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Speaker 1: Sixty about Cincinnati from Cincinnati Sponsorman Park by Cincy Shirts.

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Speaker 1: Cincy Shirts, all Cincy all Day. This is ESPN fifteen

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Speaker 1: thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.

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Speaker 2: All right, welcome back our number two, thanks to Cincy Shirts.

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Speaker 2: Thank you for listening on the Home of the Bengals,

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Speaker 2: ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station. We start things off

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Speaker 2: and hour number two with the voice of the Cincinnati Bengals,

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Speaker 2: the Hall of Fame voice as well of the Cincinnati Bearcats.

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Speaker 2: You hear him in football broadcast basketball as well. And

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Speaker 2: if that's not enough, he's kind enough to give us

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Speaker 2: some time on his drive back from Morgantown this afternoon.

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Speaker 2: It is our guy, Dan Horror, joining us right now.

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Speaker 2: Hi Dan, how are you, Tony Austin?

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Speaker 3: I'm great, How are you guys? Good? Good?

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Speaker 2: So here's here's where I want to start. Dan. I

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Speaker 2: I view last night from a player and a coach

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Speaker 2: point of view, because as a player those losses are frustrating.

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Speaker 2: As a competitor, you always want to win, and as

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Speaker 2: a coach, I would assume you want to do everything

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Speaker 2: in your power to win, and when you're not winning,

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Speaker 2: it makes things even harder. And I think for context purposes.

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Speaker 2: It's important to understand that when Wes Miller comes out

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Speaker 2: to talk to you and Terry, he does so right

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Speaker 2: after the loss, right after addressing the team. Emotions are

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Speaker 2: at oftentimes high, and he comes out and gives his

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Speaker 2: time for you and Terry to ask some questions as well.

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Speaker 2: That's where we start here today, the postgame reactions from

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Speaker 2: Wes Miller last night. What were your overall thoughts of

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Speaker 2: what transpired? Well, you're right about this scenario.

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Speaker 4: It's part of his job, but that doesn't make it

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Speaker 4: easy to come out after a game like that and

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Speaker 4: immediately talk to Terry and me.

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Speaker 3: So we appreciate that he does it.

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Speaker 4: Let's face facts, in a four day span, he had

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Speaker 4: two of the most gut wrenching losses of his coaching career.

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Speaker 4: The guy's fighting for his team, he's fighting for his job.

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Speaker 4: The emotions were on edge. I've had some people reach

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Speaker 4: out to me on social media today and say something

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Speaker 4: along the lines of how dare he come at you

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Speaker 4: and Ferry?

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Speaker 3: And I didn't take it that way at all.

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Speaker 4: Wes has been awesome to me every single day he's

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Speaker 4: been on this job. I like him, I respect him.

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Speaker 4: I'll support him as long as he's a Cincinnati's head coach.

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Speaker 4: But man, I feel for him because that was brutal

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Speaker 4: last night. It really was up five basically with two

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Speaker 4: and a half minutes to go, and you just can't

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Speaker 4: make a basket. And the way I look at it

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Speaker 4: is you can. It's hard to play good defense for

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Speaker 4: forty minutes. I think anybody that ever played basketball can

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Speaker 4: appreciate that. But it's not hard to play good defense

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Speaker 4: for three or four minutes. So when you get to

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Speaker 4: the end of these tight Big twelve games and need

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Speaker 4: to score, it is hard. West Virginia didn't get an

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Speaker 4: easy shots. The game winner by Eagle Staff was impossible

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Speaker 4: turn around jumper with a guy in his face and

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Speaker 4: the shot clock winding down.

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Speaker 3: The dude put it in.

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Speaker 4: But what you can't do, and what they've unfortunately done

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Speaker 4: in the last two games, is commit turnovers in the

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Speaker 4: last four or five minutes of a nail bier Big

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Speaker 4: twelve game. If you do that, you're not going to win. Now.

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Speaker 4: They didn't commit as many last night as they committed

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Speaker 4: against Houston, but still they didn't make any shots, and

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Speaker 4: sooner or later, somebody's got to step up and put

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Speaker 4: one in or it's going to be.

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Speaker 3: Really hard to win these games.

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Speaker 2: From just a year on court perspective, how difficult does

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Speaker 2: this become because this is the Big Twelve. It's not

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Speaker 2: I was talking to Mowiger earlier. It's early January, it's

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Speaker 2: not late February. There's sixteen games remaining. There's a conference

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Speaker 2: Big twelve of championship Round that they're going to get

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Speaker 2: at least seventeen guaranteed games remaining. How does the team

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Speaker 2: stay together? You don't get a reprieve in this league.

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Speaker 2: You're going to go to a top twenty five UCF

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Speaker 2: next weekend. You got the thard ranked team in the

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Speaker 2: country coming in, then the number one team in the

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Speaker 2: country on the road. How do you look now to

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Speaker 2: this team for the sheer aspect of staying together and

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Speaker 2: what has been a very hard season up to this point.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it's brutal.

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Speaker 4: The first thing you have to do is try to

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Speaker 4: win a game and get that feeling back.

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Speaker 3: That's job one.

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Speaker 4: Would have been nice if they could have gotten that

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Speaker 4: done last night, certainly would have helped.

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Speaker 3: You know.

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Speaker 4: One of the things that Wes said after the game,

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Speaker 4: and that people are killing him for today as the

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Speaker 4: whole US against the world mentality. I think almost every

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Speaker 4: coach ever does that within the confines of their locker

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Speaker 4: room in situations like this, and I think had Wes

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Speaker 4: kept that between him and the team, it might have helped.

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Speaker 4: When you go public with that and people are going

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Speaker 4: to ridicule you for it and kill you for it,

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Speaker 4: and it's unfortunate that you know he's taking that today,

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Speaker 4: I would hope that Wes thinks going forward. You know what,

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Speaker 4: don't give the.

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Speaker 3: Credit the critics the satisfaction.

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Speaker 4: Of knowing that you're hearing it or people are telling

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Speaker 4: you about it. Don't give them that satisfaction. Just keep

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Speaker 4: that to yourself. Coach your team. If you want to

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Speaker 4: go US against the world again within the confines of

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Speaker 4: your locker room or the practices, that's cool.

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Speaker 3: I think that's normal. But don't let the public hear that,

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Speaker 3: you know.

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Speaker 2: I think people often equate coaching struggles with has the

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Speaker 2: team given up? Or is the team still playing hard?

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Speaker 2: One thing I don't think you can argue Dan, especially

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Speaker 2: these last two the team has not rolled over. They

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Speaker 2: have played extremely hard, They've just not made the plays

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Speaker 2: when when that opportunity has presented itself.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, I think that's true. And you know, what must

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Speaker 4: they do? What can they do to make those plays

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Speaker 4: down the stretch? Well, I think there are a couple

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Speaker 4: of things. One thing that I do think is really

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Speaker 4: hurting them is that they don't have a guy that

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Speaker 4: beats people up off to dribble, either for his own

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Speaker 4: shot or to get somebody else in open shot. I

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Speaker 4: was trying to think today when was when did Cincinnati

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Speaker 4: really have that guy? David de Julius maybe was the

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Speaker 4: most recent that could really you know, lower the shoulder,

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Speaker 4: get an advantage on a guy, get close to the

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Speaker 4: basket and score. They don't have that guy right now,

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Speaker 4: and that that hurts. That's one of the things that

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Speaker 4: can help you win some of those close games down

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Speaker 4: the stretch. So if you don't have somebody that fits

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Speaker 4: that description, then I think the next thing that you

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Speaker 4: have to do, and that West can do and they

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Speaker 4: should try to do going forward, just make sure your

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Speaker 4: best shooters are the guys taking the shots. So Celestine

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Speaker 4: took two in a row down the stretch, that's good.

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Speaker 4: Dade Thomas should be taking those shots, that's good. Anybody

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Speaker 4: else taking those shots. Game on the line that's probably

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Speaker 4: not good unless it's, you know, an absolute desperation, end

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Speaker 4: of the shot clock situation. But do what you can

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Speaker 4: to make sure that your best shooters are the guys

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Speaker 4: taking the shots down the stretch.

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Speaker 2: How do you try to handle And I know you

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Speaker 2: don't get into it as well, but it's what I

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Speaker 2: know about Cincinnati sports is it's a very passionate fan base.

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Speaker 2: And it's a different time nil you've got people that

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Speaker 2: are donating or spending money and they're expecting to see

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Speaker 2: different results. But it's always been since I can remember,

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Speaker 2: an extremely passionate fan base. It's also never been easier

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Speaker 2: as a fan or as a person to get on

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Speaker 2: social media and call folks out and rant on people

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Speaker 2: or what they're doing in their profession. How do you

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Speaker 2: find the balance of understanding that that that's kind of

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Speaker 2: the age we're in versus also how it affects players

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Speaker 2: that could be on the team, or even obviously what

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Speaker 2: Wes Miller's dealing with.

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Speaker 3: It's really hard.

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Speaker 4: It's really hard because even if the coach tries to

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Speaker 4: insulate himself from that stuff, you know, his players here,

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Speaker 4: their families hear it, they share it with them, so

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Speaker 4: they're surrounded by all this negativity or whatever you know,

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Speaker 4: social media website you prefer is not an empathetic place.

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Speaker 4: There's not a lot of feeling positive feeling when things

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Speaker 4: go poorly, So that comes with the territory. The fact

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Speaker 4: that Cincinnati fans are passionate is good. It's one of

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Speaker 4: the reasons why this program will have a chance. We'll

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Speaker 4: always have a chance to be good because people go

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Speaker 4: to the games and they care, and you need that

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Speaker 4: to have a chance. But when you lose a few

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Speaker 4: and you're struggling and you're not performing up to the

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Speaker 4: level that they think you should and really you think

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Speaker 4: you should, then it gets it gets rough, and it's

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Speaker 4: rough right now.

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Speaker 2: No doubt for the team itself from what you've watched

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Speaker 2: going forward, turning the page, going to UCF on Saturday.

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Speaker 2: How can this team start playing better basketball? What players

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Speaker 2: do you see taking those individual steps forward? I know

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Speaker 2: celestein last night with five threes was great. They did

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Speaker 2: it shorthanded, and I thought Tillery coming in played some

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Speaker 2: good minutes when they don't have Kerkrisa. I thought it

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Speaker 2: was good to see Shawnaby have hit a three. Now

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Speaker 2: he needs all the confidence that you can get going forward.

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Speaker 2: But if you're just looking at the x's and o's

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Speaker 2: in the basketball itself, where can this team drawl upon

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Speaker 2: to try to find some wins going forward.

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Speaker 4: I think the biggest thing they have to do and

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Speaker 4: can do from this point going forward is just do

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Speaker 4: the things that each guy knows he's capable of doing,

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Speaker 4: and don't try to do more.

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Speaker 3: So.

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Speaker 4: Seannabiev is a perfect example. Every shot he took last

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Speaker 4: night was a good shot. Only one went in. But

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Speaker 4: I like the fact that he was shooting from the

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Speaker 4: three point line, not two steps behind it. He was

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Speaker 4: shooting in rhythm, not step back threes. He wasn't doing

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Speaker 4: crazy things driving into traffic and losing the ball. He

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Speaker 4: did things that he can do, and if he keeps

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Speaker 4: taking shots like that, more of them will go in.

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Speaker 4: Buck Harris should not be shooting three point shots. He's

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Speaker 4: never shot them. Well, he's not going to miraculously start

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Speaker 4: shooting them. Well, now, just be the junkyard dog that

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Speaker 4: you know you can be. So things like that, the

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Speaker 4: things that these guys can do. Do those things to

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Speaker 4: the best of your ability, and don't try to be

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Speaker 4: something that you're not. If they do that they'll put themselves.

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Speaker 3: In the best position to win more of these games.

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Speaker 2: Very very tough schedule coming up for the Cincinnati Bearcats.

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Speaker 2: Every game in the Big Twelve is going to be

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Speaker 2: seemingly a dog fight as this now season gets into January.

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Speaker 2: We did put a bow over the weekend dan on

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Speaker 2: the Cincinnati Bearcats football season.

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Speaker 3: What a ride.

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Speaker 2: A seven and one start, ends with five straight losses,

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Speaker 2: ends with a very weird bowl appearance with so many

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Speaker 2: guys not playing in the bowl. We've seen them go

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Speaker 2: get a receiver in the portal. We've seen them get

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Speaker 2: a running back in the portal. We win, saw them

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Speaker 2: get J. C. Frenchip quarterback already in the portal. How

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Speaker 2: do you sum up the twenty twenty five football season

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Speaker 2: and for UC football in your opinion?

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Speaker 4: Well, nobody wants to hear it, but they reached the

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Speaker 4: bar that I think most of us set for them

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Speaker 4: prior to the season. I think virtually every Cincinnati fan

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Speaker 4: I talked to before the season began said they need

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Speaker 4: to win seven games and go to a bowl game.

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Speaker 4: Some said six games and go to a bowl game.

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Speaker 4: As long as they have a winning record and go

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Speaker 4: to a bowl that's what they did, so it ended

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Speaker 4: in bitterly disappointing fashion. I hated the fact that they

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Speaker 4: weren't able to bring the A team to their bowl

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Speaker 4: appearance against Navy didn't give them much of a shot

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Speaker 4: to beat a really good Navy team. But I do

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Speaker 4: think that.

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Speaker 3: They reached the bar that we all set.

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Speaker 4: For them at the beginning of the year. So I'm

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Speaker 4: not a big move the goalpost guy. If that's what

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Speaker 4: we say that we're expecting going into the year and

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Speaker 4: they hit that, then to me, it's really hard to

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Speaker 4: complain too loudly. The challenging part right now, though, is

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Speaker 4: sustaining it. Because you know, you lose a great quarterback

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Speaker 4: in Brendan Sowersby. It has really become a bidding war

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Speaker 4: more than ever before in college football. I mean, the

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Speaker 4: portal right now is nuts. Guys that aren't good players

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Speaker 4: are getting a lot of money. It's going to blow

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Speaker 4: up eventually, but it's not blowing up anytime soon. So

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Speaker 4: if you are not one of the biggest spenders right now,

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Speaker 4: you're in a really difficult place. And unfortunately Cincinnati is

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Speaker 4: not one of the biggest spenders.

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Speaker 5: I do have to ask as well.

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Speaker 2: You mentioned the bar that was set and hitting that

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Speaker 2: bar if that was the case for twenty twenty five,

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Speaker 2: I know it's early in the process. Where would you

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Speaker 2: look to set that bar for twenty twenty six.

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Speaker 4: I don't think you can go backward. I think you

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Speaker 4: have to at least hit that again. I think that

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Speaker 4: that's a fair expectation for Bearcat fans, and it's going

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Speaker 4: to be a tough bar to hit.

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Speaker 3: But when you've.

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Speaker 4: Steadily climbed from three wins to five wins to seven wins,

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Speaker 4: you don't get to say, all right, we get to

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Speaker 4: go back to four or five right now, no matter

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Speaker 4: how challenging it is.

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Speaker 5: A couple of Bengals questions before we let you go, Dan,

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Speaker 5: what did you make of the statement by Mike Brown

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Speaker 5: released on Monday? And then what Zach had to say

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Speaker 5: Monday afternoon after the season had finished up.

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Speaker 4: I thought what Paul Dayner Junior wrote yesterday in The

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Speaker 4: Athletic was really smart. I think as much as people

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Speaker 4: are calling for heads to roll, I think this coaching

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Speaker 4: staff has the support of Joe Burrow. That's the single

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Speaker 4: most important vote of confidence they can get, and it's

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Speaker 4: really not that easy or not that difficult to fix

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Speaker 4: this offseason. They only have one side of the ball

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Speaker 4: to worry about. They've got cap dollars to spend, They've

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Speaker 4: got all of their high draft picks, so all they

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Speaker 4: have to do is improve on defense and they'll be

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Speaker 4: a playoff team. But they have to do it otherwise

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Speaker 4: a year from now that the story will probably be

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Speaker 4: very different.

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Speaker 5: How much pressure do you think they feel internally like

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Speaker 5: Duke and his staff and obviously Zach, I mean, that's

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Speaker 5: a vote of confidence from Mike, but also we all

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Speaker 5: know what you just outlined. Joe Burrow is here and

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Speaker 5: he's been kind of open about it. How much pressure

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Speaker 5: do you feel like internally is felt within the Bengals.

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Speaker 3: I think they feel a ton of pressure.

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Speaker 4: I think they know they have a special quarterback, a

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Speaker 4: generational quarterback in.

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Speaker 3: Joe Burrow, and.

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Speaker 4: They owe it to him and they owe it to

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Speaker 4: everybody that supports the team to try to surround him

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Speaker 4: with the best talent that they possibly can. You know,

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Speaker 4: last off season the focus was obviously on keeping Jamar

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Speaker 4: and Tea. They were able to do that, They were

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Speaker 4: able to keep Trey short term. They don't have any

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Speaker 4: issues to deal with like that right now. It's all

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Speaker 4: about fixing the defense. I think it's very fixable. They've

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Speaker 4: got some young, solid support type players that can help

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Speaker 4: you win. They need some veteran studs, and again they've

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Speaker 4: got the cap space to do it. So these guys

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Speaker 4: don't necessarily have to be Pro Bowl, but I do

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Speaker 4: think they have to get the next group of your

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Speaker 4: Mike Hilton should obey a woogie, guys that turn you young,

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Speaker 4: improving defense into one that can help you beat good

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Speaker 4: teams in the postseason.

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Speaker 2: With the Bengals and Bearcats football seasons over, you obviously

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Speaker 2: still have obligations to basketball. What do you do with

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Speaker 2: the newfound free time that you'll be having?

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Speaker 3: Great question, Well, drive.

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Speaker 4: Back from Morgantown, stop at a sheet and get a

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Speaker 4: Mammoth Breakfast sandwich, which I did this.

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Speaker 3: Morning on my way home. Today is my wife's birthday. Wow.

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Speaker 4: It will be a great celebration for Peg when I

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Speaker 4: eventually get home. I'm not too far away. But you

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Speaker 4: know what, the grind never stops. My guys money to do,

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Speaker 4: whether there's a football game happening or not.

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Speaker 2: Well, send Peg our best for her birthday. We wish

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Speaker 2: her happy birthday, and we certainly appreciate your time today.

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Speaker 2: Thanks as always, We'll talk again soon, buddy.

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Speaker 3: Thanks. Dan sounds good, Thanks for having me on there.

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Speaker 2: He is the Hall of Fame voice of the Cincinnati Bearcats,

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Speaker 2: the voice of the Bengals. The great Dan Horde. Would

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Speaker 2: expect nothing less but the professionalism, and we get to

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Speaker 2: hear from Dan all the time.

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Speaker 5: He's the best there is. It's not even close. I

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Speaker 5: wonder if he and if he's gonna, you know, arrange

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Speaker 5: for for PEG's birthday, like a the a mentalist like

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Speaker 5: Peg went all out for his birthday. That's what I

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Speaker 5: was saying, Like I was just thinking this. I know

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Speaker 5: he didn't have a ton of time.

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Speaker 2: It puts pressure on him now, right because she went

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Speaker 2: all out, So you can't just ignore and go small

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Speaker 2: for the birthday.

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Speaker 5: You think Duke and Zacher feeling pressure.

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Speaker 2: Maybe that's why he's stopping at sheets. Maybe he's finding something.

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Speaker 5: I bet you you get some nice I know.

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Speaker 2: So I'm sure as as well thought out that Dan

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Speaker 2: Horde is.

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Speaker 5: He strikes me as a that he has.

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Speaker 2: Planned something huge for Peg and maybe this is it.

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Speaker 2: Maybe the public shout out to Peg on her birthday

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Speaker 2: could be from since he three sixty is the massive

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Speaker 2: announcement we were waiting for.

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Speaker 5: And get much bigger than that Happy birthday Peg.

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Speaker 2: Dan loves you. We appreciate you for sharing Dan with

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Speaker 2: the world. Your talkbacks are next on the Home of

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Speaker 2: the Bengals, ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati sports station.

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Speaker 1: Jthobin addresses the media and you Friday at one o'clock

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Speaker 1: on ESPN fifteen point thirty, the official home of the Bengals.

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Speaker 3: You know who