| |
JOCKS
STAFF PICKS
Best
Indication the Bengals Were Changing:
Signing Carson Palmer two days before drafting
him with the first overall pick. Many experts thought the Bengals
should focus their draft on the defense and avoid a high-profile
quarterback — especially after the team’s two most recent
first-round quarterback picks, Akili Smith and David Klingler, were
busts. The pick and signing showed Marvin Lewis was calling the
shots and wanted quality athletes, regardless of position.
Best Indication the Bengals Are Totally
Changed:
After spending millions on Palmer, the team actually looked out
for the long run and didn’t play him in 2003. Instead of throwing
him to the wolves as they did Smith and Klingler, Palmer
stayed on the sidelines and learned. He’ll be a year
older and wiser when he finally takes over as starting QB this fall.
Best Sign That Corey Dillon’s
Days Were Numbered:
The chants of “Rooo-dee, Rooo-dee” at Bengals games,
when substitute back Rudi Johnson won over the
fans with 100-yard rushing performances while Corey Dillon pouted
about his injuries and lack of playing time. The Dillon Era is over
in Cincinnati.
Best Promotion for Local Hockey:
The Anaheim Mighty Ducks made it to the NHL’s
Stanley Cup finals last year with a roster of former Cincinnati
Mighty Ducks, the team’s top minor league affiliate.
The big team was coached by former Cincinnati coach Mike Babcock,
and as many as 19 guys on the team played here, including goalie
Sebastien Giguere, whose out-of-mind net-minding drove the Ducks
past heavyweight teams to the finals. Alas, they lost to the New
Jersey Devils — but might have won over more local fans to
come to the Cincinnati Gardens and U.S. Bank Arena to see “tomorrow’s
stars.”
|
Best
Return from the Dead:
Xavier Musketeers
Photo:
Wendy Uhlman
|
Best
Return from the Dead:
Xavier Musketeers
At the end of January, Xavier was circling the drain. The Muskies
lost five of six games to close out the month, looking as bad as
that implies in doing so. Sure, the loss of 2003 Player of the Year
David West was expected to hurt, but this bad? At 10-9 (2-5 in the
Atlantic-10) the Muskies were not only likely to miss the NCAA tournament
but were in danger of a losing season. Flash forward two months,
and XU has won 15 of 16, looking every bit as good as last year’s
Top 10 squad in the process. Kick-started by yet another unexpected
dissing of crosstown rival UC, Xavier closed out an impressive second
half of the season with a thrashing of then-No. 1 St. Joseph’s,
an Atlantic-10 tournament championship and an Elite Eight berth,
the first in school history. The source of the resurgence? The seniors.
Anthony Myles, Romain Sato and Lionel Chalmers, no doubt feeling
their final go-around quickly slipping away, responded by playing
with a heightened sense of urgency. Yes, a local team actually made
it past the second round of an NCAA tournament game. That Thad Matta’s
team did it from the brink of disaster makes it all the more satisfying.
(Jason Gargano)
Best
One-and-Done Sports Franchise:
Despite being quality sports entertainment, the Cincinnati
Swarm got one year before a career-ending franchise dissolution.
Oh, to the 99 percent of you who just went into blank-stare mode,
the Swarm played in the Arena Football League 2.
Best Reminder That Maybe We Do Live
in Cleveland:
Despite ex-Bengals coach Sam Wyche’s insistence that Cincinnati
fans are better behaved than Cleveland fans, the local cause took
a turn for the nasty during the Reds season’s first
week. When oft-injured Ken Griffey Jr. separated his shoulder
diving for a fly ball, more than a few fans in the outfield bleachers
booed him as he lay sprawled on the field.
|
Staff’s
Best Moments in Great American Ball Park’s Inaugural
Season:
Photo:
Jymi Bolden
|
Staff’s
Best Moments in Great American Ball Park’s Inaugural Season:
• Barry Larkin’s walk-off homer against St. Louis. It
started the “heroic last at-bat” season.
• Disco Night was pretty cool.
• The time I went down during “Discount Student Ticket”
night and they were sold out of “Discount Student Tickets.”
• Selling off the best players in the middle of a decent season.
• “Come as Your Favorite Elvis” night where dueling
Elvises (Elvi?) sang “Love Me Tender” from “the
Gap” during the 7th-inning stretch.
• The mad crush at the gate on “Bobblehead” night
for Marty and Joe
bobbles.
• Sitting in the really nice seats and having a server go
get me a beer.
• The historic touches — the statues, the mosaic of
the first Reds team, the banners, the retired numbers.
• Seeing local bands play in the stadium’s Machine Room
tavern before and/or after games.
Best Departure:
The Reds’ main problem over the past few years has been their
lack of pitching and their inability to develop good young pitchers.
General Manager Jim Bowden was responsible for
building the team over his 11 years as GM, and last July he took
the fall for the team’s bad arms. Not many people inside or
outside the organization were sad to see Bowden go.
Best Reason to Believe the Reds Are Going Nowhere:
Shortly after firing General Manager Jim Bowden and Manager Bob
Boone, the Reds made a series of trades designed to 1) lower payroll,
2) import young pitching and 3) lower payroll. Since the Reds under
Bowden hadn’t developed its own pitchers (see above), the
team decided to rein in eight or more minor league pitchers in deals
for Aaron Boone, Jose Guillen, Scott Williamson, Gabe White and
Scott Sullivan. Whether the young arms help build a winner remains
to be seen, but the Reds’ payroll slashing
in their first season in Great American Ball Park was a slap in
the face of fans who paid to build it.
Best Reminder That Baseball Still
Matters:
The Cincinnati Museum Center’s exhibition Baseball
As America mixed some local artifacts with memorabilia
from the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown to remind
visitors of why the sport was called “the national pastime”
and why it still impacts so many people today. Hall of Famers Johhny
Bench, Gaylord Perry, Brooks Robinson and Robin Roberts attended
the exhibition’s opening ceremonies.
Best Reminder That the Reds Still
Struggle with the Concept of Good PR:
Carl Lindner and the Reds were sponsors of Baseball of America,
but the team missed an opportunity to put its team memorabilia on
display at the exhibition. Maybe they wanted to continue building
the public’s appetite for their own team museum, which was
supposed to open this season. Unfortunately, its debut has been
delayed because, well, the Reds — who play in a new taxpayer-funded
stadium — don’t seem to have enough money to finish
it.
Best Reminder That Even a Blind Squirrel
Can Find a PR Nut:
The Reds ended an otherwise forgettable 2003 season by announcing
that local hero Barry Larkin would return for his
19th and final major league season, all with the Reds. Just a few
days before, the team was ready to cut Larkin loose, but Expos manager
Frank Robinson – in town while a statue of him was dedicated
at Great American Ball Park — intervened.
Best Move on Up to the East Side:
UC signaled that its sports programs had finally
arrived when it announced in November that it would be joining the
Big East Conference. Although Bearcat basketball
needs no help, playing in the same conference as Connecticut, Syracuse,
Pittsburgh, Notre Dame, Louisville, DePaul and Marquette will be
awesome. The move is also a boost to the UC football program, although
the new Big East (without Miami and Virginia tech) won’t be
top notch. Still, the new alignment will be terrific.
Best Scapegoat:
UC fired football coach Rick Minter after 10 seasons
of mostly anonymous success and neglible fan support. Of course,
the firing came a few weeks after the university announced its move
to the Big East (see above), and Minter was replaced with Ohio State
assistant coach Mark Dantonio. Did Minter’s modestly improving
football program help make UC attractive to the Big East, yet was
he seen paradoxically as not “big time” enough to take
the Bearcats to the next level? Hmmmmm.
Best Slap at Local Athletics:
Miami’s stellar football season and their
star quarterback’s career ended not at a New Year’s
Day bowl game but at the GMAC Bowl on Dec. 18. The big-time football
conferences continued to shut out the small programs from the BCS
bowls and payouts, but maybe Miami’s 13-1 season will help
change the BCS system in the future. And Ben Roethlisberger might
get the last laugh anyway, as he’s projected to be the first
or second college QB taken in the upcoming NFL draft. © |
|
