It's a no go tonight
Tonight's game between the Cincinnati Reds and Florida Marlins at Great American Ball Park has been postponed due to inclement weather  A makeup date has not been scheduled.
            Tickets for tonight's game can be used for that yet-to-be-scheduled makeup game, without exchange.
            Tickets for tonight's game also can be exchanged for another game, depending on availability.

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Former Red to manage Cincinnati Steam

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NKU stuns top seed

CRESTWOOD, Ill. – Northern Kentucky University scored five times in the top of the 11th inning to post a 9-4 win over top-seeded Grand Valley State in the opening round of the NCAA Division II North Central Region Tournament on Thursday.
Jeff Bohlen’s run-scoring single drove in Jon Back from second base with the go-ahead run in the 11th inning for sixth-seeded NKU, which improved to 38-22. Jake Shaffer and Larry Pempek each added two-run singles later in the inning as the Norse advanced to Friday’s second round.
Bohlen was 3-for-5 with three RBI for NKU, while Pempek was 2-for-6 with three RBI. Back finished 3-for-5 and scored three runs for the Norse.
Matt Winterhalter pitched four innings of two-hit baseball in relief to pick up the victory. Grand Valley State (34-12) will play in the loser’s bracket of the double-elimination tournament on Friday.

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Baseball cards to buy with your stimulus check
Orlando Sentinel
While today's collecting world largely revolves around autographs and game-used memorabilia cards coming out of boxes that often start at $75 and up, vintage baseball cards -- stuff I classify as at least 20 years old -- are more affordable than ever.
That said, did you get your Economic Stimulus Payment yet?

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Jocketty, Jr and Dunn stuff
CNNSI
"He told me at the time he wasn't interested in my job,'' Krivsky said by phone. "And I believe he was telling me the truth."

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15 minutes with Anna K?

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From yesterday
Top 10 Seinfeld Sports Moments

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Thursday show preview
Topics
Reds
Sports Claim to Fame: See below
Before their time: The number one ranked tennis player in the world retires at the age of 25. Athletes that exited, stage left, early.
Human Highlight Film: I'll finally make it a topic today. The one athlete's highlight film you would choose to watch.
Jump in FORUM to react

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Check out Sandy Koufax
Retired with a bad elbow at the age of 30....with a record of 27-9 and 1.73 ERA. What a smoooooooooth delivery.

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Q/A with Darryl Thompson
Baseball America
I just watched the other pitchers pitch. One guy I that really liked to watch was Aaron Harang. Sometimes he wouldn't blow a fastball by people, but he would hit his spots. For me, I took that as: throw all your pitches for strikes and have confidence. If you give up a home run, so what? I'm a guy that's like, a home run is better than a walk. Tonight I had four walks and I wasn't too happy about that, I didn't like that at all. But as far as big league camp, I learned a lot just watching the guys and listening to (manager) Dusty Baker and (pitching coach) Dick Pole.

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Credit the bloody nose of Janish to Freel

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Sports Claim To Fame
How would you like to be Paul Janish or Jim Kelch today?
No matter what happens, they will always have a story to tell....their own claim to fame.
Janish will tell people about his major league debut and his first major league hit being a game winner.
Kelch will tell people about his week in the Reds booth with Marty Brennman and calling a game winning hit after 25 years of broadcasting minor league games.
Do you have a sports claim to fame? What can you brag about in the backyard or at the bar?
I played little league vs _______
I once struck out _________
I hit the game winning basket _________
I have two:
1. Summer league baseball...1983...playing for Carmel HS. I pinch ran (Oh, I had wheels). I stole second...then scored on a bang bang play at the plate...beating the throw from North Central's Gary Thurman. Thurman went on to play for the Kansas City Royals.
2. Winning the Reds Baseball Heaven championship...2006....including a 5 for 5 day where Jack Billingham asked what I'd had for lunch that day.

Got one? Jump in FORUM

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Friday Off The Beaten Path topic
The leader in the clubhouse: Things we miss from the 80's.
Got something that could beat it? Email me.

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Random thoughts
*Best part about not doing a national sports talk show: Spygate. Good golly. Make it stop.
*Biggest loss of the night: Syisha being voted off American Idol. Was looking hotter each show down the stretch.
*I'm watching Lost and I have no idea why. Never understood less about any other show I've stuck with.

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Here it is.....$1,500 in pennies

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Bengals LB hurting while healing
Chick Ludwig, Dayton Daily News
"My father always told me, 'You can't make the club in the tub,' " Brooks said. "The coaches want people out there who are doing something, who can be productive. Right now, I'm not productive. It hurts."

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Tribe rotation for this weekend
Cleveland Plain Dealer
Jeremy Sowers is expected to get called up to start Friday's game, Fausto Carmona will go Saturday and Cliff Lee on Sunday.

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Difficult to punish greedy amateur athletes
AJC
"If an athlete does something in the NBA, they can fine him, suspend him, terminate his contract. About the only thing a college can do is throw him out. But if a student-athlete is leaving anyway, that's not going to do much good."

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Early exit for Henin...25-year old retires immediately
(AP)
"I decided," the 25-year-old Belgian said, "to stop fooling myself and accept it."

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Rondo comes up big for Celtics
Boston Globe
He submitted a career playoff performance: 20 points on 9-for-15 shooting, including huge back-to-back 3-pointers in the second quarter, to go along with 13 assists, 2 rebounds, 2 blocked shots, 2 steals, and just 1 turnover in 42 minutes of yeoman work.
"He was the X-factor," said LeBron James, who had a game-high 35 points. "You know, 20 and 13 and just 1 turnover, it speaks a lot. Without Rondo tonight, it would've been a much tougher game for them to win. He was definitely the player of the game tonight."

Rondo's all grown up
Boston Herald
"I just took them with confidence and shot the ball," Rondo said. "The shot clock was running down on the first one, (Kevin Garnett) found me and I got the seams lined up and I shot it. Then the second one it was a transition fast break. I'd just hit one, so I said, ‘Why not shoot the second one?' "

Rondo can be Celtics' savior if allowed to be
MSNBC

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Maxim Hometown Hottie
Careful opening

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Jocketty addresses Bruce
Enquirer
"The main thing is you've got to make sure you've got enough playing time," Reds general manager Walt Jocketty said. "I don't think we feel comfortable that we have the adequate playing time. At some point, we just have to do it. Believe me, it hasn't gone unnoticed. We have so many good left-handed hitting outfielders, we have to see what would be the best time to bring him up.
"At some point, you just do it."

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Clones fall in game three
NORTH CHARLESTON, South Carolina - South Carolina's
Trent Campbell scored 2:03 into overtime to give the
Stingrays a 5-4 overtime win over the Cincinnati
Cyclones on Wednesday night. Jean-Michel Daoust and
David Desharnais had two point nights in the loss for
the Cyclones. Max Daigneault stopped 39 shots in
taking the loss.
The loss leaves the Cyclones with a two games to one
lead over South Carolina in the best of seven
American Conference championship. The winner of this
series will advance to the Kelly Cup Finals which
will begin Memorial Day weekend.
The fourth game will be Friday night at South
Carolina. Face off is at 7:05pm.

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Janish: "This is tough to beat"
C. Trent
Paul Janish didn't know who got him -- Kent Mercker and Jeremy Affeldt argued whether it was Ryan Freel or Paul Bako -- but no matter who bloodied Janish's nose, it was certainly worth it.

(AP photo)

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Ouch
Wednesday crowds
Louisville vs Scranton, 11am first pitch...13,131
Reds vs Marlins, 7:10 first pitch......12,756

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Did you know?
Jerry Carroll's horse, Racecar Rhapsody, has been entered in the Preakness. He will break from post position No. 6...right next to Big Brown. 30-1 odds. Ken McPeek is the trainer. Robby Albarado is the jockey. He's riden him in all six of his previous races.

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How about this?
From emailer AJ
Since 2000, the Reds have had 41 pitchers, who have been released, or otherwise parted company with the team...and who have not pitched in the major leagues again.
2000---Larry Luebbers, Keith Glauber
2001---Pete Harnisch, Osvaldo Fernandez, Lance Davis, Scott MacRae, Chris Piersoll, Justin Atchley, Frank
Rodriguez
2002---Jose Rijo, Luis Pineda, Jose Silva
2003---Joey Hamilton, Jeff Austin, Josh Hall, Scott Randall, Phil Norton, Juan Cerros, Mark Watson
2004---Brian Reith, Jimmy Haynes, Todd Van Poppel, Jung Keun Bong, Jesus Sanchez, Aaron Myette
2005---Paul Wilson, Joe Valentine, Ben Weber
2006---Brandon Claussen, Brian Shackelford, Chris Michalak, Chris Hammond, Joe Mays, Esteban Yan, Jason
Johnson, Sun-Woo Kim
2007---Eric Milton, Ricky Stone, Rheal Cormier, Elizardo Ramirez, Michael Gosling.

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Former Miami assistant is new Ice GM/coach
Indy Star
"During his tenure with the Redhawks, he was a major part of the rebuilding process that firmly established the Redhawks as one of the premier division one hockey programs in the nation," Ice CEO Paul Skjodt said.