UC Announces 2015-16 Series With BYU
CINCINNATI –The University of Cincinnati and Brigham Young University announced Thursday an agreement to play a two-game series in 2015-16. The Bearcats will play in Provo, Utah, on October 24, 2015, and BYU will come to Cincinnati on November 12, 2016.
It will be the first-ever games played between UC and BYU.
“We are very pleased to announce this home and home series with BYU,” said UC director of athletic Whit Babcock.” They have a storied history and we look forward to competing against an opponent of their caliber. It should be a wonderful addition to our home schedule in Nippert Stadium for our ticket holders as well as serving as a great student-athlete experience for our players when we travel to Provo.”
The 2015 game will be the first time the Bearcats will play in the state of Utah. In the 125-year history of UC football, the Bearcats only opponent from Utah was a 1997 matchup with Utah State University in the Humanitarian Bowl in Boise, Idaho, a 35-19 Bearcats’ victory.
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Blackout lifted
Ticket sales for this Sunday’s 1 p.m. Bengals home game vs. Denver have passed the threshold that will permit the game to be televised in the team’s home market. The game will be aired live on CBS affiliates WKRC-TV (Channel 12) in Cincinnati, WHIO-TV (7) in Dayton and WKYT-TV (27) in Lexington, Ky.
A limited number of tickets -- from visiting-team returns and in obstructed-view areas -- remain available. These may be purchased by calling the Bengals Ticket Hotline at 866-621-8383 (TDTD) or through Bengals.com.
A wider range of tickets, including all three stadium levels, remain available for the Nov. 11 home game at 1 p.m. against the defending NFL champion New York Giants.
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U.S. Bank Arena/Miami to Host 2014 NCAA Ice Hockey Regional
CINCINNATI, OH - U.S. Bank Arena and Miami University have been selected to host the 2014 Division I Men’s Ice Hockey Midwest Regional in Cincinnati, the NCAA Division I Men’s Ice Hockey Committee announced Thursday morning. One of four NCAA regional championships, the Midwest Regional will take place March 28-29, 2014 in downtown Cincinnati.
The 2014 regional will be the first NCAA ice hockey regional hosted by Miami or held at U.S. Bank Arena, which did play host to the 1996 NCAA Men’s Division I Ice Hockey Frozen Four, then called Riverfront Coliseum. The venue is also the home of the ECHL’s Cincinnati Cyclones and hosted the Kelly Cup Finals, the ECHL Playoff Championship, in 2008 and 2010.
U.S. Bank Arena has also seen multiple NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament regionals and the 1997 NCAA Women’s Basketball Final Four take place under its roof. The Arena has a capacity of 15,300.
“It is an honor and we are happy to be hosting a regional,” Miami head coach Enrico Blasi said. “To bring some of the best college hockey to our town as they compete to play for a national championship will be special. Hockey has a great tradition in Cincinnati and we are honored to be partners in this prestigious event.”
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Interesting
From IU basketball gamenotes
The Hoosier's current ranking marks the first time since the final regular season poll in 1993 that IU is ranked as the top program in the land. This will be the 45th week in school history, tying Cincinnati, as the No. 1 team in the country in the AP Poll.
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Show preview
6:05, The Roundtable Show w/ John Thornton
8:05, Sports Talk
Guest
Jim Herman, PGA golfer, (St X/UC). Jim secured his '13 PGA Tour card on Sunday.
Halloween
It was cold and rainy, but I had fun taking Peyton out last night. Casey is home sick so he could not go out. I wore his mask as a tribute. His idea was for me to take an iPad out so he could FaceTime for candy with our neighbors. Nice try. Peyton was a classic Pacman arcade game, complete with functioning lights. Casey's friend split up their candy and brought him a bag at the end of the night. Cool gesture.
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Bengals
Lewis calls out Dalton and Maualuga
Paul Dehner Jr., CBS Sports
“We're looking for our quarterback and our middle linebacker to take hold of our football team,” Lewis said. “I think both guys are such good people, that you got to be a little bit of a d--k.”
Lewis right to turn up heat on Dalton
ESPN
There are times when Lewis doesn't make the right call, like replay challenges. But this time, Lewis made the smart play in challenging Dalton.
Bengals return Sims
From the Bengals
The Bengals returned DT Pat Sims to practice, on a roster exemption.
Sims is on the Reserve/Physically Unable to Perform list, due to a hamstring injury suffered July 26.
Today starts a three-week window during which Sims may practice with the team without being counted against the 53-player active roster limit. He could be added to the roster at any time during this three-week period.
Sims (6-2, 335; Auburn) is in his fifth Bengals season and has been a regular in the team’s defensive line rotation. Over the 2008-11 campaigns, he logged 52 games with 23 starts.
Manning says Bengals better than record
Denver Post
"Their defense is very physical," Manning said. "They play in a physical division (AFC North). The teams they play are good running teams and have a physical defense. Cincinnati matches that mold.
"Their record is misleading. I'm not sure what's going on with their offense, but their defense is playing solid. I think they're second in NFL in sacks (actually third, with 23), which has come in four-man rushes. They have multiple blitzes."
Dalton, Green present major problems for Broncos
Denver Post
Dalton has targeted Green at least 11 times in five of the Bengals' seven games. In all, 30 percent of Dalton's pass attempts have gone toward Green.
To put that into perspective, the Patriots' Tom Brady and Wes Welker are generally considered the most active pass-catch combination in the league by personnel executives.
Brady has targeted Welker on 25.9 percent of his attempts this season and targeted tight end Rob Gronkowski on 14.3 percent of his attempts this season.
Current cap space
ProFootballTalk.com
Jaguars $20.1 million
Eagles $20.1 million
Browns $14.5 million
Titans $14.1 million
Chiefs $13.8 million
Seahawks $13.5 million
Broncos $12.1 million
Bills $11.7 million
Buccaneers $11.7 million
Bengals $9.0 million
Tweet, tweet
Titans worked out DL Jonathan Fanene and Phillip Merling; Texans worked out WR Jordan Shipley and QB Stephen McGee
Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter)
Reds
Top 50 Free Agents with predictions
MLBTradeRumors.com
44. Jose Valverde - Reds. Valverde still holds cache with MLB executives, who insisted I should not omit Valverde from my top 50 despite his rough year. After so many years as an elite closer, he could take an affordable one-year deal for a shot at pitching the ninth inning for a new team. The Reds could be a match if Aroldis Chapman moves to the rotation. Overall I don't see too many teams with big bucks for a closer.
45. Jonathan Broxton - Rangers. Unlike last offseason, the 28-year-old Broxton is coming off a healthy season and looking for a multiyear deal. He had an interesting 2012, with the lowest strikeout rate of his career but also the best control and an increased groundball rate. A closer job would be best, and that might be possible with a return to the Reds. Otherwise a team like the Rangers could sign him for a setup role with games finished incentives.
Ludwick, Madson hit free agency
MLB.com
Reds left fielder Ryan Ludwick on Wednesday declined his end of a $5 million mutual option for 2013 and became a free agent.
However, the door remains open for Ludwick to return to the Reds.
"He wants more than one year," Reds general manager Walt Jocketty said. "I talked to his agent last night and will talk again with him next week. Hopefully, we'll get something worked out."
Attention, shoppers: Perils of free agency vs joys of winning
CBS Sports
All they have to do is look to the past couple of winters to see how the potential for free-agent dreams can swiftly turn into the scariest of Halloween costumes.
Reds Player of the Year
Rob Neyer, SB Nation
Winning all those games was, of course, a team effort. But which particular player best symbolizes the Reds' 2012, which ended with a stunning, come-from-ahead loss to the Giants in their Division Series? For me, the 2012 Cincinnati Reds were Mat Latos.
Remember Chris Gruler?
Best-ever Dragons prospect?
Dayton Dragons
"He was a great kid and he tried everything and worked hard to come back from the injuries, but it was just not in the cards for him physically," says Griesser. "It is impossible to say what would have been if Gruler had remained healthy. Certainly as an 18-year-old his ceiling was high, but many high school pitchers, no matter how highly-touted, no matter how high they are drafted, exit pro baseball early due to arm injury. Unfortunately that is what happened to Chris."
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Hurricane Sandy Relief
If you’ve been hoping to find a way to help, look no further. One Source Nutrition – producer of the milk-based, protein and vitamin enriched non-perishable drink ONEsource™ – has joined forces with On1 and Cincinnati Reds Dusty Baker, Bronson Arroyo, Oakland A's Jonny Gomes, Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez and other current and former MLB players to donate as much ONEsource™ product as possible to the cause.
Click HERE
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Some things better left unsaid
From listener Norm
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College football/basketball
Five observations from UC practice
Jon Rothstein, CBS Sports Network
1. BATTLE TESTED
The number one thing that stands out from Cincinnati? Veteran experience. The Bearcats return the Big East’s best back court in Cashmere Wright, Sean Kilpatrick, and JaQuon Parker and all three of those players already have 10 years of college experience combined. Wright is a red shirt senior while Parker is a true senior and Kilpatrick is a red shirt junior. After 52 wins in the past two years and an appearance in the Sweet 16 last season, this trio has their set their sights higher in 2012-13. The goals for this team are simple — a Big East championship and a deep run in the NCAA Tournament.
Five observations from XU practice
Jon Rothstein, CBS Sports Network
1. LOOKS CAN BE DECEIVING
Xavier may be the forgotten team in the Atlantic 10 but the Musketeers are much more capable than people realize. This squad doesn’t have proven commodities like they did last season but there’s still more than enough talent for Xavier to win their fair share of games. Experience and depth are fair questions for this team entering the season — overall talent isn’t.
Nippert Stadium
Stadium Journey.com
All in all, this is a great football experience. There is an incredibly unique stadium in addition to a competitive on-field product making this a trip worth your time and money. Despite the history of the Bearcat football program, the local college football fan culture is still in a nascent stage, and hopefully, with time will grow and continue to fill Nippert with an intimidating crowd, despite the small capacity.
No bowl for OSU?, it's no problem
FSOhio
If there's one top-10 team that can say it's not feeling any pressure and come close to meaning it, it's this Ohio State team. The Buckeyes rank No. 6 in the latest Associated Press poll and are ineligible for the coaches poll or BCS standings. The top four in all three polls are unbeaten and very much alive in the race for the two spots in the BCS title game, and No. 1 Alabama's game at No. 5 LSU this weekend has sparked discussion about how a one-loss team might eventually fit in that race.
OSU vs Boston College Games set for ’20 & ’21
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio State University and Boston College have scheduled a home-and-home football series for the 2020 and 2021 seasons.
“Boston College is a fine program from an outstanding conference (Atlantic Coast Conference),” Gene Smith, Ohio State associate vice president and director of athletics, said. “This gives Ohio State fans a chance to watch their Buckeyes in back-to-back games against Pacific 12 and ACC schools.”
The Ohio State/Boston College games are scheduled to be played Sept. 19, 2020 in Columbus and Sept. 18, 2021 in Chestnut Hill. Each game follows an Ohio State game against the University of Oregon.
Game Changer
There is a scheduling change in the previously announced series with the University of North Carolina: the Sept. 5, 2015 game at Ohio Stadium has been moved to Sept. 22, 2018 at Ohio Stadium. No change on the Sept. 23, 2017 game that will be played in Chapel Hill, N.C.
“We worked in collaboration with UNC on moving the initial game in this series,” Smith said. “They were in need of a scheduling change and we were in a position where we could help. This new date works well with what we are doing in regard to strengthening our non-conference games from 2018 and beyond.”
Ohio State’s 2018 non-conference schedule now includes consecutive games against Big East foe Cincinnati (Sept. 8), at Big 12 member TCU (Sept. 15) and the Atlantic Coast Conference’s North Carolina (Sept. 22).
The odds of it
RJ Bell of Pregame.com
After talking to numerous bookmakers, the latest Vegas consensus is . . .
If Oregon played Alabama on a neutral field, Oregon would be a 6-point underdog.
If Kansas State played Alabama on a neutral field, Kansas State would be a 10-point underdog.
If Notre Dame played Alabama on a neutral field, Irish would be a 13-point underdog.
If Alabama played the worst NFL team (currently Jacksonville) on a neutral field, Alabama would be a 24-point underdog!
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Listener photos
Joe Hoffstedder - Bellevue, KY
Check out my sons birthday cake for his 5th birthday made by my wife and sister in-law. He is a huge Reds/Baseball fan and his favorite player of course is Joey Votto. He is even being Joey Votto for Halloween tonight! Definitely a baseball fan for life! Can't wait for next season!
