-Perhaps the largest sports-related temper tantrum I've ever thrown took place last night.
I would take the Reds bullpen right now over that bunch. If you live
anywhere within the vicinity of Old Sharonville, I apologize.
Valentin is hitting 5-for-10 off San Diego starter Jake Peavy.
Corey Patterson is 6-for-11 off Peavy. "I thought about starting
Corey," Baker said. "But his last two starts would be against C.C.
(Sabathia) and Peavy. That's not fair."
So after last night's win Dusty took the boys to the Whippy-Dip? Did
everyone get their one at-bat and two innings in the field? Amazing.
-Are the Bengals all that much better on July 23rd than they were on
December 30th? Here's my hard hitting definitive opinion....I don't
know.
-In a league where your backup QB is one play from running the show,
why are we so cavalier about who the Bengals backup quarterback is? Are
we so set on the fact that this team is screwed no matter what if
Carson goes down that we don't care who the second guy is? How would we
feel if Ryan Fitzpatrick had to win a game? This is a bigger deal than
people realize.
-The guy who invented the save died this week. Is that the most
meaningless stat in sports? Is it the sack? Batting average? Is there a
meaningless stat in hoops?
-Stephen A. Smith drives me nuts sometimes, but this is a good, and I think though-provoking column.
Many chide today's athletes for not being very outspoken on political
or social issues. Should they? We just spent two days talking about
or local quarterback weighing in on a college football game. He had to
apologize and retract. Imagine had he made a comment about something
actually important.
IF YOU BUY AN iBEER YOU PROBABLY NEED AN iWOMAN This is not only lame, but this dude's makes the UPS Markerboard guy seem slightly less creepy.
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THIS SUMMER'S SONG THAT MAKES ME WANT TO SLICE MY EARS OFF Kate Perry, I get it. You kissed a girl. You liked it. It's shocking. Woooo. What you see here is nearly impossible. A pillow fight among chicks is breaking out, yet this woman's voice is so awful, her screaming is so bad, that you don't even notice. It's particularly awful when your office is next to the guy who programs the station that plays this song. A lot.
(I will however, give this guy credit for helping to expsoe the fraud that is the chick who stars in "My Boys." And while we're at it, allow me the chance to mention how wretched "My Boys" is. Easily, and this is not close, the worst show on TV. Anyway, back to Erin....)
Erin Andrews is attractive. Enough so on the surface, that I put her in the Top 153. But beauty, I've often said, goes beyond what's on the surface. And we learned today that this is where Erin Andrews falls woefully short.
Erin was supposed to be on the air with my friend and colleague Alan Cutler yesterday morning. She stiffed him. She was supposed to be on again today. Again, she refused to answer her phone. These things happen, though I usually think enough of the commitments I make that if I say I'll be somewhere, I answer the bell, and unlike Erin, the phone. Anyway, dogged in our pursuit of getting Erin on their air, I put Chuges the intern in charge of getting her on my show. He tried repeatedly, as any good reporter, including Erin, would. Chuges was relentless in his pursuit, calling regularly, leaving messages, and even sending a text. The number one rule in pursuing interviews is to battle any obstacles, including busy signals, miserable handlers, and someone not answering their phone.
Finally, Chuges' persistence was rewarded when Erin returned his call, but instead of going on the air and fulfilling her obligation to both us, and to the party who offered her to us, by doing the interview, she proceeded to tell him that he was rude for calling her and then blamed Chuges for interrupting a conference call.
If Erin simply couldn't go on the air, if an emergency arose, common courtesy dictates that one would break off a phone call, and let us know. We deserve that. You deserve that. Erin Andrews , herself dependent on other making and keeping commitments, knows that.
The problem is, all good-looking women act like this. They break dates, show up late. Ignore phone calls, and we consistently let them get away with it. We often kick our buddies to the curb in favor of some hot chick who's likely to treat you as Erin treated us. And who ends up getting the raw end of the deal? Us. And we continue to tolerate it. Until now.
So we're done with Erin. I know there's essentially a national obsession with this woman, but the fact of the matter is, there are a number of equally qualified, and more attractive women to focus our time and energy on. So no more Erin in this space. We're all about Rachel Nichols, Jenn Sterger, Jamie Little, and locally for that matter, I'm sure Tara Pachmeyer would be happy to come on with us.
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THE GUY WHO INVENTED THE SAVE IS DEAD Jerome Holtzman kicked it at age 82. The inventors of the sack and the batting average send their regards.
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PLEASE GOD, MAKE IT STOP Michelle Wie is gonna try and play with men. Again. Despite the fact that she's not remotely qualified. It's like if I decided I was gonna syndicate my show.
Marvin Lewis said there is no interest (in Chris Henry) from the Bengals.
"I'm not interested," Lewis said. "It's not productive for our football team. You have to be a productive part to be an NFL player. There are responsibilities of being an NFL football player. It's not a right."
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RUNNING BEHIND. HERE'S SOME TOPICS. YEA.
If I'm an Ohio State fan, you know who's comments I'm not too concerned with? Carson Palmer.
Coco. You get what you pay for. His save % heading into this year was 79%. This year....77%. What's the problem?
Meanwhile, David Weathers does a nice job in the eighth getting out of trouble. Yet, the next time he has a bad outing, we'll be screaming for his head.
Dusty lets Josh Fogg bunt in the 7th. I officially am convinced he's not paying attention.
It's amazing to hear what those guys think about that university and
what they think about that football program and Tressel and all the
crap I gotta put up with being back there.
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STUFF I'LL FILL THREE HOURS WITH. -Half full/half empty? On one hand, the Reds split with the Majors' hottest team. On the other, they should've won three of four, and really all four.
-Edwin Encarnacion's errant throw in the 10th was bad. The runner on third, Cancel, was not even thinking about breaking for home, and Edwin wasn't going to get the double play with Argenis Reyes running to first. He's tryin to do too much. Actually, I can live with that. What really bothers me is the Chinese fire drill that took place on Jose Reyes' bunt. Paul Bako has to take charge there and Edwin has to get out of the way.
-Why I love Brandon Phillips...there's a 2-4 with a homer and a steal, there's the great play on the backhand flip to first, but more than that was him taking responsibility on Edwin's bad throw.
-Josh Fogg. A little more tradeable with every start.
The Houston series concludes July 30. The
next day is an off day, and also is the trade deadline. New Reds
president and general manager Walt Jocketty should know by then the
direction he's going - unload players, or acquire help to make a run at
the wild card.
This is a joke, right?
-Yesterday, Doc wrote a piece about the Green Diamond gallery. It's very, very cool, especially if you're a baseball geek like me. A collection second only to Cooperstown. The guy who owns the stuff has the right to do what he wants. I just think it's kinda sad that instead of allowing people who might not have the chance to either go to Cooperstown or amass such a collection, they charge memberships that most of us cannot afford. Baseball people always talk about educating young people about the game's history. This would be a great opportunity. Too bad only country club elites and CEOs get the chance to see the stuff.
-Didn't get to my seat Saturday night to hear from the first three inductees (actually, one is dead, so we won't be hearing from him soon), but I was there for Barry Larkin Saturday night. The ovation was great, except for one guy near me who was booing. Some will surely pile on him because his speech was long and he plugged some sponsors. You go into a team's Hall of Fame, you can do what you want. What impressed me most, was most Reds players (and you can say this about the Crosley Award ceremony yesterday too) were on the top step of the dugout paying close attention to the proceedings. I've been to the ballpark for those before when the dugout was empty.
-Took in three games the last four days. Thursday...one run game, we gotta do the wave. Saturday, one run game, we gotta do the wave. Yesterday, tie game, three goofballs try to start the wave but no one's feeling it. If we have to do the wave, can't we enforce some rule that says no waves if the game is within three runs?
TODAY'S COUNTRY > YESTERDAY'S COUNTRY Conway Twitty never wore hooker boots. At least not in public. Eddie Rabbit never wore hooker boots. Kenny Rogers, perhaps. But Carrie Underwood wears hooker boots on stage, thus ending the ongoing "Today's Country v. Classic Country" debate.
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BUCKEYE/WOLVERINE COEXISTENCE IS POSSIBLE. AND HOT. Three questions came to mind when I saw this on Busted Coverage. 1) Did a catfight between these two develop? 2) How awesome was it. 3) If you were to jump in that body of water behind them and start swimming, would you fall to your death?
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AH, YANKEE FANS. Can you even imagine having to sit next to this clown? What I find funny is that he's upset about being at a baseball game at 1:30am like he actually has a) someone to go home to and b) something to do in the morning. And last I checked, you're allowed to leave baseball games early, as most Yankee fans usually do.
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BEST NICKNAME EVER. We have "CoCo." They have "The Mexicutioner." They win. At least until some politically correct busybody gets in the way.
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SPEED-DATING WITH CHUGES This morning, we played "Speed-dating with Chuges," where we set our intern Chuges up with three contestants. He had a four minute mini-date with each of them on the air, and after much deliberation and advice, settled on Alisha. Chuges and Alisha will be going on their first date soon. Of course, Mark and I will be there to video tape it. Amy and Molly, the two losers, will be available in case Chuges needs to go to the bullpen.
Left to right: Molly, Amy, Chuges, and Alisha.
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FRIDAY SHOW STUFF. -I wasn't aware the Reds signed the 71 year-old man that threw to Josh Hamilton in the Derby. Wouldn't have used him in the ninth last night.
-Francisco Cordero's save % this year: 79%. His save % heading into this year: 79%. He's pitching to his baseball card. He's also making $8.5 million this year, which demands him to slam the door more frequently.
-No way Cueto starts the 6th last night. Delgado had already taken him deep, Tatis had already hit a hard single, he had given up two in each of the previous two innings. Give the ball to Mike Lincoln.
-Speaking of....I'm a huge Johnny Cueto guy, but when he's walking off the hill after 5 1/3, 6 runs, you do not give him a standing ovation. I thought we had the smartest fans in baseball.
-The offensive approach has got to change. In the ninth, against a pitcher prone to wildness, Edwin swings at the first pitch and pops it out. Maddening.
-Can you even imagine how different you'd feel today if Junior had hauled in Wright's homer in the ninth?
-Ballpark music selections last night....Cotton Eye Joe, Take me to the River, Escape by Rupert Holmes. Seriously, is the guy picking the music even trying?
-My favorite all-time Red goes into the team's Hall of Fame tomorrow night. Why does it seem like Barry Larkin isn't as loved as he should be?
-Rich Franklin will join us to talk about the UFC card on Spike this weekend.
-The NFL's crackdown on gang signs is stupid.
-I'm going to see Bruce Springsteen for the third time this year next weekend, and for the 11th time overall. You might call that excessive. You might say Bruce sucks. That's fine. At least you won't see crap like this at a Boss show.
An anonymous topless woman featured in yesterday's paper said she thought she was shielded from view by tinted glass at last Saturday's Blue Jays game at the Rogers Centre.
The woman was clearly visible through a hotel window that oversees the field and Toronto Sun photographer Dave Abel captured her shapely image.
"The (stag hosts) told me that no one could see through it," said the former SUNshine girl.
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THIS GUY REALLY LIKES THE INDIANS He's despondent about the direction of his favorite team and he expresses himself in song. Makes me wonder what he'd do if something really traumatic happened, like a girlfriend leaving. Oh wait, there I go making wild assumptions again, like assuming this guy has a girlfriend. Or had one. Or has ever even touched a woman. Go Tribe!
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STACY KEIBLER: CLASSY GAL Before Stacy Keibler became well-known for uh, being hot I guess, and for making really bad shoe commercials with Chad Johnson, she performed for frat boys on spring break, which I'm totally ok with.
ME. YOU. BEER. JESUS. ALL WEEKEND LONG (EXCEPT SUNDAY) Two stops this weekend on the church festival tour. Tomorrow night, we're headed to North Bend for the St. Joseph's Summer Festival.
Saturday night before the Reds game, it's a brief stop at the Divine
Mercy Parish festival in Bellevue. Go to one of them. Or both. They'll
have beer. Buy a shirt. Be seen in it, win a funnel cake.
