We're waiting to see if Cincinnatian Mary Wineberg will run her way onto the US Olympic Track and Field team. The former Walnut Hills and UC star has an 11:05pm start time tonight. She was the fastest in the semi's with a time of 50.57 in the 400 meters and will start in the coveted fourth lane (reserved for the fastest semifinalist) in tonight's finals in Oregon.

Meantime, the Reds sputter along, dropping two of three to the Pirates this week. Today, they demoted pitcher Daryl Thompson, who pitched so promisingly in his two previous starts. But the Pirates torched Thompson for seven earned runs in 4.1 innings of work Wednesday night.

And if you think things are getting better with Homer Bailey in Louisville, well read this in the Courier Journal about Bailey's night last night.

Meantime, it sounds as though things weren't as rosy as we thought with Josh Hamilton here in Cincinnati last season. The ex-Red unloads a bit on USA Today's Bob Nightengale.

If you check out my web site http://www.kenbroo.com/ right now, you'll be able to download my lastest "Broo View Podcast". I've got an indepth interview with Bengals rookie wide receiver, Andre Caldwell from the University of Florida.

Meantime, if anyone thinks Marvin Lewis is really on the 'hot seat', as this guy at msnbc.com does, they're sadly mistaken. Mike Brown, unlike Reds owner Bob Castellini, has no appetite for paying someone not to work.

Well, just when you think you've seen it all.....actually, I have seen this before....back in the early 90's when Tom Browning fouled a pitch off his face. But Michael Barrett has done it again!

The difference between Barrett and Browning? Browning opened a gash on the bridge of his nose, lay at home plate while a doctor stitched him up, got up and continued his at bat.

Now that's guts!

I saw this on ESPN's morning show and thought at first it was a way to take a shot at a competing network. But the more I look at this, the more I realize that Skip Bayless has a strong point.

What do you think? Do you think Joe Buck was right to take a 'shot' at what puts food on his table? Are baseball games too long? Send along some comments. I'd really like to know what you think.

Normally, when you bring up the Dayton Daily News and baseball, Hall Of Famer Hal McCoy is the first name that pops up. Every so often, the great one steps aside for a day and allows the talents of Doug Harris to shine. Harris has this take on what the Reds should do with Ken Griffey, Junior.

Of course, that doesn't mean that Hal takes the entire day off. "The Real McCoy" offers some tales from the battle for the Ohio Cup. It's Reds vs Indians weekend around here.

We got into this discussion last Sunday on 700 WLW. Where would the Reds be right now, if they had the ability to develope decent starting pitching? The last legitimate starter the Reds have developed (other than a half season from Jack Armstrong in 1990) was Tom Browning. And that was almost 23 years ago. Think about how much better the Reds would be this season if they didn't have to trade Josh Hamilton to the Rangers. In return, they got a terrific young pitcher in Edinson Volquez. But if the Reds had done a better job of developing their own pitching, they'd have had a pitcher the calibre of Volquez AND Hamilton. And check out this article from the Fort Worth Star Telegram about Hamilton, who's off to a great start with Texas.

Ty Howington, Richie Gardner, Ryan Wagner, Jeremy Sowers are just some of the first round picks the Reds have made in the entry draft. Howington and Gardner were both injured early in their careers and are gone. Wagner flamed out as a reliever and was shipped to the Washington Nationals. Sowers was nothing more than a temper tantrum pick by then GM Jim Bowden, who drafted Sowers knowing there was no chance then owner, Carl Lindner would pony up the bonus money (about $2 million) to sign him. If Bowden was proving a point, he did so at the expense of the franchise.

Interesting reading in this story by Si.com writer, John Heyman. Nothing new, just a little texture to where the Reds are right now.

I'll be talking sports thi Sunday morning again on 700 WLW. On my Sunday Morning Sports Talk Show, we'll have Geoff Hobson from bengals.com and SI.com's John Donovan. And, we'll also take your phone calls. Sunday night at 11:35, it's another rousing edition of Sports Rock! Jeff Piecoro from FSN and Eric Thomas join in on the fun. It's all on Cincinnati's Channel 5. And, we'll also be joined by tennis legend, Martina Navratilova

Check out my web site: www.kenbroo.com.

Have a great weekend!

Let the games begin, at least the spring games. Exhibition baseball begins tomorrow.

Interesting read here on former Red Josh Hamilton, who apparently has his support net in place in Texas.

The smartest man in baseball is at it again. SI.com says Tony LaRussa will do it again this season.

Just a thought: what does batting the pitcher eighth do for the confidence of the guy who has to hit 9th. Know any Reds pitchers you'd like to see hitting in the "8 hole"? Me neither.

Bet you didn't know, the University of Cincinnati has a hockey team. It's just a club sport. But the head coach, is former Cincinnati Stinger, Blaine Stoughton. You want to take a trip back in time? Check out this video a friend of mine sent me. Superfly lives! Stoughton was a terrific goal scorer.

The worst thing in the world is to have family leave this earth. A close second would be losing friends. Here's a picture that's about 27 years old.
It was our weekday anchor team at WTSP-TV in Tampa-St. Petersburg. On the left is main anchor Don Harrison, who went on to great success with CNN. Don passed away several years ago. That's me in the middle, at the time a very young weekday sports anchor. On the right, is meterologist Dick Fletcher, who, sadly, passed away today. "Fletch" as he was known to his co-workers had a wicked sense of humor. We'd trade 'jabs' all the time. He got me back good several years after this photo was taken. To shoot a promo of the anchor team, we had rented a yacht and set sail for Tampa Bay from the St. Petersburg Yacht Club. I had the sea legs of a Nebraska farmer and wasn't doing so well. Not only breakfast was being delivered over the railing and into the bay, so too was the dinner and lunch from the day before. It didn't help that our anchor at the time, John Wilson, was hitting just about every buoy he could find. Knowing that he was 'one down' to me for the week, Fletch let me have it pretty good. "You OK", he asked feigning concern. I couldn't answer him, I was so nauseous. "You know", he said, "it's times like this that I really enjoy some nice, cold Mexican food". Another hurl over the railing and more uproarious laughter from all aboard. "John", Fletch yelled to our poorly navigating captain, "when we're done today, how about we swing by that hot dog place on 4th Street for some of those chili dogs, you know with onions and....". You simply never got the last dig with Fletch.

Here's something else about him. Dick Fletcher was a terrific weatherman. He knew that in time of crisis, the calmest voice would be heard above all others. I remember one afternoon, along about 4pm, I was arriving back at the station from a story and Fletch was standing by the back door, looking at the sky. "What are you doing"?, I asked. "Looking at the sky", he said. "That's where the weather is. Inside it's clear and 72". Not enough current weather people take the time to look at the sky. Maybe it's too 'old school'. They'd rather look at their computer models, weather maps and animated graphics. And most of them couldn't forecast gas after a baked bean dinner.

Fletch was good at what he did. And he was my friend. I miss him already.

See you tonight at 11pm, on Cincinnati's NBC affilate WLWT Channel 5.

Breaking News on the Reds front. Josh Hamilton is heading to the Rangers. In a deal announced late today, the Reds send Hamilton to Texas for a couple of pitchers, including Edinson Volquez, who was one of their prized pieces in their minor system.


Volquez is a strike out artist, 166 in 144 minor league innings last season. But, like Hamilton, Volquez has had to reconstruct his career. He started last year in "A" ball, after getting a taste of the majors each of the last three seasons. The Rangers are loaded with young pitching and can afford to deal Volquez (and "AA" pitcher, Danny Herrera, also part of this deal) for some much needed outfield help.


The more interesting thing about this deal is that it opens up an outfield spot, centerfield, for the best prospect the Reds have had in years: Jay Bruce. The Reds had been looking for a way to get Bruce into the everyday line-up. This does it. Junior isn't moving back from right field. Dunn can't play center and even if they hang onto Joey Votto, he's at best a converted left-fielder.


As for Hamilton, he was a great story last season. I hope he hangs on and completes his comeback from drugs and alcohol. But the minute the Reds fired manager Jerry Narron (and didn't retain Johnny Narron, video coach and Hamilton 'guardian') you knew this day was coming.


Interesting background here, on the Dallas Morning News website.

In the National League Central Division, where all things are possible, it's crazy to say the Reds are dead. Not now. The Brewers jumped out like rabbits, but have come back to the field. And as of early tonight, the Reds are just 9 games out of first, with 108-games to go.

The key for the Reds to jump back into the race is to play defense, and get pitching, like they've had the past three games. Starters pitch deep when their defense performs and when starters pitch deep, it doesn't tax the bullpen.

Josh Hamilton homered again tonight....and again, in his rehab assignment in AAA. That's three home runs for "The Natural" in his two games with the Louisville River Bats. With the Reds a little thin in the outfield, look for Hamilton to rejoin the team when his DL stint is up, on Sunday.

I'm a hockey freak. Truth be told, I used to be a season ticket holder, while in high school, with the New York Rangers. I would hop a bus from north Jersey after school and do my home work in Madison Square Garden, waiting for the Rangers games to begin. I've also had season tickets for the Tulsa Oilers in the CHL and the Cincinnati Cyclones, when they played in the IHL.

But I'm troubled by the TV ratings the Stanley Cup Playoffs are getting. Only a little more than 500,000 homes tuned in to watch game one between the Ducks and Senators. That's probably because not too many fans can find the games, now on the Versus network. This weekend, the games flip to NBC and channel 5 here in Cincinnati. I know NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman wasn't playing a strong hand when he made his latest TV deal. The NHL is still suffering from it's lockout/strike of a couple of years ago. But for the good of the game, Bettman needs to re visit with ESPN. This is a sport that desperately needs casual fans to rejoin its party. And the casual fan simply can't, or won't, find Versus.

Any recovering alcoholic or drug abuser will tell you life is one day at a time. It's true for the Reds' Josh Hamilton, back in organized baseball for the first time in four year. Hamilton has been clean and sober for over a year and a half now. He never play an inning of major league baseball before this season. But for a man living life one day at a time, what a month April was.

Hamilton banged out six home runs, drove in 14 and hit .266. Wednesday, Hamilton was named the National League rookie of the month.

Hamilton has been a terrific story so far this season. It would be crazy to think he could keep up the pace, never having played above "AA" baseball before this season. But so far, he's written one of the best stories in Reds history. They took a gamble with him. He's paid off. With any recovering abuser, it could all end in a second. Hamilton has given no indication that second is in sight.

The Bengals adios'd linebacker Jason Berryman today. This is the guy the Bengals signed hours after Marvin Lewis declared he was going to clean up his act and take in only good citizens to his locker room. Berryman was kicked off the Iowa football team, for among other things, spending close to 300 days in jail for theft.

In another town, with another team at another time, Berryman might have been a good pick up. But not this town or this team. He should have never been signed in the first place, even if things for him are better now.

Just posted on my web site tonight, the latest Broo v. Broo podcast. Go to www.kenbroo.com and click on the "Podcast & More" section. This is the most opinionated sports show in cyber space. Guaranteed.

Check back...

Hi from Vegas, the city that doesn't sleep, or stops taking your money. Thank God I don't gamble. I don't see how anyone with even a remote addiction to 'action' can survive in this town. But in all honesty, when you get beyond "The Strip" this is a pretty cool area, big growth area. I've done Red Rock Canyon, beautiful topography and only about a half an hour drive out Charleston Avenue. But one of my more favorite places is Valley of Fire, about an hour north of the city. I'm there Friday. It's simply breathtaking.

Spent a large chuck of today inside the world's largest broadcast technical show, the NAB. Lots of gadgets for tech-heads (I don't like the word geek, in this sense, probably because I am one.) Let me just say this about what's here, the world as we know it is exploding with communication technology. Equipment that was cutting edge just a few years ago is obsolete. And everthing is digital.

I was helping some friends of mine who are in the sports production business shop for new equipment. In the process, we ran into their funder (venture capitalist) and got into the discussion of where all of the anologue equipment is going to go when over the air television must go digital in Feburary, 2009. The short answer is there will be no after market for the tape machines and microphones and editing equipment that has been broadcast standard for the last two decades. Expensive boat anchors, I belive is the term that was used. Oh well, enough with the technology, onto sports.

Why did Jerry Narron lift Aaron Harang so early tonight? I guess Harang was still woozy from his bout with the flu. Great for second guessing, considering how awful Todd Coffey and Rheal Cormier were. My guess is, Cormier is headed for a DFA, as soon as someone down on the farm separates themselves from the pack. I know that Reds' GM Wayne Krivsky tried to deal Cormier in the spring. But he also signed him to an extention last fall.

Josh Hamilton again??? Is there a better story anywhere in sports than this guy?

Mick Cronin recruits better than the Marines. First, he gets the best player in the city to commit earlier this week. Yancy Gates will be a huge, huge college player. I'd like to say you heard it here first...but I've got to be at least top 20 on that call. Now, Anthony McLain is in for a visit. He could, could sign by the end of the week. But if he does, by my math, somebody has to go from the current UC roster.

The Bengals continue to court middle linebackers. Now, they've got former Falcons starter, Ed Hartwell in for a visit. That's something that has to make you go 'hmmmmmm". First, they annoint Ahmad Brooks as their starting middle linebacker and now Hartwell is here for a visit. Is this an indication that Odell Thurman may be fading again, from the proverbial picture?

Check back again....

Hi again....
Spent a lot of Monday searching Vegas for a video camera (I know, I'm at the largest broadcasting convention in the world and I'm looking for a video camera). But, those $5,000 rigs are a big out of my price range....so I settled on a tricked out Panasonic DVD recorder, records right onto DVDs which you can then slap into your computer to look at or edit.

I've been audio podcasting, several shows, on my web site, www.kenbroo.com. I think I'm going to get into some video podcasting as well. I'll never abandon audiocasting, it's too cool. But, I think video will be fun to try. So....stand by for that.

Saw the end of the Reds game against the Brewers last night, sitting in the sports book at the Las Vegas Hilton. You can't spot the other guy ten runs in any game and expect to win. Eric Milton was, at the very best, serviceable last night. But he's not the answer in any of the five spots in the rotation. My guess is, two more starts at the most for Milton. If it doesn't turn around by then, look for Homer Bailey.

It was great to see Josh Hamilton go 'yard' again. The home run was basically meaningless, exccept it was another chapter in his comeback story. The next step for Hamilton is hitting consistently when a game is on the line. But there's no denying this: he knows how to work a count. "Professional at bats" is the way the old per-fessor Bob Boone would call it.

I'm on my way to the NAB show to check out gadgets. Check back soon!

I've got Kansas winning it all. Which will undoubtably be the kiss of death for the Jayhawks. But as we begin the first week of "March Madness", they seem to have the easiest path to the title. We'll see.

I don't see a mid major having the kind of run this season that George Mason had last year. I just think the 1's and 2's are very strong. But you know there will be an opening round upset. My pick for that: Winthrop over Notre Dame.

I got a lot done in my recent trip to the Reds spring training complex in Sarasota, Florida. I saw three complete games and parts of two others. Three things struck me (and no, none were foul balls)

The Reds starting pitching seems to be a lot better this spring than last. Bronson Arroyo and Aaron Harang are a solid 1-2, or 2-1. Eric Milton is always a dicey deal. But he did keep the ball 'down' in the outing I saw last week. Kyle Loshe didn't pitch. He was nursing a sore hamstring. But Paul Wilson did. And he looked terrific. I know it's only one outing in the spring. But if Wilson is back from his shoulder surgery, the Reds may have a real bargain.

I loved what I saw, and heard, from Josh Hamilton. I did an extensive interview with Josh that will appear on WLWT in Cincinnati and an audio portion of it on www.kenbroo.com. Check back later in the week for both. Hamilton has hit the ball well this spring. True, he's not seeing the entire repetoire that pitchers have. But he has one of the sweetest swings in camp. His defense is solid. His past is his past. But if that's history now, the Reds may have come up with the steal of the century.

Finally, Homer Bailey isn't ready for the majors. He's close. But when I saw him last week, he was not making the 'in game adjustments' good pitchers have to make in the majors. His fastball is mid-90's. But, it was flat and worse, high. With the need for a fifth starter only marginal early in the season...two or three times between opening day and June 1, my guess is Bailey will start in AAA. Good for him. He needs the time.

The Reds left the winter baseball meetings without making a blockbuster deal. In fact, they left the meetings without any of the things they really needed: a closer, a centerfielder and a fifth starting pitcher. But they also left the meetings with the most intriguing pick up of the off season.

In the Rule V draft, which basically allows a team to snag an unprotected player off another team's roster, the Cubs picked up outfielder, Josh Hamilton. Immediately, they dealt Hamilton to the Reds for money.

Hamilton was drafted by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in 1999. He was a phenom, can't miss the kind of player you'd build a franchise around. Hamilton hasn't played in an organized game of professional baseball in almost five years.

He was suspended for four of those five years for repeated drug use and missed all of last season with a knee injury. Sober now for just over a year, the Reds are taking a flyer on the former 'can't miss kid'. Hamilton was drafted as a outfielder, but recently has spent time at catcher and he can pitch. He's done all of that, while playing for independent league teams.

Hamilton got a signing bonus of almost $4 million in 1999. As of last summer, he had about $85,000 of it left.

He's never played above "A" ball. The Reds will take him to spring training and if he looks like he's got anything left (he's only 26), they'll attempt to work out a deal with the Devil Rays, who'd get Hamilton back if he failed to make the Reds major league roster.

It's not an amazing story. It's a sad story, that has a chance for a happy ending, if Hamilton doesn't blow this latest chance.

Though Kelley Washington should be back by Sunday (he didn't practice in the 11 on 11 drills today), the other injured Bengals might have to get another weekend off. It doesn't look like CB Deltha O'Neal or OT Levi Jones will answer the bell against the 2-10 Raiders.

I'm off to see the my Ohio Bobcats take on the University of Louisville Friday night in Freedom Hall. I'm also staying to watch the 'Cats take on Bellermaine on Saturday. Coach Tim O'Shea's team got its first road win Wednesday night, a squeaker at St. Bonaventure. They'll play a third game in the 'ville on Sunday afternoon, against St. Joe's of Pennsylvania

Keep an eye on my web site www.kenbroo.com for a new Bengals Report Podcast. It should be posted by mid day Friday. Also on Friday, we'll have a new Broo vs Broo, the most opionionated sports show in cyberspace.

Ken