CincySportsFan

Looks like I picked the absolute best week to vacation in Michigan's UP then!

11 hours ago, Voice of Reason said:

Why the next two years? The Reds have control over those rookies for the next 5 years.

The situation is very reminiscent of what the Indians had back in the early-mid 90's.  Lofton, Belle, Thome, Baerga, Alomar, Rameriez, etc. all coming up around the same time.

23 hours ago, bugatti said:

My assumption is they have a set of a parameters they go by; hence, why these are not common occurrences.

I thought, maybe you're right.  Maybe the Reds are the outliers in the scheduling oddities.  So, I looked up the Guardians to see what theirs looked like.

* Their only 2 series against Seattle, were in the first 3 series of the year.

* Thru the end of April (9 series)...they played only 1 division opponent.  (Detroit - series 5)

* They played both of their 2 series against the Yankees before they played their second division opponent.

* They play 2 of their 4 division series against Detroit before they play their first series against either the Royals or White Sox.

* When they do finally play the White Sox, they'll play 2 series within a span of 9 days.  Oh, and the other two series they play each other?  Well, that's 7 games within 11 days, later in the summer.

* They play both home/away series against Seattle, Oakland, NY Yankees and Boston...before they play their first (of four!) series against their final division opponent...Kansas City.

* That first series against KC didn't happen until JUNE 27th!!  (This is inexcusable to play half a year without facing a particular division opponent.)

* And then...from June 27th to July 26th...that's 8 series...they'll play the Royals in 3 of them!!!  That's 10 of 25 games!

* They don't play the White Sox in the final 2 months of the season.

* But, hey, they've got the Twins in 2 out of 3 series to end August and begin September. 

Ugh...my head hurts.  If there are parameters, I'd hate to see them.

19 hours ago, 4 Quarters said:

You must have a short memory.  They had the same deal last year, only was with the Cardinals.

Nope.  Hated it then, and every other time it's happened.

I also hated that we played 2 of the 4 Pirates' series in the month of April.

Hated that we played the only 2 series with the Phillies within a span of 10 days.

And I hate that we'll play the final 2+ months of the season facing every other division opponent (Pittsburgh, Chicago & St. Louis) TWICE...but, not play the Brewers AT ALL.  Last game against Milwaukee is July 26th.

All of which has nothing to do with whether the Reds are in contention or not.   And I realize that there is a domino effect when it comes to swapping games here and there.  But I just feel like some simple parameters could be put into place when it comes to scheduling that could eliminate these instances.

7 hours ago, Voice of Reason said:

Six straight coming up with the Brewers. Three before the all star game and three after. That sets the stage for their chances for the rest of the season.

Schedule maker should be slapped.  Absolutely no reason for this.

1 minute ago, theguru said:

It is how you copy the link.  You have to be at the root of the tweet if that makes sense.  Is this correct:

 

Yes.  Thank you!

Reading Brooks Koepka's Twitter response was hilarious!

I'm not a Twitter user, so having problems trying to copy them.  But, he basically dunks on Brandel Chamblee.

Scott Van Pelt Twitter: 

So, you preach loyalty to a tour and convince guys not to take 8 and 9 figure deals based, in part, on that loyalty and, in part, on the source of the money. Then those guys find out on Twitter YOU took the very same money? 

21 minutes ago, Jumper_Dad said:

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/06/06/pga-tour-agrees-to-merge-with-saudi-backed-rival-liv-golf.html

The PGA Tour has agreed to merge with Saudi-backed rival LIV Golf in a deal that would see the competitors squash pending litigation and move forward as a larger golf enterprise.

This ends the split and litigation dividing professional golf. For all of its initial bluster and stacks of cash, the Saudi led tour wash a money pit from day one. In the end I think the Saudis probably come out of this with a few PGA events or WGC events and will look at the money spent as a good investment as it will have bought them respectability in the golf world.

This, honestly, blows my mind, to be happening.  At least, right now.  Another year or two down the road...maybe.  But, now?  Shocking.

Now, what I really want to know is...all the golfers who refused/rebuffed/criticized LIV because of their association with the Saudis...are they suddenly going to turn a blind eye to the fact that their PGA is now in bed with them, too?

Will Levis missed the entire net at Titans OTAs on a simple passing drill (msn.com)

Like the writer says...it's just one drill in isolation.  But, still.

One of the things that I hate with schedules like this one, is that you end up playing one of your division opponents twice (Ravens), before you play at least one against everyone else (Steelers).  Absolutely no reason for that.  In fact, I don't see why it's so hard to break your repeated opponents into two halves of the season.

1 hour ago, gchs_uk9 said:

It’s a black, chain link fence all the way across the outfield. It’s the same fence that would keep fans off the sidelines and out of the end zone during a football game. It appears to be extended higher in centerfield and has a black covering over it to provide a batters eye of sorts. 

Thank you.  Was hard to tell if there was anything there from the picture.

Then, I've got nothing to complain about them utilizing part of the football field for the outfield.  As long as there are no issues (drains, etc) that'd be present for a football game, that would be a safety concern, then use what you've got.

I don't have a dog in this fight, per se, so my question is out of pure curiosity.  Are there no temporary, portable fencing put up to designate the end of the outfield?  (I've seen that done a lot in girls softball.)

The lack of that, if that's the case, would be my only gripe.  A typical double into the power alley that seven-hops its way to the wall in most HS fields ends up rolling 600 feet for an inside-the-park home run.  Likewise, a 500-foot "bomb" that'd clear every other outfield fence, could turn into a long fly ball out without any fence to prohibit the defender.

I already know what the arguments are going to be...well, both teams have to play on the same field, so it affects both of them equally.  And, there are weird idiosyncrasies in many MLB fields (Boston, Houston, San Fran, etc.)...so, why not high school?

15 hours ago, burreaux said:

That's why I will always say that the NFL is the superior entertainment product. There is a sense of parity and competition that simply does not exist in the NBA or MLB. MLB needs a hard salary cap like the NFL to give the small market teams a realistic chance at competing. Otherwise you are likely to get teams like Oakland losing 20 games every month.

 

Actually, a salary floor is needed just as much as the cap, in my opinion.   Because right now, you have certain teams that are willing to spend money...and teams that are not.  And there's no penalty for the latter.

Whatever the cap may be...the floor needs to be a minimum of 50% of that.

17 hours ago, 16thBBall Fan said:

 

I saw an article today that the 7,375 from Monday night is the smallest crowd in the history of Great American Ball Park that opened in 2003.

And the Reds probably still had their ushers checking tickets so that nobody could move down and sit in the prime seats.  smh

Okay, so.....when I first saw the thread title, I thought this must be a replay of some 49'ers vs. Chargers game that I didn't remember.

And yes, I'm getting old.

For anyone that says "these games don't mean anything"...I say, not a single spring training game means anything, either.  At least not in the sense that it reflects in the regular season standings.

And yet, we still have not only returning starters, other veterans, and even superstars participating in spring training games.  Each year, every year.  Why?  Because they need the reps.

A guy can get hit on the wrist and be out for 6 weeks, somebody else can pull an oblique just swinging a bat, or roll their ankle rounding a base.  It can happen anywhere...even in a spring training game.

The WBC is no different than a split-squad spring training game. 

47 minutes ago, Voice of Reason said:

The Bengals are getting compensatory picks for these players who leave.They get a round 7 for Perrine, round 3 for Bates and I believe a round 4 for Bell. I am not sure what they will get for Hurst.

Are those for the upcoming draft?  I thought I read an article just the other day that said they (the Bengals) wouldn't be receiving any compensatory picks in this year's draft.  So, would these be for the 2024 draft?

28 minutes ago, spindoc said:

I think that the owners likely would want to consider Watson the outlier never to be approached again, contractually speaking.

I would typically agree with you, but then the Giants went and signed Daniel Jones to a crazy number yesterday.  I mean, if guys like him or Ryan Tannehill get these insanely high contracts for being middle-of-the-road QB's...what should a top-tier QB expect?

I mean, the guy happiest about the Giants contract who's not named Daniel Jones...is Joe Burrow's agent.

21 minutes ago, Hoopstars said:

Last year I thought Oldham should have gone after Utter. Not a swipe at their current coach, just super impressed with him. If the south job comes open south should really try to get him. Have no clue if he’d be open to it but he gets his kids to play so hard, compete and execute. I think he’d do big things with a school that offers a little more athleticism…

I won't sit here and to profess what will go into his mind with regards to staying or leaving...but, I'd be honestly surprised to see him go. He's from Grant County, his wife is from Grant County. She has her medical practice in Grant County. So there's a lot tying him there.  And while driving from Dry Ridge to Oldham County can be done...it'd get old in a hurry, I'd think.

AJ had some tremendous catches as a Bengal, but one of my all-time favorite moments from him was choking Jalen Ramsey and whipping him to the ground...and then throwing punches from the bottom of the pile!  Obviously hated losing him to the ejection...but, loved the dawg in him!

This was the storm that they decided to shut the interstates down for a couple of days for, wasn't it?

I've been reading that there's the possibility of Jonah Williams maybe being back for the KC game.  Honestly, I'm not so sure that's necessarily a "great" thing.  The way Carman has been in the 1+ games he's played, I'm impressed.  Looks like the young buck has Blind Sided a couple of DE's on more than one occasion, and hasn't gotten beat like I've seen Williams this year.

If Williams CAN play...make him active, but I wouldn't start him.  Rest him as much as you can.  If Carman looks overwhelmed, or obviously gets hurt, sub him in.

This has been talked about before.  There are several potential contributing factors that could come into play. 

1) The program has been "down" for many years, and one way of creating some excitement for it is to have a lot of W's during the regular season.  This can be a legitimate reason...for awhile.  Then it likely shifts to the following.

B) The coach or AD is wanting the W's to reinforce that they're the right person for the job.  They hope that 12 weeks of "yes", is better than one week of "no".

III) Sometimes, yes sometimes, it can be as a result of having to play a required number of conference games, in which you have no control over the quality of competition.  It really depends then on what the coach/AD does with regards to those non-conference, non-district games.  If they are just looking for any schmoe to fill in, then see one of the two above.  If they are at least looking for harder opponents, then there's not much more you can say they should be doing.

A coach I very much respected always said he tried to schedule this way...it's okay to have 25% of your schedule be against cupcakes, another 25% though, you should definitely be the underdog, and the remaining 50% should be a toss-up, where either team could realistically win.  He said that gave you a good mix of confidence and battle-tested-ness (?), while also preparing your team to play a full four quarters.

13 hours ago, theguru said:

I enjoyed Romo today. 

You've got to be kidding, right?

I have never felt the same "love" for him, even back when he was predicting plays accurately.  But, yesterday he was just horrible, to me.  All over the place.