Casey to DL, Red Sox call up Ross
MLB.COM
"We did want, in September, a veteran presence as a third catcher," Boston manager Terry Francona said. "We have two kids [Dusty Brown and George Kottaras] in Triple-A, but if you're looking for a third catcher, that's probably not the ideal scenario. When he became available, it seemed to make sense for our organization."

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Ranking the NFL fan bases
ESPN
26. Bengals fans are disenchanted with their team. Cincinnati has just one winning season in the past 17 years, and during that span the city has grown accustomed to having a sub-par football team. Cincinnati historically is a baseball town, not a football town, and there is no natural pigskin rival to root against. If anything, Bengals fans spew most of their venom on their own. They're upset at star receiver Chad Johnson for his antics and wanting to get out of town. They turned on Carson Palmer recently for supporting USC -- his alma mater -- over Ohio State. A majority of fans turned long ago on the Bengals' front office led by owner Mike Brown. Granted, Cincinnati does draw well and has more loyal followers today than during the lean Dave Shula/Dick LeBeau/Bruce Coslet years. But Bengals fans remain very skeptical of their franchise.

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Reds news
RHP Ramon Ramirez (#58) will be recalled to start tomorrow night's game vs the Giants...a corresponding roster move will be made as necessary...Ramirez, 25, will be making his Major League debut...he went 2-3, 4.70 in 9 starts and 2 relief apps for Class AA Chattanooga before he was promoted to Class AAA Louisville on 5/25...for the Bats he went 4-5, 3.08 in 15 starts and 4 relief apps, including a 1.38era in his last 5 starts there.

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Casey's home
Casey is home after surgery on his right eye Thursday at Children's Hospital.
We had to be up bright and early at 5am Thursday.
The surgery lasted about 2 hours. He woke up fine.
Doctors applied a patch over his newly done right eye. They also removed the stitch from his left eye and put "goop" in it. As a result,  he couldn't see out of his good eye for about an hour after coming home. He actually insisted on playing his Wii baseball game. He played by feel and sounds and had me read the screen when needed. I was cracking up.
He's amazing. All of this seems to be a piece of cake for him. It's not for dad. He's my hero.
He informed/entertained everyone on the 3rd floor with background on all the baseball highlights ESPN was showing as he waited. He pushed the syringe to give himself the anesthesia before the surgery began.
He goes back in for a follow-up Friday. He will have the patch on for a couple of days, then can move to sunglasses. We hope he can go back to school by Tuesday of next week.
Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers.

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New HS Team Of The Week Feature
We are introducing a new weekly feature.. The 1530HOMER/Team Fitz Graphics Team Of The Week.
Each week, starting with games this week,  I will take your email nominations.
Tell me why your team is deserving for that week.
Did they pull off an upset? Beat a rival? Tell me who they played, score, record, coach, etc.
I will accept email nominations until midnight eachTuesday.
I will announce the winning team each Wednesday.
The chosen team will recieve a 4ft by 6ft 1530 HOMER/Team Fitz Graphics Team Of The Week banner for their lockerroom.
I will only accept emails sent to the address to the right, by my photo.

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Tressel contract revised
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Ohio State football coach Jim Tressel has agreed to contract revisions that will make him the highest-paid football coach in the Big Ten Conference, OSU director of athletics Gene Smith announced Friday morning.
Under the amended contract, Tressel's compensation increase will be phased in during the current year and will be $3.5 million next year, more than $1 million annually than the previous agreement. He will receive annual increases of 3-4% over the remainder of the term. Tressel is under contract at Ohio State until January 31, 2013.
"Because of our overwhelming regard for Coach Tressel's contributions to Ohio State and our football program, we made a commitment toward keeping him No. 1 in the Big Ten and among the top ranks of coaches nationally, and this revision achieves that goal," said Smith. "Based upon known compensation figures, this agreement will place him in the Top 10 nationally among collegiate coaches."
"It is incredible the commitment that Dr. Gee and Gene Smith have made to us," said Tressel. "There is no place in the world we would rather be, and we will work very hard to serve Ohio State. The goal that Ellen and I have is to make sure these blessings make a difference to others."

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Postgame: Bengals-Colts
C. Trent's blog

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One month later, Jr feeling at home
Daily Herald
"I'm always happy, but I'm very happy here," said Griffey, who is eligible for free agency at the end of the season. "These guys in the clubhouse, they go out there and play hard, they have a lot of fun and they're great as people. I'm not the guy that goes out there and chases every dollar. It's more important to me to be happy and be playing for something."

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Say what?
Chris Henry represented the Bengals as a team captain during the coin toss, then caught three passes for 20 yards.-Chick Ludwig, Dayton Daily News

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Big 10 has image problem vs SEC
Chicago Tribune
Tracing the exact moment the Big Ten went from revered to reviled, from front-line to "punch line" (Kirk Herbstreit's term) is surprisingly easy.

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Firing back at Jay the Rat
Roger Ebert, Sun Times
As someone who was working here for 24 years before you arrived, I think you owed us more than that. You owed us decency. The fact that you saved your attack for TV only completes our portrait of you as a rat.

The truth about Jay leaving
Sun Times
If there's one thing about Jay's departure that I will tip my glass to, it's that it may have saved a couple of jobs with the specter of layoffs in the future. So maybe that is a reason to celebrate.
It's definitely a reason to have a beer.

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Browns play well in loss, injuries still persist
Cleveland Plain Dealer
Decent play is what coach Romeo Crennel wanted to see in the Browns' final exhibition game, and that's what he got. But he didn't get a win. 

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UC-EKU Postgame
GoBearcats.com
"Good start for us, offensively and defensively," he said. "I liked the way we started the game. We got control immediately and left very little doubt about the control of the game. We talked to our football team about how Eastern Kentucky has a lot of tradition. They've won a lot of football games. We didn't want to give them a lot of confidence early on. We had to exert ourselves early on. When you win as much as they do, if you give them a spark and you give them an opportunity, they're going to fight you. They fought us, but we got a foothold early on, controlled the football offensively, got some points and defensively really limited their ability to push the ball down the field."

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AP on UC game
The game drew 26,913 fans to a 35,000-seat stadium, a disappointment for a program coming off a breakthrough year. The Bearcats drew 20,223 for their opener last season, a 59-3 win over Southeast Missouri State. -Associated Press

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What they are saying about Miami-Vandy
Nashville News
Riddling the Miami (Ohio) defense throughout the night by rushing for a career-high 166 yards, he led the Commodores to a 34-13 season-opening victory at Yager Stadium on Thursday.