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Speaker 2: You know a lot of different themes to the Bengals off season. One of them is make your layups. They haven't made a layup yet. They're standing under the rim. They've got the ball, there's no defender nearby. What are they gonna lay it off the glass and put it through? For two? Not coming up in just about fifteen minutes on my egger. This is ESPN fifteen thirty. Thank you for listening. We're at the end of what has felt like about a twenty five day long week. Hopefully your weekend is underway, or maybe you're like my daughter who is in the middle of day seven of what is a minimum a nine day weekend. If that's you, awesome. If that's not you, hopefully the weekend has arrived to a great start. Thanks for spending at least part of your Friday afternoon with us. Show preview is available on Twitter at Moeger. Thanks to share Fax Credit Union, the single greatest financial institution on the planet is Shareffacs Credit Union. Tons of benefits for members. I've been a member for a couple of years now, so goot to share facts Dot or it can be just like me become a member. We are going to do a Bengals off season overview in the five o'clock hour with our guy James Rapine. I don't know that Trey Hendrickson is a name that I'm going to bring up. We're gonna talk about the AFC North and all the different coaching changes, and some free agency options and maybe some early, very early draft storylines with James. That's coming up in the five o'clock hour. It is interesting. There's been if you go on the internet and I'm this, I'm not saying this critically, there's been Trey Hendrickson chatter, and understandably so. He is one of the biggest free agent names out there. He is arguably the most accomplished free agent name out there. And as you know, we talk about how the next couple of months are gonna unfold, one thing you wonder is a what are they gonna do to make the pass rush better? I mean, Duke Tobin two weeks ago today said quote, pass rush is king. So if there's anything you feel like they're gonna prioritize. It's pass rush. They need to prioritize pass rush. There is a school of thought, and I get it. Where you go? Huh? Trey Hendrickson is viewed by many as one of the best free agents available. Why would the Bengals not be interested in one of the best free agents available? So a couple of things about that. Here's my question for you coming into the season. The Bengals had no plans for Trey Hendrickson to be on the team in twenty twenty six. That's abundantly clear, Like right, wrong. Maybe you think the Bengals stance was incorrect, Maybe you think the way they treated Trey was unfair. Maybe thought the way the Bengals treated Tray was completely within reason, whatever it is. But I think if there's one conclusion we could all draw, it's they had no plans for Trey Hendrickson in twenty twenty six. If they did, chances are he would be under contract in twenty twenty six. So and and by the way, that's something that was abundantly clear years ago when they gave him a one year contract extension. It was abundantly clear during the twenty twenty four season, which prior to that he asked for a trade. It was abundantly clear before last season. It was abundantly clear as last season played out. It's I think abundantly clear now. But if you're holding out hope that these two sides can I don't know, set aside their differences and work out something, or that they should franchise, tag them and keep them, which I cannot imagine them doing. I guess I asked this, if prior to last season you didn't have plans for Trey Hendrickson being on your team, did anything happen in twenty twenty five to make you change her mind? Now, when he played last year, he was actually pretty effective. You know, it feels like forever it goes since Trey Hendrickson was playing for the twenty twenty five Bengals. But even in a down year statistically, I'm looking here at Pro Football Network's NFL Edge Impact Metrics, had an eighty six point four score. This on top of, you know, a season in twenty twenty four where he was a defensive player the Year finalist at League in sacks. Right when he was on the field last year, he was pretty good. The problem is he wasn't on the field nearly as much, and it got weird with his injury, and it just like everything with Trey, it just it feels like there's an element of just weirdness. And that's not solely his responsibility. It's not entirely his fault, if you want to describe it that way, but it just it got weird, as it often does get weird for really good players who are dealing with injuries playing for a team that might not be headed anywhere, and as it turned out, the Bengals really weren't headed anywhere last season. But did he do anything last year the Bengals when he was coming off a season where he was one of the top two or three best defensive players in the entire sport. Last year he was coming off a season where he was one of the best two or three defensive players in the entire sport. They had no plans for him beyond twenty twenty five. So what was there out there in twenty twenty five to make anybody believe that they're going to change their mind about Trey Hendrickson in twenty twenty six. Add to all of it, the bad feelings and whatever residual you know, personal issues are there based on just the way things unf folded, how trays of our lives. Stealing that from Paul Danner Junior kind of became a thing for much of the offseason. Like, we've been talking about this dude and his dissatisfaction with the Bengals and his contract and his possible trades and trade requests for a very long time now. If one of the things you're wondering about the Bengals this coming season is does it make sense to find a way to run it back with Trey Hendrickson, which nobody who covers the league or the team feels like is a distinct possibility. You got to put yourself in the Bengals shoes and the Bengals perspective tray after twenty twenty five was not worth investing in after a season where he spent more than half of it not playing. Why would their minds change? Why would their minds change? Five point three, seven, four nine, fifteen thirty is our phone number. I think there's something important that the Bengals need to figure out a way to do. I was watching I don't know, maybe maybe it was like in the week between Christmas and New Year's NFL networks running a bunch of their football life shows one hour, you know, basically biodocs on a whole bunch of different NFL figures, and the one about Bill Walsh. And that is a great hour, especially if you're a Bengals fan, because it kind of goes through how you know, Bill Walsh and the Bengals went through a divorce when Paul Brown chose to not make Bill Walsh the head coach. It's really good. But on that hour of television, Bill Walsh obviously passed a number of years ago. But in that hour of television, one of the former forty nine ers that speaks about Bill Walsh's Randy Cross, who you know, was their center for a decade in the nineteen eighties and has gone on to do you know TV for a bunch of different networks and some radio and whatever. But he talks about how Bill Walsh said to him like, hey, man, I think you can play another three or four years in this league, but most of those aren't gonna be for me because I only want your good years. And the message was like we're gonna we're gonna sort of get out in front of things here and in some cases, maybe even move on from you while you still have some guess left in the tank. And I think that has to be something that Bengals get good at here moving forward. I've talked about Orlando Brown a lot the last couple of weeks. Orlando Brown has had a really good career and I think, for the most part, has been a pretty good free agent pick up for the Bengals. I think it would be awesome. I think it would be awesome if the Bengals were in a position where they could cut loose Orlando Brown, not because Orlando's a bad player, not because he's a bad guy, not because he's making a lot of money. But there were times this year where it felt like Orlando struggled. There were times this year where it felt like he was kind of the weak link on the offensive line. There were times this year where you thought, man, you know, maybe is a time to get a little bit younger, maybe a little bit more athletic at left tackle on a team that's in a different place than where the Bengals are, which is they have to overhaul one half of the team. I think it's pretty easy to move on from a guy like that and say, you know, what. We only want your good years. We don't want you here when you inevitably go through the steep drop off that just comes with the age and the miles and the wear and tear of a player of your experience. And so thanks for everything. Glad you were here. You could still play in this league, but we don't want to be the team that you have to drop off with. And so we're gonna get out in front of this and we're gonna go throw money at a free agent, or we're gonna throw money at a free agent, and we're gonna use a first round pick on a tackle. And maybe the Bengals can do those things. Hell maybe they do do those things, but it feels like, because of all the different priorities they have on defense and all the different ways in which they have to make that side of the football better, that you kind of don't want to create another need. And so you're willing to stick with Orlando Brown and hope that he doesn't suffer a steep drop off in twenty twenty six. In an ideal world, which obviously we don't live in, but ideally you have the kind of team that is a capable of looking at good players and saying we only want your good years. We're not going to keep you around for your drop off seasons, and b you have plans in place that are proven to have worked to replace those players. This is something else we've harped on a bunch in recent years. The Bengals have been really bad at replacing players, like really bad at replacing players. Hell did they replace Sam Hubbard last year? Not really, largely because Trey Hendrickson was hurt, but even above and beyond that, right, like, they had a plan to replace t Higgins, name was Jermaine Burton. Nope, still haven't figured out a way to replace Jesse Bates For a decade, We've talked about them replacing Andrew Whitworth. There are others that's got a change, and so you know with with Trey Hendrickson, man like here, ideally this isn't even a discussion because a guy that we didn't have plans for because we thought about age and injury risk and you know, his best years maybe being behind him. We're ready to move on because the dudes that we have drafted, Shamar Stewart and Miles Murphy are they're capable of replacing you now, it's worth mentioning Miles Murphy in the second half of this past season was was really really good. Like maybe i'm by myself. I don't think I am. I'm bullish on Miles Murphy. If you watch them in the second half of the season. Yeah, it took way too long, but when the light bulb came on, it stayed on. He was really good. But in the back of your mind, you're still thinking, like, how are we going to replace that guy? Because they haven't been that good at replacing players like that, and they're not yet as an organization to the point where you can look at players who still have some gas in the tank and say to him, we're gonna find cheaper replacements, younger replacements who are maybe still ascending, because we don't want you here for your down years. Bengals did that with Trey Hendrickson, yet you still wonder are they going to be able to replace him? And they're not going to do that with Orlando Brown. By the way, speaking of Andrew Whitworth, and I've tried to do this now for nearly ten years because it was what March of twenty seventeen we found out that Andrew Whitworth was moving on, so nearly nine years the Bengals made a pretty good bet. Sometimes you play the odds and you lose, right, I mean, sometimes you bet on the favorite and you lose. Sometimes you bet on the favorite and the underdog covers on the money line. But the odds were that Andrew Whitworth was not going to be able to maintain his level of play into the second half of his thirties, and he defied the odds. And that's It's why he's going to be in Canton. It's why is the Super Bowl champion, It's why he's going to be a Hall of Fame. That's why we spent years talking about him. But number one, it was the inability to replace him, which they unfurled that plan two years before they let him go. But at the end of the day, like I think, you organizationally have to get to a point where you're really good at looking at players like that going you know what, we've gotten as much out of you as we want, and we're going to get out in front of things and we're not going to keep you around for the years where you have a drop off. Imagine had they had done that with Geno Atkins, Carlos Dunlap, maybe even AJ Green, because that was their mo for a while, refusing to say goodbye to players even though they were going to be re upping for years moving forward that weren't quite as good as the ones in the past. So that's where they've got to be. And to me, like that's where I start with Trey Hendrickson. They have viewed him as somebody who is going to depreciate even further past twenty twenty five. I don't know that their mind should have changed during twenty twenty five, but they're really going to figure out a way to successfully replace him. The answers moving forward have to be yes, and if they are, they're gonna have to be more and more comfortable with looking at players and saying we only want your good years. Nineteen minutes after three o'clock, our phone lines are open. Five point three seven four nine fifteen thirty eight sixty six seven oh two three seven seven six. We have later on the unsponsored weekend tip off as we roll through all of this weekend's college basketball games, don't forget we've got college hoops on ESPN fifteen thirty tonight, NKU on the road. First to back to back road games this weekend for the Norse as they take on Detroit Mercy tip off at seven pm. Pregame coverage at six thirty here on ESPN fifteen thirty. Lots of college basketball this weekend on ESPN fifteen thirty, between NKU tonight and Sunday and Kentucky taking on old friend John Calla Perry and Arkansas tomorrow at six thirty. More on all of that coming up here in just a bit. The layoup the Bengals have been asked to make still haven't even shot the ball? Next on ESPN fifteen thirty.
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Speaker 3: Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.
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Speaker 4: Traffic from the UC Health Traffic Center. With a stroke, every second counts, and so does your team home to rapid life saving treatment and clinical trials. You see health as the clear choice for stroke care. Learn more at u sehealth dot com. In Northern Kentucky, and accident has now been cleared from the exit ramp that was on the westbound two seventy five off ramp to seventy one seventy five. However, on westbound two seventy five still an active crash over at seventy four. That's on the right shoulder. I'm at Ezelic with traffic.
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Speaker 2: Yesterday we streamed video for two hours on Twitter so you could like watch the show, and I thought it was well received. By the way, all of this the work of Tarren Bland. I don't know how to do that, so we streamed it. You could watch basically from A four to about five forty five. Yesterday you could watch on Twitter at moeger thanks to adulta Dental. Delta Dental is building healthy, smart, vibrant communities for all good at Delta Dental. Ohitg dot com you too, Tarren, thanks so much. Twenty five minutes after three o'clock. This is ESPN fifteen thirty. By the way, Speaking of social media, Dalton Reisner's wife is on Instagram. I didn't know this. I don't know that I knew he was married. I don't know that I would have a compelling reason to follow her on Instagram, but if you do, that's cool. Whatever, to each their own. I'm not sure there's a compelling reason to follow me on Instagram, but many people do, and that's cool. Thank you, thank you if you're among them. So I guess she posted a photo of herself and Dalton in their new home in the Kansas City area, which congratulations. If you know they got themselves a home, that's terrific. I've been to Kansas City. I've not lived in Kansas City. Dalton Reisner is a native of Missouri. He was born in Branson. I think he went to high school though in Colorado. I could look that up, I suppose, if only there was a device where I could look up where Dalton Reisner's from. But I know he's a native of Missouri, and I know he played at Kansas State, so like that part of the country. I don't know where his wife is from. Again, I found out Dalton Reisner had a wife about five hours ago. But I guess she posted a photo and some some not all, not most in the Bengals social media sphere, or wondering if that's a sign that Dalton is not going to come back and play for the Bengals. By the way, there's lots of Bengals players who have houses elsewhere, so I don't know that it's worth reading into congratulations to the risings on the new home. It is January the thirtieth Bengals last played a game it'll be what four weeks ago on Sunday, the meat of the offseason, the heart of the offseason. We're not there yet, right, We're still still got to play the Super Bowl next weekend. Got the Pro Bowl games next week. By the way, Joe Flacco named an AFC Pro Bowler, So and the Browns had two Pro Bowl quarterbacks and the same team. Wow. Amazing. But the new league year doesn't start for another four or five weeks. The legal tampering period is still a long time from now. The combines a few weeks away, so there's still time. But maybe the thing that stood out most to me when players were offering their parting shots at the end of the year was when Dalton Reisner talked about his goal being to not sign a contract as late as he has in the past, including last year with the Bengals, when he signed like Camp was already underway, signed in August and ended up being a terrific signing. Like Duke Tobin should take credit more for Dalton Reisner than Joe Flacco. Dalt Reisner was their best free agent signing, and I don't know how objectively anybody could disagree with that. And the Bengals at the end of the season had a good offensive line and he was a reason why. And look, he didn't play at an all Pro level or anything like that, but his level of play at guard was good, was better than pretty much anything they've gotten at any point recently. So a good signing. So you got a guy who says, look, I don't want to wait till August this go around. Love it here, want to play here. Somebody tell Duke Tobin I'm paraphrasing him here. It's one of the great layups ever, especially for this franchise, which has often been associated with players who have done whatever they can to not play for this team. You can sign him on January the thirtieth, and the impact on the season maybe this as if you sign him on May the thirtieth. But what's something the Bengals always do. They take the easy and they make it more complicated than they need to. And so until Dalton Reisner has signed, how do you not wonder how are they going to screw this up? How are they going to outthink themselves? Five point three seven four nine, fifteen thirty. If you are driving right now, I don't want you to close your eyes but if you're a college basketball fan, at the next opportunity you have to close your eyes. I want you to do it, and I will explain why. Coming up next on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.
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Speaker 5: Station, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty Traffic from.
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Speaker 4: The UC Health Traffic Center with a stroke Every second counts, and so does your team home to rapid life saving treatment and clinical trials. You see help as the clear choice for stroke care. Learn more at u seehealth dot com. There is an accident eastbound on US fifty that's blocking off the Luck lane. After seventy one. Police there on scene. Another crash on ken Woodick Glendale Milford Road in some slow traffic eastbound Fort Washington Way between seventy five and seventy one. I'm at eazelic with traffic.
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Speaker 2: Sports Headlines are a service of a Kelsey Chevrolet Home of Lifetime powertrain protection and guarantee credit approval from their family to yours for life kelseyschev dot Com. For the first time in his eighteen year NFL career, Joe Flacco will represent his team in the Pro Bowl Games, which obviously happened on Tuesday in San Francisco. Flaco, it was announced earlier today, is a Pro Bowler. In ten starts last season between the Bengals and Browns, he completed twenty five two and fifty one passes out of four to sixteen for nearly twenty five hundred yards and fifteen touchdowns. Four of those starts with Cleveland, six with Cincinnati. He is the seventh quarterback in Bengals history to be named a Pro Bowler. He will join Jamar Chase and T Higgins participating in the Flag Football Game. They still play flag football in that thing in San Francisco next week. Meanwhile, college basketball loaded weekend Tonight, NKU is at Detroit Mercy. That game will tip at seven pm. Norris won the first game by twenty five points. Pregame at six thirty on ESPN fifteen thirty Dayton plays the best team in college basketball that you probably haven't been talking about, Saint Louis, who's twenty and one this season. That game tips off at eight pm. The arch Baron Cup up for grabs this evening as the Flyers look to avoid a four game losing streak. Tomorrow, Cincinnati is on the road against Houston. We know what happened in the first matchup between those two teams, you see, and the Cougars were tied at sixty with about three and a half minutes to go, and Houston scored seven more points. The Bearcats scored none. I talked about the Cougars a lot on this show, and I've heard this refrain often over the last year or two from Bearcat fans, and I agree with it, certainly. Not gonna say I was the first person to say this, but the UC teams that so many of us either grew up with, or the UC teams that solidified our fandom, or maybe just our favorite teams, teams that we revere. You know, there was an identity, There was a toughness to them. They were great defensively, they played harder than their opponents. They looked a lot like what has been over the last seven or eight years, Kelvin Samson's version of the Houston Cougars, and many have said with the Cougars have stolen their brand, and it's true. Like so there's a part I look at them with envy, a lot of envy, but I look at them I'm with a degree of admiration because that is the brand of basketball that they play often have played over the last seven or eight years, that so many of us identify with Cincinnati basketball. You know, I heard somebody say this once in the late nineties, early two thousands in talking about UCE hoops, and I get tired as much as anybody of just constantly playing remember when when it comes to UC basketball. But I remember, and I don't remember who did this, but I heard it on a show and they said, you know, if you close your eyes, you kind of have in your eyes, eye's mind, in your mind's eye a vision of what a Cincinnati basketball player looks like. And I think that carried forth for the most part, once Mick got the Bearcats to the point that they were in the NCAA Tournament every year, I think you had this vision in your mind of what a UC basketball player looked like. I think we can do that with Houston. Now, we don't watch the Cougars as closely maybe as we do the Bearcats. But like I watched the Kougs, called the Kougs. I watched their game against TCU on Wednesday, a game that they were in pretty much complete control of, although they never really totally pulled away, but it just it looked and felt like your quintessential Houston victory. And if you get tired of me talking about this, like I get it, but it's true, Like they every time it felt like somebody needed to make a play, somebody made a play and and you just in your mind's eye like there's they're good. Fundamentally, they're tough, they're all good rebounders, they make the right pass like it's it's cliches. A lot of this stuff sounds. I don't think that this year's Houston team is athletic enough to win the national title. They came painfully close last year. Obviously, I think this team is a half rung beneath you know, Arizona and Yukon. Now, if I was a Koogs fan, i'd feel like my team has a chance to get back to a Sweet sixteen, maybe get back to a Final four. But I talk about this often, and it's true. In a day and age where it has never been more difficult to carve out and keep a program identity, they've managed to do so. And if you're a college basketball fan on some level, I don't know how you don't admire that, And I don't know how you're not extraordinarily jealous of it, and I am. That game is at noon tomorrow one o'clock tomorrow, Xavier takes on to Paul at the Cintas Center. XU lost the first game eighty six to seventy seven. Musketeers badly need a win if the idea is for the season to not totally unravel, because the next two after this one are on the road against Yukon and Saint John's. Louisville hosts SMU Ohio State, which I think as a sneaky talented team, takes on Wisconsin tomorrow. Miami looks for a twenty second consecutive victory to open up the season. Ron Harper is going to be on campus tomorrow, which is cool as hell. Five time NBA champion Northern Illinois the opponent. Three point thirty Tomorrow, Indiana's at UCLA. Kentucky battles Arkansas in the latest John Caliperry Bowl. That game in Fayetteville will tip off at six point thirty on ESPN fifteen thirty. What else do we have here locally? Hockey? This weekend, Cyclones are going to be busy. Its Bank Giveaway night as the Clones host Fort Wayne tonight, and then tomorrow Star Wars matinee is Cincinnati host Bloomington, and then on Sunday the Mascot Birthday matinee against Toledo. So I got some daytime puck Saturday and Sunday after a night game tonight. And speaking of hockey, the Redhawk Columbus Blue Jackets, who have won seven of eight, are on the road tonight against the Chicago Blackhawks. That is the only game on tonight's NHL schedule. You are, I believe up to date. I don't think we. I don't think we left anything out. There's one other development here. I saw it has been confirmed. I guess that Lou Holtz has entered hospice care and a hugely significant figure in college football. You know, you think of the high point in my lifetime. I'm forty eight. The high point of Notre Dame football was the nineteen eighty eight Notre Dame fighting Irish. I am not a Notre Dame fan by any stretch of the imagination. When I was growing up, I didn't really have a favorite college football team. I've told this story before. I did become a UC football fan until I went to a basketball camp when I was in high school and I was a huge Ucy basketball fan, huge Ucy basketball fan, and like, one of the counselors said, well, who's your favorite college football team? And I just like blurted out Cincinnati. And then one of the other kids is like, you know Cincinnati sucks, right, I'm like, oh, do they? Like a couple of years ago they lost eighty one nothing to Penn State. But like, I'd watch college football with my dad, and my dad, for whatever reason, he rooted against the Notre Dame. It don't get mad at him. He's been passed for seventeen years, and so he like his favorite team was whoever played Notre Dame, and so it sort of a needle him a little bit. Like I became a UC fan to mess with him because he was a Kentucky fan. I would at times just root for Notre Dame, even though I wouldn't say they were my favorite team because it would just annoy my dad. You know, it's a big deal in the early nineties when they got their own deal on NBC. But the first year that I remember being into college football was when Notre Dame won the national championship in the old bowl system. Beat Major Harris in West Virginia. I think in the Fiesta Ball it could be wrong about the Bowl game, but won the national title and Lou Holtz was the coach, and I just I have fond memories of watching those games with my dad. And I did not grow up to become a Notre Dame fan, but that was this as a kid. You know, Bobby Bowden was at Florida State, Jene Stallings was at Alabama, and Notre Dame had Lou Holtz who just despite his slight frame, seemed like bigger than all of them, just as a kid. And I don't know if in my lifetime I was in high school in nineteen ninety three, in my lifetime now, we obviously get a lot of big time college football games in this day and age, and the ways that we hype up things now are different than we did back then. I don't know if in my lifetime that there has ever been more hype for a college football game than Notre Dame in Florida State in nineteen ninety three, with Charlie Ward playing future New York Nick Charlie Word playing for Florida State, the game of the century, which Notre Dame won and then lost the following week to Boston College. Remember watching that game with my dad, and so it made me sad to see that I don't know a ton about Lou Holtz in his post broadcasting career. I don't, frankly care. I didn't really find Lou Holtz as a broadcaster all that entertaining or interesting. That's neither here nor there. This was a hugely significant figure. And you know, then as you get older and you kind of understand the significance of Notre Dame football to the sport, to this part of the country, and you understand the depths to which that program had sunk, unfortunately under Jerry Faust. And I mean there was a stretch from eighty eight when Notre Dame won the title. By the way, they lost one game in eighty nine, the regular season finale to Miami. From eighty eight through ninety three, they went sixty four to nine and one. And in the middle of all that they got the NBC deal, so they were on TV. Would felt like live every single week. I remember that just being such a big deal, just as a as a like an early teenager like the Notre Dame's got their own television contract, and I just I remember that stretch of time in my life, just learning as a sports fan fondly and watching Notre Dame with my dad and watching him root against him. I don't know, and I don't never really got to why he hated Notre Dame. I don't know, but I never I don't know that he rooted for anybody as hard as he rooted for whoever noted, I don't. I don't know that he liked Lou Holtz. I don't know what it was, but I would just agitate him and root for the Irish and then you know, became a Bearcat fan, and it's like, yeah, in the mid nineties, it's like those two entities were on a playing entirely different sports. So I was sad to see that Lou Holtz has entered hospice, somebody that we have made fun of on this show for how he spoke on television, but still hugely important figure. And so was sad to see that he's nearing the end stage of life because he's a big figure in college football, an immensely huge figure at Notre Dame, and just for me in my years growing up becoming a sports fan. My introduction to college football was watching Notre Dame because my dad was rooting against him, and so Lou Holtz was on my TV. It felt like every single week from the time I was in the sixth grade clear through my high school years. So our thoughts and our best wishes to Lou Holtz. It is eleven away from four o'clock. This is ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports Station.
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Speaker 3: Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.
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Speaker 4: Traffic from the UC Health Traffic Center with a stroke. Every second counts, and so does your team. Home to rapid life saving treatment and clinical trials. See help as the clear choice for strope care. Learn more at ucehealth dot com. East found US fifty police on the scene of an accident that's blocking off the Luck Lane. After I seventy one on Kenwood Road. There's an accident at Glendale Milford Road, and one more crash on Redding Road, this one at Tennessee Avenue. I'm at Eazeleig with traffic.
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Speaker 2: So we're gonna get up to like thirty one on Monday. Wow, it's gonna feel tropical, bitterly cold, bitterly cold. Earlier this week we had Chase Brown and t Higgins. We had our friend Paul Danner Junior on the Mocks off season for the Bengals, Chad Brendle as well, and our guy Rick Boring, and so much more. Anything you may have missed on this show, anything you might want to hear again, just go to the iHeartRadio app look for our show. Look for ESPN fifteen thirty. By the way, it would be awesome if you would set ESPN fifteen thirty as a preset, and that'd be cool, and make sure you check it out often. If not the app, check out ESPN fifteen to thirty dot com slash mode. That's where we put all the audio as well. Podcasts of this show are a service of Long Neck Sports Grow with three locations in northern Kentucky. It's an awesome place to watch college basketball this weekend and the Big Game next Sunday between Seattle and New England, which by the way, I've heard people cry about, and then a very thankfy Super Bowl, and then kind of boring when it's Kansas City. When it's star laden teams, we complain about that. When it's two relatively anonymous teams. This is what we do as sports fans. Is there anybody complaining about the Super Bowl matchup who's not going to watch? Of course, the answer is no. Joey Vado is going to be a broadcaster, and I'm going to expand upon something those things next on ESPN fifteen thirty.
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Speaker 1: At the thousand dollars. Just enter this nationwide keyword on our website.
00:35:57
Speaker 2: Check that's check, Enter it now. Joey Vano's gonna be a literally a broadcaster for NBC and I think he's gonna be awesome. And I did not say we shouldn't have Halls of Fame plus rules to live by if you're a boss, and I'll make that about two NFL teams, not the Bengals. Coming up here in just a bit. Also our guy James Arpeene with a Bengals offseason overview in the five o'clock hour and the unsponsored college basketball weekend tip off. There is a lot to get to between now and uh six o'clock. Let me start with the Hall of Fame thing really quick. We'll grab some phone calls this hour as well. Five point three seven nine, fifteen thirty. So the Bill Belichick Hall of Fame snub, if you will, has been I think the biggest story in sports this week where the voters apparently who had to say as to whether or not Bill Belichick is gonna get in to not put Belichick in the Hall of Fame, despite the fact he is the most accomplished head coaching resume of all time. Two people have come out who didn't vote for him and explained why, and I don't necessarily agree with what they did, but I understand the explanation, and look, as a fan of Ken Anderson, I could appreciate anybody who says I want Ken Anderson to be in the Hall of Fame, and if he gets in at the expense of Bill Belichick for a year, then so be it. Unfortunately, and this is no knock on Ken, who I desperately hopes hope get in, who I desperately hope gets in. Easy for me to say, I just think Belichick's resume is so good, so beyond reproach, even with spygate. I don't know how you say no, but my take on this has been that I believe we've made Halls of Fame out to be more important than they actually are, and if you make them out to be less important, you don't emphasize them enough. Bill Belichick's resume is awesome. It's awesome. With or without Hall of Fame. You cannot talk about this sport's history. You can't talk about the NFL in the twenty first century without recognizing what Bill Belichick coach teams accomplished. By the way. Similarly, you also can't talk about Bill Belichick's coaching career without mentioning Spygate. I would talk about it without mentioning deflate gate because that was a nothing burger. But you can't help but mention spygate. Dude got fined to half a million bucks. It caused the Patriots a draft pick, like it was a thing. But my overall take, I have felt this way for a while that if you listen to people talk about the let's make it about football and baseball, because we have a Major League Baseball team here and an NFL team here. If you hear people talk about those two institutions, they make them sound like these mythical places that they're not. And I've been to both many, many many years ago. I would go again. If somebody's like, hey, road trip up to Canda, go check out the Hall of Fame, I'd say, cool, let's go like. Nothing against those buildings, nothing against those institutions, nothing against the people who run them, nothing against Hall of Fame inductions, Hall of Fame induction ceremonies. For me, I watch every year in the three sports I care about most, I love Hall of Fame induction speeches. Hall of Fame induction speech where you have somebody at the pinnacle of their profession who usually speak with such great humility. They tell stories about the people who help them get there. They're usually filled with such gratitude, which people in this day and age rarely express to the degree they should. Hall of Fame induction speeches are awesome. But I just feel like one of the reasons why we get so worked up about who does and doesn't get in is we've made those institutions, those museums, to be bigger and more important than they are. We've made them out to be these institutions that validate someone's career. Bill Belichick's career doesn't need validating, Neither do most all time greats. By the way, Bob Huggins is not in the University of Cincinnati's Athletics Hall of Fame. Bob Huggins now were there things that occurred during Bob's sixteen year run at UC that weren't great? Of course? Did it end in maybe one of the ugliest public divorces in the history of Cincinnati sports? Not even maybe? Yes? Was that dude's body of work incredible? Can you tell the story of U SEE Athletics without spending considerable time on Bob Huggins and his teams and what they accomplished and the amount of people they turned into UC fans myself included. That guy's not in the Hall of Fame, James P. Kelly Athletics Hall of Fame, you see, is extraordinarily cool. I'm honored to know and work with some Hall of Fame inductees, extraordinarily proud. Tony Pike, Dan Horde, Jim Kelly, a lot of former basketball and football players that I've watched, some of whom I've gotten to know. But I don't need UC's Hall of Fame to tell me how great Bob Huggins was, how impactful he was at that school, how much he meant to that basketball program, how much he meant to sports in this area. I don't need it. If he gets in, awesome, I'll be thrilled for him, as I was thrilled when he got inducted into the National Basketball Hall of Fame. But think about that, one of the two or three people who has most identified or who the school's athletic department is most identified with, is in the National Basketball Hall of Fame. It's not in UC's. Maybe there's good reasons for that. I don't know. I wrote about it once for Bearcat Journal dot com. Some folks that you see who are no longer there got mad at me. Okay, fine, maybe he's in one day, maybe he's not. I would put him in. I don't need UC's Athletics Hall of Fame, as cool as it is, to validate Bob Huggins and tell me what he did and didn't do. Joey Vado should be in Cooper soown. As far as I'm concerned, I understand the case is maybe not as open and shut as I would like for it to be. If he doesn't get in, and I think he will, might not get in the first ballot, I don't need a bunch of baseball writers to validate Joey Vado's career. By the way, neither does Joey Vado himself, So I didn't say we shouldn't have them, would never say that we should have them. They're fun there. They usually appropriately celebrate the inductees and the sports that they're the Hall of Fame of. But you listen to people get worked up, like in this day and age, we're addicted to outrage and anger, and so you know, you and I both know there are folks, especially on the Internet, who, like every waking moment, is looking for something to be angry about. And the Bill Belichick snub earlier this week gave those people their hit, Like, Okay, cool, I need something to be angry about this. I can be angry about this for five minutes and then I'll move on to something else. Like I understand how that works too, But I believe if we lessen the importance of these Halls of Fame, we won't get as angry. I think a lot of us as sports fans, are looking for these voters to, like, you know, give a stamp of approval to athletes that we love. I thought it was awesome when Barry Larkin got into Cooperstown, my all time favorite baseball player, badly wanted to go, badly wanted to go to that induction ceremony, remember carving out time for the induction in twenty twelve. But when he didn't get in, I didn't feel any less about Barry Larkin. When he did get in, I didn't feel any better about what I watched for eighteen years and how I wore number eleven because he did. And I almost feel like we have folks who are looking for the Hall of Fame's validation, Like I don't know, man, I kind of believe in life, don't look for someone else's validation. You don't need it. Bill Belichick does not need the Hall of Fame's validation, Barry Bonds doesn't need the Hall of Fame's validation, and know neither does Pete Rose.
00:44:33
Speaker 6: That's it.
00:44:35
Speaker 2: No one's saying don't have Halls of Fame. Hall of Fame discussions can be some of the most fun and lively you can have. I wish they were done sometimes with a little bit more civility. I wish they were done at times with folks speaking with more information behind their argument. But those are some who which sports fan hasn't done that sat with their buddies over a cold one debating the Hall of Fame merits of people. My best friends and I we've done that. Man. I have a very good friend of mine. He and I were talking about Cecil Cooper's Hall of Fame bonafides two weeks ago over dinner. Like, I enjoy those discussions, but I just think the the the institutions themselves, we have made out to be bigger and more important than they actually are. They're museums. They're they're they're they're they're nice museums. There are museums that are fun to visit. They're museums. There's no reason to make those museums mythical or sacred. And like I and maybe a different type of sports fan that I view a lot of things as not sacred that a lot of people do view as sacred. Right, Like, whenever there's some sort of you know, massive change in a sport rule change, it's you know, it's treated as it's you know. I remember when the National League had to adopt the d H a number of years ago. I mean, there were folks who thought, like they would make you believe a pitcher getting to hit was like some sacred thing, and I'm like, it's a game with a rule change, a nothing sacred about watching a pitcher strike out. Nothing sacred about any of this stuff, nothing sacred about a Hall of fame, so less than the importance to some of this stuff. And I think as a sports fan, you'll be a lot happier. And at the end of the day, isn't that what we all want, just to be happier. I think the answer is yes. Five point three thirty uh at Moegger on Twitter thanks to Delta Dental, Delta Dental is building healthy, smart, vibrant communities for Augna Delta Dental, oh dot com Rapine with an off season overview here in UH just about forty five minutes looking forward to that. Nobody wanted to coach the Browns. Apparently nobody wants to coach the Raiders either. There are lessons there. We'll get to that, and we'll spend a few minutes on Joey Vado as well. On ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.
00:47:00
Speaker 3: Station, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.
00:47:05
Speaker 4: Traffic from the UC Health Traffic Center. With a stroke, every second counts, and so does your team home to rapid life saving treatment and clinical trials, you see health as the clear choice for stroke care learn more at ucehealth dot com. Southbound seventy one before the light Old Tunnel police are on the scene of a disabled vehicle that's blocking off the right lane. Traffic is backed up to Martin Luther King Drive. It's a ten minute delay. Northbound seventy one approaching Fight for Road. It's an accident blocking the right lane. I'm at ezelic with traffic.
00:47:37
Speaker 3: This report is sponsored.
00:47:39
Speaker 2: One would argue successfully that I have babbled long enough, so we're going to talk to other people. Five one three, fifteen thirty is our fun?
00:47:51
Speaker 7: Uh?
00:47:52
Speaker 2: What do we have here? Joe? You're on ESPN fifteen thirty. Joe, go ahead, good afternoon. How are you? I'm doing a lot.
00:47:58
Speaker 6: How about yourself?
00:48:00
Speaker 2: Never been better in my life, Joe, what's up?
00:48:03
Speaker 7: Hey?
00:48:04
Speaker 8: I think the Hall of Fame would mean more if if your peers voted for you instead of sports writers. I don't think sports writers know enough about the sport to, you know, to have a vote. I think they should all get rid of their votes somehow.
00:48:23
Speaker 2: I don't know. I think they know a lot about the sport. Now, you know, when it comes to the Baseball Hall of Fame, when you when you get to some of the various committees. There are former players and Hall of famers who are often on those committees, and so they do have a say, I don't I don't know that the results, the overall results of Hall of Fame voting would be that much different if we had players or former players voting versus writers.
00:48:51
Speaker 8: You don't see, I do I think that.
00:48:53
Speaker 2: No.
00:48:53
Speaker 8: I think they're way more knowledgeable about the intricacies of the sports, what it takes to get to those as oppose those people like you and I or sports writers.
00:49:02
Speaker 2: Of Yeah, I don't think there's any denying that. But I think when it comes to like looking at one player's resume versus other contemporaries or other players, let's say it's baseball. Let's say it's you know, you're looking at a at a third basement. All right, well, let's let's let's look at his resume versus other third basement in the Hall of Fame, versus other third basement that he played against. Let's let's consider some of the contextual factors involved here, like you know, how how much he actually helped his team win. Maybe look at some of the mitigating factors that he may have had to overcome. I think for the most part, I think, for the most part, the writers do a good job. Now, I think there are some rules that even they would push back at when it comes to Hall of Fame voting that limit the number of people you could check off. I think the Pro Football Hall of Fame's ballot it has Ken Anderson against Bill Belichick. It's silly to do that. I don't know that the writers necessarily do a bad job, and I don't know that you would get dramatically different results if we had athletes. You will still have personal biases, You might even have some grudges based on competing with one athlete head to head. I certainly wouldn't be opposed to expanding the voter base, but I don't know why it has to be either or why can't it be you know, let's again, let's say in baseball, why wouldn't a guy like Bob Costas have a vote? Why wouldn't a guy like the late Joe Morgan when he was still commentating on games, Why why wouldn't he have the same vote that a baseball writer does before it went to a veterans committee or something like that.
00:50:48
Speaker 6: Okay, thanks for checking my call.
00:50:50
Speaker 2: Appreciate it, Joe anytime. Thank you for listening, Thanks for checking in. Five point three seven four nine, fifteen thirty. Matthew, you're on ESPN fifteen thirty.
00:51:01
Speaker 7: Yeah, why don't we just let the fans vote for the Hall of Fame.
00:51:04
Speaker 9: Then we could get Shador Sanders.
00:51:06
Speaker 6: In the Hall of Fame too one day.
00:51:08
Speaker 9: Yeah, yeah, yeah, you know what I'm angry at, though, I'm angry at all the people. I'm angry at all the people that are angry that Belichick didn't get in first ballot because the reason he's not getting in correct me if I'm wrong, is he affected negatively the integrity of the game by spy game, he cheated, and you know, arguably the best coach all time. But I don't hear any of these talking heads coming up to bat. You know, pun intended for Pete Rose getting in the Hall of Fame posthumiously. I mean, yes, he infected the tag, he affected the integrity of baseball by gambling on it, but he says that he didn't affect the outcome of the games. So I don't know if that was ever proven or not.
00:51:54
Speaker 6: I don't think it was.
00:51:56
Speaker 9: So it is something that yes, he gambled on the game, but Dave affect the outcome of the game like Spygate affected the Greatest Show on Turf ending by recording their practices.
00:52:08
Speaker 6: I don't know.
00:52:09
Speaker 9: I don't understand why everybody up in arms over Bill Belichick not getting in first ballot. He's gonna get in, But it just seems kind of contradictory and a little hypocritical in my you know, high I'm hyperbolic like everybody else these days. I get mad at the drop of the hat. You know, I have to wait, I have to wait on Bold to get on the air with you.
00:52:32
Speaker 6: It makes me mad.
00:52:33
Speaker 7: So you know, it's one of those things.
00:52:36
Speaker 2: So I think, let me let so a couple of things here are. Here are some differences. First of all, it's it would be inaccurate to say that nobody's up in arms about Pete Rose not being in the Hall of Fame. I think you and I both know there's a lot of people up in arms about people in the Hall of Fame, built built. Bill Belichick is eligible to be voted on. Pete Rose has never been eligible to be voted on. Now that's gonna change next year, I think, in a year and a half in the winner of twenty seven to twenty eight. But to this point, like Bill Belichick was at least put on a ballot, Pete Rose has never been put on a ballot. It's a very fair discussion as to whether or not had he ever been on a writer's ballot he would have gotten the seventy five percent of votes. My guess is he would not have. But at least the voters have had a crack at Bill Belichick. With Pete Rose, they've had no crack at him. Baseball does have a character clause. In my opinion, Baseball should not have a Baseball's Hall of Fame should not have a character clause. And the thinking for me is baseball writers are good at telling us who the best baseball players are. They're not good at telling us who the best people are. Football has no character clause. Now, you also said something like I don't love painting with a broad brush. There have been there have been two writers that I have seen that have explained why they didn't vote for Belichick, and their rationale was not so much Spygate, although they considered it it was. There are people like else Greenwood, Ken Anderson, and Roger Craig on the ballot who have been waiting forever. You know, we're talking about players who have been out of the game for decades, decades. And the explanation was, and this does have merit, but the explanation was, these three men have been waiting forever. This is Bill Belichick's first crack at it. I want to ensure that these three guys get in, and then Belichick will get in next year. I don't necessarily know that that would be my approach. I frankly don't think that those three guys should be on the same ballot as Bill Belichick. But I think when you're talking about as many as or as few as eleven people not voting for Belichick, chances are there was someone who said Spygate did it for me. It would be unsurprising if there's someone who said Bill Belichick was a jerk to me at a press conference. It would be unsurprising if someone said, I just don't think there should be anybody on the first We haven't had a first ballot coach in a very long time. I'm not putting a coach on my ballot when it's his first crack at it. I don't know that there's any one reason, but are there some voters potentially who said I'm gonna hold the spygate thing against him. Sure? What I wish is there would be a level of transparency that told us why each who each person voted for, and then you know, if pressed, they can give us an explanation as to why.
00:55:29
Speaker 6: Well, let me ask you this.
00:55:30
Speaker 7: Let me just say this before I get off.
00:55:33
Speaker 9: My personal belief is the writers that didn't vote for him are haters because they're jealous of him Dayton, that beautiful woman, Jordan Hudson.
00:55:41
Speaker 6: So I'll leave it at that.
00:55:45
Speaker 2: Let me tell you, Matthew, thank you for the phone call. Have a great weekend. If jealousy was a guiding force behind someone's Hall of Fame ballot, nobody would ever get into the Hall of Fame. Look, man, I understand the explanation that some of the writers have offered, which is I wanted to vote in Anderson and Roger Craig and Else Greenwood, all three I believe should have been in the Hall of Fame a long time ago. Ken Anderson obviously around here we all love and want him to get in. I think it's ridiculous I was actually surprised when I saw that Roger Craig wasn't in the Hall of Fame a few years ago, because I assumed he was, like you talk about, like one of the dominant players of his era, and maybe the shelf life wasn't as long, but holy Crappy was good. I just think like Belichick's resume as such that you don't look at him and say no, even if you're doing something relatively noble to say yes to three people who have waited too long. But like again, it's you're not as angry about it if you lessen like the Pete Rose thing. I don't know if Pete Rose is going to get to Cooperstown when it's finally his era's turned to be up for induction. I don't know that he's gonna get enough votes because you can't find you can barely find enough people to agree that it's cold outside. You talk about, like the most polarizing topic in sports in decades has been on Pete Rose, his Hall of Fame eligibility, his Hall of Fame candidacy, his Hall of Fame worthiness. So we're gonna get enough people to say yes to him? I am very skeptical that that's gonna be the case. How I look at it is like the forty two, one hundred and fifty six hits happened, the twenty three big league seasons happened. Being the face of a generationally great team in the seventies happened. Being the athlete of the nineteen seventies happened. Batting titles happened, World Series MVP, Regular Season MVP. Those things happened. The records happened. As a fan, I don't need a bunch of Cooperstown voters to validate what happened. How I feel about Pete Rose, the player is not going to change based on whether or not he's voted into a museum where he gets a plaque that's probably not even gonna look like him in a museum hall that most of us are never going to walk into. Yes, we should have halls of fame, of course we should, but they're not these sacred, mythical places that we make them out to be. That's it. He's speaking of Joey Vado, future Hall of Famer. He's now a future NBC broadcaster, or he's at least close to being one. And I think that's interesting. See if you do as well. Plus, more of your phone calls are coming up on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.
00:58:56
Speaker 3: Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty traffic.
00:59:01
Speaker 4: From the UC Health Traffic Center With a stroke Every second counts and so does your team home to rapid life saving treatment and clinical trials. You see health as the clear choice for stroke care. Learn more at ucehealth dot com. Southbound seventy one after Ronald Reagan Highway, it's an accident blocking the right lane. Also southbound seventy one before the light Old Tunnel, a disabled vehicle that one blocking the right lane. And on eastbound State Route one thirty one, an accident at Highland Terrace. I'm at ezelic with traffic.
00:59:32
Speaker 3: This report is Sponsoredvicestation Wow.
00:59:36
Speaker 2: Sports headlines are a service to Kelsey chevro Light home of lifetime power train protection and guarantee credit approval from their family to yours for life kelseyshev dot com. Joe Flacco has been added to the AFC roster for the twenty twenty six Pro Bowl Games. First career Pro Bowl selection for Joe Flacco. The Pro Bowl Games are gonna happen in San Francisco on Tuesday. Congratulations to Joe Flacco and Duke Tobin, who, of course you might not know this traded for Joe Flacco. College basketball Tonight on ESPN fifteen thirty. MKU was on the road against Detroit Mercy tip off at seven pregame at six thirty on ESPN fifteen thirty. Also tonight, Saint Louis twenty and one will host the Dayton Flyers. Tomorrow's Cincinnati's at Houston at noon, Xavier host of Paul at one, Ohio States at Wisconsin. Miami will host Northern Illinois at three thirty Derek Harper's and we're still working on perhaps a Derek Harper interview, which not Derek Ron Harper I had nix on the brain. Ron Harper, of course, is the all time greatest Miami Redskin. Apologies to Wally's Rbiak, who's number two. Working on Ron Harper. Perhaps one day next week we'll see Miami in Northern Illinois tomorrow at three thirty. I use that UCLA, Kentucky is on the road against Arkansas. Tip off at six thirty, pregame at five on ESPN fifteen thirty. Yes, I made a mistake on the radio called Ron Harper, Derek Harper, I won't, I won't do that if we get him on. What else do we have? The Cincinnati Cyclones play hockey tonight at home on Bank Giveaway Night. Banks look cool taking on Fort Wayne Puck drops seven point thirty Mattne's Tomorrow and Sunday. Blue Jackets skate on the road tonight. Jackets are playing well one seven of eight on the road tonight against the Chicago Blackhawks. Joey Vado is reportedly pretty close to signing with NBC to be a part of their Major League Baseball broadcasts. I think that will be awesome. There was a side of Joey Vado's personality that he exhibited over his last five six years that we didn't see the first ten twelve or so, including some time in the booth doing some TV when he was injured toward the end of his time here. And I think he's going to be terrific. You're talking about somebody who's deeply analytical, very honest, it's got a good sense of humor, and you sort of gather we'll take his craft seriously, you know, is he going to be as bigger than life as some broadcasters feel they need to be, and as many do need to be. We'll see, but I think we'll actually be excellent. We'll see, we'll see. Hopefully the deal gets done. Uh, Mike waiting patiently. You're on ESPN fifteen thirty. Mike, Good afternoon. How are you? Mike, good afternoon? How are you well? I hope he's okay. Mike good at one more shot at it? Mike, good afternoon, how are you.
01:02:56
Speaker 7: I'm good? Wrong button, I hit the button. Sorry, well, never hit the wrong button. Well, I just had chemo orlayers. I kind of wigged. But anyway, thanks for taking my call, tearing. You're a gentleman as well.
01:03:14
Speaker 6: Hey, by the.
01:03:15
Speaker 7: Way, when you went to Oxford the other night, did you happen to drive down? I guess it's Main Street and there was used to be an infamous bar there called the Boar's Head. Did you happen to.
01:03:29
Speaker 6: Buy that place?
01:03:31
Speaker 2: I did not know.
01:03:33
Speaker 7: I did not, Okay, yeah, famous place. I don't know if it's still there. I remember. Do you remember a group from Cincinnati called the Women Pipers that did a song called My Green Tambourine. I can't say that I do yeah, famous song it was, you know, on the charts and all that stuff. Yeah, it was a local group from Adahaide Park. Yeah, the Goshlyn Brothers, very famous. You were talking about uh oh something and uh, I remember an impression on you. Well, no, it's just my memory is not that good, moll right now, it's trying to be.
01:04:13
Speaker 2: But I understand.
01:04:14
Speaker 7: I remember. I remember years ago, uh, when I was back for a while to sin and I would go down to the syndicate there in Newport. I don't know if it's still there. It might be right across from the tea spell. And I used to see Hugs come out of there quite a bit at night, feeling his oats, shall we say, And he was right as a gentleman. But Hugs was Hugs like the party a little bit, that's for sure. There was no question a Hug like the party.
01:04:45
Speaker 2: There is no denying that.
01:04:48
Speaker 7: But so what, I don't care, so so.
01:04:50
Speaker 2: So do we?
01:04:50
Speaker 7: So I ain't can anybody?
01:04:53
Speaker 2: Yes, I tell you, let me tell you something, Mike, if if, if, if you see me walking out of an establishment about twelve thirty this evening, you'll be able to say the same thing about.
01:05:02
Speaker 7: Me exactly Yeah, I love your humility. It's good. Bo. I heard jim I hate I'm done with this Belichick thing. But I did hear Jimmy Johnson say that his teams used to try to do the deplay thing and that it was happening around the league. Those guys got caught. Whatever, Who cares, I'll move on. How about uh, how today was really funny at the Australian Open. Not that well, there are tennis fans in Cincinnati. I know there are a lot of them. Yeah, and yes, today we had today we had listen to it for a byeline. Today we had the Center versus the Joker.
01:05:42
Speaker 2: Oh how about that? Did you? Were you up in the middle of the night watching Jokovic versus Cinner.
01:05:49
Speaker 7: You're damn right.
01:05:50
Speaker 8: I was.
01:05:51
Speaker 7: That was and very Roker pulled it out. Yeah, I was, man, it was. I couldn't sleep. I was uncomfortable. It was Oh the jokers just because he's not a kidnapped brother and and centers the deal. But I thought it was cool. They McEnroe said, it's the Center versus the versus the Joker.
01:06:11
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, so we're gonna get We're gonna get the Joker versus Alcaaz, right, yep, ye, Well, yeah, he's very he's very very young, but he's a he's a great player, right, so he's yeah, that's gonna be a great final. So you watched all five? What time did that wrap up? What time did that end?
01:06:35
Speaker 7: Boy? It was after four o'clock in the morning. I know that. Yeah, I know it was after four and it might have been later. Sun might have been coming up. I never know. See.
01:06:51
Speaker 2: Yeah, Okay, I go ahead, Like what else is on your mind?
01:06:55
Speaker 7: I hurt. Well, I got a bunch of stuff, So I'm trying to fly through there, just as what's so there? The Super Bowl does sell so many tickets and revenue and stuff. But this guy heard today talking about the World Cup. They're gonna sell a billion tickets worldwide for the World Cup. A billion tickets. That's Super Bowls to the various World Cup events, soccer events.
01:07:25
Speaker 2: Mathematically, how's that going to work? They're playing in football stadiums in North America. There aren't enough games for the for the attendance to equal a billion.
01:07:34
Speaker 7: Well, I don't know. I didn't hear the details, but his point was that the revenue from the wall how many people.
01:07:40
Speaker 2: I mean there might be a there might be a Yeah. I mean it's a worldwide event, like I but like revenue. I mean, first of all, forget a billion. Yes, the World Cup is more than one game. It's played at what twelve or thirteen different venues in North America. If it didn't dwarf the Super Bowl, I would say that that was a major upset. But I don't know that a billion people are going to attend soccer games in North America. I don't know off the top of my head how many World Cup games there will be. But if you took that number and multiplied it by the capacity, the average capacity of all the venues, you're not going to get a billion people.
01:08:22
Speaker 7: Yeah. Well, my problem is I know zero about soccer. I just heard the guy say it, and then they talked about it for a while, and I thought, well, I know he's not, you know, making this stuff up. I just I just thought I'd run to buy.
01:08:34
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it'll be I think it'd be cool to have that. I think it'll be cool to have that event on North American soil. And I'll just say that I hope everybody who attends has a really good time.
01:08:48
Speaker 7: I do too, I want to get to the Billickins in just a second. But before that, I told Tony and them Today I don't know if you heard it. So the other morning somehow that Today O was on. I don't watch you know, I flipped it on once a while and John they were gonna have John coug Mellencamp coming on their show soon to his upcoming tour or whatever. And he's on a treadmill, though, Mellencamp's on a treadmill smoking smoke.
01:09:15
Speaker 2: He was he was smoking a cigarette while he was on a treadmill.
01:09:22
Speaker 7: Oh yeah, and as nonchalant about it as you could imagine.
01:09:26
Speaker 6: And he was.
01:09:27
Speaker 7: They were talking to him with a little interview, and he was he had his cigarette. This guy I.
01:09:36
Speaker 2: Like, I like, I missed that. I liked. I like to watch it Today show. I like Savannah Guthrie.
01:09:41
Speaker 7: Yeah, she just got over some big, big throat deal. She had to have surgery to get her voice larynx prepaired or whatever. Yeah, she's a sweetheart. She's a lawyer, you know, she's an attorney. Yes, the Saint Louis Billickins. What a wonderful story. And you know what, it takes me back to and I know you don't like it when we go back in the old days because you're forty four and you're old, but you're still young.
01:10:05
Speaker 2: But in the ocean, go ahead.
01:10:09
Speaker 6: In the old.
01:10:09
Speaker 7: Missouri Valley Conference, it was Ucy, Louisville Ulsa, the Golden Hurricane, the Wichita State wheat Chokers, the Saint Louis Bullikans, the Drake Bulldogs with McCoy McLamore, who for some reason sticks out in my mind, but nobody knows the nickname. I've asked twenty five people today if they knew the mascot of the of Saint Louis and they said no. And I bet most people hang.
01:10:38
Speaker 2: On the second. So wait, wait, hang on a second here. So have you really talked to twenty five people today?
01:10:46
Speaker 7: Yeah? At a hospital. I talked to fifty people today at a hospital.
01:10:49
Speaker 2: There's only people walking around, like six all right, So okay, So folks are walking by and you go, hey, excuse me, let me ask you a question. They go, yeah, what's up? You go, what is the name of the man Scott of Saint Louis University. That's that's the conversation starter.
01:11:03
Speaker 7: I go, yeah, I was getting a CT scan today and I asked a couple of the people getting ready to do my CT scan, I said, you like basketball? I said yeah, I said, you ever heard of the team from Saint Louis College bascall, Do you know the nickname?
01:11:17
Speaker 4: No?
01:11:18
Speaker 7: Of course they were all.
01:11:21
Speaker 2: Cincinnati. They don't know the name of the Pulicans.
01:11:24
Speaker 7: Oh no, I'm not here in Cincinnati anymore. I'm back out in California. Oh God, that's right.
01:11:31
Speaker 2: So sometimes sometimes so when I when I you know, when I was in my my, my, my ultimate years of fandom with U see basketball in the nineties, you see in the Billickins had some great games. Ninety five great Midwest Conference Tournament title game, the first conference tournament I ever traveled to. I was a senior in high school. You see played Saint Louis in the title game. Lazelle Durton, the gun Slinger, my favorite all time. You see nickname the gun Slinger. Lazelle Durden makes a shot with two point one seconds to go. Saint Louis had a kid named Irwin Claggett, very good guard. Irwin catches a pass at about the free throw line and unfurls a mid court jumper, a heave more than a jumper, and it hits the front of the rim, it almost goes in. So if you're a Bearcat fan, like as I am, the Saint Louis Billickins hold a very soft spot in your heart because you see, in Saint Louis played in a lot of really fun games. They had back in the day, guys like Scott Himark and h Waldman and then later on Larry Hughes who went on to have a really successful NBA career. Larry Hughes was a heck of a player. But they had they had Charlie spoon Oer, Charlie Spoonower. Charlie Spoonauer was the coach, and he and Bob Huggins were best friends, and they would do shows with each other, in the postgame show with each other, and it was awesome. And he had some really, really, really good teams in Saint Louis. And I've been and you see in Saint Louis haven't been in the same conference now for a very long time. They were in the Great Midwest together, they were in Conference USA together. But I've been to you see Saint Louis games in in st in the Missouri Valley. I've been to some UC Saint Louis games in Saint Louis, and when the Billickans are good, that town shows up. And now they're good, they're a point away from being undefeated. Uh, they've They've got Josh Shirtz who had been the head coach at Indiana State when they were really good a couple of seasons ago, and he has that program as right now the best one in the Atlantic Ten. They take on the Dayton Flyers tonight. And yes, if you're a Cincinnati fan, chances are you have a very soft spot in your heart for the Saint Louis Billickans because of the games that you see in Saint Louis played and so not so much out there in LA. But you ask any basketball fan here what's Saint Louis's mascot, they will spit it out instantly. It's the Billickins.
01:13:57
Speaker 7: I just earlier, when you brought that up, I was so happy because I was unaware of it, and then I thought, that's really cool. Moe brought up to Saint Louis Milligan is that that's a Catholic school, isn't it? I believe it is.
01:14:08
Speaker 2: It is it is a Catholic school.
01:14:10
Speaker 7: I don't know if it's Franciscan or Jesuit. I'm not sure about that. But I'm surprised they're not in the Big East. I'm surprised they never went in the Big East because everybody in the Big East is a pretty much Catholic school, I think, isn't it.
01:14:23
Speaker 2: Uh, everyone except Yukon. There's a politician in Missouri and one in Ohio who are partnering to try to get Saint Louis and Dayton the Big East. I don't think that that's that that's gonna happen, you, Mike. I always enjoy hearing from you.
01:14:36
Speaker 4: Yeah.
01:14:37
Speaker 7: Sure.
01:14:37
Speaker 2: As a Dayton grad, Yeah, i'd go from the the Atlantic ten to the Big East. I don't think it's gonna happen, but I think it would be cool if it did. All right, Mike, It's always good to hear from you. Have a have a have a great weekend. Not away from four o'clock. Uh. The James Rapine off season Overview is coming up at five oh five on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.
01:15:02
Speaker 5: Station Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.
01:15:07
Speaker 4: Traffic from the UC Health Traffic center with a stroke. Every second counts and so does your team home to rapid life saving treatment and clinical trials. You see health as the clear choice for stroke care. Learn more at ucehealth dot com. Southbound seventy one before the light Ole Tunnel, the right lane blocked off from a disabled vehicle. About a ten to fifteen minute to lay back from Martin Luther King Drive, Police and to Cruz are there on Sena as well and don Montana Avenue exitent at McFarlane Road at Ezelk with traffic.
01:15:39
Speaker 1: Gans To win one thousand dollars, just enter this nationwide keyword on our website.
01:15:44
Speaker 3: Happy.
01:15:45
Speaker 2: That's happy. Enter it now. So, who is the player we most want the Bengals to side in free agency? And who is the player we most want the Bengals to take? Who's there with the tenth overall pick? We're going gets to those questions and more with our guy James Rapine in just a few minutes plus later on this hour, the unsponsored Weekend tip Off as we roll through all of this weekend's area college basketball games, including one you'll hear tonight on ESPN fifteen thirty with NKU on the road against Detroit Mercy pregame at six thirty, tip off at seven o'clock with Jim Kelch and Rick Brooring. So this is something that James Repine and I have done every year for a while where we wait a few weeks after the season ends and a few weeks before the offseason can really begin, and we kind of run through all the different offseason storylines and I'm sure we'll leave some out, but we'll hit all the big ones. James is with us, you know his work, of course from being a part of this station ESPN fifteen thirty. But more than anything, the Locked On Bengals podcast entered the Jungle Bengals Talk dot com. It's awesome to have you. Did I leave anything out?
01:16:56
Speaker 6: I don't think so. Probably, but I don't think so. I think you covered it pretty very good.
01:17:01
Speaker 2: All right, Well, there's there's a lot for you and I to cover. I'll start with the question of the week. Are you ready?
01:17:06
Speaker 6: I'm ready?
01:17:08
Speaker 2: Who is the best coach in the AFC North Mike McCarthy.
01:17:12
Speaker 6: Mike McCarthy, and I don't understand why everybody's pretending like Mike McCarthy hasn't won sixty one percent of his games there was love a coach that wins sixty one percent of his regular season games. And I'm not saying the Bengal should have fired Zach Taylor, that I or Mike McCarthy. With this idea that Mike McCarthy is somehow worse than Zach Taylor. Will show me where where that on paper makes any sense. So Mike McCarthy is the best head coach in the AFC North. I'm not sure it's close. That might not be the case a year from now, but today, my man Mike is certainly the guy at the top of the podium.
01:17:49
Speaker 2: You're going with my man Mike, Huh? Interesting, Well, yeah I am.
01:17:54
Speaker 6: I'm going with my man Mike because I feel like, for some reason he's become a social media punchline. And by the way, maybe that's deserved. But my non man, Sean Payton deserves plenty of criticism as well. And now we're getting into the NFL and you had me on the top Bengals, but Sean Payton is just as big of a loser in the playoffs and chokes so many of these big games away. And so yeah, Sean Payton, Mike McCarthy, Spider Man, mean same guy.
01:18:23
Speaker 2: Okay, very good. I like that very good, sort of sort of hot takey, which I like it. It's good. I don't necessarily think you're wrong, though. All Right, let's focus on the Bengals here a little bit. Let's start with I think what is the like, the the baseline test of whether the Bengals are going to be competent this offseason, and that's making a layup. Right, A layup is signed Dalton Reisner. He played well, makes up a good offensive line, says he wants to be here, doesn't want to sign late in the game anymore. Why has it not been done yet?
01:18:54
Speaker 6: Well, the Bengals always move a bit slower than we would like. I would say that that's that's certainly of it. And look, I think it does get done, and I'm not stunn that it's not done on January thirtieth. And I get why fans are focused on this because it's something we've been focused on. You've done that twenty sixteen, Like we've all looked back at twenty sixteen in that social media like that was when Kevin Nightley, that was his last year in Cincinnati. He leaves, and I was reminded of oh, my god. We've been talking about guard for the past decade, but not just the Joe Burrow era, but pre Joe Burrow era, guard has been an issue. And look, Dalton Reisner is a valuable piece because he brought stability to a spot that has been a revolving door. And A don't know why they didn't like him earlier in the game last year. It really never made sense to me. I don't know why he's bounced around the league. But here's why I think it gets done, even if it does go into the combine, maybe after the combine. The reason I I think it gets done, though, is because he wants to be here and the Bengals need him. It's a clear obvious hole if they don't bring him back, and why would you create a hole like that in a spot that isn't going to cost a ton. You're not gonna have to break the bank. He's not the top guard, the Joe Toney of the twenty twenty six free agent class, and so if that's the case and he's going to be reasonably priced, I just think it gets done. I'm confident it gets done. The only question is does this bleed into free agency. I hope. It's very Mike the Sicky light, and it doesn't get to free agency because if it does well, then obviously there's a chance he could end up elsewhere.
01:20:47
Speaker 2: If you had to wager an amount of money that matters to you on who the Bengals backup quarterback is going to be in twenty twenty six, who'd you say it'll be?
01:20:56
Speaker 6: Man this one? I'm so I'm more common don't Riisner returning than I am Joe Flacco? And it's it's not because it's not because really everyone focuses on how well Joe Flaco is going to have his options and all of those things. Fine, the Bengal's really going to spend on a backup quarterback? Like really, like, are they going to give Joe Flacco the Jared Stidham deal? Two years, twelve million dollars? I don't know if they're going to do that. A history would say probably not. I think back to the Carson Palmer days and then he wanted kit to this day, and I get it, Kittnes still wanted to start and all of those things. But like that, when the Bengals are spending on Joe Burrow, I think they're going to say, oh, well, we should use those resources elsewhere, and so that's what's interesting to me. I do think they'll bring in a veteran back up. Jake Browning does not count. He's restricted, could technically return. I don't know if that'll happen. I don't think that should happen unless it's that QB three. So the answer is, I don't know. I don't know who will be. I think it will likely be a veteran. But I'm gonna throw this out to you, MO, would you consider drafting one? I would. I know, I'm the drafts guy having a cost controlled backup that you think can run your offense. If you feel, let's say Dan Pitcher and Zach Taylor look and say, hey, this guy could do that, well, it wouldn't be bad having a rookie back there that you're confident in. And and so, for the first time in the Joe burrow Er, I do think that quarterback should realistically be on the table in the draft.
01:22:34
Speaker 2: Yes, because I'm looking for a better version of Jake Browning, a guy that I could perhaps stash, you know, have in my system, develop, teach, have Joe burrow mentor him for whatever that's worth, which I think is a lot, and then you know, invariably in a year or two, I've got my backup and I've got a guy that I've groomed, that has been in my system, that is a better version. Because look, Browning nothing against what he has accomplished, and what he did in twenty twenty three was great. He gets a lot of credit for that. He was an undrafted guy even when he had success here, you know, you had folks who are like man, you could trade Jake Browning. The league wasn't beating down the Bengals door to get him. The league understands what he is, and so is there a better version of him in the draft? If there is, and I assume there will be, I'm not opposed to the idea because if they accomplish what I think they can accomplish in free agency, and if they accomplish what they should accomplish early in the draft, then you know you could take a quarterback and have it not come at the expense of something. So I'm totally on board with the idea. I'm skeptical that they'll actually do it. You would know more about that than me, But I don't think that's a bizarre or sort of out of left field perspective. I actually think it's something that should be very much on the table.
01:23:53
Speaker 6: Yeah, and honestly I would still consider it even if you do bring back Flaka, and I think Flacco is going to cost He's a guy that I would around the combine, much like Riisener try to offer, say, hey, look do you get to throw to if Joe gets hurt, come be our backup this year, and what do we have to do to get this done. You don't have to show up for any of the voluntary stuff. If you want to spend time with family whatever. You know, if the Bengals should buy a riverfront place in northern Kentucky that Joe Flacco can live in, it's during the offsseeason, it's needed for the aussee at workouts like whatever. Like that's a valuable thing to have. Hey, go there, you don't have to stay in a hotel. Here's all the amenities like so I would still be on board with that, by the way. But yeah, the long term element of this is finding not AJ mccerrn, but sort of AJ mccarren, having a guy that when Andy went down, AJ was able to keep the ship sort of upright. Obviously you want the better version of that, and that's hard to find. But isn't that way Zach Taylor's. Isn't that what you wanted to keep Dan Pitcher is to be able to evaluate these guys. So yeah, I think quarterback is a need and it should very much be on the table in both circumstances, the free agency depending on who obviously Flaco, and then obviously the draft as well.
01:25:17
Speaker 2: Rank these three players in terms of off season contract extension priority, and if you want to add another player to this trio and take one out and feel free, I think you know where I'm going here, DJ Turner, Dax Hill, and Chase Brown.
01:25:34
Speaker 6: So I think most people would probably say DJ, and then backs are Chase or DJ, Chase Dax. I think about that fifty year option for Dax Hill and he's under contract, and I'm like, man, wouldn't it be nice to spread that caps it out a little bit? And I'm getting into the weaves of it a little bit. But that's how these angles need to think. They have a lot of holes, right, And so how do you create more cap space this year? Well, you could sign Dax he'll do an extension and rower that cap pit. And then maybe that's the difference between getting a Brian Cook, who I would very much be in on, and not and still being able to address these other players, these other spots. So when I look at it, Dax would be my priority, and it's because of his contract. I'm not saying he's better than DJ. The way DJ's trending and tracking. Yeah, you want to get his deal done as well, but he's on a second round rookie deal, and uh, even with the escalators and everything, he's gonna have like a three point six million dollar cap hit. So when you sign him to an extension, that's going to go up a little bit. So if you get backs done first, and I do think it might be easier to get backs done, we'll see. I don't know that for sure, but if you get backs done first, it creates more cap space. So I would prioritize Dax then DJ and honestly, Mal. It depends on what Chase wants and how realistic it is. Like, I'm not going double digit millions per year on a Chase Brown deal ten million, eleven million, twelve million. I'm just not doing it. And maybe that's foolish, but as of now, that's kind of where I'm at with it. If he wants to sign three for thirty on top of his year this year where he'll make three million, we'll then fine. But that's probably about as high as that I would take it.
01:27:33
Speaker 2: James Rapine locked on Bengals podcast Enter the Jungle in Bengals Talk dot com on Twitter of course at James Orpeen hang type. Because there's more I want to ask you about. We'll talk about the draft specifically, because I know that's going to be your thing. I actually have something I want to do, like every couple of weeks with you as a draft season unfolds. We'll do the unsponsored weekend tip off coming up as well. My name is Malweger. Thank you so much for spending part of your Friday afternoon with us on ESPN fifty thirty Cincinnati Sports.
01:28:01
Speaker 3: Station, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.
01:28:06
Speaker 4: Traffic from the UC Health Traffic Center with a stroke Every second counts, and so does your team home to rapid life saving treatment and clinical trials. You see help as the clear choice for stroke care. Leorre more at ucehealth dot com. Southbound seventy one. It's an accident on the off ramp to Fort Washington Way. Left lane blocked on the ramp out a five minute delay from Martin Luther King Drive as well, and traffic stop and go southbound seventy five from Western Avenue to Fort Washington Way.
01:28:35
Speaker 2: I'm at ezelic with traffic this report. Right around this time on Tuesday of next week, we're going to have a really good interview. I'm not going to jinx it by announcing who is going to be with, but you're gonna want to be here Tuesday, right around this time for what I think is going to be a really fun interview is football and college basketball related. I'll give you that hint, and if it all through, we'll have something else. Hey. Speaking of interviews, we put them all on the iHeartRadio app Chad Brendle yesterday and the Bearcats was absolutely terrific. James orpen Is also terrific. Locked on Bengals podcast Enter the Jungle of course, and Bengals Talk dot Com. You know, just dovetailing from what we talked about before the break the Chase Brown thing, right like, I love Chase Brown. Every Bengals fan loves Chase Brown. He's a terrific player, but I do understand like he is a running back. He's a running back in the past first offense, and while I don't want to make it sound like, you know, Chase Brown's or a dime, it doesn't. I feel like, in particular in this offense, what he brings to the table, he's not irreplaceable, And so I understand and actually share some of the hesitancy when it comes to not so much locking into him long term, but really making a heavy investment. I guess what you have to ask is is is Chase Brown, in the absence of a contract extension to be a headache or where's the headache going to come from? Because if there's one thing this franchise is really good at, it's kind of creating headaches during the offseason. So I guess I go there, right, like, where's the headache gonna come from? Is it gonna be Chase, Is it gonna be Dax, Is it gonna be DJ Turner? Is it gonna be somebody else?
01:30:20
Speaker 6: Chase Brown would probably be the most likely. I'm just thinking about how outspoken he is, right, and I love it. By the way, to finish map and game like that night mindset, that attitude that he had after the Denver game, how straight up he is. I could totally see him even with him making the rounds over the past week, Oh, my team's working hard on getting a deal, like Okay, well what's that deal look like? And I could totally see the scenario where you look around and Dax gets his deal. DJ gets his deal, And I think that's the far more important is to keep those two pieces on defense, the defense that doesn't have many pieces worth keeping or signing to a long term deal. Then going after a long term extension with Chase and so would that get ugly? Yeah, I mean he knows he's a running back. He knows what it could look like if he goes out there this year and doesn't perform as well and then is set to go to free agency. Like it's a tough spot to be in. And the last thing that I and the question that I would really ask myself upon the Bengals when I think about a Chase Brown extension is all right, well you paid tea and he's a pro bowler at the AFC and touchdowns obviously, Jamar is probably the best receiver in the game. Is Chase Brown in that class of player? If he Jamier gives is he the Jon Robinson and I think those are the two best running backs in the league right now. Christian McCaffrey would have something to say about it, and I'd get it. But those are the two? Or is he a tier below that? And if he's a tier below that, then you have your questions. Oh yeah, I think Chase Brown could potentially be the headache. I hope not, though, because if I'm him, I would look at it and say, man, I could have eighteen hundred yards from scrimmage in this offense. I could be I could show that I'm one of those dudes. If he does that, then he's probably getting plaid somewhere.
01:32:16
Speaker 2: Yeah, James the penis with us for another few minutes. Let's let's look ahead. So let's talk free agency. You mentioned a name you know selfishly and purely as a fan like Brian Cook is one of my all time favorite UC players. He's a guy that in Kansas City, even being a Bengals fan, I've rooted for and I've I've watched him go. From a guy that you know, there are a lot of folks that thought maybe the Chiefs reached when they took him in twenty twenty two, and he's blossomed. So if you could tell me I could have Brian Cook and that's the guy that I'm going to replace Geno Stone with. Hell yeah. But if I said to you today, with more than a month ago before the league year opens, the one free agent that would be at the very top of years, regardless of position, regardless of which side of the ball, name them. Who is it?
01:33:07
Speaker 6: Odafe Oway? And you're talking about a mid twenties pass rusher that maybe his betdis are in front of him. You could certainly say that I think he's the type of guy. Now he's, for my money, the top pass rusher when you consider age and Trey Hendrickson would would argue it's him, And I did it because today Trey is better. Over the next four years, which one would be better? Oha would be better? I think, So, yeah, that's the guy. And if you get a guy like that, and you have Miles Murphy and Shamar Stewart takes a step and you take it a couple of defensive linemen in the trap, Suddenly your defensive line room feels a lot different. So yeah, adafe Oa, he would be the guy. First rounder, has been productive, hasn't had crazy sax seasons, but you know you'll get you seven eight. Well, maybe this is the year he gets your twelve. Maybe this is the year he takes a lead, and so that would be the guy. Well, the Bengals swim in those waters. I'm not sure, but last year at this time they clearly should have been in on the Milton Williams of the world, the top defensive tackle, and he got paid a ton. But like, now's the time to go find that that piece, and in a weak free agent class overall, I think odafe Oa would be the guy. And even if you did get him, by the way, you can still get Brian Cook. You can still get whatever linebacker you're thinking of. These Bengals need to really push the envelope here now, and that means making significant additions, not just a oh well this fits this void, this fills that void. No, like real studs, they need to be swimming in those waters. Brian Cook is a stud at safety, That's why I mentioned him, and odafe Oa at defensive end would do wonders at pay Corse Stadium.
01:34:59
Speaker 2: So you're right, got to be aggressive. Aggressive. For me, being bold means you have new starting linebackers in twenty twenty six. What are the odds they actually do that after they've invested a year and two picks in Knight and Carter.
01:35:14
Speaker 6: Two new starting linebackers. Virtually low, very low. I would say, I think they should bring someone in. I think you're still open the drafting one too, and that might be the path to it. Let's say they bring in a Leos and all or in sort whoever to Mario Davis, let's say whatever, and that guy comes in and is starting. And then in the draft, Jacob Bradriguez is there in round three and that's probably where you'd have to take him. And he comes in and he's just ready to go, like he feels like Logan Wilson in twenty twenty where he can contribute right away and he's got the speed and the athleticism to cover and all those things. Well, then I can see it. But that was the problem with last year's draft, and that's what sucks, and that's why I've harked on it, and I've probably talked about Demetrius Night Junior more than anyone on the planet, maybe including his family. And it's unfortunate because it's not personal, but it really put the Bengals in a tough spot where now they're like, oh, well, we have this second rounder and Bart Carter is the one way in the green down. Bart Cautter is the one communicating and supposed to be this long term leader on the defense, And so they put themselves in an awkward spot where I do think one of those guys ends up starting. But I agree with you. You've got to get more, more physical, more proven, and just better linebackers.
01:36:37
Speaker 2: One more. I could ask you this question every week for the next twelve weeks and I might get a different answer. Who is your favorite possible pike at number ten overall?
01:36:48
Speaker 7: Oh?
01:36:49
Speaker 6: Man, Yeah, it's so early, and.
01:36:50
Speaker 2: I know it's early. I know you're just getting started.
01:36:53
Speaker 6: Yeah, no, I am no, but it's okay. It's a good one. It's to me the three guys that are just so intriguing right now and it's going to change and it's a popular three. But if you tell me that Caleb Downs can come in and just be this leader, this guy that knows where to go, can be versatile. Compare with Brian Cook and give you one of the best safety tandems in the league. And that would be my mindset. By the way, I wouldn't shy away from Caleb Downs just because you sign a safety and free agency and I'm making that very clear Bengals, So just so you know, and that doesn't mean Jordan Battle can't play. Somebody's at the end of his rookie deal. So that would be one. I'm going to talk about two other guys. Ruben Bain is just nasty. I mean, I know the arm lenk stuff, but you look at him and he's not Gino, Like that's not what I'm trying to say, but like Gino wasn't small. You know, Atkins wasn't small. He was short, and when you saw Gino, You're like, oh, well, it's just bowling ball. And I look at Rubyen Bain and I get it. He's not going to necessarily be a defensive tackle in the league. And though some think bad, but it's the same way, Like I don't think Ruben Bain is small. He's just a little shorter than the Bengals would usually go for in his arm length is an issue. Guess what. Guess who's arm length was an issue when he was being drafted Trey Henderson's and so I look at Ruben Bain and I think he'd be ready to go and contribute right away. And then the other one just juice as a pass rusher, David Bailey. He's not as physically imposing, just a guy that can get after the passer like you could use that, especially with the shamar Stewarts and Miles Murphy's of the world. That would fit. And so those are the three. If I had to pick one today, Mo, it would be Bain and I just one. I love the idea of Baine. Can you imagine the Dark Knight Rises clips that they could play at pay Course Stadium after he makes a sack like so that would be fun. And I just think he's got me the attitude and presence in my like it just it's fits. So if there was a guy today, Ruben Baine Junior out of Miami, if he's there at ten, you do the Bain dance and you you get up to the podium and you make that pick.
01:39:12
Speaker 2: In all seriousness Like that to me tells me they're they're getting away from leaning in on traits and looking more at what the dude puts on film, which was the big discussion after Shamar Stewart and and you're you're always gonna want to look at measurables. You're always going to be interested in in what kind of physical specimen you're investing in. But like if, if if the big discussion last year was lean into what's on film, then you're doing that with Ruben Bain. I love it. You've been awesome with your time. I appreciate it. I'm sure I'll bother you soon. Man, thanks so much.
01:39:44
Speaker 6: I didn't name a wide receiver at Ken they tuned. That could happen. You never know.
01:39:51
Speaker 2: We have three months. We have three months. Yes, trust me, I might do this. I might do this where like I like, I check with you. Let's maybe every two weeks just to go, okay, you know who is it this week? Maybe we'll do that. We'll see you're the man, Thanks so much.
01:40:08
Speaker 6: It would be a little prospect spotlight. I'm in. I appreciate you. MO see you too.
01:40:13
Speaker 2: That's our guy and alum of this show. James Orpene Enter the Jungle, the Locked On Bengals podcast and Bengals Talk dot Com. Paul Danner Junior if you need more of a Bengals fix with me. Earlier this week on the Mockoff Season was terrific. So were Chase Brown and t Higgins. Interviewed them both this week. You can find that interview, those interviews and so much more on the iHeartRadio app. Podcasts of this show or a service of Long Neck Sports Grill. You know you got three locations in northern Kentucky. You got Wilder, you got Hebrewn, you got rich Wood, and no better place to post up and watch college basketball this weekend. And if you are looking for a place to meet up with your buddies for a football game a week from Sunday, you know where to go. Long Nex Sports Grill stay long often. Speaking of college basketball, we will run through all of this weekend's games in the area on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.
01:41:07
Speaker 5: Station Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.
01:41:12
Speaker 4: Traffic from the UC Health Traffic Center With a stroke every second counts and so does your team home to rapid life saving treatment and clinical trials. You see health as the clear choice sports stroke care. Learn more at ucehealth dot com. Found to only one accident at the moment, It's on eastbound two seventy five after Ronald Reagan Highway blocking off the left lane. Police toe Cruz. They're on scene westbound two seventy five. Traffic slow between Springfield Pike and Winton Road. That's a three minute delay. I'm at ezelic with the traffic this week.
01:41:45
Speaker 2: See, I'm already getting text. Who's the interview gonna be with Tuesday? Right around five twenty? Who's it gonna be? I'm not gonna I don't believe in Jenson's. I don't believe in Jenson's. I'm not a superstitious person. I don't believe in announcer Ja says. You know, I went to the Miami basketball game on Tuesday night, and I was prepared if they lost that game, which for a brief while was at least a possibility, I was prepared to hear how I was a Jinx and I don't believe in Jinx's. I would not have been the reason. I'm not the reason they won, am I No? So I would not have been the reason they lost. Not that said, there's a good interview. I'm saying this because I haven't won thousand percent secured it. I've about ninety five percent secured it. But I think it's going to be a good interview and I'm looking forward to it. But I'm not gonna say who it is until I won thousand percent, no for sure, and then once I do, we'll let you know. It's time back by popular demand for the Unsponsored Weekend tip Off, a service of maybe your company tell your boss to call my boss, and you could sponsor the Unsponsored Weekend tip Off. Tonight on ESP fifteen thirty, NKU is at Detroit Mercy, first of back to back games in the state of Michigan in the Greater Detroit area for the Norse. NKU won this first matchup. Won the first match up between these two teams by twenty five points. The last couple of games, the Norse on the defensive end of the floor, remember it's not defensive side of the ball in basketball, on the defensive end of the floor have given up ninety two and eighty eight. Gave up eighty eight at Wright State on Saturday. The Norse shot fifty five percent in that game, which is typically good enough to get a win. They fell behind by seventeen points. They allowed the Raiders to shoot thirty six free throws. Not good enough. NKU is two and a half games at a first place in the Horizon League, trailing both Wright State and Oakland. The Norse play Oakland on Sunday, so a chance to gain a game headhead against the Grizzlies. First things first. NKU and Detroit Mercy in Detroit tonight, seven o'clock. Here's your tip off on ESPN fifteen thirty. Very quietly. The Saint Louis Billikins are twenty to one and they're a point away from being undefeated. Tonight they host the latest edition of the arch Baron Cup. Rivalry is the Dayton Flyers visit Saint Louis UD, looking to avoid its first four game losing streak in twelve years. Now. You know what they did twelve years ago. If you're a Dayton fan, you're nodding along. You know what they did twelve years ago? That's right, they made the Elite eight? Are they gonna make the Elite eight this year? I'll settle for a win at Saint Louis. If you haven't seen the Billickans yet, they play fast, which, let's be honest, that's not the Saint Louis brand going back decades. But they play fast, They're really good defensively. Dayton Hot and Cold win their first five A ten games, lose their next three A ten games. They blew a fifteen point lead the other night against Rhode Island. They tip off at eight o'clock tonight in Saint Louis. Tomorrow it's Cincinnati and Houston. I think if you're a Bearcat fan, you don't need me to remind you what happened in the first game. These two teams were tied at sixty three and a half to go. Bearcats never scored again. Kog's win sixty seven to sixty Kingston Fleming. If I was a fan of an NBA team that was going to have a top five pick, I would be watching Kingston Flemings closely had forty two in Houston's loss to Texas Tech. The Cougars bounce back the other night against TCU on the road with what just felt like the quintessential Houston game. I talk about the Cougars all the time. Look, they have stolen the Bearcats brand, right, But I think it's really hard. It's hard to have a program identity, Like if you're a UC fan, to me, for those nearly three decades where the Bearcats were NCAA tournament mainstays, there was a clear, constant, year in, year out identity. But I think it's a little bit easier to have that when you don't have unending roster turnover in a day and age of roster turnover has carved out an identity. You know in your mind's eye, you know what a Houston player looks like. Right. They're tough, they're fundamentally sound. They're awesome on both ends of the floor. There's not a lot of like offensive and defensive specialists in Kelvin Samson's program. They're smart. In recent years, they've gotten really good at running stuff. You think about when Houston first got good in the AAC, their offense was throw it up against the backboard and go get it. They can still go get it. The Bearcats saw that firsthand. But it's so interesting to me watching them. They had times use the entire shot clock and yet still get a good, not rushed, not panicked shot. So they're eighteen and two Bearcats have their hands full. Brenda talked about this with me yesterday. That first game at fifth third, it was there for the taking for Cincinnati. Do you get two chances like that. Hopefully the answer is yes. We'll find out tomorrow at twelve o'clock. You talk about games there for the taking, Xavier's last three, each one of them there for the taking, Creighton on the road, Saint John's here last Saturday, very much there for the taking, having an eleven point lead in Newark against Seaton Hall. Now, one thing that has happened with the Musketeers this year when they've lost a tough one, they typically have bounced back with at least a good effort. I heard Paul Frischner, our guy who we got to get on the show here soon, maybe next week, mister college basketball. I heard him say something to Mike Petrellia last night on Sports Talk down the Hall that I think is true with every Xavier basketball game, you have no idea what you're going to get. First time the Muskies played to Paul, they lost eighty six to seventy seven. Let's be honest. If you don't want this to unravel, you gotta get this one at home. Three straight losses behind you, road games in front of you against Yukon and Saint John's. Tip off at one o'clock tomorrow Louisville has mckel brown back. They were throttled over the final thirty minutes against Duke the other night. I am not entirely sure of what to make of Louisville's team. Early in the season. You would watch him in Burst and believe with that backcourt, Final four caliber team. I've watched him in Burse obviously at times with that mcl brown and I've thought, I'm not sure that's an NCAA tournament team. We'll see if they bounce back tomorrow against smu. Ohio State is a very quiet fourteen and six and a very quiet six and four in the Big Ten. They take on Wisconsin. Bruce Thornton's one of those guys that it feels like he's been playing college basketball for a thousand years. I think they have a really talented starting five. You just wait for a little bit more from the buck Eyes. Perhaps we see it tomorrow. Indiana coming off that big win over Purdue, We'll take on UCLA tomorrow. Miami looks for a twenty second consecutive win to start the season. Big day tomorrow at Malett Hall. The great Ron Harper is going to be in attendance, getting an honorary degree, Redhawk's taking on Northern Illino, looking to remain unbeaten, looking to improve to twenty two to zero. This is my It's not even a hot take. First of all, remember the Buffalo game a week and a half ago where they nearly lost. They go play the Bulls on Tuesday. So before we talk about an undefeated finish, two things have to happen. One, Travis Steels team has to play better defense. He admitted that on this show on Monday, and then they didn't defend all that well against UMAs. Number Two, after they take on Northern Illinois tomorrow in a game they should win, should they're gonna have their hands full in the return engagement against Buffalo. I hate to say this, I believe that finishing the regular season undefeated will not be enough to get Miami an at large bid in the NCAA Tournament. Now, hopefully this ends up being a moot point because they win the MAC Tournament. That schedule with three games that they've played that aren't gonna count on their resume is going to hurt them. And I think it's gonna be interesting to hear how this is talked about. If you have an undefeated men's college basketball team in the regular season doesn't make the NCAA Tournament as an at large again, hopefully it's a moot point. First things first, the RedHawks and Northern Illinois at Mallett Hall tomorrow at three point thirty. It's the John Caliperry Bowl two point zero. I guess Kentucky is at Arkansas right now? How many Wildcat fans would love to have John Caliperry back. The Mark Pope thing. Look, they had won five consecutive games going into that tilt against Vanderbilt, and obviously the Wildcats roster has been depleted big time because of injury. Still blatantly non competitive against the Commodores. If that continues tomorrow, the U at least from a public perspective, that hot seat that Mark Pope seems to be on is it's going to be hotter than hot whatever that is. Arkansas is led by Darius Akuff. If I rooted for an NBA team that was going to pick anywhere between six and ten in this year's I would be watching Darius Acuff very very closely. You know what the good news is, for all of their issues, I don't root for a team that's going to be picking in the lottery. So that's good. Six thirty Tomorrow Kentucky at Arkansas on ESPN fifteen thirty. Pre game coverage begins at five pm. There it is the unsponsored weekend tip off thanks to perhaps a brand new sponsor. Next week on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.
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Speaker 3: Station Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.
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Speaker 4: Traffic from the UC Health Traffic Center with a stroke Every second counts, and so does your team home to rapid life saving treatment and clinical trials. U see Health as the clear choice for stroke care. Learn more at UCHealth dot com. An accident has now been cleared away on eastbound two seventy five after Ronald Reagan Highway southbound seventy five approaching seventy four, right center lane blocked from a disabled vehicle. And on southbound two seventy five after Kilby Road accident on the left shoulder. I'm at eazelic with traffic this report.
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Speaker 2: Showso forgot to go. Don't forget anything in my DIMSSI. You can go find on the einheartradio appro ipage at ESPN fifteen thirty dot com. Thanks to long Next Sports Grill, don't forget to stick around for MKU basketball tonight is the worst take on Detroit Mercy. Don't forget Tony Pikes. Since twenty sixty Monday at noon. We are back Monday at three oh five. Have a great weekend. Thanks for listening, and thanks to Tarren Bland for producing. This is ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.
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Speaker 2: You know a lot of different themes to the Bengals off season. One of them is make your layups. They haven't made a layup yet. They're standing under the rim. They've got the ball, there's no defender nearby. What are they gonna lay it off the glass and put it through? For two? Not coming up in just about fifteen minutes on my egger. This is ESPN fifteen thirty. Thank you for listening. We're at the end of what has felt like about a twenty five day long week. Hopefully your weekend is underway, or maybe you're like my daughter who is in the middle of day seven of what is a minimum a nine day weekend. If that's you, awesome. If that's not you, hopefully the weekend has arrived to a great start. Thanks for spending at least part of your Friday afternoon with us. Show preview is available on Twitter at Moeger. Thanks to share Fax Credit Union, the single greatest financial institution on the planet is Shareffacs Credit Union. Tons of benefits for members. I've been a member for a couple of years now, so goot to share facts Dot or it can be just like me become a member. We are going to do a Bengals off season overview in the five o'clock hour with our guy James Rapine. I don't know that Trey Hendrickson is a name that I'm going to bring up. We're gonna talk about the AFC North and all the different coaching changes, and some free agency options and maybe some early, very early draft storylines with James. That's coming up in the five o'clock hour. It is interesting. There's been if you go on the internet and I'm this, I'm not saying this critically, there's been Trey Hendrickson chatter, and understandably so. He is one of the biggest free agent names out there. He is arguably the most accomplished free agent name out there. And as you know, we talk about how the next couple of months are gonna unfold, one thing you wonder is a what are they gonna do to make the pass rush better? I mean, Duke Tobin two weeks ago today said quote, pass rush is king. So if there's anything you feel like they're gonna prioritize. It's pass rush. They need to prioritize pass rush. There is a school of thought, and I get it. Where you go? Huh? Trey Hendrickson is viewed by many as one of the best free agents available. Why would the Bengals not be interested in one of the best free agents available? So a couple of things about that. Here's my question for you coming into the season. The Bengals had no plans for Trey Hendrickson to be on the team in twenty twenty six. That's abundantly clear, Like right, wrong. Maybe you think the Bengals stance was incorrect, Maybe you think the way they treated Trey was unfair. Maybe thought the way the Bengals treated Tray was completely within reason, whatever it is. But I think if there's one conclusion we could all draw, it's they had no plans for Trey Hendrickson in twenty twenty six. If they did, chances are he would be under contract in twenty twenty six. So and and by the way, that's something that was abundantly clear years ago when they gave him a one year contract extension. It was abundantly clear during the twenty twenty four season, which prior to that he asked for a trade. It was abundantly clear before last season. It was abundantly clear as last season played out. It's I think abundantly clear now. But if you're holding out hope that these two sides can I don't know, set aside their differences and work out something, or that they should franchise, tag them and keep them, which I cannot imagine them doing. I guess I asked this, if prior to last season you didn't have plans for Trey Hendrickson being on your team, did anything happen in twenty twenty five to make you change her mind? Now, when he played last year, he was actually pretty effective. You know, it feels like forever it goes since Trey Hendrickson was playing for the twenty twenty five Bengals. But even in a down year statistically, I'm looking here at Pro Football Network's NFL Edge Impact Metrics, had an eighty six point four score. This on top of, you know, a season in twenty twenty four where he was a defensive player the Year finalist at League in sacks. Right when he was on the field last year, he was pretty good. The problem is he wasn't on the field nearly as much, and it got weird with his injury, and it just like everything with Trey, it just it feels like there's an element of just weirdness. And that's not solely his responsibility. It's not entirely his fault, if you want to describe it that way, but it just it got weird, as it often does get weird for really good players who are dealing with injuries playing for a team that might not be headed anywhere, and as it turned out, the Bengals really weren't headed anywhere last season. But did he do anything last year the Bengals when he was coming off a season where he was one of the top two or three best defensive players in the entire sport. Last year he was coming off a season where he was one of the best two or three defensive players in the entire sport. They had no plans for him beyond twenty twenty five. So what was there out there in twenty twenty five to make anybody believe that they're going to change their mind about Trey Hendrickson in twenty twenty six. Add to all of it, the bad feelings and whatever residual you know, personal issues are there based on just the way things unf folded, how trays of our lives. Stealing that from Paul Danner Junior kind of became a thing for much of the offseason. Like, we've been talking about this dude and his dissatisfaction with the Bengals and his contract and his possible trades and trade requests for a very long time now. If one of the things you're wondering about the Bengals this coming season is does it make sense to find a way to run it back with Trey Hendrickson, which nobody who covers the league or the team feels like is a distinct possibility. You got to put yourself in the Bengals shoes and the Bengals perspective tray after twenty twenty five was not worth investing in after a season where he spent more than half of it not playing. Why would their minds change? Why would their minds change? Five point three, seven, four nine, fifteen thirty is our phone number. I think there's something important that the Bengals need to figure out a way to do. I was watching I don't know, maybe maybe it was like in the week between Christmas and New Year's NFL networks running a bunch of their football life shows one hour, you know, basically biodocs on a whole bunch of different NFL figures, and the one about Bill Walsh. And that is a great hour, especially if you're a Bengals fan, because it kind of goes through how you know, Bill Walsh and the Bengals went through a divorce when Paul Brown chose to not make Bill Walsh the head coach. It's really good. But on that hour of television, Bill Walsh obviously passed a number of years ago. But in that hour of television, one of the former forty nine ers that speaks about Bill Walsh's Randy Cross, who you know, was their center for a decade in the nineteen eighties and has gone on to do you know TV for a bunch of different networks and some radio and whatever. But he talks about how Bill Walsh said to him like, hey, man, I think you can play another three or four years in this league, but most of those aren't gonna be for me because I only want your good years. And the message was like we're gonna we're gonna sort of get out in front of things here and in some cases, maybe even move on from you while you still have some guess left in the tank. And I think that has to be something that Bengals get good at here moving forward. I've talked about Orlando Brown a lot the last couple of weeks. Orlando Brown has had a really good career and I think, for the most part, has been a pretty good free agent pick up for the Bengals. I think it would be awesome. I think it would be awesome if the Bengals were in a position where they could cut loose Orlando Brown, not because Orlando's a bad player, not because he's a bad guy, not because he's making a lot of money. But there were times this year where it felt like Orlando struggled. There were times this year where it felt like he was kind of the weak link on the offensive line. There were times this year where you thought, man, you know, maybe is a time to get a little bit younger, maybe a little bit more athletic at left tackle on a team that's in a different place than where the Bengals are, which is they have to overhaul one half of the team. I think it's pretty easy to move on from a guy like that and say, you know, what. We only want your good years. We don't want you here when you inevitably go through the steep drop off that just comes with the age and the miles and the wear and tear of a player of your experience. And so thanks for everything. Glad you were here. You could still play in this league, but we don't want to be the team that you have to drop off with. And so we're gonna get out in front of this and we're gonna go throw money at a free agent, or we're gonna throw money at a free agent, and we're gonna use a first round pick on a tackle. And maybe the Bengals can do those things. Hell maybe they do do those things, but it feels like, because of all the different priorities they have on defense and all the different ways in which they have to make that side of the football better, that you kind of don't want to create another need. And so you're willing to stick with Orlando Brown and hope that he doesn't suffer a steep drop off in twenty twenty six. In an ideal world, which obviously we don't live in, but ideally you have the kind of team that is a capable of looking at good players and saying we only want your good years. We're not going to keep you around for your drop off seasons, and b you have plans in place that are proven to have worked to replace those players. This is something else we've harped on a bunch in recent years. The Bengals have been really bad at replacing players, like really bad at replacing players. Hell did they replace Sam Hubbard last year? Not really, largely because Trey Hendrickson was hurt, but even above and beyond that, right, like, they had a plan to replace t Higgins, name was Jermaine Burton. Nope, still haven't figured out a way to replace Jesse Bates For a decade, We've talked about them replacing Andrew Whitworth. There are others that's got a change, and so you know with with Trey Hendrickson, man like here, ideally this isn't even a discussion because a guy that we didn't have plans for because we thought about age and injury risk and you know, his best years maybe being behind him. We're ready to move on because the dudes that we have drafted, Shamar Stewart and Miles Murphy are they're capable of replacing you now, it's worth mentioning Miles Murphy in the second half of this past season was was really really good. Like maybe i'm by myself. I don't think I am. I'm bullish on Miles Murphy. If you watch them in the second half of the season. Yeah, it took way too long, but when the light bulb came on, it stayed on. He was really good. But in the back of your mind, you're still thinking, like, how are we going to replace that guy? Because they haven't been that good at replacing players like that, and they're not yet as an organization to the point where you can look at players who still have some gas in the tank and say to him, we're gonna find cheaper replacements, younger replacements who are maybe still ascending, because we don't want you here for your down years. Bengals did that with Trey Hendrickson, yet you still wonder are they going to be able to replace him? And they're not going to do that with Orlando Brown. By the way, speaking of Andrew Whitworth, and I've tried to do this now for nearly ten years because it was what March of twenty seventeen we found out that Andrew Whitworth was moving on, so nearly nine years the Bengals made a pretty good bet. Sometimes you play the odds and you lose, right, I mean, sometimes you bet on the favorite and you lose. Sometimes you bet on the favorite and the underdog covers on the money line. But the odds were that Andrew Whitworth was not going to be able to maintain his level of play into the second half of his thirties, and he defied the odds. And that's It's why he's going to be in Canton. It's why is the Super Bowl champion, It's why he's going to be a Hall of Fame. That's why we spent years talking about him. But number one, it was the inability to replace him, which they unfurled that plan two years before they let him go. But at the end of the day, like I think, you organizationally have to get to a point where you're really good at looking at players like that going you know what, we've gotten as much out of you as we want, and we're going to get out in front of things and we're not going to keep you around for the years where you have a drop off. Imagine had they had done that with Geno Atkins, Carlos Dunlap, maybe even AJ Green, because that was their mo for a while, refusing to say goodbye to players even though they were going to be re upping for years moving forward that weren't quite as good as the ones in the past. So that's where they've got to be. And to me, like that's where I start with Trey Hendrickson. They have viewed him as somebody who is going to depreciate even further past twenty twenty five. I don't know that their mind should have changed during twenty twenty five, but they're really going to figure out a way to successfully replace him. The answers moving forward have to be yes, and if they are, they're gonna have to be more and more comfortable with looking at players and saying we only want your good years. Nineteen minutes after three o'clock, our phone lines are open. Five point three seven four nine fifteen thirty eight sixty six seven oh two three seven seven six. We have later on the unsponsored weekend tip off as we roll through all of this weekend's college basketball games, don't forget we've got college hoops on ESPN fifteen thirty tonight, NKU on the road. First to back to back road games this weekend for the Norse as they take on Detroit Mercy tip off at seven pm. Pregame coverage at six thirty here on ESPN fifteen thirty. Lots of college basketball this weekend on ESPN fifteen thirty, between NKU tonight and Sunday and Kentucky taking on old friend John Calla Perry and Arkansas tomorrow at six thirty. More on all of that coming up here in just a bit. The layoup the Bengals have been asked to make still haven't even shot the ball? Next on ESPN fifteen thirty.
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Speaker 3: Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.
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Speaker 4: Traffic from the UC Health Traffic Center. With a stroke, every second counts, and so does your team home to rapid life saving treatment and clinical trials. You see health as the clear choice for stroke care. Learn more at u sehealth dot com. In Northern Kentucky, and accident has now been cleared from the exit ramp that was on the westbound two seventy five off ramp to seventy one seventy five. However, on westbound two seventy five still an active crash over at seventy four. That's on the right shoulder. I'm at Ezelic with traffic.
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Speaker 2: Yesterday we streamed video for two hours on Twitter so you could like watch the show, and I thought it was well received. By the way, all of this the work of Tarren Bland. I don't know how to do that, so we streamed it. You could watch basically from A four to about five forty five. Yesterday you could watch on Twitter at moeger thanks to adulta Dental. Delta Dental is building healthy, smart, vibrant communities for all good at Delta Dental. Ohitg dot com you too, Tarren, thanks so much. Twenty five minutes after three o'clock. This is ESPN fifteen thirty. By the way, Speaking of social media, Dalton Reisner's wife is on Instagram. I didn't know this. I don't know that I knew he was married. I don't know that I would have a compelling reason to follow her on Instagram, but if you do, that's cool. Whatever, to each their own. I'm not sure there's a compelling reason to follow me on Instagram, but many people do, and that's cool. Thank you, thank you if you're among them. So I guess she posted a photo of herself and Dalton in their new home in the Kansas City area, which congratulations. If you know they got themselves a home, that's terrific. I've been to Kansas City. I've not lived in Kansas City. Dalton Reisner is a native of Missouri. He was born in Branson. I think he went to high school though in Colorado. I could look that up, I suppose, if only there was a device where I could look up where Dalton Reisner's from. But I know he's a native of Missouri, and I know he played at Kansas State, so like that part of the country. I don't know where his wife is from. Again, I found out Dalton Reisner had a wife about five hours ago. But I guess she posted a photo and some some not all, not most in the Bengals social media sphere, or wondering if that's a sign that Dalton is not going to come back and play for the Bengals. By the way, there's lots of Bengals players who have houses elsewhere, so I don't know that it's worth reading into congratulations to the risings on the new home. It is January the thirtieth Bengals last played a game it'll be what four weeks ago on Sunday, the meat of the offseason, the heart of the offseason. We're not there yet, right, We're still still got to play the Super Bowl next weekend. Got the Pro Bowl games next week. By the way, Joe Flacco named an AFC Pro Bowler, So and the Browns had two Pro Bowl quarterbacks and the same team. Wow. Amazing. But the new league year doesn't start for another four or five weeks. The legal tampering period is still a long time from now. The combines a few weeks away, so there's still time. But maybe the thing that stood out most to me when players were offering their parting shots at the end of the year was when Dalton Reisner talked about his goal being to not sign a contract as late as he has in the past, including last year with the Bengals, when he signed like Camp was already underway, signed in August and ended up being a terrific signing. Like Duke Tobin should take credit more for Dalton Reisner than Joe Flacco. Dalt Reisner was their best free agent signing, and I don't know how objectively anybody could disagree with that. And the Bengals at the end of the season had a good offensive line and he was a reason why. And look, he didn't play at an all Pro level or anything like that, but his level of play at guard was good, was better than pretty much anything they've gotten at any point recently. So a good signing. So you got a guy who says, look, I don't want to wait till August this go around. Love it here, want to play here. Somebody tell Duke Tobin I'm paraphrasing him here. It's one of the great layups ever, especially for this franchise, which has often been associated with players who have done whatever they can to not play for this team. You can sign him on January the thirtieth, and the impact on the season maybe this as if you sign him on May the thirtieth. But what's something the Bengals always do. They take the easy and they make it more complicated than they need to. And so until Dalton Reisner has signed, how do you not wonder how are they going to screw this up? How are they going to outthink themselves? Five point three seven four nine, fifteen thirty. If you are driving right now, I don't want you to close your eyes but if you're a college basketball fan, at the next opportunity you have to close your eyes. I want you to do it, and I will explain why. Coming up next on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.
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Speaker 5: Station, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty Traffic from.
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Speaker 4: The UC Health Traffic Center with a stroke Every second counts, and so does your team home to rapid life saving treatment and clinical trials. You see help as the clear choice for stroke care. Learn more at u seehealth dot com. There is an accident eastbound on US fifty that's blocking off the Luck lane. After seventy one. Police there on scene. Another crash on ken Woodick Glendale Milford Road in some slow traffic eastbound Fort Washington Way between seventy five and seventy one. I'm at eazelic with traffic.
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Speaker 2: Sports Headlines are a service of a Kelsey Chevrolet Home of Lifetime powertrain protection and guarantee credit approval from their family to yours for life kelseyschev dot Com. For the first time in his eighteen year NFL career, Joe Flacco will represent his team in the Pro Bowl Games, which obviously happened on Tuesday in San Francisco. Flaco, it was announced earlier today, is a Pro Bowler. In ten starts last season between the Bengals and Browns, he completed twenty five two and fifty one passes out of four to sixteen for nearly twenty five hundred yards and fifteen touchdowns. Four of those starts with Cleveland, six with Cincinnati. He is the seventh quarterback in Bengals history to be named a Pro Bowler. He will join Jamar Chase and T Higgins participating in the Flag Football Game. They still play flag football in that thing in San Francisco next week. Meanwhile, college basketball loaded weekend Tonight, NKU is at Detroit Mercy. That game will tip at seven pm. Norris won the first game by twenty five points. Pregame at six thirty on ESPN fifteen thirty Dayton plays the best team in college basketball that you probably haven't been talking about, Saint Louis, who's twenty and one this season. That game tips off at eight pm. The arch Baron Cup up for grabs this evening as the Flyers look to avoid a four game losing streak. Tomorrow, Cincinnati is on the road against Houston. We know what happened in the first matchup between those two teams, you see, and the Cougars were tied at sixty with about three and a half minutes to go, and Houston scored seven more points. The Bearcats scored none. I talked about the Cougars a lot on this show, and I've heard this refrain often over the last year or two from Bearcat fans, and I agree with it, certainly. Not gonna say I was the first person to say this, but the UC teams that so many of us either grew up with, or the UC teams that solidified our fandom, or maybe just our favorite teams, teams that we revere. You know, there was an identity, There was a toughness to them. They were great defensively, they played harder than their opponents. They looked a lot like what has been over the last seven or eight years, Kelvin Samson's version of the Houston Cougars, and many have said with the Cougars have stolen their brand, and it's true. Like so there's a part I look at them with envy, a lot of envy, but I look at them I'm with a degree of admiration because that is the brand of basketball that they play often have played over the last seven or eight years, that so many of us identify with Cincinnati basketball. You know, I heard somebody say this once in the late nineties, early two thousands in talking about UCE hoops, and I get tired as much as anybody of just constantly playing remember when when it comes to UC basketball. But I remember, and I don't remember who did this, but I heard it on a show and they said, you know, if you close your eyes, you kind of have in your eyes, eye's mind, in your mind's eye a vision of what a Cincinnati basketball player looks like. And I think that carried forth for the most part, once Mick got the Bearcats to the point that they were in the NCAA Tournament every year, I think you had this vision in your mind of what a UC basketball player looked like. I think we can do that with Houston. Now, we don't watch the Cougars as closely maybe as we do the Bearcats. But like I watched the Kougs, called the Kougs. I watched their game against TCU on Wednesday, a game that they were in pretty much complete control of, although they never really totally pulled away, but it just it looked and felt like your quintessential Houston victory. And if you get tired of me talking about this, like I get it, but it's true, Like they every time it felt like somebody needed to make a play, somebody made a play and and you just in your mind's eye like there's they're good. Fundamentally, they're tough, they're all good rebounders, they make the right pass like it's it's cliches. A lot of this stuff sounds. I don't think that this year's Houston team is athletic enough to win the national title. They came painfully close last year. Obviously, I think this team is a half rung beneath you know, Arizona and Yukon. Now, if I was a Koogs fan, i'd feel like my team has a chance to get back to a Sweet sixteen, maybe get back to a Final four. But I talk about this often, and it's true. In a day and age where it has never been more difficult to carve out and keep a program identity, they've managed to do so. And if you're a college basketball fan on some level, I don't know how you don't admire that, And I don't know how you're not extraordinarily jealous of it, and I am. That game is at noon tomorrow one o'clock tomorrow, Xavier takes on to Paul at the Cintas Center. XU lost the first game eighty six to seventy seven. Musketeers badly need a win if the idea is for the season to not totally unravel, because the next two after this one are on the road against Yukon and Saint John's. Louisville hosts SMU Ohio State, which I think as a sneaky talented team, takes on Wisconsin tomorrow. Miami looks for a twenty second consecutive victory to open up the season. Ron Harper is going to be on campus tomorrow, which is cool as hell. Five time NBA champion Northern Illinois the opponent. Three point thirty Tomorrow, Indiana's at UCLA. Kentucky battles Arkansas in the latest John Caliperry Bowl. That game in Fayetteville will tip off at six point thirty on ESPN fifteen thirty. What else do we have here locally? Hockey? This weekend, Cyclones are going to be busy. Its Bank Giveaway night as the Clones host Fort Wayne tonight, and then tomorrow Star Wars matinee is Cincinnati host Bloomington, and then on Sunday the Mascot Birthday matinee against Toledo. So I got some daytime puck Saturday and Sunday after a night game tonight. And speaking of hockey, the Redhawk Columbus Blue Jackets, who have won seven of eight, are on the road tonight against the Chicago Blackhawks. That is the only game on tonight's NHL schedule. You are, I believe up to date. I don't think we. I don't think we left anything out. There's one other development here. I saw it has been confirmed. I guess that Lou Holtz has entered hospice care and a hugely significant figure in college football. You know, you think of the high point in my lifetime. I'm forty eight. The high point of Notre Dame football was the nineteen eighty eight Notre Dame fighting Irish. I am not a Notre Dame fan by any stretch of the imagination. When I was growing up, I didn't really have a favorite college football team. I've told this story before. I did become a UC football fan until I went to a basketball camp when I was in high school and I was a huge Ucy basketball fan, huge Ucy basketball fan, and like, one of the counselors said, well, who's your favorite college football team? And I just like blurted out Cincinnati. And then one of the other kids is like, you know Cincinnati sucks, right, I'm like, oh, do they? Like a couple of years ago they lost eighty one nothing to Penn State. But like, I'd watch college football with my dad, and my dad, for whatever reason, he rooted against the Notre Dame. It don't get mad at him. He's been passed for seventeen years, and so he like his favorite team was whoever played Notre Dame, and so it sort of a needle him a little bit. Like I became a UC fan to mess with him because he was a Kentucky fan. I would at times just root for Notre Dame, even though I wouldn't say they were my favorite team because it would just annoy my dad. You know, it's a big deal in the early nineties when they got their own deal on NBC. But the first year that I remember being into college football was when Notre Dame won the national championship in the old bowl system. Beat Major Harris in West Virginia. I think in the Fiesta Ball it could be wrong about the Bowl game, but won the national title and Lou Holtz was the coach, and I just I have fond memories of watching those games with my dad. And I did not grow up to become a Notre Dame fan, but that was this as a kid. You know, Bobby Bowden was at Florida State, Jene Stallings was at Alabama, and Notre Dame had Lou Holtz who just despite his slight frame, seemed like bigger than all of them, just as a kid. And I don't know if in my lifetime I was in high school in nineteen ninety three, in my lifetime now, we obviously get a lot of big time college football games in this day and age, and the ways that we hype up things now are different than we did back then. I don't know if in my lifetime that there has ever been more hype for a college football game than Notre Dame in Florida State in nineteen ninety three, with Charlie Ward playing future New York Nick Charlie Word playing for Florida State, the game of the century, which Notre Dame won and then lost the following week to Boston College. Remember watching that game with my dad, and so it made me sad to see that I don't know a ton about Lou Holtz in his post broadcasting career. I don't, frankly care. I didn't really find Lou Holtz as a broadcaster all that entertaining or interesting. That's neither here nor there. This was a hugely significant figure. And you know, then as you get older and you kind of understand the significance of Notre Dame football to the sport, to this part of the country, and you understand the depths to which that program had sunk, unfortunately under Jerry Faust. And I mean there was a stretch from eighty eight when Notre Dame won the title. By the way, they lost one game in eighty nine, the regular season finale to Miami. From eighty eight through ninety three, they went sixty four to nine and one. And in the middle of all that they got the NBC deal, so they were on TV. Would felt like live every single week. I remember that just being such a big deal, just as a as a like an early teenager like the Notre Dame's got their own television contract, and I just I remember that stretch of time in my life, just learning as a sports fan fondly and watching Notre Dame with my dad and watching him root against him. I don't know, and I don't never really got to why he hated Notre Dame. I don't know, but I never I don't know that he rooted for anybody as hard as he rooted for whoever noted, I don't. I don't know that he liked Lou Holtz. I don't know what it was, but I would just agitate him and root for the Irish and then you know, became a Bearcat fan, and it's like, yeah, in the mid nineties, it's like those two entities were on a playing entirely different sports. So I was sad to see that Lou Holtz has entered hospice, somebody that we have made fun of on this show for how he spoke on television, but still hugely important figure. And so was sad to see that he's nearing the end stage of life because he's a big figure in college football, an immensely huge figure at Notre Dame, and just for me in my years growing up becoming a sports fan. My introduction to college football was watching Notre Dame because my dad was rooting against him, and so Lou Holtz was on my TV. It felt like every single week from the time I was in the sixth grade clear through my high school years. So our thoughts and our best wishes to Lou Holtz. It is eleven away from four o'clock. This is ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports Station.
00:33:47
Speaker 3: Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.
00:33:50
Speaker 4: Traffic from the UC Health Traffic Center with a stroke. Every second counts, and so does your team. Home to rapid life saving treatment and clinical trials. See help as the clear choice for strope care. Learn more at ucehealth dot com. East found US fifty police on the scene of an accident that's blocking off the Luck Lane. After I seventy one on Kenwood Road. There's an accident at Glendale Milford Road, and one more crash on Redding Road, this one at Tennessee Avenue. I'm at Eazeleig with traffic.
00:34:21
Speaker 2: So we're gonna get up to like thirty one on Monday. Wow, it's gonna feel tropical, bitterly cold, bitterly cold. Earlier this week we had Chase Brown and t Higgins. We had our friend Paul Danner Junior on the Mocks off season for the Bengals, Chad Brendle as well, and our guy Rick Boring, and so much more. Anything you may have missed on this show, anything you might want to hear again, just go to the iHeartRadio app look for our show. Look for ESPN fifteen thirty. By the way, it would be awesome if you would set ESPN fifteen thirty as a preset, and that'd be cool, and make sure you check it out often. If not the app, check out ESPN fifteen to thirty dot com slash mode. That's where we put all the audio as well. Podcasts of this show are a service of Long Neck Sports Grow with three locations in northern Kentucky. It's an awesome place to watch college basketball this weekend and the Big Game next Sunday between Seattle and New England, which by the way, I've heard people cry about, and then a very thankfy Super Bowl, and then kind of boring when it's Kansas City. When it's star laden teams, we complain about that. When it's two relatively anonymous teams. This is what we do as sports fans. Is there anybody complaining about the Super Bowl matchup who's not going to watch? Of course, the answer is no. Joey Vado is going to be a broadcaster, and I'm going to expand upon something those things next on ESPN fifteen thirty.
00:35:52
Speaker 1: At the thousand dollars. Just enter this nationwide keyword on our website.
00:35:57
Speaker 2: Check that's check, Enter it now. Joey Vano's gonna be a literally a broadcaster for NBC and I think he's gonna be awesome. And I did not say we shouldn't have Halls of Fame plus rules to live by if you're a boss, and I'll make that about two NFL teams, not the Bengals. Coming up here in just a bit. Also our guy James Arpeene with a Bengals offseason overview in the five o'clock hour and the unsponsored college basketball weekend tip off. There is a lot to get to between now and uh six o'clock. Let me start with the Hall of Fame thing really quick. We'll grab some phone calls this hour as well. Five point three seven nine, fifteen thirty. So the Bill Belichick Hall of Fame snub, if you will, has been I think the biggest story in sports this week where the voters apparently who had to say as to whether or not Bill Belichick is gonna get in to not put Belichick in the Hall of Fame, despite the fact he is the most accomplished head coaching resume of all time. Two people have come out who didn't vote for him and explained why, and I don't necessarily agree with what they did, but I understand the explanation, and look, as a fan of Ken Anderson, I could appreciate anybody who says I want Ken Anderson to be in the Hall of Fame, and if he gets in at the expense of Bill Belichick for a year, then so be it. Unfortunately, and this is no knock on Ken, who I desperately hopes hope get in, who I desperately hope gets in. Easy for me to say, I just think Belichick's resume is so good, so beyond reproach, even with spygate. I don't know how you say no, but my take on this has been that I believe we've made Halls of Fame out to be more important than they actually are, and if you make them out to be less important, you don't emphasize them enough. Bill Belichick's resume is awesome. It's awesome. With or without Hall of Fame. You cannot talk about this sport's history. You can't talk about the NFL in the twenty first century without recognizing what Bill Belichick coach teams accomplished. By the way. Similarly, you also can't talk about Bill Belichick's coaching career without mentioning Spygate. I would talk about it without mentioning deflate gate because that was a nothing burger. But you can't help but mention spygate. Dude got fined to half a million bucks. It caused the Patriots a draft pick, like it was a thing. But my overall take, I have felt this way for a while that if you listen to people talk about the let's make it about football and baseball, because we have a Major League Baseball team here and an NFL team here. If you hear people talk about those two institutions, they make them sound like these mythical places that they're not. And I've been to both many, many many years ago. I would go again. If somebody's like, hey, road trip up to Canda, go check out the Hall of Fame, I'd say, cool, let's go like. Nothing against those buildings, nothing against those institutions, nothing against the people who run them, nothing against Hall of Fame inductions, Hall of Fame induction ceremonies. For me, I watch every year in the three sports I care about most, I love Hall of Fame induction speeches. Hall of Fame induction speech where you have somebody at the pinnacle of their profession who usually speak with such great humility. They tell stories about the people who help them get there. They're usually filled with such gratitude, which people in this day and age rarely express to the degree they should. Hall of Fame induction speeches are awesome. But I just feel like one of the reasons why we get so worked up about who does and doesn't get in is we've made those institutions, those museums, to be bigger and more important than they are. We've made them out to be these institutions that validate someone's career. Bill Belichick's career doesn't need validating, Neither do most all time greats. By the way, Bob Huggins is not in the University of Cincinnati's Athletics Hall of Fame. Bob Huggins now were there things that occurred during Bob's sixteen year run at UC that weren't great? Of course? Did it end in maybe one of the ugliest public divorces in the history of Cincinnati sports? Not even maybe? Yes? Was that dude's body of work incredible? Can you tell the story of U SEE Athletics without spending considerable time on Bob Huggins and his teams and what they accomplished and the amount of people they turned into UC fans myself included. That guy's not in the Hall of Fame, James P. Kelly Athletics Hall of Fame, you see, is extraordinarily cool. I'm honored to know and work with some Hall of Fame inductees, extraordinarily proud. Tony Pike, Dan Horde, Jim Kelly, a lot of former basketball and football players that I've watched, some of whom I've gotten to know. But I don't need UC's Hall of Fame to tell me how great Bob Huggins was, how impactful he was at that school, how much he meant to that basketball program, how much he meant to sports in this area. I don't need it. If he gets in, awesome, I'll be thrilled for him, as I was thrilled when he got inducted into the National Basketball Hall of Fame. But think about that, one of the two or three people who has most identified or who the school's athletic department is most identified with, is in the National Basketball Hall of Fame. It's not in UC's. Maybe there's good reasons for that. I don't know. I wrote about it once for Bearcat Journal dot com. Some folks that you see who are no longer there got mad at me. Okay, fine, maybe he's in one day, maybe he's not. I would put him in. I don't need UC's Athletics Hall of Fame, as cool as it is, to validate Bob Huggins and tell me what he did and didn't do. Joey Vado should be in Cooper soown. As far as I'm concerned, I understand the case is maybe not as open and shut as I would like for it to be. If he doesn't get in, and I think he will, might not get in the first ballot, I don't need a bunch of baseball writers to validate Joey Vado's career. By the way, neither does Joey Vado himself, So I didn't say we shouldn't have them, would never say that we should have them. They're fun there. They usually appropriately celebrate the inductees and the sports that they're the Hall of Fame of. But you listen to people get worked up, like in this day and age, we're addicted to outrage and anger, and so you know, you and I both know there are folks, especially on the Internet, who, like every waking moment, is looking for something to be angry about. And the Bill Belichick snub earlier this week gave those people their hit, Like, Okay, cool, I need something to be angry about this. I can be angry about this for five minutes and then I'll move on to something else. Like I understand how that works too, But I believe if we lessen the importance of these Halls of Fame, we won't get as angry. I think a lot of us as sports fans, are looking for these voters to, like, you know, give a stamp of approval to athletes that we love. I thought it was awesome when Barry Larkin got into Cooperstown, my all time favorite baseball player, badly wanted to go, badly wanted to go to that induction ceremony, remember carving out time for the induction in twenty twelve. But when he didn't get in, I didn't feel any less about Barry Larkin. When he did get in, I didn't feel any better about what I watched for eighteen years and how I wore number eleven because he did. And I almost feel like we have folks who are looking for the Hall of Fame's validation, Like I don't know, man, I kind of believe in life, don't look for someone else's validation. You don't need it. Bill Belichick does not need the Hall of Fame's validation, Barry Bonds doesn't need the Hall of Fame's validation, and know neither does Pete Rose.
00:44:33
Speaker 6: That's it.
00:44:35
Speaker 2: No one's saying don't have Halls of Fame. Hall of Fame discussions can be some of the most fun and lively you can have. I wish they were done sometimes with a little bit more civility. I wish they were done at times with folks speaking with more information behind their argument. But those are some who which sports fan hasn't done that sat with their buddies over a cold one debating the Hall of Fame merits of people. My best friends and I we've done that. Man. I have a very good friend of mine. He and I were talking about Cecil Cooper's Hall of Fame bonafides two weeks ago over dinner. Like, I enjoy those discussions, but I just think the the the institutions themselves, we have made out to be bigger and more important than they actually are. They're museums. They're they're they're they're they're nice museums. There are museums that are fun to visit. They're museums. There's no reason to make those museums mythical or sacred. And like I and maybe a different type of sports fan that I view a lot of things as not sacred that a lot of people do view as sacred. Right, Like, whenever there's some sort of you know, massive change in a sport rule change, it's you know, it's treated as it's you know. I remember when the National League had to adopt the d H a number of years ago. I mean, there were folks who thought, like they would make you believe a pitcher getting to hit was like some sacred thing, and I'm like, it's a game with a rule change, a nothing sacred about watching a pitcher strike out. Nothing sacred about any of this stuff, nothing sacred about a Hall of fame, so less than the importance to some of this stuff. And I think as a sports fan, you'll be a lot happier. And at the end of the day, isn't that what we all want, just to be happier. I think the answer is yes. Five point three thirty uh at Moegger on Twitter thanks to Delta Dental, Delta Dental is building healthy, smart, vibrant communities for Augna Delta Dental, oh dot com Rapine with an off season overview here in UH just about forty five minutes looking forward to that. Nobody wanted to coach the Browns. Apparently nobody wants to coach the Raiders either. There are lessons there. We'll get to that, and we'll spend a few minutes on Joey Vado as well. On ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.
00:47:00
Speaker 3: Station, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.
00:47:05
Speaker 4: Traffic from the UC Health Traffic Center. With a stroke, every second counts, and so does your team home to rapid life saving treatment and clinical trials, you see health as the clear choice for stroke care learn more at ucehealth dot com. Southbound seventy one before the light Old Tunnel police are on the scene of a disabled vehicle that's blocking off the right lane. Traffic is backed up to Martin Luther King Drive. It's a ten minute delay. Northbound seventy one approaching Fight for Road. It's an accident blocking the right lane. I'm at ezelic with traffic.
00:47:37
Speaker 3: This report is sponsored.
00:47:39
Speaker 2: One would argue successfully that I have babbled long enough, so we're going to talk to other people. Five one three, fifteen thirty is our fun?
00:47:51
Speaker 7: Uh?
00:47:52
Speaker 2: What do we have here? Joe? You're on ESPN fifteen thirty. Joe, go ahead, good afternoon. How are you? I'm doing a lot.
00:47:58
Speaker 6: How about yourself?
00:48:00
Speaker 2: Never been better in my life, Joe, what's up?
00:48:03
Speaker 7: Hey?
00:48:04
Speaker 8: I think the Hall of Fame would mean more if if your peers voted for you instead of sports writers. I don't think sports writers know enough about the sport to, you know, to have a vote. I think they should all get rid of their votes somehow.
00:48:23
Speaker 2: I don't know. I think they know a lot about the sport. Now, you know, when it comes to the Baseball Hall of Fame, when you when you get to some of the various committees. There are former players and Hall of famers who are often on those committees, and so they do have a say, I don't I don't know that the results, the overall results of Hall of Fame voting would be that much different if we had players or former players voting versus writers.
00:48:51
Speaker 8: You don't see, I do I think that.
00:48:53
Speaker 2: No.
00:48:53
Speaker 8: I think they're way more knowledgeable about the intricacies of the sports, what it takes to get to those as oppose those people like you and I or sports writers.
00:49:02
Speaker 2: Of Yeah, I don't think there's any denying that. But I think when it comes to like looking at one player's resume versus other contemporaries or other players, let's say it's baseball. Let's say it's you know, you're looking at a at a third basement. All right, well, let's let's let's look at his resume versus other third basement in the Hall of Fame, versus other third basement that he played against. Let's let's consider some of the contextual factors involved here, like you know, how how much he actually helped his team win. Maybe look at some of the mitigating factors that he may have had to overcome. I think for the most part, I think, for the most part, the writers do a good job. Now, I think there are some rules that even they would push back at when it comes to Hall of Fame voting that limit the number of people you could check off. I think the Pro Football Hall of Fame's ballot it has Ken Anderson against Bill Belichick. It's silly to do that. I don't know that the writers necessarily do a bad job, and I don't know that you would get dramatically different results if we had athletes. You will still have personal biases, You might even have some grudges based on competing with one athlete head to head. I certainly wouldn't be opposed to expanding the voter base, but I don't know why it has to be either or why can't it be you know, let's again, let's say in baseball, why wouldn't a guy like Bob Costas have a vote? Why wouldn't a guy like the late Joe Morgan when he was still commentating on games, Why why wouldn't he have the same vote that a baseball writer does before it went to a veterans committee or something like that.
00:50:48
Speaker 6: Okay, thanks for checking my call.
00:50:50
Speaker 2: Appreciate it, Joe anytime. Thank you for listening, Thanks for checking in. Five point three seven four nine, fifteen thirty. Matthew, you're on ESPN fifteen thirty.
00:51:01
Speaker 7: Yeah, why don't we just let the fans vote for the Hall of Fame.
00:51:04
Speaker 9: Then we could get Shador Sanders.
00:51:06
Speaker 6: In the Hall of Fame too one day.
00:51:08
Speaker 9: Yeah, yeah, yeah, you know what I'm angry at, though, I'm angry at all the people. I'm angry at all the people that are angry that Belichick didn't get in first ballot because the reason he's not getting in correct me if I'm wrong, is he affected negatively the integrity of the game by spy game, he cheated, and you know, arguably the best coach all time. But I don't hear any of these talking heads coming up to bat. You know, pun intended for Pete Rose getting in the Hall of Fame posthumiously. I mean, yes, he infected the tag, he affected the integrity of baseball by gambling on it, but he says that he didn't affect the outcome of the games. So I don't know if that was ever proven or not.
00:51:54
Speaker 6: I don't think it was.
00:51:56
Speaker 9: So it is something that yes, he gambled on the game, but Dave affect the outcome of the game like Spygate affected the Greatest Show on Turf ending by recording their practices.
00:52:08
Speaker 6: I don't know.
00:52:09
Speaker 9: I don't understand why everybody up in arms over Bill Belichick not getting in first ballot. He's gonna get in, But it just seems kind of contradictory and a little hypocritical in my you know, high I'm hyperbolic like everybody else these days. I get mad at the drop of the hat. You know, I have to wait, I have to wait on Bold to get on the air with you.
00:52:32
Speaker 6: It makes me mad.
00:52:33
Speaker 7: So you know, it's one of those things.
00:52:36
Speaker 2: So I think, let me let so a couple of things here are. Here are some differences. First of all, it's it would be inaccurate to say that nobody's up in arms about Pete Rose not being in the Hall of Fame. I think you and I both know there's a lot of people up in arms about people in the Hall of Fame, built built. Bill Belichick is eligible to be voted on. Pete Rose has never been eligible to be voted on. Now that's gonna change next year, I think, in a year and a half in the winner of twenty seven to twenty eight. But to this point, like Bill Belichick was at least put on a ballot, Pete Rose has never been put on a ballot. It's a very fair discussion as to whether or not had he ever been on a writer's ballot he would have gotten the seventy five percent of votes. My guess is he would not have. But at least the voters have had a crack at Bill Belichick. With Pete Rose, they've had no crack at him. Baseball does have a character clause. In my opinion, Baseball should not have a Baseball's Hall of Fame should not have a character clause. And the thinking for me is baseball writers are good at telling us who the best baseball players are. They're not good at telling us who the best people are. Football has no character clause. Now, you also said something like I don't love painting with a broad brush. There have been there have been two writers that I have seen that have explained why they didn't vote for Belichick, and their rationale was not so much Spygate, although they considered it it was. There are people like else Greenwood, Ken Anderson, and Roger Craig on the ballot who have been waiting forever. You know, we're talking about players who have been out of the game for decades, decades. And the explanation was, and this does have merit, but the explanation was, these three men have been waiting forever. This is Bill Belichick's first crack at it. I want to ensure that these three guys get in, and then Belichick will get in next year. I don't necessarily know that that would be my approach. I frankly don't think that those three guys should be on the same ballot as Bill Belichick. But I think when you're talking about as many as or as few as eleven people not voting for Belichick, chances are there was someone who said Spygate did it for me. It would be unsurprising if there's someone who said Bill Belichick was a jerk to me at a press conference. It would be unsurprising if someone said, I just don't think there should be anybody on the first We haven't had a first ballot coach in a very long time. I'm not putting a coach on my ballot when it's his first crack at it. I don't know that there's any one reason, but are there some voters potentially who said I'm gonna hold the spygate thing against him. Sure? What I wish is there would be a level of transparency that told us why each who each person voted for, and then you know, if pressed, they can give us an explanation as to why.
00:55:29
Speaker 6: Well, let me ask you this.
00:55:30
Speaker 7: Let me just say this before I get off.
00:55:33
Speaker 9: My personal belief is the writers that didn't vote for him are haters because they're jealous of him Dayton, that beautiful woman, Jordan Hudson.
00:55:41
Speaker 6: So I'll leave it at that.
00:55:45
Speaker 2: Let me tell you, Matthew, thank you for the phone call. Have a great weekend. If jealousy was a guiding force behind someone's Hall of Fame ballot, nobody would ever get into the Hall of Fame. Look, man, I understand the explanation that some of the writers have offered, which is I wanted to vote in Anderson and Roger Craig and Else Greenwood, all three I believe should have been in the Hall of Fame a long time ago. Ken Anderson obviously around here we all love and want him to get in. I think it's ridiculous I was actually surprised when I saw that Roger Craig wasn't in the Hall of Fame a few years ago, because I assumed he was, like you talk about, like one of the dominant players of his era, and maybe the shelf life wasn't as long, but holy Crappy was good. I just think like Belichick's resume as such that you don't look at him and say no, even if you're doing something relatively noble to say yes to three people who have waited too long. But like again, it's you're not as angry about it if you lessen like the Pete Rose thing. I don't know if Pete Rose is going to get to Cooperstown when it's finally his era's turned to be up for induction. I don't know that he's gonna get enough votes because you can't find you can barely find enough people to agree that it's cold outside. You talk about, like the most polarizing topic in sports in decades has been on Pete Rose, his Hall of Fame eligibility, his Hall of Fame candidacy, his Hall of Fame worthiness. So we're gonna get enough people to say yes to him? I am very skeptical that that's gonna be the case. How I look at it is like the forty two, one hundred and fifty six hits happened, the twenty three big league seasons happened. Being the face of a generationally great team in the seventies happened. Being the athlete of the nineteen seventies happened. Batting titles happened, World Series MVP, Regular Season MVP. Those things happened. The records happened. As a fan, I don't need a bunch of Cooperstown voters to validate what happened. How I feel about Pete Rose, the player is not going to change based on whether or not he's voted into a museum where he gets a plaque that's probably not even gonna look like him in a museum hall that most of us are never going to walk into. Yes, we should have halls of fame, of course we should, but they're not these sacred, mythical places that we make them out to be. That's it. He's speaking of Joey Vado, future Hall of Famer. He's now a future NBC broadcaster, or he's at least close to being one. And I think that's interesting. See if you do as well. Plus, more of your phone calls are coming up on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.
00:58:56
Speaker 3: Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty traffic.
00:59:01
Speaker 4: From the UC Health Traffic Center With a stroke Every second counts and so does your team home to rapid life saving treatment and clinical trials. You see health as the clear choice for stroke care. Learn more at ucehealth dot com. Southbound seventy one after Ronald Reagan Highway, it's an accident blocking the right lane. Also southbound seventy one before the light Old Tunnel, a disabled vehicle that one blocking the right lane. And on eastbound State Route one thirty one, an accident at Highland Terrace. I'm at ezelic with traffic.
00:59:32
Speaker 3: This report is Sponsoredvicestation Wow.
00:59:36
Speaker 2: Sports headlines are a service to Kelsey chevro Light home of lifetime power train protection and guarantee credit approval from their family to yours for life kelseyshev dot com. Joe Flacco has been added to the AFC roster for the twenty twenty six Pro Bowl Games. First career Pro Bowl selection for Joe Flacco. The Pro Bowl Games are gonna happen in San Francisco on Tuesday. Congratulations to Joe Flacco and Duke Tobin, who, of course you might not know this traded for Joe Flacco. College basketball Tonight on ESPN fifteen thirty. MKU was on the road against Detroit Mercy tip off at seven pregame at six thirty on ESPN fifteen thirty. Also tonight, Saint Louis twenty and one will host the Dayton Flyers. Tomorrow's Cincinnati's at Houston at noon, Xavier host of Paul at one, Ohio States at Wisconsin. Miami will host Northern Illinois at three thirty Derek Harper's and we're still working on perhaps a Derek Harper interview, which not Derek Ron Harper I had nix on the brain. Ron Harper, of course, is the all time greatest Miami Redskin. Apologies to Wally's Rbiak, who's number two. Working on Ron Harper. Perhaps one day next week we'll see Miami in Northern Illinois tomorrow at three thirty. I use that UCLA, Kentucky is on the road against Arkansas. Tip off at six thirty, pregame at five on ESPN fifteen thirty. Yes, I made a mistake on the radio called Ron Harper, Derek Harper, I won't, I won't do that if we get him on. What else do we have? The Cincinnati Cyclones play hockey tonight at home on Bank Giveaway Night. Banks look cool taking on Fort Wayne Puck drops seven point thirty Mattne's Tomorrow and Sunday. Blue Jackets skate on the road tonight. Jackets are playing well one seven of eight on the road tonight against the Chicago Blackhawks. Joey Vado is reportedly pretty close to signing with NBC to be a part of their Major League Baseball broadcasts. I think that will be awesome. There was a side of Joey Vado's personality that he exhibited over his last five six years that we didn't see the first ten twelve or so, including some time in the booth doing some TV when he was injured toward the end of his time here. And I think he's going to be terrific. You're talking about somebody who's deeply analytical, very honest, it's got a good sense of humor, and you sort of gather we'll take his craft seriously, you know, is he going to be as bigger than life as some broadcasters feel they need to be, and as many do need to be. We'll see, but I think we'll actually be excellent. We'll see, we'll see. Hopefully the deal gets done. Uh, Mike waiting patiently. You're on ESPN fifteen thirty. Mike, Good afternoon. How are you? Mike, good afternoon? How are you well? I hope he's okay. Mike good at one more shot at it? Mike, good afternoon, how are you.
01:02:56
Speaker 7: I'm good? Wrong button, I hit the button. Sorry, well, never hit the wrong button. Well, I just had chemo orlayers. I kind of wigged. But anyway, thanks for taking my call, tearing. You're a gentleman as well.
01:03:14
Speaker 6: Hey, by the.
01:03:15
Speaker 7: Way, when you went to Oxford the other night, did you happen to drive down? I guess it's Main Street and there was used to be an infamous bar there called the Boar's Head. Did you happen to.
01:03:29
Speaker 6: Buy that place?
01:03:31
Speaker 2: I did not know.
01:03:33
Speaker 7: I did not, Okay, yeah, famous place. I don't know if it's still there. I remember. Do you remember a group from Cincinnati called the Women Pipers that did a song called My Green Tambourine. I can't say that I do yeah, famous song it was, you know, on the charts and all that stuff. Yeah, it was a local group from Adahaide Park. Yeah, the Goshlyn Brothers, very famous. You were talking about uh oh something and uh, I remember an impression on you. Well, no, it's just my memory is not that good, moll right now, it's trying to be.
01:04:13
Speaker 2: But I understand.
01:04:14
Speaker 7: I remember. I remember years ago, uh, when I was back for a while to sin and I would go down to the syndicate there in Newport. I don't know if it's still there. It might be right across from the tea spell. And I used to see Hugs come out of there quite a bit at night, feeling his oats, shall we say, And he was right as a gentleman. But Hugs was Hugs like the party a little bit, that's for sure. There was no question a Hug like the party.
01:04:45
Speaker 2: There is no denying that.
01:04:48
Speaker 7: But so what, I don't care, so so.
01:04:50
Speaker 2: So do we?
01:04:50
Speaker 7: So I ain't can anybody?
01:04:53
Speaker 2: Yes, I tell you, let me tell you something, Mike, if if, if, if you see me walking out of an establishment about twelve thirty this evening, you'll be able to say the same thing about.
01:05:02
Speaker 7: Me exactly Yeah, I love your humility. It's good. Bo. I heard jim I hate I'm done with this Belichick thing. But I did hear Jimmy Johnson say that his teams used to try to do the deplay thing and that it was happening around the league. Those guys got caught. Whatever, Who cares, I'll move on. How about uh, how today was really funny at the Australian Open. Not that well, there are tennis fans in Cincinnati. I know there are a lot of them. Yeah, and yes, today we had today we had listen to it for a byeline. Today we had the Center versus the Joker.
01:05:42
Speaker 2: Oh how about that? Did you? Were you up in the middle of the night watching Jokovic versus Cinner.
01:05:49
Speaker 7: You're damn right.
01:05:50
Speaker 8: I was.
01:05:51
Speaker 7: That was and very Roker pulled it out. Yeah, I was, man, it was. I couldn't sleep. I was uncomfortable. It was Oh the jokers just because he's not a kidnapped brother and and centers the deal. But I thought it was cool. They McEnroe said, it's the Center versus the versus the Joker.
01:06:11
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, so we're gonna get We're gonna get the Joker versus Alcaaz, right, yep, ye, Well, yeah, he's very he's very very young, but he's a he's a great player, right, so he's yeah, that's gonna be a great final. So you watched all five? What time did that wrap up? What time did that end?
01:06:35
Speaker 7: Boy? It was after four o'clock in the morning. I know that. Yeah, I know it was after four and it might have been later. Sun might have been coming up. I never know. See.
01:06:51
Speaker 2: Yeah, Okay, I go ahead, Like what else is on your mind?
01:06:55
Speaker 7: I hurt. Well, I got a bunch of stuff, So I'm trying to fly through there, just as what's so there? The Super Bowl does sell so many tickets and revenue and stuff. But this guy heard today talking about the World Cup. They're gonna sell a billion tickets worldwide for the World Cup. A billion tickets. That's Super Bowls to the various World Cup events, soccer events.
01:07:25
Speaker 2: Mathematically, how's that going to work? They're playing in football stadiums in North America. There aren't enough games for the for the attendance to equal a billion.
01:07:34
Speaker 7: Well, I don't know. I didn't hear the details, but his point was that the revenue from the wall how many people.
01:07:40
Speaker 2: I mean there might be a there might be a Yeah. I mean it's a worldwide event, like I but like revenue. I mean, first of all, forget a billion. Yes, the World Cup is more than one game. It's played at what twelve or thirteen different venues in North America. If it didn't dwarf the Super Bowl, I would say that that was a major upset. But I don't know that a billion people are going to attend soccer games in North America. I don't know off the top of my head how many World Cup games there will be. But if you took that number and multiplied it by the capacity, the average capacity of all the venues, you're not going to get a billion people.
01:08:22
Speaker 7: Yeah. Well, my problem is I know zero about soccer. I just heard the guy say it, and then they talked about it for a while, and I thought, well, I know he's not, you know, making this stuff up. I just I just thought I'd run to buy.
01:08:34
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it'll be I think it'd be cool to have that. I think it'll be cool to have that event on North American soil. And I'll just say that I hope everybody who attends has a really good time.
01:08:48
Speaker 7: I do too, I want to get to the Billickins in just a second. But before that, I told Tony and them Today I don't know if you heard it. So the other morning somehow that Today O was on. I don't watch you know, I flipped it on once a while and John they were gonna have John coug Mellencamp coming on their show soon to his upcoming tour or whatever. And he's on a treadmill, though, Mellencamp's on a treadmill smoking smoke.
01:09:15
Speaker 2: He was he was smoking a cigarette while he was on a treadmill.
01:09:22
Speaker 7: Oh yeah, and as nonchalant about it as you could imagine.
01:09:26
Speaker 6: And he was.
01:09:27
Speaker 7: They were talking to him with a little interview, and he was he had his cigarette. This guy I.
01:09:36
Speaker 2: Like, I like, I missed that. I liked. I like to watch it Today show. I like Savannah Guthrie.
01:09:41
Speaker 7: Yeah, she just got over some big, big throat deal. She had to have surgery to get her voice larynx prepaired or whatever. Yeah, she's a sweetheart. She's a lawyer, you know, she's an attorney. Yes, the Saint Louis Billickins. What a wonderful story. And you know what, it takes me back to and I know you don't like it when we go back in the old days because you're forty four and you're old, but you're still young.
01:10:05
Speaker 2: But in the ocean, go ahead.
01:10:09
Speaker 6: In the old.
01:10:09
Speaker 7: Missouri Valley Conference, it was Ucy, Louisville Ulsa, the Golden Hurricane, the Wichita State wheat Chokers, the Saint Louis Bullikans, the Drake Bulldogs with McCoy McLamore, who for some reason sticks out in my mind, but nobody knows the nickname. I've asked twenty five people today if they knew the mascot of the of Saint Louis and they said no. And I bet most people hang.
01:10:38
Speaker 2: On the second. So wait, wait, hang on a second here. So have you really talked to twenty five people today?
01:10:46
Speaker 7: Yeah? At a hospital. I talked to fifty people today at a hospital.
01:10:49
Speaker 2: There's only people walking around, like six all right, So okay, So folks are walking by and you go, hey, excuse me, let me ask you a question. They go, yeah, what's up? You go, what is the name of the man Scott of Saint Louis University. That's that's the conversation starter.
01:11:03
Speaker 7: I go, yeah, I was getting a CT scan today and I asked a couple of the people getting ready to do my CT scan, I said, you like basketball? I said yeah, I said, you ever heard of the team from Saint Louis College bascall, Do you know the nickname?
01:11:17
Speaker 4: No?
01:11:18
Speaker 7: Of course they were all.
01:11:21
Speaker 2: Cincinnati. They don't know the name of the Pulicans.
01:11:24
Speaker 7: Oh no, I'm not here in Cincinnati anymore. I'm back out in California. Oh God, that's right.
01:11:31
Speaker 2: So sometimes sometimes so when I when I you know, when I was in my my, my, my ultimate years of fandom with U see basketball in the nineties, you see in the Billickins had some great games. Ninety five great Midwest Conference Tournament title game, the first conference tournament I ever traveled to. I was a senior in high school. You see played Saint Louis in the title game. Lazelle Durton, the gun Slinger, my favorite all time. You see nickname the gun Slinger. Lazelle Durden makes a shot with two point one seconds to go. Saint Louis had a kid named Irwin Claggett, very good guard. Irwin catches a pass at about the free throw line and unfurls a mid court jumper, a heave more than a jumper, and it hits the front of the rim, it almost goes in. So if you're a Bearcat fan, like as I am, the Saint Louis Billickins hold a very soft spot in your heart because you see, in Saint Louis played in a lot of really fun games. They had back in the day, guys like Scott Himark and h Waldman and then later on Larry Hughes who went on to have a really successful NBA career. Larry Hughes was a heck of a player. But they had they had Charlie spoon Oer, Charlie Spoonower. Charlie Spoonauer was the coach, and he and Bob Huggins were best friends, and they would do shows with each other, in the postgame show with each other, and it was awesome. And he had some really, really, really good teams in Saint Louis. And I've been and you see in Saint Louis haven't been in the same conference now for a very long time. They were in the Great Midwest together, they were in Conference USA together. But I've been to you see Saint Louis games in in st in the Missouri Valley. I've been to some UC Saint Louis games in Saint Louis, and when the Billickans are good, that town shows up. And now they're good, they're a point away from being undefeated. Uh, they've They've got Josh Shirtz who had been the head coach at Indiana State when they were really good a couple of seasons ago, and he has that program as right now the best one in the Atlantic Ten. They take on the Dayton Flyers tonight. And yes, if you're a Cincinnati fan, chances are you have a very soft spot in your heart for the Saint Louis Billickans because of the games that you see in Saint Louis played and so not so much out there in LA. But you ask any basketball fan here what's Saint Louis's mascot, they will spit it out instantly. It's the Billickins.
01:13:57
Speaker 7: I just earlier, when you brought that up, I was so happy because I was unaware of it, and then I thought, that's really cool. Moe brought up to Saint Louis Milligan is that that's a Catholic school, isn't it? I believe it is.
01:14:08
Speaker 2: It is it is a Catholic school.
01:14:10
Speaker 7: I don't know if it's Franciscan or Jesuit. I'm not sure about that. But I'm surprised they're not in the Big East. I'm surprised they never went in the Big East because everybody in the Big East is a pretty much Catholic school, I think, isn't it.
01:14:23
Speaker 2: Uh, everyone except Yukon. There's a politician in Missouri and one in Ohio who are partnering to try to get Saint Louis and Dayton the Big East. I don't think that that's that that's gonna happen, you, Mike. I always enjoy hearing from you.
01:14:36
Speaker 4: Yeah.
01:14:37
Speaker 7: Sure.
01:14:37
Speaker 2: As a Dayton grad, Yeah, i'd go from the the Atlantic ten to the Big East. I don't think it's gonna happen, but I think it would be cool if it did. All right, Mike, It's always good to hear from you. Have a have a have a great weekend. Not away from four o'clock. Uh. The James Rapine off season Overview is coming up at five oh five on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.
01:15:02
Speaker 5: Station Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.
01:15:07
Speaker 4: Traffic from the UC Health Traffic center with a stroke. Every second counts and so does your team home to rapid life saving treatment and clinical trials. You see health as the clear choice for stroke care. Learn more at ucehealth dot com. Southbound seventy one before the light Ole Tunnel, the right lane blocked off from a disabled vehicle. About a ten to fifteen minute to lay back from Martin Luther King Drive, Police and to Cruz are there on Sena as well and don Montana Avenue exitent at McFarlane Road at Ezelk with traffic.
01:15:39
Speaker 1: Gans To win one thousand dollars, just enter this nationwide keyword on our website.
01:15:44
Speaker 3: Happy.
01:15:45
Speaker 2: That's happy. Enter it now. So, who is the player we most want the Bengals to side in free agency? And who is the player we most want the Bengals to take? Who's there with the tenth overall pick? We're going gets to those questions and more with our guy James Rapine in just a few minutes plus later on this hour, the unsponsored Weekend tip Off as we roll through all of this weekend's area college basketball games, including one you'll hear tonight on ESPN fifteen thirty with NKU on the road against Detroit Mercy pregame at six thirty, tip off at seven o'clock with Jim Kelch and Rick Brooring. So this is something that James Repine and I have done every year for a while where we wait a few weeks after the season ends and a few weeks before the offseason can really begin, and we kind of run through all the different offseason storylines and I'm sure we'll leave some out, but we'll hit all the big ones. James is with us, you know his work, of course from being a part of this station ESPN fifteen thirty. But more than anything, the Locked On Bengals podcast entered the Jungle Bengals Talk dot com. It's awesome to have you. Did I leave anything out?
01:16:56
Speaker 6: I don't think so. Probably, but I don't think so. I think you covered it pretty very good.
01:17:01
Speaker 2: All right, Well, there's there's a lot for you and I to cover. I'll start with the question of the week. Are you ready?
01:17:06
Speaker 6: I'm ready?
01:17:08
Speaker 2: Who is the best coach in the AFC North Mike McCarthy.
01:17:12
Speaker 6: Mike McCarthy, and I don't understand why everybody's pretending like Mike McCarthy hasn't won sixty one percent of his games there was love a coach that wins sixty one percent of his regular season games. And I'm not saying the Bengal should have fired Zach Taylor, that I or Mike McCarthy. With this idea that Mike McCarthy is somehow worse than Zach Taylor. Will show me where where that on paper makes any sense. So Mike McCarthy is the best head coach in the AFC North. I'm not sure it's close. That might not be the case a year from now, but today, my man Mike is certainly the guy at the top of the podium.
01:17:49
Speaker 2: You're going with my man Mike, Huh? Interesting, Well, yeah I am.
01:17:54
Speaker 6: I'm going with my man Mike because I feel like, for some reason he's become a social media punchline. And by the way, maybe that's deserved. But my non man, Sean Payton deserves plenty of criticism as well. And now we're getting into the NFL and you had me on the top Bengals, but Sean Payton is just as big of a loser in the playoffs and chokes so many of these big games away. And so yeah, Sean Payton, Mike McCarthy, Spider Man, mean same guy.
01:18:23
Speaker 2: Okay, very good. I like that very good, sort of sort of hot takey, which I like it. It's good. I don't necessarily think you're wrong, though. All Right, let's focus on the Bengals here a little bit. Let's start with I think what is the like, the the baseline test of whether the Bengals are going to be competent this offseason, and that's making a layup. Right, A layup is signed Dalton Reisner. He played well, makes up a good offensive line, says he wants to be here, doesn't want to sign late in the game anymore. Why has it not been done yet?
01:18:54
Speaker 6: Well, the Bengals always move a bit slower than we would like. I would say that that's that's certainly of it. And look, I think it does get done, and I'm not stunn that it's not done on January thirtieth. And I get why fans are focused on this because it's something we've been focused on. You've done that twenty sixteen, Like we've all looked back at twenty sixteen in that social media like that was when Kevin Nightley, that was his last year in Cincinnati. He leaves, and I was reminded of oh, my god. We've been talking about guard for the past decade, but not just the Joe Burrow era, but pre Joe Burrow era, guard has been an issue. And look, Dalton Reisner is a valuable piece because he brought stability to a spot that has been a revolving door. And A don't know why they didn't like him earlier in the game last year. It really never made sense to me. I don't know why he's bounced around the league. But here's why I think it gets done, even if it does go into the combine, maybe after the combine. The reason I I think it gets done, though, is because he wants to be here and the Bengals need him. It's a clear obvious hole if they don't bring him back, and why would you create a hole like that in a spot that isn't going to cost a ton. You're not gonna have to break the bank. He's not the top guard, the Joe Toney of the twenty twenty six free agent class, and so if that's the case and he's going to be reasonably priced, I just think it gets done. I'm confident it gets done. The only question is does this bleed into free agency. I hope. It's very Mike the Sicky light, and it doesn't get to free agency because if it does well, then obviously there's a chance he could end up elsewhere.
01:20:47
Speaker 2: If you had to wager an amount of money that matters to you on who the Bengals backup quarterback is going to be in twenty twenty six, who'd you say it'll be?
01:20:56
Speaker 6: Man this one? I'm so I'm more common don't Riisner returning than I am Joe Flacco? And it's it's not because it's not because really everyone focuses on how well Joe Flaco is going to have his options and all of those things. Fine, the Bengal's really going to spend on a backup quarterback? Like really, like, are they going to give Joe Flacco the Jared Stidham deal? Two years, twelve million dollars? I don't know if they're going to do that. A history would say probably not. I think back to the Carson Palmer days and then he wanted kit to this day, and I get it, Kittnes still wanted to start and all of those things. But like that, when the Bengals are spending on Joe Burrow, I think they're going to say, oh, well, we should use those resources elsewhere, and so that's what's interesting to me. I do think they'll bring in a veteran back up. Jake Browning does not count. He's restricted, could technically return. I don't know if that'll happen. I don't think that should happen unless it's that QB three. So the answer is, I don't know. I don't know who will be. I think it will likely be a veteran. But I'm gonna throw this out to you, MO, would you consider drafting one? I would. I know, I'm the drafts guy having a cost controlled backup that you think can run your offense. If you feel, let's say Dan Pitcher and Zach Taylor look and say, hey, this guy could do that, well, it wouldn't be bad having a rookie back there that you're confident in. And and so, for the first time in the Joe burrow Er, I do think that quarterback should realistically be on the table in the draft.
01:22:34
Speaker 2: Yes, because I'm looking for a better version of Jake Browning, a guy that I could perhaps stash, you know, have in my system, develop, teach, have Joe burrow mentor him for whatever that's worth, which I think is a lot, and then you know, invariably in a year or two, I've got my backup and I've got a guy that I've groomed, that has been in my system, that is a better version. Because look, Browning nothing against what he has accomplished, and what he did in twenty twenty three was great. He gets a lot of credit for that. He was an undrafted guy even when he had success here, you know, you had folks who are like man, you could trade Jake Browning. The league wasn't beating down the Bengals door to get him. The league understands what he is, and so is there a better version of him in the draft? If there is, and I assume there will be, I'm not opposed to the idea because if they accomplish what I think they can accomplish in free agency, and if they accomplish what they should accomplish early in the draft, then you know you could take a quarterback and have it not come at the expense of something. So I'm totally on board with the idea. I'm skeptical that they'll actually do it. You would know more about that than me, But I don't think that's a bizarre or sort of out of left field perspective. I actually think it's something that should be very much on the table.
01:23:53
Speaker 6: Yeah, and honestly I would still consider it even if you do bring back Flaka, and I think Flacco is going to cost He's a guy that I would around the combine, much like Riisener try to offer, say, hey, look do you get to throw to if Joe gets hurt, come be our backup this year, and what do we have to do to get this done. You don't have to show up for any of the voluntary stuff. If you want to spend time with family whatever. You know, if the Bengals should buy a riverfront place in northern Kentucky that Joe Flacco can live in, it's during the offsseeason, it's needed for the aussee at workouts like whatever. Like that's a valuable thing to have. Hey, go there, you don't have to stay in a hotel. Here's all the amenities like so I would still be on board with that, by the way. But yeah, the long term element of this is finding not AJ mccerrn, but sort of AJ mccarren, having a guy that when Andy went down, AJ was able to keep the ship sort of upright. Obviously you want the better version of that, and that's hard to find. But isn't that way Zach Taylor's. Isn't that what you wanted to keep Dan Pitcher is to be able to evaluate these guys. So yeah, I think quarterback is a need and it should very much be on the table in both circumstances, the free agency depending on who obviously Flaco, and then obviously the draft as well.
01:25:17
Speaker 2: Rank these three players in terms of off season contract extension priority, and if you want to add another player to this trio and take one out and feel free, I think you know where I'm going here, DJ Turner, Dax Hill, and Chase Brown.
01:25:34
Speaker 6: So I think most people would probably say DJ, and then backs are Chase or DJ, Chase Dax. I think about that fifty year option for Dax Hill and he's under contract, and I'm like, man, wouldn't it be nice to spread that caps it out a little bit? And I'm getting into the weaves of it a little bit. But that's how these angles need to think. They have a lot of holes, right, And so how do you create more cap space this year? Well, you could sign Dax he'll do an extension and rower that cap pit. And then maybe that's the difference between getting a Brian Cook, who I would very much be in on, and not and still being able to address these other players, these other spots. So when I look at it, Dax would be my priority, and it's because of his contract. I'm not saying he's better than DJ. The way DJ's trending and tracking. Yeah, you want to get his deal done as well, but he's on a second round rookie deal, and uh, even with the escalators and everything, he's gonna have like a three point six million dollar cap hit. So when you sign him to an extension, that's going to go up a little bit. So if you get backs done first, and I do think it might be easier to get backs done, we'll see. I don't know that for sure, but if you get backs done first, it creates more cap space. So I would prioritize Dax then DJ and honestly, Mal. It depends on what Chase wants and how realistic it is. Like, I'm not going double digit millions per year on a Chase Brown deal ten million, eleven million, twelve million. I'm just not doing it. And maybe that's foolish, but as of now, that's kind of where I'm at with it. If he wants to sign three for thirty on top of his year this year where he'll make three million, we'll then fine. But that's probably about as high as that I would take it.
01:27:33
Speaker 2: James Rapine locked on Bengals podcast Enter the Jungle in Bengals Talk dot com on Twitter of course at James Orpeen hang type. Because there's more I want to ask you about. We'll talk about the draft specifically, because I know that's going to be your thing. I actually have something I want to do, like every couple of weeks with you as a draft season unfolds. We'll do the unsponsored weekend tip off coming up as well. My name is Malweger. Thank you so much for spending part of your Friday afternoon with us on ESPN fifty thirty Cincinnati Sports.
01:28:01
Speaker 3: Station, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.
01:28:06
Speaker 4: Traffic from the UC Health Traffic Center with a stroke Every second counts, and so does your team home to rapid life saving treatment and clinical trials. You see help as the clear choice for stroke care. Leorre more at ucehealth dot com. Southbound seventy one. It's an accident on the off ramp to Fort Washington Way. Left lane blocked on the ramp out a five minute delay from Martin Luther King Drive as well, and traffic stop and go southbound seventy five from Western Avenue to Fort Washington Way.
01:28:35
Speaker 2: I'm at ezelic with traffic this report. Right around this time on Tuesday of next week, we're going to have a really good interview. I'm not going to jinx it by announcing who is going to be with, but you're gonna want to be here Tuesday, right around this time for what I think is going to be a really fun interview is football and college basketball related. I'll give you that hint, and if it all through, we'll have something else. Hey. Speaking of interviews, we put them all on the iHeartRadio app Chad Brendle yesterday and the Bearcats was absolutely terrific. James orpen Is also terrific. Locked on Bengals podcast Enter the Jungle of course, and Bengals Talk dot Com. You know, just dovetailing from what we talked about before the break the Chase Brown thing, right like, I love Chase Brown. Every Bengals fan loves Chase Brown. He's a terrific player, but I do understand like he is a running back. He's a running back in the past first offense, and while I don't want to make it sound like, you know, Chase Brown's or a dime, it doesn't. I feel like, in particular in this offense, what he brings to the table, he's not irreplaceable, And so I understand and actually share some of the hesitancy when it comes to not so much locking into him long term, but really making a heavy investment. I guess what you have to ask is is is Chase Brown, in the absence of a contract extension to be a headache or where's the headache going to come from? Because if there's one thing this franchise is really good at, it's kind of creating headaches during the offseason. So I guess I go there, right, like, where's the headache gonna come from? Is it gonna be Chase, Is it gonna be Dax, Is it gonna be DJ Turner? Is it gonna be somebody else?
01:30:20
Speaker 6: Chase Brown would probably be the most likely. I'm just thinking about how outspoken he is, right, and I love it. By the way, to finish map and game like that night mindset, that attitude that he had after the Denver game, how straight up he is. I could totally see him even with him making the rounds over the past week, Oh, my team's working hard on getting a deal, like Okay, well what's that deal look like? And I could totally see the scenario where you look around and Dax gets his deal. DJ gets his deal, And I think that's the far more important is to keep those two pieces on defense, the defense that doesn't have many pieces worth keeping or signing to a long term deal. Then going after a long term extension with Chase and so would that get ugly? Yeah, I mean he knows he's a running back. He knows what it could look like if he goes out there this year and doesn't perform as well and then is set to go to free agency. Like it's a tough spot to be in. And the last thing that I and the question that I would really ask myself upon the Bengals when I think about a Chase Brown extension is all right, well you paid tea and he's a pro bowler at the AFC and touchdowns obviously, Jamar is probably the best receiver in the game. Is Chase Brown in that class of player? If he Jamier gives is he the Jon Robinson and I think those are the two best running backs in the league right now. Christian McCaffrey would have something to say about it, and I'd get it. But those are the two? Or is he a tier below that? And if he's a tier below that, then you have your questions. Oh yeah, I think Chase Brown could potentially be the headache. I hope not, though, because if I'm him, I would look at it and say, man, I could have eighteen hundred yards from scrimmage in this offense. I could be I could show that I'm one of those dudes. If he does that, then he's probably getting plaid somewhere.
01:32:16
Speaker 2: Yeah, James the penis with us for another few minutes. Let's let's look ahead. So let's talk free agency. You mentioned a name you know selfishly and purely as a fan like Brian Cook is one of my all time favorite UC players. He's a guy that in Kansas City, even being a Bengals fan, I've rooted for and I've I've watched him go. From a guy that you know, there are a lot of folks that thought maybe the Chiefs reached when they took him in twenty twenty two, and he's blossomed. So if you could tell me I could have Brian Cook and that's the guy that I'm going to replace Geno Stone with. Hell yeah. But if I said to you today, with more than a month ago before the league year opens, the one free agent that would be at the very top of years, regardless of position, regardless of which side of the ball, name them. Who is it?
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Speaker 6: Odafe Oway? And you're talking about a mid twenties pass rusher that maybe his betdis are in front of him. You could certainly say that I think he's the type of guy. Now he's, for my money, the top pass rusher when you consider age and Trey Hendrickson would would argue it's him, And I did it because today Trey is better. Over the next four years, which one would be better? Oha would be better? I think, So, yeah, that's the guy. And if you get a guy like that, and you have Miles Murphy and Shamar Stewart takes a step and you take it a couple of defensive linemen in the trap, Suddenly your defensive line room feels a lot different. So yeah, adafe Oa, he would be the guy. First rounder, has been productive, hasn't had crazy sax seasons, but you know you'll get you seven eight. Well, maybe this is the year he gets your twelve. Maybe this is the year he takes a lead, and so that would be the guy. Well, the Bengals swim in those waters. I'm not sure, but last year at this time they clearly should have been in on the Milton Williams of the world, the top defensive tackle, and he got paid a ton. But like, now's the time to go find that that piece, and in a weak free agent class overall, I think odafe Oa would be the guy. And even if you did get him, by the way, you can still get Brian Cook. You can still get whatever linebacker you're thinking of. These Bengals need to really push the envelope here now, and that means making significant additions, not just a oh well this fits this void, this fills that void. No, like real studs, they need to be swimming in those waters. Brian Cook is a stud at safety, That's why I mentioned him, and odafe Oa at defensive end would do wonders at pay Corse Stadium.
01:34:59
Speaker 2: So you're right, got to be aggressive. Aggressive. For me, being bold means you have new starting linebackers in twenty twenty six. What are the odds they actually do that after they've invested a year and two picks in Knight and Carter.
01:35:14
Speaker 6: Two new starting linebackers. Virtually low, very low. I would say, I think they should bring someone in. I think you're still open the drafting one too, and that might be the path to it. Let's say they bring in a Leos and all or in sort whoever to Mario Davis, let's say whatever, and that guy comes in and is starting. And then in the draft, Jacob Bradriguez is there in round three and that's probably where you'd have to take him. And he comes in and he's just ready to go, like he feels like Logan Wilson in twenty twenty where he can contribute right away and he's got the speed and the athleticism to cover and all those things. Well, then I can see it. But that was the problem with last year's draft, and that's what sucks, and that's why I've harked on it, and I've probably talked about Demetrius Night Junior more than anyone on the planet, maybe including his family. And it's unfortunate because it's not personal, but it really put the Bengals in a tough spot where now they're like, oh, well, we have this second rounder and Bart Carter is the one way in the green down. Bart Cautter is the one communicating and supposed to be this long term leader on the defense, And so they put themselves in an awkward spot where I do think one of those guys ends up starting. But I agree with you. You've got to get more, more physical, more proven, and just better linebackers.
01:36:37
Speaker 2: One more. I could ask you this question every week for the next twelve weeks and I might get a different answer. Who is your favorite possible pike at number ten overall?
01:36:48
Speaker 7: Oh?
01:36:49
Speaker 6: Man, Yeah, it's so early, and.
01:36:50
Speaker 2: I know it's early. I know you're just getting started.
01:36:53
Speaker 6: Yeah, no, I am no, but it's okay. It's a good one. It's to me the three guys that are just so intriguing right now and it's going to change and it's a popular three. But if you tell me that Caleb Downs can come in and just be this leader, this guy that knows where to go, can be versatile. Compare with Brian Cook and give you one of the best safety tandems in the league. And that would be my mindset. By the way, I wouldn't shy away from Caleb Downs just because you sign a safety and free agency and I'm making that very clear Bengals, So just so you know, and that doesn't mean Jordan Battle can't play. Somebody's at the end of his rookie deal. So that would be one. I'm going to talk about two other guys. Ruben Bain is just nasty. I mean, I know the arm lenk stuff, but you look at him and he's not Gino, Like that's not what I'm trying to say, but like Gino wasn't small. You know, Atkins wasn't small. He was short, and when you saw Gino, You're like, oh, well, it's just bowling ball. And I look at Rubyen Bain and I get it. He's not going to necessarily be a defensive tackle in the league. And though some think bad, but it's the same way, Like I don't think Ruben Bain is small. He's just a little shorter than the Bengals would usually go for in his arm length is an issue. Guess what. Guess who's arm length was an issue when he was being drafted Trey Henderson's and so I look at Ruben Bain and I think he'd be ready to go and contribute right away. And then the other one just juice as a pass rusher, David Bailey. He's not as physically imposing, just a guy that can get after the passer like you could use that, especially with the shamar Stewarts and Miles Murphy's of the world. That would fit. And so those are the three. If I had to pick one today, Mo, it would be Bain and I just one. I love the idea of Baine. Can you imagine the Dark Knight Rises clips that they could play at pay Course Stadium after he makes a sack like so that would be fun. And I just think he's got me the attitude and presence in my like it just it's fits. So if there was a guy today, Ruben Baine Junior out of Miami, if he's there at ten, you do the Bain dance and you you get up to the podium and you make that pick.
01:39:12
Speaker 2: In all seriousness Like that to me tells me they're they're getting away from leaning in on traits and looking more at what the dude puts on film, which was the big discussion after Shamar Stewart and and you're you're always gonna want to look at measurables. You're always going to be interested in in what kind of physical specimen you're investing in. But like if, if if the big discussion last year was lean into what's on film, then you're doing that with Ruben Bain. I love it. You've been awesome with your time. I appreciate it. I'm sure I'll bother you soon. Man, thanks so much.
01:39:44
Speaker 6: I didn't name a wide receiver at Ken they tuned. That could happen. You never know.
01:39:51
Speaker 2: We have three months. We have three months. Yes, trust me, I might do this. I might do this where like I like, I check with you. Let's maybe every two weeks just to go, okay, you know who is it this week? Maybe we'll do that. We'll see you're the man, Thanks so much.
01:40:08
Speaker 6: It would be a little prospect spotlight. I'm in. I appreciate you. MO see you too.
01:40:13
Speaker 2: That's our guy and alum of this show. James Orpene Enter the Jungle, the Locked On Bengals podcast and Bengals Talk dot Com. Paul Danner Junior if you need more of a Bengals fix with me. Earlier this week on the Mockoff Season was terrific. So were Chase Brown and t Higgins. Interviewed them both this week. You can find that interview, those interviews and so much more on the iHeartRadio app. Podcasts of this show or a service of Long Neck Sports Grill. You know you got three locations in northern Kentucky. You got Wilder, you got Hebrewn, you got rich Wood, and no better place to post up and watch college basketball this weekend. And if you are looking for a place to meet up with your buddies for a football game a week from Sunday, you know where to go. Long Nex Sports Grill stay long often. Speaking of college basketball, we will run through all of this weekend's games in the area on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.
01:41:07
Speaker 5: Station Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.
01:41:12
Speaker 4: Traffic from the UC Health Traffic Center With a stroke every second counts and so does your team home to rapid life saving treatment and clinical trials. You see health as the clear choice sports stroke care. Learn more at ucehealth dot com. Found to only one accident at the moment, It's on eastbound two seventy five after Ronald Reagan Highway blocking off the left lane. Police toe Cruz. They're on scene westbound two seventy five. Traffic slow between Springfield Pike and Winton Road. That's a three minute delay. I'm at ezelic with the traffic this week.
01:41:45
Speaker 2: See, I'm already getting text. Who's the interview gonna be with Tuesday? Right around five twenty? Who's it gonna be? I'm not gonna I don't believe in Jenson's. I don't believe in Jenson's. I'm not a superstitious person. I don't believe in announcer Ja says. You know, I went to the Miami basketball game on Tuesday night, and I was prepared if they lost that game, which for a brief while was at least a possibility, I was prepared to hear how I was a Jinx and I don't believe in Jinx's. I would not have been the reason. I'm not the reason they won, am I No? So I would not have been the reason they lost. Not that said, there's a good interview. I'm saying this because I haven't won thousand percent secured it. I've about ninety five percent secured it. But I think it's going to be a good interview and I'm looking forward to it. But I'm not gonna say who it is until I won thousand percent, no for sure, and then once I do, we'll let you know. It's time back by popular demand for the Unsponsored Weekend tip Off, a service of maybe your company tell your boss to call my boss, and you could sponsor the Unsponsored Weekend tip Off. Tonight on ESP fifteen thirty, NKU is at Detroit Mercy, first of back to back games in the state of Michigan in the Greater Detroit area for the Norse. NKU won this first matchup. Won the first match up between these two teams by twenty five points. The last couple of games, the Norse on the defensive end of the floor, remember it's not defensive side of the ball in basketball, on the defensive end of the floor have given up ninety two and eighty eight. Gave up eighty eight at Wright State on Saturday. The Norse shot fifty five percent in that game, which is typically good enough to get a win. They fell behind by seventeen points. They allowed the Raiders to shoot thirty six free throws. Not good enough. NKU is two and a half games at a first place in the Horizon League, trailing both Wright State and Oakland. The Norse play Oakland on Sunday, so a chance to gain a game headhead against the Grizzlies. First things first. NKU and Detroit Mercy in Detroit tonight, seven o'clock. Here's your tip off on ESPN fifteen thirty. Very quietly. The Saint Louis Billikins are twenty to one and they're a point away from being undefeated. Tonight they host the latest edition of the arch Baron Cup. Rivalry is the Dayton Flyers visit Saint Louis UD, looking to avoid its first four game losing streak in twelve years. Now. You know what they did twelve years ago. If you're a Dayton fan, you're nodding along. You know what they did twelve years ago? That's right, they made the Elite eight? Are they gonna make the Elite eight this year? I'll settle for a win at Saint Louis. If you haven't seen the Billickans yet, they play fast, which, let's be honest, that's not the Saint Louis brand going back decades. But they play fast, They're really good defensively. Dayton Hot and Cold win their first five A ten games, lose their next three A ten games. They blew a fifteen point lead the other night against Rhode Island. They tip off at eight o'clock tonight in Saint Louis. Tomorrow it's Cincinnati and Houston. I think if you're a Bearcat fan, you don't need me to remind you what happened in the first game. These two teams were tied at sixty three and a half to go. Bearcats never scored again. Kog's win sixty seven to sixty Kingston Fleming. If I was a fan of an NBA team that was going to have a top five pick, I would be watching Kingston Flemings closely had forty two in Houston's loss to Texas Tech. The Cougars bounce back the other night against TCU on the road with what just felt like the quintessential Houston game. I talk about the Cougars all the time. Look, they have stolen the Bearcats brand, right, But I think it's really hard. It's hard to have a program identity, Like if you're a UC fan, to me, for those nearly three decades where the Bearcats were NCAA tournament mainstays, there was a clear, constant, year in, year out identity. But I think it's a little bit easier to have that when you don't have unending roster turnover in a day and age of roster turnover has carved out an identity. You know in your mind's eye, you know what a Houston player looks like. Right. They're tough, they're fundamentally sound. They're awesome on both ends of the floor. There's not a lot of like offensive and defensive specialists in Kelvin Samson's program. They're smart. In recent years, they've gotten really good at running stuff. You think about when Houston first got good in the AAC, their offense was throw it up against the backboard and go get it. They can still go get it. The Bearcats saw that firsthand. But it's so interesting to me watching them. They had times use the entire shot clock and yet still get a good, not rushed, not panicked shot. So they're eighteen and two Bearcats have their hands full. Brenda talked about this with me yesterday. That first game at fifth third, it was there for the taking for Cincinnati. Do you get two chances like that. Hopefully the answer is yes. We'll find out tomorrow at twelve o'clock. You talk about games there for the taking, Xavier's last three, each one of them there for the taking, Creighton on the road, Saint John's here last Saturday, very much there for the taking, having an eleven point lead in Newark against Seaton Hall. Now, one thing that has happened with the Musketeers this year when they've lost a tough one, they typically have bounced back with at least a good effort. I heard Paul Frischner, our guy who we got to get on the show here soon, maybe next week, mister college basketball. I heard him say something to Mike Petrellia last night on Sports Talk down the Hall that I think is true with every Xavier basketball game, you have no idea what you're going to get. First time the Muskies played to Paul, they lost eighty six to seventy seven. Let's be honest. If you don't want this to unravel, you gotta get this one at home. Three straight losses behind you, road games in front of you against Yukon and Saint John's. Tip off at one o'clock tomorrow Louisville has mckel brown back. They were throttled over the final thirty minutes against Duke the other night. I am not entirely sure of what to make of Louisville's team. Early in the season. You would watch him in Burst and believe with that backcourt, Final four caliber team. I've watched him in Burse obviously at times with that mcl brown and I've thought, I'm not sure that's an NCAA tournament team. We'll see if they bounce back tomorrow against smu. Ohio State is a very quiet fourteen and six and a very quiet six and four in the Big Ten. They take on Wisconsin. Bruce Thornton's one of those guys that it feels like he's been playing college basketball for a thousand years. I think they have a really talented starting five. You just wait for a little bit more from the buck Eyes. Perhaps we see it tomorrow. Indiana coming off that big win over Purdue, We'll take on UCLA tomorrow. Miami looks for a twenty second consecutive win to start the season. Big day tomorrow at Malett Hall. The great Ron Harper is going to be in attendance, getting an honorary degree, Redhawk's taking on Northern Illino, looking to remain unbeaten, looking to improve to twenty two to zero. This is my It's not even a hot take. First of all, remember the Buffalo game a week and a half ago where they nearly lost. They go play the Bulls on Tuesday. So before we talk about an undefeated finish, two things have to happen. One, Travis Steels team has to play better defense. He admitted that on this show on Monday, and then they didn't defend all that well against UMAs. Number Two, after they take on Northern Illinois tomorrow in a game they should win, should they're gonna have their hands full in the return engagement against Buffalo. I hate to say this, I believe that finishing the regular season undefeated will not be enough to get Miami an at large bid in the NCAA Tournament. Now, hopefully this ends up being a moot point because they win the MAC Tournament. That schedule with three games that they've played that aren't gonna count on their resume is going to hurt them. And I think it's gonna be interesting to hear how this is talked about. If you have an undefeated men's college basketball team in the regular season doesn't make the NCAA Tournament as an at large again, hopefully it's a moot point. First things first, the RedHawks and Northern Illinois at Mallett Hall tomorrow at three point thirty. It's the John Caliperry Bowl two point zero. I guess Kentucky is at Arkansas right now? How many Wildcat fans would love to have John Caliperry back. The Mark Pope thing. Look, they had won five consecutive games going into that tilt against Vanderbilt, and obviously the Wildcats roster has been depleted big time because of injury. Still blatantly non competitive against the Commodores. If that continues tomorrow, the U at least from a public perspective, that hot seat that Mark Pope seems to be on is it's going to be hotter than hot whatever that is. Arkansas is led by Darius Akuff. If I rooted for an NBA team that was going to pick anywhere between six and ten in this year's I would be watching Darius Acuff very very closely. You know what the good news is, for all of their issues, I don't root for a team that's going to be picking in the lottery. So that's good. Six thirty Tomorrow Kentucky at Arkansas on ESPN fifteen thirty. Pre game coverage begins at five pm. There it is the unsponsored weekend tip off thanks to perhaps a brand new sponsor. Next week on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.
01:51:24
Speaker 3: Station Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.
01:51:29
Speaker 4: Traffic from the UC Health Traffic Center with a stroke Every second counts, and so does your team home to rapid life saving treatment and clinical trials. U see Health as the clear choice for stroke care. Learn more at UCHealth dot com. An accident has now been cleared away on eastbound two seventy five after Ronald Reagan Highway southbound seventy five approaching seventy four, right center lane blocked from a disabled vehicle. And on southbound two seventy five after Kilby Road accident on the left shoulder. I'm at eazelic with traffic this report.
01:52:03
Speaker 2: Showso forgot to go. Don't forget anything in my DIMSSI. You can go find on the einheartradio appro ipage at ESPN fifteen thirty dot com. Thanks to long Next Sports Grill, don't forget to stick around for MKU basketball tonight is the worst take on Detroit Mercy. Don't forget Tony Pikes. Since twenty sixty Monday at noon. We are back Monday at three oh five. Have a great weekend. Thanks for listening, and thanks to Tarren Bland for producing. This is ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.
