Speaker 1: Six eleven in the Queens City of Cincinnati, Chick Ludwig
Speaker 1: seven hundred w l W.
Speaker 2: This is Sports Talk.
Speaker 3: Joe Waddell is tonight's producer, and we are coming out
Speaker 3: of the gates strong with my favorite Bengals partner talking
Speaker 3: Bengals football legendary wide receiver, the one and only Tim McGee.
Speaker 2: Tim, how are you tonight?
Speaker 4: I am going good, excellent, just sitting here chilling. What's
Speaker 4: you up to?
Speaker 2: Oh wow?
Speaker 3: Yeah, Hey, a great night of sports talk at seven
Speaker 3: hundred WLW and Tim. The Bengals have three games remaining.
Speaker 3: They play tomorrow in Miami Gardens against the Dolphins. How
Speaker 3: difficult is it right out of the gate here to
Speaker 3: go from what zero degrees minus with the wind chill,
Speaker 3: going to nearly eighty degrees and trying to play a
Speaker 3: sixty minute NFL game?
Speaker 4: Well, I'd say one thing, it's tough because I'm down
Speaker 4: here and it's an eighty plus degree so it is
Speaker 4: extremely tough. People talk about playing Denver, and trust me,
Speaker 4: in Denver, Colorado, it's with the altitude there is probably
Speaker 4: the toughest, Don't get me wrong. However, it is totally
Speaker 4: underrated when you go from frigid temperatures in the Midwest
Speaker 4: or east or wherever it may be, and then you
Speaker 4: come down South and you play. Your lungs are just
Speaker 4: not ready for it. So you know, you got to
Speaker 4: stay hydrated. You got to have a sub you know,
Speaker 4: you got to play smart, and you got to play
Speaker 4: composed and all the things that you hear about. Trust me,
Speaker 4: it takes a toll on your body.
Speaker 3: If you wait for hydration. You are too late, aren't you.
Speaker 4: Oh, there's no question about the hydration has to start
Speaker 4: the night before and obviously the day of the game early.
Speaker 4: But it's going to happen. I mean, there's no such
Speaker 4: thing as being hydrated for a football game. You're you're
Speaker 4: gonna see players no matter whatether. You know, people go,
Speaker 4: oh my god, the guy's cramping up. Why didn't he
Speaker 4: you know, why didn't hydrate himself prior to the game
Speaker 4: or whatever. Yes, he did, but you know, obviously you
Speaker 4: lose a lot of water weight, You lose a lot
Speaker 4: of water and you end up doing the course of
Speaker 4: a hot game like this and your body's just not
Speaker 4: You just can't adjust. You can't go through a walk
Speaker 4: through on Saturday and play on Sunday and say, oh, oh, okay,
Speaker 4: my body's adjusted to it. It's not gonna happen.
Speaker 3: Tim, kind of an umbrella question here, how just how
Speaker 3: disappointing from an alumni standpoint and really a Bengals fans standpoint,
Speaker 3: has this season been?
Speaker 4: You know what it's been.
Speaker 5: This has been.
Speaker 4: Probably the weirdest football season that I have been around personally.
Speaker 2: And here's the.
Speaker 4: Reason why this team was built exactly the way they've
Speaker 4: played exactly. There's been zero surprise. Zero. Oh my gosh,
Speaker 4: I can't believe this particular player, or this particular position,
Speaker 4: or this particular side of the ball that's not playing well.
Speaker 4: You knew going.
Speaker 6: Into this season.
Speaker 4: They fed you sugar. They gave you t Higgins, they
Speaker 4: gave you Jamar Chase, they gave you Joe Burrow, and
Speaker 4: the fans wanted it, and you got it. You got it.
Speaker 4: Now all your allocation of you of your cap is sitting.
Speaker 6: On the offensive side. You have an offensive cour a.
Speaker 4: Pretty much quarterback coach sore to speak, and coordinator in
Speaker 4: Zach Taylor. He's definitely on the offensive side of the ball.
Speaker 4: And you have a defense that's you know, was put
Speaker 4: out on the Island and just doesn't have much talent.
Speaker 4: We knew that going into the season.
Speaker 6: What we didn't know is Trey wouldn't play you know, the.
Speaker 4: Full model games. But nevertheless, when he played, you know,
Speaker 4: it still wasn't very successful. So this is exactly the
Speaker 4: way they were built to outscore teams, and they just
Speaker 4: could not outscore them. And unfortunately, you know what seems
Speaker 4: to be a year yearly occurrence. You're Joe Burrow is
Speaker 4: you know, gets beat up, fits out a couple of games.
Speaker 4: And you know, obviously Joe Flacco did a wonderful job
Speaker 4: stepping in, but nevertheless he's not the leader of that
Speaker 4: locker room like Burrow is. And so I would say, yes,
Speaker 4: it's been extremely disappointing, chick, but not surprising. This is
Speaker 4: kind of what I mean, I kind of expected.
Speaker 3: There's three games remaining. What do you look for tomorrow?
Speaker 3: How important is this game for a Joe Burrow to
Speaker 3: bounce back from that? Really the to backle against the Baltimore.
Speaker 4: Man. I wish I could tell you something inside of
Speaker 4: the lock inside of the locker room that you know,
Speaker 4: you get motivated for games like this, you know it.
Speaker 4: Now you're starting to see the preseason mentality kick back in. Yes,
Speaker 4: I want to play well, but the most important element
Speaker 4: or the next the remaining games of the season is
Speaker 4: not to get hurt. That's and you're not playing not
Speaker 4: to get hurt. You're just cognitively aware that this is
Speaker 4: not something since it's a meaningless game, so to speak.
Speaker 4: But obviously I'm getting paid a lot of money to
Speaker 4: show up, the fans are showing up. I still need
Speaker 4: to perform. However, my number one priority is not to
Speaker 4: get hurt, you know, an aco or something that's going
Speaker 4: to carry over to the next year, so I you know,
Speaker 4: and and on the defensive side, I think a lot
Speaker 4: of guys on the defensive side, if you look at
Speaker 4: it individually, they're playing for their jobs. You know. The
Speaker 4: defense is pretty much lasting in the National Football League.
Speaker 4: So I don't think there's a if any players that
Speaker 4: could really be comfortable with their performance, and especially going
Speaker 4: into next year, I think they have to look at
Speaker 4: every position to see where they can upgrade.
Speaker 2: Tim McGee is with US.
Speaker 3: He played for the Bengals from nineteen eighty six to
Speaker 3: ninety two, then one year with the then Washington Redskins,
Speaker 3: and he came back to the Bengals in nineteen ninety
Speaker 3: four and ninety five, a great ten year career. Tim
Speaker 3: The word bengalized gets tossed around a lot, and I
Speaker 3: define it as when all the life and joy of
Speaker 3: playing football for the Bengals gets sucked out of you.
Speaker 3: Is Joe Burrow bengalized?
Speaker 4: I think he's headed in that direction. I think he's
Speaker 4: about to walk into that vacuum. Unfortunately, it's very tough.
Speaker 4: You got to understand Joe Burrow's fight and how his
Speaker 4: career has elevated itself to the point where he got
Speaker 4: to the point where he is expecting nothing but championships.
Speaker 4: This is a guy that you know, he went from
Speaker 4: Ohio State to LSU National championship, number one pick, Heisman
Speaker 4: trophystead his resume, it just says it breeds success. Then
Speaker 4: you're early in his career, boom, you go to the
Speaker 4: Super Bowl. You figured, just like I did and all
Speaker 4: my ex teammates, you figure you're coming back and things
Speaker 4: getting worse and worse and worse. And that's the when
Speaker 4: you say bingalives. I think that's where it is, where
Speaker 4: it just kind of sucks the football life out of you.
Speaker 4: And I know all the listeners are going to serve,
Speaker 4: but you're getting paid a lot of money. Well, you know,
Speaker 4: everybody's being paid every bread. That doesn't necessarily mean you're
Speaker 4: not human. And I think he is falling into that
Speaker 4: trap where mentally it has just got to be extremely
Speaker 4: tough to put up forty thirty five forty five forty
Speaker 4: two points and still look up and be dejected walking
Speaker 4: off the field. That's got a way on any human being.
Speaker 3: And tim a lot of discussion. Also, Hey, a lot
Speaker 3: of fans wanting to sit out these final three games
Speaker 3: so he avoid injury. I look at it, you know,
Speaker 3: from a fans standpoint, when I go to a game
Speaker 3: and I'm paying all this money, I want to see
Speaker 3: the best players. Should Joe Burrow play if he's healthy
Speaker 3: these last three games?
Speaker 4: That's a tough you know, when you think about that,
Speaker 4: you look at the load management in an NBA. But
Speaker 4: that's you know, that's kind of where I can understand
Speaker 4: both sides, and I think fans, particularly the last game
Speaker 4: or two, we'll look at it as in every single
Speaker 4: time he takes a hit, they're going to be like,
Speaker 4: get him out of there, get him out, get him out.
Speaker 4: We need him for next year because this year is meaningless,
Speaker 4: and if he does get hurt, oh my gosh. You know,
Speaker 4: Zach Taylor, you know, I mean you got to catch the.
Speaker 6: Next next bus on out of there because you know
Speaker 6: people are not going to.
Speaker 4: Be very happy with you. But let's just say this, chick,
Speaker 4: there's only one person that controls Joe Burrow, and that's
Speaker 4: Joe Burrow. No other person, no other person all the
Speaker 4: way from Mike Brown all the way down to the janitor.
Speaker 4: It's just not going to happen. Joe Burrow is going
Speaker 4: to make the decision for himself, and I'm pretty sure
Speaker 4: the Bengals organization will support whatever he decides to do.
Speaker 3: Tim mcgeeze with us for a few more minutes, and Tim,
Speaker 3: looking at your career with the Bengals, You've been on
Speaker 3: some very successful teams and then some teams that went
Speaker 3: three and thirteen, that went four and eleven during a
Speaker 3: strike year. Man, when you struggle one year and then
Speaker 3: to come back and you go to a super Bowl,
Speaker 3: you know, it's really incredible. So are the Bengals that
Speaker 3: far away? Even though they've missed the playoffs here three
Speaker 3: straight years. I don't think you're ever too far away
Speaker 3: with a free agency and the draft and bouncing back
Speaker 3: the next year.
Speaker 4: You know, I'm sorry, I don't see it, and I
Speaker 4: want to see it, trust me, my heart wants to
Speaker 4: see it. My heis wants to see it. I just
Speaker 4: think the defense is so I don't think they're a
Speaker 4: player too. I think there are four or five six
Speaker 4: players away from, you know, where they can have the
Speaker 4: offense and compliment the offense and compliment special teams and
Speaker 4: be a asset opposed to a liability right now, So
Speaker 4: I don't see it. They have some young talent, but
Speaker 4: let's just face it that, you know again, there's a
Speaker 4: reason they're thirty two in overall defense. So I would
Speaker 4: be on the pessimistic side, and I think things are
Speaker 4: trending in the other direction. I think they're getting worse
Speaker 4: opposed to getting better. And I think next year.
Speaker 6: Is going to early next year, the first three.
Speaker 4: Or four games is going to be very pivotal because
Speaker 4: if they get off to a bad start, man, I
Speaker 4: just I just couldn't even imagine what Joe Burrow would
Speaker 4: what would be going through his head. You see, he's
Speaker 4: already wore out right now and getting off to a
Speaker 4: slow start next year will probably be it would It
Speaker 4: would not be good for him.
Speaker 6: And you know, again, Chick, we.
Speaker 4: Had talked about it. We've done many shows. Rob They're
Speaker 4: in the AFC North. You know Moore is going to
Speaker 4: be there. You know, Pitchburgh's going to be there, and
Speaker 4: you know the Bengals would typically be next in the Browns.
Speaker 4: But you know it's I still don't think they're going
Speaker 4: to be as talented as Pittsburgh and or Baltimore and Tim.
Speaker 3: You talked about this being a weird season, Well, how
Speaker 3: about no Joe Burrow and no Patrick Mahomes in the playoffs?
Speaker 4: Is this?
Speaker 2: Could this be Buffalo's year in the AFC with with Denver.
Speaker 6: You know, it's funny you said that. I was talking
Speaker 6: to someone last.
Speaker 4: Night at a Christmas party and I actually said that
Speaker 4: that this may be the year Buffalo creeps into the
Speaker 4: super Bowl and actually wind it because they are not favorite,
Speaker 4: and now you have the their nemesis pretty much out with.
Speaker 4: You know, obviously Kana, Kansas City is not in and
Speaker 4: the Bengals not in, so you know, the road is
Speaker 4: clear for him and it would not surprise me right
Speaker 4: now there, you know, I would pick them to be,
Speaker 4: you know, the the the team that could really creep
Speaker 4: in and show some people that you know this this
Speaker 4: will be their year.
Speaker 6: And you know it's just a Goofy year.
Speaker 4: This year, it's just Goofy and Tim.
Speaker 3: Before I let you go the college football Playoff? Okay,
Speaker 3: you talk about special teams. Oklahoma just absolutely melted down
Speaker 3: last night. Alabama wins Ole Miss is taking care of
Speaker 3: TWU Lane.
Speaker 2: What do you think of two Lane.
Speaker 3: And James Madison being in the twelve team college football Playoff?
Speaker 4: You know, it's so funny. I love you to death,
Speaker 4: and you know how much I despise college football, the
Speaker 4: structure of it.
Speaker 6: So if you pose these questions, I say there and go.
Speaker 4: You know, it's a hot mess. It's just there's just
Speaker 4: the structure of college football or college last professional football,
Speaker 4: because that's what it is now. Nothing surprises me. They
Speaker 4: will never have a system where it's spare and parody
Speaker 4: like the NFL. It's just that's not going to happen.
Speaker 4: I think the committee does as best as they can,
Speaker 4: but I just think the structure is as such right
Speaker 4: now that you know it's just going to be pitch poor.
Speaker 4: You're gonna get some teams in there that truly do
Speaker 4: not belong, and they have to ask the question, there's
Speaker 4: only one question, do you want the top teams in?
Speaker 4: If you want the top teams in, wipe all that
Speaker 4: other stuff out that you know, give gifts to a
Speaker 4: conference champion and all that. Pick the best ten, twelve,
Speaker 4: whatever you want. Pick the best ones and let them
Speaker 4: go and let them go out there and play. But
Speaker 4: you know, it's just sad that certain teams like Alabama
Speaker 4: got to play Oklahoma, which is a tough, tough, tough,
Speaker 4: tough game. Miami had to play Texas Tech, which is
Speaker 4: a tough, tough game. But you know, you know, you
Speaker 4: got somebody playing Tulane and if you're sitting here going,
Speaker 4: oh miss playing to Lang, like, come on, really that
Speaker 4: you can't call that a fair battle in a playoff structure.
Speaker 4: But you know, again, until they get the structure of
Speaker 4: it together, it's always going to be a hot mess.
Speaker 3: Tim McGee, always a pleasure, great insight as usual.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much. Merry Christmas to the family.
Speaker 6: Thanks Chick, Merry Christmas to you and everyone's just listening.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much.
Speaker 3: This is Sports Talk with Chick Ludwig on seven hundred
Speaker 3: WLW six forty one in the Queen City of Cincinnati.
Speaker 3: Chick Ludwig, this is sports Talk. We're going all the
Speaker 3: way to seven thirty tonight and then coming back after
Speaker 3: the Xavier game from ten thirty to midnight. So uh,
Speaker 3: looking forward to being with all the fans out there
Speaker 3: this evening. And I think most everybody knows that I'm
Speaker 3: a Cincinnati Elder High School grad. Well, coming up on Friday,
Speaker 3: January thirtieth is the most important event of the entire
Speaker 3: school year, and that is the forty ninth Elder Sports Tag.
Speaker 3: And here to talk to us about it is the
Speaker 3: chairman of the Elder Sports Tag Elder Class of nineteen
Speaker 3: seventy eight, Joe Lynd Junior.
Speaker 2: Joe, how are you tonight?
Speaker 5: I am doing great, Chick. Thanks for having us on
Speaker 5: the radio. I really appreciate it and it's always great
Speaker 5: to talk to another fellow Elder.
Speaker 3: Grad altiora all the way. And Joe, it doesn't shock
Speaker 3: me that you're involved with Elder High School because your dad,
Speaker 3: Joe Sr.
Speaker 2: Was man. He was headed the Elders Dad's Club for
Speaker 2: for how long.
Speaker 5: My dad was head of Elder's Dad's club for thirty years.
Speaker 5: It was a nineteen fifty three brad. He also ran
Speaker 5: the Elder press box, so he was instrumental in expanding
Speaker 5: the press box at the football field and also getting
Speaker 5: it read. I mean he completely had it refurbished, got
Speaker 5: room built for the NN and all the radio they
Speaker 5: do up there. My dad gave countless hours, countless hours
Speaker 5: and all the dance club guys do just serving food
Speaker 5: at two days for the old football team and every
Speaker 5: Tuesday night at Dan's club, and they work pancake breakfast
Speaker 5: for the students at Elder High School.
Speaker 4: So he loved it.
Speaker 5: He our dad just bled purple absolutely and loved everything
Speaker 5: about it.
Speaker 3: And you've been chairman of the Elder Sports Tag for
Speaker 3: how many years now?
Speaker 5: It's fifteen years.
Speaker 3: Fantastic years. Class of seventy eight grad And what makes
Speaker 3: this stag so special? Here coming up on Friday, January thirtieth,
Speaker 3: what a phenomenal guest. We are talking Gene ster Ataur,
Speaker 3: CBS sports rules analyst, former NFL official and NCAA Division
Speaker 3: One basketball referee. So this is a little bit outside
Speaker 3: the realm of you know, an athlete or a coach,
Speaker 3: But man is going to be a spectacular night with
Speaker 3: Jean Sterotaur. How in the world did Elder get a
Speaker 3: hold of this guy?
Speaker 5: Well, you know at Elder and you know this, we
Speaker 5: have a really wide web of people. Plus we built
Speaker 5: a heck of a reference team to get to almost
Speaker 5: anybody we need to get to, and we Jim Jim Hilbert,
Speaker 5: who's a football coach at Baldwin Wallace, knew Gene Sterotur
Speaker 5: and was able to give me a warm introduction. So
Speaker 5: when I called Gene and told him about what we
Speaker 5: were all about, Jean Stertur was all over this. And
Speaker 5: I'll tell you a kick. The Stag committee wanted to
Speaker 5: do something different this year because every year, you know,
Speaker 5: it's a coach or a player and it's football or baseball,
Speaker 5: and we were like, let's do something different. We came
Speaker 5: up our committee came up with, Hey, let's try Jeans Sterotur.
Speaker 5: So I was tasked with the java trying to find
Speaker 5: him and get to him and get I got to him.
Speaker 2: That is fair fantastic.
Speaker 3: Once again, the CBS we hear we hear his voice
Speaker 3: all the time watching uh the NFL CBS Sports rules analyst,
Speaker 3: and he just strikes me as and I've heard stories
Speaker 3: where you know, he'll get to a game and and really.
Speaker 2: Talk to people on the sidelines.
Speaker 3: He seems to be very personable and uh, he's here
Speaker 3: to support Elder High School. And it's always a great
Speaker 3: cause because the money generated from the Stag uh Man
Speaker 3: supplements the UH teacher salaries.
Speaker 2: So what a great cause it does.
Speaker 5: It does when it is When the Stag was originally formed,
Speaker 5: our first speaker was Sparky Anderson, and it was it
Speaker 5: was formed as a bonus. So the money that we generate,
Speaker 5: one of what we make on the sports day so
Speaker 5: is evenly distributed to this to all the teachers at
Speaker 5: Elder High School as a bonus check. And it's it's
Speaker 5: wonderful and it's grown. And I'll tell you, chick, it's
Speaker 5: our greatest recruiting tool because who hasn't a teacher touched
Speaker 5: in their lives? Yes, And you know when we got
Speaker 5: the boomer A Siasan and we got the Sean Casey
Speaker 5: and they found out what the Stag was all about,
Speaker 5: they were like, oh my god, it goes back to
Speaker 5: the teachers. I'm in Jean's territory, don't know, if you
Speaker 5: know he's one of seven kids, Italian Catholic. You only
Speaker 5: drawback about him. He's from the Pittsburgh area, you know,
Speaker 5: so he's a big Steelers fan. But that's okay.
Speaker 4: But you know he's going to be He's going to
Speaker 4: be great.
Speaker 5: He's attracting a very good crowd, instrumental, he's going to
Speaker 5: tell great stories.
Speaker 2: Just that.
Speaker 5: It's a couple of times I've talked to him, I
Speaker 5: felt like I've known him my whole life. He's one
Speaker 5: of those guys you could talk to.
Speaker 3: That's beautiful. Hey, Joe Lynn Junior is with us and
Speaker 3: he's chairman of the Elder Sports Stag. It's the forty
Speaker 3: ninth year for it. And man a shout out to
Speaker 3: my buddy Dan Meyer, who is the brainchild and really
Speaker 3: the founder president CU of Nea Maya Manufacturing, which is
Speaker 3: the presenting sponsor.
Speaker 2: So Dan is just a phenomenal friend.
Speaker 3: Uh played football at Elder, played football at the University
Speaker 3: of Pennsylvania and just a phenomenal, phenomenal guy. And Uh,
Speaker 3: our ticket's still available for the Stag one hundred bucks there, Yeah,
Speaker 3: one hundred bucks, or you can go the VIP route
Speaker 3: for a one hundred and seventy five tables for eight,
Speaker 3: nine and ten. And man, just get a hold of
Speaker 3: the alumni office and can I give that number out here, Joe,
Speaker 3: it's five one three nine two one thirty four eleven.
Speaker 5: That is correct, and ask for Brian Bill. He is
Speaker 5: the alumni director. Yes, and everything's online now, which is
Speaker 5: really nice. So everything will be one hundred percent now
Speaker 5: it is one hundred percent on your on your telephone.
Speaker 5: But uh yeah, we still have we still have some
Speaker 5: seats available. Uh so flee that you know fast because
Speaker 5: January thirty will be a you know, a promise before.
Speaker 2: We know it, no doubt.
Speaker 3: And Brian Bill's a director of alumni and public relations
Speaker 3: for Elder and that's his number. Five one three nine
Speaker 3: two one thirty four eleven. And Joe, just to uh,
Speaker 3: I mean to recap the fall here, unbelievable football season
Speaker 3: for the Elder Panthers twelve and one, twelve and zero,
Speaker 3: A tough loss in the what the state semifinals to
Speaker 3: uh our GCL brothers the same X Bombers, But what
Speaker 3: an unbelievable season for Elder.
Speaker 5: It was a great season and a great run and
Speaker 5: uh you know it fits well to everything Elder is
Speaker 5: about and I you know, I think I think good
Speaker 5: things are coming for the older football program in.
Speaker 3: The And if I may say so, Joe, when I
Speaker 3: was Ken Halp's student manager and we had an army
Speaker 3: of student managers for football, I got elevated as a
Speaker 3: sophomore to varsity.
Speaker 2: That was a big time feather in my cap.
Speaker 3: Okay, yeah, two a day's coach Callahan and I would
Speaker 3: open up large cans of chicken noodle soup and the
Speaker 3: players had to bring it brown bag it. And when
Speaker 3: I'm hearing stories of it being catered and everything, moms
Speaker 3: and dads, Oh my gosh, how awesome that would have been.
Speaker 2: But how great it is for today's players.
Speaker 5: You know, something ticket is Uh. They go out and
Speaker 5: they get sponsors from all the West Side restaurants, and
Speaker 5: they cater a great needle every day. And the dad's
Speaker 5: gloved guys and a shout out to them, Jerey McAdams
Speaker 5: and Mike Sandman and a and a cast of a
Speaker 5: bunch of them who put it all together, and they
Speaker 5: go out and recruit these guys and they serve the
Speaker 5: kids every day. It's just it's just fantastic to all
Speaker 5: the people who who donate the food the Elder It's
Speaker 5: it's great and makes for such a great experience for
Speaker 5: the kids.
Speaker 3: And a big time shout out here to head football
Speaker 3: coach Doug Ramsey because going to that Dad's club in
Speaker 3: the fall on Tuesday nights, man, that can get wild
Speaker 3: in there, but he's able to weather every storm.
Speaker 5: Oh he gets it gets big time. It gets big
Speaker 5: time crowded in there. And you should see the meals
Speaker 5: they have in there, because they have the food caters
Speaker 5: for that stuff too, and they'll be there'll be, you know,
Speaker 5: a couple hundred people in there. And Doug Ramsey, God
Speaker 5: bless him. He goes to the whole film and he'll
Speaker 5: ask your questions and explain every play and say who
Speaker 5: made every catch or who ran the play or who
Speaker 5: made the tackle. So he's very patient and everybody is
Speaker 5: very respectful and just goes and has a really good time.
Speaker 2: Well, the pit is a very special place.
Speaker 3: And also how about Elder basketball coach Joe Schoenfeld.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, he's a Hall of Famer period.
Speaker 5: He sure is. And he just was nominated for Teacher
Speaker 5: of the Year back to won the award. So Joe
Speaker 5: Schonfeld and I are one year a part at Elder.
Speaker 5: He's the seventy seven grad. I'm a seventy eight grad.
Speaker 5: So we drove to school together for a few years.
Speaker 5: Both Saint Treis are grads Saint Tries and Bruins.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and what five hundred wins plus for Joe Schoenfeld, right, Well,
Speaker 2: he had one heck of a career, he really has.
Speaker 3: And I also was student manager for the immortal Paul
Speaker 3: hans Fry. And some of my greatest memories at Elder
Speaker 3: High School on the sidelines for football and being at
Speaker 3: the basketball games in the They called it the new
Speaker 3: gym back then, but it's the old gym now it's
Speaker 3: the wrestling gym in the volleyball gym, right right, chick.
Speaker 5: And when you come to the stack, because I understand
Speaker 5: you're coming to the Stag this year.
Speaker 2: Yes, sir, we got to give you a really.
Speaker 5: Nice detailed tour of all the new things that are
Speaker 5: going on at Elder. Wait till you see that volleyball
Speaker 5: wrestling gym. And if you talk to Kurt Ruffing, who's
Speaker 5: the principal at Elder, he says, it's the wrestling volleyball
Speaker 5: Jim because he was a wrestler for four years ago.
Speaker 3: Beautiful well and when I was there the last time
Speaker 3: a couple of years ago. What they've done at the
Speaker 3: Shaper Center, which used to be what pharmacy was that
Speaker 3: right there on Glen Way, Oh my god, super X
Speaker 3: and the Shaper Center is incredible. And what Elder has
Speaker 3: done uh for journalism, radio, TV and the social media
Speaker 3: is just phenomenal. I'm I'm listening to games on the
Speaker 3: online and it's uh, it's just awesome.
Speaker 4: Yep, it is.
Speaker 5: And I mean thanks to Bill Hemmer for doing that
Speaker 5: and the n N room And I'm telling you, chick,
Speaker 5: wait till you see that when you come up, and
Speaker 5: we'll get you interviewed, you know, and and and talk
Speaker 5: a little bit to Jee's there for You're gonna love it.
Speaker 5: You're gonna have a fantastic time.
Speaker 2: It's going to be a spectacular night.
Speaker 3: And once again, if fans, tickets are still available and
Speaker 3: uh limited number here, so so get on the horn
Speaker 3: five one, three, nine, thirty four, eleven and if you
Speaker 3: want to mention, hey, you want to sit with a
Speaker 3: couple of your buddies. Even though there's tables for eight,
Speaker 3: nine and ten, they squeeze in hopefully with a couple
Speaker 3: of your friends that night.
Speaker 5: We'll get you in with with your friends and it's
Speaker 5: good food, good drinks, and of course a lot of
Speaker 5: fun with your elder friends and other friends you know
Speaker 5: that that you'd like to spend time with. I'm telling
Speaker 5: you it's a class a event. I have to say.
Speaker 5: We put on a we put on a good deal
Speaker 5: and it's twelve worth of money.
Speaker 3: And before I let you go, Joe Lynn Junior, you've
Speaker 3: been great with your time here, chairman of the Elder
Speaker 3: Sports Stag class of seventy eight. Your baseball career, do
Speaker 3: you have a state title on your resume?
Speaker 4: I do? I do?
Speaker 5: We want to stay title and eighteen seventy eight played
Speaker 5: for Jerry Federally.
Speaker 2: The one and only he.
Speaker 3: He was one of my English teachers at Elder and
Speaker 3: I treasure the memories of the late Feds.
Speaker 2: Awesome. O.
Speaker 5: Hey, great guy, Great guy.
Speaker 2: Joe.
Speaker 3: Can't thank you enough for joining us tonight to talk
Speaker 3: about the Elder Stag with special guest Jean Staratur, CBS
Speaker 3: sports rules analyst and former NFL and NCAA Division One
Speaker 3: basketball official.
Speaker 2: Appreciate you, Joe, all.
Speaker 5: Right, chick, thank you for having me on and appreciate it,
Speaker 5: and I look forward to seeing you that night.
Speaker 2: Okay, take care, Thank you so much, Joe, all right,
Speaker 2: you bet you? All right?
Speaker 3: This is Sports Talk And when we come back, man,
Speaker 3: we're going to talk some Xavier basketball because they played
Speaker 3: Georgetown tonight. And I'll be here afterwards to take you
Speaker 3: all the way to midnight on seven hundred WLW.
Speaker 2: ME seven eight in the Queen City of Cincinnati, chick
Speaker 2: Ladwig seven w l W. This is Sports Talk.
Speaker 3: Joe Waddell is tonight's producer, and we are getting you
Speaker 3: ready for Xavior basketball against the Georgetown Hoyas. And I
Speaker 3: like to say, I've got my coffee, I've got my computer.
Speaker 3: So glad to have you in. I'm so glad to
Speaker 3: have our next guest man. And what a weekend he's
Speaker 3: got coming. Our good friend from the Musketeer Report and
Speaker 3: the color Basketball analyst for the NKU Norse, the one
Speaker 3: and only Rick Browing. Rick, How are you tonight?
Speaker 2: What's up?
Speaker 4: Stud?
Speaker 2: Oh man? Now you got me fired up? Ready to
Speaker 2: run through a wall with snot bubbles? Man much goal?
Speaker 4: I love to hear it. Check.
Speaker 2: Oh fantastic, doing well.
Speaker 3: Merry Christmas to you and your family, and this is
Speaker 3: a big game tonight here for the Musketeers and if
Speaker 3: we could just look back, if we could what to
Speaker 3: Wednesday night man the big East opener for the Musketeers
Speaker 3: at home. Wow, A ninety eight to fifty seven lost
Speaker 3: to the Creton Blue Jays. And what shocked me so
Speaker 3: much not just the final score forty three bench points
Speaker 3: for the Blue Jay That was rough.
Speaker 7: Yeah, I think part of you know, the bench points
Speaker 7: thing is Creighton has recently benched three of their starters
Speaker 7: and changed around their line because they weren't playing well
Speaker 7: and they were trying to get going. I think coach
Speaker 7: McDermott has sent a message with his group. He also
Speaker 7: said he felt like he needed to be more positive
Speaker 7: with his team and get them to play a little
Speaker 7: freer and looser on both ends of the floor, and
Speaker 7: they did that. Finally, I think they had a breakthrough performance.
Speaker 7: They obviously shot the ball incredibly well at the Centa Center,
Speaker 7: which you took your cap to them for that, because
Speaker 7: even if they were wide open, you still got to
Speaker 7: make those three point shots and to make the amount
Speaker 7: that they did is impressive. But Xavier's defense was a
Speaker 7: total mess in this game. The thing that made Xavier
Speaker 7: good during their resurgence that turn around where you know,
Speaker 7: they picked up a handful of wins, and the two
Speaker 7: main ones were West Virginia and Cincinnati, was they went
Speaker 7: to a small ball lineup. They moved Yovan Malichevich off
Speaker 7: of the bench and into the starting center position where
Speaker 7: he stretch forward, playing the center spot and basically playing
Speaker 7: a five out offense. But he didn't play well in
Speaker 7: this game against Creyton. He didn't give them anything offensively,
Speaker 7: and he's not a good defender, and Creyton really exploited
Speaker 7: him on that end of the floor. Trey Carroll also
Speaker 7: wasn't able to get it going against Creighton after that
Speaker 7: masterful performance that he pulled off in the Crosstown shootout.
Speaker 4: You know, as good as he was in that game,
Speaker 4: I don't know that he's going to be a consistent go.
Speaker 7: To option on the offensive end night in and night out.
Speaker 7: And I think you saw that against Creighton. Without Zager
Speaker 7: being able to get their front court going in that game,
Speaker 7: they really didn't.
Speaker 4: Have anything offensively.
Speaker 7: And then, like I mentioned, on the other end of
Speaker 7: the court, they were a bit of a mess in
Speaker 7: part because they're playing Yovan Malichevich at the center spot,
Speaker 7: and he just really struggles defensively.
Speaker 3: Rick Brooring is with us from Musketeer Report, and man,
Speaker 3: they just shoot. The Blue Jays certainly shot well sixty
Speaker 3: percent from the floor thirty eight of sixty three, including
Speaker 3: sixteen of thirty three threes for forty eight percent. Only
Speaker 3: six of ten at the line for sixty percent. But man,
Speaker 3: they were absolutely red hot. And now turning to tonight, man,
Speaker 3: you know, having a five game winning streak snap like
Speaker 3: they did, and they had won six out of seven games,
Speaker 3: how important is tonight against the hoyas.
Speaker 6: Well?
Speaker 7: I think it was a sobering reality for a lot
Speaker 7: of Zavier fans who felt like, you know, maybe this
Speaker 7: team isn't as lacking in talent, and I was going
Speaker 7: to struggle as much as everyone thought that they would
Speaker 7: when the season started and they lost by nineteen to
Speaker 7: Santa Clara, and they lost by nineteen at Iowa. After
Speaker 7: they had turned it around and they played well against
Speaker 7: West Virginia, they played well against Cincinnati, or.
Speaker 4: At least played well enough to win those games.
Speaker 7: I think people were kind of feeling some momento and
Speaker 7: some positive vibes around this team, and then you see
Speaker 7: that forty one point loss, and it's like, oh wow,
Speaker 7: that's right.
Speaker 4: This this team is not as.
Speaker 7: Talented as what we're used to seeing at Xavier, and
Speaker 7: so this Georgetown game represents an opportunity to wipe away
Speaker 7: some of that taste, some of that taste out of
Speaker 7: Xavier fans mouths and remind him that, Okay, maybe it's
Speaker 7: going to be an up and down year and it's
Speaker 7: not going to be as bad as it looked on
Speaker 7: Wednesday night. So I think that's probably what.
Speaker 2: Fans are looking for as just some glimmer of hope.
Speaker 7: That this isn't going to be a really dark season
Speaker 7: ahead and it wasn't just the Crosstown shootout win was
Speaker 7: the last bit of fun that they had for the season.
Speaker 7: I think that's what everyone's kind of looking for tonight,
Speaker 7: is get back on track and maybe it's going to
Speaker 7: be an up and down year. This is clearly going
Speaker 7: to be a team that can be inconsistent at times,
Speaker 7: but can you at least give us enough good nights
Speaker 7: that you can have a fun rest of the season.
Speaker 3: Rick Brooring is with us from the Musketeer Report, and
Speaker 3: head coach Richard Patino kind of warned us at the
Speaker 3: beginning of the season that you know it was going
Speaker 3: to be a work in progress, and that five game
Speaker 3: win streak really got everybody's hopes up. Like you mentioned
Speaker 3: sobering reality here so and you mentioned the perfect word,
Speaker 3: an opportunity tonight here against Georgetown, and you sure would
Speaker 3: be nice to have them bounce back. I still like
Speaker 3: the job Richard Patino's doing. It is very first year
Speaker 3: here with the Musketeers.
Speaker 7: Yeah, I mean, I think the issue Zavier has right
Speaker 7: now is a roster issue. They just don't have enough
Speaker 7: talent for what you're used to seeing that Aavier used
Speaker 7: to see in the Big East, and I think you're
Speaker 7: seeing that across the board in the Big East.
Speaker 4: It's a down year.
Speaker 7: There are clear and obvious reasons for that, with the
Speaker 7: way the rules change in college basketball last spring and
Speaker 7: summer and how it affected the transfer portal. It's too
Speaker 7: complex and too complicated to get into it during this segment.
Speaker 7: We've done it a twenty five different times since last
Speaker 7: spring on various shows, But basically a lot of the
Speaker 7: schools that weren't the big football schools this year were
Speaker 7: handicapped in last year's transfer Portal, and so you're seeing
Speaker 7: that across the Big East. It's looking like a conference
Speaker 7: that might only get two or three teams Indian Zilla
Speaker 7: Tournament this year if it continues the way it's going
Speaker 7: right now. And so so I think that's the biggest
Speaker 7: struggle to Davier's head as a lack.
Speaker 4: Of talent on their roster.
Speaker 7: Now, from the standpoint of being able to coach in
Speaker 7: games and make adjustments within your roster and from game
Speaker 7: to game, changing things up and giving your chance to
Speaker 7: giving your team a chance to win games, I think
Speaker 7: Richard Patino and his staff have done just about everything.
Speaker 2: You could ask of them.
Speaker 7: Now would you You don't want to see forty one
Speaker 7: point blowout losses. You don't want to see the record
Speaker 7: setting losses on your home floor the way they did
Speaker 7: against Creton. That obviously wasn't a positive sign. But there's
Speaker 7: been a ton of things that they have done well.
Speaker 7: From a coaching perspective, there's no question about that.
Speaker 4: But in this day and age, Chick as you know.
Speaker 7: I mean, a lot of this is going to come
Speaker 7: down to being able to put together a roster. There.
Speaker 7: They were putting an impossible situation last year getting here
Speaker 7: when they got here, going through the portal with the
Speaker 7: lack of resource, they did in comparison to the bigger
Speaker 7: football schools.
Speaker 4: So that is what it is.
Speaker 7: But going forward, they'll have to prove they can put
Speaker 7: together a good roster along with the coaching moves that
Speaker 7: they they've already proven they can make throughout the course
Speaker 7: of the season already.
Speaker 3: And you mentioned Rick the Big East, and yeah, Saint
Speaker 3: John's took one on the chin today at Rupperna against
Speaker 3: the University of Kentucky seventy eight to sixty six, and
Speaker 3: Saint John's ranked twenty second in the nation, So I'm
Speaker 3: sure Rick Pattino is looking for answers there also. And hey,
Speaker 3: I'd like to just shift here for a minute and
Speaker 3: talk about the Northern Kentucky Norse Monster game tomorrow with
Speaker 3: the College of Charleston coming in with Chris Mack noon game.
Speaker 2: You can hear it right here.
Speaker 3: iHeartMedia, Cincinnati, Fox Sports thirteen sixty at the Truest Arena
Speaker 3: in Highland Heights.
Speaker 2: This is a great opportunity here for the Norse well
Speaker 2: it is.
Speaker 7: It's a great opportunity too if you're a local college
Speaker 7: basketball fan to come see two good mid major teams
Speaker 7: go at it at noon on a Sunday, just an
Speaker 7: easy time to get to you know, I know Sanna
Speaker 7: is going to be there doing pictures with the kids.
Speaker 7: So fun opportunity for good mid major basketball viewing.
Speaker 4: Opportunity at noon on a Sunday.
Speaker 7: With the Bengals out of it, you know, it's a
Speaker 7: good time to maybe look at that option. But when
Speaker 7: you talk about NKU right now, check, I think this
Speaker 7: game with Charleston is another great measuring stick for them
Speaker 7: to see where they're at, what their improvement on the
Speaker 7: defensive end.
Speaker 4: They've been able to score the ball.
Speaker 2: They had that six.
Speaker 7: Game winning streak that they had, the rough loss at
Speaker 7: Prue Fort Wayne where they led by fifteen at halftime
Speaker 7: and then watched it slip away, and then they lost
Speaker 7: a close one in conference at home to Oakland the
Speaker 7: other night. But the issues that they've had have come
Speaker 7: with not being consistent enough defensively, especially down the stretch
Speaker 7: of some of these conference games. And Charleston isn't a
Speaker 7: conference game, so it's not going to count towards towards
Speaker 7: the seeding in the Horizon League Tournament. But last I checked,
Speaker 7: this was yesterday on pen Pom, these two teams NK
Speaker 7: and Charleston were ranked exactly one spot apart, so they
Speaker 7: are two teams that are evenly mad by all the metrics.
Speaker 7: Chris Mack and that Charleston program always have great resources
Speaker 7: in the transfer portal, so it really is a good
Speaker 7: chance to measure up and kind of see how you're
Speaker 7: improving against the team that's very similar to you.
Speaker 3: The Norse have one eight out of ten of their
Speaker 3: last games here and they're nine and four overall, seven
Speaker 3: and one at home.
Speaker 2: Charleston is six and six.
Speaker 3: But man, it all happens tomorrow Truest Arena, Highland Heights,
Speaker 3: Kentucky at noon, and.
Speaker 2: How do you see this game going.
Speaker 3: What's going to be important here for the Norse getting
Speaker 3: off to a good start and man, just being consistent throughout.
Speaker 7: Yeah, I think really for them, they've been pretty good
Speaker 7: in the first half of these games.
Speaker 4: They've they've gotten off.
Speaker 7: To pretty good starts of late, but it's been more
Speaker 7: finishing in the second half of these games. You got
Speaker 7: to put two good halfs together, and a lot of
Speaker 7: it comes down to the defensive side. You know, it's
Speaker 7: easy to play well on both ends and play hard
Speaker 7: and have energy when you're making shots and the three
Speaker 7: balls going in. The issue in Kushead at times is
Speaker 7: guys let the way they're playing on the offensive end,
Speaker 7: or whether they're scoring or not, affects their overall energy
Speaker 7: and effort level on both ends of the floor. And
Speaker 7: that's where I think, you know, coach Horn and his
Speaker 7: staff have tried to get them to mature a little bit,
Speaker 7: grow up and be more unselfish of like, hey, it
Speaker 7: doesn't matter how it's going for you, it matters how
Speaker 7: it's going for the team overall. And as long as
Speaker 7: you play defensive play with great effort, we can still
Speaker 7: get a lot of value out of you and win games.
Speaker 7: And so I think that's what they're moving towards, and
Speaker 7: that's where they're still trying to get better. But the
Speaker 7: most exciting thing for MKU fans is this team has
Speaker 7: proven to be able to score the ball at a
Speaker 7: level that we really haven't seen in Highland Heights and
Speaker 7: Darren Horn's tenure yet he's had some really good individuals
Speaker 7: like Mark wez Warwick who can score by themselves, but
Speaker 7: those teams were oftentimes squeaking out sixty two to fifty
Speaker 7: eight wins. And you know, this team is able to
Speaker 7: play in the eighties and nineties pretty easily on the
Speaker 7: offensive end. So if they can fix the defensive side
Speaker 7: of the ball and be more consistent there, they've shown
Speaker 7: flashes for sure, but they can be more consistent, have
Speaker 7: a chance to be pretty special this year, I think.
Speaker 7: But really, the entire top half of the Horizon League
Speaker 7: is looking pretty strong, chick. I mean, there are four
Speaker 7: or five teams that you could you could tell me
Speaker 7: any of the five are going to be at the
Speaker 7: top of the league here in a couple of weeks,
Speaker 7: and it would not surprise me one bit.
Speaker 3: And that's what you love, Rick brooring about the Horizon League. Gosh,
Speaker 3: the uh it's it's anybody's league. We we see the
Speaker 3: Oakland Golden Grizzlies, UH with a six to seven overall record,
Speaker 3: but two to zero in the conference.
Speaker 2: So UH.
Speaker 3: To that, yes, yes, so UH love the league mid
Speaker 3: majors and man, uh you know seedings important here for
Speaker 3: the for the conference tournament, but year in and year out,
Speaker 3: it's just so balanced and on any night anything can happen.
Speaker 3: And UH love love Northern Kentucky and the closeness with
Speaker 3: UH with the right State Raiders up in the Dayton area.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no doubt.
Speaker 7: I mean, as you talked about out State's good this year,
Speaker 7: MKU is looking like they're going to be in competition
Speaker 7: for a Horizon League championship. Youngstown State is really good,
Speaker 7: Robert Morris is really good, Oakland's really good. I mean,
Speaker 7: any of those five teams are legit contenders to win
Speaker 7: it all. And I've been asked multiple times this weekend,
Speaker 7: even who do you think is the best team in Willie.
Speaker 4: You think's going to win it?
Speaker 7: And I'm like, I don't know. I don't have a favorite.
Speaker 7: There is no clear favorite right now in the Horizon League.
Speaker 7: And that's what makes it so fun going into this year.
Speaker 7: And also you have so many different styles of play
Speaker 7: within the league. When you talk about you know, Oakland
Speaker 7: plays a funky matchup zone that Morris and MKU plays
Speaker 7: a matchup zone, and IU Indy is trying to play
Speaker 7: the fastest pace in all of college basketball with a
Speaker 7: very unique style, and Youngstown State's very analytical, takes away threes,
Speaker 7: shoots a lot of threes, all of these types of things.
Speaker 7: I mean, there's lots of different styles of play. You've
Speaker 7: got Doug Gottlieb at Green Bay and he's quitting his
Speaker 7: radio show now to focus on his team. So so
Speaker 7: many storylines within the league as well.
Speaker 3: And what I love about the league these are big
Speaker 3: cities that you go into, you know, Detroit, Yeah, you know,
Speaker 3: even a Green Bay you know that loves their football.
Speaker 3: But gosh, Indianapolis, Cleveland, and Chicago and Youngstown and gosh,
Speaker 3: Purdue Fort Wayne and they play in a great old
Speaker 3: arena that's been refurbished. Does do the Milwaukee Panthers still
Speaker 3: play in the old Mecca that Martell played in.
Speaker 2: That is a historic old place. I love that place.
Speaker 7: Great spot, chick. You know. The great thing about there
Speaker 7: is old spot like that classic arena. They've got the
Speaker 7: long John's in the bathroom still it's like you're peeing
Speaker 7: on the floor.
Speaker 2: It's amazing, man, oh man, incredible. Yeah.
Speaker 3: And that's where gosh, the old Marquette Warriors outlawed because
Speaker 3: their uniforms were too cool. They had to chase the
Speaker 3: uniforms for Al McGuire. Oh, great stuff. Hey, Rick, where
Speaker 3: can people find you? I know you're doing podcasts. Your
Speaker 3: man following the Musk. He's very close with the Musketeer
Speaker 3: Report and man, your partner Jim Kelch, you and him
Speaker 3: do a fantastic job.
Speaker 7: Oh, I appreciate you saying that.
Speaker 5: That's very kind.
Speaker 7: If you're looking to follow Xavier coverage, mostreport dot com
Speaker 7: is where you need to be a fifty percent off
Speaker 7: sale right now during Christmas time.
Speaker 2: Maybe you got a Xavior.
Speaker 7: Fan that you're looking for a gift for it hard
Speaker 7: to buy. For get him a subscription the Musketeer Report.
Speaker 7: They won't regret that at all.
Speaker 4: You'll enjoy that.
Speaker 7: So right now, a Musketarreport dot com is a spot
Speaker 7: to find that everything else on Twitter or Facebook.
Speaker 3: Rick browing Man really appreciate your time tonight, and I
Speaker 3: want to wish you and your family a very merry
Speaker 3: Christmas and happy New Year.
Speaker 7: Thanks Jack, I appreciate it.
Speaker 2: Thank you.
Speaker 3: And before we go to break, just want to say
Speaker 3: that the best place for Bengals postgame celebration tomorrow is
Speaker 3: at Wings and Rings Finnytown on Winton Road. The Chickster
Speaker 3: will be there with the immortal Jim brew Each the
Speaker 3: leading scorer in Bengals history, will be broadcasting on seven
Speaker 3: hundred WLW and Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty from five thirty
Speaker 3: to eight thirty. But we will be live at Wings
Speaker 3: and Rings, Finnytown on Winton Road tomorrow. And now we
Speaker 3: head to break, and we head to Musketeer coverage on
Speaker 3: seven hundred WLW