Speaker 1: Hi, get everybody. I'm Dan Hoard and thanks for downloading
Speaker 1: the Bengals Booth Podcast, The Down in Jungle and addition,
Speaker 1: as I discussed the Jungle Jam fan fest coming up
Speaker 1: in a few weeks with Bengals super fan Jim Foster.
Speaker 1: But first, it's five Questions with six round draft pick
Speaker 1: Tanner McLaughlin, one of two tight ends selected by the
Speaker 1: Bengals in this year's draft. The Bengals Booth Podcast is
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Speaker 1: healthcare provider of the Bengals. Now here's a quick reminder
Speaker 1: that you can have the latest edition of this podcast
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Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcasts. It's the greatest thing since
Speaker 1: Delta Digital ID. I recently took a flight from JFK
Speaker 1: Airport in New York to Cincinnati, and when I arrived
Speaker 1: at the airport to go through security, I realized that
Speaker 1: I was qualified for something called Delta Digital ID. It's
Speaker 1: currently being used at five airports, the two big ones
Speaker 1: in New York City, Atlanta, Detroit, and Los Angeles. It
Speaker 1: apparently uses facial recognition technology and it was so fast
Speaker 1: that I went through security without breaking stride. At the
Speaker 1: end of the process, there was an opportunity to give feedback,
Speaker 1: and I almost complained that it was too fast. It
Speaker 1: seemed hard to believe that it could be secure. In
Speaker 1: any case. If this is the future of TSA, screening
Speaker 1: long lines could be on the road to extinction. Delta
Speaker 1: Digital ID is like running a four three forty through
Speaker 1: airport security.
Speaker 2: Now let's get to football.
Speaker 1: I've been getting to know the Bengals draft picks this
Speaker 1: year by asking them five questions that are a little
Speaker 1: bit different from the norm. On previous episodes, we've met
Speaker 1: Amarus Mims, Chris Jenkins, Jermaine Burton, McKinley Jackson, Eric All
Speaker 1: and Josh Newton. And now we've reached the sixth round
Speaker 1: and a tight end out of the University of Arizona
Speaker 1: who didn't drop a single pass on his forty five
Speaker 1: catchable targets last season. Time for five questions with rookie
Speaker 1: tight end Tanner McLaughlin out of the University of Arizona.
Speaker 1: You're from Canada. There's question number one. Lethbridge, Alberta, which
Speaker 1: is in the western part of Canada, not too far
Speaker 1: from the Montana state line. What is high school football
Speaker 1: like in Lethbridge, Alberta.
Speaker 3: It's different. I think the biggest thing that they stress
Speaker 3: up there is for the love of the game. It's
Speaker 3: a different environment. We don't have the same you know,
Speaker 3: resources coaching up there. It's really just guys going to
Speaker 3: show up and going to play and have fun. So
Speaker 3: I'd say that's the biggest difference.
Speaker 4: I loved it.
Speaker 3: It was a great environment and I'm super grateful that
Speaker 3: I was able to do that growing up.
Speaker 1: Your hometown isn't far from Calgary, which is the home
Speaker 1: of the CFLs Stampeters, where Doug Flutie played back in
Speaker 1: the day. Were you a stamped fan? Did you follow
Speaker 1: the NFL?
Speaker 2: What was your interest as a kid?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I was definitely a Calgary Sampeters fan growing up.
Speaker 3: I grew up I spent a little of the time in Airdrie, Alberta,
Speaker 3: which is just outside of Calgary, and I actually got
Speaker 3: drafted to the stamp Peters this same draft class. I
Speaker 3: was the sixth rounder there as well, So it's pretty
Speaker 3: cool to see that happen. And I made the right
Speaker 3: choice coming down here, for sure, but it was cool
Speaker 3: to see that.
Speaker 1: We're chatting with Tane McLaughlin. Question number three. You started
Speaker 1: your college football career at Southern Utah and in twenty twenty,
Speaker 1: at the height of the pandemic, they postponed the season.
Speaker 1: What did you do in the fall of twenty twenty.
Speaker 3: Yeah, fall twenty twenty was weird. We kept training, We
Speaker 3: did as much training as we could, but we knew
Speaker 3: we were going to have that spring season, twenty twenty
Speaker 3: one spring season, so we were kind of just prepping
Speaker 3: for that. But it was a weird time.
Speaker 2: I don't remember much.
Speaker 3: It feels like it was so long ago, but yeah,
Speaker 3: I just remember being weird and not having football for
Speaker 3: my first ball ever.
Speaker 2: So question number four.
Speaker 1: After your time in Southern Utah, you transferred Arizona spent
Speaker 1: two years with the Wildcats, and while you were there,
Speaker 1: you broke Rob Gronkowski's records for catches by a tight
Speaker 1: end in a season and in your career. And I
Speaker 1: understand he contacted you after the draft.
Speaker 3: Correct, he didn't contact me after the draft, but he
Speaker 3: spoke to me, you know, throughout the seasons that I
Speaker 3: was there, and was always giving me, you know, words
Speaker 3: of encouragement and giving me pointers, you know, going to
Speaker 3: the next level. So I was super grateful to have
Speaker 3: him around and hear what he's got to say, obviously
Speaker 3: being one of the best of all times.
Speaker 1: Did he just take an interest in you as a
Speaker 1: tight end at his alma mater.
Speaker 3: I mean, I would say so. I think just you know,
Speaker 3: tight ends kind of we seem to get along pretty well.
Speaker 3: So I think when he came back and I was
Speaker 3: first kind of relevant tight in a few years since
Speaker 3: he had been there, So I think kind of took
Speaker 3: me on his wing a little bit and gave me
Speaker 3: all the hope he could.
Speaker 2: Did you hear a lot of Gronk stories while you're
Speaker 2: at Arizona?
Speaker 3: I heard a few. I heard there's some crazy stories. Yeah,
Speaker 3: he's a crazy dude, but super good player, super good dude.
Speaker 4: All right.
Speaker 1: Fifth and final question for Tanner McLoughlin. Tell me something
Speaker 1: about you that not many people know.
Speaker 3: Well, this kind of goes back to my roots growing
Speaker 3: up in Alberta. Being on the Montana border. We got
Speaker 3: the rocky mountains right there. So I'm a big outdoors guy.
Speaker 3: I love being outside, love camping, hiking, fishing, all that
Speaker 3: fun stuff. So whenever I get the chance to go
Speaker 3: back home, that's kind of what I spend my time
Speaker 3: doing and then come back here and play football.
Speaker 2: So awesome. Drop the hot seat, appreciate your time.
Speaker 3: Thank you, appreciate it.
Speaker 1: Tanner and fourth round pick Eric gall have added youth
Speaker 1: and depth to the Bengals tight end room. And keep
Speaker 1: in mind that Mike is SICKI and Tanner Hudson only
Speaker 1: signed one year contracts, so there could be turnover in
Speaker 1: the near future. McLaughlin's strength is his receiving ability, making
Speaker 1: him a candidate to earn a spot on the roster
Speaker 1: or practice squad. Now time for my second guest in
Speaker 1: approximately three weeks. On Saturday, July twentieth, the Megacorp Pavilion
Speaker 1: in Newport, Kentucky will host the first ever Jungle Jam.
Speaker 1: It's a festival for Bengals fans featuring current and former
Speaker 1: players with autograph and picture opportunities, a kids area, Bengals merchandise,
Speaker 1: food and drink, and much more, and all of the
Speaker 1: proceeds go to charity. Well known fan Bengal Jim Foster
Speaker 1: is one of the lead organizers and I talked to
Speaker 1: him about the extravaganza this week. All right, Jim, let's
Speaker 1: start with the basics. For folks who aren't familiar with it.
Speaker 1: What is Jungle Jam?
Speaker 5: I guess the best way to describe it, Dan, just
Speaker 5: call it a three ring Bengals Circus July twentieth at
Speaker 5: Pavilion right there in Newport.
Speaker 4: That is the easiest, ready to describe it.
Speaker 5: We're going to have twenty five different venders, a live band,
Speaker 5: a DJ.
Speaker 4: Charity, cornhold tournaments.
Speaker 5: We've got an auction items, We've got Donatos, Skyline barbecue,
Speaker 5: ice cream trucks, we've got door prizes, we've got kid
Speaker 5: zoned d and we got tons of inflatables and games for
Speaker 5: the kids. This is going to be an awesome family
Speaker 5: friendly events to kick off the season this year.
Speaker 4: So we're really excited about it.
Speaker 1: It's an extension of Jungle to the Hall. Correct, This
Speaker 1: is what it's evolved.
Speaker 4: To, Yes, sir.
Speaker 5: We started to Jungle to the Hall of Fame really
Speaker 5: back in twenty twenty one when we took hundreds of
Speaker 5: Bengal fans up to the up to Kanton, Ohio. We
Speaker 5: rented event Tense right next to the front door, and
Speaker 5: hundreds of Bengal fans showed up. Willi Anderson showed up.
Speaker 5: We celebrated our Bengal legends that should be in the
Speaker 5: Hall of Fame, and we got national attention around that.
Speaker 5: I mean, there was national media picking that up. Why
Speaker 5: is at that time only one Bengals legend in the
Speaker 5: Hall of Fame. Since then, you know, kN Riley the
Speaker 5: Second is in. I'm sorry Ken Riley got in. His son,
Speaker 5: kN Ry the Second was the big part of that.
Speaker 5: But you know, we know the fans played played a
Speaker 5: role in that. We know, Jeff Hopson the Bengals really
Speaker 5: worked their butts off, but we know the fans played
Speaker 5: a little role in helping getting kN Ken Riley into
Speaker 5: the Hall of Fame. Now the push is, you know,
Speaker 5: the next two in line or Ken Anderson, which we
Speaker 5: feel in a senior committee, will get in this year
Speaker 5: and we think Willi Anderson gets in next year as well.
Speaker 5: So during this event on July twentieth, Jungle Cham we're
Speaker 5: not forgetting where this started from. So there will be
Speaker 5: two programs that day. The one program will be Jungle
Speaker 5: to the Hall.
Speaker 4: Four.
Speaker 5: We're gonna have you kN Ridley the Seconds flying in.
Speaker 5: We got Anthony Muno is going to be in attendance.
Speaker 5: We've got Max Montoya, Corey Dillon had had committed as well.
Speaker 5: These are all guys that we're still fighting for. Uh
Speaker 5: and obviously Ken Anderson is going to be Danny attendance
Speaker 5: as well. So these are all guys we're fighting for,
Speaker 5: and that'll be one of the programs that day as well.
Speaker 1: Do you have I think you're being modest when you
Speaker 1: say that the fans played a small role in Ken
Speaker 1: Riley getting in. I think it was a significant role. Obviously,
Speaker 1: he's a Hall of Famer because he had sixty five
Speaker 1: interceptions and spent fifteen years being a great cornerback for
Speaker 1: the Cincinnati Bengals. But it definitely raised awareness nationally and that,
Speaker 1: in my opinion, contributed him to getting in.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I do believe that, Dan.
Speaker 5: I mean, the Bengal fans were just so just wore
Speaker 5: out with the lack of recognition and just complaining on
Speaker 5: social media, right, So you know, the Bengal fans joined forces,
Speaker 5: not just locally. What's amazing to me is there's so
Speaker 5: many fans in the Cincinnati Ara at the fan you
Speaker 5: get outside of Cincinnati, there's fans Bengal fans all over
Speaker 5: the country and internationally. It's an amazing fan base that
Speaker 5: follows this organization. So everybody contributed local, across the country
Speaker 5: and internationally. All those fans participated in a positive a
Speaker 5: positive way to help push Ken Ry the second.
Speaker 4: Into the Hall of Fame.
Speaker 5: We feel pretty confidently that Ken Anderson and Willy Anderson
Speaker 5: are soon to follow.
Speaker 1: Willie Anderson has been very vocal in how much he
Speaker 1: appreciates the support of you and Jamie and Tony and
Speaker 1: the various people that are part of your group. Is
Speaker 1: it gratifying to you when you see one of the
Speaker 1: greatest players in franchise history get up in front of
Speaker 1: an audience of Bengals fans and essentially say thank you
Speaker 1: for trying to make my case.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 5: One thing we learn unexpectedly Dan through this whole process
Speaker 5: is you get to know some of these guys at
Speaker 5: a different level, not just them, but their families as well.
Speaker 5: And he's like Ken Riley family we got really close to.
Speaker 5: I guess the one thing that kind of shocked us
Speaker 5: is that I don't know why, but these guys are
Speaker 5: no different than me and you Dan. They're average, every
Speaker 5: day people that just happen to have, you know, outstanding
Speaker 5: football abilities and performed at a very high level for
Speaker 5: a very long time. But these guys are are very appreciative.
Speaker 5: And I guess what I really like seeing and hear
Speaker 5: from these guys. It's like some of these guys thought
Speaker 5: they were forgotten. They thought they were forgotten by the
Speaker 5: Bengals fans, and uh. And that's that's a that's a
Speaker 5: mission that this fan base is on, is that we're
Speaker 5: never gonna let these guys be forgotten. Not just the
Speaker 5: guys that that we feel should be in the Hall
Speaker 5: of Fame like Ken Anderson and Ken Riley, Isaac Curtis,
Speaker 5: Corey Dillon.
Speaker 4: And these guys.
Speaker 5: But you know, we've got we've got over fifty players
Speaker 5: coming to this event on July twentieth, and we've got
Speaker 5: guys that, you know, like mL Harris bought the first
Speaker 5: touchdown in the Freezer Ball in nineteen eighty one.
Speaker 4: We've got Tom Dinkle.
Speaker 5: We've got maybe not big names, but these guys are
Speaker 5: coming in from all over the country for this event.
Speaker 5: Jeff Blake's flying in for this thing, So it is
Speaker 5: just it's really cool and these guys, these guys want
Speaker 5: to be appreciated.
Speaker 1: Man.
Speaker 5: The fan base here now has an opportunity to to
Speaker 5: make sure that we're remembering these guys celebrating off our
Speaker 5: legend throughout Bengals history. Every decade of Bengals football game
Speaker 5: will be represented at this event in July twentieth.
Speaker 4: That's that's what's really cool to see Bengel.
Speaker 1: Jim Foster is our guest. How much your tickets? How
Speaker 1: do people get them? And are they still available?
Speaker 5: Yes, sir, tickets are only twenty dollars. We're trying to
Speaker 5: make this affordable as we possibly can for families. We
Speaker 5: know things getting very expensive nowadays, but twenty dollars is
Speaker 5: all the ticket is. And in order to get those tickets,
Speaker 5: you can go to our social media platform, Bengal Gym
Speaker 5: and Friends, whatever platform you're on, or if you wanted
Speaker 5: to go to Maga Court Pavillion's website directly in they're
Speaker 5: on there this thing. As of this morning, it was
Speaker 5: about twenty two hundred tickets sold.
Speaker 4: This thing's going to sell out.
Speaker 5: It's going to max out and the key thing here, Dan,
Speaker 5: I want to mind everybody everything we do. We are
Speaker 5: a five zero one C three are Bengal, Jim and
Speaker 5: Friends organization, tailgates and everything else we do. We're going
Speaker 5: to be presenting some pretty big checks that day to
Speaker 5: five different specific charities. Joe Burrow Foundation, Jimmy and Robin
Speaker 5: Burrow will be there. We're presenting a very large check
Speaker 5: to them that day. Can enter some Alliance, Village Reach
Speaker 5: Steep which everybody knows about, Munyo's Foundation, small Town Big
Speaker 5: Dreams which is Courtell Volson's new Foundation, and Revive Family Foundation.
Speaker 4: We'll all be betting for it. Every everything that covers
Speaker 4: our beyond covering our cost for this.
Speaker 5: Event, we'll be able to show receipts to show that
Speaker 5: every penny beyond covering our cost will go to these
Speaker 5: different charities we just talked about. So we're real excited
Speaker 5: about the event. Can and just to bring families together.
Speaker 5: And there's gonna be a lot of young kids twelve
Speaker 5: and under here at the event, and there's so much
Speaker 5: stuff for everybody to be to partake in. And for
Speaker 5: clarity that that venue is an indoor outdoor venue. We've
Speaker 5: got large event tents outside cooling fans, food trucks, and vendors.
Speaker 5: Twenty five different vendors that are going to be there.
Speaker 5: But there's also a big, giant indoor area as well,
Speaker 5: so I think it's too hot out. You know, there's
Speaker 5: an indoor air conditioned area for everybody as well. But
Speaker 5: this is there's there's nothing like this ever been done. Dan,
Speaker 5: We're pretty excited about it. We got Coach Taylor going
Speaker 5: to be there as well. He's gonna give us kind
Speaker 5: of a two thousd a twenty four season preview, which
Speaker 5: I'm probably hoping you could facilitate for us that day.
Speaker 4: And narrate that.
Speaker 1: I'm excited as well. I think it's going to be awesome.
Speaker 1: Do you anticipate that this could be the start of
Speaker 1: an annual event similar to what the Reds have done
Speaker 1: over the years with Reds Fest?
Speaker 5: Yeah, it's you know, we had no idea that, you know,
Speaker 5: as we dug into this and started planning this, and
Speaker 5: we got players coming out of the woodwork wanting to
Speaker 5: be part of this, and yeah, I think it is
Speaker 5: and uh, you know, we're gonna have whod the mascot
Speaker 5: Bengal cheerleaders there as well. But this, again, this is
Speaker 5: not an organization sanction event.
Speaker 4: I just want to be clear.
Speaker 5: This is a group of fans doing this and out
Speaker 5: of just a love for the city and love for
Speaker 5: this organization. So I think it's something awesome that, if
Speaker 5: you know, we would continue to do. It's that important
Speaker 5: to this fan base and the city and this organization.
Speaker 4: But yeah, I mean I see this kind of getting
Speaker 4: at that level. Dan, at the end of the day, Yes.
Speaker 1: How have you develop so many great relationships with former
Speaker 1: players throughout Bengals history.
Speaker 4: Dan, I don't know if I could put a finger
Speaker 4: on it.
Speaker 5: I can just tell you over the years, this will
Speaker 5: be our thirty second year for tailgating at Bengals games.
Speaker 5: You know the you know Old Riverfront Stadium, Syentergy Field,
Speaker 5: and even Paul Brown Stadium and Patee Fork Stadium over
Speaker 5: the years. You just start, I don't know what it is.
Speaker 5: You run into them. You know, Pete Johnson will be
Speaker 5: there at this event. Pete Johnson used to come down
Speaker 5: on our tailgates all the time back in the day.
Speaker 5: You start running into these guys and you start talking
Speaker 5: to them, they introduce you over a long period of
Speaker 5: time and these relationships have been built. That's what I
Speaker 5: love about it, just to be able to see fifty
Speaker 5: plus players from every era of Bengals football. We're talking,
Speaker 5: you know, Evan McPherson, T J. Huschman, Sada, Picky Woods,
Speaker 5: Chase Brown, Jim James Brooks all on the stage. I'm
Speaker 5: hoping we get them all there at one time, Dan
Speaker 5: to take a picture, because I don't think that's ever
Speaker 5: been done, a picture of all these guys on stage
Speaker 5: at the same time.
Speaker 4: It's just really cool to think about Bengal.
Speaker 1: Jim Foster is our guest. One of the ways that
Speaker 1: you've tried to help potential Bengals Hall of Famers make
Speaker 1: their case to the committee is by having other Hall
Speaker 1: of Fame players from other teams record video messages making
Speaker 1: the case for these great form of Bengals like Willie Anderson,
Speaker 1: like Ken Anderson. How have you been able to get those.
Speaker 4: Who that is?
Speaker 5: You know, it's interesting, like for example, you know a
Speaker 5: lot of these players are very humble. I mean Ken Riley,
Speaker 5: Willie Anderson, Ken Anderson, these guys grew up in an
Speaker 5: era where they just lighted and worked their butts off
Speaker 5: and played so hard and they weren't look at me
Speaker 5: type people, right.
Speaker 4: And and some of those guys that you know, we're
Speaker 4: kind of look at me guys got in that.
Speaker 5: I'm not saying they weren't deserving, but I think over time,
Speaker 5: you just start reaching out to different people, like, for example,
Speaker 5: Michael Strahan. It took me months and months and months
Speaker 5: to get a hold of Michael Strahan. I knew, I
Speaker 5: knew what he felt about Willy Anderson. I wanted him
Speaker 5: to put that in a video for us, and just
Speaker 5: connecting through different avenues and in different ways to get
Speaker 5: a hold of him. And sure enough, after probably three
Speaker 5: and a half four months, he did a video and
Speaker 5: that was very very powerful about Willy Anderson and why
Speaker 5: he should be in the Hall of Fame. There was
Speaker 5: multiple videos that we were able to get a hold
Speaker 5: of for Ken Anderson. I'm sorry, Ken Riley, Uh, We've
Speaker 5: got Dan Dan Fouts on video talking about Ken Anderson.
Speaker 5: It's it's important, Dan, because it's not It's one thing
Speaker 5: if if one of your teammates are talking about you,
Speaker 5: but it's a whole other thing when you got a
Speaker 5: peer from another team that is in the Hall of
Speaker 5: Fame talking about you.
Speaker 4: We had Mel Blunt video about Ken Riley. I mean,
Speaker 4: these are powerful.
Speaker 5: I mean, we we have some we we've even built
Speaker 5: some relationships with a lot of these voters, the senior.
Speaker 4: Voters, Dan, and and they tell you, We'll tell you, hey,
Speaker 4: they know all the stats. They see them.
Speaker 5: There's no there's nothing more you can put in writing
Speaker 5: that that they haven't seen. But when you start getting
Speaker 5: current Hall of famers talk about these guys passionately, that's
Speaker 5: a whole other level. And these Hall of Fame voters
Speaker 5: they listen and see this stuff. So we have some
Speaker 5: pretty good relationship with some of these Hall of Fame
Speaker 5: voters as well.
Speaker 1: Willie Anderson was a finalist this year for the third
Speaker 1: year in a row. Unfortunately he did not get in,
Speaker 1: but no offensive lineman was chosen this year, leading me
Speaker 1: to believe that next year really could be the year.
Speaker 1: I find it hard to believe that they would go
Speaker 1: back to back years without selecting at least one offensive lineman.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 5: Dan, So if you remember, a couple of years ago,
Speaker 5: he made it to the top fifteen, didn't make it
Speaker 5: in the top ten.
Speaker 4: This past year, he made it to the top ten.
Speaker 5: We feel we think according to the people we talked to,
Speaker 5: he made it to the top seven or eight, so
Speaker 5: the top five went in. That's why we say pretty
Speaker 5: confidently and pretty directly that we feel that Willie Anderson
Speaker 5: is happening.
Speaker 4: It's going to happen next year.
Speaker 5: If you finished seven or eight, have a top ten
Speaker 5: and they takes the top five, it's logic in the
Speaker 5: next five should be getting in and that those voters
Speaker 5: haven't changed a whole lot. So I Wially Anderson and
Speaker 5: Kenny Anderson have momentum right now, and I do truly
Speaker 5: believe both these guys get in next next round.
Speaker 1: More with Bengal Gym in a moment, But first a
Speaker 1: quick reminder. The Bengals Booth podcast is brought to you
Speaker 1: by pay Core, proud to be the Bengals official HR
Speaker 1: software provider, by Alta Fiber future proof fiber Internet designed
Speaker 1: to elevate your home, business and community to a new level,
Speaker 1: and by Kettering Health the best care for the best fans.
Speaker 1: Kettering Health is the official healthcare provider.
Speaker 2: Of the Bengals.
Speaker 1: So you got the Jungle Jam coming up on July
Speaker 1: twentieth in Newport, The Three Ring circus, as you referred
Speaker 1: to it earlier. How about the tailgate? What's in store
Speaker 1: for some of the road trips this year.
Speaker 4: It's so funny.
Speaker 5: We're so consumed right now with families and our jobs
Speaker 5: in this jungle jam event that we're putting on.
Speaker 4: We got a group of us that are working really
Speaker 4: hard on this.
Speaker 5: But the tailgate, we just secured some parking lots in
Speaker 5: other cities. We expect a massive turnout of Bengal fans
Speaker 5: in Charlotte, so we just rented a massive, a giant
Speaker 5: parking lots not too far from the stadium in Charlotte,
Speaker 5: so we will have a really big tailgate there.
Speaker 4: We've got Nashville tailgates un locked up again. We rented
Speaker 4: out an entire lot for the Nashville game. We have
Speaker 4: some things we're closing out right.
Speaker 5: Now in the Kansas City game, which is the second
Speaker 5: game of the year, and we're working on some other
Speaker 5: away games as well. But all the home games are
Speaker 5: pretty much lined up with some of the stuff that
Speaker 5: we're doing.
Speaker 4: The away games we expect.
Speaker 5: We expect some really really big crowds again in Nashville
Speaker 5: and in Charlotte. Man, and that's Dan it's that's even
Speaker 5: that's even more fun in home games when you go
Speaker 5: on the road and you've got twenty to thirty thousand
Speaker 5: Bengal fans there and you fill up entire parking lots
Speaker 5: and Bengal fans coming together, and it's a lot of
Speaker 5: fans that don't get a chance to come to Cincinnati sometimes,
Speaker 5: so it's just something very cool for them to be
Speaker 5: able to spend time and hang with other Bengal fans
Speaker 5: when when when we're out of town doing it.
Speaker 4: It's awesome to do.
Speaker 1: I have the greatest job of the world. There is
Speaker 1: nothing I would rather do for a living. But there's
Speaker 1: only one small regret I have, and that is I
Speaker 1: can't tailgate because I'm heading to the booth early. I'm
Speaker 1: getting into game preparation mode. I can never hang out
Speaker 1: with you guys prior to kickoff. Stay at one day,
Speaker 1: you just got to call in sick. You're just going
Speaker 1: to go and leave.
Speaker 4: Hey, come down and hang with at paper Stadium for
Speaker 4: the game. It's it's really fun.
Speaker 5: And it's just when you see a family friendly atmosphere
Speaker 5: to tailgate, when you've got young kids there and families,
Speaker 5: we tail get right next to the park here in
Speaker 5: Cincinnati and Smail Park and we rent out half the park.
Speaker 5: You got families graving and picnic tables, and you got
Speaker 5: food trucks and vendor setting up. Now it is a
Speaker 5: carnival streets. I don't know, a block party at the
Speaker 5: end of the day, and it's it's not just a
Speaker 5: bunch of guys around drinking beers around a grill.
Speaker 4: It is we got live entertainment. We've got all kinds
Speaker 4: of things going on during the tailgate.
Speaker 5: It it's so fun to bringing people together, Bengal fans
Speaker 5: from all over the country, all over the world together
Speaker 5: out of all ages.
Speaker 4: It's unbelievable.
Speaker 5: And we literally have people come in and tailgate with
Speaker 5: us from Canada, Spain, England, Mexico, Germany, Australia. We have
Speaker 5: a giant map at our tailgate at court Board Mat.
Speaker 5: When fans come in from out of town, they take
Speaker 5: a pen and put it in put it in the
Speaker 5: area of the city or country that they're coming in
Speaker 5: town from. And since twenty eighteen is when we started
Speaker 5: at but we have all fifty states represented, hundreds of
Speaker 5: cities and twenty nine different countries are represented on that map.
Speaker 5: Man and it's these folks that come in from out
Speaker 5: of the country. They don't just stay for the weekend.
Speaker 5: They basically they post up here for a week, week
Speaker 5: or two and spend time here.
Speaker 4: And they love this city and they love this organization.
Speaker 4: It's so fun to see.
Speaker 1: So you posted a picture on social media recently of
Speaker 1: the latest spot in your home that has been decorated
Speaker 1: with Bengals memorabilia. You've got this gigantic wall of bobbleheads. Naturally,
Speaker 1: I zoomed in to see the Lapham Horde bobblehead, so
Speaker 1: thank you for including us in your collection. But I'm
Speaker 1: also I'm thrilled to see that you have a bobblehead.
Speaker 1: These days, people can get a gym bobblehead.
Speaker 4: Yeah, very interesting.
Speaker 5: Folco who does a lot of those bobbleheads, even for
Speaker 5: Sincey Bob's, you know Josh and Hollis, those guys that
Speaker 5: do Sinci Bob's. They reached out to me, it was
Speaker 5: probably early in the football season, saying, hey, would you
Speaker 5: be interested in doing a bobblehead of you here?
Speaker 4: I am like, I'm not a face painter, I'm not
Speaker 4: so big. I have a stupid bucket.
Speaker 5: Hat, right but they really wanted to focus the theme
Speaker 5: of like the tailgating, is that what they want to do.
Speaker 5: They've never done a fan bobblehead before, and I'm still
Speaker 5: kind of taken aback by them wanting to do that.
Speaker 4: Yeah, there was.
Speaker 5: They did a series, a limited series pre order of
Speaker 5: two hundred and forty four Bengal Gym bobbleheads and all
Speaker 5: of them were sold. All of them are gone, and
Speaker 5: the ship date that was I think it was in
Speaker 5: December January when they did the border, when they did
Speaker 5: the orders, and they actually just shipped them this past week.
Speaker 5: So I'm getting a lot of text messages for my
Speaker 5: buddies kind of making fun of me. They got the
Speaker 5: bibble head up, you know, doing quick little interviews with
Speaker 5: the Bengal Jim bobblehead and asking silly questions and hitting
Speaker 5: the head answering yes type thing.
Speaker 4: But it's it's really been fun. And I think at
Speaker 4: the end of the day, we still.
Speaker 5: Got to do the math and do the accounting on
Speaker 5: that piece of it, because BOTHO just kind of reimbursed
Speaker 5: because they were given a ten percent of every bobblehead
Speaker 5: to us, which were then turn around and given at
Speaker 5: Ken Anderson Alliance.
Speaker 4: So something fun to do, but it's something that we.
Speaker 5: Always tied to some local charity and obviously kN Anders
Speaker 5: Alliance is very important to me. I have four Dan,
Speaker 5: my twenty seven year olds on the autism spectrum. He
Speaker 5: drives back and forth to work, but you know he
Speaker 5: has some challenges independent living. You know, autistic adults focus
Speaker 5: on independent living. The Village of Maurici and Kin Anderson Alliance,
Speaker 5: that's what they focus on. And that's that's our entire
Speaker 5: group has certain charities that are near and near to them,
Speaker 5: and that Ken Anderson Alliance and Village of Maurici or
Speaker 5: something that's a very important to myself and my family.
Speaker 1: How much money did your group give away last year?
Speaker 5: Our group and the guys, I my name's on the
Speaker 5: silly tailgate and the social media stuff.
Speaker 4: I'm not a marketing guy. My buddies that are with me,
Speaker 4: my friends made this beangal Gem and Friends tailgate. I'm
Speaker 4: not I would have never done that.
Speaker 5: But they wanted to brand it, and they were smarter
Speaker 5: than I was because I didn't want to do it
Speaker 5: this way, but we got my good friends Tony, Tony
Speaker 5: the Tiger, James James Copla, Craig Johnson, Dell Hall, Mark Smith.
Speaker 5: These guys worked their butts off making this happen. But
Speaker 5: we as a group, through this tailgate in our social
Speaker 5: media platform, DAM last year raised one hundred and sixty
Speaker 5: two thousand dollars.
Speaker 4: For thirty two or thirty three different local charities. Year
Speaker 4: before that it was one hundred and twenty something, year
Speaker 4: before that it was seventy five something. And now that
Speaker 4: we're five on ones see three, we have companies approaching
Speaker 4: us saying, hey, how do we get involved.
Speaker 5: In matching some of these charity matches? You know, like
Speaker 5: every tailgate we have a charity come down. Also raffles
Speaker 5: will give away a helmet or whatever it is. We'll
Speaker 5: raise whatever three or four grand a game. So there's
Speaker 5: companies now that want to get involved and say, hey, Jim,
Speaker 5: we want to be part of this and we want
Speaker 5: to match up to a certain dollar amount every tailgate
Speaker 5: for whatever charity's down there. So this thing is taken
Speaker 5: on a life of its own, Dan, And when you
Speaker 5: can use something like these platforms, the tailgate platform and
Speaker 5: our social media, it's so much bigger than us, Dan,
Speaker 5: and it really it really puts a smile on my face.
Speaker 5: To see all this money and all the hard work
Speaker 5: that our group has done to really benefit a lot
Speaker 5: of these charities.
Speaker 4: It is really heartwarming.
Speaker 1: Your dad took you to a game at Riverfront, and
Speaker 1: look at what this has become.
Speaker 5: That preseason game in nineteen eighty three, when I was like,
Speaker 5: I don't know, thirteen, fourteen years old against the Jets.
Speaker 5: It was I think a Monday night game, Sunday Monday
Speaker 5: night game. I barely remember what happened on the field
Speaker 5: that night, damn, but I just remember being mesmerized. I've
Speaker 5: sat at the very top of the stadium, almost under
Speaker 5: the old scoreboard and just seeing the fans reaction to
Speaker 5: rule the crowd, people with their face painted. I was hooked.
Speaker 5: I was hooked in nineteen eighty one. But man, that
Speaker 5: was my first preseason game and it's it's been fun.
Speaker 1: Man.
Speaker 5: I just blad my dad was able to take me
Speaker 5: to that game, because I'll never forget that.
Speaker 1: All Right, we can't wait for July twentieth Jungle Jam
Speaker 1: in Newport. It's going to be incredible. As you mentioned,
Speaker 1: more than two thousand tickets have already been sold. What's
Speaker 1: the capacity? How many can you can you have for this.
Speaker 5: We actually have a meeting Friday with the venue. We
Speaker 5: are trying to free up some more square footage. So
Speaker 5: right now it looks like we're happening. It's at twenty
Speaker 5: five hundred, so we got about twenty two hundred sold already,
Speaker 5: so there's things close to selling out. And usually people
Speaker 5: wait that I last a week or two to my tickets,
Speaker 5: So there's gonna see some people that are gonna be
Speaker 5: on the outside.
Speaker 4: Looking at if they don't get the tickets soon.
Speaker 5: And what's really cool, dan is one of our title
Speaker 5: sponsors is a Newport on the Levee which is only
Speaker 5: like a block away, So there's gonna be an after
Speaker 5: party after this events over which twelve to six afterwards.
Speaker 4: A big group of people that.
Speaker 5: Are entertainnis will be heading over to the Levee, have
Speaker 5: some dinners and some drinks and there's all kinds of
Speaker 5: fun activities going over Newport on the Levee right after
Speaker 5: our events over with.
Speaker 4: So I can't wait to see everybody.
Speaker 5: They entered some surprises I wish I could share with
Speaker 5: everybody right now on your pod, but just trust me,
Speaker 5: there are some some surprises that we cannot. We've been
Speaker 5: asked not to announce, So it's gonna be. It's gonna
Speaker 5: be a blast. It's gonna be a really fun day.
Speaker 5: And it doesn't matter how hot it is.
Speaker 4: We're gonna have cooling fans and shade and we can
Speaker 4: go inside if it gets too hot. We've got we've
Speaker 4: got a great venue and it's gonna be a lot
Speaker 4: of fun.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be tremendous. Thank you and your friends for
Speaker 1: organized it and for all you do for prospective Bengals
Speaker 1: Hall of famers and for Bengals fans. You're the best.
Speaker 4: Thanks, Jim, appreciate you. Dan he Day Buddy.
Speaker 1: Jim mentioned that there are some surprises that he can't
Speaker 1: share publicly. Well, he shared one privately with me and
Speaker 1: all I can say is that it's legitimate.
Speaker 2: Wow.
Speaker 1: If you live close enough to attend and don't have
Speaker 1: a ticket yet, you should get one before it's too late.
Speaker 1: You can find them on the Bengal Gym and friends
Speaker 1: social media platforms. That's going to do it for this
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Speaker 1: find us. I'm Dan Horde and thanks for listening to
Speaker 1: the Bengals Booth podcast.