9/1/26 -- The Mo Egger Show: What Now for the Bengals and Are the Reds Being Reckless with Elly?

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
All right.

Speaker 2 (00:01):
What's up?

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Mo Egger, ESPN 1530. Thank you so much for listening.
I hope you're having an unbelievable Tuesday afternoon and you're
staying cool. They just canceled my daughter's soccer practice, so
no heat exhaustion for her and her teammates. Uh, nonetheless,
we have a lot of ground to cover today. Paul
Daner Jr. is not with us in studio because, well,

(00:22):
the Bengals are practicing right now. Zach Taylor talked a
little while ago. We'll have that, uh, some of that
for you a little bit later on. But, uh, so he's,
he's down at the stadium, but he's, but he's with
us and, uh, he's here now. And you could watch
his talk on Twitter and YouTube. Paul Daner Jr. from
The Athletic and, uh, The Growler Podcast, of course. And
there he is looking professional in the interview room down

(00:43):
there at Paycourse Stadium. How are we doing?

Speaker 3 (00:46):
Doing great, Mo. What's going on?

Speaker 1 (00:48):
I wish you were here, but nonetheless, we still have
a lot to discuss. It's been busy.

Speaker 3 (00:53):
Well, I wanted to discuss something with you. It's funny because,
you know, I went to Moeller High School, right?

Speaker 1 (01:00):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:01):
And I thought this was really weird, but Deuce McBride's
people reached out to me. And they were like, hey,
would you like us to just... Deuce is in town.
He has the Larry O'Brien trophy. We'll come meet you.
He's actually right here. The trophy's right here.

Speaker 2 (01:17):
Really?

Speaker 3 (01:18):
My camera just won't move.

Speaker 4 (01:20):
Oh.

Speaker 3 (01:20):
I can't quite move it over there to show you.

Speaker 1 (01:22):
I got you.

Speaker 3 (01:23):
Okay. They said they'd bring it to me wherever I
was so I could see it. They thought I might
have interest since, you know, I went to Moeller and
I talked about the Knicks with you before.

Speaker 1 (01:31):
Yeah. So you and Deuce.

Speaker 3 (01:33):
It was really, really cool of them, though. So I
wanted to thank them.

Speaker 1 (01:36):
Yeah. Well, just tell Deuce hi for me. Tell him hello. Yeah. And, uh, it's, it's,
it's nice. It's nice that he was able to spend
some time back in Cincinnati with, uh, the trophy. And
I'm thrilled that you got a chance to see it. Um,
I guess molar takes care of molar here. So if you're,
you know, uh, a public school kid from Northern Kentucky, I,

(01:57):
I guess maybe molar doesn't, uh, unless they need something,
of course. Now, God knows what debt you're going to
be asked to pay, how many bake sales and clam
bakes and, uh, fundraisers and stags are going to be
asked to promote, but, uh, I just, from my perspective,
the spigot has maybe been cut off a little bit,
but I'm glad they've taken care of you.

Speaker 3 (02:16):
They have. I just didn't know if you'd have any
interest being the Knicks fan that you are. I just
thought it was a really nice gesture. It was very nice.
I'm glad.

Speaker 1 (02:24):
I'm glad you got a chance to spend some time
with the Larry O'Brien trophy. Above and beyond all that,
you've been busy. What has stood out the most to
you about the cut down to 53 and the transactions
since Sunday at 6 p.m.

Speaker 3 (02:44):
I mean, it's kind of similar to some of the
things that we talked about in the run-up in that
They're just searching at swing tackle. Like, they're just– it's just–
there's just got to be somebody, right? I guess Blake
Freeland is here now who is on the practice squad.
He played– he started nine games, which is actually an

(03:05):
upgrade from guys that have never started a game in
the NFL. And there's just a big collection of them
behind Orlando Brown and Amarius Mims right now. The hunt of, like,
is there anyone here that we think we could feel
comfortable with on opening day has stood out. You have
three of them now on the 53-plus break, Blake Freeland.

(03:27):
This competition is going to continue. My take now, like
my latest ruminating spicy take, is they would be more
hurt today. if Amarius Mims got hurt than if Jamar
Chase got hurt. Oh, yeah.

Speaker 1 (03:43):
Yeah, I agree.

Speaker 3 (03:44):
The fall off.

Speaker 4 (03:45):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (03:45):
I mean, the absolute scarcity of what would have to
happen if you're already like... Okay, Orlando, all right, we're good,
but there's still a caution in that one. If you
now had to worry about that and have somebody with
little to no experience on the other side, your offense
that you spend so much time on can be non-functional

(04:07):
if you're having to help out both sides. Whereas if
you play without Jamar, it's a massive loss, but you're
going to two tight ends with– Eric Hall and either
Kosicki or Sample. You've got T still. You've got Yoshi
and Dante Myers. There's a lot of other directions you
can go. it feels like things crumble quickly if you

(04:28):
have an injury there right now. And maybe they feel
good and that something will emerge. But, you know, there's
just this Miles Hinton, Blake Freeland, Javon Foster, come on down.
Anybody is, it's concerning where that stands right now.

Speaker 1 (04:45):
It's concerning, but I guess for me, and look, I
think they have squashed a lot of the concerns a
lot of us had about what they've done at linebacker.
I think they've squashed, And you wrote about this, some
of the concerns that we had about cornerback depth. And
I want to talk about Takario Davis here in a bit.
But I think the thing about what's happening at swing
tackle is it's frustrating and it's concerning, but it's not

(05:06):
that surprising. No. No.

Speaker 3 (05:09):
I mean, there were three-ish spots that we came into
camp with, and this was one of them. The other
two worked themselves out, I think, where you feel okay. Linebackers, TBD,
but they mainly worked themselves out, and this one didn't.
And that's the chance you take if you're going to
have three or four positions that look like that. One

(05:29):
of them is probably not going to pan out, and
so they're having to figure something out on the fly.
You know, Personally, I think you'd have liked to have
seen some type of a more aggressive move out there,
but they're hard to come by. The tackle market was
rough to try to go find something in, to acquire
anything in. I mean, think about... I don't know exactly.

(05:49):
I talked to our people in Philadelphia about Hinton and
Johnson and all those guys over the last week. I
think it says something that they were willing to give
up on two developmental prospects to just hang on to
Fred Johnson because, like, you know what? that's better than
just betting on development. Even though you'd love to see

(06:10):
what it looks like maybe down the line, guys they drafted,
it's just like, let's hang on to what we know
right now because it's scary out there. And I think
that says something about where the whole league is kind
of at in that position. And the Bengals aren't alone
in this. About every coach in the league hates their
offensive tackle probably right now. this one just feels considering
all that feels right around it. It sticks out a

(06:31):
little more like a sore thumb.

Speaker 1 (06:33):
Well, and it's also the team that quote can't protect
its quarterback. Right. And so I think that, that, that
feels a little bit, um, any idea how serious the
injury is to Brian Parker? No.

Speaker 3 (06:46):
Um, it's something we probably should ask more about today. I, I,
I don't, I don't know. Those two kind of popped up, uh,
out of nowhere, the Parker thing, especially cause he played
in the whole game and, and, you know, we haven't
seen anybody since then. They kind of went dark until
today with the locker room will be open in a
little bit. I don't know if he'll be in there.
We'll get more word from the team or whatever, but don't,

(07:08):
don't have specifics on, on how serious that is right now,
but stinks. He had a good camp and I think
they really counting on him to be a guy at guard.
And it kind of, I mean, I think they were
going to do it anyway, but it kind of really
forces them to put Jalen Rivers back full-time into that
guard spot. But don't worry, Miles Hinton's here, so it's

(07:31):
all working itself out.

Speaker 1 (07:33):
Paul Daner Jr. from The Athletic and The Growler Podcast.
In your years on the beat, is Dante Myers, does
he represent the best training camp story that you've covered?

Speaker 3 (07:46):
Yeah. I mean, I... I got to tell you, you
can try to compare them over the years. I don't
think I've ever seen anybody come from this far off
to not just make it, but to end up a
part where you're sitting here today like, he's got a role, right?
Like he has a role and he brings you something

(08:10):
in the opener. Whereas last year at this time, like
he was preparing to play his first games in the CFL.
They didn't know if he's going to be anything for
the Saskatchewan rough riders, that he was some, some guy
who paid for the tryout and to be a guy
that the NFL already was like, yeah, this is not

(08:31):
an NFL player years ago. He barely got into one
rookie weekend camp. Guys don't rise up from that and
suddenly get into the league. It just doesn't happen. You
barely see anybody go from the CFL and actually play
in the league. Which, by the way, does the CFL

(08:52):
have any tackles? Have we looked at the Saskatchewan Rough
Riders tackle situation today? Because maybe that's where you go.
I just think that I've never seen somebody come from
so far out and win everyone over. Win over, I mean,

(09:14):
the quarterbacks telling urban legend stories about you. Every coach
is just heaping praise. You did everything the right way.
You showed up every day. You made plays at every
possible spot. And now you're like, I think they got
a real guy here. I've never seen anything like it.

Speaker 1 (09:33):
What would you put the over-under on Dante Myers' touches
being this year?

Speaker 3 (09:39):
You know, we said some of these things about Tinsley,
and he felt like a crazy story last year. Yeah, yes.
And he got eight catches. But he had a cut
touchdown in week two. Look, there's probably going to be
games where they're without Jamar or T, or you know,

(09:59):
they hope not both. And he's going to play. And
if it goes like it's gone to this point, you know,
when I talk to his quarterback in Saskatchewan, Um, Trevor Harris,
who's like a legend in the CFL for the story
I wrote about him. He was like, you think Dante
Myers is good today. Wait till you see how much

(10:20):
better he is in week five, six, seven. He's like,
because he's so smart. He's so great at asking the
right questions. evolving, understanding how to get one step better
and see things differently, and you start getting chemistry with
working with these guys. What blew me away last year
was how much better my connection got with him as

(10:42):
the season kept going on, despite the success that we'd
had early on. It's going to get better. So I guess...
who's to count that out at this point that he
can get in there and find a role and all
of a sudden have five for 70 in his first
game where he has some kind of a role and just,
you can't get them off the field. I think he
ends up in double digits, but I don't know. That's

(11:05):
largely injury dependent. I mean, he's not going to get
many catches if we have a year like last year
where T and Jamar are healthy almost every game, but
if you live under an assumption that that's not necessarily
guaranteed at all, I think he'll go in there and
play well when it's time.

Speaker 1 (11:19):
Are you ready for some high-end analysis?

Speaker 3 (11:23):
I love high-end analysis.

Speaker 1 (11:24):
I think Takario Davis might be a dude.

Speaker 3 (11:27):
Yeah, I do too. I felt like when you watched
his first preseason game, he kind of, oh, okay, you saw,
I love the physicality there. Yeah. Like, and then when
he had the practice last week where he was playing
great against T and then he kept going. And the

(11:48):
next thing, you know, I mean, which play did you
like the best from his game the other day? Did
you like the PBU, the interception of the TFL?

Speaker 5 (11:57):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (11:57):
I mean, the TFL, the TFL.

Speaker 3 (12:00):
I thought TFL was great.

Speaker 1 (12:01):
Yeah. Zach Taylor.

Speaker 3 (12:02):
I asked, um, about, um, you know, his camp, basically.
And he's like, you know, I just felt like... you
get the comfort of a full stretch of one series.
Even he really hadn't even had that until Philadelphia where
he just kind of been in there. And then it's

(12:22):
four plays and you're out because that's the nature of practice.
A lot of times it's a little bit choppier, but
like when you actually get into playing 10 plays and
getting a rhythm, you saw him finding his rhythm and
thought that was a big deal. I think he's CB
three right now. I think you're, I'm not saying you're
playing them over anybody, but the confidence that they have,
in him to come in if needed has to be

(12:45):
really high. I just think what he hit a huge
spike over these last really two weeks, week and a
half where you started to see it come together. And that's,
that's what, you know, draft picks that end up having
consequential rookie seasons typically look like, like, You can be
whatever you want, shaky or whatever early on, but in
the second half of camp, you start to see the

(13:06):
spike happen, and then those are guys that are given
a chance in week four, seven, ten, whatever.

Speaker 1 (13:13):
When did the Bengals name their captains?

Speaker 3 (13:18):
It's usually next week. I guess maybe Monday is probably
about when it's going to be.

Speaker 1 (13:22):
The Los Angeles Rams named their captains yesterday. They have
11 of them. 11 of them. Now, what, 40, 46
guys dress for game day, right? I assume all 11
captains will be dressing. That means basically one quarter of
the team is a captain. How would you feel if
you're a player on the L.A. Rams and you've been

(13:42):
around for a few years and you weren't named a captain?

Speaker 3 (13:47):
You know how I'd feel like. it's cool. Aaron Donald's here.
I don't really care who's the captain. I'm a captain.
I'm going to be a champ. Like it's, it's all good.
Can I just go shake Aaron Donald's hand and not
care about anything?

Speaker 1 (13:59):
You know, I was listening, I was listening to ESPN
radio yesterday morning and they were talking about the teams
that are the biggest villains in sports and the Rams
came up and I don't really view them that way.
I view them as more of a corporate America type team.
Cause you know, in corporate America, like if you look
at the the organizational flow chart of a lot of places.
And you see this in intercollegiate athletics as well, where
everybody's a, an athletic director. And then in corporate America,

(14:22):
everybody's a vice president of something. That's what the Rams are.
They have 11, 11 captains.

Speaker 4 (14:28):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (14:29):
How many, how many like groomsmen did you have?

Speaker 1 (14:33):
Well, I got, well, see, I've been married twice. So
the first one, five. And then the second one, the
wedding itself was so small and sort of, I don't
want to say slapped together pretty quickly, but it was,
we didn't have any. We just, we had somebody who
got ordained for 10 bucks and then we all went
out drinking. There really wasn't a wedding itself. But my

(14:56):
first go around five.

Speaker 3 (14:58):
But to me, like, it's kind of like that. Like,
at a certain point, you got to be like, are
all these people my friends?

Speaker 1 (15:04):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (15:05):
You know, like, how far? There's got to be some point.
I did the, like, I'm just, I got two and
everybody else will be involved in, like, an inner circle.
You can't have too many. It feels like, like, this
is just, there's just too many people here. I can't
even take the picture.

Speaker 1 (15:18):
You know, I see now I wish you were here
for the next two hours and 40 minutes, because this
is one of my, this is one of the things
I think about often in life. When I see these
wedding parties where there's like 13 groups, men, 13, like,
I don't know that you can be friends on the
same level with all of them. And then what if
you're a guy number 14 and you're on the outside
looking in, I've, these are the things that I think about,

(15:39):
but the 11 captains. So see if the Bengals will
have 12.

Speaker 3 (15:45):
You know what you want to do? You want to
play a game if you have a buddy who has
like one of these wedding parties with 10, 12 groomsmen
or whatever. Do a checkup five years later on the
state of all those friendships. Exactly. Okay, let's see how
everybody's hanging on and how connected that still is after
that many people. It's just, we can't have that many friends.

(16:08):
Grown adults with kids and lives, you don't have time
for that many friends.

Speaker 1 (16:11):
No, I don't even know if I know that many people. So,
I mean, much less be friends. Let's be honest.

Speaker 3 (16:17):
All right.

Speaker 1 (16:18):
Well, enjoy the day with Deuce and the Larry O'Brien trophy. Yeah.
I know Deuce is a big Bengals fan, so I'm
sure he's making his way around the stadium and he's
got the trophy there. I'm glad you're getting a chance
to spend some time with it. It's cool.

Speaker 3 (16:33):
I'm sure they'll be around to the iHeart Studios soon, though.
They're probably making their way. I mean, the good news
is the school is so far.

Speaker 1 (16:39):
Yeah. It's quite a hike. You know, a few years ago,
remember FC Cincinnati won the Supporter Shield? And they made
the rounds to like all the TV stations. And then
like their radio partner, they were like, oh yeah. And
so I took a, I made my own supporter shield
with just like a plastic plate. And then they got

(17:01):
mad at me and ended up bringing the supporter shield
up and they wouldn't let me eat off of it.
I can go on Etsy and buy a replica Larry
O'Brien trophy and I'm considering doing it. And then we'll
see how I can further. What I've enjoyed about this
Mueller high school thing is I've had folks at that
school reach out to me and say, and this is
to me, when people say this to me, it's my

(17:23):
favorite thing. We don't know if you're being serious. And
I just go, you know, I don't know.

Speaker 3 (17:27):
I don't know. I don't either.

Speaker 1 (17:32):
That's, I certainly have achieved something then.

Speaker 3 (17:35):
All right. Well, we'll get you the replica and the
cardboard cut out of deuce and put it in the
corner and it can be there with you always.

Speaker 1 (17:43):
It'd be fantastic. All right. Thank you as always. Paul
Daner Jr. covering the Bengals for the Athletic and the
Growler podcast. Follow on Twitter at Paul Daner Jr. I
don't want to extend the bid any further than it's

(18:05):
gone because I had a lot of fun with this
on Friday night, but for those who are uninitiated, You know,
me being a big Knicks fan, we had Deuce McBride
on the show the day after the championship parade. Deuce
went to Moeller. And we were thrilled that Deuce joined us.
Thrilled and grateful and... he was accommodating. And, and, and I,

(18:25):
I mean that, and I, he, I'm a huge fan
of his, but on Friday night, I look at social
media and there's, there's Deuce at Moeller. He wasn't at Moeller.
The game was at Mount St. Joe and me living
on the West side. It was like 10 minutes from
my house. There's Deuce and the trophy and they're, they're
tagging Lance and Joe Dannemann and Bill Cunningham. And it's like, yeah, not,
not the one Knicks fan in town. So So we've

(18:49):
taken our frustrations with that out on Moeller. Deuce did
promise us an in-studio trophy visit, for what it's worth. And,
you know, the folks at Moeller had a chance to
win themselves into my good graces, and they didn't. And
so we're not going to talk about that anymore. It's
24 minutes after 3 o'clock. I have to ask a

(19:12):
couple of questions about Elie Delacruz and Tito Francona. And
the people that Tito works for, we're going to get
to that coming up a little bit later on. Plus,
did you read the Q & A that Mark Sheldon
did with Joey Votto? Tony Pike is at a football
practice today. We're going to call him in 20 minutes
and talk about the Bengals while he's at a UC practice.

(19:34):
And then later on, we'll talk about the Bearcats. Scott
Satterfield talked today. Zach Taylor talked today as well. And
we'll talk with our sports legal expert attorney, Stuart W. Penrose.
Entire show preview is available on Twitter at Moe. Thanks
to Sharefax Credit Union. And our video stream is up
and running. You can watch the show. I got a

(19:57):
note yesterday from somebody who said that I shouldn't chew
on my Sharpie. I guess I got caught chewing my
Sharpie while I was talking to somebody. So these are
the sort of fun idiosyncrasies that you could take in
if you watch the stream on Twitter or on YouTube.
Look for The Mo Egger Show online. on that website.
We are way late, though. 25 after 3. This is

(20:20):
ESPN 1530 Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 6 (20:23):
Cincinnati's ESPN 1530. Traffic.

Speaker 4 (20:28):
From the UC Health.

Speaker 1 (20:30):
Insanely late here. So I got to get us back
on time, I guess. Hey, anything you might've missed on
this show. If you want to go back and listen
to yesterday's broadcast, if you want to go back and
listen to anything we did last week, we would go
back and listen to yesterday's broadcast. You could listen to
somebody dealing with the, the tail end of the world's
worst summer cold. So that was fun. I barely remember

(20:50):
the show. Your, your, your guy was, your guy was
a little high on cold medicine yesterday. Go listen to it.
It's on the I heart radio app. Thanks to a
long neck sports grill. If you are still looking for
a place, to host your fantasy football draft. Long Neck
Sports Grill's got this deal for you, okay? They'll give
you a free draft kit. They'll give you up to
$ 100 in coupons, $ 9 Bud Light and Bush Light drafts,

(21:13):
wing specials. You can't beat it. Long Neck Sports Grill,
great place to watch. Week one college football this weekend. Wilder, Hebron,
and Richwood. Richwood. Richwood, I said. Long Neck's Sports Grill.
Nobody told me I sounded like I was high on
cold medicine. I just know that I was. Tony Pike

(21:35):
in just a bit. Pretty damning indictment against the Reds
from one of their all-time best coming up on ESPN,
1530 Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 3 (21:46):
Talk.

Speaker 1 (21:47):
This is sports with soul, sweat, and swagger. Tony Pike
Cincy 360.

Speaker 6 (21:53):
Tomorrow at 12 noon on ESPN 1530. Cincinnati's ESPN 1530.

Speaker 1 (22:00):
Traffic. Sports headlines are a service of Kelsey Chevrolet, home
of Lifetime Powertrain. Protection and guaranteed. Credit approval from their
family to yours for LifeKelseyChev.com. Bengals today signed the following
five players to their practice squad. Are you ready? Stand by.

(22:22):
Josh Johnson is back. I, like many, became a huge
Josh Johnson fan this summer. He is back on the
Bengals practice squad. Tanner Hudson was cut by the Bengals yesterday.
He is back with the practice squad. A guy who
has played in 38 regular season games with the Bengals
over the past three years. Trick Wheezy Bridges, second year

(22:43):
player from the University of Florida, taken by the Cowboys
in the seventh round in 2025, played in 16 games
with a pair of starts last year, had one pick.
Blake Freeland, fourth year player from BYU, fourth rounder of
the Colts in 2023, played in 25 games with nine
starts for Indy during the 23 and 24 season, spent

(23:04):
all of last year on the reserved injured list, otherwise
known as IR. Due to a leg injury, Cincinnati also
signing defensive end Garmin Randolph, first-year player from Baylor. College
free agent signee of the Chargers in 2025 spent his
entire rookie season on the Chargers practice squad. Bengals practice
squad currently at its 16-player limit. Bengals inching closer to

(23:26):
the regular season opener a week from Sunday against the Bucs.
You'll hear it live. On ESPN 1530. Meanwhile, tonight, Reds
tried to bounce back after getting shut out last night.
Second of three with the Padres. Nicola Dolo and righty
Randy Vasquez on the hill. 640 tonight on 700 WLW.
Reds lost their 73rd game of the season last night,

(23:48):
which means they cannot win 90 games. The last time
the Reds won 90 games in a season, 2013. Your
starting lineup for tonight. Rodriguez in center. Ellie Dela Cruz
is DH-ing. We've got to spend some time on what
they're doing with Ellie Dela Cruz. Stewart plays first. Bledason

(24:08):
left field. Matt McClain plays shortstop. Jose Trevino catches.

Speaker 3 (24:13):
The Reds.

Speaker 1 (24:18):
It's that time of year. The Reds are playing at
second base. The newly recalled Juan Brito up. He's up
from Louisville. Also, Brandon Williamson activated from the 60-day injury list.
I had to scramble really quick because I didn't jot
down the Juan Brito news, and then I saw he's
in the starting lineup. I had to scramble to make
sure I had Juan's first name. Juan Brito. T.J. Friedel's

(24:40):
in center. Edwin Arroyo is playing third base tonight. Again,
640 first pitch. Reds are eight and a half games
out of the last wild card spot. Florence Yalls take
on Schaumburg tonight. Evander, FC Cincinnati midfielder Evander, named MLS
Player of the Month for July and August. His second
consecutive MLS Player of the Month award, he earned the

(25:01):
nod for May. Becomes the first player in Major League
Soccer since 2023 to earn back-to-back MLS Player of the
Month awards since Lucho Acosta did it.

Speaker 3 (25:13):
In that year.

Speaker 1 (25:13):
Also for FC Cincinnati, of course, in July and August.
Congrats to Evander. FC Cincinnati laid an egg against Nashville
on Saturday. We've talked a lot this week and last
week about Joey Votto. who was part of that NBC
broadcast on Sunday that earned such rave reviews.

Speaker 3 (25:36):
And I.

Speaker 1 (25:38):
Fully believe this, that if Joey Votto was like in
a booth where it's him and a play-by-play person, he
would very quickly ascend to being the top guy on
national television baseball broadcasts. The top guy is John Smoltz.
John Smoltz is the voice of the World Series and
the All-Star Game and big playoff games for Fox. Not

(25:59):
a big John Smoltz guy. I think he and Joe Davis, frankly,
sound too alike. But Joey Votto is instantly already better
than him. So Joey was obviously talking about his team.
He has been posting on social media about his team.
He did a Q & A with Mark Sheldon of Reds.com,
who does an awesome job. And this was at Wrigley

(26:21):
Field on Sunday afternoon. And Mark asked him, and I'm
not going to give away the entire thing, but Mark
asked him, you know, hey, how much have you enjoyed doing,
you know, broadcasting and TV? And he says, Joey says, quote,
I use MLB Network with the objective of staying up
to date with the game and then improving my communication style.
That combination is quite tough. I'm not motivated to watch

(26:43):
multiple games a night. I want to go to bed
at a reasonable hour. I've got stuff to do. More importantly,
the Reds haven't been good enough this year to tune into.
That's Joey Votto. The Reds haven't been good enough this
year to tune into. So it's been a bit frustrating
at times. I think if they had an intriguing team,

(27:06):
it would be a different story. And then Mark says,
no Reds, really? And Joey continues, quote, I've not been
watching the Reds because it hasn't been a strong year
for them. My responsibility with NBC is to be more
breadth than depth to make sure I could speak about everything.

(27:27):
The Reds haven't been good enough this year to tune into. Now,
there's two ways of looking at that. There's the assessment
by Joey Votto, and I guess you could argue it's
one thing if you and I say that. It's something
else entirely if one of your all-time greats says it. Also,
this is why he will be great at this. And

(27:50):
it's why I've always been a captive audience member whenever
Joey Votto speaks. Because you will get an honest answer
from him. It's not unlike Joey Burrow, Joey. It's not
unlike Joe Burrow, right? When Joe Burrow talks, you're going
to get an honest answer. And sometimes that's going to

(28:10):
rub people the wrong way. But I think one of
the reasons why Joey Votto is going to be great
at this, to whatever extent he wants to take this...
He's going to give you an honest answer, and sometimes
that honest answer might not be one that you like.
I would like to imagine that in the front office
of GABP over there at the ballpark, they're not exactly

(28:31):
doing cartwheels about one of the all-time faces of this
franchise saying, the team isn't good or interesting enough for
me to watch. Pretty damning indictment against the team. This, though,
is why Joey Votto is going to be great at this.
Because there's a lot of guys like this who would
have just said, well, you know, I got a lot

(28:52):
of stuff going on. I'm retired. I go to bed early.
I got a lot of other stuff to do. I've
got a lot of other teams to watch.

Speaker 2 (29:00):
Nuh-uh.

Speaker 1 (29:01):
Reds haven't been good enough this year for me to
tune into them. Joey Votto was just like a lot
of fans. This is what I think is going to
be one of the most interesting things about 2027. Understanding
that we're probably going to have a lockout that may
extend into the season. So the Reds this year, the
TV deal was different. Yes, you still get them if

(29:23):
you have AltaFiber or Spectrum, but now cord cutters could
buy the subscription, Reds TV. For like 99 bucks a year,
there's also a monthly payment plan where you could pay
month to month. In the past, your way of kind
of sticking it to the reds financially has been not
going to buy tickets i wonder how many folks bought

(29:46):
the plan this year have been sorely disappointed maybe aren't
watching anymore and next year are like yeah you know
what i'll do something else with my hundy By the way,
all the other subscription services are going up. I got
a notification today. My ESPN is going to go up.
I've heard Peacock is going up. I still steal somebody
else's Peacock password. Which, by the way, that's how I

(30:09):
watch Cradle of Coaches, which is outstanding. I think that's
going to be worth paying attention to whenever next year begins.
I do think we'll have baseball at some point. How
many people go, I don't know, dude. I paid $ 100
to watch the Reds last season. They weren't really in it.

Speaker 4 (30:25):
Like, eh.

Speaker 3 (30:25):
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (30:28):
But you got Joey Votto saying they're not good enough
for me to watch. Joey ain't alone. I can assure
you of that. And I can assure them of that.
Quarter to four, 513-749-1530 is our number. We have our
sports legal expert at 435. I think this is going
to be the first time in months we haven't talked

(30:48):
about college players suing for eligibility. Because frankly, there's just
more interesting stories. We'll get to them with attorney Stuart W. Penrose.
And what are the Reds doing with Eli De La Cruz?
That coming up in 20 minutes. But Tony Pike's next
on ESPN 1530 Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 6 (31:07):

Speaker 1 (31:12):
I'm not even going to say it. I'm not even
going to say it. Nine from four, this is ESPN 1530.
Tony Pike has been joining us every hour, every day
since late July. And I think we have... I think
the rest of this week to go. These are now
called season preview reports with Tony Pike. And he's with

(31:34):
us now. Hi, Tony.

Speaker 7 (31:36):
Hello, Mo.

Speaker 1 (31:38):
As you have examined very thoroughly, of course, the Bengals
practice squad. Has anything stood out?

Speaker 7 (31:46):
I don't think so. I thought it is value getting
Josh Johnson back. And I mean the value of off
the field for Joe Burrow because he's I just think
there's a wealth of knowledge there that can open doors
for Joe Burrow that he might not have had in
the past. And that's not a shot at a Jake
Browning or anybody else. But he's got guys in that

(32:08):
room that have done it for a long time. And
among anyone else on the practice squad, I think that
experience just does wonders for him.

Speaker 1 (32:17):
We went into training camp, I think, wondering if they
had done enough at three areas, three position groups. One,
swing tackle. And I think there are still legitimate concerns
about who that's going to be and how okay they're
going to be there. But we also wondered about linebacker
and the depth at corner. How much did camp ease
linebacker concerns for this team for you?

Speaker 7 (32:39):
Well, they eased it enough that they only carried four
of them. I think that speaks volumes. with how confident
they feel. They kept four linebackers, and all four were deserving.
Oren Burks had a good camp. Swayze Bozeman earned his
spot on the team, and we talked multiple days about
Demetrius Knight and Barrett Carter, so they earned their spots. Now,

(33:02):
Is four the number? Is five the number? I think
you just start cutting hairs, and I think the way
they are going to use a Boye, Moffay, and Cassius Howe,
you could count them at times as linebackers, but yeah,
I'm with you. O-line is still a little bit of
a question. I'm good with linebacker. I'm good in the
secondary as well.

Speaker 1 (33:19):
What's going to go there next? How much did camp
ease any concerns we may have had about depth, specifically
a corner?

Speaker 7 (33:27):
A lot, and more so than anything because of Takario Davis.
You never want to see a guy not practice. And
Dax Hill probably needed those reps. And I'm interested to
see with Dax Hill if there's any rough there. I
don't think you could pick a player that made a
bigger jump from the first week of camp to the

(33:49):
end of camp than what we saw from Takario Davis.
And then he did it in a game. He's so long.

Speaker 3 (33:56):
He's smooth.

Speaker 7 (33:57):
He can make up for errors. I just think that
he's going to be a contributing factor for this team,
and I think he's easily helped the depth at that side.

Speaker 1 (34:07):
Now, most of these reports, you've been at a Bengals
training camp practice, or you've been at a Bengals training
camp practice, and it's at the end of your day.
But right now, you're at Nippert Stadium watching the Bearcats.

Speaker 3 (34:21):
Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 7 (34:22):
I'm looking at these banners that Austin had a problem with.
They got this new thing, Mo, where they run out
onto the field under like a tunnel.

Speaker 1 (34:28):
Yeah.

Speaker 7 (34:29):
Where I'm guessing like fans can run out and sit.
What a cool way to watch a football game that
would be. But all that stuff is cool, and now
watching the Bearcats get into some 11-on-11 work down here.

Speaker 1 (34:39):
All right, so now you're back with me at 445.
These are typically Bengals training camp or season preview reports.
Since you are at UC's practice as we speak, when
we do the hit at 445, can we talk some
UC football?

Speaker 3 (34:54):
I look forward to it. You and me both.

Speaker 1 (34:56):
Tony, thank you very much.

Speaker 7 (34:59):
Thanks, Mo.

Speaker 1 (34:59):
Tony will join us at 445 for the latest on
the Bearcats as they go through game week prep for
Boston College on Saturday. Of course, Tony on the call
with Dan Hoard and me doing pre- and post-game duties,
of course, live on 102.7 WEBN on Saturday. Looking forward

(35:21):
to that. The Bearcats, seven and a half point favorites
over BC. That is a 330 kick airtime.

Speaker 3 (35:28):
At 2.30.

Speaker 1 (35:28):
It will be fun to talk some UC football with Tony.
I went down to UC today, interviewed JC French, UC's
new starting quarterback, and Nate Woody, UC's new defensive coordinator.
You'll hear both of those conversations on the pregame show
on Saturday afternoon, which of course you'll be listening to
if you're a Bearcat fan while you're tailgating. I know

(35:50):
there's some people who tailgate that want to listen to music.
Real ones listen to the pregame show. So the Reds
lose last night, which big deal. Who cares? They're out
of it. But Ellie De La Cruz played. Ellie De
La Cruz played less than 24 hours after being removed
from a game with a quad issue. He's back in

(36:14):
the starting lineup tonight. Terry Francona. Terry Francona acknowledges that
Ellie De La Cruz is not 100%. I have a very,
very simple question I will ask next on ESPN 1530
Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 6 (36:34):
Found Cincinnati's ESPN 1530. All right.

Speaker 1 (36:37):
That's us. This is ESPN 1530. Thanks for listening. Hope
you're having a wonderful Tuesday afternoon. Hot out. Hot like
I like it.

Speaker 3 (36:49):
I like it.

Speaker 1 (36:50):
Hot out. Tell you something. About a month and a
half when it ain't hot out anymore. You're going to
be lying to everybody, telling folks how you love those
mid-50s temps. Not me. And I'm guessing not really you either. Nonetheless,
you'll hear a little bit from Scott Satterfield earlier today

(37:11):
as he gets set for year four as head coach
of the UC Bearcats, Cincinnati, hosting Boston College on Saturday.
Tony Pike. Tony Pike's actually at UC's practice today, and
so we have him every hour. For this segment, we're
going to do a little Bearcats football, because why not?
Unless there is like big Bengals breaking news between now
and 445. Also, Brenneman and Jones on baseball. And it's Tuesday,

(37:35):
which means we spend time with our sports legal expert,
attorney Stuart W. Penrose, on a whole slew of topics,
including the dude who was trying to impersonate an NFL player.
In order to scam a lot of women, unfortunately, out
of a lot of money. I just, I'm always amazed
at how gullible some people are. And I say this

(37:59):
as somebody, there is somebody who is like friend of
a friend in my life who once got scammed in
ways that, man, I wish I would have been there
as she was getting scammed because I feel like this
was the sort of thing you could see from a
mile away. And it's like, well, she got hurt. You

(38:19):
hate to see anybody get hurt. Hate to see anybody,
you know, lose a lot of money because they've been duped.
But it's always amazing to me. And maybe it shouldn't
be how often in life some people get duped. So
if you were watching the Reds game on Sunday night,
amid the fun broadcast and Joey Votto and Sal Stewart

(38:41):
hitting another home run, maybe the biggest and most important
thing to happen in that game was Eli De La
Cruz exited early with a quad issue. And that's news because, A,
it's a player of Eli's importance and caliber, and B,

(39:01):
he's also somebody who doesn't miss games. He doesn't miss innings.
He doesn't leave games early. As it turns out, by
Terry Francona's own admission, Eli De La Cruz is dealing
with a small calf strain. Now, according to Tito, the

(39:21):
Reds medical staff believes that Ellie can play through this.
According to Tito, though, with the caveat that if it
gets worse, Ellie has to let us know. And according
to Tito, Ellie has promised that he's going to do that.
He has promised that if it feels worse, he's going

(39:45):
to let everybody know. You probably don't need me to
remind you that the Reds enter play tonight eight games
out of the last wildcard spot. They have 24 games remaining.
Not only are they eight games out of the last
wildcard spot, but there's like a billion teams between where

(40:06):
the Reds are and where that last wildcard spot is.
What are we doing here? I'm not asking that rhetorically.
What are we doing here? He is one of the
cornerstones of this franchise. However big the Reds' core is

(40:26):
or isn't, he's clearly a part of it. By the way,
as much as we talk about Ellie's future, the guy
can't walk for another three years, so he's here, right?
He's a huge part of their future, short-term future at least,
but he's a big part of their future. He is
playing while dealing with a quad strain. Now, Chances are,

(40:49):
you remember last year, Ellie was dealing with leg issues
and yet he played every single day. And we did
this thing unendingly last year because Ellie, you know, went
forever without hitting a home run. And offensively, he wasn't
the same player. And he even had some defensive issues.
And there was just this this hamster wheel of God,
Ellie's really struggling. Well, he's hurt. OK, well, then, you know,

(41:12):
put him on the bench. Well, you can't. Well, OK,
but he's not really helping the team. Well, he's hurt. OK, well,
then how about put him on the injured list? Well,
you can't. OK, well, why not? Because the Reds really
need him, but he's not really helping the team. Well,
but he's hurt and just again and again and around

(41:32):
and around we went. So at the end of last
season and spring training this year, Tito acknowledges like, yeah,
I got to get to work him in some days off.
That really hasn't happened this year. And yes, he is
just DH and he DH last night. He's DH and tonight. Now,
when you DH and you hit the ball, then you
have to run. And so when you're running, I don't know, man,

(41:54):
to me, if you're dealing with a quad strain, you're
running the risk of doing something. So there's the, I
don't know, the issue of like this manager never giving
him the day off and you can't help but wonder,
and we're never going to know this. This is probably unprovable.
We're never going to know if Ellie is dealing with
some sort of physical issue because he hasn't been given
a day off. I don't know. But this manager who

(42:15):
has in the past acknowledged, you know what? Maybe, maybe
I should give him the occasional day off. Here you
have handed to him on a silver platter, a pretty
damn good reason to give him a day off. And
yet he was out there last night and he's in
the starting lineup tonight. Again, the Reds are eight games

(42:36):
out of the last wildcard spot. They have 24 games
to go. I believe their tragic number for elimination is 14.
They're not making the playoffs. They are going nowhere this year.
So my simple question for you is, is this worth
the risk? If they were neck and neck with the

(42:57):
Milwaukee Brewers, which.
That's right. They're neck and neck, like competing for a
division title. Just imagine that. But if they were, okay, fine.

(43:21):
Or if they were neck and neck with the Diamondbacks
or the Padres who they're playing this week or the
Phillies or the Cubs, if they were right there a
game or two out of the last wildcard, then OK.
Like there were times last September and granted, the Reds
were six out on the Friday of Labor Day last

(43:43):
year now. there weren't as many teams between where they
were and where the New York Mets were, but as
they inched closer, even though Ellie was not himself, you
could go, okay, well, they're neck and neck. They need
them out there. Every game matters. Trying to get to
the postseason, this is really important. You can't do that
this year, can you? Is this worth the risk? Is

(44:08):
this worth the risk? Can you imagine how you and
I would feel if we're watching the ball game tonight
Ellie Dela Cruz hits one into the gap. And while
he's running, he goes down. And he's holding his quad.

(44:28):
And now here comes the trainer. And here comes the manager.
And there's the concerned look of his teammates. And now
what is a small strain is not so small anymore.
And I know we're toward the end of the season,
24 games to go, and so the offseason is long

(44:49):
because the Reds aren't going to be in the playoffs because, wow,
that's just not something they do with much regularity around here.
And so, you know, maybe Iguala, he'll be okay this offseason. Okay,
do you want to go into the offseason? Pivotal offseason
for this team. They got a lot of stuff to
figure out and a work stoppage in the middle of
it all, by the way. You want to go into

(45:10):
this offseason with... The health of Ellie De La Cruz
being one of your big questions. Is this worth the risk?
A poll question at Mo Egger. As always, thanks to
United Heartland Insurance. By the way, you owe it to yourself, man,
especially as we get closer to the end of the
year to see what you're paying for insurance, because my

(45:32):
friend at United Heartland Insurance can help you pay a
lot less. Are the Reds being reckless with Ellie De
La Cruz? This feels reckless. This feels unnecessary. This feels
wholly unnecessary. This is not just some guy on the team.
This isn't Key Brian Hayes. This isn't Edwin Arroyo. And

(45:52):
not to minimize those guys, in particular Edwin Arroyo, this
is Eli De La Cruz. And if you're like me,
and for your sake, for the most part, I hope
you're not, you respect the hell out of anybody who
wants to post up every single day. You respect the
hell out of anybody who wants to play every single inning,
every single day, every single game, whether you're leading the

(46:13):
wildcard race whether you're eight games whether your team has
a losing record a winning record whether it's may whether
it's september like you respect that but don't you respect
protecting the investment a little bit more that's what he
is man you know maybe they haven't paid him long

(46:34):
term and chances are they're not going to be able
to do that Maybe you don't view him like, I
don't know, the biggest investment in Cincinnati sports, Joe Burrow,
and that's okay. But he's still a pretty big part
of this team. By the manager's own admission, he's not 100%.
He is dealing with a small quad strain. What are

(46:57):
we doing here? I would not be bringing this up
if today the Reds were dead even in the hunt
for the last wildcard spot. I would not be bringing
this up. We would be talking maybe about how do
they mitigate his injury risk? What can they do with him?
Can they afford him to play in the field? Do
you look for innings where maybe you can take him

(47:18):
out of a game if the score is sort of lopsided?
How do you handle it here? But okay, you want
Ellie to play. These games matter too much. He wants
to be out there. They need him out there. Fine.
It's worth running the risk. Is it worth running the
risk so the Reds could somehow get closer to 500

(47:39):
or so they could catch the Pirates? or stave off
the Washington Nationals for, like, ninth place or tenth place
in the National League. I hate to sound as pessimistic
as I am about the standings. I just look at
them and tell me what the pathway is for this
team to get to the postseason, not to mention they
have still the toughest remaining schedule in the sport. This

(48:01):
feels reckless. It feels reckless by Terry Francona. It feels
reckless by the franchise. He may not get hurt. And
that's fine. Like you could do dumb things and still
not suffer an injury. You know, I'm a proponent of
wearing a seatbelt. You may choose to not wear your seatbelt.
You may drive forever without wearing your seatbelt. I still

(48:23):
think that's dumb. I still think that's not worth the risk.
Kind of the same thing here. Is this worth it?
And why can't Harry Francona? This isn't David Bell. This
isn't Brian Price. This isn't Dave Miley. This is Terry Francona.

(48:49):
I'm not sure the Reds have ever hired a manager.
In fact, I know they haven't ever hired a manager who,
when he took over, had the resume that Terry Francona
has right now, which means nobody should have more gravitas, pull, cachet,
or influence to be able to tell Ellie, we're not
doing this. It doesn't make sense for you, and it
doesn't make sense for us. Is it worth the risk?

(49:15):
Would you want Joe Burrow to play in meaningless games
when he's not 100%? By the way, I didn't late
last year. I could understand why he wanted to be
out there. Could understand why Ellie wants to be out there.
They're competitors. They're paid a lot of dough. They want
to play. This doesn't make any sense. And I think

(49:36):
what makes it doubly frustrating is we went through this
last year. And we saw the law of diminishing returns
as it came to Ellie and playing physically compromised. And
then we listened to his manager say he was going
to do exactly what he hasn't done. Now, you could

(49:57):
argue to this point there's been no reason to even
give Ellie a day off.

Speaker 6 (50:01):
Fine.

Speaker 1 (50:03):
But when you are acknowledging our guy's got a small
quad strain, really?

Speaker 3 (50:09):
Really?

Speaker 1 (50:12):
That's not a compelling reason when you're eight games out
of the last playoff spot to put them on the shelf.
And if it's not a Tito thing, then it should
be a Nick Kroll thing. It should be a somebody thing.
Somebody in the organization on whatever rung you want to
find the right person. Ownership, front office, Nick Kroll, Brad Metter,
bat boy, trainer, doctor, third base coach, the guy in

(50:36):
charge of ticketing, the woman in charge of digital media,
the manager, somebody. raise your hand and go, Hey, just, um,
I hate to bring this up, but, uh, quick, just
take a look at the standings. We're eight games out
of a playoff spot. There's a lot of teams between

(50:56):
us and the two that we're chasing right now. And, um,
still have a lot of games against like the Brewers
and Dodgers. And we've already put our, our best pitcher
on a pitch restriction and Hunter green's not here. And yeah,
we're probably not going to the fall season. So how
about we not subject Ellie Taylor Cruz to further injury

(51:19):
when we acknowledge he's already dealing with one? Why is
this so hard? This is reckless. This is reckless. It's
playing with fire. And I cannot imagine, and I hope
to hell we don't deal with this. I cannot imagine

(51:40):
how it would feel. If we're watching Ellie play and
he pulls up lame and suddenly a small strain is
something more severe. The Cincinnati Reds already have a lot
of uncertainty and a lot of questions looming over this
upcoming offseason. Not the least of which is, will we

(52:00):
play baseball? Why even run the possibility, the possible risk
of adding to those questions and With one involving the
health of one of your best players. Arguably your best player.
Make it make sense. 513-749-1530.

Speaker 3 (52:21):
866-702-3776.

Speaker 1 (52:22):
It makes none.

Speaker 3 (52:28):
None.

Speaker 1 (52:29):
If they were one game out, Ellie, go play, dude.
Gotta do it, man. This is part of being a pro.
Not playing him is a part of being smart. This
is not smart. Your phone calls are welcome at 513-749-1530.
UC and Boston College on Saturday. You'll hear Scott Satterfield
from earlier today next.

Speaker 8 (52:49):
Cincinnati's... CKY Cincinnati, an iHeartRadio station. Guaranteed human. ESPN 1530. iHeartRadio.
25 after 4. This is ESPN 1530. Mo Egger, our
sports legal expert, attorney steward, W. Penrose in 10 minutes.
Tony Pike from Nippert Stadium in 20 minutes. uh uc

(53:13):
starts the season on saturday at home at nippert against
boston college cincinnati seven and a half point favorites let's
be honest the expectations for this season are not very
high the vegas posted total is five and a half
most i've seen have cincinnati going under that number i
talked on this on our new betting podcast on friday

(53:34):
why i'm going over You can listen to that if
you want.

Speaker 1 (53:36):
It's on the iHeartRadio app, back of the envelope bets.
I am excited to see what the Bearcats have. I
understand the skepticism. I share some of the concerns that
a lot of folks have about this team. And let's
be honest, the long shadow of how last season ended
looms over this year because last season was such a

(53:57):
profound disappointment. I do not know if the Bearcats, even
if they get to six wins and get bowl eligibility,
I don't know that they can win enough games so
that next summer we're not talking about Scott Satterfield in
the same terms we're talking about him right now, which
is his seat's pretty warm. He did talk with the

(54:18):
assembled college football media earlier today about week one, some
of the challenges facing a coaching staff, preparing for an
opponent in this day and age, when there's so much
turnover as the Bearcats get set to play Boston College
on Saturday.

Speaker 9 (54:33):
Yeah, I think, you know, we all know, talking to
a bunch of guys throughout the country about first games
and different coaches, he's like, everybody says we're all in
the same boat. You don't really know what the opposing
team has. You know, a lot of them have new coaches,
whether it be coordinators. And, you know, we find ourselves
looking at film from years past on some of the
things that we're trying to see.

Speaker 3 (54:55):
Of tendencies that they may do.

Speaker 9 (54:57):
And then also you're looking at film from other schools
because they brought guys in. So I think especially early
in the season, like first game, second game, you spend
so much more time looking at yourself and creating a
standard that you want the guys to play at offensively, defensively,
and special teams. And we have to live up to
that standard on a daily basis. And then, you know,

(55:18):
I hope that's good enough once you get out on
the field. But it is– it's a little bit aggravating,
I think, especially the first game where you're playing a
team that doesn't have any film. You know, you'd love
to sit there and just watch all Boston College and
see everybody on that film that's going to be playing
out here Saturday, and that's just not the case when
you're playing the first game.

Speaker 1 (55:36):
Scott Satterfield, earlier today, every coach dealing with something similar.
I don't know. And that's– I, everybody that I've, I've
asked everybody that I've run into, including that a couple
of practices where it's all right. What do you think?
I don't know. And I think there's something awfully fun

(55:58):
about that where around the country and granted in some
places where the expectations are massively higher than here in Cincinnati,
but around the country, with the exception of in places
where their teams had week zero games, uh, So many
of us are going to be in the same boat,
just trying to figure out in the first game what

(56:18):
we have. Boston College, our guy Phil Steele has them
picked to finish 17th in a 17-team league, though he
does expect them to be more competitive than they were
last year. They start a former Division II quarterback. Cincinnati
should win this game handily. I believe the Bearcats should
start 3-0, and I think if they do, they're going

(56:40):
to be favored against Kansas State. But again, like, last
season looms over this year. I think a year ago
at this time, a lot of us knew what shape
the roster would be in 12 months later, which put
a premium on last year's team winning big, which, you know,

(57:01):
there was so much excitement over Sworsby coming back, Royer
coming back, Fletcher coming back, Dante Corleone coming back, the
offensive lineman, Gavin Gerhardt coming back. the additions in the portal,
some of whom paid dividends last year, like Cyrus Allen.
And so I think there was a real sense going
into last year that if they win as they're expected

(57:24):
to in 2025, you'll kind of understand that they have
to essentially start from scratch in 2026. But you had
to win big in 2025 and winning big in 2025
may not have meant a college football playoff berth, but
it had to be better than losing your last five. Unfortunately,
they did. And I think no matter what kind of

(57:46):
start this year's team gets off to, that long shadow
of last year's team, unfortunately, continues to loom. Your phone
calls are coming up on the Ellie Dela Cruz thing.
Somebody make it make sense. I get it, man. These
players play. These players want to play. They're also investments.
Ellie Dela Cruz wanting to play is something I expect.

Speaker 3 (58:07):
L.A.

Speaker 1 (58:07):
Delacruz playing is something that doesn't make any sense. Our
sports legal expert, attorney Stuart W. Penrose, though, he always
makes sense. We'll talk about the dude who is impersonating
an NFL player and so much more next on ESPN 1530.
Cincinnati's ESPN 1530.

Speaker 2 (58:22):
Traffic.

Speaker 4 (58:26):
From the UCHealth Traffic Center, trust the same team for
your care that keeps the UC Bearcats on the field.
Count on UCHealth Orthopedics and Sports Medicine no matter the injury.
Visit uchealth.com. In Sharonville, northbound 70.

Speaker 1 (58:39):
ESPN 1530. Cincinnati's Sports Station. Brenneman and Jones on baseball
is 20 minutes away. Tony Pike is 10 minutes away.
It's Tuesday. Which means that this time we chat with
our sports legal expert attorney, Stuart W. Penrose from the
Manilo Law Group. And while I do have a question

(59:02):
about LSU, it is refreshing to not start the conversation
by talking about an injunction given to a college athlete nonetheless.
how are we doing?

Speaker 3 (59:12):
Doing great, Mo.

Speaker 2 (59:12):
How about yourself?

Speaker 1 (59:13):
I'm doing well. Instead, I want to talk about a
guy who pretended to be an NFL player, Dajon Love.
So he has been arrested and charged with federal wire fraud,
conspiracy to commit wire fraud and wire fraud. This, after
allegedly scheming for years, pretending to be an NFL player,
a 49ers player, meeting multiple women through dating apps, and

(59:37):
then creating a fictitious persona that presenting himself as a
member of the 49ers in an effort to scam some
women out of money. And he has allegedly over two
dozen victims. I have so many questions. So there are
people who use dating apps and lie or embellish all
the time. This has escalated from that to something entirely different.

(01:00:01):
Where does a simple lie in a dating app or
catfishing somebody cross over into federal wire fraud?

Speaker 7 (01:00:08):
Sure.

Speaker 2 (01:00:09):
I mean, lying or catfishing in and of itself, as
morally wrong as it is, it's not necessarily illegal. You know,
this crossed into fraud because he's got a scheme to
obtain money from these women. There was an intent to
defraud and, you know, he used electronic communications and what's
to do it. So there's your there's your wire fraud

(01:00:29):
case right there. It's a Very straightforward wire fraud case, Mo,
from what I see. But my God, the the content,
all the photos and videos and text and everything that
came out was just pure gold. And it's just an
incredible story.

Speaker 3 (01:00:45):
It's.

Speaker 2 (01:00:47):
You know, he did some horrible things to these women.

Speaker 3 (01:00:50):
Don't get me wrong.

Speaker 2 (01:00:50):
The man is a criminal. But my God, are we
going to laugh off of this one?

Speaker 1 (01:00:54):
We did. And it's funny. And yet it's also so
sad to me because it just it preys on gullible people.
And I'm always stricken by, you know, how gullible some
people are. And I don't I try not to say
that condescendingly. But I think it's a lot. It's easy
for those of us to look at this and go, boy,
how could somebody fall for this? But things like this
happen all the time.

Speaker 3 (01:01:19):
Do we lose?

Speaker 1 (01:01:19):
Do we lose? Oh, there he's back.

Speaker 3 (01:01:21):
He's back.

Speaker 1 (01:01:21):
He's back. Thought for a second we committed wire fraud there.

Speaker 7 (01:01:25):
That's all right.

Speaker 1 (01:01:25):
That's all right. Let me ask you this as it
relates to the people who gave this guy money. We're
talking about allegedly a large sum of money for some
of these women here. Do they have any legal recourse
that would allow them to be made whole?

Speaker 2 (01:01:42):
Yes, but there's going to be a big caveat there, Mo.
You know, a couple of things here. With the court case,
you know, the criminal, the federal courts will award restitution
to these victims. They can also pursue civil fraud claims
against Love and against his co-conspirator who was acting as his.
his financial advisor, who apparently is only 18 years old.

(01:02:02):
So I guess the person was 14 years old when
he started this, which just boggles my mind. It's going
to be easy for them to get a judgment here.
Are they going to be able to collect? Is this
guy going to have... Anything that's collectible, I don't know.
That's the $ 1. 3 million question here.

Speaker 1 (01:02:21):
This might be a bit of a stupid question, but
I'll ask it anyway. If you're the San Francisco 49ers,
is there anything you could do legally because this guy
maybe damaged your brand a little bit?

Speaker 4 (01:02:34):
Maybe.

Speaker 2 (01:02:35):
would they want to is a different story. I mean,
he used their, I mean, anybody could buy a hat
of a professional sports team, but, you know, or a
helmet like he, like he walked around with a helmet everywhere.
You know, he used their trademarks, their identity, and, you know,
in a way to create a false endorsement and association.
That said, I mean, as noteworthy of a story as

(01:02:56):
this is, We're still dealing with a serial fraudster who's
been federally charged. There's probably not a whole lot of
business value in throwing good money after bad here.

Speaker 1 (01:03:06):
If you use a dating app to defraud people, are
the owners of the dating app possibly at all legally culpable?

Speaker 3 (01:03:15):
Probably not.

Speaker 2 (01:03:17):
I mean, it's the platform, Mo. I mean, unless the
platform knew about the scheme or did something to facilitate it,
then there's not going to be any liability there.

Speaker 1 (01:03:27):
All right. A week cannot go by without talking about
a college athlete and suing either the NCAA or suing
a conference or trying to gain eligibility. There's more court
dates later on this week involving LSU players. Are we
heading to a point where LSU is actually going to
be in court in a case where the conference it's

(01:03:49):
in is the opposition?

Speaker 2 (01:03:51):
God only knows. Let's see what happens on Thursday. There's
a big court hearing on Thursday that's supposedly going to
decide once and for all whether these former NFL roster invitees,
drafted players, whoever they are, have you can play this season.
The SEC says they're going to abide by it, and
LSU says they're going to abide by what the SEC
says if this doesn't go their way. So something's got

(01:04:14):
to give. If LSU doesn't back down, could the SEC
sue them?

Speaker 4 (01:04:19):
Sure.

Speaker 2 (01:04:20):
I mean, there's nothing legally impossible about it. But they've
got a lot of, you know, they've got a lot
of authority over their members. There's a lot they can
do just with their conference rules to punish LSU if
they're in breach and they do something that is against
the court order. So it might not get to that level.
I mean, if LSU just abides, then there's no issue whatsoever.

(01:04:43):
It's in everybody's best interest to make up and get along. LSU,
they benefit quite a bit by being in the SEC
and having that platform and exposure. And at the same time,
they're a massive brand in and of themselves. SEC has
a lot of massive brands to them, but they don't
want to lose out on LSU. They don't want to
rattle that cage. all that much. Something's got to give here,

(01:05:07):
and you would think that at the end of the day,
cooler heads will prevail.

Speaker 1 (01:05:10):
All right, two more I want to ask you about.
Attorney Stewart W. Penrose from the Manila Law Group, our
sports legal expert. The sale of the LA Lakers has
been talked about in a lot of business circles with
Mark Walter flipping the Lakers, making about $ 3 billion, selling
it to Josh Kushner and Bob Iger. Meanwhile, the Buss
family is I guess they want to stop the sale

(01:05:32):
of the Lakers. Legally, what could they do to keep
the sale from happening?

Speaker 2 (01:05:37):
Well, I mean, Jeannie Buff is a much stronger argument
than I just changed my mind. You know, her argument
is simply that her siblings didn't have the legal authority
to sell the shares in the first place because of
a court order that put her in charge of the
family's trust, which is apparently what, you know, what owned
their percentage of the Lakers. And if the court order
says what her lawyer says, then it sounds like she's

(01:05:57):
got pretty good ground here. And, you know, it's clearly
a very messy family situation with, you know, one of
America's most iconic sports brands, you know, caught in the
middle of it. You know, what I'm wondering, Mo, is,
you know, depending upon how messy this gets, you know,
what are the customers going to say in terms of
whether they even want.

Speaker 7 (01:06:14):
To move forward?

Speaker 2 (01:06:15):
Who knows?

Speaker 1 (01:06:17):
All right. One more to ask you about, and it
would probably take me a half hour to explain all
the ins and outs of the good, good slash Callaway
golf commercial controversy. I'm going to assume. that most listening
to this conversation are at least somewhat familiar with, uh,
how that has all gone down. Um, you've got Calloway

(01:06:37):
and good, good that have sort of pointed the finger
at each other, distancing, distancing themselves from each other. Good,
good makes the ad Calloway signs off on it. Now
it looks like Calloway wants to, uh, end its relationship
with good good based on a morals clause. Can that
happen if the issue involved here is something that one

(01:06:58):
company gave the green light to for the.

Speaker 3 (01:07:00):
Other to do?

Speaker 2 (01:07:02):
It depends on how the morals clause was written up.
I mean, the fact that Callaway, I mean, their own
CEO said they approved the ad. I mean, that's very interesting.
That's quite an admission there. But if I was Good
Good's lawyer, I would want to read the entire contract
before I would fully concede that Callaway had the right.

Speaker 3 (01:07:21):
To terminate or didn't have the right to terminate.

Speaker 2 (01:07:23):
Go ahead. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:07:26):
So the CEO of Good Good goes on a social
media blitz, blasting Callaway for what they call a coordinated
media blitz. And I just– I feel like at some
point one is going to have a legal claim against
the other. Is that a dumb way of looking at it?

Speaker 2 (01:07:42):
You would think so. I mean, certainly you would think
that Good Good would go after Callaway for terminating the contract.

Speaker 7 (01:07:49):
We'll see what happens.

Speaker 3 (01:07:50):
But Good Good's CEO going.

Speaker 2 (01:07:53):
Out there and blasting Callaway publicly– If I were a good,
good lawyer, I would say that that's not helping matters
at all. Is he going to create some claims against good,
good or personally, you know, defamation, non-disparagement?

Speaker 3 (01:08:07):
Perhaps it's not helping.

Speaker 1 (01:08:11):
If I find myself in a legal entanglement, how do
I get a hold of you?

Speaker 2 (01:08:16):
You can call us at 513-723-1600 at.

Speaker 3 (01:08:19):
The Manila Law Group, auto.

Speaker 2 (01:08:22):
Accidents, bankruptcies, OVIs. And if Dajon Love is listening, I
want you to contact the Manila Law Group, and we're
going to personally see if you have any NCAA eligibility.

Speaker 3 (01:08:32):
And then we're going to call Lane Kiffin.

Speaker 2 (01:08:33):
And see if he can get you on LSU on
Saturday night.

Speaker 1 (01:08:37):
Uh well you know we're bearcat fans so i'm a
little bit more interested in bolstering the bearcat so if
we can find an nfl player who wants to sue
to be on uc's team we'll uh we'll make that
happen i appreciate the time as always man thanks so
much thank you mom all right speaking of the bearcats
we're gonna we're gonna change up our season preview report
because tony pike is at nippert stadium we'll talk some
uc football.

Speaker 6 (01:08:56):
Next cincinnati's espn 1530. Traffic.

Speaker 3 (01:09:02):
From the UC health.

Speaker 1 (01:09:03):
All right, Tony Pike is back with us. He is
at Nippert Stadium. He's been watching the Bearcats practice this afternoon,
so we're going to make this one about UC football.
How have the Bearcats looked today, Tone?

Speaker 7 (01:09:17):
Well, practice just wrapped up. I thought it was a
good day for the Bearcats, more so because, you know,
for the first time since any training camp we've covered
this year, they went against the scout team today. So
the starters looked excellent against the scout team, giving a
presumed look of what Boston College is going to be,
except that's a little different. Because Boston College has seven

(01:09:37):
new coaches and 55 new players coming.

Speaker 3 (01:09:39):
Into the game on Saturday.

Speaker 1 (01:09:41):
I know that the unknowns outweigh the knowns, even for
people who are around the program every single day. But
you being an optimist when it comes to UC sports,
and you are, and that's great, what are you hanging
your hat on? What would fuel the optimism for you
as it relates to this team this year?

Speaker 7 (01:10:03):
Offensively, they were dead last in time of possession in
college football last year. They had the ball for just
over 24 minutes per game. When you actually break down
their offensive efficiency numbers, they ran the ball for over
five yards per carry. They averaged over six yards per play.
Those are good numbers. They did good things on offense.

(01:10:25):
The problem was They just didn't have the possessions. So
I think offensively, behind the offensive line that they have
and those guys coming back, they're going to have to
change things because they can do things with French that
maybe Sorsby couldn't, but also they can't do things that
Sorsby could do. They're going to have to adjust offensively.
I'm counting on them to get more possessions, and I'm

(01:10:45):
counting on the defense to be marginally better. They should
bring more pressure. They should force more turnovers. They should
not give up those seven, eight, nine-minute drives. That's what
I'm kind of holding out hope for.

Speaker 1 (01:10:58):
Yeah, I think that for me is where I kind of,
that's where I hang my hat at least early in
the season. And I understand that the 3-3-5 had its
effectiveness at certain times over the last couple of seasons,
but a little bit of a more traditional look. I
think they're going to be better in the secondary. I
think they should be better at getting after the quarterback.

(01:11:20):
I am drinking the Nate Woody Kool-Aid.

Speaker 7 (01:11:23):
Yep, 100%. And again, just seeing them today, they play
with a confidence and they do look fast as they
move around. Now, I think Boston College wants to come
in and probably establish the run. Boston College has a
running back coming in from Liberty who was third in
the nation last year in yards per rush. So they're

(01:11:46):
going to want to run the ball. Can UC stop
the run, and can they get more possessions and make
the most of those on the offensive side of the ball?
I think they're all fascinating questions, but they're the only team, though,
or the Bearcats, In the Big 12, that preseason are
going to face all five top-ranked Big 12 teams. They've
got to start fast, and that would include starting fast

(01:12:08):
on Saturday.

Speaker 1 (01:12:08):
Yeah, no question about it. Tony, we'll talk again at 545.
Thank you very much. It's time now for Brenneman and
Jones on baseball. This year's biggest fantasy football.

Speaker 6 (01:12:18):
SPN 1530.

Speaker 1 (01:12:20):
Cincinnati Sports Station. All right. It's four minutes after five.
This is ESPN 1530. Thanks for listening to our show today.
One more check in with Tony Pike at 545. We
got to play. You got Stephen A. Smith ranting and
raving about Zach Taylor. So if you are hoping that

(01:12:44):
everybody around the country is as excited or as optimistic
about the Bengals as you are, there are going to
be three reasons why folks aren't. And some are. Some
are going to be very bullish about the Bengals as
you listen to and read. You know, preseason prognostications. I'll
make that make sense a little bit later on. The
Reds are doing something very cool before the game tonight

(01:13:06):
for somebody who is deserving of something very cool being
done to them. We've got that for you. Zach Taylor
spoke today. We'll have some of that. And we'll continue
to wonder why the Reds can't say no to Ellie
De La Cruz. Which it is as simple as that.
Sometimes in sports and sometimes in life, It's worth taking

(01:13:29):
on risk. Sometimes it's not. Sometimes it's worth doing something risky.
The Cincinnati Bengals offseason has been all about taking on
some risk.

Speaker 4 (01:13:40):
Why?

Speaker 1 (01:13:41):
Because you got a quarterback in his prime, a wide
open division, probably a wide open AFC. You've made a
lot of investments in the team. It was time to
take on a risk. What risk did the Bengals take? Well, yes,
financial with paying the guys they paid, but also they
traded away a long-term inexpensive asset for an older, more

(01:14:03):
expensive asset. Now, I still think one of the great
bargains in the NFL is if he is as good
as he was with the Giants in 23 and 24,
but it was time for the Bengals to take on
some risk. Ellie Dillard-Cruz is dealing with a small, Strain,
quad strain. It's a small injury. If today the Reds
and Brewers were neck and neck, okay, now watch him,

(01:14:27):
mitigate it, handle it, pay attention to it, find moments
where it might not make sense for him to be
in the game, but fine. When you are eight out
with 24 to go, when your season is going nowhere,
and you're running Ellie De La Cruz out there, DH
or no DH, When you're acknowledging that he's got a

(01:14:48):
small quad strain, that's risk that's not worth taking on.
What's the upside? He is an established player. Yes, he
still has some rough edges to smooth out in his game.
What's the upside here? And I cannot emphasize this enough.
It is admirable when players want to play every single

(01:15:09):
day despite pain, despite being hurt, despite running some risk
by being out there. This is not at all a
knock on Ellie Dela Cruz. But sometimes you got to
be willing to tell people no. Got to be willing
to tell your kids no sometimes, right? Got to be

(01:15:30):
willing to tell your employees no sometimes, right? Got to
be willing to tell Ellie Dela Cruz, like, we appreciate
your desire to be in the lineup. It doesn't make
any sense for you. Doesn't make any sense for Ellie
Dela Cruz, a smart dude. I'm guessing, you know, sometimes
you'll get news, you'll hear something. You may not like it,
but you understand it. I'm guessing Ellie would understand if

(01:15:54):
they said, hey, for the time being, uh-uh, no go.
Somebody else is going to play. And you may come
back and play later this season. You may come back
and play later this week. This doesn't make any sense.
And it's one thing to acknowledge that. It's something else
to acknowledge it when you saw what happened toward the
end of the season last year where By the manager's

(01:16:14):
own admission, he could have used some time off as
he dealt with a similar type of injury issue. So
we've been heavy on that today. 513-749-1530 is our phone number.
We have not had a chance to squeeze in a
phone call, but that can change right now. Lou in Union,
thank you for your patience. You're on ESPN 1530. Lou

(01:16:40):
in Union, thank you for your patience. You're on ESPN 1530. Hi, Lou.

Speaker 2 (01:16:45):
I'm here.

Speaker 7 (01:16:46):
How's it going, Mo?

Speaker 1 (01:16:47):
Not bad.

Speaker 3 (01:16:47):
How about yourself?

Speaker 2 (01:16:49):
I'm doing well.

Speaker 7 (01:16:50):
I'm doing well. I'll make this brief because there's probably
other callers.

Speaker 10 (01:16:54):
On two things, right? On the Ellie front, you know,
he turned down that extension that they offered him. It
was reported in January, massive extension. The only thing I
think makes sense is And it doesn't make sense to
play him. I'm with you on that. The only thing
I can think of is his camp is saying, look,
you already turned down the extension. They don't want to
pay you what you're worth. You've got to go out

(01:17:15):
there and you've got to prove it, which is stupid.
But it's the only thing I can think of that
we're in a game of tug-of-war between Kroll's camp and
Ellie's camp. And Kroll's like, all right, if he's going
to go out there and injure himself... Maybe the value
is the value. Now we don't want to injure an
asset and it's stupid to play him. But I think
part of me is looking at this and saying, Ellie

(01:17:38):
wants to play because he thinks he's worth more money
and they don't think he's reliable enough to get, you know,
through the 162 game season and still hold the value
that he thinks he holds. That's the only thing that
makes sense to me. I guess looking on the outside,
it's a risk that you don't want to injure the asset.

Speaker 4 (01:17:52):
Yeah.

Speaker 10 (01:17:52):
And if we're not playing baseball next year, which I
don't think we're playing baseball next year, we're going to
get a cap. But if we're not playing baseball next year,
he's got all of next year to get over whatever
ailment he might have. But I think it's a dumb
risk because you can tweak something like that and it
can be a career limiting injury. He may never be
the same player if that that thing gets worse. So
that's the Ellie, that's the Ellie side. And then briefly

(01:18:13):
on swing tackle, why haven't we given Taylor Decker a look?
Why is this team not giving Taylor Decker a look?
No one has signed him. He's got 140 some starts.
He's got reliable experience in a very tough division, right?
It doesn't make sense that we invest everything into this
bangle year and we're going to come down to an
injury to one side of the line or the other

(01:18:34):
and be looking for guys that we just signed off
of teams cutting, you know, for the practice squads.

Speaker 8 (01:18:39):
Yeah.

Speaker 10 (01:18:39):
Decker's available. He's played in big games. He's actually performed well.
I mean, grades out as above average to good tackle.
I don't know if there's an injury there. I don't
know if the market's not there. and he wants too
much money. But you give him a chance to play
on a contender again, and he's going to do the work.

Speaker 2 (01:18:56):
I mean, I'm a Buckeye fan.

Speaker 7 (01:18:57):
I'm up for my boy.

Speaker 1 (01:18:59):
But, you know, like.

Speaker 10 (01:19:00):
Don't let this be the last minute scramble. You've invested
everything into this year and he's just sitting there.

Speaker 3 (01:19:05):
He's just sitting there, Mo.

Speaker 1 (01:19:07):
And he is, to the best of my knowledge, he
hasn't let everybody know that he is retired. He has
been open to playing somewhere in 2026.

Speaker 7 (01:19:17):
A hundred percent.

Speaker 10 (01:19:18):
I haven't seen anything come out to say that he
doesn't want to play. And, and the fact that the
market has cooled on him, I would assume that maybe
those people in front offices know more about the situation
than you or I.

Speaker 2 (01:19:30):
Do, but you at least would give him a shot.

Speaker 10 (01:19:32):
You'd at least talk to him. And I haven't heard
anything from any of the reporters on the beat saying
that they should look at him. No commanders links to it.
And the other team saying, yeah, Taylor Decker's an option.

Speaker 5 (01:19:42):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:19:43):
Those haven't even been tied to him. No.

Speaker 1 (01:19:45):
I don't know what's up with that. No, no, it's
a fair question and one that we'll explore because I've
seen Chicago. I've seen Kansas City. You mentioned Washington, which
is probably the team that he has been connected to
the most. There hasn't been a whisper about Taylor Decker
in Cincinnati the entire offseason, understanding that swing tackle was
going to be a necessity. And you would not find

(01:20:06):
anybody at that position with a, this goes without saying,
with a longer resume than Taylor Decker's. I don't know, Lou,
but I'll see if I can ask around.

Speaker 10 (01:20:15):
Yeah, I mean, those were the two items, right? Ellie
doesn't make sense, but maybe it's a contract thing, and
they're like, look, if he gets hurt, contract value goes down.
Maybe he'll recover easier if he's got more time extended,
but that's banking on something happening that we don't know
is going to happen.

Speaker 7 (01:20:29):
The only thing I.

Speaker 10 (01:20:30):
Think is Ellie wants to play because he thinks he's
worth more than what they offered him, and he wants
to show them.

Speaker 1 (01:20:34):
Yeah.

Speaker 7 (01:20:35):
But it's dumb.

Speaker 10 (01:20:36):
And it also puts Terry in a bad spot. Terry
in a terrible spot. It crawls like, well, we're going
to play the guy. And Terry's like, well, I want
to give the guy a break. And Ellie says, well,
I want to play, you know, Terry's maybe managing for,
you know, an extension himself.

Speaker 2 (01:20:49):
Like he hasn't.

Speaker 10 (01:20:50):
Really proven to be the guy that we thought he
was coming to town. He hasn't been bad, but he
hasn't been great. So like he needs some more runway,
I think, but still he's, he's managing for an extended
career here for however long he.

Speaker 7 (01:21:02):
Wants to go.

Speaker 10 (01:21:03):
I just, it's a weird situation. And, just like the
Reds normally always are.

Speaker 1 (01:21:08):
Yeah, that's well said. Lou, thanks very much. Appreciate you
hanging on. What's interesting about what they're doing is they're using,
I don't want to say extreme caution, but they're demonstrating
caution with Chase Burns, limiting his innings, having Brandon Williamson
piggyback him in his remaining starts, and yet they're being...

(01:21:30):
the exact opposite of cautious. I think borderline reckless as
it relates to Ellie Dela Cruz in terms of this
being about his contract and this being about money. I,
I think Ellie being here beyond 2028, excuse me, beyond 2029,
I should say, I think that ship has sailed. I
think I'm, I'm going to wager that Ellie Dela Cruz

(01:21:54):
has traded prior to the 2029 season. Because their track record,
and there have been exceptions, most notably recently Tyler Stevenson.
Their track record with their own guys is they trade
them before they hit free agency. So you're kind of
looking at a two-year window here. But I think this
ship has sailed on him signing here long term. They

(01:22:14):
will go to arbitration this offseason. I just, I can't
imagine that there's anything that's going to happen in the
next month. Whether it's Ellie catches fire and is the
player of the month for the month of September or
he gets hurt, that's going to dramatically change what either
side asks the other for. Don't know. Could be dead wrong.

(01:22:35):
Maybe they avoid arbitration. We watched Ellie last year struggle
in the final two months of the season while dealing
with a quad injury. And so this is like Ellie,
you know, wants to be out like, dude, Ellie, last
year we saw how your effectiveness was compromised. I don't know.

(01:22:59):
It just doesn't make a lot of sense. And it just,
it feels like incurring a risk that is entirely, entirely unnecessary. Um, yeah,
it's interesting. Taylor Decker, that is not a name that
we have talked about here at all. Um, lions moved on.

(01:23:22):
He has been viewed. If you have looked at list
of best available free agents ever since the first, second
wave of free agency, you've seen Bobby Wagner's name on
that list. We've talked about a lot and you've seen
Taylor Decker's name on that list. And we haven't talked
about him at all. He is still looking for a home.
I've read about Washington. I've read about Chicago. I've read

(01:23:45):
about Kansas City. No other team comes to mind. I've
not read one thing about him and the Bengals and
there being any mutual interest at all. I think here
we're pretty bullish on the Bengals. You may not be
as bullish as others. Some may be more bullish than you.

(01:24:06):
There are going to be three reasons why anybody thinks
the Bengals aren't going to be that good. And you'll
hear Stephen A. Smith yell and scream about one of
them next on ESPN 1530.

Speaker 6 (01:24:16):

Speaker 4 (01:24:21):
From the UC Health Traffic Center, trust the same team
for your care that keeps the UC Bearcats on the field.
Count on UC Health Orthopedics and Sports Medicine no matter
the injury. Visit uchealth.com. Northbound 70.

Speaker 1 (01:24:34):
ESPN 1530. Thanks for listening today. And for watching on
our YouTube channel and on the Twitter. I will play
this audio. So this is this is Stephen. Was this
on first take? Was this on his show? Was this

(01:24:56):
on a podcast? First take.

Speaker 3 (01:25:00):
All right.

Speaker 1 (01:25:01):
Stephen A. Smith on on first take. What was the
the impetus behind what we are about to listen to?
Were they were they maybe talking about Joe Burrow's comments
about how optimistic he is in Sports Illustrated? Why did
we end up with Stephen A. Smith yelling and screaming
about Zach Taylor? Yeah, pretty much a response to what
Joe Burrow told Albert Breer.

Speaker 3 (01:25:22):
In that article.

Speaker 1 (01:25:22):
So Joe Burrow tells Albert Breer he is excited. He's
stoked about being able to play without the pressure of
having to be perfect. He's talked about, you know, some
of the things they're going to be able to do
to sort of mitigate his own risk and keep him healthy.
They've talked about playing under center a little bit more. He's...

(01:25:46):
Not maybe quite as directly as he has in the past,
but he's talked about the comparison between the 2019 LSU team,
how he felt then and how he feels now. And
so Stephen A. Smith's response to that is, I guess,
to yell and scream about Zach Taylor. Go ahead and
play the audio.

Speaker 5 (01:26:02):
This man, I'm going to say it again, there needs
to be an investigation with this man in the offseason.
What the hell is he doing that his team is
never prepared for? First six years this man was in Cincinnati,
in the first two weeks, that's 12 games, two times six,
12 games, the man was 1-11. 1-11 before they won

(01:26:23):
a couple games last year.

Speaker 3 (01:26:25):
They're never prepared.

Speaker 5 (01:26:26):
Do you know what their record is since Joe Burrow
has arrived in Cincinnati in the month of September and October?
They're 9-10-1 in the month of September, and they are 10-10-1.

Speaker 3 (01:26:40):
In the month of October. I mean, you got to
be kidding me.

Speaker 1 (01:26:45):
Okay, that's fair. Now, I'm the guy who tries to,
sometimes with little success, I'm the guy that tries to
point to some of Zach Taylor's successes because he's had them.
And I don't know that I need to do it
again here, but I do think there are things that

(01:27:07):
Zach Taylor has been responsible for that he, in real time,
hasn't gotten credit for. I don't think he's an elite
head coach. I don't think he's an atrocious one either. But, yeah,
since he became the head coach early in the season,

(01:27:27):
they often do look unprepared. By the way, they looked
unprepared against Cleveland week one last year, offensively at least.
They were having a hard time getting the play in. Like,
that's the thing. And you can make it about Joe
Burrow's health and you can make it about, you know, well,
he's appendectomy and a calf issue. Like, that has been
a takeaway that we have discussed, right? Early in the season,

(01:27:52):
almost every single year when it comes to the Bengals
during the Zach Taylor era, the slow starts. And the
slow starts mainly looking like a function of the team
not looking prepared. That is a very fair and valid criticism.
Does it change? If it changes, they get off to

(01:28:14):
a fast start with some of the tougher games on
their schedule early in the season at Houston. At Pittsburgh, Jacksonville,
I don't believe Tampa Bay is going to be a pushover.
It's now, like, I think the question last year was, well,
they won the first two games and the second game
Burrow got hurt, which, you know, that was all of

(01:28:36):
our focus after the second game. Not that they were 2-0,
it was Joe. his injury, how long is it going
to last? Can they survive? Is the season over? All
of that. But how many times in the month of
September as you've watched the Bengals in the first two
weeks and sometimes the first three weeks, have you said
to yourself or whoever you're next to, God, they look unprepared.

(01:28:56):
That is a fair and valid criticism. Now, again, I'm
the guy who thinks that Zack Taylor's body of work
is maybe not awesome, but I think within it, there
are some successes that I think he's responsible for. I
don't think Zach nearly gets the credit he deserves for
the Super Bowl run. I don't think Zach nearly gets

(01:29:17):
the credit he deserves for getting Joe Flacco up to
speed last year. I don't think Zach nearly gets the
credit he deserves for the offense continuing to function when
Jake Browning was the quarterback in 2023. I don't think
Zach gets nearly the credit he deserves for getting Joe
Burrow up to speed in his first offseason to play
the first game of the year, make his first NFL
start in week one with no preseason. with COVID impacting

(01:29:40):
training camp and the preseason and minicamp and all that stuff.
Those are tangible things I can point to, concrete things
I can point to where I think Zach Taylor has
had a hand in success. I do think there's something
about the culture. I do think there's something about the
way that team was built with Zach's fingerprints all over it.

(01:30:02):
I would like to see a different play caller, but yeah, man.
Among all those things, the good and the bad, if
we're to do a line down a piece of paper,
on one side the good, on the other side the bad,
the bad is unprepared the first couple of weeks of
the season. If that changes this year, they get off
to a great start. If it doesn't, they maybe lose

(01:30:23):
a game they shouldn't. And if you lose a game
you shouldn't, it could catch up to you in an
AFC where the idea is to get the highest possible seed.
I think this is an 11 or 12 win team.
I don't nearly as often as others go down the

(01:30:44):
schedule and pick wins or losses, though that is a
fun exercise. I think they're an 11 or 12 win team.
By the way, that might sound light relative to all
of the optimism, all the expectation. I think 11 can
win the division. 12, I think, clearly wins it. I
think they're an 11 or 12 win team. By the way,

(01:31:07):
12 wins is double last year's win total. Those who
push back against that will mention one of three things.
And it's up to this year's team to throw water
on these three things or prove some things wrong when
it comes to these three things. One will be, well,

(01:31:28):
the defense stinks. Now, you and I can look at
the pieces acquired and I think conclude that that they
can't certainly be any worse than they were last year.
They're likely to be better. And while they might not
be elite, they should tackle better. They look like they
have the sort of front that can get after the
quarterback better. It feels like they have some better things

(01:31:49):
happening in coverage with the ascension of DJ Turner. Takario Davis,
quite frankly, looks like a dude. They should be better
at safety. And Barrett Carter and Demetrius Knight should at
least benefit from the accumulation of experience last year. And
the things happening around them on defense with better play
behind them and better play in front of them. But

(01:32:10):
skeptics will say, need to see the pieces fit first.
Not totally buying it. Defense stunk last year. Defense stunk
the year before. It's up to this team to prove
those skeptics wrong. They will say that. Others will say
they can never protect Joe Burrow. We played the Louis
Riddick audio last week. Skeptical of the Bengals offensive line.

(01:32:33):
I love Louis Riddick. I think he's a little off base.
I think last year's offensive line by the end of
the season was playing like a really good group. They
should benefit from continuity. I worry about depth. I think
we all do. It's why the swing tackle conversation is
happening the way it is. And Orlando Brown, we haven't
talked much about Orlando Brown over the last couple of weeks,
but like, dude, that first preseason game when he whiffed,

(01:32:56):
by the way, did that guy, Eric O'Neal, did he
make the Lions? I haven't looked. But it reminded you
of some of those moments last year. Orlando Brown has
seen a decrease in his pro football focus grade every
year for the last four seasons. If the trend continues,
that's a little problematic. But Many are going to say, like,
I can't buy Bengals stock. I can't really consider the

(01:33:20):
Bengals genuine contenders because they can't protect Joe Burrow. And
by the way, he is hurt a lot. We have
no problem saying that about a guy like Hunter Green.
You should have no problem saying it about a guy
like Joe Burrow. What I counter that is, A, the
offensive line has played better and certainly played better toward
the end of the season last year. And Burrow, when

(01:33:42):
he's healthy, is an MVP caliber quarterback. My money is
on him having better luck, playing behind a better offensive line.
He puts up MVP caliber numbers. So you're going to
hear people mention the defense. You're going to hear people
mention not keeping Burrow upright. And you'll hear people mention
Zach Taylor. Like when you're a head coach who has,

(01:34:07):
in your star quarterback's prime, not gotten to the postseason yet,
three years in a row, and you've had a chance
to swap out defensive coordinators, there's going to be skepticism.
So those are going to be the reasons. Really, you
can't think of any others. The division is going to

(01:34:28):
be challenging because it is the AFC North, but I
don't know that you could declare that any one of
those teams is automatically going to beat the Bengals twice
or anything like that. Everybody loves the weaponry. Like, as
you sift through everything that's written and said, and I'm
sure you'll find people who believe the Bengals are going

(01:34:49):
to be really, really good or win the division, maybe
even go to the Super Bowl or win the Super Bowl,
but you will have those who counter whatever optimism there is.
And they're not tropes. It's up to the Bengals to
prove them wrong. Because the Bengals brand is bad defense.
They have worked hard to fix it. But until we

(01:35:09):
see that in games that count, that's part of their brand.
The brand is Burrow is always hurt. I think you
and I believe the Bengals are better equipped than ever
before because of the offensive line. Maybe because of how
they're running their offense to keep Burrow healthy. And then
the Zach Taylor thing, the criticism just comes with the

(01:35:30):
territory when you go three straight years without making the postseason.
And with Zach Taylor, I don't view him as the
liability that a lot of others do. I certainly do
have my criticisms of him. One of them you just heard.
So in weeks one and two, Tampa Bay and Houston
start 2-0, look prepared, protect Joe, hold the other team

(01:35:54):
to a manageable total. And all three, within two weeks,
all three of those criticisms will have been addressed. Reds
are doing something cool for somebody who deserves it next
ESPN 1530. Cincinnati's ESPN 1530.

Speaker 6 (01:36:07):
Traffic.

Speaker 4 (01:36:11):
From the UC Health Traffic Center.

Speaker 1 (01:36:14):
Kelsey Chevrolet, home of Lifetime Powertrain Protection and Guaranteed Credit Approval.
From their family to yours for life, KelseyChev.com. Bengals sign
the following five players to their practice squad. Stand by.
Josh Johnson, Tanner Hudson, Trick Wheezy Bridges, second-year player from Florida,
seventh rounder out of Dallas in 2025. He's a corner.

(01:36:35):
I think I said that.

Speaker 3 (01:36:36):
Maybe I didn't.

Speaker 1 (01:36:38):
Played in 16 games, started two for the Cowboys last year,
had three passes defensed and a pick. Break free, break.
Let's try that again. Blake Freeland. Blake Freeland. has also
signed to the practice squad a tackle from BYU, fourth
rounder of the Colts in 23, played in 25 games,

(01:36:59):
including nine starts with Indy in 23 and 24, spent
all of last year on IR because of a leg injury.
Cincinnati has also signed edge rusher Garmin Randolph out of Baylor,
a first-year player who spent his entire rookie season on
the Chargers practice squad, Bengals practice squad now. That's 16.
Reds and Padres tonight with Ellie De La Cruz in

(01:37:21):
the starting lineup for reasons that I fail to understand.
Nicola Dolo and Randy Vasquez on the hill. 640 tonight
on 700 WLW. Reds interplay eight games behind both San
Diego and Arizona in the hunt, if we're still calling
it that, for the last wildcard spot. The Reds did something.

(01:37:41):
I think this started this past offseason. with the induction
of a gentleman by the name of Jesse Jackson, who
among the many things he did in area television and
media was he was the longtime Reds television stage manager and, uh, just, uh,
a terrific sweet man, somebody that, uh, I had a

(01:38:05):
chance to get to know over the years primarily through
his work on UC television broadcasts, and he passed away
early this past basketball season. Just a sweet, sweet man.
And so what the Bengals– I'm sorry. What the Reds
have done is they have a broadcast and production crew
wall of honor. And as somebody who has spent a

(01:38:27):
lot of time in his life working on a broadcast crew,
I think it's awesome that the Reds have gone out
of their way to honor people who have worked behind
the scenes on their television and radio broadcasts. And so tonight,
they're going to honor seven more members of the 2026
induction class, including Dave Yiddy Armbruster, who I think has

(01:38:50):
been on Reds Radio Broadcast, producing Reds Radio Broadcast, and
he's obviously also the network pre- and post-game host. I
think he's done that for 40 years. I believe he
has worked here for like 46, 47 years, an institution,
a Cincinnati broadcasting and sports institution. And by the way,

(01:39:12):
among the many, many, many things he did in this
business is he hired me. when I was in college
at the University of Dayton, for reasons that I completely
do not understand. He is one of the smartest. He
is one of the most hardworking, one of the more, unfortunately,
unheralded people in this business. And it's cool as hell

(01:39:35):
that the Reds have this and that they're doing this
and that Yit is a part of it. Quite frankly,
I don't know that anybody could ever completely tell The
story of what that guy has done in this business,
in sports, in radio, because his list of accomplishments is exceptional.
And when I used to write for The Athletic, most

(01:39:57):
things I wrote were just trash because I wasn't a
trained writer. I don't regret writing for The Athletic, but
I wasn't good at it. And I wish I could
get rid of 95% of the things that I wrote
because they just weren't very good and they're still out
there on the internet. But one thing that I did
write that I was proud of is when Marty Brenneman

(01:40:17):
was getting set to do his last game, I did
a Q & A with Marty's engineer, his producer, the
guy who had spent more time in a broadcast booth
with Marty Brenneman than anybody not named Joe Nuxall was Yid.
And the subject of the conversation was Marty, but it
was so cool getting you to tell behind the scenes

(01:40:38):
stories that I could then convey to the audience and
the athletic about working with Marty, starting as a young
kid in the Reds radio booth with Marty. I just
I love that piece. It's one of the, like, there
might be three things I ever wrote for that website
that I thought are any good. And I love that website. Like,
I'm a fan and subscriber to this day. But one

(01:40:59):
of the few things I wrote that I was really,
really happy with was the pseudo profile of Yid talking
about his time in the booth with Marty. So anyway,
congratulations to Yid and the others for being honored tonight.
We got Zach Taylor audio. We just heard Stephen A.
Smith ripping all over Zach Taylor, so now we'll hear
Zach Taylor who talked today. Here he is offering some

(01:41:22):
injury updates earlier this afternoon.

Speaker 11 (01:41:29):
He'll be limited throughout the week, but I feel good
about him. Dax will progress back into Indy. Brian Cook
has been back and ready to roll.

Speaker 3 (01:41:40):
Shamar.

Speaker 11 (01:41:41):
We'll stay on the rehab field this week, and we'll
just take him week to week. And then T has
a little heel contusion. That'll limit him this week, but
he and Jamar will be good at the end of
the week.

Speaker 1 (01:41:55):
Heel contusion? T, what are we doing? Heel contusion? Come on.
All right, what about the swing tackle battle? Here's Zach
talking about how he's going to handle that.

Speaker 11 (01:42:06):
I can let him compete every week for the rest
of the season. You know, it's... Sometimes when you know,
you know. Okay, this guy has just really been consistent
for us, and there's just no conversation about this. But
I think right now, let's just keep taking it with
every practice we've got. And if guys show that they've

(01:42:29):
gotten up to speed and can do it, then I'm
all for however it shakes out.

Speaker 1 (01:42:33):
All right, there you go. There's Zach Taylor talking about
the swing-tackle battle. When you know, you know. Words to
live by. When you know, you know, says Zach Taylor.
Quarter to six ESPN 1530 Bengals and Buccaneers a week
from Sunday. Don't forget September the 13th. Me, Tony, Ken Brew.

(01:42:58):
I haven't seen Ken Brew since the day of our
last show last year. So it'll be nice to see
him and obviously awesome to be with Tony as well.
At the Holy Grail, a week from Sunday morning, starting
at 9 on ESPN 1530. Speaking of Tony, he's with
us next.

Speaker 6 (01:43:18):
Cincinnati's ESPN 1530.

Speaker 3 (01:43:20):
Traffic.

Speaker 4 (01:43:23):
From the UC Health Traffic Center, trust me.

Speaker 1 (01:43:26):
Training camp reports even though training camp is over. Bengals
practice squad down to or up to 16. They've got
it to 16, I guess I should say. Has anything
stood out about the construction of the practice squad?

Speaker 7 (01:43:40):
I don't think so. I thought it is value getting
Josh Johnson back. And I mean the value of off
the field for Joe Burrow because I just think there's
a wealth of knowledge there. that can open doors for
Joe Burrow that he might not have had in the past.
And that's not a shot at a Jake Browning or

(01:44:00):
anybody else, but he's got guys in that room that
have done it for a long time. And among anyone
else on the practice squad, I think that experience just
does wonders for him.

Speaker 1 (01:44:11):
We went into training camp, I think, wondering if they
had done enough at three areas, three position groups. One,
swing tackle. And I think there are still legitimate concerns
about who that's going to be and how okay they're
going to be there. But we also wondered about linebacker
and the depth at corner. How much did camp ease
linebacker concerns for this team for you?

Speaker 7 (01:44:33):
Well, they eased it enough that they only carried four
of them. I think that speaks volumes. with how confident
they feel. They kept four linebackers and all four were deserving.
Oren Burks had a good camp. Swayze Bozeman earned his
spot on the team. And we talked multiple days about
Demetrius Knight and Barrett Carter. So they earned their spots. Now,

(01:44:56):
Is four the number?

Speaker 3 (01:44:57):
Is five the number?

Speaker 7 (01:44:58):
I think you can just start cutting hairs, and I
think the way they are going to use a Boye
Mafia and Cassius Howe, you could count them at times
as linebackers, but yeah, I'm with you. O-line is still
a little bit of a question. I'm good with linebacker.
I'm good in the secondary as well.

Speaker 1 (01:45:12):
I was going to go there next. How much did
camp ease any concerns we may have had about depth,
specifically a corner?

Speaker 7 (01:45:21):
A lot, and more so than anything because of Takario Davis.
You never want to see a guy not practice. And
Dax Hill probably needed those reps. And I'm interested to
see with Dax Hill if there's any rough there. I
don't think you could pick a player that made a
bigger jump from the first week of camp to the

(01:45:43):
end of camp than what we saw from Takario Davis.
And then he did it in a game. He's so long.

Speaker 3 (01:45:50):
He's smooth.

Speaker 7 (01:45:51):
He can make up for errors. I just think that
he's going to be a contributing factor for this team.
And I think he's easily helped the depth at that side.

Speaker 1 (01:46:00):
All right, Tony, thank you very much. Tony, back tomorrow
for Cincy 360 at noon with Austin Elmore. And then,
of course, a week from Sunday, Bengals. bucks live on
espn 15 30 at one o'clock and of course on
top of all that in the booth with dan horde
on saturday uc hosting boston college pre-game on 102.7 webn

(01:46:24):
at 2 30 i think the game against boston college
airing on ebn is easily the biggest thing happening to
that radio station this weekend And so it's going to
be awesome for them on what is ordinarily a very
quiet time for those folks at EBN to have some
UC football. That'll be terrific. 2.30 pregame on EBN. We

(01:46:45):
have a couple minutes. Poll questions on Twitter. Thanks to
United Heartland Insurance. You know, do yourself a favor. This weekend.
I'm already looking ahead to the weekend. This Labor Day weekend.
Have a little extra down time. Go look and see
what you're paying for insurance. Because I bet my friends

(01:47:07):
at United Heartland Insurance can help you pay a lot less.
Go to uhins.com. Ellie Dela Cruz has a small quad string.
The Reds are eight games out of a playoff spot.
Yet Ellie is still playing. Are the Reds being reckless?
Vote now. At Mo Egger. 77.9% of you. Nearly 600

(01:47:35):
votes say yes. Vote now. At Mo Egger. I think
the answer is yes. I think they're taking on risk
with very, very little reward. If Eli De La Cruz
hits two home runs tonight, which I hope he does,
and the Reds win, what's the reward? Maybe if Arizona
loses tonight to the Phillies, they're seven games back. There's

(01:47:58):
time to take on risk. There's time to extend yourself
a little bit from an injury perspective. If the Reds
were tied for first place tonight, Ellie, go out there
and do what you can to help the team win.
And if the injury gets worse, so be it. This

(01:48:19):
is not the time. to take on that risk. We're
back tomorrow at 3.05. Anything you might have missed, go
listen to on the iHeartRadio app. Thanks to Long Neck
Sports Grill. Great place to watch Reds tonight. Great place
to watch college football this weekend. Wilder, Hebron, and Richwood.
We're done. My thanks to Taren Bland for producing. Most importantly,
thanks to you for listening. Have an awesome night. This

(01:48:41):
is ESPN 1530 Cincinnati Sports Station.

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