Year in review

2011 was not without its challenges.  There's the perpetual job drama, which has been going on for five years over the same point of contention.  I had some concerns about my health.  While I waited longer than I should have to get them checked out, my fears were basically overblown.  I felt pinched for time quite often, but in most cases it was because I was making time to exercise, which has made me feel better, and doing things I enjoyed.

All in all, it was a pretty good year that saw it's share of firsts.  I visited New York City not once but twice and couldn't have had a better time.  I finally attended the Toronto International Film Festival and managed to see a film from one of my favorite filmmakers several months before I would have been able to otherwise.  Plus, he and the main cast were in attendance.  Although my favorite team wasn't playing, I attended a World Series game.  I saw Paul McCartney in concert


On top of that I went to my fair share of ballgames and made my annual trips to film festivals in Cleveland and Champaign-Urbana, Illinois.  On two occasions I got to see my favorite singer, who doesn't play in this part of the country regularly.  I even meet her and her husband, who she was performing with, after one of their shows.  I met and renewed acquaintances with several folks I've known online.  My parents moved to a home that is unquestionably the nicest place they've ever lived and are a solid ninety minutes closer, which makes visiting, especially at the holidays, easier to do. 

I know it is often easier to complain and focus on how things are not how one wishes for them to be.  I'm certainly susceptible to dwelling on what I'm dissatisfied with and worrying about stuff I can and can't control.  So it's important for me to look at last year and appreciate the ridiculous amount of treasured experiences it gave me.  I didn't expect a significant number of those things to come to pass.  Whether 2012 can equal or surpass 2011 is irrelevant.  I had a very good year.  Now let's see what this new one will bring.

Sunday afternoon in The Jungle

I've been to my share of Major League Baseball and National Hockey League games, but when it comes to the National Football League, I can count the number of times I've attended a game on one hand.  The tickets are more expensive (if available), there are fewer games, and the weather often can be less than hospitable.  It doesn't help that may favorite team, the Cincinnati Bengals, has not been very good for most of my teen and adult years, which lessens the desire to bother springing for tickets.

Before today I'd been to an NFL game twice.  I saw the Bengals host the Detroit Lions in 1989 and Baltimore Ravens in 2004.  A friend won tickets to today's game against the Browns and invited me, so add a third game to my list.

For late November the weather certainly could have been worse.  It also could have been better.  The sky spit rain intermittently, and when the wind came through, it could get chilly.  I suppose I could have dressed warmer, although I was wearing the hat I knit in Bengals colors last year.

I'd been to Paul Brown Stadium once before, but I had little memory of the stadium's interior.  Maybe it's because the building is not owned by the team or maybe because it's used for a limited number of events per year, but the concourse lacks personality, especially compared to the baseball stadiums I've visited.  Is that how most football-specific stadiums are?  (While I haven't been inside, the one in Dallas most assuredly is not.)  It isn't a big deal, but unlike baseball team homes, this one was less than awe-inspiring.

The NFL's product is very friendly for the TV viewer.  To a certain extent that's to the detriment of the fans at the game.  The stadium experience was lacking in some areas.  Since our seats were in the corner of an end zone, there were times we were better off watching the action on the scoreboard to have a better idea of what was happening on some plays.  The length of TV timeouts is more deeply felt as you stand around waiting for the action to resume.  Although out-of-town scores and highlights are displayed, one feels sealed off from much else at an NFL game.

Those reasons, in addition to those I mentioned in the first paragraph, are probably enough to keep me from ever being a regular attendee at NFL games.  (That the team is a two-hour drive away factors in too.)  Don't get me wrong.  I enjoyed the time at the game, which was a good one in general.  The Bengals won in semi-dramatic fashion with a late field goal at the end where we sat.  I definitely won't complain about that.  Unlike other league's games, though, I don't know that seeing them in person is the best way to experience them.  Weird, that.

Winning and losing

I like watching sports and do plenty of it.  Of course I want my teams to win, but enduring years of losing shows that success isn't essential to keep me following them.  But you know, winning is so much more fun.

I was hopeful for this fall's NHL season to start as the local franchise had made some splashy moves in the offseason and presumably addressed the biggest deficiencies.  I was pretty pessimistic about my NFL team of choice as the football season approached.  So far my expectations were completely wrong for both.

The hockey team has been dismal in getting off to a franchise worst start, which is saying something considering the club's history.  How bad has it been?  The season sure seemed like it was essentially over two weeks in.  A month in it definitely looks like they're left playing for pride.  Never mind that the regular season isn't over until early April.  The team doesn't just lose; it looks uninspired.  (They lost 9-2 last night in a sport in which putting up nine goals is not common.)

I am a partial season ticket holder for this team--I have a 10-game plan--and I'm kind of regretting having those tickets now.  I'm not demanding them to field the best team in the league, but yeah, I do expect them not to put the worst one out there, especially since they're not in rebuilding mode.  They're not even losing in ways that make my attention justifiable.

On the other hand, the football team has been surprisingly good, especially since I anticipated them being the worst team in the league this season.  On the weeks their games haven't been on local TV I've gone to a sports bar and cheered them on.  Imagine this.  It's been fun.  Everything seems to be going their way, and they are winning games.  Dumb as it sounds, it feels good to watch them win.

I don't stake my identity or happiness on the outcomes of the games my teams compete in, yet the results do have an effect.  For now I'm glad at least one of my teams is coming through.  I hope it lasts.

Look, it's baseball

A pretty good World Series concluded this evening, although not with the winning team I adopted and cheered on in person this postseason.  The Texas Rangers will have to wait at least another year to get their first title in franchise history.

Last night's Game 6 was sloppy before transforming into the sort of game destined to become the stuff of legend.  Folks were tripping over themselves this morning to declare it the Best Game Ever.  It was a dramatic game, no doubt, but let's not rush to judgment.

As Octobers go in baseball, this was a terrific one.  The playoffs featured a healthy amount of excitement.  This World Series was probably the best one in awhile. 

A recent tradition at this point in the year is for sports commentators to be poised to point out how baseball's TV ratings aren't as strong as in prior decades and note how this means the game is hurting.  OK, fine, baseball has ceded it's status as America's favorite sport to football, but the number of people watching on broadcast television, say, thirty years ago versus now isn't a worthwhile comparison.  Think of how many other channels and entertainment options are available now.  A hundred or more cable channels, not to mention DVD/Blu-ray, streaming video, and the internet, are there to pull away viewers versus the four broadcast channels that dominated home entertainment back then.  Of course the ratings don't measure up now, and i should care that they don't because why?

Of all the professional sports, baseball is the one that's there almost every day while it's in season for seven months.  It's fitting that as this season ends the weather has just changed to colder temperatures, when it's time to change the type of clothing one wears.  As baseball steps aside for a bit, so too do the warm months.  They'll be back before we know it.

Last minute trip

And with this result, it means I'm headed to Dallas next weekend.  Crazy.

It started with me thinking, "Huh, I wonder if my brother might be able to scrounge up tickets to a World Series game down there and if flights are reasonable."  Both rhetorical questions could be answered in the affirmative, although the latter took a little bit more looking--and buying blindly from Hotwire--since the airline I was going to fly on doubled their round trip rates between Tuesday and tonight.  Raised costs in the intervening days had been my big concern, but I wasn't going to book until the game was a certainty.  Even when the Rangers led by a likely insurmountable number of runs, I avoided booking.  Ultimately I paid less than I expected, although I'm getting back a bit later than I had hoped.

It'll be fun to go to the game and see my nephew, who will have nearly doubled his age since I saw him last.  I expect it will also be nice simply to get away for a few days too.  What a year of unexpected activities and travels. 

Blind luck

A new pro hockey season is here, and excitement is in the air around the local team.  They made some major moves in the off-season and should be better.   They lost 3-2 tonight, but I thoroughly enjoyed myself this evening anyway.

The picture at the top of the post shows where my seat was.  I joked how I was on the glass, just not the one anyone would think of.  Incredibly, though, someone wanted my seat and was willing to trade tickets.  When I found out where his was, I quickly agreed to a swap.  Where did I move to?

I went from eight rows in the upper bowl to six rows from the ice.  The trader had two friends sitting directly behind me and wanted to be near them.  That's also the only explanation why anyone would trade a ticket that cost more than double for mine.

I've sat in the lower bowl for a hockey game on three occasions.  One was lucking out and finding a scalper looking to dump a ticket close to the game and when demand was low.  Another time the franchise did an upgrade for one game of my partial season ticket package.  They're nice spots to watch the game, although they do have their drawbacks--and no, I'm not referring to the higher prices.  From this corner I couldn't see the flow of play develop as well, especially if it on the near side at the other end.  Still, the trade off is getting a much better sense of the game's speed and power.  Plus, with this being a sold out opening night, the crowd was really into it, which made for a fun environment down there.

As if being close wasn't enough, during a break the promotions team threw pizza boxes into the seating and one happened to land in my lap.  So I won a free large pizza too.  (If you've ever been curious what is inside the boxes, a coupon the size of a business card is taped inside.)

Sure, I would have been happy to stay in my original seat and leave with nothing more than the team winning, but this sort of thing doesn't happen often.  For one evening I gladly accepted the trade-off.

162

Realistically my Reds have been out of the pennant race for two months, if not longer.  It was a disappointing year to be a fan of the baseball team in Cincinnati.  A busy September and nothing to see them play for meant I watched few of their games as they played out the string.

Still, I am a baseball fan, so I tuned in to see which teams would grab the last two spots in the playoffs.  I didn't have any particular rooting interest.  Sure, I preferred for Atlanta and Tampa to advance, but it didn't have anything invested in the outcomes.

As it turns out, it was a great night to be a fan of the sport.  Of the four games that mattered, only one didn't require one's close attention.  Two went to extra innings, one of which probably never should have needed the additional frames.  One was decided with a two-out ninth inning rally.  Two of the games with somewhat improbable endings wrapped within minutes of each other.

Except for sporting events, technology and time-shifting have rendered live viewing of television largely inessential.  (You can get away with recording games to watch later, but you're also probably more in danger of having the result spoiled.)  Tonight's dramatic conclusion of the regular season had to be experienced as it happened, though.  Whether it was switching between channels or interacting with friends through Twitter as we watched the games while hundreds of miles apart, being in the moment is what made it so thrilling.  It certainly was worth fighting through the slumber trying to overtake me.

On the move

I had a busy day in Washington, D.C., although it wasn't what I initially set out to do. I planned to visit the Newseum, but I got into the District at the start of lunchtime and figured I ought to grab something to eat first.

I just signed up for Foursquare on my phone, in part to help me find places to eat here and in New York City. I found a pizza place that was about a mile's walk from the Newseum, so I headed out in its direction. I was a little disoriented and wasted some time going the wrong way, so I ended up getting lunch later than initially expected. I didn't realize I was going to a place that Top Chef's Spike runs.

I got a slice of pepperoni, a slice of Hawaiian, and a homemade grape soda for what turned out to be a lunch worth going out of my way to get. I guess those Top Chef folks know what they're doing. I also had some frozen yogurt with fresh blueberries, strawberries, and chocolate chips to cap the meal and sat in front of the Library of Congress's James Madison building to eat it.

By that point going to the Newseum really didn't make any sense, so I wandered over to the Capitol and took the tour. I'd seen it from the outside on a previous trip to D.C. some years ago, but I'd never gone in. I didn't have a gallery pass to see House or Senate chambers, but it was still a neat experience. From there I wandered over to the Library of Congress's main building through the adjoining underground tunnel. I arrived just as that tour was starting, so I got to get a look around this beautiful building.

The Supreme Court was nearby, so I decided that I really ought to see it. I snapped some pictures, walked up the steps, took some more photos, and then approached a cop to find out if the Metro stop on the line I needed to take to the ballpark was closer than the one I had arrived on. He suggested walking (!) to the stadium and explained how to get there. I was a little dubious, but I had the time and thought that it would let me see more of the area.

Sure enough, I didn't have any trouble finding it and saved a couple bucks in train fare.

The Reds lost, and thus went 1-2 while I was here to see them play. Still, I had a good time in this brief visit to D.C. Now I head north to New York City. A Broadway play is definitely on the docket. A Mets game may be too. Beyond that, who knows?

Front row seat

Keeping busy here in the greater Washington, D.C. area. Today was slower, as I took my time getting around and met a friend for lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant in northern Virginia. By the time I got back to the hotel and dealt with some other stuff, I figured I really only had time to go to the baseball game. So that's what I did.

I'll have to do one post dedicated to Nationals Park, especially since I don't feel like doing it tonight. Anyway, as you can see from the photo, I was in the first row of fixed seating on the first base line. All praise the secondary market, which offered this up at a great price and thus put it into my range of what I was willing to spend. And to think I landed one on the third base side for Thursday that's just seven rows from the field and paid even less!

What I'm saying is that I never sit this close. So that's making this fun and letting me see different parts of the stadium. A Reds win tonight didn't hurt.

Trick play

'Twas a very hot day for attending a baseball game, although after you were in it for awhile, it wasn't so bad. (Keep in mind that it was somewhere in the 90s.) A nice breeze tended to come down, and by the end of the game, our seats were in the shade. Which isn't to say I didn't sweat a lot.

With the way the Reds are stinking it up, it was probably just as well that my dad and I met in Cincinnati for only two games. Of course, as I realized last night, it was nice that we were able to meet up for even one. This wasn't something that either of my parents could do with their fathers when they were my age now. My mother was in college when her dad died. My dad must have been in his twenties when his dad passed.

I don't bring this up to bum out the room or myself, although it's certainly a bittersweet thought and not the sort of awareness one wishes to get while trying to fall asleep. (Yep, that's when it occurred to me.) If anything, I am now able to appreciate more the time I have with my parents, even in those instances when they get on my nerves. They never really had an adulthood with their fathers. I've been fortunate to have one with both of mine.

I've always been on good terms with my parents and never really had the sorts of major issues with them that I sometimes hear other people having. It's what I accepted as normal, just as I reflected that my dad must have done stuff like this with his father...except wait, no he didn't. To a certain extent I imagine that such a relationship might mean I take them for granted. How I was raised and get along with my family is more or less how it's supposed to be, right? Perhaps, but it doesn't necessarily turn out that way in many families.

Funny how what was supposed to be a short overnight trip to see a couple ballgames and which featured probably more talk about the team than anything else--such a cliché--gave me a greater perspective on how I relate to my parents.

Swing and a miss

Great seats, miserable game.

It'll be a quick 26 hours or so that I'm here in Cincinnati with my dad. That'll be nice. The baseball from our favorite team certainly doesn't appear to be.

If you heard us talking during the game, I imagine one might wonder why we put up with it. (For those who don't follow the sport, the Reds have been frustratingly mediocre most of the season and are playing uninspired right now.) I'm not very happy with the effort I see from this team and how it's being managed, but watching them--and griping about them, as necessary--is something I enjoy. I suppose you understand that or you don't.

Anyway, there's another game Thursday afternoon and then back home. A win would be good. Please.

All-Star

The Major League Baseball All-Star Game took place tonight. If you read much of anything written in anticipation of it, chances are you found lots of snippy comments and dismissals of the mid-season exhibition. The brickbats have been rightfully earned. Players beg off the squad for the smallest of reasons. Most of the elected starters now put in token appearances. Interleague play has tarnished the appeal of match-ups that otherwise weren't seen except for this game or the World Series.

The source of much of the displeasure with the game stems from the 2002 edition, which unceremoniously ended in a tie because both teams had used their full complement of players and the managers didn't want to burden their last pitchers. It was a bad decision that led to a bigger one: making the exhibition "mean something" by staking home field advantage in the World Series on the outcome. Why hinge a crucial postseason advantage on a game that otherwise doesn't count--it never did, other than league bragging rights--and isn't taken seriously by the participants?

I fondly remember watching the All-Star Game on TV when I was a kid. It was one of the rare times to see players from the American League and even some of the other National League teams. Keep in mind that comparatively few games aired then. I don't remember how often the Reds were on in the '80s, but it wasn't anywhere close to the approximately 90% of the schedule that I get now.

So while people gripe about the rule that requires a representative from each team, at least back then it made sense. I wanted to see players from my favorite team out there with guys from all the other clubs. One of my favorite aspects of the game is seeing the field taken by players in all those different uniforms. While they're playing on one of two sides,wearing their regular uniforms turns the showcase on what are theoretically the sport's best (or best that year).

I recall staying up for the end of that fateful 2002 game, although I may very well have fallen asleep before the arrival of the boneheaded decision to call it a tie. (The increasingly later times for first pitch don't make it friendly for kids or adults who work regular business days.) I don't think the All-Star Game has meant as much to me since as it did before then. Once I had joined the working world I still kept up with the game. Now it's become something that I'll watch if I'm home but won't sweat missing if something else is going on. (Tonight's game conflicted with a screening of the final Harry Potter film. Even after I got home, I only half paid attention.)

Some things look better through the lens of nostalgia, and some things were better the way they used to be. When it comes to the All-Star Game, the latter sentiment is the correct one to apply.

Major minors

Dayton welcomed a minor league baseball team after I no longer lived in the area. My parents may have moved away by then too. So, until last night I'd never been to a game at Fifth Third Field to see the Class A Dayton Dragons. Adding to my reasons for never having attended a game there: the first season sold out before any games were played, and I'd heard they were perpetually sold out. I hadn't heard incorrectly. Apparently they've sold out every game since the team began playing in 2000.

Having read an article about the franchise being on the verge of breaking the North American professional sports record for consecutive sellouts, I decided that the time had come for me to drive over to Dayton to see a game. My great aunt fell and broke her hip recently, so I felt like I needed to go back there to visit her. Going to a ballgame would just be a way of maximizing the trip.

As it turns out, last night's game was the record breaker: #815. I swear I didn't know this. I thought they broke it last weekend. While the team easily exceeded capacity in ticket sales, those like me who just needed one seat could still find scattered spots. I ended up in the first row of the upper deck, which provided the added benefit of as much leg room as I could ask for.

I'd been to the ballpark once before. My dad stopped there and we walked around on the way back to my parents' home from a Reds game. The stadium was under construction at the time, so it was easy enough to walk into what would become the outfield seating area and see what progress had been made. Until last night that was the only time I'd seen the place.

I arrived closer to first pitch than I preferred, and I didn't have a chance to look around the bordering area to see how it's thrived since the team's arrival. Based on some other parts of downtown Dayton that I've seen, this portion has definitely fared a lot better.

When it comes to minor league games, I can't say that I have a vested interest in who wins. The Dragons are a Cincinnati Reds affiliate, but old hometown loyalty was the main factor in my cheering on the team. (Plus, to do otherwise would have been rude.) I was there simply to enjoy a fine night outside watching baseball.

In this respect the Dragons management mount a worthwhile production. Maybe it's being overly familiar with (and mostly bored by) the between innings shenanigans at Reds games and unfamiliar with the Dragons way of doing things, but this minor league team seemed more inspired with how they passed the downtime. Granted, they're not dealing with breaks as long as those in the big leagues. They're also not facing as many restrictions that would prevent an MLB team from having kids race Big Wheels from first to third or putting three toddlers onto a padded racetrack in the third base foul territory. The toddler race might have been the best of the activities because it didn't work. The kids knocked their helmets off and basically refused to perform.

After the end of the fifth, when the game was now official, the announcement came that the Dragons had broken the consecutive sellout record of 814 previously owned by the NBA's Portland Trail Blazers. Balloons were released, and streamers were shot into the stands. The Dragons came onto the field and applauded the fans. At this level the players turn over on the team far more than in the majors. I doubt anyone out there was in Dayton five years ago, let alone when the streak started. That doesn't matter. The message was clear that the organization is grateful for how the community has embraced the team.

I would have loved it if this team had been in place when I was growing up. The Reds are about an hour's drive from my hometown, and they would have still been my primary team. Still, to have a local team that you could seen more frequently and for less money would have been a dream. I imagine as a teenager I would have made a point to go to games as much as possible.

I haven't lived in the Dayton area since 1993, but I want to see it do well. I know it's been hit hard by losses in manufacturing, and parts of town definitely look the worse for wear than what I remember. Going to the ballpark, though, let me take some pride in what used to be home and know that the dedication I feel for my chosen teams seems to be consistent with how people there accept their teams.

I don't need to drive to Dayton to see professional baseball. The Reds, much as they're aggravating me these days, will always be where most of my fanatical baseball energies will be focused. Columbus has a minor league team and a nice new stadium of its own. Who knows when I'll be back to a game in Dayton again. Every now and then, though, it'd be nice to return and see how a sport I love has blossomed where I used to live.

A full plate

It would be fitting to write about my dad, what with it being Father's Day and all, and I might have done so if things had gone according to plan. I made the trip to Cincinnati to spend the weekend watching the Reds as a way to unwind from the end of the school year. I also intended for it to be a time to spend with my dad, as he lives far enough away that getting to the games isn't easy if you just want to go for the day. Since he and my mom are getting ready to close on a house and move, he couldn't join me. Assuming the Reds don't go in the tank over the next month, I've floated the idea of doing this in July.

Before the game I went to breakfast and ordered the bacon pancakes. I assumed it was more like bacon bits sprinkled into the batter rather than the sizable pieces you can see pictured above. They were good, although somehow the bacon's taste didn't quite come through as much being in the pancakes. But not to fear, I also got a side order of bacon, which was fantastic. (Hey, I'm exercising regularly, so I can sort of justify eating this.)

Plus, I walked all the way from Kentucky to Ohio. (OK, it was probably only a mile.) Of the things that I love, not paying much for parking is on the list. Three bucks to park for a professional sporting event? That's a win.

The Reds still didn't have much offense in them, but they managed to win and send me home on a high note. Although rain fell before the game, it held off until the top of the ninth. All in all, the weather was pretty good for mid-June.

The weekend was much more of a whirlwind than I'd hoped, but it was a pleasant 48 hours out of town. Let's do it again soon.

View from the catbird seat

Various observations from two days at the ballpark in Cincinnati:

-I saw a baby with pierced ears. OK, I can't vouch that they were pierced, but she had earrings. If the child can't yet walk, isn't this way too young for such a thing?

-With a lot of patience, I ended up getting a very good seat for Friday night's game through the online secondary market. (I wonder if it might have fallen a little more in price if I hadn't had to buy it before driving down here.) I figured that someone with a scattered single might get desperate to unload it, especially since most tickets were usually listed at face value or more. Considering I had to pay $10.20 in fees, a ticket even $10 less than face is no bargain when tickets are available at the box office.

-Ticket fees, whether from outlets or the resale market, are outrageously high. Maybe those in charge consider it transparency. It's more like highway robbery.

-I'm sad to see that many of the beggars that line the path on the way from the stadium to the parking lots and garages are familiar, in part because they're in the same spots they were a year ago.

-Old fashioned hand slapped burger? Isn't these handcrafted/artisanal descriptions getting just a little out of hand?

-Although tonight's game wasn't anything to write home about--the Reds lost again in less-than-thrilling fashion--I'm beginning to think that the outfield seats are not the way to go. Last night's seat had me much more involved than my right center perch. Good thing tomorrow's spot is along the first base side.

-I hate paying much for parking if I can help it. My usual spot appears to have gone up from $5 to $8 this year. Today I drove just across the river to Newport, KY to see a movie--two, in fact. The garage there charges $3 but refunded $1.75 for theater ticket validation. Since it was pay upon entry, I spent most of the day south of the Ohio border, went to the game by walking over the river and back on the bridge, and spent a grand total of $1.25 parking for what was around twelve hours. Victory!

-Seriously, though, even if I had to pay $5--rates there went up closer to game time--it's probably the same distance as where I've usually parked on Pete Rose Way. The upsides: the walk to the stadium and back is mostly uninterrupted by traffic lights or cars. I got out of there and on the highway as fast, if not faster, than my previous preferred spot. The downside: You can't always walk around people who may be taking their time.

-Can't complain about the weather so far this weekend. Friday night was a little sticky but gradually became more comfortable. Tonight brought some sprinkles for a few innings but was otherwise a very nice night in a month when it can be very hot and humid. More nice weather Sunday, please. (A win would be good too.)

-I may dare to begin my Sunday morning with bacon pancakes.

To the ballgame

I'd like to write about the night at the ballpark, but I feel like I'm already behind the eight ball when it comes to figuring out what I will be doing tomorrow before the game. The tentative plan is to catch a movie at Newport on the Levee and then spend the remainder of the time leading up to the game on the Kentucky side of the Ohio, but there are details to iron out before I go to bed.

It was a lovely night to take in a game, albeit a bit sticky early on. Thanks to a seller on the online secondary market who kept dropping the price of the ticket, I snagged a seat probably in the best spot I've sat in the stadium.

The game was a pretty good one, save for the Reds losing. Fireworks capped the night at the ol' ball yard. Hopefully I'll see more of those the next two days, as they're shot off when the home team homers and, more importantly, wins.

Resigned

Since yesterday the big story around these parts has been the resignation of the head football coach at the huge state university in town. I was surprised that the announcement came now--the NCAA's findings aren't due until August--but I'm not surprised that he's no longer in charge of the program. As is so often the case, the cover-up can cause more trouble than the crime. (In this case the players made the initial rules violation. The coach's fatal error was not informing the appropriate people when it was brought to his attention.)

I've read and heard a fair amount of the reactions to the downfall of the clean-cut coach--or maybe not as clean as everyone wants to believe--and some of it drives me crazy. So permit me today's post to get this out of my system:

-The coach is not a martyr or a victim of the players' misdeeds.

Yes, the players broke the rules. So did the coach when he chose not to report his knowledge of their actions and then lie about what he knew when. Whether you think the rule regarding players being disallowed to sell or trade their memorabilia is sensible or not, everyone involved knows it's there, especially the coach. Hiding violations tends to get schools in more trouble than reporting them. The now-former coach knew that but played his cards differently. (And spare me about how honorable he was being, that he was protecting his players. This was about protecting a credible shot at a title run.)

-Everybody's doing it, so why don't we? Because two wrongs don't make a right.

The thinking goes that there's rule-breaking and corruption at all major college athletics programs, so what's the big deal? I agree that there's definitely plenty of slimy business in big-time college sports, but that doesn't mean we ignore it when proof of it exists, especially if you're one of the watchmen. (The coach has been quite vocal about his Christianity and published books about ethical behavior, which only makes his stonewalling and suspect decisions all the more distasteful.)

-There's a place and purpose for athletics in a college setting, but these incidents suggest that the major sports and the money involved with them are working at odds with the educational mission.

The answer is not to begin paying these student-athletes, which some think is the solution. For one, you'd have to pay all Division I athletes, most of whom are not in revenue-generating sports. How many people are going to accept paying the star QB the same as the last person on the fencing team? And I get tired of hearing that they're not being compensated. A full college scholarship isn't nothing. Whether they choose to use it or not is on those individuals.

-Don't kill the messengers.

A lot of fan anger, at least in the local newspaper's online comments, is directed at the media for reporting this in the first place. No one likes feeling duped--and I think that's part of what's going on with the anger being expressed--but aim that displeasure where it's deserved: the coach. The players involved were clearly no saints, but the guy getting paid millions to keep things straight could have minimized the damage that will surely be greater because of how the situation's been handled.

OK, that's enough of that.

Disappointing

It had been the tournament of the little guy. Two mid-major schools advanced to the NCAA Final Four in the men's basketball tournament. Maybe this would be the year when the small program came out on top.

Nope.

The championship game between Butler and Connecticut was a brutal display. Neither team played particularly well. Butler just happened to play about as poorly as a team can yet lead at halftime and conceivably still have a shot late in the game. So much for pulling for them.

I admit that I invest a lot in wanting to see the smaller schools win. The teams I regularly root for are often the underdogs. Good grief, that's pretty much how I see myself. I really felt like this year the time had arrived for an unlikely champion to emerge. It did happen, and it all went down in the most disappointing of manners.

Maybe next time.

Play ball

The baseball season began in dramatic fashion Thursday for my Cincinnati Reds. A two-out, three-run home run in the bottom of the ninth snatched a win from what was looking like defeat. What a way to kick off a year in which a lot of hope and confidence is invested in this team.

Tonight I headed down to the second game of the season. A winning result was achieved without such showmanship, but who cares about style as long as the game ends with right team on top? That said, it was a good, fast game.

Perhaps most enjoyable was the atmosphere in the ballpark. The Reds have tried to make the second game an event--Opening Night--in order to bring people out after the highly in-demand Opening Day game. It worked, although it wasn't simply good marketing. The fact that almost 38 thousand turned out certainly had something to do with the expectations for this season.

Those hopes had the stadium hopping in a way that I don't remember seeing in the regular season, especially this early in it. The crowd seemed more engaged and vocal, which made it more fun to there. So this is what it's like to be on top, or at least have a good claim for it.

First Four

I've returned to the Dayton area to take in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The play-in game is dead. Long live the play-in games.

The first game between #16 seed contenders University of Arkansas-Little Rock and the University of North Carolina-Asheville was easily the more entertaining of the two. Both teams scrapped to see who gets smashed by a #1 seed on Thursday, but they played energetically and as if they were excited to be there. There was a late shot made to send it into overtime, so it wasn't a bad start to the evening.

The second game between two of the last four teams to receive at-large bids should have been better. Clemson and the University of Alabama-Birmingham have higher caliber players and richer traditions. Maybe it was the late start--tip-off wasn't until almost 9:50 p.m.--but this game was mostly a dud. UAB's passing was terrible, and they dug a hole they never really could climb out of.

Since I didn't get out of the arena until midnight, I was glad I'd already arranged to stay in town overnight. (There are two more games I'm attending Wednesday night.) It's still going to be a crazy day trying to take care of whatever needs to be taken care of, getting home late Wednesday night/Thursday morning, and rising at the crack of dawn to catch a plane to New York City.

Busy times. Hopefully fun times too.