I'M JUST NOT BUYING THAT THIS WOMAN IS FROM ENGLAND
The fantastic Abbey Clancy gets it done in FHM.

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STORMIN' NORMAN
That's what I plan on doing tomorrow night.  Heading to Oklahoma for the Sooners/Bearcats tilt. This means I'm not on tomorrow.  My buddy Josh Sneed fills in.  He's got a ton of stuff he's got going on the next few weeks listed on his lotD page.  I'll still be blogging tomorrow, and will blog from the game on Saturday, so there's really no reason to even watch the game.

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THURSDAY THINGS

-I really can't imagine the Bengals losing Sunday.  It's Carson Palmer v. Joe Flacco.  The Ravens' entire QB situation is a disaster.  The Ravens are decimated by injuries on defense.  McGahee has been limited.  All signs point to a Bengals win.  Just like they did in week two last year.

-Epic Carnival has Ten Jerks in Your Fantasy Football League.  I'm number four.  Any to add?

-I love Jay Bruce, but frankly, Chris Dickerson has been more impressive in his first few weeks.  How huge would the man-crush be if he was doing this when people were actually paying attention to the Reds.

-There will likely not be a better story in the NFL than this one. 

-The torch continues to be passed.

-700WLW's Bearcat sideline man Tom Gelehrter will preview UC/Oklahoma. 

-A blog catches up with one of my favorite UK Wildcats.

-Why is there a Major League team team in Miami?

-This guy realizes he's in the CFL, right?

-The Bengals new fullback seems like a heck of a guy, and also insane.

MEET YOUR HOTTEST RAVENS CHEERLEADER
We'll be doing this all season. Picking the opponent's hottest cheerleader.  Because I'm really original.  What I like about the Ravens cheerleaders, is they're called "Ravens Cheerleaders."  Not "Raven-ettes."  Not "Baltimore Beauties."  Ravens Cheerleaders.  And Sarah is the hottest.

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ANYONE EVER HEARD OF MOLLY QERIM?
More important, how the hell do you pronounce her last name?  I was watching College Football Live this afternoon when I was introduced to her work.  Tre. Men. Dous.  And this picture doesn't do her justice.

Listener Todd passed along a bio and the photo...

In 2008, Molly Qerim began serving as the interactive host for College Football Live.  In addition, she hosts Fantasy Focus Football and was honored with an Emmy for her contribution to Fantasy Football Now.  Qerim also works on other mobile tv content such as GameUP, MMA Live, NCAA Campus Report, Did You Know?, Fantasy Hit and Run and W2W4 and more. Qerim has also traveled to cover the Super Bowl, Heisman Trophy presentation, the NBA draft and All-Star Game and the MLB All-Star game, providing on-site reporting and interviews for the ESPN mobile network and ESPN.com. A native of Cheshire, Conn., Qerim received a bachelor of arts degree in communications from the University of Connecticut and a master’s degree in broadcast journalism from Quinnipiac University

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ATTENTION MANAGERS OF TRI-STATE PIZZA HUTS
Rally's franchisees, you may want to pay attention to this too.  Stock up. Jeremi Johnson has some time to kill.

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WOULD PETE ROSE CHARGE $20 FOR THAT?
Rich Franklin tells Mark Chalifoux about the time he was asked to shave his autograph into someone's back hair as part of a pretty cool interview on Mark's MMA blog.

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THANK YOU, JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS
They're now the national punchline when it comes to player arrests.  The Richard Collier shooting has folks taking a closer look at the situation in Jacksonville and obviously everyone hopes for a complete recovery for him.  But our time at the top seems done for now.  Not that the Bengals can't retool, reload, and make another run at the crown, but the Jags sit at the top of the mountain right now.  We had a good run, but like Rudi to Chris Perry, like Sasha Cohen to Alicia Sacramone, like Chris Henry going from a holding cell to an arraignment, it's time for us to pass the torch to them.   I say we have some sort of Olympic Closing Ceremony-type handing over of the torch, or a flag, or maybe a taser gun.  Whatever.  Congratulations Jacksonville, wear the crown well!

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THIS IS A 144 PERSON BEER BONG

The guys at Busted Coverage give us the 144 person beer bong, part of a huge weekend in Milwaukee.  This amazing engineering feat was however, only the second best part of Harley Davidson's 105th Annivesary celebration.

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"WHO DEY" IS INDEED A RHETORICAL QUESTION
My buddy Andrew at WhoDey Revolution wrote Deadspin's preview of your 2008 Cincinnati Bengals.  If you prefer your season previews bright and sunny, it might be not for you.

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CRAP I'LL USE TO KILL TIME ON WEDNESDAY'S SHOW
-Carson Palmer's first Wednesday press conference is at 11AM. We will carry it live. I expect you to take notes.

-My favorite all-time Bearcat, Haruki Nakamura will be on the field for the Ravens against the Bengals Sunday. He'll be on the phone with me this morning in the 11:00 hour.

-Speaking of the Bearcats...biggest game in UC history? If they win, yup. If they lose, nope. Outside of maybe last year's Louisville game though, I've never looked foward to a UC game more. And success isn't covering (which I think they will), and it's not losing by single digits, it's winning the game. UC has arrived. It's a Big East program, coming off a top-25 season. Success is winning, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

-We've debated Rudi enough. Now Chris Perry gets his turn. What is reasonable to expect from Chris Perry? Too much to expect 1200 yards, plus 30-40 catches from the backfield?

-Did anyone see Chris Henry in Detroit yesterday?

-I'm feeling very confident about Sunday. Maybe overconfident. Reminds me of how overconfident I felt heading into the second game of the season last year.

-Would you take some of the money you're saving on Willie and invest it in Shayne Graham? I would.

-Aaron Harang. 15 losses. Amazing.

-In the span of seven minutes, one caller told the Cut-man the Bengals were gonna go 8-1 to start the year and another said 0-16. Wow. They're a 7-9 team. They're also going to go 2-0.

-Get an Enquirer, open to page C4, and find the error.

-He's been a whipping boy, and has deserved it, but Corey Patterson made one hell of a catch last night.

-Suck it, Texas.

- I want to see a team run this.

-I'm reading this morning about how schools have to close early because of how hot it is. Football and soccer practices are still going on, right?

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REDS/PIRATES WAS NOT THE WORST THING ON TV LAST NIGHT
I had high hopes for the new 90210. I have high hopes for both the Bearcats and Bengals this weekend. I hope they don't disappoint as much as that disaster of a TV show last night. Didn't even hang around past 9:15. You can say the old 90210 was bad. It's ER in it's prime compared to what the CW offered up last night. Just brutal. Good to see that the cop from the Original Silk Stalkings found work on the show though. One highlight: the introduction (for me at least) to AnnaLynn McCord, who plays the 2008 and slightly smarter version of Donna Martin. AnnaLynn, I'm told, is also on Nip/Tuck, which I don't watch because, well because I'm not weird. But AnnaLynn is smoking hot.

TARA CONNER IS BACK
Hosting something called a self betterment reality show on MTV.  Whatever the hell that is.

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THE VPILFS KID LIKES TO PARTY
And shoot guns, and get knocked up.  Pictures at the Kiss 107's website.

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TUESDAY'S THREE HOUR RADIO BROADCAST

-Destiny is supposed to be my slave for a day today after UK just embarrassed Louisville.  That could be fun.

-The verdict on Willie Anderson seems to be about 50/50.  When this team's success is contingent on maintaining the health of the QB, you keep the greatest right tackle in team history around.

-Brian Kelly can't tempt fate with the inconsistent Jake Rogers, so he won't.  Oklahoma is a 21.5 point favorite for Saturday, which given how well they played seems about right. 

-Brutal weekend for the Big East. Syracuse, Pitt, Rutgers, and Louisville all dropped huge duds on opening weekend, though neither, with the exception of Louisville's offense being unable to score a point, really surprised me.

-New pictures of our favorite Olympic javelin thrower.

-This man is engineering one of the greatest single season turnarounds in the history of the game.

-Five months ago, I would've been amazed at this.  In September, not as much.

-Why aren't the weather men rolling up their sleeves, loosening their ties, and looking like they just went on a 72 hour coke binge this hurricane season?

-This guy thinks Levi Jones and Dexter Jackson are the heis to Willie's leadership throne.  The same Levi Jones who requested a trade this offseason.  By the way, whatever happened to that?  This guy thinks Rudi makes the Lions better.  I hope he's right.

-A Louisville tailgate.  Gross.

ENJOY IT NOW, CONNER.
Before the season, our show adopted three high school football teams, based on listener feedback.  We were looking for schools aside from the traditional powers.  Here's how they fared this weel...

Mt Healthy won their first game of the season with a 34-6 pounding of West High.  Marquaz Nelson had 123 yards on 17 carries with two TDs.  The Fighting Owls, now 1-1 host Loveland next week.

Our adopted Kentucky team played the first game in the school's history on Friday night and lost 57-0 to Conner.  Many of the Cooper players were facing former Conner teammates.  The Jaquars' first ever home game has them hosting Ryle on Friday night.

Our Indiana team fared much better, as the Lawrenceburg Tigers pounded Union County 42-12.  They removed their starters after going up 34-0.  Lawrenceburg takes their 2-0 record into week three when they host the Hickory Huskers from Milan on Friday night.

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"LABOR" MEANS "WORK"
Polish off your Labor Day weekend with a solid dose of me tonight from 6 - 9 on 700WLW.  Talking Bengals cuts, honoring Willie Anderson, Beanie Wells, Bronson Arroyo, Chris Dickerson, a double standard that exists in sports, and perhaps more.

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AND IT WASN'T EVEN CLOSE

 Went to my first UK/Louisville game yesterday, with a lot on the line.  Louisville wins, and I had to sing the Louisville fight song on the air.  UK wins, Destiny is my slave for a day.  I'm working on her to-do list today after UK's defense dominated the Cards.  For all the talk about how Kentucky was going to replace Woodson, how about their defense?  The D-line dominated Louisville.  I counted 7 balls tipped at the line of scrimmage and held the Cards to 1.8 a carry, plus forced five turnovers and scored twice. 

They benefitted from a bad call on the punt receiving interference call, and the questions about the offense remain, but what an effort from UK's defense, in actually a pretty cool atmosphere.  Who do Cardinal fans miss more?  Brian Brohm or Bobby Petrino? What was I thinking when I said I thought Louisville would be better than most people were giving them credit for?  And is there anything better than walking to your car in the parking lot of Lousy Pizza Chain Stadium after the Cards get whacked by their chief rival?

It was the right move, but I'm sad to see the Rudi Johnson era end the way it has. 

It was the wrong move, and I'm sad to see the way the Bengals treated one of the classiest men in the franchise's history, in addition to one of its best players.

On an offensive line that struggled the way this one has, you can't convince me that Willie Anderson, even with his salary, and even at his age, wouldn't be worth keeping around.

The same two week stretch that saw the team welcome back Chris Henry sees them saying goodbye to Willie, which sucks.

Hopefully, the Nazis at PBS will allow "Thank you Willie" and "Thank you Rudi" banners at PBS on September 14th.

Now go spend some of that money you're saving on Willie.