Life is more than winning and losing.  In the grand scheme of things, living in a city where the professional teams are simply woeful, just doesn't matter.  There are more important things to worry about.  My family, my health, etc.

Bullcrap.

I'm tired of it.  Season after pathetic season I sit back and think, maybe next year our team will play harder and be more competitive.  I don't say, "Wait till next year".  That would mean I have hope.  No, I just want to see if we can field a team that tries.

Whether its an NFL team with no GM or scouting to speak of, with horrible uniforms and guys who change their name to Ocho Cinco, or a baseball team that Sports starting rotations with the likes of Jimmy Anderson, Jimmy Haynes, Paul Wilson and Matt Belisle, the same thing happens every year.

By June I am saying, "well, at least there is football on the way".  By game two of the season in football, I start saying, "well, at least I can live vicariously through another city's team this year until baseball starts."

It gets old and it gets tiring, and it's time that one person (me), does something about it.

Until the Bengals hire a GM and a legit scouting department, until they quit handcuffing coaches by bringing back troublemakers who don't belong in the NFL, until they start drafting players that will actually stick in the NFL--until that happens, I am officially ending my tenure as a Bengals fan.  I have spent too much time and money (thousands of dollars over the years), rooting for a team that doesn't even give us hope that brighter days are ahead.  I have spent the greater part of my adult life, rooting for the laughing stock of the NFL and I can no longer put emotion into what seems like a perpetual cycle of failure.

As for the Reds, I will continue to root for them, but until I see a product worth spending money on, until I see players that can hit and field the baseball, until I see players that try hard EVERY game, I will not purchase a ticket and I will not watch them on television.  I will follow them in the newspaper and listen to Marty (and co.), but I will not waste time that I can better spend with family and friends on an inferior product.  I'm sorry, "mama", I just can't continue to watch Edwin Encarnacion give his best Brandon Larson imitation in the field.  I can't watch an aging and well-past-his-prime Ken Griffey Junior batting .235 in the third spot.  I can't pay for a ticket to see Corey Patterson try to make a post-steroid comeback on a team that already has more holes than a piece of swiss cheese.

Am I disgruntled?  No.  It's worse than that.  I was disgruntled from 2000-the present when it came to the Reds and disgruntled for all but one of the last 15 seasons with the Bengals.  What I am feeling now is utter sadness.  Sadness at having to part ways with a team that I grew up loving, and coming close with another that was my first true love as a fan.

Cincinnati deserves better.  Until others out there come to the same realization, what you see--what you have seen year after year, will never change.  It simply won't.  Tampa Bay, St. Louis, Baltimore and Indianapolis have recent Superbowl wins after years of ineptitude.  Cincinnati has no GM, Ocho Cinco and a mentality that makes mediocrity worthy of applause.

No more.

Ok today I get to play GM for the Reds.  Given the current state of the team, I think the following moves should be made and soon.

1. Offer Ken Griffey Jr. to Cleveland, Tampa Bay, both NY teams and Seattle.  The asking price--two low-minor leaguers.  The goal is to unload the contract, not to ask for the moon because we aren't going to get jack in return.  The allure to Griffey is to go to a contender (less Seattle), or to the place he once played.  Tampa is a contender and Griffey could be very close to home and give it a whirl with an up and coming team.

2. Offer Adam Dunn to the 10 teams on his trade list and see who offers the best deal.  Again, the objective is not to ask for the moon, but to unload his contract while he is red hot at the plate.  His stock will likely not get any higher than right now. (or June 15th when we can trade him).

3. Get an MRI done on Homer Bailey's shoulder.  Something is not right with him.

4. Immediately call up Jay Bruce and release Corey Patterson.

5. Release Josh Fogg and move Matt Belisle to the bullpen and call up Matt Maloney from AAA to take a stab at the fifth starter position.

6. Release Javier Valentine and call up Andy Phillips (1B right handed) from AAA. 

KRIVSKY SIGNS 12 DOLLAR ICE CREAM SCOOP TO LONG TERM DEAL

3 Years, 9 million dollar contract seen as "necessary"

Cincinnati (AP) Wayne Krivsky today announced the signing of a 12 dollar, Pampered Chef ICe Cream Scoop to a 3 year, 9 million Dollar deal.  How the scoop fits into the Reds plans is still a mystery, but for now reaction is mostly positive.

"Mama likes ice cream after the game and deserves the very best and most revolutionary ice cream scoop there is", said Krivsky.

The scoop was purchased at a Pampered Chef party.  In attendance was K. McAllister, wife of radio personality, Lance McAllister.  Mrs. McAllister encouraged Krivsky to take a chance.

"I told him that this was no ordinary scoop and that if he let it slip away, he would be missing out on something special.  I didn't think he would sign it to a long term deal, but he did the same with Todd Coffey, so I figured it can't get much worse"

Krivsky plans to use the scoop in the Reds locker room after home games and on a few road trips during the 2007 season. 

"I think I made a good move.  I kept it a secret and only told my closest advisor (me) what I was thinking.  If it works well this year, when the 2008 season opens we will parlay this success into signing a couple crappy free-agents, like Corey Patterson and Jerry Hairston Jr."

Meanwhile Lance McCallister was fuming.  "Pleasantville has been infiltrated with over-priced crap and my boyhood team now thinks it's smart to sign an OBJECT to a 3 year deal for 9 freaking million!  I thought I had the best job going.  I am ....I am....I...I....God I wish Trumpy was here."

You cannot beat a left handed starter with a lineup full of lefties.  Votto, Bako, Griffey, Dunn--all looked silly at the plate today. 

I predict Junior is dealt before the end of the next homestand, to Seattle.

I predict that Encarnacion is packaged with someone like Homer Bailey and maybe Ryan Freel for a legit stud, right handed outfielder.  Kepp goes to third base.  Jocketty has a track record or trading 3 or 4 players for one legit star.  I just have a feeling something like that is going to happen.

Dunn will be dealt, but for very little in return.  And that's ok.

Arroyo saved himself with a great start yesterday.  It was good to see.  I think the reason I dislike the JTM commercials so much is because he has pitched so poorly.  I tolerate them more after he pitches well.

Cueto needs to be sent down for some AAA starts to work on mechanics and temperment.

If the Reds can win tomorrow, they will have won consecutive series against two of the better teams in the NL.  Two out of three against the Cubs and Mets would be big for one of the NL's bottom feeders. 

If Bronson can pitch even close to this the rest of the season, the Reds can trade him for a prospect and get out from under his contract.  I ask you to consider this:

We chastized Eric Milton for 3 seasons because he sucked and made 8 million a year.  Arroyo, the last year and a half, has been statistically WORSE that Milton, and he makes MORE.  Do we excuse it because he makes JTM commercials? 

Wayne Krivsky and Dan O'Brien did good things for our farm system.  But at the major league level, they were simply awful.  Again, I submit to you the dead weight on our 25 man roster:

Valentine, Ross, Belisle, Hatteberg (simply by cir****tance), Fogg, Arroyo (though he pitched well tonight), Patterson.

That's seven of 25 players.  30% of your 25 man roster labeled as dead weight.

Back to my original point...if we can win tomorrow, it will be very good back-to-back series for us.