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Bengals Booth Podcast: Long, Long Way from Home · Bengals Booth Podcast

0:03
Speaker 1: Hi, get everybody on dan Hord and thanks for downloading
0:06
Speaker 1: the Bengals Booth Podcast, the I'm a Long Long Way
0:11
Speaker 1: from Home edition, as we had overseas to find out
0:16
Speaker 1: what longtime Bengals scout Greg Seaman and former Bengals preseason
0:20
Speaker 1: quarterback Rocky Lombardi are doing in the German Football League.
0:24
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Speaker 1: a quick reminder that you can have the latest edition
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Speaker 1: of this podcast delivered write to your phone, tablet or
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Speaker 1: computer by subscribing wherever you get your podcasts. It's the
0:57
Speaker 1: greatest thing since Big as you'll hear on this episode
1:02
Speaker 1: of the pod. My wife and I are in Europe
1:05
Speaker 1: this week and I brought the book Big Fan to
1:07
Speaker 1: read on flights and train rides. Big Fan was co
1:11
Speaker 1: written by former Cincinnati sports writer Joe Posnansky and Emmy
1:15
Speaker 1: Award winning TV writer Michael Shore, who's worked on such
1:19
Speaker 1: shows as The Office and Parks and Recreation, and the
1:23
Speaker 1: premise of the book is brilliant. They convinced the publisher
1:27
Speaker 1: to send them to sporting events all over the world
1:30
Speaker 1: to find out what it means to be a fan,
1:33
Speaker 1: from the World Darts Championships in London to WrestleMania in
1:38
Speaker 1: Las Vegas. If you love sports and great writing, you'll
1:42
Speaker 1: love Big Fan. I just hope the people sitting close
1:45
Speaker 1: to me on those planes and trains weren't too annoyed
1:48
Speaker 1: when I frequently laughed out loud. Now let's get to
1:52
Speaker 1: my first guest. I first met Greg Seaman in nineteen
1:56
Speaker 1: ninety six when he was the offensive coordinator at the
1:59
Speaker 1: University of Sincinnati under Rick Binter. From there, he moved
2:03
Speaker 1: to Miami University and served as the OC when Ben
2:06
Speaker 1: Roethlisberger was the quarterback up Next, I stint with the
2:10
Speaker 1: Dallas Cowboys as tight ends coach before Greg joined the
2:14
Speaker 1: Bengals and spent thirteen years in the scouting department. But
2:17
Speaker 1: he had an itch to return to coaching and joined
2:20
Speaker 1: the Cleveland Browns as their tight ends coach from twenty
2:24
Speaker 1: sixteen to twenty eighteen. Now at the age of seventy,
2:29
Speaker 1: he's the head coach of the Dresden Monarchs of the
2:32
Speaker 1: German Football League, and he did so well in his
2:35
Speaker 1: first two seasons that a local musician composed a song
2:39
Speaker 1: about coach Seamen when he returned for year.
2:42
Speaker 2: Three Jays.
3:00
Speaker 1: The first two seasons in Dresden, Greg took the Monarchs
3:02
Speaker 1: to the league championship game or German Bowl, where they
3:06
Speaker 1: lost close games to the three time defending champion Potsdam Royals.
3:11
Speaker 1: Greg's record after thirty six games is thirty one and five.
3:16
Speaker 1: We've stayed in contact over the years, and when Greg
3:18
Speaker 1: invited my wife Peg and I to visit Dresden and
3:21
Speaker 1: attend a game, we jumped at the opportunity. It's a
3:24
Speaker 1: great city. And after watching the Monarchs dominate the Keel
3:28
Speaker 1: Balta Kurra Gains last Saturday forty two to seven, I
3:32
Speaker 1: talked to Greg about coaching overseas. How does the former
3:37
Speaker 1: Bengals scout and Dallas Cowboys and Cleveland Browns coach wind
3:41
Speaker 1: up coaching American football in Germany.
3:44
Speaker 3: That's a very good question. Connections Friends. John Shupe a
3:50
Speaker 3: good friend of mine, who used to be the officer
3:52
Speaker 3: coordinator of the Bears and various other college teams, is
3:56
Speaker 3: the head coach of the Nordic Storm in Copenhagen, and
4:01
Speaker 3: I was looking for coaching work and I reached out
4:05
Speaker 3: to John to find out how much he liked his experience.
4:08
Speaker 3: He said very much. And then I found out that
4:13
Speaker 3: Paul Alexander, the longtime line coach of the Bengals who
4:15
Speaker 3: I worked with, had taken a job in Dresden, Germany.
4:20
Speaker 3: And I called Paul to see what his experience was like,
4:24
Speaker 3: and it was very good, but he wasn't going to return.
4:26
Speaker 3: He had business interest that kind of thing, and he said,
4:29
Speaker 3: if you're interested, send me your resume and I'll give
4:32
Speaker 3: it to them. How do you build a roster?
4:34
Speaker 1: Here?
4:36
Speaker 3: We have about sixty five guys on the roster, and
4:39
Speaker 3: there are a core of approximately fifty German players ranging
4:45
Speaker 3: from twenty one year olds to guys that are in
4:48
Speaker 3: the mid thirties that have been professional football players for
4:51
Speaker 3: the Monarchs for a number of years. You supplement that
4:55
Speaker 3: with international players. You can have as many players from
5:00
Speaker 3: the EU as you would like and from the United
5:04
Speaker 3: Kingdom American players. You may only have six on your roster,
5:10
Speaker 3: and you may never have more than two on the
5:13
Speaker 3: field at one time. So in our case, I think
5:17
Speaker 3: we have currently about fourteen international players, and four of
5:23
Speaker 3: them right now are Americans. The golden passport, so to speak,
5:28
Speaker 3: no pun intended, is an American with a dual passport.
5:33
Speaker 3: You want one of those because they don't count against
5:35
Speaker 3: your American count. So if they have a grandparent or
5:38
Speaker 3: a parent who has a second nationality in the EU,
5:42
Speaker 3: they can use that passport and they don't count.
5:44
Speaker 1: Dual citizenship is a cheat code, essentially.
5:47
Speaker 3: It really is, and it's a big, big plus if
5:50
Speaker 3: you can find a few of those. And when I
5:52
Speaker 3: came here, I mean, who knew that there were that
5:54
Speaker 3: many kids playing American college football that held dual citizenship.
6:00
Speaker 3: But it turns out there are more than I thought,
6:02
Speaker 3: and more than I thought who were very good players.
6:05
Speaker 3: So it's been a plus for us.
6:06
Speaker 1: Are you here year round and what's the off season?
6:09
Speaker 4: Like?
6:10
Speaker 3: I am not here year round. I arrive generally in
6:14
Speaker 3: late March. Essentially the month of April is training camp.
6:19
Speaker 3: We played two exhibition games during that time. The regular
6:22
Speaker 3: season begins in May. It's a twelve game season. We
6:27
Speaker 3: played through May and June, and then at the beginning
6:29
Speaker 3: of July we do a very European thing. We just
6:32
Speaker 3: go on holiday for three weeks and everybody takes a break,
6:36
Speaker 3: and then we resume in August. The regular season is
6:39
Speaker 3: over a fairly early in September, and then the playoffs begin.
6:43
Speaker 3: If you qualify for the playoffs, your.
6:45
Speaker 1: Quarterback is Rocky Lombardi, who is in Bengals training camp
6:48
Speaker 1: a couple of years ago. One of your top wide
6:50
Speaker 1: receivers is Montego Moss, Randy Moss's son. How do you
6:56
Speaker 1: essentially recruit the Americans? How do they even find out
7:00
Speaker 1: about opportunities like this?
7:02
Speaker 3: There is a website for that, of course, called euro
7:06
Speaker 3: Players and players from anywhere outside of the EU. They
7:14
Speaker 3: can put a profile there and they can embed highlights.
7:18
Speaker 3: So that is what everyone in these European leagues use
7:23
Speaker 3: as a basis. If you want to find Rocky and Tego,
7:28
Speaker 3: you've got to go beyond that, and so we look
7:31
Speaker 3: at old draft lists. There's a good way to go.
7:35
Speaker 3: Someone that was well thought of, perhaps not drafted, but
7:39
Speaker 3: in a camp and within the last couple of years,
7:44
Speaker 3: and if they're not currently on a list or on
7:47
Speaker 3: a roster somewhere. Oftentimes those guys still want to play
7:51
Speaker 3: football and so we seek them out and we've had
7:55
Speaker 3: great luck doing that.
7:58
Speaker 1: Is your scouting background helpful there?
8:00
Speaker 3: Yes? And my Bengals background is helpful because occasionally when
8:03
Speaker 3: I need to see more film, the good people at
8:07
Speaker 3: the pay Course Stadium allow me to come down in
8:10
Speaker 3: the off season and sit and watch film through from
8:12
Speaker 3: the Bengals library, which is very helpful.
8:16
Speaker 1: We are visiting with former Bengals scout Greg Seaman. What
8:19
Speaker 1: are player salaries and perks like in the GFL?
8:23
Speaker 3: Perks are good? Salaries are not? Essentially a player here
8:29
Speaker 3: is going to in terms of income, is going to
8:32
Speaker 3: make anywhere from a couple hundred euros a week to
8:35
Speaker 3: maybe three or four hundred euros a week. But we
8:40
Speaker 3: supply apartments for the players, We cover all of their
8:44
Speaker 3: travel expenses, We cover their insurancing. Every three or four
8:49
Speaker 3: players is provided with a dealer car, a jeep that
8:54
Speaker 3: they can use. And it may not sound like a
8:56
Speaker 3: great perk, but here in this world, having a really
9:00
Speaker 3: good bicycle is a great perk and we take care
9:03
Speaker 3: of all that and you know, the training, medical cost,
9:08
Speaker 3: we have a weight room that the players like to use.
9:12
Speaker 3: But we also provide every player with a membership at
9:15
Speaker 3: a really good health club here where not only does
9:19
Speaker 3: it have all the weight training facilities and aerobic facilities,
9:23
Speaker 3: but it offers like yoga classes. It has a lap
9:25
Speaker 3: pool for swimming saunas. So their opportunity to train and
9:30
Speaker 3: recover is really good. And we handle all of that
9:32
Speaker 3: as well as I tell the players that come here,
9:35
Speaker 3: this is an opportunity league, it's not a destination. You
9:39
Speaker 3: tend to turn over your international players pretty regularly. We
9:43
Speaker 3: had a receiver a year ago from who played at
9:45
Speaker 3: Louisville and had been in the Rams camp the year
9:49
Speaker 3: before he came here. I couldn't promise him anything, but
9:54
Speaker 3: I told him, if you come here, you're a good teammate,
9:56
Speaker 3: good citizen, you play great, I'll do everything I can
9:59
Speaker 3: got him or workout. Last November for the Browns, I
10:02
Speaker 3: thought they were going to sign into a futures deal.
10:04
Speaker 3: I think they should have. They did not, but he
10:07
Speaker 3: ended up getting an opportunity with the Louisville Kings of
10:09
Speaker 3: the UFL. They just want a championship, so, particularly for
10:12
Speaker 3: the American players, if they come here and they do
10:15
Speaker 3: a great job, you know, then I try to help
10:17
Speaker 3: them get an opportunity again somewhere.
10:21
Speaker 1: The next time Katie Blackburn is involved in a difficult negotiation,
10:24
Speaker 1: I'm going to suggest she throws in a nice bike.
10:27
Speaker 1: Then it works in the GFL. How much interest is
10:31
Speaker 1: there in American football in Germany?
10:34
Speaker 3: I think it varies by region. I think that in
10:37
Speaker 3: places like Berlin and Frankfurt and Munich a lot now
10:45
Speaker 3: they enjoy watching the sport. Occasionally they may have a
10:49
Speaker 3: team that they root for. It's not the same as
10:53
Speaker 3: American fandom. They like when the NFL teams come here.
10:57
Speaker 3: They find it to be a spectacle and they one
11:00
Speaker 3: of my coaches told me, it's like a concert. They
11:02
Speaker 3: want to If you get a ticket to something like that,
11:04
Speaker 3: you want to do it once in your life. I
11:07
Speaker 3: don't know that there are that many that live and
11:09
Speaker 3: die with them week to week as they do with
11:11
Speaker 3: their soccer teams.
11:13
Speaker 1: Do you coach differently here than you did in college
11:16
Speaker 1: or the NFL?
11:18
Speaker 3: What's different for me here is I'm for the first
11:21
Speaker 3: time at this advanced age. I'm the head coach, and
11:26
Speaker 3: like every assistant coach, I was a coordinator for a
11:30
Speaker 3: long time in college football and assistant in the NFL.
11:33
Speaker 3: You always wonder, I think I can do that? Can
11:38
Speaker 3: I do that? And if I get that opportunity, how
11:41
Speaker 3: would I do that? And I've had the opportunity to
11:46
Speaker 3: observe and learn from a lot of head coaches, and
11:50
Speaker 3: I think what it came comes down to is you
11:54
Speaker 3: must be yourself. You must be consistently yourself. The greatest
11:58
Speaker 3: compliments I've gotten from players, Joel Botonio, who just retired
12:03
Speaker 3: from the Browns, was a guard should be a Hall
12:06
Speaker 3: of Famer. And when our staff was released there, Joel
12:10
Speaker 3: spoke with me and he said, I really appreciate You've
12:13
Speaker 3: always been the same guy every day, even with all
12:15
Speaker 3: the chaos going around here. And that meant a great
12:18
Speaker 3: deal to me. And it struck a chord when I
12:20
Speaker 3: got this job. And so I think that football should
12:25
Speaker 3: be demanding. I think there should be a standard. I
12:27
Speaker 3: also think that there should be a certain amount of
12:29
Speaker 3: joy involved anything that you do. I think that as
12:32
Speaker 3: the head coach, I try to be positive, energetic, and
12:38
Speaker 3: so it is different from the way I coached as
12:41
Speaker 3: an assistant because the position is different. I'm responsible for
12:45
Speaker 3: the whole team. I'm not calling the plays on either
12:47
Speaker 3: side of the ball, but I'm involved in everything. So
12:50
Speaker 3: it's a different way of doing it, and I've enjoyed
12:52
Speaker 3: it very very much.
12:53
Speaker 1: Since it is your first opportunity to be a head coach,
12:56
Speaker 1: You've made it to the league championship game each of
12:58
Speaker 1: your first two years. You're defeated this year as we speak,
13:02
Speaker 1: has it kind of checked that box in your own
13:05
Speaker 1: mind that hey, not only would I like to do this,
13:07
Speaker 1: but I'm pretty good at it.
13:08
Speaker 3: I'd like to think I'm pretty good at it. Yeah,
13:12
Speaker 3: it's always you know, Yeah, a combination of having good players.
13:17
Speaker 3: The staff that I have here is terrific, good people
13:20
Speaker 3: and talented people, and so yeah, there's a certain affirmation
13:25
Speaker 3: that comes with success. We still haven't gotten over that
13:28
Speaker 3: final hurdle, but the Monarchs have been in thirty four years,
13:32
Speaker 3: They've been to the championship game four times, they've won one.
13:36
Speaker 3: We've been and then they were another time. We've been
13:38
Speaker 3: in it the last two years, and we're hopefully on
13:42
Speaker 3: path to get back there and finally win the thing.
13:45
Speaker 3: What is the German bull like? It's getting better? It's well,
13:51
Speaker 3: I can use our own experience. In twenty twenty four,
13:55
Speaker 3: ourselves and the Potsdam Royals, who are the three time
13:57
Speaker 3: defending champions, they are the standard in this league, were
14:01
Speaker 3: both in the eastern half of the country, and the
14:05
Speaker 3: GFL had placed the Bowl in Essen, Germany, which is
14:09
Speaker 3: on the far western edge of the country, so both
14:12
Speaker 3: of us had long trips and we had barely ten
14:15
Speaker 3: thousand people in attendance for that game. Our city leaders
14:20
Speaker 3: and members of our board made an appeal to the league,
14:24
Speaker 3: we can do better than that in Dresden, for sure,
14:28
Speaker 3: in eastern Germany, probably also because that's where the better
14:30
Speaker 3: teams are. So last year we hosted the GFL Bowl
14:35
Speaker 3: here in our state. I mean, of course we were
14:37
Speaker 3: in it, so that's helpful, but they really tried to
14:41
Speaker 3: model it more on the Super Bowl. We had twenty
14:45
Speaker 3: three thousand people in attendance in a thirty thousand seat
14:48
Speaker 3: soccer stadium and I wish I knew her name, a
14:52
Speaker 3: very famous German singer, young Lady, kind of a modern music.
14:57
Speaker 3: They built a stage in the middle of the the
15:00
Speaker 3: arena and she did a great halftime show. There's a
15:05
Speaker 3: lot more pageantry came to it, so I think we're
15:08
Speaker 3: in Germany. There are things that they're trying to model
15:12
Speaker 3: from the American game, and one of those is a
15:14
Speaker 3: bigger celebration of that championship. So I hope that an
15:20
Speaker 3: example has been set that they'll just grow from.
15:23
Speaker 1: With your background Cowboys coach Brown's coach Bengals scout, what
15:27
Speaker 1: do the German players want to know about your history
15:30
Speaker 1: or German people that you've encountered.
15:33
Speaker 3: I get a lot of ted Lasso stuff, especially the
15:37
Speaker 3: first year you know players are players are like the
15:42
Speaker 3: players everywhere. They if you can tell them something that
15:46
Speaker 3: will help them play better, that will help their career,
15:49
Speaker 3: they want to know that. They're very respectful of coaching authority.
15:58
Speaker 3: So sometimes I have to loosen them up a little
16:01
Speaker 3: bit until we get to know one another. Then once
16:04
Speaker 3: we've gotten to know one another, then they tease me
16:06
Speaker 3: and do all the things that an American player would do.
16:08
Speaker 3: But at first you have to reach out to them
16:14
Speaker 3: some my office on day on the days that there
16:18
Speaker 3: are practices, the players walk by my office to go
16:21
Speaker 3: to the locker room, and ninety nine percent of them
16:26
Speaker 3: will stop at my door just to wish me a
16:28
Speaker 3: good day or ask me how I'm doing, and if
16:31
Speaker 3: they happen to walk by talking to somebody else, I
16:33
Speaker 3: can hear them retrace their steps and say, you know
16:36
Speaker 3: good and tog coach, you know. So they're really good people.
16:41
Speaker 1: How do you like living here?
16:42
Speaker 3: Love it? Germany is a very easy place to live.
16:48
Speaker 3: Most of the younger generations are fluent in English, which
16:53
Speaker 3: has been bad for me because I've done a very
16:55
Speaker 3: poor job of learning German. But in my defense, it's
16:58
Speaker 3: really hard. It's really hard. There's nothing It's not related
17:02
Speaker 3: to the Latin based languages at all. The way of
17:07
Speaker 3: living is a little bit different, particularly in the cities.
17:11
Speaker 3: Dresden's a city of about five hundred and sixty thousand people,
17:14
Speaker 3: and people are outdoors all the time the community. I've
17:19
Speaker 3: posted stuff like this on my own social media. I
17:22
Speaker 3: think it is healthy for any community when the people
17:25
Speaker 3: are out and about and intermixing with one another and
17:28
Speaker 3: being respectful of each other. So that's good. There's a
17:31
Speaker 3: wide variety of food. Grocery prices are cheaper, food is healthier.
17:37
Speaker 3: Gas prices are extraordinary and always have been, even more
17:41
Speaker 3: so now so. Having a walkable city and a city
17:46
Speaker 3: with a tremendous tram or streetcar system. It take some
17:50
Speaker 3: pressure off of that side of it. And as far
17:53
Speaker 3: as Cincinnati is concerned, this would be The summers here
17:58
Speaker 3: would be a little more like probably Upper Michigan. Although
18:00
Speaker 3: it's hot right now. Most of the homes don't require
18:04
Speaker 3: air conditioning, so it's a very pleasant summertime.
18:07
Speaker 1: It is hot right now, it is hot.
18:09
Speaker 3: That's like, Yeah, you guys came to town and we got
18:11
Speaker 3: the biggest eat we've had in years here I think.
18:14
Speaker 3: But overall it's generally high seventies, low eighties, and then
18:19
Speaker 3: in the fifties or sixties at night, but not right now.
18:21
Speaker 1: How long would you like to be the head coach
18:23
Speaker 1: of the Dresden Monarchs?
18:24
Speaker 3: Oh, a long time, but I won't. But it's a
18:27
Speaker 3: little late for that, I will. Gosh, this is what
18:33
Speaker 3: everybody says. It's a year to year thing. It's been.
18:37
Speaker 3: It's been good for me, you know, having you guys here.
18:41
Speaker 3: One of my daughters is here with her husband, some
18:44
Speaker 3: of my kids and grandkids have been here each summer.
18:47
Speaker 3: And Dressden's perfectly located. It's a good place to visit.
18:51
Speaker 3: It's a very good place to visit. But you're just
18:53
Speaker 3: a couple hours travel from a number of other European cities,
18:57
Speaker 3: so that's been very helpful. The way the schedule is
19:01
Speaker 3: set here, I get home almost every month for at
19:03
Speaker 3: least a few days, so that breaks it up so
19:05
Speaker 3: I could sustain this for a while.
19:07
Speaker 1: The game day presentation was interesting to me. You've trained
19:11
Speaker 1: the German football fan well to make lots of noise
19:14
Speaker 1: when the other team has the ball, but they are
19:17
Speaker 1: silent when you do. Normally at an NFL game, it's
19:22
Speaker 1: still a little bit noisy when the home team has
19:24
Speaker 1: the ball, but they know let the offense do their thing.
19:29
Speaker 3: Part of German culture is was and will always be.
19:35
Speaker 3: There are rules and rules are to be followed, and
19:39
Speaker 3: so once they understand, they will be very loyal to
19:43
Speaker 3: that and very proud of it. It's just emblematic I
19:48
Speaker 3: think of the personality here and it works great for us.
19:51
Speaker 1: Yes, a couple of questions about your Bengals experience. You're
19:55
Speaker 1: with the team for thirteen years. It was during the
19:57
Speaker 1: Marvin Lewis era, You worked for Mike Brown, worked with
20:00
Speaker 1: Duke Tobin. How have you seen the franchise evolve since
20:04
Speaker 1: two thousand and three?
20:06
Speaker 3: Elizabeth and Caroline I think on the on the front side,
20:11
Speaker 3: the way that the club markets itself to their fans,
20:14
Speaker 3: the fan experience, all that, I think there's been a
20:16
Speaker 3: great evolution there. I think, you know, they've added some
20:19
Speaker 3: people into the personnel department, which is good under Duke's direction,
20:24
Speaker 3: and there are a couple guys beneath Duke who have
20:27
Speaker 3: been there a long time that were there when when
20:29
Speaker 3: myself and Jim Lippincott were there. So yeah, I do
20:32
Speaker 3: see an evolution there. I think that there have probably
20:37
Speaker 3: embraced analytics a little bit more than they had in
20:39
Speaker 3: the past, and that it's a tool to be used
20:43
Speaker 3: as not the end all. I think the teams that
20:45
Speaker 3: have over committed to it have made some errors, but
20:48
Speaker 3: I think there's been a smooth transition. I'm sure that
20:52
Speaker 3: Mike still has the final say. I have not talked
20:55
Speaker 3: with them in a couple of years, but I think
20:57
Speaker 3: with Katie and Troy and the girls and Duke, I
21:02
Speaker 3: think they have a very efficient and comfortable structure at
21:06
Speaker 3: the top, and they've acquired very good players, particularly on offense.
21:10
Speaker 3: I think they did a good job this offseason supplementing
21:12
Speaker 3: the defense. They have a guy that can win the
21:15
Speaker 3: championship for you taking the snap. So things are good.
21:19
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow said recently he has similar feelings about this
21:22
Speaker 1: team to how he felt in twenty nineteen going into
21:25
Speaker 1: his final year at LSU. We know how that went.
21:29
Speaker 1: As a former Bengals employee now coaching in Germany. Do
21:34
Speaker 1: you see Joe Burrow winning a Super Bowl title at
21:36
Speaker 1: some point?
21:37
Speaker 3: I can see him winning more than one. I think
21:42
Speaker 3: what he said is important because I don't think he
21:46
Speaker 3: says things carelessly in the media, and it's important to
21:50
Speaker 3: hear that from a team leader. As a personnel guy
21:55
Speaker 3: or a coach or an owner, you hope that those
21:58
Speaker 3: things are true. But players, players know if this team
22:02
Speaker 3: is tight, if they're doing the right things in the offseason.
22:05
Speaker 3: They know if they're talented enough. Players know, and a
22:09
Speaker 3: guy like Burrow to come out and say that publicly,
22:12
Speaker 3: I think is a very positive sign. And it's the
22:14
Speaker 3: perfect time. You know, the division is completely different, three
22:18
Speaker 3: new head coaches. You know the big changes in Pittsburgh
22:21
Speaker 3: and Baltimore. It's the perfect time to seize control of
22:24
Speaker 3: the division, to hold on to it for a while.
22:26
Speaker 1: Peg and I have had a ball here in Dresden,
22:29
Speaker 1: We really enjoyed watching your team dominate yesterday. Best of
22:32
Speaker 1: luck here in the rest of year three and hopefully
22:35
Speaker 1: this is the year you not only returned to the
22:37
Speaker 1: German Ball but come away with the championship.
22:39
Speaker 3: Thank you so much, Thank you so much for being here, Dan,
22:41
Speaker 3: and for the friendship and the opportunity opportunity to speak
22:44
Speaker 3: with you today.
22:46
Speaker 1: The Monarchs are six and o this year and this Saturday,
22:49
Speaker 1: Dresden hits the road to face its arch nemesis, the
22:53
Speaker 1: five and oh Potsdam Royals, the team that's beaten the
22:56
Speaker 1: Monarchs in the last two championship games. Next, my conversation
23:01
Speaker 1: with Greg's quarterback Rocky Lombardi. But first, here's a quick
23:05
Speaker 1: reminder that the Bengals Booth podcast is brought to you
23:07
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23:11
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Speaker 1: to elevate your home, business and community to a new level,
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23:22
Speaker 1: Kettering Health is the official healthcare provider of the Bengals.
23:26
Speaker 1: The Bengals typically have four quarterbacks in training camp and
23:29
Speaker 1: two summers ago, the quartet consisted of Joe Burrow, Jake Browning,
23:34
Speaker 1: Logan Woodside, and a rookie named Rocky Lombardi out of
23:38
Speaker 1: Northern Illinois. He went four to eight in one preseason
23:42
Speaker 1: appearance against the Chicago Bears. Now he's the starting quarterback
23:47
Speaker 1: for Dresden. And here's how it sounded when Rocky ran
23:50
Speaker 1: out of the tunnel at Heinz Field. Yep, that's what
23:55
Speaker 1: the locals call heinz Steier Stadium.
24:01
Speaker 3: Love.
24:06
Speaker 1: Rocky was outstanding last Saturday, through for two hundred and
24:10
Speaker 1: forty nine yards and three touchdowns and also ran for
24:13
Speaker 1: a twenty five yard TD before sitting out the fourth
24:17
Speaker 1: quarter in a thirty five point win. For the season,
24:20
Speaker 1: his touchdown to interception ratio is eighteen to four while
24:24
Speaker 1: averaging two hundred and sixty seven passing yards per game.
24:28
Speaker 1: I spoke to the twenty seven year old QB after
24:31
Speaker 1: last week's outstanding performance. I'm sure Bengals fans would be
24:36
Speaker 1: interested to know how did you wind up playing professional
24:38
Speaker 1: football in Germany?
24:40
Speaker 4: Yeah, it was kind of a long road. Did the
24:43
Speaker 4: UFL thing last year, and when they restructured their league,
24:47
Speaker 4: I ended up, you know, not getting picked back up
24:49
Speaker 4: by a team and so I looked for other options
24:51
Speaker 4: and found this really cool opportunity out here in Germany.
24:55
Speaker 1: What's the pay and the perks?
24:57
Speaker 4: Like the perks are that you it's kind of like
25:01
Speaker 4: college where you get like a little stipend and you
25:02
Speaker 4: live for free.
25:04
Speaker 2: But the biggest perk is you get to travel Europe.
25:06
Speaker 4: We play twelve regular season games and maybe eighteen weeks,
25:11
Speaker 4: so we get a ton of time off. I was
25:13
Speaker 4: just in Prague last weekend, so it's really an amazing
25:17
Speaker 4: experience to get to see and experience these different cultures.
25:21
Speaker 1: Had you traveled a lot, was that something that you're
25:23
Speaker 1: always have always been interested in?
25:26
Speaker 2: I've always been interested in it, for sure.
25:29
Speaker 4: History is what I studied in school, so I've always
25:31
Speaker 4: been a kind of a history nut. But this is
25:33
Speaker 4: my first time here in Europe actually, so I'm still
25:37
Speaker 4: getting the hang.
25:38
Speaker 2: Of how to live here. It's a little bit different,
25:40
Speaker 2: but it's a really cool experience.
25:42
Speaker 1: People speak English anywhere, yeah.
25:44
Speaker 4: Too, especially the Germans speak actually very good English, so
25:47
Speaker 4: it's it's helpful for me because my German is horrible.
25:50
Speaker 1: So did you know anything about the German football League?
25:54
Speaker 2: I knew very little.
25:56
Speaker 4: My grandpa actually coached in Germany in nineteen ninety eight
25:59
Speaker 4: for the Homburg Blue Devils.
26:02
Speaker 2: But that was the only thing, the only thing I knew.
26:04
Speaker 4: I knew that this was probably the best league in Europe,
26:06
Speaker 4: the best national league for sure. So just to get
26:10
Speaker 4: an opportunity to play overseas and against good competition and
26:14
Speaker 4: have this experience is pretty special to me.
26:16
Speaker 1: The game day experience was fun. Lots of noise when
26:19
Speaker 1: the other team has the ball. They respect you guys
26:22
Speaker 1: when you have it, at least at home.
26:24
Speaker 2: Yeah. No, the fans are great, They do a good job.
26:26
Speaker 2: I think there. This league's been around for a while.
26:28
Speaker 4: I think the UFL started to maybe nineteen seventy nine.
26:32
Speaker 4: You can correct me on that if I'm wrong, But
26:34
Speaker 4: so it's been around for a long time and these
26:36
Speaker 4: people care about their football. So our home atmosphere is
26:39
Speaker 4: really cool. You saw the intros that we did, and
26:42
Speaker 4: it's a it's professionally run here in Dressden, for sure.
26:45
Speaker 4: So it's been a blast.
26:47
Speaker 1: What about the quality of play is it compared to
26:49
Speaker 1: college football, smaller college football?
26:51
Speaker 2: What do you think?
26:52
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's like a it's like a mid tier college
26:54
Speaker 4: football level of college football.
26:57
Speaker 2: It's the.
27:00
Speaker 4: Level of talent here, it varies greatly, so you have
27:04
Speaker 4: an interesting mix on the field, and there's some really
27:08
Speaker 4: good players in this league, and uh so it's it's
27:11
Speaker 4: it's interesting how it works out.
27:13
Speaker 1: What did the folks back home say when you told
27:15
Speaker 1: them I'm heading to Germany to continue my career.
27:19
Speaker 2: Not too much. They were just like really, I was
27:21
Speaker 2: like yeah, I was like, all right, let's do it.
27:23
Speaker 4: You know, I was hoping to get back into the
27:26
Speaker 4: UFL last year, and and you know, I thought that
27:29
Speaker 4: I was slated to be the guy for the Michigan Panthers,
27:31
Speaker 4: and you know, the team folded in the league change
27:33
Speaker 4: and it didn't work out that way, which is fine.
27:36
Speaker 4: But you know, I trained all off season. I've worked
27:39
Speaker 4: out for three years of trying to make myself the
27:42
Speaker 4: best player that I can be with u without really
27:44
Speaker 4: an opportunity to prove that. So I certainly wasn't going
27:47
Speaker 4: out without getting my shot to prove it on the field.
27:50
Speaker 3: Here.
27:50
Speaker 1: You were in training camp with the Bengals a couple
27:52
Speaker 1: of years ago. What did you enjoy about that experience?
27:54
Speaker 2: It was a great experience.
27:55
Speaker 4: I always wanted to play in the NFL and got
27:59
Speaker 4: my chance there and got to learn from from some
28:00
Speaker 4: great coaches and players, got to experience what it's like
28:04
Speaker 4: in an NFL rock locker room, and I really saw
28:08
Speaker 4: the you know, how close everybody really is, you know,
28:12
Speaker 4: at that level, it's crazy. I mean it's uh, you know,
28:15
Speaker 4: you have you have your studs right, and everybody has
28:18
Speaker 4: a couple of those on a team. But other than that,
28:21
Speaker 4: it's it's it's crazy competitive.
28:23
Speaker 2: So it was a very cool experience. I'm very grateful
28:25
Speaker 2: for it.
28:26
Speaker 1: You got to play in that preseason game against the Bears. Yes,
28:29
Speaker 1: it's preseason, but does that check off the bucket list
28:32
Speaker 1: in a sense that, hey, I played at the NFL level.
28:35
Speaker 2: Yeah, I guess you could say that.
28:36
Speaker 4: You know, it certainly wasn't U you know, my my
28:41
Speaker 4: end all be all goal, I'll say, but it was.
28:44
Speaker 4: It was nice to get that experience, and especially at
28:46
Speaker 4: Soldier Field. You know, I have a lot of family
28:48
Speaker 4: ties to Chicago and university ties with Northern Illinois, so
28:52
Speaker 4: it was a cool location to do it in. But
28:57
Speaker 4: I think I still got some in me, still got
28:59
Speaker 4: some left in me.
28:59
Speaker 1: So yeah, do people in Dresden know Rocky or Lombardy?
29:05
Speaker 4: It's a good question. I've had some questions about both.
29:10
Speaker 4: Not as many in the States as I would in
29:12
Speaker 4: the States, thankfully, but uh, I think it's a little
29:16
Speaker 4: bit of both.
29:18
Speaker 1: I got great video of your touchdown run today, so
29:21
Speaker 1: if you need to show off those wheels, I have
29:23
Speaker 1: evidence on my phone. Congratulations on a great game. Nice
29:26
Speaker 1: to catch up.
29:27
Speaker 2: Thank you. I appreciate it so much.
29:29
Speaker 1: That's going to do it for this episode of the
29:31
Speaker 1: Bengals Booth Podcast, brought to you by pay Core, Proud
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Speaker 1: to be the Bengals official hr software provider, by Alta
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Speaker 1: Fiber future proof fiber Internet designed to elevate your home,
29:41
Speaker 1: business and community to a new level, and by Kettering
29:45
Speaker 1: Health the best care for the best fans. Kettering Health
29:48
Speaker 1: is the official healthcare provider of the Bengals. If you
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30:02
Speaker 1: I'm Dan Horde, and thanks for listening to the Bengals
30:05
Speaker 1: Booth Podcast.
30:18
Speaker 2: You jave.
30:35
Speaker 1: Whiz it. Let's hear it now.
30:42
Speaker 2: We won't an back time