cramer

Spotlight is at the Montgomery Inn banquet center. Don't know what the slabs are... maybe facing for that side of the ballpark that's been left with bare concrete? Rehab on US Bank or Lytle?

Firefox 2 at work. Safari 2.0.4 at home.

Looks like UC has offerred the job to Central Michigan's Brian Kelly.

I love the new road uni, I almost dropped 150 on one last night at Redfest. I think they did a really strong job with that font, making it recall the past without looking too self-consciously old-timey. It's my favorite of the bunch. To each his own I guess. I don't like the C-Reds logo; I much prefer the wishbone alone without text. Love the new Mr Red. One problem with all the unis they were selling at Redfest was the selection of players names on the back. Arroyo? Philips? Who knows if they'll be anything more than flashes in the pan. Maybe after two more seasons of Brandon at second. Griffey? Yeah, I love him but... I just can't pull the trigger.

Well, let's just disagree on black in Reds unis. There's just no precedent for it and no reason for it to be there. It looks like late 90s Mets, Royals and whoever else decided to up the hip factor with black. So, so lame. As for vests, I'm not as opposed to them in theory. The away vest are ok. But the combination of vest and pinstripe is too much for me to take. One thing about the Reds that I kinda dig is that the tradition with the uniforms is frequent change. The Yankees, Tigers, Cards all have kept it pretty much the same; the Reds mix it up every decade or even every few years. I like that you can associate a time with a uni. The modern unis to me will always say 1999. Just like the doubleknit poly says 1990. Or the ice cream man get ups say 1995. Obviously, some I like, some I don't. Lately, more of the latter. Aesthetically, I'd like to see some kind a combination of the 1955 and 1956 jerseys used as the basis. Throw in a bit of 1908 or 1911. Maybe use 1939-1946 for the Sunday alternates. http://www.baseballhalloffame.org/exhibits/online_exhibits/dressed_to_the_nines/uniforms.asp?city=Cincinnati&league=NL&sort=year&increment=18&pos=37

Unfortunately, there's still the completely unnecessary black drop shadow on the C on the hat, iirc. We'll see today at five.

The biggest reason for new unis, I suspect, is that the new owner wants to make his mark. Followed by more merch sales, and then the simple fact that vests are terrible. I was under the impression that we were losing black, which is an abomination, but sadly that's not the case. The new unis look good though, I like the new typeface for Cincinnati for the aways and Mr Red has more prominence in the alt logo. Luckily, the black hats are gone -- I think we're back to all Red hats.

Agreed; no height restriction is stunting Cincinnati's growth. I don't think there's legislation, but there is an urban design review board or somesuch and they have stated that there is an aesthetic value in the "pyramid" of the skyline that they'd like to preserve. But what that means is that they'd rather see taller buildings go up around Vine rather than say Central. Not sure how much say they have, or how strongly that view is held.

What is this MU of which you speak? And no, you wouldn't choose Minnesota over MSU. And Iowa and Wisconsin are only arguably better. Wisco hasn't been that good since the late 90s. But still, all those jobs are better than the UC position. There's a reason it used to be known as the Big Two + Eight (ok, nine). After U-M and OSU, there's a drop off in caliber. But it's still the Big 10, and for a guy like Dantonio I bet that's a pretty big deal. My guess is he realized Tressel isn't going anywhere and he didn't have a chance at OSU, so he took MSU. If UC wins a Big East championship, I'll gladly eat my words. I'd take MSU in that bet any day, even considering they have U-M and OSU to contend with.

Pitt drew over 55,000 for the W Va game. They average over 40,000 in home attendance. Compare to UC. It ain't pretty. Dantonio promoted the team much, much more than Minter. It's a tough sell. I hate to break it to you, but the UC football job just isn't that appealing. It's got to be in the bottom third among schools in the BCS. Mark Dantonio probably brought it up from somewhere around Duke. You should be thankful the program had him, instead of shitting on him for taking one of his two dream jobs.

Rando, I can't help but laugh. Setting aside the issue of whether there's any such thing as loyalty in sports, you're taking this far too personally. Just because he took another job doesn't mean he doesn't care about UC. It means he cares about MSU more. Do you really think taking a better job is selling out? MSU has 6 Big Ten Conference Championships since joining. I think they've won 3 national championships. 75,000 people go to their games, even though they've sucked lately. I like his odds at MSU much more than at UC.

It's a bit silly to change the name, but I understand the motive. As a general rule, I dislike the words Place and Center as names for places and centers. You should ask Maximillian about those old farms in Winton Place. There should be a photo thread request form.

And apparently, Carl is from Cincinnati.

On last night's Simpsons, Homer was goofing off at the nuke plant playing a game of Cincinnati Time Waste.

^what's that mean?

I checked out a few films in a preview. The new screen (no visible seams) and sound system rock.

UC hit more threes than they did though. Face it, this team has serious weaknesses. I have every confidence in Mick to get things done, but this is going to be a long, long year.

I think Michigan is probably the second best team in the nation, but they had their chance and I don't really think there should be a rematch. If ND somehow makes the championship game though, I'll be pissed. But what this really proves is how there should just be a tournament. Eight teams (or even 16) wouldn't be too much of a burden on anyone, especially considering how much time between now and the end of bowl season. The big bowls can keep their sponsorship, and the title game and semi finals can still rotate among the big "BCS" bowls. Middling teams can still go to the Motor City Bowl. The burden on players can be mitigated by capping the season length at 10 or 11 games, and it's still not even close to what we subject basketball players to.

Of course, we just traded LaRue, which is a great move. I'm sure were eating some of his salary, but still. Nice work.

If we can expect an off season of signings like Stanton and Gonzalez... I don't see next season being an improvement over last. We now have two old left handed relievers and a light hitting but great defensive shortstop that we paid a lot of dough. I'm skeptical.

I went by Fountain Sq last night around 8 or so, and there were police, fire and emts blocking 5th street just east of Vine. Chefs from M&S were standing on the sidewalk, and it looked like the restaurant had been evacuated. Anyone know what happened?

This is a great part of town. I knew some people that lived in the house in the fourth picture.

^ColDayMan, Cincinnati was capital of the Northwest Territory.

For those of you willing to help CMC, the Art Museum, and Music Hall, here's an email about how you can help.

Easy, Rando, easy. I don't think Pat Forde was trying to call us KY necessarily, and I know I wasn't. It's more that Ohio doesn't matter as much to Cincinnati. It's why the coverage of the statehouse is so terrible here. It's why you can be a Michigan football fan. Things are a bit different down here. Maybe it's because Cincinnati was a capital before Ohio was a state.