That's So Cincinnati

The Flying Pig is back, albeit it with a smaller field of racers and later in the year than usual. 

But it will still be the same community-driven event that it was before the coronavirus pandemic forced Cincinnati races to be virtual last year, said Iris Simpson Bush, executive director at Flying Pig Marathon, Inc, which runs the marathon and several other races throughout the year. 

"We're thrilled to be back," she told The Enquirer's "That's So Cincinnati" podcast.

The marathon, usually held in May, will be on Oct. 31 after the pandemic delayed it.

In the Flying Pig's 23 years, more than $19 million has been raised for charity, Bush said. She's been involved from Day 1 when Paycor founder and CEO Bob Coughlin dreamed of bringing a marathon to Cincinnati.

Bush, then a general sales manager at WCPO, read a story about his idea in The Enquirer and got involved.

It's been fun and rewarding ever since, Bush said.

American soccer veteran Geoff Cameron is always outspoken about something.

A few years ago, it was about his support of Donald Trump. Nowadays, though, it's more about how much he loves Cincinnati and the city's soccer fans.

Cameron, in his first season with FC Cincinnati, spent time on his off day to chat with The Enquirer's "That's So Cincinnati" podcast partly about his decision to back away from publicly talking politics and how much he loves the fans here.

The 36-year-old former U.S. national team defender calls FC Cincinnati's fanbase the "best" in Major League Soccer. In terms of overall soccer popularity and support, Cameron said, Cincinnati is a top 5 city in the U.S. The Massachusetts native added that the unwavering support for last-place FC Cincinnati reminds him of how fans in Europe back their favorite clubs regardless of record. 

Cameron would know: He played nearly a decade in Europe before returning to the U.S. this season for his second stint in MLS. 

"Just walking around the city, you see FC Cincinnati shirts everywhere," Cameron said. "It's crazy. You don't see that other places (in the U.S.). Even though we've been poor, they're still loyal and deserve all the credit." 

As for talking politics, Cameron did media interviews and took to Twitter to support Trump during his presidency. In a 2017 interview with Sports Illustrated, Cameron said he supported Trump's immigration policy. 

“I believe it’s important to support our president whether he was your candidate or not,” Cameron told SI.com. “I am pleased he is making security of all Americans one of his top priorities. Our enemies have stated – and in Europe they have proven – they will take advantage of lax immigration procedures for the purposes of staging attacks." 

Cameron faced intense backlash on social media for his ongoing support of Trump. The soccer player said it's not worth continuing to openly talk about politics now that he has other priorities such as raising his 1-year-old son.

He told "That's So Cincinnati:" 

"It's a touchy subject now. As of recent, I really haven't said much because of just the way the world is now. It's really hard to have an opinion – if you don't have an opinion that's similar to other people. 

"It's sad in a way of (how) I grew up. Twenty years ago, it wasn't that way. With the news and social media giants, things are shoved down people's throats whether it's good or bad. It's tough. When I was outspoken and said certain things, a lot of people said things about me that weren't true whatsoever and that was really hard to deal with. They don't know me. People are just saying things to be hateful. That's why I don't really share pictures with my family, because I don't really know what people's intentions are.

"I haven't been as outspoken now because there's other things I care about. I'm sure there are fans in Cincinnati who are conservative or liberal or whatever. Whether they want to believe the stuff that I believe in or disagree with the things that I believe, (I hope) they'll see that I am a good, genuine person. It's OK to have people with different political views or religious views, but you can respect them as a person." 

After throwing years of popular LGBTQ-friendly tea dances, Richard Cooke embarked on opening a bar in Over-the-Rhine, which he envisioned as a place to "dance in a safe and welcoming place."

The pandemic hit as the Procter & Gamble alum readied to open the bar. But there was only one thing to do, Cooke said: Stay the course. 

e19 Lounge Bar & Discothèque, located across the street from Rhinegeist Brewery, opened one year ago this month. 

"You have to create the change you want," Cooke said.

No one knows the history of University of Cincinnati football better than Jim Kelly, a member of the school's athletics hall of fame and long-time radio analyst.

Whether as a player, broadcaster, son of a former assistant coach and athletic department administrator or fan, Kelly has attended nearly 500 Bearcats football games in his lifetime. None will be more significant than Saturday's showdown in South Bend, Indiana, between No. 7 UC and ninth-ranked Notre Dame.

"This is the biggest game in University of Cincinnati football history," Kelly told The Enquirer's "That's So Cincinnati" podcast. 

The Bearcats have a legitimate shot to make the College Football Playoff if they win this game and go onto an undefeated regular season. The plot is juicier when factoring in that Notre Dame is coached by Brian Kelly, who played a big role in turning UC into a football school as the Bearcats' coach. It will be Brian Kelly's first game against UC since he left for Notre Dame after the 2009 season. 

Jim Kelly, 67, no relation to the Notre Dame coach, will be in the radio booth alongside play-by-play man Dan Hoard calling the game on 700 WLW. It's Kelly's 31st season in the booth.

"This (game) is totally different. It really is," Kelly said. "There's been some big bowl games along the way. In 50-plus years, I've never seen anything like this."

In the "That's So Cincinnati" interview, Kelly offers his perspective on seeing UC football go from a national punch-line to a powerhouse. He recalled being at Penn State for the Bearcats' demoralizing 81-0 loss in 1991, and described how he felt after the game. Kelly remembers there being discussions about whether UC should continue to play football. 

He talked about UC's journey to the 2009 undefeated regular-season. Kelly mentioned names of those who stuck by the program and helped keep it together along the way, including his father, Jim Kelly Sr., who played for the Bearcats from 1947 to 1950.

The elder Kelly went onto to be an assistant football coach and a long-time staffer of the athletic department. UC's football program annually hands out the Jim Kelly Award to the Bearcats player who shows "outstanding spirit." The school's hall of fame is named in honor of the elder Kelly.

Like his father, Jim Kelly Jr. was also a top wide receiver for the Bearcats. He played for UC from 1973-1975 and was inducted into the James P. Kelly Athletics Hall Of Fame in 2017. 

Some Bearcats supporters have referred to the Kellys as the "First Family of Bearcats Football." What Jim Kelly Sr. think of the Bearcat

Find out more about Jim Kelly Jr. by listening to "That's So Cincinnati" podcast, which is available for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and iHeart Media.

Findlay Market CEO Joe Hansbauer highlights the improvements made to the market over the last 20 years on The Enquirer's "That's So Cincinnati" podcast this week. 

The market house was re-done and is bustling. The nearly 18 storefronts along Elder Street, are nearly full. There is Findlay Kitchen, a non-profit food business incubator, where 60 businesses are operating and now, Findlay Launch, which mentors business owners.

Hansbauer, who has been at the helm for nearly 10 years, says there's nothing he would rather be doing than than figuring out ways to highlight what he describes as a "jewel and gem that I think many, many other cities would love to have."

His work has helped draw 1.2 million visitors each year to Findlay Market, up from 600,000 annually when he took over in 2013.

Said Hansbauer: "It's built on authenticity. It's built on history. And in a lot of those things are not something you can recreate. There's not a week or a month that goes by that I don't hear from other communities and other public markets or communities that are looking to build a new public market. Louisville opened one two years ago. Lexington is looking to do that. We've had conversations with Reading Terminal Market n Philadelphia and Washington, D.C."

Tom Brinkman, a longtime conservative state lawmaker, talks about why he decided to tackle corruption at Cincinnati City Hall. 

Sam Adams' Jim Koch joins us on this week's episode of That's So Cincinnati.

700 WLW host and ESPN college football analyst Rocky Boiman joins That's So Cincinnati podcast. 

Britney Ruby Miller wasn't just handed the keys to her father's steakhouse empire in spring 2020.

She earned it – and her experience of having worked her way up from server to CEO of Jeff Ruby Culinary Entertainment immediately paid off as Ruby Miller tackled head on the challenges of the pandemic had on the restaurant industry. 

Ruby Miller was not only a leader for her company. She was a leading voice for Ohio's locally owned restaurants, having worked closely with Gov. Mike DeWine and Lt. Gov. Jon Husted on decisions effecting the industry statewide. Building relationships with elected officials is just one of the many lessons Ruby Miller has learned from her father.

As this week's guest on The Enquirer's "That's So Cincinnati" podcast, Ruby Miller reflected on her journey to taking over the family business. 

"I served for a very long time at Jeff Ruby's Steakhouse (in Downtown), which I did not want to do at first," said Ruby Miller, the oldest of Jeff Ruby's three children. "I thought when I graduated from UC (in 2005) that I was ready to go to corporate and (her father) said, 'No, you're not putting on a power suit. You're putting on a server uniform.' He was 1,000% right. That's where I learned the business mostly." 

Ruby Miller is still working hard to keep Jeff Ruby's seven locations across three states open amid another spike in COVID-19 cases. But she's also leading the effort to relocate Jeff Ruby's Steakhouse in Downtown Cincinnati to Fountain Square. It was announced recently that Jeff Ruby's would move into the first floor of the redeveloped former old Macy's store, a building that's now being called The Foundry. 

Ruby Miller offered a glimpse into what the 11,000-squre foot dining space will look like. Initial plans call for a large horseshow-shaped bar, a tribute to Jeff Ruby's old Waterfront restaurant in Covington. The Waterfront, which sat atop a barge on the banks of the Ohio River, permanently closed in 2011 after it became partially unmoored from its dock. 

It's location on the river overlooking the Downtown Cincinnati skyline made it a hotspot restaurant and night club for a who's who of Greater Cincinnatians. The Waterfront's popularity helped Jeff Ruby ascend as a restauranteur, and it's always held a special place in his heart as his company prepares to celebrate its 40th anniversary next month.

Ruby Miller said of The Foundry location: "I hope that people walk in and feel that throwback nostalgia of The Waterfront, but also can see the evolution of design and see that it's a little bit more refined. The finishes are going to be gorgeous."

Jeff Ruby has taken a step back in the company. He's not fully retired and is actively involved in the design of the new location, expected to open in September 2022. 

Said Ruby Miller:

"A lot of times family businesses, the founder has a hard time not micromanaging and controlling – and he's the opposite. He has enough confidence in my brothers and I and our executive leadership team. He knows that we're not going to get away from everything that we know and got us to where we are right now which is the Jeff Ruby experience and taking care of our guests and taking care of our employees. 

"He's not involved in the day-to-day. But I know how he would make decisions, and I operate the same way that he does. By all means, he was highly involved in (the decision to move to Fountain Square). He's super busy with what he does best – designing. We walked that site at The Foundry. He fell in love with it and he's like, 'We need to make this happen.' Our whole family, major business decisions, we work together on those."

Ruby Miller also talked about the release of her upcoming book, "5-Star Life: The Faithful Fight to Overcome Obstacles and Pursue Excellence." The book is due out Sept. 21 and is available for pre-sale on Amazon.com. Former TODAY Show co-host Kathie Lee Gifford wrote the forward. 

Here's a synopsis of the book, according to Amazon: "Having faced family tragedy, peer rejection, infidelity, infertility, and a pandemic that threatened not only to close her family’s business but also to decimate the restaurant industry, Britney battled back with the winning combination of faith and fight that has led to her five-star life."

3CDC's Steve Leeper says the next major Downtown development priority needs to be the area around the Duke Energy Convention Center.

The aging convention center is surrounded mostly by blighted properties and surface parking lots. The old Millennium Hotel is in the process of being demolished, but there's no plan for a new convention center hotel.

Leeper, the development organization's president and CEO, had plenty to say about that area of western Downtown as this week's guest on The Enquirer's "That's So Cincinnati" podcast:

"We should strive to do better. I think there's a movement (afoot) that we do that and start thinking that district is critical to Downtown. When visitors come into our community, we need to show better than we're showing right now. 

"We ought to start looking at the bright side of this, and that we now have a lot property under (public) control. Let's not do anything stupid here. Let's think about this and be bold but fiscally responsible. I think you can do both. Everybody is on the same page here. Our political leaders are actually trying to think about this in a comprehensive manner. They're excited about the potential. We ought to be excited about something instead of tinkling on each other."

Leeper said it's a "viable option" to build a new convention hotel on a site directly south of the convention center across Fifth Street and preserve the old Millennium site for a potential future convention center expansion.

"I don't think it's the only option," Leeper said. "The site to the south, quite frankly, I think it's big enough for not only a (hotel) but other uses. It could be more residential. It could be more hospitality. It could be entertainment. There's all kinds of possibilities here. We just need to get off our butts and start focusing on it." 

The problem: There's no funding source for a new hotel or convention center expansion. And who's going to lead any of those projects has not been determined, though Leeper said conversations have been positive among political, business and development leaders.

Meanwhile, a block east of the convention center, 3CDC continues to make progress on overhauling the building that once housed the Fountain Square Macy's store. It was announced last week that Jeff Ruby's Steakhouse will be relocating to the building, known as The Foundry, once the $51 million mixed-use project is finished.

In the podcast interview, Leeper told the story of how Ruby's decision came about unexpectedly from a conversation between Jeff Ruby's CEO Britney Ruby Miller and 3CDC Executive Vice President Adam Gelter.

Said Leeper: "Britney, with a colleague of mine, Adam Gelter, were walking down to the site. We were actually talking to another restaurateur at the time, and Adam was asking Britney about this restauranteur, what she knew about him. She said, 'Well, why?' He said, 'Because we're thinking about moving them into this spot.' She didn't know we were redeveloping the building at the time. (Jeff Ruby and his team) took a look at the site and said, 'I'd like to come here.' "