Turn up the AC/DC.  I’m Back.  I’mmmmmmmm Baaaacccckkkkkkk.   Maybe it was the super nice day.  Maybe it was the Reds finishing off an opening series sweep of the media elected 2011 National League Central Champions, the Brewers.  Well, only your hairdresser will know for sure.  Whatever the case maybe, you lucky ten people reading this are once again treated to my musings.  Enjoy.

Football:

Don't we all wish. Too bad there is too much money in it.

• The BCS is having a rough offseason, and I’m just tickled.  For anyone that might have missed it in the wake of the disaster in Japan, one of the BCS’ major bowls got blown up with allegations. These allegations were  ”a report of brazen, scandalous behavior by Junker and others on the Fiesta Bowl payroll that included, but wasn’t limited to: funneling money to politicians through bowl employees; coaching witnesses, and altering documents during the investigation that followed; taking junkets to college football games with politicians and their families — all on the bowl’s dime. On page 210 is a charge that the bowl footed the $33,188 bill for Junker’s 50th birthday party, a four-day bacchanal in Pebble Beach that had, according to one attendee, absolutely no business purpose.”

Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/football/ncaa/03/29/fiesta-bowl-junker/index.html#ixzz1IUirn1D2

• No wonder there is such a  push to keep the BCS around. If there was any doubt as to how much money bowl games are producing on a yearly basis look no further. I never want to hear that B.S. about how it’s better for the kids, it’s all about the kids.  No sir, this is all about losing control of your personal cash cow.  Those kids play the game just as long as they have to in order to be eligible to get drafted and make the money they more than deserve, are nothing but dollar signs to you.  I have no doubt that some of you have spread sheets of which kids are worth more and just how much.  Some graduate from MIT has wasted his time coming up with a formula that will measure all that instead of something useful because the BCS has that kind of money to waste, they can out pay something useful like cancer research.  But this is pretty blatant, it doesn’t look like there will be any dancing around this one.  And if you read further in the article two other Bowls are under investigation as well.  Now is the time to change.  My friend Andy even posted something he found on the highlights of a bracket system like what works so well for college basketball here.

• This dove tails nicely into my next issue.  The lockout.  Andy wrote a great article about this already, here.  I agree completely with him, but I will say that unfortunately as a Bengal fan it doesn’t matter what will happen.  I would go to say that maybe the lockout is a good thing and that Bengal fans everywhere should embrace the lockout and hope that the owners and players don’t realize how damaging a lockout into the season could be.  That way we can forget that no matter what happens with the lockout that Mike Brown is still the owner in Cincinnati.

• People don’t like that Chad Whatshisname is playing soccer.  Who really cares?  He’s locked out of his current job, he likes to play soccer.  Go for it.  If he gets hurt playing soccer will it really affect the Bengals?  Who’s going to throw him the ball?  Jordan Palmer?  A rookie that they are going to be forced to draft because the former face of the franchise threw everyone a curve ball and demanded a trade or he will retire.  To which I again say, who cares?  Most anyone that had a voice was complaining about him and how he was a washed up bust.  And really, who can blame him?  He had finally been “Bengalized.” It happened to all the greats in the Mike Brown era.  It’s not like this team was just a piece or two away from a Super Bowl.  Unproven, untested receivers, plus a 33-year-old prima donna.  A questionable offensive line that featured one of the fattest, dumbest human beings in another first round bust in Andre Smith.  No way Cedric sticks around this giant turd, he will declare free agency as soon as football activities resume.  Which the bell cow running back is often injured and undersized Bernard Scott.  The only two bright spots are an undersized receiver that was a rookie last year and an extremely talented receiving tight end that was a rookie as well that couldn’t block an invalid.

• Carson Palmer will have to retire.  If there is anything I have learned it’s when Mike Brown says something he means it.  That man will win any pissing match he is involved in and he has proven it countless times. Just look back to Hard Knocks and negotiations that he would have with Andre Smith’s agent.  So I believe him when he says that he isn’t going to trade Palmer, despite interest from other teams.  I doubt he even answers the phone.  This is the same man who turned down two first round picks for Chad when Chad wanted out a couple of years ago.  Nice try Carson, but you can’t out con a dumbass.  He’s already out-conned himself.

Baseball:

I don't really know about this guy, but it was certainly a clean sweep of the Brewers thanks to the heavy hitting of the Reds.

• The media really fell in love with the Brewers in the off-season didn’t they?  Who can blame them really.  They went out and got a former Cy Young winner in Zach Greinke, and a good young pitcher from a tough American League east division in Shaun Marcum.  Those certainly are nice toys, and pitching is always smart.  And I guess that’s why I love the fact that the Reds, who had a very quiet off-season other than signing some of their own, just took the Brew crew to the back of the wood shed.  And no they didn’t have to face Greinke, but they did tee-off on Marcum.  Personally, I don’t think that the Brewers did enough to help them defensively especially up the middle.  But it’s a long season, just a nice start for the Redlegs.

• The Reds had a mostly brilliant off-season.  They locked up Jay Bruce for six years.  Dude is only 24 and last year he had 25 home runs 80 runs, 71 RBI and a respectable .281 average.  The Reds get him through his prime.  Oh yeah and he has gold glove potential in the outfield.  Great deal, and Bruce seems to like it here, which is something that is always nice.

• The Reds buyout Votto’s arbitration years.  Is it a nice long contract?  No, but this way the Reds have some time to decide what they want to do about Yonder Alonso while gently feeling out Joey and what the chances will be of getting him back here after the next three years.  All signs point to no way Jose.  He is 26 this year and already an MVP and easily the most consistent offensive player the Reds have.  Yonder I’m sure will be very talented, but he will never be able to replace Votto.  Tough call for the Reds and one that will more than likely be out of their control when the Yankees, Red Sox, Angles, Dodgers, Mets and Cubs come knocking in three years with more money than God.

• Did the Edgar Renteria deal surprise anyone else?  In his best years Edgar was known more for his defense than his offense.  He wasn’t a slouch with the bat and he did have some speed. But the guy is like somewhere in the 40-50 range, we’ll never know for sure.  So this is the guy you choose to help that pit you get in your stomach when you realize that you are a big league team that is starting a guy with a soft ‘H’ in his name?  Soft J’s skills are almost entirely defense, he gives you only slightly more than a pitcher does offensively and you get a fossil that in his best days was a defensive guy as well?  Is Tood Frasier THAT BAD in the field that we can’t give this guy who has been a highly ranked guy in the minors for years a chance?  Is this Dusty’s ridiculous reliance on aging veterans coming to haunt again?  Whatever the case I didn’t like it then and I still don’t like it today.  Why not take that money and try to get a left fielder that maybe can hit lead off and kill two birds with one stone?

• My thoughts on Jonny Gomes.  I love him.  As a person.  I don’t like that this guy will as always lose steam after the all-star break and have a terrible second half.  I don’t like that this guy is a definite liability in the field.  But the reason he is so popular around here is the same reason that Ryan Freel was so popular.  Why Chris Sabo was so popular.  It’s also exactly why people hated Adam Dunn even though he actually gives you more offensively and about the same defensively than Gomes.  Gomes goes 100% all the time.  I love that, everyone here loves it.  It reminds everyone of Pete Rose.  Unfortunately he is not Pete and although he is going 100 mph, he is still making the same errors out in left that Dunn was making, he just tries a lot harder to make them.  And on a line up that doesn’t really have a high percentage on base guy, Jonny becomes expendable.

• Any one else notice that Ramone Hernandez has been out the last two games after going 4-5 with an opposite field home run to win the opener?  Not that it has mattered since Hannigan homered twice yesterday.  But do you think Ramone put whats left of that elbow in that opposite field shot?  Color me concerned.  It might be time to get Meseraco on the phone.

Basketball:

This is Kenny ready to hang with the Rat Pack.

• Xavier had a surprising season.  I honestly thought that losing Jordan was just too much.  He seemed like a one man show most of the time last year.  And even early in the season this year it seemed like it was the Tu Halloway show.  If he was off, the team was off and ultimately lost.  They lost Redford, which would have been a huge player coming off the bench, a poor man’s Jimmer Ferdette.  The kid has crazy range.  Canty was hurt and another player was ruled academically intelligible.  Despite all that they only lost one game in A-10 play and got another NCAA berth.  Chris Mack deserved the A-10 coach of the year for the damage control he did.

• Looking forward to next year.  Halloway comes back, hopefully ready to quit pouting so much and be the leader that Mack will need him to be.  Healthier and deeper.  My concerns are losing Jackson’s voice and leadership and Kenny Frease. As Missouri found out pretty quickly Kenny is SLOWWWWWWW.  While he has certainly gotten better every year and maybe next year he will be an even stronger presence in the paint, I doubt there is anyway he gets any quicker.  Just about any team that has very good slasher will be able to negate Kenny’s size advantage by just blowing right by him.

• Jamel McLean reminded me of Lloyd Price.  I know there was talent there, but we only seemed to see it in flashes and ultimately just not consistent enough.

• Mark Lyons needs to slow it down just a little.  I mean if he takes it down just one notch he is still playing faster than most guys out there, but he might play with a little more control, and that would be nice for my ulcers and heart condition that he caused to begin with.

• The NBA still sucks.  But I will say that I’m shocked that announcers seem to make a big deal about how well the Lakers have played lately and how bad they were playing in the middle of the year.  They do this ever year, and every year the media makes a big deal about it.  Kobe is tired, his knees hurt.  Let him take the middle of the season off and come back and use the last month as a warm up to get the Lakers to the finals again.  Even with a bad middle of the year they are still going to go into the playoffs as at least a two seed.

That should be plenty for all of you to digest for a few days, and I promise to try to not let it go months before I post again.