Friday, July 27, 2007

Oh goody. It a weekend series with the Cubs.

So in the the wake of Leadership Academy, I got pretty sick. That, along with work and managing to sit through 3 Reds games this week, kinda drained the blog time. Once again, I appologize for that. Some time I neglect this thing a little too much. Anyways, since I happened to be dormit through one of the craziest weeks in sports history, I guess I have a lot on which my opinion is necessary.

  1. Everytime the Yankees go on a little run, it kinda scares me. The fact that this team has the talent to sweep through the playoffs, the mentality to miss them by 15 games, and the (dis)ability to get swept in the playoffs if they make it illustrates how difficult it must be to be Joe Torre. Only job in New York more difficult than his? Columnists for the local papers who are supposed to give their opinion on what that team is.
  2. Yesterday, the world lost one of my childhood heros, and one of the nicest men I have ever met, Skip Prosser. No matter how many people that guy was in the room with, he gave you the idea that he really wanted to get to know you. That he actually cared about what you were saying, and the conversations you could have at some later date. That's pretty rare with people in high status positions.
  3. Oh Michael Vick. Superceeding indictment. Scary term. Scary realization that they are basically asking his co-defendants to plea down and team up on Vick. They say Michael Vick is the most elusive Quarterback in NFL History. Lets see him run from the law.
  4. I kinda feel for David Stern. The guy does a better job managing his league than anyone else in America. Yet when everyone else is dealing with scandals challenging the honesty and intergrity of a player, hes dealing with one that rocks the integrity of his league. I read today that even though he was gambling on games he was officiating, he wasn't manipulating those games in his favor. That's funny. Thats honestly like saying that even though you need an A to pass, and you have the test before hand, you didn't look at it.
  5. ESPN took the time to rank all 119 division one football teams over the past decade. Its kinda funny. Over the past 10 years, I was a huge UC football fan for atleast 5 of them. And honestly, even though their record was always much better (thank you Conference USA), there were very very few years (3 at most) in which I actually think UC could have defeated UK. And yet, ESPN has UC 69 and UK 73. Not much of a difference, but still in the wrong order. Don't like how UC benefits there from playing Memphis and South Florida instead of Tennessee and Flordia.
  6. So I know very little about the Pan-American games, but I do know that a team of our college players lost to Uraguay and Panama, dropping us out of contention for a medal. I'm talking about basketball here. We invented the effing sport. So so sad. I'm kinda dissappointed in Jay Wrights ability to motivate the team. Kinda glad we didn't call him to lead Big Blue Nation's team of Wildcats. (yup, thats corny. That's why I said it).
  7. I was going to make this a whole individual post, but considering I'm on a roll right now, I'm sharing it now. After a summer spent mozying around the ball park, doing what someone else tells me to do, I have developed a well put together list of things that piss me off at GABP, and all ballparks in general really:
  • When vendors in the crowd sell things, they always either cost 4 dollars, or have change in the price (2.75 if you will) in hopes that will you just tell the vendor to keep the change.
  • People do not pay attention in terms of promotions. We gave out a Brandon Phillips Jersey to the first 10,000 adults and 10,000 kids. People showed up at 5:00. Thats understandable. There were people that came to the game and didn't get one. However, Wednesday night, we had Frank Robinson bobblehead night, free to the first 40,000. People showed up at 4:30. Wednesday's paid attendance? Just under 31,000. That's why they give out 40,000. So everyone gets one. I hope the dude who was there at 4:30 gets pissed when some guys sits next to him at 7:30 holding a bobblehead.
  • Why does the family that brings his 5 year old kid who has to ask a question about EVERYTHING always sit to my right, while the kid my age and his dumb as rocks girlfriend who would rather be listening to an old Spice Girls CD always on my left. It makes enjoying the game a little difficult.

Now, onto the real matter at hand, the Cubs, their "great tradition", and their "great fans" who will decent on GABP tonight thinking they are rolling towards a division title. Well, my whole life I loved Lou Pinella. But I'm booing him tonight. Why? He wears the wrong C. To me, thats as bad as if he came in wearing black and gold. And atleast they won something. I dunno how much it would mean to me, but I would trade alot for a humiliating sweep of the Cubs this weekend. If I had to put a dollar amount on it, I honestly think I would pay 1000 dollars of my own money just to have the reason to mouth off for a week. Ahhh. Which reminds me, lets look into the Chicago Cubs Official Dictionary to see todays word. And the word is joke. Its a noun, meaning something everyone else laughs at, and something that makes Cubbies cry like the little girls they are. Example: Q:Did you hear Kerry Wood of the Chicago Cubs is hurt? A:No, but what else is new.

Check back tomorrow for more Cubs humor. Even Harry Carrey had to stop watching the Cubs lose. He went to heaven and became a Sox fan. Dead serious.

Make sure you read some of the Skip Prosser and Odell Thurman (Bushleague) stuff around the net. I'll hit you guys up after tonights LANDMARK victory. Effing Cubs.

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Live from a Dorm basement in Oxford, Ohio...

Its 4 AM....and I am at Phi Kappa Tau Leadership Academy. We are frantically working on finalizing a presentation for the Maxwell Award, given to the best chapter in the nation. And when I say we, I mean I am here for moral support and therefore am writing on the blog. This may be the only time I am able to check in this week, as I have a pretty hectic schedule. However, this is going to be a really really long entry.

BREAK UP THE REDS!!! 3 in a row in Atlanta? Even Derek, Patrick, and Stephen didn't see that coming. Ha ha. Well then, I guess some comments are in need. I've come to some serious decisions in the past few days reguarding the roster seperations I did last week. First, I really really want Adam Dunn to be a Red for the remainder of his career if we can find the money. He may not hit for average, and he may be a mediocre fielder, but he rarely makes errors, and seems to enjoy playing in Cincinnati. As for people I think need to go before July 31, add Bronson Arroyo to the list that already included Hatteberg, Loshe, and Weathers. I know that leaves us with little in the way of established starters for 2008, but the goal isn't to win in 2008. Its to win in 2009 or 2010. And our farm system is ready to compete in 2009. Lets add some depth for people that matter way more to Atlanta, New York, and the LA teams making the playoffs than they do to our future growth. I'm hearing Arroyo to Atlanta for Saltamacchia I'd do it in a heartbeat.

In sad news. with the Post officially announcing its closing as of the end of the year, Cincinnati is losing its best young mind in sports journalism. The Post Red's beat writer, C. Trent Rosencrants, has the best blog in all of sports. His insight is genuine, and the discussions on his blog leave nothing left to be desired for any Reds fan. Hope he hangs around somehow.

Alright, well, they actually need my help. Wish us luck. And Derek, you suck!

Saturday, July 14, 2007

Saturday Check-In

Just a short check in on a busy Saturday.

5 1 sentence thoughts I've had:

  1. Nice W last night.
  2. The ESPN Nascar announce team is going to suck.
  3. So glad we helped the Braves out.
  4. I'm really sad Bob Huggins doesn't come to Cincinnati this season. I would have come up for that.
  5. For some reason, Marvin Lewis telling me why I should watch a certain channels weather man makes me want to avoid that channel.

Good reads:

Enjoy Saturday. I feel victorious today.

Friday, July 13, 2007

The Ramblings of an insane insomniac...

So here I am, on a Brother's futon, at nearly 5AM unable to sleep. Of all the blog writings I will ever do, I doubt any will ever be as negative, or as unpredictably, incredibly unfounded, as this one. I've got 2 things to rant about, both in the world of baseball. The first is a theory, the second is probably best described as the ramblings of a lost soul searching for baseball belief.
  1. I made a comment on Thursday's blog that Ichiro wasn't worth 20 million a season. However, after using a calculator, I've determined I must be wrong. The Los Angeles Dodgers, a winning team mind you, were willing to shell out over 10 million a season for Juan Pierre in free agency this past winter. Juan Pierre is a singles hitter(88 of 105 hits, 12 career homers in 1096AB), who doesn't walk enough (23 walks in 373 AB), has an on base percentage 28 points lower than what Dimitri Young is hitting, has an OPS (on base plus slugging) lower than ARod's slugging percentage (.649 to .671), can't throw(1 outfield assist in 89 games), and relies solely on his speed as his careers life blood. Any sane person, which I'm not quite sure I actually am, would say Ichiro is twice the player that Juan Pierre will ever be, even entering the final years of his prime. With that logic, Ichiro must be worth 20 million a season. That logic also says ARod is worth 40 a season, but hey, maybe some other dumb west coast team will pay him too (paging the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, California, USA, North and Western Hemispheres on planet earth). I ask you to consider how many more games you would win with Ichiro hitting leadoff for your team that with someone like Ryan Freel filling the same positions. I honestly believe the difference is single digits. Is that worth 17 million more? And even if Ichiro is worth 20 million, at 33, wouldn't you rather spend that money on a starting pitcher in his prime, say Carlos Zambrano, or a combination of multiple players with big league talent and experience, say Mr. Hunter from Minnesota and a few bullpen guys?
  2. Secondly, I'm going to rant about the Reds, because I'm beginning to seriously doubt the direction of the club. First, the fact that Homer Bailey just got shelled in AAA, a start I know he was mailing in, scares me because it seems like he treated it as a rehab start instead of a chance for development. Maybe the kid doesn't have the million dollar head to go with the million dollar arm. Speaking of that million dollar arm, how does someone throw 95-98 with a 12-6 nasty curve in the minors, and then show up to the Big Leagues throwing 91-93 and hanging almost every breaking ball? But I digress... I'm about to separate the Reds 40 man roster (and maybe a few extras) into categories that everyone can understand.
  • Untouchables as we approach the trade deadline: Homer Bailey, Phil Dumatrait, Aaron Harang, Bobby Livingston, Brandon Phillips (he's getting grouped twice), Edwin Encarnacion, Joey Votto, Josh Hamilton, Joey Cueto and Jay Bruce. (All these fella's are under the age of 27 except for Harang, 29)
  • People I honestly think may be less intelligent in both life and baseball than Wallyonsports: Ryan Freel, Brandon Phillips
  • People who need to be cut (this is a long list compared to any other major league team): Chad Moeller (and yes, we have actually cut the man twice), Todd Coffey, Victor Santos, Eric Milton, and Gary Majewski
  • Who the hell are these guys: Mike Gosling, Calvin Medlock, Brad Salmon, Alexander Smit, Pedro Lopez, Jeff Keppinger, and Chris Dickerson
  • Productivly useless: Alex Gonzales, Juan Castro, David Ross, Javy Valentin, Norris Hopper, Mike Stanton, Kirk Saarloos, Bronson Arroyo, Matt Belisle
  • People who should be in AAA developing because getting shelled here couldn't do them any good: Marcus McBeth, Jared Burton (rule 5 draft pick must stay MLB), Jon Coutlangus
  • Reliable Veterans (trade bait): David Weathers, Scott Hatteberg, Jeff Conine
  • People who will be free agents and therefore should be traded: Adam Dunn, Kyle Loshe
  • The Mark Prior and Kerry Wood (Will these guys ever be healthy group): Bill Bray, Elizardo Ramirez (one of my favorite players ever), Eddie Guardado, Jerry Gil
  • That leaves us with one player: Ken Griffey Jr. He is this teams only all-star, its only hall of famer, and the only person on the team who changes his mind more than Narron changed our order. In the end, I say keep him. Keep him until his contract runs out and he has to decide whether or not to leave for greener pastures, or go be a dad and watch his son mature into a stud prospect.
  • On opening day 2008, i honestly expect our lineup to be: Hopper 7, Hamilton 8, Griffey 9, Phillips 4, Encarnacion 5, Votto 3, Ross 2, Harang 1, Gonzalez 6. (Ok the order of the last 2 is a joke, but sometimes the "manager to be" likes to hit his pitcher 8th....a correct guess on who that is wins a prize)
  • Opening day 2008 Rotation: Harang, Bailey, Arroyo, Livingston, Dumatrait
  • Opening day 2008 Bullpen: Bray, Coutlangus, Coffey (pisses me off), Belisle, Burton, Macbeth, and a closer to be named later.
  • So if your scoring at home, I think Dunn, Loshe, Weathers, Conine, Hatteberg, and Stanton hit the road sometime between 5 mins from now and April of '08.
  • This team I have constructed for 2008, isn't very competitive. But have no fear Reds fans (especially Adam). Just put down your head and remember all will be fine. The losing will stop in two thousand and nine.

Until later today, Live HUGE Bryan. And just for the record, this is quickly heading towards an all nighter.

Oh yea, and a late 6 AM add-on to this post, READ THIS!!! http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070713/SPT04/707130363/1071/SPT&GID=u3NSpae+ggEZdWJl4cKZLMRyv7ayI9kk19BPZzVkodM%3D

Thursday, July 12, 2007

2 days in a row! Wohoo!

Welcome back to the show that never stops. I'm in the process of packing my things for Lexington (Dr.'s appointment), so this will probably be a little brief. But I digress..

Has there ever been a star who said more confusing things and got away with it better than Ken Griffey Jr. Every year he tells some media outlet that this is the year he is going to be traded, that there are places he would go, and every year no one knows whether or not the guy is serious, or just effing with Peter Gammons. I kinda hope he is serious, so when we don't trade him, he gets to be the mean guy in Cincinnati that he was the last year in Seattle. Don't get me wrong, I love Junior, but I think there is something wrong in this guy's brain.

Not kidding, on of the top AP newswire sports stories right now is that Beckham and his family are flying to LA. That's ridiculous.

Odell Thurman officially applied to be reinstated. I once read a page 2 article from his perspective, and it made me genuinely like the guy. Then he got arrested again. Please get rid of this guy. Like, yesterday.

Here's the same kind of article, only about Josh Hamilton. http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2926447. His story is really well put together. He seems like a rather deep intelligent guy. Really hope he doesn't screw it up.

I read Paul Daughtery's blog whenever he updates it, and sometimes he writes exactly what I was thinking before I can. That makes me angry. Maybe I should think faster.

The Herald-Leader is reporting we are trying to steal an instate guy from Mississippi State. Hmm.. Why would a guy from Hoptown even wanna go to Mississippi State to begin with...

If Kentucky kicks Tennessee's ass every year in the high school all star football game, why doesn't that ever translate to the collegiate field. I wanna beat Tennessee. Even just once..

And the most ridiculous news story of the day, would someone explain to me how Ichiro, a singles hitter, at age 33, who's skills can only diminish from here, is worth 20 mil a season? That is the same logic that gave Juan Pierre 11, only worse.

Essential Reads:

Until tomorrow, enjoy the weather. I'm headed south to Lex Vegas.

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

9 days later...

So yes, I know how long it's been. I would have known anyways, but I actually had a few people tell me they were eagerly anticipating the return of the blog. So here it is. We go back to daily writings from here.

I present to you the ultimate list....the top 10 things I would have ranted about since last Tuesday:
  1. The NASCAR race on Saturday night was scary close. Only problem is, I was really hoping both cars would wreck, because I dont particularly believe either McMurray or Busch to be nice guys. McMurray's commercial with Kasey Kahne about magic does give him the boost tho, and thats why he won the race.
  2. BREAK UP THE REDS! Wow. If we had fired Narron after the Oakland game where he pinch hit Castro for Hamilton, like I had suggested, maybe we would be in 4th place right now like I so boldy predicted. I'm not jumping off the hope train quite yet. We aren't the worst team in the Central, and we won't end up the worst team in the Central. And anyone who nationally thinks we would trade Ken Griffey Jr., I can guarantee you its going to take a major league ready player and 2 can't miss prospects. It's not happening.
  3. So if the Kentucky-Louisville football game is important enough to be one of the very very few live games that ESPN classic picks up during the portion of the year, how was it not significant enough to put on one of the more typical networks run by the world wide leader. It really just doesn't make sense.
  4. If you enjoy the Onion, you should check out DEADSPIN.com some time. It's pretty enjoyable possibly true sports news. Sometimes it just makes me mad tho, which is why I read it.
  5. The United States beat Brazil in the U-20 World Cup. Tonight they play in the Semi-finals. I know its not the big boys, but this could still be extremely significant if Freddy Adu and the boys bring home some form of International Title.
  6. I just read that Budweiser believes they are done with their sponsorship with Dale Earnhardt Jr. and have moved there eyes towards Kasey Kahne. I don't think thats a good idea. I like Kasey Kahne, but in no way do I think he is a Bud Man. More like a Zima or Mike Hards kinda guy. Yup, I'm implying he's, well, I cant make a hand gesture online. Junior will be sponsopred reportedly by PepsiCo., meaning JR will be sporting Pepsi, Mountain Dew and Gatorade. Nice.
  7. I don't have the will power to completely ignore this, or the compassion to care. Read for yourself. http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2932498
  8. Ken Griffey Jr. made the country remember why he was their childhood hero. Here's to him.
  9. Today is the only day all year without any Major Professional Sporting Event taking place. I'm going to mourn by joining a conference call with an organization who's goal is to end domestic hungar and poverty. Regardless of political affiliation, check out Results.org
  10. Essential Read: The one thing that I can argue and complain about for 20 straight hours is in this article:http://http://news.cincypost.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070410/SPT05/704100340/1035/SPT

Monday, July 2, 2007

Everyone needs to read this...

http://www.sportsline.com/collegebasketball/story/10243363

Gary Parrish is my hero right now.

This is why I love sports.

Days like today remind me why I care. I didn't write at all this weekend because I was still completely ticked off at Jerry Narron for a bad managerial move, that I first guessed, predicting he would screw it up before it happened. By the time I got around to complaining about it, poof, FIRED!!! I like Narron. The couple times I've met him he seemed nice. Actually seemed to genuinely care about people. But I think he lost his mind somewhere during the 51 losses this season. Does this firing make the Reds better? I don't know. But it couldn't make them any worse could it? The press conference is going on right now, and I think Bob just told every executive that things better change or else they're gone. This could be interesting. Starting next year, I truly believe Walt Jocketty and Tony LaRusa will be running this team and Wayne Krivsky will be cleaning my car.

Seven Things the Weekend Left Me Wondering:
1) Will the manager change start a fire sale? Or will this McCanin dude help motivate our players. He looks like the kind of guy that could get a leaf to play well.
2) What the hell is wrong with Homer Bailey? Alright I'm just kidding. He's not pitching that bad, just missing the corners and walking people and then making a mistake pitch. That fastball is still really really good.
3) Can the US B squad rebound in Copa America and get into the knock out round and face Brazil? I think our B squad against the world's best team would draw some buzz. We'd lose 6-0, but even Michael Dennis might watch.
4) How did MLB do something as dumb as selling out to TBS. They are going to be awful next year with their Sunday Night Coverage. The way the held the all star rosters hostage during the rain delay yesterday, when every reporter had the roster and wasn't allowed to "divulge the embargoed information" was terrible. Awful. Get out of here. Braves suck. (Ha ha Derek.)
5) This is obviously the shout out version of the blog. Jeff and I had a good NASCAR day yesterday, but is this NASCAR season too long? It's longer than a baseball season. UGH. It's really hard to care during the middle of summer.
6) I'm watching baseballchannel.tv right now, and they are implying Narron lost his job because Homer has flopped in the major leagues. I personally think its because we suck. But they obviously know more than me, because they are on tv from California, while I'm online from the office.
7) Is Billy G. a reporters quoting dream? He was in the NKY last week, and the Cincy reporters asked him if he would play Cincinnati or Xavier. He said, and I quote here, "We'll play Cincinnati and Xavier any time they want to come to Rupp.We'll play them twice a year if they want to come over to Rupp." What a good guy.

Essential Reads:

Quite honestly, its a Jerry Narron kind of day, so I'm going to leave you with some of my favorite Jerry Narron lines.

  1. “Sean Casey 's our fifth hitter, and we're already down six. That makes it tough to come back. "
  2. “If I would have left him in there and Burnitz had hit a home run I'd have probably killed myself.”
  3. “I'm not even speculating. I'm just going by what I hear from [reporters].”
  4. “It's big-time - you have no clue, ... This (managing the Reds) is a piece of cake. If there was sports talk radio there, I would have been fired from that job a long time ago.”

Good Bye Jerry.