Pinnacle Of Pain

Gee…wonder where THIS pass is gonna end up?

Sometimes it just doesn’t pay to be a fan. If you live in Cincinnati, this past week has got to rank up there as possibly the worst week in the history of our professional teams. Cincinnati fans have suffered much in the past 20 years or so. Maybe not as much as say…Cleveland, but still we have had our share of heartbreak and this week was the “Pinnacle of Pain” as far as I’m concerned.

Let’s start with NFL action on Sunday, October 3rd. The Bengals traveled to Cleveland for an interstate matchup. On paper, the Bengals SHOULD have been big winners. The Bengals have one of the most potent offenses (supposedly) in the NFL so taking on a Browns team that has floundered ever since its return back in 1999 shouldn’t be a problem…right? Well…turns out it WAS an issue as the Browns managed to squeak out a 23-20 win and send the Bengals home with their tails between their legs.

Skip ahead to Wednesday and major league baseball action. The Cincinnati Reds traveled to Philadelphia to face the Phillies in the NLDS. After winning the N.L. Central and appearing in post-season play for the first time since 1995, the city was all pumped up! Unfortunately they faced the Phillies ace, 7-time All Star and 2003 Cy Young winner, Roy Halladay. Halladay had pitched a perfect game earlier this season (the 20th of all-time) and everyone expected the Reds to struggle. Instead of simply “struggling,” the Reds shouldn’t have even bothered to show up because Halladay blanked them for a no-hitter, which was only the 2nd post-season no-hitter in MLB history.

So let’s put THAT behind us…okay? I mean…it was bad but not TOTALLY unexpected. The Reds have a young ballclub and with so little playoff experience, we can forgive a little nervousness. So Friday they go at it again with OUR ace on the mound. Bronson Arroyo was pitching well and the Reds jumped out to a 4-run lead. But the Phillies came roaring back as Reds pitchers managed to hit 3 batters and the defense committed 4 errors and the Phils scored 7 runs in the final 4 innings to win the game. I watched in amazement as this all transpired and I STILL can’t believe what I saw. I can’t recall EVER seeing such an unbelievable meltdown in all my years of watching sports! So now the Reds were down 0-2 but the series was moving to Cincinnati. Maybe a home game would do our boys of summer some good?

Then today. Sunday, October 10. 10/10/10. Maybe a good omen for our major league teams? Both teams were playing at home today. The Bengals were looking to lick their wounds from last week’s loss and face a Tampa Bay team that was coming off a huge loss 2 weeks earlier and then a bye week. Surely they would be rusty…right? Well…maybe not. The Bucs managed to intercept Carson Palmer 3 times, once for a return TD and then the most devastating shot was the INT late in the 4th quarter. The Bengals had a 21-14 lead with 2 minutes to go and then Palmer tossed a pick to Tampa Bay’s Aqib Talib. The Bucs then tied up the game with 1:26 left in the game. So…the Bung…er…Bengals had the ball and could run out the clock with a little time management and a few decent running plays. But nooooooo. Palmer threw ANOTHER interception and the Bucs kicked a game-winning field goal with 1 second left. The Bengals are now 2-3 and in jeopardy of having their entire season being blown into tiny little bits. 2 teams they SHOULD have handled easily had beaten them in consecutive weekends and now they are licking their wounds with a bye week next weekend.

*sigh*

So now back to the Reds. Facing the Phillies in the friendly confines of Great American Ball Park tonight, you would think the Reds would come out fired up and ready to work. But instead, they went out not with a roar but with a whimper as Cole Hamels, the Phillies 3rd best pitcher, took care of business by mowing down Reds batters left & right. Although he didn’t pitch a no-hitter, he was almost as good, allowing only 4 hits and no runs through 8 innings. It’s now 2-0 with the Phils looking invincible and I can’t watch anymore. I’m gonna go watch NFL football over on NBC…

Oh and look…the Philadelphia Eagles are WINNING their game 17-10 right now…

Nice.

Yeah…I think I’m just gonna go to bed. I got an early flight tomorrow.

Night ya’ll. And to all my Cincinnati friends…take consolation that tomorrow this will all be over and there will be no losses by our pro teams again until the Bengals travel to Atlanta Halloween weekend. I’m gonna be there. It could get ugly.

Dusty can’t believe what he just saw…and neither can I.

Behind The Scenes Of A Postseason Run

It was a long season that paid off for the Red Legs as they won their division and are now heading into the postseason. I only worked 79 games…but it FELT like 162. And it’s always sad when a season ends…especially after the season that we’ve had! Here is a behind-the-scenes look at Great American Ball Park and the motley crew of people that I get to hang with most of my summer…

Beautiful day at the ball park!

Our truck. Exciting stuff…huh?

Before the gates open

Early lineups…before Dusty changes them…again.

Media Row

And now…some of my cohorts in crime…

The Director: Uncle Roy

The Tape AD: Siggy

The On-Air Guy: Pic

The Opponent: Houston’s Wave
(I told him I was gonna put him in here. He actually READS my blog! Gotta give the man credit…)

The Coord: SuperFan
(Seriously…she really IS a Reds fanatic!)

The BFF: Janice

The Statistician: Daddy Wags (In Memory Of…)
(A great man who, I’m sure,  is watching the Reds postseason run from heaven and lovin’ every second of it!)

These guys make the call…and then they signed my ball. Marty Brennaman, Thom Brennaman and Jeff “The Cowboy” Brantley. Class acts all the way!

So there are no pictures of players or anything on here. Due to certain privacy policies, I’m really not supposed to take pictures or ask for autographs…and I’m cool with that. This year’s group of players all are very cool and I can say that throughout the season I had limited conversations with Paul Janish, Orlando Cabrera, Jordan Smith, Mike Leake and a few others and they all seem very personable and easy-going. Hope they can make it all the way! That would be really cool…but from here on out, I’ll be watching on my television at home.

Good luck Red Legs! And thanks for a great season!!! Win this one for Wags!!!

A Part Of Something Special

I’ve been working with the Reds television crew for going on 7 or 8 years now but it wasn’t until this season that I actually got to travel with the team to other cities and get a feel for how a professional sports team actually works together. I’m not gonna lie…I’m an outsider. I’m a t.v. guy. So of course the players & coaches have no idea who I am or what I am doing when I’m on a plane or a bus with them. But it’s still pretty cool that for my first time in, I got to be with 2010 Cincinnati Reds as they won the N.L. Central and are heading to the playoffs for the first time since 1995. For a majority of the season I’ve been watching this team go through a lot of ups (Aroldis Chapman’s first appearance, 22 wins in the last at-bat, lots of defensive heroics by a variety of players) and a few downs (a sweep by the Cardinals, a September swoon) and I can honestly say that watching these guys get through an entire season filled with so much adversity (most sports outlets had them pegged for 3rd or even 4th in the N.L. Central) and come out on top is a very cool thing.

It’s funny…I do so much work in sports that sometimes it’s easy to forget that most of these moments get lost. Working all kinds of events from pro football to lacrosse, I forget that at one point I also loved to play sports and that there is nothing like the feeling of being a winner. Sometimes, as I watch the celebrations that occur after a big win by any team, I get kind of put-out by it. Champaign everywhere, cities get turned upside down, people get obnoxious (players AND fans). Somehow we’ve managed to take the idea of winning and turn it into a spectacle. We lose sight of what the celebration is about. Winning a championship on ANY level is not an easy task. A lot of it isn’t up to the players. A lot of it is a little luck and good timing. For these Reds, who are still trying to make a strong push for a higher seed in the playoffs, this season has been very much about a young team striving to be better and taking their ability and some luck a long way. I’m excited for them and I’m very excited for out little city here along the Ohio River.

It’s been a long time since the Reds were in the playoffs and it will be fun to see them in post-season play. With some veteran leadership (Rolen, Arroyo, Cabrera) and a lot of fresh, young talent (Votto, Phillips, Bruce, Chapman), here’s hoping the 2010 Cincinnati Reds can get on a roll and take it to the next level because they’re gonna have a lot of competition with Philadelphia and Atlanta being in also. So they need to now focus on the task at hand and bear down a little bit but not lose sight of what got them there in the first place. Last night, after Jay Bruce hit a walkoff home run that clinched the N.L. Central division, he ran around the bases with a huge smile on his face, like he was playing a kids’ game once again, without a care in the world. And that’s how the team should play from here on out. They are “The Little Team That Could” this year and they will be the underdogs in the playoffs. There are no expectations. They have exceeded every goal that was set for them in the beginning of the season and now it’s just cake. So now is the time they need to take their cake, eat it and smear it all over their faces. And man is it gonna be sweet!

So here’s to our team…one long season now whittles down to this…a playoff run and a lot of excitement! I’m hoping the magic lasts a little longer. It would be really cool to say I was there when this all went down. Even if it was just a view from the back row…