Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Back In Business

Or I should say "Welcome Back" to myself.  If you can through our website WLWT.COM you noticed some changes.  Our blogs were down for awhile, then the whole Cooperstown thing came with Barry Larkin, and I'll be brutally honest, I forgot the blogs were back up and running.  I'm forgetful like that. 

While diving back into this, I must publicly send my condolences to Ken Broo and his family.  Ken lost his wife, Jackie, after a four and a half year battle with cancer.  Jackie was always friendly and upbeat and quite a media-savvy person in her own right.  Our community lost a great asset and citizen, so please keep the Broo family in your thoughts and prayers.


A couple of other notes that pale in comparison to the previous paragraph.
This isn't going out on a limb, but I really believe the Reds will be in the World Series.  No way they can keep up the recent pace of piling up wins, but they have come of age here lately.  Ryan Ludwick has broken loose and Drew Stubbs is putting the ball in play.  Will that last?  Maybe they stay red-hot, but the pitcing staff and the return of Votto should overcome any downturn.  There is mild concern here for the pitching holding up, but with the hammers they have in the bullpen, I love the chances.

I had a chance to see a basketball practice in Clifton last week.  The Bearcats basketball team is going to surprise some people.  The highly respected Mike DeCoursey has the 18th in The Sporting News early rankings.  After what I witnessed, they could be better than that.  Many local folks think it is rebuilding time with Yancy Gates gone.  He was the best inside weapon offensively the past few seasons.  But they have more than enough scorers elsewhere to pick up the slack.  They will run and gun and go 10 deep.  Add David Nyarsuk as an August pickup for depth and I see a team that can cause a lot of headaches. 

The Bengals get it going with a preseason game this weekend.  This team should improve, but how much?  I think they will need to improve to make the playoffs again because the schedule appears stout.  Usually you don't learn a whole lot in preseason, but I think we might be able to pickup a little about this team in the practice game.  If the linebackers get better and Taylor Mays is really the answer at safety, I can see this team making a nice run.  Marvin is right about the wide receivers.  Yeah, maybe they don't have a clear-cut stud at number two, but receivers 2-6 have a chance to be very good, giving the team a lot of options for Andy Dalton as he progresses through his second season.

Yeah, I know, a lot of optimism this time.  I'll try to come up with something negative in the next day or so.

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