Amazing Video

Okay so this is definitely a Cintucky first. A tennis post followed by a soccer post, but I came across this video and found it too amazing not to share.

Its a compilation of reactions around the US to Landon Donovan's goal to advance the US out of pool play. There is one from Convington, KY which is pretty cool. Although I was mad it didn't say Cintucky we'll let it slide.

I'm pretty sure you could put the Rudy theme song to a train wreck and it would still get me worked up, but still. If this video doesn't give you chills you need to see a doctor.



Oh also I am at a wedding today and will be unable to follow the game, so if someone can text me and volunteer to send updates throughout the day, I will not only love you but you will also get a shoutout on the blog which is read by literally tens of people.

Brian "Still don't know how to cheer for soccer." Reinhart

Tennis? Yes, Just Read

Something remarkable has been happening for over an entire day now in the world of tennis. That's right, tennis. The sport doesn't get much face time on this blog. Maybe it would if there were any good American players. Or if it was discovered that an American player had slept with hundreds of women includes porn stars, prostitutes and men (allegedly). However, when a tennis match in Wimbledon is tied at 59-59 in the 5th set and has been suspended TWICE for darkness, now that is something to write about.

American John Isner and Frenchman Nicolas Mahut are in fact tied at 59-59 in the 5th set of their first round Wimbledon match. The match has lasted over 10 hours. Isner has a new record 98 aces and Mahut has 96 aces. The match will continue tomorrow and who knows how much longer.

To try to put that into perspective, let's compare it to a baseball game, since baseball is one of the only sports that can go on as long as necessary. There are 9 innings in baseball. In a typical tennis match there is about 45 games (typical is 4 sets ~11 total games per set). So far there has been 163 games in the match. That's 3.6 times the length of a typical tennis match. Which would be equivalent to a 32 inning baseball game! If you're wondering, the longest baseball game ever played was 26 innings in 1920 between the Brooklyn Dodgers and Boston Braves which ironically was called a tie due to darkness since they didn't have lights then.

The match will resume at 10:30am EST tomorrow.

Greg "dudes must be in shape" R.

The State of the Reds

A couple thoughts on the weekend as we watched the Reds stumble back to their rightful place in the world of mediocrity:
- Getting swept by the Mariners is a joke. I don't care who they had pitching, or that it was on the West Coast, or any other excuses people want to throw around, it is just plain pathetic.

- 1 run in 2 games, and two 1-0 losses was a long time coming. The Reds had been able to "magically" eek out all these 1-run games, but the problem is eventually that magic runs out, the law of averages evens out and math beats magic every time. I don't even know what that last sentence meant. Who cares though? The Reds don't try; why should I?

- The Reds are now 7-13 in their last 20 games. Against a relatively easy schedule.

- Somehow they are still only 1.5 games behind the Cardinals and if they can manage to straighten things out quickly they can still contend. Luckily we have a great coach who will certainly figure that out and a front office that will spend the necessary money to get us help where we need it by paying for star players in their primes... oh wait..

Brian "I shouldn't be this salty at 24.. thank you Cincinnati" Reinhart

Where the Reds At?

The Reds often times make it hard for me to stick up for them. For example, losing 4 out of their last 7 at home and losing the series to a horrid Royals team. Or pretty much anytime a bullpen pitcher is brought into the game not named Arthur. Or when Drew Stubbs manages to strike out 5 times in 4 plate appearances. Or the fact that they should be at least 4 games up on the Cardinals instead of 1 as of June 14th. However, the fact that it looks like no Reds players will get voted into the All Star game is a tragedy. It will make it hard for a manager to pick 5 Reds that should have made the team when none got voted in by the public.

Currently, there are FOUR Reds players in the top 15 in National League batting average. Rolen at .313, Phillips at .311, Votto at .306, and Jonny Gomes at .301. Rolen is tied for 3rd in homeruns at 14, Votto is tied for 8th at 13; Gomes (47), Rolen (45), and Votto (41) are all in the top 14 in RBIs. Need I go on? Currently in the NL All-Star voting, Joey Votto is 4th among first basemen, Brandon Phillips is 5th among 2nd basemen, Scott Rolen ISN'T EVEN IN THE TOP 5 IN 3rd BASEMEN, and Jonny Gomes ISN'T EVEN IN THE TOP 15 IN OUTFIELDERS. That is completely baffling to me.



Oh and if you want to talk defense? Jonny Gomes doesn't have an error (although that raises my eyebrow since I can remember a couple balls he's misplayed...), Phillips is 2nd in fielding percentage among 2nd basemen, Rolen is 3rd among 3rd basemen, and Votto is 5th among first basemen.

I think I have made a pretty solid case here. So how bout it. You can vote up to 25 times per email address. Check it out here and vote for the Reds!!


Greg "It's almost football season...stay tuned for Bengals articles" R.

Hitler on the Reds

I have no idea where these videos came from, and may be a year late on them, but they are absolutely hilarious.

3:08 mark is my favorite part:


Hitler's thoughts on Arroyo.. LOL @ 1:04


Brian "this should hold you over until the USA vs. England match" Reinhart

Sports Are Exciting!

The dog days of summer have officially started. I know the NBA finals are happening which will provide some distraction, but for the most part, the sports scene is in its summer long hibernation. With not nearly enough sports to watch, what do people do? Talk, argue, and then talk some more. Below are some of the top “storylines” that have kept us entertained and hopefully can stay hot into the summer.

The Reds are in a battle with St. Louis for the NL Central.
If you haven’t been paying attention yet, now would be about the time to get on the bandwagon. The Cincinnati Reds are currently tied with St. Louis for 1st place in the NL Central. The Brewers and the Cubs clearly have too many issues to put together a run, and the Astros and the Pirates are just awful. That leaves only the Reds to try and dethrone the hated Cards.
It’ll be interesting to see as the summer goes on what the Reds try to do in terms of free-agency. There are going to be several marquee pitchers available, and I think I speak for every Reds fan when I say if they can somehow convince Oswalt to come to Cincy they need to do whatever it takes to reel him in. I’m thinking Harang, our top 2 prospects, a life time supply of sunflower seeds, and an autographed picture of Chad Ochocinco to the Astros for Oswalt.

Okay so it would appear I was wrong about the Reds completely collapsing after the blow up in Atlanta. This team has more heart than teams in the past, and it appears that they are willing to fight for every win regardless of how much Dusty Baker tries to sabotage them.

Eric Bledsoe cheated to become eligible. Calipari knew about it. UK will forfeit all of their wins. Calipari will leave UK for the NBA. Fans will riot in the streets.
……… or everyone could just relax and realize that the NCAA isn’t even investigating the Bledsoe situation. The NY Times reporter who “broke” the “story” will eventually have to get on with his life and stop creepily obsessing over a 19 year old. And as for Cal, ignoring the fact that no NBA team has even said they want him, he said he’s not going anywhere. Works for me.

Team USA has a legit chance to make it out of their pool in the World Cup.
With kickoff? (sorry I don’t know soccer terminology but we can all agree its not called first pitch, or jump ball) set for 1:30 this Saturday, the USA will start its quest toward soccer mediocrity against England. Sure, we’re underdogs, but if we could beat them in 1776, and we can do it again. Rather than exchange jerseys like in past World Cups, after the game the US team will be hanging out toothbrushes, and dental floss.

Its been almost two months since Ben Roethlisberger has sexually harassed anyone in a nightclub bathroom.
Baby steps.

Brian “how much longer until football season?” Reinhart

Bud Selig, Defiant.

Everyone else is praising Bud Selig for making the right decision and not overturning the horrid call by umpire Jim Joyce that cost Detroit's Armando Gallaraga a perfect game. I have a little different opinion on the situation.

Bud Selig is a complete idiot. He responds to the situation by issuing a statement saying "due to this and other recent events we will look into expanding the replay system".

Analogy: If there is a house burning down do you wait for someone to die before you start putting the fire out? NO. Why? Because its common sense, its something that is easy to foresee, and you have the means and capability to do so! It's not the old days anymore where you have to call in the fire brigrade and throw buckets of water on the fire. Every other city around is using fire trucks! Get with the program Selig.

Everyone knew that someday there would be a blown call that costs a team a game in the post season, and there would be "nothing we can do about it because the rules are the rules." Bud Selig put out the fire. Do what the other professional sports have done and institute a replay system. The players are for it, the fans are for it, and the umpires are for it.

You're an idiot for taking this long. You're an idiot for actually waiting for something like this to happen to "think" about installing a replay system.

Luckily the situation ended up being a very classy one, with both Jim Joyce and Armando Gallaraga treating the issue with pure professionalism. Let's hope Selig doesn't see this positive ending and think that nothing needs changing.

Greg "Put Pete in the hall!" R.

Griffey Jr Awakes From Nap to Announce Retirement

One of the all-time baseball greats has announced his retirement. Cincinnati native Ken Griffey Jr called it quits today, ending an illustrious 22 year career. He will be a first ballot hall-of-famer and was already voted to the All-Century team earlier in his career.

Maybe most importantly, Griffey will be remembered not for what he did, but for what he did not do. In an era where the greatest players took performance enhancing drugs, Griffey has never even been accused of using PEDs. One could argue that players who used steroids did so to try to keep up with the numbers Junior was putting up. Griffey's statistical career followed the bell curve that one would assume is the natural progression of a player not on steroids.

Griffey spent 13 seasons playing for the Seattle Mariners (1989-1999; 2009-2010) sandwiching 8 years spent in Cincinnati and a half year with the White Sox.

I remember when it was announced Griffey was coming to Cincinnati. I remember the exact moment. I was in English class in highschool. It came after the season they kind of almost sort of made the playoffs in '99. Without a doubt, the Reds would be in the World Series the following year. I, like many boys my age, grew up idolizing Jr. His 1989 Donruss Rated Rookie Baseball Card was more valuable to me than my '95 Hustler magazine and a month's worth of soda and candy bars from Ameristop. I even remember the first time I bought a pack of baseball cards and got a Ken Griffey Jr. card. It wasn't even a solo card of Jr. It was one of those Topps cards where it had two players on it. I forget who the other player was, probably because I never looked an inch left. I was so happy. So you can imagine my excitement when I found out the Reds were getting what would soon be The Greatest Player of All Time. Junior would break Hank Aaron's all-time home-run record in Cincinnati and choose to enter the Hall of Fame in his hometown uniform.

Ah, the dream that never came to be.

Quickly comparing some of Griffey's average stats per year during his first stint as a Mariner and his time in Cincinnati:

Seattle: .297 avg, 36 HR's, 105 RBI's, 140 games played
Cincinnati: .265 avg, 19 HR's, 60 RBI's, 95 games played

I'm not going to bash on Griffey right now, but needless to say, he was not the savior Cincinnati hoped he would be. Maybe it's because he wasn't taking steroids and couldn't keep his numbers up. Or maybe it was because he refused to lift a weight and work out off the field and his body just gave up on being young. Or maybe it's because he made a terrible decision in coming to a cursed sports town. A part of me feels sorry for Junior, and a part of me feels hatred for him.


Regardless, Griffey, in his prime is one of the top 5 players that has ever played the game. A 13 time all-star, 10 gold gloves, 1997 AL MVP, and 4th in all time home runs with 630 (4th because I throw out Barry Bonds).

It was a pleasure growing up watching him play and Major League Baseball definitely deserves to honor a player who has stayed clean and steered clear of MLB's black eye.



Greg "I'm digging up all my old Griffey cards to admire them again" R.