THE BROO VIEW with Ken Broo

Good Thursday Morning!

The melatonin hasn't kicked in yet....so some rambling thoughts from a sleep deprived mind....

Jeremy Mayfield flunked another drug test, for methamphetimines, again? Forget NASCAR ever, ever again. The next time Mayfield hears his name on a PA system it will go something like this: "Jeremy Mayfield, Jeremy, please report to the front of the store to assist with checkout..."

The Reds HAVE to do something dramatic in the way of player moves. 40 home games, half of their TOTAL number of home games for a season, remain to be played. Bringing up phenom Chris Heisley is the wrong move. A: he has just 202 at bats above single-A ball. B: Isn't this what the Reds did with Jay Bruce last season? And before he broke his wrist, Bruce couldn't hit a beach ball, let alone a 80 mile an hour breaking ball....

Are the Reds out of it? You say yes? You think they're saying the same thing in Atlanta and New York? The Reds and Mets have the exact same record. The Mets are 6 1/2 games out of first. The Braves are 6 games out of first, with one more win than the Reds, who are 5 off the NL Central lead.....

Sporting News just rated Brian Kelly one of the top 5 coaches in college football. Damn, he said, should've waited another month to sign that new deal....

What ever happened to former Bengals defensive end Alfred Williams? The "Condor" as my pal Dave Lapham called him.

Chick Ludwig is still writing for the Dayton Daily News. Good. Stay there, Chickster. We need your blunt and sometimes outrageous questions at Marvin Lewis' weekly media gatherings....

I'm addicted to Frasier re-runs on Lifetime. Never saw the show once when it ran on NBC, and I work for an NBC affiliate. The father, played by John Mahoney, is a TV character classic.

Anybody listen to audiobooks? I need a good one. I'm off on medical leave the end of next week and I want to listen to a couple. I listened to a Tom Clancy novel about ten years ago and loved it. What's good, and more important, delivered well? Let me know: ken@kenbroo.com.

NBC re-upped with the NHL for a couple of more seasons. That means my station, WLWT, gets to televise the Winter Classic again next January 1: Philadelphia Flyers at Boston, to be played at Fenway Park. The Winter Classic is the best hockey on television, as in ever.

I can't buy into all the hype that's building around the Bengals. Now, the respected Pete Prisco of cbssports.com picks the Bengals to make the playoffs this year. Really? With that offensive line? And despite what you've heard and we've seen, Carson Palmer has yet to test his right elbow. It's one thing to drop back and toss a ball without any pass rush. It's another thing to deal with that, having to throw the ball with your arm at different angles, avoiding the rush and tying to beat pass coverage. I hope his elbow holds up forever. But...

And the Bengals are going to beat out the Ravens, Titans, Jags, Jets, Dolphins and Bills for a wild card? Oh, they're going to win the AFC North then. Really? You honestly see eleven wins on that schedule? It will take eleven wins to make the playoffs in the AFC. New England won eleven last year and MISSED the playoffs.

But, I could be wrong.

Five Guys Burgers and Fries is GREAT, despite what my arteries are telling me...

OK, melatonin has kicked in...later