Bengals
Pressure point: Bengals
ESPN.com
There's no question that Lewis is a good coach. He's done what others have failed to do in Cincinnati. Lewis has become the franchise's winningest coach, holding the team together through the death of a player (wide receiver Chris Henry), an extended holdout by his franchise quarterback (Carson Palmer) and numerous arrests. But Lewis' track record is his team wins when expectations are low but disappoints when the anticipation is high. And the buzz has never been higher in recent years than the 2012 season.
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Show preview
3:05, ESPN 1530
6:05, Inside Pitch, 700 WLW
Guests
John Erardi, Enquirer, 3:20
C. Trent Rosecrans, CBS Sports baseball, 3:35
Topics
Reds
The week ahead
Thursday: 6:05, Sports Talk, 700 WLW
Friday: 3:05, ESPN 1530, 6:05, Inside Pitch, 700 WLW
TweetDeck
I'm trying out TweetDeck. I have two questions for those that use it.
1. Can you change the background from black?
2. I use Mozilla Firefox and can't open it from my desktop using the download version of it.
(Cincinnati.com)
Classic Marty
Here is the podcast of the 4pm hour Tuesday. I played some of Marty's best calls throughout the hour. Calls included: 4,192, Marty's favorite call, Tom Browning's perfect game, Tom Seaver's no-hitter, Jr's 500th HR, Bruce's Clinchmas blast, "Tolan boots the ball", the Opening Day wallk-off HR by Ramon Hernandez.......
Click HERE.
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Down on the Farm
Q/A with Ken Griffey Sr
BusLeaguesBaseball.com
CF: Speaking of Billy Hamilton, is he the real deal? Is that speed going to progress at each level, I know right now in High A ball he’s stealing bases with ease. Are there things you see that he’s going to continue to have to work on?
KG: Well, there’s always things he’s probably going to want to work on. But the only thing that you really can’t teach in this game is speed. That’s one thing that well above everyone else is how fast he is and how quick he is. That will stand out, he will steal his bases and do those things, and other things will come along with it. He’s learning, he’s playing shortstop here and a lot of stuff he does, he works at it every day. He doesn’t slack off, he takes the ground balls and fly balls or whatever he has to do in order to get better.
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UC basketball
From Twitter:
All signs point to 6-9 Chris Obekpa of Our Savior New American landing at Cincinnati, multiple sources told @SNYtv.Today is last signing day.
Adam Zagoria, @AdamZagoria
Bio/info on Obekpa
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Leading off
Reds leadoff spot this year
23 for 153 with 9 walks
Hits from #1: NYY 56, Braves 55, Cards 54, MLB average 39
Reds leadoff batter on base 32 times in 162 plate appearances
.150 BA (30th)/MLB average .256
.198 OBP (30th)/MLB average .320
.235 SLG (30th)
.433 OPS (30th)
15 runs (29th)
Stubbs .094
Cozart .181
Phillips .208
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Reds
Heisey collects three hits, Braves batter Cueto
Rose to do one-man show at Belterra
Enquirer
Pete Rose hits the live stage Friday night at Belterra Casino Resort in what is basically a one-man show billed in various places on the internet as "An Evening With Pete Rose," or "4,192 -- The Making of the Hit King."
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Down on the Farm
Donnie Joseph is mowing them down at Double-A
6'3 190 LHP
3rd round pick 2009
Season: 4-0 0.45
17 games, 20 innings, 8 H, 4 BB, 30 K, .121 BAA
Reds farmhand retires 16 in a row in rare start
Hamilton 2 for 6, 2B, 3B, no stolen bases in doubleheader
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Stuff
Youkilis starts to work way back
Boston Herald
“We are going to get him three at-bats as a DH and he’s looked really great taking his ground balls,” Valentine said. “He was moving around, there was a bounce in his step. So he’ll start and we’ll get him enough of whatever it’s going to take (to) have him say he feels good.
“He’ll obviously go from DH to playing in the field and seeing some pitches.
Baseball beats math class, but barely
Salt Lake Tribune
Problem is, baseball is dying among a lot of kids.
And, to some extent, that’s baseball’s fault.
Giving a nod to TV, and advertisers, and big dollars, by scheduling World Series games late on school nights, so kids can’t watch those games is a shortsighted move. The Series should be the crowning moment of baseball, and to cut off the coming generation of sports fans from the opportunity of watching it is … stupid.
But the trouble is bigger than just that. Studies show that children are losing interest in baseball, in part because they are busy playing video games, riding skateboards and jumping into other more action-packed sports. A report in the Wall Street Journal last year stated that 11.5 million players of all ages did the baseball thing. That ranks fourth among the most popular team sports in the United States.
David West helps Pacers keep their heads
Indy Star
"He's our backbone," Pacers coach Frank Vogel said. "I don't know how else to say it. He's our leader. I can't say enough positive things about David West. I'm glad he is on our team."
A-10 is realignment winner thus far with addition of Butler, VCU
Angels fire hitting coach Mickey Hatcher
Kentucky Speedway boss confident traffic, parking woes resolved
ND payout to Weis keeps piling up
UC football announces inaugural open house
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ESPN: 30 for 30
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Bengals
7 strong hunches for 2012
SI
• Mohamed Sanu will be the second consecutive Bengals rookie receiver to show up and show up early. Karma owes Sanu a little something-something after he endured that cruel prank phone call on the first night of last month's draft, and I believe he's going to wind up having the last laugh when it comes to his career in Cincinnati starting roughly 24 hours later than he was first led to believe. The ex-Rutgers receiver is already off to an impressive start, easily standing out at last weekend's Bengals rookie minicamp, drawing both praise and a prediction of early contributions from head coach Marvin Lewis.
Cincinnati has a decent history of rookie impact from receivers, getting that monster debut season from first-rounder A.J. Green last year (65 catches for 1,057 yards and seven touchdowns), and a seven-touchdown showing from third-rounder Chris Henry in 2005. Sanu is an ideal complement to Green's outside speed and vertical game, and he'll work the inside and underneath routes with both precision and determination, pulling down plenty of catches in a crowd or despite solid coverage. NFL scouts worried about his ability to separate this spring, but come September, Sanu will be putting plenty of distance between himself and most of the league's other rookie receivers.
Cosell Talks: 2012 NFL Draft Post-Mortem
ESPN.com
The AFC team whose draft caught my attention was the Cincinnati Bengals. Let’s start with their second pick of the first round: Kevin Zeitler, the offensive guard from Wisconsin. I don’t know how the Bengals felt about the Zeitler/David DeCastro comparison, and we’ll likely never know because DeCastro had already been selected by the Steelers, but I felt that Zeitler was the more athletic and more complete guard prospect. Zeitler was very efficient in the zone-run game with his quick feet and sustained movement. He’s an excellent fit for (MORE)
Ultimate invasion of NFL Draft Grades
ColdHardFacts
.....very impressive draft haul at the top, assuming the players pan out as expected. There are also some gems in free agency, too. Green-Ellis was probably the most underrated back in football during his time at New England: a guy who consistently bangs out tough yards, scores a lot of TDs and never fumbles. All in all, an exciting off-season so far for the Bengals.
Fillability Grade: A
Jacob Bell to teach peers about game's risks
SI
He's hoping to raise the dialogue about the risks of head trauma and overall player safety for current and former players. But Bell was helped along by his contractual situation. Bell was due to make $6 million last season and $6 million this season under his contract with the Rams. Before the 2011 season, the Rams cut his 2011 pay to $3 million, and wiped out the last year on his contract. So Bell made $3 million in 2011 for St. Louis, was an unrestricted free agent, and signed a one-year, $890,000 deal with the Bengals.
I asked Bell: "If you were on your previous contract with the Rams, due to make $6 million this year, would you have retired?"
(MORE)
UC’s Sweet 16 Run Recognized by Ohio Governor John Kasich
COLUMBUS – University of Cincinnati junior guard Cashmere Wright and assistant coach Darren Savino represented the Bearcats Tuesday at a reception at Governor John Kasich’s residence to honor the successes of numerous Ohio collegiate basketball programs at recent postseason tournaments.
Schools honored at the event along with Cincinnati included the men’s teams from Ohio University, Ohio State, Xavier, Wittenburg University and the College of Wooster as well as the women’s teams from Ashland University and University of Mount Union.
UC compiled a 26-11 record during the 2011-12 season, beating a school-record eight ranked teams while advancing to the BIG EAST Championship title game and the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament. The Bearcats’ regional semifinal appearance was their first since 2001.
This past basketball season Ohio made NCAA tournament history when it became the first state to advance four teams to the Sweet 16, sending UC, Ohio, Ohio State and Xavier.
“Placing four Ohio teams into the Sweet 16 was amazing and the success of the smaller division schools was special as well,” Kasich told the group. “You helped spark the state and 11 million Ohioans are proud of you.”
Wright met Kasich, received a certificate of recognition and toured the residence. Wright later teamed with Ohio State guard Aaron Craft to defeat the governor and CBS Sports commentator Clark Kellogg in a best-of-three games competition of H-O-R-S-E.
“(Today’s visit) is an accomplishment of sorts,” Wright said. “Not many people get to experience what I did today. I am very blessed to have the opportunity.”
“It was a great experience,” Savino said. “The governor was a gracious host. He showed us he’s been working on his jump shot. It was my first time to visit the governor’s residence which made it special for me and I’m sure for Cashmere as well.”
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Listener photos
From Steve:
I followed the Red's to Atlanta Monday and wanted to share a couple pics of the Ballpark. The place was awesome...The fans were great and the atmosphere was as well..they really love their Braves down there.
If you haven't been yet...definatly add Turner Field to the list!
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