THE BROO VIEW with Ken Broo

I said on channel 5 the other night that I knew the next loss for Xavier was out there, but I couldn’t see it on the horizon. There’s a comment that had shelf life of about ten minutes. I’m watching this game Saturday night, the sound was down I was at dinner, and I’m saying to myself…self, the Muskies don’t appear to be playing very good defense in this game. Little did I know that you and I could find three guys off the street and play better defense than the Muskies did. 81-percent is the number of shots Duquesne made in the first half of last night’s game. Do you know how bad you have to play to let the other guy make 81-percent of his shots. And almost as worse, the Muskies turned the ball over seven of their first 14 possessions. Don’t play defense, give the ball away and, and make only 53-percent of your free throws, it’s amazing the Muskies had a chance to win the game.

So was last night a bump in the road, or a warning shot? Well since it was only the third conference loss in the last two seasons for ‘X’, I’m going to say it was just a speed bump. And listening to Sean Miller after the game last night, he almost seemed relieved that his team lost a game this far out from the tournament. I know he wasn’t. But the last thing a coach wants is for his team to get complacent. Things to work on, as they say in the land of coach speak.

Here’s where I think UC is today: very much alive for an NCAA tournament. CBS Sports basketball guru, Seth Davis said Thursday on one of the ESPN shows that UC’s win over Notre Dame this week was devastating to the Irish because…quote…Cincinnati isn’t going to the NCAA tournament. Another opinion that had a shelf life of 15 seconds.

By beating Georgetown, a top 25 team for a long time this season, the Bearcats now have 16-wins. They’re 6-5 in the Big East with seven games to go. They’re 16-8 overall. If they go 3-4 in their final seven, they finish at 19-12, more important 9-9 in the conference. Last year, a ‘500’ Big East record was the threshold for making the NCAA tournament. I think they can go 3-4. They’ve got some games that just aren’t do-able, like at Pittsburgh in a week. But a home game with St. John’s is still in play, so too is a game with Seton Hall. They beat Hugs and West Virginia on the road last season. They got Hugs at Fifth-Third in a couple of weeks. Very do-able. Nancy Zimpher is about to load up the U-Haul, UC is winning again. This is the best week in years for UC fans.

TJ Houshmanzadeh is playing the role of Chad Johnson this winter. Last winter, Ocho Cinco was looking for any hot mic in broadcasting to yap about how much he hated being in Cincinnati and how much he wanted to get traded. To the Dolphins, Eagles, Redskins, you pick any of the other 31-teams in the league, that’s where Ocho Cinco wanted to be. ABC baby, anywhere but Cincinnati. We all know how well that turned out. Ocho Cinco was a runor for most of this season.

The only difference between what Chad did last winter and what’s going on with TJ now, is that TJ actually may have a chance to leave. He is a restricted free agent. And as late as last week, Marvin Lewis said he prefers not to slap a franchise tag on TJ. Perhaps he’s saving it just in case Stacy Andrews grows another leg between now and training camp.

What Marvin, and his boss, Silent Mike should be more interested in, rather than what they prefer to do, is figuring out why their best players want out of here. And if this is coming down to a preference, they may want to consult with Carson Palmer to see if he’d prefer to throw the football at Houshmandzeh or at Chris Henry who runs pass routes about as well as Mike Duncan ran the Republican National Committee this past fall. Oops, got Keith Olbermann there on you, didn’t I?

Maybe number 9 would prefer throwing to last year’s draft blank, second round pick Jerome Simpson.

Of course, Houshmandzadeh can always refuse to sign the franchise contract, but who’s turning down 10-million a year in this economic climate. And if he does refuse to sign, the Bengals could then simply dump him in June, when all of the big money has been spent on other players, leaving TJ to play for a pittance.

The best course of action would be to make a reasonable offer to Houshmandzadeh, who has been the most reasonable player around here in some of the most unreasonable circumstances. But we all know the chance of that happening…

Which brings us to the next big story of the week, the Reds bottom feeding as spring training begins. Darryle Ward, Jacque Jones, be still my thumping heart. What, Robin Jennings wasn’t available? This is beginning to smack of the strategy Jim Bowden had in his time around here: bring in a lot of aging veterans throw ‘em up against the wall and see who sticks.

I understand that you have to have a willing partner to do a deal. But wouldn’t the more prudent business move be to wait and see how desperate players like Bobby Abreu and Garrett Anderson become before clogging up your roster with the likes of Jones, Ward and Jonny Gomes?

Let me just says for the record, I see no value in a goal of finishing with just a winning record. 82-80 does nothing for me. And it shouldn’t do anything for you, unless it gets the Reds into the playoffs. That’s it. That’s the only goal you should demand from your team: making the playoffs. That’s winning. The rest is mediocrity, or worse.

Finally, I could care less about Michael Phelps blowing into a bong pipe. I know he’s an Olympic hero. But honestly, he comes off as a bit of a doof. This is the same guy who celebrated his performance in the 2004 Olympics with a DUI. Now, he’s blowing in to a bong pipe and it was caught on camera. I could spend a whole three hours talking about cell phone cameras and the people who think they’re journalists by clicking away at celebrities or even unsuspecting schleps like me and you. What those people do is far worse than what Phelps did.

Phelps apologized, was baneed from competitive swimming and training fees were suspended for three months. There’s a set back, the Olympics are what, three and a half years away? He’s getting seven, eight million in endorsements? This absolutely has to kill Phelps. So, whomever is running the USA swimming program is looking a little moronic today, too.

But it wasn’t the worst thing that could happen to Phelps or the Olympic movment. You probably wouldn’t have given him five seconds of thought until 2012. But now, this. You might even say it’s good marketing. Bangin’ on the bong pipe like a big bass drum. It’s a golden moment.