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Bengals Booth Podcast: Through The Years · Bengals Booth Podcast

0:03
Speaker 1: Hi, get everybody on Dan Horden. Thanks for downloading the
0:06
Speaker 1: Bengals Booth Podcast the OOO the Yes addition, as we
0:12
Speaker 1: discussed the upcoming season and a remarkable life in football
0:16
Speaker 1: with team president Mike Brown. The Bengals Booth Podcast is
0:19
Speaker 1: brought to you by pay Corps, Proud to be the
0:21
Speaker 1: Bengals official HR software provider, by Alta Fiber, future proof
0:26
Speaker 1: fiber Internet designed to elevate your home, business and community
0:30
Speaker 1: to a new level, and by Kettering Health the best
0:33
Speaker 1: care for the best fans. Kettering Health is the official
0:36
Speaker 1: healthcare provider of the Bengals. Now here's a quick reminder
0:40
Speaker 1: that you can have the latest edition of this podcast
0:43
Speaker 1: delivered right to your phone, tablet, or computer by subscribing
0:47
Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcasts. It's the greatest thing since
0:51
Speaker 1: clear laundry detergent cups. I did laundry last night and
0:56
Speaker 1: was reminded of a major pet peeve. A few times
1:00
Speaker 1: I've purchased detergent, the measuring cup that screws on to
1:03
Speaker 1: the top has not been see through. Our current one
1:07
Speaker 1: is red, so when you pour the detergent in, it's
1:10
Speaker 1: hard to see the measuring lines. What gives clear cup, easy,
1:16
Speaker 1: dark cup difficult. So if my clothes appear dirty or
1:22
Speaker 1: smell a little stinky, blame it on the engineering genius
1:26
Speaker 1: who messed with a good thing. Now, let's get to football.
1:31
Speaker 1: The Bengals held their annual pre training camp media day
1:34
Speaker 1: on Monday, and the highlight for me is always the
1:37
Speaker 1: opportunity to visit with Mike Brown. After Mike discusses Bengals
1:42
Speaker 1: business with local reporters, he always sits down for a
1:45
Speaker 1: separate interview with me, where we typically discuss Bengal's history.
1:50
Speaker 1: Mike will be ninety years old in a few weeks,
1:53
Speaker 1: and he's still sharp as attack. Here's player personnel director
1:56
Speaker 1: Duke Tobin on his boss's involvement.
2:00
Speaker 2: Mike's the first one in the building every day in
2:03
Speaker 2: the offseason, the only one in on the weekends. So
2:07
Speaker 2: he's here. He's all football, all the time. It's his life,
2:11
Speaker 2: it's his passion. He wants to be involved, he wants
2:15
Speaker 2: to know what's going on. I think he's willing to
2:21
Speaker 2: listen and understand others and delegate responsibilities as he's gotten older,
2:28
Speaker 2: but he's certainly fun to be around because his passion
2:31
Speaker 2: for what we do in the NFL and football in
2:34
Speaker 2: general is high level, and it's really cool to see
2:40
Speaker 2: his routine continue, and his routine is football.
2:44
Speaker 1: According to ESPN BET, there are only five teams this
2:48
Speaker 1: year with better Super Bowl odds than the Bengals. Duke
2:51
Speaker 1: Tobin calls it a championship caliber team, but it's not
2:55
Speaker 1: in Mike's nature to say the same thing.
2:58
Speaker 3: Well, we have to prove it. And I grew up
3:02
Speaker 3: in a coach's family, and my dad, who was a coach,
3:09
Speaker 3: spent all his time not trying to raise expectations. That
3:15
Speaker 3: was dangerous to do that, and I was taught that
3:18
Speaker 3: that's how you ought to behave when this question is presented,
3:23
Speaker 3: not declare victory before you've assembled to start the training camp.
3:32
Speaker 3: I think we have good players, so does Baltimore, Sodaes, Pittsburgh,
3:39
Speaker 3: and so does Cleveland. We have to prove that we're
3:42
Speaker 3: better than they are. We're going to try. In my heart,
3:47
Speaker 3: I like to think we can do that, but I
3:50
Speaker 3: know how difficult it is. And that's about all I'm
3:53
Speaker 3: going to say on it.
3:55
Speaker 1: How much involvedment do you still have on personnel decisions?
3:59
Speaker 3: Well, when we well a lot, I stay involved. I've
4:09
Speaker 3: tried to shift responsibility as the years have piled on,
4:18
Speaker 3: and I've pretty well done that. In the play. I
4:26
Speaker 3: don't coach the team. I don't necessarily pick the players.
4:30
Speaker 3: I have a voice, but it is a noise. The
4:39
Speaker 3: guy I would pick might be someone different. It's the
4:45
Speaker 3: proper that I accept that. But I do have a voice, though,
4:49
Speaker 3: and I do enjoy that part of it. It's fun
4:52
Speaker 3: for me. I really like seeing the new guys when
4:55
Speaker 3: they show up, and I get all excited inside. Try
5:00
Speaker 3: not to show it, but I really really interested in
5:05
Speaker 3: how they're going to do. I think we have some
5:07
Speaker 3: good wines this year, and we obviously have one more
5:11
Speaker 3: to figure out, but we'll get it done. I think
5:13
Speaker 3: at some point.
5:14
Speaker 1: The one more to figure out is obviously first round
5:17
Speaker 1: draft pick Shamar Stuart, who remains unsigned as I record this.
5:22
Speaker 1: The Bengals are trying to insert language into the contract
5:25
Speaker 1: that would void future guarantees if Stuart gets into serious trouble.
5:30
Speaker 1: It's language that's common with other NFL teams, but since
5:34
Speaker 1: the Bengals last few first round draft picks haven't had
5:37
Speaker 1: that language in their contracts, Shamar remains unsigned. Again. Here
5:43
Speaker 1: are Duke Tobin and Mike Brown.
5:45
Speaker 2: The difference is minute, and it's just a clarification of
5:51
Speaker 2: what is already agreed it means, and we're probably the
5:54
Speaker 2: last team to put it in, so we're not at
5:57
Speaker 2: the front end of this evolution. Maybe we're catching. But
6:02
Speaker 2: the contracts also evolve in signing bonus and guaranteed percentage
6:06
Speaker 2: and how many people in the draft get guarantees, so
6:11
Speaker 2: they evolve in positive ways for both, and we're just
6:15
Speaker 2: coming in line with what the rest of the league
6:18
Speaker 2: is doing. If I thought we were being unfair, I
6:20
Speaker 2: probably would hesitate, but I don't believe that, and I
6:24
Speaker 2: don't certainly don't think that's the case. There's not much
6:28
Speaker 2: to negotiate. You've got to look really hard to find
6:30
Speaker 2: something to get mad about. And sometimes that's what we've
6:36
Speaker 2: gotten caught up in, is somebody trying to prove their
6:39
Speaker 2: worth by getting mad about something that doesn't matter. And
6:44
Speaker 2: the rookie contracts are normally not very difficult. They're pretty slotted,
6:48
Speaker 2: and so it's a little unusual. This is where it is.
6:55
Speaker 2: I can't say I understand it, and I can't say
6:57
Speaker 2: I blamed Shamar for it, because Schamar's just listening to
7:00
Speaker 2: the advice he's paid for and I don't understand it,
7:04
Speaker 2: but I'm not the one paying for that advice.
7:06
Speaker 3: This one is surprising. I hesitate to get into the detail,
7:13
Speaker 3: but basically it turns on whether out years are guaranteed
7:21
Speaker 3: if he gets involved in conduct detrimental to football. Well,
7:27
Speaker 3: what does that mean? Detrimental to football in recent years
7:31
Speaker 3: has been violence to women. That's about the one that
7:36
Speaker 3: comes to mine. There are others, probably, but that's the
7:39
Speaker 3: one that I think. Well, if we get a player
7:42
Speaker 3: who gets involved in something like that or does something
7:45
Speaker 3: that is just unacceptable, guess what, I don't want to
7:49
Speaker 3: pay him. I really don't. If he's sitting in jail,
7:52
Speaker 3: I don't think I ought to be paying him. And
7:54
Speaker 3: so we say that if he got involved in conduct detrimental,
8:00
Speaker 3: we'd have the right to terminate the guaranteed part for
8:06
Speaker 3: the back years. He says, or his agent says, oh no,
8:11
Speaker 3: you can terminate the guaranteed part only for the remaining
8:15
Speaker 3: part of the year in which the event occurs. Oddly,
8:23
Speaker 3: something like this has never occurred in my memory with us.
8:30
Speaker 3: I don't think it's going to occur. So we're sitting
8:34
Speaker 3: here arguing over something that I think is pretty remote,
8:39
Speaker 3: and I ask myself sometimes why the hell we're doing it,
8:44
Speaker 3: But we are, and he's doing it too, And at
8:48
Speaker 3: some point we got to put this stuff behind and
8:52
Speaker 3: just get him signed and get him up here and
8:55
Speaker 3: get him so he can be a contributor. He needs
8:59
Speaker 3: to get underw soon. It doesn't help him or us
9:06
Speaker 3: to have this strung out.
9:07
Speaker 2: He is going to be a fantastic NFL football player.
9:11
Speaker 2: He really is, because he's fierce, he's determined, he's strong,
9:16
Speaker 2: he's fast, and nothing but high level respect for his ability.
9:21
Speaker 2: And I think he's an excellent person and I'm looking
9:25
Speaker 2: forward to having them here and having them around our
9:27
Speaker 2: football team. Earlier is better with most things, and this
9:32
Speaker 2: one would fall into that category.
9:34
Speaker 1: Then there's Trey Hendrickson, who is under contract, wants a raise,
9:39
Speaker 1: had an extension.
9:40
Speaker 3: Well, we're working at it. It came over here and
9:43
Speaker 3: we have people back in our office who are sharpening
9:47
Speaker 3: their pencils and trying to figure that out as I speak.
9:51
Speaker 3: Here has been a long negotiation. Trey Henderson is a
10:00
Speaker 3: fine player, he's a good guy. We want him here.
10:05
Speaker 3: Dealing with him is sometimes not so easy. That's all right.
10:11
Speaker 3: He's got the right to argue his case. We'll try
10:15
Speaker 3: to make sense of it from our perspective. We'll see
10:19
Speaker 3: I'm not persuaded that it isn't going to get done.
10:25
Speaker 3: As far as I'm concerned, the sooner the better.
10:27
Speaker 2: Trays an important part of our football team, and it's
10:30
Speaker 2: been a very good player for us. I have a
10:32
Speaker 2: ton of respect for him. He is part of our
10:35
Speaker 2: football team. He's under contract, and like I said in
10:39
Speaker 2: the past, he's earned a raise, he's earned an extension.
10:42
Speaker 2: We're trying to do that and hopefully we'll be able
10:45
Speaker 2: to do something that makes him happy and that we
10:49
Speaker 2: can work with. It's not a bad thing having a
10:52
Speaker 2: ton of good players, and a lot with good players
10:55
Speaker 2: come very big contracts, and we've got that. That's what
10:59
Speaker 2: makes our team good because we have dynamic, first rate players,
11:03
Speaker 2: and so it's a good problem to have. But we're
11:06
Speaker 2: working through it and hopefully something can come together. Right now,
11:10
Speaker 2: he's a part of our football team. We expect him
11:12
Speaker 2: to be here.
11:13
Speaker 1: The Bengals are obviously not the only team with contract issues,
11:17
Speaker 1: but whenever they have one, some members of the national
11:20
Speaker 1: media label them as cheap. That's despite the massive deals
11:25
Speaker 1: given to Joe Burrow, Jamar Chase and t Higgins over
11:29
Speaker 1: the last two years.
11:30
Speaker 3: Oh, it's just the form of foolish and sweat. We
11:34
Speaker 3: deal with the media, and the media says things. A
11:37
Speaker 3: lot of what they say is really on point and helpful,
11:43
Speaker 3: and sometimes what they say is invalid, not true, just
11:51
Speaker 3: the opinion of someone who isn't informed. That pretty well
11:55
Speaker 3: falls into that question you ask, in my opinion, fall
12:00
Speaker 3: into the ladder department. Because we operate under a cap system.
12:07
Speaker 3: We pay out the last couple of years more than
12:12
Speaker 3: the cap, so that reduces what we can pay in
12:15
Speaker 3: the future. But that isn't being cheap. It's just trying
12:24
Speaker 3: to make the system operate the way we can. Sometimes
12:27
Speaker 3: we paid out so much in the cap system that
12:30
Speaker 3: it makes it hard to form up a contract for someone.
12:35
Speaker 3: At the end of the negotiating period, the money's already
12:38
Speaker 3: been paid to others. That influences what we can pay.
12:43
Speaker 3: But it isn't the question of being cheap. We will
12:47
Speaker 3: pay out the full cap and go forward. As far
12:53
Speaker 3: as the stadium is concerned. Our deal is within the
12:57
Speaker 3: generality of what other deals are for NFL teams and
13:01
Speaker 3: markets similar to ours that have stadiums similar to ours.
13:06
Speaker 3: We pay out as much as the other teams do.
13:11
Speaker 3: It's just talk by people that really don't understand the
13:16
Speaker 3: system or us, and I don't pay much attention to it.
13:20
Speaker 3: That doesn't bother me much.
13:21
Speaker 1: Instead of listening to praise or criticism, Mike focuses on
13:26
Speaker 1: his football team. Chances are he'll be sitting on his
13:29
Speaker 1: golf cart for every minute of training camp.
13:32
Speaker 3: I do it because I like doing it. I've done
13:35
Speaker 3: it all my life. This is a football business and
13:38
Speaker 3: that appeals to me. It's what I want to be
13:41
Speaker 3: involved and I want to see our players. I want
13:44
Speaker 3: to watch how they're coach. I get pleasure out of
13:48
Speaker 3: doing that. It's one of the benefits that I have
13:53
Speaker 3: that is most important to me, and I enjoy it.
13:59
Speaker 3: I like being in this business. I don't apologize for
14:03
Speaker 3: doing it because I can do it, and it's something
14:07
Speaker 3: that I have the right to do if I choose
14:09
Speaker 3: to do it anyway. It's fun for me. It might
14:15
Speaker 3: not be fun for everybody. I don't suppose it would be,
14:19
Speaker 3: but for me, it's fun. I enjoy it.
14:22
Speaker 1: Coming up next, my one on one conversation with Mike.
14:26
Speaker 1: As we look back at some significant anniversaries. But first,
14:30
Speaker 1: here's a quick reminder that the Bengals Booth podcast is
14:33
Speaker 1: brought to you by Pai Core, Proud to be the
14:35
Speaker 1: Bengals official HR software provider, by Alta Fiber future Proof
14:40
Speaker 1: Fiber Internet designed to elevate your home, business and community
14:44
Speaker 1: to a new level, and by Kettering Health the best
14:47
Speaker 1: care for the best fans. Kettering Health is the official
14:50
Speaker 1: healthcare provider of the Bengals. Now here's my latest visit
14:55
Speaker 1: with Mike Brown. Mike, I want to start with an anniversary.
15:00
Speaker 1: This is the seventieth anniversary of your father's seventh and
15:04
Speaker 1: final Pro football championship team, the nineteen fifty five Cleveland Browns.
15:08
Speaker 1: Between the ages of ten and twenty, your dad's team
15:13
Speaker 1: played for a league championship every year as a young man.
15:17
Speaker 1: Did you take it for granted?
15:19
Speaker 3: Oh not really. I remember when I was in high school.
15:23
Speaker 3: So that's a sophomore in high school and what's make
15:28
Speaker 3: me fifteen? We lost to the Rams, and when I
15:33
Speaker 3: got there, the high school coach said to me that
15:37
Speaker 3: this sun will come up tomorrow. Of course I knew
15:40
Speaker 3: that I resented him saying that because I didn't want
15:43
Speaker 3: to be thought of as so stupid that I would
15:46
Speaker 3: be unable to handle what happened. And he had great teams,
15:54
Speaker 3: a lot of great players. The other day I looked,
15:56
Speaker 3: and I think I came up with eight who were
16:02
Speaker 3: in the Hall of Fame. I think it's actually beyond
16:05
Speaker 3: that because it was over seventeen years in Cleveland, but
16:10
Speaker 3: in the first a few years they had eight, and
16:19
Speaker 3: they were mainly offensive players. It was a fun time,
16:28
Speaker 3: it was. I just took it as the way the
16:33
Speaker 3: world was. In the high school kids would would go
16:39
Speaker 3: up to a football game that was a night that
16:44
Speaker 3: we weren't playing whatever nearby with my buddies and sitting
16:48
Speaker 3: in the crowd, and one of them always liked to
16:51
Speaker 3: start saying that Paul Brown, he's a dumbest solb and
16:56
Speaker 3: then the people around would react, and it always delighted
17:02
Speaker 3: him when they reacted in a way that was supposed
17:06
Speaker 3: to make me angry, but of course it didn't. But
17:11
Speaker 3: it was a memory I had of those times.
17:14
Speaker 1: How did those great years influence your desire to make
17:18
Speaker 1: this your life's work?
17:21
Speaker 3: Well, I liked the football part of it, This part
17:25
Speaker 3: of it that I've been in all my life, was
17:29
Speaker 3: not what I set out to do, but he did
17:32
Speaker 3: not want me to be a football coach, and I
17:36
Speaker 3: can understand why. It's a hard life in a lot
17:42
Speaker 3: of ways. So I went to law school and I
17:47
Speaker 3: ended up here. The fun of it's in the coaching area,
17:52
Speaker 3: not so much the administrative area.
17:56
Speaker 1: Did you watch game films with him or sit in
17:59
Speaker 1: on any coaches meet?
18:01
Speaker 3: I did. I was allowed to just roam around as
18:04
Speaker 3: though I was a speck on the wall, and I
18:08
Speaker 3: watched how they did things and how he did things.
18:13
Speaker 3: And I even remember one time we were looking at
18:17
Speaker 3: the film in the basement of the house and he
18:22
Speaker 3: got called to the phone, and I'm sitting there and
18:26
Speaker 3: they began to talk about him and their grievances as though,
18:29
Speaker 3: you know, I guess I wasn't gonna know or respond.
18:36
Speaker 3: But it was a very fun way to grow up,
18:44
Speaker 3: and I'm grateful for it.
18:46
Speaker 1: Seven years after that nineteen fifty five championship season, he
18:50
Speaker 1: got forced out in Cleveland, and you had to deal
18:52
Speaker 1: with Art Modell for decades as he owned the Browns
18:55
Speaker 1: and the Ravens. Was that difficult for you personally?
18:59
Speaker 3: Well, it was for our family. It really did impact
19:04
Speaker 3: my father. It was something that he quite honestly, never
19:11
Speaker 3: thought could happen, and it did. So he was out
19:15
Speaker 3: of football for five years, and it was during that
19:19
Speaker 3: time that we pursued the franchise that became the Bengals.
19:27
Speaker 3: Except for him, there wouldn't be a franchise in Cincinnati.
19:31
Speaker 3: It's just that cut and drying, and I think that's
19:37
Speaker 3: something that pleases me. I don't go around talking about it,
19:45
Speaker 3: but it's always something that I take pride in.
19:49
Speaker 1: We're visiting the Bengals President Mike Brown. Let's move to
19:52
Speaker 1: another anniversary. This is the fiftieth anniversary of the nineteen
19:56
Speaker 1: seventy five Bengals, a team that went eleven and three,
20:00
Speaker 1: the franchise record for best winning percentage in a season. Unfortunately,
20:04
Speaker 1: two of the three regular season losses were to the Steelers,
20:07
Speaker 1: who went on to win the Super Bowl. The other
20:09
Speaker 1: loss that year was to the Browns, who were zero
20:11
Speaker 1: to nine at the time. They were coached by Forrest Gregg.
20:15
Speaker 1: Did that game have any impact on your decision and
20:19
Speaker 1: your father's decision as well to hire Forrest a few
20:22
Speaker 1: years later?
20:23
Speaker 3: I think my father was impressed with how Forrest coached,
20:29
Speaker 3: and I think that it didn't hurt that Forrest got
20:32
Speaker 3: fired by Art Model two. They had something in common.
20:39
Speaker 3: Forest became a dear friend of mine when he was
20:43
Speaker 3: done here because we weren't so different in age, and we
20:47
Speaker 3: would go out every Friday night with Forrest and his
20:53
Speaker 3: wife and me and my wife, and Jack Schiff and
20:58
Speaker 3: his wife, and we just were a group of couples
21:02
Speaker 3: that would go out and have a nice time together.
21:06
Speaker 3: I have a high opinion of for Us as a person,
21:13
Speaker 3: and he was different. I think it was good that
21:17
Speaker 3: he was different because I came to understand how some
21:22
Speaker 3: of that worked too. He was a wonderful guy.
21:26
Speaker 1: That seventy five team lost by three in the playoffs
21:30
Speaker 1: on the road at Oakland, and then four days after
21:33
Speaker 1: the season, your father announced he was stepping down his
21:36
Speaker 1: head coach. He was sixty seven at the time. Pete
21:39
Speaker 1: Carroll's going to be seventy four this year. Bill Belichick
21:42
Speaker 1: is moving on to a college job at the age
21:44
Speaker 1: of seventy three. If your father had kept coaching after
21:48
Speaker 1: that eleven and three final season, would history have been
21:51
Speaker 1: significantly different for the Bengals.
21:56
Speaker 3: I don't know. It is something that nobody knows, but
22:02
Speaker 3: that team, we had a good team. We lost Oakland
22:04
Speaker 3: in a playoff game at Oakland, and the reason we
22:10
Speaker 3: lost was we were in position to win the game.
22:13
Speaker 3: It looked like we were going to win the game.
22:15
Speaker 3: We were within field goal range, and then we didn't
22:20
Speaker 3: block one of their rushers who was a good player,
22:26
Speaker 3: and that determined the game. I remember sitting on the
22:31
Speaker 3: bus afterwards and the old Kentucky quarterback that played forever,
22:37
Speaker 3: the kicker. Maybe you can remember George George. George walked
22:42
Speaker 3: out and he saw me sitting there and he said, Oh,
22:46
Speaker 3: don't be so desponded, that your time will come. And
22:51
Speaker 3: I don't know what that was supposed to do for me.
22:55
Speaker 3: It was not much solace at the time.
22:59
Speaker 1: Let's talk about another anniversary. This is the twentieth anniversary
23:02
Speaker 1: of the two thousand and five season that was the
23:05
Speaker 1: first of Marvin Lewis's four AFC North titles. It's one
23:08
Speaker 1: of my favorite seasons as a Bengals fan. Carson Palmer
23:12
Speaker 1: emerged as one of the NFL's best young quarterbacks. Chad
23:15
Speaker 1: Johnson became a national sensation. Odell Thurman might have had
23:19
Speaker 1: the best year by a rookie defensive player you've ever had.
23:22
Speaker 1: Do you have a fondness for that two thousand and
23:24
Speaker 1: five team.
23:26
Speaker 3: They have a fondness for the individual players. Carson was
23:31
Speaker 3: a great passer. He could really throw the ball just
23:36
Speaker 3: about as well as you would ever see. And Thurman
23:41
Speaker 3: had exceptional quickness. We've had some great full Perdon mess,
23:48
Speaker 3: some great middle linebackers, and he was one of them.
23:52
Speaker 3: Really a good player. And who is the other one
23:56
Speaker 3: that you Chad? Chad? Of course was Chad. He the quickness,
24:00
Speaker 3: he could get separation, and he was fearless until he
24:04
Speaker 3: wasn't later in his career, but at that stage he was.
24:10
Speaker 3: That was a good group of talented players. And some
24:15
Speaker 3: of these things hang by a here. You just look
24:20
Speaker 3: back and wonder why they didn't get over the hump.
24:24
Speaker 3: They're so close. And we were good enough to have
24:27
Speaker 3: done it with that team. We were good enough to
24:30
Speaker 3: have done.
24:30
Speaker 1: It, and unfortunately we know what happened in the playoffs.
24:34
Speaker 1: On your first offensive snap against the Steelers, Carson tours
24:37
Speaker 1: ACL and Pittsburgh not only won the game, but went
24:40
Speaker 1: on to win the Super Bowl. He lost Greg Cook
24:43
Speaker 1: after a brilliant rookie year, kajohn A Carter tore his
24:47
Speaker 1: ACL in his first preseason game. Tim Krumery broke his
24:51
Speaker 1: leg in multiple places in Super Bowl twenty three. Football
24:54
Speaker 1: injuries happened, But do you think the Bengals have had
24:58
Speaker 1: unusually bad life.
25:02
Speaker 3: Of whatever our luck has been, if that's what it was,
25:08
Speaker 3: was in the cards, And I don't really think of
25:10
Speaker 3: it in that since we've had some times when guys
25:14
Speaker 3: got hurt. Probably there were times when the other teams
25:18
Speaker 3: felt the same way. But the players that you just
25:23
Speaker 3: mentioned were really good players, and when they got hurt
25:26
Speaker 3: that would have affected us. Over the years, there been
25:29
Speaker 3: so many really outstanding players. I do think that it
25:34
Speaker 3: is the case that our top players get less notice
25:40
Speaker 3: or media attention than some do in the larger markets.
25:48
Speaker 3: And the other thing that is just the fact if
25:52
Speaker 3: you're going to be considered special in this business, you
25:55
Speaker 3: better win the Super Bowl, and we haven't. And that's
25:59
Speaker 3: the thing that puts a cap on the attention we get.
26:05
Speaker 1: I have one more anniversary and unfortunately one more injury.
26:08
Speaker 1: This is the tenth anniversary of the twenty fifteen team
26:12
Speaker 1: that started eight to oh. They had a ten and
26:14
Speaker 1: two record when Andy Dalton broke his thumb. Denver went
26:17
Speaker 1: on to win the Super Bowl with an injury hampered Peyton,
26:22
Speaker 1: Manning leading the way before he retired at full strength
26:26
Speaker 1: that year. Did you feel like you had the AFC's
26:28
Speaker 1: best team.
26:29
Speaker 3: I always feel like we have the It was a
26:36
Speaker 3: good team, and he was a fine player, very steady
26:39
Speaker 3: and very accurate. When I say steady, he wasn't upset
26:44
Speaker 3: by things that could discombobulate a quarterback. He just worked
26:49
Speaker 3: right through them, and he was a special player for us.
26:56
Speaker 3: We've had other top quarterbacks, I think more than our share,
27:03
Speaker 3: but we've had them, and we've had a lot of
27:08
Speaker 3: good teams because of them. We're sort of offensively oriented
27:13
Speaker 3: as a general rule, and that requires the top quarterback,
27:18
Speaker 3: and we've managed to have those guys. But you don't
27:23
Speaker 3: have them every year. It is just the way the
27:27
Speaker 3: league works. Right now, we have one that's pretty special
27:32
Speaker 3: and I have hopes. I guess because of that.
27:39
Speaker 1: We are having this conversation just before the start of
27:41
Speaker 1: training camp. Did you take a vacation in the off
27:45
Speaker 1: season where you didn't come into the office.
27:49
Speaker 3: Well, I like coming into the office, so this is
27:52
Speaker 3: a little niche for me to go pad around in
27:56
Speaker 3: and I have a lot of books down here that
27:59
Speaker 3: I can read if I have time. It's probably the
28:04
Speaker 3: case that my wife is glad that I go out
28:07
Speaker 3: of the house for most of the day, and anyway,
28:14
Speaker 3: I don't think of vacationing. It's a mistake I made
28:20
Speaker 3: when I was younger, not to take vacations with the
28:23
Speaker 3: family like I should have. I did a couple of times,
28:26
Speaker 3: but not enough. I always encourage our guys to do that.
28:32
Speaker 3: I've lived my life on this schedule. When my father
28:37
Speaker 3: was coaching, I used to be the one that was
28:40
Speaker 3: handed the keys when he went off in the wintertime
28:43
Speaker 3: to Florida or later California, and then my job was
28:51
Speaker 3: to make sure the place didn't blow up, which of
28:55
Speaker 3: course it wasn't going to do. But it is a
29:02
Speaker 3: nice life. I am lucky to have had a good run,
29:10
Speaker 3: and I think the powers that being.
29:15
Speaker 1: We recently learned that Dave Lapham and Lamar Parrish are
29:18
Speaker 1: going into the Bengals Ring of Honor. What immediately comes
29:20
Speaker 1: to mind when you think of those two great former Bengals.
29:24
Speaker 3: Well with Lamar, he was truly a great player. He
29:28
Speaker 3: was the best cornerback I've ever seen. He was what
29:33
Speaker 3: they call a shutdown cornerback. Every team talks as though
29:37
Speaker 3: they might have one, but you don't really see very many.
29:41
Speaker 3: Lamar was the quickest guy we ever had. He was
29:46
Speaker 3: a great returner, great punt returner. I think he still
29:50
Speaker 3: holds a record here for longest average punt return over
29:56
Speaker 3: the course of a season, something like seventeen point five
30:00
Speaker 3: yards or whatever it is. Eight Well, good for you,
30:06
Speaker 3: good for him, Yes, that's right, and he deserves this.
30:15
Speaker 3: Dave is a special guy. First saw him at the
30:23
Speaker 3: North South game back when he was in his senior
30:27
Speaker 3: year of college of getting ready for the draft, and
30:31
Speaker 3: I went into the locker room down there at Old
30:34
Speaker 3: Stadium downtown in Birmingham. Dave was a big, impressive guy.
30:44
Speaker 3: He was just sitting on the training table and I
30:49
Speaker 3: walked by and I thought, geez, that guy he built right,
30:52
Speaker 3: what's wrong with him? And anyway, he caught my eye.
30:57
Speaker 3: Then afted him as I remember in the third round.
31:04
Speaker 3: He played for a long long time. He could play
31:06
Speaker 3: every single position. Very smart guy. He just does not
31:10
Speaker 3: the one that shows off how intelligent he is. He
31:15
Speaker 3: makes a point of not being noticed that way. But
31:23
Speaker 3: I've always respected him. He's done a great job for us.
31:29
Speaker 3: After his football career as well as during his career,
31:33
Speaker 3: and I think of him as an integral part of
31:38
Speaker 3: our organization. He's a very special man. I like him
31:43
Speaker 3: a lot.
31:44
Speaker 1: I'm right there with you. Training camp gets underway on Wednesday.
31:49
Speaker 1: Are the butterflies and the excitement level as great as ever.
31:53
Speaker 1: After being around pro football training camps for more than
31:56
Speaker 1: seventy years now.
31:58
Speaker 3: I always look forward to this. It's something that probably
32:04
Speaker 3: isn't made for everybody, but for me, it's what I know,
32:08
Speaker 3: what I've done all my life, and when the football
32:13
Speaker 3: starts up, it's like the band coming down the street
32:18
Speaker 3: and the parade. I just feel it in my bones
32:23
Speaker 3: and want to get out and see I like looking
32:26
Speaker 3: at the new players, and that's it's fun to see
32:31
Speaker 3: what they look like and think about how they might fit,
32:34
Speaker 3: what they might do to improve it. That'll be in
32:38
Speaker 3: the next day or two that I get out there
32:41
Speaker 3: and do that. Now look forward to it. It is
32:47
Speaker 3: true that we have them during the off season anymore,
32:51
Speaker 3: but you don't do enough in those workouts to get
32:56
Speaker 3: the feel for a player that you do during training
33:01
Speaker 3: camp when they are actually playing the game some and
33:08
Speaker 3: you get to see how they can handle things, so yes,
33:12
Speaker 3: this is one of the best times of the year
33:17
Speaker 3: for me sort of. My dad used to say, is
33:22
Speaker 3: a Christmas when they had the draft. Well, this is
33:28
Speaker 3: Christmas after you've opened the presence, I guess, which is
33:32
Speaker 3: not a bad thing.
33:34
Speaker 1: I always enjoy our trips down memory Lane. I know
33:36
Speaker 1: the fans enjoyed as well. Thanks so much for your time, Mike.
33:39
Speaker 3: Well, thank you. It's fun for me to be here
33:42
Speaker 3: with you.
33:44
Speaker 1: That's going to do it for this episode of the
33:45
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Speaker 1: Dan Horde and thanks for listening to The Bengals Booth Podcast.