I have a sneaking suspicion that Walt Jocketty and his smart guys at GABP have already begun the process of finding an everyday left fielder by trade. He'd be crazy not to be looking right now. It may be too early to deal, but not too early to trade. With no offensive production coming from left, or right field, shortstop or catcher, it makes it very tough to string together wins against the better teams in the league. The Marlins and Cubs are awful and give the Reds credit for dealing with them in the last homestand. But the true test for the Reds will be, as always, how they do against the better teams in the league and on the road. So far, not so good.....
Now, I like this from Andy Dalton....but talk is really cheap at this time of the year....
Happy 80th birthday today to a true American legend and hero, Willie Nelson. Patsy Cline sang this song and made it a mega hit. But Willie Nelson wrote it. And it might be the greatest country music song ever....
I'll never forget Willie's annual 4th of July "picnics" and the one that he brought to Tulsa when I lived there. It was July 3, 1977 and one of Willie's guests was Lynard Skynard, just months before the devastating plane crash that decimated that band.
So UC's new conference is debating where to hold it's men's and women's college basketball tournaments and one of the sites is Cincinnati. Hmmmm. But a competing site is a casino in Connecticut. Hmmmm. Don't see Cincinnati winning that one....
Here's the deal on any NFL team's draft: no one, not you, me or even the guys in front offices know for sure how well a team did. The Bengals appear to have done well. In particular, I like there second, second round pick, SMU defensive end, Margus Hunt. Take a look
He's another big 'wingspan' guy, cut from the same mold as current Bengals Carlos Dunlap and Michael Johnson. Their first round pick, Tyler Eifert, the tight end from Notre Dame appears to be solid too. And I really like the Bengals second round pick, North Carolina running back Giovani Bernard. Look...
But in truth, any of them could be an early draft bust (see David Klingler, Akili Smith, Chris Perry) or a late round steal (see Tim Krumrie, TJ Houshmandzadeh or Jonathan Fanene. But you can't deny this: the Bengals have done a better job drafting players in the last three seasons. As Sports Illustrated's Peter King wrote this week: "Be careful Cincinnati, or we'll start to think you know how to draft"
Song I just can't get out of my head today.
Song written by Sedaka with lyrics by Phil Cody and although you don't hear it on this version, a very distinctive sax solo by Jim Horn. It hit #1 in February of 1975, spawned by the album "Sedaka Is Back".
Danny Kortchmar is on guitar, a guy who did his best work, IMHO with Carole King (on Tapestry in particular) and with Don Henley.
