Owings working on shoulder strength
ArizonaDiamondbacks.com
It was widely reported that Owings was one of the two players to be named later in the deal that brought outfielder Adam Dunn from Cincinnati to Arizona earlier this month, but neither team has confirmed that.

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Ravens lose DE for season
Baltimore Sun
"Everybody in the league knew about him. ... We had big plans for him this year, but unfortunately, he got hurt, and the next guy's got to step up. Hopefully, we can find that guy."

And...Ravens make a trade

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Mauk denied...again
WCPO.COM

 

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Guest update
Steve Koreivo checks in a 3:20. Steve has seen all 119 D1-A college football teams play in person. He's attended 361 college football games in 89 stadiums in 28 states. He was recently featured in The New York Times.

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Top 10 Cursed NFL Positions
EpicCarnival.com
3. Bengals Management.
Mike Brown's legacy is nearly Bidwell-esque in its incompetence, but with the added flavor of constant arrests adding to the futility. For a team that's supposed to be led by a defensive mastermind in Marvin Lewis, and by Family Values types in top management, there's something mighty fishy going on in Porkopolis... and on some level, it's nice to know they can lose with reprobates as easily as they lost with clean cut citizens.

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Can they keep it up? UC football
Fox Sports
Is it going to last? All signs point to yes, but the key will be to keep Kelly around, which could be tough, and to have another big season to keep the momentum rolling. The comparisons will be made to the ascension of Rutgers, but this is more like Louisville when Bobby Petrino was leading the way. It's going to take one big recruit to get the ball rolling, and it'll take at least one big, splashy win to generate more excitement, but for the first time in a long time, Cincinnati football is becoming relevant in its own town.

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Pigskin preference
Are you more a fan of high school, college or pro football? Why?
What do you think the percentage breakdown would be for this area?
How have the Bengals and UC Bearcats impacted your answer?

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UC football expectations
I'd really like to make UC's season a topic today.
A year ago they finished 10-3 and ranked in the Top 25.
What about this season?
They have finished 8-5 and 10-3 in back to back seasons.
Do you know the last time UC produced three consecutive winning seasons?:
1995-96-97....prior to that 1974-75-76.
Do you know the last time UC produced three consecutive seasons of 8 or more wins?:
1952-53-54 when they finished 8-1-1, 9-1-0, 8-2-0. (Keep in mind they play more games now)

I can see a 10 win season....9-4 regular season with a bowl game win.
The UCONN, USF and WVU stretch will be brutal. Any game at Hawaii is a wild card game.

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Show preview
Guests
Jason Collins Baker, former UC WR, 4:05
Dan Clasgens, Fantasy Playbook, 4:30
Barry Williams, Greg from The Brady Bunch
Topics
Pigskin perference: Are you more of a HS, college or pro football fan? Why?
Bengals
Reds
UC football: What do you expect?
Ethics in Sports: Should LPGA players have to learn to speak English or have their tour card suspended?

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Ranking the NFL coaches
MSNBC
20. Marvin Lewis
Truth be told, he's a decent coach, but it's hard to take him seriously about cleaning up the team's image, not after re-signing thug WR Chris Henry.

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Do me a favor
With the season about to start, can we agree to stop using the "woe is us injury card" for the Bengals? That excuse has been worn out the last two seasons.
Despite fantasy football, fans tend to live inside the moat of Cincinnati when it comes to injuries.
Look around the rest of the NFL. Injuries are life in the NFL. Ask the Eagles who will probably start the year without their starting WR's. Ask Baltimore, dealing with injuries to McGahee, Boler, Reed, Heap...etc.
Ask the Giants, Colts, Patriots, Redskins. Check out the weekly NFL injury report.
The last two seasons Pro Football Weeklly has done an injury impact ranking. They rank teams impacted the most by injuries...the guys lost, their role and the impact of their loss.
The last two years the Bengals were below the middle of the pack in terms of impact.
The NFL is about dealing with injuries. Not making excuses. Ask John Feinstein who titled his book, "Next Man Up".

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Maxim Hometown Hottie
Careful opening

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Ravens QB done for the year?
Carroll County Times
Boller was unable to throw Tuesday and struggles to raise his arm over his head. While jogging onto the field in sweatpants and a baseball cap, Boller never moved his right arm and crossed his left arm across his body to scratch his right ear.

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Yikes
I read the post listed below on Redszone.com after the game last night.
Bronson tossed a complete game, 5 hitter. The defense did not commit an error.
The offense managed 2 runs on five hits:
"Would you, as a Reds fan, be satisfied with an offense that usually gets less than 7 hits and scores less than 4 runs even with excellent pitching?
I find it extremely boring baseball. I do not think I'm alone, even though Bronson Arroyo pitched a masterful game."
Is that how you feel as a Reds fan?

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For Kelly, it's just a start
Enquirer
Last year's 10-3 record and No. 17 ranking in the final Associated Press poll were watershed events for the University of Cincinnati football program, but for Brian Kelly those accomplishments represent little more than a beginning.

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Line of the morning
"Damn you Lance. I had to stop at AMERISTOP and get a lemon fruit pie this AM"
-Listener

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How 'bout Bronson?
Complete game, five hitter last night
Last 11 starts......since the 10 runs game......8-3 record. 3.44 ERA
On the year: 12-10 5.07 ERA
ERA down from a season worst 8.63 on May 4....and down from 6.52 after the Blue Jays game June 24.

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Miley returns with heavy heart
TimesLeader.com
It is a big part of why this sudden tragedy has been so tough for the Yankees to take. They wanted to welcome their manager back, but some of the Yankees became hesitant about approaching Miley's office because they weren't quite sure what to say. Some members of Scranton/Wilkes-Barre's staff had the same problem.

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Mariotti steps down
Longtime Chicago Sun-Times columnist Jay Mariotti announced his resignation.
The paper indicates he left to "pursue other interests". Mariotti joined the Sun-Times in 1991.

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Fruit Pie update
Much to my disappointment, my BP didn't have a Hostess Lemon Fruit Pie last night.
I settled for Cherry.
When I walked in the door last night the kids said, "Are those for us?" And then ran away from me.
I'll be honest, I've never had something so unexpected become a topic of conversation. That was fun. As of last night, I have 287 emails about Fruit Pies.
Fans of the Hostess Pudding Pie have demanded equal time....so...here ya go

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Moving the walls back at GABP
John Fay's blog
"All they need to do it take out the first two rows in right and make the wall as high as it is in left," he said. "That would make it fair. That would take away 20 homers and 30 runs from your pitchers."

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Reds to spend?
The Reds dipped in with high-priced closer Francisco Cordero and high-priced manager Dusty Baker, and some are expecting them to be even bigger players in the free-agent market this winter.-Jon Heyman, CNNSI