SIX HOURS OF NON-STOP JUNIOR TALK I'm filling in for both Jim Rome and Lance today. Six huge hours of talking Junior starting at noon.
-Initial reaction: Relief. When a marriage is rocky, and it ends, you feel relieved.....Happiness for Junior. If he takes the deal, he has a chance to win a ring. Then sadness....if you'd have told me in February of 2000 it's end like this, with 8+ seasons of Junior in the fold and no postseason with a rocky relationship with the city, I'd have said you were nuts.
-Fitting: The last few days have been a microcosm of the Junior era. Controversy. A battle with the media, with spurts of brilliance.
-This is not, I repeat not a fire sale.
-Is Ken Griffey Junior the biggest symbol of disappointment in Cincinnati sports history? It might totally be his fault, but you think of 2000-2008, you think of a couple of things....Ken Griffey Junior and disappointment.
-Is he the most unfairly maligned figure in the city's history?
-If, and I can't imagine this would happen, Junior declines the trade, is that the last big middle finger to the city? What would the reaction be at GABP?
-Why is it that so many are either completely elated or downright angry about the trade before even hearing about what the Reds got back?
-If you're upset about the deal, explain the merits of a) keeping Junior around for the rest of this season and b) picking up the option for next year. It was not worth keeping him around so the Reds could have another on-field ceremony for him.
-Interesting to me where the Sox would play him. Paul Konerko is struggling at first base, and Jim Thome is the DH. Not sure they'd want him playing first, so it's kinda hard to imagine Junior being the everyday DH. Ken Rosenthal says he could play center.
-Guests so far.....Chris Sexton, USA Today's Bob Nightengale.
-Interesting point from Tracy Jones this morning....does Junior accepting the deal hinge on the White Sox picking up his option for next year?
-The Ozzie Guillen/Junior marriage could be fun to watch.
-The deal will net them Danny Richar and Nick Masset. I don't see either on Baseball America's list of the organization's top ten prospects. That means either the market for Junior was so minimal that this was the best Jocketty could do (a 25 year old second baseman?) or that this weekend's controversy triggered a move and the Reds were left to take what they could get.
HAM SANDWICH? I was reading USA Today this morning and in it is an ad for WKYC TV in Cleveland. Featured on the ad is Abby Ham, who might be the hottest local news anchor ever and definitely has the best name in local news ever.
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MAN, THEY REALLY CHANGED THE MOTIF AT THE MAX Mr. Belding gets down with some um, college students, we'll say, in Vegas.
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I'M ACTUALLY GONNA SHOW UP TO TO WORK TODAY
-The decline of the hot flight attendant is one of the most unfortunate developments of the last 15 years.
-"I was in Colorado. It was a good opportunity to swing by,
give everybody moral support. This is the time of year you can lose
confidence. That shouldn't happen with a team of this caliber."
What caliber? They're a bad team. They were a bad team in April. They're a bad team in July? bad teams have what's happened to them happen. What caliber does he think this team is?
-If I hear someone connected to the Reds talk about the importance of going over .500 again, I am going to hurl myself from the top of the building. Going 82-80 is not only increasingly unattainable, it's meaningless. Why doesn't ownership get that you and I get that.
-The Little League World Series is instituting instant replay, while Major League Baseball tries to figure out how to get it done. Amazing, though not totally surprising.
-I laugh at the people that say the broadcasters are too critical. Many of these are the same people who blamed the media when the Bengals lose. What do you want out of your broadcasters? Give me candor, honesty, criticism, and hell even a homer opposed to the vanilla people that do games in other markets, who can't say a bad thing about the team they work for.
-Jeremi Johnson. Just unreal. What a waste.
-The Enquirer covered Big East media day. Last year, in a stroke of genius, Brian Kelly complained about them not coming, and go ttwo days of pub. This year, they're covering it. Happy? So, you happy? Does that mean we can actually talk about the team? Picked fifth. Lack of respect? About what you expected?
3 HOURS+ OF THE BOSS > GRIFFEY v. BRANTLEY While the tri-state chose sides in the latest Reds off-field battle, I was at the greatest rock and roll concert of all-time. As interesting as a 38 year-old offering up a cliched and weak hand gesture is, as captivating as wondering why one of the greatest athletes of our time continues to be preoccupied by what's being said about him can be, and as enthralling as debating whether the Reds announcers are too mean most definitely is, Bruce Springsteen is about six thousand times more interesting, particularly when he opens up "Tenth Avenue Freeze Out" to open his homecoming show, and adds in my two particular favorite songs (Points if you know what they are). Back at 9am, with a lot to catch up on, in the meantime, here's a taste from Sunday night....
Bruce Springsteen takes the stage at Giants Stadium
THE DEVASTATION IS LIKELY MORE THAN YOU CAN HANDLE I'm on vacation, out of town, and in all probability, not updating the blog. Marc Amazon is in for me Monday, Brunker on Tuesday. I make my triumphant return on Wednesday. In the meantime, three things to hold you over....
Some advice for dealing with long distance relationships.
The greatest individual performance in college basketball history, from perhaps the greatest night of my life.
LISTEN TO MY SHOW. OR I WILL KILL OUR INTERN. You don't want that on your hands do you?
-Anybody at the Dragons fight last night? Trying to track down someone who was there.
-The job of the US Army and the Department of Defense is to defend
the country and kill enemies of the United States. Its job is not
maintaining fairness. Its job is not making sure the Detroit Lions have
a solid draft. Caleb Campbell knows this (and is handling all of this
with a great amount of class), and thus we should have no qualms with
the decision to make him serve.
-If the Reds starting rotation consists of Harang, Arroyo, Volquez,
Cueto, and Bailey, I'd imagine the combined salaries will equal close
to $22 million. The average age will be less than 27 years old. So, why
are we talking about trading Arroyo again?
-If the philosophy is going to be trade guys while the stock is
high, shouldn't the Reds be moving Brandon Phillips? What about Edinson
Volquez? Should Aaron Harang have been moved last year? You can make
the argument that the Oakland A's do this, and that's fine. But you
know what the Oakland A's haven't done since 1990? Won but one
postseason series. And no one goes to their games because the fans know
as soon as their favorite players "stock gets high," they're gonna be
gone.
-Frank Shamrock is with us at 10:20 to preview the EliteXC card on CBS.
