THE BROO VIEW with Ken Broo

2011-09-13T14:18:00.000-07:00

Random Thoughts On A Random Tuesday....

Can the Bengals beat the Broncos this Sunday? Why not? Did you see any of that Denver vs Oakland game last night? Kyle Orton looked clueless most of the night and the Oakland running attacked ripped the Denver defense to shreds. One very big concern about playing in Denver (and it has nothing to do with history. History in sports is the most over rated stat, period.) is weather. It will be hot in Denver. September is always one of the warmest months out there. And the air is thin. For players no accustomed to those conditions, it will be a big adjustment....

Cedric Benson had to be drooling on himself watching the Raiders run through the Denver defense. I don't believe that Benson drools, however...

Andrew Whitworth's sore foot is a bigger concern than Andy Dalton's sore arm. Whitworth protects Dalton's blind side. No Big Whit, no good...

Scott Rolen will probably finish the 2011 season on the shelf. Dusty Baker said today it's unlikely that Rolen will play again. He's been out since mid July with shoulder soreness and subsequent surgery. Just as well that Rolen doesn't play. The Reds need to see as much of Juan Francisco and Todd Frazier at third base for the balance of this season to determine their best option for 2012, backing up Rolen. But what makes this situation more infuriating is that the Reds waited until September 1st to call Francisco up from the minors and gave Miguel Cairo far too many starts at third base, while sitting Frazier.

Francisco was hurt at inopportune times in AAA and missed out on earlier call ups. But he certainly was healthy enough to join the team in early August. Cairo is a valued player, a super sub. But EVERYONE knew that LAST season. Why this team was reluctant to bring its young talent up from AAA earlier than it did is a complete mystery. But so was playing Jonny Gomes for two and a half months while Chris Heisey rode the bench. Very, very strange year for your Cincinnati Reds.

UC football coach Butch Jones says his defense will be more mature and more polished vs Akron Saturday. Considering Akron has been outscored 83-3 in two games, it better be......

Ochocinco caught just one passes for 14 yards in a game that Tom Brady threw for over 500 yards? Man should change his name to Ochouno...

Did TJ Houshmanzadeh's skill dimish that much since signing on with Seattle a few years back? Was it the Bengals system that made him the receiver he was? Or was he was simply Palmer's 'go to guy'? Just askin....

NHL camps have opened already? Really? What happened to summer?

What happens first: the opening round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs or the opening night of the next NBA season?

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2011-09-08T21:04:00.000-07:00

I Want To Believe The Bengals Will Beat The Browns Sunday....

And I think they've got a legitimate shot to pull it off. But a lot of things have to go right for the Bengals. It starts by getting off the field on third down, defensively. The Bengals had trouble doing that last season. But in this year's pre-season games, the Bengals did a better job at third down defense. Cleveland will almost certainly try to pound Peyton Hillis. That's their game, or at least it was under Eric Mangini. New head coach, Pat Shurmer may have other ideas. But Hillis has been their horse. Last year, in the game played at Cleveland, Hillis ran for 102 yards on the Bengals defense. Just as important, he helped the Browns control the game clock. When the two teams played again in Cincinnati later in the year, Hillis wasn't so successful.

The Bengals will have to counter with Cedric Benson, for the same reasons as the Browns will try to run. Benson is the security blanket for rookie quarterback, Andy Dalton and new offensive coordinator, Jay Gruden. Benson can help manage the game for both. And, the Bengals offensive line is more adroit at run blocking than pass protection. So a lot of what will go down Sunday in Cleveland will come down to which team has the better defense against the run. That's where I think the Bengals have the edge. They demonstrated in this year's pre-season games they've tightened things up defending the run. If that was any indication of what the regular season may hold, advantage Bengals Sunday, and a real chance at winning their opener.

Here's another reason why the Bengals may have an edge: the Browns are 1-11 in season opening games, since returning to the NFL in 1999.

Other random thoughts on this random night.....

Great, and I mean great opening game for the 2011 NFL season. 76 points total and a game that went right down to the last play. And what a debut for former University of Kentucky star, Randall Cobb. The Packers' second round pick in this past April's draft caught a touchdown pass from Aaron Rodgers. And then, Cobb returned a kickoff for a touchdown....108 yards! Kickoff returns may not hold the drama they have in seasons past, due to the new rule placing the ball on the 35 yard line for kicks. But Cobb's return may be an indication that every once in awhile, you get that kind of magic.....

I like the Steelers, Falcons, Bucs and Chiefs Sunday, for what that's worth....

Can UC pull of an upset at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville Saturday afternoon. UC senior running back Isaiah Pead said this week "we're going to shock the world". Tennessee isn't a top tier team in the SEC this season. But road teams not named Boise State traditionally have trouble in SEC stadia, any of them. Like to think it will happen. Tough to think it will....

I don't know about you, but I've had enough of Ramon Hernandez and Edgar Renteria this season. If I'm Dusty Baker, I was through playing each a long time ago. Nothing against either, particularly Hernandez who could, in a certain set of circumstances wind up back here next season. But there is no excuse for not playing the future now. That would be catcher Devin Meseraco, third baseman Juan Francisco, outfielder Yonder Alonso and short stop Chris Valaika. Honestly, no one other than the players involved cares about individual 'goals' like winning a league earned run average or scoring a set number of runs. To give the team it's best shot of contending again in 2012, we need to get beyond those kinds of things.

This blog may not be reproduced, re-transmitted or repurposed in any manner, in whole or in part without the written permission of Ken Broo.

2011-08-29T12:51:00.000-07:00

Less Than 2 Weeks To Go Before The NFL 2011 Season Kicks Off. Do You Know Where Your Season Ticket Holders Are?

The game within the game at Bengals games is back, I'm afraid. Throughout the dark days of the early 2000's, the guessing game in the press box was always, guess the attendance. After looking at the gathering at Paul Brown Stadium last Thursday night for the Bengals first home exhibition game of the year, I think attendance may be a bit better than what a lot of us may think. I don't think we'll see a sell out, besides the annual visit from the heathens from Western Pennsylvania. But I could see a consistent crowd in the neighborhood of 40,000 this year. And for a team that's done its best to run off its fan base, that's saying something for your Cincinnati Bengals.

Which begs for answer to this latest poll question see on this blog: if you go to Bengals games, are you a loyal fan or an enabler?

Here's the big question tonight sports fans: will NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell challenge the players union and attempt to suspended Cedric Benson for taking a plea bargain and jail time. Benson took the deal today, before his trial began in Austin. This was from an incident in 2010, when Benson was involved in a bar fight. Benson's contention then, was that he was jumped by an assailant and was merely defending himself. At the time, he met with Goodell and got off with a warning from the commissioner. But Benson's contention then was that he was the aggreived party. Just a side note here: aggreived parties rarely get jail time. Today, Benson cut a deal with the county prosecutor and took a 20 day jail sentence, which will probably be reduced to a week, meaning Benson could miss zero games. But will Goodell now elect to revisit this situation. And if he does, will the players union challenge him on it, on sort of a double jeopardy argument? Stay tuned.

Yonder Alonso at third base tonight? Why not. The Reds should exhaust every option to find a position for Alonso to play before using him as trade bait. He's that good with a bat. But I still contend, he should be given another chance to play in left field. If he played 70 plus games at "AAA" without an error, he deserves a longer look at the Major League level.

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2011-08-09T12:30:00.000-07:00

Sitting here wondering how a guy like Andy Dalton gets such orange hair....

So there you see the poll we're offering up this week: which Bengals quarterback will be the starter come opening game? My money is on Dalton. And its not just because he's the 'future' for the Bengals. If you want to win games, you start a veteran, right? And that would be Bruce Gradkowski. His numbers as a starter wouldn't make anyone take notice, 6-14 in 20 NFL starts. But you want a steady hand to show the young the way, much as Jon Kitna did with Carson Palmer in 2003. Except....

Everything is new this year on that side of the Bengals ball. Jay Gruden is the new offensive coordinator. Do you really think he wants to sacrifice a year, waiting for Dalton to grow up? If it's all new, why not start the future, now? Do you really think Mike Brown is going to sell a lot of tickets (and apparently, there are a lot of tickets to sell) by promoting a team with Bruce Gradkowski as its number one quarterback? The folks will be lined up to buy that. In a perfect world, Dalton isn't the guy you want lining up under center against the Browns on opening day (in Cleveland no less). But the NFL, particularly this year, is far from perfect. And the Bengals, well....you know the rest of that line.

Hey, we're number...what??? Yes, the ESPN power rankings are out for yet another year in the NFL and your Cincinnati Bengals are ranked 32nd out of 32 franchises. But hey, that's up from 122 out of 122 total professional sports franchises, where the world wide leader had your men in stripes ranked just a few weeks ago.

Go Bengals. Who Dey.

Now we know why Mike Brown was so giddy about getting the CBA down with the players union (and why he voted for it this time, unlike 2006). Come to find out, in the small print it says there is NO floor to the salary cap this year and next for individual teams. Which means Brown, and any other owner in the NFL can spend as little as he wants on player salaries until the 2013 season. Factor in last year, which was an uncapped year, and that's millions to the bottom line for Brown. Details, details...

Why is the Yonder Alonso experiment in left field over after just three starts? Can someone help me out, figuring out this situation. First, they draft the guy in 2008 knowing that Joey Votto was going to be the Reds first baseman for the foreseeable future (to say nothing of being under cost control for at least three seasons). You had to figure someone (and yes, Walt Jocketty was in charge when the June draft rolled around that year) had a plan for Alonso just in case Votto would blossom into the players he eventually became. So this year, with Votto under contract for at least the next three, the Reds instructed their Louisville team to play Alonso in left field, a lot. In 70 plus games, he committed no errors in left field. Let me repeat that total: zero. Finally (and again Walt, riddle us this: why did it take sooooo long to bring Alonso to the majors) up comes Yonder and he gets a grand total of three starts in left before manager Dusty Baker declares, Alonso doesn't have the skills to play in left.

To be honest, Alonso did have a few adventures at Wrigley Field last weekend. But he also brought a disciplined plate approach to the Reds and happened to hit the ball very well. As an aside, let's hope Drew Stubbs and Jay Bruce were taking notes. And let's also be honest about this: Jonny Gomes, and before him Adam Dunn were in no danger of winning Gold Gloves playing that position in years past.

And isn't this the same group that gave Gomes eight weeks (EIGHT WEEKS) this season to figure out how to hit the ball, the same group who gave us the nightmares known as Corey Patterson and Wily Tavares? And Alonso gets three starts?

So Monday, Baker has Alonso out at third base taking ground balls, in the hope he could play that position at some point. But what's the point? If you want him to eventually become a third baseman (where Alonso allegedly played before arriving at the University of Miami several years ago) why not send him back to AAA and let him play there every day?

By the way, there are only two ways the argument over drafting a player who projected to the majors at one, exclusive position can go. Either the people the Reds had scout Alonso failed to evaluate him as a player who could play at some place other than first base. Or, the organization failed in properly evaluating the long term potential of Joey Votto.

In that 2008 draft when they took Alonso, the Reds passed on, among others, infielder Gordon Beckham, the 2009 Sporting News American League Rookie Of The Year, and pitcher Aaron Crow, now with the Royals. Crow, incidentally was good enough to pitch in this year's All Star Game. Memory refresher: in 2008 the Reds had no short stop (Alex Gonzalez was basically a ghost in his three years here) and not a whole lot of quality pitching.

This whole Alonso incident makes you wonder if anyone who's in the baseball operations department down at Great American Ball Park knows what they're doing. Let's hope it's just another example of Baker and Jocketty not 'being on the same page'. And then, let's further hope that Big Bob Castellini calls both into his office quickly and fixes this.

But hey, what do I know? I'm just some guy on TV.

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2011-07-18T12:26:00.001-07:00

While Trying To Stay Cool In Another Typical Cincinnati Summer

I keep hearing the Reds are one of several (as many as 12 has been reported) teams who've kicked the tires on a trade for Rockies 'ace' Ubaldo Jiminez. Admittedly, in the last couple of months, Jiminez has returned to his 2010 form, a year in which he tossed a no hitter and got off to a blazing start. But the asking price for Jiminez will be enormous. One, he's relatively non-expensive through 2013. And two, with so many teams interested in dealing for him, the market will dictate a huge asking price. How huge? Well, I believe it will take one of the Reds young starting pitchers (Mike Leake, Travis Wood or Homer Bailey), as well as a major league ready prospect (either Yonder Alonso or Devin Mesoraco) and one of the Reds low level prospects (Yasmani Grandahl or Billy Hamilton). For a pitcher who hasn't had the track record of say Justin Verlander, that would be a prohibitive price for the Reds to pay.

Like you, I want to see the Reds be proactive and do something, quickly to re-establish themselves are a legitimate contender in this race. It was great that they took two of three from the Cardinals this past weekend. But the true test will be what they do over the course of these next 13 games. If they win two of three in Pittsburgh and follow that up with a 7-3 record in the upcoming home stand, I believe they'll be either in first place or within a game of first. But that's a tall order for a team that hasn't pieced together back to back wins over its last 24 games.

Interesting week for your Cincinnati Bengals, wasn't it? Three arrests. They now lead the league in something. Since 2000, the Bengals have had 35 player arrests. Some of course, have been multiple offenders. But in those eleven years, the Bengals have managed to win just 72 games. When your arrest total is almost half of your total victories, that's not good. My guess is Cedric Benson, barring any lock up time for his latest transgression, will be back. And this team needs cornerbacks, so my guess is Adam "Pacman" Jones will be back. Marvin White was a long shot to return. My best guess is that Benson's problem will be settled out of court. Jones plead guilty today to the disorderly conduct and disturbing the peace charges against him. That will go to trial.

And I'd like to get excited about the end of billionaires fighting with millionaires. But I'll hold off until the owners and players have agreed, in writing, to a new collective bargaining agreement. My guess is, that will be sometime late this week. Why the urgency on both sides? Remember, as we like to say, the answer to all of your questions in life is money. With the players sharing now in total revenues, it's in their best interest to settle sooner rather than later. In the past, the owners have taken a sizable chunk of revenue off the top for expenses. No more. Now the players will get a piece of the total league revenues. That would include revenue (ticket sales, TV rights, etc) of pre-season games. Most estimates had the league losing up to a billion dollars if the entire exhibition schedule was wiped out by a lockout. Losing a piece of that was simply too much of a pill for the players to swallow. Apparently principle does have a price.

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2011-07-13T14:52:00.000-07:00

Wondering If The Reds Season Is Just About Over

Tough to believe, isn't it? Last year, so much promise, so much fun. This year? Not so much. You'll get a lot of answers to the question, 'where did it go wrong'. But I think this season was lost in the winter. Other teams in the Reds division decided to go shopping. The Reds sat that out. Other teams in their division made strategic changes (Cardinals with Berkman, Brewers with Marcum and Greinke and now Rodriguez). The Reds reinvested in their own talent, doing contract extensions with Joey Votto and Jay Bruce.

You can look this up: rare is the team that repeats as division champ that does NOT do some retooling in the off season.

The Reds front office, including last years MLB Executive Of The Year Walt Jocketty, simply over-valued too many of their players and thought they made even exchanges for the players they lost. Fred Lewis for Laynce Nix? Not even close. Edgar Renteria for Orlando Cabrera? Cabrera isn't tearing it up in Cleveland. But they signed him for $1 mil and Renteria is costing the Reds $2.1 million, minimum this season. He has incentives that kick in with added playing time. Cabrera, though, was a great team leader and it's no small reason why every team he plays for contends. Aroldis Chapman for Arthur Rhodes? Not even close. Chapman has been better lately. But for the first two months of this season, he was a 100 mph disaster.

If I sign the checks at Great American Ball Park, I'm calling both Jocketty and Dusty Baker into my office and asking them why they do what they do. The General Manager didn't make a meaningful change until late last week, when he finally relented and called up AAA shortstop Zach Cozart, who should have been up here early in June. The manager insists on playing veteran players who under perform, at the expense of younger players who show promise.

What kind of message does that send to Reds fans? This one: mediocrity is acceptable. And the same message is delivered to the players in the Reds clubhouse. It's naive, to say nothing of bad business, to think that one season in the last 15 has built up enough equity to carry this team through a season like this. It's 2001, 02, 03 or any other year since 1995 all over again.

There's a line that separates patience from stubbornness. Four games out of first, two games under five hundred and showing absolutely nothing since opening week that would lead you to believe this team is capable of a prolonged winning streak, the Reds have crossed the line.

This blog may not be reproduce, retransmitted or re purposed in any manner, in whole or in part, without the written permission of Ken Broo.

2011-06-21T14:06:00.001-07:00

So Our Bengals Are 122nd Out Of 122 Professional Sports Franchises?

I thought long and hard about this. Not so much how to make the Bengals more fan friendly, get them out of that 122 spot. I thought long and hard about even blogging about it.

We all know, this is a bigger exercise in futility, talking about how to make the Bengals better, than what free agents they should pursue or why they should bring their personnel department into 20th century standards. Forget that it’s the 21st century.

There’s only one voice that matters in all of this. And he isn’t speaking. Unless of course you consider the carefully crafted response to the ESPN rankings that are now on the Bengals official, in house web site. Give Mike Brown credit for that. In the past, he wouldn’t have acknowledged any public condemnation of his team.

But I’m wondering today what you would do, if you were the target of something like the ESPN rankings and your team, your franchise was rated dead last among every professional sports organization.

The easy answer is win more ball games. Too easy. Of course the Bengals should have won more ballgames in the last 20 years. This topic, their bad ranking would’ve never been issue if we hadn’t had the lost generation.

I got a list of what I believe to be realistic ways (at limited cost) to drag the Bengals out of ESPN's basement.

Number one: embrace your past. No matter how much a team has underachieved, there is always something, some place in time, where you can conjure up nostalgia. Nostalgia sells. Look at the number of radio stations that play retro music. Nobody with any buying power listens to what’s passing for music now. Maybe in 20 years the people who listen to every song that now sounds like the next one will be able to buy things. They can’t now. Tap into your past. Have an alumni weekend. Bring back the 1981 team for a weekend, throw a dinner for them, open it up to the fans.

Guess what? You’ll have to spend some money. Guess what, your franchise has just been valued at 945 million dollars, or roughly $937 million more than Paul Brown and and his investors had to pay for the franchise back in 1967.

Number two: retire jerseys. There is no way any Bengals player should ever wear numbers 14 or 78. Plain, simple end of story. The worst thing, the absolute worst thing that team has done in years….and this is saying something….is to let Andy Dalton hold up number 14 at his introductory news conference. Shame on the Bengals for that. I don’t care what number Dalton wore in college. You don’t get that one here. It should have been retired long ago. And the number 78? That’s about as sacred as it gets. You whip out 14 for a kid to wear who hasn’t even played a down for your team, you better believe somewhere in the bowels of Paul Brown Stadium someone is sprucing up a 78 for another kid to wear.

138 player numbers have been retired by NFL teams. The Bengals have retired exactly, one. The Giants have retired eleven, the Chiefs ten. The Bengals? One. Number 54 Bob Johnson, the original Bengal, nice guy, worked some games with him years ago. Doesn’t deserve to be the only member in this club. Retire jersey numbers 14 and 78, have a big ceremony at the center of the field. Ken Anderson doesn’t coach anymore. He’s available. Anthony Munoz is simply Cincinnati sports royalty.

Guess what? You’ll have to spend some money.

Next thing I’d do. I’d turn that stadium, that has all the charm of a parking lot into something that screams Bengals. Is there anything in that stadium that screams Bengals? The stripes on the walls? The 1968 logo of a screaming Bengal at the 50 yard line. Really?

How about a Ring of Honor. Now that’s a novel concept. The Dallas Cowboys have only been doing that for the last 40 years. You don’t want to retire a bunch of jerseys. OK, how about on the wall that separates the middle and top tiers of that stadium, how about a ring of honor? Numbers and players names who’ve been standouts for this team, back when it won games and championships. Remember, nostalgia sells.

You could recite the names and numbers in your sleep. 14 Anderson, 80 Collinsworth 30 or 31 whatever Ickey wants, 22 Thomas, 13 Riley, 7 Boomer. You mean to tell me that you can’t come up with two or three numbers every year? You don’t think that would be a great halftime show? I’ll be even those marching bands you get to perform for free wouldn’t mind skipping a rendition of “Feelings” for that.

Guess what? You’ll have to spend some money

Here’s another idea that might drag you up to 85 on the list: how about embracing the art of tailgating? Rather than just selling parking spaces, how about turning those parking lots into pre game playgrounds. Games, things to do, with a little charcoal and lighter fluid along the way. Gotta work with the county on that? I think they have phones. Call ‘em.

Guess what? You’ll have to spend some money.

Autograph sessions. Now there’s a novel idea. How about, rather than having your players sign autographs in your team gift shop, where I’m sure the real idea is for fans to buy your team gear….how about a team autograph session at Fountain Square, high noon on a Tuesday. For free. It’s the players off day. You don’t think that’d spread a little good will? Sure you do that, for a few minutes after practices, at Georgetown. Why make your fans drive all the way to Georgetown to meet your players?

And speaking of Georgetown, no disrespect intended to that town or the Commonwealth of Kentucky, but isn’t your team based in Ohio? Aren’t the tax payers of Hamilton County funding that stadium for the next 30 years with a sales tax? So if you’re letting your players mingle with fans in Georgetown, en mass, why not Fountain Square, or the plaza level of your stadium or anywhere in Hamilton County? You pick the spot.

Guess what? You’ll have to spend some money.

When Mike Brown and Marvin Lewis had their painful to watch news conference in January, they created more bad than good. All they had to say was this: we know we’ve let you down a lot in the last 20 years. We know we’re not doing right by you, our fans, who’ve stuck with us through losing seasons, off field embarrassments and poor personnel decisions. But it’s our solemn vow that we will change and we will change starting now. Better players, bigger personnel department, more fan friendly. It wouldn’t have taken 20 seconds to say that and we would have lapped it up like lemmings.

Instead, we got their version of a root canal.

This week, after the ESPN rankings, the Bengals had another chance. And while we got some of what we should have gotten in January, it wasn’t enough.

Now, in this off season of our discontent, with labor war in the NFL, with a franchise quarterback who’d rather pick sand from in between his toes than stand in between his center’s legs, we get a rookie quarterback holding up a number 14 jersey.

You want to be something other than the lowest rated franchise in all of professional sports? Start thinking like your fans think. They give you their money, in ticket sales, at your team gift shop, parking, concessions, traveling to your games.

Guess what? They know it costs them money to be your fan. How about spending some of it on them?

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2011-05-19T19:17:00.000-07:00

Ugly couple of days for your Cincinnati Reds, including Thursday, when the Pirates made it five of six against them so far this season.

And the lesson here is pretty simple: it's great to get worked up into a lather over sweeping the Cardinals. But every one of these games counts the same. Maybe it was a let down. Maybe it was Pirates Pitching that seems to have the Reds number this season.

But at the end of any season, they don't ask you who you beat. They only ask you how many you've got. At least that's how the Reds won their division last year.

And as we wait for the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals to rule on the legality of the NFL lockout, one word of caution to the NFL owners: you've won the latest round. Don't overplay your hand.

Even in the conservative 8th court, there are no guarantees you'll win the next round. And rather than wait on that, work even harder now to get a settlement. Don't just say you want to do it. Do it.

What good is winning the war, when you lose the peace?

Finally, a word about the whining that continues to come out of St. Louis. Give Tony La Russa credit: he said he doesn't believe Francisco Cordero was throwing at Albert Puljos Sunday. Of course he wasn't. Not with the tying and winning runs in play because Prince Albert got plunked.

But somebody should tell that to his leiutenant, interim manager Joe Pettini, who said it's always something when the Cardinals come to Cincinnati. Really? Like that deception a couple of weeks ago in St. Louis on a rain delay was the way to handle things fairly? Really?

Chris Carpenter didn't like the fact that fireworks smoke, after he allowed a home run, delayed the game. The way he was pitching, he should have welcomed the delay. Carpenter should be more upset with the way his right fielder, Lance Berkman played. The man behaved like it was his first day out of short pant.

The arrogance of the Cardinals franchise is forever astounding. They're good, just ask them and theyll tell you. The Cardinals win with style. They should learn to lose with grace.

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2011-05-09T12:45:00.000-07:00

On to Houston tonight for your Cincinnati Reds. The three games in Chicago were frustrating only in the realization that the Reds could have made it a sweep, except for the meltdown of Coco Cordero on Saturday afternoon. Sunday, many Reds fans called into my radio show on 700 WLW and wondered why Cordero is still the closer on this team. Two simple reasons: money (he's making in excess of $12 million this year) and what is the other alternative to Cordero? Who would fit the closer mold better right now? The answer, from the current Reds roster, is no one.

Nick Masset? I'm sure the Reds have considered him a candidate in the past two off seasons. But Masset is a notoriously slow starter and using him in that role beginning Opening Day would have been a disaster.

Aroldis Chapman? Control has always been a huge issue with him. And he is still trying to figure out how to keep runners on base from stealing. Saturday, with two out and runners on second and third, Dusty Baker left Cordero on the mound and did not bring Chapman in for one very big reason: Chapman could have brought the winning run home with a wild pitch. Turns out, the Reds lost anyway. But to think that Baker doesn't consider the pitfalls of using other relievers in a closing situation is simple wrong.

Cordero must be included in the conversation, if that conversation is about the top ten closers in baseball. Look at the numbers. Yes, he's good for eight or nine blown saves a year. Virtually everyone who has that job in baseball will finish the year with the same number. The greatest closer in the history of baseball, the Yankees Mariano Rivera, has blown 68 saves in his 17 year career. If the greatest closer in the history of baseball blows an average of four save opportunities a year, blowing eight a year really isn't all that bad.

The larger issue with the Reds continues to be hitting with runners in scoring position. They had a grand total of nine runs in the three game series against the Cubs and, as a team, hit less than .200 in that three game series.

The glaring problem with the Reds right now isn't their closer. It's the missing bat of Scott Rolen. Until he returns, this team will struggle for runs. The more you have in the 9th inning of a game, the easier it is on your closer. Plain, simple, end of story.

This blog may not be reproduced, repurposed or re-transmitted in any manner, in whole or in part, with the written permission of Ken Broo.

2011-05-02T20:17:00.000-07:00

The Reds enjoyed a rare rainout Monday. And the game was called early in the day, so they could simply come to the park and get in their hitting and go home. But one of the things they must work on if they're going to contend this season, is getting the hitters with the most chances to drive in runs productive again.

The batters with the two most chances to drive in runs this eason are Jonny Gomes and Jay Bruce. And each is struggling, mightily.

Gomes had an RBI this weekend. But he's hitting just .200 with runners in scoring position. Bruce is hitting just .167. And what makes this one of the strange anomalies that baseball offers, is that the Reds, as a team, are 4th best in the National League in driving in baserunners in scoring position.

The problem for the Reds gets compounded, when you notice that the two batters who've had the most chances to drive in runners in scoring position are.....you got it, Bruce and Gomes. Joey Votto is hitting .363 with RISP, but he's had fewer chances than either Gomes or Bruce.

The law of baseball averages dictates that the game will eventually come back to Gomes and Bruce and each will find that key hits that aren't happening now, will eventually.

But right now, it's killing this team.

This blog may not be reproduced, re-transmitted and re-purposed in any manner, in whole or in part, without the written permission of Ken Broo.

2011-04-28T19:56:00.000-07:00

In the end, the Bengals held serve. They didn't trade out of the #4 overall pick and they got the guy they've wanted all along. AJ Green is a game changer. And the fact of the matter is, the Bengals haven't had game changing players, on either side of the ball, lately. Green has the ability to make explosive plays, big plays that either get you back in a game or drive the opponent out of it.

This is a good pick.

But now, the Bengals have to find somone to throw him the ball. Even if they wind up with TCU quarterback, Andy Dalton, sometime later in this draft, they'll also need to get a quarterback who can play right now, get the ball right now to Green and the other receivers on this team. The Bengals need a veteran quarterback. It looks like the Arizona Cardinals have some sort of agreement already in place with Mark Bulger. That would leave the Bengals looking at quarterbacks like Donovan McNabb or Vince Young. Young would be an interesting signing, as he wasted numerous chances with the Titans and would wind up in the land of football redemption, Cincinnati. McNabb went from a bad personal situation (playing behind Michael Vick was the way the story was playing out in Philly) to just a bad situation in Washington. He may be a short term answer, until Dalton or whichever quarterback the Bengals wind up with is ready for the NFL

This blog may not be reproduced, re-transmitted or repurposed in any manner, in whole or in part, without the written permission of Ken Broo

2011-04-27T18:05:00.001-07:00

Drew Stubbs is one of those players who can infuriate you one inning and turn you into an unabashed fan the next.

He did it again today.

In the 4th inning at Milwaukee, pitcher Sam Lecure led off with a double to center. Stubbs was the next batter up in a 4-2 ballgame with the Reds in the lead. Stubbs proceeded to strike out on three pitches. He strikes out a lot. But the infuriating thing about this strike out was that Stubbs was caught looking by Milwaukee pitcher Yovani Gallardo. He didn't even offer at the third pitch. To me, that's the most inexcusable out a player can make with a runner in scoring position. You at least have to make an attempt to put the ball in play. Stubbs slinked back to the dugout with Lecure still on second. He got no farther than 3rd base.

Yet, the other Drew Stubbs is the guy who can track down fly balls in center field that not many other players can. The other Drew Stubbs arrived in the 10th inning of a tie game and delivered a solo home run, the difference in a 7-6 Reds win. It was the difference in going 3-3 on this road trip or 2-4.

Yes, I'd like to see Stubbs bunt more. Why that hasn't been a priority with Dusty Baker and his hitting coach, Brook Jacoby is beyond me. As a wise mind like Reds TV broadcast, Chris Welsh said several times last season, if Stubbs would turn 15 of his strike outs into bunt base hits, he'd be a .280 hitter with killer power numbers. But he's also young (and more important to the Reds front office salary cheap). Stubbs upside is enormous, even if his current stock seems stagnant.

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2011-04-26T20:10:00.000-07:00

If you can't hit, you can't win. The Reds have been a tad anemic lately, and sporadic. Monday night's nine run outburst was followed tonight, by just a two hit effort.

And that more than anything is a major problem with this team. Jonny Gomes (who sat the game out Tuesday night) along with Jay Bruce have had the most chances of all Reds batters to drive in runs this season. Both have been less than stellar doing that. In fact, Gomes was hitting .167 with runners in scoring position coming into this series at Milwaukee. Bruce, not much better at .211.

Clearly the Reds miss Scott Rolen's veteran bat. But even Rolen look slow with his swing before heading to the disabled list this past weekend.

There is no help, down on the farm. Most of the players the Reds have at AAA Louisville aren't hitting. So what they have here at the major league level must find a way to battle out of what's becoming a team wide slump. It's early in the season. But unless the Reds find a way to catch fire, it may be later than we all think.

2011-04-12T19:03:00.001-07:00

Random Thoughts On A Too Cold Tuesday.... Who turned the AC on? It's supposed to be April right? Best thing I've seen with your Cincinnati Reds since the start of this season is resiliency. Down in a game, comeback after a loss, this team never seems to get caught up in bad breaks. I don't forsee any extended losing streaks this season. I really don't.... Second best thing I've seen this season: Bronson Arroyo. The ace of the staff. Period, end of story.... Chris Heisey needs to play more. I know, I know, I've been "Johnny One Note" on this. But he's got speed in the outfield and can hit. No reason why Dusty can't get into a four man rotation for three outfield spots. Jay Bruce can use a break every fourth day. So can the other two... Best non move that Dusty Baker has made this spring? Not moving Brandon Phillips out of the two hole. The most important player on this team is Phillips. Leaving him in his most comfortable spot is vital to the long term success of this team. And hitting .411 going into Tuesday night's game is further proof that the two hole is Phillips most comfortbale spot.... The Bengals can squire Came Newton all around town for as long as they want. There's no way he'll be available to them when they pick fourth overall in the upcoming draft. And they don't need him.... Here's my grand plan for fixing the Bengals. Round #1: take the best offensive lineman in the draft. Forget the projections, whether or not the guy is worthy of fourth overall money. The Bengals need help at right tackle, left guard and someone who's an heir apparent to Bobbie Williams at right guard. Round #2: if he's available, take TCU quarterback, Andy Dalton. He could be the quarterback steal of the draft and has an excellent chance to be the Bengals quarterback of the future. Then, they should sign free agent Marc Bulger simply to get them through 2011 (if it happens and let's face it, if it does, the Bengals don't look to be very good). The Bengals wide receiver corps, as is, is more than serviceable. Jermaine Gresham is a terrific tight end in the making. Andre Caldwell and Jordan Shipley can be complimentary pieces to a wide receiver the Bengals could obtain in round three. But the biggest need is at offensive line. Final piece in my rebuilding puzzle? I'd sign Cedric Benson. New offensive coordinator, Jay Gruden wants to be a run oriented offense anyway. Convince Benson to come back to that kind of offense and the Bengals may be back on their feet again. So they'll probably take a wide receiver with their first round pick.... This blog may not be reproduced, repositioned or re-purposed, in whole or in part and in any manner, without the written consent of Ken Broo.

2011-03-28T00:15:00.001-07:00

Good Monday Morning!

Chris Mack said ‘no’ this week. It was the right answer. You know Mack, young, local guy makes good head coach at Xavier. Maybe not the greatest player in his high school and college days, but played the game hard. A much better coach than he ever was a player.

Mack has it good right now. A traditionally strong program, great arena to play in and a big time recruiting class just about every year. There’s nothing that Butler is doing right now that Xavier can’t do. Similar stories, in a lot of ways.

Mack watched Skip Prosser take Xavier basketball to a whole new level. He followed Prosser to Wake Forest and got all the clippings, saw all the highlights about ‘X’ was doing under Thad Matta and Sean Miller. Came home to help Miller as an assistant.

Every one of those coaches, Miller, Matta, Prosser all left Xavier for better money in bigger conferences. He probably heard Prosser lament, once or twice, about leaving Xavier, a good deal with a nurturing community. He watched Miller leave for a school that never misses an NCAA Tournament. He knew all about Matta going to Columbus and the opportunity to excel at a school where basketball was an after thought to spring football.

He’s smart, Chris Mack. You don’t have to around him for five minutes to get that. He knew this week that Ohio State, Wake Forest and Arizona were all better situations than the one that was wide open to him at Tennessee.

Tennessee is a cess pool right now. Toxic by collegiate sports standards. Bruce Pearl thought so highly of his boss that, at the first sign of trouble, he lied to the man. The man Pearl lied to about the recruiting violations that ultimately got him fired, is the same man who’s responsible for the Lane Kiffin fiasco. It’s better than even money that the Tennessee athletic director, Mike Hamilton, is gone before the next basketball game. So why listen for a moment to any offer he, or his school had on the table.

Eight years, $16 million dollars, according to CBS Sports. That was the offer that Tennessee was dangling in front of Mack. Heady stuff for a guy who’s been a head coach just two seasons. Big time money, the kind that would take care of his family for life, even if he never earned another dollar after that deal.

Mack had the brains to say no. Or knowing Mack, the brains and the politeness to say “no thank you”

We’re all tempted by the greener grass on the other side of the fence. Sometimes, we jump over the fence to get to it. I did. Maybe you’ve done it once or twice yourself. I know when I got there, the grass I left behind looked pretty good. Maybe Mack had that figured out all along.

I asked a coach once, not long ago, when none of them seem to honor contracts anymore. Why a guy signs a five year deal at one school, and two years into it is moving on to someplace else. I told him it seemed sleazy to me. His answer startled me a little bit. He said coaches do that, because school presidents and athletic directors have no commitment to a coach beyond the piece of paper that both parties sign. One or two bad seasons, and all of a sudden the school starts looking for a new coach, because the boosters, the money guys who keep an athletic department afloat get antsy. If the school will do it, the coach reasoned, than he had to play the same game too.

Maybe that’s why Matta, Prosser and Miller took off. Probably not, Xavier doesn’t strike me as that kind of place. Maybe they didn’t think they could ever get to a final four with Xavier, let alone win a national title. Matta and Miller are still searching for that. Prosser, of course, is no longer with us.

Maybe Mack sees something at Xavier that they didn’t. Maybe that’s why he said ‘no’ this week. Other schools will come after him, maybe not this year, but soon. The right offer may bring a different answer next time.

But this time, Mack gave the right answer. This time, it wasn’t about the money. It was about the ‘fit’. If you’re a Xavier fan, your coach just turned down more money than you’d make in ten lifetimes. You oughta feel good about that.

This blog may not be reproduced, retransmitted or re-purposed in any manner, in whole or in part, without the written permission of Ken Broo

2011-03-24T15:05:00.000-07:00

Random Toughts On A Random Thursday...

Scott Rolen made back to back errors in this exhibition game today vs the Rangers? Will never happen in 162 games this coming season...

Now Jonny Gomes.....

Actually, look it up. Gomes only committed four errors last season. As a team, the Reds only committed 72. Brandon Phillips won a Gold Glove, largely because he booted the ball only three times in 702 chances.

For the record, Rolen had eight E's in 2010.

Decent outing for Bronson Arroyo today, which is good considering he's been sick for about two weeks. Today in a minor league game vs the Dodgers, Arroyo went 5.2, allowed 6 hits and three runs. He whiffed six and walked only one. I believe Arroyo has walked just two batters all spring.

I also believe aliens are programming several of my DirecTv channels. But that's a story for another day....

NFL owners are now saying that Mike Brown was a visionary back in 2006, when only he and Bills owner, Ralph Wilson voted against the CBA that just ended. The Giants John Mara said "We should have listened to him", back in 2006. Jim Irsay chirps in as well, in an article written by Geoff Hobson on the Bengals official web site.

Brown is one of the smartest people I've met on this earth. But he places no value on what his image is. Or offensive linemen, again a story for another day.....

I still think the NFL labor situation spills into the season. Both sides have to hurt for this to be settled. And the only way hurt enters into the equation is for players to miss game checks and owners to miss revenue stream. We're a long way from that. I'm sure the judge in Minnesota who'll hear the suit filed by several players to end the lockout will rule shortly after the April 6th hearing. And I'm equally sure the NFL or the players will appeal whatever decision she makes. But I laugh when I hear that one side or the other will 'cave' after a non-favorable ruling. The owners have a 'war chest' to operate from. The players are out nothing until September. Why would they want to settle now? To get ready for mini-camps? Really?....

Elizabeth Taylor's best movie was Who's Afraid Of Virginia Wolfe. But I'll watch Butterfield 8 anytime, anywhere. Who's left from the Golden Age of Hollywood? Can't think of any....

Zsa Zsa Gabor was rushed to the hospital upon hearing the news of Taylor's death. Her publicist says Zsa Zsa's blood pressure went sky high. She feared she'd be the next to go. True story.....

Eva Gabor, totally unappreciated, particularly in her finest role as Lisa Douglas on "Green Acres"....

Is Merv Griffin still with us?.....

Does any college basketball coach tell the truth when he talks about an opponent before an NCAA Tournament game? Today, John Calipari was gushing over the Ohio State Buckeyes, making it sound as though if he team beats OSU Friday night, it'd be the biggest upset since the election of '48. Just once, I'd love to hear a coach say "Well, they're lucky to be here. We're so much better than this team, I hope we don't die of boredom before the final horn". I'd be the mother of all sound bites...

Of course, the coach who says that gets villified, then fired, win or lose...

And OSU is 5-0 all time against Kentucky in the NCAA Tournament.

Still....

It's gotta be me, but all of the network TV shows I like have been or are about to be canned. Loved "Flash Forward" last year in ABC. Gone. They even left a cliff hanger for a season that would never be. This year, it's "The Event" (on life support) and Detroit 1-8-7 (Lt. Louis Fitch, my kinda cop) who both figured to get whacked. I would rather watch a yak fall asleep than watch Kirstie Alley prance around a stage. But 50 million people can't be wrong, right?

See you tonight at 6p & 11p on WLWT, News 5 in Cincinnati.

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2011-03-01T08:11:00.000-08:00

I'm Done With It

So today's news is that the Bengals will now entertain offers for Carson Palmer (after a new collective bargaining agreement is reached between the NFL owners and the players union. That should be the spring of 2013, right?).

Yawn

Palmer is done with us. I'm done with him.

I’ve thought a lot about this lately: Palmer wants exactly what we’ve been doing lately.

He wants a public debate of his trade request, his alleged threat of retirement. He wants it, without being directly involved in it. In short, Palmer wants the publicity, but doesn’t want to work for it. And for the last six weeks or so, we’ve been playing into his hands. You, me and everyone else who’s been debating this issue.

If he’s dumb enough to turn his back on 50-million dollars, if he’s that non competitive that he doesn’t want to play anymore, that’s his life, let him live it. If Mike Brown doesn’t get that he should he solicitous of the most identifiable player on his team, rather than engaging him in some sort of wild west, dirt street stare down, then have at it.

Me, I’m done with it. Bored. They were 4-12 with Carson Palmer last season. They can easily be 4-12 this season without him. Call me when you’ve got your act together.

I’m moving onto the Reds.

Speaking of the Reds, how is it that Edinson Volquez can get into this country with a visa that’s only good for sight seeing, rather than one that helps his team win another division title. Have you heard about this? He was supposed to be the starting pitcher in Sunday’s exhibition opener against the Cleveland Indians. But late last week, the Reds discovered because he’s in the country with a visa that’s good only for a tourist, rather than a wage earner, he can’t pitch. Not in front of a paying crowd. And worse, he now has to go back to the Dominican Republic to apply for a visa that will let him work for the Cincinnati Reds.

Now how did that happen?

Two words: substance abuse. Volquez was suspended for 50 games last season when it was discovered that he was using a substance banned by major league baseball. It was a fertility drug. He says he was taking it, so he and his wife could produce a little Edinson. But Major League Baseball says that drug is really used as a mask, to avoid detection for steroid use.

Because of that, Volquez could only get a visa for sight seeing in our country, not working. Now, it could be a while before he gets the visa he needs to strike opposing batters out, or walk them, depending on how things go.

Do you mean to tell me one of the smart guys in that Reds front office, Walt Jocketty, one of his minions or even Big Bob couldn’t figure this out before now? You actually go ahead and announce Volquez as, not only your exhibition season opening pitcher but your pitching on Opening Day and you don’t know you have this problem? Really?

Here’s a bat signal out to Jean Schmidt, Steve Chabot and Rob Portman: while you’re busy solving the debt crisis that’s consuming all of us, can you pick up the phone and grease the skids so the Reds can get their ‘ace’ back in the country for Opening Day? Somebody in some government office surely could use a couple of diamond club seats for the opener on March 31^st.

It’s called taking one for the team.

Follow me on twitter: @kenbroo

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2011-02-22T19:47:00.000-08:00

I Read It But I Couldn't Believe It

Sometimes you read things beyond belief. I had one of those moments Saturday and maybe you did too, if you read the comments of one Terrell Owens, otherwise known as TO, otherwise known at “Batman”. Otherwise known as reason for therapy for people like Wade Phillips, Tony Romo, Donovan McNabb, Andy Reid and Jeff Garcia, just to name a few.

Speaking on the NFL Network, TO spotted some daylight under the Greyhound. So he sprang into action as only a Batman can.

He said…quote….I think if you look at the talent we had in that locker room this year and we mustered four wins, that should let you know something is not right,” Owens said. “Throughout the year, I saw some things that really wasn’t right.

Well, OK, so far so good. No problems yet. The Bengals were classic under achievers and “Batman” was certainly a part of that. But TO was only warming up.

Obviously if you have your franchise quarterback who is supposed to be that guy for your team (and) trying to get out of there, that’s kind of telling the organization something, and that’s telling a lot of people out there something as well.

OK. But the problem begins with his TO-ness trying to bring it home.

Another quote: I’ve made a comment about if you’re trying to win some championships, it starts from the top down…..I think even before I got there, they said the owner was a little different. Obviously, I saw that. You start with the head coach, and then you start with the staff on both sides of the ball. … Offensively, we really didn’t have the coaching that we really needed to muster what we had on the offensive side of the ball.”

All that, before lunch. You’ll notice, TO didn’t mention whatever it was that he did or didn’t do, like cutting off routes early, not fighting for the ball to prevent interceptions and leaving the field early to get some sort of fluid injected into him. You notice, he didn’t mention his running buddy in any of his comments. That’d be “Robin”, who chose to dance with the stars all last spring while the rest of his teammates were actually trying to get a head start on the 2010 season.

Mike Brown is as culpable as anyone for the disaster that is the Bengals. Marvin Lewis is a co-conspirator. You got the titles, you take the heat. But in one brief interview, we got a glimpse of why TO has bounced around the NFL like a flu bug; and a glimpse of why the Bengals way of doing business breeds this kind of stuff.

He arrived here only because what passes for a front office and a now dismissed medical team signed off on a one legged Antonio Bryant. Owens arrived here because a quarterback, who now wants out, became the primary Bengal official scouting the artist soon to be known as “Batman”.
What Owens said Saturday on the NFL Network was an insult to Brown, Lewis, you and me. We should be insulted, but not surprised. They snickered in Philly and Dallas when TO landed here. Now we know why. I guess, now it’s our turn.

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2011-02-07T14:19:00.000-08:00

Jay Gruden On The Job

I hope by now we’re by the ‘who’s he’, and ‘why now’ and how come not John parts of the Jay Gruden hire. Honestly, I think this is a smart move the Bengals pulled off this week.

Look, I know, you and I lived through the “Dave, not Don Shula” era. If you’re a Reds fans with a long memory, you’ll remember, we once had a Guerrero playing here, Wilton, not his brother Vladimir. But in Jay Gruden, the Bengals have at the very least gone outside the family tree, starved for sap as that is right now.

Jay Gruden’s dad was a very good coach, a position coach with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, surviving the acerbic wit of John McKay for a lot of years, as well as enduring a lot of losing seasons. We know what Jon Gruden has done. And if any of what his father and brother have accomplished has managed to rub off on Jay Gruden, offensively the Bengals are in a lot better shape today than they were a week ago.

Jay Gruden said this week that he wants to pound the ball between the tackles. Good, it’s what they should have been doing all of last season. If talk is cheap, it may get Cedric Benson back here for a lot less money than what the Bengals might’ve had to have spent if they maintained the status quo.

He says the Bengals won’t throw the ball down field 60-times a game. That’s also good news. Look up any box score from the last ten years in the NFL. If you see 40-or more passing attempts next to a quarterback’s name, you’ll probably see an ‘L” next to how his team did that day.

Gruden says he’s going to tone down the no huddle and the shotgun formation. Good and good. This isn’t 2005 and that entire offensive line, except for Bobbie Williams doesn’t live here anymore.

This sounds like a breath of fresh air, which is something the mildew-infested Bengals need. But Jay Gruden is no savior. And that isn’t a white horse he’s riding into town on tomorrow.

The bad news here, is that Gruden inherits an entire set of assistant coaches. This, of course, is called ‘business as usual’ in Bengal-dom. At Paul Brown Stadium they treat assistant coaches like family jewels. Here’s a lovely piece from the Wyche Dynasty I’m sure you’ll love wearing. It’s not that these guys are bad coaches, or bad guys. It’s just that they’ve been around awhile. They’re not ‘dead wood’. But they haven’t exactly floated the good ship Bengals like the Queen Mary either. Gruden will have to work around that.
And one other thing we got to get straight here now that he’s gone: Bob Bratkowski wasn’t the boogey man. He was just a good coach whose offense had grown stale. The Bengals lost their way last season. And Bratkowski had a huge hand in it. But his wasn’t the final word on any game preparation, on any game day or any play call.

But if you’re long for change, change that matters, hiring Jay Gruden is at least a start. There a lot more that needs to be done. And if all the change the Bengals make between now and their next game is bouncing Brat and hiring Chuckie Junior, there won’t be a lot more than four wins again next season.

This is a team that needs serious upgrades at left guard and right tackle. It needs to find a running back. It needs more and better playmakers on defense. Bengal fan, stop lying to yourself and look into the mirror. There is not a player on that Bengals roster that is a difference maker the likes of James Harrison, Troy Polamalu, Tramon Williams or Clay Matthews. Carson Palmer can be a good quarterback again. But he has a long way to go before he’ll be mentioned in the same sentence as Aaron Rodgers and Ben Roethlisberger.

The NFL is the easiest of the four major professional sports leagues to engineer a turnaround. It can be done overnight. In Peyton Manning’s rookie season, the Colts were 3-13. The following year, the Colts finished 13-3. The 2000 Patriots were 5-11. In 2001, they went 2001 and won the Super Bowl. It can happen, even here. It will take more than Jay Gruden arrival and Bob Bratkowski’s departure. It will take a lot more to get Palmer back here, and more than that for Mike Brown to convince his skeptical and tortured fan base he really means business this time.

But it’s a start. Help us Obi Jay Gruden. You’re our only hope.

This blog may not be reproduced, re-transmitted or repurposed in any manner, in whole or in part, without the written permission of Ken Broo

2011-02-03T13:47:00.000-08:00

My latest Broo View Podcast is all about Carson Palmer's trade value. Mike Florio, from profootballtalk.com joins me. You can find it on the front page of kenbroo.com or here's a link to the show.

2011-02-02T14:01:00.000-08:00

DO YOU KNOW THE BASICS RULES OF TWEETING?

Just posted ot my web site kenbroo.com is my latest Broo View Podcast. Today's topic, the 13 Golden Rules of Tweeting. My guest expert on the subject is CNBC's sports guru, Darren Rovell. Here's a direct link to the audio. And you can always subscribe free to my Broo View Daily Podcast through Itunes.

2011-01-31T15:16:00.000-08:00

IS SIGNING JOHNNY CUETO LONG TERM A RISK?

A couple of things caught my attention about your Cincinnati Reds this week. And maybe they caught yours too.

They spent all this money on Aroldis Chapman, right? What was it, 30-million dollars, total? The guy throws in excess of 100-miles an hour, consistently. And though he had trouble holding base runners on during his stint in the majors last summer and even though he was a bit wild at times, 100-mph is equaled by few in big league baseball. I envisioned as a top of the rotation guy some day. I thought, this is a guy who could make up with the other guy’s ace, an invaluable piece, particularly when the Reds would arrive at playoff time. Think mature Chapman up against Roy Halladay. That kind of deal.

Turns out, my vision is through a jaundiced eye.

The second suit in command at Great American Ball Park is Bill Bavasi. He’s Walt Jocketty’s right hand man. This week, Bavasi was on the proverbial rubber chicken circuit, speaking at a gathering near Dayton when the subject of Chapman was raised. Here’s what he said….quote…

“A decision has not been made, but I think it is going to be impossible to get him out of the bullpen. You build your pitching staff from the back to the front - if we can shut you down in the eighth and ninth innings, you aren’t going to beat us.

Now I know the numbers game and I know the Reds have six guys right now for five rotation spots. But really? Bavasi made a good point: Chapman as a starter isn’t going to throw in excess of 105 an hour. But what about 98 miles and hour, with a slider that tops out around 93? Who else has that kind of stuff wearing Cincinnati Red?

I get the bullpen importance. It’s clear, they’re thinking ahead of the curve. Francisco Cordero could be gone as soon as mid season and if Chapman is the closer, it makes sense. But to use the kind of ‘stuff’ that Chapman has in a set up or mid relief role, to me, is a waste of his talents and Bob Castellini’s money.

The other thing the Reds did this week was commit a lot of money to pitcher Johnny Cueto. I believe the figure is four years, $27 million. That’s big dough to a little pitcher.

How about this stat that was sent to me by one of our faithful listeners. Since the end of World War II, 1945, only 32 right-handed pitchers under six feet tall have managed to deliver 100 or more starts in their careers. 519 right-handed pitchers over six feet tall have made 100 or more starts. Just 32 of them under six feet. For the record, Cueto stands 5-10 and has made 92 starts.

The all time leader in starts for right-handed pitchers under six feet is Camilo Pascual, who left Cuba and had 404 starts in the majors, one for the Reds when he pitched here briefly in 1969. Pedro Martinez is second on the list with 380 starts.

The point being, under sized right handed pitchers don’t last particularly long in Major League Baseball. Cueto is just eight starts away from reaching the 100 mark. But 15 of the ‘under six foot right handed starters’ never made it to 200 starts. That just a little under half of them.

So is it risky money they Reds have committed to Cueto? If he turns out to be Camilo Pascual or Pedro Martinez, obviously no. But it certainly bears watching, particularly on the back end of that four year days, when Cueto is due to make $10 million in 2014.

This blog may not be reproduced, re-transmitted or re-purposed in any manner, in whole or in part, without the written consent of Ken Broo.

2011-01-25T10:17:00.000-08:00

Just posted to the front page of my web site kenbroo.com is my latest Broo View Daily Podcast. Jim Trotter from Sports Illustrated weighs in on the Bengals

2011-01-23T20:46:00.000-08:00

IN BENGAL-DOM, IT ONLY GETS WORSE

You reap what you sow in life. And now we see more of what Mike Brown has planted. It's so bad in Bengal-dom, Carson Palmer is apparently willing to leave $50 million dollars on the table rather than continue to be the Bengals starting quarterback.

He's a modern day Elvis Grbac.

In case you missed it, ESPN's football smart guy, Chris Mortenson reported Sunday that Palmer has requested that the Bengals trade him. And if they don't, Palmer is reportedly willing to call it a career. The last Bengal to try this was Ochocinco, a couple of years back. That worked out so well, he all but crawled back to the Bengals, kissing Brown's ring upon arrival.

Palmer is a different story. He's the franchise quarterback, under achieving certainly in recent years. But he is the epitome of a good soldier. He always says the right things in public, stoic on the field and never in headlines outside of the sportscasts.

There's a temptation to say, if (and if is a very big operative word in this case) this is true, Palmer is quitting on his team mates. He's quitting on Bobbie Williams and Andrew Whitworth and the rest of the offense charged with protecting his butt and helping score touchdowns. But can you blame him?

None of this was in the brochure, when the Bengals drafted him with the number one overall pick in 2003. There was nothing in the brochure about dealing with diva wide receivers, idiot team mates who got arrested with regularity in 2006-2007. There was nothing in the brochure about an owner who stubbornly refuses to operate his team like a 20th century business. You couldn't expect in your wildest dreams it would operate as a 21st century business, now could you?

Years ago, when the Bengals were desperate for a quarterback (as they've been far too often in the last 20 years), they chased Elvis Grbac, a free agent who'd spent some notable time with the Chiefs and Ravens. Grbac was a free agent, looking for a new team. The only team that showed an interest were the Bengals. They dropped a very big offer on him, something not befitting his resume. Grbac, instead, opted to retire rather than play in Cincinnati. Now, reportedly, Palmer is at that same destination.

What he wants to remain here isn't clear. Maybe it's a new offensive coordinator, and few would blame him for wanting that. Maybe is a return to the normalcy that contending football teams operate under. You don't hear about the nonsense that goes on in Bengal-dom in any other franchise that consistently contends. Maybe he wants the Bengals to staff a front office with personnel people who can find the kind of talent that teams like Pittsburgh and Baltimore can find. Maybe it's all of that or maybe he's just tired of it all.

But I do know this: if Palmer is traded, or allowed to simply quit, good luck to Mike Brown trying to resurrect this mess anytime soon. Good luck attracting quality free agent talent with your franchise quarterback walking on you. Good luck selling club seats and suites with Palmer wanting out on the heels of yet another atrocious season.

You reap what you sow. Barren is a word that's coming to mind today.

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2011-01-17T15:11:00.000-08:00

JOEY VOTTO IS RICH & THE REDS HAVE COST CERTAINTY. NOW WHAT?

If a $38 million dollar paycheck could be a 'win win' for both sides, then this is it. Joey Votto has most of his baseball career ahead of him, if he remains injury free. He'll earn tens of millions of dollars in addition to this latest contract he's signed with the Cincinnati Reds. He's set for life. The Reds avoid the nasty process of arbitration, surely to lose with each upcoming round to Votto. The total dollars of this deal most probably would have been for more than the $38 million they're spending now on their NL MVP first baseman.

But what does it mean to you and me?

Nothing.

Look, I'm happy for Votto and I think it's a wise move by the Reds. But the real game wasn't coming for three years anyway. All this deal does is cover Votto's arbitration years. In three years, he can still become a free agent. And if he continues to produce the kind of numbers he has the past two seasons, he'll simply be unaffordable in Reds-land. In St. Louis, Albert Puljos (who incidentally shares the same agent as Votto) might price himself out of that market. And if the Cardinals, who consistently draw three million fans each season, can't afford to pay Puljos (he'll probably command and get $20 million a year from some team), how can the Reds expect to pay Votto when he become eligible for free agency?

Joey Votto wasn't going anywhere for the next three years. The Reds simply made life for him, and them a little more palatable. But for you and me, this deal means nothing. Get back to around Christmas 2013.

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2011-01-14T14:28:00.000-08:00

Who Needs A Bigger Personnel Department?

Less than two weeks after Mike Brown declared that it will be business as usual for his spartan front office, I'm beginning to wonder if he's got it right. You're saying, Ken, a moment please. You spent the better part of the Fall lamenting the Bengals inability to compete front office for front office with the Ravens and Steelers (to say nothing about some of the other solid organizations in the NFL). You are correct. But...

Look at the Bengals last couple of draft classes. OK, Andre Smith is well on his way to 'bust ville' (literally, as well as figuratively). But after Smith came Rey Maualuga and Michael Johnson, two players who will be counted on heavily to produce in the coming years. In that same 2009, they got a decent cover corner in Morgan Trent, in round six. Later in that round, the Bengals drafted Bernard Scott. So after round one, not bad.

From the 2008 draft, the top five picks remain with the team and all are contributing at various levels. First rounder, Keith Rivers, has been a bit of a disappointment. He simply doesn't make enough plays. But Rivers played the majority of 2010 with a bad foot. Second round pick, Jerome Simpson, whom you could not find with a search warrant, finally blossomed in the final three games of 2010. Was it the real deal? Or is Simpson just a couple of dropped balls away from the same road to 'bust ville'? Pat Sims, Andre Caldwell and Anthony Collins are are potential starters for the Bengals in the future.

Brown has a compelling argument for continuing business his way by pointing to the success his few personnel people have had in the past two seasons. But his position takes on a lot water when you continue back in time.

2005? First round pick David Pollack lasted a season and a half before a neck injury ended his career. OK, probably couldn't have predicted that one. But second round pick, Odell Thurman was a red flag for a lot of teams that year, at least the one's who had enough front office people to do a thorough background check on him. Same thing was true, with the late Chris Henry. The ONLY player from that draft who's had any kind of career to speak of is the player the Bengals took in the seventh round, Jonathan Fanene. 2005 came as close to a complete whiff as any team has ever had.

2006 was better with Jonathan Joseph, Andrew Whitworth, Frostee Rucker and Domata Peko taken with the first four picks. But the number of draft busts the Bengals have had make up a not so impressive list. Quarterback David Klingler in 1992, linebacker Reinard Wilson in 1997, quarterback Akili Smith in 1999 just to name first round flame outs. Along the way, there are plenty of examples of later picks that never panned out. Who can forget the chain smoking tight end from San Jose State the Bengals took in round 3 of the 2001 draft, Sean Brewer?

Has every team whiffed badly in the NFL draft? Yep, even the great Patriots, even the great Steelers. But those teams have won Super Bowls. And the Bengals haven't won a playoff game since 1991.

Recent history may suggest things are getting better. Maybe they are. But when you look at the total picture, you gotta wonder.

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2011-01-13T19:15:00.000-08:00

RANDOM THOUGHTS ON A RANDOM THURSDAY NIGHT

The great guessing game in Cincinnati these days is which, if any, of the Bengals assistant coaches are going away. The early line says, none. Don't kid yourself, Marvin Lewis would love to shake up his staff. He. like every Bengals coach since Paul Brown, has been forced to inherit assistant coaches from previous regimes. Lewis was forced to do that in 2003 for a lot of reasons, not the least of which was he was a rookie head coach desperate for a head coach's position.

Lewis wanted to make changes several times since taking the top job in Cincinnati. He got his wish on the defensive side of the ball, going through three coordinators in his eight seasons. Reportedly, two years ago, he wanted offensive coordinator, Bob Bratkowski out. Owner Mike Brown would let Lewis do that. Brown reportedly has a soft spot in his heart for the son of a former coaching legend, perhaps finding a little common ground with Son Of Zeke.

On the final day of the 2010 season, when all signs pointed to Lewis skating from the Bengals, he hinted that he wanted more say in a lot of things in Bengal-dom, including who was on his staff. Quickly, his tune changed. The offers he thought would be coming his way didn't. And by all indications, Lewis went back to Brown, hat in hand, trying to keep his job.

The bigger issue here isn't whether or not Lewis will get to make changes on his staff (he should, every NFL head coach should be able to hire and fire the people who will help determine his success.). The bigger issue is how will the Bengals organization sell a new season of hope to a fan base, which now has to be on the brink of complete disillusion. Hope and belief that better days are close at hand only works if you've given someone a clear indication that there may be some truth in the statement. Seen any of that around here lately?

So it should be no surprise to anyone if the Bengals way of doing business changes little this winter. Mike Brown has never been someone who's offered sacrificial lambs to his now dwindling fan base. And Marvin Lewis may have over played his hand.

Bengals fever catch it.

I'm happy the Reds addressed their left field shortcomings by signing a major league veteran like Fred Lewis. But I still believe Scott Podsednik would have been a better option. But neither are long term answers to that position. Nor is Jonny Gomes. The Reds must find out this summer if either Todd Frazier or Chris Heisey can answer that challenge.

I'm thinking Juan Francisco plays more than a few games at third base this season. Over/under I've got at 40. What are you taking?

We can talk all we want about which team did what this off season. Zach Greinke to the Brewers, Lance Berkman to the Cardinals, Matt Garza to the Cubs, etc. You and I both know the key element to a team winning a division title is health. If the Brewers lose Ryan Braun or Prince Fielder for any appreciable amount of time, they're toast. The Reds stayed relatively healthy in 2010 and won.

I'll take the Steelers over the Ravens this Saturday and the Patriots over the Jets on Sunday in the AFC playoffs. But I feel a lot stronger about the Pats than the Steelers...

NFC? I'm going with the Bears and Packers.

Lebron needs to let it go. He defeated Dan Gilbert last summer.

OJ Mayo gets into a fight with a teammate in a card game on the Memphis Grizzlies charter? Really? Trouble has been hounding him since high school.

I'm enough of a cynic to admit that I believe the soft schedule UC played leading up to their Big East Conference schedule will do as much harm and good come NCAA Tournament selection time. But you've got to give it to Mick Cronin for this: it built confidence for a team that was desperate for it.

But UC better win at least 10 regular season conference games if it wants to get in.

The paper had an article this week from some recruiting guru who thinks Butch Jones will have the best 2011 recruiting class in the Big East. He better. Broad-based interest in UC football is so fragile, it'll sink into the abyss again with another season like this past one.

UK wide receiver and utility man, Randall Cobb declared for the NFL draft today. He says he's been told that he'll go anywhere from rounds two through four. Whoever drafts him is getting a steal. I think his Sunday afternoons will be busy for a long time.

Among my guests this Sunday on 700 WLW will be none other than Sprint Cup driver, Joey Logano. He's won the Nationwide Series race at the Kentucky Speedway each of the last three years. You think he might be the favorite for the first-ever Cup race at Kentucky this July? You think?

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2011-01-11T19:13:00.000-08:00

Time For A Quickie Divorce?

Ochocinco, It was nice knowing you. Now here's a version of the 'home game'. It's time. You need to move on and the team needs to move on without you. What you both want in life don't intersect anymore. You've grown apart. You're not the same people who 'married' all those years ago.

It's time.

Look, the artist formerly known as Chad Johnson will forever be remembered here. And some day down the road, maybe sooner than later, he'll be remembered fondly. Ochocinco is not only the Bengals all time leader in receptions and receiving yards. He's also a player who never once did anything to bring harm to the franchise. Ever. In the winter of 2006 and 2007, when Bengals were being arrested on a nightly basis, Ochocinco was a model Bengal-citizen. He could infuriate us with his bizarre and narcissistic behavior. Who could forget his insipid ramblings along radio row at the Super Bowl a few years back, demanding a trade. He could confound us with what seemed to be warped priorities, Dancing With The Stars while the rest of his teammates were busy preparing for a football season. But he could also disarm us with his crazy comments, silly stunts that he pulled on the opposing team, with his end zone celebrations.

Ochocinco is a character, with strong character. He'll always be a Bengal. But it's time for him to go.

The Bengals, by all account, have sufficient talent to continue without Chad and his off field priorities. Jordan Shipley, Andrew Caldwell, Jerome Simpson and Jermaine Gresham form an adequate receiving corp. Maybe Quan Cosby needs to finally get a chance. Maybe there's a wide receiver in this next draft that can give the Bengals that deep, down field threat they've been missing. Remember, the Steelers found Mike Wallace in the third round of the 2009 draft.

The last thing the Bengals need, as they try to rebuild this mess of an offense that is of their own creation, is a wide receiver whose interests have moved onto the internet, cable TV shows and tweeting. It's just going to get in the way, like signing another narcissist, Terrell Owens got in the way this season.

Ochocinco is due $6 million this season. That's a lot of money to pay someone who might be, at best, the third best wide receiver on the team. $6 million will probably buy you an impact player on the free agent market, or at least provide a pretty good down payment on one. Face it: Ochocinco isn't an impact player anymore. It's been awhile since he has been.

Does that mean he's finished in the NFL? Hardly. In the right circumstance, with the right team poised to contend for a Super Bowl title, Ochocinco could be the right fit. In a big market, with lots of media, Ochocinco could be a big hit. Maybe he's outgrown Cincinnati. Maybe the Bengals are at a point where to grow, they need to do it without him.

For all of that, it's probably time to say goodbye. Divorces are never easy. But sometime, it's the right thing to do. Often times, both parties move onto better lives.

It's time for the Bengals and Ochocinco to declare irreconcilable differences. It was fun while it lasted. But it's time to move on.

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2011-01-10T18:46:00.000-08:00

THE CASE AGAINST DRAFTING A QUARTERBACK IN ROUND #1

The temptation is there, isn't it? The Bengals sit with the 4th pick in this year's draft and they know, or at least have to know, that Carson Palmer's days as their quarterback are numbered. Maybe not after this next season, or the one after that. But soon, they'll have to replace him. He's 31 now, has a major knee surgery on his resume and probably should have had a major elbow surgery as well.

The temptation is there to use that 4th overall pick on a quarterback of the future. Andrew Luck will sit this draft out. But Arkansas' Ryan Mallett will be there. So will Auburn's Cam Newton.

The Bengals would be fools to draft either one of them.

Since 1995, 22 quarterbacks have been among the top 10 picks in their respective drafts. The investments made by the teams that selected them has had mixed results. For every Peyton Manning, there's an Alex Smith, or worse.

The Tennessee Titans (then the Houston Oilers) drafted Steve McNair with the number three overall pick in 1995. Two picks later, the Carolina Panthers took Kerry Collins. While Collins was in the league as late as this past season, McNair had significantly more success.

Three of those 16 draft classes produced no quarterbacks taken among the top ten picks. You want the Bengals to take a quarterback with their 4th overall pick this year? You must've forgotten the 1999 draft. Tim Couch, number one overall to Cleveland. Donovan McNabb, number two overall to Philly. Akili Smith, you need a refresher course in that?

The year the Bengals took Carson Palmer with the number one overall, 2003, the Jaguars took Byron Leftwich with the seventh overall pick. How'd that work out? They're still gagging in Houston over the Texans taking David Carr number one overall in 2002. Same year, the Lions took Joey Harrington with the third pick. Joey Lawrence would have been a better selection.

And we won't even get into the Raiders and Jemarcus Russell in 2007.

Of the eight teams who played this past weekend in the NFL playoffs only two, Manning and Michael Vick, were number one, overall, picks.

When you watch the Patriots play the Jets this Sunday, remember that Tom Brady was drafted 199th overall, a 6th round pick. Remember that Bart Starr was selected 199th, in the 17th round of the 1956 draft. Remember that Starr is in the Pro Football Hall Of Fame and Brady will be there shortly. So will Jemarcus Russell, if he buys a ticket for the tour.

The liste of quarterbacks who weren't first round picks who won Super Bowls includes six Hall Of Famers, and a lot more who are destined to get there. Johnny Unitas wasn't drafted until the 9th round and was cut by the Steelers before winding up in Baltimore. Cincinnati's own, Roger Staubach was a 10th round pick.

The point of all of this is that the Bengals are in trouble. They have talent at a lot of positions, sure. But at critical positions, right tackle, left guard, safety, defensive end, they have critical needs. Taking a quarterback with a #4 overall pick addresses none of that. And addressing none of that will continue the abyss they find themselves in now.

For better or worse, Carson Palmer should be the quarterback here next season and for the next few beyond. His replacement has to be found. But not this year. And now with the 4th overall pick.

For the latest Broo View Podcast, visit my web site www.kenbroo.com. And, you can always follow me on twitter: @kenbroo

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2011-01-03T22:06:00.000-08:00

Just posted to the front page of my web site www.kenbroo.com is the latest Broo View Daily Podcast. Today, we're talking about whether or not the Bengals should bring Carson Palmer back in 2011. He's due $11.5 million next season. Pete Prisco from cbssports.com offers a comment.

2011-01-03T18:08:00.000-08:00

The Marvin Watch Day #1

If Mike Brown decides to give Marvin Lewis what he wants, a beefed up personnel department, inflatable bubble over a practice field, the ability to hire his own coaches and not accept hand me downs, is Brown admitting that the way he's conducted business over the last 20 years is wrong?

Mike Brown doesn't need Marvin Lewis to tell him that. All Brown has to look at is the won-loss record since he took the control of the franchise in 1991. But Marvin calling out Mike publicly makes it less likely that Lewis will get what he wants to stay here. Mike Brown hates, let me re iterate this HATES to have his negotiating aired publicly. He also seldom, if ever, loses a negotiation, public or private. So my guess is, Brown doesn't budge on any of this and Marvin leaves. Maybe the next guy in will get some of these things that Lewis wants. But when Marvin's agenda began leaking to the national media over the weekend, that might have been the final straw for Brown.

Factor in a fragile economy, suites and club seats that must be sold and the uncertainty of a collective bargaining negotiation the NFL is conducting with it's players union, and the economic landscape for Mike Brown doesn't look so good. He has to re-invigorate his fan base. And Marvin Lewis my have unwittingly played into Brown's hands. Now, Mike can let Marvin go, citing irreconcilable differences. He can then begin selling 2011 as a fresh start with a new head coach and a new direction. He might be able to convince that new head coach (particularly if the guy has never had that lofty a gig before) to take some of the assistant coaches who've been passed on from regime to regime over the last 25 years. Brown would view that as a win-win for himself. He wins by not caving into Lewis, who's made this fight public. And he wins by being able to say "See, Marvin didn't really want to stay here. But look at this new guy. Wait 'til you see what he's going to do."

As for Lewis, leaving Bengal-dom isn't all that bad. He's made his millions here. He can either contend for some of the other NFL jobs that have and will open up, or park himself in a TV studio until the right deal comes along.

The more I think about this, the more I see it playing out this way. I could be wrong. It wouldn't be the first time. But I think I'm right.

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2010-12-28T13:01:00.000-08:00

Random Thoughts On The Last Random Tuesday Of 2010

OK 'men of a certain age', 2011 is hours away. Show of hands, who thought they'd make it this far? Liars....

Carson Palmer threw the ball so well Sunday because his offensive coordinator did NOT abandon the running game, despite averaging just 2.7 yards per rush. The Bengals ran the ball 38 times Sunday. Regardless of the yardage, when a team commits that much to the run, the safeties MUST come up for support. That left a lot of one on one coverage. And that's the reason why Palmer was so effective throwing. The Bengals are a team built to run the ball. Why it took them 13 games to figure that out, God only knows. But it's further proof that changes need to be made on the coaching staff. It lost its soul this season...

The Bengals OL had its best day in years, not allowing a sack to a team that came in with a league best 44. Again, that was because the Bengals RAN the ball for 38 snaps.

Bengals left tackle Andrew Whitworth deserves to go to the Pro Bowl. You can make a case that the other four spots on that OL need upgrades, in some instances serious upgrades.

Cedric Benson should be the Bengals number one target for signing team free agents this off season. I'd franchise tag him, except that would be a salary in excess of $10 million and the Bengals already are in dutch to Palmer for $11.5 million. But ask yourself, would the Patriots do it? Would the Colts do it? Would the Steelers do it?

Interesting that the Reds were pursuing RHP Brandon Webb. That would mean another 'shoe' would had to have dropped, with Arroyo, Cueto, Bailey, Wood, Volquez already penciled into the starting rotation in 2011. My guess is, there was another deal in the works. Maybe not so much now.

I still think the Reds pursue Scott Podsednik for at least a platoon in LF, maybe a bigger role.

I think Mick Cronin did the right thing by padding his early season schedule with patsies. Some of those teams, you couldn't find on a map if your name was Rand McNally. But the Bearcats better win at least 10 of their 18 Big East Conference games this season or they'll have no shot at making the NCAA Tournament, even with an expanded field. With one more out of conference game to play (the traditional in city Crosstown Shootout with Xavier) UC will need at least 22 wins and a better than .500 conference schedule. From what I've seen of this team, I think they can pull it off. They'll have to, with a strength of scheduling rating right now of 333rd among all Division I teams.

Best sports Christmas season story has to be the University of Albany offering Xavier guard, Mark Lyons a ride from Albany to Cincinnati on the team bus. Lyons, like a lot of Northeasterners, was stranded in his hometown of Albany by the blizzard that hit the East Coast. His flight was cancelled. He had no way to get back to Cincinnati in time for the game against the Great Danes. So graciously, the Albany head coach offered Lyons a seat on the bus, and the sophomore guard made the nine hour trip sitting with players he'll do his best to beat tonight at the Cintas Center. I couldn't tell you two things about University of Albany basketball, but now I'm a fan. Good stuff....

Heard this song the other day for the first time in a long time. Absolutely beautiful in its simplicity of chord structure and lyrics. Tom Springfield, the brother of the late Dusty Springfield and group leader wrote this for The Seekers. The female lead is Judith Durham, who is just terrific.

We'll see you tonight at 6p and 11p on News 5, right here in the greatest city in the world, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA.

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2010-12-26T22:59:00.001-08:00

Jerome Simpson, Is That You?

He's been basically a rumor, since the Bengals drafted Jerome Simpson in the 2nd round back in the 2008 NFL draft. In fact, Simpson could walk through Fountain Square at high noon on any day of the week and chances are, no one would recognize him. If it wasn't for Andre Smith, Simpson would be considered the Bengals biggest draft day bust, in the last ten years.

Sunday might've changed some of that. Sunday, Simpson had his best day ever as a pro. That's not saying a lot, since Simpson hadn't been good enough, or smart enough, or just enough to get onto the field on Sundays in the fall. But against the Chargers, Simpson got his first start as a pro. He made the most of it, catching six passes for 124 yards and two touchdown receptions. To say the least, a lot of Cincinnati (at least the part of it that still pays attention to the Bengals) was shocked.

Simpson arrived in the spring of '08 from Obscure U, otherwise known as Coastal Carolina. He could leap, had big hands, but seemed to a lot of Bengal watchers are a 'stretch'. For almost three seasons, he struggled in practice, struggled to get onto the field, struggled to stay on the active roster on game days.

But Sunday, the Bengals were without their Dynamic Duo, the twin duds known a Ochocino and TO, who like to refer to themselves as "Batman and Robin". Both were hurt (TO done for the year and Ochocinco, like TO maybe done in Cincinnati). Simpson and his 2008 draft-mate, Andre Caldwell took over, catching 10 passes between them.

The few Bengals fans paying attention were just downright giddy after their performance. But don't count me in that crowd. I've seen it far too often around here: late season, contending team comes to town, Bengals stink, contending team thinks it just has to throw its collective helmets onto the field to get a win, contending team goes home beaten. The following year, the Bengals still stink. One game does not a season, nor a wide receiver make.

But for about three hours Sunday, we got to see what the Bengals might've seen before they spent a high draft pick and a lot of time on Jerome Simpson. Whether or not he's the future is a matter of great debate. But at least after Sunday, Simpson has an immediate future in Cincinnati. And that's a lot more than what he's had up until now.

Should the Bengals bring Carson Palmer back for another season, even though he's due to make $11.5 million in 2011? That's the subject of today's Broo View Daily Podcast. You can find it on the front page of my web site: www.kenbroo.com.

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2010-12-23T19:19:00.000-08:00

Some Pre-Christmas Eve Ramblings

While decking the halls, some things that are coming to mind.....

Aren't you about over the Marvin-Ochocinco marriage? And for Lewis to chastise media members on Thursday for reacting to him referring to Ochocinco as 'moping' is about as disingenuous a thing as I've heard in awhile. Lewis said it, Chad reacted to it. This is a 24/7 365 media and it became a rather large story. I'm wondering if, as a child, Marvin tried to put the toothpaste back in the tube. Further reason why Mike Brown should just blow this whole thing up after this season. They all need to go, Lewis, Ocho, TO, Palmer. Goodbye, thanks for playing. It didn't work out good luck in your next life....

But Brown won't....

I heard an interesting theory the other day that might be a good way for Brown to gracefully admit that his way of conducting a football team simply doesn't work. Rather than hiring a general manager (which he should do) and admitting that he's been an abject failure at that end of things, Brown could keep the title and simply hire a fleet of good, competent scouts. The theory being that Brown probably knows football but consistently operates with bad or insufficient information on players because he doesn't have enough eyeballs on the college game.

Think about this: is the reason why the Bengals take so many chances on players with character issues because the team doesn't draft well and, not being free spenders, chooses to fill in the holes with bargain basement guys who've washed up because of their off field indiscretions?

I think the answer to that question might be....yes.

I really don't want Carson Palmer to go. I want to see him resurrect his career here. But he's simply been polluted by the situation in Bengal-dom. I'm not exonerating him at all for this year's debacle. I just don't think he'll ever again be the quarterback he was before he got Von Oelhoffen'd. And with the Bengals looking at a rebuilding project for the next two seasons (don't kid yourself, that's what this thing is) Palmer at 33 years old when this team has a pulse again isn't so appealing.

The Texas Rangers have signed Arthur Rhodes. On one hand that's too bad. He gave the Reds some terrific work in his time here. But at his age, I wasn't one counting on much from him going forward. Dontrelle Willis? Your ball.

Mick Cronin's Bearcats unbeaten going into the Christmas break. No one not named Cronin would ever have predicted that, forget about the quality of teams that UC has played.

You can have every one of the bowl games that New Year's Day will offer. I'm watching the NHL's Winter Classic. It's Washington vs Pittsburgh outdoors at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh. The teams are meaningless. It's the spectacle of NHL hockey on an outdoor rink. Fabulous viewing on an HDTV.

If the NCAA had any real clout and, well you know, those other things, it would have suspended those five Ohio State players for their bowl game. I could care less that Terrell Pryor or any other Buckeye was trading tickets and game used jerseys for tatoos. They should be able to do whatever they want with that stuff, so long as it wasn't taken illegally. But don't make it sound like you're taking some high and mighty road by suspending the "Buckeye Five "for games next season. That may only hasten their road out of Columbus and into the NFL.

Merry Christmas to all. I hope you have a wonderful time. I know I will. And I know for me, it will be a helluva lot better than last Christmas. For background on that, go back about a year in the archives.

Peace.

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2010-12-20T19:35:00.000-08:00

Losing your compass, then finding your soul

The best thing about the Bengals win Sunday over the Brown was also the worst. The Bengals showed us why they've been so awful, so unwatchable, or terrible this season on offense, while playing so well Sunday. They ran the football. A lot. And Cedric Benson looked like the 'horse' that the Bengals rode in 2009 to the AFC North championship. Benson carried the ball 31 times for 150 yards. His total pushed him over 1,000 yards with two games to play. The fact that he's gone over 1,000 yards this season has been no small trick. The Bengals, in particular offensive coordinator Bob Bratkowski and Marvin Lewis, seemed to have forgotten about Benson this season. And in doing so, they forgot what had them running away from the pack last season.

Think back to 2009. The Bengals swept the AFC North, going 6-0 in their division games, behind Benson's power running. 120 yards at Baltimore, the first running back to rush for over 100 yards against a Ravens team in 40 games. Then, 117 more against the Ravens in Cincinnati. He rushed for 1,251 yards last season. He rushed for 100 or more yards six times. And all of that, while missing three games with injuries. You'd think a team would fall in love with that kind of production, particularly when it led to a 10-6 record. But not the Bengals.

The Bengals decided to fall in love with diva wide receivers in the off season. It led to a lot of broken hearts among Bengals fans.

While signing Terrell Owens and pairing him with the ultimate 'look at me' Ochocinco (whom we truly do like because of his infectous personality), the Bengals went high on the glitz meter. But the wins didn't come. Largely, that was because they have an offensive line that was built for run blocking and not so much pass protection. TO wasn't around in the off season to pick up the Bengals offense quickly. Ochocinco was away so much, he seemed to have forgotten the Bengals offense. Palmer, for all of those reason and the fact that he was not good himself, has had an horrendous season.

In two weeks, it will be over. Most probably, the Bengals will part ways with Lewis and a new staff (as new as Mike Brown will allow it to be considering assistant coaches are pass on to each incoming new head coach) will be charged with fixing this mess. Owens will command much more than the $2 million contract he had this season. The Bengals will probably let him find that money elsewhere. Ochocinco has a $6 million dollar option for 2011, Palmer a whopping $11.5 million. Most teams would let both of those players 'walk'. Maybe the Bengals will too.

Benson is a free agent as well. His NFL modest $3.5 million salary figures to get a sizeable bump. Maybe the Bengals will choose to let him go as well. But they should think long hard about that. They should consider what he offers more than Palmer, TO and Ochocinco. Benson was 'found money' when he washed up on the Bengals' shore in 2008. Sunday, he gave us a refresher course in what that meant to this team in 2009. 2011 will look a lot better, if the Bengals decide to keep Benson around.

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2010-12-13T23:04:00.000-08:00

So money can't buy you a pennant? I guess you can make that argument, considering the millions of dollars free agent pitcher Cliff Lee left on the table late Monday night when he agreed to terms with the Philadelphia Phillies. Reports had the Yankees paying him $132 million. He reportedly will rejoin the Phillies for $120 million over the same six years the Yankees were willing to pay him $12 million dollars more.

Why don't we just hand the World Series trophy to the Phillies now? A rotation of Lee, Roy Oswalt, Cole Hamels and Roy Halladay could be the greatest four man rotation in the history of the game, better than that rotation of Maddux, Glavine, Smoltz and Avery that Atlanta had back in the 90's.

But it begs the question: what exactly does this do for the betterment of baseball? How does this help the smaller market teams stay competitive with bigger market clubs?

For more on that, download my latest Broo View Daily Podcast on the front page of www.kenbroo.com. Will there ever be a salary cap in baseball like in football, basketball and hockey? ESPN's baseball insider Jerry Crasnick has an intriguing thought about that.

2010-12-09T22:37:00.001-08:00

Just posted to the front page of my web site www.kenbroo.com is the latest Broo View Daily Podcast. The topic today, what should the Bengals do with their 1st round pick in the 2011 NFL draft.

2010-12-08T19:57:00.000-08:00

New Broo View Daily Podcast

My Broo View Dailey Podcast for December 8, 2010 is now posted on the front page of my web site: www.kenbroo.com. Thoughts on how the Reds can get better positioned for 2011 with one simple player acquisition. Download it and check it out. You can subscribe in iTunes

2010-12-08T19:43:00.000-08:00

Who's Minding The Bengals Store?

I've said it a lot this season and I'll say it again: the Bengals will climb out of the abyss they seem to be consistently in ONLY when they hire a General Manager and give him total control of the on field product. Period.

Hockey in Hell will happen first.

You only have to look at the teams who consistently contend for playoff spots and Super Bowl titles to see that a lack of a GM and a legitimate front office is the most compelling thing that is holding this Bengals franchise back.

Mike Brown is both the team's principal owner and its GM. But in this day and age, can a team really win with one person holding down both jobs? Only the Dallas Cowboys, with Jerry Jones mimicking Brown, plays the game like the Bengals do. Unlike the Cowboys, the Bengals can't fix their problems by throwing a lot of money at them. Jones has always traveled that road.

There are some who believe that Brown has done a decent job in attracting talented players to Cincinnati by holding down both of those jobs. Hub Arkush, the editor and publisher of Pro Football Weekly certainly thinks so, and said so on one of my recent shows on 700 WLW.

But a lot of us think differently. Here is the most recent example. It's taken the Bengals more than $24 million dollars in just two year to try to replace departed wide receiver, TJ Houshmandzadeh. First, they spent two draft picks (and money) on Jerome Simpson and Andre Caldwell in the 2008 draft. They signed free agent Lavernious Coles in 2009, cut him after one season, but paid Coles $11 million in guaranteed money. In 2010, the Bengals signed free agent wide receiver, Antonio Bryant, cut him after just one training camp practice, and paid him a guaranteed $9.5 million. Then, came their one year deal, at $2 million with Terrell Owens. Total dollars, in excess of $24 million.

Now ponder this: Brown could have hired a GM and paid him a generous salary of $1 million per year. He could have hired ten scouts and paid each a generous salary of $100,000 per year. Added up, it would have taken 12 years to reach the $24 million price tag of their wide receiver search. Do you think with a competent, empowered GM and a fleet of ten scouts it would have taken $24 million to replace Houshmandzadeh? Me neither.

Brown could actually save money by hiring a legitimate front office. Maybe that will be impetus to get it done. But don't bet on it.

This blog may not be republished, re-purposed or re-transmitted, in whole or in part and in any form, without the written consent of Ken Broo.

2010-11-24T19:42:00.000-08:00

Random Thanksgiving Day Thoughts

If the NFL gives NBC the right to 'flex' games out its last six weeks of the season (for better or more attractive games) why then does the NFL saddle viewers with the Cowboys and Lions every Thanksgiving. Let's face it, the Lions are years removed (and at least a few more away) from being a significant team. Dallas has only been interesting in recent years as a 'train wreck'. Seems to me, the three Thanksgiving Day games should be rotated among all 32 teams, so no team has a consistent advantage (or disadvantage such as the teams traveling this week) and the viewers have more attractive match ups.

Vince Young goes Corey Dillon? Remember when Dillon tossed his shoulder pads and helmet into the stands at Paul Brown Stadium on the final day of the 2003 season, when a loss to the Browns ended any playoff hopes and Dillon's Bengals career? Now Young does the same thing in Tennessee? The only thing worse than what Young did was what his team's owner did. He publicly chided both Young and head coach Jeff Fisher, saying they both have to find a way to co-exist. If I'm Fisher, I'm telling Bud Adams to stick it where the sun don't shine. Jeff Fisher is not only the longest tenured coach in the NFL, he's also one of the best. On the open market, he could have his pick of jobs, most of them better than working for the clown that owns the Titans.

Giants' quarterback, Eli Manning hasn't learnesd to do the quarterback slide yet? That effort against the Eagles last Sunday night was not only pathetic, it might have cost his team a shot a playoff berth.....

If a game is on the line and you absolutely need a score to win, who would you take ahead of Tom Brady? Answer: no one.

Carson Palmer may yet be an elite quarterback. But I'm afraid he's 'damaged goods' in Cincinnati. It's not that he's done anything wrong. It's the cast of characters he's been surrounded with in his Bengals career. TO, Ochocinco, Lavernius Coles, to name just a few. Mix in an awful offensive line and players who've simply never lived up to their potential (Chris Perry would come to mind) and whatever career Palmer has left may best be salvaged by an exit from Cincinnati to another team. Don't count on that happening. He's under contract for four years and players don't leave the Bengals until Mike Brown is done with them. I feel badly for Palmer. He seems like a genuinely nice guy....

Dontrelle Willis signs with the Reds? What, Todd Van Poppel wasn't available? Not a bad flyer for the Reds to take. But honestly, what are the Reds going to salavage from Willis that the Marlins and Tigers couldn't? And if you saw him pitch with the Diamondbacks this season, you probably came to the conclusion that you had better stuff than Willis. But, in this holiday season, we wish him well in his comeback....

I admire the 10,000 or so who will wake up Thanksgiving morning and run in the 101st annual Thanksgiving Day Race through downtown Cincinnati. But honestly, at 9am when the race begins, there's no place I'd rather be than in bed. Hope you set a personal best....

Third straight loss for the Miami Heat, losing Wednesday night 104-94 to Orlando. Must be Juwan Howard's faul they're just 8-7. Memo to Pat Riley: this is not fantasy basketball.

Hope you get enough to eat Thursday. And if you do, remember how lucky you are. Millions in our country alone go hungry every day. Support your local Freestore Foodbank. We need to take better care of each other.

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2010-11-22T19:14:00.000-08:00

The Case For Scott Podsednik

With congratulations to Joey Votto for winning the 2010 National League MVP award, here's what I think the Reds need to do tomorrow morning. It will be the first step in this off season to insure that they'll be NL Central Division champions again in 2011.

Sign Scott Podsednik. That's right, by tomorrow.

Signing Podsednik will accomplish two things: it will give the Reds a legitimate 150 game left fielder. It will also fill the need for a legitimate lead off batter.

Podsednik is a left handed bat, who has bloomed late in his career into a major leaguer. He didn't become a semi-regular until the age of 27. He's bounced around the league. But everywhere he's been, Podsednik has excelled.

He'll be 35 next Opening Day. Yet Podsednik has retained his speed, stealing at least 30 bases each of the last two seasons. Imagine Podsednik at the top of the order and centerfielder Drew Stubbs hitting seventh, with similar speed. Imagine Podsednik setting the table for Brandon Phillips and Joey Votto. He hit .297 last season, played in 134 games with three different teams and drove in 51 runs. He also got on base a very respectable .342. His fielding, while not Gold Glove, is more than adequate. He committed just five errors in 285 chances last season.

The Reds got decent, but sporadic production from Jonny Gomes in 2010. His numbers were heavily skewed to the early part of the season. With Podsednik as the everyday left fielder, it would allow Gomes to do what may play to his strength: spot starting and a lethal bat off the bench. It would also free up Chris Heisey as potential trade bait. Heisey, for whatever reason, does not seem to be a player of choice with the current Reds regime, limited to spot starts and bench work, hardly worthy of the second best prospect in the organization after the 2009 season.

Podsednik will cost the Reds about $4 million for a one year deal, if signed now. They could risk waiting later in the winter to sign him and hope his price goes down. That may prove to be a fools game. After Carl Crawford and Jayson Werth, Podsednik would be the next best option for a team looking for outfield help.

The Reds are looking for outfield help. Signing Scott Podsednik should be a priority for the Reds.

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2010-10-29T09:50:00.000-07:00

Working for the weekend and thinking the Bengals season is over if they don't beat the Dolphins Sunday at PBS....

Fire Brian Kelly for the death of a Notre Dame student videographer? That's the position of the always engaging Jason Whitlock from foxsports.com in this article. The student videographer, if you haven't heard, was killed Wednesday when a crane he was atop tumbled over in gale force winds.

Among other things, ND has a giant PR problem on its hands. Most important, is the death of a young student, who according to his facebook postings, was concerned about his safety long before climbing onto a lift that took him 50 feet in the air.

Kelly won't be fired and he won't quit. Notre Dame is far too arrogant to do or accept that. But if that was my kid and the investigation ultimately pointed to athletic department officials who were responsible, there wouldn't be enough money left at ND to field a football team. And the turnover in the athletic department would be enormous.

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2010-09-30T14:01:00.000-07:00

While waiting to see if Dusty Baker returns to manage the Reds after this season....

What if the Reds miss being the second seed in the NL Playoffs by one game? How important would they then think last night's game against the Astros was? The line up the Reds ran out to the field Tuesday night would have looked right at home in Louisville. Why did it Baker start the likes of Juan Francisco, Yonder Alonso, Corky Miller and others? Baker said, historically, few teams start their regulars the night after clinching. Really?

Look, I'm all for celebrating and blowing off steam. The MLB season is a long, long process. But the name of the game has always been two fold: make the playoffs, secure home field advantage. Why? Because for awhile now, the only way you can avoid the Phillies is to finish right behind them. With four games to play, the Giants now have a two game lead on the Reds for that second seed. They won last night, playing all of their regulars and moving pitcher Tim Lincecum up a day to start. The Reds were took pooped from partying the night before to start anyone of significance.

Their reward may be getting Roy Halladay, Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels in the first three games of the Division Playoffs.

Bengals placekicker, Mike Nugent, found out today he's been named the AFC special teams player of the month. Nice deal. And Nugent has been a nice find. He's been consistently good on field goals and extra points. And his kickoffs have found the end zone, more often than not. What has to be refreshing to head coach, Marvin Lewis, is to have a kicker who is reliable inside the parameters of range and emotion. Shayne Graham had a booming leg. But too often, when the situation called for a 'big kick', Graham withered.

The worm can turn on a kicker in a matter of moments. Graham has certainly found that out, as he's not unemployed. But so far, so good for Nugent, who grew up rooting for the Bengals.

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2010-09-28T10:09:00.000-07:00

Eventually the Reds will clinch and this piece of drama will be over. Might happen tonight. As we speak today, the magic number remains at one.

But beyond that are some real question. And the answers don’t appear to be a clear as the questions are today. Here is a fact that this team can’t get away from. In 16 road games against teams still contending for playoff spots, the Reds have two wins. Two. That’s it. And while it’s great to beat up on the weak teams, you’re supposed to do that after all, those teams are going home in a week. The teams still standing have the Reds number. They’re 2-5 against the Phillies this season, including an oh-for in four games out in the city of Brotherly Love this summer.

Against the Giants, it’s a little better, 3-4. Against the Braves, 3-3, 0-2 in Georgia. The Reds 3-4 against San Diego. Those aren’t numbers that give you a whole lot of confidence heading into the playoffs. They’re 10-13 so far in Septmeber with a disturbing 95 runs allowed so far this month.

In a lot of ways, this shouldn’t be all that surprising. The Reds have played with a short roster most of the season. Players who’ve been hurt have been simply held out of games, rather than sent to the disabled list. When you only have 22 or 23 going up against the other guy’s 25, games become difficult to manage. And the Reds don’t have an ‘ace’, that top of the rotation guy who can take the ball and match up against the other team’s best. If they get the Giants in round one, who matches with Cain or Lincecum? If they get the Phillies, who matches up with any of that teams top three.

But funny things happen when you get to the post season. Players who seem pedestrian during the summer can grab the spotlight. Reggie Jackson may have been crowned Mister October in New York. But in the 1978 World Series against the Dodgers, it was Brian Doyle filling in for the injured Willie Randolph who hit .478 and led the Yankees to the championship.

In a short series, pitching most often carries the day. He with the better arms tends to have the better body of work. But sometimes, not quite so often, it’s the team with the best fielding and situational hitting, the team with the extra guy or two who can add a dynamic to the game that wins the game. If you want a reason to believe that a team like the Reds, a team that’s struggled most of this year against the better clubs, has a puncher’s chance, that’s it.

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2010-09-27T17:48:00.001-07:00

Nothing wrong with Bengals quarterback, Carson Palmer. That's the diagnosis from head coach Marvin Lewis on the day after Palmer struggled again. Lewis got testy in his weekly news conference when the questions about his quarterback and his struggling offense continued. Lewis as much as said if the line of questioning continued, he would say little more this season and would instruct his player to say less.

If you watched any of the three games so far this season, you could make a strong case for this being wrong: Palmer's protection from his offensive line isn't so hot. It's no secret, this is a line that run blocks a lot better than it pass protects. Maybe it's given Palmer reason to have 'happy feet'. Maybe it's just a case of the Bengals passing attack, so dependant on timing routes, not having having enough time to allow pass routes to develop. But there is something wrong with the way it's going about it's air attack. That Carolina defense isn't bad. But it's hardly one of the elite 'D's' in the NFL.

Like a lot of us in the Tri-State, we're tracking the Cardinals against the Pirates tonight in St. Louis. Part of me wants this thing to be over with, sooner the better. But on the other hand, better the Reds simply win Tuesday at GABP and let their fans share in the celebration. The last thing anyone wants is for the race to drag on deep into the week. Clinching sooner, rather than later, will allow Dusty Baker to set his playoff pitching rotation and let some of the ailing starters heal. Brandon Phillips, Orlando Cabrera, Jay Bruce and Scott Rolen all have nagging ailments that could use a day or two of rest. It can't be much more than that. The Reds need to keep winning and secure that second seed, guaranteeing them home field advantage in round one.

I never believe in "moral victories". You either win or you lose and deal with the aftermath. But UC playing Oklahoma close at Paul Brown Stadium Saturday night should set the Bearcats up for a decent run in the Big East conference. UC should handle Miami easily, when the MAC school comes to Nippert Stadium two Saturdays from now. The Big East looks like it's down this year. West Virginia appears to be the only team in that conference playing well. This certaily won't the kind of season that UC football has given us the past two years. There probably won't be a BCS bowl bid. But a strong run through the conference will set things up nicely for Butch Jones next season. Make no mistake about it, Jones didn't inherit a championship team. Mark Dantonio did the heavy lifting for the last two seasons, under Brian Kelly's leadership. But the recruiting for this current year of 2010 left a lot to be desired and a lot of holes on the UC offense. Jones is a good coach, if not the pied piper that his predecessor was.

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2010-09-23T19:49:00.000-07:00

Like Loverboy rhapsodized all those years ago...Everybody's working for the weekend.....

I don't think the University of Cincinnati has the horses (or the riders) to beat Oklahoma. But I don't think this game Saturday night at Paul Brown Stadium will be the blowout that a lot of national pundits are predicting. UC is having a hard time blocking people and it's secondary was shredded by North Carolina State last week. But the Bearcats will get a little 'juice' from the hometown crowd and OU doesn't travel all that well. But I don't see a lot of scenarios where teh Bearcats come out with a "W".....

I'm embarrassed by what the Ohio University mascot did on the field at Ohio Stadium last Saturday. While a lot of the country found it amusing, I found the 19 year old inside of that costume, Brandon Hanning, to be nothing short of an idiot. He claims that he took the job as team mascot, over a year ago, just for the opportunity to tackle the OSU mascot, Brutus. In a number of other areas of life, that would be tantamount to stalking with serious implications. What's worse is that the Ohio University athletic department allowed a non-student (Hanning has since transferred to nearby Hocking College) to continue in the role of playing the team mascot. In a number of other businesses, that would be cause for dismissal of someone, in this case whomever was charged with assembling cheerleaders and mascots. I'm still waiting to see something like that from a guy I admire a lot, school president Dr. Roderick McDavis....

I fielded a lot of phone calls after the Bengals beat the Ravens last Sunday on 1530 ESPN and the Bengals radio network from fans who are convinced the real problem with the Bengals offense is Carson Palmer. Callers insisted that either Palmer was over rated, or his elbow is still bothering him or that he was running scared from his knee injury five years ago and those were the reasons why the Bengals offense has been non-existant so far this season. Here's some breaking news: the problem isn't Palmer. It's his line. It can't pass block. Further, the Ravens defense will make a lot of good quarterbacks look bad this season. So will the Steelers defense.

Palmer isn't an elite quarterback right now. He's a top 10 quarterback, but not among the top three or four. He could still get there. But the problem with the Bengals offense isn't its quarterback. You'd want Jordan Palmer playing instead? Arnold Palmer might be better than that.

Good wishes to Mark Dantonio, who like me, just found out how mortal we all are. Dantonio's heart attack after his Spartans beat Notre Dame last Saturday night resulted in doctors placing a stent in one of his veins. Dantonio will heal and be back coaching soon. Trust me, it gets better. But watching him pull a play out of Brian Kelly's book to beat Kelly's Irish had to be particulary gratifying for Dantonio. Kelly won at UC, largely, on Dantonio's recruiting. Kelly's first BCS bowl team, the 2008 squad, was heavily populated with Dantonio recruits.

Imagine how UC fans had to feel watching that MSU-Notre Dame game, with both of their former head coaches competing against each other on national television. No disrespect to Butch Jones, who may someday be in Kelly and Dantonio's league, but the sight of those two slugging it out in East Lansing with UC sitting at a very shaky 1-2 had to be tough for Bearcats fans.

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2010-09-16T13:37:00.001-07:00

Far be it from me to raise a red flag, but is anyone else noticing that the Reds have this tendency to score runs in bunches, two big innings or so, and then go into a shell? We saw it again Wednesday night, when they scored five times in two innings and then had to scramble for a 7-5 win over the Diamondbacks.

You can say it's the sign of a good team that can do damage early and hold the status quo. And I suppose I'd be comfortable with that, if they weren't preparing to play some of the best teams in the National League in a few weeks. But it seems as though opposing pitchers are doing well making adjustments to Reds hitters as they pitch through the batting order for a second time. It appears the Reds hitters aren't doing much adjusting.

I could be wrong. I often am wrong. But I could be right.

This is a much different team, and less lethal, without Scott Rolen healthy and in the line up. We saw it again Thursday afternoon when the Diamondbacks Rodrigo Lopez shut down a batting order that had Jonny Gomes hitting clean up and Brandon Phillips also out of the line up. The goal for Dusty Baker is two fold: he has to get his team healthy for the playoffs, while trying to earn the best record in the National League. No small trick. And earning the best record in the NL, which assures home field advantage in the playoffs, will be a big deal for the Reds. When the top of a team's pitching rotation doesn't feature stud starters, and the Reds don't have those, you want as many home games as you can get, to insure final at bats. Don't get me wrong, Bronson Arroyo, Travis Wood and Johnny Cueto have pieced together very solid seasons. But the Reds don't have a Roy Halladay, Matt Cain or Cole Hamels, who will be very difficult to handle with multiple home starts.

Why do I feel the Bengals will get a heaping dose of TJ Houshmandzadeh Sunday? He's the third wide receiver in the Ravens offensive system. But you and I both know Baltimore head coach, John Harbaugh is cooking up ways for Houshmandzadeh to 'burn' his former team.

What concerns me even more, is the Ravens running attack. It never got off the dime against the Jets on Monday night. But with its three headed attack of Laron McClain, Willis McGahee and Ray Rice, you know that will be the way the Ravens will first try to attack the Bengals defense.

There's good news on the other side of that equation. Last season, the Bengals rushed for 142 yards against the Ravens in Baltimore and 146 when the two teams met later in the year in Cincinnati. This could also be a big day for Cedric Benson.

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2010-09-15T15:10:00.000-07:00

Random thoughts for a Wednesday

The Bengals say they need to change their attitude this week. Huh? You've got seven months to prepare for an NFL opener and you're already talking about 'changing your attitude'? Really?

I think last Sunday was just the case of a good team having a bad day. Period.

But Cedric Benson will have to rush for more than just 2.9 yards per carry for this team to have any chance of having a good season.

I think Ochocinco is in line for a very big year. Last Sunday was just a 'taste'.

The Reds appear to be running out of steam. Or at least, some of their better players need a few days off. But when you still have a "Magic Number" of 12, that's almost impossible. Good to see Rolen getting a night off tonight.

Lot of UC fans are getting a little anxious over the Bearcats 1-1 start (particularly with the way the team looked in the second half of the Fresno State loss and the first half of the Indiana State win.). But the facts are this: the team lost its best impact player from last year, it's number one wide receiver this year and the defense has switched back to a 4-3. Mix in a new coaching staff and anyone who thought this would be a seamless transition from Brian Kelly to Butch Jones isn't paying attention....

This blog may not be reproduced, retransmitted or repurposed in whole or in part without the written permission of Ken Broo

2010-08-24T09:07:00.001-07:00

Just published to the front page of www.kenbroo.com is my latest Broo View Podcast. I'm joined this time by www.cbssports.com national baseball writer, Scott Miller. We're talking about the Reds real chances of making the playoffs. Check it out!

2010-08-24T08:59:00.000-07:00

I’ve got to admit, I’m drawn to train wrecks just like everyone else. So this week, when I heard national radio guy Colin Cowherd go off on the Reds, Bengals and everything else Cincinnati, I couldn’t turn it off. I knew it was exactly what Cowherd wanted me, you and everyone else to do around here, listen. And we did. And the more we listened to his incessant rants about the Reds and every other team around here being frauds, the more we fumed.

A little shop talk first. First thing you should know about all sports radio stations: they really don’t do well in the ratings. Outside of a station in New York City and a couple of stations out West, most all sports radio stations struggle to find listeners, ratings and revenue. It’s a real niche audience, narrow demographic as we say in the biz. You can make money programming all sports radio, but not as much as a total service station like, well, The Big One.

In truth, what Cowherd said about us, as a town and our teams in particular, got infinitely more exposure when his comments were excerpt by Willie on his shows this week. Thousands more heard them after that. And I’ll admit, I like listening to Cowherd. I think he’s very good at what he does and what he does best is generate listenership through opinion.

I just think his opinions about us, you, me and our teams are wrong.

And it got me wondering, why Cincinnati has such a lousy reputation nationally. Another admission: I couldn’t care less about what someone in New York, LA, Cleveland or anywhere else thinks about us. I choose to live here because I like living here and my guess is, so do you. I like the fact that we’ve got great neighborhoods, schools, restaurants as good as any in cities three times our size, college and professional and high school sports and that we don’t have a lot of traffic that we have to maneuver through to get to any of that.

But I gotta tell you, Cincinnati doesn’t enjoy a great reputation nationally.

Have you ever met a stranger lately, someone you bump into in an airport or some place of business in another town. Here’s what I get when I tell someone I’m from Cincinnati: how many Bengals were arrested last night? Or something about Pete Rose’s gambling or Marge Schott’s collection of World War Two memorabilia. If I’m with someone who’s up a notch or two on life’s food chain, Maplethorpe will invariably come into the conversation.

I guess that’s what happens when you live in a fly over town. Most people only know about Cincinnati from changing planes at CVG (although with Delta shrinking faster than a freshly washed cotton shirt, that’s not happening a lot either these days).

I think one of the reasons we may suffer from this lack of knowledge and respect is because our sports teams have been down so long. Up until three months ago, the Reds hadn’t done anything in 20 years. So when they have the kind of season they’re having now, maybe someone like Cowherd, who doesn’t know any better, views what they’re doing as fraudulent. The Bengals? They tapped into a lot of equity with all of that nonsense a few years ago. Perceptions take a long time to chance when you don’t live it and see it on a daily basis.

All I know is what I heard this week bothered me. Because when someone attacks your city and the things you like and have an interest in, they’re really attacking you.. Colin Cowherd has a national voice, with all of the muscle of a machine called ESPN behind him. What he said about us might be true. We’ll certainly find out about soon enough with the Reds, not too long after that with the Bengals.

But I know this: the only way to shut someone up, is to prove them wrong. Another admission: I don’t root for the Bengals or the Reds. I can’t, and neither can anyone else in sports journalism who wants to be taken seriously. It’s bad business when you don’t check your pom-poms at the door.

But I sure won’t be upset if things keep going around here like they have been. Because that would be good for our city. And our city needs a break. And so do the people who want to keep running it down.

2010-08-04T18:23:00.000-07:00

Random thoughts on this mid week night....

Terrell Owens isn't the player he was even three years ago. But he's an immediate upgrade over every receiver the Bengals had on the field last season not named Ochocinco. Even a shadow of what he's been TO will distract defenses just enough to allow Ochocinco to have a monster year.....

The Steelers aren't dead and won't roll over this year. In the four games (yep, it'll be four not six) that Ben Roethlisberger is away the Steelers will win by running the ball and playing defense. I think they'll go 3-1....

The Ravens should still be the favorites in the AFC North. But that depleted secondary sure makes them look mortal....

I love the way Paul Janish has stepped in for the injured Orlando Cabrera. And this is really some Monday morning quarterbacking, but why didn't the Reds at least think about trading for a middle infielder who can bring some 'pop' at the plate before the July 31st trade deadline. Cabrera and Scott Rolen are both playing well this season, Rolen more so. But they're both long in the tooth. Janish can play anywhere in the infield. But if Rolen were to go down again, what do the Reds do now? It's asking a lot for a rookie like Juan Francisco to step in and take over. Remember, the 1990 Reds made an August deal on their road to a World Series title. They had Ron Oester, Barry Larkin and Mariano Duncan, but that didn't stop them from trading for Billy Doran. That deal probably put that team over the top.....

I don't think Aaron Harang has pitched his last and best in Cincinnati. I look for the big man to make several key starts between his return and the end of the season.....

But I also don't think Harang and Homer Bailey will both be in the Reds five man rotation, when each is back and healthy....

I'm glad Shaq found work today, signing with the Boston Celtics. Even at his age, he's one of the fun players to watch....

The Cyclones will miss coach Chuck Weber, who's moving onto a bigger league (AHL) and a more influential job (head coach of the Rochester Americans). Weber will be coaching players who are just a phone call away from the NHL. And Weber will be just a phone call away too. Good guy, terrific coach. You don't coach teams to two Kelly Cup wins in three years unless you know what you're doing. That series against Reading this spring, where the Cyclones rallied from down 0-3 in games to win in seven, was one of the more stirring comebacks I've seen. Good luck Chuck!

I don't play poker. But watching people play poker on TV is absolutely absurd. It's on a lot. So a lot of people must have a tough time finding a life....

The blog may not be reproduced, re-trasmitted or repurposed in whole or in part or in any manner, without the express, written consent of Ken Broo

2010-07-28T23:45:00.000-07:00

Just published the latest edition of The Broo View Podcast. My guest in episode #246 is Hub Arkush, the editor of Pro Football Weekly. Hub and I discuss the unsteady labor situation in the NFL, as well as the prospects for the Bengals in 2010.

You can download this latest edition here.

You can also find this latest Broo View Podcast on the front page of my web site, www.kenbroo.com.

This blog, and its contents, may not be reproduced, repurposed or in any way re-trasmitted without the express written consent of Ken Broo.

2010-07-25T23:12:00.000-07:00

So are you ready for some TO? In the be careful for what you ask for department, Carson Palmer has apparently sent back glowing reports on his new workout partner. If you haven’t heard, Palmer has been playing pitch and catch with TO out on the left coast.

But hang on, now we hear that the Rams are ‘seriously interested’ in signing Donovan McNabb’s BFF. And, that’s the ménage a tois that Drew Rosenhaus was looking for. Two teams, one client. Let the bidding war begin.

The Rams, according to various reports, will meet Monday to decide whether or not to offer a contract to Owens. The Bengals?

If you’re a Bengals fan who believes that running a football team is just like you running your fantasy football team, please go butter some toast. The adults would like to talk for awhile. It was on some chat board Saturday where a ‘get a lifer’ posted, “Just sign TO right now”. Sure, and deactivate some other wide receiver, make sure you have a quarterback and a defense that isn’t on a bye week and post your line-up. You’ll be all set.

Terrell Owens has been a very talented plague on some very good football teams and a rash on some very good quarterbacks. Carson Palmer has sent glowing reports back to the Bengals on TO. Somewhere, Tony Romo just did a laugh spit. Here’s what TO has done in his career: he’s sicked wide receiver against wide receiver, quarterback against wide receiver and pouted when he didn’t get the football. That’s not opinion, that’s fact. You don’t know about this? You obviously haven’t been paying attention. Google him and see what you find.

But Terrell Owens is tremendously talented, even at the ripe age of 37. He’s a big man, who can still run, still get open, still catch the ball. He didn’t do a lot of catching last year when he was banished to Buffalo, consoling himself with six millions dollars. In fact, the great TO only had a couple of touchdown catches in his final five games, only 15 receptions over that time too. But of course, Trent Edwards is no Carson Palmer. TO was also on his best behavior, knowing that he was on a one year deal and would have to pedal his services all over again this spring. Except, nobody was buying, not even teams that really need wide receivers.

Seattle? No thanks. Chicago? Not interested. Tampa, Pittsburgh, Kansas City? Thanks for thinking of us, sorry. If a wide receiver is as talented as TO, if teams what have a real need at wide receiver have all taken a pass, do you think there might be a reason why he’s unemployed?

We’re all judged by what we do in life. Most of us make mistakes, some of us get second chances. TO is on his fourth chance by my count. Maybe the real TO was the TO in Buffalo last year. Maybe he finally understood that when divas get older, so does their act.

Your Cincinnati Bengals have done very well with reclamation projects. Tank Johnson, Cedric Benson, the late Chris Henry. The latest class includes Pacman Jones and Matt Jones and maybe TO

It may be that the Bengals are interested in TO, not so much because Palmer is filing glowing reports. It may be there is something wrong, really wrong, with Antonio Bryant’s aching knee (and just for the record since there hasn’t been an ounce of physical contact since Bryant sign his deal for potentially 28-million dollars, if his knee continues to be an issue, didn’t any doctor pick up on that BEFORE he was signed?) It may be the Bengals are thinking about TO just in case there’s something that keeps Bryant off the field for a significant amount of time, or just in case some of the younger receivers on the roster simply can’t yet cut it.

Being a great wide receiver, being an asset to a team, is more than just running downfield, getting open, making the touchdown catch. A winning team is made up of more than just great athletes. Teams that stand with the Lombardi Trophy every February all seem to have one thing in common: discipline and a no nonsense approach to the game. The Saints, the Colts, the Patriots, pick a team from the last decade.

If To can really help the Bengals, if he’s grown up, if he now understands how wrong he was in the way he dealt with McNabb, Romo and Jeff Garcia, then Mike Brown, go get him. You and your staff, your head coach and his staff have put together a team that appears to have the talent to win and win deep into January this year. I’ve said this for awhile: I like this 2010 Bengals team. But if TO is just a player at the end of the line looking for a payday, keep moving. There’s nothing to see here….nothing that all of us haven’t seen before.

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2010-07-20T23:54:00.000-07:00

A reminder that this blog may not be reproduced, retransmitted or repuposed in any manner without the express, written consent of Ken Broo

2010-07-20T23:37:00.000-07:00

Some random thoughts on 'hump day'.....

The Reds aren't thinking about signing Jason Isringhausen to replace Francisco Cordero...yet. Isringhausen, who impressed Reds GM Walt Jocketty enough in his Tuesday tryout to earn a contract offer, will be strictly for set up, no closing. But, should Cordero falter, Jocketty will have someone in Isringhausen that he knows a lot about. While in St. Louis, Jocketty signed Isringhausen to a free agent deal and the righty wound up giving the Cardinals several good years of game enders......

Since Isringhausen and another recent Reds signee, Russ Springer both played for Jocketty in St. Louis, I'm wondering, can Jim Edmonds be far behind? Just kidding...no really, I am.....

Very interesting move by Reds manager, Dusty Baker in Tuesday night's 8-7 win over the Nationals. Baker pulled a double switch in the top of the 8th with one out, bringing in Laynce Nix to play right field, along with pitcher Arthur Rhodes. Nix replaced Jay Bruce. Both are left handed bats. But Bruce has looked clueless at the plate since late June. Nix, who got to hit in the bottom of the 8th inning, delivered a double......

No first round pick will sign until Sam Bradford gets his deal done in St. Louis. But a few more will have to sign up before the Bengals do business with their first round pick, Jermaine Gresham. With the Bengals due to report one week from today (Wednesday), a Gresham holdout seems likely. But, what do you think? You can vote on the poll that's on the front page of this blog.....

Lou Piniella, who announced Tuesday he'll retire at the end of this season looks like a beaten man, doesn't he? He takes forever to make a pitching change and his dugout demeanor is of a man who looks like he'd rather be anywhere but managing the Chicago Cubs....

37 years ago yesterday (Tuesday), the White Sox Wilbur Wood made history by pitching in and losing both games of a doubleheader at Yankee Stadium. I know because I was there. Never seen that before or since. I paid $1.50 for a seat down the first base line in the upper deck of the now 'old' Yankee Stadium. Can't imagine what a ticket in that location of the new park goes for....

41 yeas ago Tuesday, man walked on the moon for the first time. If you're old enough to remember that, I'll bet you can tell me where you were on the night of July 20, 1969. I was in a hotel room in Breezewood, Pennsylvania, on my way out to look at Ohio University for the first time. It's mind boggling to think that the man who first stepped on the moon, Neil Armstrong, lives about two miles from where I live today.....

If some major league baseball contending team is looking for bullpen help, they should call the Nationals. Tyler Clippard appears to be the real deal. He was 3-1 as a starter with the Yankees before winding up in DC. All he does is throw strikes, topping out at 96 mph on Tuesday, and his fastball 'moves'.....

Stephen Strasburg mania hits Cincinnati Wednesday night. Can't wait....no really, I mean that.

2010-07-11T20:59:00.000-07:00

The Reds are one game up at the All Star break. It’s not that being in first place at the break guarantees anything. In fact, baseball history gives up about 15 strong examples of teams that have looked woefully out of it at this point, that’ve rallied to win division titles or pennants. But being in first at this time of the year, this late in the season, should be a strong psychological boost to a ballclub.

Except, look what we’ve seen the last three ballgames.

Johnny Cueto, Mike Leake and Travis Wood have each delivered outstanding starts in Philadelphia. And the Reds have nothing to show for it. Nothing. The offense has left small armies stranded, on base, in each of the last two nights. And the bullpen has failed this team in all three games.

You want names? Ryan Hanigan whiffing twice last night with a chance, in each at bat, to drive home the go ahead run. Jay Bruce hitting into a double play Friday night, turning a potential three run inning into an inning that produced only one run. And pick a name in that bullpen. They’ve all had a hand in these losses. Jordan Smith Thursday night. Francisco Cordero and the usually reliable Arthur Rhodes Friday night. Bill Bray and Logan Ondrusak on Saturday night.

And now, after this afternoon’s game in Philly, the Reds have some serious thinking to do. It’s good they’ve got five days to figure things out. But figure things out they must, if they’re going to contend this season.

Here’s what we believe. The Cardinals aren’t going away And the six head to head games the Reds have left with St. Louis will go a long way in determining who wins the NL Central. Don’t bank on a wild card. The Wes and the East divisions have strong contenders for that.

Here’s what we know: as presently constructed, the Reds will have a tough time outgunning the Cardinals. Maybe Travis Wood and Mike Leake can match up well with Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright. But who in that Reds line up will be able to hit off either of those guys? Not even a perfect game for eight innings from Wood was enough last night.

So now, if you’re Walt Jocketty, what do you do? It’s less than three weeks to the trade deadline and you’ve just missed out on the best pitcher on the market. You know you have Edinson Volquez back by next weekend. You know that Aroldis Chapman might be here soon after that to give your bullpen a power arm. But will that be enough? Wood, Leake, Bronson Arroyo, Cueto and a combination of Aaron Harang, Matt Maloney and Homer Bailey might be good enough. You know you’ve got a problem with your closer. So do you pursue someone like the Mariners’ David Aardsma? He’s not pitching well this year. He’s allowed 17 runs in 27 innings of work. But he saved 38 of 42 chances last year. And Aardsma, while making just $2,75 is arbitration eligible after this season. But he’s also an established closer, insurance just in case Francisco Cordero continues to refuse to pitch on the inside part of the plate.

What ever he chooses to do, Jocketty must do something. This team is hanging onto first place because the Cardinals have chosen to lose everytime the Reds have. That won’t continue. Somewhere there’s an arm that can come in and stabilize a shaky bullpen, someone that Dusty can trust on a nightly basis. Somewhere, there’s a solid bad that can come off the bench and pinch hit and, every so often provided solid offense and defense when you need to rest Scott Rolen. Jocketty must do something to show to the players that the team is committed to winning this season. Players aren’t dumb. They like their team mates, but they also know what the team needsl Jocketty knows they know. And if the general manager is smart, which I know he is, he’ll get it done quickly.

You don’t choose when you contend. It’s chosen for you The Reds have been chose this year. Now it’s up to Jocketty to make sure it will happen.

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2010-07-05T19:07:00.001-07:00

Don't you love it when a player plays 'mad'. The night after getting snubbed by National League All Star manager, the Phillies Charlie Manuel, Joey Votto delivers a three hit night in New York tonight, including two home runs.

I don't know whether or Votto was really mad. But he sure played that way.

Manuel can't be totally faulted for not picking Votto. The fans voted the Cardnials Albert Puljos as the starter. The National League players, and I don't know what they're looking a this season, voted Adrian Gonzalez, from San Diego, as their choice. And there was no way Manuel was going to pick Votto over his deserving first baseman, Ryan Howard. Think about it: if Dusty Baker was managing the NL Stars this year, do you really think he'd take Howard over Votto?

Negative.

But where Manuel fails the test, is when he chose a bench player, Atlanta's Omar Infante, simply because Manuel felt Infante would serve the team well because he swings the bat well coming off the bench.

Really? Charlie never impressed me as being that deep of a thinker. And if that is an indication as to the depth of his thoughts, perhaps Charlie should give his cranium a rest.

Votto will make the team. Someone will either become injured or sick and he'll certainly be the first replacement picked by Manuel (best way to work his way out of a bad situation). But you can vote Votto onto the team as the final National League star. You can find a link to the balloting on WLWT's web site. You'll get 20 chances to cast a vote. But you have to do that before Thursday afternoon.

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2010-06-27T21:28:00.000-07:00

Good Monday morning to you....

I’m having a hard time trying to figure out what a lot of people have against Dusty Baker. You listen to this show, you listen to any of the talk shows in the Greater Cincinnati area and you hear a constant grumbling about his way of managing. Even the support he has around here is tepid at best.

I guess Bob Boone and Jerry Narron are officially off the hook.

And now comes a couple of fresh attacks on his style, one from Baseball Prospectus and another from Sports Illustrated. In each, the writers question exactly how Dusty manages to keep managing. The guy who wrote the SI piece is Joe Sheehan. We’re going to hear from him in a little bit. His contention is that the only thing that made Baker as successful as he was in San Francisco was putting Barry Bonds in the line-up every game. The reason for the article this week was the Reds signing of Gary Matthews, Junior. I’ll admit, I don’t get that move. Matthews appeared to be washed up playing for the Mets this year and the Angels the two years prior to that.

He appeared to be stealing the 22-million he’s made the last two seasons.

Sheehan’s worry, and mine too for that matter, is that signing Matthews could cost at bats for Jay Bruce, or Drew Stubbs or Chris Heisey, a man who needs to be playing everyday somewhere, and not rotting on the bench here.

I’ll give you that Baker stuck way too long with Corey Patterson. He was a latter day Eric Milton. But what other choice did Baker really have? And besides, a general manager spends an owners money on a player, the player should be good enough to play.

I’m not here to carry water for Baker. He’s big enough to do that for himself. But what I’m hearing a lot these days is that the Reds are winning despite Baker. Don’t think that’s true.

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: there’ve been two managers this town has embraced and accepted since Sparky Anderson left town: Pete Rose and Lou Piniella. Davey Johnson was the last guy to manage a Reds team to the playoffs. He was run out of town by the owner and the fan base here didn’t produce a whimper about it. Jack McKeon? Too old. Bob Boone? Thought he invented the game. Dave Miley? Minor leaguer. Jerry Narron? Talked like he was an escapee from the cast of Hee Haw.

In a way, Dusty Baker is a lot like the general manager we had around here a few years ago, Dan O’Brien. O’Brien inherited a mess. Under Marge Schott, the Reds minor league system went to hell in a handbag. She let Jim Bowden go out and buy aging veterans, but never saw the need to build a franchise the way you have to do it in a town like Cincinnati, through player development. Carl Lindner kept Bowden. Bowden’s talents at finding and developing young talent had apparently eroded by the time Carl started signing the checks. Look back on any of those drafts that happened while Lindner owned the team, while Bowden and his staff did the selecting and tell me what players have lit it up. O’Brien began the thankless task of rebuilding a system, without enough players at the major league level to compete. Ultimately, it cost him his job,

Baker spent the first couple of years watching his best talent go through growing pains. Jay Bruce and Joey Votto come to mind. Lately Drew Stubbs. That’s what happens when you inherit a team with dead wood and not enough big league talent.

I don’t know if Dusty Baker will get this team into the post season this year. Don’t know if he’ll ever be the kind of manager you want him to be. But I’m not running him out the door, right now. Last I checked, the Reds are in first place.

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2010-06-20T23:18:00.000-07:00

Good Monday Morning!

Walt Jocketty is CIA all the way. Stealth. The only one who knows what he’s up to is him. Remember the trade last year for Scott Rolen? Didn’t see that one coming, did we? Aroldis Chapman? Fidel Castro didn’t see that one coming either. So today, as we sit here with your Cincinnati Reds a game and a half out of first place, who knows what the silver fox is up to? Let’s hope he’s up to something. Because, as constructed, this Reds team isn’t good enough to win their division. And worse, the Cardinals haven’t made their big move yet. And you know that’s coming.

Here’s what the Reds don’t have that they need to be considered serious contenders: they need power pitchers in their bullpen. They need a legitimate number one starting pitcher. Mike Leake? Nice story, but the guy has only got so many more miles on him. The way they’re doing the math at Great American Ball Park, he’ll be out of gas by early September, or just in time for what could be a showdown series with the Cardinals in St. Louis. Bronson Arroyo? Historically, he’s a .500 pitcher and there aren’t too may legit number one starting pitchers who’ve been called that. Aaron Harang careens from good to bad like mood swings. Johnny Cueto throws too many pitches and lasts too few innings. Homer Bailey’s return has no arrival date and Sam Lecure, a month ago, was the answer to the question “Who’s That?”

It’s not Jocketty’s fault. But it’s his problem. This franchise stopped developing starting pitching at Scott Scudder. Richie Gardner, Ty Howington, Dustin Mosely, Chris Gruler, Ryan Wagner. The list of first round pitching selections by the Cincinnati Reds from 1999 through 2003 is astoundingly bad. Jim Bowden’s barren field has been left to Dan O’Brien, Wayne Krivsky and Walt Jocketty to sow.

But the man in the chair now has a decision to make. He knows he doesn’t have a pitcher that matches up with Chris Carpenter, or Roy Halladay, or Clayton Kershaw, or Ubaldo Jiminez. Jocketty can find one. He can go to the Mariners and ask about Cliff Lee, or the Royals and ask about Zach Greinke. But it will cost him, in prospects and money. Trading for now, could hurt the future.

Except, there is no future in baseball. Baseball, like every other professional sport is day to day. We hear that 2011 will be the year the Reds will blossom with their prospects ready to help the big league club. But seasons don’t translate. Teams don’t get to pick up where they left off, one season to the next. What guarantees are there for 2011? Will Scott Rolen stay healthy, and as effective as he’s been this season? Will Jonny Gomes hit in 2011 like he’s hitting now? Can anyone say for certain that arm injuries won’t infest the Reds key pitchers?

The 1999 Cincinnati Reds were similar, in a lot of ways to this current club. Bowden went out and traded for Juan Guzman. He went 6-3 and got the Reds to within a whisker of the playoffs. But the Reds paid a price. They gave up BJ Ryan to Baltimore, who turned out to be a very good closer.

In 2006, Wayne Krivsky traded two everyday players to get, at the time, the two best bullpen pitchers available. It turned out to be a lose-lose for both the Reds and Nationals. Austin Kearns and Felipe Lopez were busts in DC. Gary Majewski arrived here hurt. Bill Bray has been nothing but a rumor since the deal.

Now, like Bowden and Krivsky before him, Jocketty must make a calculated decision. He needs to decide if his team is a player or two away from making the playoffs. And then he needs to do something about it, without being completely beholden to the future.

The playoffs don’t come our way very often. That’s why Bowden and Krivsky did what they did. It didn’t work out either time. But you’ve got to try. And you have to start trying now. Play it smart,. But play it quickly.

The contents of this blog may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, or retransmitted in any manner without the express wrtitten consent of Ken Broo

2010-06-14T10:43:00.000-07:00

It is game on in college football In the last 48 hours, we’ve seen more upheaval in college football than anything in the last 15 years.

Here’s what’s gone down since Friday morning.

Boise State jumped from the WAC to the Mountain West Conference. Now we’re hearing that the Mountain West, tired and irked at not getting into the BCS automatic bid club, is pursing Kansas, Kansas State and Missouri.

Except hang on, says ESPN’s Joe Schad, the Pac 10 leaders want Utah instead of Kansas…which means the Mountain West may have to add someone else.

Those schools are available because the Big 12 is imploding as we speak. Colorado has jumped to the Pac 10, soon to be Pac 16. Nebraska has booked for the real Big 12 now, running alongside Ohio State and Michigan.

Stand by for more.

The lower tier of the Big 12, the south division, has split from the rest of that conference like the San Andreas fault line. Saturday, the Pac pick your number commissioner, Larry Scott was in Oklahoma and Texas, delivering personal invitations to Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas, Texas Tech and Texam A&M to join his conference. He may only get four of those five teams. But late last night the Oklahoma City newspaper reported that Oklahoma gave the Pac 10 a thumbs up.

Because late Saturday, SEC commissioner, Mike Slive was in College Station Texas to talk to that school’s administration about joining his conference. One report last night had the A&M Board Of Regents ready to OK a move to the SEC. But one of the regents, Gene Stallings, the former A&M and Alabama coach says nobody has asked him about voting on a move.

Are you with me so far?

Over at East Carolina, Athletic Director, Terry Holland posted an open letter on the school’s web site to his faithful, detailing the life and death struggle that he believes the Big East Conference finds itself in today.

Interesting that Holland got an urge to write about this, as he’s been salivating all over the Big East, wanting to bring his Pirates the land of Bearcats and Cardinals.

According to the gospel of Terry, the Big East is trying to figure out a way to not only hang onto its eight football playing teams. It’s also trying to add teams who play football.

Oh and Holland adds this: the Big East is holding out hope that Notre Dame will finally join as a football playing member.

Someone needs to get Holland an aspirin

Meantime, at Notre Dame, the body snatcher posing as an athletic director told the Chicago Tribune his school has no interest in joining a conference.

But that opinion will only hold until another super conference or two is formed. Think about it. If we really do get to four 16 team super conferences, the majority of the conference games will be against each other. Who does Notre Dame, as an independent schedule if that happens? Maybe the Irish can make Tulsa, Western Michigan and the military academies yearly opponents. That oughta get NBC to keep forking over $14 million dollar contracts.

All of this affects nothing at UC, not yet. But here’s how it will. If Notre Dame continues to cling to its independent status, the Big 10 will look elsewhere to get to 16 teams. It will need four more. The most likely league to be poached is the Big East. The most likely teams would be Pitt, Rutgers…they want Rutgers for the New York TV market but honestly, the majority of people in the New York area couldn’t give a flying hop about that team…..and Syracuse. If that happens, that would leave the Big East with just five football playing members. Here’s the math: that’s seven teams short of the 12 needed to stage a conference championship game, which appears to be the critera for futre BCS status.

The Big East’s problem is also it’s strength. It’s the best basketball conference on the planet right now. But eight of its league members don’t play football. If you add seven teams to the equation….if you add only two, you’ve got an unwieldy lot of teams for basketball scheduling. Does the Big East, as was suggested in some reports this week, tell schools like Seton Hall, Providence and DePaul to take a hike? Don’t see that happening.

In short, college athletics have been a mess in the last 48 hours. And the domino effect of what the Pac 10 is doing right now will be significant. One of the epicenters of the shake up could be right here, in river city.

2010-06-02T23:23:00.000-07:00

I'll have some comments on the retirement of Ken Griffey Junior later today. Right now, here's my latest Broo View Podcast. My guests are USA Today's national baseball writer, Bob Nightengale and from BetUS.com, Damon Durante, to talk about the wagering on World Cup Soccer games. You can find this podcast, as well as a nice inventory of past show, on the front page of my web site: www.kenbroo.com. You can also download the latest Broo View Podcast here.

2010-06-02T09:12:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Wednesday....

Watching the Reds beat the Cardinals last night was watching two heavyweight boxers go the distance. Each side took some heavy punches and each side delivered damage. It was one of those in season classics you get during the course of a 162 season. We haven't had a lot of those around here lately, because the Reds haven't played a lot of games lately that've mattered. Now that they're good again, I think we'll see a few more.

I raised this question this past Sunday on my radio show. I asked my audience on 700 WLW what the Reds should be thinking about, right now, about how to make this team better. I was amazed to hear some callers, emailers and even the great Hal McCoy, Hall Of Fame writer, suggest that the team should stand pat. Now understand, I couched everything I said by saying that no trades or roster adjustments should be made this early in the season. You simply don't trade, or get maximum value on return, until you approach the trade deadline of July 31st. But you have to at least be thinking about what you're going to need to help you get to the playoffs.
You do that for two reasons. One, your competition will be looking at ways to get better and two, you have to know your weaknesses and explore improving them or they'll haunt you for the rest of the pennant run.

Look at any contending team, in any season, and see what it does to get better during the course of a season. Last year, the Yankees won it all. But it didn't stop them from making deadline deals, including one that sent Jerry Hairston, Jr. to New York. In 2006, the Reds got a whiff of what a pennant race is like. The sent Felipe Lopez and Austin Kearns to the Nationals in return for relief pitchers Gary Majewski and Bill Bray. That's a deal that worked out for neither side. But the Reds recognized a weakness and tried to address it.

McCoy had the best rationale for not trying to make a deal. His thought was waiting on current relievers Nick Massett and Daniel Ray Herrera and see if they can pitch their way out of their problems. McCoy, like a lot of us, senses a good chemistry inside the Reds clubhouse and worries that bringing in an 'outsider' through trade may mess-up the chemistry. That's a real possibility. And, there's always the possibility that the answers to the Reds bullpen problems may like in "AAA". Matt Maloney, Jared Burton and maybe even Aroldis Chapman, the $30 million dollar phenom, could contribute out of the Reds bullpen. As early as August, Edinson Volquez could return from his elbow sugery and rehabilitation. He'd be a candidate for the pen, at least in the short term.

But not thinking about your weaknesses and how you would address them come trade deadline is simply irresponsible. My guess is, a veteran general manager like Walt Jocketty has spent a lot of time working this. The hope is, he'll have to.

You can always follow me on twitter: www.twitter.com/kenbroo

Quick hits....looking forward to tonight's NHL Stanley Cup game #3. I think the Flyers will feed off the emotion of the home crowd and make this a 2-1 series. By the way, if you have Home Box Office and haven't seen the documentary on the 1970's Broad Street Bullies, you're missing something. I hated those Flyer teams. But they were good, and tough.......

The NBA finals begin Thursday. I love the story the Boston Celtics have been writing. But I think it won't have a happy ending. Lakers in six.......

Tiger won't win the Memorial this weekend. And I don't think he'll ever approach the dominance in golf he once had. He'll win tournaments. He'll win major tournaments. But given his knee problems and his off course behavior, never again.....

I miss Graeter's ice cream, one of things I've had to cut out after my heart attack. But sorbet and sherbert aren't bad at all.....

Glad to see my good pal Andy Furman getting some fill in work wih Fox Sports Radio. I've known Andy for over 30 years, back in the days when he was Sports Information Director for Oral Roberts Univeristy and I was the Sports Director for KOTV in Tulsa. He's one of a kind (which is a good thing) and a very decent person at the core (which is an even better thing).....

I've had emails from dancers and dance instructors who've told me that the training that Chad Ochocinco had for his stint on Dancing With The Stars will make him a better football player. They claim he's had to exercise and use muscles that are different from the ones he uses to catch passes and run on a football field. I'm no muscle expert, so I'll defer to them. But I wonder if Marvin Lewis is buying into that theory. Seems to me, when you play for a team that's been a classic under-achiever and you're the face of that team, you really need to be with that team helping it get better, not off ballroom dancing......

But I'll give Ochocinco this: he's the smartest athlete to come through Cincinnati in a long, long time. He's setting himself up for life after football. And if you believe what Jack Bechta a player agent, my recent guest on Sunday Morning Sportstalk on 700 WLW, told me 75% of all NFL players are broke three to five years after leaving the game. Chad looks like he 'gets' that. So in that case, good for him.....

See you tonight at 6p and 11p on Cincinnati's Channel 5 WLWT. And be sure to check out my web site www.kenbroo.com

This blog may not be reproduced or retransmitted, in whole or in part, without the express written consent of Ken Broo.

2010-05-26T23:45:00.000-07:00

Random thoughts for a random Thursday....

As the Reds keep on winning (now a full game up on the Cardinals after Wednesday night) the two pressing questions outside of the bullpen are: How much longer can they afford to play Drew Stubbs and should Chris Heisey get at bats at Stubbs' expense? The answers are simple: you play Stubbs for as long as it takes for him to his major league 'act' together and, no. Stubbs is a young gifted player who has struck out far too much so far this season. But he has speed, plays good defense and has tremendous upside. So long as the team wins with Stubbs struggling, he should stay in the line-up. Heisey presents a different kind of dilemna. Like Stubbs, he's gifted and young. And Heisey was generally considered to be the second best prospect in the organization, right behind Todd Frazier. The problem for Dusty Baker is that the team is winning, and his platoon in left field of Jonny Gomes and Laynce Nix is working well. With Jay Bruce emerging as a more patient and effective hitter (and with his cannon of an arm) Heisey is caught up in the proverbial numbers game. Getting him enough at bats (he homered again Wednesday night, his third home run in just 25 big league at bats) will be tricky for the Reds manager.....

All of a sudden, these NBA playoff series are competitive again. I'd be more worried if I'm the Celtics, rather than the Lakers. Remember, as bad as Orlando played in the first three games of this semi final series, the Magic was that good in every series before.......

I'm still betting on Lebron being anywhere but Cleveland next year....

The Chicago Blackhawks Duncan Keith takes a puck to the mouth and loses seven teeth and still keeps playing? And he won't have oral surgery until after the finals? As the Hanson Brothers would say "old school hockey,eh? Toe Blake...".........

Despite the Supreme Court ruling this week that prevented the NFL from gaining anti-trust law exemption status, I still think the NFL owners will try to lock the players out before the 2011 season. This ruling this week will embolden the players union. And that could be trouble....

Got a pretty good topic already for my Sunday Morning Sportstalk show, 9am-Noon EDT on 700 WLW. BetUS.com has odds out for the upcoming World Cup on which match should offer the most fights. You can listen on line at 700wlw.com....

Having spent 18 years of my life in the state, I'm happy for New Jersey that the 2014 Super Bowl will be played there. And I don't think anyone who gets a ticket to the game will complain about the cold weather. You know it'll be cold, you'll dress accordingly. But I hope the NFL doesn't try to make a cold weather climate a part of its Super Bowl rotation. You want optimum conditions to play the biggest game of the year. Players should have the ability to excel in the best climate. Putting the game in the New York City area is great, because the city isn't fully recovered from 9/11 and because there's a lot to do in the Tri-State area. But dome teams and warm weather teams will be at a decided disadvantage. 13 NFL teams play in either warm-moderate climates or a domed stadium....

Chad Ochocinco is the smartest athlete working in Cincinnati. He's preparing himself for life after football with shrew marketing maneuvering. But you have to wonder if his head is in the game for this 2010 season. He hurt himself Tuesday lifting weights, trying to squat 420 pounds without warming up. He missed the finale of Dancing With The Stars because of that. Now, he's about to embark on his latest venture, hosting a reality TV show about his dating exploits. Don't be surprised if Chad shows up for mini-camp in the middle of June unable to participate because of his weight lifting injury. Don't be surprised if all of these television appearances will force Ochocinco to play catch up to his team mates who've been working up a sweat while he's been out dancing. Don't be surprised if this season is his last season in Cincinnati....

On the other hand, two ballroom dance instructors have taken the time to email me to let me know that the training Ochocinco had for DWTS will make him a better athlete. Apparently the muscles Ochocinco had to develope to dance this Spring are different muscles than what he uses as a wide receiver BUT will enhance his quckness on the field.....

I dunno. I don't even play a dancer on TV....

See you tonight at 6 & 11pm on Cincinnati's channel 5

A reminder this blog may not be reproduced or retransmitted, in whole or in part, without the express written consent of Ken Broo Check out Ken's web site: www.kenbroo.com.

2010-05-25T09:58:00.000-07:00

Just posted to the front page of my web site www.kenbroo.com is the latest Broo View Podcast. In this episode, I'm joined by NFL player agent and columnist for The National Football Post, Jack Bechta. Jack believes and states his case that 75% of all NFL players are broke, 3-5 years after leaving the NFL. You can also click here to listen.

2010-05-24T00:00:00.000-07:00

You ever play ‘what if’? It’s something that can be fascinating, time consuming and totally non productive all at the same time. It’s all about the road not traveled, about decisions made in life that might have turned out differently had another road been taken.

I found myself playing ‘what if’ this week. I was sitting inside of US Bank Arena the other night, watching the Cyclones win another Kelly Cup. 13-thousand 482 other people were sitting there with me. The building had life in it, it hasn’t seen in a long time.

I was wondering, ‘what if’ the National Hockey League had placed a franchise here all those years ago. You know, we came close to getting an NHL franchise three times in the last 35 years or so. That building was once known as Riverfront Coliseum. It was built on spec, hoping to attract an NHL team. The league was expanding. Three towns were competing for two franchises that would join the league in 1974: Kansas City, Washington DC and Cincinnati. Didn’t happen that time.

Instead we got the World Hockey Association’s Cincinnati Stingers. That was a wild group. I know, I was the team’s first public address announcer back in 1975, the Wildman Walker of that era. When the WHA finally forced the NHL into a merger in 1979, the Stingers were offered a chance to join. There was also a cash payment the owners could take to simply fold and go away. Bill DeWitt and his group, including Bob Castellini, took the money.

And in 1997, the Hartford Whalers were shopping for a new home, before settling in Raleigh, we got a look. But we never got the team.

Would the National Hockey League have worked here? If we got a franchise in 1974 instead of DC or KC, would it still be here today? Was there enough money in the region to support three major league franchises. What if it had happened, would it have been the Stanley Cup being paraded around that arena Friday night instead of the Kelly Cup.

What ifs work with the Reds. What if Pete Rose never placed a bet on a baseball game or what if he never got caught. Would he still be the manager of the Reds today? Would he have managed the Reds to a wire to wire World Series win in 1990, as Lou Piniella did? What if he stayed on the job, would Paul O’Neill have been traded to the Yankees? One of the biggest reasons why O’Neill was traded was because he and Piniella were oil and water. Would the Yankees have won all of those World Series titles without O’Neill?

What if Marge Schott wasn’t so bullheaded and tried to keep Piniella here, rather than running him off. Would the Reds have won another World Series?

What if Jim Bowden never made the trade that brought Ken Griffey, Junior here in 2000. What if, in the end, Junior decided to remain in Seattle? Would Carl Lindner have spent that money on other players? A lot of Reds fans seem to think so. But you don’t know that he would’ve , neither do I. Lindner probably doesn’t either.

What if the Reds didn’t fire Jack McKeon and replace him with Bob Boone? Would McKeon have won a World Series with his 2003 Cincinnati Reds team, like he did with the Florida Marlins?

What if in 1992, the Bengals didn’t draft quarterback David Klingler and instead used that first round pick on tackle Leon Searcy or tackle Bob Whitfield, both of whom went onto be Pro Bowlers. Its not like Boomer Esiason was washed up in ’92. Would the Bengals have been as abysmally bad as they were in the ‘90’s if they built around Boomer instead of running him off to the Jets?

All this I was thinking about, as I was watching the Cyclones skate to another Kelly Cup the other night. See what I’m saying about what if?

It can drive you crazy….

What if, the Board of Trustees at the University of Cincinnati didn’t hire Nancy Zimpher in 2003? What if she turned them down and they had to move onto the next candidate? Would that candidate have come to town with Bob Huggins in the crosshairs? And what if Huggins had stayed here? Would the University and the school’s athletic department be as strapped for cash as they are now? Would its basketball team have been more successful than it’s been lately? If Huggins stayed, would his team have generated enough revenue to renovate Fifth Third Arena or Nippert Stadium by now?

Sports, like anything in life, give us decisions to make that produce ramifications. The trade made, the botched draft pick, the triumph of money over dreams, the road not traveled. Chances are, a lot of this stuff would have turned out much the same as it did. And that’s OK. Cincinnati is a pretty good to call home. But sometimes you wonder, at least I do, how different things might’ve been around here, save for a handful of situations and decisions that were largely out of our control. Next time someone tells you life is what happens when you’re making other plans, at least when it comes to sports, you might want to offer up a ‘what if’ of your own.

This blog may not be reproduced or retransmitted in whole or part without the express written consent of Ken Broo

2010-05-18T08:58:00.001-07:00

I've got my latest Broo View Podcast posted to my web site: www.kenbroo.com. In episode 240, I'm joined by Tom Deinhart from rivals.com. We talk about the Big 10's expansion plans and how that may affect the total landscape of college football. Tom has some interesting thoughts on how things may play out for the University of Cincinnati. Here's a quick link to the show. Plenty of cool interviews and past Broo View Podcasts episodes can be found in the "Podcast & More" sections of www.kenbroo.com.

2010-05-17T23:37:00.000-07:00

Tuesday it is....

What team are you more geeked about: the Reds or the Cyclones? Plenty of reason to be feeling good about both of our teams right now...

They Cyclones went west to Boise last weekend and came away with two wins in the Kelly Cup finals against the team that had the best record in the ECHL this season. The Idaho Steelheads now have to come to Cincinnati for the next two, and if necessary the next three. The Cyclones are skating like a team that wants no part of a return visit to Idaho.

Think about this, the 'Clones have played six games in the last eight days and have won all of them. Four of those wins were with their proverbial backs again the wall, having dropped the first three games in their conference final to Reading. After storming back to win that series in seven, the Cyclones were on a bus barely six hours after game seven and heading to Dayton for a early bird special out west.

They won the first two games in the finals, with goals in each game in the final minute of play. Saturday night, in game two, a puck bounced into the Idaho net with just 20 seconds to play. It was the only goal of the game.

This could be the 'Clones second Cup in three seasons. Most of the team has turned over since the spring of 2008. There are two holdovers of significances. This year's team captain, Barrett Eghoetz skated on that club. And head coach, Chuck Weber was behind the bench. Eghoetz has been a consistent scorer for the Cyclones in the playoffs. And Weber's defensive system is sure to get him a few looks this summer from AHL, and maybe NHL teams trying to fill out their coaching staffs.

As for the Reds, they continue to win with pitching and defense. Yes, the offense has been a lot better over the last couple of weeks. But the Reds field the ball as good as anyone in the National League. And on Sunday, Bronson Arroyo's complete game win over the Cards was the third complete game win for the starting rotation in a week.

The Reds are still a flawed team. And I think we'll see some of those weaknesses (lack of a true leadoff hitter, no big bopping bat in the order, although Jonny Gomes is certainly stating a case for him to be considered for that) as the Reds get into the meatier part of their schedule. Playing the Phillies and Rockies and Dodgers will be a lot different than playing the Pirates and Astros. But the Reds are in first place as we begin this Tuesday. And how many times in the last ten or so years have we been able to say that?

Later today, I'll be publishing my latest Broo View Podcast. My guest in this upcoming episode is Tom Deinhart from rivals.com. We'll be talking about Big 10 expansion, Notre Dame's role in that and how it will affect teams like the University of Cincinnati Bearcats. Check back for that. Or, if you'd like to be alerted, sign up to follow me on twitter. www.twitter.com/kenbroo.

And you can always find up to date sports news on my web site: www.kenbroo.com

2010-05-11T00:04:00.000-07:00

Just published to the front page of my web site www.kenbroo.com is my latest Broo View Podcast. My guest in episode #239 is Michael Lombardi, former NFL GM and now reporting for the nationalfootballpost.com and the NFL Network. We're talking about the wisdom (or lack there of) of the Bengals signing Pacman Jones. If you want instant gratification (and who doesn't, right?) you can simply download this episode right here.

2010-05-10T13:05:00.000-07:00

Random thoughts on this random Monday...

I dont' think Pacman, I'm sorry, ADAM Jones is going to begin a holy reign of terror in Cincinnati, now that he's signed with the Bengals. The guy has to know this is his last chance. He's been out of West Virginia since 2005 and has played just a little more than two seasons. Nobody, it seems, except the Bengals wanted this guy. In fact, some noted NFL minds like Michael Lombardi from the nationalfootballpost.com and the NFL Network and foxsports.com's John Czarnecki both told me this weekend on my radio show on 700 WLW that they think Jones is nothing more than a return guy and will have a tough time making the final roster.....

Still, I'm waiting for the Deja Vu to put up the welcome sign for Jones....

How sad has it become for Tiger Woods that he has to hold a news conference to announce that the neck injury that forced him out of the Players Championship this weekend has nothing to do with the neck injury he suffered on that infamous night in Orlando last November?......

How cool is it that the Cyclones, down 0-3, have battled back to make this a competitive series with the Reading Royals. The team's PR flak, John Hamel checks in with this stat: only three times in professional hockey has a team that's been down 0-3 in a best of seven series come back to win the series. The Cyclones still have a boatload of work to do before that happens. But having game six and, if necessary, game seven at US Bank Arena is a big plus.....

One of our guests last night on Sports Rock was UC head football coach, Butch Jones. He says part of the training for his team involves video games, using a video game simulator to let players see how plays develope. He also says Facebook has become the latest way to recruit......

Best thing I saw this past weekend was the Suns' Steve Nash playing with only one good eye. A collision caused a gash over Nash's other eye, swelling it almost completely shut. The Suns completed the sweep of the Spurs and I didn't hear Nash says once "Cut me Mick"......

That was a Rocky reference, for the unknowing....

The Reds have been the "Drama Kings" of baseball this season, winning nine of their 16 wins in their final at bats. But they've also won a large share of those games on home runs. This was supposed to be a team that was moving away from the long ball, when Adam Dunn was sent packing. But the dimensions of Great American Ball Park are such that you can't ignore the home run. It just doesn't make sense.

The Tacoma (Washington) News has a story today that the Mariners are seriously considering releasing Ken Griffey, Jr. According to the story, not only is Junior not hitting, he was unavailable for pinch hitting on one occasion because he was asleep in the clubhouse. Two unnamed Mariners players confirmed the story. Read more about it, here.

This time of the year, I want to want two players: the Lakers Kobe Bryant and the Penguins Sidney Crosby. They are, to each of their sports, money players at the money time of the year.

My buddy Freekbass is catching some heat for this. But he's also getting a ton of praise. Commissioned by Notre Dame to bring its marketing into the new millenium, Cincinnati's funk master came up with this video that will play in the stadium this fall and is already being used as a marketing tool.

I love Freekbass's Reds Fan video. I think this is right up there.

More coming later, including the latest Broo View Podcast...

2010-05-04T09:21:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Tuesday...

Nice walk off win for your Reds last night. They are what they are right now, about a .500 team that, with an added bat in the line up and a solid pitcher to the bullpen (don't let last night fool you. there's one guy out there Baker can trust on a continuous basis and it's Rhodes) they might be able to contend. Will they make that move? Check out this from mlbtraderumors.com. It'll give you a good glimpse into the financial situation the Reds will be dealing with, the rest of this year.

Brand new Broo View Podcast has been published to the front page of my web site www.kenbroo.com. My guest is Joe Lemire from sportsillustrated.com. And we talk about the inequities of punishment in Major League Baseball, specifically, to Reds pitcher Edinson Volquez. What Lemire has to say might surprise you.

2010-04-28T23:50:00.000-07:00

Random thoughts for this random Thursday....

Best thing about Reds rookie pitcher Mike Leake? He's always around the strike zone, which means the ball gets put in play a lot. He also works very fast. No games go beyond three hours, if Leake pitches into the seventh..

Best thing about Aroldis Chapman's night in Wilkes-Barre, PA? He went six innings, the deepest he's gone into a game this season. He gave up three runs, two earned on a couple of solo home runs. But his control was a lot better than in previous starts...

The Cyclones skate on after winning their second series in these 2010 Kelly Cup playoffs. The 'Clones beat Charlotte Wednesday night, 2-1 in North Carolina. It's starting to feel like 2008 all over again. Next up, Reading, in a series that starts Friday night at US Bank Arena....

How bummed is the NHL that one of it's top young players, Washington's Alex Ovechkin, is done for the season? His team was knocked out of the playoffs Wednesday night by Montreal...

I like getting home in time to watch late NBA playoff action. I watched the Nuggets stay alive Wednesday night by beating the Jazz in Denver. But what I really like is watching Charles Barkley in the TNT studio. Must see TV.....

Clip and save, as they say, the Mets are in first place in the NL East. Anybody want to make book on where the Mets will be a month from now?.....

I think Joe Torre has got trouble. The Dodgers GM spouted off Wednesday about his underachieving team and the the Dodgers husband-wife ownership group is in divorce court. Watching Joe in the dugout Wednesday, he looked like a guy who needed a beer....

Tiger Woods tees off Thursday in his second tournament of the spring. Pardon me while I yawn. We in the media, some of us anyway, have turned professional golf into US Weekly......

The Bengals open rookie camp Friday. Here's who I want to see: former Kansas wide receiver Dezmon Briscoe. He did a free fall to round five, largely on off field issues. But on the field, this dude caught 31 touchdowns in 37 games at KU.......

2010-04-27T09:42:00.000-07:00

Just posted to my web site www.kenbroo.com is the latest Broo View Podcast. Pete Rose joins me to talk baseball, and whether or not it's more difficult to hit a 102 mile and hour fast ball, like Aroldis Chapman throws or to hit a pitcher who tops out at 86 mph. You can find the latest Broo View Podcast on the front page of my site. But if you'd like to listen while reading my blog, just click here.

2010-04-26T23:46:00.000-07:00

Welcome To Tuesday....

Pete Rose says send Aaron Harang to the bullpen. Rose was one of my guests this past Sunday on 700 WLW Sunday Morning Sports Talk. Rose told me if the Cubs can do that with Carlos Zambrano (who incidentally tossed and inning and two thirds of relief in Monday night's Cubs win) then surely Harang can pull it off. Pete says it will give Harang a different view of the game, and maybe help him regain his confidence. Rose says Harang's big problem right now is he's not pitching with confidence, something every major league pitcher needs to be successful.

It's great to see that Ben Roethlisberger is acknowledging that being a lout in public (to say nothing about the way he's treating women) is a bad thing and is apologizing for his behavior in a Georgia bar. But honestly, I've heard that song and dance far too often from professional athletes. Roethlisberger needs to 'walk the walk'. And he needs to do that for a long time, like say the rest of his life. I believe he'll wind up with only a four game suspension, barring any other occurrence of sexual deviancy. I think that was commissioner Roger Goodell's plan all along, as the Steelers 'bye' after their fourth game this next season. Roethlisberger's rehabilitation aside, the issue for the team is finding a way to get through those four games without a complete disaster. The prospects of Byron Leftwich and Charlie Batch running that offense should offer no comfort to any Steelers fan, not since the team refused to address its woeful offensive line in the latest draft. Nice first round pick. But this team needed to draft offensive line a lot more (just two picks total) than it did.

The NCAA will surely now expand from 65 to 68 teams. All it needs is the OK from its board of directors later this month. But here's the bigger issue: why even bother? All of that build up to the possibility of expansion and it's only three teams? That will solve nothing and certainly not end the debate about teams left out of the tournament. Once again, the answer to this question is the answer to every question in life: money. The NCAA got its television partners (CBS and TBS) to pony up a record $10.8 billion in a new 14 year agreement without losing the NIT, which the NCAA now operates. Had the tournament expanded to the rumored 96 teams, the NIT would have folded. Chances are, added more than three extra teams would not have significantly raised the rights fees. So the NCAA gets money on the front end of this deal from CBS and TBS and retains rights (and other TV fees) from the NIT. Win-Win for the NCAA, but for you and me? Not so much.

Read more about it in this article from the Atlanta Business Chronicle.

Later today, I'll have my latest Broo View Podcast posted on www.kenbroo.com. I'll have that entire Pete Rose interview, among some other tidbits. It should be posted right after you get back from lunch.

2010-04-25T21:46:00.000-07:00

It's Monday! Don't worry, it's all downhill from here....

Two questions I heard a lot this weekend: what did you think of the Bengals draft and what can be done to fix the Reds Short answer for both questions: Bengals draft, OK. Reds? Not much.

I liked the Bengals first round pick. If you were with me last season for Bengals group therapy or for this show before the games, I consistently said the teams that are successful in the NFL now throw the ball and they consistently throw it to the tight end. San Diego, Antonio Chapman. Indy, Dallas Clark. Dallas, Jason Whittman. Pittsburgh? Heath Miller. Pick any team that wins, they’ve got one. The Bengals finally got one. By all accounts, Jerrmaine Gresham can catch and run and is a big target to work the middle of the field. You don’t have to send an under-sized wide receiver to work that territory anymore against big linebackers. You got yourself a horse. Gresham, good pick.

Second round pick Carlos Dunlap? Don’t like the pick. It’s got nothing really to do with the DUI. Yes I know, the Bengals have had too many of those on their resume. I don’t like the fact that they drafted a guy who has some motivational problems. The rap on Dunlap is that he doesn’t always work hard and takes plays off. You don’t get better with guys who have to be motivated and takes plays off. Now I know he said all the right things when he was in here yesterday for his session with the media. You’d expect that at least. I watched Dunlap play a lot this season. He made some plays. He plays high. I think that’s going to be a problem. I heard Mike Zimmer say Friday night that if motivating Dunlap is necessary, he will. But you expend a lot of coaching energy doing that. And there were plenty of other players available to the Bengals in that second round who didn’t appear to need motivation. I hope I’m wrong. But I’m not buying it yet.

Third round, Jordan Shipley is a nice addition. I saw a lot of his games the past couple of years. I watched him against Oklahoma a couple of years ago. He was one of the best players on the field. Saw the game the Longhorns played against Central Florida this past season. Even though it was an overmatched opponent. Shipley was all over the field. He reminds me a little bit of TJ. He’s not the fastest guy in the world. But he gets open and has good hands. And he runs precise routes. Good clean, crisp cuts. That’s crucial in an offense like the one the bengals operate out of. pp2 Brandon Ghee, the cornrerback out of Wake Forest, the other third round pick I thought was a reach. I didn’t see a lot of Wake’s games this year. I know he played for an excellent coach and a good system down there. But when you’re a starting cornerback in a conference like the ACC and you have only one career interception, that’s a problem for me. The Bengals defense is at its best when it takes the ball away. That’s how it helps the team win. If Ghee is a guy they’re looking at to eventually replace one of their two starting corners, they’ve got a lot of coaching up to do.

Anything after round three is a crap shoot. The Bengals have had their share of guys drafted late who’ve been solid players. Bernard Scott in round six last year. Jonathan Fanene in round seventh in ‘05. TJ in round seven back in 2007. But by and large, after round three, you’re hoping. And I have to laugh when I hear some ot the talking heads on the cable channels grading drafts. You can’t grade a draft the day after it’s completed. They don’t, you dont’ and I don’t know how any of this is going to play out for any other these picks. But I thought on the whole, the Bengals draft was OK.

The Reds? I think Dusty Baker and Walt Jocketty, and probably Bob Castellini have some serious decisions to make. And I hope they turn out better than the one big decision they made this week. Because moving up Bronson Arroyo to start a day early to give Johnny Cueto an extra day’s rest was a disaster. Arroyo gives the Reds their best chance to rest the bullpen. He may be a ‘500’ pitcher, but he eats inings. Except when the Reds did what they did this week. If Arroyo pitches better in the daytime than at night, then why move him from a daytime start to a nighttime start? Makes no sense. And Cueto didn’t benefit from it. There are serious issues with both Cueto and Aaron Harang.

You know what I’d do? I’d put Harang in the bullpen. If the Cubs can do it with Carlos Zambrano, this team can do it with Harang. For whatever reason, he refuses to pitch inside and because of that, too many pitches are left over the plate. Long relief, 7th inning work, set up anything that will give him a different look at the game. It may help him become an effective pitcher in the rotation again.

Someone whose opinion I trust worked in the Reds front office when Cueto was drafted. He was projected as a bullpen guy. It makes sense now, given how many pitches it takes him to complete five innings. Saturday was actually good by his standards: six inings 88 pitches. I think it might be time for Cueto to take a trip to Louisville. He needs to relearn how to pitch ahead in the count, not get swept up in trying to strike every batter out. He needs some quality time with Louisville pitching coach, Ted Power.

I don’t know a whole lot about Bryan Price. I just know he had some success in Arizona and Seattle before that. I’m sure he knows what he’s doing. But a different voice, particularly one who is a very good tactical teacher like Power may be the best course for Cueto. So even though this team can’t hit consistently I’d start with pitching. Cueto goes to Louisville for awhile and Harang goes to the pen.

That opens up two spots in the rotation. I think you’ve got three candidates. One option is Micah Owings. The other two are in Lousiville. Sam Lecure is 2-0 with an earned run average of 2.08. Opposing hitters are hitting .222 off him. Matt Maloney is 3-0 with an ERA of 2.16 and the other guys are hitting .242 off him. I think there are options right now, before this thing gets completely out of hand.As we said last week, this is looking a lot like last year. Before it morphs into it, it’s time to be proactive.

THIS BLOG MAY NOT BE REPRINTED, REPURPOSED OR RETRANSMITTED IN PART OR IN WHOLE WITHOUT THE EXPRESS WRITTEN CONSENT OF KEN BROO

2010-04-22T23:49:00.000-07:00

It's Friday!

The Bengals got their man last night. In a sense, selecting Oklahoma tight end Jermaine Gresham was probably their strategy all alone. The only drama was whether or not he'd be available when they picked. Not even the thought of Dez Bryant lining up next to Antonio Bryant and Ochocinco could sway the Bengals in their quest to finally find a pass catching tight end.

Think how much frustrating it must be to have to take a tight end with a first round pick just a year after taking a tight end with a third rounder. That Chase Coffman couldn't get onto the field last season is an indictment of his position coach, the few Bengals scouts that exist and Coffman. It's probably a combination of all three.

Gresham now gives the Bengals something they haven't really had since Rodney Holman: a tight end who can both block and maneuver over the middle of the field. How many times did we see a tight end exploit the Bengals defense last season (too many, as I remember some of my rants on Bengals Group Therapy on 700 WLW) Todd Heap, Heath Miller, Ton Gonzalez, Antonio Gates, the Bengals saw them all. Now, they've finally got one.

The uniqueness of this year's draft, with only the first round on Thursday and rounds two and three Friday, gives the Bengals front office and coaches a chance to re-assess their position on players. Will they now combine their third round picks (they have two) and try to trade up in round two to get Southern Cal safety, Taylor Mays? Will they use one of their three Friday night picks to take former UC wide receiver, Mardy Gilyard? Or maybe take Southern Cal running back and kick return specialist, Joe McKnight? A lot of big names remain to be chosen.

Some other thoughts on round one of the draft....

Jimmy Clausen watched millions of dollars float away, as he went into a free fall. Clausen, believed to be the second quarterback on the board behind Sam Bradford, remains in play as the draft moves into day two...

My pal Ross Tucker of Sports Illustrated had the tweet of the night when he said "Its turning out to be a bad night for former Notre Dame quarterbacks." Clausen was one of them. The other was the last Notre Dame quarterback to go into a round one free fall: Brady Quinn. He's now with the Broncos, who selected Tim Tebow with their first round pick....

How about this theory, courtesy of profootballtalk.com as to why Clausen is probably fuming right now. By the way, that Gruden series with the top college quarterbacks that ESPN ran leading up to the draft is some of the best television I have ever seen.

Speaking of Gruden (whom I really believe will coach again and win big time. He makes Bill Cowher seem meek) did you catch him coming out of a taped feature leaning over and telling Mel Kiper Junior "It's a dumbass league....." He forgot the first rule of broadcasting: every mic is a live mic. But it was priceless.

Mel Kiper Junior doesn't thing Tebow can play in the NFL. But he's now with Bill Belichick protege, Josh McDaniels in Denver. I think he'll find a way to get Tebow on the field, a lot.

Incidentally, Tebow's first exhibition game this summer is at Paul Brown Stadium, against the Bengals.

Guess with CJ Spiller now in Buffalo, Marshawn Lynch will be shuffling off...

You think Clausen will last until the Browns pick, seven into round two?....

I wouldn't be surprised to see the Bucs, with the third overall pick in round two, take Notre Dame wide receiver, Golden Tate.....

Although Southern Cal tackle, Charles Brown would be a great early round two selection.....

2010-04-20T23:24:00.000-07:00

Random thoughts on a random Wednesday....

If the Bengals take a tight end with their first round draft pick Thursday night, they'll continue a trend of paying for past draft day mistakes. Two years ago, wide receiver Jerome Simpson was their second round pick. With as little time as Simpson has played, he might as well be in the witness protection program. He's been so much of a bust, the Bengals had to spend $28 million on Antonio Bryant this off season.

Last year, the Bengals took Missouri tight end, Chase Coffman with a third round pick. Coffman has yet to play a down in the NFL. He didn't appear strong or bright enough to make an impression during training camp (remember how the Bengals TE coach ridiculed him during the "Hard Knocks" segments?). Then Coffman hurt his foot, effectively ending his season. Because the Bengals don't know what they have in Coffman (who could wind up being a Simpson like draft day mistake), the Bengals are rumored to be leaning toward taking Oklahoma tight end, Jermaine Gresham Thursday night.

Best rumor out there: the Pittsburgh Steelers will draft Florida's Tim Tebow. Wouldn't that be a statement to their fans about the disdain they must hold Ben Roethlisberger.....

Of course, as many people are saying Tebow will be anything but an NFL quarterback as those who believe he'll be a productive NFL quarterback.

If the Bengals draft a quarterback in any of the first three rounds, it'll say a lot about how much longer they believe Carson Palmer will be an effective quarterback. Think about this, if there is no NFL in 2011 because of a labor dispute, Palmer will finish the 2012 season 33 years old, clearly an age when a quarterback is 'on the back nine'.......

I still believe Mardy Gilyard will be the best bargain in this draft, particularly if he slips to the third round....

Scott Rolen went three for four Tuesday night and the Reds rallied to beat the Dodgers. Think that's just a coincidence? Since Rolen arrived on July 31, 2009, the Reds have won 67% of the games Rolen has played in. Without him, they've won just 25% of the time....

I tend to believe Edinson Volquez when he says that the banned substance he tested positive for was a fertility drug. He claims he was taking it, hoping it would help he and his wife conceive a child. OK, I buy it. But if that's true, then Volquez is flat stupid for not informing the Reds or MLB about it BEFORE taking the drug...

Besides, 50-games? He'll still be at least a month away from pitching in a professional game when the suspension is over...

Man, could Mick Cronin use a big time recruiting commitment right about now....

Bearcat Bowl IV should be very interesting. It's this Saturday night at Nippert. The word out of the UC spring football drills is that Butch Jones' offense is even faster and more explosive than Brian Kelly's. And, that Jones actually cares about his team playing defense....

2010-04-20T09:37:00.000-07:00

Just posted a new Broo View Podcast on the front page of my web site, www.kenbroo.com. Episode 236 is all about the NFL draft with the editor and publisher of Pro Football Weekly, Hub Arkush. If you're in a hurry, you can download it here.

2010-04-19T23:48:00.000-07:00

Just posted to the front page of my web site, www.kenbroo.com are two new interviews. From the National Football Post, Wes Bunting the site's college football guhru, joins me to talk about the upcoming NFL draft.

And I caught up with former Cincinnati Reds relief pitcher, Wayne Granger. We visit about the final game and the final pitch (which Granger threw) at Crosley Field some 40 years ago this summer.

A new Broo View Podcast, featuring Hub Arkush, the editor and publisher of Pro Football Weekly will be posted midday Tuesday.

2010-04-19T22:59:00.001-07:00

It's Tuesday, already....

If you're a Reds fan, you're walking the tightrope today. On one side is what appears to be more of the same, more of what we've seen from this team the past ten or so years. That would be poor fundamentals, starting pitching that can't get past the 5th inning and a team that's simply inadequate in the art of situational hitting. On the other side is the fact that the Reds are just 13 games into the season and only 3 1/2 games out of first place. It's a delicate balance between cynicism and hope. What side do you come down on?

I'm always a 'glass half full' kinda guy. So the side I choose is the latter. I know we've seen far too much of the same, through 13 games this season. I wonder how, despite managerial changes and coaching changes, the Reds simply can't develope decent prospects into serviceable or better Major League players. It's astounding, really. Austin Kearns was a complete bust. Adam Dunn went from being a power hitter, who also hit for average, to a power hitter who had trouble cracking the .275 ceiling. The latter day incarnates are Jay Bruce and Drew Stubbs. Bruce is baffled continuously by the breaking ball. Stubbs swings like a rusty gate.

Hitting coaches come and go, from Jim Lefebvre to Chris Chambliss to Brook Jacoby and little changes. By the way, just an aside: whose Wheaties did Dave Parker spit in? One of the most prolific and feared hitters in MLB history lives within five miles of Great American Ball Park. Why is it that the Reds won't give him a whiff of a job interview? Is it because he was caught up in the infamous Pittsburgh Pirates drug bust? How many years ago was that? All I know is this: Parker could hit better than any hitting coach the Reds have had in my memory.

Starting pitching has been a cronic problem for the Reds. Under Jim Bowden, the Reds couldn't find, draft or kidnap a decent starting pitcher, even if they had a map, compass and a picture of Cy Young. Do you remember Ty Howington, or Richie Gardner or Ryan Wagner? All first round picks who turned out to be busts. Or how about the second round pick the year the Reds drafted Wagner: Thomas Pauley. Where is that dude now? The current starting five they employ now have 13 starts so far in 2010 and none has been credited with any of the Reds five wins. That's an astounding fact. Worse, few of them have managed to take a game into the seventh inning. Johnny Cueto pitches like he's been told there's a prize for throwing the most pitches in one ballgame. By the fourth inning, consistently in his short Major League career, Cueto is approaching 80 pitches. Worse, Homer Bailey and Aaron Harang have fallen into that trap as well. That means Dusty Baker is going to his bullpen virtually every game in the 5th and 6th inning. That will kill a team quicker than any batting slump.

So I'm not ready to give up on 2010 just yet. But the day for bailing on the Reds is quickly approaching. Wait 'til next year keeps coming sooner and sooner it seems at Great American Ball Park.

THIS BLOG MAY NOT BE REPRODUCED, RE-PURPOSED OR RE-TRASMITTED IN ANY FORM, IN PART OR IN WHOLE, WITHOUT THE EXPRESSED WRITTEN CONSENT OF KEN BROO

2010-04-16T14:35:00.000-07:00

Very busy weekend coming up, on both radio and television. Sports Rock! Sunday night on Cincinnati's channel 5 is must see TV this week (every week, of course). Sunday in studio, UC head football coach, Butch Jones joins us. He'll have an update on spring football and a look ahead to the Bearcat Bowl on Saturday night at Nippert Stadium. Geoff Hobson from bengals.com and the Cincinnati Enquirer's Joe Reedy are in to talk NFL draft...

Saturday and Sunday, you can catch me on 700 WLW. I'm on Saturday from 3p-6:30p ET, then again Sunday from 9am-Noon EDT for Sunday Morning Sports Talk. Among my guests this weekend are Hub Arkush, the editor of Pro Football Weekly, Ross Tucker from Sports Illustrated, Seth Livingstone from USA Today and former Cincinnati Reds pitcher Wayne Granger. The draft, the Reds and the ongoing saga of Ben Roethlisberger will be the hot topics, I'm sure.

And keep checking my web site www.kenbroo.com for updates along the way.

Have a great weekend.

2010-04-14T12:54:00.000-07:00

Just published to the front page of my web site: www.kenbroo.com is the lastest Broo View Podcast. My guest in this episode is Frank Coyle from www.draftinsiders.com. We preview the upcoming NFL Draft.

NFL 2010 schedule will now be released next Tuesday night.

2010-04-13T22:43:00.000-07:00

Happy Wednesday.

Who knew the Reds could hit? After the first week of the season, the buzz was about the pitching and the buzz kill about the Reds inability to hit the ball. Did you watch the game Tuesday night? Ten runs, two big three run home runs from Ryan Hanigan and Jonny Gomes and the Reds have now won three straight.

Look, I don't think this team is going to be in the World Series this year. It'll do well just to be in a position to play for a post season spot when the month of September rolls around. But finally, the team has some life to it. The Reds have given their fan base a lost generation. They've been to the playoffs exactly twice in the last 20 years. And if a generation is defined as 25 years, there is really no one alive under the age of 25 who can remember what it's like to have a good baseball team in our town.

When you have a lost generation, you're really talking about 50 years, not 25. Because not only is the under 25 crowd missing the thrill of growing up with a winning team in their town, they're also less likely to support that team when they have kids.

I used to be the color commentator on the University of Maryland football games a few years back. Because of that, I always watch the Terps when they're on TV. I saw several of their games last season and became a fan of offensive tackle, Bruce Campbell. He's big, 6-7 about 325 and looks to be a power blocking pure left tackle. I've said I'd love him to be available when the Bengals pick at #21 in the first round of next week's draft. But I'm hearing this about Campbell from a lot of football watchers I listen closely to: his stock rose dramatically after a terrific NFL Combine and pro workout day. But the game tapes tell a different story about him. I'm told he's going to have a tough time adjusting to the pro game. Oh well....

The Bengals wouldn't consider trading a high pick for the Broncos' wide receiver, Brandon Marshall, would they? Probably not, after signing Antonio Bryant this off season. Marshall is available, after signing his tender offer this week. But imagine him lining up alongside Ochocinco, Bryant and Andre Caldwell. Would there be a better four wide receiver set in the league?

Draft expert, Frank Coyle, from www.draftinsiders.com joins me again this Sunday morning on 700 WLW. Frank's one of the best in the biz and his draft yearbook is a 'must' for anyone who's into the NFL. A lot of mock drafts have the Bengals taking Oklahoma State wide receiver, Dez Bryant. Coyle told me the Bengals should run from this guy. Bad news, he says, on and off the field.

2010-04-11T22:59:00.000-07:00

Good Monday Morning!

Who told Lance Stephenson it’s a good idea to leave the University of Cincinnati’s basketball team. This is a really dumb idea on his part. Stephenson, as we all know, is the wonder kid who chose UC to play his college basketball. It was widely assumed before he arrived in town that he’d be one and done. He was just that good and the lure of the NBA would be so great, he wouldn’t stick around Clifton for more than one year. So OK, he plays well enough to win the Big East Conferences rookie of the year award. But I think that’s more of a commentary of how weak the freshman class of players was this season in that conference. And now, this week, after what was at best a mediocre first season, the kid known as Born Ready declares himself a candidate for the NBA draft.

Did I mention this is a really dumb idea?

For openers, a lot of underclassmen with a lot more talent and better resumes are declaring for this draft. They’re doing it for the money, of course. But they’re also declaring for THIS draft because there could be a very good chance of strike or a lockout in the NBA after next season. Patrick Patterson, DeMarcus Cousins, John Wall, Evan Turner, they’re all coming out early.

Unless Stephenson upgrades his game, and a lot, I don’t see him getting drafted. If he does get drafted, it’ll be late second round. And the NBA only has two rounds in its draft. Why do I feel that Stephenson will be in the NBDL next season, or Europe? He should have stayed in school. I hear that family members, in need of money, urged him to leave UC early. Had he played another year in Clifton, those same family members would have been able to harvest a bigger pay day. Now, Stephenson could be out of the game in a couple of years.

Did I mention this is a really dumb idea?

Not exactly efficient pitching by the Reds in this first week of baseball.

Opening Day, Aaron Harang needed 93 pitches to get through just five innings. He improved Saturday, going seven and throwing 99 pitches.

Friday night, Homer Bailey went five innings. But he needed 106 pitches to do it. And on Wednesday night, Johnny Cueto tossed six innings, but used 109 pitches to do it. It’s early. But I think the Reds starters may want to work on their pitch efficiency.

Did you see that TV commercial with Tiger Woods staring into the camera? I didn’t become nauseous watching it, as some people have claimed they did. But did he really have to exume his dead father to see golf shirts and balls? Really? What would have been better would have been Tiger staring into the camera and simply thanking Nike for sticking with him while he male whored it up and say once again that he’s sorry he let you down. That commercial didn’t want to make me go out and buy a bunch of Nike stuff. And here’s the really troubling part. The web site, Sports By Brooks researched where the words of Tiger’s father really came from. Apparently, Earl Woods wasn’t talking about Tiger, though the commercial would have you believe that. No. According to Sports By Brooks, the words you heard Earl Woods speaking came from a DVD, released in 2004, on the life and times of Tiger Woods. Earl spoken words were about the break up of his marriage from Tiger’s mother. They’re not about Tiger. So you not only have Nike trying to sell material on Earl Woods grave. You also have his words taken out of context.

If I’m the old man, I’m spinning in the grave like a Texas tornado.

2010-04-05T23:00:00.000-07:00

Random thoughts from Opening Day....

Why in the world would Dusty Baker go through an entire spring training, have Drew Stubbs win the starting job in centerfield and then sit him in the opener? He's either your starter, or he isn't. He is a former first round draft pick. If you're protecting a player (from Cardinals ace Chris Carpenter) then you really don't have a starting player. By the way, when Stubbs got into the game, he had two hits, both off a right handed pitcher.

Laynce Nix and Chris Dickerson are and should be, the fourth and fifth outfielders on this team. And they start while Stubbs and Jonny Gomes sit? This is what will get Baker in hot water with the fans and his team's owner quicker than anything. He pulled the same stunt last season by sending Gomes to the minors to begin the season and starting Darnell McDonald in left field.

I don't know if Aaron Harang can be an effective every fifth day starter anymore. I hope he can, but I really don't know. But I do know this: when the count is 2-2 with two on and two out, you attack the hitter and end the inning. Instead, Harang, either on his own or from dugout instruction, tried to pick a runner off first, threw wildly and allowed the runner at third to score. Bad baseball.

Is Mike Lincoln on this team simply because he had guaranteed money? Yes. But if it were a choice of 'eating' Aaron Miles' $2.7 million or Lincoln's $3.1 million, I would have given Miles the chance to hit his way onto the team, rather than paying Lincoln. Besides, why was Lincoln the first choice coming out of the bullpen? And could Logan Ondrusek only pitch one inning Monday? He pitched a 1-2-3 eighth inning. Instead of letting him pitch in the 9th, when it was still a two run game, Baker opted for Nick Massett. He promptly gave up five runs. Another strange piece of strategy...

The new ballpark sushi is over priced at $12. I don't care how good it is......

There was no way the Reds were going to allow Aroldis Chapman to begin the season with the major league club. His contract is structured so that if he become a "Super Two" player (arbitration eligible after two seasons, which he would have become almost assuredly by starting this year with the Reds), the money due him would accelerate ahead of the five years it's due. But by starting him in the minors for at least the first couple of months, the Reds miss out on his gate appeal. Think about it: Wednesday night is game #2 of this series. If history tells us anything, it's that the second game of most Reds seasons is played before friends and loved ones. With Chapman pitching, this next game had an excellent chance of being a sell out. But that won't happen this year....

And how do you let the Cardinals best player, Albert Puljos, beat you? It's not like he's an unknown commodity...

2010-04-04T21:55:00.000-07:00

Good Monday Morning!

Opening Day in Cincinnati. Nothing like it anywhere, any place else. The Reds go 86-76 this season. You heard it here first.

It's also NCAA Championship night. Duke by 9, but that's just a guess. Maybe it's the last, great game in what until now has been America's greatest sports tournament

What would possess the NCAA to want to want to screw up the single best thing in sports. Why would it want to take its showcase, the field of 65 NCAA Tournament and turn it into a high school tournament?

I knew the answer to that before I even asked myself the question and you do too. It’s money. As we like to say on Sunday Morning Sports Talk, the answers to all of your questions in life is money. There are television dollars, from ESPN, Comcast, CBS, whomever that will pay the NCAA more money to televise more games and that’s why it’s going to happen.

You don’t think money drives the bus in sports? Why is the NFL going to play 17, maybe 18 regular season games? Money. The broadcast networks want more product so they’ll be able to charge more money to their clients so they can pay the exorbitant rights fees that they have to pay to televise the games.

Why are there no afternoon World Series games? Why do they start at 8:30 at night rather than two in the afternoon, or seven at night? Money. Prime time starts mean prime time advertising dollars.

Increase the teams that make the NCAA Tournament from 65 to 96, you get more product to televise and more money from advertisers, a large part of which can be flipped to the NCAA in rights fees.

The answer to everything in life is money, but even more so when you’re dealing with television.

Here’s what I’ve heard in the last week, maybe you have too. Coaches want more teams in because it’ll help them keep their jobs. Make the tournament, keep your job. Really? How ‘bout when the 96^th team in knocks off the 70^th team in. You think that’s going to help the coach with the 70^th team?

Coaches want this because it will give their players the great experience of playing in the NCAA Tournament. No it won’t. Because the experience won’t be the same. You wouldn’t be one of the select 65. You’d be one of close to a hundred. Bigger isn’t always better.

Tell that having a field of 95 wouldn’t render the regular season meaningless. Tell me how the regular season of Xavier basketball will be enhanced by an expansion to 95 NCAA Tournament teams? Do you honestly think any Xavier fan, let alone someone who just has a passing interest in that team, will be all engrossed in whether or not they can knock off Richmond twice in January? Not when an expanded field pretty much guarantees that six or seven Atlantic 10 teams would be locks to make the tournament.

I heard the bracketology guy, Joe Lunardi say this last week. If the field was 96 this year, 12 Big East teams would have made it. Wasn’t just a couple of years ago that only 12 made the Big East Tournament? The number 12 team in the Big East this season was Connecticut. It was 7-11 inside its conference. Teams that are four game below ‘500’ inside their own conference is going to make this a better tournament?

If you’re going to do that, why don’t you just become the Ohio High School Athletic Association and let every teams in?

I could point out that expanding the tournament would render post season conference tournaments meaningless….I’m not sure that such a bad thing actually. And all of the late February, early March talk of last four teams in, first four teams out, meaningless. My buddy Jerry Palm would have to fold his web site, collegerpi-dot-com. RPI numbers wouldn’t matter.

But here’s the real thing that tells you all you need to know about the hypocracy of expanding the tournament: more games means more time in the classroom missed, right? You play more games, you miss more classes. In fact, another good friend of this show, John Feinstein, did the math. A team could conceivably stay at one venue for a week, while it plays its way through the first and second round of a tournament. Is the NCAA OK with that, or does time away from class only matter when the discussion is about a playoff in Division One football?

2010-03-29T09:48:00.000-07:00

Good Monday Morning!

We were talking about this other day at work. In between the six and eleven o’clock newscasts, there’s a little bit of downtime when you can kick around a few topics. Between three and six, it’s a little hectic. After six, things tend to even out. So here’s what came up.

If you’re the university of Cincinnati, would you not want to follow the model Xavier has perfected? Xavier goes to the NCAA Tournament every year, rarely misses a trip. It builds it’s team around good shooters and playing well without the ball. Sometimes it wins it’s conference regular season championship. Sometimes, not quite so often, it wins its conference tournament. But always it seems, it makes the NCAA Tournament. It usually wins a game, maybe two, gets to the elite 8 every so often and that’s it. It’d like to win the NCAA Championship, what team wouldn’t. But its fan base seems happy with a strong regular season and not being one and one in the Tournament.

So somebody at channel 5 said why doesn’t UC adopt the same strategy. No pretense of building a championship team, just get to the Tournament and win a game or two. Everybody would get off Mick’s back, you play games until the final couple of weekends of the season.

Is that a fair assessment of Xavier? Is it settling and opting for keeping the natives at rest, rather than restless?

Think about what Xavier does, historically. It recruits players that big time schools take a pass on. Jason Love fits that description. Somebody, Sean Miller, one of his assistants saw raw talent in Love and took a flyer on him. Go back in Xavier’s basketball history, it happens all the time. UC, it seems historically, gets caught up in a player’s pedigree. Now to be fair, Xavier gets players that other schools go after and UC will take a guy that other schools pass on. Kenyon Martin wasn’t pursued heavily by a lot of teams.

But, by and large, Xavier has a system, seems to be the same system regardless of the head coach, and finds players to fit.

This was the discussion we were having the other day.

UC seems to get caught up in labels. Forever, whether it’s Mick, or Huggins or Andy Kennedy, we hear about a player being a ‘leaper’ or his great ‘athleticism’. At Xavier, it’s whether or not the kid can play basketball.

Playing basketball is a lot of things. But one of the most important things is putting the basketball into the net. UC has struggled a lot to find guys who can do that. Xavier never seems to be in need of a scorer. Holloway’s not hitting, there’s Redford. Lyons gets hurt or gets into foul trouble, there’s Crawford.

Well, wait a minute now somebody else said, there’s a huge difference between the kinds of players Xavier needs to recruit to win the Atlantic 10 and the kinds of players UC needs to recruit to win the Big East. UC plays in a better conference. It needs better player than Xavier recruits.

Is the Big East a better conference than the A-10? Yeah. But you get more bids to the NCAA Tournament every year from the Big East than what the A-10 gets. Everyone was howling at me when I said back in January the Atlantic 10 would get two, maybe three bids. Joe Lunardi, mister bracketology was on this program a month ago right after he wrote that the A-10 would get six team in. Told me, you, that day it’d be four minimum. They got three. The Big East got eight.

So the point of the argument was you get eight chances to make the Tournament, you don’t’ have to be a great team to make it from the Big East. You basically have to be a game better than ‘500’ inside your conference. Georgetown and Notre Dame made the tournament this year with 23 wins and 10-8 conference records. That’s it.. You don’t even have to contend for your conference championship. All you have to do to satisfy your fan base is ‘get in’. If you get in and get the right match ups, you might win one, maybe two. This is what Xavier seems to do every year. Why not, if you’re UC follow that blueprint.

So if I’m Mick Cronin, I’m not trying to build a championship team for next season. I’m not telling anyone that of course. I’m building a team that’ll win ten games inside of my conference and about 24 total and simply qualify for the Tournament. At least for awhile, it'll get the wolves off his back.

This blog may NOT be republished or retransmitted in any way without the express written consent of Ken Broo

2010-03-23T09:04:00.000-07:00

So why all the upsets in the NCAA Tournament so far? I've heard a lot of talk about that this week. You know why? There are only about five dominant teams in college basketball anymore. Ten years ago, the number was probably around 12. 20 years ago, it was close to 20.

So why the fall off?

TV

TV is the great equalizer in everything. Has been and, in some form or another, always will be when it comes to sports. Ask any college coach when he's out recruiting what the two things a potential player is interested in. It's TV exposure and playing minutes. Everything else falls into the category 'also'.

20 years ago, even with ESPN, only a fraction of the games that're televised now actually made it onto the screen. You'd be lucky to see a half dozen games a week. Now how many games are televised? You can find a half dozen games on at the same time most weeknights, many more on weekends. The TV 'stick' that schools like Indiana, UCLA, North Carollina, UK and Duke could hold out with a carrot on the end back in the '80's and '90's is now something just about every Division I program can offer. 20 years ago, you would have been laughed at if you suggested that Pitt, West Virginia, Oklahoma State and Xavier were elite Division I basketball programs. They got their games on television, if lucky, three or four times a year. Now, you can find just everyone of their games on the tube every season.

20 years ago, the elite basketball programs would over recruit a position. They could, because they were the big boys of college ball. So a player who could've started at Tulsa or South Florida or Butler would have taken a scholarship offer from North Carolina, or Maryland or Indiana because they were the elite programs, with their games televised all of the time. Not so anymore.

Now with three main ESPN channels and their various college exclusive packages, with conferences starting their own cable channels and with game available on-line, players who choose non traditional powers can be assured they will appear on some sort of broadcast.

TV exposure=playing minutes=programs that have surged to the top of college basketball in the last 20 years.

What's happening in college basketball today should be no surprise to anyone, when you look at how the dynamics have changed, just in the last 20 years

2010-03-14T21:42:00.000-07:00

Late Sunday/Early Monday

Good Morning!

Good draw for the Xavier Musketeers. Minnesota was one of the last teams 'in' and it simply has no team speed. If Xavier doesn't win by 20, I'd be shocked. 20 point spreads are a lot in the NCAA Tournament. But a quick look at the match ups tells me that Minnesota will be over matched.

Kentucky's path to the Final 4 is brutal. But the Wildcats have John Wall and DeMarcus Coussins and there aren't a whole lot of teams in the tourney with a 1-2 punch like that.

UC's NIT route is interesting. I think they'll handle Weber State, and Dayton for that matter, should it get to that. The real intriguing match up will come in the third round, potentially UC against Illinois. I said this on Sports Rock Sunday night: if UC rebounds like it did against Louisville, UC can beat any team in this tournament. Sure, it has to put the ball in the basket better than what it's been doing. But defense and rebounding can carry a team a long way at this time of the year.

Now, to your Cincinnati Bengals...

They should’ve signed TO. It’s got nothing to do with the Bengals signing Antonio Bryant. I like that deal. But I’d have liked this past week a whole lot better if the Bengals had also signed Terrell Owens.

It may still happen. In fact, several NFL insiders were predicting as late as Friday that the Bengals would still make a deal with TO. Maybe not now, probably later than sooner. But the predictions were that the deal will get done.

Here’s why I want TO in Bengal stripes. He’s good. And a lot of Bengals wide receivers lately have been average, at best. Chad? He recommitted himself to football in 2009. What kind of numbers did he put up? Average. Not great. And now that he’s off dancing with the stars or bowling for towels or whatever else he’s doing to amuse himself, how much is he going to be thinking about making 2010 a killer year? Certainly not anytime before June.

Andre Caldwell? I like him. He’s got skills. But he’s a possession guy. I kept hearing all last season how he had burning speed when he played for the University of Florida. Really? Did he blow a piston between Gainesville and Cincinnati?

Quan Crosby? Please. If the Bengals somehow wind up with Mardy Gilyard, Crosby gone before September.

And we won’t even get into Jerome Simpson. You want to make yourself sick (not that I’m suggesting it as a hobby) but go take a look at the 2008 draft and see who the Bengals passed on to take Jumpin’ Jerome. DeShawn Jackson and Ray Rice to name just two.

When the Bengals parted ways with Levernius Coles (and I might add a wise maneuver there to cut your losses) and when Chris Henry died, it created two openings at wide receiver. And even with Antonio Bryant, the Bengals are still looking for that receiver who can stretch the field. At 37, TO would fill that need.

Now you’re saying, Ken, wait a minute. TO, the same guy who held the Philadelphia Eagles hostage, who flipped out in Dallas. TO, the man who put the ‘va’ in diva, this TO?

Yes.

Look, I don’t know if Carson Palmer is ever going to be the quarterback he was before he got Von Oelhoffen’d in that playoff game in 2006. Maybe he doesn’t either. But I do know this, the man had absolutely no one last season who could get open and go deep. No one. TO can do that.

The market for Owens right now is non-existent. You hear the Ravens may be interested. But then they trade for Anquan Bolden and sign Derrick Mason. The Oakland Raiders are supposedly kicking TO’s tires. He must be thrill with the thought of trying to catch what pass for passes from Jamarcus Russell. My guess is at some point, probably in late spring, TO will still be looking for work. Incidentally a lot of NFL free agents will be. There’s a lockout coming in 2011 and teams aren’t in any mood to dole out big money and long term contracts for players who’ll probably be on a picket line come Labor Day 2011.

So if Owens is still available in mid June, why not make another run at him.
He made six million last year. The Bengals could probably get him for three mil. In the NFL, to a franchise just valued at 953-million dollars, that’s chump change.

You think TO would be a distraction. You think maybe he’d be on Mike Brown’s driveway in October doing sit-ups? Check his track record. TO is a model citizen the first year he’s with any franchise. He was in Buffalo last year, with an offense as bad as the one here. Guy didn’t’ say boo.

The Bengals love to tease you. They think they’re being bold. They’ll bring in Larry Johnson at mid season. They gave Chris Henry chance after chance when the rest of the world screamed ‘what’? But honestly, this team hasn’t done anything bold since it traded up in the 1995 draft to get Ki Jana Carter with the number one overall pick. 1995, 15 years ago.

So my advice to the Bengals is to get bold again. It’s 2010 and it might be the last year of football until 2012. Your best players on offense, your quarterback and 85, appear to be on the back nine. You know you have to throw the ball to win. Antonio Bryant was a nice ‘get’. Now complete the puzzle. Signing TO may be seen as just adding another act to the circus. But it just might be the thing that takes you from a side show, to the main event.

2010-03-07T13:37:00.000-08:00

I don’t know if the Reds are goinig to be any better this season that last. They don’t, and you don’t either. Because at this time of the year, everybody believes they’ve got what it takes to win it all. I’ve been at spring training camps with the Reds, when their best pitchers were Jimmy Haynes and Joey Hamilton, and they truly believed they had the stuff to contend. I didn’t want to burst their bubble at the time, but even the team bus driver knew, they had no shot.

But after spending about five days out here in the desert, here’s what my eyes are tellilng me.

For starters, this team has never had more raw talent, more potential than it has right now, certainly not in the last ten seasons. The every day eight, the rotation and the bullpen is deeper than it’s ever been. Now, you and I both know that potential is sometimes left at the gate when the pennant races begin. No body has won a pennant ‘on paper’.

I did a side by side comparison between the Reds and the Cardinals a few Sundays ago. I thought it was a 50-50 split. On some levels, at some positions, the Cardindals were ahead of the Reds. On other levels, the Reds stacked up better. At this time of the season, it doesn’t matter. Who knows what injuries, slumps and sore arms await a team at this time of the year.
But here’s what I do know. The Reds lost their ‘ace’, Edison Volquez last season. But the starting rotation this year is the best it’s been maybe in 15 years. Maybe it’s a little bit of wishful thinking here. But I believe that Aaron Harang reverts back to his pre-2008 form this season. He’s as slim as he was last season. And Harang has also spent a lot of time in the off season working the weights.

Bronson Arroyo eats innings. Johnny Cueto doesn’t. And who knows which Homer Bailey shows up this year. The good Homer Bailey ended last season, looking very much like the prized draft pick from 2004.
The bullpan is over priced at the back end. Francisco Cordero is tying up $14 million dollars in payroll. But his 39 saves with a below average baseball team last season was more than impressive. If the starters can eat up enough innings, Cordero will easily hit 39 again in 2010.
Go up and down the everyday eight. Is there a better defensive infield in the National League than your Cincinnati Reds? Scott Rolen is the best defensive third baseball this team has had since Aaron Boone. Orlando Cabrera and Brandon Phillips have had gold in their gloves. And in a division with top to bottom maqui first baseball, Joey Votto more than holds his own. Behind the plate, Ramon Hernandez is easily the best catcher this team has had since Benito Santiago and Eddie Taubensee.
The big stat in baseball now is ‘run prevention’. That’s baseball-eese for good defense. In the Reds infield, ‘run prevention’ should never be easier to achieve than it will be in 2010.

In the outfield, there are five guys who can legitimately say they have a right to start. Only three can, of course. But Jonny Gomes, Chris Dickerson, Drew Stubbs, Jay Bruce and Laynce Nix all have a legit reason to lay claim to a starting job. Look it up: Nix and Dickerson and Gomes in left field last season dropped some solid numbers. Bruce was much better at the plate after coming back from his broken wrist than he was before he broke it. Drew Stubbs hit for power after being called up from Triple A. Stubbs and the word power used to be mutually exclusive.
Here’s something else: everybody in the outfield can fly. The team speed in the outfield is exhilirating. Centerfielders, by and large, aren’t usually lead off hitters. But because of his speed, Stubbs can fill that spot. Dickerson can too, if need by. Team speed is a real strength.
But no team, in professional sports, operates in a vacuum. The Reds certainly don’t. They have the Cardinals, Cubs and Astros to contend with. The Brewers were a contender late into last season. They play in the only six team division in baseball. The fact is, all of those teams have gotten better in the off season too.

What I’ve seen since I arrived out here on Tuesday has led me to believe this team can be a lot better in 2010 than 2009. I’m rooting for that. Not for the Reds, mind you. My job doesn’t afford me that luxury. In journalism, broadcast or print, you have to check your rooting interests at the door. But I’m rooting for the Reds to be better in 2010 than any other year in the last 15 because, we really need it. Maybe you remember the good old days. Maybe you don’t. If you’re not 26 or 27 years old, you don’t remember the last time the Reds won a World Series. That’s a major problem for this team. It’s marketing to a lost generation. Too many potential fans have grown up since 1990 and have taken their rooting interests to other teams; or worse forgotten about the game of baseball all together.

This lost generation doesn’t go to games, like their father and grandfathers (or grandmothers for that matter) once did. They now have families and their children aren’t being raised Reds fans, like a lot of us were. The lost generation doesn’t spend money on the Reds, doesn’t spend money on the businesses in downtown that rely on them. The economy suffers because the team hasn’t been good. And we all suffer because of that. Good business in and around Great American Ball Park suffer, or fold and we suffer along with them. Having a competitive baseball team, a team that plays like it has a chance to win, creates buzz and buzz creates dollars and dollars fuel an economy.

Downtown Cincinnati is struggling. The Chamber of Commerce and the downtown PR flaks will try to tell you otherwise. But go ask anyone who runs a business downtown how things are going. The prevailing answer is ‘not good’. A good baseball team can change that. It can bring fans to downtown, who might just decide to drop a few more bucks in the businesses outside the ball park. Having a winning team is nice. Having a winning team that generates income for surrounding businesses is nicer.
That’s why I’m rooting for the Reds to be a better team this year. When they win, Cincinnati wins. And Cincinnati, like a lot of cities around the country, are having a tough time winning these days.I think it’s going to be better in 2010. I’m always a glass half full kind of guy. But honestly, I don’t know. I just hope. And that’s what this time of the year is all about

2010-03-04T08:15:00.000-08:00

Greetings from Goodyear, Arizona....winter home, (new winter home) of your Cincinnati Reds...

I'm sitting in the media room with some of the true Titans of Media...well, OK, Baseball Hall of Famer, Hal McCoy is here. While waiting for the Reds to finish a team meeting, some thought on Spring Training, 2010...

The new team complex is splendid....state of the art, with a clubhouse that rivals any major league ballpark digs. I'm told, it's 44,000 square feet, which is close to ten times the size of the largest home I've ever owned.

Dusty Baker has named Aaron Harang his opening day starting pitcher, which is only a surprise because apparently Baker had no other option. Bronson Arroyo, the most likely candidate, wanted nothing to do with it. Arroyo doesn't like the opening day hoopla that Cincinnati always offers. Harang has won only 12 games in the last two seasons. But he'll make his fifth consecutive opening day start. And no other pitcher, as in Reds history, has ever started that many consecutive opening days..

Baker said just a few minutes ago that this is the best camp he's had in his managerial career. That included some pretty good teams in San Francisco and one or two in Chicago. Why does he feel that way? Baker says he doesn't have to tell players what to do. They're doing it, he says instinctively. "We've finally got some ballplayers, man"....is his direct quote....

Outfielder, Chris Dickerson seemed a little surprised when I told him his comments about wanting to start, believing he should start, in centerfield caused a bit of a stir in Cincinnati last week. Dickerson believes he should be given the same chance as Drew Stubbs. He will be, of course. But for now, the former #1 draft pick Stubbs is the starter. If Dickerson can stay healthy, he'll get his chance. And stats would indicate he'd be successful getting on base. Dickerson's .373 career OBP is one of the better ones on this team....

There's an intra-squad game this afternoon, just a five inning affair. But it will be very interesting on a number of levels. Harang and Homer Bailey are the two starting pitchers, each working an inning. The final pitcher of the day will be the $30 million dollar man, Aroldis Chapman. His 100 mph fastball has had a lot of the media and coaches buzzing....

One final thought: Goodyear appears to have sprung from the ground in the last 15 minutes. This place is a lot of brown dirt, sagebrush and strip shopping centers. There's nothing but chain restaurants, unless you consider Arizona's infamous 'tent city prison' which sits about a mile or two from the complex. You can see the inmates just about every morning, picking up the trash along the highway. Just a hunch: I'll bet they're not buzzing about Aroldis Chapman's debut today...

2010-02-23T23:26:00.000-08:00

It's hump day....

We're hearing it's going to be the best and the biggest women's hockey game in history. Thursday, it's the Gold Medal skate to the finals for the USA women, up against the Canadiens. Both teams have had their wins in games against each other. Team Canada was solid in the late Fall and early Winter. But Team USA is red hot now. This will be must see TV. Make sure you find it on whichever NBC outlet televises it.

I don't know what Yancy Gates did to incur Mick Cronin's wrath. But you can't leave your most dominant inside presence on the bench for the final seven minutes of regulation and all of overtime in a game you absolutely have to win to get into the NCAA Tournament. Marquette should send Mick a giant 'thank you' card for that one.

It's all about seeding now for Xavier. If the Muskies win out, I think they can snag a seven seed in the NCAA's. Joe Lundardi, from ESPN, had an interesting observation about this team. He told me that teams will key on Jordan Crawford in the tournament because Crawford is the only threat the Muskies have. But Lunardi was quick to add, in most NCAA Tournament games, it all comes down to the final three minutes, when most teams have only one 'go to guy'. And the Muskies have Crawford.

I'm glad the Reds signed Jonny Gomes. But honestly, I'm hoping that either Todd Frazier or Chris Heisey has a the kind of spring training camp that makes it impossible for the Reds to send them back to the minors. Gomes didn't attract a lot of interest in the off season (he was holding out for a major league deal which the Reds finally gave to him) because teams didn't know if the 2010 Jonny Gomes would be able to replicate what he did in 280 at bats in 2009. Personally, I think he will. But I'd sure like to see Heisey or Frazier make it a tough call for Walt Jocketty and Dusty Baker.

Check out my latest podcast on www.kenbroo.com. My guest this time on The Broo View Podcast is Wes Bunting, from the nationalfootballpost.com. Wes is the college football guhru at NFP and has an inside look at this week's NFL Combine. You can find this current episode on the front page of my web site.

2010-02-15T23:01:00.000-08:00

Random thoughts for a random kind of Tuesday....

Can snow removal be that tough? I'm just asking.....

The Reds are picked to finish 11 games behind the Cardinals in the NL Central this season. So says the PECOTA theorists and numbers crunchers at Baseball Prospectus. St. Louis, predicted to win the division with 88 wins in 2010. Are the Reds really eleven games worse that the Cards? I'll give you Prince Albert at first, Matt Holliday in left, Yadier Molina behind the plate and the top of the rotation with Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright. But you'll have to concede Brandon Phillips at second, Scott Rolen at 3B and Drew Stubbs in CF. And, I'll take Francisco Cordero to close over Ryan Franklin. The Cards may win the division, but not by eleven over the Reds.....

I'm hearing more and more grumbling about the Bengals having the audacity to offer Pac Man Jones a tryout. I'll grudgingly accept Matt Jones, who had his trouble with coke, among other things, while with the Jags. But Pac Man Jones? The 'Make It Rain Man' from Vegas?

Let me ask you this: when the Indianapolis Colts want to get better, do they look at thugs? Or do they draft smartly? When the Giants Plaxico Burress shot himself in the leg by carrying a concealed weapon into a New York City night spot, what did the Giants do? They suspended him indefinitely even though they were in the middle of trying to make the playoffs. When the Colts Mike Doss got into trouble, Indy cut him. The Bengals then signed him. Just when you thought the Bengals were about to behave like a responsible organization, they go back to their future. And they wonder why they can't win.

If you had any doubts about the Big East being the best conference in college basketball, they should have been erased after what happened inside of 36 hours this weekend. Sunday, Rutgers goes on the road and beats Georgetown. Rutgers has struggled all season and the Hoyas will skate into the NCAA Tournament. Then, Monday night, Connecticut goes on the road and knocks off #3 Villanova. That's two road upset wins inside of a day and a half.

Xavier is back home Wednesday night against St. Joe's. I have a feeling the Muskies will now run the table into the Atlantic 10 Tournament and reach, at least, the finals. If all of that happens, they'll be no worse than a #7 seed, maybe higher.....

UC needs to beat one of the big three left on its schedule to get in, IMHO (Georgetown, Villanova or West Virginia) and the Bearcats have to take care of business with Marquette, DePaul and South Florida. But if they beat at least one of the 'big three' they have left on their schedule, it will be the NCAA clincher.....

I'm into the Olympics big time. But if NBC doesn't change its mind and put the USA vs Canada men's hockey game on 'over the air' TV, I think the network is making a big mistake. NBC has a vested (monetary) interest in the NHL. How can you have that and not put your home country's hockey game on TV, banishing it to cable? The rumor is, the game goes to cable so NBC can televise ice dancing. If the suits at NBC like ice dancing so much, why did their programming department pass on the chance to buy the Dancing With The Stars franchise, which instead was gobbled up by ABC,

Like I say...I'm just asking here....

2010-02-15T08:56:00.001-08:00

We got a long way to go and a short time to get there, as the late great Jerry Reed used to sing...

2010-02-15T08:54:00.000-08:00

2010-02-08T23:09:00.000-08:00

It's Tuesday and it's snowing...wait a minute, it's February in Cincinnati, why is this a shock to anyone?

This may have been the last Super Bowl you’ll be able to enjoy for awhile. There will be at least one more, after this upcoming season. But the talk around that game will be more about labor troubles in the NFL than about blocks and tackles. The NFL is headed for a road block.

The owners want out of their basic bargaining agreement with the players association. The owners signed off on a new deal in 2006. But, within months, there was buyers remorse.

Now the NFL owners have exercised an opt out. They want a do over. And the players union is in no mood to give them one. I’ve been told by people who should know that the real intent of the owners here is to permanently break the union.

In 2006, when Paul Tagliabue was the NFL commissioner and the late Gene Upshaw ran the NFLPA, the owners signed off on a deal that guaranteed their players 59-percent of the teams gross revenue. It was then, and remains now, the highest ‘cut’ of any of the four major sports. The owners say, it’s too high. And since 2007, or there abouts, they’ve been girding for a lockout. The target season: 2011. Everything the owners have done leads you to believe they will lock out the players in 2011, effectively stopping the games. The owners have hired the man who engineered the National Hockey League’s player lockout from a few years back. The owners have negotiated a contract with their television partners that will guarantee them payments form the networks, even if there are no games to televise.

Now you’re thinking, OK, 2011 is a long way off. But the impact will be immediate. Because the owners have opted out of their agreement with the players (which incidentally they had every right to do, given the contract language) 2010 will be an uncapped year. That means teams can spend as little as they want on player salaries this upcoming season, or a much as they want. Guess which side teams like the Patriots, Redskins and Cowboys will come down on. Guess which side your Cincinnati Bengals will choose.

Owners with deep pockets and big egos, like Jerry Jones and Dan Snyder could spend past imagination to try and build a championship team. Don’t think it could happen? In 2007, Snyder spent $130-million more than the Minnesota Vikings. Not $130 million dollars in salaries. $130-million dollars MORE than the Vikings.

Ir’s more than just dollars. It’s the stark reality of trying to fix a football team that might be just a player or two away from being really good. Think, your Cincinnati Bengals.

Up until this year, a player with four seasons of NFL under his belt would be available for some form of free agency. Not now. In this uncapped year of 2010, the years of service goes up to six. That will cut down on the free agent pool. Players like Denver’s Elvis Dumervil and San Diego’s Darren Sproels, are now off the market.

The top eight playoff finishers from the previous season would be allowed to sign free agents only at the rate at which they lose them. So maybe there’s a silver lining after all, to the Bengals stinking it up in the first round of the playoffs.

Each team would be allowed to restrict two eligible free agents with "franchise" or "transition" player tags, rather than one., further limiting the free agent pool. In essence, the chances for a team that is, shall we say frugal, of getting better overnight, aren’t all that good.

You heard a lot of rhetoric this week from the union boss, Demaurice Smith and from NFL commissioner, Roger Goodell. You’ll hear a lot more in the coming weeks and months. With no deal in place by this time next year, the strike rhetoric will overwhelm the game. A lot of voices are saying today that the NFL and it’s union won’t allow it to get to a point where the 2011 season is interrupted, that there is too much money on the line for both sides to kill this golden goose. But we heard that in 1982 and again in 1987. And both times a major piece of the seasons were interrupted.

It could happen again.