I'm still not sure if Ryan Hanigan's homer would have been a homer tomorrow, but it was last night. So there you go.

I just don't like replay. I don't have any good reason why, honestly, I just don't. I understand the arguments for it, but I like the fact that games are played by humans and there's human error involved for both the players and the umpires.

But, it hurt the Yankees and Mets, so, well we've got it now. Honestly, my brain says there's nothing wrong with it, but it still feels wrong in my heart.

That's where I am. Is that logical to anyone but me?

* The Reds were the last team in the majors to have a pitcher throw a complete game.

* Add Aaron Harang to the list that wants some changes to Great American Ball Park.

* Yonder Alonso doubled and scored in his first pro at-bat. He also walked and struck out in four plate appearances.

* An interesting look at the Reds' outfield defense by Lot D blogger Kevin.

* The uproar about Rudi Johnson "on the trading block" is much ado about nothing. Nothing. What are they going to get for him? Very little -- fifth-round pick at best. That's being optimistic. He'll be cut before he's traded.

* Really, what is there left to watch about the Bengals' preseason? The good news, the Ravens have no idea who their quarterback is going to be.

* Turns out the NCAA doesn't know exactly what it's doing. It prematurely handed out its predetermined verdict in the Ben Mauk case. I hope someone makes good on all this crap and lets Mauk play. I'm not holding my breath, though. Still, this kinda screw up can only help his case.

* So, Fox Sports is everywhere taking credit for their big scoop that Michael Strahan isn't coming back to the NFL. That's like me taking a lot of credit for reporting that Mo Egger is back on the air today.

* Michael Phelps has returned to his regular job.

* A Clemson coach apologizes for reporters writing what he said when they had pens and tape recorders. It's all their fault!

* The Royals aren't as dumb as I thought -- they're embracing Joakim Soria's nickname, The Mexicutioner. The best nickname in baseball right now.

* My buddy Jeff Passan writes about being a big wiener. With video!

* Your business is in trouble, so you give less of the product and cut customer service! Brilliant. And newspapers wonder why they're going out of business -- because they're run by idiots. But hey, they give us insight like this:

The Colerain school system appreciates the note -- now it doesn't have to change its stationary.

* Hulu is taking 30 Rock off its site. Go watch it now! I officially think 30 Rock has passed The Office as the funniest sitcom on TV.

* A new Gutter Twins EP on iTunes next Tuesday.

* Johnny Marr has joined some band called The Cribs.

* A Q&A with Anthony Bourdain. I love that guy.

* U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!

* Ryan Adams has a book coming out.

* When I think Time magazine, I think Ron Jeremy.

Rosters for the Arizona Fall League have been announced, with the Reds players playing for the Peoria Javelinas.

Pitchers: Charles FIsher, Robert Manuel, Pedro Viola, Sean Watson

Infielders: Sean Henry (taxi squad), Justin Turner, Chris Valaika

Outfielder: Drew Stubbs

Games begin Oct. 7 and continue until Nov. 22

From the Bengals locker room.

Some interesting stuff from Rudi Johnson, who is rumored to be on the trading block:

"They’ve been trying to get me out of here for a long time now. So, it’s not surprising at all, it doesn’t surprise me one bit."

Also, "I’m not disappointed, I’m not bothered, I’m not worried. Just move on. No big deal. That’s all there is to it. That’s part of the game, part of the business. That’s all to it. Whatever happens is whatever happens. I’ll be fine."

Rudi expects to play Thursday, as does T.J. Houshmandzadeh. Marvin Lewis said both would play.

From T.J.: "My body is saying that I’m fine. I knew that but I just had to make sure of it -- but I felt good. I knew I would but there is always doubt with something like that…"

Mike Zimmer: "We suck."

"In the first half, we battled pretty good. Not a lot went right for us in the first half, but we battled pretty good, especially after the touchdown and they went up 10-0. We played better on third downs. But obviously we weren't good enough in the passing game at all to do anything. We gave up way too many big plays. Everybody is talking about the pass rush, but honestly, the quarterback gets the ball out real quick, so we'll worry about some of the other stuff. Also, first play of the game had a free hit on the quarterback, a couple other times we had a free hit on the quarterback, so we probably should have had five or six sacks in the game. But we obviously didn't do a good enough job in the passing game."

"The really disappointing thing was the overall effort in the game. They just weren't flying around to the football like they had been all through camp. I don't know what the reason for that was, but that was disappointing. So, really, that's what I'm looking for this weekend. And like I told them the other day, I want to find out when we get punched a few times, who wants to punch back? We got punched a few times the other night. Who wants to take it, and who wants to get up and give us something?"

Marvin Lewis on Rudi: "He’s still working to fight for a job, just like everybody else is, right?"

Lewis said Antwan Odom and Dexter Jackson (sprained ankle suffered yesterday) should be ready to start practice on Monday and go full speed into the season opener.

Palmer won't play on Thursday, nor will Chad Johnson -- "I'll have to hide his uniform," Lewis said of Johnson.

Palmer on how he feels: "Better than I look."

Palmer on what happened: "Just got kind of hit in a weird position. Helmet came down. Either that or I got a fist in the facemask, not really sure how it happened. But part of the game."

And on his protection: "Nothing's wrong with the protection. I said it a couple weeks ago. We've been as good as anybody at avoiding sacks and not having a lot of sacks. We just had a couple of mental errors. Like Brat says, it's been the quarterback, offensive line, the running backs, the tight (ends). It's been here, there, some different pressures that we weren't used to seeing, weren't prepared for, that we made adjustments on, looked at on film, saw where we need to make adjustments on, and we'll be fine. We've never had an issue of protecting the quarterback here. The offensive line is as good as they get in this league, and our running backs are all really good at picking up protections. We just got caught off-guard a couple of times and that happens. That's why you practice and that's why you have preseason games: to get the kinks out and patch things up and figure out where you need to get better and move on."

Marvin on the line: "Yeah there were some other entities as I alluded to after the game in here. But there is no advantage for us to be very specific, but we shared the blame in it pretty good which is a little bit of where we were at the beginning of last season until we got everybody ironed out and straightened out. But they all shared the blame, including the quarterback. I think as we go and have new guys and some guys that haven’t played -- and actually iit was a couple of guys who hadn’t played any football here. We just have to do better and we will. It was a good test and I knew it would be. I kind of told you guys that in the press conference that it would be a good test for us to check some things out and make sure we were on point about some things. It worked out that way. No pun intended but when you get your nose bloodied you get ready to go…"

As far as the reaction because of the visual of Carson Palmer's bloodied face: "Well, the fact that he stayed in for two more plays and played I think is what he is all about. If we would have had the ball for six more plays he would have been in there for six more plays and finished the drive. Unfortunately we didn’t but that just kind of shows the guy he is and so forth and how he goes about his job and his business…"

Lewis also had nice things to say about Jerome Simpson: "Jerome Simpson has been performing very well, we’ve had three practices since the game and he continues to impress us. I’ve been very pleased with him and continues to grow everyday. All the athleticism is there, it’s just learning what to do in certain situations is key.  you keep seeing the process and the bright light of him playing faster. Glenn Holt is turned it on as well and that has been good. I think those two guys have risen up and done some good things when I was disappointed with in the earlier weeks. ... Every time we turn on the lights he players better. He has responded very well in the games and it hasn’t got too big for him."

Pretty much the same as yesterday: T.J. Houshmandzadeh, Rudi Johnson, Chris Henry all practicing.

Carson Palmer is not.

Chad Johnson and Antwan Odom are not in helmets, but are going through drills on their own with various members of the staff. Johnson was catching passes from special teams coach Darrin Simmons and then getting hit with a pad by another staffer.

Pat Sims, Andre Caldwell and Chinedum Ndukwe were not practicing.

According to ESPN, the Bengals are shopping Rudi Johnson. The question is, who is buying?

Even if they're shopping him, he'd have to show quite a bit on Thursday for them to get anything in return. And, well, if he does show something, would you want him gone given the injury history of Chris Perry and the butterfinger tendencies of DeDe Dorsey?

* Ben Mauk has officially gone Corey Patterson with the NCAA -- 0-for-4. Mauk's latest appeal was turned down. In reality, it's no real surprise. It's a shame for Mauk, but really, if you expected Mauk to take a snap this year, you haven't paid too much attention to the NCAA.

* Scout.com has some praise for the Bearcat corners.

* I've always found it odd that fans can come on the field after UC games, it's always kinda struck me as high school-ish. Kinda cool for the fans, but, it's not happening any more.

* Time Warner and the Big 10 Network have reached a deal. Good news for fans of slow football everywhere! Get your koozie ready!

* Now this is SEC football. It's only cheating if you get caught.

* Oh, the whole A-Rod isn't a real Yankee thing... Must be getting close to fall. Yawn. Dear New York. We're sick of your crap. Signed, the rest of the world.

* Eddie Guardado is a Twin again. Traded for a Hamburger. If the Twins have any more (heck a twin burger with two patties) they could be in the race to land C.C. Sabathia.

* Marty Brennaman and Barack Obama have similar feelings about Cub fans:

“You go to Wrigley Field, you have a beer, beautiful people up there,” Obama said, according to transcripts released by ESPN. “People aren’t watching the game. It’s not serious. White Sox, that’s baseball.”

 * Need to catch up with the Saved By The Bell cast? You're in luck. (Mr. Belding is even more creepy now.)

* The Upright Citizens Brigade did a live reading of The Hills. Sounds awesome.

* Pretty hard to argue with No. 1 on the list of Top 10 Women on Entourage. The question is, how much is it stretching the believability of the show that E gets No. 1?

* Seriously? There was an Urkel Colorforms set? I've got some E-Baying to do, I guess.

* The Democrats have a better concert going on in Denver than the Republicans.