Latest / Bengals Booth Podcast / Bengals Booth Podcast: If This Is It
Transcript
- 0:03Speaker 1: Hi, get everybody. I'm Dan Horde and thanks for downloading
- 0:06Speaker 1: the Bengals Booth Podcast. The If This Is It addition,
- 0:11Speaker 1: as the Bengals take stock of where things stand during
- 0:14Speaker 1: their bye week and at least consider making a change
- 0:17Speaker 1: at punter. Coming up, we'll hear from special teams coordinator
- 0:20Speaker 1: Darren Simmons and practice squad punter Drew Chrisman, who was
- 0:24Speaker 1: waiting in the wings if the Bengals decide to move
- 0:27Speaker 1: on from Kevin Huber. We'll also look at why the
- 0:30Speaker 1: running game was so much better last week and update
- 0:33Speaker 1: you on a couple of key players who appear ready
- 0:36Speaker 1: to return from injuries after the bye. And finally, I'll
- 0:39Speaker 1: chat with Paul Hyrons from the Bengals Fan Club in
- 0:42Speaker 1: the United Kingdom about their recent visit to Cincinnati. The
- 0:46Speaker 1: Bengals Booth Podcast is presented by Bengals Picks and Ultimate Bengals.
- 0:51Speaker 1: They're free to play with tickets and signed merchandise up
- 0:53Speaker 1: for grabs. Find both inside the Bengals app. Now here's
- 0:58Speaker 1: a quick reminder that you can have the lay this
- 1:00Speaker 1: edition of this podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet,
- 1:03Speaker 1: or computer by subscribing wherever you get your podcasts. It's
- 1:07Speaker 1: the greatest thing since The Offer. I'm a huge fan
- 1:11Speaker 1: of the movie The Godfather. If I'm flipping channels and
- 1:15Speaker 1: Godfather one or two is on, I'm definitely going to
- 1:18Speaker 1: watch at least thirty minutes, even though I've seen each
- 1:21Speaker 1: one approximately one thousand times. Well, recently, I've been watching
- 1:26Speaker 1: a series on Paramount Plus called The Offer, and it's
- 1:29Speaker 1: about the development and filming of the first Godfather movie.
- 1:33Speaker 1: It's told from the perspective of the movie's producer, Albert Ruddy,
- 1:37Speaker 1: and I don't know how realistic it is, but the
- 1:40Speaker 1: making of the movie was a lot like the movie itself.
- 1:44Speaker 1: The critics reviews have been mixed, but I think it's great.
- 1:47Speaker 1: If you love The Godfather, I bet you'll love The Offer.
- 1:51Speaker 1: Now let's get to football. I've gotten to know Kevin
- 1:54Speaker 1: Huber's folks over the years that I joke with them
- 1:57Speaker 1: that I might have seen Kevin punt in person more
- 2:00Speaker 1: than they have since I called his games home and
- 2:02Speaker 1: away for his entire career at you see end have
- 2:05Speaker 1: done the same for most of his career with the Bengals.
- 2:08Speaker 1: Kevin is without question the best punter in team history
- 2:12Speaker 1: and has played in a franchise record two hundred and
- 2:15Speaker 1: sixteen regular season games, but there's at least a chance
- 2:19Speaker 1: that he won't make it to two seventeen. So far
- 2:22Speaker 1: this year, the fourteen year vet has not punted up
- 2:25Speaker 1: to his high standards. He ranks next to last in
- 2:28Speaker 1: the league in punting average and net average. Here's special
- 2:32Speaker 1: teams coordinator Darren Simmons. Well, think he's been he's been
- 2:36Speaker 1: struggling a little bit. That's that's no secret. And I
- 2:38Speaker 1: think he'd be the first to tell you that. He
- 2:40Speaker 1: made a pretty good analogy. He said, he's he's great
- 2:43Speaker 1: on the practice range. He's not taken to the first
- 2:44Speaker 1: heat and he's been His practice has been pretty solid,
- 2:48Speaker 1: His pregame warmups has been solid. He's just not taken
- 2:50Speaker 1: to the game. And I think as you get older,
- 2:52Speaker 1: you know, your margin for air becomes really small. Some
- 2:55Speaker 1: of these guys are that are real strong and real
- 2:57Speaker 1: powerful of young young legs, you can get away with
- 3:00Speaker 1: some things, can get away with the get off times
- 3:02Speaker 1: being a little slow, get away with the drop not
- 3:04Speaker 1: being the exactly the right spot. They can adjust and
- 3:07Speaker 1: you know, his his margin frere with some of that
- 3:09Speaker 1: stuff is just it's just reduced, you know, compared to
- 3:11Speaker 1: what it used to be with true un practice squad.
- 3:14Speaker 1: Is the buy a time to evaluate where things stand. Well,
- 3:18Speaker 1: I mean, like I said, we we've constant consummate evaluating
- 3:21Speaker 1: this whole thing. Um, our plunny game obviously, our playing
- 3:24Speaker 1: games got improved. Um, you know, we're not We're not
- 3:27Speaker 1: getting out of it when we need to get out
- 3:28Speaker 1: of it in terms of flipping the field. And so
- 3:31Speaker 1: someone will take a look at over over this bye
- 3:33Speaker 1: week and try to figure out what the best thing
- 3:35Speaker 1: is going forward. Just to clarify, is it possible that
- 3:39Speaker 1: when the Bengals return from their bye week next Sunday
- 3:42Speaker 1: that Drew Chrisman is their punter at Pittsburgh? Well, you know,
- 3:46Speaker 1: I don't know. That's something we'll talk about. I'll think about.
- 3:49Speaker 1: You know, we've got whatever it is, howby days to
- 3:52Speaker 1: figure that out. Um, you know, but this is something
- 3:55Speaker 1: that's that's sort have been building over some time, you
- 3:58Speaker 1: know for sure, And we got to do something and
- 4:00Speaker 1: to you know, put her team in a good spot
- 4:02Speaker 1: to control field position, and we've got to be better
- 4:04Speaker 1: with that. Darren went on to say that holding for
- 4:07Speaker 1: field goals and extra points will not be a factor
- 4:09Speaker 1: in the decision. He's confident that Chrisman can do a
- 4:12Speaker 1: solid job as a holder. It's all about punting. Drew
- 4:17Speaker 1: average forty nine point six yards in the preseason, but
- 4:20Speaker 1: his net average of thirty eight point six is only
- 4:23Speaker 1: slightly better than Huber's current net average of thirty seven
- 4:27Speaker 1: point four. I caught up with Chrisman in the locker
- 4:30Speaker 1: room this week, so Darren told us yesterday that the
- 4:35Speaker 1: punting situation will be evaluated during the bye. Did you
- 4:38Speaker 1: see those comments and what were your thoughts? Yeah, I
- 4:41Speaker 1: didn't see him, but I mean, obviously I've been here
- 4:44Speaker 1: the whole season and thoughts are just prepared every week
- 4:48Speaker 1: as if you're going to play. That's what I've been
- 4:49Speaker 1: doing the whole time. So really nothing changes, and you know,
- 4:53Speaker 1: get some extra work and this buy work on some
- 4:56Speaker 1: things that we need to work on, and then yeah,
- 4:58Speaker 1: we'll see what next week brings. Does it add a
- 5:00Speaker 1: little intrigue for the next week or two for you?
- 5:03Speaker 1: I mean, of course, I mean every week's you know,
- 5:05Speaker 1: full opportunities. You know, lots of things happen around the league,
- 5:09Speaker 1: injuries every so you know, opportunities pop up. But you
- 5:12Speaker 1: know it's uh, man'd be awesome that happened here for sure.
- 5:15Speaker 1: I know you have the utmost respect for Kevin. The
- 5:18Speaker 1: way Darren described it yesterday, Kevin feels like he's been
- 5:21Speaker 1: practicing well and then like a golfer, it doesn't take
- 5:25Speaker 1: it out to the first team. Has that been your observation, Yeah,
- 5:30Speaker 1: I mean it's it's tough. I'm not in issues, and
- 5:32Speaker 1: I know, I know for a personal experience, you know,
- 5:34Speaker 1: playing you might have a great warm up, that doesn't
- 5:36Speaker 1: necessarily mean you're gonna have a great game. You know,
- 5:38Speaker 1: it's uh doesn't always. I mean the game and situation.
- 5:42Speaker 1: You know, you feel that drill and pumping a little
- 5:44Speaker 1: more and everything. You know, sometimes you know your steps
- 5:46Speaker 1: are a little off, dropped a little inside, and the
- 5:48Speaker 1: nature of our position just an inch you know off.
- 5:51Speaker 1: It contains the whole whole matter of the operations. So um, yeah,
- 5:57Speaker 1: I mean I would say that's pretty sound. Have you
- 5:59Speaker 1: been doing anything in particular to improve in practice in
- 6:04Speaker 1: the pregame warm ups, etc. Yeah. From you know, taking
- 6:07Speaker 1: this opportunity, no one I wasn't going to be playing.
- 6:09Speaker 1: You know, the first couple of weeks I've been able
- 6:11Speaker 1: to tweaks some things in my form and things I
- 6:13Speaker 1: didn't like in the preseason, and improve some areas that
- 6:16Speaker 1: I knew that I needed some improvement. And I feel
- 6:18Speaker 1: pretty comfortable where I'm not right now. For sure. I
- 6:20Speaker 1: haven't studied every practice squad, but I don't think every
- 6:23Speaker 1: team has a punter on the practice squad. What does
- 6:26Speaker 1: it mean to you that the Bengals thing highly enough
- 6:28Speaker 1: of you to want to keep you here for when
- 6:30Speaker 1: that day comes? Now, it's been great, Yeah, I mean
- 6:32Speaker 1: this is this is pretty rare. I would say, Yeah,
- 6:34Speaker 1: I'm not sure too many other teams do that, just
- 6:38Speaker 1: to carry a punter throughout the season, maybe for a
- 6:40Speaker 1: week or two something flares up, but not continually. And
- 6:45Speaker 1: I think that, you know, that goes to show kind
- 6:47Speaker 1: of what I did in the preseason, you know, knowing
- 6:48Speaker 1: that I was close and so has some things that
- 6:51Speaker 1: work on and just you know, waiting for the right opportunity.
- 6:54Speaker 1: Kevin Huber's thirty seven years old, but it's worth pointing
- 6:57Speaker 1: out that last year his punting average and net average
- 7:01Speaker 1: were slightly better than his career numbers. Will find out
- 7:05Speaker 1: soon if he'll be given the chance to show that
- 7:07Speaker 1: this is only a slump, or if the Bengals decide
- 7:10Speaker 1: to make a switch to a lesser extent. Evan McPherson
- 7:14Speaker 1: is also in a slump. In the last two games,
- 7:17Speaker 1: He's missed forty seven and forty eight yard field goal
- 7:19Speaker 1: tries and a thirty three yard extra point. But Darren
- 7:23Speaker 1: Simmons doesn't sound too concerned about money. Mac. You know,
- 7:28Speaker 1: you can't dwell on anything too much with him. You
- 7:31Speaker 1: have to let good or bad roll off his back
- 7:35Speaker 1: and let him go out and react and go to
- 7:37Speaker 1: the next kick. You know, I thought that came into
- 7:39Speaker 1: play here go in the playoffs. You know, he had
- 7:42Speaker 1: a practice I think he missed seven kicks and one
- 7:43Speaker 1: practice and you know, came back and you know, made
- 7:47Speaker 1: all madile these four field goals in the game. So yeah,
- 7:51Speaker 1: it's I'm a little concerned about it, but I'm trying
- 7:54Speaker 1: not to make too big of a deal about it.
- 7:56Speaker 1: And you know, it's something he's going to get worked
- 7:57Speaker 1: out here over the course of mixt couple of weeks.
- 7:59Speaker 1: Even if Early had seven misses in a practice, that's
- 8:01Speaker 1: not embellishment. That's no embellishment. That's that's real. What's he
- 8:06Speaker 1: that a practice record. This is something that's really got you. Um, yeah,
- 8:14Speaker 1: I think it's a record that's a lot of misses. No, uh,
- 8:20Speaker 1: it was it was one practice he had a couple.
- 8:22Speaker 1: It was he had a couple of bed he hits
- 8:24Speaker 1: during a row, and so we're not in on that one.
- 8:26Speaker 1: And he missed again. I said, we're not in on
- 8:29Speaker 1: that one. And he missed again, and I'm not in
- 8:31Speaker 1: on that one, and he missed again, And after seventh one,
- 8:34Speaker 1: I said, right the hell with this. We're done. We're done.
- 8:38Speaker 1: The Bengals Beak Podcast is brought to you by Cattering Health,
- 8:41Speaker 1: the official healthcare provider of the Bengals. With more than
- 8:44Speaker 1: one hundred and twenty care facilities and fifteen hundred care providers,
- 8:48Speaker 1: Cattering Health is committed to guiding you to your best health.
- 8:52Speaker 1: Visit cattering health dot org to learn more. Sometime during
- 8:56Speaker 1: the second quarter of last Sunday's broadcast, I made a
- 8:59Speaker 1: prediction that came true. I'm not claiming you'd be Nostradama,
- 9:03Speaker 1: as it was an easy call. I said that Joe
- 9:05Speaker 1: Mixon would be named the AFC Offensive Player of the Week.
- 9:09Speaker 1: First and goal from the three officially Burrow takes the snap,
- 9:13Speaker 1: gives it to Mixon, show is into the end zone. Touchdown, Bengals,
- 9:18Speaker 1: Joe Mixon half and a half. That's his second touchdown
- 9:22Speaker 1: of the afternoon, and the Bengals are up by three
- 9:25Speaker 1: t ds. And you're saying, Joe Mixon a Pro Bowl
- 9:29Speaker 1: caliber running back? When is the day coming? This has
- 9:33Speaker 1: been a get right day. Mix and rushed for one
- 9:36Speaker 1: hundred and fifty three yards on twenty two carries and
- 9:38Speaker 1: caught four passes for fifty eight more. His two hundred
- 9:42Speaker 1: eleven yards from scrimmage marked a career high, and his
- 9:45Speaker 1: five total touchdowns is a new franchise record. The Bengals
- 9:50Speaker 1: entered that game ranked thirtieth in the league and rushing
- 9:52Speaker 1: at a meager eighty one yards per game. They nearly
- 9:55Speaker 1: tripled that against the Panthers, running for two forty one.
- 9:59Speaker 1: Here are center Ted Carriss and offensive coordinator Brian Callahan.
- 10:05Speaker 1: I think we're getting there. Yeah, I think yesterday was
- 10:07Speaker 1: who we want to be. And if we can continue
- 10:09Speaker 1: to run the ball like that with nine and as
- 10:11Speaker 1: our QB, it'll be hard to, you know, stop us.
- 10:15Speaker 1: I think that'll be a great addition to our offense.
- 10:17Speaker 1: If we can continue to run the ball for you know,
- 10:19Speaker 1: over one fifty would be a good mark, but you
- 10:23Speaker 1: know that's going to come down to performance on Sundays,
- 10:25Speaker 1: and really we did our best yesterday, so hoping to
- 10:29Speaker 1: do it again for the eight game stretch we have
- 10:31Speaker 1: coming up. Joe finally ran with the demeanor and the
- 10:35Speaker 1: passion and the energy and the things that he's always done,
- 10:38Speaker 1: finally showed up this week, you know, and it broke tackles,
- 10:42Speaker 1: ran hard, ran aggressively, you know, made it. He was
- 10:46Speaker 1: a tough out for the Panthers defense this week and
- 10:48Speaker 1: hopefully that's that's what Joe is for the rest of
- 10:50Speaker 1: the rest of the season going forward. But um, you know,
- 10:53Speaker 1: he breathed a lot of life into the plan this week. Obviously,
- 10:55Speaker 1: it's it all looks good on a chalkboard down and
- 10:57Speaker 1: drawing and presenting it to the team, but when you
- 10:59Speaker 1: got going out and you know, blocking defensive ends like
- 11:02Speaker 1: Trent Taylor did and tb did, and Joe making people
- 11:05Speaker 1: miss and running for yards and running people over, it
- 11:08Speaker 1: makes it look a lot better. So that's what happened.
- 11:11Speaker 1: Speaking to Brian Callahan, he addresses the team every Saturday
- 11:15Speaker 1: morning and according to Mix, and did an especially good
- 11:18Speaker 1: job of getting the guys ready to go for the
- 11:20Speaker 1: Carolina game. He had a head of a meeting on Saturday,
- 11:25Speaker 1: and the way that you could just tell, like the
- 11:28Speaker 1: hunger and everything in his eyes. And we had a
- 11:30Speaker 1: great preparation all week. But the way that Callaghan he
- 11:34Speaker 1: was getting at us on Saturday, and I just loved
- 11:38Speaker 1: how he came in with an edge and that meeting
- 11:40Speaker 1: and basically everything that he said, we made it happen today,
- 11:44Speaker 1: So we spoke it into existence. I asked Brian about
- 11:47Speaker 1: his speech. I'm glad that he felt that it was effective.
- 11:52Speaker 1: I don't know that. I'm too many pregame speeches or
- 11:56Speaker 1: meeting speeches have won too many games. He went out
- 11:58Speaker 1: and played really well, which is all that really mattered.
- 12:00Speaker 1: But yeah, I mean my Saturday mornings are kind of
- 12:04Speaker 1: a recap of the week, what the plan is going forward,
- 12:08Speaker 1: how we're going to play the particular game we're getting
- 12:11Speaker 1: ready to play on Sunday, And most of the time
- 12:15Speaker 1: it's it's practice clips and you know, kind of spliced
- 12:18Speaker 1: them with the game clips and just so we show
- 12:20Speaker 1: how we're going to attack a team and things that
- 12:22Speaker 1: we think are going to look work well and all
- 12:25Speaker 1: those types of things. And then I usually try to
- 12:27Speaker 1: have some sort of message, And you know, it's our
- 12:30Speaker 1: job as coaches is to try to have a message
- 12:32Speaker 1: that can be digestible, relatable, something that has an impact.
- 12:37Speaker 1: And some weeks it's something a little more funny and lighthearted.
- 12:41Speaker 1: Some weeks it's some movie clips we use a lot
- 12:45Speaker 1: of I've used a lot of different documentaries, sports documentaries,
- 12:51Speaker 1: just you know, just have some other voice in perspective
- 12:55Speaker 1: on whatever the topic might be. So I've done a
- 12:57Speaker 1: lot of them over four years, and I appreciate that
- 13:01Speaker 1: Joe Joe felt like that will made an impact on Saturday.
- 13:03Speaker 1: But you know, it's just sort of part of part
- 13:06Speaker 1: of the normal weekly routine. And again, if maybe some
- 13:10Speaker 1: of some have probably fallen pretty flat over the years,
- 13:13Speaker 1: and some of some of them I think of have
- 13:15Speaker 1: been better than others. But you have to ask the
- 13:17Speaker 1: guys and what they think and if if they're really
- 13:19Speaker 1: as good as I think they are, as bad as
- 13:21Speaker 1: they can be. Sometimes I try to keep it as
- 13:23Speaker 1: entertaining as possible, but um, you know, it's a pretty
- 13:26Speaker 1: normal part of the week and normal routine, normal Saturday meeting,
- 13:28Speaker 1: and I thought the message this week it was probably
- 13:32Speaker 1: a little more aggressive than others, but it was it
- 13:35Speaker 1: seemed to have resonated, so that's good. I don't know
- 13:38Speaker 1: what he said, but I hope he has something similar
- 13:41Speaker 1: planned for Pittsburgh. The Bengals Booth podcast is brought to
- 13:44Speaker 1: you by pay Corps. More than twenty nine thousand customers
- 13:47Speaker 1: trust pay Corps to help them recruit, pay, engage, and
- 13:51Speaker 1: retain employees. Learn more at paycorps dot com. Now let's
- 13:57Speaker 1: get to an injury update. The Bengals have not had
- 14:00Speaker 1: DJ Reader in the lineup since he suffered a knee
- 14:02Speaker 1: injury in Week three against the Jets, but the team
- 14:05Speaker 1: is optimistic that he could return after the bye. I
- 14:09Speaker 1: asked defensive coordinator lou Anna Romo about the big man
- 14:12Speaker 1: in the middle of his defense. All Right, your poised
- 14:15Speaker 1: to potentially get some reinforcements back after the bye, most
- 14:19Speaker 1: notably DJ. Is that your hope? Yeah, I hope. So
- 14:22Speaker 1: I think he's on track, you know. So I'm running
- 14:24Speaker 1: around out there this morning and looking good. So hopefully
- 14:28Speaker 1: he'll he'll stay trend in that way, and you know,
- 14:31Speaker 1: just give us a great lift when he gets back,
- 14:34Speaker 1: you know, really really hard to block one on one
- 14:37Speaker 1: in the run game, and gives you more rush than
- 14:40Speaker 1: you would think from a guy his size. So and
- 14:43Speaker 1: then just his leadership out there on the field, he's
- 14:46Speaker 1: a dominating force. Her football focus has DJ graded as
- 14:50Speaker 1: the second best interior defensive lineman in the league this year.
- 14:55Speaker 1: He's one spot behind Chris Jones of the Chiefs and
- 14:58Speaker 1: one spot ahead of Aaron Donald. Quarterback Mike Hilton missed
- 15:02Speaker 1: last week's game against Carolina after tearing ligaments and fracturing
- 15:06Speaker 1: the pinky finger on his left hand in three places
- 15:10Speaker 1: in the Monday night game at Cleveland. He had surgery
- 15:13Speaker 1: the following day and says he'll definitely be back next
- 15:16Speaker 1: week in Pittsburgh. I find this hard to believe, but
- 15:19Speaker 1: some people apparently question Mike's toughness when he was ruled
- 15:23Speaker 1: out of last week's game. Hall of famer Ronnie Lott
- 15:26Speaker 1: famously had the tip of his pinkie finger amputated in
- 15:30Speaker 1: order to play in a playoff game, but Lott says
- 15:33Speaker 1: he regrets doing it, and I seriously hope that nobody
- 15:36Speaker 1: expected Mike Hilton to do the same thing. Mike saw
- 15:40Speaker 1: some criticism on social media and sent out a tweet saying,
- 15:44Speaker 1: l L y'all think I quit on my team? Folks
- 15:48Speaker 1: are hilarious. Here's what he had to say about that tweet.
- 15:53Speaker 1: You know how people are, They think just because it's
- 15:55Speaker 1: a pinky compared to what people do get back in
- 15:57Speaker 1: the day. I got all the little Ronnie Lot stories.
- 16:00Speaker 1: That's cool and all, but this is twenty twenty two. Like,
- 16:02Speaker 1: I'd rather be healthy for the back end of the
- 16:04Speaker 1: season than we entered myself in put the team in
- 16:07Speaker 1: the worst position. So I got those dems and now there.
- 16:11Speaker 1: I just laughed and put that tweet out, But I'm
- 16:13Speaker 1: ready to go out. I'm RuSHA good Never consider cutting
- 16:16Speaker 1: it off. Oh no, no, no, that's not going to
- 16:19Speaker 1: cross my mind. Hey, I respect to running a lot.
- 16:21Speaker 1: You know you're great, But that's not from pound. Mike
- 16:26Speaker 1: Hilton is among the toughest players in the NFL. The
- 16:30Speaker 1: Bengals Booth Podcast is presented by Alta Fiber future proof
- 16:34Speaker 1: fiber Internet capable of delivering multi gigabit speeds designed to
- 16:38Speaker 1: take your home, business, and community to a new level.
- 16:41Speaker 1: Elevate your connection with all to fiber. Now time for
- 16:46Speaker 1: something a little different. One of the best things about
- 16:49Speaker 1: the Bengals two trips to London has been meeting Bengals
- 16:52Speaker 1: fans from all over the world, and one of the
- 16:54Speaker 1: most dedicated is Paul Hyrns. The name might sound familiar.
- 16:59Speaker 1: Paul was one of the leaders of the Bengals fan
- 17:01Speaker 1: club in the UK and co host the popular Cincinator podcast,
- 17:06Speaker 1: which follows the Bengals from an international perspective. Paul and
- 17:10Speaker 1: a large group of Bengals fans from overseas were at
- 17:14Speaker 1: the game last Sunday and Cincinnati and I had a
- 17:17Speaker 1: chance to talk to him about their visit this week. Paul,
- 17:21Speaker 1: how many Bengals fans made it to the US for
- 17:25Speaker 1: this trip and how did this adventure come about? Well,
- 17:29Speaker 1: to answer your first question, it was twenty five. How
- 17:32Speaker 1: it came about, I think there was always as the
- 17:35Speaker 1: fan group grew, there was always kind of talk about
- 17:39Speaker 1: we should go away, we should all get together and
- 17:41Speaker 1: go away. But there was no really I mean, frankly,
- 17:43Speaker 1: I wasn't going to underwrite that trip and there, but
- 17:47Speaker 1: there was always like we should go And of course
- 17:49Speaker 1: one or two mates came over together and there was
- 17:52Speaker 1: you know, a few pockets of Bengals fans from the
- 17:56Speaker 1: UK came over on their own steam, but then COVID
- 18:01Speaker 1: happened that kind of shelved everything. And then this year
- 18:04Speaker 1: a company in the UK called Touchdown Trips. I'm sure
- 18:07Speaker 1: you can guess what line of work they came to for.
- 18:11Speaker 1: They called me and said, listen, you know, we the
- 18:14Speaker 1: Bengals are one of the only clubs that we've not
- 18:18Speaker 1: been to. We've been to pretty much every NFL club
- 18:21Speaker 1: in the US, but so we did like a bit
- 18:25Speaker 1: of an exercise where we contacted the clubs that we've
- 18:28Speaker 1: never been to, and the Bengals kind of said, yeah,
- 18:30Speaker 1: we'd love to help out and make this happen. And
- 18:32Speaker 1: then he asked me, would we be interested in aligning
- 18:37Speaker 1: or kind of joining together in a loose arrangement and
- 18:40Speaker 1: calling it a Bengals UK trip, And I said, well,
- 18:44Speaker 1: let's go for it. I was a bit I wasn't
- 18:46Speaker 1: sure what the interest was going to be because you know,
- 18:49Speaker 1: moneys are very tight at the moment, times are tough.
- 18:52Speaker 1: I needn't of worried. Really, the interest was like sky high.
- 18:57Speaker 1: So yeah, in the end, twenty five people came of
- 19:00Speaker 1: that group of twenty five who had been to Cincinnati before.
- 19:03Speaker 1: If anybody, Oh, there's a good question, let me think.
- 19:05Speaker 1: Maybe maybe me. So this is my third time here,
- 19:10Speaker 1: very lucky and very privileged to have done that. Another
- 19:14Speaker 1: guy had been once, I think so, yeah, only kind
- 19:18Speaker 1: of two of us. Yeah. So I am a fan
- 19:21Speaker 1: of Leicester City in the Premier League and the first
- 19:24Speaker 1: time the Bengals went to London in twenty sixteen, I
- 19:27Speaker 1: went to one of their matches. It was at Tottenham
- 19:29Speaker 1: and it didn't seem real to me. I had been
- 19:32Speaker 1: watching Jamie Vardy and Casper schmike goal on TV and
- 19:36Speaker 1: they had won the Premier League title of the year before.
- 19:38Speaker 1: It was like a movie. Was it like that for
- 19:42Speaker 1: the Bengals fans who came to the US for this
- 19:44Speaker 1: game and watched the game last Sunday? Oh? I mean yeah.
- 19:47Speaker 1: The short answer is yes. The slightly longer answer, I
- 19:51Speaker 1: mean I wept when I first came over and saw
- 19:53Speaker 1: Paul Brown Stadium as it was cooled. It is emotional,
- 20:01Speaker 1: and I believe you met a guy called Tom a
- 20:04Speaker 1: couple of weeks ago who put a video on social
- 20:06Speaker 1: media with him bawling his eyes out. It means so
- 20:09Speaker 1: much to people and as soon as we got into
- 20:12Speaker 1: town and checked into our hotel, I said, look, you know,
- 20:16Speaker 1: pay court. I mean it's just there and everyone's gonna like, okay,
- 20:20Speaker 1: we go and it so it wasn't like it wasn't
- 20:24Speaker 1: kind of like like a virgin touch for the very
- 20:27Speaker 1: first time for me personally, but still it felt surreal
- 20:31Speaker 1: and it just I kind of exhaled and think, there
- 20:34Speaker 1: she is, there, she is. Um. But those guys were
- 20:39Speaker 1: kind of like in awe. UM. I have to say,
- 20:43Speaker 1: this stadium looked different, brighter, more lights, and I think
- 20:47Speaker 1: that goes in you know, it's in line with everything
- 20:49Speaker 1: Elizabeth and her team have done. So it looks spectacular.
- 20:54Speaker 1: And those guys do you know what. It was kind
- 20:57Speaker 1: of like being a dad giving a Christmas present to
- 21:02Speaker 1: a child on Christmas Day and watching their faces open it.
- 21:06Speaker 1: You know, it was just brilliant. They were just like oh,
- 21:09Speaker 1: you know, they were really really taken aback. And I'm
- 21:13Speaker 1: sure your listeners might be thinking, well, why, it's because
- 21:17Speaker 1: we we watched these games often on a laptop. You
- 21:23Speaker 1: just don't think it's it's ever an option to be
- 21:26Speaker 1: here and experience it firsthand, and then you kind of
- 21:30Speaker 1: you know, this long distance relationship that we have. It
- 21:33Speaker 1: really fosters a very kind of quite intense bond. So
- 21:38Speaker 1: to actually be here is a very emotional and surreal
- 21:43Speaker 1: experience for a lot of people, me included. Still, you know,
- 21:45Speaker 1: we're chatting with Paul Hireens from the Bengals UK fan Club.
- 21:49Speaker 1: What were some of the highlights of the entire adventure
- 21:52Speaker 1: because coming to the game was not the only thing
- 21:54Speaker 1: that this group of twenty five did. Yeah, it was.
- 21:57Speaker 1: I mean, it was a whirlwind weekend. Um, they had
- 22:02Speaker 1: some free time on on Saturday morning and Monday morning.
- 22:06Speaker 1: That's it. Obviously, everything was optional. They could do what
- 22:09Speaker 1: they wanted. But um, yeah, and I kind of I
- 22:15Speaker 1: kind of did this fat pack, you know, guide to
- 22:17Speaker 1: over the rhyme, guide to Covington, guide to the breweries
- 22:20Speaker 1: you can go and visit, guide to Family Orientated Adventures. No, no, no,
- 22:26Speaker 1: everyone discarded that completely. All they wanted to do was
- 22:31Speaker 1: spend money in the pro shop since the shirts or
- 22:34Speaker 1: Cox Sports, you know. So the next time I saw them,
- 22:38Speaker 1: there was like huge kind of trash liners full of
- 22:41Speaker 1: hundreds of dollars of merchandise. You know, a couple of things.
- 22:47Speaker 1: We went to see the bear Cats on on Saturday.
- 22:50Speaker 1: That was a really great experience. One of our team
- 22:53Speaker 1: members that you know, as we're talking earlier, Um is
- 22:57Speaker 1: as big a bear Cats fan as he is a
- 22:59Speaker 1: Bengals fan. So to see his face when he got
- 23:03Speaker 1: to be inside Nippet Stadium seeing the Bearcats was was
- 23:08Speaker 1: really special. And that was a very special experienced full stop.
- 23:12Speaker 1: You know, the tradition and the I mean, I don't
- 23:15Speaker 1: know how you do it. Each week, Dan, this it's bonkers.
- 23:18Speaker 1: He's a fantastic and that's why it's fantastically bonkers. The band,
- 23:24Speaker 1: then there's football, there's band, then you've got some sort
- 23:27Speaker 1: of weird physical challenges. So it's kind of part game show,
- 23:30Speaker 1: part live gig, and then part football thing is it
- 23:33Speaker 1: was amazing. It was just fantastic to be there. Obviously,
- 23:40Speaker 1: the main event, obviously was was Sunday, So we got
- 23:43Speaker 1: down to the tailgates at eight am and had a
- 23:48Speaker 1: great time down there and just being there was terrific.
- 23:52Speaker 1: I will mention one very special thing that happened. There
- 23:57Speaker 1: was a guy and his partner. No, I'm going to
- 24:01Speaker 1: leave this very quickly. One of the special things that happened.
- 24:04Speaker 1: Two of the guys on the tour brought their sons
- 24:07Speaker 1: with them, So one guy bought his twelve Andrew brought
- 24:11Speaker 1: his twelve year old son Felix, and Nick brought his
- 24:17Speaker 1: seventeen year old son Ben. And I thought that was
- 24:21Speaker 1: just fantastic and just seeing them go about the town together.
- 24:25Speaker 1: And I think it was a really special trip for
- 24:28Speaker 1: those guys in terms of a father son relationship. But then,
- 24:32Speaker 1: as if you're thinking about the main event in terms
- 24:34Speaker 1: of itinery it was the Bengals game quite obviously, but
- 24:39Speaker 1: the main event in terms of things that happened. One
- 24:44Speaker 1: of our guys, Joe, Joe Jones, I'm sure he won't
- 24:49Speaker 1: you mentioned him proposed to his partner in Russia on
- 24:52Speaker 1: the banks of the River Ohio before the game. Thankfully
- 24:57Speaker 1: she said yes, that would have been to the story.
- 25:00Speaker 1: No no, no no no, And they are such a lovely couple,
- 25:06Speaker 1: you know that that kind of bought a lump. It
- 25:08Speaker 1: was like that share the icing on the cake to
- 25:12Speaker 1: end the whole trip. It was fantastic, and now all
- 25:14Speaker 1: other proposals pale in comparison. Well, we kind of said,
- 25:18Speaker 1: what are you going to do for your wedding? You know,
- 25:19Speaker 1: you've got to go on the pitch at paycor to
- 25:22Speaker 1: kind of tie the knot. But no, it's fantastic. Paul.
- 25:25Speaker 1: What was the Super Bowl viewing experience like for you
- 25:27Speaker 1: with the time difference, were you together with fellow Bengals fans?
- 25:31Speaker 1: How did you pull that off? Oh? My goodness, me,
- 25:33Speaker 1: how did I still ask that question today? We had it?
- 25:38Speaker 1: So I think I think I speak for most Bengals
- 25:42Speaker 1: fans when I say that it was unexpected to get
- 25:49Speaker 1: to the Super Bowl. I think everyone knew that we
- 25:52Speaker 1: had a very talented team and we should be more
- 25:55Speaker 1: competitive last year, maybe challenge for the division. But you know,
- 26:00Speaker 1: a momentum is everything in sport and confidence and if
- 26:03Speaker 1: you've got those two together. So I was actually quite
- 26:06Speaker 1: confident against the Raiders and the Titans actually, but you
- 26:09Speaker 1: had the Chiefs in our head. Come on. Now. We
- 26:12Speaker 1: were in a little bar in London, kind of a
- 26:15Speaker 1: restaurant come bar called Cincinnati Chili Bomb. A British guy
- 26:19Speaker 1: used to live in Cincinnati has opened. It's nothing like
- 26:23Speaker 1: Cincinnati Chili, but he's that's his brand. And we got
- 26:28Speaker 1: in touch and said, well, you know, we've got to
- 26:30Speaker 1: have the meet up there, right And it was one
- 26:33Speaker 1: of the most I will never forget that night. It
- 26:35Speaker 1: was like forty fifty people packed into this small bar.
- 26:38Speaker 1: It was nuts. It was absolutely nuts. And then we
- 26:40Speaker 1: obviously got to the Super Bowl. Absolutely mayhem, absolute grown
- 26:45Speaker 1: men crying in the street. It was that kind of evening.
- 26:49Speaker 1: And then a day later it was like, oh, we're
- 26:52Speaker 1: in the super Bowl. We've got to do a Super
- 26:53Speaker 1: Bowl party, haven't we. So what followed was probably the
- 26:58Speaker 1: most intense and heck week of my life, trying to
- 27:01Speaker 1: keep my day job but also trying to find a
- 27:06Speaker 1: venue to host a super Bowl that would start around
- 27:12Speaker 1: midnight and finished around half past three on Monday morning.
- 27:16Speaker 1: Licensing is a bit different over in the UK, so
- 27:19Speaker 1: trying to find a place that had a license to
- 27:22Speaker 1: serve booze on that early on a Monday morning Sunday
- 27:25Speaker 1: into Monday. We found one eventually, thanks to the help
- 27:29Speaker 1: of several people in the Bengals UK leadership group. It
- 27:35Speaker 1: was a pub in central London. We took it all over,
- 27:39Speaker 1: three floors. We decked it all out in kind of
- 27:43Speaker 1: jungle foliage and orange and black. The staff wore Bengals
- 27:48Speaker 1: T shirts. They had Bengals bombs at the bar. You know,
- 27:52Speaker 1: three floors packful of Bengals fans. It's one of the
- 27:55Speaker 1: honestly one of the greatest achievements of my life putting
- 27:59Speaker 1: that on such a short space of time, obviously with
- 28:02Speaker 1: the help of the guys in the group, and it
- 28:05Speaker 1: was a fantastic night as well apart from those final seconds.
- 28:09Speaker 1: So yeah, it was. I always said if the Bengals
- 28:13Speaker 1: got back to Super Bowl, because I was a teenager
- 28:15Speaker 1: when when they last got to the Super Bow. I
- 28:18Speaker 1: always said, do you know what going to the super
- 28:21Speaker 1: Bowl with all the expense, and I'm not really a
- 28:23Speaker 1: flashy guy. I don't care about, you know, all the
- 28:26Speaker 1: hoopla and whatnot. I would rather come to Cincinnati to
- 28:31Speaker 1: kind of experience it with Cincinnati and somewhere in a
- 28:34Speaker 1: in a bar somewhere or whatever, watch parties somewhere. But
- 28:40Speaker 1: I didn't. I just stayed with my people in the
- 28:44Speaker 1: UK and we had an incredible time, incredible time, three
- 28:47Speaker 1: stories worth of fans. We absolutely Yeah. So Paul, has
- 28:52Speaker 1: Joe Burrow become a star in the UK? Yeah, everyone
- 28:55Speaker 1: knows who Joe is. I think you know, as I said,
- 28:59Speaker 1: you'd been to the UK a few times. You know
- 29:01Speaker 1: that the sport has gone from cult status to almost
- 29:06Speaker 1: mainstream status, I think, and so people are clued up.
- 29:09Speaker 1: And I think, you know, with the Bengals, with their
- 29:12Speaker 1: helmets and the jerseys, they're very recognizable. Yeah. Absolutely, Joe.
- 29:17Speaker 1: Joe is a star I think globally, not kind of
- 29:21Speaker 1: maybe on the Brady Rogers kind of level, but you know,
- 29:26Speaker 1: sports fans generally will probably know who Joe Burrow is. Yeah. So,
- 29:31Speaker 1: the NFL added a seventeenth game last year, and now
- 29:34Speaker 1: it's been decided that that's going to be the international game.
- 29:38Speaker 1: So every eight years, an NFL team will give up
- 29:40Speaker 1: a home game and that so called seventeenth game against
- 29:44Speaker 1: the team from the other conference will become an international game.
- 29:47Speaker 1: So the Bengals are theoretically due next year they will
- 29:50Speaker 1: host a team from the NFC North so Minnesota, Green Bay, Detroit, Chicago,
- 29:57Speaker 1: and that game could very easily be London or Germany
- 30:01Speaker 1: or somewhere internationally. Are your fellow UK fans eagerly awaiting
- 30:08Speaker 1: the possibility of this announcement? Yeah, I mean, goodness to
- 30:12Speaker 1: me again. I'll go back to the fact that you've
- 30:14Speaker 1: experienced this. It is an incredible experience, I think, and
- 30:21Speaker 1: I think he would agree with that, wouldn't you. Absolutely,
- 30:23Speaker 1: It's one of the highlights of my Bengals broadcasting career.
- 30:26Speaker 1: Doesn't compare to doing the Super Bowl, but those two
- 30:29Speaker 1: London games have been absolutely fantastic in my yeah, And
- 30:34Speaker 1: I think part of that. I mean, the game is
- 30:36Speaker 1: almost a separate thing entirely if your listeners don't know,
- 30:41Speaker 1: each visiting team gets allotted a pub. So the Bengals
- 30:46Speaker 1: pub in London the past, that past two times they've
- 30:50Speaker 1: visited has been the Admiralty, just off the famous Travauga Square, Right,
- 30:56Speaker 1: You've got Announces a column, you've got the National Gallery,
- 30:59Speaker 1: and you've got this pub called the Admiralty. And I
- 31:01Speaker 1: think the first time I didn't know what to expect
- 31:03Speaker 1: the first time in twenty sixteen, and I basically more
- 31:07Speaker 1: or less went Thursday night and didn't leave until kind
- 31:12Speaker 1: of two am on Sunday morning, then realize, oh good,
- 31:15Speaker 1: oh there's a game today, you know. But what I
- 31:18Speaker 1: mean it was bumper to bumper in there all the time.
- 31:24Speaker 1: The American fans full respected, They've got it's a lot
- 31:27Speaker 1: of money to travel, so they're super excited to be there.
- 31:31Speaker 1: We're mixing and drinking and singing songs and mostly derogatory
- 31:37Speaker 1: songs about the Pittsburgh's dealers obviously, but you know, we
- 31:40Speaker 1: made such incredible friends and we saw them at the tailgate.
- 31:46Speaker 1: It's like, hey, how you do people go People from
- 31:49Speaker 1: the UK go over and stay with people they met
- 31:53Speaker 1: when they come over, will stay with people that they
- 31:55Speaker 1: met in twenty sixteen. I'm going out for dinner with
- 31:58Speaker 1: a couple tonight, I first in twenty sixty and to me,
- 32:02Speaker 1: that's why I do this fan group. It's all about
- 32:05Speaker 1: the friendships that you create in the community that springs
- 32:08Speaker 1: from it. Um. It was just an incredible experience, bumper
- 32:12Speaker 1: to bumper. Suddenly you can see Dave Lapham and his
- 32:16Speaker 1: enormous hands and you're shaking them and you think you
- 32:19Speaker 1: may be crushed, but he gives that amazing Lapham laugh
- 32:23Speaker 1: and you're like, oh, I'll just hug you, Dave. I
- 32:27Speaker 1: did do that, actually, But anyway, Anti Muna stayed and
- 32:31Speaker 1: talked to us outside for like thirty minutes. Kevin Hube
- 32:35Speaker 1: was around, Darren urinated next to Darrenson in the toilet
- 32:40Speaker 1: in the not in the streets. We're not animals, obviously,
- 32:42Speaker 1: but so you know what I mean, there's kind of
- 32:45Speaker 1: and Darren remembers me from that that sounds really weird,
- 32:49Speaker 1: doesn't If he remembers me from exactly, I won't say anymore.
- 32:56Speaker 1: Kive Hube remembers me. We've had him on our podcast before,
- 33:00Speaker 1: and so it's it's those moments, Hey, you know I'm
- 33:04Speaker 1: here with you now. You've been always been very kind
- 33:06Speaker 1: and friendly to us, and yeah, it was an incredible experience. Yeah,
- 33:11Speaker 1: and then the second time Kenny Anderson was there throwing
- 33:16Speaker 1: T shirts into the crowd, and it's just a brilliant
- 33:20Speaker 1: two or three nights. And I think this trip just
- 33:26Speaker 1: to bring it back around, this trip with the British Bengals, guys,
- 33:31Speaker 1: they're experienced something similar. You know, they've met people, they've
- 33:35Speaker 1: swapped following each other on social media, they've swapped numbers,
- 33:39Speaker 1: you know that kind of thing, and personally that that
- 33:43Speaker 1: makes me really proud and actually quite emotionally it's really cool.
- 33:47Speaker 1: The Jaguars play a game in London every year, so
- 33:50Speaker 1: I know they have a big following. Do you have
- 33:52Speaker 1: any sense of where the Bengals rank in comparison to
- 33:55Speaker 1: most NFL teams for how many fans they have in
- 33:58Speaker 1: the UK. We shout very loudly and proudly, as you know,
- 34:05Speaker 1: and people who follow us on Twitter and social media.
- 34:08Speaker 1: It's really difficult to quantify. I think the Jags are
- 34:11Speaker 1: a bit of an outlier because the actual club runs
- 34:14Speaker 1: that and there's been no let's say that but anyway,
- 34:19Speaker 1: the actual club runs that account and their social media
- 34:22Speaker 1: and whatnot. But you know, we're like the fifth most
- 34:27Speaker 1: followed team on social media in the UK, bigger than
- 34:31Speaker 1: a Cowboys, Bucks, Patriots, Steelers. Got to mention that all
- 34:38Speaker 1: those guys, you know, teams that have been popular for decades,
- 34:42Speaker 1: like the Dolphins, the Chiefs are quite and the Packers,
- 34:47Speaker 1: you know, you would expect them to have large fan
- 34:49Speaker 1: bases abroad. But we're getting there. But you know, it's
- 34:53Speaker 1: difficult to know. I mean, I think I think we're
- 34:57Speaker 1: up there, and the popular arty of well, the popularity
- 35:02Speaker 1: that follows a Super Bowl run only helps grow the
- 35:05Speaker 1: fan base. You know. There's nothing like a winning team,
- 35:09Speaker 1: you know, to do that. I think I think there's
- 35:11Speaker 1: definitely a few thousand people in the UK that support
- 35:15Speaker 1: the Bengals for sure. Yeah. Final thing, you're on my podcast,
- 35:19Speaker 1: I've been on yours. You are the co host of
- 35:21Speaker 1: a popular and really good podcast, the Since Nader Podcast
- 35:25Speaker 1: that they say that properly Cincinnada podcast. You've had some
- 35:29Speaker 1: a list guests. Yeah, what are some of your favorite
- 35:33Speaker 1: episodes or or favorite guests that you've had? Well, the
- 35:35Speaker 1: one with Dan Hornell was pretty special. Now genuinely because
- 35:38Speaker 1: you I asked you. I just you know, you have
- 35:41Speaker 1: to ask the question right, and you were very good
- 35:43Speaker 1: at doing this, very good for doing this. You did
- 35:47Speaker 1: a bit of commentary, didn't you. So that was great
- 35:50Speaker 1: featuring myself and my co host Nathan as players. Anyway, whatever,
- 35:55Speaker 1: it was very funny and you were a great sport
- 35:57Speaker 1: for that. When we started, we Nathan and I just
- 36:02Speaker 1: basically got drunk and swore and very unprofessional. Then we
- 36:08Speaker 1: got Ken Anderson on and Jeff Hobson and we thought, oh,
- 36:14Speaker 1: we're getting some really good guests here. Maybe we should
- 36:18Speaker 1: just tone down like kind of you know, drinking and
- 36:20Speaker 1: the swearing, which some would would ask us to bring
- 36:24Speaker 1: that back, I think. But yeah, I think being British helps.
- 36:27Speaker 1: I think if you call someone or get in touch
- 36:29Speaker 1: with someone, say would you like to come on a
- 36:30Speaker 1: British podcast, A British Bengals podcast, They're like, Okay, that
- 36:38Speaker 1: sounds weird, you know, that's a bit. We've had Zach on,
- 36:41Speaker 1: Zach Taylor. We've had Darren Simmons, laps been on like
- 36:46Speaker 1: half a Dazen a time. Jeff Hobbs has been on,
- 36:47Speaker 1: pauled Dania and Jay Morrison had been done. Really great journalists,
- 36:52Speaker 1: the players we've had, Jesse Bates, Andy Dalton, Carson Palmer, Um,
- 36:58Speaker 1: let me think, t J Houshman Zada. I mean, the
- 37:00Speaker 1: list goes on. My personal favorites was Tommy Cook now
- 37:05Speaker 1: doctor Tommy Cook, who played for the Bengal was only
- 37:09Speaker 1: like a year I think in the late sixties, but
- 37:13Speaker 1: of course he was the guy in the Olympics who
- 37:15Speaker 1: rose his fist and I was super proud to have
- 37:20Speaker 1: him on, especially as it was during the Black Lives
- 37:23Speaker 1: Matter kind of campaign, and that was incredible. Genuinely, I
- 37:28Speaker 1: was genuinely humbled to talk to him. We do an
- 37:32Speaker 1: International Women's Day special every year. We're lucky in terms
- 37:37Speaker 1: of the fandom because we've got great female journalists, like
- 37:41Speaker 1: we've had Rissa Contapelli, who's magnificent at last, Jesse as
- 37:46Speaker 1: you know, those sort of guys Lindsay Patterson, who's brilliant.
- 37:51Speaker 1: We had Zach's wife, Sarah Sarah Sherman on this year,
- 37:55Speaker 1: who was fantastic, gave a really interesting insight into what
- 37:59Speaker 1: it was like from a family point of view during
- 38:02Speaker 1: the Super Bowl run. My personal favorite and was having
- 38:06Speaker 1: Sam Wycheon. He was an idol to me growing up,
- 38:10Speaker 1: Like serious, you know, I had my players that I loved,
- 38:12Speaker 1: but Sam was the man that I just looked up to.
- 38:16Speaker 1: You know, I thought he was just a part aside
- 38:18Speaker 1: from being a very innovative and fantastic coach and someone
- 38:22Speaker 1: you would quite obviously run through a brick wall for
- 38:25Speaker 1: just the kind of guy he was. He was funny,
- 38:27Speaker 1: he was unpredictable, he was fiery, he was generous and benevolent,
- 38:34Speaker 1: all those things wrapped up into one. So I love
- 38:37Speaker 1: the guy. Said. To actually get him on the podcast
- 38:39Speaker 1: only a few years before he passed away was something
- 38:44Speaker 1: something that I never ever dreamed of doing, and I
- 38:48Speaker 1: developed a bit of a personal relationship with him. So yeah,
- 38:53Speaker 1: that was that. I will never I mean, I'll never
- 38:55Speaker 1: forget any of this because if you asked me thirty
- 38:58Speaker 1: five years ago as a kid selecting the Bengals, as
- 39:02Speaker 1: my team, that I'd be sitting here with you inside
- 39:06Speaker 1: paycol Stadium in Cincinnati, I would have laughed in your face.
- 39:12Speaker 1: So it's just been such a brilliant ride and such
- 39:15Speaker 1: a privilege to do. The Bengals often pull quotes out
- 39:19Speaker 1: of this podcast and create graphics for social media. I'm
- 39:23Speaker 1: going to recommend that I urinated next to Darren Simmons
- 39:26Speaker 1: is now what they select from this particular podcast. But
- 39:30Speaker 1: this was really enjoyable. It's so good to see you again.
- 39:32Speaker 1: And I truly hope that on a Friday next fall,
- 39:36Speaker 1: we're sitting next to each other in the Admiralty having
- 39:38Speaker 1: a paint and we have you on one of our
- 39:41Speaker 1: Bengals radio shows. That would be a thrill for me.
- 39:43Speaker 1: You know it, Dan, and that point is on me.
- 39:46Speaker 1: You can guarantee it. Now what again, thank you for
- 39:49Speaker 1: having me. Just to shout out to everyone in Cincinnati
- 39:51Speaker 1: who has made us feel so welcome. It's blown people away.
- 39:56Speaker 1: I've had text this morning from the guys who are
- 39:58Speaker 1: now at home feeling very spundent to be at home, actually,
- 40:01Speaker 1: but they were already saying it's one of the it's
- 40:04Speaker 1: the best trip of their life, one of the moments
- 40:07Speaker 1: of their lifetime. So you know how you knew that
- 40:11Speaker 1: supporting a sporting team could create this kind of level
- 40:15Speaker 1: emotion of emotion and friendship and bond and all the
- 40:20Speaker 1: rest of it. Say Yeah, I'm absolutely delighted to be
- 40:23Speaker 1: here and I can't thank you enough. Thank you that's
- 40:26Speaker 1: going to do it. For this episode of the Bengals
- 40:28Speaker 1: Booth Podcast, presented by Kettering Health, the official healthcare provider
- 40:32Speaker 1: of the Bengals, by Bengals Picks and Ultimate Bengals, They're
- 40:36Speaker 1: free to play with tickets and signed merchandise up for
- 40:39Speaker 1: grabs by paycor, the official HR software provider of the Bengals,
- 40:43Speaker 1: and by Alta Fiber future Proof Fiber Internet elevate your
- 40:47Speaker 1: connection with Alta Fiber. If you haven't done so already,
- 40:51Speaker 1: please subscribe to this podcast and if you have a minute,
- 40:53Speaker 1: give it a rating or share a comment that helps
- 40:56Speaker 1: more Bengals fans find us. I'm Dan Horde and thanks
- 41:00Speaker 1: for listening to The Bengals Booth Podcast. H