THE BROO VIEW with Ken Broo

Hey! It's Wednesday

The Reds scored eight runs Tuesday night, and still almost lost. In fact, up 6-1 in the 9th, the bullpen (Cordero and Massett with some help frm Rhodes) allowed the Brewers to score five and erase a lead and a terrific seven innings of work by Bronson Arroyo.

Further proof that this Cincinnati Reds team is brutal. Eight runs is about four games worth for the Reds. So that was refreshing. But when the bullpen imploded it pointed to yet another problem this team has: synchronicity. OK Sting, you're saying, explain that!

Simple: when one phase of a team is going well, hitting last night, the opposite phase of that team (pitching) needs to pick up its game. Good teams, contending teams, do that. Teams like the Reds don't. Why? Because the Reds are a collection of misfits and cast offs, sprinkled with stars like Votto and Phillips. Last night, the only members of the starting eight that were 'home grown' were Votto and Drew Stubbs. A team thrown together (and that's exactly what your Cincinnati Reds are) doesn't play the game with synchronicity.

I'm leaving a wake up call for 2011.

I hope I'm dead wrong on this one. But I think we've seen the last of Bengals TE Ben Utecht. He spoke with some of the media, including WLWT, in the Bengals locker room Tuesday and hinted that retirement may be an option for him. Utecht, lured away from the Colts in 2008 in free agency, suffered a concussion in a helmet to helmet hit with Bengals linebacker, Darryl Blackstock in a practice this summer. It was Utecht's 5th concussion. He's now consulting with two specialists, one in Cincinnati and another in New York City.

Concussions are serious, serious business. Ask quarterback Trent Green, who retired last year after multiple concussions. Maybe Utecht plays again. But if he does, it won't be anytime soon.

Ted Kennedy passed away Tuesday night, losing a battle with brain cancer. I won't go into his politics and whether or not I agreed with them. But I will say this: anyone who is 50 or older remembers the violent deaths of his older brothers and how Ted Kennedy assumed the title of patriarch of America's most glamorous family. He was 37 when his father died in 1969. Try being a patriarch, when everything your family does from politics to dining at Wendy's is a news flash.

Ted Kennedy made his share of mistakes, some fatal. But he was the last link to the elegance of the JFK White House. Doesn't matter if you're a Democrat or Republican. His passing is a seminal moment.