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Thanks

I had a blast this past week with the show. From the topics to guests and callers I enjoyed the conversation. If you missed any of interviews they are always posted on the podcast page.

Friday night Bob Trumpy (6:10) joined me to talk about Greg Cook's life and career. Trump had fantastic stuff on Greg's skills and what might have been if he hadn't been injured. Listen HERE

Seg talked with Andy Dalton from the Pro Bowl (8:06). Sam Wyche called in (8:35) to talk about Greg Cook. Sam marveled at Greg's arm and abilities. He also mentioned how important Mike Brown was in Greg's life.
Listen HERE

Thursday Walt Jocketty (6:10) and Devin Mesoraco (6:35) joined me on Sports Talk.
Listen HERE. South Dearborn coach Rick Shumate (7:05)  talked about his teams 30-0 run to finish the game and overcome 29 point deficit last Friday. Sean Casey talked Reds (7:20). Click HERE to listen.

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Welcome to Indy

(Thanks listener Drew)

Anyone heading to Indy for the NFL Experience?

I'm driving over with Casey on Saturday. Sounds pretty cool.

Check this out!

Here is the Zip Line at the NFL Experience in Indiaanpolis.
Thanks to listener Drew!

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Reds

Walt Jocketty calls Cards favorites in Central
St Louis Post Dispatch
The Reds also need third baseman Scott Rolen to make a strong comeback from a 2011 season ruined by a reoccurrence of shoulder problems. Though the Reds still finished second in the NL in runs last season, their team slugging percentage dropped 28 points. Rolen slammed 20 homers in 2010 but hit only five last season.
The latest: Rolen told Jocketty that he "feels fantastic."

Greg Cook
Random QB's...best single season marks in their career
Yards per attempt
Cook: 9.4
Unitas 9.3
Manning 9.2
Montana 9.1
Marino 9.0
Brady 8.6
Favre 7.9
Elway 7.9
Yards per completion
Cook 17.5
Fouts 15.1
Warner 14.6
Elway 14.3
Marino 14.0
Manning 13.6
Brady 13.1
Montana 13.0
Favre 12.7

Show preview
6:05, Sports Talk
Guests
Andy Dalton
Alex Marvez, Fox Sports NFL
Bob Trumpy
Sam Wyche

Statement from the Bengals on the death of Greg Cook

            The Bengals organization wishes to express its sadness over the loss of former QB Greg Cook, who died last night in Cincinnati at age 65, after an illness.
            Cook was one of the brightest prospects in Bengals history, but he saw significant playing time only as a rookie in 1969. His career was derailed by a shoulder injury during that season, when he had joined the Bengals as the fifth overall pick in the NFL/AFL draft. Cook was from Chillicothe, Ohio, and was a nationally recognized college star at the University of Cincinnati.
            Cook was declared by the American Football League as its 1969 passing champion, based on average league ranking over several categories. Particularly gifted on long passes, he posted a league-leading average of 9.41 yards per attempt, a figure which remains a Bengals record. He was named AFL Offensive Rookie of the Year by Associated Press and United Press International.
            But in Game 3 of 1969, on Sept. 28 at Kansas City, Cook suffered a shoulder injury while helping lead the second-year Bengals to a win that brought their profile to a new height in Cincinnati. The Bengals triumphed 24-19 over a Chiefs team that would go on to win Super Bowl IV, and Cincinnati moved to a 3-0 record.
            Cook missed the next three games but returned to action later in the ’69 season. He totaled 11 games, passing 106-for-197 for 1854 yards with 15 TDs and 11 interceptions. But his injury later required several surgeries, beginning with the 1970 offseason, and he never was able to return to full action. He remained a member of the Bengals through 1974, but his only action after ’69 was a brief appearance in one game in 1973.
            “Greg was the single most talented player we’ve ever had with the Bengals,” said Bengals president Mike Brown. “His career was tragically short due to the injury. Had he been able to stay healthy, I believe he would have been the player of his era in the NFL.
            “Greg was a personal friend to me,” Brown added. “He was a good person whose company I enjoyed over all his years as a player and after that. I feel a great loss at his passing.”
            At the time the Bengals drafted Cook, general manager and head coach Paul Brown said, “We believe this young man is the best quarterback prospect in the country.”
            Cook was born in Dayton, Ohio, but identified his hometown as Chillicothe, Ohio, where he spent most of his growing-up years. He was a multi-sport star at Chillicothe High School. He left the University of Cincinnati football program with 15 outright school records and a share of two others.

Former UC Quarterback Greg Cook Passes Away

CINCINNATI – Former University of Cincinnati quarterback Greg Cook, a Second-Team All-American in 1968 and first round draft pick of the Cincinnati Bengals in 1969, passed away in Cincinnati Friday. He was 65 years old.
Cook (1946-2012) was one of the top quarterbacks in school history, setting or holding 17 school records during his career. He was a Second-Team All-America selection in 1968, earning spots on the Associated Press, United Press International and Newspaper Editors Association squads.
His career at UC spanned 1966-68 and he was 332-of-655 for 4,906 yards and 34 touchdowns. He left UC as the holder of 15 outright school records and a share of two others.
Cook’s top season with the Bearcats came in 1968 when he led the NCAA in total offense and ranked second in passing. He finished 219-of-411 for 3,272 yards and 25 touchdowns and had a school-record eight-straight games passing for 250 or more yards. His 3,272 passing yards that season stood as the school standard from 1968-2002.
He threw for 554 yards against Ohio on Nov. 16, 1968, a mark that was an NCAA record at the time and still stands as the top single-game mark in UC history. Cook’s 95-yard heave to Tom Rossley against Louisville that season still tops the charts as the longest passing play in school history.
Cook was a first-round selection of the Cincinnati Bengals with the fifth overall pick in the 1969 American Football League/National Football League draft. He led the Bengals to a 3-0 start, passed for 1,854 yards and 15 touchdowns and was named AP and UPI’s AFL Rookie of the Year. Cook averaged 9.411 yards per pass and 17.5 yards per completion, marks that still stands today.
Cook suffered a shoulder injury during his rookie season that kept him off the field for the next three seasons. He returned briefly in 1973 and then retired.
“Greg was the single most talented player we’ve ever had with the Bengals,” said Bengals president Mike Brown. “His career was tragically short due to the injury. Had he been able to stay healthy, I believe he would have been the player of his era in the NFL.
At the time the Bengals drafted Cook, general manager and head coach Paul Brown said, “We believe this young man is the best quarterback prospect in the country.”
He served as a radio analyst for the Bearcats during the late 1980s.
Cook was a native of Chillicothe, Ohio and was a multi-sport star at Chillicothe High School. He graduated from UC in 1968, was inducted into the James P. Kelly Sr. UC Athletics Hall of Fame in 1986 and was a charter member of Nippert Stadium’s Ring of Honor in 2006.

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Bengals

Former UC/Bengals QB Greg Cook has died
Dennis Janson, WCPO

Check out this video feature on Greg Cook by the NFL Network

Greg Cook career stats

Greg Cook SI feature in 2001
The man who changed the face of pro football as we know it today is Greg Cook.
Not many people outside of his native state of Ohio remember him these days, but in Cincinnati, where he starred at the University and then with the Bengals in 1969, he is still a legendary figure, still a topic of conversation. There has never been an NFL rookie like him, and almost everyone who saw him play has some personal memory -- the 70-yarder he threw to Bob Trumpy, the 60-yarder to Eric Crabtree, the deep passes that came off his arm like rockets, but rockets delivered with perfect touch and timing. They remembered his poise and savvy and instinctive knowledge of how to attack a defense.
He was a 6-foot-4, 220-pound, blond-haired football god who was going to rewrite all the records, whose future was unlimited, but when people talk about him today, the inevitable note of sadness comes in, because Greg Cook's functional career ended after one season.

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Stuff

Latest RPI
Jerry Palm, CollegeRPI.com (7:20AM)
1 Syracuse
5 Kentucky
9 Ohio State
22 Indiana
34 Dayton
38 Louisville
49 Xavier
66 Purdue
72 Ohio
95 Cincinnati
208 Wright State

Stadium Journey Magazine

From Paul: My website, Stadium Journey, publishes reviews of sports stadiums from around the world. I have appreciated your support in the past, sharing some of our Cincinnati-related reviews. I wanted to take a moment to let you know that we have named Great American Ball Park at #63 in our Top 100. Additionally, we named US Bank Arena as our #93 arena in our Top 100, and as the #2 minor league hockey facility. I thought you would be interested in the issue along with our rankings.

Yonder isn't as important as hits to Alonso
UTSandDiego.com
“I really like the approach,” manager Bud Black said of Alonso during the Padres three-day, voluntary introduction program for recently acquired players and top prospects.
“He looks good, just as advertised,” continued Black. “Everything I’ve seen validates the reports that he’s a line-to-line hitter. The ball comes off his bat.”
Alonso believes he will be a better hitter at Petco Park than he was at hitter-friendly Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati.
“The fences are closer in Cincinnati,” reasoned Alonso. “The outfielders are packed into a smaller space. A lot of balls in the gaps get caught. There isn’t nearly as much grass in Cincinnati as there is here.

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Reds

Tweet, tweet

Jerry Crasnick @jcrasnick
Jeff Francis' contract with #Reds: Minor league deal. He can earn a base salary of $1.5M if he makes the big league club.

Jerry Crasnick @jcrasnick

Francis' deal can increase to $3.25M total with incentives based on starts. He can also opt out on March 28. 

(Left to right: Phil Castellini, Thom Brennaman, Tom Browning, Lance McAlister, Devin Mesoraco, Seg Dennison. Kneeling: Mr Redleg and minor leaguer Ryan LaMarre)

(Me with Devin Mesoraco)

(Thom Brennaman, me and Devin Mesoraco)

Photo Gallery of Reds Caravan stop at 700 WLW

What they are saying around the Caravan stops

Charleston Gazette: Reds are on the move

Lancaster Eagle-Gazette: Reds' moves has owner excited

The Oxford Press: Retooling Reds is 'part of the fun' for Jocketty

The Marietta Times: Reds Caravan at Grand Central Mall today

CBS Sports Power Rankings: Reds #9
Good business: Yay for patience! The Reds gave up a bunch for Mat Latos, but not as much as the Nats did for Gio Gonzalez, an inferior pitcher. Plus they alone timed the closer market just right, getting Ryan Madson on the team-friendliest deal in the history of Scott Boras clients. Bad business: They appear to be the only team in baseball that views Ryan Ludwick as something other than bench effluvia. Prognosis as of 11:14 a.m. GMT on Jan. 26, 2012: Could this team manage itself? I would feel better about its chances if it could.

Taken January 1937 by Nelson Ronsheim (copyright 2009, Michael G Smith)

More from CincinnatiViews.Net

On this date

1937 - In Cincinnati, OH, the worst flood in the city's history inundates Crosley Field, covering home plate with as much as 21 feet of cold water. The lower grandstand is completely covered. Reds pitchers Gene Schott and Lee Grissom row a boat out from the center field wall and the resulting photo appears across the country. Fortunately, with the season two months away, Opening Day will be unaffected.
(Baseball-Reference.com)

This is a cool site about Crosley Field

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No way

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NCAA hoops

Focusing on the tournament
ESPN
1. The NCAA tournament selection committee will meet again next week and if there are five key points that the committee will look at when evaluating teams, they are: losses vs. RPI 151 and below; non-conference strength of schedule; road record; RPI and wins versus the top 50 and top 100. And that’s why Middle Tennessee State's road game at Vanderbilt on Saturday could be a huge pop for the Blue Raiders if they can pull the upset.

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NFL

Irsay's comments bringing down curtain on Manning's Colts career
Bob Kravitz, Indy Star
After talking Thursday about Manning as "family," Irsay said, "He's a politician. When it comes to being competitive on a scale of one to 10, 10 being the highest, we're both 11s. There have been plenty of eggshells scattered around this building by him (Manning) with his competitive desire to win.
"I don't think it's in the (best) interest to paint the Horseshoe in a negative light, I really don't. . . The horseshoe always comes first. One thing (Manning has) always known, and he's been around it so long, you keep it in the family. If you've got a problem, talk to each other. It's not about campaigning or anything like that."

Humble Ochocinco prepares for Super Bowl
AP
"It's been a learning experience; that's what this has been. This had been one of the most humbling experiences I've ever been in," he said Thursday as he prepared for the Feb. 5 game against the New York Giants. "This is one of the first times I've been about doing exactly what everyone told me to do. It wasn't about the numbers. It wasn't about money. It wasn't about me."
Does he regret the trade-off?
"No!" he said with an expletive and a smile, "because I've done the other thing over and over."
"I'm happy, but the competitive side of me is (angry)," he said. "Does that make sense?"

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Reds Caravan

Follow all the stops and events HERE

New UC basketball promotion coming Friday

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Love this!

SI has added more sports posters from the 80's to their on-line gallery.
This has the makings of a Friday night topic for the 8pm hour!
Here are some classic posters I dug up.....
What posters did you have?