A FEW MO' THINGS, 4/17/12
I guess we can add "sharp objects" to a list that had only included kryptonite and Margot Kidder.

Programming Notes:  No radio show today.  Actually there is one, it's just that I won't be hosting it.  Garrett Sabelhaus will be filling in.  I return tomorrow.  The chat gets moved to Thursday.  Please adjust.

I'm going to see Springsteen tonight. 

You know that feeling you have when you have tickets to a really big game?  That sense of anticipation combined with restlessness that pretty much makes you useless all day leading up until kickoff/first pitch/tipoff/whatever the hell they have in soccer? 

The only other thing that gives me that feeling is when I'm mere hours from seeing The Boss.  It is simply impossible for me to express the excitement that comes with seeing Springsteen and I'm not poetic enough to explain the personal connection I have to his music.

If that's hokey, fine.  I think everyone has a musician they feel the same way about, and if they don't, that's their loss.

Meanwhile there's baseball in St. Louis tonight.  Reds/Cards, Cueto/Lohse.  Before we get to the final 152 games of a crucial season for the Reds, let's clear up some things....

When some of us express frustration at a certain player, or at the team's poor play in general, we are not giving up on the season.

When a loss bothers us, we're not panicking.  We recognize that now and for the next few weeks, the season will still be in its formative stages.

Most of us have an understanding of not just the team's history, but the sport's as well.  There have Reds teams that have started off slow and won (my favorite Reds team of all time absolutely sucked nuts the first few weeks of the 1995 season, yet cruised to a division title and the 2010 NL Central champs were at one point, 7-11) and there have been other teams who've stumbled out of the gate only to charge through the finish line.  We get it.  But these games, early as they may be, still count.  And if they count, there's a reasonable amount of dissection and discussion that they deserve, both when the teams wins and when they lose.

No one is jumping off any bandwagon.  No one is turning their back on the team.  No one is abandoning hope that Great American Ballpark will host baseball games in October.  And no one is frothing at the mouth demanding for heads to roll and for massive overhauls.  At least not yet.  Ok, some are, but most of us aren't.  We care about the team.  The last thing you want is for people to not care about the team.

Conversely, no one should be giving this team or most of its players, the benefit of the doubt.  They don't deserve it.  They went 79-83 a year ago and most of the suspects guilty for that record are playing worse than they did a year ago.   The Goodwill earned by the success of 2010 expired ten months ago and the positive vibes of a productive offseason only carry over if the offseason was indeed productive. 

The Phillips and Votto deals are either great, ok, troubling, stupid, or whatever verdict you want to hand down on those decisions, but they have almost nothing to do with this season.  Ownership is either making a statement or a mistake but those deals won't be why the teams wins or why it loses.

While we're on the subject, neither Votto or Phillips will be immune to slumps or injury, both will strikeout, endure hitless games, commit errors and I'm guessing both will fail in the clutch this season and in each of the subsequent years on their new deals.   They might be making more money than some countries can print, but they deserve the slack that comes with starring in a sport where failure is the norm.

A lot of us don't like the way the team is playing.  Most of us want the team to play better.  All of us know that time, and to an extent, the law of averages, are on the Reds side.  Very, very, few of us are as guilty of overreaction as the "it's early, don't panic" crowd are making us out to be.....

.....they just better not lose tonight.

-If this story about Urban Meyer's "broken" program at Florida would've been written 18 months ago, nearly every Ohio State fan I know would've been reciting each of the coach's misdeeds.

Now though, they can't lineup behind him fast enough.

-Xavier is getting a transfer from Western Michigan named Matt Stainbrook.  He bears a resemblence to Mrs. Doubtfire.

-There is going to be a day when referring to a fan base as a "nation" will no longer be in vogue.

When that day comes, I will be a very, very, happy man.

-In the NBA, giving an opponent a wet willie will earn you a technical foul.

-I love the NFL more than most of my family members, but there is nothing on earth that would compel me to watch a three hour show where they reveal and break down the upcoming season schedule.

Also, I can't watch it because I'm going to see Springsteen tonight...

Sorry.

-If you're gonna taunt the members of your new league, can you at least make sure you get said new league's geography correct?

-I would like to thank ESPN's Henry Abbott for writing this....
Lots of talk about what it will take for the Knicks to reach their full potential. They have improved mightily on defense, won a lot of big games, endured some injuries and questionable signings. They were never going to be that great anyway. Just wondering if, instead of hand-wringing, it's time for celebrating. A pretty good team is looking pretty damn good. That's no sign of trouble. All that is out of whack is the expectations.

Thank you, Henry. 

This team has head to reinvent itself 8201 times this season.  They've changed offenses five times, defensive philosophies three times, seen their best two players go down, endured long stretches of Baron Davis having to play the point, seen Landry Fields turn into a head case (this occurred last year), and yet stand on the verge of not only getting into the playoffs, but actually winning a playoff game for the first time since I was 23 years old. 

Yet no one wants to give them credit for any of that.

-Why?

-There's a lot of inside stuff here and a lot of media self-congratulating as well, but this look at how the media covered the Final Four is a great, albeit lengthy, read.

-Communications major.

-I don't want to wear my hero.

-Unless of course they make a Springsteen jersey, then I want to wear it.  There will be no blog tomorrow morning, but I will have a radio show tomorrow on ESPN1530 at 3:04.  I'm going to see Springsteen.