So, it is finally back in full swing.  Oh, they have meted it out in little chunks here and there, but now it is really here.  Football in all of its glory. 

Last week was great, watching Kentucky pound Louisville.  And on the H.S. level Harrison pulled out a big win against border rival East Central. 

But now we have it on all levels.  Here is my take on the games that matter. 

High School:  Kings at Harrison - It seems odd to me that Kings could be favored to beat Harrison on the road but that is how Tri State Football has it going down.  The Enquirer and Queencityhigh.com both had Harrison ranked in their Top 10s to start the season.  But a blow out loss to Oak Hills and needing a last minute touchdown to beat East Central can cripple faith in a team.  Kings is coming in as #3 in divisions 2 and 3 while Harrison is just outside of the D1 top 10.  I have a hard time seeing Harrison losing this game at home.  But I am just a homer who couldn't tell you anything about Kings

College:  Norfolk State @ Kentucky - this is one of three straight games where UK is trying to get some easy wins heading into SEC play.  Look for UK to open up its offense this week and take a few more chances.  Hartline did what was expected last week, not lose the game.  But the offense needs to get better and UK will try to open things up.  And the defense will struggle a bit this week.  They should completely overpower Norfolk State, but coming off of the dominance of Louisville, UK fans will be disappointed.

College: UC at Oklahoma - Great for Brian Kelly.  Going into Oklahoma is BIG TIME!  This is the kind of signature win that could cost UC their coach.  UC is better than people realize outside of the Queen City, but Oklahoma is a beast.  I expect UC to do some good things.  UC's Defensive line can be scary with Byrd and Barwin.  But ultimately I see them going down while managing the old college try.

Pro:  Cincinnati at Baltimore - This is a game Cincinnati should win.  Baltimore's defense is missing some pieces and starting Flacco at QB.  If Cincy were to lose, I see bad things for this season. 

Peewee (6 year olds):  Colerain at Harrison - Who knows what is going to happen, they are 6.  All you are guaranteed is that someone will line up completely in the wrong place, someone else will run the wrong the direction, and another kid will completely forget what he is supposed to be doing.  And then they will run the second play.  And, oh yeah, someone will have to pee. 

You may have noticed that the SEC and ESPN announced a 15 year deal to brodcast everything SEC on ESPN.

We can pretty much assume that this puts to rest any talk of the SEC going the route of the Big 10 and creating its own network. 

For SEC fans this means the end of poor quality broadcasts.  Whether it was through Jefferson-Pilot or Raycom SEC broadcasts had a tendancy to drift toward awfulness. 

There are obvious benefits for the SEC in this move.  It provides a vehichle for the conference to put itself in the forefront of the national market. 

Now ESPN has a reason to promote the SEC that it previously had lacked. 

The only question that remains is how long will it take for Dickey V to become a SEC hack. 

You can count on it, soon Kentucky will soon be receiving some of the pub that always seemed to go to Duke and Carolina during basketball season.   

The best part of this deal is that hopefully we can get something better on a Saturday afternoon than Northwestern Football.

So Fox is advertising on the radio for the Rds and Red Socks game on Sunday.  The first trip into Cincinnati for the Red Sox since the World Series.  It is an obvious choice. 

And there is a lot to draw everyone's attention to the game even though the Reds are not exactly the best of the NL again. 

So...... Fox is advertising the game.  "Manny Rameriez fresh off hitting his 500th home run brings the Boston Red Sox into Cincinnati ....  (Good choice there - recent, prominant, appropriate)

"And the Reds have a home run threat of their own ...." (Very good considering Jr. just hit 600 which definitely trumps Manny's 500)  "...Jay Bruce  leads the resurgent Reds..."

WHAT!  Are you freaking kidding me?  Is Jay Bruce really a bigger story than the guys who is the greatest baseball player since Willie Mays? 

We will ignore the Resurgent Reds part because we understand that, they want the game to sound like it actually matters.  We understand that. 

But is there no sense of history there.  Jr.'s 600th Home Run is one of the biggest things that will happen in baseball this year.  It surpasses in importantce every other milestone homerun with the exception of Bonds surpassing Aaron, Aaron surpassing Ruth and Mays reaching 600. 

And Jay Bruce, who has all of 3 home runs in his career, is touted overJr. - Unreal!

Somebody at Fox needs to be given a solid lesson in the history of baseball and Jr.'s place within it and then be promptly shot.

 So Johnny Bench has been making the rounds here in Cincinnati.  He has been on several talk shows and made a nice appearance on FSN during the game. 

I must admit, being a child of the 70's and growing up in Cincinnati, I was a huge Johnny Bench as a kid.  Like others I have heard from many sources that Johnny may not be the best person in the world to hang around with. 

I have long enjoyed listening to some of the stories told by players.  But, there was a bit of Johnny Bench that I just found a little annoying.  You could see a little of the things said about him coming out in the stories that he told. 

How much of that was colored by all that I have heard?  Who knows. 

Now listening to him on the FSN telecast was a different story.  His breakdown on what is going on with Johnny Cueto was excellent.  One of the first things you notice about Cueto is his propensity to end up halfway toward first base on his follow through.  He looks so off balance. 

As the everyday joe watching from home, you forget the level of expertise that a player brings to his craft.  Bench broke it down really quickly and used the telestrator (not a very straight line) to illustrate exactly where Cueto should be landing. 

Yes it was simple.  But if you were trying to catch a 95 mph fastball or a hard slider, would you be able to look out at the pitcher's feet as well and notice the detail of where he is landing? 

The ability for a trained professional to quickly notice details that completely escape the rest of us can be amazing. 

In the long run, Johnny Bench may be a schmuck.  But he is still the greatest catcher to ever play the game. 

Listen, I love the idea of Rondo having his own commercial as much as anybody.  But, this is what you come up with?

 Don't worry, it gets worse.

 And we're not done yet.....