What if UC and X play on same night?
What will FSN Ohio do?
"We're going to do our best to schedule games so they don't conflict. If that becomes unavoidable, we'll handle those situations on a case by case basis"-Steve Pawlowski, Communications Manager FSN Ohio

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Congrats Cincinnati Steam
They defeated the Columbus All-Americans 4-2 this afternoon to advance to the Championship!
They will either face Lima, Stark County, or Columbus tomorrow at 1:00.

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Clones ink Weber
CINCINNATI, Ohio – The Cincinnati Cyclones, 2008 Kelly Cup champions, announced that Chuck Weber has signed a multi-year contract with the club. Terms of the deal were not released. He has also been promoted to the position of Head Coach / Vice President of Hockey Operations, after having served the past two seasons as Head Coach / Director of Hockey Operations.
Weber, 35, directed the Cyclones to a 55-12-1-4 record (.799 winning percentage), the North Division regular season and playoff championships, the American Conference regular season and playoff championship, the Brabham Cup (ECHL regular season best record) and Kelly Cup championships last season. Chuck was also selected as the John Brophy Award winner, the ECHL’s Coach of the Year Award—that is voted on by the other coaches in the league.
“This is a great opportunity for me to continue with the Cincinnati Cyclones,” Weber said. “To know that the club has made this commitment to keep me here for a while speaks volumes for their desire to continue a level of success. The championship last season will put a big target on us and we welcome that challenge.”

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UC news
Cincinnati - FSN Ohio and the University of Cincinnati have reached a
new, multi-year agreement that will make FSN Ohio the exclusive regional
cable home of UC football and men's and women's basketball. The
announcement was made today by Steve Liverani, Senior Vice President and
General Manager, FSN Ohio, and Mike Thomas, Director of Athletics,
University of Cincinnati.
UC programming in 2008-09 will include a minimum of 12 men's basketball
games; two women's basketball games; preseason and postseason specials
for football and basketball; season-long football and basketball
coaches' shows; plus an extensive schedule of BIG EAST football and
basketball games. Additional future programming will be crafted as
well, including the airing of classic UC games and other special event
broadcasts to be determined at a later date.
The new relationship will begin Aug. 20 at 6 pm with a half-hour
preseason look Inside Bearcats Football 2008. The show will be taped at
the Bearcat's preseason home at Camp Higher Ground in West Harrison, IN
and will feature in-depth interviews with Brian Kelly and the UC
student-athletes.
The new coaches' shows, which will be titled Bearcats Sports Weekly with
Brian Kelly and Bearcats Sports Weekly with Mick Cronin - will air
Wednesday nights beginning Aug. 27 at 6:30 p.m. Additional replays will
also be scheduled around FSN programming on Thursday, Friday plus other
days throughout the week. BSW will also be linked nationwide through
the FCS (FOX College Sports) Network. A magazine-formatted show,
Bearcats Sports Weekly will be hosted by UC's Tom Gelehrter, who is the
Bearcats' radio sideline reporter for football and director of new media
for the department of athletics, along with student-athlete hosts from
the sports which are in-season.
Gelehrter will also handle play-by-play duties on the Bearcats women's
basketball telecasts. He will work with former ESPN anchor and current
local sports anchor Betsy Ross on the games.

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Another manager that benches guys for not hustling
MLB.COM
When it comes down to individual effort, it takes absolutely zero talent -- zero -- to try hard and play hard every day," Maddon said. "I'm OK with physical mistakes, with mental mistakes; I'm accepting of all that. The part that I'm not accepting of is the part that you can control. And that's your effort."

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Bengals stuff
C. Trent's blog

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UPDATE Show preview
Guest
Chuck Weber, Cyclones coach with big news
Topics
Bengals: Who do you consider the team to beat in AFC North?
Fan Code of Conduct: Great reaction from you guys yesterday
Reds: What do you do with Homer? start, bullpen, AAA?
Bronson Comments: What do you make of what he said about the personality of the team and who could be a leader?
Athletes lives off the field: We will look at the changing media coverage of athletes and the impact of sites like The Big Lead, Dead Spin and Sports By Brooks. Do you check those out?
Worst Sports Trades All-Time. See stories below.
Name Game: Best names in sports...see below

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The All-Name College Football Team is out
IRVINE, Calif., July 31 /PRNewswire/ -- Marshall wide receiver Darius Passmore, Southern Mississippi punter Britt Barefoot and Duke quarterback Zack Asack are among the players nominated for the 2008 College Football All-Name Team(TM) as selected by the panel at http://www.all-nameteam.com. Some 700 NCAA Division I-A football players have been picked for further voting, after an extensive review of the more than 5,700 projected starters and backups for the nation's 119 Bowl Championship Subdivision teams.
All-Name Team:
Gavin Ketchum, WR, UCLA
Darius Passmore, WR Marshall
Josh Droppers, LG, Western Michigan
SirVincent Rogers, RT, Houston
Zack Asack, QB, Duke
Knowshon Moreno, RB, Georgia
Ziggy Hood, DT, Missouri
Tommy Mama, CB, Central Michigan
Marlon Lucky, RB, Northern Illinois
Britt Barefoot, P, Southern Mississippi

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Worst sports trades of all-time
CNNSI
Your candidates please......

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Favre/Jets stat of the day
Since September 27, 1992:
Quarterbacks to start the 253 regular-season games for the Green Bay Packers -- (1)
Brett Favre
Quarterbacks to start the 253 regular-season games for the New York Jets -- (15)
Browning Nagle, Ken O'Brien, Boomer Esiason, Jack Trudeau, Bubby Brister, Neil O'Donnell, Frank Reich, Glenn Foley, Vinny Testaverde, Rick Mirer, Ray Lucas, Chad Pennington, Quincy Carter, Brooks Bollinger, and Kellen Clemens
(From listener Steven Sharp)

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Hmmmm
I didn't realize FB Lorenzo Neal is without a team. Tampa Bay is considering signing him because starter BJ Askew (Colerain) has been bothered by an ankle injury.

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The numbers game
Career completion percentage
Favre 61.4
Pennington 65.6
Career QB rating
Favre 85.7
Pennington 88.9
Career yards per attempt
Favre 7.0
Pennington 7.2

(The Sporting News)

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Myth buster: Duke doesn't get the calls
Gary Parrish, CBS Sports
Duke was 35th in foul differential two years ago at minus-2.3 -- nestled between other famous call-getters Portland State (minus-2.2) and Eastern Washington (minus-2.4) -- and the reality is that in the past six seasons the Blue Devils have only once ranked in the top 10 in foul differential. That came in 2005-06, when they ranked sixth, and it followed years of them ranking 66th (in 2002-03), 45th (in 2003-04) and 30th (in 2004-05).

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NFL as moral authority?, since when?
Ray Ratto, CBS Sports
The NFL, which has been in embarrassing, illegal and downright creepy situations on an almost steady basis for years now, is basically telling you your behavior isn't up to their lofty standards.

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Bearcat practice update
GoBearcats.com
"The best way I would describe them is experienced and really fast," BK said. "We are faster as a unit than we were last year. Now, we have to stay healthy and the right guys have to be on the field."

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Quote of the day
Chick Ludwig, Dayton Daily News
Rookie wide receiver Jerome Simpson decelerated after making a nice catch and had the ball stripped away by strong safety Dexter Jackson.
Wide receivers coach Mike Sheppard ripped Simpson for not running hard after the catch. "You did that at Coastal (Carolina)! You don't do that here!" Sheppard screamed.

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Maxim Hometown Hottie
Careful opening
Go Patriots

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Happy Birthday: Charlize Theron, 33

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Bengals hope Rivers is LB that sticks
Lexington Herald Leader
There were high expectations for Odell Thurman. He was the Bengals' second-round pick out of Georgia the same year as his college teammate Pollack. Thurman rocked as a rookie, only to hit the personal rocks thereafter. Suspended for 2006 and 2007, Thurman was re-instated, cut, suspended again.
There were high hopes for Kevin Hardy and Landon Johnson and Ahmad Brooks and Caleb Miller, all promising linebackers to play for Lewis in Cincinnati, all without approaching the same success Ray Lewis experienced under Lewis in Baltimore.

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A-10 looking for more attention
ESPN
The television contract is not good. The A-10 has no regular home on television where you know you'll find a game. The conference has to do a much better job of promoting the elite teams in this conference, especially Xavier, Saint Joseph's, Temple and UMass in the near future.

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Night practice recap
C. Trent's blog

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Former Toledo hoops player charged in point shaving
USA Today
Sammy Villegas, who played basketball for four years at Toledo and has followed that with a professional career in his native Puerto Rico, is accused of shaving points in games during the 2004-05 and 2005-06 seasons.

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More on NFL Fan Code of Conduct
USA Today
"Here's the standard: Enjoy yourself, come root for your team - but don't infringe on the enjoyment of another fan," said Eric Grubman, NFL executive vice president.
"If you want to come root for another team, that's OK. But we don't want somebody pouring a beer over your head," he said.

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AFL2 team to Northern Kentucky?
Les Crooks, General Manager of the the Bank of Kentucky Center, told me Wednesday night he has had "talks" with officials of the Arena Football League 2 franchise in Louisville about relocating the franchise. The city of Louisville is pursuing an AFL team. If that were to happen, the existing AFL2 Louisville Fire could move to Northern Kentucky.
At this time Les places odds of relocation to Bank of Kentucky Center at
"50-50".
The AFL2 season begins in March. Details to follow.

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Independent blogs drive edgier coverage
MSNBC
Such is the difference between the staid old sports media and the edgier new sports media - the latter being led by non-affiliated blogs that sensationally sell sex, sports and celebrity. Those blogs are forcing many athletes, who would rather not appear in such a context, to watch their public behavior. And they are forcing old-media outlets to consider covering those athletes in a hipper way in order to reach a younger demographic.
In modern sports coverage, it's all fair game--MSNBC
In sports, the media has crossed the line--MSNBC
Athletes brought glare onto themselves--MSNBC

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Xavier basketball news
The Xavier University Musketeers, coming off a record-setting 30-7 season that culminated in the 2008 NCAA Tournament Elite Eight, join 2008 National Runner-up Memphis in the eight-team field for this November's O'Reilly Auto Parts Puerto Rico Tip-Off in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The brackets, which were announced today, pit Xavier against Missouri in first round play on Thursday, November 20 at 12:30 p.m. on ESPNU. XU will play either Virginia Tech or Fairfield on Friday, November 21 at either 10:30 a.m. or 12:30 p.m. on ESPNU and could face off against Memphis on Sunday, November 23 on either ESPNU or ESPN2.
Eight conferences will be represented in one of the most diverse lineups of the college basketball season when ESPN Regional Television (ERT) and ESPNU present the 2008 O'Reilly Auto Parts Puerto Rico Tip-Off in November. The tournament, presented in conjunction with the Puerto Rico Tourism Company, will feature 12 games at the state-of-the-art Coliseo de Puerto Rico, in the cosmopolitan Hato Rey district of San Juan. All 12 games of the Tip-Off will be shown on ESPN2 or ESPNU, the 24-hour college sports network.
The 2008 field includes Xavier (Atlantic 10), Virginia Tech (ACC), USC (Pac-10), Missouri (Big 12), Seton Hall (Big East), Fairfield (MAAC), UT-Chattanooga (Southern) and Memphis (Conference USA). Four of the teams in the lineup participated in postseason play, including three 2008 NCAA tournament teams: Memphis, Xavier and USC, and one NIT team, Virginia Tech.