Unabated Sports

Once again, coming to you from press row, high above Fifth Third Arena, it's Woody. The Cincinnati Bearcats will try to resucitate hopes for the 2005-06 season, or we'll be giving them Last Rites. Cause if they can't beat the South Florida Bulls, I don't see anyone left on their schedule where they can post a "W." I'll admit, it was tough to get down here. After being unable to watch more than a couple of minutes of their last two performances on TV, I didn't think I could handle seeing a similar experience in person. Besides, there's more exciting things to do on a Tuesday night than the trying to find someplace to park in Clifton. Oh, and USF jumped out to a 9-4 lead while I typed all this out.

Some good news comes in this second paragraph. UC pulls closer and went ahead, 15-13. And a fallen James White who limped off the court, returned to big cheers. And it looks like they got around to putting "Barwin" on Connnor's jersey. I guess it was on there for the Louisville game. But, like I said, I couldn't handle watching that display for very long. Between that and the Georgetown game, I can't remember the Bearcats getting a whupping like that in back-to-back games. If I had, I would have forced it out of my mind. Like this move Jihad Muhammad tried to make earlier tonight. Second worse dribble I've seen in this building since Charles Williams bounced it off his own foot. But enough of that, this is a positive paragraph. Oh, USF is up 26-21. Guess that means I need to start another paragraph.

Oy, before the half, the Bulls pulled off an alley-oop that used to be a staple of UC's offense in the late 1990s. (Ah, I miss you Melvin Levitt.) Both teams go into the locker room, but only one has a four point lead: South Florida. As they walked off the floor, the University honored faculty who have made advancements and patents in various fields like medicine and engineering. Too bad none of them can come up for a way for this team to scrape up some more rebounds. When that presentation was over, there were some loud calls of "Where's Nancy?" Heh, nowhere near here, pal. The floor was cleared for the three-time national champion dance team which supplied another outstanding performance. Let's hope the bball players can duplicate that in the second half. Well, that level of quality. I don't really want to see big men dancing.

I had to go to the little reporter's room and returned to see UC down by 7. But the Big Mo swung UC's way and I was pleased to see a fast break finished by a gritty James White that made me no longer miss "the Helicoptor." For now. Some improved defensive pressure briefly got them the lead, but that was fleeting.

Little sidenote here: One thing that impresses me about the crowd is their memory. When I was here for the Syracuse game, one of their players missed a three-pointer in the first couple minutes of the game. An hour and a half later, they still chanted "airball" whenever he touched the ball. Not even a TV timeout can derail their train of thought. If they were booing the ref for a bad call before, they weren't gonna get sidetracked by the guy firing free T-shirts into the crowd with a giant hot dog gun. Once play resumed, so did the booing.

Maybe that lead wasn't so fleeting. Andy Kennedy's team pulled ahead by 8 before the Bulls bounced back. Although, that was fleeting. The lead hit double digits. Ya know, Jihad reminds me of that one guy you play basketball with. You know, the one who heaves it up so much you're getting ready for the rebound as soon as the rock touches his hands. But then again, are you gonna make a shot? No, you suck. So, maybe him shooting a lot isn't so bad. Every once in a while, he can get on a streak and provide some much needed offense that no one on the floor really can even if they have their "A" game. Never mind, that's a bad analogy. Seeing him miss twice on foolish shots made me rethink that.

Okay, the momentum has seemed to have evened out with three minutes left. I have to give Muhammed some props after calling him out a couple times already. He just had a big steal, did some fancy dribbling to clear some defenders, and set up a play that put UC in control of the game. Considering how touch and go this was at times, Cincinnati comes away with a 13 point lead.

Whew. UC is now 15-7 and 4-4 in the Big East. Did Bearcat nation need this game or what?

Feb. 4 @ West Virginia
Feb. 6 Louisville
Feb. 12 Pittsburgh
Feb. 15 @ Syracuse
Feb. 17 Providence
Feb. 23 Villanova
Feb. 28 @ Seton Hall
Mar. 4 West Virginia

Yeah, they really needed this win.

Okay, so quick follow up on the Chris Henry situation. I know about this because a certain Redskin that I am a fan of found himself in a similar situation a few months back, so I am now apparently versed in Florida gun laws.

Let me make this very clear. Chris Henry is going to jail for a long time. Henry might not ever play pro football again, much less for the Bengals, or even the NFL for that matter.
In all honesty, I think we might be looking at a situation somewhere between Ron Artest and Sean Taylor here.
I think Henry is a troubled young man, who is having a lot of identity issues that are putting him into decision making situations he can't handle. A lot of you will sit back and insult, laugh at, and openly judge Chris, which is completely fine. But at the same time, you have to understand that this is a kid who clearly doesn't get it on a level much deeper than just the ridiculousness of his antics.

I don't know if Marvin Lewis has a leash short enough, a heart deep enough, or a brain smart enough to figure out how to solve this problem, but I can tell you one thing. He certainly doesn't have the wallet deep enough to sit around and let this problem solve itself.

I feel worst for Marvin Lewis who suddenly had his 3 year plan hijacked in the span of a month, with two players that were coincidentally involved in the longest passing play in Bengals playoff history. He's got to be pulling his hair out now, wondering what he did to deserve this. Poor Marvin.

ps. quick sidenote: on the blogosphere, a solid round up of CH's year in review.

Although nobody on the Reds' website seems to want to run a story about it, and even though today Cincinnati Enquirer had a sports section front page blurb about it, and dubiously no online article about it, and although no one on the team will give a straight answer, one thing is obvious. Adam Dunn's hand is broken.

Now I love Dunn as much as the next guy, and any free swinging big guy like him who hits bombs at his clip is a welcome addition. But this is insane. The guy breaks his hand in May (ie. second month of the season!) tells no one, and proceeds to play with it, until it gets hit with another pitch.
At which point he cowboys up, literally blows off an X-ray and decides he knows what's best for his own hand. I'm all for guys being gamers, but this is just flat out unnecessary and irresponsible. What is the point of playing baseball with a broken hand, particularly if it's your throwing hand, and you're playing in the outfield?
Not to mention that once Reds brass found out about it, they went into spin mode, instead of just owning up to the issue and pointing out that they didn't know, and didn't have it in them to say something to the guy.
I guess this can all be attributed to another solid step in Bob and the Bros. Williams starting things off on the right foot. Excuse me, the right hand.

As the 2005 regular season came to a close, some NFL executives began throwing around the idea of a larger playoff format that would allow two extra teams from each conference into the post-season. I'll be honest, I'm mostly against that idea. In other sports, the playoffs seem watered down when half the league moves on, even if they barely have a winning record. It really devalues the regular season, where most NFL games still have so much riding on them. But there's one argument that really appeals to me:


Yeah, starting around noon on Saturday until pretty much midnight and the same thing the next day. Three games each day. As much as I feel that this format would diminish the regular season and give too much of an advantage to the #1 seeds in each conference, I certainly couldn't argue with two straight days of twelve straight hours of football.

So the Bob Huggins world tour is back up and running, last stop was in Akron.

Note to all Athletic Directors and Campus Coordinators. DO NOT LET BOB HUGGINS ON YOUR GROUNDS! He is coming to do nothing other than bolster his reputation, and steal recruits. Honestly, are you trying to tell me that Huggs is suddenly a motivational speaker, traveling the lands to ensure that all the kids grow up to be the people they always wanted to be?! No way.

Again, it still boggles my mind that this joker is roving Ohio like the prodigal son coming back home. I know the guy is a revered figure, but even Bob Knight has the brains to stay gone when kicked out, or at least lacked the audacity to come back around and rub his popularity in everyone's face. Huggs never ceases to amaze.

Listen folks, ever since Bob decided to fire Danno, we've been patrolling the waters trying to find a solid replacement. After nearly a week, one realization has come to my mind. Nobody, and I mean nobody, wants this job. Apparently being the general manager of a Major League Baseball team is not exactly a high profile job to front office people around the bigs.
Wayne Krivsky? Are you kidding me? Who on earth is this guy?

Chris Antonetti? Again, can we get the JV front office kids out of the running here, and try to find a guy with an actual resume?

Is this the best the cat can drag in? The Reds have a half dozen special advisers, but can't seem to find a guy with any salt to fill out the GM position. This is not a good thing at all. Brad Kullman, who apparently isn't a big enough boy to deal with the 'interim' tag, is wasting more time talking to reporters about deals he's not doing, rather than getting anything done.

This kind of thing infuriates me. There's nothing I can't stand worse than when a guy spends the first week of his job letting everyone know why he's not as bad as the previous guy, or that he's the new guy in town, and everyone better know it. Just show up, shake some hands, cut some deals, and stay out of the news for the wrong reasons. There's a reason Kullman has that job right now and it's simple. Nobody else wants it.

I think I'm gonna go meet up with Ryan Freel for sushi and some drinks.

There's a big shindig going on this weekend in Oxford called the Early Bird Round Robin. That's right, there's a Miami University Water Polo Club and they've got a big event this weekend. This is from water polo player Corey Ulmer who give us a heads up on what to expect:

This weekend we host Michigan State, Purdue, and Eastern Michigan University. Our games are at 6:00 and 10:30 Saturday evening and then 12 noon on Sunday. It should be a great tournament and hopefully all the teams will be up for the competition this early in the season.

If you're looking for something unique and one of the most grueling sporting events there is, check out this tournament.

We have one last autographed football to give away. Since there's a little football game next week, we figured that we would give it away with a tie-in to the Super Bowl. The Unabated Sports crew have come up with a group of things that people have to pick from the Super Bowl. The winner will get the ball.

They are:
1.) The winner
2.) The over/under 47
3.) Will Shaun Alexander run for: 75 or less yards, 76-115 yards, or 116+ yards?
4.) Will Ben Roethlisberger have: a positive TD-TO ratio, a negative TD-TO ratio, or an even TD-TO ratio?
5.) Who will win the coin toss?
6.) Will the first commercial after the opening kickoff be a: Beer commercial, a soda pop commercial, or other commercial?
7.) After the opening kickoff and before the final play, will we see Jerome Bettis' parents on tv more or less than 6 1/2 times?

Tie-Breaker: In case of a tie, we ask you to send in your point total for the game.

Picking the correct winner will be worth 2 points, while all the others will be worth 1 point. The over/under is set at 47. So we are now accepting entries. Make sure to check back.

The person who gets the most of these right will win a football autographed by a bunch of Cincinnati Bengals, including Pro Bowler Deltha O'Neal. Just email us at unabatedsports@gmail.com to be a part of the fun.

There's lots of good reasons to check out the Lady Bearcats basketball team. UC has provided a few more to come down to Fifth Third Arena and check them out:

January 25, 2006 7:00 p.m. vs. Georgetown

NCAA Take a Kid to the Game Day

In conjunction with the NCAA, Cincinnati Women's Basketball will admit all children accompanied by a parent FREE!

February 4, 2006 2:30 p.m. vs. Pittsburgh

LIVE on FOX 19

Youth Basketball Day

All youth basketball players 14 and under, in uniform, will be admitted FREE. All friends and family of youth basketball team members will be admitted for $2.

SHERWOOD RAPIN' ROPES - Perform at Halftime!

February 15, 2006 7:00 p.m. vs. West Virginia

National Girls and Women in Sports Day

All women's groups are encouraged to attend as they will be admitted for the group rate of $2. All girls under the age of 14 will be admitted FREE of charge.

February 18, 2006 2:00 p.m. vs. Louisville

Girl Scout Day

All Greater Cincinnati Area Girl Scouts are encouraged to attend. Please check www.UCBearcats.com at a later date to find finalized offers for Girl Scout Day!

February 25, 2006 2:00 p.m. vs. Notre Dame

Senior Day
Show your loyal support for seniors Micah Harvey, Anne Stephens and Bellva May as they play their last home game at Fifth Third Arena!

Cal 513-556-CATS for more information.

For those of you who missed the Castellini press conference, here are some highlights, aside from the things you can read in the newspaper, and the usual mumbo jumbo he said about what kind of guy an owner is looking to hire to put together a team.

when asked about the possibility of Lou Piniella becoming a candidate
"The primary idea for Lou [Piniella] was as a special advisor...it's just not going to happen this year."

when questioned on whether or not hiring someone before pitchers and catchers report is a priority
"Well we'd like to do that, but it's going to take three or four weeks of interviewing somewhere between six or eight candidates."

on who he has in mind as early candidates
"We'll have a list, and we'll send out invitations. Plus we'll have other people that are interested. We'll evaluate people that are interested, and probably have a short list and go from there. Am I at liberty to tell you who the list is, not quite."

on if there is a person in mind that fills all of his requirements
"Look none of us are perfect, so uh...nobody has all of these pre-requisites, to the Nth degree. And uh, well just gimme a pass on that one"

My early notions from this reaction, aside from his clear discomfort in front of media, not to mention his clear lack of real personality, is that this guy has no idea who he wants, or has one guy in mind and is not showing his cards. The answer to that last question I listed is very dubious, he was generally uncomfortable in answering most of the questions.

I'm not going to jump in as to whether or not to take anything from this as good or bad, but I would assume that having a general manager by the time pitchers and catchers report, would clearly be a good thing. Not having a long term guy in place to evaluate talent from the jump in your initial year as an owner is what's known in some circles as 'getting off on a bad foot'.

I would have much rather seen O'Brien fired through the media, with the first major press conference of his ownership coming with the hiring of a new GM.

The Castellini era has officially begun, with the Reds scheduling a 5 p.m. press conference to announce the firing of GM Dan O'Brien. Guess it didn't take long after buying the team for Bob and the Williams brothers to put their heads together and whack somebody.

This move is no surprise by any stretch as I see it, but the inevitable next question still arises..Who are you going to get next? Let the discussion begin.

My vote is for Bob to throw some money at Steve Phillips. He's a Big League GM and Cincinnati needs to get back into the Big League frame of mind again if they plan on competing this year. Not to mention that any move to get him off of television is a good move to me.

After a healthy weekend of college basketball, involving a wild weekend overall for the Big East, and UC finally getting a win over a noted conference opponent, I am still somewhat bewildered by something that occured during the Crosstown Shootout.
Again, as an outsider to Cincinnati who simply enjoyed the game from a local watering hole, I have to admit that ESPN's coverage was a little dubious.
Considering all the coverage we put into it, and all the local hype during the week, as soon as the game got on national television, the story went right back to one thing: Bob Huggins.
After being so entrenched in the local details, and following the story of the fantastic job that Andy Kennedy has done with this Bearcat team, I have to admit it was a little nationally sobering if you will, to see ESPN reverting right back to the same old faithful.

Maybe not only this rivalry, but UC basketball on the whole, or maybe even Cincinnati area basketball in general took a bigger hit than many have realized as a result of his departure.
Overall, they did a good job with coverage of the rivalry for what it is, but I was stuck with the coverage of Hugs more than anything. And who was that dopey guy sitting with him at various points of the game, waving his hands at that camera like a goofball? Is Huggins suddenly rolling around with a random entourage that doesn't know how to act once the cameras get rolling?
Huggins almost had this look on his face of man who had pulled off a major heist or something. He comes back into the spotlight on the biggest basketball night of the year for the city, in an area that he once proclaimed an unsafe place for his players, and dominated coverage!
What stones he has to just waltz into Cintas Center, as if people don't absolutely loathe him there, and hang out and watch a game like nothing ever happened. Huggins knew exactly what he was doing that night, and he was proving to the rest of the country that he is still a national name, with national pull. For what was an absolutely great basketball game, it nearly got hijacked by a guy who's not even coaching.
He essentially single handedly reduced the game to being described as the UC 'not being coached by Bob Huggins anymore' Bearcats, and their rival, oh wait, yeah Xavier.
Good thing this game went into overtime, because if it hadn't the rest of the country might have forgotten about anyone related to basketball in Cincinnati, not named Bob Huggins.

Another shootout, another UC loss. It shouldn't bum me out this much. This isn't 1996 or 1999 when Xavier knocked off the #1 team in the nation. I mean, the Bearcats were the underdogs in this game. Maybe if they got blown out right off the bat, my expecations would have gone away. Maybe if those clutch three pointers in the last minute of regulation had bounced off the rim, I'd be over it by now. But the fact that this team stayed in the game, showed the ability to get up on XU at times... that probably made it hurt a little more when my hopes were brought crashing to the ground. Again.

I should be thankful that the team fought back to force overtime. I should be thankful that some Bearcats stepped up to have big-time games. I should be thankful that Bob Huggins did not have a "Joe Namath moment" while being interviewed by the sideline reporter. (I got a little worried there for a moment, but Coach pulled it together.) But, right now, I'm not. I'm a little bitter. I'm a little more concerned about whether this team can muster enough wins to get into the Big Dance for a 15th straight year. If they can, maybe that will sooth some of the stinging. Until next year's Crosstown Shootout, of course.

As much as I love the rivalry game, the Crosstown Shootout has been a very painful event for me as a UC alum. Year-in and year-out, the Muskies have been a thorn in the Bearcat's paw. I can still remember the ball bouncing off Charles Williams's foot setting up Lenny Brown's game-winning shot that knocked off the #1 team in the country right before Thanksgiving in 1996. That wasn't the first time that David slung a stone that felled Goliath. Kenyon Martin led the team to a #1 ranking in 1999, and Xavier led them right into another ambush. But did the Muskateers return the favor when they were the superior squad? No. Remember that painful display of basketball in '02? That was when David West scored half the points necessary as both teams, even #16 Xavier, struggled to get above 40 points when I turned off the tube in disgust. I was in the house at the Cincinnati Gardens in 1997 as #10 XU dominated a weakened UC team that had to pull players off the football team to fill the bench. (Sound familiar?)

Sure, UC won half of the last 16 games so the rivalry has been pretty even. But, considering that the talent level is usually higher for the Black and Red, it's been frustrating because as painful as the losses have been, the wins haven't even been close to feeling that good. I mean, congrats. But most years, you're supposed to win. Sometimes, being the "big brother" of a rivalry isn't very rewarding.

It's Woody coming to you from a packed Shoemaker Center as the #25 UC Bearcats host new Big East rival, Syracuse. Like I said, full house. Total capacity. 13,136 strong. They had to put some of us up in the rafters. Obviously, a lot of the fan interest is coming from UC's strong 13-3 start. But there definitely is a strong pro-Orange contingent in the house. But they're mostly confined up in Section 225. There's a good amount of red and black throughout Fifth Third Arena and they're hopping Cameron-style in the student section.

Cincinnati led for most of the first half until a flukey assist put Syracuse up 25-24 with a little more than five minutes to go. The Cats quickly took back the lead from the foul line. The crowd was loud and rowdy as the refs swallowed their whistle on a few plays. It's been a while since it's been this noisy in this building. It was especially profound when a chant containing a swear word went out after a blown call as Downey was molested going into the lane. It's amazing how much louder folks get when the referees finally get around to making a call. Too bad Syracuse stunned them with a 3-pointer to tie the game at 34 as time ran out on the first half.

The Orange overcame a quick three pointer on the first possession of the second half and took a 40-37 lead, forcing Andy Kennedy to call a timeout to rally the troops. It didn't help as Terrance Roberts took off for a fast break dunk. Two more fast break points followed for Jim Boeheim's squad. Considering this Bearcat team had been so strong in the second half, UC gave up a 10-3 run coming out of the locker room. The crowd was pretty crestfallen until Jihad made a three pointer to bring the score within two. But some no-calls on UC's end of the floor and some whistles on SU's turned those cheers into boos. It was more and more difficult for the crowd to get fired up as the home team fell behind as much as nine. Foul trouble started becoming a factor as Cincinnati went down by 11 with less than 10 to go. CBS Sportsline's midseason coach of the year kept trying to turn things around but momentum, and the calls, were completely pointing towards Upstate New York. Anytime UC went on a little run, the Orangemen would answer with a three point bomb or a nice lay-in under the hoop. Before you knew it, the lead was 15 with 6 minutes to go and the raucous UC chants were replaced with "Let's Go Orange" raining down from Section 225. The crowd officially began to file out with 4 minutes left in the game.

UC may drop to 2-2 in the Big East and the second half performance could certainly have been better. But hopefully this game will have reminded Bearcat fans the fun that can be had at the Shoemaker Center rooting on basketball team.

The Muskateers are going to experience a disturbing environment that their crosstown rivals are very familiar with: UNC-Charlotte. The 49ers will "welcome" Xavier to their house this weekend before Thursday's big brew-ha-ha at the Cintas Center. Here's a look at the rest of the year for XU.

Jan. 14 @ Charlotte
Jan. 19 Cincinnati
Jan. 22 St. Louis
Jan. 25 @ Temple
Jan. 28 Dayton
Feb. 2 George Washington
Feb. 5 @ St. Louis
Feb. 8 Richmond
Feb. 11 LaSalle
Feb. 15 Fordham
Feb. 18 Duquesne
Feb. 21 @ Dayton
Feb. 25 @ Rhode Island
Feb. 28 St. Joseph
Mar. 4 @ UMass

Then the Muskies host the A-10 Tournament right here in the Queen City.

It's that time of the year when we put the previous season behind us and look ahead to next year. This Cincinnati Bengals team took the next step to break a major post-season drought. But there are still a few pieces missing for them to make it to the Super Bowl. The team may or may not make a move in the free agent market. The other source of help is the draft.

The NFL draft is so full of possibilities and the world of mock drafts tries to predict some of those possibilities. Sure, most of them don't have the journalistic credentials of Mel Kiper's hair, but they are a good barometer for which players might be available when Marvin Lewis and his staff are on the clock. In fact, the coach said that they sometimes use these mock drafts to simulate war room experiences. The best resource I've found that puts all the online versions into one place is the hailRedskins mock draft list. Again, take these drafts with a grain of salt but you may want to start paying attention to the following names that came up on more than one of the mocks.

DT: Claude Wroten-LSU, Gabe Watson-UM, Orien Harris-Miami, Rodrique Wright-Texas, Broderick Bunkley-FSU
TE: Vernon Davis- Maryland
S: Darnell Bing-USC

The name that came up way more than any other was Rodrique Wright, defensive tackle from the national champs. Other defensive tackles getting Bengal love on these simulations include LSU's Claude Wroten, Gabe Watson, and Orien Harris. USC's Darnell Bing is also getting some consideration at the safety position. Of course, these three positions were the popular prediction for last year's draft and only a handful of a hundred or so mock drafts had Marvin Lewis taking David Pollack.

The NFL's off-season evaluation process is a long one and lots can change between now and when Paul Tagliabue steps to the podium in New York. We're still have a few weeks before the Senior Bowl and are over a month away from the NFL Combine and things become a lot clearer after that. The 2006 draft isn't until April 28 but it's never too soon to start getting familiar with the players who might be sporting stripes in the fall.

The doctor who did the surgery on the Cincinnati's franchise player called Palmer's knee injury 'potentially career-ending'. As if the time between now and training camp wasn't interesting enough. There's more doubt surrounding whether the Bengals starting QB will be healthy enough to take the opening snap on Week 1 of the 2006 season. And the way that article sounded, he may not be ready at all. Ever again. Just like my big fear. Man, hope I'm not right. Brad Johansen was just on our airwaves saying this report might be a little... pessimistic.

Check out the USA Today off-season outlook for a one-stop shop for all the issues facing this franchise.

The Cincinnati Marshals are hosting free agent tryouts this Saturday. There's a registration fee, $60, for players who want to be considered. They'll knock off ten bucks if you pre-register. Saturday will also be the tryouts for the cheerleader squad, the Diamond Deputies. There's no word when the National Indoor Football League season begins.

The RedHawks try to improve to 5-0 in MAC play tonight in Oxford. Tipoff is set for 7:00 at Millet Hall. As you can see below, all but the ESPN Bracket Buster game are conference games. So, basically, they're going to have to win the MAC to get into the Big Dance.

Jan. 11 Central Michigan
Jan. 14 @ Ball State
Jan. 18 Toledo
Jan. 21 @ Western Michigan
Jan. 24 Kent State
Jan. 26 @ Akron
Jan. 29 @ Ohio
Feb. 1 Bowling Green
Feb. 4 Buffalo
Feb. 12 Ball State
Feb. 15 Ohio
Feb. 18 ESPN Bracket Buster
Feb. 22 Akron
Feb. 25 @ Kent State
Mar. 1 @ Bowling Green
Mar. 4 Buffalo

Then hopefully a home game for the first round of the MAC Tournament on March 6th followed by the rest of the tourney in Cleveland.

The UC Bearcats played one of the best teams in the land real tough in their house, but came up short last night 70-59. Worse news than that was Armein Kirkland is lost to a knee injury for the rest of the year. That makes the Big East schedule seem even more difficult to navigate through. Cincinnati is 2-1 in the conference so far and 13-3 overall. What was once considered a lost season has shown a lot of promise. Can Andy Kennedy's team put together enough wins in the rest of their schedule to keep alive their NCAA Tournament streak? Here's a look at the rest of their schedule:

Jan. 14 Syracuse
Jan. 19 @ Xavier
Jan. 22 Rutgers
Jan. 25 @ Louisville
Jan. 28 @ Georgetown
Jan. 31 South Florida
Feb. 4 @ West Virginia
Feb. 6 Louisville
Feb. 12 Pittsburgh
Feb. 15 @ Syracuse
Feb. 17 Providence
Feb. 23 Villanova
Feb. 28 @ Seton Hall
Mar. 4 West Virginia

Then it's off to the Big East tournament in the Big Apple. Then after that? Maybe another trip to the NCAA Tournament, despite one of the most turbulant off-seasons in school history.

I don't know what was more painful: Watching Carson Palmer's knee buckle or the Cincinnati defense continually collapse when it was needed most. Even without the franchise quarterback, the offense was able to build a ten point lead on two different occasions. The defense could not give up those advantages soon enough. It's been the same story all season long. If they weren't creating turnovers, they would hemorrhage yards. It was all or nothing. Either they'd end the drive or roll over and play dead. This unit needs a killer instinct. It needs to step down on an opponent and squash them like Marcus Vick would. They needed to step up and get the game under control early. Instead, they step aside and give up touchdowns.

In a few days, I'll calm down and look back at this season as a special time. But I'm too dissapointed right now. I'm really hoping that when the Men in Stripes take the field again in a few months we'll see a defense that can actually compliment this high-powered offense and not force them to come out with their best performance week in and week out.

Being a part of a radio show allows you some opportunities that the average sports fan just can't take advantage of. Here's some of the brights spots this past year that wouldn't have been possible without the backing of the show, the station, and the listeners.

• I had the chance to reminisce about the days when I interned in the Channel 5 Sports department with George Vogel. This is a guy who has been all over the Cincinnati sports scene for years so he makes a good guest. But the chance to catch up with a mentor was definitely a benefit because of the show.
• It's always fun when we have beautiful women on the show and Brittany Jackson was no exception. Especially, when she talked about how she would play the University of Tennessee fight song to fire up a crowd. It's really funny if you knew how Jeff felt about Rocky Top. I don't think I laughed harder in 2005 then when she dropped that bomb.
  
• One of the best sporting events of the year was the AVP Cincinnati Open. I was only there for a few hours (compared the four straight days Jeff was there) but it was fun being surrounded by so many amazing athletes and even more amazing bodies. One of those was Denise Johns who represents the University of Cincinnati well in the AVP tour.
  
• As winter turns into spring, I get a little loopy for mock drafts. I don't know why, they're incredibly pointless but still a lot of fun. That's why it was fun to bring Scott Wright who runs NFLDraftCountdown and pick his brain about local prospects and who the Bengals might look at in the future. Definitely look forward to having him back on as April 28th draws closer.
• I really love my video games, so it was a major treat to have on a couple guys who work on the Madden NFL and NCAA Football games. It was great to hear the thought process that goes into making two of the most popular games around.
  
• I may not have liked the results, but I really enjoyed covering the Victory Bell. We went all out having a full crew at Yeagar Stadium. Also, I fell in love with one of the cuties in the stands. Too bad I never saw her again.
  
• For Halloween, we put together a pre-produced audio piece called the Haunted House. It required some voice acting that was actually a lot of fun. I channeled Marty McFly from the when the Lybians gunned down Doc Brown in Back To The Future. Good times.
  

And those were just some of the fun times Unabated Sports brought me in 2005. Looking forward to more in 2006. Happy New Year, everybody!