Full Transcript for 11-10-26 - The Mo Egger Radio Show Hour 2

impact on your team has come and gone, and the Bengals haven't done anything. Meanwhile, their competitors for the AFC title, the Jacksonville Jaguars, have gotten better. The Buffalo Bills went and got Imani Hooker, who intercepted Joe Burrow three times nine days ago. The Buffalo Bills, with all sorts of secondary issues, are better. The Kansas City Chiefs, I don't know how much Josh Downs solves their wide receiver issue, but they've been pretty thin at that position. 00:03:43 Speaker 3: For a while now, certainly have been this year. 00:03:46 Speaker 4: The Chiefs, the Bills, the Jaguars, understandably so, view themselves as bona fide contenders and plugged holes, added, got better. Are any of those teams, did they add players that have dramatically changed the trajectory of their team or their roster? I think in Kansas City's case, the answer is probably not. I think in Buffalo's case, the answer the answer maybe maybe but with the jacksonville jaguars getting jordan davis you know it's funny espn gave that deal an f what you can't argue is that the jacksonville jaguars aren't going all in lots of people in that front office have rams ties and we all know what the rams do to build their their teams and Something similar involved there with the Jacksonville Jaguars. Even if you don't want to play the comparison game, even if you don't want to say, well, you know, you can't compare what the Bengals have done and are not doing to the other teams that are bona fide contenders in the AFC. Isn't it at least a little disheartening that the linebacker core is the same today at 410 in the afternoon than it's been all season long? 00:05:10 Speaker 3: Isn't it a little disheartening? 00:05:12 Speaker 4: That with, you know, sudden questions at edge, Bengals have questions at edge. If they didn't, they wouldn't be trying to get a guy from the Philadelphia Eagles between Cassius Howell's injury and Miles Murphy's relatively disappointing season and Shamar Stewart just not showing any capability of really being able to make an impact this season. They haven't gotten better there. They haven't gotten better at nickel. They haven't gotten better at safety. They haven't gotten better at linebacker. This team is currently constructed that we've watched weave its way through eight games successfully, by the way. I think most of us agreed could. 00:05:47 Speaker 3: Use some help. 00:05:49 Speaker 4: They didn't get it. Does that doom them to not winning an AFC title? Does that doom them to secondary status? Does that mean this team has no hopes of winning a championship? Not really, but Wouldn't it have been nice to see them add a player? We have gone through over the last week and a half or so a long list of linebackers, a long list of defensive players. We've talked about safeties. Nickel corners have come up. Bengals didn't add any of them. That's a little disappointing. Now, I'll hedge my bet a little bit here because there are still some trades coming through. Atlanta's trading their center to the Ravens in exchange for Andrew Voorhees in the 2028 six round pick. And so sometimes news of deals will come out after four o'clock. But so far as it relates to the Bengals, 12 minutes after four o'clock relative silence. 00:06:51 Speaker 3: And so they were all in in April. All in. They were all in in March. 00:06:56 Speaker 6: All in. 00:06:57 Speaker 4: They spent the offseason acting with a sense of urgency and acting with a real sense of like, it's our time, we're going to go for it. Why couldn't that continue into November? And doesn't this team as currently constructed deserve that? Doesn't Joe Burrow deserve that? Tee Higgins, Jamar Chase, the offensive line, for what it's worth, Zach Taylor. So it's, and you can tell me if you disagree, 5-1-3, 7-4-9, 15-30. It's not that the Bengals are a bad team that needed a whole bunch of new players. They're a good team. that like every other good team, probably could use a little bit more depth, or maybe one guy, or a replacement for a starter. The Chiefs thought as much about themselves. Jacksonville Jaguars thought as much about themselves. Buffalo Bills have thought as much about themselves, not the Cincinnati Bengals. How all-in are they if they took a look at their team and pretty much said at 6-2, a good record, we're good? 00:07:55 Speaker 3: Fair question. 513-749-1530. 00:07:58 Speaker 4: Then there's what happened with the Philadelphia Eagles and the trade that the Bengals, we thought late this morning, were going to make. 00:08:06 Speaker 3: Arnold at a Katie. 00:08:10 Speaker 4: Let's be honest. Not a deal that would have lit up the NFL. Would not have been one of the more talked about deals. But I guess there's a few different things here. One is, this is why the Bengals get laughed at. And I think a lot of criticism the Bengals get organizationally. Some of it's very fair. Some of it, I think, is a little bit off base. They still get criticized for being frugal and cheap. I think those labels are well, well, well expired. I think that's unfair. But, you know, they are, relatively speaking, a mom-and-pop team. And the overall staff in the front office is smaller compared to a lot of teams. They're still viewed as kind of being a little bit outdated. 00:08:55 Speaker 3: I don't know, man. This just feeds that. This just feeds that. 00:08:59 Speaker 4: This just feeds the perception that the Bengals are out of date, out of touch, outmoded. kind of fueled by incompetence. And again, you may not agree with that. I don't really agree with that, but that's part of their brand. If you go around the country, you go around the league and ask people who cover this league or talk about this league, who are the teams to most likely not understand that they have a third-round compensatory pick that they would have to relinquish if they execute this trade. Got to be honest with you, the Bengals would be one of those teams named. This doesn't help with

that. Tomorrow, Zach Taylor is going to talk. And that's custom head coach of the team talks every Monday, talks every Wednesday. And he's got a big game to talk about. He's got a lot on his plate. Zach Taylor, you know, the time to do that was yesterday, but Zach Taylor deserves the opportunity to take a victory lap because of how prepared and buttoned up his team looked in Madrid. Now he's got a massive game on Sunday and there's lots to talk about and lots that he's going to be asked about. 00:10:01 Speaker 3: Zach Taylor is. 00:10:02 Speaker 4: Not in charge of ensuring that everybody knows that the team has a compensatory pick in the third round next year. He's not in charge of executing trades. He's not in charge of backing out of trades. But he is effectively the team spokesperson. Now Duke Tobin, to his credit, to the organization's credit at least, He's been more available. We were lucky enough to have him on our show when we broadcast from the stadium back in early August, and we sat down for 25 minutes, and Duke was phenomenal to talk to. He did the mega press conference. He has been around a little bit more. But relatively famously so, Duke Tobin doesn't talk during the season. There's no regularly scheduled press conference. I think if I'm Duke Tobin tomorrow, I've got to come downstairs and at least explain my side of the story And maybe fall on my sword and maybe take the criticism that comes with it. Zach Taylor should not be the person who has to answer questions about something that Duke Tobin or the people that work for Duke Tobin screwed up. 00:11:04 Speaker 3: Zach Taylor should be completely, completely. 00:11:07 Speaker 4: Responsible for answering questions about game strategy, play calling, personnel decisions within a game, preparation of the team, how certain players are used, like all that makes sense. What he shouldn't be forced to answer are questions about something that he really doesn't have anything to do with. And so I know I've gone down this road before, but I think if I'm Duke Tobin, tomorrow's the day where I go, okay, I know Zach's going to talk at, I think it's 1 o'clock tomorrow. 00:11:34 Speaker 3: I'll get there first. 00:11:36 Speaker 4: And at the very least, I'm going to explain my side of the story. I might have to take full responsibility for something we thought was going to get done but didn't. I might come up with a story that I believe helps me to spin it. But that's what Duke Tobin should do tomorrow. There's also this. So I had Paul explain this a little bit over an hour ago, and I said, let's explain this like I'm nine years old. Which, as a general rule, when it comes to explaining stuff to me, it makes a lot of sense. I was at a luncheon early this afternoon, and... It was a Bengals-based luncheon. The deal had just been pulled off the table. And as having to explain to some folks, like, well, here's what happened. Here's why the Bengals backed out of the deal. Here's what a compensatory pick is. Here's the formula that's used to determine whether or not a team gets a compensatory pick or what the compensatory pick should be, which round. 00:12:39 Speaker 3: Why does that have to be so complex? 00:12:42 Speaker 4: And again, I'm not making an excuse for the Bengals or for Duke-Toe, but I'm not doing any of that. 00:12:47 Speaker 3: They don't deserve that. 00:12:48 Speaker 4: But why does it have to be some sort of advanced chemical formula to determine which teams get which compensatory picks and the things that would have to happen for a compensatory pick to go away? It feels a little unnecessarily complicated. So there's a few different things here. There's what the Bengals haven't done at the trade deadline, haven't made their team better. There's whether or not the Bengals can win with the team that they have and the deficiencies that it has. There's what went wrong today and ultimately what the explanation is going to be and who should be tasked with explaining it. Frankly, I think we could uncomplicate the compensatory pick formula. Lots on the table, 513-749-1530. 866-702-3776. Bengals and Steelers on Sunday, live on ESPN 1530. Pre-game coverage is going to begin at 3 o'clock on Sunday afternoon from the Holy Grail. We are here until 6, broadcasting from the transept, downtown Cincinnati. Our sports legal expert, attorney Stuart W. Penrose, will join us coming up in about 15 minutes. Yes, we've got the UC basketball game from last night to talk about at 5th Third Arena. Cincinnati's team acted like it had never seen a zone before. They missed some crucial free throws at the end. They hold Minnesota to 63 points and lose at home. 00:14:22 Speaker 3: We'll spend some time on that. 00:14:24 Speaker 4: Bunch of area college basketball teams in action tonight. Sal Stewart is our National League Rookie of the Year. Let's spend a few minutes on him. Next, ESPN 1530 Cincinnati Sports Station. 00:14:36 Speaker 7: Cincinnati's ESPN Hall in the Natty. Brought to you by Modern Office Methods on ESPN 1530, the official home of the Cincinnati Bengals. 00:14:47 Speaker 4: Trying to run through as many of the trades as possible. I mentioned this, Atlanta trading their center, Ryan Neusel, to the Ravens in exchange for Andrew Voorhees at a 20-28 six-round pick. The Kirk Cousins deal, by the way, Vikings are sending to Vegas their original third-round pick, They still have a third-round pick they got from the Philadelphia Eagles in the Jonathan Greener trade. Tennessee hangs on to Tony Pollard. The Colts, who asked for a first-round pick from Jonathan Taylor, are going to hang on to him. Kansas City gets help at wide receiver Josh Downs in a trade from the Indianapolis Colts. KC sends a fourth and a fifth to Indian exchange for Downs and a seventh-round pick. Dayon Henley, who's a guy that a lot of us thought would make sense for the Bengals, He gets traded by the Chargers, who are the worst NFL team I think I've ever watched. 00:15:37

Speaker 3: That's maybe an exaggeration, but not much. Anyway, L.A. sends him to Denver. 00:15:43 Speaker 4: Malik Hooker, or I'm sorry, Amani Hooker, traded by the Tennessee Titans to the Buffalo Bills. Safety, who had spent his entire eight years with Tennessee, goes to the Bills. They badly have needed safety help. Keenan Allen. His stay in India is over. Traded to the San Francisco 49ers. San Fran's wide receiver group has been an absolute mess. That is the latest trade deadline. Came and went at 4 o'clock 28 minutes ago. Our sports legal expert, Attorney Stewart W. Penrose, in a few minutes. But right now, let's talk to Randy in Middletown. Randy, you're on ESPN 1530. Randy, good afternoon. 00:16:20 Speaker 3: How are you? 00:16:22 Speaker 2: Oh, man, I'm doing good, kind of. But, man, I'm so upset. 00:16:28 Speaker 5: I'm so upset. 00:16:28 Speaker 2: I just can't get sense out of this. You know, you spend millions, hundreds of millions of dollars on, on these fires. And it's like, why, why not spend, uh, I'll just a little bit more, get a warranty to. 00:16:44 Speaker 5: Go with it. 00:16:44 Speaker 2: You know, but buying a hundred million dollar home and saying, you know, should we get some plumbing? You know, I, I just, I just don't understand that. And, uh, And real quick, it brings back all kinds of memories of things they've done in the past, like when Andy Dalton set a record for being sacked the most. And so what they do after that, instead of improving, I'm like, man, I hope they get Zeitler and Wentworth some help. I can't believe it. They turn around and let both of them go. I mean, and I'm like, you expect them to do just the opposite, man. And I just, you know... spending $ 5 million to could possibly save the players of athletic ability at their peak. You know, it could be missing that championship thing. And I mean, I'm just, I just, I can't help it. It just gets to me. 00:17:42 Speaker 1: You know what I mean? 00:17:44 Speaker 3: No, sure. 00:17:45 Speaker 4: I think, I think there are, there are a lot of us who feel, different things about this team. One is teams in a position where they can be pretty special, but also could have used a little bit more help. And not getting more help doesn't necessarily disqualify them from contention, but you've watched an imperfect team win six of its first eight games, especially at certain positions that we have spent a lot of time talking about. The Bengals acknowledged a need for an edge rusher. By trying to make the trade that ultimately wasn't completed. Was there a plan B? Was it in the offing? I don't know if we're ever going to get an answer. The strategy at linebacker, Randy, I go back to the last time Tony and I did a show at the end of the season last year where we talked about how the priority has got to be linebacker. Now, Barrett Carter, who had a pick on Sunday, and Demetrius Knight have certainly had their moments. 00:18:39 Speaker 3: But. 00:18:40 Speaker 4: I don't know anybody who has watched the Bengals who hasn't watched that position and thought they could use some help. They could use some help at safety. They could use some help at nickel corner. But again, I come back to linebacker. And if you just, if you sifted through some of the names that were out there, Zach Bond of the Philadelphia Eagles, Jordan Brooks with Miami, you know, Dayon Henley got traded today by the Chargers to the Denver Broncos. That is a name that a lot of people mentioned as somebody who would make sense. Jamie and Sherwood of the Jets. Cody Barton, who's with the Tennessee Titans. Heck, Troy Dye is another linebacker. 00:19:18 Speaker 2: L.A. 00:19:18 Speaker 4: Chargers, there were names out there, just like there were names in free agency. And the Bengals in free agency decided to not address the position. They decided in the draft to not address the position. And they've decided here at the trade deadline to not address the position anymore. And that, among other places, you can't help but wonder, is that ultimately going to come back to bite them? I hope the answer is no. I fear the answer is going to be yes. Randy, I've got to move on. I appreciate the phone call. Phone lines are open, 513-749-1530. 00:19:45 Speaker 3: We'll get you in, 866-702. you in, 866-702-3776. 00:19:51 Speaker 4: I got a lot of stuff to ask our sports legal expert, attorney Stuart W. 00:19:55 Speaker 3: Penrose. 00:19:56 Speaker 4: He joins us next. We're broadcasting from the transept downtown, ESPN 1530 Cincinnati Sports Station. 00:20:03 Speaker 7: You've been listening to Football in the Natty, brought to you by Red Key Express on ESPN 1530, the official home of the Cincinnati Bengals. 00:20:15 Speaker 8: Brian Gray here at Red Key Express. When greater Cincinnati businesses need freight delivered, they can count on Red Key Express. From a small package to a full truckload. We have the equipment and the drivers to get the job done. Red Key Express keeps your business moving with responsive delivery service and transportation solutions tailored to your needs. At Red Key Express, our team is driven by excellence. So schedule your next shipment today at RedKeyExpress.com. 00:20:45 Speaker 7: Cincinnati's ESPN 1530. Traffic from the ESPN 1530. 00:20:53 Speaker 3: All right. Very quickly here. 00:20:55 Speaker 4: Sports headlines are a service of Kelsey Chevrolet, home of Lifetime Powertrain Protection and Guarantee Credit Approval from their family viewers for life. 00:21:02 Speaker 3: KelseyChev.com NFL trade deadline comes and goes. 00:21:05 Speaker 4: And without diving into all the specifics of the deal, the Bengals head to Knicks. 00:21:12 Speaker 3: They didn't do anything at the trade deadline. Chiefs did. 00:21:15 Speaker 4: They get Indy wide receiver Josh Downs. The Bills, AOC contender, acquire Tennessee safety Imani Hooker. San Francisco acquires wide receiver Keenan Allen. Kirk Cousins on his way back to Minnesota. Dayon Henley, the

linebacker, traded by the Chargers to the Denver Broncos. Bob Boone, who had a terrific career behind the plate for, among other teams, the Philadelphia Phillies and California Angels, then later on went on to manage the Reds in 2001, 2002, and 2003. Passes away at the age of 78. College basketball tonight. Xavier hosts Detroit Mercy at 7 on 700 WLW. Kentucky battles Kansas and Chicago. Champions Classic tip off roughly 9.30 on ESPN 1530. NKU is on the road against St. 00:22:00 Speaker 3: Louis tonight. 00:22:01 Speaker 4: That game is on the project, 100.7, 106.3. Also tonight, the Dayton Flyers take on Siena. It's Tuesday, which means we talk sports and the law with our sports legal expert, the man, attorney Stuart W. 00:22:15 Speaker 3: Penrose. It's awesome to have you, sir. How are you? 00:22:18 Speaker 5: Awesome to be back, Mo. I'm doing great. I got to say, though, last night, and I'm optimistic about Bearcat basketball, don't get me wrong, I think we're going to do well. 00:22:27 Speaker 3: With this coach, but for one night. 00:22:29 Speaker 5: Only, I left Fifth Third Arena thinking we were in the Wes Miller era, and I was thinking of some lawsuits I wanted to file myself, but that's beside the point. 00:22:40 Speaker 4: Can I sue for years of accumulated restlessness at night as I agonize over Cincinnati Bearcats' missed free throws? 00:22:51 Speaker 5: Mo, I'm right there with you. I'm right there with you. 00:22:55 Speaker 3: Frustrating. 00:22:56 Speaker 1: All right. 00:22:57 Speaker 3: Well, hopefully it gets better. Only the third game. We'll see. 00:23:00 Speaker 2: Only the third game. 00:23:02 Speaker 5: Optimism runs high. 00:23:04 Speaker 3: It does. Just as long as the other teams never play zone defense, we'll be fine. All right. 00:23:12 Speaker 4: We've talked about the Protect College Sports Act, which, you know, even for those who don't follow politics, they understand, like, we now have a lame duck Congress, a significant shift in who's going to be controlling both branches of Congress. And so are we now considering the Protect College Sports Act dead? 00:23:33 Speaker 5: It's a long shot that it's going to get passed at this point, at least as it is right now. But we knew this going into the midterms anyways, and it's pretty obvious Democrats would likely at least take the House, and. 00:23:45 Speaker 2: Here we are. 00:23:48 Speaker 5: How motivated is a lame-duck Congress going to be to pass this as is right now? I mean, Republicans already have a razor-thin majority there. Is Mike Johnson going to be that motivated to whip up votes to get this through? I mean, there's already Republicans in the House that are skeptical of the bills as is. There's plenty of Democrats that want it to be more player-friendly. Yeah, I think the odds that it's going to get passed between now and the new Congress in January are very, very, very slim. 00:24:19 Speaker 4: Without diving too much into red versus blue, is there a possibility that the Democrats go, OK, like now it's our turn at this legislation. And so we want to craft something that helps create some guardrails for college sports. But it's going to look a lot different and have a lot more different stuff in it, for lack of a better way of putting it, than the legislation that has already been kicked around. 00:24:43 Speaker 5: Well, certainly it's possible. It's not going to look exactly like it is now, but, you know, it had pretty heavy bipartisan support in the Senate. It got, you know, quite a few votes, you know, above 50. That said, I mean, you'd expect it to be a lot more player-friendly, and, you know, perhaps they, you know, come up with a bill that President Trump doesn't like. He's got to sign it into law at the end of the day, so there still needs to be, you know, some level of bipartisanship there, and We know how good Congress is at getting things done in general. So, you know, we could be looking at the Wild West and, you know, college sports being held up by patchwork litigation and, you know, injunction here, no injunction there. And, you know, maybe a lot more of the same for the, you know, for the years to come. I hope not. But, you know, it seems that that's more likely than not from what I see. 00:25:34 Speaker 4: Our sports legal expert is attorney Stuart W. Penrose from the Manila Law Group. We've talked about the two Cleveland pitchers who are being accused of pitch rigging as a part of a sports gambling scandal. Their trials are underway. The defense is actually introducing things like scouting reports and hot and cold zones that we see when we follow baseball as evidence to prove that the pitches that are in question here made tactical sense. And so how do you explain baseball strategy? And I'm like complex baseball strategy to a jury of people who might not be baseball fans, might not know the difference between a fastball and a slider. 00:26:19 Speaker 5: Well, here's the thing. I mean, they don't need to turn the jurors into baseball scouts model. They just have to show them that there's legitimate reasons why a pitcher might, you know, make a particular decision to throw a particular pitch. Um, they're going to argue the standard, um, you know, of prosecution here, which is beyond a reasonable doubt. You know, the reality is the defense technically doesn't have to prove anything. They just have to create enough reasonable doubt, um, you know, for him to get, for these two men to get acquitted of the charges. Um, we're not talking a lot of pitches either. Uh, my understanding is for class, they were talking 18 pitches over 17 games over a course of two years. And Ortiz, apparently we're only talking about two pitches over two games, one pitch in each game. Um, so I'm really interested to see what the prosecution has to bring forward here. You think there has to be some, you know, concrete communications, you know, text emails, something to, to tie them to this. Um, Otherwise,

there's a lot the defense can bring forward here to try to poke holes in this. 00:27:24 Speaker 4: If there's evidence of manipulation, how hard is that to combat if you're the defense? 00:27:33 Speaker 5: Well, again, I mean, you're going to come back to standard, a reasonable doubt. And I think what you're talking about, you know, what they're bringing forward, you know, scouts on hitters, you know, patterns of pitches, you know, whatever is the best way to do it. That's what I would do if I were their counsel. You know, my understanding is that they're attacking the credibility of one of the conspirators as well, too, and saying that, you know, this person manipulated these men and, you know, they weren't involved in this scheme. 00:28:03 Speaker 4: All right, let me ask you about Live Golf, which is ceasing operations. It's liquidating. They're going into Chapter 11 bankruptcy. When this idea was first hatched, what you heard about more than anything else was the funding behind it, the Saudi Public Investment Fund, seemingly infinite amounts of money. So how does a league backed by infinite amounts of money end up in Chapter 11? 00:28:27 Speaker 5: Well, I will say, Mo, it's one of my life dreams to meet and be connected with the powers that be of Saudi Arabia and have them pay me for some discernible or indiscernible skill. It still hasn't happened yet, but if anybody knows any of these folks, please introduce me. I'd be very, very appreciative of that. And I'm sorry, but I lost track of your question. 00:28:51 Speaker 4: How, how does a league back by like seemingly infinite amounts of money, endless amounts of money? How does, how does something like that end up in chapter 11? 00:28:57 Speaker 5: Well, the Saudis pulled their funding simple as that. I mean, it seems like they had had enough of, of funding a league that wasn't making any money and didn't seem to have much fan support. And, uh, and they pulled it, uh, So, yeah, I mean, that's what happened. I mean, it seems like the money is endless over there, but it doesn't mean that they're going to, you know, spend needlessly forever. 00:29:22 Speaker 4: Players who signed up for Liv, you know, they chase the money. Massive guaranteed contracts. What happens to those guarantees when there's liquidation? 00:29:31 Speaker 5: Well, your contract's only as good as, you know, who the other person signing it is and what they have to bring forward. On the face of it, they're likely not secured creditors. I mean, they're not banks or lenders that are going to have collateral against the assets of the company. They would likely be unsecured creditors unless they were given some sort of other you know, collateral against their assets. That said, I mean, we've all heard that a lot of these folks, especially the big guys, got big money up front. You would think that most of these folks knew what they were getting into and knew that something like this was always going to eventually happen or was likely to eventually happen, but yeah. 00:30:17 Speaker 4: Yeah, the end... the end seemed inevitable. It was a matter, I think, for a lot of folks of when and not if. For the players who want to jump back to the PGA Tour legally, can the PGA keep them out on the outside looking in? 00:30:29 Speaker 2: Legally, yes. 00:30:30 Speaker 5: I mean, they're a private employer. They certainly can do that. I mean, my understanding is that you can play your way into PGA based upon your results on other circuits. So certainly they could do that. And, you know, there would be some you know, some controversy about, you know, with whether they would go in or not. And, you know, certainly there could be some legal, legal fights there. That said, you know, Mo, they let Brooks Koepka back, you know, a year or two ago and, you know, set aside a path for him to do so. And, you know, he paid certain financial penalties to do it. You know, the people that run the PGA tour aren't stupid. You know, they know that there's star power in a, in a, in a Bryson DeChambeau and a John Rahm. You would think that at some point cooler heads would prevail and, It's to everybody's benefit, financially as well, for the top players to be back on the PGA Tour. You have to think that cooler heads would eventually prevail, even if they've got to pay penalties to come back. 00:31:28 Speaker 4: If I need somebody to ensure that I get my endless amounts of money from the Saudi Public Investment Fund, or if I need legal representation for another matter, how do I get a hold of you? 00:31:38 Speaker 6: I have no serious letter to give you against the Saudis, Moe, and I hope to never be in that situation. But if somebody's in a car accident, if they're in a slip and fall, if they have a bankruptcy issue, a criminal issue, I want them to call my firm, the Manila Law Group, at 513-723-1600. We can help you out. If it's their fault, it's our fight. 00:31:57 Speaker 5: 513-723-1600. 00:32:00 Speaker 4: Our sports legal expert attorney, Stuart W. 00:32:04 Speaker 3: Penrose, the best there is. You're the man. Thanks so much. 00:32:06 Speaker 5: Thank you, Moe. 00:32:07 Speaker 4: 12 away from 5 o'clock. NFL trade deadline comes and goes. Bengals do nothing. How do we feel about it? We'll get to that. We've got to talk about Sal Stewart, man. We'll do that next ESPN 1530. 00:32:20 Speaker 7: Cincinnati's ESPN 1530. 00:32:24 Speaker 3: Traffic. 00:32:25 Speaker 4: From the UC Health traffic sign is they tried to make a deal. That's acknowledgement that they knew they had some areas where they could take some guys. 00:32:33 Speaker 3: They could use some guys. So this whole thing about. 00:32:37 Speaker 4: Well, hey, you know, Zach likes his team and they like their team and Burrow has what he needs. Like, dude, Duke Tobin tried to make a trade. There's a few different topics as it relates to this. 00:32:47 Speaker 3: We'll get to it. 00:32:48 Speaker 4: We have a lot of ground to cover between now

and 6 o'clock. And no guests, so we'll take your phone calls if you want to jump in at 513-749-1530. We've got to spend a few minutes. Hat tip to Sal Stewart. I had a lengthy social media post last night. I'm not going to read it verbatim. This past Reds season was unenjoyable. I don't have a way of sugarcoating that. This was not a fun baseball season at all because anything shy of contending for something meaningful in 2026 was going to be unenjoyable. The Reds were out of it by July 4th. It was not an extraordinarily entertaining team. I don't want to say it was an unlikable team, but the season just took on a a slog kind of feel to it. 00:33:39 Speaker 3: But there were reasons to still watch. 00:33:41 Speaker 4: Chase Burns, obviously, Eli De La Cruz, obviously, and Sal Stewart, obviously. And I was so stoked for him that he won the National League Rookie of the Year award. 00:33:52 Speaker 3: He won it going away. Nothing against J.J. 00:33:55 Speaker 4: Weatherholt, nothing against Carson Bench, who had an awesome second half of the year for the Mets. Sal Stewart was the best National League rookie for the entirety of the season. And had he not won the award, I would have felt the same way about him I do today. But in what was an otherwise miserable six months, Sal Stewart made you not hate yourself for still watching. And there was such, to me at least, so many reasons to admire what he did this year. It's hard to go through your first full big league season. It's really hard to go through your first full big league season. And your team basically asking you to help carry the offense. he had no help in the batting order except for Eli De La Cruz. He was asked to bat fourth on opening day. He was asked to improve defensively. He was asked to make the team in spring training, and he had a killer spring. He obviously put up great numbers, but watching him on a nightly basis, Jeff Brantley on TV and radio talked about this often during the season. Sal Stewart, I think it's a good thing that we don't emphasize RBIs anymore. Statistically, because there are better ways to determine and accurately judge how good or bad a hitter is. But I do think there's a skill to being able to drive in a run. And what I love most about Sal Stewart is, yes, he could hit the ball out of the ballpark. 32 homers. Most by a rookie in Reds history. But he also knew how to hit to the scoreboard. Get a guy in from third base with less than two outs. Shorten his stroke with two strikes. I loved watching him this year. And the guys, he played all 162. So as a Reds fan, yes, it's cool the Reds have the National League Rookie of the Year. And by the way, like there was this, I hate that this is what it turned into. There was like this preemptive anger at what it's going to feel like if Sal doesn't win it. That never made a lot of sense to me because all summer long, Sal stayed hot. He had a rough September, which is why Carson Bench, you know, was a factor because Sal Stewart's September was his worst month. Benj really turned it on for the Mets in September. But I think by then this was decided. Sal was going to be the rookie of the year. You know, and I'd engage with people on social media who were like, ah, they're just never going to vote for a Red. 00:36:14 Speaker 3: It's like, come on, man. 00:36:15 Speaker 4: The last time they had guys who were up for postseason awards, they won them. Jonathan India, Trevor Bauer. People weren't going to hold against Sal Stewart, some sort of anti-Reds bias grow up. 00:36:27 Speaker 3: So congratulations to him. He made... an. 00:36:30 Speaker 4: Otherwise miserable season worth paying attention to. And Ellie did as well, but Ellie wasn't up for rookie of the year. And Chase Burns did as well. Chase not up for rookie of the year. 00:36:41 Speaker 3: I am. 00:36:42 Speaker 4: I was thrilled for Sal that he won the award. You could tell it meant a lot to him. And, you know, regardless of what happens with the 2027 baseball season, regardless of what happens with the Reds, I can't wait to see what Sal Stewart has for an encore. 00:36:55 Speaker 3: Congratulations to him. 00:36:57 Speaker 4: He was awesome to watch this year, and I was stoked for him last night because I think you could tell that award meant a lot to him, and he was the best rookie over the course of the entire season in the National League. 00:37:09 Speaker 3: Bengals didn't get better today. 00:37:11 Speaker 4: We'll discuss next at the Transept, ESPN 1530 Cincinnati Sports Station.