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.