. Go
to Madewell Restoration dot Com. India is at second base,
leading off. Elie de la Cruz at short. Tyler Stevenson
is catching in batting third, TJ friedelan center, Spencer Stear
at first. Jamer Cama Lario is dhing Jake Fraleyan right Noelve,

(21:03):
Marte at third base and Will Benson in left field,
batting ninth. Florence Yawl's on the road tonight against Washington.
We so far US men's basketball team, I can say
we we are getting worked by Serbia. Now there's about
twenty five minutes to go in the game. There's a long,

(21:25):
long way to go. But the Serbians are shooting sixty percent.
They're seven for twelve from three, and we're down by
sixteen points, forty one to twenty five. Tearing. At what
point do we get nervous? We gotta see where it's
that about midway third quarter. Okay, five minute mark of

(21:46):
the third quarter. I'm with you there. But we can't
be down sixteen at halftime either, right, Yeah, you gotta
get it about teen, get it to ten at halftime.
There are gonna be a lot of really hot if
we don't win this game, a lot are really hot.
Takes all right, forty one to twenty five. We've got

(22:07):
some work to do. Just under six minutes to go
in Paris, winner plays France in the gold medal game
on Saturday. We're gonna do some college football with our
buddy Chad Brendel Bearcat Journal dot com. You see inching
closer to the season opener on August the thirty first.
I love reading Jason Williams from The Inquirer, and what

(22:29):
I like that he does is he answers email questions
from listeners, usually about sports, sometimes not so much about sports.
He did this last week, and I thought had a
pretty thoughtful take on why a lot of folks are
uncomfortable maybe giving FC Cincinnati and giving soccer the coverage
that you might argue that franchise demands. He was speaking

(22:52):
for himself mostly, he was not speaking for our outlet,
because no radio show in town covers FC Cincinnati more
than But anyway, he got an email from someone who says,
you know, everything that's happening in college football realignment, the
portal NIL is sort of taking a toll on his
interest in the sport, and Jason counters, you know, yeah,

(23:16):
you're not alone in that regard, and I'm not going
to give away his content, so so go check it out.
College football has changed dramatically. I mean like even even
this morning, I was I was listening to us listening
to a podcast and it was between two people that
aren't huge college football fans, and they had just realized that,

(23:40):
like the Pac twelve this year is two teams, and
they had just realized that like Ohio State and Michigan
are now in the same conference as Washington and Oregon
and USC and UCLA. I don't like those things. I
think it's ridiculous that we have conferences that stretch from
one coast to the other. I think it's ridiculous that

(24:01):
conference realignment has cost us a lot of traditional rivalries.
I think it's it's it's it's robbed us of sort
of the the the pride that a lot of us had,
or at least the ability to identify a certain league
by how it played and and and being able to
identify it by geography that is is out the window.

(24:23):
I don't love that. Now. I'm as pro nil as
you'll find, But like, there are some things about the
sport that I think are really tough to swallow. And
for a lot of folks, like the two guys I
was listening to this morning, who are casual college football
fans that you know, don't follow the ins and outs
of conference realignment and everything going on in the sport,
there's gonna be a lot of people who in a

(24:44):
few weeks when games begin, are gonna be like, wait
a minute, Ohio States in the same conference as Oregon,
Like that's we're doing that. I guess what I would
do is if you have loved the sport in the past,
and and there are things about the sport, things that
a lot of us loved about the sport that have
gone away, what I would say is develop a hyper

(25:10):
focus on the games themselves at the end of the day.
As a sports fan, I can't speak for you or
anybody else, but I feel like there's a lot of
folks who could at least nod along with what I'm
about to say. At the end of the day, all
I want are good games. At the end of the day,
all I want are interesting storylines. I don't love a
lot about what's happened to college football, but I think

(25:32):
both of those things will be in abundance this year.
Oh and by the way, there are a lot of
folks who would say, and including Jason and his piece
about how well NIL has tilted the scales even further
in favor of just a handful of schools, you know
what we have never had in college football parody until

(25:54):
kind of now, because the one thing that is I
think of that has offset a lot of the things
that aren't awesome is the expanded Playoff. And I admittedly
was slow to come around on the expanded Playoff, but
there are a lot of fans of a lot of

(26:15):
teams who can, as the season goes on, feel like
their favorite team has access to the national championship. Right.
It's what so many of us love about college basketball.
Not that every team that is playing in the tournament
has a legitimate chance to win the national championship, but
the beauty of college basketball is most of us feel

(26:37):
like our team has access to the tournament, which is
the national championship tournament. Now, I think it's going to
be really interesting in the first four or five years
of the expanded playoff field. Let's say it stays at
twelve for a while, which I'm skeptical that it will,
It'll be interesting to see how many blowouts there are.
The four team playoff has given us a lot of
blowouts in the semi final round. But I feel like

(27:01):
for a sport, college football has never had parody. It
never has. It's always been defined by a handful and
handful is a relative term, but a handful of schools
being really really really really really good every year for
the last twenty years. At any given point in the offseason,
I could tell you who was going to be in
the top five or ten because they were the same

(27:23):
teams every year. But I do feel like now you
have more fans who feel like their program or their
team has access to the championship, which to me is
the sort of parody for lack of a better way
of putting it, that the sport has never had. It's
a little bit more forgiving now too, because your team

(27:45):
can lose a game or even two and not feel
like the season is being torpedoed. So more teams have
access to the event that matters most, and we still
get great games. Those two, to me outweigh all of
the other stuff, much of which I don't like.

Speaker 3 (28:06):
Now.

Speaker 1 (28:06):
Again, I roll my eyes whenever I hear anybody complaining
about NIL. I think NIL frankly creates more parody than
anything we've had in college football in a while. But
I deult I default to that in almost every sport.
It's even like baseball, which baseball fans love to talk about.
What's wrong with the game, but then you actually watch

(28:29):
the game, especially you know, great postseason games or great series,
and the games are so good. Like I'm sitting there
at five o'clock in the afternoon on a Saturday in
the fall, and there's a billion games going on, and
there's some wagers, and look, say what you want about
conference realignment and how dumb some of it is. We're

(28:49):
gonna get great matchups, and you know, great matchups on
a more frequent basis involving schools that typically wouldn't play.
We're gonna get really great games. And at the end
of the day, if you're a sports fan, like that's
kind of all you really want, right, give me something
fun and interesting and entertaining to watch. I think college
football is gonna do that this year. I don't know

(29:10):
how much it's going to do it locally, although I'm
becoming more bullish on the Bearcats because of what I
read and hear from camp and I haven't gone yet,
but I just at the end of the day, I
want great games. I want really good games. I think
we're gonna get a season full of them in college football,
and we're gonna get more meaningful games too. I'm gonna

(29:30):
get more games that really matter, so more fans having
access to the championship, more games that matter, and more
really good matchups. How do you not look forward to
those things? If you've already been a college football fan?
We might focus a poll question on this coming up

(29:52):
on social media. But first, Tony Pike from inside the
venue originally known as Paul Brown Stadium, Bengals going through
their final workout before Saturday's preseason until Tony joins us.
Next on ESPN fifteen to thirty, Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 2 (30:08):
Is a training camp report. Brooke to you, Bar Kimber,
credit you again. Cool on ESPN fifteen thirty, the official
home of the Bengals.

Speaker 1 (30:18):
All right, Tony Pike is with us every hour live
training camp reports. He is inside the venue originally known
as Paul Brown Stadium, Bengals with their final workout before
Saturday night's preseason tilt's against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Hi, Tony,
I'm all what's up? Just waiting to get the sights
and sounds from the last practice before the game on

(30:40):
Saturday night. What is happening right now?

Speaker 5 (30:43):
Well, let's start with the unfortunate news so far today
and that is again. This is the first time they
practiced on the new turf inside the stadium, and in
seven on seven, Charlie Jones went down with what looks
to be a right leg injury. He's had a really
good camp to this point as well, I mean he is.
He's been continuing to push. We even started talking about

(31:06):
him like could he push for some of those wide
receiver number three reps? And you don't obviously speculate with injuries,
but it was the type of injuries where he was
very distraught. They brought a cart out immediately and as
he's leaving, just a lot of the teammates coming up
to him on the card and talking. So very unfortunate
for Charlie Jones, who, like I said, has had a

(31:26):
really good camp up to this point. Outside of that,
two more little dust ups and they were just dust
ups and O line D line one on one, and
it was more so with guys getting frustrated because they're
not winning reps. DJ Hills had a really good day
and we just included the first move the ball drill
of the dam and it wasn't the best for the offense.

(31:48):
Trey Hendrickson, who is now taking some team reps today,
which is a positive. On the first rep came off untouched,
which would have been a fact. They blew the play dead,
second play they ran the ball that got blown up,
and on the third play, Dejon Anthony intercepted a Joe
Burrow pass that it was essentially a punt. It's trying
to make something happen down the field, but so far,
it feels like Moe. The defense got together after yesterday

(32:11):
when they were beat up a little bit and said, okay,
let's change it up today, and to this point, the
defense has won the day.

Speaker 1 (32:17):
Do you feel like the tempers boiling over yesterday is
reflective of a team that has a little bit more
of an edge on it than maybe it did a
year ago.

Speaker 5 (32:28):
Yeah, And I think I think Zach Taylor spoke to
that a couple times today of he likes that this
team has an edge. He likes to the intensity. Now,
you know, when it crosses over to a point of
you're putting another teammate in jeopardy with injury or something
like that, you obviously want to air on the side
of caution, but you're not going to, you know, penalize

(32:49):
the team because they play with that edge. And I
think that starts that. I think the rookie class plays
with it, and certainly there are players that still have
a very sour taste in their mouth from how last
year ended and they wanted to change that up. And
when you go through the vigors of camp and you
get into week three, it does start to get to
a point where that is going to still over. And

(33:09):
I think that's what you saw yesterday, You've seen a
little bit today, and Zach Taylor addressed it as well.

Speaker 1 (33:15):
The Charlie Jones news is really unfortunate. That kind of
puts a damper on everything. What else beyond that should
I be talking about this afternoon?

Speaker 5 (33:27):
Well, I think to see if the offense can bounce back.
I mean, you know, this is the first move the
ball drill did not go according to plan. Those are
unscripted draws. If we moved the ball, that is, nothing
is scripted, so defense doesn't know what's coming. Offenses reacting
based on the previous play. They spot the ball with
how many yards you think you would have got. So

(33:47):
it's a setting where you're more in a game like situation.
And they have done that most so much more this
year at training camp than in years past. Maybe that's
because you get Dan Pitcher. Maybe it's because the defense
was very bad last year and you want these guys
making calls and getting rotation set. But I just want
to see how the offense responds to, you know, for

(34:08):
one of the fewer times in camp, getting punched in
the mouth early on. And I also think, you know,
we talked a lot about the interior part of the
defensive line. They've made moves, they've drafted there. Bj Hill
has been very dominant today. Multiple times in one on
ones he blew up the running play and the moved
the ball drill. So I think the interior part of

(34:29):
the defensive line, because they've now addressed it in the draft,
they they've addressed it with multiple signings in the last
couple of days, that certainly seems to be a position
of value and of need for this team. So to
see how that continues to play out.

Speaker 1 (34:42):
All right, Well, chat again coming up at four, Tony,
Thank you so much. All right, Well, Tony Pike at
the venue originally known as Paul Brown Stadium. He is
watching practice right now, of course, Bengals hosting the Buccaneers
live on ESPN fifteen thirty Saturday night at seven o'clock.
A couple of things that I didn't get to during

(35:05):
sports headlines. Bengals did today make a roster move. They
have signed free agent defensive tackle Carlos Davis, who played
at Nebraska. Originally a seventh round pick of the Steelers
in twenty twenty and over the course of three seasons
from twenty through twenty twenty two, he played in twelve games,
twelve tackles a sack. He was not with an NFL

(35:26):
team during the twenty twenty four season or I'm sorry
during the twenty twenty three season. Spent the spring season
of twenty four in the United Football League. Carlos Davis
back with the back in the AFC North. He has
signed a contract with the Bengals. One other note, Xavier
today announced their Big twelve Big East battle at TCU

(35:50):
in December has been moved up a day to December
the fifth. Also, it's halftime. The US has inched closer,
but still trail Serbia by eleven points fifty four to
forty three, so they have cut into it. Tarren and
I were hoping they would be down by ten at

(36:11):
the half. They got it to ten. At one point,
down eleven now at the half with twenty minutes to
go in the semifinal game with France awaiting the winner
in the gold medal tilt on Saturday, we have a
lot of groundcover. Zach Taylor did talk today. We're going
to hear from the Bengals head coach coming up at

(36:31):
excuse me, four to thirty five and five thirty five.
We are looking forward to that. Another check in with
Tony Pike and Chad Reynold's going to join this to
talk some UC football. Bearcats obviously opening up the season
against Towson on August the thirty first. It's interesting we
had on our show yesterday Phil Steele Phil Steele dot com,

(36:55):
author of the single greatest college football preseason publication known
to man, and if you miss that conversation, go and
get it on the iHeartRadio app. By the way, podcasts
are a service of Long Neck Sports Guirrel three locations
in northern Kentucky. No better plays to watch college football.
Phil's bullish on the Bearcats has them finishing eleventh, which,

(37:17):
by the way, picked fourteenth. Eleventh doesn't sound great. He's
got him in a bowl game, and I think one
of The interesting dynamics is, you know, we all say
about the Bearcats, well, this year they've they've got to
just be Bowl eligible. That is a successful season, and
I would agree with that. To double your win total
and to double your win total in the league is

(37:37):
not insignificant, especially to do it with all these young guys.
I wonder though, if if you're among those who either
never believed in Scott Sadderfield when you see hired him
to replace Luke Fickle, or you soured on him last year,
would you see winning six games and getting to a

(37:58):
bowl game this year be enough to make you feel like,
you know what, Yes, the program is back on solid
footing and it's where it needs to be with this
head coach. I think that's a fair question, which is
of course why I asked it. Chad's going to join
us coming up at four to twenty. We are closing
it on four o'clock on Moegar. This is ESPN fifteen thirty,

(38:18):
Cincinnati Sports Station. Some footballs.

Speaker 2 (38:22):
The Orange and Black kick off their pre season schedule
against Tampa Bay.

Speaker 3 (38:26):
What incredible catch five.

Speaker 2 (38:29):
It's the Bengals and Buccaneers in a pigskin season preview.

Speaker 1 (38:32):
The second effort, get the tangle, the touchdown look.

Speaker 2 (38:36):
Zach Taylor's men proved they're ready for a super Bowl
bound season. Down there from Dan Ord and Dave lapp A.
Coverage starts Saturday at three on ESPN fifteen thirty, the
oppresional home of the Bengals Height.

Speaker 1 (38:50):
It's five after four. This is ESPN fifteen thirty. Good
afternoon on Mowagar. Thank you for joining us, Chad Brendle
in just about fifteen minutes. Hereb a going on. You
heard Tony about ten minutes ago. Give us the Charlie
Jones News Bengals practicing inside today. Charlie Jones carted off,

(39:11):
which is a needless to say, not good. The reporting
that I have seen would not suggest that anybody believes
that it's something uber serious. It also wouldn't suggest that
anybody believes that it's just not that big of a deal.
But Charlie Jones carted off. I'm looking at a video

(39:32):
here from Kelsey Conway of The Inquirer, and as she
tweets out the video, she points out that basically half
the team walked over to him on the cart before
he leaves, and then you heard Tony if you were
with us a few minutes ago mentioned that Charlie's body
language was I'm putting I'm paraphrasing him here, not great.
So that's something certainly worth paying attention to for a

(39:53):
guy who, by all accounts had had a great camp,
and for a guy that whether it be on special
teams or certainly the mix to catch passes from Joe Burrow,
you know, big things were expected for or big big
things were expected from in twenty twenty four, which hat
with Tony coming up again in just about forty minutes.

(40:13):
The weird saga of Aaron Bupenza as an FC Cincinnati
player has come to an end. FC Cincinnati sending out
a press release five minutes ago announcing that Major League
Soccer has terminated the contract of Aaron Bupenza. Aaron Bupenza

(40:37):
had made thirty five appearances across multiple competitions for f
C Cincinnati, and you might remember when f C Cincinnati
clinched the supporters Shield at Toronto last year, he had
the game winning goal. But the last few months have
been weird. You know, first of all, he missed time

(41:00):
because he gets punched in the face at a bar downtown.
Laurel Faylor who does a terrific FC Cincinnati based newsletter
that if you're a fan of the team, Queen City
Press you should subscribe to, has been reporting on Aaron
Boupenza for the last couple of days about him skipping practices,

(41:20):
and not just skipping practices, but like being spotted at
bars downtown. The club has countered that with, hey, look
he's sick, he's recovering from an illness. And Pat Noonan,
who we really like, but Pat Noonan has been insisting
like he's sick, he's dealing with an illness. And meanwhile,

(41:41):
and Laurel is terrific of what she does, she's reporting like, yeah,
he might be sick, but he's been spotted at joints downtown.
And I don't know, man, not that there's anything wrong
with that, but when you're when you're not going to
work and when you're not going to show up to
do your job and your your employer's making excuses for you,
it's not exactly a great look to be posted up
at bars downtown. I guess the good news is he

(42:03):
hasn't been punched in the face. This is the guy
who's had a hard time sticking with any club and
his brief like thirteen month run in Cincinnati over Major
League Soccer terminating his contract. Aaron bou Penzen no longer
a member of FC Cincinnati. Meanwhile, they're in the third
quarter US Men's Olympic basketball team. It's sixty two to

(42:26):
fifty in favor of Serbia with just over seven minutes
to go in the third quarter semifinal match. We'll keep
you up to date on net throughout the course of
the afternoon. And again Chad's going to join his talks
to UC football coming up in just about ten minutes.
The Reds last night, Andrew Abbott couldn't get over the
fact that the homeplight Umpire wasn't very good. And now

(42:48):
they give the ball to Hunter Green tonight Hunter Greens
must watch, and Ellie de la Cruz is must watch.
It is not that far fetched. I say this, and
I get laughed at. It is not far to suggest
that Hunter Green will be in the mix to be
the National League Say Young Award winner. I was gonna say,
if he can keep up his current pace, his current pace,

(43:09):
his last five starts, his era is like point two
to three. That pace is almost impossible to keep up.
He hasn't given up a run in four of his
last five starts. He hasn't given up a run in
any of his last three starts. We're dealing with a
guy who's trending towards superstardom. With Hunter Green, we're trending toward.
We have a guy an Eli Dela Cruz who's trending

(43:30):
towards superstardom. These are building blocks, right, And I do
believe this that if you look at the sport, you
know there are teams who are just look at the standings,
really really good, right. Ain't hard to figure out who
those teams are, despite some recent struggles. The LA Dodgers,

(43:50):
and you would put the Yankees, who somewhat recently have
right of the ship at least a little bit. And
the Orioles are twenty plus over, and the Guardians are
twenty plus and the Astros are in a really good
race with the Mariners, but after floundering for two months,
kind of back where you expect them at the top
of the American League West, even if their record isn't

(44:12):
very good. And the Phillies are twenty two over, and boy,
the Braves have been scuffling, having lost five in a row,
but I think we think the Braves are really good.
And then there's the crap at the bottom of the league,
which is obviously the White Sox who mercifully fired their manager,
and the as so I hope never win the game again,
and the Marlins who are awful, and the Rockies who

(44:33):
are awful. And then there's like this huge middle where
there's like, I don't know, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, maybe twenty
teams that are really hard to distinguish from each other.
The middle is very large in this sport. It kind
of reminds me of the NFL. The NFL's middle is
huge every year. Now in that middle are going to

(44:54):
be some playoff teams, at least in the NFL, And
in that middle are probably gonna be some playoff teams
in Major League Baseball. I'd ask this, how many of
the teams that are kind of where the Reds are, which, like,
if you if you look at I don't know, uh,
look at the wild card standings in there. You know,

(45:15):
we're talking about Chicago and San Francisco and Washington and
Pittsburgh and then in the American League Toronto and Detroit
and Texas. This year has been a major disappointment. And
there's probably a handful of others we can fold into
the conversation. How many of those teams general managers would

(45:38):
love to go into the planning for next year. Forget
Elie Dela Cruz for a second, would love to go
in the planning for next year with Hunter Green, Nicolodolo.
I'll still say Andrew Abbott, I'll include Carson Spires, I'll

(46:02):
still say Graham Ashcraft, I'll include Ret Louder. I'll be
premature and say Chase Burns. I'll even include even though
his season at DOUBLEA this year hasn't been great, Chase Petty,

(46:24):
even if you don't want to include some of those names,
Like for all the frustration and for all the angst,
and for all the negative things that have been said
about ownership and in the front office and the way
the season is gone, and for all the distrust they
have earned, there are a lot of teams that are
starting to pivot toward next year, or they're at least

(46:47):
starting to, I don't know, formulate a plan for what
the offseason is going to involve that don't have pieces
like that now, Like the Pirates have a lot of
young talent, and they've got Paul Schiins and some other
guys really worth building aroun But how many teams like
even the Milwaukee Brewers. I think the Milwaukee Brewers is
over a ton of credit for leading the division all

(47:08):
season along. I've been certainly vocal and expressing the fact
that I believe that they're pitching is such a house
of cards that at some point they're going to fall
back to the pack. But that hasn't happened. Part of
that is the Pack is not very good in the
National League Central. But give them credit despite who they
haven't had, despite who they've traded away, despite a revolving

(47:29):
door of pitchers that they've had to use this year,
they're sixteen over five hundred. They got a six and
a half game lead in the division, and time is
kind of the essence. I don't think anybody's going to
catch them. And that's the first time I've said this
this year. Even that team, whenever their season is over
and they start to look at twenty twenty four, you

(47:50):
think they'd like to have that nucleus of young pitching.
And then even talk about like some of the guys
who have disappointed this year noelve Marte nov V Marte
is disappointed on and off the field, twenty two years old,
Christian and Carnassi on strand. Obviously his season has been
defined by injury, but when he played he still wasn't
very good. Like those guys, because you could look at

(48:14):
their performances this year and throw your hands up and God,
it's time to move on, get rid of them. I'd
be willing to bet you every general manager in the
sport would be willing to take a chance on either
of those guys. Like, the point is, there are some
pieces you may not be trustful of the front office
and ownership to take advantage of having those pieces. But

(48:35):
if you were tasked with working on next year for
any club in the sport, especially the ones kind of
there in the middle, and you had some roster uncertainty,
I think you'd really like to have some of the
pieces the Reds have, And I think you'd really like
to start on next year with let's just make it
about a Hunter Green and Nickelodola if you want.

Speaker 3 (48:56):
Again.

Speaker 1 (48:56):
Nicolodola has had his struggles this summer, but huh, I
think we all believe that guy still has a lot
of potential, a chance to be a very good, maybe
not ace of a staff, but close to the top
of the rotation, reliable starting pitcher. And I feel like
saying this because and I know I've driven some of it.

(49:16):
A lot of the conversation, a lot of the discourse
around the Reds recently has not been so positive, and
it's easy to kind of get stuck in the muck
of a lot of that negativity. I do it, and
from my perspective that negativity is earned. But I have
also heard people suggest, Yeah, but when we get to

(49:38):
the off season, folks are just gonna buy in again.
And I think there's some validity to that. Not buying
in suggesting that anybody's gonna believe they're gonna win ninety
five games. But I think as the off season unfolds,
and if the off season begins, we do understand Nick
Crawl is going to be building next year's team from

(49:58):
a place of at least having some guys that almost
everybody else in the sport would like to have. I
like it. When we chat with Chad Brendel U see football,
the Bearcats are at higher ground. Chad's been there. We'll
talk about the Cats next on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati
Sports Station. It's four twenty. This is ESPN fifteen thirty

(50:20):
on Maleger We'll check in with Tony Pike from inside
the venue originally known as Paul Brown Stadium. Bengals going
through a practice inside the stadium today. Maybe get an
update on Charlie Jones. But first you see, Bearcats have
been holding their camp at Higher Ground since this weekend.
Chad Brendele covering it. Bearcatjournal dot Com joins us every

(50:43):
single Thursday. What's going on?

Speaker 3 (50:48):
You know, it's four twenty and I'm working part time
at a dispensary on the West Side.

Speaker 1 (50:52):
Thanks, you're good. I wasn't expecting to thank you very much.

Speaker 3 (51:00):
Well gotcha.

Speaker 1 (51:01):
I'm glad to hear it. Thank you. When you haven't
been at the dispensary, you have been at Camp higher Ground.
How would you describe these practices so far?

Speaker 3 (51:11):
I think the biggest thing that stands out, MO is,
you know, one we've talked about, there's a lot more speed.
The other thing is you're kind of getting into this thing.
There's just so much more depth on the roster. This
year it felt like last year, like when you watch
the twos practice, you were like, oh, boy, like, if

(51:32):
anything happened, these guys are in trouble, and nothing happened,
and they were still in trouble, which was a testament
to a roster that wasn't very good last year. And
you know, when you're going down the roster now and
you're keying in on positions, you know, safety or wide
receiver or linebacker, you're not stopping at like two or

(51:53):
three guys. You're like, Okay, there's four or five six
guys that you know, I think could can be a
factor here. You know, wide receiver, like we were talking
a lot, Evan Prater has looked pretty good. Evan Prater's
on the third team right now. Michael Massari, the wide
receiver from Kings, here's a really good walk on. They
probably would have needed him to play last year. This

(52:14):
year's he's right there on the third team with with Trader.
So that is really the and you know, offensive line
is another one where you're starting to see you finally
feel like, okay, there's there's not only a little depth,
but there's some guys that have like you know, they're
homegrown guys. Jonathan Harder and and Evan tengis tall and

(52:39):
you know Ethan Green like guys that they recruited that
now are starting to produce, or you know, second unit
on the offensive line, and you're looking and going, Okay,
this thing looks a lot more sustainable than it did
a year ago, because a year ago, when you looked around,
like there there was warm bodies, but they're or one

(53:00):
guys that could play in the Big twelve.

Speaker 1 (53:02):
Yeah, I mean when I think of last year, that's
the first thing that comes up. When depth started to
become an issue, there was no one. And you think
of some of those games late in the season in
the Big twelve specifically, they just didn't have Big twelve
caliber players. And you know, I mean, I don't know
that the outcomes of those games are any different if
they had more of them, but I mean they were

(53:24):
non competitive when it came time to use backups in
some of those games, And that to me has to
be the biggest and most stark difference between this year
and last.

Speaker 3 (53:34):
Yeah. I mean, you know what I will say is
I still think it's going to take some time to
get to adequate Big twelve level size, Like but mass
you know, you were there, you saw it. When Oklahoma. Look,
we knew Oklahoma was going to look different than you see,
but when Kansas in Iowa State and West Virginia, like,

(53:58):
when those teams took the field, oh crap, Like the
team over there warming up doesn't look anything like the
team over here warming up. And that's when you kind
of got the sense that, like, man, this so what
they did is the thing that you can fix a lot.
Quicker is leth than speed and athleticism. And I think

(54:19):
they've done a good job getting up closer to standard
at that. I don't know that they're all the way
there yet. The size is still going to have to
be something that's developed internally. That's probably going to take
a little bit longer, but at least you feel like, Okay,
they've got a shot now with the roster that they're

(54:42):
putting together, as opposed to last year where it was
like we just got to hold on. I mean, we
talked to Tyson Bite a couple of days ago, the
due defensive coordinator, and he said, I, when I was
watching tape getting ready for everything, the Jack Dingle I
saw at the beginning of the season didn't look anything
like the Jack Dingle the end of the season because
he was beat up and they couldn't take him out

(55:04):
like he was still the best option they had, even
though he wasn't playing anywhere near the level that he
was at the beginning of the year. Hopefully that is
going to be a lot less necessary.

Speaker 1 (55:16):
What have you seen from the quarterbacks?

Speaker 3 (55:19):
They both played played well, and I still think I
would be surprised if it's not Brendan Soresby that starts
the season. But Brady Lichtenberg came for a fight at
least like he didn't. He didn't get the memo that
that Brendan Sorosby had already won the job. So you know,

(55:39):
at least you're getting good production from both of those guys.
I still think i'd like to see, you know, Lichtenberg
looks great in one on ones and seven on seven
when action goes live, it still gets a little a
little jumpy at times and gets a little you know,
his footwork is in his crisp, So I'd like to
see some improvement there. And I still expect Sorsby to

(56:02):
be the starter. But at least we're getting a little
bit of a uh, you know, you're you're seeing two
guys playing relatively well, which is a good sign.

Speaker 1 (56:12):
Is there any possibility that, at least early that the
snaps that matter might not be limited to one quarterback?

Speaker 3 (56:23):
Maybe? I still think like if if stores Bey is
your guy, things you want to get in as many
reps as possible. Now, you know, if he puts together,
like his back at the camp isn't isn't as strong
and Lichtenberg continues to play, well, you know, maybe that's
that's something that they look into. But I think the
sense I get is they want to pick one and

(56:45):
kind of go with that guy.

Speaker 1 (56:48):
We think this team's going to be able to run
the ball very effectively because they did last year. Can
they run it even better?

Speaker 3 (56:56):
I mean there were six in the country. Yeah, you know,
if they run it better, that's a real good sign.

Speaker 1 (57:04):
But like you know that they've they've talked about finishing
runs and finishing drives and being better in the red
zone and all that sort of stuff. I mean, can
I'm not asking them to finish in the top two
in rushing. In fact, I hope they don't because I
want him to pass the ball more effectively. But I mean,
is there like, is last season's productivity or last season's
running game the ceiling for this bunch.

Speaker 3 (57:28):
I mean, I think they can be as good, if
not a little bit better. But like you said, like
some of this are they gonna get. There were just
times last year we're the only thing they could do
is handed off one because Emery Jones didn't play well
too because the offensive line could really run block and
was really bad at pass blocking. So they hope that

(57:48):
with the offensive line a year farther along. And I
do think I think the biggest story of camp that
maybe nobody is talking about but us is that there's
a new right tackle and it looks like Philip Wilder,
who we saw a little bit last year, has taken
over that spot, and uh, we've been seeing DeAndre Buford

(58:11):
actually has moved inside to guard and been you know,
on the second team with at the guard position. So
that's going to be some of it is if you
can throw, I shouldn't let you know. That's the thing
about Scott Saderfield offenses is how balanced they've been. They
didn't really get a chance to do that last year.

(58:31):
So they might not be as high u you know,
in yards per game or whatever, but I still think
they're going to be super effective I really like what
we've seen from Corey Kiner. Evan Pryor started to turn
it up a little bit today, which is it's hard
for running backs when the when the pads aren't on.
This is only their second fully padded practice, so started

(58:54):
to see Evan Pryor a little bit more today. And
then the guy I really think is going to be
something different for them this year MO is a guy
named Chance Williams who is more of that like third
down gadget good hands. You know. I didn't think they
had a guy last year that they could kind of
do some of that stuff with and get a little

(59:15):
bit more creative. I think Chance Williams gives you a
chance to do a little bit of that. So I
like the running back room. I think they're going to
be very good running the ball. Hopefully they don't have
to rely on it as heavily as they did last
year because they're a lot more adept at being able
to pass the ball.

Speaker 1 (59:33):
It's August, so this is when I have to start
asking you this question every Thursday, when will I see
a basketball schedule?

Speaker 3 (59:40):
My understanding that I think they're pretty close on the
non conference schedule. I think really there's only one game
that isn't known at this point, and it's a by game,
so it's not really that big of a deal. I
don't think we saw the conference schedule last year until September,
so probably later September, which is why you can asking
me the question because it was late September and we

(01:00:03):
didn't have a men's basketball schedule. I think that's the
conference thing, and I don't think there's anything they can
do about that. Hopefully the non conference schedule is out soon,
and then you know, I'll answer every Thursday here for
the next probably six weeks or so about the conference schedule.

Speaker 1 (01:00:21):
All right, I appreciate it as always, man, Thank.

Speaker 3 (01:00:23):
You, Yeah, yeah, hold on, I'll be right there to
the register. Give you one second set, all right?

Speaker 1 (01:00:28):
Thanks bro J Brendle working at a dispensary on the
west side of Cincinnati and covering UC football and more
for Bearcatjournal dot com. We have cut it to five,
tarn How are we feeling right now? Seventy eight seventy three,
just over seven minutes to go. Feel kind of nervous deal.

(01:00:49):
But Steph Curry has been awesome. Yeah, Steph Curry has
been awesome. He has twenty nine. We've gotten it to
fu Serbia's biggest lead with sixteen. Yes, it was sixteen.
All right, so just over seven minutes to go, we're
down five. I'm starting to feel a little better. We're
in the bonus. You'll get has four files. Okay, all right,

(01:01:14):
you think Steph brings us home? I think i'd be Okay,
I'm going to KD, Going to KD. You gotta stop
making shots first, Yeah, all right, eighty to seventy three.
Well this Erbia just scored eighty to seventy three. Just
at my game cast is ahead of me streaming. I'm
not in the studio in Kenwood today. I'm actually broadcasting

(01:01:36):
from iHeartMedia and Columbus, So I'm my stream on my
computer is behind the game cast. So I shouldn't be
that way, but it is sports headlines lots to get
to Tony Pike in about ten minutes on ESPN fifteen
thirty cents, an ice sports station, Chevrolet home of lifetime
powertrain protection and guaranteed credit approval from their family to

(01:01:57):
yours for life kelseyshev dot Com. Charlie Jones unfortunately carted
off at Bengals practice with what looked like a leg injury.
Tony Pike give us more here in just a few minutes.
Bengals going through a workout inside the stadium hosting the
Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Saturday Night Live on ESPN fifteen thirty.

(01:02:18):
Bengals today signed Carlos Davis, defensive tackle who spent three
years with the Steelers twenty through twenty twenty two. He
has twelve games of NFL experience. Didn't play in the
NFL last year. Spent some time in the United Football
League earlier this spring, Reds and Marlins Tonight series finale.
Kyle Tyler for the home team, cy Young candidate Hunter

(01:02:40):
Green for Cincinnati six ' ten this evening on a
seven hundred WLW red starting lineup. Yes, we hope it
is made well thanks to Madewell Restoration. Get more at
Madwell Restoration dot com India. L Tyler, TJ. Spencer, Jamer,
Jake noelve will I called him all by their first names.
Florence y'all's played tonight on the road against Washington US

(01:03:05):
men's basketball. We have just tied it. It is eighty
four all in the semi final game. Actually, no, Serbia
has just taken the lead eighty six, eighty four to three,
twenty three to go. The US just tied the game.
I don't believe we have ever let in this game,
Taran Am I correct about that. That's great, all right,

(01:03:26):
So we're up towh We tied it at eighty four
on a Lebron James layup, and it's eighty six eighty four,
Serbia leading the US with just over three minutes to go.
Xavier's basketball game against TCU is now going to be
played on December the fifth, and Novak Djokovic is withdrawing

(01:03:47):
after winning the gold medal in the Olympics. He is
withdrawing from the Cincinnati Open, which starts this weekend. Tony Pike.
In just a few minutes, Brendman and Jones on baseball,
we carry Zach Taylor for you. Here is a chunk
from his press gathering just about two hours ago.

Speaker 6 (01:04:03):
Well, I think our guys are playing with an edge.
They're competitive, and all those issues were were really with
our ones vers our ones, and they're they're tired of
each other, and they're getting to the point where it's
let's start, let's start tackling and being a little more
physical and so again, I like the edge that our
team has right now. I like that they're protecting each

(01:04:24):
other offense first defense. I want more protection obviously as
a team, and we're gonna get to that. We're through
this training camp phase. Really, I think we have five
practices by ourselves, you know, until final cuts come, because
we've got these games, we've got the joint practices. So
we're at that point now where it's good to go
play Tampa Bay. And I think our team is in

(01:04:45):
a really good position right now. Start held, would you
consider playing Marius? We'll see. I mean he's up for debate,
certainly in that conversation. He's going to get a lot
of work obviously this this preseason and practices, joined practice

(01:05:05):
and all those things. So but yeah, he's up for
that conversation to play a little bit longer.

Speaker 1 (01:05:11):
How much job?

Speaker 6 (01:05:16):
No, No, it's not one person in specific. I want
our team to come out there and and all eleven
guys be on the same page and be efficient and
the operation be clean. Obviously practice is so different, you know,
with just play clocks and game clocks and people on
the sidelines and people behind and no officials, and so again,

(01:05:39):
we want to clean operation efficient. Obviously we want to
see success, but we're not going to overreact to how
things go, you know. We just we want those guys
to to check that box of being at there in
a game together. Yeah, I don't think it's to me.

(01:05:59):
It's not that I'm important. He may have a different answer,
and that's fine. He knows how he feels better than
I do. But again, he's gotten such great work in practice.
Obviously no one's hitting him, but he's getting great pocket work.
And I think his chemistry has been really good with
the guys they've been out there, and so I don't
have any issues with where he's.

Speaker 1 (01:06:16):
At show with the starters with chat Colin, Simon g
As and I'm playing for him where the Joe gets
cool and sell these guys.

Speaker 6 (01:06:27):
Yeah, there's some guys that are tied together on both
sides of the ball.

Speaker 1 (01:06:33):
Taylor earlier today, in anticipation of a Saturday night's game
Bengals Buccaneers Live on ESPN fifteen thirty kicks off at
seven PMD plan for the starters to play. Let's see
him play, Crisp, Let's see him send a message. More
on that coming up at five oh five. We are
up ninety one eighty six. Steph and Lebron have taken

(01:06:53):
over ninety one eighty six with one forty one to
go in the semi final tilt in Paris. Tony Pike
next on ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 2 (01:07:04):
This is a training camp report wrote to you by
Hollywood Casino lawrenceburg Oo Walk at ESPN fifteen thirty, the
official home of the Bengals.

Speaker 1 (01:07:14):
Ya Tony Pike at Bengals training Camp practice inside the stadium,
last workout before Saturday night Bengals and Bucks Live on
ESPN fifteen thirty. Let's start with the bad news. Charlie
Jones carted off. You told us that about an hour ago,
have you found out anything.

Speaker 5 (01:07:34):
Well, you know, in the locker room after walking around
without any assistance, so you know, he told I think
Jeremy Rowl reported that he has had the MRI. He's
going to wait the results fingers crossed. But to see
him talking to teammates and walking around without any I
mean a noticeable limp, but wasn't walking around with crutches
or anything like that. So you know, you never know

(01:07:55):
how these things will go. But you wait now and
see what the results of the MRI are going to be,
but I would say based on seeing him getting carted off,
that would at least be a positive update to this point.

Speaker 1 (01:08:07):
All right, that's good news, very good relative to what
my worst fears were. All take that. The team is
obviously done practicing. What was today's highlight? Beyond any skirmish,
I thought BJ.

Speaker 5 (01:08:20):
Hill, who we don't talk about a ton, had the
best practice right now, out of anybody. I mean, T
Higgins had the day off, and rightfully so because he
dominated yesterday. Joe Burrow was good, not great. Had an
interception they threw to Dejon Anthony, which was essentially a punt,
but the offense I thought, bounced back. They moved the
ball pretty well. They came up short in the red zone.
But it wasn't a highly intense day. There were a

(01:08:44):
couple team sessions, but vastly, vastly different feel than what
yesterday was for the Cincinnati Bengals team on the field.
I did think though BJ Hill multiple times did flash
in today's practice at a position where there are still
some unknowns for this team.

Speaker 1 (01:09:02):
Yeah, so I was going to go there next. BJ
Hill is a holdover from twenty twenty one. He's also
a holdover from last year where defensive tackle play wasn't great.
DJ Readers not here anymore, Sheldon Rankins is they've obviously
drafted to I think there's a little bit of a
spotlight on BJ Hill this season.

Speaker 5 (01:09:22):
Yeah, and there should be. I mean, we don't know,
and we talked about this yesterday a little bit. It's
such a hard position unless you focus every rep to
see how camp is playing out, like I don't know
how Chris Jenkins is doing because they don't get to
tackle or make many plays. BJ Hill was noticed today
because he was in the backfield on multiple runs and
he dominated in one on one. Outside of that, you

(01:09:43):
don't get to see what impact Sean Rankans has yet.
So you know, it's such an unknown from a position
standpoint for a team that gave up almost five yard
to carry last year. They've got to be better in
that sense. They've got to find ways to get the
quarterback off his normal schedule and make him move a
speed to maybe late making some throws down the field.
It's an important position, but it's also a position that

(01:10:05):
gets the spotlight more in training camp, preseason games more
so than practices because they go live and they can
make tackles and apply pressure and get a tackle for
a loss. That's when you really see the value of
all the work that has been done to revamp that room.
And now bj Hill sits at the head of it.

Speaker 1 (01:10:26):
Awesome stuff. Well chat again coming up in five forty five, Tony,
Thank you so much.

Speaker 5 (01:10:31):
Thanks Moe.

Speaker 1 (01:10:31):
All right, Tony Pike. Down there at the venue originally
known as Paul Brown Stadium, Bengals wrapping up their last
workout before Saturday. Don't Forget Live on ESPN fifteen thirty
Bengals and Buccaneers. Pregame coverage at three, kickoff at seven o'clock.
Postgame coverage all the way until one two things very
quickly won. During the bottom of the hour sports headlines,
I neglected to mention that Major League Soccer has terminated

(01:10:54):
the contract of Aaron Boopenza. I get the sense that
the prevailing sentiment there is good riddens and the US
hangs on. A tremendous performance by Steph Curry, who scored
thirty six, had two had a key steel at the
end of the game, had eight rebounds nine to fourteen
from three and the United States, which trailed by as

(01:11:15):
many as sixteen. They hold on to beat Serbia, advanced
to the Gold Medal Game ninety five ninety one. They'll
play France on Saturday. Brendanman and Jones on Baseball.

Speaker 7 (01:11:25):
Next Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty. Traffic from the UC Health
Traffic Center. Nearly sixty percent of Americans waiting on an
organ transplant are from multicultural communities. Give the Gift of Life.
Sign up today to be an organ donor. Their stop
and go traffic causing a twenty minute delay on southbound

(01:11:45):
seventy five between Glendale Milford Road and Paddack Road, and
you'll hit some residual traffic due to an earlier accident
on southbound seventy one after Redbank Road. Still about a
ten minute slow down there and slow traffic from Montgomery
Road Omnicole with traffic.

Speaker 6 (01:12:00):
This report is sponsored by Discover Time with Family Last with.

Speaker 2 (01:12:04):
Randiers banging out in their first preseason game. Coverage starts
Saturday at three on ESPN fifteen thirty, the official home
of the Bengals.

Speaker 3 (01:12:14):
All Right, I like it?

Speaker 1 (01:12:16):
Five ats for five ESPN fifteen thirty. I'm oegger. It's
We've been a lot going on today. A basketball game
that we've been following this afternoon was awesome. Steph Curry
and Lebron James were awesome, Joe l Embiid was good,
and the US comes back. They were down I guess
by as many as seventeen. Great game. United States knocks

(01:12:37):
off Serbia to advance to the gold medal tilt on
Saturday afternoon against France, which the US should win. Obviously,
the partial home crowd will make that fun. I've seen
someone on social media suggest that's going to be anti climactic.
I don't agree watching like that's obviously, every time we

(01:12:58):
send a men's basketball team to the Olympics, it's a
team of all stars, and there are great players on
this year's team great players. There are great players, and
then there are icons, and Lebron James and Steph Curry
are icons. And what is so fun about watching the
US men play is, first of all, like Lebron James

(01:13:20):
doesn't need to do this, Steph Curry does not need
to do this, Kevin Durant does not need to do this.
And yet at a stage in their respective careers where
they have each accomplished everything you could accomplish in basketball,
they're playing they're representing their country, they're playing their hearts
out and this clearly and obviously matters to them. Great

(01:13:44):
game today they advance beat Serbia ninety five to ninety one.
It's the Mick Ultra five o'clock Happy Hour, thanks to
our friends at Michelobultra. No matter what you're doing, start
your weekend tonight with Michelobultra. And as your weekend continues,
even if it doesn't start until tomorrow, enjoining Ice Cold
Mick Ultra, grab a six pack for the way I

(01:14:07):
was gonna say for the way home, not for the
way home. On the way home. Let's make sure we're
clear about that. Grab a six pack on the way home,
not for the way home. No, that's not what we want.
That's not what we want. Good news there. If you've
been following a lot of the Bengals beat writers on
social media, you saw the Charlie Jones was carted off
the field today with what looked like a leg injury.

(01:14:29):
When you see the cart, you assume the worst. Maybe
that's fair, maybe it's not, but that's what we do.
The good news and Tony told us, excuse me, about
twenty minutes ago that Charlie was in the locker room
and didn't have any sort of apparatus and no crutches,
nothing like that. Was just kind of moving rather capably
around the locker room, and by all accounts looked, Okay,

(01:14:51):
they've done an MRI. They'll wait for the results of that.
But I think relative to what our worst fears were,
it feels like, dare I say, maybe maybe maybe the
Bengals and Charlie Jones have dodged a bullet. Yesterday's practice.
All the skirmishes, all the fights, the little tussles, I
think we would call them tussles. All that stuff went viral.

(01:15:15):
Zach Taylor today acknowledged these guys are just tired of
hitting each other. These guys want to play someone else.
I think it adds a little punch to the game
on Saturday night. I am really looking forward to Saturday.
And I'm usually the kind of guy that diminishes. I
don't want to say I diminish the preseason, but I
look forward to it maybe less than others. Reason Number

(01:15:36):
one is I'm excited to watch the Maris Mims like.
We've heard about it, We've seen what he's done in
training camp, the early reviews are awesome. Go and get
a gig, go and snatch the job. Now is the
starting right tackle competition if you want to call it that?

(01:15:57):
Is it going to be decided after excuse me, one
preseason game?

Speaker 3 (01:16:03):
Eh?

Speaker 1 (01:16:03):
Maybe not, But I said this I think on the
show yesterday. I love it. I love it when players
have opportunities. I love when people have opportunities and they
take advantage. A Marius Mims has a golden opportunity starting
on Saturday night, and I'm just excited to watch him
perhaps show that he deserves the starting right tackle gig.

(01:16:28):
I think it is imperative for this team to demonstrate
that it has the needed offensive line depth. Last year's
offensive line was excuse me, remarkably healthy. Same five guys
played every single game. I think Cody Ford ended up

(01:16:50):
getting a few snaps here and there when Orlando Brown
had to come out. Chances are year to year that's
not gonna maintain. Does this team have enough depth, enough
depth on the offensive line to withstand injury and attrition.
There have been times in very recent history where the

(01:17:12):
answers have been no. Hopefully this year the answer is yes.
I'm going to watch Dax Hill I want to watch
Dax Hill on Saturday night. It feels like he's behind
DJ Turner based on what's happened in practice. Is he
behind Josh Newton also having a good camp that's worth

(01:17:33):
paying attention to. More than anything, Joe Burrow is going
to play on Saturday. The starters are going to play
on Saturday. And I will admit to you that this
is going to cause some unease. I don't love this.
In an ideal world, you do not need to play
the players who matter most in a game that doesn't count.

(01:17:53):
But we're not dealing with an ideal world here. We're
dealing with a team that is trying to perform better
at the beginning of a season. We're also dealing with
a team that I think has a little bit of
a message to send. Joe Burrow has talked about being forgotten,
and I understand where he's coming from. Hey, look, you

(01:18:13):
know I was hurt last year. I was heard at
the beginning of the season. It's hurt at the end
of the season, and there was this small glimmer of
time where I played really well. But what happens when
you're hurt is ah, you get slept on. You get forgotten.
And that's if you care about such things. That's why
he's ranked thirty ninth in the NFL Network Top one
hundred pole. Maybe you don't care about such things, but

(01:18:36):
Joe has always come off as a guy that's got
a bit of a chip on his shoulder, which is awesome.
This team and Ted Carris and some of the things
he had to say after yesterday's contentious, heated workout, you know,
kind of allude to this team having an edge, having
a chip on a shoulder, and wanting to get rid

(01:18:56):
of the bad taste that was in everybody's medal at
the end of last season. I'm not sure anybody should
take preseason game performances all that seriously, but I think
it would be fun to watch this team, specifically the
offense with Joe, play a series and look as crisp

(01:19:21):
as you could imagine, look as prepared as you can imagine,
be as efficient as you can imagine, and maybe even
be as explosive as you can imagine, just to send
the message you better hope I don't stay healthy this year,

(01:19:46):
and like that is the story to the season. I mean,
as much as we get tired of hearing about it
here as much as maybe we get tired of talking
about it here. That is the story to the season.
Joe Burrow has played four NFL years, and the focus
has often been on how he's been hurt. Because he
has been hurt. Half of his NFL seasons have ended
with him suffering an injury and him not getting to

(01:20:07):
Game seventeen. But the other half of his seasons, when
he has stayed healthy, they win the division. Because on
a radio station in Cleveland this week, and I was
asked to handicap the AFC North, and I said, like,
I think on some level you can make the case
for all four teams in this division, and maybe one

(01:20:30):
more than the other. If Brandon a Uk ends up
landing in the AOC North, I think fan bases in
all four cities should be talking about how our team
can win the division. I'm not sure there's any other
any other quartet of teams that you could say that
about in the NFL. But for me, the separator is
a healthy Joe Burrow, because I know what happens when

(01:20:52):
the Bengals have a healthy Joe Burrow, they win the
AOC North. Does him having health guarantee that outcome of course,
but you know you would, you would sort of like,
for if not a message, at least a little bit
of a reminder, this team that didn't have this guy
for all that much now does And even if he's

(01:21:15):
not throwing passes to Jamar Chase in a preseason game,
remember what happens when this guy plays the entire season.
And by the way, you know, the whole like injury
prone thing. I think this is a big year because
you know, let's be honest, if if something unfortunately does
happen again this year, then it's that the conversation. The
conversation tilts a little bit more towards talking about Joe

(01:21:38):
and his excuse me, long term health, him being injury prone.
Why the Bengals maybe haven't protected him? Uh, when he's
ever going to be able to establish a pattern of
health if he does get through the season healthy, well,
those conversations kind of go away. A year ago at
this time, as you know, Lamar Jackson was coming off

(01:22:02):
back to back years where he did not finish the
season on the active roster, where the Ravens had to
play a playoff game with their backup against the Bengals.
The year before, the primary conversation around Lamar Jackson going
into last year was, yeah, Bud, can he stay healthy
a year later after an MVP season, after a year
where he does stay healthy, nobody's talking about that anymore.

(01:22:24):
I think with Joe Burrow, if he gets through the
season healthy, then we can kind of stop talking about
what happens when he's not healthy. But when he is healthy,
Bengals win the division. Sounds very overly simplistic, but it's true.
And so on Saturday night in uh, whatever amount of
action he sees and whatever amount of action the starter

(01:22:48):
see be kind of cool if maybe a little bit
of a reminder could be sent, Hey, if you've been
sleeping on this guy, just remember what he can be
and what this team can be when he's healthy. Sixteen
minutes after five o'clock on Moweger numbers are five to win,
three seven, four nine, fifteen thirty and eight six six
seven oh two three seven seven six. Tony Pike one

(01:23:11):
more time from Bengals training camp practice. It's been a
lot of fun listening to him on Sincy three to
sixty all all week. I guess, with the exception of Tuesday,
broadcasting from camp, and he'll join us to talk about
today's last workout before the preseason opener on Saturday. That
coming up in just about thirty minutes. Meanwhile, Red's lose

(01:23:31):
last night. Andrew Abbott was not good. He was not
helped by the home plate umpire and a series that
got off to a great start took a little bit
of a detour last night. Red's and Marlins agains this
evening with cy young candidate Hunter Green on the hill
for Cincinnati. We'll spend a few minutes on that and
then double back on our college football stuff as well.
Glad you're with us today at sixteen after five o'clock

(01:23:54):
on Moweger. This is ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports Station,
Cincinnati's eighteen thirty. My name's Moger will have a poll
question a little bit later on late in the show
compared to usual. But we've been busy. Uh, it's been
a few minutes with our friend Mike. Mike, you are
on ESPN fifteen thirty. Good afternoon. How are you, Mike?

(01:24:21):
Mike you with me? Buddy? I do not believe that
he is well. We'll put Mike back on hold. We uh,
you know, we try to give Mike a little time,
but sometimes he's not necessarily at the ready when we
go to him, and guy's got a lot going on,
so you could totally understand. Uh. Last night's Reds again,

(01:24:44):
Tony Pike asked me this, since he three sixty, why
why can't this team string together wins? The answer is
pretty simple, that they're not a very good team. Just
you know, you get to a certain point in the
season where there's enough of a sample size to suggest
us what they are or what they aren't. What they
are is a maddeningly inconsistent team. What they are not

(01:25:06):
is a very good team. And so if you watch
those first two games against Miami and thought, Okay, well
here they go, they're getting ready to go on a
bit of a run, take away the opponent, and ask yourself,
beyond beyond the fact that they're playing a bad Miami team,
what about this team would make you believe the Reds specifically,

(01:25:27):
what about them would make you think that going on
a run is possible? Andrew Abboc got squeezed last night
on multiple occasions. In that stinks. It's also like it
or not a part of the game umpiring in baseball.
I say this every time people start to lose their
mind about umpiring. And there was a call last night
in the Dodgers Phillies game where both teams announcers looked

(01:25:50):
at the same play differently. Dave Roberts gets thrown out
of the game. I wonder which sport in which sport
fans are happy with the officiating. Do college basketball fans
of which I'm a huge one, talk excessively about how

(01:26:12):
good the officiating is.

Speaker 3 (01:26:14):
No?

Speaker 1 (01:26:14):
Do NFL fans feel really good about the officiating? Well,
I'll look at social media every Sunday and arrive at
the conclusion that the answer is no. Same for college football,
same for the NBA, because they're a sport right now.
And I've asked this on multiplications where you go, you
know what, the officiating right now is really good. It's
actually it's quite consistent. That's exactly what it needs to be.
It's good. So Andrew Abbott gets squeezed last night. You've

(01:26:39):
got to overcome that, like that's right, wrong, fair, Whether
you election or not with you, whether you think you
know we should have robot umpires, You've got to figure
out a way to not let that torpedo your performance
and not let that torpedo your team's chances of winning
the game, so they lose one in Miami Lab last night,

(01:27:00):
Hunter Green. This is a storyline for the last fifty
or so games of the season. The Reds have forty
eight games to go, so Hunter Green is as of
right now, he is on pace to pitch in nine
or ten more games. I've said this. I've said this

(01:27:25):
sort of as a throwaway line because I like to
do it to sort of tease the people that have
wanted to give up on Hunter Green. Hunter Green right
now is third in the National League in er. He
leads the National League in wins above replacement for pitchers.

(01:27:48):
He is seventh in strikeouts he is in the top ten,
and innings pitched. He is seventh in strikeouts per nine innings.
He is the best in baseball in hits per nine
innings he is fifth in the National League and walks
and hits per innings pitched number one. When he was

(01:28:12):
an All Star, I got a phone call I think
I was in from Lance or from someone who said, well,
he was an All Star because the National League ran
out of guys and they had injury. No, he was
an All Star because he pitched like an All Star
and since then, you know, for like the one person
on social media who pretended to be mad that Hunter
Green pitch poorly in the All Star Game, well, his
response since then has been kind of a middle finger

(01:28:34):
because he hasn't given up a run. So he's having
an All Star season. It's not far fetched. It really
isn't to talk about him as a bona fide Cy
Young Award candidate by the way, and show hey, Tony's

(01:28:55):
gonna win it. You're gonna have to vet Elie Dela
Cruz's candidacy too. With if the numbers look at the
end of the season like they do right now, Hunter
Green's there top ten and a whole bunch of different categories,
only getting better. Has not given up a run in
four of his last five starts. His July and August

(01:29:16):
era is under point three, not under three, under point three.
He is only getting better. He is only getting more
trusting of his secondary stuff. Hunter Green's gonna win a
sign Young Award one day. He may win one this year.

(01:29:40):
You are at least gonna have tove his candidacy when
you do vote on the award. And you know, I
have not looked at this Chris Sale. I don't care
about wins and losses, and there are still people who
do Chris Sales one thirteen games, and I am allowed

(01:30:01):
to mention the pitchers win lost stats because Chris Sale
is the odds on favorite and should be, and he's
pitching for a team that's better than Hunter Greens, and
he does lead the league in era. But the point
is we do have like two months of a season ago.
Both guys are going to make eight, nine, ten more starts.
It's Chris Sales Award. You might argue to lose, but

(01:30:24):
Hunter Green, if the pace continues, could have an argument.
We'll see twenty nine after five o'clock at Mulegger on Twitter.
We'll get to a poll question here in just a few.
Lots of sports headlines and more coming up on ESPN
fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports Station, Cincinnati Sports Stations. This is

(01:30:51):
ESPN fifteen thirty. Sports Headlines are a service of Kelsey Chevrolet,
Home of lifetime powertrain protection and guarantee credit approval from
their family to yours for life at kelseygev dot com.
Bengals had a workout inside the stadium today, getting set
for Saturday night Charlie Jones was carted off, which ain't good.

(01:31:12):
Reporters in the locker room noticed he was not walking
with a crutch or a walker. He wasn't being carried around.
He was acting normal. We'll see the results of an
MRI Bengals Buck Saturday Night Live on ESPN fifteen thirty.
Kick at seven pregame at three o'clock. Bengals today signed
free agent defensive tackle Carlos Davis. Played his college ball

(01:31:33):
at Nebraska. He was picked by the Steelers in the
seventh round of the twenty twenty draft and played in
twelve games across three seasons. Had three tackles for loss
in a sack. Didn't play in the NFL last year.
Spent some time with the Birmingham Stallions of the United
Football League earlier this spring. Also today, the Bengals announced
the White Bengal Game, when you've got to wear white

(01:31:56):
with those awesome white helmets. The White Bengal Game will
be October the twenty seventh against the Philadelphia Eagles. Let's
see Red's and Marlins tonight finale of a four game
series in South Florida. Six ' ten is first pitch,
so less than an hour away on seven hundred wl

(01:32:16):
W Hunter Green saw Young Award candidate Hunter Green gets
the ball for Cincinnati against Kyle Tyler. Starting lineup tonight
hopefully made well thanks two Madewell restoration. Jonathan India is
leading off, playing second base, Ellie's at short, Stevenson's catching, TJ.
Friedel batting clean up in center, Spencer Steer at first,
Jamer Candelario dhing, Jake Freley and right Noelvee Martine at

(01:32:38):
third base, and Will Benson in leftfield batting nine. Florence
yawls on the road against Washington tonight. Couple of other notes.
Aaron bou Penza Aaron boo Pens's time in Cincinnati. The
high point was the goal that he scored against Toronto
to clinch the Supporter Shield last year. Everything else sort

(01:33:00):
of felt like it's stunk, including when he got punched
in the face by a boxer, and recent reports of
him missing practice haven't helped because well, he has been spotted.
Laurel Faylor Queen City Press has written about this. He's
been like spotted at bars downtown, although hopefully not getting
punched in the face anyway. Major League Soccer has terminated

(01:33:23):
his contract with FC Cincinnati Olympics. The US men's basketball
team ninety five to a ninety one winners. They were
down by seventeen points, come back and beat Serby in
the semi final. The US men will play France in
the gold medal game on Saturday. Steph Curry had thirty
six Lebron James a triple double. Also Friend of the Show,

(01:33:48):
Jordan Thompson and the US women's volleyball team advances to
the gold medal match a five set win over Brazil.
Jordan finished with five points on four KI and a
block team. USA will play in the gold medal match
on Sunday. They're gonna play either Italy or Turkey. I

(01:34:08):
am going I'm gonna look it up right now. I
will admit to you that, off the top of my head,
I do not know if Italy or Turkey won. But
I have a commitment here to be thorough and as
complete and as knowledgeables. Do you know who won the
semi final match in volleyball between Italy and Turkey? Tarin Italy.

(01:34:29):
Italy won, all right, So US the Italy on Sunday
for the gold medal. There you go. Novak Djokovic pulls
out of the Cincinnati Open, which is a bummer. We
have a pole question. Thanks to our friends at United
Heartland Insurance. If you need insurance, if you're like Nelly
the rapper, who you need got arrest if for not

(01:34:51):
having insurance, don't don't put yourself in his position, don't
be liked. Have insurance. So in order to get insurance,
good thing to do is to call United Heartland Insurance
or at least go to their website uhis dot com.
They have locations. They got one in Cincinnati, they got
one in Burlington, close to where my mom used to live,
and then they got one in Hamilton uhi ns dot com.

(01:35:13):
We were talking before about Jason Williams Peace Jason, friend
of ours, friend of mine, terrific writer sports columnists now
for the Inquire wrote a piece in response to an
email or about how it's kind of hard to get
into college football these days because of all of the
stuff surrounding the sport, like conference realignment. And I will

(01:35:36):
admit to you I hate most conference realignment. I like
the fact that Bearcats have moved into a better league selfishly,
but I don't like I think it's stupid that we
have USC in the same conference as Ohio State. I
think it's dumb, and it's dumb that you have a
conference that span the conference is now that spanned the

(01:35:58):
entire United States, go from coast to coast. I think
it's stupid what's happened to the Big to the Pac twelve.
Like I think it's stupid that a lot of historical
rivalries have been blown up. I think it's dumb and
sad that something that a lot of us used to
love about college football has gone away. And that's like

(01:36:21):
you used to think SEC football and here's what it
looked like, and there was geographic commonality in Big twelve football.
Here's what it looked like, and it looks and resembles
the NFL. And I don't like it because we already
have an NFL. But I think it's stupid that we
have a two school conference Oregon State and Washington State

(01:36:45):
in the Pac twelve. I think these things are dumb.
But at the end of the day, what I love
about the sports that I love are the games. It's
harder on some level to follow everything, all the player movement,
and I understand that, but I don't know there's ways

(01:37:08):
to do it. The games are still so good. The
games are still so good. And as much as I
don't love as much as I think it's dumb that,
for instance, Oregon is in the Big Ten. We're gonna
get some really good games in the Big Ten this year,

(01:37:31):
and at the end of the day, is a sports
fan that's I mean, I can always speak for myself,
but I think most would agree what we want are
like good games. At the end of the day, it's
all I want good games. What gives me good games?
And I do think like, first of all, I am
always going to be the biggest fan of NIL because

(01:37:52):
I am a fan of everybody getting paid. There is
a notion out there that NIL is creating an imbalance
in the sport. In my lifetime, I can't recall a
period where there hasn't been imbalance in college football. Frankly,

(01:38:17):
it's been a sport that's kind of come to be
defined by sameness. Every year, a select group of halves
and then everybody else. Nobody seemed to mind it then,
So I kind of think number one NIL long term
may create at least a tinge of parody. We also

(01:38:38):
have an expanded playoff, and I think how the playoff
itself unfolds will be interesting because in the four team
era we still had we still had a lot of
years where like one versus four was a blowout because
it's a pretty big difference between one versus four. But
I think the cool thing about college football, say what

(01:38:59):
you want about a lot of the things that you
might not like, more fans going into the season should
feel like their team has access to the championship than
at any point in the sports history. They have a
twelve team playoff. I don't believe each one of those

(01:39:19):
twelve teams is really gonna be considered a legitimate national
championship contender because the difference in college football, I think
between team one and team twelve is pretty significant. But
you go into the season thinking, in more situations than

(01:39:43):
it ever before, my team's got access to the championship,
or at least to the championship tournament, to the playoff.
So I'm kind of curious. I ask, what is conference realignment,
player movement, nil, etc? Done your interest in college football?
The player movement thing? Vote now at Moegger again thanks

(01:40:06):
to United at Heartland Insurance. The player movement, player movement thing.
I'll be the first to admit to you that there
was a part of me that has always enjoyed watching
a player sort of grow and develop in The primary
example that I could give you as a UC basketball
fan is Kenyan Martin. The Kenny Martin's freshman year. I

(01:40:28):
remember watching after he got academically cleared. He was on
a team that was preseason number one in the country,
and on the rare occasion he would get into the game,
I remember going like, really, this guy, like, this guy
can't play. And then by his second season he could
dominate a game on defense and contribute just enough on offense.

(01:40:48):
And then by his junior year, the offensive part of
his game came around. And then by his senior year
he's the best player in the country, number one pick
in the draft. And there's a part of that, you know,
Jason mentions in his piece des Ritter. Des Ritter is
a great example. That's a guy his freshman year where
it felt like they were at times winning in spite

(01:41:08):
of his throwing ability or a lack thereof. And then
by the end of his career he's an NFL quarterback
and you know, the most accomplished quarterback that you see
has ever had. And there is a part of that
that has gone away with the player movement. But I
also think it's created more interest in the off season.
Like I'm college basketball is probably my favorite sport, although

(01:41:32):
at any given point I can make an argument that
another sport's my favorite. I love college basketball in the
off season right now because of the player movement, and
it's fun to think about how this guy coming to
this school is going to fit in here and how
the pieces are gonna work. That has enhanced my interest.
So I got three choices on my pole question. What

(01:41:53):
is conference realignment, player movement, nil, etc. Done to your
interest in college football? It's a her it, B enhanced it,
c had no effect on it. For me, The net
is it's had no effect on it. There are things
I don't like, but there are some things that I
think are at least interesting. I also think there's nothing

(01:42:14):
as fun as a high end college football game, and
let's be honest, some of those regular season games might
not matter as much because if you have two teams
in the top ten that both look like they're going
to finish in the top twelve, you know the game
doesn't have nearly as much punch. That'll be Okay, that'll
be okay. Long term, maybe conference championship games aren't gonna

(01:42:35):
have as much punch. In fact, they won't. But I
still feel like when you have a sport where more
people feel like they have access to the championship event,
that's a good thing. And I still feel like there's
nothing nothing better than a high end college game and
a great atmosphere, and there's nothing more fun. And this
there's a gambling part of this, I'll admit you know,

(01:42:58):
right around three on a Saturday afternoon, the noon games
are winding down, the three thirties are kicking off. You
still have a full slate of night tilts in front
of you, watching games on multiple platforms. Still not going
to be able to beat that anyway. Vote now at Moeger.
We'll check in one more time with Tony Pike, who's

(01:43:19):
been at been at Bengals training camp all day. He
joins us. Next on ESPN fifteen thirty, visit Hollywood Casino
Lord a.

Speaker 2 (01:43:26):
Training camp report Brooke to you by Skylight Chili. Feeling good.
It's Skylight Time on ESPN fifteen thirty, the official home
of the Bengals.

Speaker 1 (01:43:37):
Yes, one more check in with Tony Pike, who has
been at at Bengals training camp all day long doing
since he three sixty and then checking out the practice
inside the stadium about an hour ago. You gave me
good news regarding Charlie Jones. And for those who weren't
here but may know that he was carted off during
today's practice, it does feel like me they have dodged

(01:44:01):
a bit of a bullet, right.

Speaker 5 (01:44:02):
Yeah, I mean, you're you're still gonna wait to see
the results of the MRI. But he wasn't walking with
the assistance of crutches or you know, a wheelchair, and
he was moving around on his own power. There was
a noticeable limp, but he seemed to be in really
good spirits and if you fellow along, you know, I
know at the bottom of the eye last how he
talked about Team USA's win. That was really the highlight
of the locker room is Charlie Jones moving around and

(01:44:25):
all the players that were huddled around Jordan Battles locker
watching a Team USA erase the fifteen point deficit at
the end of the third and win in advance of
the gold medal match.

Speaker 1 (01:44:35):
And it was it was unifying people, right because yesterday
everybody was mad at each other and fighting, And today
Team USA brought all the Bengals players together.

Speaker 5 (01:44:44):
Everyone came together to cheer on the Red, white and
Blue as they took down Serbia in the fourth quarter.

Speaker 1 (01:44:51):
Wow, I'm gonna ask you about a guy that you
and I have not talked about at all, that you
and I talked about every day a year ago. Are
you ready sure? How has Jake Browning done in practice
this year?

Speaker 5 (01:45:06):
Honestly, he's been really smooth man. He looks to have
full grasp of everything this team wants to do. We
mentioned earlier there was a move the change period, unscripted
where the offense came out and went three and out
with Joe Burrow. The next drive, Jake Browning went on
an eleven play drive that went seventy yards where he
made some key throws and then ran in a third

(01:45:29):
down from about the eight yard line and scored a touchdown. So,
Jake Browning's been sharp. And I know it's different because
you're going against the second team and you know who
you have around you.

Speaker 3 (01:45:39):
But for Jake.

Speaker 5 (01:45:40):
Browning's point, See Higgins has missed some practices, Jamar Chase
has missed every practice, so The ripple effect is that
Jake Browning has probably third team guys that he's working
with more on the second team offense, and he still
performed really well. He has not had glaring airs. He
does not make throws that make you think, man, that's

(01:46:01):
why he's a backup. He is a guy that, again
we don't talk about him much because we're spending so
much time rightfuly so talking about Joe Burrow. He's a
guy that's done everything right to this point in training camp,
and the Bengals are very lucky to have Jake Brewman.

Speaker 1 (01:46:14):
Yeah, it's remarkable. A year ago at this time that
was like the battle and now it's something we just
kind of take for granted and we feel pretty good
about what would have to happen if Jake Browning had
to play. Tony, thank you, as always. We'll talk tomorrow.

Speaker 5 (01:46:27):
Thanks Bo.

Speaker 1 (01:46:28):
Right there you go, Tony Pike back with me tomorrow afternoon,
three forty five, four forty five and five forty five.
Do not forget Saturday night on what should be a
beautiful Terran and I were just talking about this. The
weather on Saturday looks awesome and should be a great
sports day. The penultimate day. That's right. I went penultimate
day of the Olympics, gold medal basketball in the afternoon

(01:46:51):
and a Bengals preseason game on Saturday night. Just as
a quick aside. I think I have enjoyed the I'm
not a big Winter Olympics guy. I'll be totally honest
with you. I love Olympic hockey. The rest of them
aren't aren't for me, and that's okay. We don't have
to love everything if you like. If you love skiing, awesome.

(01:47:15):
I like to ski. I've done it twice in my life.
Some Olympics I'm in. This has been I think the
most I've enjoyed the Olympics. Maybe as an adult. Part
of it is I vote for the Olympics to be permanently,
like in that part of the world, Europe or somewhere
you know, four or five six hours ahead where I
can wake up in the morning and there's live sports on.

(01:47:38):
I know nobody likes to credit broadcasters. I think NBC
has done an awesome job, you know, from Snoop Dogg
to how good Mike Turrico is to the way they've
covered these events. I've I just they've been entertaining, on
almost a daily basis. And today's basketball game was awesome,

(01:47:59):
so you got gold metal hoops, and then that goes
into the Bengals game on Saturday. If you're looking for
the radio call, of course, you can listen to it
on ESPN fifteen thirty with a coverage starting at three pm.
We are done. We are back at it tomorrow at three.
The guest I had for tomorrow just canceled. We were
gonna do Heidi Wantney because she's got the Red's Brewers

(01:48:22):
for Apple, but nope, too busy. Guess we'll have to
come up with someone else.

Speaker 3 (01:48:28):
You lost.

Speaker 1 (01:48:29):
Heidi's done to me, dead to me, She's not dead
to me. That's not nice. But they reached out said
do you want to hide you Watney on. I'm like, yeah,
that sounds awesome, let's do it. And then just a
few minutes ago got the cancelation. Maybe they did some
research into the show. We have to go. Thanks to
Tarren Bland for producing, Thanks to you for listening, have

(01:48:51):
a tremendous night, and we'll talk to you tomorrow afternoon
on ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports Station. This report is
sponsored by O'Reilly Auto Parts O'Reilly.

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