A FEW MO' THINGS, 5/11/12
-So now it gets a little tougher. The Reds' next 14 games are against "good" teams. By "good," I mean that these teams all have winning records. The Nationals, Braves, Mets, Yankees are a combined 92-65 (I don't think the Nationals or the Mets are necessarily good but their records are).
By the time this stretch concludes, the Reds will be more than a quarter of the way through the season, a little beyond the early stage, and maybe to the point where we can draw some conclusions about this team, if we haven't already.
Like 2010, I think the NL Central race will be decided by how the Reds and Cardinals fare against the rest of this crap-tastic division, but unlike 2010, I don't think the Reds can afford to completely pee down their collective legs when the opposition gets tougher.
-If you're coming to the game tonight, it's #RedsTweetup night. Many of us will be hanging out in the Fan Zone before the game. Say hi and buy me a beer.
-And if you're coming to the game tonight, you get to see Bryce Harper. And yes, I'm excited to watch him play in person this weekend. I already told you why.
-Tony LaRussa is being honored by the Cardinals tonight. Walt Jocketty will be in attendance for the pregame ceremony. I'm guessing someone gets upset about this in 3...2....
-The mayor of Columbus has informed the NBA that he wants his city to have an NBA team.
My first three thoughts...
1) Yeah, good luck with that.
2) If Columbus got a squad, we'd have an NBA team within 100 miles of my house. This would make me happy.
3) Where ya at, Mayor Mallory?
I know, I know, we don't have a facility and we're not getting one.
But still, Mayor Mallory, where ya at?
Speaking of the NBA...fascinating night of hoops last night....
-I am not a Philadelphia 76ers fan, but I like the NBA just a little more when they're relevant.
They might be the worst team to ever advance in recent NBA playoff history. They shot less than 40% in their three wins. They were killed on the glass last night, out-rebounded by 23 (only once in the last 26 years has a team won in the postseason despite being out-rebounded by 23 or more). They might have been gift-wrapped a series win when Derrick Rose blew out his leg, and when Chicago handed the game to them last night with CJ Watson inexplicably passing the ball to Omer Asik (Watson shoots 81% from the line, Asik is a 45% shooter) with the Bulls up one, and with having no one back on defense after Asik's second missed free throw (even well-coached teams do really dumb things) but the Sixers' series with Boston is still the most intriguing of the second round matchups (and yes, I say that with the first round still ongoing thanks to LA's tank job last night). I get young v. old, the upstart Sixers and the cagey, veteran Celtics. I get two contrasting styles of play. And I get flashbacks to the 80s.
No diehard NBA fan my age doesn't appreciate flashbacks to the 80s. Here's some obligatory 1982 Celtics/Sixers video....
By the way, you'd never see today what happened at the end of that game 30 years ago. Boston fans chanting "Beat LA," imploring the 76ers to beat the Lakers in the Finals (which they didn't).
This was still a pretty damn good rivalry way back when. And I'm excited that these two franchises are hooking up with a lot on the line now.
-If I hosted a talk show in LA, and had to talk about Andrew Bynum day-in and day-out, I would either be fired in three days or I'd be a legend. I can't imagine how frustrating it must be to root for this Lakers team. Someone tell them that tanking in the playoffs doesn't help with draft positioning. I have never felt bad for Kobe Bryant, but watching him drag that collection of crap around last night actually made me feel for him.
-Oh yeah. The NBA Playoffs are also giving us stories about the Thunder PA announcer who is accused of pleasuring himself in front of kids and about Chris Anderson of the Nuggets being investigated for child porn.
And it's given us this....
-Twitter is cool until you overthink it. Like this person.
-Look, I'm not a great radio host, and I have had my share of embarrassing moments on air, but not much tops this. St. Louis host interviews Brooklyn Decker thinking she's Kate Upton....
-There was a fight between coaches at the Lingerie Football League All-Star Game. The video is not safe for work. I'm kinda wondering how I missed out on the voting for the Lingerie Football League All-Star Game by the way.
-This is a pretty good look at the main reason that baseball is experiencing a decline in offensive production. Problem is, it doesn't say anything about steroids, or the lack thereof.
-Some high school in Arizona would rather forfeit a state title than play a team with a girl on it. I'd talk about this more but there are three things I don't debate and religion is one of them.
Bonus points if you know what the other two are.
-If you're gonna make a rap video, shouldn't you wipe off your face first?
-No radio show today. None next week either as I take a few days to head to New York. I will be doing a two hour chat on Tuesday so prepare for that. Follow me on Twitter, enjoy the weekend, and Happy Mother's Day.
