A FEW MO' THINGS, 8/13/12
I miss the Olympics already. 
Programming Notes: One radio show this week, today on ESPN1530. Then I'm spending my afternoons watching tennis. We'll have a weekly chat Wednesday, and another one at some point this week. Stay tuned.
-Everyone off the ledge? Good. Nothing like playing the Cubs when you're trying to keep a fan base from mass suicide. And nothing like having both an ace, and baseball's best reliever.
Maybe this weekend was a wakeup for Jay Bruce. This team needs Jay to perform slightly better than he has since Votto went on the DL (was hitting .218 before yesterday) and they need him to leave the yard more frequently than he has since July 1st (just four times before yesterday).
We spend all of our time talking about guys like Cairo, Heisey, Valdez, etc. Unlike those players Jay will be in the lineup nearly every day (Friday and Saturday not withstanding). Unlike many of those players, Jay is entering what should be his prime. Unlike many of those guys, Jay is about to start making a lot of money.
With Votto in the lineup, Jay Bruce being an offensive force is important. Without him it's magnified.
-The same people who demanded that Joey Votto return the the lineup as soon as possible are now hacked off that he was rehabbing. Can't have it both ways.
It's unfortunate that he injured himself sliding. It sucks that he'll miss a little more time. But don't get upset when the team and the player were following pretty standard procedures.
-Thoughts from Pretend Bengals v. Fake Jets. Larry King style...
Holy Jesus preseason football is hard to watch, but it's more difficult with replacement refs. And when those replacement refs blow an easy procedural call because they don't know the rules extending a possession where a key member of the defense gets hurt, it's even more difficult...I'm open-minded about Clint Boling. Travelle Wharton is a good run-blocker, but we're not talking about an elite-level guard here. He was signed because he was an upgrade from Nate Livings, which most guards would've been. Boling can still be that. I don't love the lack of experience at the two guard spots, but I don't think the dropoff from Wharton to Boling should be that steep....Aside from the injuries and the sheer ineptitude of the New York offense, you had to come away happy. The pass coverage was tight, they pressured quarterbacks, and if the Jets did indeed have a gameplan (debatable), the Bengals took them out of it...No one separated themselves from the pack of crowded receivers. This is a good thing....We had a Dontay Moch sighting, actually quite a few....Marvin Jones continues to impress, giving this team the pleasant problem of figuring out how to best use him...Hard to be that excited about a relatively good effort with so many injuries to key guys: Maualuga (though Burfict's play has us quickly forgetting about Rey), Dunlap, Green-Ellis, Wharton, Mays....I liked the play of the special teams, missed field goal back a guy who will be cut not withstanding, not just Ced Peerman, but how well they covered and downed punts....Aside from the injuries I walked away reasonably encouraged. And happy that we're inching closer to the regular season.
-Tomorrow might be the most interesting episode of Hard Knocks ever. A couple of thoughts on Chad Johnson's release....
*I get the sense that Joe Philbin, the Miami coach, was looking for someone he could make a statement with.
*For the "they can't let him go until the charges have been proven" crowd, remember that this is the same league that once suspended a quarterback for a quarter of the season with no charges being pressed.
*Chad has not been a great player for five years. He was good in 2009, had some moments in 2010, but those years were bookended by lousy seasons in 2008 and 2010. He's 34. He now has this incident looming over his career. Is there a chance a team takes a chance on him? Sure. But considering everything that accompanies him and the relative lack of upside, I'm guessing it's going to take a really, really desperate team to sign him.
*I heard someone on Fox Sports last night refer to Chad as a "future Hall of Famer." It elicited the loudest laugh of the weekend.
*I'm sorta surprised that no national headlines referred to Chad as a "former Bengal."
*For years, I've heard many wonder what Chad Johnson will do without football. Most of his other ventures seemed dependent on him at least being in the league. I've heard people who know him well openly wonder if he'll have any money left. There is a big part of me that wonders what will have become of Chad Johnson five years after he's done playing.
-The 2004 US Men's Olympic Basketball Team was soundly criticized for, among other things, not giving a crap.
You can't say that about this year's squad.
This year's team was fun to watch, played in a compelling Gold Medal game (I paced during the early stages of the fourth quarter), seemed to buy in to their coach, played good, selfless basketball, and genuinely seemed to care.
They were everything we said we wanted from our team eight years ago.
-More later, including today's radio show. Catch it at 3:04 on ESPN1530. Here's a fainting compilation.
