Bengals Booth Podcast: Child of Mine

Hi, get everybody. I'm Dan Hord, and thanks for downloading The Bengals Booth Podcast the Whoa Whoah, Sweet Child Mind edition as we bring you a special Father's Day episode featuring Jimmy Burrow, Dad of Joe, and Jimmy Chase, dad of Jamar. The Bengals Booth Podcast is brought to you by Bengals Picks and Ultimate Bengals. They're free to play with tickets and sign merchandise up for grabs. Find both

The upper deck.

It was a movie set come to life, and to that point, it was, without question, the highlight of my life. Here's another great sports memory with my dad. When I was about fourteen or fifteen years old, he took me on a weekend golf trip, even though he almost never played. It was about an hour drive and the course wasn't particularly memorable, but we played golf for three straight days, ate every meal at restaurants, shared a hotel room, and watched sports on TV at night. It remains one of

Well, you know, third, fourth, fifth grade, he was We're in a small town, so he was the best athlete in his age group. So but as I said, there's not many many people here, so he kind of take that with a grain of salt. And then as he started playing baseball, basketball and football, just started having a lot of success. And and you know, he would he would hit home runs and score a lot of points

Jimmy Chase, how about you?

Oh?

I want to say it started like around seven, eight, nine years old. He's playing basketball and this is his first year playing basketball, and all the other kids had been on the team already and he was the newest one on the team. So they put him on a team with the guys that wasn't that good, okay, and it was like one against five. Jamo just took it to the whole team, you know, and I was like, wow, this little boy is crazy. And then every year it just happened over and over again.

You know, we've all heard stories about dads training their kids at an early age, sometimes excessively. So what did each of you guys do to aid in your son's development? Jimmy Chase, how about you go first on this one.

Well, I had Jamaal on a rigorous workout at an early age. Okay, he was doing push ups. Every time I got in trouble, I made him do push ups. And you know, I think that developed his work ethic over the years, you know, because I always had him training, I always had him working out. I always had him doing something to showing up his craft at an early age.

Jimmy Burrow, Well, he played so many different sports.

I guess you know, we were just as a as a parent, we were there, you know, being positive and supporting him certainly as he got older.

We would watch some film here and there, here and there.

To a lot of times when I was coaching, I couldn't watch his his uh a lot of his early age football games, whether it was third fourth grade, and and we'd sit down and watch it, uh kind of have fun with it, you know. I didn't grind him and say, hey, you know, Monday night at eight o'clock, we're going to watch film or something like that we just kind of uh did it periodically. And and the good thing about Joe and I think Jamar is the

Hey you got to go to practice today.

I mean they wanted to go to practice, they wanted to get better, and they wanted to hang out with the friends. And so that all all added up to to just being there for for.

Joe and when when he needed us.

How insanely competitive were they as kids? And here's a key question. When you played against them, whether it was a board game, whether it was shooting free throws, whatever, did you let them win? Jimmy Burrow, you go first?

Not really, But it didn't take long for me not to have a choice in h in those type things. But that was the one thing I guess I I saw at an early age how competitive.

Uh he was. He he wasn't a very good loser. Uh.

You know, you try to teach sportsmanship, but uh, I think he respected his opponents and their their coaches.

And but you know he was a terrible loser.

And and uh really still is and that's just part of his competitive fire and and uh but he had he had teammates and friends like that too, so uh, you know that that was good for for his whole early stages in athletics.

Did you let jamar win? Oh?

I tried not to.

Okay, he has a real, real serious competitive edge, right. Jamal used to cry when he lose, right, He used to blow a gasket. And I used to have to kind of like control at it because if he's losing or he's behind, he gets so furious he starts crying and he goes bananas. So I had to like kirktail that at an early age. That was my biggest thing, like,

You know.

I asked him to show me how to play the PlayStation game, and he said, you press the A button and you press the B button, right, But they had more buttons, and I'm like, you're pressing all them buttons, you know, so.

Like we couldn't play together because he didn't want to lose to me. You know, I didn't want to lose to him.

So your son's awry that lsu together or at the same time. Basically in twenty eighteen, Jamar was a freshman, Joe was a transfer from Ohio State. Do you remember hearing your son talk about the other dad's son for the first time? And what did they say, Jimmy, Chase you go first?

Well, I told Joe got there before us, right, And I told Jamal they got this quarterback named Joe Burrow.

He's coming down. He's like, yeah, I don't know that, dude. I don't want to go down, you know.

So like he didn't really talk about Joe. He didn't know much about Joe, you know. And it didn't happen until they got that till he got that with him, But prior to that, he wasn't really concerned about Joe.

When did Joe start telling you about Jamar?

Well, I mean soon his practice really started when Jamar was there.

I mean he knew he had Jamar.

He said, I got some special special guys at receiver. It's just a matter of you know, getting us all together and and uh he said, Jamar, I think was it was a freshman, so uh it took him a.

While to to really jail and come together.

But uh then then after that that first year in the summer, Joe he just said that he he had a chance to in his teammates and his team had had a real chance to to be, uh be special. And and he always knew, you know, Jamar was once they started working together, that they they had a had a bond that that it's it's just hard to explain, and it's hard to get that bond with with quarterback and receiver, but they they had had it fairly quickly, and and uh, you know, it gets it's fun to watch,

So the following year L s U might have been the greatest team in college football history. That go fifteen and oh, Joe wins the Heisman, throws sixty touchdown passes, Jamar wins the Blitakoff Award, he catches twenty touchdowns that season. What was that like for you two guys as parents, Joe Burrow or Jimmy Burrow rather you go first, Well, it was.

You know, it was a lot. I mean, there was a lot going on.

We're trying to to interview agents, you know, I interviewed fourteen.

Robin and I here here in Athens. We're going to all the games.

I had retired, so that made it easy for me to get to the games. Robin was still working, but she had gone to all of them anyway, So it was just an exciting time to be a part of it.

And then you said, might be.

The greatest team. It is the greatest team. So that's you'd have trouble convincing Jimmy, Chase and I otherwise. But just to watch that team grow, it's really the first team. And I coached for many years and watched a lot of lot of teams, it's the first team that I ever saw that literally got better every game. I mean the second game they were better than the first. The National Championship, they.

Were just better as a team. And that's offense and defense.

So combine all that with all the awards, you know, we had Baton Rouge, Lsu, Tailgates or the best, you know, the Chasers have so much going on. Being from New Orleans, we didn't really get that close until really.

We got here.

But We were good friends there and tried to spend time. But those tailgates are are are just unbelievable and we have our own now and the Chases are part of it and we.

Really become close as a family.

What was twenty nineteen like for the Chase family.

Was it was crazy and it was amazing at the same time. You know, like Joe, like Jimmy said, you know, the tailgates started it off.

That was an all day event. But then we would go.

To the games, and then the games would be like crazy, right. We would see jim and Robin at the game. They would be on one end of the role or in front of us. As soon as Joe DROs Jamaar touchdown, they turned around and screaming and holler. Sometimes we were sitting next to each other, but we were so into our own kids at the same time.

You know, it was like it was crazy.

But you know that year, the practices were better than the games, right, the practices, right, I'm like, Joe won me over in practice because every time a fight broke out, Joe was in the middle of the fight, okay.

And I'm like, man, this dude here, this dude is not regular.

You know what I'm saying, But because we had a good d fence that year and the defensive.

They were hard nosed that Joe was going toe to toe with him.

But you know, that year was so crazy, and you know, every year, like Jimmy said, every game, it got better and better. Right, So when Jamal started taking off, you know, everybody was getting excited. And I just told my wife, I'm like, you don't understand what's going on right now, Like this dude is playing on a big stage, like in the National.

Championship game and kind of like leading the team.

And you know, it's like this is awesome, you know, So it really like took off. It was thee They were the best college team ever.

You know, they are back back at LSU.

You know I started when we'd see each other and he maybe again, like he said five rows.

From us or whatever, and I, uh, he'd say, what do you think?

And I'd say we got to have three today from Jamar or two and he'd.

Either agree with me or he'd add one. A lot.

So we kind of still still do that and and and that that relationship between Joe and Jamar. I'll give you another example. After the National championship game. You know, they they snapped the ball. Joe has the ball and uh later that that night, because that that ball is pretty.

Valuable, uh national championship ball. And I said, uh, uh hey, Joe, where's that ball? I want to take it home with us and stuff.

And he said, I gave it to Jamar And I said, you want gave it to Jamar? I said, uh, you know, your dad might have liked that. And he said, Dad, Jamar had like one hundred and fifty yards passing yards that day or something.

He deserves that ball. So that's that's just again, how how those two guys roll together.

Yeah, I have that ball.

I figured out we have so many things that a lot of times our sons just they get so many different things that, uh, you know, winning is still the most important.

So we we do.

Get get a lot of things that that that maybe they they either don't have room for in their in their house choose to to to not not display it. But we'll take care of that.

So one of the happiest moments of my life as a sports fan was the semi final game against Oklahoma because at that point we know that the Bengals have the number one pick in the NFL draft. Joe goes out and throws seven touchdown passes in the first half. Jamar was completely unstoppable. Now, we didn't know that we would get Jamar at that point, but that was kind

I think for me, it's still the national championship.

You know, Joe had had lost a tough state championship game is his senior year, and so so that was always only his mind to win a championship. And then you know, we got behind fairly quickly to Clemson, so we're going, oh, no, this this could.

Be a problem.

But uh, just the way they came back and dominated and and to see all those guys on the stage, you know, that's that's about as proud as as a parent could could get to know, one they're undefeated, and two they just won the national championship and accomplished. Really, why Joe why he went to LSU was to have a chance to win that national championship.

So, uh, that was pretty incredible.

Do you have a moment, Jimmy Chase.

Yeah, I'll say it was the National championship game too, because like, Jamal has never won a championship in football. He lost the state championship in high school to Clyde Edward Hilaire. I'm still mad about that, okay, but that was his teammate. But we lost the high school championship and that was his first real championship. He didn't win anything in parkball and football he won. Jamal is a

I'm gonna tell you that, all right.

So Joe Borrow is Jeorge Jamal to ball and everybody's all exciting and dancing and singing, you know, happy because they winning and they catch the ball, and I just sat down. I was like, this is unbelievable.

You know what I'm saying.

This is the National Championship game, televised game for the championship, and my son is a big part of it.

And yeah, that was a real uh proud pop up moment for me.

Jeremy says, Joe, if you drop a ball or two, he's not going to throw it back to you. Sot, Jamal, That's true.

All right, Let's fast forward to the twenty twenty one draft. Jimmy Burrow. Did Joe tell you he's always been kind of coy about what he said to the Bengals. Did Joe tell you that he wanted the Bengals to select Jamar?

Yes?

I think we figured that and eventually, yes, he pretty much told us that he wanted Jamar and he thought, well, he just knew how good a player, how great a player he was. And you know, Jamar is not only a great football player on the field, he's a locker room and influenced too, And Joe knew how he'd fit into the culture of the Bengals and how he'd be

Not many like him, and we needed him.

And uh, that's that's who Joe wanted to draft.

Also, Jimmy Chase, were you hoping that Jamar would be reunited with Joe Burrow and Cincinnati?

No tool for those guys.

I was like, I don't know anything about Cincinnati.

They's not really that good right now, So why don't we just go to South Beach?

Right?

I could sit on the I could sit on the beach. Wise, Jamal I didn't work on the team.

Right.

But it was like a week before the draft. Jamal said that Joe text me, and I'm like, okay, he was like, so he was all excited, Jamar is real even killed, But Joe text him. He didn't say what he said, you know, but he said, Joe just texted me. So he had to Joe, like one a text with Joe once or twice that week, right, And then he told me, he said, then if I get with Joe We're gonna kill. I said, Look, I say, I like Joe and everything, but Cincinnati, Jamal, I don't know about that.

I mean, I liked Joe, I didn't like Cincinnati, you know what I'm saying.

We got with Jimmy and Talla, I think the day or two after they first got to Cincinnati, and we met up for breakfast or launch, I can't remember, and uh, we eased their their minds about how great Cincinnati was and the weather is not that bad, which you know at times they found out it is. But they had concerns, and you know, we were there for him, and like he said, they didn't know anything about Cincinnati. We at least we're two and a half hours away so and we'd been there years.

So it all worked out.

Yes, No, that was like the best thing that could happen to us, and he showed me how much did I know? You know, how much I knew about stuff, you know, because he likes doing that. But he proved me right, I mean proved me wrong. And I'm happy now. Cincinnati is the best thing that could happen to Jamal because it's the kind of town that's like right up his alley. He's not a row rock guy. He doesn't like to run the streets. He doesn't like all the hoopla.

You know.

He could just sit back and relax in Cincinnati and just enjoy it, you know, and be himself.

Jimmy Jay, Just so you know, I grew up near Buffalo. I went to college in Syracuse, New York. Cincinnati is a tropical pair nice in my opinion.

Yeah, he did move south at least I did.

Let me ask each of you about the other guy's son, Jimmy Chase, what do you admire most about Joe Burrow.

Joe is a tough competitor, right, Joe. He's a tough competitor and he's smart.

Right.

I seen it myself, Like the year his last year at LSU, I used to go to all the practice and Joe would come out of the locker room and I would be like standing on the wall by the bicycle. Joe would always get on a bicycle before practice. I never said anything to him, but you know, he was there.

I was there. He'd seen me. I seen him. But it was in the.

Fiesta bot right, Joe got cold cocked like he drew an interception and he was running to go make the tackle and the guy blindsided him. And I'm like, oh lord, it is over for us. Now, the game is over. And Joe got on his knees and he got on said this dude is getting up. And when he got up, he went nuts, right. And the thing that reminds me Jamar is the same way. If you hit him, they're gonna hit you back. And that's what I see in Joe. If you hit him, he's gonna hit you back. He's

That's all I'm gonna say about that.

Jimmy Burrow, what do you admire about Jamar.

Well, his his athleticism is it's just out of this world. I mean, if you if you see him in person, the way he's bill, the way he runs, the way he jumps. I've always said he could play linebacker, he could play running back, he can play safety, you know if if if they really wanted him to be a tight end, he could he could line up in there if they said.

Uh, but you know that's that's extraordinary.

And uh, it's it's crazy how how much how good of an athlete he is. And then and this is kind of I think the way both of them roll is is Uh. The one thing I admire about about Jamar and and it carries to Joe too, is how hard they work and how.

Much they like practice. Uh.

I mean those guys are out there joking around and and uh having fun. But then you know when when the huddle happens, you know they're all all business, but they're they're willing to work. And uh, you know a lot of people say, well, everything looks so easy for for Jamar Well, it's not because how athletic it is.

It's it's how hard he works.

To to be able to to show that athleticism So that's that's something that I think is very admirable about Jamar.

Another thing that a lot a lot of people don't know is that, you know, during the COVID year, when he set out, everybody was like, what he's going to do, how he's gonna look, he's been sitting for a whole year. Jamal did not sit for a whole year during that COVID year. When he set out, he worked out like every day, almost twice a day.

I had to really like slow him down, like, no.

Dad, I gotta, I gotta do this because you know, I didn't play, and he tried to over compensate for not playing, and I had to slow him down because he was He's a gym rat.

You know, he's a gym rat.

I posted a picture of the two of you guys together at a Bengals practice recently, and Bengals fans went nuts. They loved the fact that you two guys seem to be such good buddies. Why did the two families hit it off so well?

Well?

I think again, Uh, you know, we knew that that Jamar and Joe had become over the years really good friends.

There.

As we said, there there's a lot of similarities in the two you know, there just the way they handle things, their mannerisms when they get together. You know, it's like a couple of old junior high classmates or something. And we also know how important each one of them is to to to the other, and so that creates even more of a bond. But uh, you know, I grew up in Mississippi. It's not New Orleans, but it's truly

My wife's been been down there enough to to understand what it's like.

So you know, that creates even more of a bond between us.

Give me chase.

It's like we really like the same type of people, you know, fun loving people, like to have a good time, uh, care about their kids, you know, and just all around good people.

You know.

Then we find out, I think another thing is like we're the only ones that we can really talk to, you know, because we experienced so many similar things, you know, and it's like, you know, as we get into this next level and things are evolving, you know, it's like who do we able? Who are we able to turn to? So we was able to turn to them, and they helped us out a lot. And at the same time, I guess we was like a buffer for them because they were able to be relax and be themselves.

You know. So it just it just happened, you know what I'm saying.

It just happened. And then Jimmy like oysters. Okay, so hey I.

Do Oh yeah, I like it.

Jimmy tells me I go to the wrong place in New Orleans though, Like, so next time down there, I'm going to whatever he tells me to go to.

Yeah.

I read correctly that the two of you guys have some sort of pregame superstition involving seeing each other at the tailgate before the game begins.

We tried to and I think it's a little more Robin and Talia. Uh, we joined in on that. So if we mess them at our at our tailgate, Uh, you know, we we try to find find a way. We used to be in the stands now you know, we're up in the suite area. But uh, yeah, we've been over overcome. Not not communing, but but we'd prefer knowing that we've seen each other and been with each other, even if it's for a quick wave from a cross play or something.

They were. They was winning.

The Bengals was winning, so we didn't want to do anything to stop them.

From winning, that's right, So we stayed with you.

Well, you know, the last time we went, we seen Robin and Jimmy, let's go find them again, you know, and it just happened like that, and yeah, it works.

Okay, Yeah, don't don't mess with the mojo. Half of Bengals fans. Don't mess with the mojo. Final thing for you two guys, and I appreciate your time. I think Bengals fans want to know. Should we feel confident that Joe and Jamar are going to be NFL teammates for a long long time. They're both nearing the point where they're going to get massive contract extensions. What do you think, Jimmy Burrow, you go first.

Yeah, I mean that's that's what we want. And and you know that that's other teammates too. We we we we.

Want them with the Bengals as long as possible.

You know, as I said that the bond that they have with each other and and how each other lanes on it on the other and relies on the other, I mean there's no way you'd want those two not not being to gather. And uh, you know, contract extensions and negotiations are are complex and they take a while, and uh that I'm confident that those two guys will be together for really their whole careers.

Well, I definitely want them to be together.

And I think Jamaar does too, you know, because I was talking to him one time and I was telling him, you know, this is the NFL and this is a business also, so you know, you might have to go find another quarterback.

He was like, no, death, I'm staying with Joe. I'm not going to know us, you know. So we want to be there, you know.

Hopefully everything will work out and he can be there forever the whole time with Joe, because it's rough when you're receiving you don't have a quarterback. Okay, we don't have time to go find quarterbacks and discover guys.

And we're good right where we're at. Okay, that's music to all of our ears. Fellas. I can't thank you enough for doing this today. I want to command both of you and your wives on raising two great kids. They're obviously spectacular football players. That goes without saying, but they're polite, they're respectful, they've got great attitudes, tremendous work ethic. We are thrilled that they are Cincinnati Bengals. Thank you

Yes, sir, all right.

Vegas Leary come.

That's going to do it for this episode of the Bengals Booth Podcast, brought to you by Kettering Health, the official healthcare provider of the Bengals, by Bengals Picks and Ultimate Bengals. They're free to play with tickets and signed merchandise up for grabs by pay Corp, the official HR software provider of the Bengals, and by Alta Fiber future