This six point forty in the Queens City of Cincinnati, Chick laud wigon seven hundred WLW. This is sports Talk. Russ Jackson is tonight's producer. Like Eric Carmon and the Raspberries were going all the way to eight o'clock, that's when NFL takes over these airwaves. It's wild Card weekend. The Rams and Panthers are tied at seventeen right now, and tonight you'll be able to listen to the pack
at the Bears. And in a game you just heard on seven hundred WLW, the Xavier Musketeers captured their first home Big East victory with a ninety seven to eighty four win over Providence at Sentas Center. And in a football game you watched last night on ESPN, the Indiana Hoosiers earned a berth in the College Football Playoff National Championship Game, which will take place on Monday night, by destroying the Oregon Ducks in the semifinal at the Chick
fil A Peach Bowl in Atlanta. And here to talk to us about it, I'm all excited to bring in our first guest. He comes right over from the control room here at seven hundred WLW. It's an honor, pleasure and privilege to welcome in shoeless Joe Waddell of Saintax High School, Indiana University School of Journalism grad. Joe, we we're texting last night. It was about five o'clock. You said, can seven thirty get here fast enough?
Man?
You gotta be pumped. Honor, pleasure and privileged.
Check.
Come on, you're being too kind to.
Me, all right?
Man? Yeah?
I mean I told people that obviously knew that this game was a big deal, because I know we've talked about on these very airwaves before. I've seen some bad football in my life, some very very very bad football between going to the Indiana games obviously pre Signetti as a student and you know some of the Bengals years. I need something to roof for. And all of a sudden, you know, twenty twenty three November comes around, Tom Allen's out,
kurtz Signetti's in. And have you ever seen any not just any college program, any sports team get turned around this quickly into this extent as the Indiana Hoosiers have.
No This is uh, it really is unbelievable. He brought in a lot of players from James Madison yep. And he's about production and not you know, projecting guys. I mean he wants football players. He's got them. He's got ah. He's got an older roster. I think they average about twenty three years old or more. And he's just blended the veterans with newcomers. And man, there's a ton of guys in the in the portal that are headed to Indiana University. I guess it's just unreal. This is the uh.
They're the most exciting team. And we talked about this Joe, the most complete team, and I'm calling them the sexiest team because everybody in America is in love with them. They are now.
It took a while for him to wake up, but they're here now, and I love seeing all the attention they're getting. Obviously a lot of the national media markets. They didn't really start believing until we beat Ohio State this year in the Big Ten Championship.
And speaking of that game, I was thinking and hit a family red because we're all Buckeye fans at the Ludwig Household. Understandable, Ohio State loses to Indiana and the Big Ten Championship thirteen to ten. So with Indiana blowing teams out. It's like, gosh, the buck guys did great holding them to thirteen points. But doesn't it just speak to Indiana's awesomeness that they can run you out of the gym with fifty fifty six points and then beat
you in a tight, close, low scoring game. That's what they do.
That's what they've done, you know, ever since other than the two losses they have the first year of Signetti when I think they just got out talented.
That's what they do.
They force you to play their game, and with their game is control the football, dominate you on both sides. And like their ceder Pat Cougan, the Notre Dame transfer said, hold you under the water to the bubble, stop coming up.
Oh, that's what they do. They'll hold you under. They just suffocate you.
And even if it's like you said, Ohio State thirteen to ten, they Ohio State made mistakes. Indiana didn't. That's why they won. They don't make mistakes. They will never beat themselves and that's why they're so successful.
And they just take the will out of the other team. It seems like they did mentally, emotionally, and physically. They're they're they're dominating here and uh gosh, you probably can't wait till Monday night. Oh gosh, yeah, no, no, no, it's going to be the longest week waiting for uh yeah, the Miami Hurricanes and you're playing in my Miami Gardens, home of the Dolphins, and it's just going to be absolutely insane down there.
That's I'm seeing a lot of conversation about is this going to be a home game for the Miami Hurricanes, And I guess in a sense it is, But.
Indiana fans travel pretty well. Yeah, yeah, so we saw that in Atlanta, Man.
Atlanta, I think that's going to be a different story obviously in Miami because they've got to, you know, turn around, take ten steps through their backyard and they're already at the stadium. But at the same time, largest living alumni base in the country. We got eight hundred, nine hundred thousand living alumni. And you don't think there's some of the sitting down there in Miami, Florida waiting for the opportunity to go see their Hoosiers in a playoff game.
I think there might be. That's huge. And even though I'm an Ohio State guy, I'm a big ten guy. And if Indiana can win this game, Joe, think about this, Michigan, Ohio State, and Indiana, three Big Ten teams back to back to back winning national championships. How awesome is that?
Not just three Big Ten teams, three different Big Ten teams. It's been three different teams three years in a row. If Indiana can pull this off, and I think that it not only speaks to the depth and the power that at least the top of the Big I think the bottom of the Big Ten is pretty weak with you know, your Purdues and Gluckers and things like that. But the top of the Big Ten, I think is as competitive as the top of any conference can get.
You've got teams that obviously you know, Indiana didn't lose this year, but they lost or they won by five to against Iowa, took a last second score to beat Penn State, one by three against Ohio State, and then one by ten at Adson, And when we played Oregon earlier in the season, and then first round of the playoffs, you face the mighty Alabama and the vaunted SEC that
we hear is this intense gauntlet. That's the only reason the teams are losing two three, games in a season they don't even score a touchdown?
Could you wrap your head around the Rose Bowl? That setting arguably the greatest setting really in all of sports, and in Indiana, Hoosiers just dismantle the juggernaut known as the Alabama Crimson Tide.
It was about as good of an outcome as I could have expected, because not only was the game great, but I have seen so much. I'm active on Twitter x whatever you want to call it now, so I see a lot of the stuff directed at the program and at the players, at the coaches, at the fans, things like that. And of all the comments that I've seen from other people, like other fan bases and stuff, I think the downright nastiest and just most arrogant have
come from the Alabama Crimson Tide fan base. So to see their team not even put up a touchdown and mentally and physically quit in the middle of the game before it was even over, Ugh Chef's kiss, incredible, unbelievable.
How about last night the first play from scrimmage the Oregon Ducks picked six for the Indiana Hoosiers. You couldn't have asked for a better start.
No, the very first play of the game, and you already not only trusted your defense by deferring the ball by winning the toss, but you get seven out of it. And from that point on, I think it honestly set the tone that as talented as Oregon is, as good as a roster as they are, and I think they are, and I think they'll be back next year. They just ran into a better team. They ran into a freaking bus. Saws what happened, because that's how they're playing right now.
We saw Indiana score on really several short fields mistakes by the Oregon Ducks, but at the same time long drives. And what can you say about Fernando Mendoza. I mean, not only is a player, but really as a person, and the interview that he gave after the Rose Bowl, I'm there, Gosh, he could wind up in a TV booth one day. He's just so well spoken. And I just haven't seen a more impressive person and player this year.
That's the word a lot of media figures use after they get done talking to that kid, they say, he's so impressive. And it's not only obviously the play on the field you're seeing through two playoff games has got more touchdown passes than incompletions, which what like that's just absurd. Yeah, But the other side of it is of how well spoken he is. He knows exactly what he's going to say when he goes into an interview, and how genuine
of a person he is. Like when he says, you know, I want to give all glory to God and my teammates, he believes it, and it just it endears you to the kids so quickly because he is so true and kind, you can just see it through the screen. And then he's also an awesome football player and gives you know,
these viral, incredible postgame interviews. It's just it's been a while since we've seen a figure in college football and soon to be the NFL like that, and it's just it's something that the entire country can get behind.
I think his accuracy is just uncanny, it's fantastic, and he uses his legs at the right time to create first downs and that is so critical.
That's something that a lot of people, you know, when you talk about when you're analyzing quarterbacks and their skill sets, there's pocket passers and runners. You know, like a pocket passer would be your classic old school Peyton Manning, Tom Brady type, Dan Marino, the types that want to sit in the pocket and analyze the defense and get the ball out. Runners Lamar Jackson, who they force you to be true on both sides, where if you drop back and play deep zone, he's gonna run for twenty yards.
You throw a blitz, he's going to throw the ball downfield to receiver. And then there's the middle ground of players like Fernando Mendoza who can certainly sit in the pocket and dice up your defense and find has the accuracy to find any little gap and drive the ball in there. But if he needs to, he can take off and pick up He's not going to run for a seventy yard touchdown, but he can pick up extra
yards that other passers can't. And I think that's, honestly, that's one of the biggest reasons he's probably going to go first in the draft. Is that varied skill set along with the personality and the accuracy and things like that that you mentioned. Now, you got out of Indiana University, what year I was a twenty twenty four grad. Okay, so early on in your tenure there in Bloomington, you could have probably just walked into Memorial Stadium for five or ten bucks probably now now, oh it's on.
Us, I'm going to do it.
Yeah, if I know some people actually that Back in the old days, the same to stadium security was so bad because so few people went. They would just walk in with a group of people through the security lines without a ticket, still get in the stadium. That's how
sad the state of things was. You could just walk in sometimes and pick a seat in the student section, pick of the house because the student section would wouldn't fill up till five minutes before the game, and that's the only section that would be filled.
And really, when you think of Indiana, I mean I think of basketball. Okay, well, no doubt, you know, the legacy of Bob Knight, the national championships, the undefeated season, what in nineteen seventy six, unbelievable, But times were changing. I think Signetti is just the cat is magic. And I loved what he said after the game when the interviewer asked him about, you know, looking ahead to Miami, what are you thinking all that? All he was thinking about was popping open a ice cold beer.
That's one of the things I love about that guys. He takes everything one step at a time. You're never gonna catch him overlooking anybody or you know, thinking too far ahead into the future. He's always very focused on the present. I think that's what makes him such a special coach. And I don't use the word special lightly because I've seen a lot of really good ball coaches in my life. I don't think I've ever seen anyone like this guy who thinks the way he does, acts
the way he does. He gets a lot of comparisons to his you know, former boss Nick Saban. It's a different beast than Nick Saban. Obviously, Nick Saban, I think is one of one. He's probably the best college coach ever. I think you could argue, and I personally would argue that, but it's the way he carries himself and the Nick Saban was a little more reserved.
Kurtzignett.
He's got an unabashed confidence about him, and at times, you could say even in arrogance and a swagger that he knows as soon as he steps on the field, he's got this mentality of we're gonna beat you by thirty and you're gonna be terrified to see us. You're gonna see us in your nightmares. The eyebrow, the eyebrow real. Yeah, he cocks that eyebrow up and that's.
Right, all business and then he can like some lightheartedness too. After victory, Yes, f te tramples you. And uh yeah, now looking ahead to Monday night, Uh, it's gonna be crazy down at uh you know in Miami Gardens, at that stadium. Miami is very, very talented. I told everybody to take the points nine and a half against Ohio State, Are you kidding me? Uh, their defensive line is just
it wrecks teams. So those defensive ends are phenomenal and uh Ruben Bain Junior is tough and uh a keem mesidor you know they're they're rightning quick and both both lines are you know, the trenches is just gonna be fun to watch.
Miami's defensive line, I think is the not only the strength of their team, but I think it's the key to why their defense succeeds. Because not only are like you said, they're lightning quick, they're big dudes. They can move some bodies. Their edge rushers can bend like crazy, and they've got a young secondary that even though they are young, they're athletic, they can make some plays. I
know they're a little beat up there. They have a guy I forget which one it is that I believe is going to miss the first half of the game.
Do a targeting penalties.
Yes, so they may be a little beat up there,
but they have the talent to compete with anybody. I think the reason we're seeing their playoff success right now is a shift in philosophy on offense though, even though the defense is the strength of the team, they are sort of shifting to a similar model that Indiana does, which is why I think it could be a good game where they want to be as balanced as possible now and at times more so lean on the run game to just keep the ball away from their opponent.
Yeah, Carson Beck a season veteran at quarterback. He can also run and nothing rattles him. So, hey, we've reached we've reached the top of the hour break and shoeless. Joe Waddell's with us, and Joe, thank you so much for coming in and all the best to the Indiana Hoosiers.
Absolutely, I think we're going to see a great game, and obviously I'm gracious and thankful for the opportunity to come in here and talk to you about It's a great.
Time, fantastic Joe. And when we return, this is the anniversary of the Freezer Bowl January tenth, nineteen eighty two. We're going to hook up with Reggie Williams, Bengals legendary linebacker when we return, and we're going to talk about fifty nine degrees below zero wind chill. This is the chickster chick Ludwig Sports Talk seven hundred WLW or a holiday and I forget, but yeah, it was tough getting to the park and to come out Reggie with the
offensive linemen with their shirt sleeves cut off. Wow, what kind of intimidating effect did that have on the San Diego Chargers.
Well, it definitely had a intimidating effect on the San Diego Chargers. But you know what have gotten lost over is it wasn't just the offensive line that went out with their armed Both Ross Browner and myself and the defense did, and so you know, there were on both.
Sides of the ball.
We had a committed mindset that we were going to deal with the harshest circumstances ever known, and we were going to play for Forrest greg who had played in the previous coldest game in NFL history, and so it was that kind of game. There was no pregame warm ups. I went out in a T shirt before the game to look in the stadium.
It was totally empty, and you could see.
The cold coming out off the field, just like on a hot day when you see the radiating rays emanating off of the surface. It was so cold and it was all It was so eerie, and I went back into the locker room and basically made the statement that I was going to play that game bear armed. And the offensive line, to a person, did that and intimidated the San Diego charges.
But remember we on the.
Defense on the kickoff team, we started the game with a turnover. Rick Rizzano came down the field, hit James Brooks, Gimbrooks and forced a fumble. And so defense on that day is, in my opinion, is the reason that the Cincinnati Bengals went to the first Super Bowl.
What's incredible, Reggie is you know we hear Dan Fouts over the years, you know, complain about the weather that day in Cincinnati, But guess what, back on November eighth of that year, the Cincinnati Bengals were in San Diego and they took down the San Diego Chargers forty to seventeen, spearheaded by the one hundred and one hundred and two or one hundred and three yard pick six by the great Lou Breeden in a forty to seventeen Bengals victory
in the sunshine. So they had nothing to complain about those San Diego Chargers.
That was such a big play.
I mean, their whole home crowd just had the gold quiet and it was just so amazing that Lewis jumped in front of that ball and he was not going to be caught. And so I just read today that he's about to be inducted into his Alma Maters Hall of Fame, And that's such a credit to the great talent that Lewis Breeden brought to the Cincinnati Bengals for ten years.
When he caught the ball in the end zone and started coming out this about the five yard line or whatever. Former Bengal Charlie Joyner, a Pro Football Hall of Famer wearing number eighteen for the Chargers, got his hand on the back of this jersey near his neck. But then Wilson Whitley came over and absolutely destroyed Charlie Joyner, blocking him out of the play and Lewis was off to the races.
That was a great defensive play, you know, Rest in peace, Wilson Whitley. Yes, what a great nose tackle he was for us. He was a great player coming out of Houston. He Eddie Edwards and Ross Browner formed such a formidable three man front. We had so much success with that defense with Gary Burley when they went to a four man front. So there's no doubt that, you know, we have a lot to remember, but we also have to
recognize that time has really passed. One of the great players in that game was Dan Ross.
Yes, and he is no longer with it, but he.
Was catching balls in the cold bear hand as Ken Anderson was throwing the ball bare hand. So there was definitely an enormous capacity for toughness that Cincinnati Bengal team that day.
And the only reason that I have, you know, sort of mixed the emotions is that the.
The Cincinnati Bengals did a documentary on the Freezer Ball to tell the story in their own words, and they asked me at the interview and I talked about the one play that I actually thought in my mind was the biggest play of the game and one of the biggest plays in my career, which is in the third quarter on San Diego's first drive.
After being warm in the locker.
Room, they drove on the field and I made a call with Ross Browner and we were able to I was able to hit Chuck Muncy right in the face, the hardest hit of my career in minus fifty nine degreen low zero and bear arm forced to fumble with Ross Browner recovered and it was over.
To San Diego.
So since it wasn't even talked about it much less shown in the documentary that the Bengals themselves made, I found it very hard to remember and celebrate today.
Rich Reggie Williams, Bengals legend, played his entire career with the Bengals from nineteen seventy six to nineteen eighty nine. Third round draft pick nineteen seventy six, eighty second overall out of Dodmouth. Yes, and Reggie that season incredible, a five and three start. How about the opener with Turk Schoener coming off the bench and Yeah, coming back to beat Seattle in Game one of that season.
We were down twenty one points at halftime. Yes, no one expected us to win that game, but only us in the locker room. And that is one of the emstasis where the difference in victory was the head coach. It was him making a decision and telling his team why he was doing it at halftime to fire up the entire team and Turp sermon.
You know, God bless him. He has also left this earth.
A tremendous backup player with a great positive team attitude from Stanford. So time has gone on, and that's why it is great to remember, you know, one of the most impactful games in Cincinnati Bengal history.
Reggie Williams sixteen interceptions, twenty three fumble recoveries still a French record, and a sixty two and a half sacks and gosh, former Cincinnati City councilman and Reggie love reading your stuff on your Facebook page. Oh my goodness, letters from Nancy Reagan, meeting presidents and you even said you gotta love your enemies. And that's the photo with Joe Montana and Reggie Williams.
Yo.
Joe Montana was a great adversary. The fact that he was a college roommate and best friends with Ross Brownham made Super Bowl sixteen all that more significant. Both players played phenomenal games, even though our offense, as we both must remember, did not score a point.
In the first half.
So that was a That was the game that still ended with us being within unside kick of trying to.
Win that game.
Reggie, how often do you think of the Freezer Bowl and the Super Bowl sixteen against the forty nine ers every.
Time I start shivering, which is unusual here in Florida, but it doesn't happen.
And that's why I stay in Florida, you know.
But you know, I mean, it was mind over matter and it.
Was something that.
You know, drove teammates together forever, and so it's something that I appreciate, you know, remembering, you know, all those players that played that game and brought Cincinnati their very first.
Super Bowl should all be remembered in some way, shape or form.
Reggie Williams the NFL Man of the Year in nineteen eighty six before it was named the Walter Payton Man of the Year. But that trophy means the world to you, doesn't it, Reggie?
Yes, it does, so I have it in a prime location in my home, and you know, the very first day, and I just wrote this story on Facebook recently. On the very first day that I found out that Monday that I was going to make the Cincinnati Bengals team as a rookie, I went to the payphone, looked at the Yellow Pages and found the number for the Cincinnati Speech and Hearing Center and I volunteered on that very first.
Day, before I even tried to find an apartment.
And so I've been committed to trying to give back because as a kid, I went.
To Michigan School for the Deaf and Dusk and.
So committed to giving me everything that could, including a quality education to dart MC college be sure that I'd have the best opportunity. And so when I became a Cincinnati Bengal, I wanted to give back and it did result in a lot of recognition, and you know, I encourage every player to really commit themselves to the community that they play professional football at.
Reggie was a six foot one, two hundred and twenty eight pound linebacker. He is seventy one years old, the same as Chick Ludwig nineteen seventy six grand from the Ohio State University were the same age, Reggie and followed your career closely. It's just an incredible, incredible career. And I am banging the drum for the Bengals to put you in the Ring of Honor. And we can't forget the legends who built this franchise.
Well, I won't argue with that sentiment. You know, no one wants to be forgotten. You know said when you're playing the game fifty nine degrees below zero, you know, bear, are all of the nominees deserve induction in the Ring of Honor in the Cincinnati I mean, the Pittsburgh Fields have over fifty players in their Ring of Honor. There are so many deserving players that are dying now, you know, like Bob Trumpy unfortunately passed away, and Ken Rowley died
before this program even started. So, you know, Jim Breaches, our leading scorer, Lewis Breenen, who had just talked about you know who's scored the you know, longest interception in Bengals history, isn't even nominated. The guy that I learned playing middle linebacker and playing linebacker in the NFL, Jim Leclair, isn't nominated.
And so there's there's there.
Max Montoya, who liked myself, and Chris Convert played in two Super Bowls for the Bengals, are not nominated.
So no one wants to be bitter, you know at this you.
Know, time in their life when they're elderly and they're nursing their their injuries and maybe you know, dealing with a few concussions, and you'd like to be remembered proudly because you played with pride so long. So this process, you know, when people die before they can be honored, obviously has a problem.
Reggie, before I let you go, Uh, can the Bengals get their defense turned around and get back to the playoffs in one year next year?
It depends on what happens in the draft, and it depends on how many players, if any, hold out during the off season. I thought Henderson's hold out, even though I'm sure he you know, hopefully you know what satisfied.
The result, it uh, you know, affected the whole team. So, uh, there's a lot of factors to go on.
You know, you still the Cincinnati Pingals. You know, it's still the only team I ever played for, the only team I'll root for, the only team that deserves, in my opinion, to be Super Bowl champion. So hopefully next year will be the year and Joe Burrow will play even better than he did when he took the team to their first Super Bowl under his.
And Reggie, it's always awesome being with you and I thank you so much for joining us here on seven hundred WLW.
All right, Chick, I always love being on the big one WLW. Thanks Chick for all of your support of Cincinnati Bengal football.
Thank you so much. Reggie, all the best will be in touch. Thank you. And this is sports Talk. We're going all the way to eight o'clock. When we come back after the bottom of the hour. News. Got to get a few things off my chest. On seven hundred WLW, seven point thirty six in the Queen City of Cincinnati, Chick Ludwig, seven hundred WLW, this is sports Talk. We're going to the top of the hour and that's when
NFL takes over these airwaves. It's wild Card weekend. You will hear the Packers at the Bears, and right now here's a good one going on in Carolina. The Panthers have a thirty one to twenty seven lead over the Los Angeles Rams. At the two minute warning. The Rams are driving first and ten at their own forty six yard line, so can Matt Stafford needs a touchdown to beat the Panthers. But the Panthers are hanging tough here with a four point lead at the two minute warning.
And then you'll hear the Packers and Bears from Soldier Field afterward. Let's go out to the phones. Greg's been waiting a while. I want to get to my buddy Greg up in Michigan. Greg. Can we put Greg on there?
Hi?
Greg?
Hey, cappy, new year, mister positive boomshaka laca right back, Thank you, buddy. I love your energy. You know I love you. I gotta ask you. Do my Bills have.
A chance against the Jags or are they a little bit too strong in so many ways? And can Josh? I don't think Josh can do it all by himself. What do you think?
It's a It's a huge game, no doubt. And Sean McDermott's jobs the Bills head coach really could be on the line here. I'm rooting for the Bills if the if the Bengals can't win this Super Bowl, man, I'm rooting for the Buffalo Bills. I think it's their year to get back there against the to me, the Philadelphia Eagles, So I think they can do it. I really do your.
Lips to GUIDs Ears, I hope it's.
Yourself all right, right back at your Greg, all right. I honestly believe that Zach Taylor remains the head coach of the Cincinnati Bengals for two reasons. The first reason is the Redeemer Mike Brown. He has a lot of patients with head coaches and it stems from his dad, the immortal Paul Brown, getting fired by the Art Modell as head coach of the Cleveland Browns after the nineteen
sixty two season. It devastated Paul. He he went back to his bungalow in San Diego in La Jolla, California and started plotting a comeback that resulted in the birth of the Cincinnati Bengals. But Mike Brown has a, like I said, a tremendous amount of patience with his head coaches. Gives them a lot of rope, a lot of room. But it's been three years now, three consecutive years without
the playoffs. Following the bengals third bid to the Super Bowl, and I have to admit that if the Bengals get off to a slow start next year one, in three, two and five, that there will be a coaching change mid season. Now, a lot of people say Mike Brown doesn't like to make changes in season. It's happened three times.
Tiger Bill Johnson fired for Homer Rice Dave Shula let go after a loss to the San Francisco forty nine Ers out on the Coast, replaced by Bruce Coslet, and then Bruce Coslet resigned three games into the two thousand season when Dick LeBeau took over as head coach. So it has happened in season. It could happen again, and I think it will happen again if the Bengals get off to a slow start. Can the Bengals defense get turned around in one year? So many people say no,
they're a year, two, three away. It can get done in a year. Like Reggie Williams said, it all depends on the draft and free agency. In an ideal world, with Orlando Brown having one year remaining on his contract, is the left offensive tackle for the Bengals. I envision a second round tackle being drafted. Every other position needs to be defense in this year's draft. The defensive line
absolutely has to be reworked, rebuilt, and improved. You need a stronger push up the middle and definitely more rush from the edge. That will help tremendously because we all know that a pass rush is paramount. To help the secondary, they don't have to cover as long. Of course, the Los Angeles Rams score a touchdown with thirty eight seconds to go, and now they lead the Carolina Panthers thirty four to thirty one with thirty eight seconds to go.
Could they pull off? Can the Panthers pull off this miracle and tie the game with a field goal? Is coming down to the last few seconds here, but the Rams have a thirty four to thirty one lead with thirty eight seconds to go. Also, put your thumb and forefinger together, and that's how close the Cincinnati Reds were to signing Kyle Schwarber. I think it's a monumental mistake on the Reds part that they didn't land Kyle Schwarber.
In one of these days, I will forgive the Reds for not signing Schwarves, but it won't be anytime soon. The Middletown native's dream was to play for his hometown team. He gave the Reds first DIBs for his services as a free agent this year. And I'm telling you right now, from all the folks I've talked to in Middletown, you put your thumb and forefinger an inch apart, and that's how close they were. And then everything imploded as Cincinnati's
offer fell short. I'm getting messages that Schwarber used the Reds as leverage. No possible way, no way. Schwarbs was almost a Baltimore oriole Their bags were packed for Baltimore. But then the Philadelphia Philly stepped forward with a five year, one hundred and fifty million dollar deal, and Kyle Schwarber decided to stay in Philadelphia. To me, the Reds failed to see him as a worthy investment, the ideal cleanup hitter behind Elie de la Cruz, who would have packed
Great American Ballpark. He would have his salary, he would have paid for itself. And then suddenly the Reds offer five years at one hundred and twenty five million. All of a sudden, that money has disappeared, and a whole remains in the middle of the Reds batting order, and a whole remains in Red's fans' hearts, including mine. We're gonna take a break, and then we're gonna come back and take your calls Harold in Westchester, Jimmy and Richmond, Indiana.
When we return. This is Chick Ludwig Sports Talk seven hundred WLW, Los Angeles. Rams are ready to go into the victory formation. With a thirty four to thirty one victory over the Carolina Panthers. A Carolina wide receiver dropped a first down pass game over. Let's go out to the phones and welcome in Harold in Westchester, Hi.
Harold, Hey, hey Chick, Happy New Year. How you doing?
Right back at you, Harold, Thanks, man doing well?
Yeah.
I like while the break was going on, I was watching the fourth down on the on the Panthers and Rams and Ryce Young just had the receiver and Strade just couldn't even secure the catch and just turned his head just right before he even looked ahead for the ball or for the.
First or for the first time.
Yeah, and and yeah, that's got to be Harvar great moon. Now to go to what I was gonna call about, It's really not surprising that you see another season like this go away, especially after Joe got hurt with the turf toe, and I was I was real optimistic about Jake Browning because he did let that let that ninety yard game winning drive against Jacksonville. And then all of
a sudden things just start to fall apart. Almost every single game with Jake Brownie, you had turnovers after turnovers, and then finally after the line game, we just had enough. And then incomes Joe Flacco. He didn't have a good win, good game to start. Then eventually he got better, but then the defense just couldn't even finish. And yeah, and
then and then you got the Jets. Yeah, the Bengals had a double digit lead in the fourth quarter and you can even run three run plays to run down the clock because they ran three three straight pass plays. And what's crazy about this is the Bengals are the only team to lose it to Jets and.
Not have their head could fight.
Yeah, yeah, to have Justin Fields take the Bengals apart, that was that crush. And this was coming off the victory on Thursday night over the Pittsburgh Steelers. You're looking anew to the Jets and the Chicago Bears, and you had both games virtually won and given away an unbelievable comeback against the Bears, and to have Caleb Williams, you know, work his magic that final minute and not be able to tackle Colston Loveland at midfield and he takes it
to the house and absolute pleasure both those games. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I think Caleb Williams might paint his nails ice cold, because that's literally Oliet has been throughout this entire season and he's playing like a legitimate number one pick. And I was watching a little bit of the pregame of the Bears and Packers. Already there was a little tensions going on before the game, but the officials.
Gotten the way of that.
But the way I think what the Bengals should really do is that I think they really need to be a little bit more aggressive. They were in free agency like they were during the twenty twenty one offseason, getting Trey Henderson, Mike Hilton, Cheetah Bay Woozia and bring it and bringing Von Belt back and then you just got all this young talent, including the kicker Evan McPherson, who was so clutch and sensational even throughout the entire postseason.
Because I think.
What they really need to do is to go after a guy who is like Trey Henderson, like the type of player that he was, even though Henderson's gonna be gone and I wish in the best of luck, but I just really wish that they could be aggressive for free agency this offseason like they were in twenty twenty one, because the only person that angles got the Super Bowl.
Yes, and they had everybody the year of the Super Bowl. They had everybody in camp, uh pulling the same uh, pulling the same rope the same way.
Uh.
Get everybody in and but if there's contract disputes and guys holding out, you know, it just disrupts. Uh, it disrupts a team. So yeah, get everybody in for the OTAs and be pulling on the same the same side. And I think they can get it turned around in a year. I really do, because all the defense needs is to be half way decent because you've got an awesome, awesome offense.
Yeah, And what what the defense also needs to do is they need to be able to learn to wrap tackles and not just do a light tap and then just let the Bears tight end just waltz in for an easy touchdown, which should have been an easy tackle because you tackle him in bounds clock runs and the game is almost sober from there.
Yeah, that's what should have happened.
Wrap up, don't don't put a shoulder into somebody. They bounce right off of it. So you're right, Yeah, you're right, Harold.
Yeah.
And even if you replace Zach Taylor, who do you think you're going to get besides John Harbor Ryer, who's getting a number of calls yes after he was fired from Bolton.
Hey, the one guy, the one guy that I love on the Bengals coaching staff is Darren Simmons, the special teams coach. If John Harball, who was a special teams coach in Philly, if he can get elevated to a head coaching job, Darren Simmons, he is. He's an incredible person.
Yeah, and that would be the guy that I would hire as a angles head coach because of the way he elevates. I mean, look at how many special teams touchdowns we've had since he's been here.
All right, Uh, hey, appreciate it to Harold. We got to run, all right?
And uh.
Can we do Jimmy here in Uh? Okay, Jimmy and Richmond, Indiana.
Hi, Jimmy'll be quick here.
Can you hear me?
Can you hear me? Sure? Yeah, Jimmy, Uh, I love your show.
I'd love to.
See you sports talk.
You need to take care for sports talk.
Oh well, appreciate that.
Yes, yes you will, Yes you can. Uh.
I'm stay lane, Jimmy, I am staying in my lane.
We'll get in another light. Didn't be sports soft ahead of sports salt in my opinion, Well.
Thank you sir much.
We'll forget about pet. But Schwarmer, Yeah, they're missing the boat here. He's gonna bring in a lot of people. I haven't been I'm a farmer. I'm up in Indiana. I've been the game two years. If he was there, I would I know, it come down five or six times anyway.
He would have electrified. He would have electrified this fan based Jimmy and I was there. I was there in the Crosley Room at Riverfront Stadium the night Ken Griffy Junior signed in That place was packed, it was hot. Uh yeah, man, it was just unbelievable. And it and this would approach that had he signed here.
There's dollars, Yeah, there's dollars. I know we don't understand, but just on the outside looking in. Uh that yeah, that he would have paid for himself. One more question, I get off the hair.
Sure.
I didn't understand the last game, the Bengals game with Cleveland, why Cleveland was penalized for celebrating when they dove the dove into the end zone and they get fifteen yards right away? I didn't understand that. I'm all hang out. Can you explain that?
Well?
Uh, they were you know, yeah, they got penalized both times for the defensive touchdowns for their excessive celebration. Okay, but they didn't get penalized when the entire team left the bench came out onto the field to celebrate the sack record.
Yeah, can you explain that? Can explain the defensive touchdown penalty? I don't understand it. Why was that?
Well, I just believe that the officials felt that it was excessive.
So it's the no fun kind of celebrating Jimmy.
There's all kind of celebrations going on.
Yeah, Jimmy right away, So as.
He dove in under the end zone, they're a flag. I don't understand.
Yeah, Hey, it's the it's the no fun league. That's that's all I can say, and it's up to the discretion of the officials.
I don't think you know either.
I don't think you know.
I don't really don't.
They just dove in there and I don't. Can somebody explain that here and I'll hang up here. Maybe one of your callers can explain it.
Hey, and when you show up your opponent that that factors into So Jimmy, I'm gonna leave it at that. Yeah.
It.
I was just upset over the entire team of the Cleveland Browns coming out onto the field and even the official gave a high five to the Bengals to the Browns player, and uh, I just thought that was way over the top. Bengals coaches weren't warned that, hey, we're gonna you know, we're gonna call a time out here for this celebration. And then Miles Garrett gets carried off the field by his teammates.
And I said it on.
Postgame Sports Talk that day with David Fulcher. There was no clock stoppage when Corey Dillon ran for two hundred and seventy eight yards, setting an NFL single game record. So it's all it's the shield, It's the No Fun League. Well, I want to thank our guests tonight Joe Waddell talking to Indiana Hoosiers, and the great Reggie Williams, linebacker extraordinary for the Cincinnati Bengals for fourteen years. Hey, coming up
NFL football, Packers and Bears. I'll be back tomorrow on seven hundred WLW with a little double shift from three to four thirty before UC basketball at UCF and then seven thirty to eight thirty after the game. I want to thank Russ Jackson, our producer, and until tomorrow. This is the Chickster chick Ludwig saying thanks for listening. This is seven hundred WLW, Cincinnati, the home of the best Bengals.
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