One of my favorite trivia questions for Reds fans... who was the last Red to wear No. 10 before it was retired for Sparky Anderson?The answer is the immortal Jason Romano.
Romano was a nice guy that the Reds picked up off of waivers from the then-Devil Rays in 2004. It was one of those deals that seemed like kept getting made, just a guy and he became a symbol for my friend and then-Reds beat writer Marc Lancaster. And so, when Marc got married in 2007, I was his best man and his wedding gift was a game-used Jason Romano bat I picked up at RedsFest. Sure, it's no Dick Pole half-jersey, but it was well-received by the groom (if not the bride).
* Before we get into the sports stuff, CNati.com publisher Lee Heidel was in town this weekend and we got quite a bit of work done, including a staff dinner with some of our writers and photographers.
One of our biggest points of discussion was advertising. If you're a business interested in advertising, let me know. Without advertising, I don't know how long we'll last.
* And that comes back to our Spring Training fund drive in its final week. Sure, we've surpassed the goal, but the more we get, the more we can do. With some more money, we'd be able to send out a photographer to Goodyear, Ariz., to help in our coverage and our Spring Training guide.
* Another thing that we talked about, we have a Kindle set-up, so you can subscribe to CNati through Kindle. We haven't advertised it, but it's here.
* We also worked on some audio and video stuff. A podcast will be coming soon (really, as soon as it gets through the iTunes screening process) and we played with what we're doing on video, so that I can produce both the podcast and video from spring training. I'll post a short Chris Heisey interview video later.
* More pub for CNati, even though they misunderstood that when we said "light-weight" we were talking in a design way, not our content.
Anyway, people are taking notice, which is good. My friend Mark Zuckerman was the Nats beat writer at the Washington Times when the paper decided to cut its sports coverage. He's hoping to follow in my lead and go to spring training on the heels of his readers. I wish him luck and hope he has readers half as awesome as mine. If you know some Nats fans, send them his way.
* As for the game, it was entertaining. But honestly, my friends were more interesting. I was at a Super Bowl party that not only had an NFL player, but also a Olympic gold medalist and some of the best friends you can ever have. So, I saw much of the game, but not all of it. Anyway, it was a heck of a game -- or at least what I saw -- and I didn't give ma prediction beforehand, thinking it was kind of a toss-up, which it was (or as much as it could be for a 2-touchdown win.)
* Yahoo! has a breakdown of the play.
* How about the stones to call an onsides kick to open the second half? That was just awesome.
* Speaking of halftime, Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune has a review of the Who's halftime show.
I thought it was good, even if it's not really the Who without Entwistle, perhaps the most important bassist in rock history (before you say it, Paul wasn't a bassist, he played bass). I think he gets overlooked quite a bit, especially behind Keith Moon.
* Rey Maualuga is headed to the Betty Ford Center and could miss some of the team's workouts, but that's a small price to play. Good for Rey.
* Terrell Owens says he'll change his name to Ocho Uno if he's a Bengal next year.
* So next year, the Patriots won't have an offensive or defensive coordinator. Odd.
* The Super Bowl directed by Quentin Terantino, Wes Anderson and others. The Wes Anderson one, of course, is the best.
* The unsigned All-Star team as pitchers and catchers pack their bags.
* There are five Reds in this list of the Top 50 prospects from Project Prospect.
* If you missed RedsFest this year, Redleg Nation put together a video from the festivities.
* The Indians may be interested in Jonny Gomes.
* Adam Dunn says he was surprised how much he's enjoyed playing first base.
* I really feel sorry for the Louisville Bats mascot, Buddy. That's not what you do to a buddy, pal.
* An argument that the Winter Olympics are for sports fans who like sports. I agree, I love the Olympics, especially the wacky winter ones. It's competition and it's fun. I don't need to know every participant or rule of every sport to enjoy it. And hey, it's still better than watching the NBA.
* Sad story out of Oxford where Miami hockey manager Brendan Burke died this weekend. Check out a story from ESPN in December about Burke, the son of Maple Leafs GM Brian Burke, coming out.
* I have to admit, I was worried about Cop Out being terrible and unfunny, because the trailers I'd seen so far were not funny. The redband trailer is much, much better.
* The guy who ripped apart The Phantom Menace on YouTube is back with a review of Avatar.
* With a new Drive-By Truckers album coming out soon, there's gonna be plenty of DBT press. Billboard has a Q&A with Patterson Hood and then more on the new documentary.
* Lifetime movie or Megadeth song?
* The Oxford American on the late Vic Chesnutt
* USA Today has a Q&A with Nikki Sixx.
Nice little swipe at the Reds by Dunn in the Washington Post article...
"Before where I was, I didn't feel like they did everything they could to get better every year. Just one offseason on this team, they've done a lot of things to straighten out a lot of our problems"
lol yes, the Nationals are clearly a model franchise. One of the biggest things they did to improve was letting him go! lol.
As a relative newbie to the blog, I wonder what fuels your dislike of the NBA, CT? As a Cincinnati-area native, it was tough for me to find much interest without a pro team in town to root for and with two great college teams. I got over my inability to relate to a more urban game through some teams with great passion, knowledge of the game, and solid teamplay (Spurs, Rockets, Celtics), as well as athletic stars who are just mesmerizing (LeBron, Kobe, Kevin Durant Gerald Wallace, to name a few).
My personal thought on the NBA is that they guys don't really play until the playoffs. I've watched so many regular season snoozers, where people are just stadning around or they walk down the court. There are some exceptions but in general, it's more entertaining for me to turn on sportcenter the next day or after the games and see the highlights rather than sit through an entire NBA game.
That being said, I don't like college basketball as much as I used to. Basketball is always kind of been a distraction for me to get me through the time between the Buckeye's bowl game and the start of Red's exhibition games in Spring Training though.
murph, i don't like any basketball, including the nba. it's just the sport. some people like to complain about soccer and don't enjoy it -- for me, it's basketball.
and btalbert, i couldn't disagree more about dunn, but that's an old argument and it's moot anyway
I would be really pumped for a Cnati podcast. Everything I listen to is either on satellite radio or a podcast. I listen to 35 hours of podcasts a week at work and there is a lack of cincinnati sports podcasts out there. Every once in a while redleg nation will have a podcast, but for someone who is working 3rd shift 5 nights a week it doesn't get it done. Right now its a lot of espn pod center, filmspotting, adam carolla, etc, and I would love to add cnati into that mix.
Z
Woah! Mike Zimmer reads your page! No wonder the defense improved so much this year ... he's reading your advice. SEC rules!
As a student of music and a bass player of almost 20 years I have to disagree with your assertion that Paul MCartney isnt a "bassist". I think "The Ox" has gotten his due as a player. He was incredible and inspired a type of playing never seen, but so did Paul. Paul is the first melodic bass player in popular music. He didnt have the chops of Entwistle or even Jack Bruce, but he is maybe the most tasteful bassist ever. If anything its the oppostie, and Paul is the underated one.
PS thanks for including music stuff in TOL. It keeps me a loyal reader.
Also you are definately right about the Ox being one of the most impotant bass players in rock history. I would also put Flea and Jaco Pastorius in that category. And I know what you mean about Entwistle getting overlooked. So I do appreciate him, I just think Paul gets overlooked more as a "player".
Whos on your All-CTR bass player team?
Heres mine:
Since its basketball season lets go with 5.
1.Victor Wooten-best overall player around today.
2.Geddy Lee-come on right? Best bass player ever?
3.Flea-dude is a master,
4.Les Claypool-most innovative player since Pastiorius
5.John Myung-entire Hayden string quartets on the bass? No problem
And my 6th man is P-Nut from 311. Talk about underated. Listen to a few of their tunes and tell me different.
then i'd have to listen to 311, and that would be really unfortunate. there are few bands i hate more than that one
Marv Albert disguised in a crab costume...poor Buddy.
You've got to add Tom "T-Bone" Wolk to your bass playing legends - Hall & Oates is awesome and nothing without the rolling bass bombs from T-Bone.
i cant say im shocked to see a cincinnati board thread about bass players that doesnt mention bootsy collins
Ctrent, You guys need a better marketing director if you have to advertise for ads in you blog. You got 5,000 grand just by asking your readers. I think I could turn that into a year of ads, easy. Do you have criteria for who you would like to advertise on the site?
As an accomplished (though non-bassist) musician myself, I have to agree with Babylonian that Paul McCartney was most definitely an underrated bassist. Like he said, Paul may not have had incredible chops, but he was incredibly creative and versatile.
I kind of see what CT is saying in that Paul wasn't a 'pure' bassist I guess, but the job of a 'pure' bassist is to lay down an immovable groove and stay in the background, and Paul made his music much better and more interesting by doing neither of the two.
oh, i was meaning paul was more than the bassist. he transcended his instrument. it wasn't a put-down to paul's ability to play
still, i think of him as a guitarist playing bass, you know what i mean? maybe not.
and bsg's right, bootsy should be here.
and my man john curley is really amazing. was at a twilight sound check a couple of years ago and he came in to play with them a bit at southgate and he was just amazing. curley just throws that bass around and lays it down. amazing. i saw the whigs several times (but not as many times, i'm sure, as many of you) and each time i came away impressed with john
and fsubengal, are you volunteering? because i'm already doing several jobs and that's one place i'm falling short. i could use the help. who would i like to advertise on my site? those with money they'll give me.
This is why I love CNATI. No other sports site is going to have a comment-thread beat down on best bass players.
And, because no one asked for it, my top 5 bass players - not the best or most proficient (Pastorius, I'm looking at you and Claypool); but my faves:
1) Entwistle - Laid the prototype for all my current favorite players. The bass lines could be excerpted into their own solo performances and the songs would be just as good.
2) McCartney - Did as much for melody in the low end as he did in the vocal lines for rock-mode Beatles tracks. Bonus: On "I Will" he sang the bass part instead of played it. That's strong.
3) Geezer Butler - Nobody is blacker than Black Sabbath and that low end growl was somehow kept funky by this guy.
4) Michael Anthony - Best collection of novelty basses and the best backup vocals in the business, he never really stepped up as a player. I'm cool with that; because when you're backing up Eddie and Alex Van Halen, you know your role. Poor bastard still got fired.
5) John Curley - I'm a shill for all things Afghan Whigs; but having seen this guy play live more times than I care to count and absolutely kill every time, I'm hard pressed to pick anyone else to round out my top 5. Plus, he couldn't be a nicer guy.
Honorable Mention: John Paul Jones. Did you see him on SNL with Them Crooked Vultures? Dude's still the coolest guy in the room.
I comepletly forgot about Bootsy. But I also forgot Chris Squire and Billy Sheehan and that dude from Rancid and Stanley Clark. And John Paul Jones who may be the most underated player of all.
311 is a great band. Ive seen then 15 times in concert. Their live show is amazing. Ive seen everybody from Clapton to Korn and 311 has the best live show. If you dont like them you need to smoke some pot right away..
I checked out THS because of CTR's obsession with it and I dont get it. The guy talk-sings sort of? I like his energy, just cant get with the music, or their crazy keyboard player.
oh, i can totally get not liking THS -- lee and I had a long discussion about this the other day -- and the fact craig can't/doesn't sing is part of it. if i'd discovered THS (or they'd been around) at 25, i wouldn't have listened again. but in my 30s, they really fit. and the crazy keyboard player is no longer in the band.
yeah, i don't do drugs, so i can't get behind 311. even if i did do drugs, i think it'd have to be heavier than pot for them. seriously, if i had a bottom 10 bands, they might be there right with sublime and rush.
Ctrent, I would love to help you. No need for payment, I just love what your doing here and Cincinnati sports are my addiction. You have my email, just contact me.
and Sublime is possibly the worst band ever, if you can call them that. What is their key demo, drug-addicted surfers on steroids? Anyway I know your more of a classic/alternative not heavy rock guy, but how can you not love this lineup in our backyard? http://www.rockontherange.com/
Saying you dont like Sublime, is like saying you dont like pumpkin pie. Meaning its generaly happy music that appeals to all. Not just "drug addicted surfers on steroids" whatever the hell that means anyway.
Id rather stab myself in the balls than go to rockontherange. The only bands there that I would like to see are the Deftones and Coheed and Cambria.
Isnt Godsmack an AIC song about heroin addiction? Oh I guess they suck then because drug addicts are part of their demo. Right?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ewsHwVOyyE
In case anyone else loves this thread as much as I do: The worst bass solo of all time, courtesy of #4 on my list.