A Photo Essay on Cincy's Baseball Mascots

Current Mood: Santa

Let's go ahead and get this out of the way. I get a big kick out of good SportsCenter commercials (e.g. most of them), I really like the Cincinnati Reds, and I *love* Mr. Redlegs and his crazy laudanum eyes.



and for the record - in the era I grew up in, Mr. Redlegs looked like this:



but I recognize the one true original Mr. Redlegs



and know in my heart of hearts he's destined to forever be with Rosie Redlegs



just like Mickey and Minnie Mouse were made for each other.



Gapper? He can get the hell out of my city.

Sports Junkie

Current Mood: sporty

I don't know what it is, but for some reason this spring I have become WAY more into sports that I have ever been. And I'm not just talking about my recent love of football, it has become an interest of sports across the board:

Hockey
*Miami University (OH) 's team, the Redhawks, made it to the Frozen Four. My sister and a few of my friends have gone/are going there, so I've made a point to pay a bit of attention to that.
*Sis seems to have rediscovered her love of hockey, so she and Bradley have been going to some Cincinnati Cyclones games, and they're in the playoffs. Get Cyc'd!
*My roommates are way into NHL level hockey, so I have been watching some with them and have adopted their team, the Detroit Red Wings - currently headed into the Western Conference Semifinals.

Baseball
*Opening Day came and went, and I watched the Reds play and it made me miss home a little, so I made Gold Star Chili for the apartment. It's way early in the season, but they're on a streak and in 2nd place in the NL Central.

Basketball
*I really don't care much for basketball, but I love brackets. I finished 3rd of 18 in my March Madness Pool.
*Purdue Boilermakers made it to the Sweet 16 with a young team, so maybe next year we'll improve and I might actually go to a game? Then I can genuinely root for Robbie Hummel.

Auto Racing
*Haven't watched any NASCAR, but from what I can tell it hasn't changed much since the Points Cup was implemented, rewarding consistency and boring racing. My driver Dale Jr. has bounced around to many different teams and hasn't made much of a name for himself, unfortunately.

Soccer, Golf, Tennis, MMA, other sports
*No thanks.

Football
*Purdue said goodbye to Coach Joe Tiller and replaced him with Danny Hope. Our main prospect for QB next year was suspended, so we'll probably have a rough year.
*I've spent the NFL offseason reading up on the draft, free agency, and the mechanics that make up the offseason. I feel like kind of a loser, but I've gotten pretty into football as a whole. I read mock-drafts, fan sites, histories and analysis of salaries, draft positions, and all sorts of projections. I'm ready for some real football, though.
*And fantasy football.
*The Bengals have made some not-horrible offseason decisions, so that makes me optimistic. Later I think I will do some predictions about the next NFL season.

There's been a few big changes happening in the NFL - Favre retired (but that could change), Madden retired (his replacement, Chris Collinsworth, is a Bengal but also looks like a bird man). Commisioner Goddell is looking to change 2 preseason games into real ones (and that would make a lot of old records disappear), and move games out of the US, and is currently negotiating a new CBA and possible rookie salary cap - all of these will change the shape of the league over the next few years.


Finally, some links:

Here's probably the best NFL draft article I've come across.

For a look at some misconceptions about the NFL busted by MATH, look here.

Kurt Warner and Larry Fitzgerald bring the funk.

Because it makes me happy, some of the biggest sports upsets in history.

Lastly, how have I never heard of this dude?

forecast

Current Mood: pensive

I'm not a fan of laundry list posts, but this is more for me than anybody. Plus I just rolled out a survey post, which is pretty lame too. Deal :D

So it's about halfway through June, which means summer is approximately half over for me.

Finals ended Saturday, May 3rd. As soon as I was done with all my finals and a paper, I left Purdue. Jenny and I went to Cincinnati for about a week, went to Union Terminal to see Bodies (the Exhibition) and went to a Red's game. Then I came back and moved into Earhart, and had a week of straight training before jumping right into work. Since then I've beaten Metroid Prime: Corruption and read some books I've wanted to for a while (mostly stuff I put off during the school year). I went to Joey Steenbergen's wedding, and Benji & Corrie's wedding reception. My 22nd birthday came and went. I performed a special summer improv show for Earhart Hall summer school residents with most of the SoF. I've gone to see Iron Man and Indy 4. I've posed as a model for a Purdue brochure. I stopped biting my fingernails! I've kept up on my goal of posting here and on my other story site at least once a week (but not much more). I have also picked up a few extra hours helping with Day on Campus Tours, but for the most part I've been relaxing and hanging out with my friends that have been here (including a game of the new D&D 4.0 rules).

Pretty busy, I think. I am trying not to waste away my summer, but really relax and not overstress. I need some time to recharge my batteries. Thinking back to last summer, I should've either gotten more rigid deadlines from Dr. D for our research, or seriously considered limiting myself to just either a job, or my fellowship.

So where does that leave me for the rest of the summer? I've got from now until summer "ends" with the start of class- Monday August 25th. As of now:

I have about 25 hours of work every week for most of the rest of that time. I don't know when my last day will be, but the last day I could possibly work is August 8th.

That's also the last day for my current apartment lease, so sometime around there I'll need to move. That means up until then I need to continue whittling down the things I have here at Earhart. Peace has to move out, and I'll have to sort out everything there between me n' Alex. Then between Jenny, probably Greg, and hopefully mom coming to help, I'll move everything out of Earhart and Harrison over to my new apartment on the landing.

Mom wants me to try and go to an airshow July 19 and 20th, but I don't know if I'll be able to get off of work then. Similarly, my favorite holiday (4th of July) is coming up, and I'd like to hang out with everybody near Purdue and watch the fireworks, but I may have to work.

I'd like to go to Ft. Wayne and visit Andy and Jacque, and possibly someplace in Chicago - maybe see Scott? On top of that, Monday August 11th, Jenny and I are thinking about going to Green Bay WI to see the Bengals play the Packers @ Lambeau for the preseason. This may or may not count as our anniversary celebration. :D All of that takes a ton of money and gas is a lot more expensive than past summers, so we'll see. I will probably go home after apartment moving and before classes.

GenCon in mid-August, maybe? Also if I can get the right ticket, maybe a Judas Priest concert with future roommate Greg (how much would that rule?)

I will try and make it through the rest of my pile of books, Beard's comics, and finish at the very least Pokemon Diamond and Super Mario Galaxy. I've also got some computer maintenance to do (clean out bookmarks, clean up music files, etc.) but that's not high priority.

I'm going to make a point to keep posting to my blogs. By my best estimate, I have 14 chapters of my story left until I hit my goal [(50k - current 31,819) / 1300 word/chapter average) = 13.9]. I won't stop until I hit 50k, but I also won't quit until I've told my story. At one chapter/week average, I'll be done in 14 weeks, which means I won't finish before the summer ends. Fine, except my posting rate plummets as school picks up.

I should go give blood again, soon.

The last thing I'm writing about as a goal for the summer directly parallels my feeling about it. Something I've been putting off since the end of school. I need to talk to my counselor and get registered for the fall, and possibly take a summer class for July. Ugh.
Do. Not. Want.

There really are no words

Current Mood: disgusted

From the Baltimore Sun:

"The New York Yankees' Jason Giambi sometimes wears a gold thong under his uniform while trying to break out of a slump, the New York Daily News reported.

As if that's not bad enough, the piece of lingerie apparently is communal underwear. Teammates Derek Jeter and Johnny Damon said they have also worn it. And on Saturday, a sign at Mike Mussina's locker read: "Pitchers need thongs, too."

New York Mets manager Willie Randolph, a former Yankees coach, said: "Giambi's a little freaky. I wouldn't go there."

In any case, Giambi might need to try something like a bustier. Even with thong enhancement, he's still batting below .200."

In other news, I just found out that Michael Stackpole is going to be at GENCON this year. I had fun last year, but recently I've heard some horror stories. I wasn't going to really go again, because I will probably have to work and it's expensive...but maybe I should dig up one of my favorite books and get it signed?

there goes the Rose Bowl

Current Mood: sore

Jenny got me the newest Avenged Sevenfold album and Disney's RocketMan on dvd as anniversary presents (Amazon shipped a few days late). There are probably only a few people reading who understand the significance of the latter gift, but trust me when I say it has been on my wish list for some time.

Yesterday I signed the lease for next year's apartment on the landing with Future Roommates Greg and Chad. I have a feeling that'll be quite a fun living arrangement, considering the wide overlap of interests. While I'm on the subject of apartments, Current Roommate Alex has Gamefly and I've discovered the crazy hedonism that is Elebits. Other games I'm playing (at least casually) are Red Steel and a MegaMan collection, all for the Wii. They probably are at least in part to blame for my novel being behind schedule.

Onto sports!

I will freely admit that football has quickly risen to my top interest amongst sports, and probably is near the top of my interests in general. I also have a minor interest in other sports though, including NASCAR and MLB. The latter of which really isn't too strong - that's more of my dad's thing. Still, I like the Cincinnati Reds and the Florida Marlins, and have an incredible dislike for the New York Yankees, and to a lesser extent the Cleveland Indians. Here's a nice little summary of the Reds in the offseason. Apparently we're having salary problems? Baseball buffs might want to check out 1986: Take Two, a complete simulation of the year of my birth in terms of major league baseball, using statistics and data to build models.

I think that models like this are fascinating, especially when they are reasonably accurate! Madden users have been predicting the outcomes of football games for years, and apparently the high-end ones are good at at least predicting the winner of the game, if not the score.

Purdue lost to Michigan State 48-31. I make no attempt at hiding the fact that I think this is a crock of shit, since they had a crappy record and we should have beaten them soundly. However, I did get to attend the game because my friend Eric (Beard) gave me John (Cowboy)'s ticket since he was out of town. The loss was disappointing, but the company was anything but. We had amazing seats, just nine rows back, and nice fall weather. Beard was enthusiastic and funny, and let me tell you the man can yell like none other.

I'm not a superstitious sports fan by any means, but of Purdue's four losses this season, I've attended both home losses and none of the other games. *shrug* We are now ranked seventh in the Big Ten, with a record of 3-4 conference, 7-4 all. Our final game this Saturday is at Indiana, the annual Old Oaken Bucket rivalry game. They are 2-5/6-5, and actually have a shot at winning, unfortunately. This is at least on a par with the annual Ohio State vs Michigan game - both teams are 6-1 conference having both lost last weekend unexpectedly (Ohio State felled by unranked Illinois?!). Ohio State looks to be the stronger team with an overall record of 10-1 with the nation's #1 defense, vs. Michigan's 8-3 with losses to Appalachian St. and Oregon, plus injuries at QB and RB. Future Roommate Greg and I are divided in this manner and I think that next year the game will have to decide something big.

Continuing on through this recap of wacky football, the Dolphins nearly beat the Bills (13-10). As the Bengals were the most recent victim of the Bills' weak team, I nearly went ballistic until the winless Dolphins blew a 3rd quarter lead. Whew, that was close - our mediocre team almost looked even worse.

Speaking of blown leads, a Browns victory over the Steelers would've been good for my division, but the "big Doug Flutie" Ben Roethlisberger had a comeback drive to win 31-28. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm okay with rooting for the Browns as of late. I like QB Derek Anderson, and I also like WR Braylon Edwards (okay, some of that is his studly performance in fantasy football). I swear to god, though, the moment Notre Dame QB Brady Quinn gets in there, they're right back to my hated in-state division rivals.

Green Bay found a running game! They shut out the Vikings 34-0 and Adrian Peterson left early with a knee injury. They're now 8-1, tied for the best NFC record with the Cowboys, and face the 4-5 Panthers at Lambeau next. RB Ryan Grant had over 100 yards rushing, the first Vikings opponent to do so, and allowed some balance to Favre's gunslinging ways. This makes me really happy. Fox switching the game over to Eagles vs. Redskins once the game was one sided, however, did not make me really happy. It made me none happy. Negative, even.

I don't know what to make of the Saints anymore. Let's get some fuckin' consistency, good or bad, please. I mostly blame the quarterback in these situations, and Brees went back to his opening four game slump and contributed to the 37-29 loss to the Rams. THE RAMS. THE RAMS WHO WERE PREVIOUSLY WINLESS. *snarl* They fall to 4-5, the same record as the Texans they face this week. Fortunately, even after giving the Rams their first win (now only the Dolphins are winless), the Saints are in a shitty division and can come back - but they have to be good from now on. Seriously, Drew Brees, what the hell.

I don't know what's weirder, that the Cardinals scored 31 points to beat the Lions, or that the Lions only scored 21 to lose (considering last week), with negative yardage. And speaking of weird, the Colts lost to the Chargers, 23-21. Now, I never thought San Diego was that good anyway, having seen their [lack of] offensive production in the first ten weeks, and Indianapolis should've been hungry to win it after losing to the dirty cheaters [Patriots].

Maybe the Colts were hungry and they were decimated by injuries. Or Mr. Clutch Adam Vinatieri missed 2 field goals in a dome, the latter of which - a potential game winner - was 29 yards. Or Robot Manning threw six interceptions ("so why wouldn't you use it to throw into coverage?"). Whatever, pick your poison, the point is it shouldn't have happened. As Future Roommate Greg put it, the Chargers had a 16 point lead at the half, so the fact that there was a comeback at all was telling - Indy shouldn't have had that chance in the first place the way they played.

Cowboys beat the Giants, 31-20, in what some people figured was a battle of QBs. Fine with me, I never had any doubt in my boy Tony Romo. The undrafted rookie made a fool of Manning's brother - even though they were similar statistically, Romo is creative and scrappy and so much fun to watch! I heard he even plays Guitar Hero, so how can I not love him? They improve to 8-1, with a massive NFC east lead. Next up: 5-4 Redskins division game at Texas Stadium.

Finally, some good news. Bengals didn't score a touchdown and still beat the Ravens 21-7. At first I was upset that Carson Palmer wasn't finishing what he started [i.e. drives], and that Chad Johnson was hurt or Houshmandzadeh broke his TD streak. Turns out Ravens played a specific deep cover defense, so short passes by Palmer led to field position, and kicker Shayne Graham scored 21 points himself through field goals. That's seven FGs, one less than the record of eight set earlier this season by Titans' Rob Bironas. Wasn't pretty, but it was a division win bringing us one step closer to .500. That leaves us at 3-6, vs the 4-5 Cardinals at the Jungle in Cincy this week.

Lastly, fantasy football. I lost to Jenny 79-57, and while neither of us had a huge score or made the best choices of who to start, I really am frustrated with myself. I had two questionable players - New Orleans RB Reggie Bush and Indianapolis TE Dallas Clark. I decided to risk one, replace the other, and it bit me in the ass twice. Reggie Bush, who I did not play, had a great day. Much better than his replacement, Dallas RB Julius Jones. Dallas Clark, whom I figured was going to play, did not. ON TOP of all that, I figured the Colts' kicker would bail me out, but no. Optimal score was 90. This drops me back to .500, 4th place and 3 games behind. Three more weeks (including this one) until the playoffs...

Folk Hero

Current Mood: impressed

TWO weeks of (almost entirely) football stuff!

Last week:

Oh wow I was so close to starting this with a string of cuss words, you have no idea.

First, the Bengals got manhandled by the Patriots. Yeah, whatever, I already wrote about how I wasn't exactly surprised by it.

Then, this weekend, the game I was totally pumped for - the Purdue/OSU game - was a bust. Okay, I went and had a great time, had pretty good seats with Future Roommates Greg and Chad, and even ended up sitting in front of fellow OSU fan Jamie. But our much touted #1-in-the-Big-Ten offense, averaging 40+ points per game, QB with about 16 TDs and only a few picks, outscoring opponents in the first half something like 100-3, 5-0 with consecutive 300+ yards of offense games - DIDN'T FUCKING SHOW UP against OSU. Now, like the Patriots in the MNF game, OSU really was favored to win. They were ranked in the top 5, we'd just barely sneaked into the top 25 at 23. It wasn't a shock or anything, and I wasn't really upset that we lost (I still want OSU to do well), but we didn't score anything - none points - until the last few minutes of the game against their second string. It was retarded. Our defense was actually trying to keep us in the game (wtf?) but kept coming up with turnovers in their redzone...not exactly the best field position, especially when Painter looked to only have about 30 yards per drive in him. The punting - a school record 12 times - was abysmal. Looked like we had some sort of punting palsy. I always feel like blaming the officials is such a "losers" comment, but there were a few calls I didn't care for. Even the halftime show was disappointing because they played to the wrong side of the field! At least our student section looked decent. Pretty much everybody wore black. Instead of being a Debbie Downer about OSU, I will really hope we beat Michigan this week because I hate them. Not only would they lose, we'd get back to the Ws (and be bowl eligible). A win-win, or "doublewin", if you will.

So I put away my fan towel and Boiler helmet and prepared for the Packers to roll over the injury ridden Bears on Sunday night. Not so. After a stunning first half (Brett had a QB rating over 130, over 150 yards of offense, a Green Bay running game that came from NOWHERE - 64 yards opening drive when the season average/game was about 50), the Packers gave up a 10 point lead slowly in the back half, like a dying animal. I mean, they were hemorrhaging plays and Brett ended up getting the all time interceptions record.

I went into this week's Monday Night Football hoping that 1 of 4 games would be a win, and that my boy Tony Romo wouldn't disappoint. The Cowboys were 4-0, were favored by everybody to stomp on the Bills, and the Cowboys D were giving up less points each week. Hell, Romo had 300+ yards in every game and only thrown 3 interceptions.

Yet, surprisingly, the Bills were nothing if not tenacious. After waiting 13 years to be on MNF, they were at the very least keeping pace with the Cowboys, at times looking like the stronger team. Romo was intercepted twice on his first two pass attempts. He would later fumble, and then be picked off Three. More. Times. The only reason I skipped the cussing at the onset of this post was because of two things:

1. Excellent (and I do mean excellent) play calling, coaching, clock management on the part of the Cowboys coaches in the last few minutes of the game

2. Mostly because of their kicker Nick Folk, who made not one but two career-length field goals in literally the last few seconds of the game.

Considering what a by-the-book blowout this was supposed to be, it was a strangely entertaining and exciting football game for Monday night, and I'm really happy Dallas came away with the win, despite Tony Romo's 5 attempts to be Brett Favre. This would set us up for an excellent matchup of the undefeated Patriots vs. the (barely) undefeated Cowboys the next week on Sunday.

Drew Brees...c'mon buddy. Give Purdue something to be proud of!

The last minute heroics even kept me from being upset over my fantasy football loss to Jenny by less than 3 points, leaving me tied for 4th with her at 2-3.

Oh, and the Yankees were forced out of the playoffs (by the Indians, for the record, but it could've been by the country of Poland, for all I care). Awesome.

This week:

Purdue lost to Michigan 48-21 in what is nicely called a blowout. Can't say I'm surprised (sounding like a trend yet?), but I'm wondering what I can do to fix this feeling. Like, can Purdue have a shitty season opener and then surprise everybody by winning their last 8 games? I'm sick of "settling" for bowl games. Yeah, 8 bowls in 9 years is nice, but I'm sick of being consistently below the top tier Big Ten teams like OSU, Michigan, Wisconsin. Fuck, even our Bucket game vs. IU is no longer looking safe. Eh, at least maybe this "crazy year of college football" (crazy in that the BCS keeps changing, and top teams keep falling in upsets) means we have a chance - heads down, work hard, and let the chips fall where they will. For my money, I still contend that Appalachian State's victory over Michigan was a greater upset than Stanford over (then) #2 USC because Stanford is at least in the same division, even if they are considered perennial floor mats in their conference (I don't care about your 40 point difference). Besides, even if Michigan lost to Oregon the week after Ap. St., they certainly turned their shit around, much to Purdue's dismay.

It feels odd that college football is about half over. And the NFL?

Bengals lost again 27-20 to the lower-middle-class Kansas City Chiefs. I try not to really put much stock in historical trends, but the Bengals have apparently been pretty good off the bye week - not that it made any fucking difference this year. T.J. had a great game (good for my fantasy team), but Carson Palmer has been intercepted twice each of his past four games. We have other receivers, but the QB needs to get it done. That, and our entire defense.

Green Bay had a slugfest with "that other indian team" (Jenny and I kept confusing the Chiefs who played the Bengals with the Redskins who went up against the Pack), coming away with a 17-14 win. Favre is officially the NFL's most intercepted QB, but that happens when you play forever, moreso as a gutsy gunslinger which I truly think he is. Key play was Woodson's interception for a TD.

THE SAINTS FINALLY WON over the Seattle Seahawks, 28-17 on Sunday night. That is such an important event that it gets an entire sentence hyperlinked. Reggie Bush was dynamite (again, yay fantasy football) and Brees showed everbody what Purdue does...well, not "best", but "acceptably", and it's about damn time, too. Seahawks didn't play so hot to be sure, but the Saints are no longer winless (something the poor Dolphins won't change against the Patriots next week - owww).

The only other game I cared to watch this weekend was the Clash of the Unbeatens - Patriots vs. Cowboys. Now, it should definitely be noted that Tony Romo was awesome and threw for only one interception, but it wasn't enough to win. Cowboys lost to who are quickly becoming the Yankees of the NFL, the Patriots, 48-27. Not much to say here...Cowboys led for a bit in the third, but Tom Brady is breaking records like "6 consecutive games with at least 3 TDs" and other stuff like that. All the Patriots at the post-press-conference act all humble and act like they have not played well, but it's pretty hard to believe them. Now I place my best hopes that they'll be defeated by things like injuries, the other two thirds of the season, and the Indianapolis Colts in a few weeks.

Wrapping things up, I think I'm starting to get the hang of this fantasy football thing. I don't want to be accused of hubris (especially against a league half filled with people who aren't really paying much attention to their teams), but I had a decisive victory this week. It was 123.6 to about 43 vs. the Zombies - I say "about" because the only player on either team playing is Eli Manning, still gaining a few meager points as he wraps up a win against the Falcons as I type on Monday Night Football. Unless Manning somehow breaks football as we know it and scores 80 fantasy points in the next 10 minutes, I've got this one wrapped up ("you gotta lock that down"). I'm now tied for 2nd place at .500 (I'm so excited to be so...mediocre? I guess .500 is bigger in football than, say, on a test), and we're about halfway through the regular fantasy season. I'm already excited for next year's draft!

Finally, as a special treat anybody who has read this far, or had the presence of mind to skip to the end for the summary, please watch this video around 1:25.