The following takes place between six pm and seven pm.
You want answers. I think I'm entitled. You what answer the truth? You can't handle the truth?
Truth?
Truth.
Hi, Hello, and welcome in Sports Talk on a Friday night, seven hundred wl W.
My name is Austin Elmore.
Happy, honored to be with you, filling in for one Lance McAllister on a beautiful Friday night in the Tri state area. Gonna be a perfect night for high school football. Big one at the pit tonight between Mohler and Elder, and we'll keep you updated with anything we can find out about high school sports. We're gonna talk Reds, We're gonna talk Bengals. Shocker, I know. On Sports Talk an hour from right now. Joe Daneman from Fox nineteen. He was in Los Angeles covering the Reds trip to the
wild Card round to take on the Dodgers. We'll get his perspective from somebody who was there and someone who was in the clubhouse after their season came to an end and a sense of accomplishment is what he got. I want to talk to him about that. We'll do that at seven o'clock. We'll also talk to Joe about the Bengals, who get set to host the three to one Detroit Lions at pay Corps Stadium on Sunday afternoon,
a four to twenty five pm kickoff. You'll hear it right here on the Home of the Best Bengals coverage. The Bearcats are in action tomorrow nip at noon against number fourteen ranth iow number fourteenth ranked Iowa State. The Bearcats actually favorites in this game due to a bunch of injuries for Iowa State. And earlier this week on my other show, since He three point sixty that I co host with Tony Pike, Tony talked to UC quarterback Brendan So and the interview was fantastic. It was really
really good. So I'm going to bring back a good chunk of that to play for you in the second hour as well. And then I want to do what Lance normally does on Friday nights, which is get to an off the beaten path topic, because one week from right now, I will be in Green Bay, Wisconsin. I'm going up to lambeau Field to watch the Bengals play the Packers. Lambeau Field is towards the top, if not the very top of my sports bucket list, and so I want to get into that topic with you sports
bucket list? What is on your list? What have you crossed off, what are you about to cross off? What have you added recently? Because I'm fired up to go to lambeau Field, and if you've been to lambeau Field, I would love any recommendations you might have for my trip coming up next week. That is in our number three, but in hour number one we start with the Reds. I think it's fair to say that the twenty twenty five Red season was a failure. I think it's fair
to say that. I think it's also fair to say that it was a success.
Now.
I have a hard time saying that because I don't believe it was a success, but I can see the path one would take to get to that conclusion. I also think it's fair to say, more than anything, that it was a failure, a failure because a couple of years ago, when this young corps of players was brought to the big leagues, they got a bunch of experience, they were in a tight playoff race. They were in a race for the most part in twenty twenty four before things fell apart in the second half. They have
more than enough big league experience. And then they went out and signed a manager and Terry Francona, who has plenty of pelts on the wall and plenty of experience, and a guy who came out of retirement and is being paid a lot of money to do so to get this team to the next level. And instead they
had a terrible offensive season. They won just eighty three games, and quite frankly, I thought they were embarrassed against the Dodgers, because that could have been a series that you, at the bare minimum, pushed the Dodgers to three games, But because Hunter Green didn't show up and apparently was tipping his pitches, and because of some questionable decisions by that manager, the season, to me, has a bad taste in my mouth.
It left a bad taste in my mouth because I firmly believe that the standard should be to compete for championships, and this team really wasn't close, and you could tell by the way that Los Angeles performed against them. And I understand that those two teams are not even remotely close to one another when it comes to talent and payroll and everything in between. I understand, but I would like to see a Reds team that's more competitive than
the one we saw against the Dodgers. And there is no excuse for the awful season that Matt McClean had, No excuse for the regression there, there's no excuse for another awful defensive season from Elie de la Cruz. To me, there's no excuse for the power outage that De la Cruz experienced, only to try to get it back and bring back that leg kick to his swing at the very end of the year. There's no excuse for continuing
to ask guys to play injured. There's no excuse for significant games that were played by Connor Joe and Garrett Hampson and Christian Incarnassi owned strand there's no excuse for him taking another step back in his development. This season could have and should have went a lot better for the Reds than it did. And I'm bothered by the idea that I heard callers on this show earlier this week that seem to be happy with the idea that, hey,
we made the playoffs. That's cool. It's a successful season in the eyes of many, because hey, we made the playoffs. Shouldn't the bar be higher than that? Shouldn't the standard be bigger than that, Shouldn't it be more than just, Hey, we made the playoffs. It's been thirty one years, almost thirty one years since they've advanced in the postseason. That's the longest drought in North American professional sports for a
team not to advance in the postseason. The Chicago Cubs have won the World Series in the last ten years. Cleveland Browns have won a playoff game in the last five years. The Reds haven't advanced in the postseason. And we're often told about the rich history of this franchise and the great players, and the great moments and the great teams, and yet the Reds don't live up to that.
And while I am happy that they made the postseason, I'm also not naive to think that they earned their way in Eighty three wins in most years is not going to get you in Over their last sixty five games,
Cincinnati was thirty three and thirty two. In that same stretch, the Mets were playing to a ninety six lost pace, and the Reds were still nearly beaten out by the Arizona Diamondbacks who sold at the trade deadline, and the San Francisco Giants who sold at the trade deadline, and when it came down to it, the Reds couldn't beat the Pittsburgh Pirates in a series, and if not for an Oel v Marte spectacular catch, likely or possibly could have been swept by Pittsburgh with the season on the line.
So forgive me for not feeling like this season is a success or like I'm happy with the fact that they just made the playoffs. Now let's go from there. No, this is year three of this young core, and they have two playoff games in which they gave up eighteen runs in sixteen innings. And oh, by the way, Andrew Abbott, Nicklodolo, Chase Burns an Emilio Pagan combined to throw twenty seven
pitches in those eighteen innings or sixteen innings. Everybody else gave up eighteen runs, including the guy who's supposed to be your ace in Hunter Green. The idea that you should just be happy that they got there, I don't. That doesn't sit right with me, And I don't think that's a ship that should sit right with you either. And I think now this off season is the time to really turn up the heat because you know what I've already heard this offseason. I heard it several times today,
is Oh, that's good enough for the Reds. That's good enough for them, That's just good enough. Just make the playoffs and get a bunch of butts in the seats, and uh, we'll be good from now on. You know, that's good enough for the Castellini family. Just enough, just be competitive. If you're the Reds, is that what you want people saying about you? That you're good with a playoff appearance in an early exit, that you're happy with eighty three wins. Shouldn't the Reds want to change that
narrative too? I'm sure the players do, I'm sure the manager does. Shouldn't the rest of the organization want to feel that way too? Reaction five one three, seven, nine, seven thousand. Phone lines are open. Is this Red season really a success? We'll take a break. This is sports Talk on seven hundred WLW. Sports Talk seven hundred wl W, Austin Elmore with you talking Red's here in the first half hour and maybe the whole hour, we'll see five one, three, seven,
four nine, seven thousand is the phone number. Let's go to Miamisburg and talk to Barry. Hello, Barry, what's up?
Hey?
How's it gone?
Star?
I'm good man? What's on your mind?
I'm quietly optimistic, and I'll explain why. Okay, how many miserable one run games did we lose this year?
Quite a bit, very a lot.
All right, Let's say.
We have marginal improvement in a couple of different areas, not big improvement, marginal improvement, which is realistic.
Okay, Sure we turn ten.
Of those miserable one to one losses one run ball games into a one run win. Maybe it's two to one. I don't know, maybe it's one nothing in our favor. It doesn't matter. If you move ten of those miserable losses into the win column, we become ninety win team and respectable in other ways. Also, you know, it's doable with what we have. The baseball gods just have.
To smile on us.
Well, how is it doable with what they have?
Like?
Where do you feel like that improvement is going to come from?
I'm hoping we don't have extended bad luck with batting. And let's say that something that's just beyond your control. You know, as a batter, you're not having a good day hopefully we don't have as long extended periods of that, and hopefully, you know, a couple other things fallow our way that our fifty to fifty and didn't fall our way.
So you're basically your strategy is hope they get luckier.
Marginal improvement, so that you know, instead of walking off the field with our heads in the dust, we win a few of those borderline games.
Yeah, no, I hear you, Barry, and I think that's I certainly think it's within the realm of possibility, and thank you for the phone call. I mean, I think it's in within the realm of possibility. I went into this year thinking Matt McClain and him coming back to the lineup would have a huge impact and that would marginally improve them in every category. He had the worst offensive season, one of the worst in Red's history. Keep Bryan Hayes was good for a couple of weeks, really
good defender, nothing offensively. Where is it going to improve in the margin? That's what I want to know. What about Jason and Williamstown what's up Jason?
Hey?
How are you doing?
Good man?
What's on a so real quick to the previous call it real fast that's fine and dandy, but the problem is they still have to win a playoff game, and the last time I checked, we lost without what like five and like whatever, So even that one run still doesn't mean anything. Anyways, back to what I was gonna say, I'm forty now. I was born eighty five. I kind of remember the Nasty Boys nineteen ninety remember, you know, the ninety five season, kind oft before the players strike
all that stuff went down. That team was good. But ever since then, really since I was about ten years old, I've not been excited about any Red team, even the Dusty Baker twelve twenty thirteen, you know that time for ins in twenty ten twenty. I just didn't see it back then. I mean, yeah, they were great players.
We had with Bato and all.
Them back then, but the problem was I just didn't see them being a World Series team.
Now.
The thing is I Castelini family super nice. I'm torn saying this because I had some issues medically and they went above and beyond for my family. The Castelini family did. They were super nice people, but when it comes to baseball, they do need to sell the team that I'm sorry. I'm done with every year. I feel like we are having this conversation on this radio station every single year. You can say the same thing about the Bengals too, But I mean, it's just so bad, it's so old.
It's so like I'm gonna be dead and we're still gonna be probably about like a hundred the year there's gonna be some DJ or you know, some radio hosts fifty years from now.
Well what about next season, guys? Yeah, Jason, thank you, thank you for the phone call. I appreciate it it and I certainly empathize with that. I understand a lot of people feel that way. I believe the Castelin needs to be good people. I believe that they want to win. I really do. And I just don't know if the plan right now is viable and the people in charge of executing the plan right now are capable. But I
do think there's some things to build on now. It falls into the organization's hands to actually build on that. Let's talk about that, because if they're not going to play the same game as the Dodgers financially, there are other aspects of the organization that they have to get buttoned up. Let's talk about that. Will continue your phone calls next Sports Talk seven hundred WLW moment from the NL Wild Cards series that is seared.
Into my memory.
It was right after Hunter Green got shelled and gave up five earned runs to the Dodgers, and Terry Francona goes out to the mound and calls on the bullpen, calls in Connor Phillips out of the bullpen to pitch, and as they're going to a break, they're showing on television a Dodger's coach standing in front of the dugout with Taoscar Hernandez, who was due up, and he's on an iPad and he's showing him something on the iPad, and Hernandez looks up from the iPad, looks at the coach,
smiles at him, sticks his tongue out, and proceeds to walk towards home plate. He launched one to write center for a home run right after that. Come to find out a day later, Hunter Green and others were tipping their pitches. And I couldn't help but wonder, how is this possible? How is it possible that Hunter Green in
the playoffs is tipping his pitches? How are the other players tipping their pitches, And it made me wonder, why isn't there self scouting, Why isn't there something within the Reds organization to prevent this, especially going into the playoffs. And also it made me wonder, why don't the Reds ever seem to take advantage of pitchers tipping their pitches. You know, Mike Napoli is on the Red staff and one of the big reasons he's here is because of
his ability to pick up on those tells. Well, rarely has the Reds offensive explosion happened to where we find out a team was tipping their pitches. And maybe we're not going to find out about every single time that
it's happening. But it made me think, if you're the Reds and if you choose not to spend as much money as you could to be competitive, and you choose to get guys off the bargain bend and the scrap heap, like Austin Hayes for example, if that's the way you choose to do business, and it is my belief that that is the way the Reds choose to do business. They could spend more, they could be more aggressive, but
they choose not to. I'm not saying they can spend at the level of the Dodgers or the Mets and teams like, that's not what I'm saying, but I'm saying they could do more, but they choose not to. If you're going to live a life like that, if that's the way you're going to approach your team, wouldn't you think that you got to have the other stuff buttoned up your self?
Scouting has to be nails.
Your minor league system, your minor league development, your hitting philosophy, your video system, your iPads, your data, your tracking, everything else needs to be buttoned up. I would think, isn't that part of it? Wouldn't you think so? I would think so. And that's the thing, like, if you're going to sorry, someone just came into my studio trying to vacuum. I don't need it vacuumed. I just lost my trade
of thought there. But if you're not going to spend as much money as everyone else, you've got to have all the other little things buttoned up. Let's look at the Milwaukee Brewers for example. You know, the Brewers have a lower payroll than the Reds. They won ninety seven games, set a franchise record won the division over the Reds by fourteen games. They scored ninety more Reds than ninety more runs than Cincinnati. They gave up eighty or fifty
fewer runs than the Reds. Milwaukee did Milwaukee. How many guys can you actually name on Milwaukee? Most people can't name that many. But their operation is so buttoned up in the way that they acquire players, in the way that they developed players, in their advanced scouting, and their self outing all of it. Hell, you want another stat. You know how bad the Reds offense was this year? Well, the Reds offense had a seven point two percent barrel percentage.
That's how many times you're hitting the ball on the barrel. Seven point two percent. That was twenty eighth in Major League Baseball. You know who was twenty ninth the Milwaukee Brewers at six point six percent, and yet they still scored ninety more runs than the Reds and won fourteen more games. That tells me that all the other parts of their operation are buttoned up. So if you choose to play ball that way, which is not spending to the maximum, not getting the biggest talent, not getting the
biggest free agent, not doing all those other things. You've got to be able to button up the rest of your organization so that you can be more competitive. The Reds also stopped running the basis stealing bases this year. That was their identity last year and they basically stopped doing it this year. Is that a Terry francona thing? And if so, why are you going away from one of your strengths. That didn't make sense to me? And I hope that going into this offseason the Reds say, Okay,
this is how we're choosing to do our business. This is how we're trying to build. This is our plan. Where can we clean it up a little bit so that we have an advantage so that we can be more like Milwaukee. The red should be doing everything in their power to be like the Milwaukee Brewers. Five one, three, seven, four, nine, seven thousand. Let's go out to people's and talk to Tony. What's up, Tony?
Hey?
I was going good?
So I feel like there were successes.
There were failures obviously.
Yeah.
I think our biggest thing is going to be consistent. Staying consistent. Every player I feel like on the team at some point that the season showed, you know, their ability to be a star.
Everybody, everybody had a highlight.
And it's gonna be Perry's job this off season two work on that and get the get our players to be more consistent and be able to go out there on a nightly basis like the first caller. You know, we lost so many games by one point. You know, look look at what we only had, what was it one, one or two series that we actually got slept. You know, like how early into the season did every other team had been slept. So obviously we were doing some things right.
You know, we did some stuff wrong. But you know it's it's gonna be his job to capitalize on go to go to the office this off season and say it's what I need. You know, hopefully the office is able to uh find him some missing pieces and and and get him some things that he needs.
I have faith in Terry.
I think he's got to see under his belt with the organization. Now he's done these players for a year, so you know, hopefully next year we can come back and he can't work with these players and get them to.
Yeah you're good, Tony, and thank you for the phone call. And I hope that's the case.
I hope that he can go to the front office and say, Okay, this is what we need, this is my vision. There were times this year I thought I was gonna love Terry Francona, and there were times where I felt like he had no feel for the game whatsoever. You know, with Francona specifically, he is what has made him great over the years is balancing the data and the analytics and his gut. He's also never managed a
team with less talent than this team. In my opinion, there was a lot of Hall of famers, should be Hall of Famers, might someday be Hall of Famers on his teams in Boston and in Cleveland, just to name a few, Kurt Shilling, Pedro Martinez, David or t Manny Ramirez, Jason Veritek, Corey Klueber, Shane Bieber, Trevor Bauer, Jose Ramirez, Kipness,
Jason Kidness was fantastic for a little while. Like there's been a lot more talent on those other teams, and so when he makes mistakes or when he goes off the gut or maybe it doesn't quite exactly work, it gets magnified. I was not blown away by Terry Francona this year, and I hope that they have a little bit more of an understanding of the players that they have or the players that they want to have, and how they can improve in the offseason.
Let's go to Ryan, Ryan, what's up.
Well, he made my point a few of my points that I was going to make.
We got to spend more money.
We need a backup for everybody we got that is going to replace everybody when someone goes down. We've got to have somebody that can step up until those shoes. I think they did go out and spend the money.
And they got Terry.
And now hopefully they're going to build a team around him. And I think as Reds fans, we need to come together and force the Castelinis and the ownership to either put their money where they just you know, it's like what happened with Joe Burrow to get the highest draft pick, the most wanted quarterback in the league, but you.
Don't protect him.
So we get Tito, you know, one of the greatest of all time, and we're not going to give him the club that he needs.
To win championships.
And so I think Tito was frustrated the season with the quality of the play of the team, which but at the same time he was able to get this team to gel at the right time. And another thing is they need to take it back to where they did at the end of the season.
Eight dollars tickets, three dollars beers, get thirty thousand people in that stadium, build new Reds fans, create hy When I was at all the Cups games, all the Mets games, all the Pirates games, that's the energy we need in this.
Town, all the time for the Reds.
I was hoping for a World Series threade this year because I thought.
Hey, never know, but that was our World Series. We just played the champions out there. They're the big dogs.
They got the best of the best of the best, the highest paid players, the most hampered players.
They got it all.
So we did great. You know, I thought we were gonna we just we can't like the last color said consistency.
When what is your definition of great? Do you think they were great? The Reds were great and out in LA that's what you thought.
Listen, Hunter Green got choice.
Yeah, you hadn't performed great and that Martinez was not great. Matt McClain defensively was not great.
No, Matt McClain blew.
He should have He shouldn't have been.
In LA he should have been sent down.
And that's that's your that's your boy, Tito, that's your boy. Nick Krawl, Ryan, thank you for the phone call. That's what I'm saying. Like, there are positive it takes from this season, Don't get me wrong, there absolutely are. But at the same time, it's like I was supposed to count on on Matt McClain to be the guy this year that's really gonna help this offense, hump.
He was terrible.
So now going into the offseason, he's a huge question mark. Who's gonna play second base. You can't look me in the eye right now with a straight face and say, Matt McLean is the opening day second basement next year. You can't do that. He's got to go and earn that this year, at least in my opinion. Let's go to Springboro and talk to Aaron.
What's up, Aaron, say Austin, I'm gonna take the other side of a couple of these arguments. Okay, the first off and McClean that this was a comeback season from a terrible shoulder injury, okay, and that's a very, very tough injury to come back. So I think next year will be the telling factor whether or not he reverts back to his rookie season or if you know, it's more of the same for this year. So I'm gonna give him some grace. But you got to move him
over to short stoff. You got to get Ellie out in left field or possibly even right, moving Barka, you know, over to the other side. I don't think he was touched Freedol. He's too good at a center fielder. But get Ellie the hell out of short stop, no doubt about it. You can put Stewart at second base. But the bottom line is the castelines are on the clock right now. They're good people, good community leaders, all that.
But you know, when they bought the Red they said they would bring a championship baseball to Cincinnati.
Clearly they haven't delivered.
It's one of your other callers was talking about, you know, the fan support was there this year. I went to more games, watch more games than I have in many, many years. And they're an exciting team, but they're also very frustrating team. You know that they did two point one million and in attendance, and guy only knows what they did in merch sales, alcohol, food, all that good stuff. So the Castolines can spend some money and still be
very profit. Well, we all know they're not could go out and get Schwber, but there are some big bats out there that they could get. I think you put one more big bat in that lineup, and you give La some protection, and you give Steers some protection. I think, you know, if they're pitching can hold together, I think they're they're very close to make a deep run in the playoffs. They're not that far away from the Dodgers.
They're really not. You look at the you know, the seven games or eight games they played against them, they were all pretty tight.
They were all pretty darn close.
Obviously, Hunter Green, you know, scrapped the bed the other night. But you know they didn't. They didn't lay down even in Game two. You know, my son was out there in Los Angeles in that game. He's a he's Dodgers fan. He's out there playing for college baseball. But bottom line is, you said it was exciting they brought in Sasaki and you know red side the bases loaded in the ninth you know, freedom was a tying run at the.
Plate, and again they couldn't get that big hit by Mike Count. In eight games against the Dodgers this year, the Dodgers outscored the Reds forty eight to twenty four. Well, but I do see what you're saying, and I appreciate the optimistic side of it.
Aaron, thank you for the phone call.
And I think the Eli to the outfield conversation, I think that's a conversation that needs to be had. He had his worst season defensively, and I think you know, there was a lot going on. He lost his sister, he was trying to play one hundred and sixty two games. There were some other off the field stuff going on for him. He was dealing with a quad injury. He
had tweaked this swing. I felt like there was just a lot on the plate of Elie de la Cruz this year, and I'm gonna trust that he's going to get better next year, but again I can't bank on that. And defensively it was really bad. And my whole thing with moving Ellie to the outfield, which I was finally on board with this year after how poorly he played at shortstop, My whole thing was, well, you get Matt McClain to play shortstop. Well, now, I don't know if
that's the case. I don't know if he can play shortstop. I don't know if he's going to be a part of this lineup. And yes, McClain is coming back from a devastating shoulder injury, and historically it takes time for.
Those people to return to form.
However, if it's about winning right now, and specifically winning before the end of this decade, when Ellie de la Cruz's contract is up, you don't have a bunch of time to wait, you don't and so there needs to be, in my mind, urgency now. Our caller said that the cash Delini's are on the clock. I don't think that they are. I mean, it's their clock. They can set
it to whatever they want. But I do think there is got to be some urgency this year because number one, in twenty twenty seven, I don't think we're gonna play baseball because of the lockout. Number two, I don't think Terry Francone is gonna manage much longer. So there has to be urgency now about getting it in and trying to find a way to win. In my opinion, there is and there are plenty of good things to take
from this season. But I just don't know if I fully believe in the plan and then the people making the plan and executing the plan to execute said plan. I want to talk to Joe Dana and when we come back after the news, because Joe, even though he's out at the high school game right now, I think has decided to give us some time. And he was out there in Los Angeles and he talked about there being a sense of accomplishment in the Reds clubhouse after they lost to the to the Dodgers, and that kind
of rubbed me the wrong way. I'm looking for some perspective on that from Joe Daneman when we return. Easier said than done, all right here on the Home of the Reds, seven hundred WLW.
The following takes place between seven pm and eight pm.
Hi, Hello, Welcome in our number two sports talk on a Friday night, seven hundred WLW. My name is Austin Elmore in for Lance McAllister. Tonight, we've talked Reds and Bengals in hour number one. I want to continue that split conversation with a man who covers both for Fox nineteen.
His name is Joey d.
Joe Danoman surely somewhere near a high school football field right now, but shows to take time to spend with us. And Joe was in Los Angeles covering the Reds and the Dodgers in the National League Wildcard round. Joe, what was that experience like for you?
Well, I'm sure we're going to talk about one of the tweets I put out there after the game, the sense of accomplishment one.
Yeah, and listen, it's on my paper.
Yeah, I know it is. And it's a great debate point. It's a great talking point because you never know what you're going to walk into when you walk into a locker room or a clubhouse after the season ends. I think people would be surprised sometimes how emotionless it can be, especially for guys who woul played such.
A long season.
So I wasn't sure how what it was going to be like when I walked in young team, first playoff experience, had some chances to do some damage late in both games, couldn't come up with the big hit when they needed. When we walked in, it was a lot of handshakes. It was a lot of hugs, and you could just feel the tone in the room. And I asked multiple guys this. I wanted to make sure I wasn't misreading
the room. I said to Spencer Year and A TJ. Friedel, I said, correct me if I'm wrong, if I'm misreading the room. But it feels like a sense of accomplishment in this room. And they both agreed with it. And we can debate whether that's the correct reaction the Reds should have had. Should fans be disappointed, should the team be disappointed? I think that's different for every fan how they digest the season. But let me say this for the team, they were all row one hundred percent disappointed
in the way they played. They're disappointed that it came to an end after two games. They thought they would have tooken that to a third game and taken the Dodgers to the break. But the idea of a sense of accomplishment, to me, I think personally, is the correct tone for this team to have when it's such a young group and they set a goal before the season
of getting to the playoffs. They backed in. Let's be honest about it, that the Mets had to have a collapse again, and that happened, but the red did get there. They accomplished what we said before the season they should accomplish, and that's getting to the playoffs. That's why, to me, it felt like the right reaction for the Reds to
feel like they accomplished something. Whether the season was a success or not, I think that's a different debate, but that's absolutely how it felt in there, and I confirmed that with multiple players that that was the correct feeling.
Do you think the organization itself feels a sense of accomplishment after this season.
That's tough to say, because that's different the sense of accomplishment for the players. The young players who did this for the first time understand that this could be step one and a multi step process that a young group has to go through to ultimately get to where they want to go. That should be looked at as a
sense of accomplishment. The organization's a different conversation because the organization understands what they have, understands what they need to build around, and did they do enough to build around this team? That's the question.
Now.
If we looked at what they were at the All Star break and what they added to get better. I think we would all argue they did a pretty good job they being the front office of getting guys who can supplement and help this team make a push in the second half, that if there was an opportunity they could take advantage and do it. And the guys like Miguel and Douhrer and Zach Lettel, those guys did help. Kee Brian Hayes would argue for a month's help before
he just stopped hitting the ball altogether. But organizationally, no, they have to look at it different. The organization. While it's so hard to try to compare this team to a Dodgers team or to a Yankee team, or pick your high dollar organization, Uh, it feels like you're comparing apples to oranges just because of what they can spend
and what they can build. But but if we have conversations with Reds players and red Off Reds Off front office members in spring training pointing to what the Arizona Diamondbacks did a couple of seasons ago, then it can be done and they know it can be done, and so organizationally, I wouldn't say this was an accomplishment, uh, because just getting to the playoffs for any organization should
not be the standard should not be enough. But that also comes with the understanding of what I saw watching the Dodgers play that that was different. I mean that what they have talked about them is just different from the Reds and and and so maybe maybe it's a hard thing for us to hold the organization to a
higher standard. But if if you're going to be a professional organization and an ownership group in a professional organization, you have to have a higher standard than just getting to the playoffs.
What did we learn about Terry Francona this season and how can that shape what we can expect from the Reds moving forward.
You know what's interesting is they played one hundred and sixty two games and two playoff games, so one hundred and sixty four games, and it never felt like they ever landed on an offensive identity or maybe even just an identity for the team. It kind of felt like it changed given on the matchup. And maybe that's what
he had to do with a team that did have faws. Right, is the idea that in some games you have to lean on pitching and defense, and then in some games you have to put an extra stick in a lineup and just try to outscore another team depending on the matchup. But understanding how Terry Francona manages a game, it doesn't feel like that's what he wants it to be. I feel like he wants to have an identity, whether that's different from what he managed twenty years ago to looking
at how you manage now. Certainly you can make that argument, but the idea that it's just felt unsettled all the way to the final game. I mean, you think about these teams, especially the Dodgers, and the Dodgers might not be a great barometer for this conversation Austin, because they have what they have said at the top of the lineup. It's pretty simple, right, it's a square.
Peg in a square hole.
It's show Hey, it's Mooki, it's Freddy, it's the ostre, and we're not moving these guys. But it felt like for the Reds even up to the final day, like
who's hitting third, who's hitting clean up? And if you make the playoffs and still have that kind of turnover where it's such important positions inside your lineup, it's interesting and so I wonder if that will change next year, that the fact that they didn't run at all this year was so different from what they were and that seemed to be the identity of this team and that
went away this year. So I don't know, even after having a full year of Jerry Francona, the idea that the lineup was just unsettled all year long, to me was surprising, And I wonder if that'll change in year two or if that's just the way it's going to be with a team that's just never going to have every.
Whole filling Talking to Joe Daneman, Fox nineteen final Reds question for you, the biggest question for this organization going into the offseason is what.
How are they going to remake this bullpen?
Because the bullpen was a big.
Part of what they did in the second half of the year. I would say it became a strength if you look at what they were early in the season to where they were at the end, where they had so many guys they could go to guys we didn't expect. They could go to the guys like a Connor Phillips, and then you had Chase Burns in the bullpen even you know, Big Sugar gave them, gave them some innings out of the bullpen. I'm just naming guys, but a lot of these guys are going to leave, you know,
the the Emelio Pegans, that Tony Santion. It turned out to be a strength, but that's where so much turnover might happen for this team. And I always said, if you look at the Reds and this, they've got of young pitchers and yet on young position players. When they start investing in a bullpen, you'll know they feel they're ready. And they started investing a little bit in the bullpen this year and it helped them get to the playoffs.
So while everybody's gonna say you got to get the outfield back, you got to get that right handed back, that might be Noelvie Marte that might be taking care of already within the organization. To me, the big question of the offseason is they're going to lose some pictures from their bullpen from attrition. Guys are going to sign other places.
How are they going to rebuild that.
And what kind of urgency are they going to have to make sure it's a strength for next season, because we saw how important it is for them.
Let's flip over to the Bengals. A big game coming up at pay Corpse Stadium against the Detroit Lions. What is a after the last two weeks. What is a realistic expectation for the Bengals on Sunday afternoon?
That it has to look better? And I know that might be a cop out, because when you play in the NFL, it's the any given Sunday you should be out there thinking you're going to win. But let's be realistic that the Lions are one of the best and most dangerous offenses in the NFL, and the Bengals have looked like they've looked the last two weeks. I think for the coaches to keep this locker room and for the players to still believe for the final eleven weeks, after this game, there has.
To be belief that it can be better.
It just has to look and feel better than it's felt in Minnesota then it felt in Denver. I don't know what that means or what that looks like. I think we'll know when we see it, but it just has to look better than it has the last two weeks. It can't be a blowout, it can't be scoring less than ten points. This team has to play better football for Zach Taylor, for the coaching staff and for the players all to look at each other and say, Okay, we believe we can still be competitive for the rest
of the season. If this thing is another blowout, you're going to start wondering about a locker room that's going to become fractured and coaches that might start losing players. So it just has to look better on Sunday. Whatever that is, I think we'll know at once we see it.
Zach Taylor said this week that he has unwavering faith in Jake Browning. What was your responsor what was your reaction to that, and what do you make of the movement that the Bengals should look elsewhere for another quarterback not named Jake Browning.
I give Jake Browning a two or three week window here to prove needs to be the quarterback for the rest of the season. And I don't know what the other options might be, whether it's everybody's talking about Russell Wilson. They're not going to take on the payroll of Kirk Cousins, but there are other quarterbacks out there that they could go get. But the question is once you get them to Cincinnati, how long does it take them to get them comfortable in the playbooks so they can go out.
And help you win football games.
I don't know what that answer is. The shame of the season is is the AFC feels open, the AFC North feels vulnerable, and the Bengals are in a position where right now it does and feel like they can take advantage.
But to answer your.
Question, he's got the Lions game, he's got the Packers game, and I think maybe the short week with the Steelers they had no option but to play him. So I think he's got a three week window to do exactly what I said last question, and that's just feel better.
It has to feel better than Jake Browning because you think back to twenty twenty three, and we all do this auction, right, we go back to twenty twenty three and we say, oh, Jake was four and three and they were competitive, And you think about anybody in life you have this baseline test. Think about like athletes with the concussion baseline test they take and then you use that to evaluate if something's wrong. So if we use twenty twenty three as the baseline, I don't think the
roster is that much different two years later. I don't think they're that much worse on the roster two years later. So at some point the fingers kind of do go back to Jake Browning and say, what's up, man, Why aren't you playing like you did two years ago. So I think the spotlight and the cross hairs are on Jake Browning a little bit more or than people might think. He's got this window here of a few weeks to prove he should be the guy for the rest of
the season. And let's be honest, Look, the Lions are an unbelievable offense. Maybe I would argue the best offense in the NFL. If you can score on their defense, the Bengals should score some points against the Lions. If they're not able to move the ball, score touchdowns and score points against the Lions, those crosshairs get even bigger on Jake Browning. I think he's got a three week window to prove he should be the guy for the rest of the year.
Talking to Joe Danavan Fox nineteen, Joe, it's a Friday night. I know you guys are all over the high school football coverage. My sources tell me you're at the pit right now, getting set for Elder and Moler. What do you expect tonight? What's the atmosphere going to be like tonight? I hear a band back there.
Yeah, you can hear right now. The band is finishing up last minute preparation. So it sounds great. It sounds like high school football. It was really cool Austin. When they were bringing the band out, the announcer said, the best place in the country to watch high school football is right here at the pit.
It's one of those.
Goosebump kind of things.
Right.
You got Moeller who's only got one loss. You've got Elder, who's undefeated after six weeks for the first time at almost twenty five years. This is a Cincinnati as a yet evan y two brand name teams playing in Cincinnati's best high school venue. And the greatest part, Austin, you can watch this game live on TV on Fox nineteen ninety Wow nineteen point three digital station. You can watch it live tonight on Fox nineteen Pretty cool.
That is incredible. Joe, thank you so much. Thanks for making some time for me. Man really appreciate it. Have a great weekend.
Talk to you Tuesday. Cincondadi Cincondadi's ESPN fifteen thirty on Cincy three fifty Austin.
Yes, Joe, Yes, yes, yes, Joe joins us every Tuesday on our show down the Hall, and he made some time for me. And that is a sold out game at the pit by the way, ten thousand standing tall on a purple Friday. We'll keep you updated as it goes along. Let's get into a little bit of Bengals conversation. Let's do that next right here, seven hundred WLW just about halfway through, coming up half an hour from right now. We're gonna go off the beaten path with your sports
bucket list? What's on it? What have you crossed off? What have you added to it? This, of course, because I'm going to lambeau Field next week to watch the Bengals play the Green Bay Packers. I booked this trip a long time ago, and I keep reminding myself it's because I love football more than I love the Bengals. That's what I keep reminding myself, because I don't think it's gonna go well. Most people don't think it's gonna go well for the Bengals on Sunday against the three
and one Detroit Lions. And we'll get into a little bit after the news, because really it is as simple as what Joe Daneman said, play better. That's at least what most of us are looking for. And earlier this week, Zach Taylor met with the media as he normally does, and a lot of people don't realize Zach and Dan Campbell, the head coach of the Lions, kind of came up in the NFL together in Miami, and he was asked if he ever reflects on those days with Dan and
Miami and his relationship with Dan Campbell. I thought it was interesting his response. Take a listen to Bengals head coach Zach Taylor.
Got a lot of respect for him. He's done an unbelievable job. I do reflect back on in twenty twenty one when we went up there his first year. I don't think they'd won a game yet. I could be wrong. Maybe they'd won one. I don't think they'd want any
knowing what they were building. You could tell they played with a lot of undrafted free agents on defense, and you could just tell they had the identity of their coaching staff, their head coach, the way that they played, and they might have had all the talent in the world then, and we got the best of them that day, but you could see something that was building in the future. Whether people believed it at the time or not, it
was very clear. And so now you're here in twenty twenty five and they've had the success they've had over the years, they have the success they've had this year, win in three in a row. It's a really good football team. I love personally playing playing these types of games. These are my favorite games to play. This is why we do it again. Our backs against the wall a little bit going in this game off of two losses. That's perfect. You know, I'd like to see Howardbery responds.
Who lives in fear, who thrives in the university. It's it's a great opportunity for a coach to really assess what guys are made of, myself included. And so again it's a tremendous opportunity that we are. We are not running from, we are running directly into.
What do you think the identity of the Bengals is if it matches the identity of their head coach. If it is like the Detroit Lions and they are made in the image of their head coach, what then is the Bengals identity. I think the Bengals identity is more Joe Burrow, which is calm, cool, collected, confident, and I think Zach has some of those traits as well. But I think right now the Bengals are searching for their identity without Joe Burrow, and it's going to be difficult
to find it. Let's talk a little bit more about Sunday's game after the news right here on the Home of the Best, Bengals covered seven hundred WLW. Matt Ponatowski led the Mohler Crusaders on a thirteen play drive resulting in a touchdown to Cooper McCutcheon, and the Crusaders have a seven to nothing lead at Elder to start the night. We'll keep you updated as it goes. Let's keep talking football. Let's talk Bengals as I've got as we've gone through
the week trying to figure out this team. Right now, I've realized there's really not that much to say. They have to play better, and until they play better, you really have no idea what the future of the team is. If they play that poorly, you can't really evaluate and look towards the future. You just start talking about blaming coaches and firing people, and you start wondering about should Burrow come back, will Burrow come back? Should they go
get another quarterback. I think you look to Friday's game or to Monday's game, and you think, yeah, Jake Browning could have played better, should have played better. If he does, maybe it's more competitive. But I also look at it and say, the defense continues to struggle. The run game was okay, but was not existent because they were losing the entire time. I counted Denver as having two negative
plays the entire night. The Bengals had one tackle for loss and then they forced the interception in the red zone on a terrible decision by bow Knicks. This team is just stuck in the mud, and they've been embarrassed two weeks in a row. They've gotten their face bashed in two weeks in a row. And to the final point that Zach Taylor made in that clip before the break, which is that you find out a lot about people in moments like this, He's exactly right.
Who are they? How are they going to respond?
Because right now you come into Week five against one of the best offenses in the National Football League, and it's supposed to be a stripe the Jungle game, a
game that gets the fans excited. This was supposed to be a four to twenty five national TV window with Kevin Burkhart and Tom Brady on the call, but instead only a fraction of the country is going to see this game on television because the Bengals are so bad and it's supposed to be a stripe the Jungle, but because Detroit is so good and Bengals fans are understandably fed up with the way this team has played through
the first two weeks. There's going to be twenty thousand Detroit Tiger fans or Detroit Lions fans there and Honolulu Blue is going to ruin the Stripe the Jungle.
That's my expectation for Sunday.
It's hard to do stuff like that when the team does not the performance on the field doesn't match the performance off the field with the stuff you're trying to do as an organization in your marketing and that sort of stuff. At the end of the day, it is really as simple as they have to play better, and this week specifically, you have got to show signs of life, because even if you look at the film and you
look at what Zach Taylor was trying to do. There were plays where receivers were open, Jake Browning played poorly, he missed them. There were plays where the concept the call was right against the coverage, but the offensive line didn't give Browning any time. There was times where penalties derailed thirty yard completions and chunk plays.
That sort of stuff. You've got to clean it up.
How are you going to react to a team that's going to come into your building and try to take it over? And are you ready to really quit on the year if you're the Bengals. You know, the thing about Zach Taylor is that over his years as the Bengals head coach, I never felt like they quit on him. In twenty twenty, when Burrow went down, I felt like
it was the exact opposite. Instead of quitting, they dug their heels in and they found a way to win some difficult games, most notably on a Monday night against the Pittsburgh Steelers. They dug their heels in and twenty three, when Burrow went down, they did not quit. Even when Browning played poorly in that first game, they dug their heels in They didn't quit for Zack.
Minnesota.
With all the turnovers in Denver, with the penalties, it felt like the Bengals maybe quit a little bit, and you've got to nip that in the butt. And I wonder who's the guy to step up in the locker room.
Burrow's hurt.
Can't be him. Ted Carris is playing atrociously. Can't be him. Same with Orlando Brown, Junior Von Bell's gone, Mike Hilton's gone, Sam Hubbard's gone. Trey Hendrickson is he one of those guys in the locker room? He had really showed up much either. Who's gonna step up?
So far?
It seems like it's Jamar Chase. That's interesting, you know, Zach and that clip with Dan talked about how the Lions at the time in the twenty twenty one season hadn't won a game, but yet you could tell that they were building something. You could say the same thing about Zach's Bengals in twenty twenty. They weren't that good, but you could tell they were building something. There was a clear direction for the organization.
Now.
Nobody expected them to just rebound and go to the Super Bowl the way that they did, but now I'm wondering what direction really is the organization going here and can anything be salvaged this year? And so I don't know that anybody expects them to win this game on Sunday. It might be a lot to ask, but can you at least show signs of life that make me feel like this season isn't already in the tank?
Can you do that?
Because you know, coming up, you've got the Pittsburgh Steelers, who I think have gotten pretty lucky so far this season. You've got the Pittsburgh Steelers on a Thursday night at home. The expectation should be to win that game. Baltimore is without Lamar Jackson this week and they're already one in three. Their season could be over before it even starts. Cleveland is formidable in a tough matchup to a lot of
people across the league. But by the time Week eighteen rolls around, when they come back here, should or Sanders is going to be starting and they're going to.
Be playing for the number one pick.
The division is certainly still in play, you would think, right, And that's with or without Borrow. Just because of the state of affairs in the AFC North and across the AFC outside of Buffalo. I don't think anybody's really gonna pull away, are they? I wouldn't think so. So this is a game where it's like, Okay, are there signs of life here at all? We're checking a pulse. Are the Bengals alive? Are they willing to fight? It really is that simple. I don't even care about the stats.
I don't care if they win or lose. It is has this team given up? And can this be indicative of the direction of the organization. The result that happens on Sunday against the Detroit Lions, that's all that matters. There's another result that we're gonna be looking forward to coming up tomorrow. It's gonna be the UC Bearcats hosting number fourteen Iowa State. Tony Pike caught up with Brendan Soresby, the Bearcat quarterback, earlier this week. We're gonna play some
of that conversation for you when we get back. This is Sports Talk on a Friday night. Seven hundred Wlwaircats, fresh off of a win at Kansas host number fourteen Iowa State, and the Bearcats are actually favored in this game number one because of the way that they played against Kansas last weekend. And number two, because Iowa State's defense is banged up, there is a long list of guys that are hurt for the Cyclones not going to
be able to go. So the Bearcats have an opportunity to take advantage of they hope tomorrow at Nippert Stadium, I co host a show down the Hall weekdays from twelve to three. It's called Sincy three to sixty and I do that with UC Hall of Famer, the legend Tony Pike.
Well.
Earlier this week, the current u SE quarterback Brendan Soresby was on the show and Tony interviewed him and I
wanted to play some of that conversation. It starts with Brendan talking about what these last few days have been like after the win over Kansas, highest rated quarterback as it relates to QBR in the country, authoring one of the best offenses in the country, off a win against a very good Kansas team in a hostile environment, and now we're turning to Nippert Stadium against the fourteenth ranked Iowa State Cyclones. Brendan Soresby is joining us right now. Brendan, what's going on.
Man, what's going on? Thanks for having me absolutely?
How you doing, man?
How's the week going? You come off a big win against Kansas, you know better than anyone. You get to enjoy it for a few minutes and then you're onto Iowa State. What's the last couple of days been?
Like a lot of recovery. Body was a little banged up.
Right after the game. You know, traveling after a win is definitely a lot better. So that was a fun experience. And then you know, once we got back, just making sure we got our bodies right ready to go for our Tuesday practice. So the preparation has been good, everybody focused, everybody blocked in and ready to.
Go on Saturday.
How big of a weight does it lift off the shoulders, because you guys have been very competitive and there have been times where it's just come up a player too short to get the ball back laid against Kansas to play as efficiently as you guys did offensively, you didn't have Joe Royer in the second half defensively, no Dante Corleone in the game to get that ball back, go down and finish that off. How much momentum does that now build for a team.
Well, I know, just like you know the fans have gone through it with the one score ball game is not going our way.
I trust me.
You know as a player that whenever you're on the losing side of those, you start to lose confidence. And we were finally on the right side of one of those and came out victorious. So, you know, being able to carry that momentum going for it would be huge for us, knowing that we can do it, knowing that we can win those close games and go close it out, you know, and just playing playing a complimentary football on
all three phases. You know, that was a really good offensive team over there in Kansas, and you know, we knew that they were gonna be able to score points just you know they do.
On they do on everybody.
So you know, our defense bailed us out whenever they needed to, and you know, we were able to put some drives together and put points on the board and at the end of the day, we won. So we got to find a way to carry this into this week right here and find a way to go be a competitive team. And I Aloway stayed really good coach team and you know, obviously top fifteen team in the country.
I thought about two thousand and nine, a game that I played against Pittsburgh. We're down, we get the ball late, and before taking the field, nothing was ever really said, but you could just tell and looking in the guy's eyes, there was a confidence that you were going to go down and win the game. You guys got the ball back down thirty four to thirty with a minute forty
five left, you go on a ten play drive. Take me to the sideline before the drive started, Was there anything that needed to be said or did you guys kind of know what was ahead of end what needed to be done.
You know, everybody understood what needed to be done.
Obviously.
You know we're dapping each other up saying, you know, we we got this, we know what we're going to do.
We know we're going to go put it in the end zone. And you know that was that. I don't think I don't.
Ever think there was too much, you know, disbelief from anybody on that sideline. I think everybody understood that we were going to do whatever it took to put it in the end zone. And everybody knows how hard it is to go do that, especially when the defense knows you have to score a touchdown, and we still had some adverse situations that drive you know, obviously the illegal touching and you know, just just a couple other things that went against us.
But you know, we found a way to persevere and go punch it in the end zone.
And I think that's just a testament to this group of the eyes that we have, and you know, everybody's got.
A common belief in a common goal that we want to go.
We want to go win some ball games this year, and we knew what it was going to take and we did it.
I want to get to your your offensive line in just a moment. But talk about the receiving corps. I know Joe Royer didn't play in the second half, but he had a huge third and long grab for twenty yards that kept the drive alive. We've seen Jeff Codwell, Noah Jennings with the one handed catch, Gavin Grover almost getting to the end zone getting stopped a few inches short, Caleb Goodie, Cyrus Allen with the career day. How fun is it now that you've got these guys in the system,
you can see their confidence growing. How fun is it to be able to spread the ball around to your receiving corps.
Yeah, it's a blast.
You know, it makes my life easy, It makes my job you know, fun for sure, to just be able to go out there and say, hey, you know, let these guys will make plays and you know they make me look a lot.
Better than I am.
So just finding a way to get these guys the ball, and like you said, grow over stepping up whenever Joe went down. After Joe made an amazing catch on third down, you know, we'll be able to get Joe back this week. And I believe he's the best tid end of the country. So that's huge for us. So you know, just the ability of guys to step up whenever we need them
to and just make plays is huge for us. And having confidence and you know, eight guys to go out there and catch a pass for you is huge for sure.
So we're really excited.
About this group of guys that we have, you know, out wide for us and you know, at tight end especially. So we've been saying it for a long time, but people think I always give the quarterback answer. I was telling the media on Tuesday that you know, I believe in all of our guys, but I truly do. And you know, I'm willing to throw it to whoever because at the end of the day, I know they're gonna make a play for me.
I look at your guys backfield, and whether it's Tyler Walker or Evan Pryor, I just can't imagine a defense having to negotiate who's getting the ball, because, make no mistake about it, Walker doesn't want to run around you.
He wants to run through you.
That's demoralizing for a corner or a secondary player coming up to make a tackle and then all of a sudden, Evan Pryor's got the ability to bounce one or to make you miss and then take one the distance You've got the ability to run. How much does it put on a defense though, when you've got that that power and the speed that can hit in the backfield on any given day, Yeah, I mean.
It puts a ton of stress on you and especially you know, like you said, I am able to move a little bit, which makes it harder on the defense back to account for me. And then it gives our guys, you know, one less body to have to worry about. Hopefully, if I can take somebody away in the run game and you know, our guys do a really good job in one on one situations and making people miss, running through people, whatever that may be.
So just I think, I think, especially.
In our back quote right now, we have a ton of different different threats and stuff that we present. Like you just said, Leads a little bit more power back, but he can shake you.
Evans more of a home run hitter.
And then I don't even know what you want to call me, but I can run a little bit.
So that definitely helps now.
And then just a pass game obviously being explosive right now is helping the run.
Game as well. So if we can keep that going.
I think we're going to be a really tough offense to stop.
It's just up to us to continue to execute and make sure that we're we're on our.
P's and q's.
The first SAT giving up of the season happened against Kansas. I thought it was just the right play call at the right time for Kansas. They brought a pressure when you guys were running. A little play action makes it a little bit tougher to block. But the offensive line up front. You look at your running numbers, you look at the passing game numbers, you look at your ability to stay clean at times in the pocket. How important is that group up front, Ben.
I mean, they've been they've been a huge help for us this year, especially you know in the past game in the Run game. You know, they've been doing a really good job of blogging for the Run, and then they've been doing an excellent job of of walking and protecting for the Past. That one sack is is very unfortunate because, like you know, on a little boot leg like that, the old line really doesn't have anything to do with it, So that was unfortunate.
I was I was trying to do everything.
I could to throw it away on you know, avoid that sack, especially.
For the big guy's sake.
But you know, they're playing really well up front and couldn't be.
Happier for that group.
I love that group of guys, and you know, I hope they continue to love me and protect me throughout the rest of the season. I'm gonna try to take care of them as much as possible because they're putting their bodies in the line.
Every player.
Well, as long as you keep getting to these steak dinners, I think they're gonna they're gonna take care of you. You said earlier in the week that after wins, you're taking the offensive lineman to Jeff Rubies.
Is that right?
I take them there. I try to take them there after every win.
You know, obviously Jeff Rubis is a very top spot in Cincinnati, so it's kind of tough to get reservations, but they usually look us up.
So are you we talking just the starting five linemen or any lineman that plays in the game. How how do you decide who gets.
To go us?
It's any lineman that plays in the game.
So after after the Northwestern State we had to make some adjustments.
We had boys I don't know, I don't know about this.
One, but no, it was, uh, it's usually any lineman that plays in the game, and you know, we try to make sure that they're taken care of because they're doing a heck of a job up for sure.
They're pushing for those those heavy linemen sets. Then they want to they want to get six to seven linemen in the game.
Oh yeah, No, they're they're trying. They're trying to coach.
Carbo keeps trying to throw other guys in there.
I'm like, hey, we don't, we don't need to keep going this thing.
That is Tony Pike with Brendan Soresby. Just a really impressive dude, really really good conversation. You can find the whole thing on the iHeartRadio app with Tony and Brendan. And obviously a huge game. If he keeps playing the way he's playing, the Bearcats definitely have a chance to knock off Iowa State tomorrow. Coming up in the final hour, we go Off the Beaten Path your sports bucket list five one, three, seven, four, nine thousand. That's after the News on seven hundred WLW.
The following takes place between eight pm and nine pm.
I Hello, and welcome in to the final hour of Sports Talk seven hundred WLW.
My name's Austin Elmore.
Happy to be with you on this lovely Friday night in Cincinnati, the tri State and the world. And Lance typically does an off the Beaten Path topic on Fridays, and you know, I wanted to join in on that. I wanted to, in the spirit of that, do an off the Beaten path topic, and I figured, you know what, next week, I am going to something off of my sports bucket list that I am unbelievably excited about. And I want to know about your experiences, your sports bucket list.
What have you crossed off your list? What have you added to your list? What have you you know? What do you have planned to cross off your list? I, of course I am talking about next week when the Bengals play the Green Bay Packers. I'm going up to lambeau Field. I'm so excited about this. This is like the mecca of football. One of the oldest stadiums, one of the most historic stadiums in this small and sleepy town in
Wisconsin that is literally all Green Bay Packer football. It is woven into the culture there, and so I'm doing the whole experience.
I'm going up a few days early.
I'm going to tour the stadium, I'm gonna check out the Packers Hall of Fame, and then I'm just gonna explore. I've been making a list of different restaurants that I want to try, people I want to try to get in touch with when I'm there, the whole nine yards, just to experience this little town that loves football so much, in this historic stadium, which is just a bowl all the way around, and I can't wait to check it out.
So if you've been I would love any recommendations you have for me, or if you have recently crossed something off your sports bucket list or are about to, or just want to tell me what's at the top.
Of your list. I'd love to hear from you.
Five one, three, seven, four, nine, seven thousand is the phone number. Now I don't know that this is at the top of my list, it definitely is towards the top for me. My number one is still Augusta National Golf Club. I want to go to the Masters. I want to experience the grounds at Augusta. I have been able to cross off one off my sports bucket list, and that is Ohio State Michigan. The game the top rivalry in my opinion, in all of sports, and I'm an Ohio State fan. So I wanted to go to
the game at Michigan. I wanted to experience the big house and the fans and the whole nine yards, and so I got to do that at in twenty nineteen, right before you know they shut it down with COVID and then really right because actually the last time Ohio State beat Michigan, I was there and I was blown away by how cool that place was. And I don't have many nice things to say about the folks in ann Arbor. I mean, there is a true hatred there
for that university. But the stadium was pretty dankole and I think about that all the time, that moment walking into it, and then just the feeling that you get when you're in an.
Environment like that.
My producer, Drew wester Heidi he and I were talking about this on the break. Drew, what what's at the top of your sports bucket list?
Well, Augusta National for one, Now, that is the that is the top. That is the peak. But how attainable that is? So the top attainable one I have is Fenway Park. Oh, that's a great one in Boston.
It is.
I think it's for my money, it's the coolest ballpark in the country. The history around it, just how it's you know, changed so much, but also kept like the original design of it. Seeing the Green Monster in person, that whole like area around the ballpark is really cool. So that that is at the top of my attainable sports bucket list. That's cool. Have you ever been to Wrigley Field. I've been to Wrigley Field. I've not seen
a baseball game at Wrigley Field. I've been to a concert at Wrigley Field, but I'm I'm hoping to scratch that one off. Next season. The Reds have a road series in Chicago towards the I think believe it's in August, so we're gonna try and get that one crossed off. I know, if you'd have told twelve year old Drew, hey, when you go to the first the first time you ever go to Wrigley Field, it's gonna be for a concert, not a baseball game, twelve year old me may have like broke down crime.
Yeah, that's so.
But what's cool about Wrigley and I would assume is the same about Fenway Park, is it feels like you're walking back in time. Yes, it's like a time machine because so much of it is the exact same and the ivy and it hasn't changed.
Really.
I went once before they renovated it and once after they renovated it to Wrigley and it's still like the same feeling. It really is like walking into a time machine.
It's amazing.
Let's go to the phones five one, three, seven, four, nine, seven thousand. Let's go to Glenn in Cincinnati. What's up, Glenn, Hey, not much. How you doing tonight? I'm wonderful man. What's on your mind?
Great?
Not much, Hey, you've been been very blessed. Been to Augusta National for uh oh practic and the regular rounds. That's a side that you've got to take and if you if you ever get the opportunity. But great story. You were just talking about Lambeau. We had an opportunity to go up there a few weeks ago for the Thursday night game against the Washington Commanders.
Although I still call him the redskin kid.
Yeah, and great story. But first of all, you got to take in the sights. I'm glad you're gonna get into the museum. But so we were in the in the seats on the lower area and there was a medical emergency enough to make fun of that, and a gentleman was having a really bad time.
We had to carry him up to the to the tunnel.
The EMTs came and was working on him and he was in kind of bad shape. But ten minutes later is his buddy who was with him comes back down.
He's set in his seats.
And I looked over and I said, hey man.
I said, how's your friend?
What's going on?
He goes, well, he.
Seems to be doing all care.
Now they're take him to the hospital, he said, But I drove two and a half hours to come watch the game. So I'm gonna get them that after the after the game's arm and gonna pick them up.
That's awesome. I came all this way to watch a game at Lambeau. I canna go to the hospital with my friend. He got the doctors there, he's fine.
That's exactly what he said. And we just looked each other and laughed, you know.
And and I'm a Bengals fans, but obviously my customer gave me the tickets and couldn't turn down the opportunity.
But that's awesome. But glad to hear you're going. You're gonna love it.
Great fans.
They don't care if you're opposing team. They treat you with respect. There was three women, older women setting in front of us, and they would come out to the formation and these women were calling the plays and the formations those anybody.
Else they know they're football man, Yeah, they sure do. But glad to hear your going. Hope you have a good time, Glenn, Thank you very much. I appreciate that. Yeah, I mean the Packers and like their season tickets is like legendary. I don't know if you know the story, but you know, people when their babies are born immediately put them on the Packers' season ticket waiting list. Has actually saw a tweet this morning from Darren Revel, the
sports business reporter used to be with ESPN. He's now with collect Media, and he said he started an experiment nineteen years ago, in two thousand and six, he put his name on the Packers season ticket waiting list just to see how much his name moves.
Over the years.
So in two thousand and six when he put his name on the list, he was seventy three thousand, two hundred and fifty seventh, seventy three thousand, two hundred and fifty seventh. Nineteen years later he got his updated report. He gets one every year, but here nineteen years later, in twenty twenty five, he is at forty eight thousand, six hundred and sixty ninth. So he's moved up twenty five thousand spots in twenty years and is still forty
eight thousand spots away for Packers to season tickets. That's unbelievable. Let's go to Doug in Cincinnati. What's up, Doug?
In twenty years and it's still forty eight.
Oh, Doug's gonna catch up in just a second. He's listening to me. Hey, Doug, what's up?
Well?
I was calling about sports, and I would like people to think that our sports are us running marathons, running or.
Haddling.
Sports are us.
I like that, Doug, Thank you very much. Let's go to Jeff in Virginia. Jeff beat that.
Jeff and Kenwood Rightwood. I went went over to Indian Hill to catch our stud quarterback and it's forty two to nothing at halftime. So I'm right down the street from you, getting ready to get some ice cream.
Right here, you Gov, But.
Much like yourself, I'm going to Lambeau next Sunday. I've never been. I'm really blessed. My list is so short. I've been to World Series, SEC Championship games, Stanley Cup, Super Bowls. Yeah, when the Caps made that run in twenty nineteen, I got to go to one of those games between the Reds and the Nats. With the World Series. I've been really, really blessed. But next year I just found out last month I won the lottery for the
British Open and I was looking at the calendar. I'm going to try to pull off the trifecta of Wimbledon F one race and the British Open if possible.
That's like a sneaky good one would be Wimbledon.
Yeah, any F one race is probably the top of my list right now, but none of none of the ones they're in the US. I want to go to one of the ones in Europe. But if I can squeeze that out in three weeks and maybe even jump over and catch the Tour de France for one day, that would be about as good as it gets, I think.
Yeah, I don't know that.
Well.
And plus, while I'm the two days I'm at the British Open are the semifinals of the World Cup, and heaven forbid, England is in the semifinals.
Of the World Cup.
It'll it'll make the Ryder Cup last weekend look like a little baby's crib if England's in the in the Ryder Cup.
Yes, yeah, that's that's awesome.
Great topic. Yeah, great topic. Thanks for hosting Austin.
Yeah, Jeff, thanks for calling in. I appreciate that and I. I'm sure we'll see each other in Green Bay. Yeah, I mean, I mean that that's hard to beat. I have one of our co workers got to golf at Royal Liverpool, which I mean, that's pretty tough to be.
That's another on my list, yeah, is to play the old course Saint Andrews. Yes, which is which is attainable. That is That's what I was thinking, that that is attainable. So that in terms of you know, Doug was talking about like sports that we actually do. I have a long list of golf courses that I would love I would love to play.
Now.
I was just thinking, I'm going to play Augusta the seventh at Pebble Beach and yeah, like Pebble Beach would be on that list.
Probably.
There's there's a ton of golf courses that I would love to play throughout the world.
You know, our guy Bill Cunningham, Willie, he had an opportunity to play Augusta National and he turned it down to interview a political leader.
Well, the next time I see Willie, I might just smack him up. That's what I told him. I said, I've lost all respect for you. I won't name the political leader that he interviewed. I don't want to call it. That's not that this isn't that type of show. But he had been waiting for years, and he the way he told the story to me at least, was the person that his contact at Augusta had called him and said, we can get you on. You fly down tomorrow morning
at you know, seven am. We get there, you golf, you fly back, you're back home at eight, eight o'clock at night. It was a The whole thing was a thirteen hour ordeal. And he's had to say no, I mean, that's incredible. Can't believe.
Let's go to Mount Orab and talk to Mike. Mike, what's on your sports bucket list?
Hey, Austin, thanks taking my call.
I was a friend of mine.
He went to every single major league park.
In the United States, and him and his son did And I'm telling you what, father and son to take trips like that.
That's just awesome.
That would be that would be great.
That is really cool.
I've I've met a lot of people because I go to a lot of baseball games. I went to to twenty five Reds games this year, and I saw him on the road a few times. And I went to the Bristol Debacle and all that, and there are so many people that they they set out to do that over the course of a single summer, and that just sounds like so much fun to me to go to all those balls.
Yeah, yeah, that would be great.
Do you do you have a favorite ballpark, Mike.
I'd like to see Fenway, be honest, Yeah, that would be That would be a good one. Yeah.
I'm right there with you, Mike. Thank you for the phone call.
All right, thanks luck guy.
That's good stuff there.
I mean the ballparks that I would most want to go to, not besides Fenway Park, Oracle Park in San Francisco looks really cool. That looks like one of those picturesque different level of ballparks. Yankee Stadium doesn't have the same allure that the old Yankee Stadium had to me the new one. And I know people that have been to that stadium and they say it's fine, it's nothing special. But yeah, talking sports bucket lists right here on Sports
Talk seven hundred WLW. Got a little bit of time before the news, and it would behoove me not to be late again. I don't want to upset Jack Crumley. I'm Austin Omore. This is Sports Talk. We're off the beaten path on a Friday night talking about sports bucket lists. Because I'm going to lambeau Field next week. We'll continue the conversation half the news. We do have a minute or so here to talk to Dick in Dayton. Hello, Richard, what's up?
Hello Austin, How are you, buddy?
I'm wonderful man. What's going on? What are you up to tonight?
Well?
Nothing, I'm just watching TV. But was telling your screener. I think the bucket list I would want to do is I have much music and my friends. I would love to go to Nashville, Oh, perform down there, maybe as a group, you know, maybe go to the Kentucky Bluegrass Festival.
Okay, but what about like like what about like the Grand Old Opry.
That'd be kind of cool.
Oh yeah yeah, woa yeah yeah. But another thing too, I was honored that I got to meet with Dave. I think that was one of the best things the iHeartRadio in Cincinnati to meet you guys there.
You know, like, yeah, that was that was one of your bucket lists. You got to come down here and meet all of us and.
Hang out for a couple of guys.
Yeah, yeah, I haven't talked to Dave, but I thought that would be and then, uh, you know, in my musical career, I'm making a lot of friends. But I'd say that's a pretty good bucket list.
That's a that's a great one.
Dick.
Thanks for the call, buddy. Okay, Yeah, you know, Dick is a huge fan of us and listens to us all the time, so it was a pleasure to meet him a couple of months back. We'll take a break, we'll continue. I just thought of two more for my bucket list. Michael is in Lynchburg. We'll talk to him as well. This is Sports Talk on a Friday night, seven hundred WLW.
You're WLW high.
I'm Austin Elmore with you for the next twenty minutes in for Lance McAllister coming up after the nine o'clock news. That'll be our friend Sterling. Sterling will take you up to midnight tonight here on the big one off the beaten Path. We're talking sports bucket lists in honor of my trip to lambeau Field next week to watch the Bengals and the Packers. And although I don't have high expectations for the Bengals. I do have high expectations for
lambeau Field and crossing that off my bucket list. I was thinking of another one too, the Rose Bowl. The Rose Bowl would just be chef's kiss for me. Don't even care whose plan doesn't have to be my Ohio State Buckeyes that setting Pasadena, California, January first, to go to the Rose Parade, the whole experience. How awesome would that be? To go to the the big stealth bomber that flies over, that would be so sick. Let's go
to Lynchburg. Let's talk to Michael, find out what's on his sports bucket list.
What's up, Michael, Hey, Als, how you doing tonight?
I'm wonderful man.
So I have been to two of my bucket lists. I have been to Cubs and Reds game at Wrigley Field and we sat out on the bleachers. It was so much fun, got very fun.
Those people in the bleachers are crazy at Wrigley Field.
Yes, yes there. But I've also been to a Nordre Dame game twice at Norda me chills man. And my next one I want to do. I want to go to WrestleMania.
Oh, okay, that's a I kind of forgot about that. I was in Phoenix one year when WrestleMania was at State Farm Stadium there in Glendale. I did not go to the event, but the setup for it was insane. I'd never seen anything like that. That's a good one. That may reminds me two of the Western the Waste Management open out there in Phoenix, which is a crazy golf turned especially that was it the sixteenth hole or whatever that is. That's awesome though, I mean Notre Dame, so like, who did they play?
The first game I went to, they played in Massachusetts, and then the second one I went to, they played the Miami Hurricane.
Okay, that's pretty cool.
My brother, my brother is a Hurricane sand and I got thrubbing in a safe that Dame won that game.
So a little bit of trash talk that that's off. That's a great one, Michael, thanks for calling man, Thank you.
Yeah.
Notre Dame legendary stadium. I mean I don't I don't have like any real connection to Notre Dame or like, but that is that. That's I think in the same vein as lambeau Field in the sense of like just a historic venue for what it means to college football and the history of college football. I feel that way a little bit about Ohio Stadium as well. If you've
never been inside Ohio Stadium, you should go. Even if you hate Ohio State, and I know a lot of people here do, but just the enormity of Ohio Stadium and how big it feels when one hundred thousand are all cheering is hard to beat. And I'm sure Notre Dame is very similar. Drew, you said you had another one that you got to experience.
Yes, the Lahina Civic Center in Maui for the Maui Invitational.
That's a good one.
College basketball enters the Fray the Maui Invitational, Yes, the first tournament of the year basically right.
Pretty much, Yes, so you always know it's over Thanksgiving week. I've been lucky to lucky enough to go out there twice. I went in twenty nineteen oh when Dayton had that very very good team. They played Kansas in the final, who was also I believe they were the number three ranked team at the time. So you basically saw a final four game and what is essentially high school gym that's crazy. It is because there was no Final four that year. That's right, correct, that that was the COVID year.
And that game was just it was so loud. The sound was just reverberating everywhere around you. You know you're sitting it literally is because like one side of the arena was Dayton fans and then the other side of the arena were Kansas fans. A high schools, yeah, like a true high school game, but it was two high
level college basketball teams playing against each other. And then I also crossed off playing the Plantation Course in Conna Pauli, which is where the kapelou excuse me, which is where the PGA Tournament of Champions is always held in January. So I got to play that this past event that is in Maui. Yes, so I got to do that this past time.
This do you have a home there all the time? Twice in six years.
And my dad, who was a University of Dayton graduate, you know, he's he's sixty five years old. We went out in twenty nineteen and he told us he goes, well, guys, whenever Dayton's out here, I'm coming out here, told dead.
So if you guys want to come. You let me know.
That's a good move right there. So that's yes, that's the couple that I've gotten across.
Yeah, Mauley is in and of itself a bucket list I'm sure for a lot of people. And yeah, college basketball. I've been to some First four games in Dayton, so I guess the NCAA Tournament you can cross that off. I know it's not the exact same environment, the exact
same thing you're looking for. It did make me think, though, a Duke North Carolina game at Cameron Indoor in that stadium would be pretty cool because that's another really intimate, really small venue that is a huge part of college basketball. So that's one that comes from I'm trying to think, like a an NBA Finals game. It obviously depends on the team and the player, whether that be like a Michael like a Lebron James.
I guess that would be kind of cool.
I have been to Cameron Indoor, yes, when I was very young. I was I think I was six or seven years old. Maybe Dayton played there. I believe it's two thousand and three. If you can't well, if you can't tell, Drew is a big Daton fan.
That's true.
I believe that was like the Reddick team, like JJ, like that team was really really good. We went to so we went to that game. We got to see a game there. Awesome place. Like you know, it's kind of the same principles as you have put at Ohio Stadium, but different because of how small it is. Sure like Cameron Indoor is a is a small gym, but it's
you know, the history. You walk into it, you can you know, you just see, Yeah, you look out on the court and you just think about all the moments that have happened on that on that floor.
Yeah, that's a that's cool. That's a really good one.
Let's go back to the phones five one, three, seven, nine, seven thousand sports bucket lists on this off the beaten path on a Friday night. Let's go to Franklin and talk to Wayne. Wayne, what's up?
Hey, I got two that I got to cross off my list, all right, hit me one with the Kentucky Derby, Oh great one. Yeah, and the other one was the Indianapoli Spike hundred.
Yes, that's another good one.
Now, did you go to the infield at the NDY five hundred because I've heard that place and of itself is is it just a ridiculous experience?
It's a zoom that's the only.
Thing you can say.
It's not for a children under eighteen.
So what was like take me through the Kentucky Derby, Like, what was that?
Like?
What was your favorite part?
Uh?
Probably about an hour before it's post time, seeing all that, how people dress. You have a women in their hat, a drinking of the mint ju look, which I didn't try. I stuck with bourbon. It was just the whole abbiance of it.
Yeah, kind of like the the experience of just like participating in this thing with everyone.
Yeah, all right, well great show, buddy.
Yeah, Wayne, thank you, I appreciate. That's a good one. I had written down Kentucky Derby. I hadn't talked about it yet. I've never been to like a legit horse race. I've been to like some of the smaller ones, and admittedly I don't know very much about horse racing or gambling or anything when it comes to that sense. But yeah, Kentucky Derby, I mean the just the image of the building, I guess is the best way to say it. The I don't know if it's a clubhouse or this this
what am I thinking of the stables? That's what I'm trying to say, the stables. Let's go to John and Cincinnati. What's up, John?
I have an unusual one.
My daughter made it to the American Ninja Warrior, and I'd like to see her real show.
Yeah.
She beat out a lady that actually was on this show, which I think was cool. Yeah, and then when she was offered to go up there, she couldn't. She says she's going to try again. She couldn't because she had an important exam. Oh my god, damn, this exam couldn't can be repeated, Right, you didn't take you can say that day she would have been out.
Wow, that's it's a poll bolter.
So certain mountain climbers I think make make good and poll all kinds of Yeah, different sports people make it to the show.
Yeah, that's fascinating, John, thank you for the call. That's a really good one. I hadn't thought about that, like, uh, the I mean just the sheer strength, that's that. That sort of stuff takes. Which he talked about pole vaulting and kind of those other different Olympic style sports, which brings up the Olympics. How could you not want to go to the Olympics, Like specifically Olympic swimming. I think would be really cool. To watch track and field I'm
enamored with. I love to watch track and field when that's in season. Some of the other like Olympic sports like speed.
Skating, I think would be cool.
I might just be nerding out on that one, but speed skating or a hockey Olympic hockey, just especially after what we saw with the four nations face off last year, that would be kind of cool. All right, now we're getting into it. Let's go to Brooksville, Kentucky and talk to Matt.
What's up, Matt, Hey, how are you doing.
I'm wonderful. What's on your mind?
Well?
I have two off my bucket list and I've got one that I can just say I did.
It, Okay, hit me.
The two bucket lists was the Kentucky Derby. It was the year that affirmed one the triple crown and him and aladar Ran, Neck and net Man. They're all three races.
That's cool, that's really cool.
The other was Municipal Stadium in Cleveland. It wasn't for a sporting event. I got to see the rolling Stones council pair.
That's awesome, that's really cool.
Yeah, and then the one, the one a couple of the Municipal stadium, it's not there. The third one is just to say I did it. I've been there many times. I thought the place was pasted. Cincinnati Gardens.
Yeah, you know, I got to go to sin Cincinnati Gardens once and I think it was for like a Cincinnati Jungle Cats game, like Arena football. But I thought it was a really cool place. It was kind of old obviously at that point, but yeah, that's a good.
But I was there to see hockey games, saw to Xavier basketball games there, saw the Shrine circus there two or three times, and I just love the place.
Yeah, that's cool.
There's there's a lot of people in matt thank you for the phone call that I've heard over the years that have spoken glowingly at their memories of the Cincinnati Gardens, especially back when the Royals were there way back in the day in the NBA, which it kind of makes me think now he mentioned Xavier basketball. I have lived in this city and been in this business for nearly
ten years now. I have not been to a crosstown shootout between Xavier and Cincinnati, and obviously that they're they're back and have been for a while now on campus for each that would be really cool. That would be cool to see, just because I get to experience it every day, the true dislike for one another between Xavior and Cincinnati. That would be cool to see. Let's go out to Batavia, Batavia and talk to Joe. What's up, Joe?
Hey, how are we doing?
I'm great man.
Uh So I want to set this up. So me and my.
Brother, well half brother whatever, grew up, whatever got tickets, got tickets to that. I think it was the Bengals and Cardinals maybe.
But we went to the game.
Where Jerome Simpson did the summersault.
Yes, yes, I was there. Me and my brother were there. We were at the opposite end zone.
All I saw were his feet in the air, I over the heads of everybody else.
Where we were sitting.
We had to look up at the jumbo tron and we saw him do the summersault and it was insane. Me and my brother we high five, We hugged like we we made up for all our past transgressions.
That was That was Christmas Eve. If I'm not mistaken it was.
It was, Yeah, it was.
It was awesome.
Yeah, that's a great, Thanks Joe, that's a great that's a sports moment there. I was at that game as well, and it was a Christmas Eve game. I want to say this was twenty eleven. I think it was Andy Dalton's rookie year that Jerome Simpson gets the ball in this crosser route, gets a block, is running to the end zone and just flips over a guy. If you're a Cincinnati sports fan, you've seen the clip a thousand times.
I was lucky.
We were six rows up in that corner of the end zone, so I saw it, like with the naked eye right in front of me, clear as day, and could not believe what I had just seen. I mean, that was That was one of those moments where you're like, what the heck is happening. Another one that comes to mind when you think of a moment was the two thousand and nine Bengals opener against the Denver Broncos. The Bengals had been awful on offense all day long, and
Cedric Benson scores a touchdown with twelve seconds left. I want to say, or it might have been like thirty thirty five seconds left and Denver with I believe Kyle Orton as their quarterback throws one up. It's tipped by Leon Hall, caught by Brandon Stokely, taken to the house. Gus Johnson loses his marbles in the broadcast booth and Cincinnati loses the opener. I think the final score was
twelve to seven. You want to talk about some heartbreak right there for a young man like me, Let's go to Pat in Dayton.
We you got Pat.
Hey, what's up man? I was just about fifteen years ago. I went to a sugar Shane Moseley ooh, and caught for guests boxing match in Vegas.
Huh.
And you want to talk about saying, where you're in a stadium and you've never seen a place like that in arena and the way the punch is hitt, I mean you can hear them from everywhere in that place. And the other thing, it's a smaller arena and you brush shoulders with I mean, my nephew was like twelve at the time and he got pictures with the vander Holyfield, Rashid Wallace. Oh my god, he had no clue who these people were, but I'm.
Like, man, get a picture.
I'm like a picture that's Vander Holyfield, Like look.
At his ear.
Oh, Christian Slater and you know all these celebrities that you're just walking by you. It was blew me away.
Yeah, that's a great one. Thank you for the call, Pat, that's really good. I hadn't thought about a boxing match, but I've heard that in the past, like with NFL games, like you don't realize how violent it is unless you're on the sidelines and you can like hear them hitting each other. I never would have thought about that with boxing, but that's a great observation one that I did not think of. If somebody brought to the table at the time,
fight would be really really cool. Yeah, yeah, that would be cool, especially in those those types of arenas. We got time for one more. Let's talk to John and Anderson. John, you're finishing it off tonight. What do you got for us?
Thanks?
Brother.
I got two of them boats baseball related. The first one trip to Cooperstown to see Mark and get inducted.
Oh, that was just awesome.
Uh.
And the next I got to see the Red Steet the Red Sox at Senway.
Oh.
I've heard a lot of good things about Cooperstown, and you got to be there for a red being inducted. That's even cooler than normal.
Oh man, you're bumping elbows with all the greats just walking down the street. Can't put a price.
On that because it's a really small town, right, It's just that it's basically just the Hall of Fame.
Oh yeah, it's the smallest town. It's just little stores here and there, little rep Thank you, aunt. I mean you're walking in and Pete Rose is walking down the street next to you, Eric Davis down the hall.
Yeah, it was awesome.
That's cool John, Thank you. Man, I appreciate the.
Call, no problem, thank you.
That is that's good stuff.
I was hoping that the topic would take off a little bit and we'd get to hear some sports bucket listen, and gladly we did, and there were some good ones in there, and definitely some ones that I hadn't thought of. So I appreciate everybody for being a part of the show that way. I'm out of time, though, which means I going to turn things over to Sterling. Sterling's going to take you up nine to midnight. If you liked what you heard tonight. You can hear me weekdays from
noon to three on ESPN fifteen thirty. I co host Cincy three sixty over there with Tony Pike. I also have a podcast. It's a Bengals podcast. It's called Ball Don't Lie. It's available wherever you get your podcast. You can also follow me on all social media at audiel more au, T y E L M O R E my. Thanks to Sean McMahon and Drew Wester Heidi for producing this show tonight. Sterling is next right here on the home of the best Bengals coverage, News Radio seven hundred WLW, Cincinnati