Speaker 1: All right, Billy Cunningham, the Great America. We never stopped,
Speaker 1: we never hesitate, We simply continued. Johan, You and I
Speaker 1: now from the northern shore, the great state of Ohio.
Speaker 1: Was Bill Wills who got his chops right here in
Speaker 1: Cincinnati through Lynchburg, Ohio. He was a morning man here
Speaker 1: for quite a period of time and outgrew the market,
Speaker 1: according to Tony Bender, and then moved up to Cleveland,
Speaker 1: which I think is a down draft, not a enough draft,
Speaker 1: but nonetheless Bill Wills from TM and Cleveland. Welcome to
Speaker 1: the Bill Cunningham Show. Bill Wills, how are you?
Speaker 2: Legend? With that intro? Always an honor to beat with you,
Speaker 2: and certainly a joy with all we have going on
Speaker 2: in Cleveland.
Speaker 1: My friend, I'm watching the game, the game. I want
Speaker 1: to talk about the Brownies, of course, Oh yeah, sure
Speaker 1: we'll talk. But the game last night between the Yankees
Speaker 1: and the Guardians. I'm thinking, okay, it's over. The Yanks
Speaker 1: F three zip, they're losing three to one, come back
Speaker 1: five to three.
Speaker 3: It's over.
Speaker 1: I said, all of a sudden hell break list, it
Speaker 1: was hatred, despair, all of a sudden glory. Explain the
Speaker 1: emotions of last night's game between the Yankees and Guardians.
Speaker 1: You're in the playoffs. The Reds likely never will be again.
Speaker 1: Give me a full report.
Speaker 2: I want to touch on the Reds and make Reds
Speaker 2: fans feel good about what's happening in Cleveland because it
Speaker 2: ties back to Terry Francona. Having said that I posted
Speaker 2: last night. The game was every emotion. It was a wedding,
Speaker 2: a funeral of baptism, a birth, and if you're a
Speaker 2: Yankees fan, maybe a brisk It was absolutely amazing to
Speaker 2: go through the night, back and forth. Our closer, Emmanuel
Speaker 2: Classe up against Judge, he hits the home run, their
Speaker 2: closer against ours and their closure goes out. It's a
Speaker 2: walk off. In ten we're still down a game to
Speaker 2: the Yankees. But now back to Terry, what you experienced
Speaker 2: watching the Guardians last night. Bill was built by Terry.
Speaker 2: Frankcone and Stephen Volte will tell you that the players
Speaker 2: that we use, you know, we're twenty third in payroll,
Speaker 2: Reger twenty fifth. Mary told you in his press conference
Speaker 2: was of course I checked out on seven hundred WLW.
Speaker 2: He takes any ballplayer and tries to make him the
Speaker 2: best he can. And those skills, those fundamentals in the
Speaker 2: guys that are are now. You know, a couple of
Speaker 2: games away from the World Series all were taught by
Speaker 2: one Terry Francona. So I think the success that we're
Speaker 2: enjoying in Cleveland, I think Reds fans may have down
Speaker 2: the road, you.
Speaker 1: Know, making sense, Terry Francona took this town by storm.
Speaker 1: I didn't know this at the time, but when Peter
Speaker 1: Edward Rose recently departed, was in Montreal, his roommate was
Speaker 1: Terry Francona. They lived together, how about that one in
Speaker 1: Montreal for about three or four months, And that's the connection.
Speaker 1: That's the connection to Cincinnati right there. Plus he played
Speaker 1: for the rest Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Terry and I did a lot of radio shows
Speaker 2: together because we carry them, and we always talked about
Speaker 2: Cincinnati and he had so he's got great stories about
Speaker 2: Marty Brenhaman and if you never get him on the
Speaker 2: hear talk about those. He and Marty are very close.
Speaker 2: And I'm sure it's come out by now, But Marty,
Speaker 2: I'm sure was very intricate, shall would say in getting
Speaker 2: Terry and Miss Cascelini together. But I just want to say,
Speaker 2: you're getting a great way. He's solid, he's enjoyable, he's
Speaker 2: great to work with. And I really think and Stephen
Speaker 2: Boote will say that cleveland success this year really started
Speaker 2: with the building blocks from Terry Francona.
Speaker 1: No, let's talk about the Brownies, of course, on Sunday
Speaker 1: Big Game. The Bengals have not won a game in
Speaker 1: Cleveland since twenty seventeen. That's like seven or eight in
Speaker 1: a row lost. And now you've got Nick Chubb back.
Speaker 1: And I'm told by my Cleveland sources through the spirit
Speaker 1: of Trevisano, that Deshaun Watson is about to have a
Speaker 1: fabulous game and to a rise without an offensive line
Speaker 1: with nobody to throw the ball to. And Nick Chubb
Speaker 1: can't be any good, just out for about a year
Speaker 1: with that serious knee injury. So what is this sentiment
Speaker 1: in Cleveland, the Northern command of the State of Ohio
Speaker 1: about the Big Game on Sunday? Do you care at
Speaker 1: all about the game? Brownies have won one game this year,
Speaker 1: and I worry about that. Are they poise for victory
Speaker 1: or defeat? What do you say?
Speaker 2: Bill Wills a couple of talking points. If Watson has
Speaker 2: a great game, it'll be better than the Lazarus coming
Speaker 2: out of the tomb. When it comes to Nick Chubb,
Speaker 2: I'm not sure anybody wants to run behind our line
Speaker 2: because we just ain't got no line. And that's one
Speaker 2: of the problems with Watson. He has very little protection
Speaker 2: and his skills have been shall we say diminished. Yes,
Speaker 2: Browns are one and five. My brother Joe is a
Speaker 2: season ticket holder for your Cincinnati Bengals, and I talked
Speaker 2: to him this week. He said, yeah, they score, but
Speaker 2: there's no offense. But I mean our defense. The one
Speaker 2: guy you got to worry about. Oh, his big Miles Garrett,
Speaker 2: number ninety five. His arms Bill are as big as
Speaker 2: my legs, and my legs are pretty big, so he's
Speaker 2: in one jump for him. He's a man's man, and
Speaker 2: you know, the defense has been the key for the Browns,
Speaker 2: although we've only got one win to show for it
Speaker 2: this year.
Speaker 1: Miles Garrett, the rumor is he may be traded before
Speaker 1: the trading deadline. Miles Garrett as a man's man and
Speaker 1: woman's man, got a hairy ass, and the guy's strong,
Speaker 1: tough and brave. He's going to be true supposedly because
Speaker 1: Jimmy Haslam says that they're in a rebuilding product.
Speaker 3: Again.
Speaker 1: Can you imagine the Browns at this point in a
Speaker 1: rebuilding project with a terrible quarterback making a quarter of
Speaker 1: billion dollars a year running back just coming back, no
Speaker 1: offensive line, nobody to throw the ball to, and the
Speaker 1: Browns beat the Bengals' that's impossible.
Speaker 2: Impossible, No, no, and the owner wants a new stadium.
Speaker 2: You know, Deshaun Watson actually is twenty four for twenty
Speaker 2: four in lossuits bill. He settled twenty four on the
Speaker 2: twenty four so far. His ranking is better there than he.
Speaker 3: Is on the field.
Speaker 1: He's got to keep his private parts inside of zippra.
Speaker 1: That's a different problem. What's the sense of Jimmy Haslam
Speaker 1: moving that brown He's out of the lakeside and moving
Speaker 1: to twenty five miles. It'd be like the Bengals move
Speaker 1: into Warren County or something. What's the sentiment of Cleveland?
Speaker 1: Do Cleveland Browns fans care as long as they stay
Speaker 1: in the Cleveland area?
Speaker 2: Fifty to fifty. If your season ticket holder, it's going
Speaker 2: to be easier to get to your seats. If you're
Speaker 2: a purist, you like playing them by the lake front,
Speaker 2: the dome thing I think I'm mixed on. But the
Speaker 2: problem is going to be who's spending the money. I
Speaker 2: don't think Columbus wants to help him because they know
Speaker 2: obviously Mike Brown's gonna want whatever Jimmy gets right. But
Speaker 2: there's a lot of land. As you and I talked
Speaker 2: a couple of months ago, Bill, when the story broke
Speaker 2: and you were on top of it. Of course, there's
Speaker 2: a lot of land around Burke, around the airport to
Speaker 2: Cleveland Hopkins Airport, and the city offered to close Burke
Speaker 2: lake Front, which is like closing Lunkin to say, well,
Speaker 2: build there for you, and Haslim didn't want to do
Speaker 2: it because he wants control. You follow the money, he
Speaker 2: wants control of all the development, and that looks to
Speaker 2: be the way they're going to go.
Speaker 1: He'll put a flying j in there at some point.
Speaker 1: But my memory of the mistake on the lake was
Speaker 1: going with Andy Furman to the last Bengals game there
Speaker 1: with the Browns. There, the Browns fans were tearing apart
Speaker 1: at the Municipal Stadium and behind the Browns bench and
Speaker 1: ar before the game, I was introduced to a young
Speaker 1: defensive coach named Nick Saban and Of course Andy Furman
Speaker 1: knew Bill Belichick. So I'm standing there with Bill Belichick
Speaker 1: and Nick Saban and I said, what's your name? He said,
Speaker 1: my name's Nick Saban. I said, well, good luck to you.
Speaker 1: And then Bill Belichick was quickly fired by the Browns.
Speaker 1: Of course he couldn't coach, and out he won, and
Speaker 1: the Browns fans tore apart the stadium, and I said
Speaker 1: to the fur ball we need to get the hell
Speaker 1: out of here.
Speaker 2: Not good, Yeah, pick up some pick up some of
Speaker 2: those names you drop on the way home today.
Speaker 3: By the way, no question the mood.
Speaker 2: It's going to take several years, and I'm not saying
Speaker 2: it's over yet. The county is not happy about. Nobody's
Speaker 2: happy about. Plus, when you're one and five, nobody's happy.
Speaker 2: If they're undefeated, then people they want to get on
Speaker 2: the bandwagon to build a new stadium. But right now
Speaker 2: everybody seems to be on the sidelines Bill except for
Speaker 2: the owner who once.
Speaker 1: Had done and Jimmy Haslam is some multi billion ere
Speaker 1: The Forbes magazine came out that Mike Brown and his
Speaker 1: family's worth about five billion dollars and he's one of
Speaker 1: the poorer owners in the NFL. He's on the He's
Speaker 1: on the breadline. And uh, Jimmy Haslam is worth about
Speaker 1: ten to twelve billion. So what he wants is to
Speaker 1: basically own Warren County. Moved the Bengals to Warren County,
Speaker 1: move to Brown South. He has all the apartments, is
Speaker 1: all the strip centers, has all the clubs, has all
Speaker 1: the condos, and build like a large project. And Mike
Speaker 1: Brown's not built that way. Mike Brown's not a great
Speaker 1: businessman who wants to move thirty five miles away.
Speaker 3: But Jimmy Haslam does. And is that going to happen?
Speaker 1: According to the media types I read it yesterday, Tony
Speaker 1: Benner gave me the story that it's a done deal.
Speaker 3: Is it a done deal that he's moving? He can move.
Speaker 2: I mean the issue is gonna be the Art Modell
Speaker 2: law Bill, which you know very well if I passed
Speaker 2: after Modell moved the Browns, saying there has to be
Speaker 2: a period of time, a cooling off period between city
Speaker 2: officials and the owner of a team. What that technically means,
Speaker 2: we don't know. Cool after Mike Brown. You know, you
Speaker 2: can still run into Mike Brown as de la Roses,
Speaker 2: having dinner once a while, Right, you don't run into
Speaker 2: Jimmy Haslam. Okay, he's not that kind of guy. He's
Speaker 2: almost like a carpetbagger, you know. He's like Hillary Clinton
Speaker 2: went into New York to be a senator. He came
Speaker 2: in from Tennessee. He was a part owner of the
Speaker 2: Steelers and they wanted to own a team, and the
Speaker 2: Browns were for sale, and he paid about a billion.
Speaker 2: Now they're worked like eight billion dollars. It was a
Speaker 2: great investment.
Speaker 1: Jimmy has now eight billion. That doesn't count the other
Speaker 1: Flying Jay and that kind of stuff. Do you miss
Speaker 1: Cincinnati at all? Because now you've established the Kingdom in
Speaker 1: the North from Lynchburg, you got Reverend Valley, you got
Speaker 1: all this stuff going on.
Speaker 3: Do you miss the Queen City?
Speaker 2: I do a great deal. We still get down there
Speaker 2: every once. A matter of fact, I've told Tony Bender
Speaker 2: my dance got a little minor procedure over christ next
Speaker 2: week's I'll be there for a couple of days in Cincinnati.
Speaker 3: Come love Queen City.
Speaker 2: It's always been home, Willie, and you've always been good
Speaker 2: to me. And absolutely Cincinnati's a wonderful, wonderful city.
Speaker 1: Do you still miss Mike Trevezano, my running mate.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, I think about him a great deal.
Speaker 2: One of the legends of the business, without a doubt.
Speaker 2: We lost him way too soon. Man.
Speaker 1: Yeah, all right, Well see what happens. And I think
Speaker 1: I wish the Guardians well. But the manager of the
Speaker 1: Yankees is a Red. Paul O'Neill does the Reds again,
Speaker 1: and the closer are all Reds, and so I'm thinking
Speaker 1: our team is somehow.
Speaker 3: In New York.
Speaker 2: But I know, I know, I know it's a big payroll.
Speaker 2: But again for Red stands. I'll leave you with this,
Speaker 2: U thought. A lot of the success Cleveland has goes
Speaker 2: back to one Terry Francona, and he will be your
Speaker 2: manager of the coming season.
Speaker 1: I love that idea. And Marty Brownman was the bridge.
Speaker 1: You know, Terry Francona did not want to come back.
Speaker 1: Sixty five years Hell, that's old, sixty five years old,
Speaker 1: as old as you know, he's getting old. Should retire,
Speaker 1: go to Florida and relax. And Marty said, hey, get
Speaker 1: in here, and he met Bob and Phil and that
Speaker 1: was the end of it. And all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: we have a manager. All we need to need now
Speaker 1: is a team that's healthy. We lost our entire pitching
Speaker 1: staff on the DL and players are using steroids and
Speaker 1: having a Matt McClain, the star second baseman, didn't get
Speaker 1: a sniff this year, So every time I look around
Speaker 1: there's another doc cremcheck work to be done.
Speaker 3: But I wish you well, Bill.
Speaker 1: I wish when you come into town next week, will
Speaker 1: you stop in and see us here at the big.
Speaker 2: One, Willie, I'll find you. I'll try and find you
Speaker 2: and look for it open person next week.
Speaker 1: Okay, God bless America. Bill Willis, What is the price
Speaker 1: of pork? But I need pork bellies, I need pigs.
Speaker 1: I need the price right now? What is the price
Speaker 1: of pork? Belly's going to give me a number.
Speaker 2: He's around seventy. Candle market is good, beautiful day to
Speaker 2: be out there harvesting. I know the farmers have you
Speaker 2: on kind him.
Speaker 1: Bill Wills, thank you very much, See you, buddy, see
Speaker 1: you next week.
Speaker 3: Let's continue with more.
Speaker 1: There it is and Bill Wills was here, and then
Speaker 1: Jim Scott kind of came back the second or third time,
Speaker 1: and Randy Michael said, well, Bill, we have an opening
Speaker 1: in TM and Cleveland, wanted to be the morning guy.
Speaker 1: He goes up there and over the next twenty five years,
Speaker 1: establishes himself as the Mike McConnell of TAM gave up
Speaker 1: Ziggy's Piggies and away we go, and I miss Bill
Speaker 1: Wills every day. Let's continue with more Bill cunning in
Speaker 1: the Great American Live. It's remember the Reds and the
Speaker 1: Bengals and Terry Francona News Radio seven hundred WLW