THE BROO VIEW with Ken Broo

Taps soon for the Bengals. As far as the 2008 playoff race is concerned, the 0-4 Bengals are dead. This is a team that wasn't very good going into the season. And it's playing down to it's talent. How else do you explain how poorly this team played against one of the worst teams in the league, the Browns? Cincinnati foolishy used a time out on the first play of the third quarter to challenge a Cleveland non scoring play. Why would you do that, knowing you had a quarterback playing in a real game for the first time in almost three years? Don't you think someone on that Bengals sideline would've thought, gee, maybe we should save a few TO's to help Ryan Fitzpatrick out later in this game. The other two TO's were burned because their defense couldn't get the proper personnel on the field. Bad, bad bad.

If you’ve been with me all along on this program, you know where I’ve stood with regard to the Bengals, ever since their reported to Georgetown. I don’t think they’re a great team. I don’t think they stink. 0-4 record aside, they’re not one of the five worst teams in the NFL. There are teams with a win that’re worse: Seattle, Miami and Oakland. But they’re no playoff team. I didn’t think they were in July, and since the last team to start 0-3 and make the playoffs was eleven years ago, they aren’t now. Not at 0-4. The Bengals are like 20-or so other NFL teams. They will finish this year with a record somewhere around 6-10 to
8-8.

Now, the Reds. I’m not buying any of this stuff that’s been going on since late August. Great, they’re playing better. It would have been a tough job to play any worse than they did in May and June.

Let me ask you a very basic question: as the Reds conclude another bummer of a season, do you honestly think the everyday eight they’ve been running out there has a chance to compete with the everyday eight the Cubs will trot out in 2009?

Ryan Hanigan? Nice story. But if he was this good, why did it take the Reds until late August to bring him up here? Jay Bruce will be one of the three outfielders in 2009. Who are the other two? Do you honestly think the Reds will contend with an outfield of Bruce, Chris Dickerson and Ryan Freel? Move Joey Votto to left field. OK, who plays first? Edwin Encarnaction? Really? The guy who’s committed 23-errors this season?

Now you want him handling the ball four times as much as he would playing third base?

I keep hearing the grand plan includes finding a right handed power bat in free agency? That would be Pat Burrell and who else? And Burrell, who’ll probably sign one more big contract in his career would want to come here because….

At his age, Burrell will want to go somewhere we he can win a championship. And if he is the best right handed bat available this winter, don’t you think the free spending Yankees or Angels or Red Sox chase him?
Money and a chance to go to an instant contender. The Reds offer neither, at this point.

Burrell, incidentally, is Adam Dunn from the right side of the plate. And we already know what they thought of Dunn.

I don’t doubt Walt Jocketty’s baseball brains or Bob Castellini’ wallet. But I’m having a tough time believing that the Reds will be contenders in 2009. Are you?

And I watched a lot of college football Saturday. This is a revelation: I usually don’t. It’s my one day away from sports in any week. I usually catch the highlights on ESPN News. But I watched the UC game Saturday.

I have a simple question: what was UC doing, scheduling a game at Akron?
Whose bright idea was that? As Brian Kelly is fond of saying, the Bearcats are one of only two BCS teams in Ohio. In your wildest, alcohol or other substance induced dreams, could you ever imagine Ohio State agreeing to play a football game in Akron?

Along about six o’clock Saturday night, Kelly had to be cursing whatever athletic director is was that sent him to the home of the Zips. But he was probably busting a sweat over losing another quarterback. Or maybe knowing that he’s got another bus trip next Saturday to Huntington, West Virginia to play a Conference USA team on the road.

His current AD should have bought the Bearcats out of both of these games. Isn’t that what the other Ohio-based BCS team did to UC this past winter?

Maybe Kelly signed off on this. Maybe there’s some sort of payoff coming back to UC down the road. All I know is this, when you’re a major-major, you get nothing out of playing on the road against a mid-major. If you win big, you’re supposed to. If you lose, and don’t win your conference you knock yourself out of any big bowl consideration at the end of the season.
If you win close, this should be the lesson: Act like a BCS team. Don’t ever do this again