December 26, 2025 • 28 mins
Lance, Mo, Tony and Austin
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
Very Christmas.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Welcome back in the Sports Talk Year in Review and
look Ahead show seven hundred w LW. Lance MacAllister, moeg
or Tony Pike Austinmore. This reminds me of the have
you seen the Trans Siberian Orchestra show and the laser lights?
And this is the sounds that you'll get in all that.
Mo has not seen that as I would.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
I would rather be fed to a mountain.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
You haven't have seen the It's very overwhelmantastic.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Yes, light shows.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Just be prepared.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
It is sensory overload. Yes, that's the word I was
looking for. Sensory overload.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
All right. Uh.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
The Bengals twenty twenty five season began against the backdrop
of needing to have a fast start. How much did
we talk about they were going to change the the
previous off season planning and training camp was going to
be different, and they would hit more and they'd played
the starters more, and they come out of the shoot
one to know in a game where they looked okay
against the Steelers, and then in Game two they get
(01:04):
to two and oho, but it cost them Joe Burrow
to an injury, and.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
From there it became a journey that just wasn't fair.
Speaker 4 (01:14):
So many moments, just a unique I remember being at
training camp every day and walking away, like, man, the
defense performed well. Today, defense is flying around, defense is
playing confident. I even had days where I thought Jermaine
Burton looked good at training camp and like and you
walk away from it and you look at where this
season is gone. For much of the season, we're talking
(01:35):
about not a league worst defense, but a historically bad
defense in the National Football League history. Jermaine Burton is
no longer with this team.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
It was.
Speaker 4 (01:45):
It was unique because it was the fast start. They
found a way to get to two and oh. But
in the backdrop of that, you lose Joe Burrow, the
defense sputters, the Trey Hendrickson and Shamar Stewart situations, It just,
you hate to say, it never got off the the ground,
but it doesn't feel like there was ever a chance
this season of things to be anywhere close to normal.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
Yeah, sorry, Austin Good.
Speaker 5 (02:06):
As I mentioned in the last segment, the way the
Bengals approached the offseason, all that caught up to them
very quickly this year, and it led to something that
we haven't really seen before. Which is Duke Tobin being
in the crossairs of the fan base more than at
any point in his let me count.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
Twenty six years now.
Speaker 5 (02:23):
In Cincinnati, there was a growing discontentment with Duke Tobin
in the front office and the way that they have
gone about trying to draft and develop these players.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
And it caught up to him in a big way.
You know.
Speaker 6 (02:35):
For all the talk of we want a serene offseason
and a different training camp and approach it with urgency,
the Trey Hendrickson thing just took on a life of
its own where he shows up at practice one day
and he's lobbying for himself. The Shamar Stewart thing, which
in this era where we don't really have rookie holdouts,
not only did we have one, we guy was technically
not under contract.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
Just blasting the team press conference.
Speaker 6 (02:58):
I mean, you know, so as this you know, important
offseason is unfolding, you have these side shows and then
I can't tell you how many times you would talk
about the team this offseason and go, hey, remember last
year's defense wasn't very good.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
Are we sure they've done enough to fix it?
Speaker 6 (03:14):
And it would kind of get patted on the head.
J Slaton and hey, they're gonna be fine. Al Golden's
gonna fix everything. And they played the game against the
Philadelphia Eagles, and I think it was the Eagles in
the preseason where it's like they were just trucked and
then you were told, oh, Al Owl's he's not showing anything.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
It's vanilla not showing anything.
Speaker 6 (03:32):
And I just I can't tell you how many times
I would go, you know, we sure we shure no distractions.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
You got these two major distractions.
Speaker 6 (03:39):
We sure you did enough to fix the defense, And
as the season unfolded, obviously the answer was, well they
didn't we Uh.
Speaker 4 (03:45):
Remember texting back and forth during the National Championship with
Austin when Al Golden decided, in the biggest play the
game to go one on one coverage with Jeremiah Smith,
and I remember like, wait, I don't know, like that
that to me, I don't know if that's going to work.
And you fast forward again, I don't think it's a
full deck he's playing with. I think the back end,
(04:06):
especially the safety position, is lacking in a big way.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
Remember when they asked their starting safety to take a pay.
Speaker 6 (04:11):
Cut, but not only that, And I wish you would
have said no.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
But not only that. Our golden specialty was linebacker.
Speaker 4 (04:21):
Yeah, and then come in and you draft two linebackers
who have been awful, you move on from Logan Wilson.
It's just it's and then on the back drop on
the offensive side, we talk about the offense so much,
and yet you look back on this season, you don't
get to see Jamar Tray, Chase Chase Brown and Joe
Burrow together a lot. And when you do, it's like, man,
that's what it can be. At some point they get
(04:43):
they got to get on the field together for more
than three or four games of season.
Speaker 6 (04:47):
You know, we did the segment of high points in
a weird way. The high point of the Bengals season
was the Jamar and t press conference.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
Because that day felt great.
Speaker 6 (04:54):
Yep, that day felt great, and unfortunately every other day
afterward didn't feel great.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (04:59):
And what I've learned in this Bengals season is that
it can always get worse. I mean that defense it
did get worse and way worse, and Tony brings up
the point they hire Al Golden and then all of
a sudden, basically every linebacker he's coached here is gone.
Logan Wilson gets traded, Joe Batchi's out the door of
Keem Davis Gate. There has gone, Jermaine Pratt gets let go.
(05:20):
Guys get drafted. And I remember during the draft thinking
they're reaching on these guys because they've painted themselves in
a position to where they have to take Need over
best player available. And again it showed up in a
big way on the defensive side of the ball.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
It can always get worse. Should be a Sinsey shirts worst,
Josh Need so the perfect. Sure do we remember the
day that Shamar Stewart registered his first quarterback hit by
hitting Joe Burrow?
Speaker 1 (05:47):
And what happened that dayly cow because.
Speaker 6 (05:51):
I remember going like, the offensive line should take him
to dinner because he's that day of practice, the offensive
line was terrible, and I said the offensive line should
take him to dinner. And if they want to give
him a talking to, that's fine because they've taken the
attention away from how bad they were in protecting their quarterbacks.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
And then you know, to me, the way the season
has ended.
Speaker 6 (06:11):
First of all, the real nineties feel of billboards, right,
you know those of us hold enough.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
For remember the nineties.
Speaker 6 (06:16):
This is the sort of stuff that unfolded then, but
we get the added dose of unending psychoanalysis of the quarterback,
which I frankly am over.
Speaker 4 (06:26):
I'm over, but if I'm the Cincinnati Bengals, I want
to make sure that it's clear to Joe Burrow this
offseason that you can win a super Bowl here, and
you can win a super Bowl without having to be
perfect every single time you take the field. The Buffalo game,
he made two bad plays and he got crushed for it.
You need to show Joe Burrow that you can win
a title here and you can do it without being
(06:46):
perfect here, and that's going to take a lot this
offseason to get to. But if you want your quarterback
to lock in and get back to the goal of
trying to win multiple super Bowls here, you need to
take care of that. And you can't let yourself playing
out the string, get caught against clin Ewers and Jacoby
Brissett and Shador Sanders and in three weeks from now
(07:08):
saying they're not that far away on defense, they only
need to make a couple changes.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
We mentioned the Trey Hendrickson hold out in the visual
of the Bengals practicing and Trey standing in golf gear,
a golf shirt and holding a press conference and out
of that in Austin. You've mentioned this before. I think
we've all mentioned it while all this was going on.
As much as his teammates seemed to rally around getting
(07:33):
Jamar paid and Tee paid and other guy's paid, It's
like everybody just kind of sat back and watched Trey
b Trey, and there was never really any public support
offered from within for getting Trey a deal.
Speaker 5 (07:43):
Yeah, and even when Joe Burrow was asked about it,
he would never go nearly to the same links as
he did even about a guy like Mike Giseki. And
I've always thought that was really telling. And prior to
this season, Trey was never voted a team captain. I mean,
how many four time Pro bowlers have never been a
team captain before? And then all of a sudden, all
the veteran guys leave, Von Bell, Mike Hilton, all the
(08:04):
Sam Hubbard, those guys are all gone, and the Bengals
players are like, well, Trey's been here, will vote him
to be a captain. And I think maybe behind the
scenes he has been that guy. At least in training
camp he showed up, which I think it was all
for show. When he finally did show up and then
he was over on the side working with Shamar Stewart
and all that other stuff. It doesn't seem like it's
(08:24):
going to be a relationship with Trey Hendrickson and the
Bengals going into next show.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
And I was always bugged by what I thought was
the mixed messaging of the decision to go with two
rookie linebackers and all the growing pains that were going
to come with that in a season that mattered, had
Super Bowl hopes and dreams, and you did that. I mean,
things got so desperate they went out and traded for
Joe Flacco to try to save the season, and yet
they were content to start two rookie linebackers who had
(08:48):
no business playing. And it just it never made Super
Bowl hopes and dreams. Two rookie linebacks never made me say.
Speaker 6 (08:56):
But I go back to the offseason where it was, Okay,
they've got the defense free agency, Okay, well it's TJ.
Slayton and Orrin Burke's okay. With the draft, we're gonna
get some guys who can help. Right now, in the
moment you watch Demetrius Knight and Barrek Carter. You thought
this isn't gonna happen. I keep coming back to how
they just it felt like they sat out the offseason
(09:17):
and then for a franchise that's supposed to be in
this championship window, that they just kind of let this
opportunity pass by not addressing a major deficiency from last year.
Speaker 5 (09:26):
You talk about the psychoanalysis of the quarterback, it's because
there's precedent both with Andrew Luck and what he'd went
through in Indianapolis and with what Carson Palmer went through
here before. The president of those things leads Bengals fans
to thinking, oh no, here we go again, and it's
up to the Bengals to prevent that from happening.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
Still ahead, we'll get into the season that has been
for the UC football program, a little college basketball.
Speaker 3 (09:50):
And I'm almost listen to the most you'll look.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
As we roll on with the sports Dog Year and
Review and look ahead show here on seven hundred wlw
Oh listen how happy and festive that music is.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
And now we're going to talk about the Bearcats.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
Merry Christmas, everybody, you're hanging out with John Cunningham song Lace, McAllister,
Austin Elmore, Tony Pike, and Moeger are sports Dog Year
in Review and look Ahead show here on seven hundred WLW.
Now in and around all of our conversation we've talked
about the YouTube, mule log and Christmas bags. As the
elder statesman of the group, I want to stress to
(10:35):
you what I have learned. As we approach a period
where you're going to take your Christmas trees down, I
would ask that you follow my model and what I've learned,
and that is, rather than taking the Christmas tree down,
packing all the ornaments, taking them back down to the basement,
bring him back up next season, I have mastered moving
the Christmas tree with the ornaments up into Casey's old bedroom,
(10:57):
leaving it there during the year, and then skivving the
following year bringing it back down. And I did not
drop a single ornament off the tree in this moving process.
Speaker 4 (11:06):
And anytime you're in need of just the Christmas spirit,
you can just just.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
Walk into Casey's old room. Yes, there you go. Does
Casey ever like crash in his old room and.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
Go, No, he's got the basement when the crash. But yeah,
I want you to understand. And that's a big ass
Christmas tree. And I grabbed it and I carried it
down and carried it up. Not a single ornament fell off.
I'd like to try this finest thing I did.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
I'm trying to.
Speaker 6 (11:28):
Think of where we would put it, but I I'd
like to say, not a lot of room in my
eight hundred square foot apartment.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
I put it in Cross Night. All right, that's the fun.
Let's get to UC football.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
You see, lost to Nebraska to open the season neutral
sight game.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
Neral, Yeah, and what was the point cloud makeup at
that point.
Speaker 6 (11:51):
Five million dollar check for moving that game to Kansas City.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
Yes, and then ripped off seven straight wins, did one.
Speaker 4 (12:00):
I don't think I've ever been in an environment like
that in Kansas City as loud as it was for Nebraska.
And I remember Dan Dan Horde said, I've been to
Bengals Chiefs games that were not as loud as what
this was tonight. It was incredible, and for the most part,
UC's defense was really good and they ran the ball
really well. Sworsby struggled in that game. I remember going
(12:22):
into the game, man, they've revamped a wide receiver room
and he had like thirty eight yards passing going into
the final drive of the game, made one of his
worst throws of the game. You look back now, that
wasn't a good Nebraska team. It wasn't a team as
good as they thought they were going to be. Man
the seven straight wins, you started to believe, you started
to buy in, and then another collapse down the stretch
(12:43):
of a season in a unenviable, unenviable ball opponent coming out.
Speaker 6 (12:47):
It was, I think a game that night in Kansas
City emblematic of what has been the hallmarket this program
for three years, which is they just can't make the play.
They just can't make the play that puts him over
the top or really gives them a chance to win.
And the theme of the season for me offensively, Tony
and you and I have talked about this dozens of time.
You and I sat in Kansas City the night before
(13:08):
the game, and we talked about, like, this is a
night for Joe Royer, right because the Bearcats were unproven
at wide receiver. Nebraska has good corners. They're going to
feed Joe Royer. They didn't that night. They didn't all
season long. Among the many things that troubled me about
the way the season unfolded at the end was the
fact that you have a guy that everybody with that
program will claim is the best tight end in the country.
He had twenty six catches this year. You also mentioned
(13:30):
that the Nebraska game. For me, looking back on the season,
I didn't know it at the time. I appreciated that
the night we got to have we sat in the
hotel lobby with Jim Kelly, yes, for how long just
and you don't know at the time, yep, what was
going on or how it was going to be. But
looking back now, at the time we had with him
that trip, it was just like Jim. He liked hanging
(13:52):
out in the lobby, liked interacting with fans, and we
got to do it that night. And I remember that
more than anything about that. I'll paint the picture really quick.
We were in Kansas City. It was the Wednesday night
before the game. We went to dinner. Jim did not
go with us. We knew he wasn't feeling great. We're
hanging out in the hotel and then like Willis Reid,
there he is and he sat down and had a beer. Yep,
And god knows, we didn't know he was going to
(14:12):
pass so quickly. But I've thought about that often that
season began. We got that night with Jim, and I
think he's sort of knew, like I need to hang
out with.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
Those guys, and he did, and I'm grateful for it.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
The college basketball season, to me, what I think you see?
I think losing it home to Eastern Michigan, and I
remember and I think trailing thirty to five to Clemson,
And as we walked in, we had mentioned that Eastern
Michigan beat Right State this week, which kind of sums
up what has happened to this UC basketball season already.
Speaker 6 (14:47):
I think of and you've talked about this a lot, Lance,
I think of all the players from last year's team,
which collectively underwhelmed, that have gone on to thrive for
high major programs or at least contribute to high MA programs.
And I think at the end of last year, I
know Tony and I talked about this as diehard Bearcat fans. Okay,
those are good players, but they couldn't make the pieces fit.
(15:08):
What they'll do at the roster this year is build
a roster and fit guys into certain roles, and they'll
make the pieces fit better that hasn't happened.
Speaker 4 (15:17):
It's been one of the more demoralizing UC basketball seasons
I can remember. And I'll be the first to tell you,
as Mo Will, I'm as big a UC fan as
anything else in my life. That's what I grew up
on and the thing that bothers me most about U
see basketball right now, you see that I grew up
knowing toughness. I don't think they're tough like even the
(15:38):
Huggins years, the Croning years. They might not have been
the most talented, but you knew coming in against that
team you were going to be in a dog fight.
And it's not that. Right now, I'm dreading twenty twenty six.
I'm dreading the new year. I'll tell you what I'm dreading.
Speaker 3 (15:52):
You want to talk about.
Speaker 4 (15:53):
You want to talk about a weekend UC versus Navy
on January second. Navy has zero outs. No one is
skipping that bowl game, and that is a super Bowl
to Navy. I don't know see players are going to play.
I know Tyson VIT's three three to five defense isn't
going to bow very well against that. And then the
very next day he's going to start their Big twelve
Conference playing basketball by welcoming Houston into fifth Third Arena,
(16:16):
I'm not looking forward to that.
Speaker 5 (16:18):
Every Bearcat basketball game in the West Miller era feel
has been the exact same game, and the team makeup
and all their shortcomings has been the exact same And
that's just hard for me to fathom. And then you
look at a team like Xavier and they're in a
year of transition after Sean Miller leaves, and it feels
like even through the first seven eight games, they're going
up into the right and Richard Patino is tinkering and
(16:39):
moving stuff around and getting his team into shape. Now
they may get destroyed throughout the Big East schedule. I
think a lot of people are expecting that, but it
already felt like in ten games Richard Patino had figured
out more about his team than West Miller has the
last few years.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
And that's a major indictment on him.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
And I think it's one of the interesting fun stories
that's developed, and I want to see how it goes
from here. But I have a steel on The Miami
RedHawks are out to a thirteen and oh start. Schedule
has been questionable, and evadep sorrow their fine point guard
from Cuvcath has torn his acl and they'll be without him.
But they're thirteen and oh they shoot the ball well,
they score a lot of points. They're fun to watch.
I want to see what happens with mac play still ahead.
Speaker 6 (17:15):
You know, you had Travis on your show a week
or so ago and you said to him, I'm so
happy for you. And I can't think of anybody who
doesn't feel that way, even Xavier fans. It didn't work out.
It didn't work out for a variety of reasons. Travis
Steel's a good guy and a guy worth rooting for,
and I think a lot of us when he went
to Oxford thought, you know what, that may work And
it took a year. And you know, in the NIL era,
you wonder about the sustainability of programs in the Mid
(17:39):
American Conference. But they're fun to watch. They play a
fun brand of basketball. Travis had them on the doorstep
of the NCAA Tournament last year. I'm hoping he can
get there this year because, just as a guy, I
want that to happen for him.
Speaker 4 (17:51):
Xavier opens Big East Play and they get boat raced
by forty one. Yep, they respond, yes, they go on
the road and be Georgetown. Yeah, that's all you want
to see. You want to see your team get better.
It's the end of December and Kark Creasa didn't play
in the second half of their last game for U
see Seana Bie sat the last twelve minutes of the game.
They still don't know a rotation with the University of Cincinnati.
Here's what I do know. UK is healthy, and this
(18:15):
UK healthy team is much different than the team we
saw early in the year. Coming off wins against Indiana.
UK also just beat Saint John's and what Pat Kelsey
has done with Louisville, Louisville is a legitimate Final four contender.
Very very very good to watch UK and Louisville right now.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
And I'll toss in Darren Horne and the Norris. We
usually know there that team that follows that mode of
getting better as the season goes on. They've been good
at stages early and then it's three days in March.
They're scoring a lot more than they have I had
him on the other night, they're scoring twelve more points
a game than they ever have it in. KU defense
is a little bit in question, but they're always that
team come March that builds stewards. Can they win over
three days to make the ncaa tur for.
Speaker 5 (18:55):
Those who may have forgotten. When you flip the calendar,
it goes January February Norse.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
And on that note, we'll take a time out.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
It's a Sports Talk to the years year in review
in the look ahead show right here on seven hundred
WLW all right down the stretch we go, Santa came
down the chimney. It's the Sports Talk year in Review
and the look ahead. This portion our final segment look
(19:25):
ahead specifically to twenty twenty six. Some of the storylines
things we will follow and wonder about moegor Tony Pike,
Austin om or Lance McAllister. I will start my look
ahead with a guy I think his performance the red
season and outlook hinges on how he does. And that's
if Matt McClain can bounce back and be anywhere near
(19:45):
what we thought he was beginning to turn into his
rookie season where he got Rookie of the Year votes.
This lineup takes on a whole different look, but there
was a pretty large sample size of last season where
Matt McClain just he was not a serviceable major League Play.
Speaker 6 (20:00):
There's a lot of value for him to be NLMVP
in twenty twenty six.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
How I want to take a look at it now.
Speaker 6 (20:05):
How long's the leash and what's the option If you
believe they've dipped their toes in the Catel Marte waters,
does that reflect sort of the fact that they're looking
for somebody else to be the starting second basement. What
might that mean for Matt McClain. Look at the end
of the year, he was hitting ninth. He went from
batting second every day to hitting ninth, So they did
(20:26):
something with him. They can't go that deep into the
season with him hitting the way he did last year.
Speaker 5 (20:32):
This year it was to go into spring training with
the assumption he's going to be your opening day second basement, right, Like,
it can't be like you have to consider all possibility.
Speaker 4 (20:40):
It was so weird last year because he was the
only one that seemed untouchable. Yeah, everyone else can be
sent down, everyone else can be benched for whatever reason.
Matt McLain was the untouchable. I hope Matt McLain has
a bounce back, but as an organization, you can't operate
in that sense. You have to operate to make this
line up better. And then if Matt McClain does have
a bounce back, that's icing on the cake for you.
But you can't operate hoping that he takes another story.
Speaker 6 (21:02):
That's what's the story going to be at Reds Fest.
Matt mcclan what got new glasses? Went on a different diet?
Like invariably, there's gonna be this like, well, here's what
went wrong last year, Here's how Matt McLean fixed it.
And you better buy that MVP bet right now because
he's poised for a big twenty twenty six.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
You know it really takes two years for shoulder injuries.
Speaker 3 (21:21):
Yeah right, yes, that's yeah.
Speaker 6 (21:23):
He was going through a lot off the field, and
there's gonna be something that we all glomb.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
On psychoanalysis of Matt McClean.
Speaker 4 (21:29):
Yeah, we're gonna have months off and we're gonna hear
right before the start that Ellie's still not one hundred
percent of course.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:34):
Well, and the latest name churning through the rumor mill
as the elusive bat is Luis Robert, who now it
will be in some way, shape or form, somebody who
has had a couple of off years or is coming
back from injury or needs a change of scenery. There
there's something in the them o of one of those
players that will churn through this rumor mill that will
(21:56):
pop up onto the Reds ring.
Speaker 5 (21:58):
I just looked it up when the rumor came out,
and he's not from Cincinnati, so I'm a little surprised
that there is interest sell tickets by the Reds considering
he won't be selling as mini tickets.
Speaker 6 (22:09):
I'm already prepping myself to look at Luis Roberts underlying metrics,
because when you look at the overlying metrics, they're terrible.
So you're you will be told you got to look
at the underlying metrics. Okay, Well show me which ones
to look at. It feels like they've been flirting with
trading for Luise Robert for two years, and during that
entire time, the White Sox have been waiting for him
to play better so it increases his value, and neither
(22:30):
things have happened. They haven't traded for him and he
hasn't played any better. But I'm sure once I look
at those underlying metrics, I'll talk myself into it.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
Well, you know, in terms of what we do on
a daily basis, twenty twenty six is going to at
some point include conversation about the future of West Miller,
Scott Saderfield, Zach Taylor, maybe even Pat Noonan based on
how much they spent last year and didn't go as
far as they want to. There's a whole lot of
coaches in managerial maybe not managerial, a lot.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
Of coaching of us and its who are going to
be part of the converse. I think you said managerial.
I mean Francona.
Speaker 5 (23:03):
There's a lockout looming in Major League Baseball in twenty
twenty seven. I don't know how long he's going to
do that, and the pressure that he feels on this
ball club, so I think that's going to be a
conversation at some point as well next year.
Speaker 6 (23:14):
I think I think Terry Francona is interesting because even
last year there were a lot of folks who wondered, God,
really want to do this? And you know, he never
gave any indication that this is something he doesn't want
to do. But he has had health issues. He is
closer to the end of his career than the beginning.
If things do go south with the club this year,
I think that's going to be something that a lot
of people talk about, and look, man, this is a
(23:37):
season that's going to be judged by do the Reds
not just make the postseason but advance so do they
put themselves in a better position. The Bengals not making
the playoffs for a fourth consvative year seems almost inconceivable,
But we're confronting that reality. Things are very dark for
the UC basketball program.
Speaker 3 (23:54):
The tournament or west Miller's gone.
Speaker 6 (23:56):
I mean there we're talking about them maybe losing fourteen
fifteen games in the Big Twelve, which is for year
five unbelievable as.
Speaker 3 (24:03):
One of your favorite things to do.
Speaker 6 (24:05):
New Coach Radio, New Coach Radio Radio, Scott Sadderfield's in
a real interesting place because they were better this year.
It's not beloved by the fan base. They have to
replace a lot of guys. I thought Chris and I
thought that Chris Albright press conference last week was weird, Right?
Speaker 1 (24:21):
Was weird that that As.
Speaker 6 (24:23):
Much as I think Pat Noonan is universally respected in
that sport, as much as I think Chris and Pat
have always had alignment, that press conference did not exactly
sound like a ringing endorsement for the current state of
that club.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
Yeah, talked about how it felt stale watching during the season.
Speaker 4 (24:39):
I think if you would have taken a lot of
UC fans football wise going into the year and say
seven wins, I think a lot of fans would have said, Okay,
that's good, that's improvement. When you look at how it transpired,
and then you look at the makeup of the roster,
like you meant, Dante Corleone just a weird year, playing
about fifty percent of the snaps. What happens to the
three three five when you don't have an NFL caliber
(25:01):
nos tackle? Joe Royer was underutilized. Brendan Soaresby say what
you want, he's gonna make three or four million dollars
playing somewhere next year. This team had NFL talent, and
from a scouting department, they had high level scout because
they've been taken by other universities. I don't know how
you make up for the loss of so many key
(25:22):
members of this team and find a way to do better,
because that, to me is the bar. If you're not
better than seven wins next year, then I think you
got to look for the next coach.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
You know what else I would aside from all of
this i'd like to. I hope we see in twenty
twenty six. I hope the Bengals have a catch up
class of the Ring of Honor and admit we're we're
going to change the process. We had good intentions to
begin with. We understand there's a backlog. I would love
to see pick the number of candidates. I'd say, anybody
on the ballot the last time is eventually going to
(25:53):
make it.
Speaker 1 (25:53):
I'm not so sure.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
I just wouldn't put them in as a celebration class
as one and then change the process. Maybe it's every
couple year, Yeah, but you're never in Sadly, Bob Trumpy
is an example. It's just guys should be honored while
they're alive, and there's just too many guys they're gonna
have to catch up on.
Speaker 5 (26:09):
And they said they're going to change or rethink the
way they do that. What I think is interesting. Twenty
twenty seven is the sixtieth anniversary season of the Bengals,
and that would be a great time to maybe restart it,
refresh it, figure out a way, maybe, like you're saying,
do a catch up class and then restart at that
sixtieth anniversary season with a different way of doing.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
What is the harmon putting all those guys in?
Speaker 6 (26:30):
And I tried to make this case last year while
Trump was still with us, because he and Lamar Parrish
were the two oldest candidates, But I also wanted Lap
to go in. Don't put Jim Breach up against Geno Atkins, right,
don't put Max Montoya up against aj Green. Sure, put
all those guys in, and then it's your Ring of honor.
You can decide how you want to do it. You
could put a guy in a year, you could put
a guy in a game. You could decide to take
(26:50):
years off like the Reds Hall of Fame does. You
can make it up as you go along. But I
think when Bob passed away and Lance you talked about
him extensively and understandably. So one of the the very
first things I thought of is when he goes into
the Ring of Honor, he's not going to be there.
And that sucks because I'm not sure there's anybody who
would have enjoyed it more, and I'm not sure there's
anybody who would have had.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
More to say.
Speaker 4 (27:12):
I think, flat out, I think twenty twenty six is
very simple. Reds Bengals, Bearcats, f C Cincinnati. When we're
doing this, God willing, next year, they've all had better seasons.
They all have to take major strides forward that the
Bengals can't be on the outside looking into the playoffs.
The Reds can't miss the playoffs, you know, you see,
(27:33):
can't be talking about not going to the NCAA Tournament
or winning six games and barely making Bowl eligibility. F
C Cincinnati's got to take the next step the teams,
and you would think Xavier under Richard Patino in year
two will do that.
Speaker 3 (27:45):
The standard year.
Speaker 5 (27:46):
The standards should always be an aggressive pursuit of a championship,
and until that's reached, fans in this city should not
be had.
Speaker 6 (27:53):
And there's all there's so much like uncertainty, like we are,
we're closing in. We're in the second half of the decade.
Now Burrows not going to be a Benga forever. You
mentioned the lockout twenty twenty seven now shaved. This coming
baseball season, we're nil and where college sports are going
and how that affects the local teams. There's so much uncertainty.
But I feel like this year we often felt stuck
(28:15):
in the mud as it relates to these teams. Even
during that stretch where they're not getting Schwarber, the Bengals lose,
the Bearcats lose. There's got to be something or someone
who pulls us out of this. I don't know who
it's going to be, but it's got to happen. Merry Christmas, gentlemen,
Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas. Thanks for spending your morning with us.
This has been the Sports Talk Year in Review and
(28:35):
look Ahead show. Thanks to Drew Wester, Heidi for Yeah,
Waller Ruby, John Dan the scenes.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
This is seven hundred dolw
Very Christmas.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Welcome back in the Sports Talk Year in Review and
look Ahead show seven hundred w LW. Lance MacAllister, moeg
or Tony Pike Austinmore. This reminds me of the have
you seen the Trans Siberian Orchestra show and the laser lights?
And this is the sounds that you'll get in all that.
Mo has not seen that as I would.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
I would rather be fed to a mountain.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
You haven't have seen the It's very overwhelmantastic.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Yes, light shows.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Just be prepared.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
It is sensory overload. Yes, that's the word I was
looking for. Sensory overload.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
All right. Uh.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
The Bengals twenty twenty five season began against the backdrop
of needing to have a fast start. How much did
we talk about they were going to change the the
previous off season planning and training camp was going to
be different, and they would hit more and they'd played
the starters more, and they come out of the shoot
one to know in a game where they looked okay
against the Steelers, and then in Game two they get
(01:04):
to two and oho, but it cost them Joe Burrow
to an injury, and.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
From there it became a journey that just wasn't fair.
Speaker 4 (01:14):
So many moments, just a unique I remember being at
training camp every day and walking away, like, man, the
defense performed well. Today, defense is flying around, defense is
playing confident. I even had days where I thought Jermaine
Burton looked good at training camp and like and you
walk away from it and you look at where this
season is gone. For much of the season, we're talking
(01:35):
about not a league worst defense, but a historically bad
defense in the National Football League history. Jermaine Burton is
no longer with this team.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
It was.
Speaker 4 (01:45):
It was unique because it was the fast start. They
found a way to get to two and oh. But
in the backdrop of that, you lose Joe Burrow, the
defense sputters, the Trey Hendrickson and Shamar Stewart situations, It just,
you hate to say, it never got off the the ground,
but it doesn't feel like there was ever a chance
this season of things to be anywhere close to normal.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
Yeah, sorry, Austin Good.
Speaker 5 (02:06):
As I mentioned in the last segment, the way the
Bengals approached the offseason, all that caught up to them
very quickly this year, and it led to something that
we haven't really seen before. Which is Duke Tobin being
in the crossairs of the fan base more than at
any point in his let me count.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
Twenty six years now.
Speaker 5 (02:23):
In Cincinnati, there was a growing discontentment with Duke Tobin
in the front office and the way that they have
gone about trying to draft and develop these players.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
And it caught up to him in a big way.
You know.
Speaker 6 (02:35):
For all the talk of we want a serene offseason
and a different training camp and approach it with urgency,
the Trey Hendrickson thing just took on a life of
its own where he shows up at practice one day
and he's lobbying for himself. The Shamar Stewart thing, which
in this era where we don't really have rookie holdouts,
not only did we have one, we guy was technically
not under contract.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
Just blasting the team press conference.
Speaker 6 (02:58):
I mean, you know, so as this you know, important
offseason is unfolding, you have these side shows and then
I can't tell you how many times you would talk
about the team this offseason and go, hey, remember last
year's defense wasn't very good.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
Are we sure they've done enough to fix it?
Speaker 6 (03:14):
And it would kind of get patted on the head.
J Slaton and hey, they're gonna be fine. Al Golden's
gonna fix everything. And they played the game against the
Philadelphia Eagles, and I think it was the Eagles in
the preseason where it's like they were just trucked and
then you were told, oh, Al Owl's he's not showing anything.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
It's vanilla not showing anything.
Speaker 6 (03:32):
And I just I can't tell you how many times
I would go, you know, we sure we shure no distractions.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
You got these two major distractions.
Speaker 6 (03:39):
We sure you did enough to fix the defense, And
as the season unfolded, obviously the answer was, well they
didn't we Uh.
Speaker 4 (03:45):
Remember texting back and forth during the National Championship with
Austin when Al Golden decided, in the biggest play the
game to go one on one coverage with Jeremiah Smith,
and I remember like, wait, I don't know, like that
that to me, I don't know if that's going to work.
And you fast forward again, I don't think it's a
full deck he's playing with. I think the back end,
(04:06):
especially the safety position, is lacking in a big way.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
Remember when they asked their starting safety to take a pay.
Speaker 6 (04:11):
Cut, but not only that, And I wish you would
have said no.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
But not only that. Our golden specialty was linebacker.
Speaker 4 (04:21):
Yeah, and then come in and you draft two linebackers
who have been awful, you move on from Logan Wilson.
It's just it's and then on the back drop on
the offensive side, we talk about the offense so much,
and yet you look back on this season, you don't
get to see Jamar Tray, Chase Chase Brown and Joe
Burrow together a lot. And when you do, it's like, man,
that's what it can be. At some point they get
(04:43):
they got to get on the field together for more
than three or four games of season.
Speaker 6 (04:47):
You know, we did the segment of high points in
a weird way. The high point of the Bengals season
was the Jamar and t press conference.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
Because that day felt great.
Speaker 6 (04:54):
Yep, that day felt great, and unfortunately every other day
afterward didn't feel great.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (04:59):
And what I've learned in this Bengals season is that
it can always get worse. I mean that defense it
did get worse and way worse, and Tony brings up
the point they hire Al Golden and then all of
a sudden, basically every linebacker he's coached here is gone.
Logan Wilson gets traded, Joe Batchi's out the door of
Keem Davis Gate. There has gone, Jermaine Pratt gets let go.
(05:20):
Guys get drafted. And I remember during the draft thinking
they're reaching on these guys because they've painted themselves in
a position to where they have to take Need over
best player available. And again it showed up in a
big way on the defensive side of the ball.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
It can always get worse. Should be a Sinsey shirts worst,
Josh Need so the perfect. Sure do we remember the
day that Shamar Stewart registered his first quarterback hit by
hitting Joe Burrow?
Speaker 1 (05:47):
And what happened that dayly cow because.
Speaker 6 (05:51):
I remember going like, the offensive line should take him
to dinner because he's that day of practice, the offensive
line was terrible, and I said the offensive line should
take him to dinner. And if they want to give
him a talking to, that's fine because they've taken the
attention away from how bad they were in protecting their quarterbacks.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
And then you know, to me, the way the season
has ended.
Speaker 6 (06:11):
First of all, the real nineties feel of billboards, right,
you know those of us hold enough.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
For remember the nineties.
Speaker 6 (06:16):
This is the sort of stuff that unfolded then, but
we get the added dose of unending psychoanalysis of the quarterback,
which I frankly am over.
Speaker 4 (06:26):
I'm over, but if I'm the Cincinnati Bengals, I want
to make sure that it's clear to Joe Burrow this
offseason that you can win a super Bowl here, and
you can win a super Bowl without having to be
perfect every single time you take the field. The Buffalo game,
he made two bad plays and he got crushed for it.
You need to show Joe Burrow that you can win
a title here and you can do it without being
(06:46):
perfect here, and that's going to take a lot this
offseason to get to. But if you want your quarterback
to lock in and get back to the goal of
trying to win multiple super Bowls here, you need to
take care of that. And you can't let yourself playing
out the string, get caught against clin Ewers and Jacoby
Brissett and Shador Sanders and in three weeks from now
(07:08):
saying they're not that far away on defense, they only
need to make a couple changes.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
We mentioned the Trey Hendrickson hold out in the visual
of the Bengals practicing and Trey standing in golf gear,
a golf shirt and holding a press conference and out
of that in Austin. You've mentioned this before. I think
we've all mentioned it while all this was going on.
As much as his teammates seemed to rally around getting
(07:33):
Jamar paid and Tee paid and other guy's paid, It's
like everybody just kind of sat back and watched Trey
b Trey, and there was never really any public support
offered from within for getting Trey a deal.
Speaker 5 (07:43):
Yeah, and even when Joe Burrow was asked about it,
he would never go nearly to the same links as
he did even about a guy like Mike Giseki. And
I've always thought that was really telling. And prior to
this season, Trey was never voted a team captain. I mean,
how many four time Pro bowlers have never been a
team captain before? And then all of a sudden, all
the veteran guys leave, Von Bell, Mike Hilton, all the
(08:04):
Sam Hubbard, those guys are all gone, and the Bengals
players are like, well, Trey's been here, will vote him
to be a captain. And I think maybe behind the
scenes he has been that guy. At least in training
camp he showed up, which I think it was all
for show. When he finally did show up and then
he was over on the side working with Shamar Stewart
and all that other stuff. It doesn't seem like it's
(08:24):
going to be a relationship with Trey Hendrickson and the
Bengals going into next show.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
And I was always bugged by what I thought was
the mixed messaging of the decision to go with two
rookie linebackers and all the growing pains that were going
to come with that in a season that mattered, had
Super Bowl hopes and dreams, and you did that. I mean,
things got so desperate they went out and traded for
Joe Flacco to try to save the season, and yet
they were content to start two rookie linebackers who had
(08:48):
no business playing. And it just it never made Super
Bowl hopes and dreams. Two rookie linebacks never made me say.
Speaker 6 (08:56):
But I go back to the offseason where it was, Okay,
they've got the defense free agency, Okay, well it's TJ.
Slayton and Orrin Burke's okay. With the draft, we're gonna
get some guys who can help. Right now, in the
moment you watch Demetrius Knight and Barrek Carter. You thought
this isn't gonna happen. I keep coming back to how
they just it felt like they sat out the offseason
(09:17):
and then for a franchise that's supposed to be in
this championship window, that they just kind of let this
opportunity pass by not addressing a major deficiency from last year.
Speaker 5 (09:26):
You talk about the psychoanalysis of the quarterback, it's because
there's precedent both with Andrew Luck and what he'd went
through in Indianapolis and with what Carson Palmer went through
here before. The president of those things leads Bengals fans
to thinking, oh no, here we go again, and it's
up to the Bengals to prevent that from happening.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
Still ahead, we'll get into the season that has been
for the UC football program, a little college basketball.
Speaker 3 (09:50):
And I'm almost listen to the most you'll look.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
As we roll on with the sports Dog Year and
Review and look ahead show here on seven hundred wlw
Oh listen how happy and festive that music is.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
And now we're going to talk about the Bearcats.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
Merry Christmas, everybody, you're hanging out with John Cunningham song Lace, McAllister,
Austin Elmore, Tony Pike, and Moeger are sports Dog Year
in Review and look Ahead show here on seven hundred WLW.
Now in and around all of our conversation we've talked
about the YouTube, mule log and Christmas bags. As the
elder statesman of the group, I want to stress to
(10:35):
you what I have learned. As we approach a period
where you're going to take your Christmas trees down, I
would ask that you follow my model and what I've learned,
and that is, rather than taking the Christmas tree down,
packing all the ornaments, taking them back down to the basement,
bring him back up next season, I have mastered moving
the Christmas tree with the ornaments up into Casey's old bedroom,
(10:57):
leaving it there during the year, and then skivving the
following year bringing it back down. And I did not
drop a single ornament off the tree in this moving process.
Speaker 4 (11:06):
And anytime you're in need of just the Christmas spirit,
you can just just.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
Walk into Casey's old room. Yes, there you go. Does
Casey ever like crash in his old room and.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
Go, No, he's got the basement when the crash. But yeah,
I want you to understand. And that's a big ass
Christmas tree. And I grabbed it and I carried it
down and carried it up. Not a single ornament fell off.
I'd like to try this finest thing I did.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
I'm trying to.
Speaker 6 (11:28):
Think of where we would put it, but I I'd
like to say, not a lot of room in my
eight hundred square foot apartment.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
I put it in Cross Night. All right, that's the fun.
Let's get to UC football.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
You see, lost to Nebraska to open the season neutral
sight game.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
Neral, Yeah, and what was the point cloud makeup at
that point.
Speaker 6 (11:51):
Five million dollar check for moving that game to Kansas City.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
Yes, and then ripped off seven straight wins, did one.
Speaker 4 (12:00):
I don't think I've ever been in an environment like
that in Kansas City as loud as it was for Nebraska.
And I remember Dan Dan Horde said, I've been to
Bengals Chiefs games that were not as loud as what
this was tonight. It was incredible, and for the most part,
UC's defense was really good and they ran the ball
really well. Sworsby struggled in that game. I remember going
(12:22):
into the game, man, they've revamped a wide receiver room
and he had like thirty eight yards passing going into
the final drive of the game, made one of his
worst throws of the game. You look back now, that
wasn't a good Nebraska team. It wasn't a team as
good as they thought they were going to be. Man
the seven straight wins, you started to believe, you started
to buy in, and then another collapse down the stretch
(12:43):
of a season in a unenviable, unenviable ball opponent coming out.
Speaker 6 (12:47):
It was, I think a game that night in Kansas
City emblematic of what has been the hallmarket this program
for three years, which is they just can't make the play.
They just can't make the play that puts him over
the top or really gives them a chance to win.
And the theme of the season for me offensively, Tony
and you and I have talked about this dozens of time.
You and I sat in Kansas City the night before
(13:08):
the game, and we talked about, like, this is a
night for Joe Royer, right because the Bearcats were unproven
at wide receiver. Nebraska has good corners. They're going to
feed Joe Royer. They didn't that night. They didn't all
season long. Among the many things that troubled me about
the way the season unfolded at the end was the
fact that you have a guy that everybody with that
program will claim is the best tight end in the country.
He had twenty six catches this year. You also mentioned
(13:30):
that the Nebraska game. For me, looking back on the season,
I didn't know it at the time. I appreciated that
the night we got to have we sat in the
hotel lobby with Jim Kelly, yes, for how long just
and you don't know at the time, yep, what was
going on or how it was going to be. But
looking back now, at the time we had with him
that trip, it was just like Jim. He liked hanging
(13:52):
out in the lobby, liked interacting with fans, and we
got to do it that night. And I remember that
more than anything about that. I'll paint the picture really quick.
We were in Kansas City. It was the Wednesday night
before the game. We went to dinner. Jim did not
go with us. We knew he wasn't feeling great. We're
hanging out in the hotel and then like Willis Reid,
there he is and he sat down and had a beer. Yep,
And god knows, we didn't know he was going to
(14:12):
pass so quickly. But I've thought about that often that
season began. We got that night with Jim, and I
think he's sort of knew, like I need to hang
out with.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
Those guys, and he did, and I'm grateful for it.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
The college basketball season, to me, what I think you see?
I think losing it home to Eastern Michigan, and I
remember and I think trailing thirty to five to Clemson,
And as we walked in, we had mentioned that Eastern
Michigan beat Right State this week, which kind of sums
up what has happened to this UC basketball season already.
Speaker 6 (14:47):
I think of and you've talked about this a lot, Lance,
I think of all the players from last year's team,
which collectively underwhelmed, that have gone on to thrive for
high major programs or at least contribute to high MA programs.
And I think at the end of last year, I
know Tony and I talked about this as diehard Bearcat fans. Okay,
those are good players, but they couldn't make the pieces fit.
(15:08):
What they'll do at the roster this year is build
a roster and fit guys into certain roles, and they'll
make the pieces fit better that hasn't happened.
Speaker 4 (15:17):
It's been one of the more demoralizing UC basketball seasons
I can remember. And I'll be the first to tell you,
as Mo Will, I'm as big a UC fan as
anything else in my life. That's what I grew up
on and the thing that bothers me most about U
see basketball right now, you see that I grew up
knowing toughness. I don't think they're tough like even the
(15:38):
Huggins years, the Croning years. They might not have been
the most talented, but you knew coming in against that
team you were going to be in a dog fight.
And it's not that. Right now, I'm dreading twenty twenty six.
I'm dreading the new year. I'll tell you what I'm dreading.
Speaker 3 (15:52):
You want to talk about.
Speaker 4 (15:53):
You want to talk about a weekend UC versus Navy
on January second. Navy has zero outs. No one is
skipping that bowl game, and that is a super Bowl
to Navy. I don't know see players are going to play.
I know Tyson VIT's three three to five defense isn't
going to bow very well against that. And then the
very next day he's going to start their Big twelve
Conference playing basketball by welcoming Houston into fifth Third Arena,
(16:16):
I'm not looking forward to that.
Speaker 5 (16:18):
Every Bearcat basketball game in the West Miller era feel
has been the exact same game, and the team makeup
and all their shortcomings has been the exact same And
that's just hard for me to fathom. And then you
look at a team like Xavier and they're in a
year of transition after Sean Miller leaves, and it feels
like even through the first seven eight games, they're going
up into the right and Richard Patino is tinkering and
(16:39):
moving stuff around and getting his team into shape. Now
they may get destroyed throughout the Big East schedule. I
think a lot of people are expecting that, but it
already felt like in ten games Richard Patino had figured
out more about his team than West Miller has the
last few years.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
And that's a major indictment on him.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
And I think it's one of the interesting fun stories
that's developed, and I want to see how it goes
from here. But I have a steel on The Miami
RedHawks are out to a thirteen and oh start. Schedule
has been questionable, and evadep sorrow their fine point guard
from Cuvcath has torn his acl and they'll be without him.
But they're thirteen and oh they shoot the ball well,
they score a lot of points. They're fun to watch.
I want to see what happens with mac play still ahead.
Speaker 6 (17:15):
You know, you had Travis on your show a week
or so ago and you said to him, I'm so
happy for you. And I can't think of anybody who
doesn't feel that way, even Xavier fans. It didn't work out.
It didn't work out for a variety of reasons. Travis
Steel's a good guy and a guy worth rooting for,
and I think a lot of us when he went
to Oxford thought, you know what, that may work And
it took a year. And you know, in the NIL era,
you wonder about the sustainability of programs in the Mid
(17:39):
American Conference. But they're fun to watch. They play a
fun brand of basketball. Travis had them on the doorstep
of the NCAA Tournament last year. I'm hoping he can
get there this year because, just as a guy, I
want that to happen for him.
Speaker 4 (17:51):
Xavier opens Big East Play and they get boat raced
by forty one. Yep, they respond, yes, they go on
the road and be Georgetown. Yeah, that's all you want
to see. You want to see your team get better.
It's the end of December and Kark Creasa didn't play
in the second half of their last game for U
see Seana Bie sat the last twelve minutes of the game.
They still don't know a rotation with the University of Cincinnati.
Here's what I do know. UK is healthy, and this
(18:15):
UK healthy team is much different than the team we
saw early in the year. Coming off wins against Indiana.
UK also just beat Saint John's and what Pat Kelsey
has done with Louisville, Louisville is a legitimate Final four contender.
Very very very good to watch UK and Louisville right now.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
And I'll toss in Darren Horne and the Norris. We
usually know there that team that follows that mode of
getting better as the season goes on. They've been good
at stages early and then it's three days in March.
They're scoring a lot more than they have I had
him on the other night, they're scoring twelve more points
a game than they ever have it in. KU defense
is a little bit in question, but they're always that
team come March that builds stewards. Can they win over
three days to make the ncaa tur for.
Speaker 5 (18:55):
Those who may have forgotten. When you flip the calendar,
it goes January February Norse.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
And on that note, we'll take a time out.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
It's a Sports Talk to the years year in review
in the look ahead show right here on seven hundred
WLW all right down the stretch we go, Santa came
down the chimney. It's the Sports Talk year in Review
and the look ahead. This portion our final segment look
(19:25):
ahead specifically to twenty twenty six. Some of the storylines
things we will follow and wonder about moegor Tony Pike,
Austin om or Lance McAllister. I will start my look
ahead with a guy I think his performance the red
season and outlook hinges on how he does. And that's
if Matt McClain can bounce back and be anywhere near
(19:45):
what we thought he was beginning to turn into his
rookie season where he got Rookie of the Year votes.
This lineup takes on a whole different look, but there
was a pretty large sample size of last season where
Matt McClain just he was not a serviceable major League Play.
Speaker 6 (20:00):
There's a lot of value for him to be NLMVP
in twenty twenty six.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
How I want to take a look at it now.
Speaker 6 (20:05):
How long's the leash and what's the option If you
believe they've dipped their toes in the Catel Marte waters,
does that reflect sort of the fact that they're looking
for somebody else to be the starting second basement. What
might that mean for Matt McClain. Look at the end
of the year, he was hitting ninth. He went from
batting second every day to hitting ninth, So they did
(20:26):
something with him. They can't go that deep into the
season with him hitting the way he did last year.
Speaker 5 (20:32):
This year it was to go into spring training with
the assumption he's going to be your opening day second basement, right, Like,
it can't be like you have to consider all possibility.
Speaker 4 (20:40):
It was so weird last year because he was the
only one that seemed untouchable. Yeah, everyone else can be
sent down, everyone else can be benched for whatever reason.
Matt McLain was the untouchable. I hope Matt McLain has
a bounce back, but as an organization, you can't operate
in that sense. You have to operate to make this
line up better. And then if Matt McClain does have
a bounce back, that's icing on the cake for you.
But you can't operate hoping that he takes another story.
Speaker 6 (21:02):
That's what's the story going to be at Reds Fest.
Matt mcclan what got new glasses? Went on a different diet?
Like invariably, there's gonna be this like, well, here's what
went wrong last year, Here's how Matt McLean fixed it.
And you better buy that MVP bet right now because
he's poised for a big twenty twenty six.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
You know it really takes two years for shoulder injuries.
Speaker 3 (21:21):
Yeah right, yes, that's yeah.
Speaker 6 (21:23):
He was going through a lot off the field, and
there's gonna be something that we all glomb.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
On psychoanalysis of Matt McClean.
Speaker 4 (21:29):
Yeah, we're gonna have months off and we're gonna hear
right before the start that Ellie's still not one hundred
percent of course.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:34):
Well, and the latest name churning through the rumor mill
as the elusive bat is Luis Robert, who now it
will be in some way, shape or form, somebody who
has had a couple of off years or is coming
back from injury or needs a change of scenery. There
there's something in the them o of one of those
players that will churn through this rumor mill that will
(21:56):
pop up onto the Reds ring.
Speaker 5 (21:58):
I just looked it up when the rumor came out,
and he's not from Cincinnati, so I'm a little surprised
that there is interest sell tickets by the Reds considering
he won't be selling as mini tickets.
Speaker 6 (22:09):
I'm already prepping myself to look at Luis Roberts underlying metrics,
because when you look at the overlying metrics, they're terrible.
So you're you will be told you got to look
at the underlying metrics. Okay, Well show me which ones
to look at. It feels like they've been flirting with
trading for Luise Robert for two years, and during that
entire time, the White Sox have been waiting for him
to play better so it increases his value, and neither
(22:30):
things have happened. They haven't traded for him and he
hasn't played any better. But I'm sure once I look
at those underlying metrics, I'll talk myself into it.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
Well, you know, in terms of what we do on
a daily basis, twenty twenty six is going to at
some point include conversation about the future of West Miller,
Scott Saderfield, Zach Taylor, maybe even Pat Noonan based on
how much they spent last year and didn't go as
far as they want to. There's a whole lot of
coaches in managerial maybe not managerial, a lot.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
Of coaching of us and its who are going to
be part of the converse. I think you said managerial.
I mean Francona.
Speaker 5 (23:03):
There's a lockout looming in Major League Baseball in twenty
twenty seven. I don't know how long he's going to
do that, and the pressure that he feels on this
ball club, so I think that's going to be a
conversation at some point as well next year.
Speaker 6 (23:14):
I think I think Terry Francona is interesting because even
last year there were a lot of folks who wondered, God,
really want to do this? And you know, he never
gave any indication that this is something he doesn't want
to do. But he has had health issues. He is
closer to the end of his career than the beginning.
If things do go south with the club this year,
I think that's going to be something that a lot
of people talk about, and look, man, this is a
(23:37):
season that's going to be judged by do the Reds
not just make the postseason but advance so do they
put themselves in a better position. The Bengals not making
the playoffs for a fourth consvative year seems almost inconceivable,
But we're confronting that reality. Things are very dark for
the UC basketball program.
Speaker 3 (23:54):
The tournament or west Miller's gone.
Speaker 6 (23:56):
I mean there we're talking about them maybe losing fourteen
fifteen games in the Big Twelve, which is for year
five unbelievable as.
Speaker 3 (24:03):
One of your favorite things to do.
Speaker 6 (24:05):
New Coach Radio, New Coach Radio Radio, Scott Sadderfield's in
a real interesting place because they were better this year.
It's not beloved by the fan base. They have to
replace a lot of guys. I thought Chris and I
thought that Chris Albright press conference last week was weird, Right?
Speaker 1 (24:21):
Was weird that that As.
Speaker 6 (24:23):
Much as I think Pat Noonan is universally respected in
that sport, as much as I think Chris and Pat
have always had alignment, that press conference did not exactly
sound like a ringing endorsement for the current state of
that club.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
Yeah, talked about how it felt stale watching during the season.
Speaker 4 (24:39):
I think if you would have taken a lot of
UC fans football wise going into the year and say
seven wins, I think a lot of fans would have said, Okay,
that's good, that's improvement. When you look at how it transpired,
and then you look at the makeup of the roster,
like you meant, Dante Corleone just a weird year, playing
about fifty percent of the snaps. What happens to the
three three five when you don't have an NFL caliber
(25:01):
nos tackle? Joe Royer was underutilized. Brendan Soaresby say what
you want, he's gonna make three or four million dollars
playing somewhere next year. This team had NFL talent, and
from a scouting department, they had high level scout because
they've been taken by other universities. I don't know how
you make up for the loss of so many key
(25:22):
members of this team and find a way to do better,
because that, to me is the bar. If you're not
better than seven wins next year, then I think you
got to look for the next coach.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
You know what else I would aside from all of
this i'd like to. I hope we see in twenty
twenty six. I hope the Bengals have a catch up
class of the Ring of Honor and admit we're we're
going to change the process. We had good intentions to
begin with. We understand there's a backlog. I would love
to see pick the number of candidates. I'd say, anybody
on the ballot the last time is eventually going to
(25:53):
make it.
Speaker 1 (25:53):
I'm not so sure.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
I just wouldn't put them in as a celebration class
as one and then change the process. Maybe it's every
couple year, Yeah, but you're never in Sadly, Bob Trumpy
is an example. It's just guys should be honored while
they're alive, and there's just too many guys they're gonna
have to catch up on.
Speaker 5 (26:09):
And they said they're going to change or rethink the
way they do that. What I think is interesting. Twenty
twenty seven is the sixtieth anniversary season of the Bengals,
and that would be a great time to maybe restart it,
refresh it, figure out a way, maybe, like you're saying,
do a catch up class and then restart at that
sixtieth anniversary season with a different way of doing.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
What is the harmon putting all those guys in?
Speaker 6 (26:30):
And I tried to make this case last year while
Trump was still with us, because he and Lamar Parrish
were the two oldest candidates, But I also wanted Lap
to go in. Don't put Jim Breach up against Geno Atkins, right,
don't put Max Montoya up against aj Green. Sure, put
all those guys in, and then it's your Ring of honor.
You can decide how you want to do it. You
could put a guy in a year, you could put
a guy in a game. You could decide to take
(26:50):
years off like the Reds Hall of Fame does. You
can make it up as you go along. But I
think when Bob passed away and Lance you talked about
him extensively and understandably. So one of the the very
first things I thought of is when he goes into
the Ring of Honor, he's not going to be there.
And that sucks because I'm not sure there's anybody who
would have enjoyed it more, and I'm not sure there's
anybody who would have had.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
More to say.
Speaker 4 (27:12):
I think, flat out, I think twenty twenty six is
very simple. Reds Bengals, Bearcats, f C Cincinnati. When we're
doing this, God willing, next year, they've all had better seasons.
They all have to take major strides forward that the
Bengals can't be on the outside looking into the playoffs.
The Reds can't miss the playoffs, you know, you see,
(27:33):
can't be talking about not going to the NCAA Tournament
or winning six games and barely making Bowl eligibility. F
C Cincinnati's got to take the next step the teams,
and you would think Xavier under Richard Patino in year
two will do that.
Speaker 3 (27:45):
The standard year.
Speaker 5 (27:46):
The standards should always be an aggressive pursuit of a championship,
and until that's reached, fans in this city should not
be had.
Speaker 6 (27:53):
And there's all there's so much like uncertainty, like we are,
we're closing in. We're in the second half of the decade.
Now Burrows not going to be a Benga forever. You
mentioned the lockout twenty twenty seven now shaved. This coming
baseball season, we're nil and where college sports are going
and how that affects the local teams. There's so much uncertainty.
But I feel like this year we often felt stuck
(28:15):
in the mud as it relates to these teams. Even
during that stretch where they're not getting Schwarber, the Bengals lose,
the Bearcats lose. There's got to be something or someone
who pulls us out of this. I don't know who
it's going to be, but it's got to happen. Merry Christmas, gentlemen,
Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas. Thanks for spending your morning with us.
This has been the Sports Talk Year in Review and
(28:35):
look Ahead show. Thanks to Drew Wester, Heidi for Yeah,
Waller Ruby, John Dan the scenes.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
This is seven hundred dolw
Lance McAlister News
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