THE BROO VIEW with Ken Broo

The only thing missing was Glenn Close in a white dress, standing behind home plate with the sun setting behind her and Jay Bruce’s home run ball shattering an outfield light bulb.

He is straight out of central casting. Wanted, one young ballplayer who looks and acts the part. Clean complexion and sparkling white teeth required. Must be able to hit the major league curve. Must be able to hit for average and power, deflect post game compliments and heroics to fellow team mates. Must possess speed, throwing ability and excellent defense. Commonly referred to a as a five tool player by former general manager who liked to wear leather pants. Do not confuse with Brandon Larson.

There it is, the job description that Jay Bruce Almighty is a living, breathing poster boy for.

You feel like giving thanks to someone today for all of this. Thank Dan O’Brien and his front office staff. They drafted Bruce in 2005. O’Brien took on a lot of water in his short stint as general manager, although that made Wayne Krivsky’s tenure look like a change of planes. But O’Brien knew good, young talent. He couldn’t make what he had at the major league level work. But he helped set the table for Walt Jocketty and the guy who fired O’Brien, Bobby C.

Finally, we’ve got a first round draft pick who has hit it out of the park, literally. Maybe some of Krivsky’s picks will do the same thing. Jury is out on Drew Stubbs and Devan Morasaco.

Leather Pants? That group whiffed more in the first round than a guy with gold chains and a leisure shuit at La Boom, circa 1986. Ty Howingson, Chris Gruler, Richie Gardner, Ryan Wagner, the aforementioned Larson and, oh, how could we forget, the tantrum pick of the new millenium, Jeremy Sowers. But we digress.

Jay Bruce has done more in one week to rejuvenate Reds baseball than any player on any Reds team in the last nine seasons. This team was dead in the water, on the field and at the box office until he arrived on Tuesday.

You think I’m lying? Did you see those crowds Friday and Saturday? 37-thousand and change Friday night. 38-and change yesterday. Another near sellout Sunday. Good weather?

Braves in town? Junior closing in on 600? Sure to a degree. But those numbers are about Bruce, and a team that’s had a life transplant in the last two weeks.

The series sweeps of the Marlins and Indians gave us a hint this team was on the verge of a pulse again. Bruce made the corpse sit up. Now, the Reds appear to be a living, breathing contender again. They’re scoring runs. Lots of runs. The starting pitching seems to be settling down. The team is winning, and more important perhaps, winning at home.

It’s my opinion, that the Reds were bordering on the most dangerous territory for any sports team: apathy. The opposite of fan adulation isn’t anger, it’s apathy. You might want to consult Mike Brown about that. Like a generation of Bengals fans, close to a generation of Reds fans had grown up knowing nothing but losing baseball. The Bengals had one trip to the playoffs between 1990 and 2005. The Reds had one trip to the playoffs between 1990 and this year. Think about it. If you’re 30 years old, what have you seen from the Reds in your lifetime. You got that great wire to wire run in 1990...a division series win over the Dodgers in 1995....and a lot of Joey Hamilton, Jimmy Haynes and Pokey Reese. Your dad can tell you about the Big Red Machine. Your grandmother can fill you in on Gene Freese, Joey Jay and Wally Post and the ‘61 Reds. But what have you seen with your own eyes that got you geeked besides 90 and 95.

When you’re missing that, you find other things to do. Movies, video games, mall escapes. Going to baseball games, downtown, for how much a ticket? Not so much, not if they don’t win. That, is apathy. And that’s any team’s greatest fear. That’s the turf I saw the Reds dancing far too close to.

Look, I’m not saying Jay Bruce is a savior. There are no saviors anymore. There don’t seem to be very many heros anymore. You can thank guys like me for that. We in the media have done a pretty good job of tearing down good stories. We’ve become obsessed with finding warts. Just wait around for that to happen. Somewhere, out there, is morther of all slumps waiting for Jay Bruce. It happens to every ballplayer, even the great ones. We’ll all be waiting to jump on that one.

But even the worst cynic this week has to admit this: Jay Bruce has kicked this team’s game up a notch. Maybe the rest of the club played off the buzz of his call-up, Maybe some guys don’t want to be the next Scott Hatteberg or Corey Patterson. Maybe this team was going to wake up and play this way, anyway.

But what we’ve witness this week is something we, you and I, may not witness again: a phenom in waiting, legend proceeding him, an underachieving major league team still lurking around with the other contenders, salivating for a kick start. How many times has that happened around here?

Bruce is no savior. The mother of all slumps may be here before you know it. The Reds may revert back to pretenders instead of contenders.

But it’s been a helluva week, hasn’t it?