WEBVTT - Sports Talk 12/26/25 0:00:02.640 --> 0:00:07.480 The following takes place between six pm and seven pm. 0:00:07.720 --> 0:00:09.760 You want answers. I think I'm entitled. 0:00:09.760 --> 0:00:11.840 You answer the truth. 0:00:12.160 --> 0:00:15.640 You can't handle the truth. Truth anight and tonight you're 0:00:15.880 --> 0:00:19.320 not gonna get Lance. McAllister. Good evening. Hope your Christmas 0:00:19.360 --> 0:00:21.239 is going well. Merry Christmas. 0:00:21.280 --> 0:00:23.720 Although a little bit late on moegar in for Lance, 0:00:23.800 --> 0:00:26.680 Lance is back on Monday night for Bengals line. 0:00:26.720 --> 0:00:28.680 This is RNL Carrier Sports Talk. 0:00:28.560 --> 0:00:32.319 Presented by Kelsey Chevrolet on seven hundred wl W. 0:00:32.479 --> 0:00:33.199 Hope your weekend. 0:00:33.280 --> 0:00:36.720 Hopefully your weekend started like on Monday or Tuesday. Nonetheless 0:00:36.920 --> 0:00:39.760 is a Friday night. Hopefully your weekend is off to 0:00:39.800 --> 0:00:42.560 an awesome start. Let's begin with a Bengals update. The 0:00:42.600 --> 0:00:45.600 Bengals are getting set to play their second to last 0:00:45.600 --> 0:00:48.320 game of the season against the Arizona Cardinals at home. 0:00:48.640 --> 0:00:51.320 That game at one o'clock on seven hundred wl W. 0:00:51.479 --> 0:00:55.680 Zach Taylor today ruled Joseph Osai and Charlie Jones out 0:00:55.760 --> 0:00:56.320 for that game. 0:00:56.360 --> 0:00:57.200 I'm not sure either. 0:00:57.240 --> 0:01:00.880 As a surprise, Noah fan officially listed at questionable, was 0:01:00.920 --> 0:01:03.800 a full go at practice today. Sunday's pregame coverage from 0:01:03.840 --> 0:01:07.640 the Holy Grail begins at nine o'clock. College football news, 0:01:07.640 --> 0:01:10.039 the University of Michigan is set to agree to a 0:01:10.080 --> 0:01:13.920 five year contract with former Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham 0:01:14.240 --> 0:01:18.919 to replace Sharon Moore. Whittingham just wrapped up a long, 0:01:19.160 --> 0:01:22.240 lengthy and successful run as coach of the Utes. When 0:01:22.280 --> 0:01:25.040 he stepped down, he said he's not retiring, just needed 0:01:25.040 --> 0:01:28.400 a change. That change will occur in ann Arbor. Ohio 0:01:28.520 --> 0:01:31.800 University has announced that John Hauser has been elevated from 0:01:31.800 --> 0:01:34.360 defensive coordinator to head coach. He was the interim coach 0:01:34.720 --> 0:01:38.240 for Ohio's bowl game victory over UNLV on Tuesday, after 0:01:38.280 --> 0:01:41.120 being elevated to the interim role following the ouster of 0:01:41.160 --> 0:01:45.080 Brian Smith, who was fired a week ago yesterday following 0:01:45.120 --> 0:01:49.560 allegations of quote serious professional misconduct that included claims he 0:01:49.600 --> 0:01:52.400 had a romantic relationship with a student and an allegation 0:01:52.520 --> 0:01:57.040 of public intoxication. College bowl games there are three of 0:01:57.080 --> 0:02:00.560 them on this Friday. One of them took place earlier 0:02:00.600 --> 0:02:04.040 today the game alone Sports Bowl Northwestern knocked off Central 0:02:04.080 --> 0:02:06.520 Michigan by a score of thirty four to seven. The 0:02:06.760 --> 0:02:09.480 Rate Bowl is happening right now in Arizona, New Mexico 0:02:09.600 --> 0:02:14.280 Leeds Minnesota six nothing. Florida International takes on Utsa later 0:02:14.320 --> 0:02:18.240 tonight in the First Responder Bowl. The Miami RedHawks are 0:02:18.240 --> 0:02:22.880 playing Fresno tomorrow in the Snoop Dogg Arizona Bowl Best 0:02:22.880 --> 0:02:25.720 of luxA Chuck Martin's team. You might have heard this 0:02:25.800 --> 0:02:27.960 in the six o'clock news with Matt Reeese. If you 0:02:28.000 --> 0:02:32.440 have tickets for tonight's Cincinnati Cyclones game, I've got bad news. 0:02:32.480 --> 0:02:35.040 Not gonna be a game tonight. The ECHL players are 0:02:35.080 --> 0:02:38.720 on strike, so no game tonight's The two sides have 0:02:38.840 --> 0:02:41.679 been negotiating publicly now for about a week or so. 0:02:41.800 --> 0:02:44.080 If you have tickets, you'll get a refund. You can 0:02:44.120 --> 0:02:47.200 go to Cyclones Hockey dot com. But no hockey tonight. 0:02:47.440 --> 0:02:51.040 Cincinnati was supposed to play the Kalamazoo k Wings at 0:02:51.040 --> 0:02:53.960 the Heritage Bank Center. That ain't happening tonight, So if 0:02:53.960 --> 0:02:56.360 you have tickets, got to go find something else to do. 0:02:56.440 --> 0:02:56.920 There you go. 0:02:57.040 --> 0:03:00.919 There are your sports headlines on an otherwise quiet Friday 0:03:01.000 --> 0:03:03.880 after Christmas. We do have a lot of ground to 0:03:03.919 --> 0:03:06.560 cover between now and nine o'clock when Sterling comes your way. 0:03:06.639 --> 0:03:08.840 We've got the Bengals in the game on Sunday, which 0:03:08.880 --> 0:03:11.840 doesn't matter all that much. In fact, it really doesn't 0:03:11.880 --> 0:03:16.359 matter at all, except except it can help solidify something 0:03:16.400 --> 0:03:19.080 that I think is very important. And we're gonna get 0:03:19.120 --> 0:03:21.040 to this coming up in the seven o'clock hour, because 0:03:21.080 --> 0:03:23.560 there is something very important about this team that we 0:03:23.639 --> 0:03:26.400 have to keep in mind as we wonder how the 0:03:26.480 --> 0:03:29.959 off season is gonna unfold, and Sunday can maybe help 0:03:30.040 --> 0:03:32.440 solidify what I'm gonna talk about in the seven o'clock hour. 0:03:32.480 --> 0:03:36.120 That is a very long winded tease, but we'll get 0:03:36.120 --> 0:03:39.280 to that a little bit later on. We've got some 0:03:39.360 --> 0:03:42.160 college basketball to get to as well. It is remarkable 0:03:42.160 --> 0:03:44.600 that if you're a UC basketball fan, we are where 0:03:44.640 --> 0:03:47.480 we are with this program five years into the West 0:03:47.480 --> 0:03:49.400 Miller era. We'll spend some time on that. Do some 0:03:49.440 --> 0:03:52.040 college football coming up in just a bit. One thing 0:03:52.080 --> 0:03:54.560 that I think is interesting, and I just mentioned that 0:03:54.600 --> 0:03:56.880 Michigan said to hire a new head coach, and I 0:03:56.920 --> 0:03:59.840 think he would be the proverbial adult in the room 0:04:00.320 --> 0:04:02.640 for a program in Ann Arbor that feels like. 0:04:02.640 --> 0:04:04.000 He needed it. 0:04:04.000 --> 0:04:07.160 It's interesting the reaction from fans of Ohio State in 0:04:07.240 --> 0:04:10.400 the immediate aftermath of what went down with Sharon More 0:04:10.440 --> 0:04:13.480 and you can to a degree understand their glee and 0:04:13.640 --> 0:04:16.760 joy at watching that program and Ann Arbor just get 0:04:16.839 --> 0:04:20.279 dragged through the mud, but be careful what you wish for. 0:04:21.480 --> 0:04:23.640 I'll get to that a little bit later on. We 0:04:23.720 --> 0:04:28.119 did recorded this show on Tuesday, and if you needed 0:04:28.160 --> 0:04:30.479 something to listen to yesterday, maybe you heard it the 0:04:31.000 --> 0:04:33.760 year end review show that we do sports talk Year 0:04:33.760 --> 0:04:38.320 in Review show with Lance myself, Tony Pike, and Austin Elmore, 0:04:38.360 --> 0:04:41.960 and we spent two hours reviewing twenty twenty five in 0:04:42.040 --> 0:04:45.040 Cincinnati sports and then along with that a little bit 0:04:45.040 --> 0:04:47.320 of a look ahead to twenty twenty six. If you 0:04:47.400 --> 0:04:49.920 missed it, you can go listen to it right now 0:04:49.960 --> 0:04:52.200 if you want, on the iHeartRadio app, or maybe make 0:04:52.279 --> 0:04:54.599 some plans this weekend to listen to it on the 0:04:54.800 --> 0:05:00.600 iHeartRadio app. We kind of divided the show into separate categories, 0:05:00.640 --> 0:05:02.720 you know, just sort of an overall look at the 0:05:02.800 --> 0:05:05.800 high points in Cincinnati sports in twenty twenty five, some 0:05:05.880 --> 0:05:08.640 of the low points in Cincinnati sports in twenty twenty five, 0:05:08.680 --> 0:05:10.720 and then kind of went through the year that was 0:05:10.760 --> 0:05:13.600 with all the major entities in town, and in the region. 0:05:14.000 --> 0:05:17.280 We didn't do stuff like Cincinnati Sports Story of the Year. 0:05:17.760 --> 0:05:20.479 We didn't do Cincinnati Sports Person of the Year. Lance 0:05:20.520 --> 0:05:24.240 does those things. I think this year's Sports Story of 0:05:24.240 --> 0:05:27.920 the Year was pretty obvious and it leads us to 0:05:28.040 --> 0:05:29.840 and what I think is going to be the sports 0:05:29.880 --> 0:05:31.960 story of the next two months. We'll get to that 0:05:32.080 --> 0:05:34.360 after Traffic and Weather Together, which is coming up right 0:05:34.400 --> 0:05:37.120 now on seven hundred WLW. 0:05:38.600 --> 0:05:39.120 Today night. 0:05:39.200 --> 0:05:42.920 This is RNL Carrier's Sports Talk. We are presented by 0:05:42.960 --> 0:05:46.840 Kelsey Chevroleigh. Lance McAllister is off this evening. Moegor My 0:05:46.880 --> 0:05:50.880 show is typically heard on ESPN fifteen thirty from three 0:05:50.920 --> 0:05:54.599 to six weekday afternoons. It invites you to check it out, 0:05:54.800 --> 0:05:57.440 and that includes the Tony and Mo Football Show, which 0:05:57.440 --> 0:05:59.640 airs on Mondays during football season. 0:05:59.640 --> 0:06:01.520 We have two of them left. 0:06:01.920 --> 0:06:04.080 Will be a Twin Peaks in west Chester right off 0:06:04.080 --> 0:06:06.680 Ice seventy five at the Union Center Boulevard Exa Tony 0:06:06.760 --> 0:06:11.600 Pike Me. Hopefully you talking Bengals Cardinals, NFL Week seventeen, 0:06:11.680 --> 0:06:14.440 the Playoff Picture, do some college football playoff stuff, and 0:06:14.600 --> 0:06:15.320 so much more. 0:06:15.360 --> 0:06:17.680 We hope to see you at Twin Peaks in. 0:06:17.720 --> 0:06:21.240 Westchester on Monday, that show from three to six on 0:06:21.560 --> 0:06:22.799 ESPN fifteen thirty. 0:06:22.880 --> 0:06:24.840 I mentioned we did the Year in Review show. 0:06:24.880 --> 0:06:26.880 Tony was a part of that with Lance Austin and 0:06:26.960 --> 0:06:30.680 myself and we talked about, you know, the year that 0:06:30.839 --> 0:06:34.400 was for the Reds, the Bengals, the area colleges, FC Cincinnati. 0:06:34.800 --> 0:06:36.719 I think the sports story of the year in twenty 0:06:36.760 --> 0:06:40.960 twenty five, at least with five days to go, was 0:06:41.080 --> 0:06:43.960 the Reds made the postseason. Now, you know, it kind 0:06:43.960 --> 0:06:47.000 of got drowned out as October went on and November 0:06:47.040 --> 0:06:47.400 went on. 0:06:47.520 --> 0:06:49.920 Joe Burrow getting hurt, obviously was a huge story. 0:06:50.240 --> 0:06:52.440 The Bengals failing to make the postseason for a third 0:06:52.440 --> 0:06:55.480 consecutive year was a big story. Fans turning on the 0:06:55.520 --> 0:06:59.040 Bengals and what felt like very nineteen nineties esque ways 0:06:59.200 --> 0:07:02.680 was a big story. You know, what's happened with the 0:07:02.760 --> 0:07:06.600 UC football team losing five consecutive games to end the season, 0:07:07.360 --> 0:07:09.320 or I should say I guess four consecutive games to 0:07:09.400 --> 0:07:12.120 end the season a year after they lost five consecutive games. 0:07:12.120 --> 0:07:12.960 That's a big story. 0:07:14.240 --> 0:07:17.720 The area college basketball teams have in and on themselves 0:07:17.720 --> 0:07:19.680 been big stories f C Cincinnati, But I think the 0:07:19.680 --> 0:07:21.200 story of the year is rights made the postseason. 0:07:21.200 --> 0:07:22.320 That's not insignificant. 0:07:23.080 --> 0:07:25.960 When you are a franchise that hasn't made the playoffs 0:07:26.000 --> 0:07:29.080 in a full season in over a decade and you 0:07:29.200 --> 0:07:32.160 get there just a couple of seasons after losing one 0:07:32.240 --> 0:07:35.360 hundred games, it's a pretty big deal. We could we 0:07:35.400 --> 0:07:38.320 could debate how huge of an accomplishment it was, and 0:07:38.480 --> 0:07:42.040 they petered out very quickly once they got to the postseason. 0:07:42.920 --> 0:07:44.520 But I think of all the stuff that happened in 0:07:44.520 --> 0:07:47.120 twenty twenty five, that's the biggest story, right to get 0:07:47.120 --> 0:07:50.360 to the postseason, to show tangible proof that, at least 0:07:50.440 --> 0:07:55.200 to this point that their their plan, their rebuild, their build, 0:07:55.240 --> 0:07:59.000 however you want to phrase it, is working. Is not 0:07:59.440 --> 0:08:04.520 in significant now. It occurred during a year that was 0:08:04.560 --> 0:08:08.160 often very, very frustrating. It was frustrating watching Ellie de 0:08:08.240 --> 0:08:10.200 la Cruz not hit home runs over the final two 0:08:10.240 --> 0:08:13.800 months of the season. It was frustrating hearing management make 0:08:13.880 --> 0:08:16.560 excuses for Elie de la Cruz yet continuing to run 0:08:16.640 --> 0:08:18.960 him out there. They had a lot of guys who 0:08:19.000 --> 0:08:21.360 had some very frustrating seasons. The way that the front 0:08:21.400 --> 0:08:24.040 office handled the trade deadline, you could argue frustrating because 0:08:24.040 --> 0:08:27.560 their biggest weakness was offense and their big acquisition was 0:08:27.560 --> 0:08:28.640 a guy who doesn't hit. 0:08:29.960 --> 0:08:32.120 But at the end of the day, they made it. 0:08:32.440 --> 0:08:38.920 After a fun, thrilling, interesting, chaotic, at times agonizing last 0:08:38.920 --> 0:08:42.079 couple of weeks of the season, after Game one sixty two, 0:08:42.120 --> 0:08:44.080 they were the six team left standing in the National 0:08:44.160 --> 0:08:48.360 League and played in the postseason. That to me, was 0:08:48.400 --> 0:08:53.240 the sports story of the year in Cincinnati. What I 0:08:53.280 --> 0:08:55.719 think the story of the first few weeks of the 0:08:55.800 --> 0:08:59.640 year is going to be is what do they do 0:08:59.760 --> 0:09:03.440 to take this coming year's team and give it a 0:09:03.520 --> 0:09:06.880 better chance to be better than this past year's team. 0:09:08.760 --> 0:09:11.920 Like the story of the year in Cincinnati sports would 0:09:11.920 --> 0:09:15.400 have been the Reds acquiring Kyle Schwarber had they been 0:09:15.400 --> 0:09:19.120 able to pull that off. And I think for about 0:09:19.520 --> 0:09:24.520 five hours on that Friday going into the weekend that 0:09:24.800 --> 0:09:27.199 Kyle Schwarber ultimately signed, I think there's a lot of 0:09:27.280 --> 0:09:29.719 us who kind of convinced ourselves that maybe they had 0:09:29.720 --> 0:09:31.960 a chance. I think there's people with the Reds who 0:09:32.040 --> 0:09:35.080 convinced themselves they had a chance to get Kyle Schwarber. 0:09:35.120 --> 0:09:38.000 Obviously they did not, but trying to get him was 0:09:38.040 --> 0:09:41.120 at least an acknowledgement that they have a big need 0:09:41.160 --> 0:09:43.680 for a guy who could for a guy who could 0:09:43.720 --> 0:09:45.720 hit the ball out of the ballpark. Easy for me 0:09:45.760 --> 0:09:49.439 to say they obviously didn't get Kyle Schwarber said. The 0:09:49.480 --> 0:09:52.880 question becomes now what and the calendar is set to 0:09:52.880 --> 0:09:56.040 flip from twenty twenty five to twenty twenty six. The 0:09:56.120 --> 0:09:59.040 Luise Robert rumors did not take a day off because 0:09:59.040 --> 0:10:02.760 of Christmas. Been connected with the Reds Now for a while. 0:10:02.840 --> 0:10:04.800 He has been connected with the New York Mets. He 0:10:04.840 --> 0:10:07.800 has been connected with a handful of other teams. Luise 0:10:07.880 --> 0:10:11.120 Robert has been the subject of trade rumors with the 0:10:11.200 --> 0:10:14.920 Chicago White Sox for seemingly ever, certainly the last year 0:10:15.000 --> 0:10:17.120 and a half, and when he has been brought up 0:10:17.120 --> 0:10:19.520 in connection to a trade, one of the teams that 0:10:19.600 --> 0:10:22.600 often gets that often gets brought up is the Reds 0:10:22.679 --> 0:10:25.720 twenty seven year old outfielder who had a terrific season 0:10:26.120 --> 0:10:30.000 in twenty twenty three. I guess the question for me, 0:10:30.080 --> 0:10:31.600 and I can ask it to you at five point 0:10:31.600 --> 0:10:35.400 three seven four nine, seven thousand, if the big obvious 0:10:35.440 --> 0:10:38.120 play didn't work, which was a dude who had fifty 0:10:38.200 --> 0:10:40.400 six home runs, last year that was going to be, 0:10:41.000 --> 0:10:44.120 you know, the guy that addressed the glaring need on 0:10:44.160 --> 0:10:47.240 this team, which was for pop protection in the middle 0:10:47.240 --> 0:10:49.520 of the order, but more than anything, a dude who 0:10:49.559 --> 0:10:51.520 can hit the ball out of the ballpark. If just 0:10:51.640 --> 0:10:55.240 going after Kyle Schwarber was an acknowledgment that we need 0:10:55.280 --> 0:10:57.079 a guy who can hit the ball out of the ballpark. 0:10:58.400 --> 0:10:59.880 Does Luise Robert. 0:11:00.600 --> 0:11:04.679 If they get him, satisfy that need coming off of 0:11:04.760 --> 0:11:09.200 season where he hit forty six fewer homers than Kyle Schwarber. 0:11:11.000 --> 0:11:13.200 And I guess more than anything, whether or not they 0:11:13.240 --> 0:11:16.280 acquire Luis Robert via trade, and you would have to ask, 0:11:16.360 --> 0:11:20.880 what is it going to cost? Will they have by 0:11:20.920 --> 0:11:23.160 the time spring training gets here, and certainly by the 0:11:23.160 --> 0:11:27.520 time opening day gets here, well, they have sufficiently addressed 0:11:28.880 --> 0:11:32.079 what was easily the team's biggest weakness last year. They 0:11:32.240 --> 0:11:37.359 got to the postseason largely in spite of their relatively 0:11:38.520 --> 0:11:41.959 anemic offense. Anemic might be a little harsh, but they 0:11:42.000 --> 0:11:46.160 got to the postseason largely in spite of an offense 0:11:46.200 --> 0:11:49.280 that was league average at best in some categories and 0:11:49.559 --> 0:11:54.160 well below league average in other categories. Can they do 0:11:54.320 --> 0:11:56.240 enough over the next couple of months to take an 0:11:56.320 --> 0:11:59.440 eighty three win team from last year and make it 0:11:59.520 --> 0:12:02.240 even better or this coming season, because you know, I 0:12:02.360 --> 0:12:05.760 was asked this often in the immediate aftermath of the 0:12:05.840 --> 0:12:08.040 series against the Dodgers, when the Reds went down in 0:12:08.080 --> 0:12:11.480 two games, pretty quietly, what was this season of success? 0:12:11.520 --> 0:12:13.560 And in a vacuum, I think it's hard to say no, Right, 0:12:13.640 --> 0:12:16.079 they made the postseason, had made the postseason in a 0:12:16.120 --> 0:12:19.120 full year since twenty thirteen, which was forever ago. But 0:12:19.200 --> 0:12:22.640 my real answer was, Oh, ask me in a year, 0:12:23.720 --> 0:12:26.520 ask me in two years, ask me at the end 0:12:26.520 --> 0:12:29.920 of the decade. Because if the twenty twenty five season 0:12:30.040 --> 0:12:32.000 ends up being a jumping off point, if it ends 0:12:32.080 --> 0:12:35.480 up being something that sort of, you know, is a 0:12:35.520 --> 0:12:38.440 step along the way to things that are bigger and 0:12:38.520 --> 0:12:42.120 better than getting to the postseason with eighty three wins 0:12:42.160 --> 0:12:44.560 as the sixth seed and losing in two games. If 0:12:44.679 --> 0:12:47.240 last year it just proves to be a step along 0:12:47.280 --> 0:12:49.160 the way to advancing in. 0:12:49.120 --> 0:12:51.439 The postseason, maybe winning a World. 0:12:51.160 --> 0:12:53.680 Series, then yes, we'll look back on twenty twenty five 0:12:53.720 --> 0:12:55.760 as a success. If it turns out to be the 0:12:55.840 --> 0:12:59.960 high point of this stretch of time, If it turned 0:13:00.280 --> 0:13:02.440 to be the high point of a rebuild that started 0:13:02.559 --> 0:13:06.040 really after the twenty twenty season. Then, frankly, it's going 0:13:06.120 --> 0:13:08.760 to be hard to call the twenty twenty five season 0:13:08.920 --> 0:13:13.040 or anything else the Reds have done a success. So 0:13:13.080 --> 0:13:14.680 what do you do to make next year's team better? 0:13:15.559 --> 0:13:17.320 What do you add to a team that has good 0:13:17.360 --> 0:13:20.200 starting pitching? Has some dudes? I think that they still 0:13:20.200 --> 0:13:22.439 want to build around that they still believe can perform 0:13:22.520 --> 0:13:25.920 better this coming season than last year. And can they 0:13:25.960 --> 0:13:30.280 realistically go to spring training without any major addition from 0:13:30.320 --> 0:13:34.280 outside that addresses a clear weakness and convince any one 0:13:34.280 --> 0:13:36.440 of us they're going to be better this coming season, 0:13:38.120 --> 0:13:42.800 Or if they successfully acquire Luise Robert offensively, can that 0:13:42.880 --> 0:13:45.560 be the centerpiece? And can that take a team that 0:13:45.640 --> 0:13:47.800 had an offense that was league average at best in 0:13:47.840 --> 0:13:50.640 most categories last year and help propel the club as 0:13:50.679 --> 0:13:54.520 a whole to something much much better than eighty three wins? 0:13:54.760 --> 0:13:57.000 At Muleger on Twitter, how you can hit me up 0:13:57.000 --> 0:13:59.280 thanks the Delta Dental. Delta Dental is building healthy, smart, 0:13:59.360 --> 0:14:03.040 vibrant community for all good at Delta dentalh dot com. 0:14:03.160 --> 0:14:04.600 That is the central. 0:14:04.320 --> 0:14:07.280 Question facing the Reds as we get set to turn 0:14:07.320 --> 0:14:11.200 from twenty twenty five to twenty twenty six. Different type 0:14:11.240 --> 0:14:13.800 of question faces the Bengals. We'll get to that after 0:14:13.800 --> 0:14:17.280 the six thirty News On seven hundred WLW twenty one 0:14:17.360 --> 0:14:21.760 from seven o'clock, this is RNL Carrier's Sports Talk presented 0:14:21.760 --> 0:14:25.320 by Kelsey Chevrolet on seven hundred WLW moleg or four. 0:14:26.360 --> 0:14:29.720 Lance McCallister, don't forget Sunday morning. We're at the Holy Grail. 0:14:29.800 --> 0:14:32.800 Kick off at one o'clock. Bengals and Cardinals pregame Sports 0:14:32.840 --> 0:14:35.760 Talk starts at nine o'clock. It is an absolute blast. 0:14:36.240 --> 0:14:39.800 This job is awesome for a thousand different reasons. Getting 0:14:39.800 --> 0:14:42.240 a chance to be on before Bengals home games with 0:14:42.320 --> 0:14:45.040 Ken Brew and Tony Pike is at the very top 0:14:45.040 --> 0:14:47.440 of that list. We have an absolute blast. We'll obviously 0:14:47.480 --> 0:14:49.920 have a lot to discuss as the Bengals get set 0:14:49.920 --> 0:14:52.840 to play their second to last game of the season. 0:14:52.840 --> 0:14:54.880 I just heard in the forecast it should be warm, 0:14:54.920 --> 0:14:56.760 but should be rainy for the game on. 0:14:58.240 --> 0:15:01.520 Sunday. You know many of I wonder if. 0:15:01.440 --> 0:15:05.120 The Bengals win their last three games, which they should. 0:15:05.160 --> 0:15:07.800 They crushed the Miami Dolphins, which was not a surprise, 0:15:07.920 --> 0:15:11.120 especially once Miami bench two at Tenga Mailoa. There are 0:15:11.160 --> 0:15:13.880 seven point favorites on Sunday, although they will have their 0:15:13.920 --> 0:15:17.680 hands full with Arizona's tight end Trey McBride, and they're 0:15:17.720 --> 0:15:20.320 gonna be favored at home against the Cleveland Browns Week eighteen. 0:15:20.400 --> 0:15:24.200 We'll see who for both teams is playing in that game. 0:15:24.280 --> 0:15:26.920 But the Bengals should finish with three consecutive wins to 0:15:27.000 --> 0:15:29.360 end the year. And many have wondered, and understandably so, 0:15:30.240 --> 0:15:32.360 is success by the team at the end of the 0:15:32.400 --> 0:15:36.280 season going to impair judgment by people in a decision 0:15:36.320 --> 0:15:38.440 making capacity once the offseason gets here. 0:15:38.520 --> 0:15:39.440 It's a fair question. 0:15:40.280 --> 0:15:43.640 In this franchise's history, there's a pretty well documented history 0:15:43.680 --> 0:15:46.920 of late season results at the end of a poor 0:15:47.000 --> 0:15:51.560 season influencing decision making. Maybe look no further than Marvin 0:15:51.640 --> 0:15:53.840 Lewis was brought back at the end of the twenty 0:15:53.880 --> 0:15:56.000 seventeen season when it felt like he was a goner 0:15:56.080 --> 0:15:58.760 up until the very end, and yet on New Year's Eve, 0:15:58.800 --> 0:16:01.320 they beat the Baltimore Ravens, knock them out of the postseason, 0:16:01.360 --> 0:16:03.560 put the Bills in the playoffs. All the Bills fans 0:16:03.800 --> 0:16:07.600 support Andy Dalton's foundation, and they bring Marvin back for 0:16:07.680 --> 0:16:10.680 one more year, it can happen. I guess what I'm 0:16:10.760 --> 0:16:15.440 more curious about than anything else is if we assume 0:16:15.560 --> 0:16:18.520 that Zach is going to be brought back, and you know, 0:16:18.920 --> 0:16:21.560 there's reasons for him to there's a lot of reasons 0:16:21.560 --> 0:16:23.480 for you to think that Zach Taylor shouldn't be brought back. 0:16:23.520 --> 0:16:25.200 But if we assume he will be back, and if 0:16:25.200 --> 0:16:28.160 we assume that Duke Tobin's going to be back, and 0:16:28.320 --> 0:16:31.440 as much as he has been in the public's crosshairs 0:16:31.520 --> 0:16:33.920 more than at any point during his time as the 0:16:33.960 --> 0:16:37.760 de facto general manager, I don't recall anybody saying, you know, what, 0:16:37.880 --> 0:16:40.760 Duke's seed is hot. And if we believe, and I 0:16:40.800 --> 0:16:43.680 think this is a fair assumption too, that Al Golden's 0:16:43.680 --> 0:16:45.960 going to be brought back, I guess the main question 0:16:46.040 --> 0:16:50.440 of the offseason becomes this, how do you make changes 0:16:51.240 --> 0:16:54.440 without firings. Now that's not to say that everybody in 0:16:54.480 --> 0:16:57.920 the coaching staff's job is safe. But if we believe, 0:16:58.000 --> 0:17:00.520 and this is the general assumption right now, that it's 0:17:00.520 --> 0:17:02.880 going to be status quo in the front office, status 0:17:02.960 --> 0:17:05.960 quo with Duke, status quo with Zach status quo among 0:17:06.000 --> 0:17:09.240 the main particulars on the coaching staff, how do you 0:17:09.280 --> 0:17:13.560 make changes without firings? How do you make changes if 0:17:13.600 --> 0:17:18.520 you're not changing out the people that are many believe 0:17:18.600 --> 0:17:21.720 most responsible for this season gone awry. Now, the main 0:17:21.800 --> 0:17:24.240 reason why this season spiraled out of control is Joe 0:17:24.320 --> 0:17:28.280 Burrow missed most of it, like I would love to 0:17:28.440 --> 0:17:31.400 despite all their deficiencies and they have many, despite all 0:17:31.400 --> 0:17:34.800 of their issues on defense, despite all the games they lost, 0:17:34.840 --> 0:17:36.879 where you know, the offense put up a bunch of 0:17:36.920 --> 0:17:39.679 points when Joe wasn't healthy and not playing quarterback, the 0:17:39.720 --> 0:17:42.280 games they lost when Joe Flacco did more than enough 0:17:42.280 --> 0:17:45.160 to win. I would take my chances with this year's 0:17:45.200 --> 0:17:48.000 team in a down year for the division and a 0:17:48.080 --> 0:17:50.399 down year for the AFC, playing the full season with 0:17:50.480 --> 0:17:52.920 number nine s QB. And I think if they do that, 0:17:52.960 --> 0:17:55.000 they're a playoff team. I really believe that. Don't know 0:17:55.040 --> 0:17:57.280 if i'd call them a championship team. Don't know if 0:17:57.320 --> 0:18:00.600 i'd you know, have them winning the AFC or winning 0:18:00.600 --> 0:18:02.120 the Super Bowl. But I think they're a playoff team. 0:18:02.720 --> 0:18:05.200 But we can't do that. It's neither here nor there. 0:18:05.840 --> 0:18:09.080 What we can say is that Joe Burrow spent years 0:18:09.160 --> 0:18:11.959 kind of masking this team's issues, and many of them 0:18:12.040 --> 0:18:14.080 kind of bubble to the surface once Joe Burrow was 0:18:14.119 --> 0:18:17.080 no longer there. So how do you fix this? How 0:18:17.080 --> 0:18:18.840 do you fix this? And how do you make changes 0:18:18.920 --> 0:18:24.560 without firings. I don't know that any of us believe 0:18:24.640 --> 0:18:27.960 that the Bengals will do these things, but they are 0:18:28.040 --> 0:18:31.840 capable of being done. Like number one, you can make 0:18:31.960 --> 0:18:36.400 changes without firing people by hiring people like you could, 0:18:36.440 --> 0:18:39.480 you could, you could add And as much as the 0:18:39.520 --> 0:18:42.840 Bengals get a lot of very fair criticism for you know, 0:18:42.880 --> 0:18:45.760 not having the world's largest scouting department, not having a 0:18:45.880 --> 0:18:48.240 full front office compared to a lot of NFL teams, 0:18:48.280 --> 0:18:50.680 They've hired some some folks in the in the front office. 0:18:50.680 --> 0:18:54.280 They've hired an analytics person. Hire more, and don't just 0:18:54.359 --> 0:18:57.480 hire just to hire, and like, hire good qualified people, 0:18:57.720 --> 0:19:02.400 have more good qualified voices in the room. You can 0:19:02.440 --> 0:19:04.840 do that, you can and I'm gonna guess they don't 0:19:04.840 --> 0:19:07.119 do this either. But this is this is kind of 0:19:07.160 --> 0:19:11.040 where I would start above and beyond, you know, fixing 0:19:11.080 --> 0:19:14.639 the defense, which is Duke Tobin's main direct of this offseason, 0:19:15.800 --> 0:19:19.360 examine Zach Taylor's role in the offense. You know, I 0:19:19.400 --> 0:19:22.439 am the first to admit that I don't know the 0:19:22.520 --> 0:19:25.159 first thing about what goes into calling an NFL play, 0:19:25.280 --> 0:19:27.639 and so I kind of roll my eyes when I 0:19:27.680 --> 0:19:31.600 hear people talk about play calling. But you know, even 0:19:31.640 --> 0:19:34.720 when the Bengals offense has been whole and everybody's been healthy, 0:19:34.760 --> 0:19:37.960 they've gone through very long lulls. It's been something we've 0:19:37.960 --> 0:19:40.560 talked about since twenty twenty one, right the year they 0:19:40.600 --> 0:19:43.240 went to the Super Bowl. How come, in spite of 0:19:43.280 --> 0:19:45.480 their weaponry and in spite of having a quarterback who 0:19:45.520 --> 0:19:49.159 is among the league's best offensively, they just have a 0:19:49.160 --> 0:19:52.000 few too many hiccups. Go back to the first game 0:19:52.040 --> 0:19:54.439 of this season against the Cleveland Browns, which feels like 0:19:54.640 --> 0:19:57.880 eight lifetimes ago. They won that game, but remember that day, 0:19:58.800 --> 0:20:01.720 six year QB said, the year head coach. All the 0:20:02.080 --> 0:20:06.080 offensive personnel for the most part being you know, holdovers 0:20:06.119 --> 0:20:08.320 from last year and the year before and the year before, 0:20:08.320 --> 0:20:10.240 and like they were still having a hard time getting 0:20:10.280 --> 0:20:14.159 the play in. Or go back to the game almost 0:20:14.160 --> 0:20:16.600 two weeks ago where they got shut out against Baltimore 0:20:17.520 --> 0:20:20.399 and they're down three scores in the third quarter, and 0:20:20.440 --> 0:20:22.840 it looked and felt like they were simply running out 0:20:22.880 --> 0:20:25.880 the clock, like there was nobody in Joe's headset to go, Hey, 0:20:26.359 --> 0:20:28.200 let's put our foot on the gas here, let's let's 0:20:28.240 --> 0:20:30.480 go up tempo, let's play with some urgency here. 0:20:30.520 --> 0:20:32.640 I just I've wondered this for a. 0:20:32.600 --> 0:20:35.359 While that even if you, as I do, believe that 0:20:35.440 --> 0:20:37.520 Zach has a lot of really good qualities as a 0:20:37.560 --> 0:20:41.320 head coach, is there something about how the offense functions 0:20:41.320 --> 0:20:45.560 that could be better? And is one of those things 0:20:45.720 --> 0:20:49.160 Zach Taylor relinquishing play calling duties. I think something else 0:20:49.200 --> 0:20:53.360 you could change is, you know, how they evaluate college players. 0:20:54.359 --> 0:20:57.960 You know, Schamar Stewart still may end up having a 0:20:58.119 --> 0:21:01.680 terrific NFL career, may end up really helping this team. 0:21:01.720 --> 0:21:04.639 And I actually think there's some things to suggest that 0:21:04.640 --> 0:21:06.880 that will happen if you go back to how he practiced. 0:21:06.920 --> 0:21:10.880 We'll see his rookie season so far has been a wash. 0:21:11.240 --> 0:21:14.120 But when they drafted him, you know, we all remember, God, 0:21:14.119 --> 0:21:15.600 they drafted a guy who had one and a half 0:21:15.640 --> 0:21:17.359 sacks last year, and they drafted a guy who in 0:21:17.400 --> 0:21:19.840 his three years at Texas A and M had four 0:21:19.840 --> 0:21:23.360 and a half sacks, and they bypassed other dudes who 0:21:23.400 --> 0:21:26.280 maybe didn't have Shamar Stewart's measurables, but when you watched 0:21:26.359 --> 0:21:29.160 him on film, they did more. And so is there 0:21:29.240 --> 0:21:34.120 something to be said about prioritizing what college prospects put 0:21:34.160 --> 0:21:39.080 on tape and maybe not prioritizing nearly as much the 0:21:39.160 --> 0:21:43.119 measurables what they do at the combine what the tape 0:21:43.119 --> 0:21:46.119 measure shows, how they look in their underwear. 0:21:46.200 --> 0:21:47.399 That sort of stuff you can make. 0:21:47.440 --> 0:21:52.439 That change, you can change in your philosophies when it 0:21:52.440 --> 0:21:54.320 comes to roster building. And you know, frankly, when the 0:21:54.359 --> 0:21:57.119 Bengals got good in twenty twenty one, that was a 0:21:57.160 --> 0:22:00.639 result of the Bengals embracing more modern ways of roster building. 0:22:00.640 --> 0:22:00.760 Now. 0:22:00.760 --> 0:22:03.200 They kind of had to because they didn't have any 0:22:03.200 --> 0:22:05.679 good players in twenty nineteen and twenty twenty. But they 0:22:05.800 --> 0:22:08.040 used free agency, and they used it wisely, and they 0:22:08.200 --> 0:22:10.960 overpaid some guys, but they needed to. It's not like 0:22:10.960 --> 0:22:14.120 the Bengals have whifted in free agency every single year. 0:22:14.160 --> 0:22:16.960 They've tried to nail it in free agency. That twenty 0:22:17.000 --> 0:22:20.399 twenty one defense had Trey Hendrickson and Von Bell and 0:22:20.480 --> 0:22:24.160 Mike Helton and DJ Reader and Chaudoba a Woozie, all 0:22:24.240 --> 0:22:28.800 dudes acquired from other teams. Well go back to being 0:22:28.800 --> 0:22:31.560 more aggressive in free agency. And that doesn't necessarily mean 0:22:31.840 --> 0:22:34.439 mean paying the most. It doesn't necessarily mean, you know, 0:22:34.480 --> 0:22:37.240 getting the first wave of guys. It doesn't necessarily mean 0:22:37.800 --> 0:22:40.520 you know, you overpay. But it does mean you do 0:22:40.560 --> 0:22:43.280 what they didn't do last offseason, which is take one 0:22:43.359 --> 0:22:46.160 or two guys and then just sort of hope everybody 0:22:46.160 --> 0:22:49.120 else performs better in twenty twenty five than they did 0:22:49.119 --> 0:22:51.080 in twenty twenty four. I don't know that the Bengals 0:22:51.080 --> 0:22:52.760 will do any of these things. I don't know if 0:22:52.760 --> 0:22:54.560 the Bengals will do one of these things but not 0:22:54.600 --> 0:22:58.359 the others. But like this is this is the question 0:22:58.440 --> 0:23:00.240 of the next couple of months, before we get to 0:23:00.240 --> 0:23:02.439 the first wave of free agency, which will be in 0:23:02.560 --> 0:23:05.600 early March, or before we get to the draft, which 0:23:05.640 --> 0:23:08.720 is obviously going to be in late April, are there 0:23:08.760 --> 0:23:12.320 things being done behind the scenes that reflect a shift 0:23:12.359 --> 0:23:15.479 in how they do things, whether it be adding people, 0:23:16.040 --> 0:23:18.480 taking a good heart look at how the offense operates, 0:23:20.280 --> 0:23:23.600 going through a shift in priorities as it relates to 0:23:23.800 --> 0:23:29.800 evaluating college players, getting back to I mean, I cannot imagine, 0:23:29.840 --> 0:23:32.520 and I know it's the Bengals, so I guess anything's possible. 0:23:33.480 --> 0:23:35.680 I would have a hard time imagining that they look 0:23:35.720 --> 0:23:38.560 at this year's defense and don't touch it at all. 0:23:38.600 --> 0:23:42.439 In free agency, my guess is they're gonna add or 0:23:42.480 --> 0:23:46.040 try to at least add NFL caliber starters at nearly 0:23:46.080 --> 0:23:50.919 every position on that group. But that's the thing, Like 0:23:51.280 --> 0:23:52.760 you know, many have said, well, it's going to be 0:23:52.800 --> 0:23:55.440 status quo if you bring everybody back, and it may 0:23:55.440 --> 0:23:59.159 be like Duke Tobin has exhausted a lot of trust 0:23:59.160 --> 0:24:03.800 and goodwill, Zach Taylor has two, and that's fair. I'm 0:24:03.840 --> 0:24:06.959 not sure I trust either right now. But if they 0:24:06.960 --> 0:24:11.080 are gonna bring back those guys, I think Thennett's worth 0:24:11.359 --> 0:24:15.560 at least asking will the same people do things differently 0:24:17.480 --> 0:24:20.080 and the answers can be yes, like people evolved. We 0:24:20.160 --> 0:24:23.080 see it in sports. I've used this example, like you know, 0:24:23.119 --> 0:24:25.840 back in the day, Mike Skrzhewsky didn't want to, you know, 0:24:26.000 --> 0:24:29.240 recruit one and Dons, and then he saw the direction 0:24:29.320 --> 0:24:32.440 college basketball was going, saw the success other programs like 0:24:32.520 --> 0:24:35.520 Kentucky were having, and decided, you know what, I'm gonna 0:24:35.520 --> 0:24:37.480 go get one and dons and won a national title 0:24:37.520 --> 0:24:40.280 like you can. The Bengals, even off the field, have 0:24:40.359 --> 0:24:43.200 done some things they've never wanted to do before, stuff 0:24:43.200 --> 0:24:45.320 that might not matter as much as winning and losing, 0:24:45.359 --> 0:24:48.600 but they have Ring of Honor, uniform, stuff like that, 0:24:49.680 --> 0:24:53.560 so it is possible. If it's impossible, then you might 0:24:53.600 --> 0:24:56.440 as well just shut down the entire franchise. But it 0:24:56.520 --> 0:25:00.359 better worked this offseason because, barring something unforeseen, that's going 0:25:00.400 --> 0:25:05.000 to be the same collection of people that have that 0:25:05.080 --> 0:25:07.000 have been the target of a lot of fans I 0:25:07.080 --> 0:25:12.000 are now all season long. Can Duke and Zach at 0:25:12.000 --> 0:25:18.760 all do their jobs better, different and put together a 0:25:18.800 --> 0:25:21.960 team better capable of achieving better results In twenty twenty six, 0:25:22.920 --> 0:25:26.119 five one three nine seven thousand is our phone number. 0:25:26.160 --> 0:25:29.200 A college football program just hired an adult. 0:25:29.560 --> 0:25:30.520 We'll get to that next. 0:25:30.680 --> 0:25:34.480 RNL Carrier Sports Talk presented by Kelsey chevroletout seven hundred 0:25:34.600 --> 0:25:39.360 WLW seven hundred wl W. This is r NL Carrier 0:25:39.480 --> 0:25:43.399 Sports Talk presented by Kelsey Chevrolet. Lance is off tonight. 0:25:43.440 --> 0:25:47.760 He is back on Monday for Bengals line. More on 0:25:48.160 --> 0:25:50.359 the Orange and Black coming up after the top of 0:25:50.400 --> 0:25:54.760 the Allen Uh, the big college football story today, the 0:25:54.840 --> 0:25:59.119 University of Michigan is hiring Utah's Kyle Whittingham. Kyle Whittingham, 0:25:59.680 --> 0:26:02.720 you know when the Utes were in the Mountain West 0:26:03.480 --> 0:26:06.840 ushered that program into the Pac twelve and then helped 0:26:06.920 --> 0:26:09.320 usher that program into the Big twelve. Thirt team this 0:26:09.480 --> 0:26:13.119 year U see played them and that that's kind of 0:26:13.119 --> 0:26:16.160 when it is when the four game losing streak started. 0:26:16.200 --> 0:26:18.120 That was a good team they had in Salt Lake 0:26:18.160 --> 0:26:22.800 City this year wildly respected won sixty six percent of 0:26:22.840 --> 0:26:26.480 his games, and when he stepped down made it known 0:26:26.520 --> 0:26:28.840 I'm not retiring now. I don't know how much the 0:26:28.920 --> 0:26:32.080 Michigan job was on his radar. Who knows if Alabama 0:26:32.160 --> 0:26:36.280 loses in the college football playoff week, you go to Oklahoma. 0:26:36.280 --> 0:26:38.280 If Caitlin Debora is the head coach of Michigan, I 0:26:38.320 --> 0:26:42.640 do think it's interesting. You know, it's remarkable how much 0:26:42.680 --> 0:26:45.080 things have changed in a year as it relates to 0:26:45.280 --> 0:26:48.640 OSU versus Michigan were a year ago at this time, 0:26:49.200 --> 0:26:51.840 you know, Ohio State had played in and won a 0:26:51.880 --> 0:26:55.680 college football playoff game, but Ryan Day had lost to Michigan. 0:26:55.720 --> 0:26:58.760 Again was in a position where a lot of folks 0:26:58.760 --> 0:27:00.119 felt like he was going to have to win a 0:27:00.240 --> 0:27:03.159 national championship to save his job. I'm not sure how 0:27:03.240 --> 0:27:06.320 much any of that was based in reality, but he 0:27:06.480 --> 0:27:10.040 was basically Sharon Moore and prior to him, Jim Harbaughs 0:27:10.080 --> 0:27:11.080 Pinata for a couple. 0:27:10.960 --> 0:27:12.840 Of years, and losing that game. 0:27:14.160 --> 0:27:17.200 Added an element to pressure in the college football playoff 0:27:17.240 --> 0:27:19.320 that is already there if you're the head coach at 0:27:19.359 --> 0:27:22.440 Ohio State. A year later, Ryan Day has won a 0:27:22.520 --> 0:27:24.600 national title. He has a team that right now is 0:27:24.640 --> 0:27:28.480 the odds on favor to win the national championship again, 0:27:28.560 --> 0:27:32.920 and the Michigan program is in tatters. What's been interesting 0:27:32.920 --> 0:27:34.719 about that to me is like, I get it when 0:27:35.040 --> 0:27:38.159 your arch rival is in tatters, when your arch rival 0:27:38.760 --> 0:27:41.720 is going through scandal, it's fun and it's fun to 0:27:41.760 --> 0:27:44.679 watch your arch rival have to hire a new head coach. 0:27:46.440 --> 0:27:48.080 But it is interesting to me. And I don't know 0:27:48.119 --> 0:27:50.760 a ton of Michigan fans, but I know enough that 0:27:50.920 --> 0:27:53.879 even before we found out the particulars of the weirdness 0:27:53.920 --> 0:27:57.960 that Sharon Moore's situation involved, much of which has little 0:27:57.960 --> 0:28:02.040 to do with football, most Wolverines fans that I either 0:28:02.200 --> 0:28:06.120 know or watched react to that news. We're pretty excited 0:28:06.160 --> 0:28:08.080 about the fact that Sharon Moore was never going to 0:28:08.119 --> 0:28:11.359 be their coach, and it does feel like they have 0:28:11.480 --> 0:28:13.639 hired at least an adult in the room for a 0:28:13.680 --> 0:28:16.440 program that felt like it badly needed it. Whether or 0:28:16.480 --> 0:28:17.800 not they're going to be able to compete at a 0:28:17.920 --> 0:28:22.160 national level, compete for Big Ten championships, knock off Ohio State, 0:28:22.359 --> 0:28:25.439 make regular appearances in the College Football Playoff, I have 0:28:25.520 --> 0:28:30.080 no idea, but I do feel like Michigan upgraded from 0:28:30.200 --> 0:28:32.840 one coach to the other, even if the route they 0:28:32.840 --> 0:28:38.160 had to take was an unfortunate one, We'll put it 0:28:38.200 --> 0:28:42.000 that way. We'll see, we'll see. But that story dominated 0:28:43.040 --> 0:28:45.320 the couple of weeks leading up to the College Football Playoff, 0:28:45.360 --> 0:28:47.080 and a lot of folks were having fun and making 0:28:47.080 --> 0:28:50.720 great jokes at Michigan's expense, and the one thing it 0:28:50.760 --> 0:28:54.520 felt like they needed was like a grownup. Kyle Whittingham 0:28:54.560 --> 0:28:57.160 seems like a grown up. More on that coming up 0:28:57.160 --> 0:28:59.320 here in just a bit. We actually have a good 0:28:59.360 --> 0:29:02.680 Ohio State guest coming up in the eight o'clock hour. 0:29:02.760 --> 0:29:05.360 Duke Tobin's job is hard, but not that hard. 0:29:05.440 --> 0:29:08.320 That coming up after the seven o'clock news, which is 0:29:08.320 --> 0:29:10.760 happening right now on the home of the best Bengals coverage, 0:29:10.800 --> 0:29:14.200 News Radio seven hundred WLW, Cincinnati. 0:29:21.920 --> 0:29:27.800 And the following takes place between seven pm and eight pm. 0:29:27.920 --> 0:29:30.920 That's us eight minutes after seven o'clock. 0:29:31.000 --> 0:29:34.800 This is RNL Carrier Sports Talk on seven hundred WLW. 0:29:34.800 --> 0:29:36.440 We are presented by Kelsey Chevrolet. 0:29:36.560 --> 0:29:40.720 Hopefully you're having an awesome Friday night, a great Christmas holiday, 0:29:40.920 --> 0:29:44.360 and going into what should be really fun sports weekend 0:29:44.440 --> 0:29:47.240 full NFL slate. The three games yesterday were dogs. All 0:29:47.240 --> 0:29:49.880 the college bowl games like the college bowl games, you know, 0:29:49.920 --> 0:29:52.600 folks now with the college Football Playoff and the emphasis 0:29:52.640 --> 0:29:55.160 on it and the era that we're in with the 0:29:55.200 --> 0:29:58.360 transfer portal and opt outs. Look, we have coaches opting 0:29:58.360 --> 0:30:01.960 out of bowl games to crying. How the Bulls, the 0:30:01.960 --> 0:30:04.000 Bulls as we know them, are going like. Both games 0:30:04.000 --> 0:30:05.920 haven't been important in years, but they're still fun to 0:30:05.920 --> 0:30:07.640 wageer on. So you have a bunch of them. Tomorrow 0:30:07.680 --> 0:30:11.840 Miami plays Fresno State. All of this leading up to 0:30:12.120 --> 0:30:16.120 Bengals and Cardinals on Sunday. Reminder, our pregame coverage from 0:30:16.160 --> 0:30:19.960 the Holy Grail on seven hundred WLW will begin at 0:30:20.240 --> 0:30:23.360 nine o'clock. The Bengals offense. You know the thing about 0:30:23.560 --> 0:30:26.000 the game on last Sunday against Miami, a lot of 0:30:26.040 --> 0:30:27.480 folks walked away from it going, Okay. 0:30:27.280 --> 0:30:28.160 What's the big takeaway? 0:30:29.000 --> 0:30:31.840 What's kind of the big macro level takeaway from the 0:30:31.880 --> 0:30:34.520 game against Miami? And for me, it was Bengals beat 0:30:34.640 --> 0:30:37.560 a bad team they should have beaten badly, a bad 0:30:37.600 --> 0:30:42.680 team that started Quinn Ewers, a seventh round pick from Texas, 0:30:43.240 --> 0:30:46.200 making his first NFL start. But more than anything, it 0:30:46.360 --> 0:30:50.000 was that's that's what it should look like like. 0:30:50.040 --> 0:30:52.160 That's what it should have looked like all season long. 0:30:52.200 --> 0:30:54.520 And had Joe Burrow not gotten hurt, maybe it's what 0:30:54.600 --> 0:30:57.080 it would have looked like all season long. An offense 0:30:57.160 --> 0:31:01.560 that is damn near impossible to defend because of all 0:31:01.600 --> 0:31:05.120 the weaponry, an offense with an offensive line that is 0:31:05.160 --> 0:31:06.080 performing better. 0:31:06.160 --> 0:31:06.959 This is right now. 0:31:07.000 --> 0:31:10.440 It's not a great offensive line, but it's easily and 0:31:10.480 --> 0:31:12.520 this is a low bar to clear, easily the best 0:31:12.520 --> 0:31:15.080 offensive line that Joe Burrow has played behind, and they've 0:31:15.080 --> 0:31:17.680 got some younger pieces in the offensive line that are 0:31:18.040 --> 0:31:22.240 obviously worth moving forward with a defense that was solid, 0:31:22.400 --> 0:31:26.640 not great, opportunistic that has holes, but the offense was 0:31:26.680 --> 0:31:29.920 good enough to overcome in the Bengals won a blowout. 0:31:30.000 --> 0:31:33.920 To me, what it was more than anything else, it 0:31:34.080 --> 0:31:38.120 was it was an offense on display that as we 0:31:38.160 --> 0:31:40.280 talk about what this offseason is going to look like, 0:31:41.080 --> 0:31:45.440 you say to Duke Tobin, dude, if you can just 0:31:46.320 --> 0:31:49.440 fix and I hate the whole like just need a 0:31:49.520 --> 0:31:53.360 league average defense thing, but I'll use it if you 0:31:53.400 --> 0:31:57.640 can just fix the defense to a degree that it's okay, 0:31:58.240 --> 0:32:00.719 look at what you have over here, offense. And I 0:32:00.800 --> 0:32:03.360 say that knowing that in the game prior to the 0:32:03.400 --> 0:32:06.320 one against Miami, the Bengals offense looked broken. Joe Burrow 0:32:06.360 --> 0:32:09.440 looked checked out. Offensively, they were a disaster. They got 0:32:09.480 --> 0:32:14.400 shut out against the Baltimore Ravens. But as a general rule, 0:32:14.520 --> 0:32:16.840 this season, the offense has been fine. Think of all 0:32:16.840 --> 0:32:19.520 the games they've lost where they've scored enough points to 0:32:19.560 --> 0:32:25.320 win but didn't Jets game, the Bears game, the Bills game, 0:32:26.400 --> 0:32:29.320 games where the offense was really, really really good but 0:32:29.360 --> 0:32:32.200 maybe not perfect, and because it wasn't perfect, they didn't win, 0:32:33.720 --> 0:32:36.480 Like Duke, all you gotta do, It's not that unlike 0:32:37.480 --> 0:32:40.920 Nick Crawl for the Reds, where he's got this really 0:32:40.960 --> 0:32:45.680 good collection of starting pitchers Hunter Green, Andrew Rabbit, Nick Lodolo, 0:32:45.760 --> 0:32:48.480 And it's like, Man, if you could just find a 0:32:48.560 --> 0:32:51.840 bat or two and then get some guys to be 0:32:51.840 --> 0:32:54.040 better this year than they were last year with that 0:32:54.120 --> 0:32:56.120 starting pitching, you got a shot to be a really 0:32:56.120 --> 0:33:00.920 good team in twenty twenty six. I have a quarterback 0:33:00.960 --> 0:33:04.240 who last year probably wins MVP if they sneak into 0:33:04.240 --> 0:33:07.640 the postseason, a guy who when he is at his best, 0:33:07.760 --> 0:33:12.760 is clearly one of the best in the sport. Offensive 0:33:12.800 --> 0:33:17.440 weaponry that is not going anywhere. If you can just 0:33:17.560 --> 0:33:21.640 take this one part of your team, this one part 0:33:21.680 --> 0:33:27.840 of your team and make it okay, you'll be in 0:33:27.840 --> 0:33:31.520 the playoffs next year. Now I'm making that sound easier 0:33:31.520 --> 0:33:35.280 than it actually is. Duke Tobin last season had a 0:33:35.280 --> 0:33:38.880 defense that was atrocious and did nothing really to it 0:33:38.960 --> 0:33:39.800 that mattered. 0:33:39.880 --> 0:33:40.080 Right. 0:33:40.120 --> 0:33:43.760 They signed Oron Burks who's done nothing this year, TJ. Slayton, 0:33:43.760 --> 0:33:46.520 who's done nothing this year, and drafted a bunch of 0:33:46.520 --> 0:33:49.360 players on defense who have made little to no impact 0:33:49.520 --> 0:33:52.000 this season, some of whom I don't know. If you're 0:33:52.080 --> 0:33:54.320 like me, I'm really okay with not being a part 0:33:54.320 --> 0:33:58.720 of the team next year, we'll see. But if you 0:33:58.760 --> 0:34:00.560 assume that they're gonna be a little bit more aggressive 0:34:00.600 --> 0:34:07.959 this year, dude, all all you have to do is 0:34:08.080 --> 0:34:10.600 build a defense that is good enough to allow your 0:34:10.680 --> 0:34:13.600 quarterback to make an occasional mistake. All you have to 0:34:13.600 --> 0:34:15.560 do is build a defense that is good enough to 0:34:15.600 --> 0:34:18.560 allow your offense to not have to score every single 0:34:18.640 --> 0:34:21.400 time they touch the football. All you have to do 0:34:21.480 --> 0:34:23.759 is build a defense that is good enough to not 0:34:23.920 --> 0:34:27.600 consistently waste performances where they score thirty five to forty points. 0:34:28.440 --> 0:34:28.839 That's it. 0:34:29.840 --> 0:34:32.040 I think the other thing about this offseason is it's 0:34:32.680 --> 0:34:34.920 they've had. Last year I think was one of them. 0:34:35.440 --> 0:34:38.759 It's what was so mystifying about the entire offseason last 0:34:38.840 --> 0:34:40.799 year for me is they had a lot of stuff 0:34:40.840 --> 0:34:43.040 to fix on defense. They also had some uncertainty on 0:34:43.080 --> 0:34:46.320 the offensive line. This year's offensive line, and I referenced 0:34:46.320 --> 0:34:48.960 this a few minutes ago, this year's offensive line has 0:34:49.040 --> 0:34:55.720 performed capably, not great, you know, not league league best, 0:34:56.480 --> 0:35:00.239 but capably, and they've done so with Dylan Fairschild, who 0:35:00.239 --> 0:35:02.279 I think we're all very much on board with the 0:35:02.280 --> 0:35:06.560 Bengals moving forward with Amarus Mims, who probably eventually is 0:35:06.560 --> 0:35:09.640 going to be the team's starting left tackle, and you 0:35:09.680 --> 0:35:13.160 know the acquisition of Dalton Reisner has worked out at guard, 0:35:13.280 --> 0:35:16.479 and they've got some questions about what's going to happen 0:35:16.520 --> 0:35:19.680 long term with Orlando brown spot, with Ted Carris's spot. 0:35:19.719 --> 0:35:22.840 But I think for the first time in quite a while, 0:35:22.960 --> 0:35:27.479 they will go into the offseason without offensive line being 0:35:27.560 --> 0:35:31.880 listed as among their most pressing team needs. Now you 0:35:31.880 --> 0:35:35.160 can never have enough depth may still be an issue 0:35:35.920 --> 0:35:38.520 long term solutions. You should still be looking for them 0:35:38.560 --> 0:35:42.920 at a couple of different positions, but the rise of 0:35:42.960 --> 0:35:46.880 that group has I think streamlined the offseason to do 0:35:47.000 --> 0:35:50.640 list for Duke Tobin, where it's a starting caliber player 0:35:50.680 --> 0:35:54.400 at every level of the defense, with money to spare, 0:35:54.520 --> 0:35:57.400 with money to spend, with cap room at your disposal. 0:35:58.760 --> 0:36:02.160 I think the other thing that's important, Duke Tobin gets 0:36:02.160 --> 0:36:06.160 beat up for his draft classes and his draft decisions, 0:36:06.200 --> 0:36:08.960 and god knows, understandably so. 0:36:09.160 --> 0:36:11.719 They they've had a. 0:36:11.680 --> 0:36:15.080 Hard time replacing so many of the players they acquired 0:36:15.120 --> 0:36:16.879 to make a part of the defense in twenty one 0:36:16.880 --> 0:36:20.160 and twenty two, and they've struggled so much to replace them. 0:36:20.160 --> 0:36:22.600 They're still trying to figure out how to replace Jesse Bates, 0:36:23.000 --> 0:36:25.239 who last played for the Bengals in twenty twenty two. 0:36:25.239 --> 0:36:28.240 They're still trying to figure out how to replace DJ Reeder. 0:36:28.280 --> 0:36:30.680 It's taken them a while, though the outside corner play 0:36:30.719 --> 0:36:33.520 recently has been pretty good. They've struggled for a while 0:36:33.560 --> 0:36:37.000 to replace Chudobi a Wuozie. They've had entire draft classes 0:36:37.000 --> 0:36:39.279 full of guys that you go, Okay, what does this 0:36:39.400 --> 0:36:42.000 guy do? Or when is this guy gonna start to contribute? 0:36:42.000 --> 0:36:46.400 If you look though at the twenty twenty three draft class, 0:36:48.600 --> 0:36:51.479 you'll see a group of guys that I think you're 0:36:52.760 --> 0:36:56.200 excited about being on the team next year, and in 0:36:56.239 --> 0:36:59.120 many cases perhaps even beyond. 0:37:00.480 --> 0:37:00.680 Here. 0:37:00.760 --> 0:37:03.040 Down the stretch in the second half of the season, 0:37:03.640 --> 0:37:06.279 Miles Murphy has played like an actual dude. 0:37:07.800 --> 0:37:10.160 And later than any of us would like. 0:37:10.440 --> 0:37:12.440 Nobody is saying they have to extend him, but I 0:37:12.440 --> 0:37:14.600 think clearly they'll pick up his fifth year option like 0:37:14.640 --> 0:37:19.440 he's played like a legitimate dude, and maybe not having. 0:37:19.320 --> 0:37:20.759 Trey Hendrickson here has help that. 0:37:20.880 --> 0:37:24.799 I don't know DJ Turner, I don't think anybody really 0:37:24.800 --> 0:37:27.520 cares about the Pro Bowl games, but DJ Turner should 0:37:27.520 --> 0:37:30.800 have been a Pro Bowl starter as far as I'm concerned, 0:37:30.880 --> 0:37:34.600 has been awesome for most of the season. Chase Brown 0:37:34.680 --> 0:37:37.440 is a very good player, still has a shot for 0:37:37.520 --> 0:37:39.720 what it's worth it being a one thousand yard rusher 0:37:39.840 --> 0:37:42.080 still I think one hundred and twenty five yards away 0:37:42.120 --> 0:37:46.880 from eclipsing last year's total and yards from scrimmage a 0:37:46.960 --> 0:37:50.920 terrific threat. Perfect Piece fits great that we all like 0:37:51.480 --> 0:37:56.600 Chase Brown. Andre Yoshavas as a sixth rounder from Princeton, 0:37:56.680 --> 0:38:01.040 has been a good pick. I wouldn't let his presence 0:38:01.080 --> 0:38:04.120 on the team preclude me from finding a better options 0:38:04.600 --> 0:38:06.799 the number three wide receiver. But I think we're all 0:38:06.800 --> 0:38:10.120 on board with Andre Yoshabaz being on the team. 0:38:11.000 --> 0:38:14.560 Think anybody would have any major issue with that. Like that. 0:38:16.080 --> 0:38:18.960 Class Jordan Battle. Jordan Battle is going to be a 0:38:18.960 --> 0:38:22.120 starting safety next year. Again, his presence on the team 0:38:22.160 --> 0:38:26.440 shouldn't necessarily preclude them from finding solutions that safety in 0:38:26.520 --> 0:38:31.120 free agency or in the draft. Like, there's five players 0:38:31.160 --> 0:38:33.399 and you could maybe add Charlie Jones as a kick 0:38:33.400 --> 0:38:36.680 return guide to it. There's five, maybe six players from 0:38:36.680 --> 0:38:40.160 that twenty twenty three class that look like Piece is 0:38:40.239 --> 0:38:43.279 worth moving footward with and a number of those guys 0:38:43.320 --> 0:38:46.640 on defense. So you know, six seven weeks ago we 0:38:46.640 --> 0:38:49.600 were all talking about, man the offseason overhaul. The defense 0:38:49.920 --> 0:38:52.200 probably gonna move on from Trey Hendricks, and you basically 0:38:52.200 --> 0:38:53.800 have one guy in DJ Turner. 0:38:54.280 --> 0:38:55.719 They have a lot of work to do. 0:38:57.280 --> 0:39:00.200 But I think there's two pieces of good news. Number One, 0:39:00.280 --> 0:39:02.640 that offense next year is going to be pretty much intact. 0:39:02.719 --> 0:39:05.480 Everybody's going to come back. It's an offensive line that 0:39:05.600 --> 0:39:07.520 is as as good as shape going in new offseason 0:39:07.560 --> 0:39:10.920 as they've been in quite a while. And there are 0:39:10.920 --> 0:39:13.560 at least some building blocks from that twenty twenty three 0:39:13.600 --> 0:39:15.760 class that are moving into what should be the primes 0:39:15.760 --> 0:39:19.040 of their careers, who you not only are comfortable being 0:39:19.080 --> 0:39:20.759 a part of the team next year, but you may 0:39:20.800 --> 0:39:25.000 want to build around for the remainder of the decade. Again, 0:39:25.000 --> 0:39:27.200 and this doesn't get let Duke off the hook for 0:39:27.239 --> 0:39:29.120 the way this team has played this year. Doesn't let 0:39:29.120 --> 0:39:31.719 the Bengals as an organization off the hook for the 0:39:31.760 --> 0:39:34.320 way they have failed for a third consecutive year to 0:39:34.560 --> 0:39:36.920 miss the playoffs while Joe Burrow was in his prime, 0:39:38.480 --> 0:39:42.040 But as as much of an overallaul as they seemingly 0:39:42.160 --> 0:39:45.400 have in front of them. It's a little bit easier 0:39:45.480 --> 0:39:49.320 to start the overhaul when you have some building blocks 0:39:50.200 --> 0:39:53.839 that twenty twenty three class. While maybe slower to as 0:39:53.840 --> 0:39:56.960 send than we would like, it's provided some building blocks. 0:39:58.560 --> 0:40:00.600 And the offense is elite. 0:40:01.000 --> 0:40:03.680 It's been elite this year, even when Joe Burrow wasn't healthy, 0:40:04.239 --> 0:40:06.640 even when they were losing football games. 0:40:07.640 --> 0:40:09.359 It sounds like a lot of work, and it is. 0:40:09.640 --> 0:40:12.200 And you know, they've got to find players in the 0:40:12.239 --> 0:40:14.840 draft who don't take three years to make an impact, 0:40:14.880 --> 0:40:16.960 and they have to find free agents who can make 0:40:16.960 --> 0:40:19.879 an impact almost immediately. And they have to keep number 0:40:19.920 --> 0:40:22.480 nine healthy because, as we've seen multiple times now, when 0:40:22.520 --> 0:40:27.520 when he's not, the whole thing falls apart. But they're 0:40:27.680 --> 0:40:29.239 they're starting from There are a lot of there are 0:40:29.239 --> 0:40:31.400 a lot of like gms or personnel people around the 0:40:31.480 --> 0:40:34.440 NFL who have to figure out a way to take 0:40:34.440 --> 0:40:36.719 a team that didn't make the postseason this year and 0:40:36.760 --> 0:40:39.520 turn them into a playoff contender or a playoff team 0:40:39.560 --> 0:40:42.320 in twenty twenty six. How many of those general managers 0:40:42.360 --> 0:40:44.000 would like to have one side of the ball that 0:40:44.080 --> 0:40:45.319 is pretty much set. 0:40:45.760 --> 0:40:46.920 Duke Tobin has that. 0:40:48.480 --> 0:40:51.480 Again, like you may want a different person in charge 0:40:51.480 --> 0:40:53.479 of the roster may want a different person in charge 0:40:53.520 --> 0:40:57.000 of the draft. I can't argue with you, but how 0:40:57.000 --> 0:40:59.239 many people in his shoes, how many people in a 0:40:59.360 --> 0:41:03.000 similar job have one side of the ball that is 0:41:03.080 --> 0:41:05.520 pretty much set and not just pretty much set, but 0:41:05.560 --> 0:41:09.200 when it's set, is among the best in the sport. 0:41:10.840 --> 0:41:13.600 And that is the case this year. Five one, three, seven, four, nine, 0:41:13.680 --> 0:41:17.600 seven is our number. We'll get to a couple of 0:41:17.680 --> 0:41:19.520 guests coming up in the eight o'clock hour, one on 0:41:19.560 --> 0:41:21.640 the Bengals, one on the Buckeyes, Sterling coming up at 0:41:21.719 --> 0:41:22.240 nine o'clock. 0:41:22.280 --> 0:41:24.760 It's twenty after seven o'clock. 0:41:24.800 --> 0:41:28.480 This is RNL Carrier Sports Talk presented by Kelsey Chevrolet 0:41:28.520 --> 0:41:29.839 seven hundred WLW. 0:41:31.280 --> 0:41:33.960 This is RNL Carrier Sports Talk. 0:41:34.000 --> 0:41:38.080 We are presented tonight by Kelsey Chevrolet on seven hundred WLW. 0:41:38.280 --> 0:41:43.240 The Bengals and Cardinals on Sunday will be played amid 0:41:43.480 --> 0:41:48.279 warm temperatures but probably some rain drops. Pregame covers when 0:41:48.280 --> 0:41:51.720 the Holy Grail starts at nine o'clock, Can Brew, Tony Pike, 0:41:52.000 --> 0:41:55.640 and myself as the Bengals played the second to last 0:41:55.680 --> 0:41:59.200 game of the season Cardinals. Here they are playing out 0:41:59.200 --> 0:42:03.120 the string, according to most who cover the league, looking 0:42:03.160 --> 0:42:05.360 for a new head coach to our plays Jonathan Gannon 0:42:05.440 --> 0:42:06.840 and then the Cleveland Browns. 0:42:06.920 --> 0:42:08.600 Cleveland's going to be interesting. 0:42:10.239 --> 0:42:12.719 Because there are a lot of younger players on that 0:42:12.800 --> 0:42:15.120 team that showed flashes this year. One of them, quin 0:42:15.160 --> 0:42:17.520 Shawn Judkins, got hurt last week. We'll see what his 0:42:17.560 --> 0:42:20.839 offseason entails. It feels like that game a week from 0:42:20.880 --> 0:42:24.120 Sunday is going to be a showdown, so to speak, 0:42:24.160 --> 0:42:27.160 between Joe Burrow and Shadoor Sanders. I don't know that 0:42:27.880 --> 0:42:31.160 the flashes of promise that Shadoor Sanders has shown is 0:42:31.200 --> 0:42:32.680 going to be enough to make them not want to 0:42:32.719 --> 0:42:35.719 draft a quarterback in Cleveland. And obviously there's a lot 0:42:35.760 --> 0:42:38.239 being written and said about the future of Kevin Stefanski, 0:42:38.280 --> 0:42:41.600 a two time NFL Coach of the Year that seems 0:42:41.640 --> 0:42:45.800 to have exhausted his time with the Browns. We will 0:42:45.840 --> 0:42:49.080 see could be an offseason of transition for both Ohio 0:42:49.239 --> 0:42:51.120 professional football teams. 0:42:51.160 --> 0:42:53.680 We are going to get to that coming up here 0:42:54.000 --> 0:42:54.880 a little bit later on. 0:42:54.920 --> 0:42:57.600 We'll do some college football in the nine o'clock hour 0:42:57.719 --> 0:43:00.640 as well. Five point three seven four nine seven thousand 0:43:00.719 --> 0:43:04.759 is our phone number. And uh eight hundred the big one. 0:43:05.360 --> 0:43:08.480 Let's uh, let's talk to Kevin Kevin and Columbus. Kevin, 0:43:08.480 --> 0:43:11.000 you're on seven hundred W l W Kevin, good evening, 0:43:11.320 --> 0:43:16.480 How are you, Kevin and Columbus? 0:43:16.480 --> 0:43:16.919 Are you there? 0:43:18.800 --> 0:43:19.120 Hear me? 0:43:19.640 --> 0:43:23.120 Kevin? Kevin? What's all loud and clear? What is going on? 0:43:23.239 --> 0:43:23.399 Yeah? 0:43:23.400 --> 0:43:25.640 Okay, yeah, yeah, great, thank you. 0:43:26.080 --> 0:43:28.719 Remember when Peyton Manning was a Colt quarterback, they had 0:43:28.760 --> 0:43:31.120 the same problem. They had the best offense and the 0:43:31.160 --> 0:43:34.560 worst defense. I can't remember how exactly long ago that was, 0:43:34.640 --> 0:43:37.359 but what they did is they tired Tony Dunge as 0:43:37.360 --> 0:43:40.799 they're head coach, and his his job was to, you know, 0:43:41.239 --> 0:43:43.839 don't touch the offense and fix the defense. And I'm 0:43:43.880 --> 0:43:47.720 not suggesting fire our coach, but they had the same 0:43:47.760 --> 0:43:50.719 problem just the other Their defense was horrible. I can't 0:43:50.760 --> 0:43:52.560 remember what year it was, but it was when Peyton 0:43:52.560 --> 0:43:53.840 Manning was a quarterback, you know. 0:43:54.400 --> 0:43:57.640 Yeah, they had Jim Moore in the early two thousands, right, 0:43:57.680 --> 0:43:59.800 and they had a team that constantly got to the 0:43:59.800 --> 0:44:02.480 post season and then constantly defensively was a train wreck. 0:44:02.560 --> 0:44:07.440 Once they got to the postseason, and ye couldn't stop anybody, 0:44:07.680 --> 0:44:12.239 but it illustrated. It illustrated that eventually, because they tied 0:44:12.280 --> 0:44:14.920 a lot of money into their offense, they eventually broke 0:44:14.960 --> 0:44:16.239 through and at the end of that two thousand and 0:44:16.320 --> 0:44:19.759 five season won a Super Bowl despite the investments they 0:44:19.840 --> 0:44:22.839 had made on offense, and they made some smart acquisitions 0:44:23.239 --> 0:44:26.759 in the draft, a handful of smart acquisitions in free agency. 0:44:27.239 --> 0:44:30.120 Maybe never had any elite level defense, but they didn't 0:44:30.160 --> 0:44:32.560 need one. They just needed one that allowed Peyton Manning 0:44:32.600 --> 0:44:34.440 to be good, but didn't need him to be perfect 0:44:34.440 --> 0:44:35.200 every single week. 0:44:35.480 --> 0:44:37.480 Yeah, and why can't we do that? I mean, I 0:44:37.520 --> 0:44:39.040 don't know how we would do that, or. 0:44:39.400 --> 0:44:41.440 Whether it's firing the head coach, but Bobby, that's what 0:44:41.480 --> 0:44:44.360 they need to do, and they did it. Why can't 0:44:44.400 --> 0:44:47.239 we Yeah, Well, the answer is, I. 0:44:47.239 --> 0:44:49.440 Mean, you know, if you go back to when the 0:44:49.440 --> 0:44:52.839 Bengals made the Super Bowl nearly five years ago, they 0:44:52.920 --> 0:44:55.719 had a defense that they could just throw money at. 0:44:55.880 --> 0:44:59.160 You know, they signed DJ Reader, who at the time 0:44:59.239 --> 0:45:03.120 was the most expensive free agent acquisition on the interior 0:45:03.200 --> 0:45:05.680 of the defensive line in the history of the sport. 0:45:06.200 --> 0:45:08.040 And a lot of folks said, well, God, they overpaid 0:45:08.080 --> 0:45:10.080 for DJ Reader, and they had to because the only 0:45:10.080 --> 0:45:11.600 way you were gonna get good players to want to 0:45:11.600 --> 0:45:15.080 come here was to overpay him. And they acquired Trey Hendrickson, 0:45:15.080 --> 0:45:16.960 and they went god should Obiah Woozia, and they went 0:45:17.000 --> 0:45:21.320 god Von Bell and Mike Hilton, and those signings all worked. 0:45:21.320 --> 0:45:25.520 Plus they traded for bj Hill, they acquired Larry Ogunjobi Like. 0:45:25.600 --> 0:45:29.880 They got a lot of established NFL players from other teams. 0:45:30.440 --> 0:45:32.840 The problem is they haven't been able to replace a 0:45:32.880 --> 0:45:36.320 lot of those guys, and even some of their homegrown players, 0:45:36.360 --> 0:45:39.000 like Jesse Bates, they haven't been able to replace him 0:45:39.080 --> 0:45:42.040 using the draft. Dax Hill is playing well right now. 0:45:42.120 --> 0:45:45.200 It's taken forever for Dax Hill to find a role 0:45:45.239 --> 0:45:48.880 in the NFL. The plan to replace him or replace 0:45:49.000 --> 0:45:51.640 Jesse Bates with Dax Hill didn't work out. They haven't 0:45:51.680 --> 0:45:53.960 been able to replace Choudobia Wuzia, they haven't been able 0:45:53.960 --> 0:45:56.160 to supplement Trey Hendrickson, they haven't been able to replace 0:45:56.239 --> 0:45:57.200 DJ Reader. 0:45:57.400 --> 0:45:59.279 And so they haven't been able to do that using 0:45:59.320 --> 0:45:59.840 the draft. 0:46:00.520 --> 0:46:03.799 Until they draft well consistently, they're going to have some 0:46:03.840 --> 0:46:05.880 of the same problems we've watched unfold this season. 0:46:06.480 --> 0:46:08.640 Yeah, you can't just hope everybody plays better. 0:46:08.680 --> 0:46:12.040 Next year cross your finger. That seems the Reds to 0:46:12.080 --> 0:46:12.759 do the same thing. 0:46:12.800 --> 0:46:14.920 But hey, I just want to hear what you had 0:46:14.920 --> 0:46:16.799 to say, what they might do about next year, because 0:46:16.800 --> 0:46:20.640 he only got Burrow a few more years, right, So yeah. 0:46:20.000 --> 0:46:21.960 Four more years. End of the decade and time is 0:46:22.000 --> 0:46:23.719 ticking right. You don't want to be thank you for 0:46:23.760 --> 0:46:25.160 the phone call, Kevin. You don't want to be in 0:46:25.200 --> 0:46:28.399 the same position a year from now that you've been 0:46:28.440 --> 0:46:31.560 in this year, which is not only on the outside 0:46:31.640 --> 0:46:35.720 looking in of the postseason, but on the outside looking 0:46:35.760 --> 0:46:39.640 into the postseason, with your quarterback expressing some level of 0:46:39.760 --> 0:46:43.840 dissatisfaction with where things are in his career. 0:46:43.960 --> 0:46:44.839 You know I have. 0:46:46.040 --> 0:46:49.880 I have grown fatigued with the Joe Burrows psychoanalysis as 0:46:49.960 --> 0:46:53.080 much as anybody. But do you want to do this 0:46:53.160 --> 0:46:57.480 in a year where Joe is publicly expressing some level 0:46:57.480 --> 0:47:01.080 of discomfort emotionally and mentally with where things are going 0:47:01.120 --> 0:47:01.720 with his career. 0:47:01.760 --> 0:47:02.160 You don't. 0:47:03.000 --> 0:47:05.080 That doesn't mean he's gonna pull a Carson Palmer do 0:47:05.160 --> 0:47:07.120 what Andrew Locke did, but you don't want to do it. 0:47:07.120 --> 0:47:08.640 You don't want to tempt fate. They've got to be 0:47:08.640 --> 0:47:11.640 better at drafting players. Who can make an immediate impact. 0:47:11.719 --> 0:47:13.680 I just talked about the twenty twenty three draft class, 0:47:13.719 --> 0:47:18.040 which is right now proving to be useful. The problem 0:47:18.040 --> 0:47:21.040 is it's taken almost three full seasons for us to 0:47:21.080 --> 0:47:24.279 talk about that class. Duke Tobin last year talked about 0:47:24.320 --> 0:47:26.880 the need to draft players who can made an immediate 0:47:26.920 --> 0:47:29.120 impact defensively. 0:47:29.560 --> 0:47:32.320 That didn't happen now. Maybe Barrett Carter. 0:47:32.200 --> 0:47:35.200 Ends up being really good one day, Maybe Demetrius Knight 0:47:35.680 --> 0:47:39.400 ends up being really good one day. Maybe maybe Shamar 0:47:39.520 --> 0:47:42.399 Stewart ends up playing like a first round pick. None 0:47:42.440 --> 0:47:45.560 of those things have happened this year. This is a 0:47:46.200 --> 0:47:50.160 cheap labor league. There's never been more of a premium 0:47:50.239 --> 0:47:53.800 on draft picks making an instant impact. It just hasn't 0:47:53.840 --> 0:47:56.560 happened here. What will happen right now is the seven 0:47:56.560 --> 0:48:00.680 to thirty News on seven hundred WLW on a Friday 0:48:00.760 --> 0:48:03.720 night edition of Rnell Carrier Sports Talk presented by Kelsey 0:48:03.800 --> 0:48:08.160 Chevrolet on seven hundred WLW, Sterling coming your way at 0:48:08.280 --> 0:48:11.800 nine oh five. Lance is obviously off tonight on Moweger 0:48:12.040 --> 0:48:13.600 from ESPN fifteen thirty. 0:48:14.120 --> 0:48:15.840 Lances back for Bengals. 0:48:15.400 --> 0:48:19.200 Line on Monday evening Bengals line, airing for a half 0:48:19.239 --> 0:48:23.920 hour on seven hundred WLW before moving to Fox Sports 0:48:23.920 --> 0:48:28.520 thirteen sixty on I'm Sorry on ESPN fifteen thirty. On 0:48:28.719 --> 0:48:32.440 Monday night, we have UC basketball as the Bearcats on 0:48:32.520 --> 0:48:35.080 Monday play their final non conference game of the season, 0:48:35.120 --> 0:48:37.760 the tilt against Lipscomb, And you talk about twenty twenty 0:48:37.800 --> 0:48:41.560 six and the coming months ahead. You can't help but wonder, 0:48:41.600 --> 0:48:45.240 if you're a UC basketball fan number one, with five 0:48:45.320 --> 0:48:49.919 losses already and Big Twelve play looming starting a week 0:48:49.920 --> 0:48:54.959 from tomorrow with a home game against Houston, how bad 0:48:55.080 --> 0:48:58.200 might the next few weeks and months get for Wes 0:48:58.320 --> 0:49:00.279 Miller's team. You know, go back a year ago at 0:49:00.280 --> 0:49:03.479 this time, Cincinnati was getting set to start league play. 0:49:03.560 --> 0:49:06.080 They played Kansas State in the first Big twelve game, 0:49:06.920 --> 0:49:09.920 and the Bearcats got through the non conference part of 0:49:09.920 --> 0:49:15.759 their schedule with one loss, was a game against Villanova 0:49:15.760 --> 0:49:18.640 they lost on the road, got through it with one loss, 0:49:18.840 --> 0:49:23.720 and yet still didn't come close to making the NCAA tournament. 0:49:25.440 --> 0:49:30.160 This year they have five A bad home loss from 0:49:31.600 --> 0:49:38.560 a metrics perspective, and. 0:49:34.680 --> 0:49:37.640 What other other other perspective you want to use? 0:49:37.680 --> 0:49:41.200 A bad home loss against Destern Michigan, the loss on 0:49:41.239 --> 0:49:44.080 the road to Zayvier in the Skyline chilea Crosstown shootout 0:49:44.120 --> 0:49:48.600 a not great Xavier team, and then losses each of 0:49:48.640 --> 0:49:51.359 the last couple of weeks to Georgia which ended up 0:49:51.400 --> 0:49:53.759 not being very competitive after the Bearcats had a lead 0:49:53.800 --> 0:49:56.439 in the first half, and then a Clemson loss where 0:49:56.440 --> 0:49:58.680 the Bearcats were down thirty to five in the first 0:49:58.680 --> 0:50:01.239 half before playing very copetitively in the second half and 0:50:01.280 --> 0:50:04.440 losing by three, but still a loss. This plus the 0:50:04.640 --> 0:50:08.000 neutral floor loss to Louisville five losses going into the 0:50:08.000 --> 0:50:12.200 Big Twelve, a league that has six teams in the 0:50:12.239 --> 0:50:16.920 top twenty four of the Kenpalm dot com rankings, and 0:50:16.960 --> 0:50:20.640 so a season that I think for most was defined 0:50:20.680 --> 0:50:23.600 by Wes Miller year five. If he doesn't get to 0:50:23.600 --> 0:50:26.680 the NCAA tournament, UC is going to be in the 0:50:26.719 --> 0:50:31.080 market for a new head coach, not only not making 0:50:31.080 --> 0:50:35.360 the tournament, perhaps, but not making the tournament and not 0:50:35.520 --> 0:50:38.520 even coming close, and not even coming close in ways 0:50:39.800 --> 0:50:42.160 that you know weren't a part of last year's conversation. 0:50:43.600 --> 0:50:45.400 They have eighteen Big Twelve games. 0:50:47.719 --> 0:50:52.120 They're going to be huge underdogs and a lot of them. 0:50:52.160 --> 0:50:54.360 And if you just take the quality of that league 0:50:55.080 --> 0:50:58.680 with how the Bearcats have played, they largely despite the 0:50:58.680 --> 0:51:02.319 addition of Gisel James, like the same team here at 0:51:02.320 --> 0:51:07.600 the end of twenty twenty five as they looked in 0:51:07.640 --> 0:51:15.360 early November. You can wonder how bad might it get 0:51:15.400 --> 0:51:19.200 and could they end Big twelve play with I don't know, 0:51:19.239 --> 0:51:21.520 thirteen fourteen, fifteen losses or more. 0:51:22.120 --> 0:51:23.000 Let's think about that. 0:51:23.160 --> 0:51:25.479 A season that was defined by, well, the Bearcats must 0:51:25.480 --> 0:51:28.359 make the NCAA tournament, we're now wondering if they could 0:51:28.360 --> 0:51:33.080 avoid like as many as twenty losses combining non league 0:51:33.120 --> 0:51:38.279 and Big twelve play. So, you know, I like Wes 0:51:38.360 --> 0:51:40.160 Miller a lot. He has been very good to me 0:51:40.239 --> 0:51:44.520 since he's become Cincinnati's head coach. He's easy to work 0:51:44.560 --> 0:51:48.560 with on UC basketball broadcasts. I've rooted like hell for him. 0:51:48.600 --> 0:51:53.160 But if it was NCAA tournament or BUS and I 0:51:53.200 --> 0:51:54.640 think for a lot of us it was like, all right, 0:51:54.719 --> 0:51:56.799 NCAA tournament or bus, But like, what does it look 0:51:56.880 --> 0:51:59.759 like like do they do they barely miss it? Do 0:51:59.800 --> 0:52:01.759 they did they miss it? Because you know they were 0:52:01.800 --> 0:52:03.680 one of the first four out. They were team number 0:52:03.760 --> 0:52:06.440 sixty nine or team number seventy and you know, they 0:52:06.440 --> 0:52:08.600 played great down the stretch, and the committee just didn't 0:52:08.680 --> 0:52:10.840 like their resume where there are a whole bunch of injuries. 0:52:10.880 --> 0:52:12.719 You know, what did it look like? What's the context? 0:52:13.680 --> 0:52:15.800 I'm not sure any context is going to be needed. 0:52:15.840 --> 0:52:20.000 If this season ends and there's an eighteen and nineteen 0:52:20.080 --> 0:52:23.000 or twenty next to Cincinnati and the lost column. 0:52:23.040 --> 0:52:24.200 It is remarkable that. 0:52:24.080 --> 0:52:27.360 That's where we are in year five, year three of 0:52:27.400 --> 0:52:30.320 the Big Twelve, where it's not are they going to 0:52:30.360 --> 0:52:33.040 make the tournament, but it's how bad might it get? 0:52:34.239 --> 0:52:35.680 And if you watch some of the teams in the 0:52:35.680 --> 0:52:40.480 Big Twelve, Houston, Arizona, who I watched them a week 0:52:40.520 --> 0:52:43.399 ago on Saturday against Alabama, they looked like an NBA team. 0:52:43.480 --> 0:52:47.520 Texas Tech, Iowa State byu UCF has played very well, 0:52:47.600 --> 0:52:54.960 Oklahoma States played very well. I haven't even mentioned Kansas again. 0:52:55.040 --> 0:52:56.919 Go back a year ago. They had one league loss 0:52:56.920 --> 0:52:58.680 and I'm not sure anybody felt great about how they 0:52:58.719 --> 0:53:01.440 were playing, but they had built in cushion, and I 0:53:01.440 --> 0:53:03.439 think the prevailing thought was, well, if they go five 0:53:03.520 --> 0:53:05.280 hundred in the Big Twelve, they're going to be okay. 0:53:05.320 --> 0:53:07.160 I think that would have been the case they did 0:53:07.160 --> 0:53:13.160 not finish five hundred in the Big twelve. Five hundred 0:53:13.200 --> 0:53:15.360 the Big Twelve this year would feel like a miracle. 0:53:17.680 --> 0:53:20.919 So it's certainly an uphill battle for Wes Miller's team. 0:53:20.960 --> 0:53:22.960 And you know, then you start kind of a larger 0:53:22.960 --> 0:53:27.279 conversation about UC athletics. Scott Saderfield is going to be 0:53:27.320 --> 0:53:29.920 back for year four, but the reality is part of 0:53:29.920 --> 0:53:36.480 that program's current brand is that they fall apart in November. 0:53:37.560 --> 0:53:39.400 I think they've lost their last ten games in the 0:53:39.400 --> 0:53:41.880 month of November. I believe Scott Sadderfield has won and 0:53:41.960 --> 0:53:45.480 eleven in the month of November. And while they did 0:53:45.520 --> 0:53:47.480 a lot of really good things this year, this was 0:53:47.480 --> 0:53:50.000 a team in twenty twenty five that was sort of 0:53:50.040 --> 0:53:52.120 the culmination of a lot of guys choosing to come 0:53:52.120 --> 0:53:55.279 back and play at UC despite maybe having a chance 0:53:55.360 --> 0:53:58.640 to make more money elsewhere, some guys maybe taking a 0:53:58.680 --> 0:54:01.880 hometown discount them, you know, spending money to add players 0:54:01.960 --> 0:54:03.920 via the portal, and it all adding up to a 0:54:03.960 --> 0:54:08.440 seven win season that went down with four consecutive losses 0:54:08.480 --> 0:54:10.479 at the end. They obviously have a Bowl game still 0:54:10.480 --> 0:54:12.760 against Navy a week from Friday, a week from tonight, 0:54:13.320 --> 0:54:14.400 in Memphis. 0:54:14.400 --> 0:54:17.640 But still, and as you know, I. 0:54:17.719 --> 0:54:20.440 Look online and I see all the you know, anger 0:54:20.520 --> 0:54:22.839 aimed at the basketball coach and all the anger aimed 0:54:22.880 --> 0:54:25.480 at the football coach. But the common denominator becomes the 0:54:25.520 --> 0:54:26.680 person who hired both. 0:54:27.719 --> 0:54:28.319 And if you're a. 0:54:28.280 --> 0:54:30.759 Director of athletics, and I think is a general rule, 0:54:30.840 --> 0:54:33.720 John Cunningham is a pretty solid administrator, But you're ultimately 0:54:33.840 --> 0:54:38.000 judged by the coaches you hire, and mainly the coaches 0:54:38.040 --> 0:54:42.239 you hire at the two highest profile sports. Scott Saderfield 0:54:42.239 --> 0:54:44.319 may have earned a fourth year at you see, but 0:54:44.400 --> 0:54:46.560 I would stop well short of saying that he's popular, 0:54:47.520 --> 0:54:49.480 and I would imagine he, for a lot of fans, 0:54:49.520 --> 0:54:51.840 is going to go into year four with a specific 0:54:51.880 --> 0:54:55.520 mandate to not only win more games, but along with that, 0:54:55.640 --> 0:54:59.719 of course avoid the late season meltdown. And a men's 0:54:59.719 --> 0:55:03.799 basket fotball coach who is in his fifth season is 0:55:03.960 --> 0:55:08.399 overseeing a team that has five losses already going into 0:55:08.400 --> 0:55:11.239 conference play. Oh and by the way, and I know 0:55:11.360 --> 0:55:14.440 Lance has mentioned this, A bunch has a lot of 0:55:14.480 --> 0:55:17.319 dudes from last year's team which underwhelmed, who have at 0:55:17.360 --> 0:55:22.120 least contributed to high major programs elsewhere. So I think 0:55:22.120 --> 0:55:25.280 one of the interesting storylines for Cincinnati sports in twenty 0:55:25.360 --> 0:55:28.120 twenty six is going to be like, is there a 0:55:28.120 --> 0:55:34.840 new basketball coach and how much patience is there ultimately 0:55:34.880 --> 0:55:36.959 going to be with the person and hired in charge 0:55:37.000 --> 0:55:40.960 of hiring the basketball coach and ultimately overseeing the football program. 0:55:41.040 --> 0:55:41.520 We'll see. 0:55:42.360 --> 0:55:45.120 But I'd be a line to you if I'd told 0:55:45.120 --> 0:55:46.600 you I thought, you know, we'd be here at the 0:55:46.719 --> 0:55:50.000 end of this year with UC sitting there with five losses, 0:55:50.880 --> 0:55:53.080 is still looking to make the NCAA tournament for the 0:55:53.120 --> 0:55:57.080 first time since twenty nineteen that was forever ago, And 0:55:57.160 --> 0:56:00.879 yet it feels extraordinarily unlikely, as much as I hate 0:56:00.880 --> 0:56:03.200 to say this is a Bearcat fan, that Cincinnati is 0:56:03.280 --> 0:56:06.360 gonna come even close to having its name called on 0:56:06.400 --> 0:56:09.360 selection Sunday, And like you know, invariably, they're going to 0:56:09.400 --> 0:56:12.400 be comparisons to what's happening with one program to the 0:56:12.440 --> 0:56:13.520 other across town. 0:56:13.560 --> 0:56:15.000 And Xavier has its issues. 0:56:15.000 --> 0:56:17.719 The Musketeers next game is going to be at home 0:56:17.760 --> 0:56:21.120 against Yukon on New Year's Eve, and the Huskies will 0:56:21.160 --> 0:56:24.799 present a world of problems for a talent efficient Xavier team. 0:56:25.600 --> 0:56:28.000 But I do think in terms of how they've been coached. 0:56:28.160 --> 0:56:31.600 Richard Patino deserves a lot of credit because number one, 0:56:31.600 --> 0:56:34.279 they have gotten better, and number two, they bounce back 0:56:34.320 --> 0:56:37.319 pretty nicely after getting destroyed in the most lopsided loss 0:56:37.360 --> 0:56:39.160 in the history of the Cintas Center and playing well 0:56:39.280 --> 0:56:43.400 enough to be an Okay Georgetown team. Maybe Okay's pushing 0:56:43.400 --> 0:56:46.120 it a little bit, and so yeah, there's a little 0:56:46.120 --> 0:56:47.880 bit of a talent issue, but you do see a 0:56:47.880 --> 0:56:50.400 team that is responding to his coaching, and you do 0:56:50.440 --> 0:56:52.280 see a team that, relative to what they were putting 0:56:52.280 --> 0:56:55.280 on the floor very early in the season, has improved 0:56:55.400 --> 0:56:56.880 for the most part, and it's still going to be 0:56:56.920 --> 0:56:59.000 a very uphill battle for them in Big East play. 0:57:00.000 --> 0:57:04.000 It's year one with west Miller. Unfortunately, it's a year five, 0:57:05.160 --> 0:57:07.840 and without anything to kind of hang your hat on 0:57:07.960 --> 0:57:10.400 to point to as a track record that indicates that 0:57:10.440 --> 0:57:14.279 things will get better, you can't help but conclude that 0:57:14.880 --> 0:57:17.880 they're going to finish with way, way, way more losses 0:57:17.920 --> 0:57:20.960 than anybody ever would have imagined. And in the season 0:57:21.000 --> 0:57:24.320 that is defined by does he make the tournament? If 0:57:24.360 --> 0:57:26.560 they don't come even close, I think most of us 0:57:26.600 --> 0:57:28.880 at that point assume what the outcome is going to 0:57:28.920 --> 0:57:32.560 be how many more coaches John Cunningham gets to hire 0:57:33.800 --> 0:57:36.360 is certainly going to be up for discussion as. 0:57:37.840 --> 0:57:39.640 Things continue to. 0:57:39.680 --> 0:57:43.600 Progress the way they appear they will be progressing seven. 0:57:43.400 --> 0:57:45.440 Forty nine at maleger on Twitter. 0:57:45.640 --> 0:57:48.840 Five point three seven four nine seven thousand is our 0:57:48.880 --> 0:57:51.840 phone number. You'll hear my conversation with Paul Danner Junior 0:57:51.840 --> 0:57:54.160 from the Athletic coming up at eight twenty as we 0:57:54.160 --> 0:57:57.480 talk Bengals, including a guy in T Higgins who will 0:57:57.520 --> 0:57:59.560 spend a few minutes on when we come back. But 0:58:00.000 --> 0:58:03.240 this is our and L Carriers sport Stock. We are 0:58:03.280 --> 0:58:07.480 presented tonight by Kelsey Chevrolet and awesome to have you 0:58:07.520 --> 0:58:09.360 with us. I hope you had a great Christmas sterling 0:58:09.440 --> 0:58:11.960 Coming up at nine oh five. Back to the football 0:58:12.000 --> 0:58:15.480 coming up at to the top of the hour and 0:58:15.560 --> 0:58:18.080 we'll do some Ohio state stuff as well as we 0:58:18.080 --> 0:58:21.040 look ahead to the college football playoff, OSU taking on 0:58:21.200 --> 0:58:25.920 Miami on New Year's Eve, which tons of defensive talent 0:58:26.000 --> 0:58:28.160 on the field for both of those teams, and it 0:58:28.200 --> 0:58:31.120 will be interesting to see how the Buckeyes bounce back 0:58:31.120 --> 0:58:34.240 after losing the Big Ten title game, which feels like 0:58:34.280 --> 0:58:36.720 about seven months ago. Yeah, I started the show by 0:58:36.800 --> 0:58:39.560 talking about the Reds and one of the more mystifying 0:58:39.680 --> 0:58:42.400 things to me about the Kyle Schwarber pursuit, I guess 0:58:42.440 --> 0:58:47.320 there were two. One would be this, Kyle Schwarber is 0:58:47.360 --> 0:58:49.480 from Middletown, you may have heard, and it felt like 0:58:49.520 --> 0:58:53.160 that was ultimately what drove their pursuit of him. 0:58:53.920 --> 0:58:56.320 And by the way, I like a fun story. 0:58:56.480 --> 0:58:58.920 And so if had the Rads brought in the reigning 0:58:59.040 --> 0:59:02.080 National League home run champion due to it fifty six 0:59:02.120 --> 0:59:05.200 bombs last year, and you know, part of the dynamic 0:59:05.320 --> 0:59:07.520 was he gets a chance to play in his hometown, 0:59:07.560 --> 0:59:09.760 that would have been fun. That never should have been 0:59:09.800 --> 0:59:13.480 the primary motivator behind going after Kyle Schwarber. And what 0:59:13.680 --> 0:59:16.800 has not made sense to me in the weeks since 0:59:16.920 --> 0:59:20.680 we found out the Reds didn't get Kyle Schwarber, is 0:59:21.080 --> 0:59:24.240 is why none of the other sluggers in free agency 0:59:24.320 --> 0:59:30.280 were apparently viable options like Pete Alonzo, who recently signed 0:59:30.320 --> 0:59:32.800 with the Baltimore Orioles signed for I think five million 0:59:32.880 --> 0:59:36.760 dollars more than Kyle Schwarber. The Reds made an attempt 0:59:36.800 --> 0:59:39.480 at Kyle Schwarber. We could debate how Earnest of an 0:59:39.520 --> 0:59:42.640 attempt it was. We could debate how serious of an 0:59:42.640 --> 0:59:46.080 attempt it was, but there was an attempt. Why do 0:59:46.160 --> 0:59:50.120 you go after Kyle Schwarber but not Pete Alonzo? Why 0:59:50.120 --> 0:59:53.560 do you go after Kyle Schwarber and not Cody Bellinger? 0:59:54.920 --> 0:59:58.880 Like the pursuit of him acknowledges not just that he's 0:59:58.920 --> 1:00:02.919 from here, but it acknowledge is he satisfies a very, 1:00:03.040 --> 1:00:04.960 very big need, the need for a guy to hit 1:00:04.960 --> 1:00:10.480 the ball out of the ballpark. In the in the 1:00:10.480 --> 1:00:12.919 week since we found out they're not going to get him, 1:00:13.360 --> 1:00:18.600 it is mystifying to me why seemingly the primary, maybe 1:00:18.640 --> 1:00:22.000 the sole, real motivator was the fact that he's from 1:00:22.040 --> 1:00:27.320 here and could have sold some tickets, like what I'm 1:00:27.320 --> 1:00:28.680 looking for as a guy who can hit the ball 1:00:28.720 --> 1:00:29.400 out of the ballpark. 1:00:31.120 --> 1:00:31.960 So there's that. 1:00:32.080 --> 1:00:32.360 I guess. 1:00:32.400 --> 1:00:33.280 The other one would be. 1:00:33.320 --> 1:00:36.800 Why would you really allow five million dollars a year 1:00:36.960 --> 1:00:38.880 to get in the way of signing a guy who 1:00:38.920 --> 1:00:42.160 could totally remake your franchise if your franchise has a 1:00:42.320 --> 1:00:45.840 valuation of one point two billion dollars. And I know 1:00:45.920 --> 1:00:49.120 bringing this up makes a lot of people really uncomfortable 1:00:49.120 --> 1:00:52.040 because one thing that baseball owners have done successfully is 1:00:52.080 --> 1:00:55.720 get people to care about their bottom lines. But Kyle 1:00:55.760 --> 1:00:58.000 Schwerber signed with the Phillies five years, one hundred and 1:00:58.080 --> 1:01:00.600 fifty mil. The Red's offer was reportedly five years and 1:01:00.640 --> 1:01:03.080 one hundred and twenty five mill. Now, in the real world, 1:01:03.120 --> 1:01:04.920 that's that's a lot of money, right, that's a lot 1:01:04.920 --> 1:01:07.680 of money. But in baseball terms, it's five million bucks 1:01:07.720 --> 1:01:11.280 a year. Five million bucks a year, And really, if 1:01:11.320 --> 1:01:14.160 you kind of understand how inflation is likely to work 1:01:14.200 --> 1:01:16.600 over the next five years, it's probably closer right now 1:01:16.640 --> 1:01:18.400 to like three to three and a half million dollars 1:01:18.400 --> 1:01:18.680 a year. 1:01:20.640 --> 1:01:22.200 Was not getting that guy. 1:01:22.120 --> 1:01:25.480 Worth saving the twenty five billion dollar twenty five million dollars, 1:01:25.560 --> 1:01:28.479 especially when your franchise valuation is one point two bill 1:01:29.320 --> 1:01:31.480 I know, when you talk about how much a franchises 1:01:31.560 --> 1:01:33.840 work worth, it's not like they have one point two 1:01:33.880 --> 1:01:35.680 billion dollars sitting in a drawer that they can go 1:01:35.680 --> 1:01:38.720 ahead and pay people. But still, a one point two 1:01:38.760 --> 1:01:41.440 billion dollar entity allowed a guy that could have remade 1:01:41.440 --> 1:01:44.240 their team to get away for five million dollars a year. 1:01:45.240 --> 1:01:47.280 That is head scratching as well. Guess the other thing 1:01:47.280 --> 1:01:49.800 I would wonder is this if the the Luise Robert 1:01:49.840 --> 1:01:52.080 pursuit doesn't work out, and I'd be the first like 1:01:52.160 --> 1:01:55.120 Louise Robert doesn't do it for me. I'm interested in 1:01:55.120 --> 1:01:57.120 guys who are like good now, who are in their 1:01:57.120 --> 1:01:59.280 primes now. Louise Robert's only twenty seven years old. It 1:01:59.280 --> 1:02:00.760 has been a couple of seas since he was an 1:02:00.760 --> 1:02:03.520 All Star. The Chicago White Sox have been trying to 1:02:03.600 --> 1:02:06.120 unload him forever. And as they've been trying to do so, 1:02:06.240 --> 1:02:09.280 one thing that you constantly read is they're waiting for 1:02:09.360 --> 1:02:11.520 him to play better so he can increase his value. 1:02:11.560 --> 1:02:15.760 The problem is he's never really played better, and so 1:02:15.920 --> 1:02:18.800 if he ends up being the centerpiece of their offseason, 1:02:19.200 --> 1:02:21.040 how much better is the team really going to be? 1:02:21.320 --> 1:02:23.560 And if they don't get Luis Robert, then what. 1:02:27.680 --> 1:02:29.919 There are a lot of guys on last year's team 1:02:29.960 --> 1:02:32.320 who need to perform better this year. That would have 1:02:32.320 --> 1:02:34.920 been the case with or without a major addition. And 1:02:34.960 --> 1:02:37.480 there are some guys from last year's team that I 1:02:37.480 --> 1:02:40.200 think you can reasonably expect to produce more. 1:02:40.080 --> 1:02:40.680 Of this season. 1:02:41.080 --> 1:02:43.439 Start with Sal Stewart, right, That guy had five home 1:02:43.480 --> 1:02:46.640 runs in September. He certainly looks somebody who could help 1:02:46.880 --> 1:02:51.880 solve your lack of pop issue. But you're really going 1:02:51.960 --> 1:02:53.800 to go to spring training with just a whole bunch 1:02:53.840 --> 1:02:56.880 of dudes from last year's team and no bona fide, 1:02:57.200 --> 1:03:01.320 no established in his prime slugger added from outside? 1:03:03.240 --> 1:03:04.120 And if it's. 1:03:04.000 --> 1:03:06.840 Luis Robert, is that really somebody who satisfies the need 1:03:06.920 --> 1:03:08.960 for a slugger from outside in his prime? 1:03:10.760 --> 1:03:12.760 AH, count me among the more skeptical. 1:03:13.520 --> 1:03:16.200 U five point three seven four nine, seven thousand is 1:03:16.240 --> 1:03:20.600 our phone number. Bengals, UH and Cardinals. You know, the 1:03:20.640 --> 1:03:25.040 game against the Miami Dolphins solidified something that I have 1:03:25.160 --> 1:03:30.800 believed for almost one calendar year. In fact, it was 1:03:30.920 --> 1:03:34.720 last year's game Week seventeen against the Denver Broncos. It 1:03:34.800 --> 1:03:39.000 kept the Bengals playoff hopes alive. There's an indelible image 1:03:39.040 --> 1:03:41.800 from that game that I think has continued through this season, 1:03:41.880 --> 1:03:43.880 and I thought of it often during the game against 1:03:43.880 --> 1:03:47.120 Miami last Sunday. We'll get to that coming up after 1:03:47.160 --> 1:03:50.120 the eight o'clock news, which is happening right now in 1:03:50.160 --> 1:03:52.200 the home of the best Bengals coverage, News Radio seven 1:03:52.280 --> 1:03:53.840 hundred WOW since ant. 1:04:04.280 --> 1:04:09.080 The following takes place between eight PM and nine pm. 1:04:09.120 --> 1:04:09.680 Sure does. 1:04:10.000 --> 1:04:13.120 It is seven after eight o'clock on a Friday night. 1:04:13.200 --> 1:04:16.120 Hopefully you're having an awesome Christmas weekend, an awesome long 1:04:16.480 --> 1:04:19.800 maybe an awesome two weeks off. I don't know, whatever 1:04:19.840 --> 1:04:22.560 it is. I hope it's awesome. That's the key word. 1:04:22.560 --> 1:04:26.520 I'm oeger in for Lance McAllister. This is RNL Carrier 1:04:26.560 --> 1:04:29.080 Sports Talk. We are presented by Kelsey Chevrolet on seven 1:04:29.200 --> 1:04:33.200 hundred WLW. Here it's on nine. Sterling takes over at 1:04:33.520 --> 1:04:36.880 nine oh five. Looking forward to that, you'll hear my 1:04:37.040 --> 1:04:40.480 conversation with the great Bengals beat writer Paul Danner Junior 1:04:40.480 --> 1:04:43.520 from The Athletic and the Growlar podcast coming up in 1:04:43.600 --> 1:04:46.160 just about ten minutes. As we look ahead to Sunday 1:04:46.280 --> 1:04:48.720 more than anything, and we'll spend some time looking back 1:04:48.760 --> 1:04:53.320 on Saturday. Saturday was another example of why T Higgins. 1:04:53.320 --> 1:04:56.160 I think T Higgins is the most beloved Cincinnati Bengal 1:04:56.160 --> 1:04:57.960 And that might not be the best. It's not the 1:04:57.960 --> 1:05:02.360 best wide receiver on his own tea, and you know, 1:05:02.480 --> 1:05:05.080 Joe Burrow might be in a class onto himself. But 1:05:05.320 --> 1:05:08.120 you know, a year ago, it was almost exactly a 1:05:08.160 --> 1:05:12.200 year ago, Bengals beat the Denver Broncos in overtime in 1:05:12.280 --> 1:05:14.960 a game that we all thought at least might be 1:05:15.720 --> 1:05:18.400 T higgins last home game in a Bengals uniform. That 1:05:18.520 --> 1:05:21.400 obviously turned out to not be the case. But he 1:05:21.480 --> 1:05:25.000 had the walk off touchdown grab and it just you know, 1:05:25.280 --> 1:05:27.520 that would have been cool no matter who caught it. 1:05:27.520 --> 1:05:29.120 It was a game that it was a win that 1:05:29.240 --> 1:05:32.720 kept the Bengals very faint playoff hopes alive. But I 1:05:32.760 --> 1:05:35.360 remember that night putting on social media something like that. 1:05:35.480 --> 1:05:38.040 There's I don't think there's a more beloved Cincinnati Bengal 1:05:38.080 --> 1:05:42.640 and always will be than T Higgins. And then you know, 1:05:42.680 --> 1:05:45.520 there's what he did last week. Now, let me make 1:05:45.560 --> 1:05:50.600 two admissions here. Number one, I would not be opposed 1:05:50.760 --> 1:05:54.439 to all the Bengals best players not playing these last 1:05:54.440 --> 1:05:56.920 two games, not playing these last three games, if he 1:05:56.960 --> 1:06:00.360 count the Miami game, like Joe Burrow, was terrific against 1:06:00.400 --> 1:06:02.600 the Dolphins, but like you can't help but watch it 1:06:02.640 --> 1:06:05.880 through your fingers, like ah Man, because if something bad 1:06:05.920 --> 1:06:08.960 were to happen, you know that risk is implied with 1:06:09.120 --> 1:06:12.640 every play of every game, but it's it's a little 1:06:12.680 --> 1:06:18.720 different when the games have no real meaning. I'll also admit, like, 1:06:18.800 --> 1:06:21.240 I'm not entirely sure T Higgins should have played against 1:06:21.280 --> 1:06:23.720 the Miami Dolphins, but I'm not a neurologist. He was 1:06:23.760 --> 1:06:27.600 cleared to play, he did, and I think what he 1:06:27.680 --> 1:06:33.080 did in order to play is pretty admirable. You know, 1:06:33.120 --> 1:06:35.320 this is a player who two years ago, if you remember, 1:06:35.360 --> 1:06:37.720 the Bengals played the game Week seventeen against the Chiefs, 1:06:37.920 --> 1:06:41.400 Jake Browning was the quarterback. Bengals had to win that night. 1:06:42.480 --> 1:06:45.640 They didn't. T Higgins had gotten hurt just a couple 1:06:45.640 --> 1:06:48.640 of weeks prior tried to play that night, came out 1:06:48.640 --> 1:06:50.440 of the game with a hamstring injury, and was like 1:06:51.200 --> 1:06:53.760 putting himself back in the game without the knowledge of 1:06:53.800 --> 1:06:57.320 his coaches, which may say something about the quality of 1:06:57.320 --> 1:06:59.800 the coaching they're getting, but he was just willing himself 1:06:59.840 --> 1:07:03.120 on to the field in an effort to try to 1:07:03.160 --> 1:07:08.919 help his team extended season. Bengals cannot extend their season. Here, 1:07:09.200 --> 1:07:12.520 you have a guy who was in the concussion protocol 1:07:12.800 --> 1:07:16.000 for a second time within a couple of weeks, who 1:07:16.080 --> 1:07:20.000 was like flying to go talk to concussion doctors in 1:07:20.160 --> 1:07:24.080 Pittsburgh just so he could be cleared to play in 1:07:24.160 --> 1:07:28.080 a game that has no bearing on the playoff picture, 1:07:28.480 --> 1:07:32.880 no bearing on the standings whatsoever. Like I think there's 1:07:32.880 --> 1:07:35.000 a lot of players who would have and you couldn't 1:07:35.000 --> 1:07:37.800 have blamed him for doing this. Who would have said, 1:07:37.840 --> 1:07:40.560 screw it, we're not going anywhere. I got a future 1:07:40.600 --> 1:07:43.480 to think about. I got a contract I'm playing under. 1:07:43.520 --> 1:07:45.439 I'm trying to collect every dime of it I can. 1:07:46.400 --> 1:07:51.000 I'm done, I ain't. I'll see you next year. This 1:07:51.040 --> 1:07:53.160 is a guy who signed up to play here, and look, 1:07:53.200 --> 1:07:55.320 he's making gobs of money. 1:07:55.360 --> 1:07:56.120 We all know that. 1:07:57.240 --> 1:08:01.000 But you know, I thought about this the Thursday night 1:08:01.040 --> 1:08:04.160 game where the Bengals beat the Steelers with Joe Flacco 1:08:04.240 --> 1:08:09.400 playing quarterback, which was probably the high point of the season, 1:08:09.480 --> 1:08:11.120 not that there has been all that many, but that 1:08:11.440 --> 1:08:13.360 was a really fun night and it was a fun 1:08:13.440 --> 1:08:15.880 night that made you think, like, you know what, Flacco 1:08:16.000 --> 1:08:17.160 can keep them afloat. 1:08:17.160 --> 1:08:18.840 They won that game. They were three and four. 1:08:18.960 --> 1:08:21.880 The next couple of games seemed winnable, and that night 1:08:22.000 --> 1:08:27.519 Jamar Chase was otherworldly. Sixteen catches one hundred and sixty 1:08:27.560 --> 1:08:31.439 one yards, made up a play running down the sideline 1:08:31.439 --> 1:08:36.080 where he blocks for Chase Brown, and the next day understandably, 1:08:36.160 --> 1:08:40.040 all anybody wanted to talk about was Jamar Chase. That night, 1:08:40.040 --> 1:08:46.800 T Higgins had six catches for ninety six yards. He 1:08:46.800 --> 1:08:52.200 he was terrific, caught a touchdown pass that night, had 1:08:52.240 --> 1:08:56.880 a critical catch that set up Evan McPherson's game winning 1:08:56.880 --> 1:09:02.800 field goal, and yet he was a footnote. Think about 1:09:02.800 --> 1:09:06.320 what you've come to understand about players who played that position. Right, 1:09:07.960 --> 1:09:09.240 They make a lot of money, but at the end 1:09:09.240 --> 1:09:10.960 of the day, like they for the most part, like 1:09:11.000 --> 1:09:12.479 they want to be the man. There's been a lot 1:09:12.520 --> 1:09:14.680 of good number two wide receivers who have like just 1:09:14.840 --> 1:09:19.000 chased opportunities to be a number one wide receiver elsewhere. 1:09:19.840 --> 1:09:23.599 T Higgins signed up to be at times a footnote 1:09:23.600 --> 1:09:27.879 to Jamar Chase. Where that night team makes great plays, 1:09:28.120 --> 1:09:30.720 nobody talks about it because of how awesome Jamar Chase was. 1:09:30.720 --> 1:09:34.840 T Higgins willingly signed up for four more years of that. 1:09:36.120 --> 1:09:39.080 Like I just I don't know, man. There have been 1:09:39.080 --> 1:09:41.760 a lot of popular Bengals players. There's been a lot 1:09:41.760 --> 1:09:43.880 of popular Bengals players on bad teams. Have been a 1:09:43.920 --> 1:09:46.519 lot of popular Bengals players on good teams, and some 1:09:46.640 --> 1:09:49.200 who have been on both. T Higgins has been on both. 1:09:49.760 --> 1:09:53.200 Jamar Chase is obviously very very popular here and understandably so. 1:09:53.920 --> 1:09:56.000 I think the connection that T Higgins has, though, is 1:09:56.080 --> 1:09:58.559 just a little bit different, and I think there's I 1:09:58.560 --> 1:10:00.800 think there's something about you know, a lot of the 1:10:00.840 --> 1:10:03.920 writers this week wrote pieces about T Higgins, and again 1:10:03.960 --> 1:10:07.280 you can understand why, Like that's for a franchise that 1:10:07.400 --> 1:10:11.599 has been long associated with not winning and at times 1:10:11.640 --> 1:10:14.639 associated with players who don't do the right things, Tevin 1:10:14.680 --> 1:10:17.800 Guy led T Higgins to kind of build around for 1:10:17.880 --> 1:10:23.000 whatever's next is pretty important. So you know, do they 1:10:23.040 --> 1:10:25.479 win while both these wide receivers and Joe Burrow are 1:10:25.479 --> 1:10:26.639 here for the next few years. 1:10:26.920 --> 1:10:27.400 I don't know. 1:10:28.760 --> 1:10:31.040 Nothing that happened in that game against Miamy Dolphins should 1:10:31.120 --> 1:10:33.800 mask some of the other larger issues the Bengals have, 1:10:35.000 --> 1:10:37.600 And god knows, I've talked about him a bunch, but 1:10:38.960 --> 1:10:44.160 as jaded and as cynical as every Bengals fan can be, 1:10:44.360 --> 1:10:50.120 and I would argue should be, it's still pretty cool 1:10:50.280 --> 1:10:53.280 to see a guy like T Higgins who just comes 1:10:53.280 --> 1:10:55.719 off as being about all the right things. And again, 1:10:55.800 --> 1:11:00.280 man like it didn't have the world's biggest statistical packed 1:11:00.360 --> 1:11:02.719 on that game, against Miamial though the catch he made 1:11:02.760 --> 1:11:06.120 from thirty five out sort of set the tone for 1:11:06.160 --> 1:11:07.920 the afternoon for the Bengals offensively. 1:11:08.840 --> 1:11:10.920 But you got a guy who just there. 1:11:10.960 --> 1:11:15.040 There's more than a few instances of this guy putting 1:11:15.080 --> 1:11:17.720 the team before himself, and I thought he did that 1:11:17.880 --> 1:11:20.720 last week. And I think that's among the reasons why 1:11:20.800 --> 1:11:23.920 this is just a beloved player on this football team. 1:11:24.840 --> 1:11:28.880 And uh, you know, I thought that was the case 1:11:28.920 --> 1:11:29.760 when the team was good. 1:11:29.960 --> 1:11:31.760 I think what he has done in the face of 1:11:31.840 --> 1:11:37.439 some adverse conditions has solidified that. And I think it's 1:11:37.439 --> 1:11:39.799 at least worth mentioning amid what has been a pretty 1:11:39.840 --> 1:11:40.360 rough season. 1:11:40.360 --> 1:11:41.240 Paul Danner Junior. 1:11:42.280 --> 1:11:44.599 You'll hear him talk about T Higgins because he wrote 1:11:44.600 --> 1:11:47.000 about him here in just a few minutes. Five win, three, 1:11:47.120 --> 1:11:49.720 seven four nine, seven thousand is our phone number will 1:11:49.720 --> 1:11:53.120 talk Ohio State Buckeyes with the great Bill Rabinowitz coming 1:11:53.200 --> 1:11:55.400 up at eight forty five, and we are most definitely 1:11:55.400 --> 1:11:56.320 looking forward to that. 1:11:56.439 --> 1:11:57.520 It is a quarter. 1:11:57.280 --> 1:12:01.160 After eight RNL Carrier Sports Talk presented by Kelsey Chevrolet 1:12:01.240 --> 1:12:02.920 on seven hundred WL. 1:12:02.560 --> 1:12:04.719 Dowty nineteen after eight o'clock. 1:12:04.760 --> 1:12:08.360 This is our and L Carrier Sports Talk presented by 1:12:08.439 --> 1:12:11.360 Kelsey Chevrolet on seven hundred wl W. I am with 1:12:11.439 --> 1:12:14.240 Tony Pike on Monday at Twin Peaks in Westchester for 1:12:14.280 --> 1:12:15.599 the Tony and Mo Football Show. 1:12:15.640 --> 1:12:16.720 We hope you join us. 1:12:17.360 --> 1:12:20.759 We'll talk Bengals, Cardinals, NFL Week seventeen, the College Football Playoff, 1:12:20.920 --> 1:12:24.160 and so much more. Covering the Bengals for the Athletic 1:12:24.640 --> 1:12:28.280 and the Growler Podcast. Is my buddy, Paul Danner Junior. 1:12:28.600 --> 1:12:30.720 You know, here's here's among the many things I liked 1:12:30.720 --> 1:12:32.960 about how the Bengals played against the Miami Dolphins. Is 1:12:33.400 --> 1:12:35.320 it at least gave us a rest bite from all 1:12:35.360 --> 1:12:37.519 the Joe Burrow psychoanalysis. 1:12:38.160 --> 1:12:43.320 Yes, we don't have to take the temperature of how 1:12:43.439 --> 1:12:47.360 Joe Burrow is feeling, which is happiness scale today and 1:12:47.400 --> 1:12:51.040 we can just kind of enjoy a day where everybody 1:12:51.160 --> 1:12:54.920 was definitely happy. Everything looked the way that you would 1:12:54.960 --> 1:12:58.280 expect it to look. They played like an offense that 1:12:58.479 --> 1:13:00.880 is built to win a lot of games, even though 1:13:00.880 --> 1:13:03.240 it hasn't won many this year, and you can just 1:13:03.280 --> 1:13:05.280 sort of accept that for what it is right now. 1:13:05.640 --> 1:13:08.240 So what is the best way to process Sunday? 1:13:08.600 --> 1:13:09.439 Is it? Uh? 1:13:10.560 --> 1:13:13.200 You know, bittersweetness. This is what it could have been, 1:13:13.560 --> 1:13:16.040 is it? This is what it can be. Is that 1:13:16.360 --> 1:13:19.760 they're going to use late season success to cloud their 1:13:19.800 --> 1:13:22.000 decision making, is that they're going to screw up their 1:13:22.080 --> 1:13:24.599 draft positioning. How should I process Sunday? 1:13:25.560 --> 1:13:28.280 Well, I think there's different aspects to all of that. 1:13:28.600 --> 1:13:30.640 The drafts isitioning thing you can missmu with that I 1:13:30.640 --> 1:13:33.840 don't really like. First of all, the draft is not 1:13:33.960 --> 1:13:36.160 that great in the top ten anyway, so you're going 1:13:36.200 --> 1:13:38.360 to be seeing a lot of similar prospects in the middle. 1:13:38.600 --> 1:13:40.679 And come on, man, these guys need to go win games. 1:13:40.680 --> 1:13:43.200 There's too many. I'm just not I'm not doing that. 1:13:43.479 --> 1:13:46.960 But I will say I think the lens it is 1:13:47.000 --> 1:13:49.640 bitter sweet because this is what it was supposed to 1:13:49.640 --> 1:13:52.160 look like. I mean, the Bengals, even in their best times, 1:13:52.200 --> 1:13:56.200 haven't eviscerated teams like that. I mean, that's that is 1:13:56.240 --> 1:13:58.160 the way they played offense. 1:13:58.280 --> 1:13:58.800 Defense. 1:13:58.880 --> 1:14:01.840 Special to all of it together is the way it's 1:14:01.880 --> 1:14:05.479 supposed to look on a team that is capable of 1:14:05.520 --> 1:14:06.920 making a run in January. 1:14:06.920 --> 1:14:07.720 And here they are at the. 1:14:07.760 --> 1:14:10.120 End of December looking like a team capable of making 1:14:10.160 --> 1:14:12.160 a run in January, but none of it matters because 1:14:12.200 --> 1:14:14.400 everything that happened over the course of the season, and 1:14:14.439 --> 1:14:16.799 that is bittersweet and that's a little hard to swallow. 1:14:17.040 --> 1:14:19.800 But I will say this, I don't think it's meaningless. 1:14:20.240 --> 1:14:21.160 You do worry. 1:14:21.320 --> 1:14:24.680 What you mentioned is the biggest concern of all of 1:14:24.720 --> 1:14:27.760 this is that it's like, well, I see all of 1:14:27.800 --> 1:14:30.479 these players playing, well, they're coming along. We're just gonna 1:14:30.479 --> 1:14:33.080 bet on them next year and run run the whole 1:14:33.080 --> 1:14:37.080 thing back. I mean, I think there's very clear positions linebacker, 1:14:37.240 --> 1:14:43.760 defensive line that have to have significant, you know, a 1:14:43.880 --> 1:14:46.559 raising of the boats happening there. Like there's got to 1:14:46.600 --> 1:14:51.400 be some higher level play veterans brought in that can 1:14:51.439 --> 1:14:54.360 be reliable and bring you some juice and let the 1:14:54.360 --> 1:14:56.760 players that are currently here either find a way to 1:14:56.760 --> 1:14:59.639 play above them or b role players, which is probably 1:14:59.720 --> 1:15:01.599 kind of of where they sit. 1:15:01.680 --> 1:15:04.400 They just need a couple more starting level players in there. 1:15:04.720 --> 1:15:09.680 That said, this entire year was going to be. 1:15:09.680 --> 1:15:14.439 Based on the development of all of these young defensive players, 1:15:14.760 --> 1:15:17.720 and it had to happen at some point, and here 1:15:17.760 --> 1:15:18.080 we are. 1:15:19.400 --> 1:15:20.960 It didn't happen fast enough. 1:15:21.360 --> 1:15:23.600 Everything that happened in the first ten games of the 1:15:23.640 --> 1:15:27.280 season or whatever happened, there's no way around that. But 1:15:27.360 --> 1:15:30.519 I think the important element to look at it is, Look, 1:15:31.040 --> 1:15:35.280 you're seeing these young pieces start to actually look like 1:15:35.400 --> 1:15:38.800 they are individually developing and taking a next step. And 1:15:38.840 --> 1:15:41.720 that's not just from one game, that's from a continued 1:15:41.840 --> 1:15:44.519 trend this whole second half of the season. 1:15:44.640 --> 1:15:49.719 Did Duke Tobin actually oversee a successful twenty twenty three draft? 1:15:51.680 --> 1:15:54.280 It's like you're reading my notebook right now. I have 1:15:54.360 --> 1:15:56.160 a whole story, a. 1:15:56.120 --> 1:15:59.160 Whole story that is I'm a about to have published 1:15:59.160 --> 1:16:02.599 for tomorrow on the success of the twenty twenty three 1:16:02.680 --> 1:16:06.639 draft and more importantly, the opportunity it affords the Bengals 1:16:06.680 --> 1:16:12.000 to change how they operate and to look at things differently. Yes, 1:16:12.439 --> 1:16:15.400 they absolutely had a successful twenty twenty three draft. I mean, 1:16:15.400 --> 1:16:20.880 if you're talking about what constitutes a good draft, you're 1:16:20.920 --> 1:16:23.519 talking about what you want to get three starters out 1:16:23.520 --> 1:16:25.120 of it, and that's like, man, that's a good draft. 1:16:25.520 --> 1:16:27.280 You know, that's just the way that. However, you got 1:16:27.280 --> 1:16:29.599 to find a way to do that. They have far 1:16:29.640 --> 1:16:33.439 more than that. I mean you're talking Miles Murphy, DJ Turner. 1:16:33.520 --> 1:16:37.599 I mean, they look like real solid level pieces. Jordan 1:16:37.680 --> 1:16:41.120 battle is a part of this team's future. Certainly he 1:16:41.200 --> 1:16:45.760 seems undeniably going to be a starter for them next year. 1:16:46.479 --> 1:16:49.840 Chase Brown is a top running back in this league. 1:16:49.960 --> 1:16:53.360 Andre Josubasi is a solid three or four receiver. However 1:16:53.439 --> 1:16:57.360 you want to view him, like to find those pieces. 1:16:58.360 --> 1:17:01.200 That's real value. I mean, that's that is a good draft. 1:17:01.479 --> 1:17:03.040 It took till year three. 1:17:03.160 --> 1:17:07.400 Sometimes it takes to year three for guys to come around, 1:17:08.000 --> 1:17:09.280 but yeah, I think you look at that way. But 1:17:09.360 --> 1:17:12.800 now they're extension eligible. Now you're gonna see this. How 1:17:12.840 --> 1:17:14.960 are they gonna do this? Is it going to look 1:17:15.040 --> 1:17:19.000 like t Higgins and Jesse Bates and the Jamar Chase 1:17:19.040 --> 1:17:22.400 stuff that was all the off field drama and trade 1:17:22.400 --> 1:17:26.560 requests and bickering over how good they actually are or 1:17:26.600 --> 1:17:30.680 are we going to see an Eagles style early investment 1:17:30.760 --> 1:17:33.840 in some of these guys. These are hits. They look 1:17:33.880 --> 1:17:37.040 to be coming together, like you're seeing that. Go out 1:17:37.080 --> 1:17:40.479 and pay these guys before next season starts and get 1:17:40.479 --> 1:17:42.720 those done and avoid all of the bickering and. 1:17:42.680 --> 1:17:43.719 Off field stuff that happens. 1:17:43.720 --> 1:17:46.559 I think what we have now is an opportunity for 1:17:46.600 --> 1:17:50.000 them to say, hey, look we are doing some things differently. 1:17:50.080 --> 1:17:51.160 Now will that happen? 1:17:51.840 --> 1:17:53.840 I'm probably not holding my breath on a lot of it, 1:17:54.320 --> 1:17:56.360 but I do think it's a great. 1:17:56.120 --> 1:17:59.280 Opportunity to do some of the things that maybe Joe. 1:17:59.080 --> 1:18:01.439 Burrow is referencing, do things a little differently, be a 1:18:01.439 --> 1:18:04.240 little more creative. This would seem to maybe be an 1:18:04.280 --> 1:18:05.840 opportunity to do some of that with a couple of 1:18:05.880 --> 1:18:06.679 these guys from that track. 1:18:06.840 --> 1:18:08.800 Yeah, man, you know to me this this certainly doesn't 1:18:08.880 --> 1:18:12.000 let Duke Tobin off the proverbial hook. Whatever amount of 1:18:12.000 --> 1:18:15.519 criticism he has gotten, I believe he is deserved. I 1:18:15.560 --> 1:18:18.640 certainly believe his role with the organization should be examined. 1:18:18.680 --> 1:18:21.840 But I'm also a believer in giving credit words due. 1:18:21.840 --> 1:18:24.120 And admittedly it's taken Miles Murphy longer than a lot 1:18:24.120 --> 1:18:26.679 of us would like. It's maybe taking Jordan Battle longer 1:18:26.720 --> 1:18:28.799 than a lot of us would like. I certainly wouldn't 1:18:28.880 --> 1:18:32.760 use him as you know somebody that, hey, we're not 1:18:32.800 --> 1:18:34.920 going to take a safety because we have Jordan Battle. 1:18:34.920 --> 1:18:38.639 But he's played well. Chase Brown is terrific. DJ Turner 1:18:38.720 --> 1:18:41.439 should be a pro bowler. Andrea yoshabas for a sixth 1:18:41.520 --> 1:18:45.439 rounder from Princeton was an excellent pick or all five 1:18:45.479 --> 1:18:48.880 of those guys players that could still be here in 1:18:48.920 --> 1:18:49.800 twenty twenty seven. 1:18:51.800 --> 1:18:53.880 I you know that to be seen. 1:18:54.360 --> 1:18:55.520 I think it's possible. 1:18:55.600 --> 1:18:58.840 You get I mean, you get into the dynamics of 1:18:59.360 --> 1:19:00.680 can you pay everybody? 1:19:00.720 --> 1:19:01.839 How much do they want? 1:19:02.439 --> 1:19:06.360 Is there going to be a franchise tag decision of 1:19:06.840 --> 1:19:09.320 all of those things, you know, Miles Murphy, if your option, 1:19:09.600 --> 1:19:11.960 there's a lot of dynamics and ways to go about it, 1:19:12.000 --> 1:19:14.240 and so all of them, I mean, yeah, I think 1:19:14.280 --> 1:19:15.760 I think a good amount of them. I think they've 1:19:15.800 --> 1:19:19.000 got to find a way to do draft, develop Britain 1:19:19.120 --> 1:19:21.960 and still be about that and prove it they're about 1:19:22.000 --> 1:19:23.599 that and this is the best way to do it. 1:19:23.920 --> 1:19:26.120 There's a I mean a long. 1:19:25.920 --> 1:19:29.519 Way to go to get to that, right certainly, and 1:19:29.600 --> 1:19:31.439 a lot of things that happened, But I do think 1:19:31.920 --> 1:19:34.320 they have the ability to do it, and it's a 1:19:34.439 --> 1:19:38.280 chance for them to prove what they really want to 1:19:38.280 --> 1:19:40.320 be about in terms of how they build their roster 1:19:41.040 --> 1:19:43.679 by making sure that a vast majority of those guys 1:19:43.720 --> 1:19:44.880 are around for the long haul. 1:19:44.920 --> 1:19:46.120 All right, So I read your mind. 1:19:46.160 --> 1:19:47.840 I know what you're going to write about now I 1:19:47.840 --> 1:19:49.800 want to talk about what you did write about I 1:19:49.960 --> 1:19:53.360 didn't think and I you know, the big takeaway for 1:19:53.479 --> 1:19:56.560 me after the Denver game, same basic point in the 1:19:56.600 --> 1:19:58.840 season last year, though they were playing for something, was 1:19:59.400 --> 1:20:02.679 T Higgins is cemented as a beloved figure forever. That's 1:20:02.720 --> 1:20:05.439 before he signs his second contract. That's before we see 1:20:05.520 --> 1:20:08.600 him do what he did this past week, culminating with 1:20:08.640 --> 1:20:12.280 his performance on Sunday. I think there's a good conversation 1:20:12.320 --> 1:20:13.920 about whether or not he should have been out there. 1:20:14.040 --> 1:20:16.680 That's fine, But the fact that in a game that 1:20:16.800 --> 1:20:19.280 had no bearing on the playoff race, in a season 1:20:19.280 --> 1:20:22.559 that has gone awry, you have a dude doing everything 1:20:22.600 --> 1:20:25.080 he can to get on the field and then contributing 1:20:25.160 --> 1:20:27.439 and playing his ass off like. 1:20:28.040 --> 1:20:30.240 This is I've said this before. 1:20:30.439 --> 1:20:32.000 I'm not sure there's a more beloved player than T 1:20:32.160 --> 1:20:34.360 Higgins and I've had people say really, and I go, dude, 1:20:34.479 --> 1:20:37.519 you it's it's not just that he's good, it's it's 1:20:37.720 --> 1:20:40.479 dragging himself on the field against Kansas City in the 1:20:40.479 --> 1:20:42.519 game they had to have a couple of years ago. 1:20:42.760 --> 1:20:46.680 It's willingly playing second banana behind Jamar Chase, which a 1:20:46.680 --> 1:20:49.320 lot of guys wouldn't do. It's what we saw this 1:20:49.360 --> 1:20:51.960 past week, culminating with his performance against Miami. 1:20:52.400 --> 1:20:52.679 Yeah. 1:20:52.720 --> 1:20:57.800 I mean just talking to him afterwards and him discussing 1:20:57.800 --> 1:21:00.160 the process and how hard it was, you know, and 1:21:00.200 --> 1:21:02.280 I just sort of asked them because I can't imagine 1:21:02.280 --> 1:21:05.920 what it's like to be getting on a plane flying 1:21:05.960 --> 1:21:08.400 to Pittsburgh knowing that you're about to see a concussion 1:21:08.439 --> 1:21:12.439 specialist and wondering what they're gonna tell you, and how 1:21:12.520 --> 1:21:15.800 hard that must be to go through, and to go 1:21:15.880 --> 1:21:18.960 through it all with the idea of wanting to go 1:21:19.040 --> 1:21:22.600 be out there and playing the seemingly meaningless game, and 1:21:22.640 --> 1:21:24.200 then to go out there and do it like that, 1:21:24.320 --> 1:21:27.680 to be thankful to even have been a part of it, 1:21:27.720 --> 1:21:30.519 to have played well, and to care about being out 1:21:30.560 --> 1:21:33.439 there and being a part of this. These are the 1:21:33.479 --> 1:21:35.160 type of guys you invest in. These the type of 1:21:35.160 --> 1:21:36.920 guys you want their locker room. It's topic guys they 1:21:36.920 --> 1:21:42.639 don't have probably enough of that. The team matters that much, 1:21:42.800 --> 1:21:48.160 being a good teammate, being accountable, being available matters that 1:21:48.280 --> 1:21:49.280 much to Tea. 1:21:49.640 --> 1:21:52.920 And doing it the right way like this was not haphazard. 1:21:52.960 --> 1:21:54.360 I'm going to go out there and try to play 1:21:54.360 --> 1:21:56.599 through it and beause like, I don't want to ever diminish. 1:21:56.680 --> 1:21:59.960 It's very murky waters talking about that, but going through 1:22:00.160 --> 1:22:04.759 and making sure everybody, including the top specialists in that field, 1:22:05.040 --> 1:22:07.559 has said it's okay, and going out there and then 1:22:07.600 --> 1:22:09.320 embracing and saying I want to go do it. 1:22:09.439 --> 1:22:13.800 Nobody and guys said this afterwards. Nobody would have given. 1:22:14.600 --> 1:22:16.920 I would have cared at all if he would have said, 1:22:16.920 --> 1:22:18.599 I'm done, I'm done with this year. 1:22:18.680 --> 1:22:19.800 I've got these concussions. 1:22:19.800 --> 1:22:21.960 I just want to make sure I'm right, and no 1:22:22.040 --> 1:22:25.760 one would everyone would totally understand it. But the fact 1:22:25.800 --> 1:22:28.120 that he did do it, I think proved how much 1:22:28.160 --> 1:22:30.040 he is about this team, how much he does care 1:22:30.040 --> 1:22:32.320 about their success, and how much he cares about being 1:22:32.360 --> 1:22:33.000 a good teammate. 1:22:33.080 --> 1:22:35.200 And that wins you games. 1:22:36.080 --> 1:22:37.040 No question about that. 1:22:37.080 --> 1:22:40.680 Paul Tanner Junior covering the Bengals Forthathletic dot Com as 1:22:40.720 --> 1:22:43.240 well as the Growlar podcast. Paul, we appreciate the time. 1:22:43.240 --> 1:22:46.200 Don't forget Bengals and Cardinals On Sunday at one o'clock. 1:22:46.600 --> 1:22:49.320 You will hear the game live on seven hundred Wlwrpre 1:22:49.400 --> 1:22:52.760 game coverage begins at nine o'clock in the morning with 1:22:53.040 --> 1:22:55.840 Tony Pike, ken Brew and myself at the Holy Grail. 1:22:55.920 --> 1:22:58.760 We are excited for that. 1:22:59.600 --> 1:23:02.080 If you're a Ohio State fan, you're excited for the 1:23:02.120 --> 1:23:04.519 college football playoff. You should also be excited to buy 1:23:04.600 --> 1:23:07.800 Bill Rabinowitz's book about last year's national championship team. We'll 1:23:07.840 --> 1:23:11.360 spend time with Bill, coming up right around eight forty five. 1:23:11.400 --> 1:23:14.559 We are here till nine o'clock tonight before Sterling takes 1:23:14.560 --> 1:23:17.200 over at nine oh five. Right now, it's time for 1:23:17.240 --> 1:23:20.200 the eight to thirty news for yours sports talk show 1:23:20.240 --> 1:23:24.480 presented by Excuse Me, Kelsey Chevrolet on seven hundred WLW. 1:23:24.600 --> 1:23:27.600 Lance McAllister is off tonight. He will be back for 1:23:27.640 --> 1:23:31.160 Bengals line on Monday evening. Mullegger from ESPN fifteen thirty 1:23:31.520 --> 1:23:35.120 filling in excuse me. Let's roll through a couple of 1:23:35.160 --> 1:23:39.040 things that either have happened earlier today or are happening 1:23:39.160 --> 1:23:43.559 right now. Bengals Update Bengals Today, Zach Taylor announced that 1:23:43.640 --> 1:23:47.120 Joseph O'sai and Charlie Jones both ruled out for the 1:23:47.160 --> 1:23:49.200 game on Sunday. I'm not sure either one of those 1:23:49.360 --> 1:23:51.479 is a surprise. We'll see if Noah fan can go 1:23:52.200 --> 1:23:55.000 Noah Fan listed as questionable. Was a full go of 1:23:55.040 --> 1:23:58.799 today's workout one o'clock live on seven hundred WLW. Sunday 1:23:58.800 --> 1:24:02.439 afternoon pregame coverage from gil begins at nine toh five. 1:24:02.680 --> 1:24:05.000 The green Bay Packers are gonna be without quarterback Jordan 1:24:05.120 --> 1:24:08.120 Love for their game against the Baltimore Ravens tomorrow night. 1:24:08.680 --> 1:24:11.879 Love was downgraded from questionable to out after he sustained 1:24:11.880 --> 1:24:14.679 a concussion in that epic game against the Chicago Bears 1:24:14.760 --> 1:24:18.080 last Saturday night, So Malik Willis will start green Bay. 1:24:18.200 --> 1:24:22.680 With Detroit's loss yesterday has clinched a playoff berth Baltimore 1:24:22.840 --> 1:24:25.160 likely without its starting quarterback in the game. They have 1:24:25.240 --> 1:24:29.479 to have Lamar Jackson listed as doubtful because of a 1:24:29.560 --> 1:24:33.400 back contusion obviously taken out of Baltimore's last game, so 1:24:33.520 --> 1:24:37.560 Tyler Hunley is set to start for the Ravens. Baltimore 1:24:37.600 --> 1:24:41.479 has a tragic number of one in the AFC North. 1:24:41.840 --> 1:24:44.320 As I mentioned, green Bay is in the playoffs, but 1:24:44.439 --> 1:24:47.000 they can still win the NFC North if they win 1:24:47.040 --> 1:24:50.400 their final two games and the Chicago Bears lose their 1:24:50.479 --> 1:24:54.639 last two games. The University of Michigan has a new 1:24:54.640 --> 1:24:59.840 football coach, Kyle Whittingham is going to replace Sharon Moore. 1:25:00.080 --> 1:25:04.240 Kyle Whittingham just retired or didn't retire. He stepped down 1:25:04.280 --> 1:25:07.679 as the head coach of the University of Utah recently, 1:25:07.720 --> 1:25:14.080 where he had a terrific run. His winning percentage of 1:25:14.600 --> 1:25:18.920 six sixty six or six sixty seven, I guess perhaps 1:25:19.000 --> 1:25:22.840 not entirely reflective of the job he did there. He 1:25:22.880 --> 1:25:25.360 had been the head coach since two thousand and five 1:25:25.560 --> 1:25:28.559 up until this past year. He takes over as the 1:25:28.600 --> 1:25:30.760 head coach at the University of Michigan. You heard Matt 1:25:30.760 --> 1:25:33.040 Rees mention this that John Hawser is going to be 1:25:33.080 --> 1:25:36.800 the new head football coach at Ohio University. He took 1:25:36.840 --> 1:25:40.360 over as the interim head coach for the Frisco Bowl, 1:25:41.400 --> 1:25:44.960 and the Bobcats beat UNLV in that ballgame seventeen to ten. 1:25:45.040 --> 1:25:49.559 There are three bowl games happening, actually one happening right now, 1:25:49.600 --> 1:25:52.240 two earlier today. If you care about ball games, I'll 1:25:52.240 --> 1:25:54.760 tell you that in the game above, Sports Bowl, Northwestern 1:25:54.880 --> 1:25:57.160 was victorious over Central Michigan by I score at thirty 1:25:57.160 --> 1:25:58.000 four to seven. 1:25:58.320 --> 1:26:01.240 The Rate Bowl in Pena went to overtime. 1:26:01.280 --> 1:26:04.639 Minnesota holds off New Mexico by a score of twenty 1:26:04.640 --> 1:26:08.720 to seventeen. And FIU is taking on the University of 1:26:08.760 --> 1:26:12.800 Texas and San Antonio in the Serve Pro First Responderabowl, 1:26:12.840 --> 1:26:15.000 and FIU leads that game in the first quarter by 1:26:15.040 --> 1:26:16.080 a score of fourteen to nothing. 1:26:16.120 --> 1:26:17.320 There's a whole bunch of ball games. 1:26:17.160 --> 1:26:20.360 Tomorrow and one of them will pit the Miami RedHawks 1:26:20.360 --> 1:26:21.400 against Fresno State. 1:26:21.439 --> 1:26:23.800 That is the Snoop Dog Arizona Bowl. 1:26:23.840 --> 1:26:27.280 Of course, the UC Bearcats playing the Liberty Bowl a 1:26:27.320 --> 1:26:29.960 week from today in Memphis against Navy. As a matter 1:26:30.040 --> 1:26:33.559 of fact, I was looking at the unofficial depth chart, 1:26:34.560 --> 1:26:37.400 and there are some things that can happen between now 1:26:37.439 --> 1:26:40.280 and next Friday. Many have said, and I think understandably 1:26:40.360 --> 1:26:43.360 so that if you're playing in one of these call 1:26:43.400 --> 1:26:46.360 them what they are, lower tier bowl games, that the 1:26:46.439 --> 1:26:49.800 last type of team you want to play is a 1:26:49.840 --> 1:26:55.439 service academy because there are no opt outs, and the 1:26:55.760 --> 1:26:59.040 players go to the ball site and they're not out there, 1:26:59.240 --> 1:27:03.799 you know, they're living by military, Navy or Army rules, 1:27:04.080 --> 1:27:08.040 Service academy rules, and things are maybe a little bit 1:27:08.080 --> 1:27:11.360 different for you know, a school that could have opt out, 1:27:11.520 --> 1:27:13.879 so maybe the players aren't taking it quite as seriously. 1:27:14.439 --> 1:27:16.719 But I did notice. I guess there were two things 1:27:16.800 --> 1:27:20.160 in the depth chart that stood out to me. Number One, yes, 1:27:20.200 --> 1:27:24.000 the Bearcats will be without Brendan Sorosby, who has entered 1:27:24.000 --> 1:27:29.640 the transfer portal, but the entire offensive line is still practicing. 1:27:30.479 --> 1:27:34.320 Most of the weaponry was listed on the depth chart, 1:27:34.960 --> 1:27:37.960 including Evan Pryor, and so there are some players who 1:27:38.000 --> 1:27:40.120 could still decide to opt out. There are some players 1:27:40.160 --> 1:27:43.280 who could decide they're gonna hit the portal. But on 1:27:43.320 --> 1:27:45.920 the depth chart that came out earlier this week, as 1:27:46.040 --> 1:27:49.320 was released by the Liberty Bowl, most of UC's main 1:27:49.400 --> 1:27:54.040 offensive guys are listed on it. Defensively, it's a little 1:27:54.040 --> 1:27:57.800 bit of a different story, although it was worth noticing 1:27:58.120 --> 1:28:01.320 that the Bearcats didn't list their play in a three 1:28:01.479 --> 1:28:04.719 three five alignment, which I think most of us agree. 1:28:04.760 --> 1:28:08.160 You simply cannot play against Navy. We will see how 1:28:08.200 --> 1:28:11.880 that game unfolds. One other note, and you heard Matt 1:28:11.880 --> 1:28:16.400 Reeese talk about this in the news. The ECHL hockey 1:28:16.400 --> 1:28:20.599 players have gone on strike, and they've complained about a 1:28:20.640 --> 1:28:23.879 lot of things that I think are reasonable. The travel 1:28:23.960 --> 1:28:27.720 schedule in the EHL. You might not follow the Cincinnati Cyclones, 1:28:27.800 --> 1:28:30.080 or if you do, you may only pay attention to 1:28:30.160 --> 1:28:32.920 when they're at home. But they will have weekends where 1:28:32.960 --> 1:28:36.320 they play games like three games in forty eight hours 1:28:36.320 --> 1:28:39.720 in like two different cities, and so there have been 1:28:39.760 --> 1:28:44.320 discussions about the schedule. There have been discussions about equipment, 1:28:44.560 --> 1:28:49.280 properly sized helmets, stuff like that, and so the EHL 1:28:49.360 --> 1:28:53.400 players have gone on strike, leading leaving EHL teams to 1:28:53.720 --> 1:28:57.080 refund ticket money for games that are not going to happen, 1:28:57.840 --> 1:28:59.800 and one of them would have been played at the 1:29:00.040 --> 1:29:03.000 Heritage Bank Center tonight. The Cyclones were set to play Kalamazoo. 1:29:03.360 --> 1:29:06.840 Obviously that game didn't happen. You will get a full 1:29:06.880 --> 1:29:09.760 refund if you bought tickets to that game. And there's 1:29:09.760 --> 1:29:12.000 a number of Cyclones hockey games coming up. One of 1:29:12.080 --> 1:29:13.559 them is on the twenty fourth, which is one of 1:29:13.560 --> 1:29:15.880 the best, one of the best nights they have on 1:29:15.920 --> 1:29:18.800 the calendar, which is their Teddy Bear Toss, which that 1:29:18.880 --> 1:29:21.679 game is in the afternoon on January the twenty fourth, 1:29:21.720 --> 1:29:24.240 and now that, along with all the other games, is 1:29:24.280 --> 1:29:27.280 in jeopardy because of the ECHL player strike, and the 1:29:27.320 --> 1:29:31.240 EHL has issued a statement saying our last and best 1:29:31.280 --> 1:29:33.479 offer and This is always part of the posturing you 1:29:33.560 --> 1:29:36.840 have with sports labor disputes, where you'll hear the league say, 1:29:37.000 --> 1:29:38.960 or you'll see the league say, this is our last 1:29:39.040 --> 1:29:40.840 and best offer, and it turns out to not be 1:29:40.920 --> 1:29:44.080 their last and best offer. We will see, but nonetheless, 1:29:44.120 --> 1:29:49.080 the cyclones dark for the foreseeable future, including obviously tonight's 1:29:49.200 --> 1:29:54.840 originally scheduled game against Kalamazoo. If you're looking for something 1:29:54.840 --> 1:29:57.439 to listen to this weekend, this was a lot of fun. 1:29:58.200 --> 1:29:59.960 So obviously Lance hosts this show. 1:30:00.360 --> 1:30:02.800 I have my show on ESPN fifteen thirty from three 1:30:02.800 --> 1:30:05.360 to six, and then my buddy's Tony Pike and Austin 1:30:05.400 --> 1:30:07.360 Elmore do the show that's on before me noon to 1:30:07.400 --> 1:30:11.040 three since he three sixty on a ESPN fifteen thirty, 1:30:11.520 --> 1:30:13.360 and so we do this once a year. We take 1:30:13.479 --> 1:30:17.719 the hosts of the three regularly scheduled sports talk radio 1:30:17.760 --> 1:30:20.439 shows and the four of us get together and we 1:30:20.560 --> 1:30:22.880 do a year in review show where we also look 1:30:22.920 --> 1:30:26.479 ahead to the next year. And we've done this for 1:30:26.680 --> 1:30:29.640 years and it's always a lot of fun. It's like 1:30:29.680 --> 1:30:31.240 the one time of year all of us are in 1:30:31.280 --> 1:30:35.480 the same room together and we recorded it on Tuesday. 1:30:35.720 --> 1:30:39.479 It aired yesterday morning. Maybe as you were opening presents 1:30:39.680 --> 1:30:42.320 you listen to Lance, Me, Tony and Austin. 1:30:42.920 --> 1:30:44.200 If you missed it. 1:30:44.200 --> 1:30:47.320 It is podcast and it's a really fun show because 1:30:47.320 --> 1:30:49.800 we look at some of the high points of twenty 1:30:49.880 --> 1:30:53.439 twenty five and there were some like the Reds making 1:30:53.479 --> 1:30:58.400 the postseason, like FC Cincinnati beating Columbus, and then some 1:30:58.479 --> 1:31:01.639 of the low points, and there were many of those, 1:31:03.160 --> 1:31:06.479 like this entire Bengal season for the most part, and 1:31:06.479 --> 1:31:09.400 then we did segments on each of the individual. 1:31:09.000 --> 1:31:09.720 Entities in town. 1:31:09.760 --> 1:31:12.600 We kind of combined college basketball all into one or 1:31:12.640 --> 1:31:14.920 college sports all into one, and then we did a 1:31:14.920 --> 1:31:17.439 look ahead for twenty twenty six and if you want 1:31:17.439 --> 1:31:19.080 to listen to it, you can go find that on 1:31:19.120 --> 1:31:22.200 the iHeartRadio app, where you could also find it on 1:31:22.200 --> 1:31:25.599 my page at seven hundred wow dot com. And it 1:31:25.640 --> 1:31:27.920 was a lot of fun to do and hopefully a 1:31:27.920 --> 1:31:30.240 lot of fun to listen to. A book that's fun 1:31:30.280 --> 1:31:33.960 to read, and I say this as a diehard UC 1:31:34.200 --> 1:31:38.040 football fan, is the book that Bill Rabinowitz wrote about 1:31:38.080 --> 1:31:42.080 last year's Ohio State National championship team. Bill covered Ohio 1:31:42.120 --> 1:31:45.240 state sports, among other things, for years with the Columbus 1:31:45.240 --> 1:31:48.320 Dispatch and now does his own substack. But his book 1:31:48.360 --> 1:31:51.320 about last year's Buckeye's team came out a few months ago. 1:31:51.400 --> 1:31:53.760 If you're an Ohio State fan, you need to read it, 1:31:53.880 --> 1:31:58.479 and you'll enjoy it, and you'll enjoy reading about last 1:31:58.520 --> 1:32:00.920 year's team even a easy even as you hope that 1:32:00.960 --> 1:32:03.720 this year's team can do what last year's team did. 1:32:04.000 --> 1:32:06.320 That is a very long winded way of me saying 1:32:06.360 --> 1:32:08.000 that Bill is going to join us to talk about 1:32:08.000 --> 1:32:11.040 the book and the Buckeyes. Next on seven hundred WLW 1:32:11.479 --> 1:32:14.600 New Moweger for Lance McCallister. This is RNL Carry or 1:32:14.600 --> 1:32:18.160 Sports Talk presented by Kelsey Chevrolet Sterling. Coming up after 1:32:18.200 --> 1:32:20.559 the top of the hour. If you're an Ohio State fan, 1:32:20.640 --> 1:32:24.519 obviously you are gearing up for the college football Playoff 1:32:24.560 --> 1:32:29.840 quarterfinal tilt against the Miami Hurricanes on New Year's Eve nights, 1:32:30.320 --> 1:32:32.680 but perhaps also still basking in the glow of last 1:32:32.760 --> 1:32:36.840 year's national championship run. Bill Rabinowitz is covering both for 1:32:36.920 --> 1:32:39.599 his sub stack. He has written a book, Buckeye Brotherhood, 1:32:39.680 --> 1:32:42.720 How Ohio State navigated a new world to win a 1:32:42.840 --> 1:32:45.639 national championship. It is a terrific read and I say 1:32:45.720 --> 1:32:49.360 that as a Bearcat fan. Bill covered Ohio State for 1:32:49.479 --> 1:32:52.080 years for the Columbus Dispatch and kind enough to join us. 1:32:52.920 --> 1:32:54.960 I guess when you look back to a year ago 1:32:55.280 --> 1:32:57.760 and kind of what everybody was saying about Ryan Day 1:32:57.840 --> 1:33:01.120 and coaching for his job, and a year later he's 1:33:01.160 --> 1:33:03.880 won a national title. They're the odds on favorite to 1:33:03.880 --> 1:33:06.519 win another one. The Michigan program has been in tatters. 1:33:06.600 --> 1:33:08.200 What a difference a year makes, Bill. 1:33:08.800 --> 1:33:11.640 Yeah, it is crazy to think how things changed. I mean, 1:33:11.680 --> 1:33:14.479 I think everyone went to that Tennessee game thinking, you know, 1:33:14.560 --> 1:33:16.160 which team's going to show up. Are they going to 1:33:16.200 --> 1:33:18.080 mail it in or are they going to come out inspired? 1:33:18.120 --> 1:33:21.000 And they blew the doors down and then rolled through 1:33:21.000 --> 1:33:24.040 the playoffs in one of the great turnarounds in college 1:33:24.080 --> 1:33:25.840 football history. I mean, they were as low as a 1:33:25.920 --> 1:33:28.680 team can get after losing the Michigan because all those 1:33:28.720 --> 1:33:30.960 guys came back primarily. 1:33:30.439 --> 1:33:31.200 To beat Michigan. 1:33:31.520 --> 1:33:33.439 You know, oh yeah, they wanted to win the national championship, 1:33:33.479 --> 1:33:35.880 but that was the most immediate goal is to beat Michigan. 1:33:35.960 --> 1:33:39.240 When they lost that game, inexplicably, they're like, what do 1:33:39.280 --> 1:33:41.920 we come back for? Then they had the you know, 1:33:41.960 --> 1:33:44.640 team meeting, it's kind of become famous, and then they 1:33:44.680 --> 1:33:47.920 went on that role and yeah, it's crazy, and you 1:33:47.920 --> 1:33:52.080 think about what's happened in Michigan since then, and looks 1:33:52.400 --> 1:33:54.600 it was kind of in some ways a bit of 1:33:54.640 --> 1:33:56.040 a house of cards there. 1:33:55.960 --> 1:34:00.800 Right especially after Harball left. And it is sad because obviously. 1:34:00.479 --> 1:34:02.960 There's you know, the human the toll it's taken, but 1:34:03.560 --> 1:34:06.519 the boy it's the programs are on different footings right now. 1:34:07.160 --> 1:34:09.920 I hear about brotherhood and football, and sometimes it can 1:34:10.000 --> 1:34:10.719 sound cliche. 1:34:10.800 --> 1:34:12.800 I actually talked with Patrick Ryder, who played for. 1:34:12.800 --> 1:34:15.000 The Bearcats this year, was on that Ohio State team 1:34:15.040 --> 1:34:18.400 and outline just for me, you know how how legitimate 1:34:18.439 --> 1:34:20.960 and real that was. That is I think one of 1:34:21.000 --> 1:34:23.880 the it's the central theme of your book. You've been 1:34:23.920 --> 1:34:26.479 around a lot of Ohio State teams. Was this the 1:34:26.600 --> 1:34:27.679 most close knit one? 1:34:29.280 --> 1:34:32.360 I think so, just because they've been through so much together. 1:34:32.720 --> 1:34:34.600 They you know, they stayed for four years, which is 1:34:34.600 --> 1:34:37.760 pretty unusual. And honestly, if you had asked me at 1:34:37.760 --> 1:34:40.559 the start of the process of writing the book whether 1:34:40.640 --> 1:34:43.000 I would have a title like Buckeye Brotherhood, I probably 1:34:43.000 --> 1:34:45.400 would have said no, because it seems like a cliche, right, 1:34:45.439 --> 1:34:47.880 every team is, oh, we're a family, we're so close, 1:34:47.960 --> 1:34:50.800 or so this, and usually it's it's kind of a 1:34:51.080 --> 1:34:53.639 this is not really the truth. But these guys were, 1:34:53.840 --> 1:34:57.000 I mean, and and time after time, that brotherhood sustained them. 1:34:57.520 --> 1:35:00.960 And as I kept doing their research, and it just. 1:35:01.000 --> 1:35:03.439 Was obvious that that had to be the title, because 1:35:03.479 --> 1:35:05.720 that was that's what it was. I mean, you can 1:35:05.880 --> 1:35:08.000 kind of roll your eyes at it, which is the temptation, 1:35:08.760 --> 1:35:11.240 but it was real and I think that's what carried 1:35:11.280 --> 1:35:13.479 the day for them. That's really what got him through it. 1:35:13.600 --> 1:35:16.160 That and the fact they were really talented too. I mean, 1:35:16.200 --> 1:35:17.960 they don't overlook that they were really talented. 1:35:18.920 --> 1:35:22.160 That that brotherhood, if you will, it's hard to achieve 1:35:22.320 --> 1:35:24.400 in the old way the college football was played. 1:35:24.520 --> 1:35:25.880 I think that's what stands. 1:35:25.600 --> 1:35:27.880 Out to me, right and in this era where you're 1:35:27.920 --> 1:35:31.360 you're seeing coaches across sports have a hard time, you know, 1:35:31.479 --> 1:35:35.040 cobbling together teams and building culture and and and keeping 1:35:35.040 --> 1:35:36.880 it keeping it going from one year to the next, 1:35:36.960 --> 1:35:39.160 I think to me, and you're much closer to it 1:35:39.160 --> 1:35:39.519 than I am. 1:35:39.560 --> 1:35:42.200 Obviously, that's what made what they had last year stand out. 1:35:44.439 --> 1:35:47.200 Yeah, again, you know, these guys could have gone to 1:35:47.240 --> 1:35:48.280 the NFL, could. 1:35:48.080 --> 1:35:49.920 Have made you know, look they at nil money. 1:35:49.960 --> 1:35:51.680 It's not like they were you. 1:35:51.640 --> 1:35:54.880 Know, poor, but they could have in some cases made 1:35:54.880 --> 1:35:58.479 a considerably u you know, the bigger amount and gotten 1:35:58.560 --> 1:36:01.639 closer to the second contract every NFL player, every football 1:36:01.640 --> 1:36:04.320 player once. But they they just felt like it was 1:36:04.400 --> 1:36:08.000 unfinished business, that they couldn't in good conscience leave Ohio 1:36:08.040 --> 1:36:11.400 State without having beaten Michigan and making a run at 1:36:11.439 --> 1:36:14.000 the national Championship and and to have the adversity that 1:36:14.080 --> 1:36:16.960 they did, to have, you know, to have lost to 1:36:17.000 --> 1:36:20.320 Oregon in October, which was a tough loss but not devastating, 1:36:20.320 --> 1:36:22.800 but then lose to Michigan was devastating. It was not 1:36:22.840 --> 1:36:26.360 a good Michigan team. And and they did not expect 1:36:26.439 --> 1:36:28.600 Nobody expected that. I don't think missig expected, you know, 1:36:28.640 --> 1:36:32.640 that that outcome. So yeah, that was that was a 1:36:32.680 --> 1:36:34.680 big part of it. But also, and I think the 1:36:34.720 --> 1:36:37.200 heart of the book is the are the personal stories 1:36:37.760 --> 1:36:40.160 that I that I really tried to dig deep and 1:36:40.520 --> 1:36:43.120 get to ryan days background. I mean, you know, most 1:36:43.160 --> 1:36:46.000 Peolhiostate fans know that his father died by suicide when 1:36:46.000 --> 1:36:49.479 he was eight. You know just what that impact was 1:36:49.600 --> 1:36:51.720 on his life, and and that was kind of the 1:36:51.760 --> 1:36:54.160 first chapter of the book. And then there are other 1:36:54.680 --> 1:36:58.120 players these stories. Jack Sawyer has a had an arc. 1:36:58.360 --> 1:37:01.560 To his story where, you know, five star guy from Pickerington, 1:37:02.240 --> 1:37:05.360 a suburb of Columbus, and his career was just kind 1:37:05.360 --> 1:37:07.240 of okay until the end of his junior year. 1:37:07.400 --> 1:37:08.559 Then senior year, he. 1:37:08.520 --> 1:37:11.120 Wanted to make a big splash and he was one 1:37:11.160 --> 1:37:13.439 minute late to a workout and thought that he'd blown 1:37:13.479 --> 1:37:16.559 his chance to be a captain, you know, and he 1:37:16.640 --> 1:37:19.439 obviously makes the most famous play of the season. 1:37:19.479 --> 1:37:22.120 That's the cover shot of the book is the Sawyer 1:37:22.160 --> 1:37:23.720 scoop and score against Texas. 1:37:24.000 --> 1:37:26.799 And I've got a whole chapter on just that one play. 1:37:27.080 --> 1:37:30.200 Just what guy sat, he hits from every angle, what 1:37:30.360 --> 1:37:33.760 he saw, what coaches saw, what players and coaches and 1:37:34.120 --> 1:37:37.720 ross By Orke the ad what they experienced watching that 1:37:37.840 --> 1:37:40.080 Play's that's kind of one of the fun chapters of 1:37:40.080 --> 1:37:43.680 the book is his people reliving that play. But the 1:37:43.720 --> 1:37:46.879 heart of the book is just the stories of these players, 1:37:46.880 --> 1:37:50.160 one after the other, who overcame adversity, whether it was 1:37:50.320 --> 1:37:53.280 injuries or whether it was not feeling like their career 1:37:53.320 --> 1:37:54.760 had gone the way they wanted it to. 1:37:56.640 --> 1:37:59.560 That was kind of That's the essence of the book. 1:38:00.600 --> 1:38:03.959 Buckeye Brotherhood, How Ohio State navigated a new. 1:38:03.760 --> 1:38:05.960 World to win a national championship. 1:38:06.000 --> 1:38:10.240 Bill Robitdowitz, if if you are thinking of a very 1:38:10.360 --> 1:38:14.440 last minute gift for an Ohio State fan, highly recommend 1:38:14.840 --> 1:38:19.599 really quick. With the college football playoff quarterfinal looming, how 1:38:19.680 --> 1:38:22.920 much should the performance against Indiana's defense in the Big 1:38:22.960 --> 1:38:25.479 Ten title game give folks pauses they look ahead the 1:38:25.520 --> 1:38:27.840 next I guess next Wednesday night. 1:38:29.040 --> 1:38:31.400 Well, we'll find out. But I do think it could 1:38:31.400 --> 1:38:34.680 be a blessing in disguise. I think that day that 1:38:34.840 --> 1:38:36.880 was kind of a weird week. It was signing day 1:38:36.960 --> 1:38:40.479 the Brian Hartline took the South Florida job. They had 1:38:40.520 --> 1:38:42.719 to try to hold onto Chris Henry Junior, of course, 1:38:42.760 --> 1:38:44.840 the son of the former Bengal receiver. 1:38:44.920 --> 1:38:45.400 It's weird. 1:38:45.560 --> 1:38:50.120 I covered Chris Henry as a Bengal for the Dispatch, 1:38:50.160 --> 1:38:52.639 and now I'll recovered Chris Henry Junior. And I saw 1:38:52.680 --> 1:38:55.479 him at a recruiting thing last year, camping last year, 1:38:55.479 --> 1:38:58.160 and I told him, man, he was a man, You're old, 1:38:59.120 --> 1:39:03.519 but had a weird week, and uh yes, I think 1:39:03.560 --> 1:39:06.320 that they probably they will probably help them to be 1:39:06.400 --> 1:39:10.960 humbled some and and realize that they're not invincible. 1:39:12.160 --> 1:39:13.400 But they have to fix some things too. 1:39:13.520 --> 1:39:15.120 You know, the offensive line did not play well in 1:39:15.120 --> 1:39:16.920 that game, and they've got to get some things sticked. 1:39:17.200 --> 1:39:19.920 But I'm not convinced that Jeremiah Smith or Carnell Tate 1:39:20.040 --> 1:39:22.120 was all that healthy in that game. 1:39:23.240 --> 1:39:25.519 I think it. You know, we'll see. 1:39:25.680 --> 1:39:28.000 Look, you'd never know last year all the teams they 1:39:28.040 --> 1:39:30.160 had to buy lost. Now some of those were the 1:39:30.280 --> 1:39:32.040 teams that probaly shouldn't have gotten a buy. But you know, 1:39:32.120 --> 1:39:35.479 there is that concern, and Miami is talented enough to 1:39:35.520 --> 1:39:37.440 beat them, and I'm not sure that they. 1:39:37.479 --> 1:39:40.040 Have been consistent enough and they've got some holes. 1:39:40.120 --> 1:39:41.959 But but you know, that's gonna. 1:39:41.720 --> 1:39:44.400 Be an interesting game. We'll see. 1:39:44.520 --> 1:39:47.320 Look and probably to answer a question you might be thinking, 1:39:47.400 --> 1:39:49.280 or somebody might be thinking, no, I do not have 1:39:49.320 --> 1:39:50.360 plans to write another book. 1:39:54.000 --> 1:39:57.840 Championship. You write a book. That's how it works. 1:39:58.200 --> 1:40:00.160 It's a little tough, you know, doing a book in 1:40:00.280 --> 1:40:03.680 four months with the level of reporting that I that 1:40:03.800 --> 1:40:07.680 I do is I don't think mentally or physically I 1:40:07.720 --> 1:40:09.200 can do that back to back years. 1:40:09.240 --> 1:40:10.400 But but I do. 1:40:10.680 --> 1:40:15.400 Ohio State fans follow me on substack Bill Rabinowitz dot 1:40:15.400 --> 1:40:17.559 substack dot com. That you know, I left the Dispatch 1:40:17.680 --> 1:40:21.280 in September on very good terms. It was my decision strictly. 1:40:22.000 --> 1:40:25.040 I've just been looking for something different and substack gives 1:40:25.040 --> 1:40:27.320 me freedom to write, you know, covered team the way 1:40:27.320 --> 1:40:30.720 I've I've always wanted to do it. Yeah, yeah, I 1:40:31.240 --> 1:40:33.120 am charging. I mean, you could get a free subscription, 1:40:33.200 --> 1:40:35.840 but I obviously you know what pays the bills of 1:40:35.880 --> 1:40:38.720 the paid subscription. So I appreciate if people would do that, 1:40:39.800 --> 1:40:41.559 you know, and I want to keep doing what I do. 1:40:41.760 --> 1:40:42.120 And so. 1:40:43.680 --> 1:40:47.120 Yeah, it's been a weird year because they didn't really 1:40:47.160 --> 1:40:49.160 have much of a regular season that was that had 1:40:49.200 --> 1:40:51.360 any drama. I mean it was Texas the beginning and 1:40:51.439 --> 1:40:53.040 Instring at the end and not much in the middle. 1:40:53.640 --> 1:40:56.080 But now it heats up, you know, now it gets interesting. 1:40:57.280 --> 1:41:00.839 No question, uh, Bill on the Buckeye Substack and Buckeye 1:41:00.880 --> 1:41:04.479 Brotherhood available as we say, Bill, where you get your books. 1:41:04.720 --> 1:41:06.360 Appreciate the time, man, have a great Christmas. 1:41:06.360 --> 1:41:09.360 Thanks so much, all right, thanks mo, appreciate it. 1:41:09.680 --> 1:41:10.640 Good you got it. 1:41:10.680 --> 1:41:12.920 That truly is, and yeah, I'm as big of a 1:41:13.000 --> 1:41:15.599 uc football fan asi'll find that is an excellent book. 1:41:15.640 --> 1:41:18.920 Bill Rabinowitz a longtime Ohio State beat writer for the 1:41:18.960 --> 1:41:22.520 Columbus Dispatch. Check out his substack and fine Buckeye Brotherhood 1:41:22.520 --> 1:41:24.960 wherever you get your books. 1:41:25.160 --> 1:41:26.479 Ohio State and Miami. 1:41:27.160 --> 1:41:29.920 On New Year's Eve night next Wednesday, This coming Wednesday, 1:41:29.920 --> 1:41:32.559 I guess in the Cotton Bowl for the right to 1:41:32.600 --> 1:41:34.479 move on to the Fiesta Bowl to take on either 1:41:34.520 --> 1:41:38.640 Ole Miss or Georgia. A couple of things before we 1:41:38.640 --> 1:41:40.640 get out of here. Don't forget Sunday morning, we're at 1:41:40.640 --> 1:41:43.560 the Holy Grail Ken Brew, Tony Pike and Me for 1:41:43.640 --> 1:41:46.240 pregame sports talk that starts at nine am, kickoff at 1:41:46.280 --> 1:41:49.040 one o'clock with Dan and Laponi on seven hundred W 1:41:49.160 --> 1:41:52.600 wel W Tony and I back for the second to 1:41:52.680 --> 1:41:55.360 last Tony and Mo football show of the year. Will 1:41:55.360 --> 1:41:58.240 be at Twin Peaks in Westchester from three to six 1:41:58.400 --> 1:42:01.880 on Monday afternoon. We have an absolute blast. And so 1:42:02.000 --> 1:42:05.120 if you're not working next week, and God God help you, 1:42:05.120 --> 1:42:07.240 I hope you're not, come on out and join us. 1:42:07.280 --> 1:42:08.880 It is going to be a lot of fun. Anything 1:42:08.920 --> 1:42:11.280 you might have missed. You can find on the iHeartRadio app, 1:42:11.360 --> 1:42:13.360 or you could just go to my page at seven 1:42:13.439 --> 1:42:17.240 hundred WLW dot com and you could follow me on 1:42:17.280 --> 1:42:19.880 social media. I'll just I'll go with the big two 1:42:20.000 --> 1:42:22.639 as they relate to my life. You got Twitter, which 1:42:22.680 --> 1:42:25.920 I still call Twitter at moegar and Instagram as well 1:42:26.040 --> 1:42:29.240 at moegar, and we post. We also have a YouTube 1:42:29.280 --> 1:42:32.320 channel now, so all that stuff on social media and YouTube, 1:42:32.720 --> 1:42:36.400 be sure to follow and subscribe. We're pretty much done. 1:42:36.439 --> 1:42:39.960 Sterling is coming up after the nine o'clock News. I 1:42:40.000 --> 1:42:43.120 want to thank Russ Jackson the return of Russ Jackson 1:42:43.479 --> 1:42:46.360 for producing tonight, and enjoy the rest of your weekend. 1:42:46.400 --> 1:42:49.160 The nine o'clock News is next on the home of 1:42:49.160 --> 1:42:53.440 the best Bengals coverage, News Radio seven hundred WLW, Cincinnati.